Midnight Christmas Run - Christmas Eve at Jesse's

As schedules would have it, Nick & Michelle met us in SLC on Thursday the 24th at 6pm. Nick drove his truck, a jacked up 2004 Diesel Durimax and we soon were met with many patches of fog. The drive went well and I was sure grateful for Nick driving as we arrived in Carson City at 2am PST, but 3am MST in Utah. We appreciated so much the D. Heller house in Carson to arrive and get to bed. Adventure arrrived as we pulled into Carson and found the serpintine belt has snapped and a pully seized in Nicks truck making it near impossible to stear and break the last several blocks to Deans house. Gratefully we arrived there and could address the repairs in the morning. Luckily it didn't occur in the vast desert of Nevada in the middle of the cold night. Thank You, Lord!

I was trying to upload Oma's letter as it spelled out the events of the weekend, but it wouldn't copy. So... I'll just plug in photo's and see what needs to be commented on.

Christmas Preparations

I do love to make a pretty package! Pictured here is the 2009 Curtis Miner Architecture staff gift in blues, and the 2010 gift in golds. This year the staff pooled money and gave the Miners Guitar Hero for the Wii, which they were giving to their children for Christmas. We had a staff Christmas luncheon in mid December and will go in February as a company to Soldier Hollow, which is a groomed and rope pulled sledding hill in Midway, Utah by Heber.

Arizona here we come! Thanksgiving 2010 Part 3

This was a fantasitic trip to Arizona. It took us 3 years to gear up for the long drive, but the scenery was definately great. I had to get a picture of the State protected cactus, Seguaro. The photo to the left, shows the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Shaelyn Lloyd came with us as she is now living in Idaho so we took her home to her parents in Arizona for Thanksgiving. It was great to have her with us.

Arizona here we come! Thanksgiving 2010 Part 2

Another great day spent with the Lloyds. We spent the day touring the National Park called the Chirichaua National Monument. The area of Arizona the Lloyds live in is a mile from New Mexico and about 50 miles north of Mexico. The rangeland reminded me of central Nevada with wide valleys and mountain ranges between. Lloyds live near the base of the Chirichaua's which hosts the stories of Geronimo and Tombstone, AZ. The mountain tour was facinating with volcanic ash creating pillars known as the 'pipe organs' that look like tootsie rolls stacked on top of each other. One photo has what looks like a pencil balancing on top of a flat rock. Natural phenominon for sure! One photo shown has the mountain siloette of an Indian chief with his prominate nose and chin at rest. After leaving the National Park, we ate at a mexican restaurant that was delish and they sang to Morgan for his eminate birthday. The Lloyds are sure fun at making memorable photos! After taking Morgans picture with the Sombrero, the photo was stapled to the wall of the restaurant. In the photo is Morgan, Lauren, Tate, Shaelyn and Jerrica. We had a great time!

Arizona here we come! Thanksgiving 2010 Part 1

So much to see...so little time. The day started with visiting a local museum featuring the local slithering fellows, including snakes, turtles and lizards. The Lloyds are fun to take pictures with as a Goof Off picture always follows a poser picture. We a carried on to Mexico after the museum and found a local flee market to experience the mexican commerce. Interesting to say the least. Needless to say, we were all relieved to be back on American soil and the transition from Country to Country was absolute. We did buy some antibiotics as you can buy it over the counter there. The local flour tortilla was also a hit as the flavor is 10 times better than the packaged stuff in America. A short drive from Douglas, AZ (border town) brought us to Bisbee, AZ which has a copper mine pit nearby. Bisbee is just like Virginia City, Nevada, or Park City, Utah in the street front stores and local hippee population. It was a great part of the day to enjoy the shops and even watched the cities official Christmas light festival. It was unseasonably cold there in AZ and had to buy a sweater and Layne a poncho.

We left on Monday after I got off work and drove as far as Kanab, Utah and stayed the night there. We left early enough to make it to Pheonix in time for a visit with my neice Hilary as it was her lunch hour. Me met at a great Mexican place called American Taco Shop! Thanks for a great visit Hilary!

Long Time No See

Whew it's been a long time since posting to the Blog. Never ending agenda's that keep us busy, but have produced some good pictures! I got a text from Ashlee saying she was surprising David for his birthday and coming to MY house as part of his weekend getaway to SLC. Hurray for us. He got to see Harris and Leslie who he had not seen since before going on his mission. Annalisa had not seen Harris either even tho he'd been coming to Sunday dinners since August due to her work schedule. I love getting family together so I was tickled with the whole arrangement! Shaelyn Lloyd is taking the picture as the next day we were leaving for Arizona. What a fun dinner we had with family.

Halloween 2010 - Michael Moves - Sara's Birthday - Morgans Tux

I have to place a few pictures here as I got ahead of myself with the next posts about Arizona. In early November we traveled to Blackfoot, Idaho to help Michael and family move to Poccatello, Id. They were able to get an apartment close to where Michael works and Bridgett got a new job as well. They will save alot on gas not having to commute to work and school. It's a nice space with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a one car garage.
My birthday on the 9th was terrific as lots of people offered greetings on email, facebook and calls. When I got home from work Ethan had a spaghetti dinner ready with neighbor gifts and a small cake decorating the table. Thanks Ethan, it made the day so special!
Morgan got asked to Preference Dance, (girls choice) and he looked dashing in his tux and tie! The black and red looked great on the couple as they went to dinner and the dance.

We had a great time at Halloween with Mike & family and Nick and Michelle coming for the weekend. Harris and friend Leslie came for Sunday Dinner and we had my super fabulous BBQ Beans with Bread. On Saturday we went shopping for a couple items at Costco and then we went to Ross. I bought Mike his first pair of new "thin" pants. We got him a pair of 38x32's !! Go Sexy Mike! Gavin's favorite expression was....Booooo Yaaaaa....said with a giggle! Michelle was feeling quite nausiated as her morning sickness is taking hold. We luckily had a box of saltine crackers on hand. It was great to see the newly weds. Friday Night was my ward 'Trunk or Treat" along with a chili cookoff. It was great fun to see Gavin with his "How to Train your Dragon" costume. As always, he's a terrific little guy, and he loved playing with Ethan and Morgan.