The Holidays this year had their ups and downs, though mostly ups.
For Thanksgiving this year my brother and his family came to visit. They arrived on Wednesday night and the fun and chaos started right away.
My brother and his family play a role-playing game that is similar to, but very different from Dungeons and Dragons. I'm not really into role-playing: I don't think fast enough to be able to follow along and contribute to what is happening. Lee, on the other hand, has enjoyed role-playing games in the past and was quite excited to play. He even created the scenarios and was the game master the first 2 days of playing.
Thanksgiving day was quite hectic, what with the gaming going on and me and mom trying to get Thanksgiving dinner ready: mom as Sous Chef while I did most of the cooking. To give credit where it belongs, mom did most of the desserts and my nephews and niece helped with some of the dinner as well, and they were helpful. The one mishap, though, was when I had to go next door to try to make one of the pies, and when I had to come back over for something, the neighbor's dogs got up on the counter and took the crusts out of the package and ate them. LOL. We ended up without that pie that day. The day turned out quite nicely, though.
The rest of the weekend was spent playing, arguing, visiting, etc. You know, basically like most family holidays. LOL. It was a very good weekend, though, and we were very sorry to see them leave on Sunday afternoon.
Christmas this year was very simple. None of the family could get out here for Christmas this year again, so it was just us with mom and dad. Work schedules didn't permit any of us traveling this year; and honestly, Lee and I couldn't afford to go anyway.
Still, it was a nice Christmas. We didn't have to worry about things being too stressful, and it was nice to be able to relax when most people were going through the stresses of Christmas.
As soon as I got home from work on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 24th) we all went next door to our neighbors to bring Christmas gifts to them. They are like family to us now and we wanted to share with them as we would with our biological family. That evening we visited a bit and opened some of our presents. We were missing family quite a bit, though.
This morning (Dec. 25th) Lee and I were awoken before 8:00 by a text message from my sister wishing us a Merry Christmas. As soon as I walked out my door mom was instantly asking if we were ready to go downstairs. I'm not sure how she really meant it, but she sounded like a little kid anxious to see what Santa brought, lol. Anyway, not long after that we all went downstairs and opened gifts. It was a simple Christmas with a few gifts (due to our financial situation), but I think we all enjoyed what we did get.
A family Christmas tradition on both sides of my family is to have a Christmas Breakfast. So, since we couldn't be with them this year, we had our own. Once again Mom was Sous Chef for me while I cooked. It's a system that seems to work well for us.
Lee and I are looking forward to New Year's Day when his parents will be in town to visit us for the day.
We really miss spending Christmas with our families and friends and we want all of you to know how much we truly miss you. You have been in our thoughts this season.
Once again, pictures will be coming.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween 2009
As most of you (if not all) should know, Lee and I haven't been able to have kids yet and because it's just the two of us we haven't been able to get some real enjoyment out of holidays. Its not nearly as fun to celebrate holidays with just adults if you don't have friends around who would do things with you. As we are now in Nevada and the "non-children activities" around here are almost exclusively going to the bars and casinos, Lee and I don't get to join in the fun most of the time.
So, after talking about it one day and remembering what holidays were like when we were kids, I decided to invite the kids next door over to make Caramel Apples for Halloween. They came by this afternoon and we had a lot of fun. It didn't last long, but the kids enjoyed themselves and so did we. They even confessed that they had never had Caramel Apples, although they had had apples with caramel dip. That was great to hear that I could do that for them.
This evening our fun with the neighbors continued. The parents are unable to drive at the moment so Lee and I joined them and drove them around trick-or-treating! It was a blast! We took them down to our church where the Spring Creek Wards were doing "Trunk-or-Treat" and the kids got quite a haul there! I was really surprised how many people had shown up to hand candy out of the trunks of their cars. Because we don't have our own kids, this was the first time we had gone.
It's a great place to get a lot of candy in one spot, but it still wasn't the same as trick-or-treating so from there we drove around town a little taking the kids. For those of you who haven't been here, Spring Creek covers A LOT of area, and the houses are quite spread apart with no street lights in the entire town, so it's just easier for kids to be driven around. We took them to a few more places then back home again!
On the right you can see the effect of the glowsticks as they appear in the dark; on the left, I have enhanced the photo so you can see a little of the background.
(I apologize for the quality of the photos, camera phones don't take the best pictures)
On a different note, our anniversary is coming in 4 days! I can't believe it's been 4 years already!!!!!
So, after talking about it one day and remembering what holidays were like when we were kids, I decided to invite the kids next door over to make Caramel Apples for Halloween. They came by this afternoon and we had a lot of fun. It didn't last long, but the kids enjoyed themselves and so did we. They even confessed that they had never had Caramel Apples, although they had had apples with caramel dip. That was great to hear that I could do that for them.
This evening our fun with the neighbors continued. The parents are unable to drive at the moment so Lee and I joined them and drove them around trick-or-treating! It was a blast! We took them down to our church where the Spring Creek Wards were doing "Trunk-or-Treat" and the kids got quite a haul there! I was really surprised how many people had shown up to hand candy out of the trunks of their cars. Because we don't have our own kids, this was the first time we had gone.
It's a great place to get a lot of candy in one spot, but it still wasn't the same as trick-or-treating so from there we drove around town a little taking the kids. For those of you who haven't been here, Spring Creek covers A LOT of area, and the houses are quite spread apart with no street lights in the entire town, so it's just easier for kids to be driven around. We took them to a few more places then back home again!This was probably the best Halloween we have had in several years and we're so grateful to our neighbors for allowing us to be part of their family for a little while.
On the right you can see the effect of the glowsticks as they appear in the dark; on the left, I have enhanced the photo so you can see a little of the background.
(I apologize for the quality of the photos, camera phones don't take the best pictures)
On a different note, our anniversary is coming in 4 days! I can't believe it's been 4 years already!!!!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
This Saturday we had an exciting trip out to Ruby Lake! What should have taken a few hours total, took us about 7!
Lee and I went up to the Ruby Lake area w/ my dad to look for and harvest Pine Nuts. It was a really pleasant trip there, and nice to get out of the house. Along the way we saw the most spectacular sight, just like we were in a nature film. We spotted a golden eagle about 30 feet in front of us, about 10 feet off the road. It was taking off with a rabbit which it dropped when we startled it! It was so amazing to see it in real life!!! Lee swears he looked it right in the eyes as it was passing us. To see such a magnificent creature so close to us was very awe inspiring!
When we got there we couldn't find many pine cones which were ready to harvest, but we decided to get what we could so that we could sun-cure them at home. We wandered around trying to find some trees that had cones close enough for us to reach and managed to get about 1/2-1/3 of a grocery bag full. We were going to move further up the road to look for more, but when we got back to the truck Lee discovered that it had a flat tire! The funny thing was that my dad had just had to replace his other tire the other day so the spare was flat, too! We looked around on the other side for a little bit for more cones since we were there, but had to scrap looking further up the road. Lee thought about pumping it up and my dad hooked up his little air pump. We got up to 20 lbs pressure in and decided to head for home.
We managed to travel every 3-5 miles before stopping and filling more air in the tire until we got to the ranger station where they filled the tire full. From there we were able to make it every 8-10 miles between fillings. About 1/3 of the way home the tire finally blew! My dad put the spare on and we limped back to Spring Creek doing the same thing with the second tire.
What took us about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get there took us another 4 - 4 1/2 to get home! However, it was a still a great day and we had a lot of fun. Can't ask for more than that, can we?
Lee and I went up to the Ruby Lake area w/ my dad to look for and harvest Pine Nuts. It was a really pleasant trip there, and nice to get out of the house. Along the way we saw the most spectacular sight, just like we were in a nature film. We spotted a golden eagle about 30 feet in front of us, about 10 feet off the road. It was taking off with a rabbit which it dropped when we startled it! It was so amazing to see it in real life!!! Lee swears he looked it right in the eyes as it was passing us. To see such a magnificent creature so close to us was very awe inspiring!
When we got there we couldn't find many pine cones which were ready to harvest, but we decided to get what we could so that we could sun-cure them at home. We wandered around trying to find some trees that had cones close enough for us to reach and managed to get about 1/2-1/3 of a grocery bag full. We were going to move further up the road to look for more, but when we got back to the truck Lee discovered that it had a flat tire! The funny thing was that my dad had just had to replace his other tire the other day so the spare was flat, too! We looked around on the other side for a little bit for more cones since we were there, but had to scrap looking further up the road. Lee thought about pumping it up and my dad hooked up his little air pump. We got up to 20 lbs pressure in and decided to head for home.
We managed to travel every 3-5 miles before stopping and filling more air in the tire until we got to the ranger station where they filled the tire full. From there we were able to make it every 8-10 miles between fillings. About 1/3 of the way home the tire finally blew! My dad put the spare on and we limped back to Spring Creek doing the same thing with the second tire.
What took us about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get there took us another 4 - 4 1/2 to get home! However, it was a still a great day and we had a lot of fun. Can't ask for more than that, can we?
Near the end of August, Lee's grandfather passed away and we took an emergency trip to Utah for the funeral. While there, I finally got to meet Lee's siblings and biological father.
The trip was a mixture of feelings. I met Lee's grandparents on our second date over 7 years ago. I was fond of Lee's grandfather and we were sad that he had to pass and will miss him, and it was hard to see his grandma upset and missing her husband. However, it was great to contact the members of his other-side of the family whom I had not met previously and whom Lee had lost contact with.
The funeral took place in Bountiful and we made it there in time for the viewing on Monday night. The funeral was the next morning. Lee was honored to be asked to be a pallbearer. After the funeral, we all traveled to Spanish Fork where he was buried.
When everything was over we posed for pictures and exchanged phone #s with Lee's siblings and have since had contact with them through phone calls and texts.
The funeral took place in Bountiful and we made it there in time for the viewing on Monday night. The funeral was the next morning. Lee was honored to be asked to be a pallbearer. After the funeral, we all traveled to Spanish Fork where he was buried.
When everything was over we posed for pictures and exchanged phone #s with Lee's siblings and have since had contact with them through phone calls and texts.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Lee and I went to Utah for our vacation on Aug 7-13. On the way to Emery County, our car broke down; we were just barely across the border into Utah. It was the start of a week of ups and downs. We eventually made it to Emery County, but what should have taken 6-7 hours, ended up taking 13 or so hours! LOL
We went to my family Reunion and my nephew's baptism on Saturday. Lee and I also spent a little time exploring around Orangeville, my childhood hometown.
The next day we took it easy, but as I was going back to Orangeville from my sister's house the car died on me again! We had made it from near Tooele through 2 days w/out any problems, and now it was acting up again! The rest of the week we spent trying to fix the car several times, and dying by the side of the road several times!
We went to my family Reunion and my nephew's baptism on Saturday. Lee and I also spent a little time exploring around Orangeville, my childhood hometown.The next day we took it easy, but as I was going back to Orangeville from my sister's house the car died on me again! We had made it from near Tooele through 2 days w/out any problems, and now it was acting up again! The rest of the week we spent trying to fix the car several times, and dying by the side of the road several times!
On Tuesday we spent some time out exploring the desert. Lee and I had a blast! We have all sorts of pictures which I will put on here after all of this. We spent most of the day out with my sister and her kids, my dad, and my older sister. Lee really enjoyed seeing all of the different sights, and I loved sharing with him the area that I grew up in and love. 
We finally got things fixed with the car after replacing the fuel filter 2-3 times, the fuel relays, and even the fuel pump. The car had a hard time starting Thursday morning when we were ready to leave to come home, but once started we made it back with no further problems. The next morning when I went to start the car for work, once again it wouldn't start. After another week or so without my car my dad finally figured out that it was the fuel relays again! I need another car! LOL.
Well, that's our vacation 2009!I will update this blog later when I have more time, including posting more pictures.
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