High School Makeover

So, last night my alma mater and the high school each of our kids attended had an open house to show off the finished phase one of the renovations that have been going on for the last year. I'll attach a few photos, since I took 60 or so. It is now so open and cheery, and spacious. Some of the classrooms have windows that go floor to ceiling, and the lunch area is now open. There are only 3 wings that have not been renovated, yet. They are scheduled for the second phase.

What Can I Say?

It's been a busy few months, but I wanted to take a minute to say that Allen, my DH, is going in tomorrow to the dentist for some major work, all done under sedation. He is worried about it, but it is a necessary thing. This will be better than dragging it out over the next two years. What will be done tomorrow will max out his benefits for the year, so he will have to wait until next year to get the rest done. The dentist says he should be okay, once they get 4 teeth pulled, 2 crowns and four teeth with fillings done.
Our family continues to grow up - grandgirls range in age from 10 down to 15 months.
Pam & Ben have finally found a house that suits them and everything is falling into place for them to close on the 25th of March and move in around the first of April. Emmalee's bedroom will have to be painted, it is currently a horrendous shade of dark orange and red. I told Pam those are angry colors and Emmy will not be able to sleep in there. She agreed and I offered to help pay for the paint.
Allen has been off work since January 1. Long story, but thank goodness we have his unemployment. That, however, will only last another 18 weeks.
Better run, almost time to leave. Will try to post more later.

Catching up

Okay, I'm not too good at this blog thing. I have a hard time writing things down.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at our son's with the whole family, except Desiree. The month of November flew by. Then came December. It brought Rya's first birthday on the 19th, and we attended her party and Ben & Pam's.

We decorated the tree and the house, and Christmas came. We used to get together with the family on Christmas Eve and have a spiritual experience after dinner by reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. However this year, everyone had somewhere else to go, so Allen and I spent a quiet (?) evening together. That is, I wrapped presents while he worked downstairs on the computer. Christmas morning we got up and went to Pam & Ben's for breakfast and to watch Emmy and Rya open their gifts, then we stopped at the house for a quick bite for lunch and to grab our dinner contribution and the box of gifts for Ray, Alisha and the girls, then headed to his house to spend some time with them and exchange gifts.

I cross-stitched two out of three French Chateau's for Rod Ross (the Chairman and CEO of my company) for Christmas. I am working on getting the third one finished, and as of today have about 1/4 of it done. I'll post some pics of the two.

New Year's was spent with just the two of us - we watched "The Perfect Storm", which ended about 12:15. We stopped the movie long enough to kiss the New Year in, as is our tradition. After the movie we went to bed.

January 11 is Kymberly's birthday. This year she is five and is getting excited to go to school. I'll post some pictures of her birthday.

I will try to do better and post more regularly this year, though there are no guarantees in this life, except death and the ever-increasing taxes!

Anniversary to be remembered!

So, Friday the 29th of August was our 40th Anniversary, and we decided to spend it camping in the Uintah Mountains, near Mirror Lake. To sum it up, we wanted to re-create our first anniversary, minus the snow.

We packed up Thursday night, except for cold food, then headed out the door at 5:00 am on Friday morning, stopping at WalMart for some cash and some ice, along with some Camp-Dry for the tent. We had bought a table screen, wanting to keep the infamous mosquitos out of our food and off us as we ate. We proceeded through Kamas and up along the Mirror Lake Highway, stopping at campgrounds looking for a place to camp, which had not been reserved. We found a couple of spots in Lily Lake Campground right next to Teapot Lake and took the first one, fearing we would not find one further up.

We set up camp, placing the tent on the edge of the meadow around Little Lily Lake, then had lunch. After going out to gather firewood, we were going to take a short nap, and found that the air mattress we had blown up earlier was flat....so we opted to go fishing, and I caught one that was about 12 inches long. We put him on the stringer and kept fishing for about another hour (the most beautiful fish were really jumping) before deciding to head back to camp. He was still moving when we pulled him out of the water, so I told Allen to put him back. We had chili for supper and sat around the fire and talked for a while before heading to bed on the hard ground. Neither of us slept very well, it seems the older we get the harder the ground is!

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and after breakfast we headed to Evanston, about 25 miles further up the Highway to go to WalMart and get a new air mattress and some Rainbow Trout bait, which we were told the fish were biting on. We also had to get some Binder clips because the zipper on the tent would not work at all. On the way back we did some geocaching, finding about 4. We stopped at Mirror Lake to find a few listed around the lake, however the parking lot was full to overflowing. We found a parking place, but before we could even get out an SUV pulled in next to us and a boy of about 8 saw Buddy and immediately started petting him. His mom said, kind of sternly, "Andrew, you don't just put your hands in other people's cars!" and I looked up at the sound of a familiar voice and said "Hey! I know you! How are you Brandie?" It was Desiree's friend, the one who had arranged their "Girl's Vacation" this year. She and her family were camping at Soapstone and had come up for some fishing and a picnic. How weird is that?

So anyway, we left Mirror Lake without looking for any caches, except for the one that was out on the main Highway at the turn-off. From there we headed back to camp and proceeded to get lunch while we blew up the new mattress. After about an hour's nap we headed back to Teapot for more fishing. Skunked, both of us, even though once again they were jumping.

The host kept asking us if we were sure we wanted to stay through Monday (Labor Day), because the weather reports were for wet weather. We said sure, we'd be fine. So, Sunday was cloudy and in the evening it sprinkled a little. The wind picked up some and Sunday night was chilly when we went to bed. Thank goodness we had new sleeping bags good for 0 degrees F. Allen woke up at about 2:00 am and said he had to go outside (I had been laying there needing to, but not wanting to brave the cold). I looked up and the back of the tent was about 6 inches from my face. I told him to take the broom out and brush the snow off the tent. The front of the tent was also nearly caved in, he had to bend over to open the door to get out. He brushed a lot of snow off and the tent sprang back up. When we got up in the morning, we were able to get pictures for Christmas cards!

We packed up everything in the snow/rain/hail mix. Everything was wet, except what had been in the tent and the car. We left the wood for the first campers next year because the host was leaving and closing the campground. By the time we got packed we were soaking wet, as well. We stopped in Kamas for lunch and then came home to unpack, set up the table screen to dry (the tent we set up the next night), hang the tarps on the line to dry and put things away as best we could. We got home to find we had been Heart-Attacked - there were 40 hearts all over the front of the house! Bless our dear son for remembering. We also found a couple of Ice Cream dishes shaped like waffle-cones and filled with pink stuffing and topped with Baskin-Robbins candy on the table. Dinner was left-over Poor Man's Supper. Of course we got pictures and left it up a couple of days before taking it down. I'll post some pictures.

Did it again

This is the Rose Sampler to date. This is through the July chart.

I am extremely bad about writing, I know.
New Orleans was very interesting. I took a Haunted History tour and learned a lot about the city. I took a lot of pictures. I also walked along Bourbon Street - talk about a lot of loud music and exotic places. It seemed like "Hustler" had a place on every block. Funny thing, though. My hotel was only a block from Bourbon Street and I couldn't hear a thing.
I have also been busy stitching on EMS' Rose Sampler. I'll post pics of both New Orleans and the progress on the Sampler. I'm knitting a scalloped white blessing/burial dress (though will probably donate it to the hospital, as I don't have any grandbabies of the right age for it).
Desiree was here to visit from North Carolina and we saw her on the 11th, 12th and the morning of the 13th (traditional breakfast at Jeremiah's in Ogden-home of the best scones in town). Then we took her to Layton where she began her Girl's Vacation. We spent the rest of Wednesday packing the car for camping and early Thursday morning headed to Currant Creek Reservoir for a few days camping with Ray, Alisha, Caitlin, Kymberly and Eowyn. We were also joined by Alisha's sisters Daeleen and Kristi and their families. We fished some, mostly from the shore. Ray had borrowed a canoe from his cousin Heather (Allen's brother Larry's daughter) and we spent a couple of hours fishing the middle of the lake. I hooked a 14" brown trout, but he slipped off the hook before I could get a net and bring him in. The only other fish we caught were two babies (2" and 3" long) near the shore.
Well, that brings us up to date, except to mention that the Olympics are going on it Beijing. My only interest in the summer games is the gymnastics and that is over. There is some controversy going on now about whether the Chinese participants are really 16 (the minimum age set by the IOC).

What a slacker, I am!

I know, it's been a loooong time since I've posted anything. Life just gets in the way, what can I say?
I am getting ready to leave tomorrow for a conference trip to New Orleans. The Louisiana Department of Insurance hosts a conference for insurers every year. This is the fifth one they have done, but the first one I've been invited to. I am mainly going to see what it is about and if it will be worth going to again. The company is trying to cut down on travel expenses, so this may be the only chance I get to go. I bought a new digital camera, a Kodak EasyShare C813. I am going in early enough on Wednesday that I will be able to check in, get some dinner early and take a walking "ghost tour" through the town. The starting point is only about 4 blocks from my hotel. I will be staying at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter, about 5 blocks from the Mississippi River. The weather promises to be in the 80's, which is perfect for me. Of course, there is the humidity factor, but we will see. I will post pictures when I get back.
I will be missing the 24th of July celebration here in Utah - the date Brigham Young first saw the Salt Lake Valley and declared "This is the place". Oh well, I get paid overtime for the full day, so in that respect it will be worth it.
I'll update again when I get back!

March Re-Cap

Well, I didn't wait as long this time as last to post.
March has been a semi-busy month. As always, there is work. We were informed that there will be some more renovations. We are taking over some office space on the first floor and our underwriting department will move down there. There will be other shuffling around and eventually I will be moving to the southeast corner of the building. The only thing that would keep me from moving is if I apply for a position as an administrative assistant to our Chief Operating Officer and our Corporate Actuary. I am sorely tempted, as right now my workload is extrememly light and I am wondering what I am going to do next. I come to work and spend most of my days frittering away on the net. What I do have coming in doesn't take me long at all to do. I really could do this job from home, if they would just set me up with the programs.
Anyway, March has seen Desiree and her fiance Lindsay come to visit for a few days, and Easter came early, and the weather has had a little of everything, sun, warm weather, rain, hail, snow and cold.
We've had Emmalee spend the night a couple of times. That is always fun. I have to sleep on the hide-a-bed couch in the front room with her. Last time she got up at 4:30 in the morning and wanted to stay up. My Saturday lasted from 4:30 am to 11:00 at night.
Allen and I have done some geocaching and found several more. I think we are almost at 75 finds. We have to log the ones we found on the 29th and that should do it for us.
I have been cross-stitching, and finished up the Mystery SAL entitled "Back on the Road Again". I have to get a picture of it, but first I have to clean it, the whites are more gray than white. I have also been working on the pictures for Rod (a series of 3 French chateaus), plus knitting many preemie hats and a couple of sweaters. I also started knitting a baby blanket in basket weave (knit 5 pearl 5 for five rows, then reverse and do pearl 5 knit 5 for five rows), in pink and white stripes. I hope it turns out, I'd hate to tear it out. I have bought on ebay 18 skeins of baby yarn, in variegated, peach and pink. In fact, there is a box in the mailroom here at work and maybe that is it. I'll have to go downstairs and see what it is.
Well, enough for now, that pretty much catches up the month. Hopefully I can do better than once or twice a month.