Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! Brian and I have celebrated 6 February 14th's together now. Our first Valentines together was the most memorable. Brian brought me roses at work and then had dinner ready when I got home. We had a steak dinner by candlelight with a dozen roses sitting in the middle of the table between us. Brian made me a special card with Spanish sayings one year. He made it while he was subbing for a Spanish elementary class. I still have the card. Sometimes it's hard to spend the day together because one of us is working but we try to do something special.

NASCAR

Brian has his own version of "game night". He has some friends that live in Cedar City that he gets together with to play games. They use to play Lord of the Rings but the little shop they played at closed down. Now they play all sorts of board games and different card games. Every so often they play a game I know so I join in. Last Saturday Hardcourt and his son Peter brought down their "slot cars". The guys had a lot of fun racing the cars around the electronic track. It was a miniature version of NASCAR. Watching cars speed around and then have a massive crash is so much fun!

To a New Year

Now that the holidays are over and things are settling back into the usual routine, I have time to update the blog. I get to update on my fancy new mini laptop, one of my Christmas gifts this year. It is quite fast and does everything a full size laptop does but with the small disadvantage of no disc drive. No problem. Brian got it for me so that on the days that not much is happening at work I have something to entertain myself with. This makes our total computer count at three.
Brian is working on his last semester of classes to get his level III math certification. If he does one more semester (3 classes) he will have a level IV and his Bachelors degree for math. He plans on getting that degree but would like to get a full time teaching position for the new school year. We are hoping for local but Brian is willing to expand his horizons and apply just about everywhere now. I think we will try the Utah area first though.
We are still waiting for new developments on our adoption. So far we have had 783 people view our profile message but only 4 have looked at our contact information. We expanded and updated our criteria and are hoping this will bring more "hits" to our page. Brian says we will look at posting on other adoption web sites and see what other recommendation our case worker can make when the summer comes. It will be two years at that point that we have been waiting. They tell us at the agency that the more people we tell that we are trying to adopt the better chances we have.
So as you can tell, not much has changed for us. Now we have a new year and some big resolutions to accomplish.

And the Rains Came Down Again

During the spring of 2005 the Virgin River and Santa Clara River overflowed their banks. The floods made national news. Video clips of house after house being lost to the rivers and stories of the town of Gunlock being isolated were reported over and over for weeks. After the waters receded, the bridges rebuilt, and roads repaved the city said they had reinforced the structures so a disaster of this magnitude wouldn’t occur again. They were right. After a constant 4 days of rain in December 2010 (17 inches, which is more than the annual rainfall) the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers broke from their banks again. Zion National Park and a nearby town were evacuated. Bike trails, roads, and even a nine-hole golf course disappeared under the muddy water of the river. The news reports said the rivers were running higher than in 2005. This year no houses were lost. The rivers carried plenty of flotsam but not much else. They worried about a dam breaking and the loss of a couple of bridges but it didn’t happen. The rivers have crested and receded now and the rain has stopped. The flood of 2010 resulted in a lot of mud, pictures, and memories.

Happy Homecoming!

Tommy is home in the United States again. After two years in a foreign country it is good to have him back. We left to visit New Mexico early Thursday morning. Tommy’s flight didn’t arrive until Saturday which meant that we had all of Friday to visit with my parents and Nathan. We had a great picnic on the Sand Bluffs with Tuna noodle salad and hot dogs to eat. It’s been years since I’ve been to the bluffs and I had forgotten the spectacular view of the Malpies lava flow. Before Saturday came I made sure to cook up a double batch of Snickerdoodles to surprise Tommy. Dad and Nathan enjoyed the cookies as well. Before we went to the airport on Saturday, we made a couple of stops hoping to accomplish chores before Tommy’s plane arrived so that we could relax and enjoy a lunch together with him. We had to perform some acrobatics in a grocery store where we purchase a “welcome home” balloon that tried to float away. Lucky for us, the balloon floated to a low enough portion of the ceiling so that Brian could lift me up to grab it. Mom said she missed out on a great picture moment. We didn’t quite make it to the gate to see Tommy come off the plane. He was waiting for us near baggage claim which is where Dad and Nathan found him. I was so happy to see him. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time visiting with Tommy but we enjoyed hearing and seeing the things he learned and saw while on his mission.

Birthday memories

Despite the fact that I had to work on my birthday this year, I actually enjoy my day. There was a definite theme to all the gifts I was given. Brian bought me a NOOK which I really enjoy after getting to know how it works. I am having so much fun loading books on it. It is great to go through the online library, pick a book and then with the press of a key I have it in my hand. I got a number of other books and reading related material this year along with the Nook. I also was given cooking items and a cookbook strangely enough. I never thought I was much of a cook but I've discovered it is something I enjoy. I've already tried out three recipes from the cookbook and used some of the utensils I was given. Brian really liked the recipe for chicken pot pie.
After my birthday, I got another treat. I've asked Brian every year if we could go to a play at Tuachaunn or at the Cedar City Shakespearean festival. This year we went with Brian's parents and a couple of nieces to see the Broadway play "Tarzan". I have to admit I wasn't expecting much but I was surprised. The actors and sets were impressive. The gorilla people went moving through the air with the aid of an elaborate wire system. I really liked the beginning of the play because they flooded the stage. They actually opened a flood gate and let a stream in the background set overflow and soak the stage! You could see the water pouring off the stage! I was impressed to say the least. The music was just as good as I remember it from the Disney cartoon with a couple of added songs. The costuming was unique. I really wish we'd had the camera for pictures after the play but alas we left it at home. Maybe I'll get lucky next year and get to see another play.

Reunion in August

After a lovely family camping trip at Bear Lake, Brian and I got to go on a second camping trip for the year. This trip was with my family in the great state of Oklahoma. We were missing a couple of my siblings but it was great to see those who were able to make it. We had a great time touring the local Natural History Museum and swimming in the lake. I got to meet Silas for the first time and had fun playing with Miriam. Brian and Nathan helped Logan build a Knexs rollercoaster which was really fun to watch when they finished. We made picture frames from Popsicle sticks and scrapbook decorations. There were wooden turtle races and pinatas to break. It was a family reunion to remember