Catching up with January and February 2024

 Fred and I finally received our Service Missionary name tags. We can wear them to church meetings and events. We wore them for the first time On Feb 11. 

We took this picture of us that morning.

Fred and I have attended a number of theater performances at Grandview High School. 

This evening was a Murder Mystery with Dessert. 

The tables that we sat at were actually on the stage. You can see the stage setting.

It was really funny and so good. 

In January we went to the National Western Stock Show Rodeo. Brian gets tickets from work for all of us. That day was cloudy/sunny so I wore my sunglasses in the car, but forgot to bring my regular glasses with me when we left the car. I had to wear sunglasses the whole time. It was dumb.

Shannon invited us to come along on their vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando.

We shared a VRBO with them. The unit was just right for the six of us. Each of us had our own rental car so we could be independent of each other when we wanted to.

This is Day 1

There are two parks in Orlando. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We started in Islands of Adventure. The weather was perfect as you can see.

Shannon's family got there earlier than us. We met up with them at the Flight of the Hippogriff.

A mild roller coaster. Fred and I steered away from anything too wild. He gets motion sickness and I'm afraid of jarring my neck/back. Aging sucks!

The scenery was amazing. You are in the Harry Potter Movie.

This is the wand shop Ollivanders. They select someone from the group to find them their wand. They demonstrate different "tricks". It was a good show.

The second day we all went to Universal Studios. We met up with Shannon's family for lunch at a pizza place that was actually very good. While we waited for Brian and the kids to meet up with us we sat across the street from this store. 

We walked to Diagon Alley for more Harry Potter stuff. Again scenes and buildings were amazing. 

Here is the fire breathing dragon that actually does breath out fire about every 10 minutes, I think. 

Fred and I had tickets for the Kennedy Space Center for two days. A person needs at least two days.

The weather wasn't great. Rain and pretty cool. We managed thanks to our impressive raincoats that Fred brought for us. They were needed. Too bad my shoes and socks got wet so my feet were cold the whole time.

I didn't take too many pictures. Fred is the space enthusiast so I just wanted to take pictures of him in front of some of the displays. It was a very impressive place. 

This is our second day at Kennedy Space Center. I decided to be smart and put my feet in plastic bags. I don't know why they didn't work to keep my feet dry. I think it was worse the second day.

On Monday we returned to Universal Studios. We spent two days in each park. Rotating each day.

This is where we ate. The Leaky Cauldron. We ordered Fish & Chips. It was pretty good. 

Our little table hidden in a back corner. I'm glad we didn't have to sit at the long tables surrounded by a bunch of people. We got peopled out with the crowds each day.

On Tuesday we had plenty of time to drive out to the Orlando Temple. A very beautiful temple. 

I loved this scene because of the stark contrast of colors. The amazing blue sky, whiteness of the temple and the rich green of the palm trees.

We pretty much walked around the grounds and then sat down on a bench to just hang out. 

We had a really good time. We definitely got tired out each day. All the walking and working through the crowds of people everywhere. I'm so glad Shannon invited us. We would have never chosen to go to Orlando. Sharing the VRBO and meeting up with Shannon's family each day was really so very nice.

Thanksgiving & Christmas 2023

Scott made this cute Thanksgiving Turkey napkin holder in Cub Scouts when Kris Fry was his den mother. It was nice to bring it out for our dinner. 

Marissa made placeholders for each of us. She is so creative and has so much enthusiasm 

for doing the extras.

My contribution to the Thanksgiving meal has become Kneaders Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie. 

We had to drive to LoneTree to pick it up with an ice chest.

We move on to Christmas now. We had "babysitting" duty one day. 

The kids actually came down to play on the Wii.

Marissa gave me kitty measuring cups, measuring spoons and a cat paw mold. 

We used them to make Chocolate Brownie Peppermint Cookies.

Blake gave Fred this ice cream spoon. Pretty clever.

This is the fun gifts Fred received from Shannon and the kids.

Corinne and family gave Fred this teeshirt - pretty appropriate. 

Scott and Jess were also full of some teasing this year for Fred this year. A clock from Korea.

Daly's and clocks!

From Jess to Fred - very spot on.

Corinne bought Fred and I gifts from Korea. Cute salt and pepper shakers. 

Scott and Jess jumped on the jewelry this year with Fred. Now with my new sparkly diamond ring some accessories to go with it!

I wear this necklace every Thursday evening when we serve in the temple. My new temple dress has a vneck so it's perfect.

This was Marissa's creation for Fred's birthday. She is quite the computer genius.

We enjoyed the holidays with Shannon's family. It is nice to have family just upstairs to join with. 

It's so easy and comfortable to be together.

Early Halloween in Phoenix

I'm running out of motivation to keep posting to my blog.

Part of that is I'm not taking pictures as much anymore.

It's harder to post when there are no pictures. 

That doesn't mean we're not doing things. 

So we did go on a trip to Scott and Jess's in Phoenix. 

We squeezed in two quick days. 

They had lots of stuff going on and we actually had a hard time 

finding 4 or more days free from events on the calendar. 

We stopped over in Santa Fe for one night on the way.

We arrived on Thursday late afternoon. 

A pretty relaxed evening at home. 

Friday morning started off with a bag.

First we jumped in the car and went along to take Evan to school. 

Next we came home for a bit and then I went with Scott and Graham to Music class.

It was so cute. Of course, there were Halloween costumes. 

It's about 40 minutes. Letters, reading, music, instruments. 

I love watching Scott with his kids. He is so good!

After music class, we headed to swimming lessons for Graham. He is a good little swimmer. We were happy to tag along. Next door was a donut shop so we stocked up on donuts and came home and ate donuts. When Evan got home, the plan was a trip to Dairy Queen.

That night was their ward's Halloween Party. It included a chili cook off dinner.

Jess came home with three awards! No pictures.

It was the first game of the World Series, so Scott set up a tv in the back of the mini van in place of Halloween decorations.

The best part of this trip was Graham did not hold back at all. In the past, it seemed like it took a couple days before he would be in our space. This time he was comfortable and cuddly with us from the beginning. 

Evan wanted us to push him in the pool. So here he went.

We all played a game of Aggravation. Luckily Evan won the game!

We were also able to attend one of Evan's basketball games. Jess coaches and Scott coaches from the bench. Evan is comfortable with the ball and plays pretty well for his first season. 

Here he is with his team and fantastic coaches.

We had such a good time at Scott's. So happy we were able to go for a visit.

On the way home stopping in Sante Fe again, we had to eat at Blake's Lotaburger that we saw on the side of the road last time through Sante Fe.

It was pretty good.

Fred and I just submitted an application to be service missionaries in the Clothing/Laundry department at the Denver Temple. These are our mug shots for the on-line application.

 Look at these old people.