Albq. NM

I survived a week in New Mexico. It wasn't that hot which was good. It rained one day very heavy which cooled things down. I can't say I had fun, but we did get a lot of staffing done. Most everyone I was working with lived there, so at night, they went home and I didn't have anyone to play with.... Poor me.

I ate at a cool Italian restraunt (It felt wierd eating out all by yourself). The food was VERY good. I had chicken over pasta with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and capers. It was covered with a creamy lemon sauce. It was so good, I went back there the next night and had exactly the same thing!

The hotel I stayed in wasn't that great. The carpet was black and brown, the drapes and cover on the bed was dark brown suide material. There were two lamps in the room with low wattage bulbs. The decor of the room just seemed to absorb all the light, and the room stayed dark.

The bed was good, but the sheets kept coming off the bed corners, so by morning, the bed was a real mess.

The room was not cleaned very good each day. For example, the soap in the dish in the tub did not drain the water away, so water stayed in it. The maid did not take the soap out of there, so when I got home, the soap had been soaking all day, and was just like jello. Yucki.

Also, the tub did not drain well. You would take a shower and you would have shower water up to your ankles. One night I came home after work and the maid had not cleaned the tub out. There was still scum from my shampoo in the tub.

And, the maid made a phone call on my room phone, and they tried to charge me .75 for the local call. I told them I did not make the call as I was at work. They did not charge me for the .75

I did not leave a tip.

That was my trip to Alb. I didn't even take a picture even though I had my camera.

Out of Town on Business-Guessing Contest

Tomorrow, Sunday I will be going out of town for one week. I will be helping a brand new call center staff and get ready to open. I will be going to New Mexico to a large city. It starts with the letter "A" and ends with the letter "E".

I will pay the first person one dollar who guesses where I am going AND spells it correctly!

A Few More Pictures

Here are just a few random shots. I was holding Courtney and Camilla and when Parker saw that, he had to climb in the middle.

More Pictures at Deceiption pass

So,while you were all off walking across the bridge taking your life in your own hands, here are some pictures that got taken while we were waiting.

Here Are Some Pictures

Couldn't get them attached for some reason.

OK, So I Am A Little Slow

We had a grand time as you heard from all the other posts the family did of our trip for Mom Bell's funeral and family reunion. It was an event getting 15 people in three cars and all staying together. With Shandy being VERY prego, she had to stop at each gas station and rest stop along the way. At every stop it just made me laugh at trying to get everyone in the cars and get on our way again. I still stand amazed we didn't leave one of the kids at some gas station along the way.

I am glad I was able to make memories for the kids to laugh at for YEARS to come. How would you feel if someone told you your brand new car's engine lights were flashing red, then pulled over to the side of the road? How would you feel if you had to walk from the parking spot, up a zillion stairs (didn't find the elevator until later)get sit down, and have the sun beating on your face with the temperature 100 degrees? How would you feel if you were trying to get everyone in the car at a certain time so we could make the game on time and someone (I won't mention names) was still swimming 5 minutes prior to departure? Sorry I hurt your feelings Darren....I will try to be more sensitive next time, and yes, thank you for being the first one to the car! How you got ready in 5 minutes I'll never know. And yes, I would prefer a car hit me on Deception Pass rather than look down at the water.

Anyway, thank all of you for the memories also!!

Yard Update

I took a walk around the yard today, and thought I would like to share. Here are a few pictures of the yard. Our tomato plants are HUGE. That is what happens when you put fertilizer stakes near them and water them with the "Gift Certificate Watering System". As you can see, there are a few tomatos hanging on the vines.

A Hike With the Sweets

After work today, we received a phone call from the Sweets iviting us to go for a ride with them to Silver Lake, up by Solitude. We felt very honored to be invited. The G'Kids were so good and fun to be with (so was Sam and Carrie). Here are a few pictures of our adventure.

"Oh What A Feeling"

Just as we were getting ready to leave for the camping trip, I heard from the Toyota Dealership that the car had arrived. So Saturday, after arriving home from camping, we went to the Toyota Store and came home with our new Prius.

As you will note, the chosen color is Silver. (Thanks to all who gave their advise).

It has some pretty cool features. I will have to have Jon and Kristi show me how everything works. I can even use my cell phone's Bluetooth to talk hands free while driving.

I have to take it back on Wednesday, and they will Tint the windows... Pimpin!!

All this and great gas mileage!!

Sweet Family Campout

We were honored to be invited to the annual Sweet Family Campout. The trip started off with a huge issue--Carrie will explain in great detail I am sure. Let's just say the departure time was delayed from 10:00 am to 4:00 PM.

It was HOT, but we had a great time. Carrie will do a better job explaining all the fun/interesting things that went on. (She is much better than I)

Enjoy a couple of photos.

Thanks Darren & Susan

For my birthday, Darren & Susan gave me a gift card to Lowes. So, finally, the other day I spent my gift card on a watering system for my tomato plants. They had been watered by a sprinkler, but when they got tall, the ones in front could not get any water because the ones in back blocked the sprinkler. So now, each plant has its own little water supply. I have also bought chemicals to spray for "Blosom end Rot". (Didn't know what that was until I moved to Utah), and another spray to help the blossoms produce fruit. We'll see!!

Hollyhocks

Right after Curtis and Shandy moved to their home in Orem, we visited and discovered all these Hollyhocks in a field by their house. I gathered bunches of seeds, and came home and put them in little tiny Peat Moss seed planter things. Only a few came up. I planted them, and this is the first year they have bloomed. Only two survived. Here are their pictures.

Parker's 2 Year B'Day Party

OK, these are a little late, but better late than never.

Parker is Real Cool with his sun glasses on.

Saturday Before Fathers Day

We all ended up at Curt and Shandy's place to help do a alittle work on their house and yard. The best part was the dinner afterwards. We had to try out the new BBQ Pit and Curtis's new Dutch Oven. We had Dutch Oven Potatoes with lots of cheese on top (and some bacon too. I put too much bacon on and they were kinda greasy). Here is a picture of Curtis guarding his BBQ Pit, Curtis and his dad watching the ductch oven as it was cooking the potatoes, and a picture of the results. YUMMIE!

The Yard 'n Stuff

Out taking pictures with the new camera. Here are some pictures of some flowers in the yard. The big tall white flower is actually the blossom of a big onion that survived the winter and has grown all summer.

Is it time for the Prius to get here yet? Oh yea, it has only been one day!

Toyota Prius Update

Here is an update on the Prius. Today, I put money down on the Prius and they placed an order. It should be here in 1 month to 6 weeks.

We chose "Classic Silver Metalic". We think it will "match" us with our Silver hair. We are thinking of getting the windows tinted. It will look hot. We will look hot driving it!

New Camera

Our nice Olympus digital camera that we ran over with the car finally bit the dust. So we were forced to buy a new one. This one is a Nikon 5.1 MP. Yeah, we know there are higher pixel cameras out there, but we're being frugal!! These are our first practice photos. The hydrangea in the pot with New Guinea impatiens around it is to remind us of the gorgeous hydrangeas in the Northwest. We'll see if we can coax it into blooming.

Thanksgiving Point, Etc

After a hard day of work on Saturday (Carl at a job fair and Pat cleaning the house while Carl was at work) we decided we needed some fun. So we went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. We had never been there and it was quite nice. I (Carl) liked with waterfalls. I liked how it made my stomach feel as I leaned over the bridge and looked at all water cascading over the rocks. NOT!! Warning!! You kids WILL NOT lean over any edges or try to push each other off cliffs while we are in Yellowstone for our Reunion!

We then went to Provo and had dinner with Curtis and Shandy. We had a nice evening and afternoon.

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving Point Gardens.

New Car Maybe

We are seriously considering getting a new Toyota Prius (Thanks Jon & Kristi). We would trade in Mom's Hyundi. The question is... We can't decide which color so we need all your help.

Here are the choices:
Super White; Classic Silver Metalic; Magnetic Gray; Driftwood Pearl; Barcelona Red Metallic; Silver Pine Mica; Seaside Pearl or Black.

55 MPG on the highway sure sounds good!

Saturday Night in the Park

We were in charge of the Ward BBQ yesterday. The weather was perfect, we had a big crowd and the hamburgers & Hotdogs were delicious. It is hard to buy for a large group when you are not sure how many will be attending. So we took our best shot, and at the end, we had 40 hamburgers left over and one package of 8 hot dogs. So, I would say we guessed pretty close! We didn't put together a committed to plan, we just did it ourselves this time. We did make a few basic assignments (like water balloons which resulted in a great water fight). We were tired at the end of the event.