Our Snow Day

Lake Powell National Golf Course in the snow.

This is just

down the street

from our house-It was beautiful.

Our "snow day" from school was a great gift! We relaxed, went out to lunch, and drove around to see all the snow we got. These are a few of the pictures Todd took. I love the Tower Butte picture just above. It was a beautiful sight, and only one block away.
We are supposed to get hit again with another snow storm tonight. (Lake Powell will surely fill up this summer.) Jacob and Tyler got here this afternoon and said it was a "white out" in Flagstaff this afternoon. So glad they got home safe.

Make up your mind!

OK, so winter has really arrived in Page! Today, we woke up to the phone ringing at 5AM telling us school was on a Late Start schedule, meaning we don't start until 9:30. The roads out on the REZ were pretty bad and our busses were having trouble picking up the kids. Then, at 11:30, they announced that we were having a 1/2 day and school would be let out at 12:30, and that school was cancelled for tomorrow! Yeah!! However, they added that the teachers still had to stay today and come in tomorrow! BOO! Then, at 3:00 they announced that all staff could go home and did not have to come in tomorrow. At this point, I just wanted someone to make up their mind!!!
I guess this is supposed to be a BIG snow storm and we get a snow day!! First one in several years.
This is supposed to be the big boys basketball tournament weekend, and as of today, no one knows if any of the teams will show up. I will have to work if they go ahead with the tournament. Again, I wish someone would make up thier mind!!!
If the storm is really big, we'll go around and take some pictures. It is truly amazing and beautiful when the desert is snowed upon!

Winter has come!

I know, I know, I am not great at updating this blog. It's just that we are very busy this time of year with school stuff and we are boring!

We spent a fun Thanksgiving with Jacob and Tyler hosting dinner for some of their friends. It was a nice time. We knew that as soon as Thanksgiving was over, Todd and I would be non-stop with school sports. Every year on the first and third weekend in December we have basketball tournaments. Todd and I both work these tournaments. He covers the games for the Flagstaff paper and I am in charge of the Hospitality Room. It makes it very difficult to celebrate our anniversary and get ready for Christmas. But, we managed to remember our anniversary last Sunday. We've been married 17 years!!! Todd went out early that morning to pick up my flowers--12 long-stemmed roses--and a man in line at the store said, "Were you out late last night?"(Implying Todd was in trouble with me.) The flowers were beautiful and I am so grateful to be married to such a thoughtful, wonderful guy!

A few years ago Page quit sponsoring the Parade of Lights with ARA on the lake. They brought the parade to town. So last night at 6 PM we went downtown to watch the parade.

I've never been able to watch it before--it's always been the same time as the BB Tournament. It was a real treat and a nice/festive touch. It wasn't very cold either. That is until---------

The weather in Page has been so warm and nice we forgot what it was like to be cold. After the Parade of Lights, we settled in to watch more of Season 3 of LOST (our new favorite show) and we heard the wind blowing real hard. We went out side and saw a winter wonderland. It was snowing quite hard and the temperature had dropped over 10 degrees in one hour.

You can see how large the snow flakes were. It was fun to see the snow, but oh, so cold. Today, it is very cold outside and like always, the snow has all melted. Maybe we can have a repeat performance on Christmas Eve! I can always hope.

Lake Powell Hot Air Balloons!

This past weekend was the annual Lake Powell Balloon Regatta. It is such a fun event. We had over 40 hot air balloons in town. Saturday morning we woke up to balloons over our house. All we had to do was sit on our patio and they all came floating by. It is a great sight! One landed at the end of our street. Another brushed the trees of Mr. Macauch's house. These pictures are from around our yard.





I am still trying to figure out how to arrange pictures on this blog. Nothing I do seems to work, so you are stuck with the arrangement for now.
On Saturday night, Lake Powell Blvd. is blocked off and the hot air balloons land on the street--the Night Glow. It is an amazing sight and literally thousands of people are walking up and down the Blvd. looking at the balloons, visiting the many vendors and just having a good time.
(Todd did not bring the camera.)
I have been having trouble with a tooth for nearly three weeks. My dentist tried and tested everything to figure out what was wrong. Finally, he discovered a crack all the way through the tooth. So, I made an appointment to have a root canal. But, as luck would have it, my dentist is a hot air balloonist! Needless to say, he could not take care of my tooth last week because of the regatta. My appointment was for this Thursday, but my discomfort became unbearable and he ended up making room for me yesterday. I ran around and found people to cover my classes for me and ended up calling in sick today! What an ordeal. I was nearly upside down with my mouth open for almost 2 hours!! Now, I have to go in on Thursday for a crown prep. I will be glad when this is all over. It was fun seeing my dentist in his balloon, anyway. Glad I could help pay for it!!
The Hot Air Balloon Regatta is the first weekend in November every year. We'd love to have everyone come "home" for it next year! We could make it an annual Fall Family Event.

Jake went back to Scottsdale today. We are so proud of his accomplishments and proud of his performance at Q School. While it was disappointing to not make it to the second round, he went further than he has ever gone--truly something to be proud of. I loved having him home for the month, cooking, doing laundry, etc...Made me feel like a mom, again.
Just as Jacob left, Tyler came home so he could vote and get a little mom time!!!

Did I really do that?

Jake and Kelsey at Antelope Canyon

Todd and I went to St. George Saturday to see the new baby!

What a cute little guy. I forgot how small babies are. Unfortunately, we could not stay long and could not see everyone--sorry Stanford's and Gibb's. The minute we got home, the phone rang. It was one of the counselors in the Relief Society saying how much she missed me at Church. (Yeah, right!!)

I said, "Thanks" and explained that we had just returned from seeing the new baby. She then told me it was alright, she managed to give my lesson, any way! How embarassing! With General Confererence being the first Sunday, I just assumed everything was pushed back a week. Boy, was I wrong. While on the phone, I looked at my schedule and very stupidly said "I don't give the lesson until the 19th!"

Oh, yeah, Sunday was the 19th!!!! Maybe I won't go back for awhile so they can forget how dumb I am! (I really did not want to give that lesson anyway!)

We've had so much fun having Jacob home for the past month. In case you have not heard, he is getting ready for Q SCHOOL!!!! He qualified in the pre-qualifier in September, and begins the different stages next Wednesday. If he makes the first two tournaments, he will get his Nationwide Card, if he makes all three tournaments, he will officially get his PGA touring card!!!

It is a very exciting time for him and us. His dad will be his caddy!

They leave this Sunday for northern California. Keep good thoughts going his way! More on that next week!

His girlfriend, Kelsey, came from Scottsdale for a short visit on Monday. They went to Antelope Canyon (Skinny Caves) for a tour and took these awesome pictures.

"Home Sweet Home"

Todd and I were riding around town one day (yeah, we do that!) and he drove by 19/25 South Navajo Drive. It is just too weird to go by there and not have someone in the family living there.

Pastor Mannie has kept it up pretty well. He will invite me over sometimes, just to see the changes he and his family have made inside. He has made a few changes, but it is pretty much the way mom and dad had it.

It still looks familiar from this point-of-view. But...................................

YES, this is our old house. Can you believe it!!! I get sick whenever we drive by. It gets worse and worse all the time. I just don't have the same feeling I used to get when I drive by there. Our lives are so far removed from growing up in that house and to see it in this condition makes me so sad. In some ways I guess it is true, "you can't go home again".

Slow Going!

I've spent hours trying to figure this blogging out! I guess I'm going to have to call one of you for help. I want it all to come so easy to me, but as computers go, THEY HATE ME!

So, I used chicken manure this year on the advice of good ole' Boston's True Value. Little did I know that chicken manure will cause tomato plants become the Tomato Plants from Hell! They have overgrown, and outgrown the cages and are now creeping along the ground toward the house. I'm afraid some morning I will wake up with tomato plants growing inside the house.

We are now getting a bunch of tomatoes. I have made pasta sauce and Tracy's salsa. Funny thing, our home teacher brought us tomatoes on Friday-Thanks Wayne Gustaveson! Then the Saturday, Reba Jones brought over a bag of tomatoes! I have tomatoes coming out of my ears. I thought Mormons only gave away zucchini!! I'd love some Z right now, anyone want to trade tomatoes for Z??? Dad would be proud.

Ok, so I've decided to join everyone else in the family and start a blog. I don't know if I will have a lot of time to devote to this, but I'll give it a try. Don't look for anything too great at the beginning, I'm still trying to figure this new laptop out! Pictures??? Well, maybe sometime soon.

I just spent three days in Scottsdale with Tyler. We had a really good time. He took me to The Keg for my birthday dinner, boy was it GOOD!!! Best steak and prime rib ever. I went to a three day conference/training for the Teacher Cadet program I teach. It was actually a really good use of my time. I learned a lot. I have two more to go and I will be a state trainer for the program! I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, but will see.

This picture was taken a couple of weekends ago. We were eating at our local Mexican restaurant and Todd discovered that the chip he had just dipping in salsa was in the shape of our great state! We took this picture and the Daily Sun in Flagstaff ran it on the FRONT PAGE! He was hoping someone would offer us some $$$$ for it.