Hawaii Post Script

Well, I had intended to blog yesterday and post some Hawaii pictures, but I could not download any pictures for some reason.  So, I posted the pictures on facebook instead.  I should have deleted some of them as there were dupicates and some not so good ones.


Of course, I had a great time.  Sherry and Jeff are very good hosts.  Jeff likes to be on the go, so we did lots of driving and covered the whole island before I left.  The Big Island (very original name) is different, I think, from the others I have been to.  There have been five different volcano irruptions over the years so many parts of the island are nothing but lava flows that are now rocks.   We drove to the top of the largest of the volclanoes.  However, the southeast side of the island is very tropical.  Now get this, they get 250 inches of rain each year. Amazing!  We visited rain forests, tropical gardens with very lush vegetation, beautiful waterfalls, etc.  The Kona district where we stayed is very dry and only gets about 10 inches of rainfall a year.  The weather was beautiful most days with only a few mornings of cloudy weather.  


I finally said that I would like to visit a beach so we did get to one for a half-day.  They surf was really high most of the time we were there so it was fun to watch all the water activity--surfers etc.
I didn't come home with a tan, which is fine.  I don't need any more wrinkles.  The one thing we didn't see was some of the nicer beaches which are located in the area of the big resorts.  We ran out of daylight on the day we were in that area.


The Thorne's condo is nicely located.  We are across the street from the ocean with no trees to block the view.  My favorite thing was sitting out on the Lani listening  and watching the waves roll in.


Anyway, I am back home now to take care of Brian.  It was good of him to stay home while I vacationed.

Gett'in Out

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day so we drove down to Mesquite to a car show and chili cook-off.  Sounds  like something right down our alley doesn't it?  It was quite fun looking at all the old cars that have been renewed.  Some are quite amazing.  The one above caught my eye.  Did you notice the blender attached to the front left side?  I guess they can mix a drink while driving along.

Brian liked this old l936 Ford.  He said his Uncle Vern had the same car that they drove down to the field every day.  However, it didn't look like this one.

We saw some very snazzy paint jobs.  This one caught my eye.

How would you like to take this one out for a Sunday drive?

I took a picture of this 1957 Chevy because when I was in high school we drove this exact same car.  It is still a pretty-good looking car.  I know I was pretty excited about it back then.

We walked over to the chili cook-off competition.  This place had already sold out of their chili, and it was only 1:00.  It was pretty crowded so I only stopped at a few of the clili booths.  It was 61 degrees there in Mesquite so it was a good way to spend a few hours.

Out of Order Post.

These picture are supposed to be in the middle of the blog below.  I started doing the blog, then had to leave and when I came back I forgot to include these pictures taken Christmas morning.

We woke up Christmas morning to this beautiful sun rise.

Katie gets ready to attack her present pile.

 Not sure why I included this picture.  At least Becky and Maddy look good.

Oh boy, a new tie.  Too bad he didn't get anything else.  ha ha

Our two BYU-I students.
Be sure and look at the next blog for more Washington pictures.

Washington Good Times

Even though I am a little late in getting a blog going, I still wanted to show you what a good time we had in Washington for the two weeks  we were there.  We had a wonderful time sharing space at the Toolson's and Fluegge's.   We were well taken care of.   We saw Paul play in a couple of basketball games, and I was sure I took a picture, but since it wasn't there, I must not have.

 Christmas Eve at Becky's lovely decorated home.   Doesn't the table look lovely?

The "boys" enjoying themselves while preparations for dinner are taking place.

What a cute couple!  Doesn't seem possible they have been married 21 years.

Cousins getting ready for some Santa Bingo action.

 Let the game begin.

Becky checks out her winnings.  No, it wasn't some Hefty trash bags.

Family Photo time.  The Toolsons plus Kelly.

 Just two old folks enjoying themselves.

Now, that is a good-looking group of grandchildren.

The Fluegge-Richardson's plus Mia and Maddy.  Wouldn't be a family picture without them.

The day after Christmas we drove over to Seattle to get our first look at little Audrey.  She is even cuter in person.

It is too bad that we can't see the Richardsons more often.  Babies change so quickly.

Sean really enjoyed those chips and salsa.  He wasn't in a very good mood until the food arrived. I'm so glad we were able to get to Seattle to see David and family.  We spent the night with the Domans, who are always such great hosts.

Finally, we spent some time at the Kindrick's before going home.  The girls modeled their Christmas pj's and cute hats.

We had a great time.  We had good driving weather both going and coming home.  Only sad part was missing the family that couldn't join us.

By the way, we are still pondering what to do about our anniversary next November.  We keep changing our minds about the best plan.  More on that later.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

FAVORITES

These are a few of my favorite things right now.

A decorated Christmas tree.

A new Christmas decoration.

Nativity scenes--I didn't put up all of my nativity sets so I miss them.

Christmas cookies ready to deliver to shut-ins.

Christmas music.  I can't get enough of the music.

Christmas books.  I love reading Christmas stories.  Besides the scriptures, that is all I am reading until Christmas.  Oh, I will probably read the newspaper!

Another favorite of mine.  Isn't he cute?

What are your favorites?