Hot time in the old town!

Just wanted to chime in on the celebration last Sat. We were very fortunate to be there to enjoy everybody's company but more importantly to share in the joy of Dad's, grandpa's and great-grandpa's birthday. I for one, miss being able to call and talk with my parents whether or not I'm having a bad day or a good day. When they were alive, I treasured each and every moment that I had with them, whether a simple touch or words over the telephone like, "hi son..." followed by whatever was on their mind or where ever the conversation would take us because I knew that those moments would not last for long. They were joyous when we were joyous and were saddened when we were saddened. So I pray that there will be many happy returns and I must say to everybody, Maureen, Brenda and Lisa can continue to sing "fast" songs! Who am I? Randy Jackson????!!!!!

Not to be left out!

I guess it's safe to say that we're getting snow down here! It was expected but the amount was kinda iffy...the iffy part has been answered! There are sooo many people who don't know what to do in snow conditions, consequently, the traffic is absolutely snarled and jacked to where nobody can move without getting too close to one another!! The school district closed down all after school activities, all parent teacher conferences and anything else that would keep people at the schools any longer than is necessary. There are no snow plows in the valley because Las Vegas is a sunny climate....so who needs any such equipment?? It will be interesting to see the morning news and how they treat this storm which, by the way, is supposed to last well into tomorrow morning!!! I guess the next big piece of news is that I am officially legit with the business. We obtained our business license Monday afternoon...the business name is titled, JADE Services...JADE is an acronym for my partner's and my name....Jon And Dennis Exclusive Services. We are excited to get going and hope to be able to lauch officially by the last week of December! It has been a pretty long haul just getting going because of the tight budget that we have been operating on. We're keeping our fingers crossed and our knees constantly on the floor. We'll keep everybody posted as the days and the next few weeks go by. I guess the worst that could happen is that we could show up at one of your doorsteps with sleeping bags and suitcases looking for a place to stay!!! Then we'll really see how thick blood is!!!!!!!

Post Thanksgiving notes

Well, just had to chime in on what went on for Turkey day. As you can see, we're all smiles before dinner (actually this was a post dinner, dinner...) and then after dinner, as you can imagine, the smiles disappeared and were followed by looks of pain! I was actually proud of myself for only being able to eat one plate but the plate was the size of a pizza dish! I complained to Maureen that I could only eat one helping! Pie was a different story! Because everybody doesn't like pumpkin pie, Maureen decided to take orders so that everybody would have a pie that they liked. So we ended up having, pumpkin, apple, banana, pecan and cherry!!! Mmmmm!

The women really didn't like this picture butt the cameraman couldn't resist! Grandma and Grandpa came down to join us for dinner, which we really loved them coming down. Because of Grandma's sore leg she wasn't as mobile as she would have liked but each day she seemed to be getting more mobility in her leg. Grandpa would accompany me on my morning walks with Orland out in the desert and he would help me find golfballs that had been left from my previous days of walking the dog and practicing my drives.

Of course, during the weekend you had to play

games and one of those games has to be a rousing

one. Here they are playing "pit".

Kalie really getting into the lolipop action and watching the rousing game. She found a bff in Shaun.

All in all it was, as always, a good weekend to have family around and to just chill in Htown. We particularly love being surrounded by the sound of our grown children enjoying each other's company and the little voice running all over the house calling for Shaun. We appreciate that Grandma and Grandpa are such that they can truly have joy in their posterity be it here or in Utah or the news from the mission field. We believe that the magical moments of familial bonding which happen to our extended family are not by accident or happenstance but through faith and prayers of grandparents, parents and children. We look forward to repeating the same during the Christmas holidays! Hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Well I am officially depressed to wake up to the new President of the U.S. speaking. As I told Dennis, our country is now going to H E double toothpicks. I can't believe people in this country can be so gullible and taken in by the "movie star" power etc. If they think Bush was bad ....just wait!! I guess we all know it is even closer to the second coming of the Lord.

ooops!

I thought I was posting this on my "family's" blog and not on the HTown blog. Oh well, we'll call that early onset of senility!

Maiden voyage!

So here we go....this is our first time on the family blog. We've been following, with interest, all the other entries and I've got to say...that first of all, I am not nor will I ever be a follower of that vampire thing. However, all of the girls in our family have been pretty much Twilight to the nth degree! Give me a Clive Cussler novel any day, every day and I will read just as avidely as the next guy or girl. I will admit, that I will probably see the movie when it comes out but that's about the extent of it. Marchelle and her kids came out the other week and then we drove down to San Diego to meet her husband, Rahul who flew in and we spent the weekend with them. We had a great time with them, they stayed on for the rest of the week but here are some pics. The condo we stayed in was 2 blocks from the beach. We were 5 min. from the church, we attended Sacrament meeting and 10 min. from the Temple which we went to after sacrament. Rahul and I caught a few waves Mon. morning before going to Sea World. It was coooolddddd!!!!! I think I could be really happy being a reverse "Snow Bird" spending the summer down in San Diego and then going back to Las Vegas for the rest of the year! Oh well, nice to dream and mostly nice to see everybody and catch up with you all!

Three's not only a crowd but trouble!

As you can see..they are together and they are smiling! Unbelievably, they have been actually pretty good with each other. They all kinda just blend together, each personality giving and making up when needed. Needless to say, both grandma and grandpa are eating up every moment and wearing out at the end of the night. We've forgotten about constant tripping hazards, ie; toys, books, shoes, and little people all over the floor! We've forgotten how every room in the house can look like a tornado just blew through.! We've forgotten about food mostly on the floor and not on the table! Do we care?? To be honest...maybe for about 3 sec. and then we realize that we don't have these moments very often and so we treasure them and savor the moments.

You've also been able to see that we are very close to being finished in the front yard. I was so tickled to see the kids playing again in the yard that it brought back sweet memories of 'back in the day' when they were "all soooo small....." The plants have matured a little more and there is actually color in them. In fact, just today I saw some butterflies on the flowers which means there will be some other flowers cross pollenated in the future. By spring of next year, the ground where Marchelle is standing should be entirely covered by plant growth and color.

I was going to put our house number that Maya is sitting on but it may be covered by the plant come spring or else I will have to trim that part of it. They do make for some interesting sitting and posing rocks for the kids. Oh well, just had a few moments to put this in, will continue to update in the future, within the next couple of days.