You know, I think one of my sons (not saying that I don't have two sons who are this way) who is musically oriented.  It's just amazing watching them discover the wonderful and unique talents that God gave each of them.  It's like seeing gifts opened at Christmas!  Jon has done quite well on the Clarinet.  He had a concert a couple of weeks ago and told me before-hand that he didn't want everyone to hear him squeak his clarinet.  I reminded him of his own insightful words to me just a few days before...  he had told me that he had woken up and told himself it would be a great day... and it was!  I told him to just tell himself he isn't going to squeak, and he won't.  He smiled, knowingly, and after the concert, he was all smiles and told me it had worked again!  He didn't squeak - not even once!  The following week his school put on another concert.  This time he was singing.  While I couldn't hear him, I could occasionally see him.  I was surprised at how well the kids that age sang.  I expected it to sound more like younger kids, I guess.  I heard some real singing, on-key and on-beat!  I'll try to add the photos soon.  But there was another surprise!  Jon never let on that there was a bell choir!  He did a song with other kids on the hand-bells!  How beautiful it sounded!  I was so proud tears welled up in my eyes! 

Please tell me I have another week until Christmas!  It was only last week we had Thanksgiving, right?  Every day has been a whirlwind in trying to shop and in helping the kids get that last whirlwind of schoolwork done before they got out for the winter holiday.  I haven't had time to work!  OK, I haven't gotten more than a couple of days' work but I don't see how I could have taken any more and still gotten even what I did get done, done.  Yikes!

...so last week, Bruce found out that he could take all of Christmas week off.  What a pleasant surprise, considering he has only been on the job for a couple of weeks.  Before that, we had planned to spend the whole of the kids' winter break in Texas working and helping his dad fix some damage caused by Hurricane Ike.  That went out the window when he got the job, but now, suddenly, before I had Christmas "under wraps" we cound out we could get one week to go.  With one whole week and both weekends off, we could at least make the drive, drop the boys off to see their dad, and have a little visit.  The kids' last day of school was Friday.  It's just under 20 hours' drive so we had planned to leave Friday night, drive all night, and arrive Saturday evening. 

Well, guess what?  Just after dinner Friday night, I began throwing up and got very ill...  a few more hours and we would have been packed and on the road.  Thank the good Lord that didn't happen.  I had had a stomach ache all day but knew it would go away.  So I was up with the ugly bugly flu all night and I was down all of Saturday.  My sweet, loving family was very good about not being able to leave.  I could see their anxiety, but I never felt hurried.  I was able to drag myself up enough Saturday night enough to pack myself.  I had the boys pack themselves and take care of Maui cat and we were finally able to leave just before midnight on Saturday night.  I wonder just how many things we overlooked? 

There is something wonderful about driving all night with young kids - they sleep and wake up with only a short drive left.  Well, Jon did at least.  Chris valliantly attempted to stay up all night and, outside of a couple hour or two naps, he did.  He chatted with Bruce until 4:30, then with me for a while.  I feel sorry for Rick the rest of the day after they arrived.  I haven't spoken with him yet to know how that worked out!  I know he was as tired as a spawning salmon that night! 

So, we dropped the kiddos off and continued on.  We were both dog-tired and desparately wanting the last four hours to go fast.  I know Bruce was even more tired than I because he took the first drive leg and went until 4:30 while I slept.  He had been saying that he didn't feel so good. Staying up most of the night will do that to you.  I was only driving a couple of hours before I got sleepy and he took over.  We did a lot of the trip that way, in +/- 2-hour shifts. 

Guess what?  Well, we got most of the way there before he began to get seriously ill, just as I had.  By the time we made it the rest of the way, he, too, was throwing up.  Driving all night wasn't the only issue he was having.

He's been down all day but at least he got to have a bathroom and a warm bed to sleep in while the worst washed over him rather than having to deal with travelling, too.  Yikes.  He'll be a new man tomorrow and the vacation can start.  I just hope and pray that the Junior Executives didn't contract this ugly bugly.  What a bummer to spend Christmas sick! 

I'm looking forward to meeting some new family and to seeing the beach, even though it's cold here, it's not like it hasn't been cold in Colorado. 

Going back to the music and concerts, the boys wanted an electric guitar and an electronic keyboard for Christmas.  Bruce and I were able to get those and an electronic drum set because we found some steal-of-a-deals.  Entry level "real" instruments.  We got all three and gave them to the whole family, setting them up in the extra bedroom.  We told the kids that if they were to learn any of those instruments, that it would become theirs.  If both did,then we would talk about buying another, better instrument.   They wanted  to have their own, of course, but in the end, I think everyone will be happy because we can play as a family and no one will be fighting.  It will also encourage them to actually learn the instruments.  Jon wants to learn many instruments.  Go, Jon!  Chris wants to master the electric guitar.  Go Chris!  I hope they do!  I'll sing for them!  Unless they want me to sing rap.  Then, well, do they even have guitars in rap music???

Well, friends and family out there reading this, have a warm and wonderful Christmas.  I love each and every one of you!  Don't get that ugly bugly flu.  Get those presents wrapped!  I didn't.  I feel like a heel, but I got sick before I got it done and then we left town.  OK, I sound like I'm making excuses.  I am...  yep.  Well, I guess I had better go take care of that sick man in the bedroom.  Poor guy. 

It's quiet again, only this time everyone is sleeping all snug in their beds.  Probably not with visions of sugarplumbs, though.   More realistically, visions of cars and snowboards dancing through their heads.  lol.  I should be tired, and I'm sure I am, but I won't feel it until I put my head on the pillow. 

I was the proud mama tonight.  Jon had his first band concert.  I'll try to get some photos up soon.  On the way there, he told me he would be embarrassed that everyone would hear him squeak his clarinet.  I told him about the power of positive thinking and he reminded me that he woke up the other morning and affirmed to himself how his day would be wonderful, and it was.  So, he didn't squeak at all during the concert.  He sat stil and watched the other groups play, which was hard even for me!  We talked about it again on the way home.  I was so proud of him.  He had a lot of homework to do tonight, some work he didn't get finished at school, and worked until he went to bed.  But I do feel good because there was some math he didn't understand and I was able to help him to grasp it.  Hey, I'm taking math right now, too!  It was pretty neat - when we showed up at the school there was a doe right there in the school lawn.  She was no more than 30 feet away from us - like she was across the room.  She wasn't scared until Jon saw his band director and took off running over to talk to him.  Then she ran away.  But getting that close was truly special!

Before the concert, I got a little one-on-one time with Chris.  We went shopping and got a shake on the way home.  He was just as mature and talkative as he could be.  It was a great bonding thing for us.  It's little times like this that we all remember.  I remember being a teenager and early in the morning, my father would wake me up so I could go with him to the depot to check the board to see when he would be called to work.  Sometimes we would go by Duncan Donuts.  Those were wonderful memories!  I hope things like tonight stick with Christopher.  It's always good when you get to have a little special time with someone special.

Don't know if we're going to get to hit the slopes this weekend.  We have a lot of things to get done.  I know the kids want to.  I think I've worked the kinks out from last time I went.  lol.  I wish I was as resiliant as those kids are! 

 

It's just about time to wake Jon up.  Mornings start at 4:00 a.m. when Bruce gets up, Chris gets up at 5:30, and sweet Jon gets to sleep in until 7:30 when he contests that he's just too tired to wake up.  lol  In the quiet of the morning, I should be studying right now.  I have a goal to finish my math course by the end of the month, but I fear that this goal is overzealous.  I should be able to test out of the second math course if I know all the course material for this one as it goes well beyond what I'm tested over.  That would be nice and would put me 2 months into the semester and 1 course past my minimum requirements. 

I'm feeling a little reflective this morning and I want to just say that I love all of you unconditionally.  No matter what you do.  Promise me something - do not form negative opinions of those you love, especially without making absolutely sure that those opinions are accurate and that it really matters.  Love your friends and family for who they are even if it's not what you would be or what you would want them to be.  A dear friend once told me that everyone has the right to screw up their own lifes as best they can.  What he meant is not to try to  push others into doing what you want them to do or be like.  Do not put those you love in the situation where you feel that because they are not like you want them to be, you have a negative opinion about them.  Let me tell you a story.  One of my kids told someone that he has to cook for himself.  The person he told that to blindly believed it and made that statement into something it wasn't.  What he meant is that the kids are asked to make sandwiches on Saturday afternoons as everyone is busy and they are old enough to learn a little independence.  Sometimes they don't like what I make for dinner so I tell them to make themselves mac-n-cheese.  What that other person heard is that my kids are "often left to fend for themselves."  That made me look neglective.  I have never been anything but the most deeply loving of parents and that person knew this and should have questioned it.  It was easier and much more sensational to believe that I don't feed my kids.  This is clearly out of character and I am hurt that this person would not even question it.  This is but one example of many I could cite where my loved ones attacked me and formed inaccurate and unjust opinions based on incomplete facts.  This is one of the most hurtful things I have ever experienced and I would beg you all not to do that to your friends and family.  Not a day goes by that I don't feel anger and hurt to the point where I wonder if I could ever forget.  Just know, everyone, that I love you all for who you are and I will continue to love you no matter what. 

Well, got to go wake up the Jon-man.

Got about 10 inches of snow last night.  It was the first real snow this season.  Bruce was so sweet, he had to leave at 5:00 a.m. so before he left, he shoveled a path to the Suburban for me and cleared the snow off so we would be able to hop right in an go when I took Christopher to school!  Going down the mountain was rather interesting as the snow was up to the undercarriage of the truck.  I wondered how Bruce got to the highway in the Subaru, which sits quite low.  He called later and said he could hardly see the road through the snow coming over the hood as he plowed through it.  I was so grateful to leave my 2WD Toyota quietly hybernating today.  I would not have made it out of the driveway.  The good thing is that it was dry, soft powder and not wet and icy stuff.  Anyhow, it felt like an adventure and it was exciting to me - the thrill of getting down the mountain and back up - twice.  I don't know why I get a thrill out of slick roads, but I do.  I would love to find a big parking lot and slide all over it.  But not today - I must do my school work!  I don't know if the city will get to our street to plow it today....  it is kind of like optional to them, if everything else is done and they are bored.

Here is a photo of the snow - and some of our trip to Vegas back in September.  I was there for the annual shareholder meeting of the World Botanical Gardens and was fortunate and grateful that I was elected to their board of directors.  One cannot go to Vegas without seeing Elvis, can they?  Big things are happening at the Garden and I hope that they will recover from their past issues and thrive.  If you want to see photos of the garden, go to www.wbgi.com. 

                                
                                    

Winter is here at last!  We've had a few dustings but today it snowed all day.  I couldn't wait to go drive in it.  There's nothing more fun than going to a big open area and making the car slide.  Ah hem... within the laws, of course, wink, wink. 

We spent last weekend at Bruce's mom's ranch, but not before we hit the slopes for a day.  We had a great time.  Chris got to drive the ATV and work on learning to shift a clutch.  Wowee!  He kept it in first gear, and we kept it tame, but it was great fun for him.  We went to see a rock structure called The Window.  It was a fun hike up to it, but the view from it was fantabulous.  On the other side was a magnificent view of the Sangre De Christo mountains at dusk, when they become blood-red as the name says.  Then we saw wagon tracks ground in the rocks back in the wild wild west days from carts making thousands and thousands of trips over them, loaded with timber and such.  The trip ended with an unexpected mechanical breakdown, resulting in a fun ride on the top of a flatbed tow truck.  We were on TOP OF THE WORLD!  Chris and Jon thought it was SO COOL.  We had to stay in a hotel in Alamosa, CO and they had to miss school on Monday, making their Thanksgiving break six days long!  The good Lord was watching out for us, because there were some seriously bad road conditions just ahead of us when we broke down due to a winter storm.  I think that we would have seen some less pleasant excitement had we continued.  Ice and trailers do not work well together anyway.  Thank you God for watching out for us!

I'll try to put some photos below.

We watched a movie tonight about snowboarding...  the kids are dying to ride this weekend.  I'm looking forward to it.  I cannot wait to be better at it.  It will take a little more work for the "old lady" to keep up with the young pups.  lol!  I think Bruce and I are going to sneak off tomorrow while the boys are in school for a little lesson.  I can pretty much make it down the slope without falling, maybe once, so I'm getting better but I'm still only riding the back edge and I need to learn to ride both sides.  I'm going to do it, though.  Then I'll study all night.  Both kids are interested in learning the half-pipe.  The jury's out with me learning the half-pipe.  One step at a time. 

    

Greetings from Colorado!

Look who learned to swim over the summer!!!  What else do you do when you hang out with Grandparents in Kerrville for the summer?  The Junior Executives had another life-changing experience this summer, too!  They were baptized!  Yes!  It just so happened that Rick had a trip to Kerrville that day!  Wasn't that an incredible stroke of luck?  He got to be there for it.  I wish I could have, but I was busy working and studying back here in CO.  What a meaningful summer for them both!  I missed them terribly, but the experiences they had will be with them for the rest of their lives.  Thanks a million, Dad and Martha!

So much has happened in the last year.  I have so much to say!  In order to make this work better for me, however, I think I'll save the review of the last year for another time.  Right now, just let it suffice to say that tomorrow we're making our second try at snowboarding.  It's Thanksgiving break and we're going to ride tomorrow, then Thursday, we'll head down to Southfork, CO and celebrate Thanksgiving with Bruce's mother and stepfather, two wonderful people, on their ranch.  We'll ride horses and drag the toys - the ATV and dirt bike with us so we can play while we're there.  I'll try to take photos to post!  Feel free to post your comments on here, too!  It's not just for me!  I love and miss you all! I hope you all enjoy this blog!