Stress from the Unknown

I hate not knowing and /or having little control over where Ken will be doing his internships next school year.  We got this huge list of possible internship sites, which we are studying and making our list from, but then we have to wait for NAU to do the assignments from our "wish" list.   It would be great if he got assigned to clinics close by, so that he can stay at home, but Ken also doesn't want to pass up great opportunities outside of the Flagstaff area.  I say, just as long as he gets an internship in Flagstaff for the last 8 weeks, I'll be happy . . . I certainly don't want to try to pack and move by myself.   And so we wait, for another month or so, to find out where he is assigned.

I Love My Birthday . . . Every One

I hope I never get tired of celebrating my birthdays.  I love the cards, the well-wishes, surprises, free lunches, parties with friends, dinner with my husband (that I don't have to cook), and the positive attention.  I celebrated my birthday by taking the day off work, spending a lazy morning watching movies, hiking in Sedona with Ken in the afternoon, and a dinner of sushi - my favorite . . . and wheat-free!

Happy New Year!

A Flagstaff tradition is the annual Pine Cone Drop - similar to the ball dropping on Times Square in New York.  Ken and I decided to go this year, even though it was below freezing outside - we just bundled up (I was wearing just about 2 of everything).  Since many of you know I'm not exactly a night person, I was happy to attend the earlier of the two Pine Cone Drops.  (They do one at 10pm and one at midnight.)  

The "Pine Cone" is made of aluminum, is approximately 6 feet tall, and is decorated with lights, which flashed as it started its drop.

There were a lot of people there, braving the cold.  We ran into my boss and our friends, Andy & Amber (Kylee was soundly sleeping).  They even had a band, which Ken was excited to watch - of course he would have been happier if he had actually been playing the gig.

And they had fireworks after the ball dropped.  It's a great idea, because the 4th of July fireworks always get cancelled due to dry weather.  And with all the snow we've had lately, it's certainly not dry.  We video-taped the "drop" with our camera, but forgot that you can't rotate video like you can pictures - so you'll have to turn your head to watch the pine cone.  Happy New Year.  Here's to a great year ahead!

Christmas 2008

I was dreaming of a white Christmas (which wasn't too tough, since it has been snowing for the last week and a half), but still, there was even more snow when we woke up on Christmas morning.  It was so beautiful outside - thank goodness we didn't have to go out in it.

Ken and I celebrate Christmas with our traditional picture by the fireplace (which only gets turned on about once a year).  With no children or family around, Christmas feels like it's missing something, but that's why we have friends - to help fill the void.


We were grateful that Andy, Amber, and Kylee braved the snow to come to our house.  We enjoyed spending the day with them (eating and playing games), and helping Kylee celebrate her first Christmas.

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas - here's to a very Happy New Year!

Let it snow, let it snow . . .

I love snow - I love to play in the snow, go sledding in the snow, and I don't even mind driving in the snow, but I don't like getting stuck in the snow. We've been getting snow for the last few days (I've lost track of how many inches we've gotten, but I'm pretty sure they're measuring it in feet now), and I've made it to work without any problems. Then today, I got stuck on my way to Grand Jury Duty (I was hoping they'd cancel it, but they didn't.) Our parking lot gets plowed, and the streets get plowed, but no one seems to do the driveway in between the parking lot and the street. This results in a huge amount of packed, icy snow at the end of the driveway - which I got stuck on. I was grateful for the guy behind me who offered to pull or push me out. Ken was at home too, so between the two of them, they pushed while I steered. Once I got out onto the street, there was quite a bit of skidding, but I kept it slow and steady and made it to Grand Jury Duty on time. Now if people in Flagstaff would stop doing illegal and dumb things, my 4-month stint would be done by now.

This picture doesn't really show just how much snow we have on the ground, but at least it proves that yes, we do get snow in Arizona.

Ken's Yearly Gig

Ken and his friend Jacob (the guy on the right in the video), played last year at our ward's Christmas party.  This year, they added a few more players.  After one mighty rehearsal, Ken and his friends (Tin Purcent) were ready to play at the ward Christmas party.  The music was awesome - and a lady even commented that she'd "pay to hear them play".  The funny thing is that the singer (Chad) gets paid regularly to play, and Ken used to be and hopes to someday again be paid to play - I guess that means they did a good job.  We recorded the whole thing, but only had room to attach snippets of two songs - hope you enjoy it as much as his groupie did!

Yeah - it's Christmas Break!

This is what I've been looking at for the last few weeks.  Ken studied, and studied, and studied some more as he prepared for finals - poor guy.

But now finals are over for this semester, and this is what I came home to today.  

Ken loves to play his drums - and he finally had time to play without feeling guilty that he wasn't studying.  He was so excited - he got to practice tonight for the ward Christmas party.   And he's even more excited to play at the party on Saturday.   I love to hear and watch Ken play - I'm his best groupie - and I can't wait until Saturday.