I haven't gone missing...

I've just taken a little break from blogging, has it really been 5 months?? Wow that's bad!

We've been traveling a lot this summer and it doesn't seem to end. We were invited to 5 weddings this summer, so far we've attended 3. The first wedding was in June and it was a Vietnamese wedding, which was VERY interesting. The bride had 4 outfit changes and we were served a 9 course meal over a period of 4 hours. It was a really neat experience.

The second was a very good college friend of mine from San Jose State, Gina. She got married on a beautiful golf course in Northern California. Her wedding was simply breathtaking and beautiful. We were 45 min late because we got lost in Gods Country, we missed most of the ceremony but the food and the reception was great!

The third was my youngest cousin, Claire, on my mom's side. This wedding was in Iowa and I wanted to combine it with visiting my other cousin Jaci, who lives in Alabama. I took a week off from work and flew to Alabama, spent a couple of days there, and then we drove to her parents house in Peoria Illinois. We drove through Tennessee and Kentucky, the scenery was beautiful. We spent the night in Illinois, where Jeff flew in and then drove to the wedding in Iowa the next day. Jeff then flew back home the next day and I stayed a few days longer in Iowa to visit with family. I love going back to Iowa it reminds me of my childhood and long summers. This trip I hit 6 states in 6 days. It was a very fast trip with great company and lots of fun.

We have another wedding this weekend up in Northern California so we'll be driving 6+ hours to spend the weekend with friends I haven't seen since 1998. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and getting back into touch with some of my high school friends.

The last wedding of the summer is in October, which is Jeff's cousin's wedding. This wedding is thankfully, kinda sorta, local. Its about a 2 to 3 hour drive so we'll just do it in one day.

Unfortunately our camera broke and I don't have any pictures to document these beautiful weddings. I'll see if I can snatch some pictures from some friends.

Jeff and I are eagerly awaiting winter so we can enjoy snowboarding again. This year we decided to do a rent lease program which will allow us to rent a condo with other members anytime we want from Nov. to April. This will give us 6 months of access to a condo in Mammoth, so you can bet most of our free time will spent on the slopes.

I'm tried of this hot muggy weather, bring on the clouds and snow in the mountains.

Take care,
Glo

Its here, its really here!

We had our custom entertainment center built and installed today!
As I've blogged about before we have been saving up for this for a very long time. We had a couple of financial set backs, one including with my knee surgery in July of last year.

Here is a before picture:

And now here is the finished picture:
Sorry the pictures are so dark. I'll try and take better ones and re-post them.

Now that we have our living room just about complete we are going to move onto our "game room/office" downstairs. We have plans to do a long built in desk below Jeff's "gaming TV" but we don't have any plans drawn up yet. I have been looking on Craig's List for the perfect desk to re-finish, but I haven't found one that is right for the space.

Spring is here!

Okay, I know its been almost another month since I last posted, but its been a crazy month. At the beginning of the month Jeff and I took a weekend trip to Mammoth to turn up some new snow. We were planning on getting 2 full days of boarding in, however our plans were cut short. On our fourth run Saturday morning I dislocated my patella (knee cap). This was excruciatingly painful. At the time I didn't know what I had done to my knee other than it hurt, very, very bad. Mammoth Ski Patrol came and took me down the mountain in one of those nifty toboggans. I don't remember much because I was mostly trying not to think about what I had just done to my knee, and the pain I was in. Once we got down the mountain Jeff took me to the Emergency Room at the local hospital, where they couldn't tell me much, but they gladly took my $200 co-pay.

Once back home I saw my surge0n who did my left knee back in July. He scheduled an MRI and a week and half later I found out the damage wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I had only dislocated my knee cap and no major tendons were torn. I've been back to physical therapy and I'm doing much butter. I still have some swelling and soreness, but I'm hopeful I wont need surgery.

On Monday something very exciting is happening, we are finally getting our custom entertainment center installed. It took us over a year to schedule, design and save for it, and now only two short days a way it will be installed. Jeff and I are so excited. I will post pictures as soon as I can. I also need to post a picture of the new "game room" which was our office. Back in November Jeff bought a flat screen TV to put downstairs so he could play his video games and no take up the main TV. We have now converted that room into the "game room". We have plans to do a built in desk down there but for now the TV is hung and Jeff is able to have his rock band drum kit set up down there and it doesn't take up any space in the living room, which makes me very happy. :)

It's been a while...

Sorry its been over a month since I've posted, but we haven't been up to much. Mostly we've been getting in as much snowboarding, in Mammoth, as possible. We had a week long trip planned to Mammoth for a long time, fortunately we had a really nice storm come in the weekend before so we went took advantage of the fresh snow and headed up January 24th for the weekend.
We came home Sunday to work the next day, but the foll0wing Friday Jan 30th couldn't have come soon enough. We took off Friday right after work and we were off for 9 days. We were blessed with great conditions and Mammoth received 3 ft of snow the last few days we were there.
Jeff and I both held out for 8 days of snowboarding IN-A-ROW. I've never gone more than 3 days in a row before so it was a hard goal to meet. We sure got our moneys worth with our season pass in fact we surpassed the amount of days we needed to ride to break even . We've already started saving for next years pass, which go on sale in a couple of months.After our week vacation, Jeff didn't get enough powder so he went back up the following weekend for another 3 days of boarding and 4 ft of fresh powder. I stayed home and battle a major tooth ache. Before we left for Mammoth for the week I had a root canal, which is were the problem started. I ended up getting an abscess and I was taking vicodine every 2 hours for the pain. I'm still battling the aching tooth, but I'm off the pain meds, which I'm grateful for.

We haven't been working on the condo much, but we do need to get some painting done. I'm getting tired of the white walls. All I have to do is pick out the colors, but that is not as easy as it sounds.

I found some time to re-pot some plants in larger pots and plant some new ones. The plants in the front row are the ones I re-potted and the tall ones in the back I planted in larger containers for our front patio.
The plants look a lot better since they found new homes.
Even the kitties enjoy them. This is a picture of some of them on the front patioNext I hope to post that we have started some painting. We are getting very close to saving up enough for our custom built-in entertainment center, so soon I'll be posting pictures of that.

I hope we continue to get a ton of snow so we can enjoy some more fresh powder.
Love ya!
Gl0

Christmas Gifts put to use.

I love my new waffle maker. I got up early the day after Christmas to make waffles for my dad and Jeff. Thanks Jeff for this wonderful gift!Thanks mom for this great gift, I've always wanted a food processor and now I have one. I have already used it three times and I'll never buy pre-shredded cheese again! (Please don't hold me to that.)



You know I'm a fan of organizing, which is why these storage cabinets are the best gift. I've already put them to use in our garage. I'll post pictures of the organized garage later. Thanks dad for the gift of organization.
My sister gave me the gift of seeing the best tribute band ever! We went to a 40 oz. to Freedom concert at the Coach House in San Juan. It was the best show I've been to in a while. Thanks Gayla!

My mom gave Jeff an Omaha Steak Gift Pack, which we will definitely being putting to use this spring, or this weekend depending on the weather.

I got Jeff a Blue Jackets (Hockey) hoodie and a pair of goggles with changeable lenses. Both came to good use in Mammoth.

Thanks for a great Christmas everyone!

Jan. 4th 1982

Twenty-Seven years ago my mom gave birth to ME!

This post is dedicated to my parents for everything they have done for me. I want to first thank them for making it to the hospital on time, because I've heard stories of that very frosty and windy day in January. Depending on who you talk to, my mom or dad, it was a sketchy drive to the hospital.

I was born in Ceder Rapids, Iowa, and the weather had taken a turn for the worse and no one was supposed to be on the roads or leave their house. My mom had been moving furniture (don't ask) earlier that day and she started feeling contractions so she knew it was time, but neither my dad nor sister were home. She patiently, or maybe not so patiently, waited for their return. Once they returned my mom and dad headed to the hospital. My mom said she almost had me in the car because the road conditions were so bad, my dad had to drive slow and cautious, or maybe he wasn't so slow and cautious because my mom tells me there was almost an accident. And this is where my first thank you comes in to play. "Thank You dad for NOT crashing on the way to hospital, and Thank You mom for not having me in the car."

My next thanks comes 4 years later in 1986. I never thought I'd say this, but "Thank You for moving to California." I wouldn't be the person I am today if we hadn't. I wouldn't have had the same opportunities and I wouldn't have met all the wonderful friends I have now. Things would be a lot different if we had stayed in Iowa. Although, years after we moved I wanted SO BADLY to move back, I now see the bigger picture and I say Thank You! Don't get me wrong I LOVE Iowa, and I love where I came from, but the path my life has taken would be different for sure.

I've probably always had this personality trait, but I'm LOUD; sometimes too loud, too obnoxious, and too wild (okay so maybe more than one trait). I have learned to accept that about me and I have learned to control it, for the most part. I want to say Thank You for putting up with me. I should also say Thank You to my sister, Gayla. After all, she is the one who had to put up with me ALL the time. Sometimes my parents would send me along with her to the mall or over to her friends house to make sure she didn't get into trouble. There is a fairly big age gap between us of 7 years and 6 months, so for her it was SO NOT COOL to have her little sister hanging around, but for me it was WAY COOL, because I got to hang out with my cool older sister. While I'm at it I should probably say Thank You for all the trips to Clarks for ice cream. Having an older sister that could drive also made me WAY COOL.

I want to thank my parents for instilling good values in me as a youngin'. I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for their love and Christian values. As a child they always talked to me about making the right choices for myself and my future.

In 1995, at the age of 13, I had the opportunity to go "Down Under" to Australia. I was chosen by People to People to be a student ambassador of the United States. This was one of the best opportunities ever. As I recall the cost was expensive, so my parents goal for me was to raise half of the money myself and the other half they would pitch in. I worked hard selling things in a craft fair and doing chores around the house. I started earning an allowance and most of it went towards my trip. I don't think I came close to earning half, but I did learn how to manage money and I did learn that hard work pays off, so for that I say "Thank You".

If it weren't for my parents I would have a TON of college debt. Thank You for paying for my college tuition! I can't say that enough and I certainly didn't take it for granted. I have a lot of friends who had to pay their own way through college and years after they have graduated they are still paying off their school debt. Thank you for not allowing me to go head over heals into debt. Two years and eight months after graduating college I was able to buy a condo, and I wouldn't have been able to full fill that dream without your help through college. Thank You!

There are so many other "Thank You's" that I could give but I can't think of all of them right now. Mostly, thank you for being there for me when ever I've needed you, and thank you for everything you've been able to teach me.

THANK YOU!

We got snow!

Mammoth received 4" of snow yesterday and today we are heading home. Of course the bulk of the snow falls the day before we leave. I'm just glad we had a good amount of "good weather" days. There was only one day where most of the mountain was closed due to weather.

This is the view from the living room, at one point it was snowing so hard that we couldn't see across the street.

All in all I got 3 days of snowboarding in, I think Jeff got 4. My knee, which I was worried about, held out and didn't give me any problems. I was a little sore at the end of each day but nothing like the last couple of years. I guess boarding on a torn meniscus was a lot more painful than post surgery weakness. At the end of the day, over the last couple of seasons, my knee would be so wobbly and painful I wouldn't be able to make the last run without cringing at every carve. But this year I felt great going down the hill and I had a lot more control of my turns. Its good to know the pain from surgery was very much worth it.

With that said I'll leave you with a picture of how you go to the spa in the snow. That's Brad a long time family friend. We grew up together so I consider him a brother.

Goodbye Mammoth, we will return soon! (Jan 31, to be exact)

Live from Mammoth Mt.

We made it!

As we climbed in elevation we started seeing snow at about 4,000 in Big Pine.

This picture was taken a couple of miles after passing through Big Pine.

This picture was taken as we turned off the major highway into Mammoth. POWDER!

We arrived Saturday Dec. 27th and we're in town until Saturday Jan. 3rd. That leaves plenty of time to hit the slopes and rest in between. So far we've hit the mountain 3 full days. We've done a lot more relaxing and laying around then I intended, but having a full week off from work has left me not wanting to do much but lay around.

Here is a picture of all of us New Years night. Left to right Lora (my mom), Jeff, Me and Brad.

Happy New Year!!

Today it started to snow and the wind gusts are up to 20+ miles per hour so we've stoked the fire and are planning on staying in for the second day in a row. We leave tomorrow, so today was out last day to hit the mountain. We'll be back in February for another week.

I'll have to post some more pictures later. I'm going to go play in the snow.