Merry Christmas

To our Dear Family and Friends, From our home to yours, We wish you the Merriest Christmas and desire that you receive not only material items, but spiritual feasting at this sacred time of the year.

Preparing

I'm sitting here in the den preparing my Sunday School lesson. It's going to be a tough one today. It is on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have so far wept through the whole lesson preparation.

I know that at this time of the year, we are to celebrate the birth of the Savior, but this is the lesson assigned me. I know that I am not often very preachy here on the blog, but today I my heart is so full for the love I have for my Savior, for his birth, his life, his mission and especially for his gift of the Atonement. When I think of what he did for me, for us, I am especially grateful for his birth. I am thankful for his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, and what they must of felt that night some 2,000 years ago when that precious child was cradled in a humble manager.

I am so grateful for my family, for my parents teaching me correct principles, for showing unconditional love even when I made mistakes. I am thankful for a wonderful wife who practices this gift of unconditional love. I am nothing without her, not one good thing would I have accomplished in these past 20 years, let alone this year without her Love, her encouragement, her faith in me to develop and grow and take on more responsibility in my professional life, my spiritual life, and my physical life.

Please forgive the weeping, please forgive me if I'm too preachy today. My heart is overflowing with the love the Savior has poured out upon me, upon us. My heart is full for the love of my older brother who celebrated his Birthday yesterday without a card from his forgetful younger brother. Happy Birthday Rich!

Continue to be good, do righteous works, follow the Savior, that is what this life is about, preparation.

Travel and BRRR

That was my day today. But before I get started on that, let me recap the weekend at Texaspricetags!

Friday I arrived home from Tucson - to very warm weather. I set up the laptop, checked e-mail, made some calls, did some work. Then I trimmed the "older" bushes and gave the "newer" bushes a bit of a haircut too.

Saturday, Princess and I put lights on many of the bushes and spent a good deal of time stringing lights on the big crepe myrtle in the front. We tested everything and all of the lights worked fine. I also had to replace the one extension cord that I cut through while trimming on Friday. We had Princesses work party and even though Princess stated "we're leaving at 9:30 sharp", we arrived home at 11:30 PM!!

Sunday, up at 5:30 AM left for Stake Conference at 7:15, had a harrowing ride to Jilleen with weird fog that would white out the exterior of the windows - I'm talking really freaked me out all three times it happened! Stake Conference went really well. We were spiritually feed and uplifted, which hopefully will last for the next six months.

Monday, I worked from the plant, then off to the Midway High School Christmas concert! Which totally rocked! The music really helped to bring me more into celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Deborah Vance, Kylie Jacobsen, and Alex Christensen did awesome jobs. We even saw Lane West (our neighbors son's friend) and he had an awesome duet. It was a great evening, with the exception that the Blackhurst's had to leave early cause the girls were getting antsy.

So I arrived in Detroit after getting up at 3:30AM, expecting to wait until 5:30 PM to travel to South Bend, Indiana, only to find an earlier flight, which I got on, which allowed me to get here before some of the freezing rain hits... about now! The temperature is right around 33F! It's cold, wet, and soaks right to the bones. I am grateful to have arrived safe and sound, and to know that I only have a short drive tomorrow to do my audit.

Be safe and WARM out there! Jim

Tuggs ON

Say it out loud - This is where I have been this week. TUGGS ON - you know, Tuggs On Arizona! ;-0. So really it is Tucson, Arizona, but after I got a call from Mexico and explained that I was in Tucson, my person on the other kept calling it Tuggs On - I laughed my butt off.

This week was scheduled to be at home, but late last week, I got a call from an associate within our company that this vendor Needed to be audited as quickly as possible. So after about a dozen e-mails, we got the date set and here I sit in the hotel room blogging. The mountains are beautiful, the weather is warm about 80F, and there are beautiful mountains!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - traveling home, doing some laundry, and working on some reports. Then, no more putting up Christmas Decorations - just putting some empty boxes into the attic so we can park at least one car in the garage.

Sunday is Stake Conference in Killeen with our Ward singing right after the opening prayer and then the closing song! We practiced hard, the songs are beautiful, and more important, I'm looking forward to being rejuvenated spiritually.

Gotta go to sleep - early flight tomorrow!
Jim

Blogging...

Or lack thereof. This is what I was hit with yesterday at Church.

I had a really good lesson planned out. Reviewed it, studied it, planned it, printed it and then the Spirit and my emotions got to me and I boobed out again. I must say (without being too preachy), that I have a soft spot for my Savior, Jesus Christ and when I teach about is sacrifice for all mankind, It gets to me, in the throat, eye ducts, nose...well you get the picture.

We had a very long day at Church, early choir practice before Sacrament Meeting, then the three hour block, then another choir practice for 1.5 hours, that just really rocked! We got a lot accomplished and it sounded great.

Next week we sing in Stake Conference in Killeen, so if you are in the neighborhood, and want to hear a great choir, come here some inspiring speakers and some beautiful music sung by people who love to sing.

I got to see our friend Karsten last week in Chattanooga, TN. He looked great and seemed to be doing ok. We miss him and also Molina (his ex).

I'll try to be better at posting - it's hard with all the travel and then the laundry, then putting up Christmas lights, the tree, and about 4,000 boxes of Christmas Decoration!!! We have too much stuff (crap as I call it) and I'm thinking that E-bay looks good right about now! Anywho - I haven't died and Princess has posted anything either so you can tell we're busy!

Happy Safe Holidays!

Grattitude

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Both Princess and I wish all our friends and family a wonderful, safe holiday.

We are spending Thanksgiving at home. Princess has put the 25 LB Tom in the oven, basting him every half hour. Pies have been made, casserole dishes prepared and waiting to bake, and jell-o is in the fridge.

This year, Princesses Mom Linda is with us. Her dad is in San Jose, CA helping the big guy up at the North Pole obtain all the little kids wish lists along with who has been naughty, who has been nice. He will spend today with some surrogate family in California, then back to the mall on Friday.

We also have Princesses Aunt Marcia and Uncle Howard here too. They arrived around 1:00 AM this morning from Utah. We spoke throughout the day and they had one doozy of a storm in Wyoming from SLC to Denver. We're glad they're here, safe and sound.

What am I thankful for this year? A list that most of you would probably not want to peruse it would be so long. So here is my short version.

Technology: It allowed us to track Aunt Marcia and Uncle Howard as they drove here. Also the advances in medicine that have kept my Mom battling her Cancer.

Family: The most important of all, and not just those of you who are blood related, but those who have chosen us and vice versa we have chosen. The Blackhursts, The Jacobsen's, The Mocks, The Lackmeyers, The Criblez, The Jones, The Estradas, The Castenedas, The Whites, The Nielsens, The Hammers, The Kellers, The Prusseys, The Winnermarks, Our Waco 2ND Ward, the list goes on.

Jobs: In these trying times, I am extremely grateful for a job that I am passionate about and love doing. I have a terrific boss who keeps me motivated and growing. Co-workers on my team that are the best people the world has ever known. And of course, those "customers" that I serve in Commercial, R&D, and our individual plants.

I am deeply grateful for my faith. For the soldiers and others who fought to make and continue to keep this country free. I am grateful for a man who came to earth, who I have not met, who gave his life for all of us.

Whether you're near or far, know this, we Love you all, we wish you only the best and safest Thanksgiving holiday ever.
Jim

"Cause You're..."

So this week I was in Idaho for company business doing audits. I flew into Boise, ID and then drove the 113 miles to Twin Falls. I love this drive, the grassy, rolling plains with the mountains on either side of the interstate.

When I got to Boise, I headed straight to Taco Time for some lunch. Princess turned me onto Taco Time over 20 years ago when we went to SLC planning the wedding. I love their crispy meat burrito and chips and cheese. After lunch - I headed out on my drive, i-pod in hand, connected to the radio listening to Christmas music (I know, it's not yet Thanksgiving, but I can't get enough of Christmas music).

Arriving in Twin Falls, I was in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express (see, now you know why I'm so smart)when my Commercial buyer walks by on her way out for a walk. Well, "A" accompanies me inside, I check in, and we both head out for the walk. We walked the rim of the canyon where the twin falls are, saw some beautiful landscape, and while we're talking and walking age comes up. I tell "A" that I just had a birthday, she replies that hers in on the 17th of November (Happy early Birthday), then she states, "You're older than me". To which I reply, "so, the fat in my face smooths out the wrinkles and makes me look younger"!

Well, the next couple of days, "A" is saying things like "Cause you're older than me" and "oh, I see, it must be an age thing" to which we both laughed. I really like "A" and we have a good working relationship and I consider her a very good friend, at work and away from work.

Wednesday, I got to see Princesses sister, brother-in-law and nieces and nephews. We had a good visit, but it went late into the night. Thursday I was going to go see them, but the audit went late, I got some dinner, and by the time they were home from parent teacher night, I was bushed, and decided to just call it a night. I was in bed by 8:30 PM.

I arrived in Austin, got my car, and headed out onto I-35 North. Oh wait a minute, that wasn't I-35, it was a PARKING LOT! I sat there for 30 minutes inching my way up to the next exit, exited with all the other people, but got turned around and went south to 71 West to get onto the Mo-Pac and skirt around downtown. Seems there were three accidents all on I-35 Northbound in about a 7 mile stretch. I zoomed up Mo-Pac, worked my way back to I-35 thinking I was smart to avoid the toll section, only to discover another accident and traffic standing still. This one however I got past and got home about 4:30 PM.

I reached our humble abode, greeted the girls and started laundry. Right now there's one of the last batches in the washer, when it's done, I'm showering, then I've got a bit of work to do this weekend before I head out to Portland on Monday. Oh, and Princess is with a group, no a gaggle of women at a "stamp/scrap booking" retreat weekend, where all they will do is make projects, and bash our husbands :-).

Fun Times

Our Saturday was quite fun.

I got up at 6:00 am and let Princess sleep in. I quietly started the laundry, then came into the den to boot up my laptop. While going through the close to 400 e-mails, I would get up and do the changes from washer to dyrer. Well the phone rang and I jumped up to get it so as not to disturb Princess (little did I know she was up and showered. Well my neighbor called and informed me the "farm" was out front. You see, across from her, one of the neighbors has about eight chickens that they keep in their back yard (and let me tell you, there are no pens there).

Well, neighbor X had left for the weekend and left his back gate open. I went up and knocked on the door to try to wake up their teenage son, but that didn't happen, and in the meantime, Princess had come up the street to see the commotion. We could have been on America's funniest home videos - Princess and I decided to round the chickens up and put them in the backyard. It was too funny, Sue kept laughing and then Nita another neighbor came out and she laughed, then Princess and I started laughing, it was a riot! Picture, me with a stick running around a neighbors driveway shooing chickens through the back gate. Afterwards, we stood around and laughed about it.

Later, Princess, Sue, Macy and I went to see the Bee Movie (really, the kids did not get the jokes - more sienfeldish than kid funny). I would rate it a "Bee" :-D

We then did errands, watched "In the Land of Women" on DVD and went to bed. Now it is Sunday, lesson prepared, and going to iron my dress shirt. Have a great Sunday!
Jim

World Traveller

Well, since it has been a while and I received so much grief about it that Princess had to blog (for the first time)to defend me.

It is true that I have been very busy with work. Busy enough to work on Saturday and sometimes, print out my auditing templates and itineraries on Sunday for my trips. Because of this, I put blogging aside to concentrate on what is really important, my family. I know, my friends are very important also, and for you dear readers of my blog, extended family and friends,I am sincerely sorry for any disappointment I have caused.

Let me give you a breakdown of my travels in October:
First Week - I travelled to our plant in Pennsylvania to support a group of technicians in our company that my group works very closely with in resolving issues at our plants.
Second Week - Princess's birthday, I got to stay in the plant for two days and I travelled to St. Louis, MO, for a very important meeting with a vendor which has struggled to supply our company.
Third Week - As acting group manager, I was in charge of our bi-annual meeting between my group and our purchasing group. It was a good meeting, and it was also the meeting where our newest team member started working in our group full time.
Fourth Week - I just returned from performing 5 audits in 3 different countries, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. In Ecuador, my hotel room looked directly out onto this most gorgeous view of the Guayaquil temple! And I didn't even plan it that way. I have pictures, and I will post. In Colombia, we saw some beautiful countryside in Medellin and Bogota. In Venezuela, we saw a beautiful country, but felt for the first time in the trip that we were not safe. The country, once very rich and prosperous, struggles under oppressive government policies, and there were very poor people everywhere we went. All in all, it was a good trip.

During all of this, my Mother has had setbacks dealing with her cancer. Her numbers soared to almost 12,000, then dropped to 1,000 (normal is under 30). She has been admitted to the hospital twice - once I do not remember the reason, once for a bowel obstruction (very serious), but again, she was blessed by my Dad and Uncle and her body healed itself with her faith and antibiotics, and no dangerously invasive surgery. She is a pillar of strength and her faith is a testimony to me of the power of prayer and Priesthood Blessings.

Next week, I will be off to Idaho, where I will see much of the state driving between Boise and Twin Falls, and also around the Caldwell area. The best part is that I will get to see Princess's sister, brother-in-law, and the wonderful nieces and nephews! I am stoked.

After that it is on to Washington and Oregon for some audits, then the IN-LAWS are coming for Thanksgiving along with Princesses Aunt and Uncle! Very excited, as it has been over a year since we have had any out of town visitors.

So Dear readers, keep the faith in me alive, keep patience with me, and I promise to blog when able (like early on a Saturday morning to keep you updated)
Jim

Finally a new posting!!!!!

This is Princess's 1st publishing for the blog. Per the request from many fellow bloggers I will retire Jim's last blog about boobing at church. I taught the Sunday School lesson for the 1st time today. I still prefer the Sunbeams. I got too nervous up in front of everyone. They did like their treat. I can always come through with treats.

Jim is so busy with work these days, so everyone needs to cut him some slack about the blog. He has been busy working from home on the weekends and spending time with his girls. He is off to Columbia, Ecuador and Venezuela this week. He will blog when he gets home.

I hope everyone has an awesome MONDAY!!!!!!!

It's Official

I'm a boob. No, not a female anatomy part, but a big blubbering boob!

Today I had to teach about our Heavenly Family and the reason we came to earth. And about 3 minutes into it, I began tearing up. I mean really tearing up! I kept plugging through, trying hard not to let my emotions get the best of me and at one point, I had to turn by back to the class to get my breath!

The lesson material was great! I had good participation (probably scared that I would break down again...which I did!), but my feelings were just right at the surface! No matter what I did, I had a hard time getting control.

I was able to finish the lesson...a lesson I brought props to. I had pictures of Princess, Mom & Dad, Mom and Dad Princess, friends, cousins, grandparents, nieces, nephews, Princesses sister's family, you name it I brought pictures! After the lesson, there was one sister really crying, tears running down her cheeks. I went to apologize, only to learn that her husband had recently died. He is a member of the Church, she is not. My lesson on eternal families was for her, not for me, not for my Mom (still not doing well), but for her. She needed to feel the Spirit, and this helped to break through to her. I don't know what the future holds for her, but I know that my ramblings and blubberings were for her.

Ya know what? I'm grateful to be a boob (the big blubbering kind)!

Way Cool

Have you ever opened another person's blog or web or anything and when you clicked on a link it opened in a new page or tab? Well I loved that feature and I just found out how to do it.

There is a blog out there called betabloggerfordummies. I found an html script that you insert into the widget code that allows all of your links, blogs, etc to open in a new window or page. It is so cool!

Here is the link -> ☺

Click on links (orange tab in header), then expand the "50 types of links and how to make them work", then look for number 8 and the highlighted word "e-mail". Then scroll down to "opening links in a separate window". The code is highlighted in black. Remember to back up your template before making any changes.
That should do it! Have fun

Jim

Too Much

Or too heavy? I'm not quite sure. I guess I'm liked (read) more for my witty repartee than for my deep, spiritual, thinking side (I state this only because on the Nerd scale, I received 5 comments, yet matters of great concern I only received one comment).

So dear friends and family, I will try to not pour out my soul/heart too often and just thrill you with the life and times of the TexasPricetags!

This past week has been a doozy.
• Last Sunday evening I started off feeling poorly, awoke during the night with sweats, chills, etc and found I had a fever. My scratchy throat from Saturday was not just allergies, but a cold. I weathered it pretty well sleeping most of Monday

• The rest of the work week was spent dealing with issues and trying to catch up on audit reports, expense reports and firefighting.

We haven’t seen too much rain lately, but I know for a fact it will rain today or tomorrow, independent of what the TV, Internet, Radio, and Newspapers say! Why do you ask? Because for the first time in 6 months, both cars are washed, waxed and clean! It is a sure sign that rain will be opening from the heavens any minute now, or at least while we are at Church this afternoon.

Speaking of Church, my new calling as Gospel Essentials Teacher is going quite well. I usually have about 10-15 people attending, some new, some old. The new ones don’t quite scare me as much as the old ones, cause they don’t usually get out there on tangents that are pretty deep discussions. I do try to steer the class back to the topic at hand, and gently thank the tangent taker for their comments.

I added Princess to the blog so she could start posting, or create her own blog and link to it from here, but no such luck yet.

If I have any exciting happenings at Church today, I will describe it in detail here on these pages.

Jim

Blessed

That's how I fell today. Blessed beyond measure. Many of you dear readers know that I try not to let my Mormon influence get the best of me and become to "preachy" with the blog. However, I am blessed more than I could every imagine.

I want to declare my love for a beautiful Daughter of our Heavenly Father. Her unconditional love for me and those that surround us. I truly don't deserve all that she does for the girls and me.

I am grateful for loving parents. My dear Mother has struggled, fought, climbed, and torn her way through 4 years of hell. She is dealing with Cancer. They found ovarian cancer in 2003, just after her Mother passed away. She was given 12 months. 13 months later, she was given 12 -18 months. Now, 3 years later, we learn that her numbers are climbing, the drug study she is on is not working, and tumors are growing. I have held her hands, felt her tears on my cheeks, heard her voice quiver and shake from 1350 miles away, yet through it all, her faith holds her, her testimony of God, his son Jesus Christ, and the plan that He has for us. Now with this latest round of chemo unsuccessful, the Dr's are giving her 3 to 6 months to live. I don't know what the next 3 to 6 months hold (heck not even the next 24 hours), but I do know this, I love my Mom. She is a fighter, she feels that God is not done with her yet, and I know that she prays that His will be done.

I pray for her every morning, noon and night. I pray that the pain will not be too much for her to bear, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that my prayers are answered.

My sister Buffy (not her real name, but my nickname for her from high school) has had my Mom at her house for the past several weeks. Here she is, fourth of six kids, having to manage this burden with her husband and my younger brother and his wife. I know that she has learned more unconditional love through serving my Mom, than anything other trial in her life.

I love my family. Please forgive me for being so sappy, so emotional, so overjoyed in God's blessings to me and to my family. Remember to keep your loved ones closer, love those that spite you, and pray for guidance in your lives.

Jim

Blame it on Todd

I haven't really blogged lately - too much work, too much house work with Princess, being way way too grouchy - you name it, I'm a lazy bum or I just don't care. I did however pickup a cool tidbit over at three girls and a boy I picked up this:



Todd is more nerdy than I am, - no scratch that, I am he only scored 48 "lightly nerdy" while I scored 60! GREAT!

Think you're not a Nerd? I challenge you to go take the quiz!

I'll try to be better a posting. Princess got this yesterday (the corner unit)and we put it up this morning - we worked too long and hard on it, going without food or beverage and I ended up grouchy and a jerk. Thank goodness that I have a wife who loves me unconditionally...even when that condition is jerkiness.
Jim

Excitement

So this week I began a new adventure at work. For the first time in over 21 years, I get to dress up in business casual clothes for work. My whole career at work, I have had white uniforms to dress in...aka good humor man (a comment not lost on me by Princess and friends). What did I do when presented with this new challenge? SHOPPING of course. Princess kept me in check, but I did get some new pants and some new shirts (this weekend we're going again - even if she doesn't know it yet).

Thursday, I travelled to Little Rock, AR for work. It was a short flight, uneventful hour long plane ride from Houston to Little Rock (Home of Bill Clinton if you didn't know). At the airport, I met up with two co-workers from the East coast (Stacy and Jack). A note about Stacy, she is the purchasing manager for a variety of different commodities we buy. Stacy is petite, but don't let the size fool you, she holds her own with the toughest of the rednecks we met in Arkansas. Picture "Preppy Mom" in about a 5'4" frame, that has no problem taking you down a peg or two (it was a blast to be with her - it was my first time meeting Jack, so I'll have to size him up and let you know. We all travelled to the vendor's location so that I could perform the audit.

We were touring a rice milling operation and of course, Thursday's high was 104F! With humidity that hovered around the SAUNA level. Work went good, we had a nice dinner at the country club, and then toured another rice location on Friday. After the second tour, we jumped in the car and headed back to Little Rock to eat some lunch and catch our flights home.

We decided that we did not want airport food, so we headed into downtown, where we lucked upon a parking spot, and then perused the local eateries. We sauntered in the lovely 99F sunshine and SAUNA humidity, all the way down Bill Clinton Blvd, and Stacy even bought some paraphernalia at the museum library store.

We grabbed lunch at a pub, "The Flying Saucer" home to about 300+ different beers, lagers, and ales. The food was...how shall I say it...nothing to blog about :-). We arrived at the airport, checked in the rental car (me forgetting to give the keys to the new 2007 push start Altima and running back with sweat pouring down my back, legs...well, you get the picture, and then settled in to connect to some WI-fi and do some work.

Little Rock airport has free WI-fi for Internet connections, but it was down yesterday so we chatted about the trip, families, work, etc. Stacy jumped on her plane headed back to the east coast, me waiting for a 6:30PM flight home...WHICH DIDN'T HAPPEN!

The 4:30 flight left at 5:15, then returned to the gate at 6:10, deplaned, and left again at 7:00PM. No announcements were given by the CONTINENTAL staff as to the delays for the 4:30, nor the 6:30 (which eventually boarded beginning at 10:30PM (of course dear friends, Continental sent my flight to Waco on ahead of me, and booked me on the 11:00 AM home today!). I slept all the way to Houston, bumpy ride and all, navigated to the rental counter (of course, my name was NOT on the gold list), and obtained my rental car at 12:30AM this morning(can you say inept workers)).

I navigated the interstates, toll roads and highways between Houston and Waco with the greatest of care due to the tremendous amount of water on the roadways (HA - hardly a puddle - but we delayed the flight 4 hours for the torrential flooding that took place yesterday afternoon), arriving at my abode around 4:00AM, where I was greeted by Princess and the girls.

But, the surprises were not over! At 7:30 this morning, Jenna strolled into our bedroom and announced that she was ready for breakfast (I believe having been awake for about an hour on her own, and telling me I need my pajama top on when I slept). Seems that Jenna is the proud big sister to Elizabeth (who decided to come about a week early, and also very quickly from the story). From the pictures Princess took, I can't wait to see this new bundle of joy!

So, here I sit in the computer/craft room typing out my woes. Princess made us pancakes and fruit, and is now showering. I'm next, then the fun of our Saturday begins. And all of it on just 3.5 hours sleep (I should be just lovely out and about with the back to school crowds)!

More adventures to come.
Jim

MMMHHH!

So this week I was supposed to spend the whole week in the office. I had planned everything out to the proverbial "T". Finish some reports, catch up on expense reports, start prepping the trim on the house to give it a good coat of paint (I know, I wait until August to do this, BUT, we have had record rainfall during May, June and July, etc.

I was busy at my desk on Monday when I got the call from an R&D associate stating that he needed an audit performed right away and how fast could I do it. I explained my schedule, he gave me the contact, and next thing I knew, I was planning a trip to sunny Los Angeles area.

Now you might be wondering, why I have titled this post "MMMHHH". Well it is because while in sunny Cal-i-for-ni-a, I ate several times at my favorite burger joint in the whole wide world...In-N-Out Burger!


And to prove how loving I am to Princess, here is what I ate at IN-N-Out->


I even had the audacity to call her and let her know what I was eating that very moment while we were speaking! :-) She wasn't too impressed I must tell you. I don't really think her tone with me was all that pleasant either! Go figure!

I made it home safe and sound, and today is a day filled with errands - and sshh, I've got to find a 20th anniversary present for Princess and she has given me no clues whatsoever to get her! It's not like we don't have all that we need, but still, it is our anniversary (she has put up with me for 20 years after all), so she rightly deserves all the attention and accolades she can get!
Jim

More Family Reunion

This is so cool!

July

July started out with a bang- literally a Fourth of July bang. We had a great party with our neighbors, then were home to not enjoy all the crazies and the fireworks.

Then on July fifth, I travelled to Mexico for work. There I got some bad news about my Mom and her Cancer, where of course I doomed and gloomed. BUT, she recovered from her issue, and she is at home and undergoing tests for a study she was FINALLY accepted into.

The rest of July is a blur. I made two separate trips to Canada, one to a really beautiful point in Northeastern Quebec, the other to Toronto for meetings. Both were good, but not a cool temperature wise as I would have liked.

Then a trip to Chicago for a team meeting, then a trip to Mexico again for work, and I just returned from Minnesota and Winsconsin.

Wenedsday night, we were driving back to Minnesota from Wisconsin and fortunately did not go near I-35. At 6:00 PM, an older bridge section collapsed in rush hour traffic, causing multiple deaths and injuries when about 50 cars plummeted into the Mississippi river. If we had gone the way our vendor told us to go, we might have been on that road stuck in traffic or worse. Instead, we followed Hertz Neverlost for the quickest way back and arrived safely at our hotel. I am glad I followed the inspiration given to me to use the Neverlost instead of following directions/maps.

So, you can see just how busy I have been with work and travel. Sorry for boring so many of you dear readers with no updates. I'm not even going to promise to do better. I will state that I will blog when I can with time permitting.

Jim

June

So in June we took our vacation to lovely Boise, ID to partake in Princesses family reunion. I dreaded the trip, 10 days with family and lot's of kids. Boy was I wrong!

We had a blast. When we arrived at the airport, we had rented a small car for the week (heck we were only going to need it to get to her sister's house, and for errands. Well, because of my travels for work, we were upgraded to a Subaru Tribeca (their SUV). It was lovely. Drove smoothly, had a great sound system, and had GPS navigation!

Each morning we got up with the in-laws and the kids, had scripture study, and then went to the park to do a mile around the track. Princess and I walked, while the kids all jogged and timed themselves. Then it was back home to eat breakfast, shower and get on with the day. The reunion was Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. We had the Aunt, cousins, etc and had games planned and a craft idea for the adult women. Princesses Uncle took all the kids swimming at their hotel (about 10 or 11) and they had a blast. We barbecued, played badminton, catch, jai-alai, it was great.

Matt playing catch with the kids

Dave, Jared, Kerry, and Aunt Marcia enjoying watching the kids and each other in the shade.

After Church in the Mike's flowers for a family portrait.

All in all it was a really good time had by all. Now I only have to "dread" it for the next two years:-)!

Jim