Thanksgiving 2007

Although we are away from our family for Thanksgiving this year, our daughter Lisa and her family made a surprise visit. And what a surprise it was for my dear hubby. She needed to let me know she was coming so I could make preparations, and it was harder than I thought it would be to keep it a secret from Mike. There were numerous occasions where I almost let the cat out of the bag.

Lisa, Shane, JJ, Leah, and Jaxon arrived about 5:30 PM Wednesday night. I was watching for them out the kitchen window while Mike and I cooked dinner. I had him made extra which he didn't catch on to. I guess he thought I wanted more the next day.

I had the kitchen blinds closed except for a tiny crack so I could see them. I didn't notice that Mike had left the kitchen. He went into our bedroom to close the blind and an apparition appeared in the window. There at the most perfect moment was Lisa, and the gang. Boy, was he shocked! He came back into the kitchen and exclaimed, "You won't believe who's here"!

We spent a wonderful weekend with them, and it made our Thanksgiving holiday seem like home again.

We had our own dinner the next day and joined John and Sherri and their family on Friday. Daniel and Jenny were eating Thursday with his family, and of course we wanted to be with them, so we ate again the following day with the family and another friend of theirs, Robyn and her three children whom we also ate with last year.

You just can't celebrate enough.

The Brown's Halloween

We weren't in Utah this year to celebrate Halloween with our grandchildren. In the past we had a Halloween party at our home and all the children and grandchildren came dressed for the occasion. Some of the costumes were unbelievably impressive. I need to find the pictures of some of the best costumes and post them.

These pictures are of Quincy who had several costumes this year, Anna, Gwyn, and Elyse. It looks like they had a wonderful Halloween.

A Cow On The Cow Parage For Our Granddaughters

I couldn't help but think of our little granddaughter's, Anna, Emily, Katie, Gwinney, Ashley, and Leah, when I saw this ballerina dancing cow. These girls are between the ages of 7 and 3 and think they are all princess's and ballerina dancers. Probably will be someday too.

We have two granddaughter who are a little over a year and just turned a year. Elyse and Lydia are not quite as excited about being princess's, they are princess's in the making.

Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride

While we were in Nauvoo one of the fun things we did was to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the quaint little town.

It looks beautiful here in the picture, but it just happened to be the only day we were there that it was cold. We were all wrapped up in blankets. The weather was gorgeous the rest of the time, with temperatures in the 70's. I think it would have been pleasant this day also, if it weren't for a cold wind that was blowing.

And to add to the frustration, I was having one of my deaf days. It was after that that I learned I was allergic to onions and nuts, and I ate them through-out the whole trip. So unfortunately, I didn't hear what the tour guide was telling us as we traveled through the streets. The clip, clop of the horses hooves, and the wind, would have made it difficult without my hearing problem, but between the three problems I missed every word. I enjoyed the ride though.

The Book "The Truth About Hillary"

Mike took this picture of me while we were on our 15-day trip throughout the midwest and eastern states. I read several books during our travels and when we were in Nauvoo, Missouri visiting with Mike's brother Ray and his wife Colleen, I saw this book in their bookshelf. I asked if I could borrow it and he said to keep it.

The book was very interesting! I'm not going to tell you what's in it, I think you should read it and make your own judgements about it.

More About Dancing With The Stars

I really don't see how Marie is going to compete with these young girls who are dancing their brains out. They just danced a great dance! Marie will be up soon and we will see how she does. I'd like to see her have a good showing, but I think I might actually be disappointed if she stays in the running. I really don't think she is as good as the others who are left.

Dancing With The Stars

Tonight is the night to see if Marie stays on "Dancing With The Stars." She's had a rough two weeks. First she collapsed from not taking a breath after her dance, and then sadly last week she experienced the passing of her dear father. The funeral wasn't that long ago, and I don't know how she was able to learn two new dances after all that, but she's a trouper and an entertainer so I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't come out shining.

Well, they just announced that she is safe for another week. Amazing! I really didn't think she could compete with the younger girls. Either I'm wrong, or she's just so popular that the voters don't care.

Sleepy Bear

We had a great time in Las Vegas this weekend with Ted and the gang. We had the opportunity of meeting some of blogging friends, and some of the advertisers, and we learned what the advertisers what us to put in our blogs and what they don't want.

Many of the posties who attended won cool stuff. There were about four Roomba's given away, several ipods were won by lucky people, and I missed a camera by one number and the lucky one who got it was the person sitting next to me, Robyn.

There were lots of prizes and we all got a cute little bear. Ted gave me another one Tuesday when we met each other at Rawhide, in Chandler Arizona.

Kenny and Peggy and Stocks

They last day of our 15-day trip was in Rocky Hill, Connecticut with our son Kenny. Whenever we are together we work on stocks. Here we are at his computer working our our strategies.

We talk on the phone or by email everyday, doing the same thing. We mess up because one of us can't get a hold of the other one, but for the most part we are making some money.

Leaving For Postie Con Tomorrow

We are headed for Las Vegas tomorrow at about 10:00. It is a six hour drive from Phoenix, and we just made that trip less than three weeks ago. That's okay, we like to travel.

We won't be staying at Circus Circus but I know two bloggers who are staying there. Ben Sparks and my niece Robyn.

We will be staying in lowly motel room, and then with my cousin the last night.

I am really looking forward to being at the convention. We are going to have a lot of fun. And we will learn stuff too.

It will be fun seeing Ted, Ashley, and Travis again too.

Meeting Ted In Arizona

We had a wonderful night last night! We met Ted, Ashley and Travis at Rawhide, in the little "Wild West Town" of Chandler, Arizona, about 20 or 30 minutes south of Phoenix.

We enjoyed a great dinner in the dinning room of the steakhouse below. I had my favorite: salmon, and my Mike had baby back ribs. Ted was sitting next to me so I know that he had steak that looked very good. The dinning room wasn't this crowded and we practically had the place to ourselves. We had personal attention with the live music.



























We strolled through the dusty streets of the little town, and enjoyed watching Ted ride the mechanical bull. You will all have a chance to see that up live and personal on the blog and probably U-tube.

Other bloggers who came were my two niece's, Kristin and Jenny and her husband Daniel, and two other Arizona bloggers, Mike and Fred. Fred's not his real name, but that's what Mike calls him.

As many of you bloggers know, Ted, Travis and Ashley have traveled from coast to coast (they are planning to go to San Francisco after Vegas) and have been collecting cans from the bloggers they meet along the way. They donate the cans to the food banks in the respective cities.

One great blogger brought 200 cans! Good for her!

Ironically enough, Mike the other blogger (not to be confused with my husband Mike) and I both brought 18 cans. We had a tie and Ted, Travis and Ashley had to rack their brains to decide who to give the Roomba to. One of us had won the little vacuum, but who?

They came up with the idea of giving it to the one who could come the closest to guessing how long Ted could stay on the bull. We got to Rawhide before the rest of the guys and had watched another man ride the bull. I didn't count how long he stayed on it but later thought it was no more than 5 or 6 seconds.

I guessed 7 seconds.

Mike the blogger really! really! really! wanted the Roomba! He was trying everything he could think of to convince me that he really needed it.

His guess was 6 seconds, and was very disappointed when Ted stayed on the bull 7 1/2 seconds! I was counting one-thousand, two-thousand etc., and came up with 9 seconds. But my Mike had an actual counter and said it was 7 1/2 seconds.

I could feel the disappointment Mike was feeling. Unbeknown to him, my Mike and I had already decided to give it to him. I had told Travis what we planned to do before Ted got on the bull.

We all had a fun night of visiting, eating, talking, and riding the bull. Well, since Ted was the only one who rode the bull I guess you'll have to ask him how much fun that was.

The guys were exhausted! They had traveled from Dallas to Albuquerque, New Mexico the day before, and then from there to Phoenix arriving later than had been planned, about 8:15 PM.

Ted didn't look that excited to ride the bull but was a good sport. And really did a good job of it as you will all see.

It was great meeting you guys! We loved it!

Ballet Dancing Cow

I couldn't help but think of our little granddaughter's, Anna, Emily, Katie, Gwinney, Ashley, and Leah, when I saw this ballerina dancing cow. These girls are between the ages of 7 and 3 and think they are all princess's and ballerina dancers. Probably will be someday too.

We have two granddaughter who are a little over a year and just turned a year. Elyse and Lydia are not quite as excited about being princess's, they are princess's in the making.

The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

Saturday morning came and Kenny said, "we're going to the cow parade today". "Cow parade" "Yep, cow parade". Mike and I didn't know what to expect. We truly thought we were going to see farmers parade their cows through the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. After all, we had just seen a tractor parade in Nauvoo. And they had real tractors and really did drive them through the town.

Well, it was the neatest cow parade we've ever seen! People are so talented and imaginative!

This cow was one of my favorites! My mother read to us as children and of course a famous story or nursery rhyme is, "The Cow Jumped Over The Moon".

Here's the cow.

Hartford's Cow Parade

Kenny took us to a cow parade in Hartford Connecticut. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw the cows. We were really expecting the real deal! We walked up and down several blocks to catch them all. They were on both sides of the streets and in front of the stores. Some were even inside the stores.

15 day trip- Vermont

Kenny, Peggy, and Laura in front of the Capitol.

While Mike and I were on our trip we decided to end it by seeing Vermont. Our son Kenny lives in Connecticut, close to Hartford We only make it to the east coast about every three years, and we like taking the opportunity of visiting the New England States. They are all close in proximity and it is my goal to visit all the New England States.

We have been to many cities in Connecticut, New York City, and recently, upstate New York, Providence, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts, and recently, traveled through other cities in Massachusetts. And, our recent trip ended in Montpelier, Vermont. We were right on the border of seeing New Hampshire, which was just six miles away.

We went there to see the beautiful trees with their fruit-loop colors, but we were just a few weeks two early. We were a few weeks two late a few years ago. However, I have a few pictures here that are not too shabby.

Lunch With George And Nancy

We had an enjoyable day today with George and Nancy, our Utah and Apache Junction friends. They moved from Clinton last August and have moved here permanently.

First we went to see their new home they are building. It is in the same subdivision as our other Clinton, patio home friends, Tony and Charlene.

Their new home is absolutely beautiful. Or at least the model is. Their home is in the building stage with the walls going up, and are probably already up as we speak.

After that we went to lunch at one of favorite Mexican restaurants in A.J. (Apache Junction). I was very excited because I can finally do Mexican food. I had a hard time before because my allergies included wheat and corn, and milk products which takes care of the cheese and sour cream.

But as it turns out, I can have the corn tortillas and the corn chips. I can also have the cheese and sour cream. What I lost in the process was the onions. That was sad, because I love onions, and they are in the salsa.

No problem. I dipped my corn chip into the salsa and avoided the onions. I had a chicken taco without the onions, but was disappointed because they didn't put any sour cream on it.

I ate the rice but avoided the beans, since re-fried beans are one of the beans in the bean family I can't have. They must be made from pinto beans.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. And we all enjoyed the sunshine and warmth.