Christmas Week

Hello Everybody,

The week was wonderful. Spending time with my family was a real treat, just as it was spending time with Jimi's family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Jimi and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful family who love us.

Jennifer spent Monday and Tuesday catching up with friends she had not seen since she left in August. Daniel and Jimi spent time playing guitar hero, other Xbox 360 games, and doing other destructive things that boys do while having a good time. I tried to get a whole weeks work done in two days at Crocs, as well as trying to get some things done for Cencorp.

Tuesday evening we had to take an unexpected trip to Mead. The dishwasher quit working and Jimi needed to fix it. We got that done and then went back home to get ready for our trip.

Wednesday morning we headed for Nebraska arriving around 4pm. This year Mom decided to have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve in an effort to alieve chaos on Christmas day and it worked. A couple of hours after we arrived, we ate a beautiful Christmas meal with turkey, ham, mashed and sweet potatoes, and many more tasty dishes. It was fantastic. After dinner we vegged on the couch, each got to open a present, and then went to sleep waiting for Santa to come.

Christmas morning was the traditional scene. Each person got up to find a stocking full of goodies and once everyone was awake and had their necessary coffee dad started handing out presents to open. Our family is not that big, but to see all the presents one would think we were a large clan. Everyone was happy and the day continued with no schedule. We simply played with our gifts and enjoyed each other's company.  As with each visit, Jimi was put to work fixing, setting up and/or installing something for mom and dad, which is something he enjoys doing. That evening we played several games of twister, embarked in sword fighting, and went bankrupt in Monopoly (except for Jimi, as he owned the entire world by the end of the game) and then we bestowed upon our merry selves cocktails and karaoke. 
 
I have attached a picture for you. From left to right.
Bottom row: Larry (my dad), Jacque (my mom), Lorie (me), Miller (da dog), and Jimi.
Top row: Brittany (my great niece), Daniel (my son), Marie (my sister), Jennifer (my daughter), and Kristina (my great niece).
My sister's daughters Jacque Sue and Bonnie were not present, nor was Lyle, my sister's spouse.

I won't bore you with the details of our gifts, but I do want to mention one gift that Jimi gave me. He booked us a trip to Las Vegas in February. I was so surprised and am very excited. He says the hotel is really nice and right on the strip. Of course you will hear all about it in February.

Friday we spent the morning moving my sister from Overland, NE back to Stamford, NE. She moved to Overton a few months ago, but was unable to find work and decided it would be better to stay south. Luckily, her old job at Bugbees Restaurant was waiting for her, so it all worked out. After lunch we laid down to watch the movie Iron Man, and again that evening, as if we did not learn our lesson the first time, we all went bankrupt while we watched the Jimi empire grow in another game of monopoly.

Saturday we drove home, and once there, we unpacked, did the laundry, and laid around. We went to bed kind of early, as we were all tired from the hectic week.

One of my gifts from Jimi was a remote start for my car, which lead to Jimi and Daniel spending most of the day installing it on Sunday afternoon.

Now Monday is here again and I am back at work; however, we have a busy week with a lot of family activities planned before the kids fly back to Arizona.

Please have a safe and happy new year!

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Family and Friends,

There's not a whole lot to speak of regarding this past week. The main things included tying up loose ends for Christmas, finishing the bathroom, and picking up Jennifer and Daniel from the airport.

I had dinner with my girlfriend, Brenda last Monday evening and then coffee with some girl friends on Wednesday night. Friday night we went to Mike Oshays, a local Irish pub for a quick drink with my girlfriend, Vicki; however, she left and we stayed. We always have such a wonderful time together whether we are alone or with others and this evening was no exception. We sat cocktail after cocktail, beer after beer, and talked about everything under the sun. Though our bill was way more than we had originally planned, it was worth it.

Jimi received his grades for all 5 of his classes and as suspected, got straight A's. With only one semester to go, he still holds a 4.0 gpa.

             

We finally finished redecorating the bathroom and are very happy with the results. I attached a picture for you to see a portion of it. We took down the old wall paper border, painted the walls white with grey trim, bought, and hung a new shower curtain. Jimi also painted the dresser and door the same grey color. I believe the only thing left is the art work. Jimi is going to print and hang one of his beautiful photos.


I spent the weekend cleaning house, doing laundry, and preparing for Jennifer and Daniel's visit. Jimi spent much of the weekend playing guitar hero and on his computer. All in all it was a productive weekend, yet a lazy one, as we didn't go anywhere but hibernated in doors for two whole days.

Movies we watched included "Gone With the Wind" and "Ride With the Devil", which are both Civil War movies. We also watched "The Matrix", which is a sci-fi movie.

We picked Jennifer and Daniel up from the Denver airport at 11:30pm Sunday night. It was 2am before we were settled and all in bed. I know that this week is going to be very busy and before I know it I will be writing you again. But, in the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful week of Christmas bliss.

Merry Christmas and God Bless you all!

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Christmas Parties

Family and Friends,

Hello everyone. This week was pretty full for Jimi and I.

Jimi finished his classes for the semester and now has a six week break before the next set begins. I don't think he has his grades yet, but I am confident that he will have finished again with straight As.



I worked at Crocs and for Cencorp, as well as finished some homemade Christmas gift projects.


Thursday night was the Cencorp Christmas party. It was merely a dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant in Boulder called Carellis. After dinner six of the eight of us went to a nearby bar called the Dark Horse. We each had a drink or two and then went home. I think we were home by 10:30pm. I have attached a group picture of us. Some of you know some of these folks.



Friday night we had to turn around and do it all over again, as it was the Crocs Christmas 

party. This party was held at the Boulder Theatre. My department went to dinner beforehand just down the street at the Cheesecake Factory. It was very yummy. The party was a lot of fun too. The live band called the Funkiphino was very good. We danced practically the whole evening and had a blast. Still we were home by 11:30pm or so. Attached is a picture of (from left to right) my closest friend Vicki, my boss Eric, my other close friend, Jennifer who is also rents my house, and then, me. This picture was fun because we were trying to get a serious picture of us, but Jimi kept snapping pictures one after the other, which only made us laugh and goof off more. After six goofy pictures, we finally got a serious one, but I thought it was more fun to send you this one.

 Also in this week Jimi made another you tube video. You have to watch this one; it is so funny. We began preparing for the making of it last weekend at our favorite local diner, and he finished it up later in the week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54AyGD0-1a8

We spent all day Saturday on the bathroom. We took down all the fixtures, towel racks, and medicine cabinet and then painted a couple of coats of the white paint. We also watched Pulp Fiction and reaxed a bit before bed.

Sunday the weather turned cold and snowy. We woke up to several inches of snow and below zero tempuratures. We stayed in the house ALL day. We painted some more on the bathroom; however, it is not finished. I did all the laundry, cleaned the house, wrapped a few presents, and worked for Cencorp. It was a great indoor day. 

That's about it for now. Hope all is well and you have a wonderful week.



Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Christmas is Coming!

Family and Friends,

Hello Everyone. This week we concentrated on getting back on schedule from our fantastic trip and getting into the Christmas spirit.

Jimi headed back to school each day he was scheduled and spent a large portion of the week preparing for final assignments. As of tomorrow, he has just one week of school left in this semester.

T

uesday evening we set up and decorated the Christmas tree. I spent many evenings wrapping presents and on Saturday we did some final Christmas shopping. I am done buying and wrapping with the exception of one or two last minute things that may come up. I have some homemade projects I am trying finish up still as well. I will continue to work on those.

Sunday we put Christmas lights up on the outside of the house, a wreath, and some candles in the windows. I tried to take a picture to send you, but because of the darkness it comes out blurry, and my camera will not adjust to take a long exposure picture. In any case, here is a picture of our Christmas tree in the living room.

I finally closed on refinancing my house in Mead on Friday morning. I didn't believe it would ever happen, but it did; although, I won't breathe freely until the loan funds… just because of all the hassles we have gone through. I was fortunate to get a 5.5% interest rate.

We had a blast at the mall on Saturday. We planted the fart machine in a flower planter and sat on a bench across the way. When unsuspecting people walked by or stopped there, Jimi would push the remote button. I know it may sound childish, but it is harmless, cheap entertainment. Most of the time passer buyers would not react to the grotesque noise. Other times they would glance over at the person next to them. Sometimes one person would begin laughing, but keep walking; however, the best was a little girl who was standing there with her parents. When she heard the noise, she walked over by her father and hit him on the butt and then she bent over and began pointing to her own butt. Her mother just ignored her as she was trying the put a coat on another child. It was all Jimi and I could do to stay in our seats we were laughing so hard.

Not much else happened here this week. We were pretty focused: Jimi on school and I on Christmas. I suspect this week will be much of the same.

Hope all is well and you have a wonderful week.

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

2008 Thanksgiving Family Tour

Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Jimi and I had a fabulous trip visiting family and friends in Nebraska, Michigan, and Illinois. We literally saw every family member we are close to, on both sides, with the exception of my dear Uncle Jim and Aunt Mildred. I will try to tell you about our trip the best I can without making it boring for you.

We left Longmont at 5:15pm on Friday evening, November 21st and arrived at my Sister's house in Overton, Nebraska around 11pm. There, we spent the night and made sure Miller was all set for his stay during our journey.

Saturday morning we headed out about 9am, stopping at Cabelas and Perkins in Kearney, Nebraska on the way; once back on the road we drove to Peoria, Illinois, where we got a hotel for the night.

Sunday morning after breakfast, Jimi bought flowers and we put them on his mother's grave in the cemetery. We spent rest of the day making our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan where we spent the evening with Jimi's old friend (thought of as a brother) Matt and his wife Alisha. We had a fantastic time. Before leaving town on Monday morning we stopped to visit Christa, Matt's mom, and once again, we had a very wonderful visit with her.

A couple of hours after leaving Christa's home, we arrived in Manchester, Michigan to visit Jimi's dad. We spent a lot of time looking through his pictures as well as some we brought and talking. The next afternoon we headed off to Round Lake, Illinois just north of Chicago to Jeff and Karen's house (Jimi's brother) staying there until Saturday morning; however, Wednesday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. That is an amazing place. There is so much to see: the best being an old captured German submarine, of course we did not see everything before the doors closed. After the museum, we met up with an old friend we both worked with at Cencorp, Darnell. We had a few drinks and an appetizer before making our way back North to Round Lake.

Thanksgiving was fabulous. Karen and Tracey initiated me right into the family by fixing my hair and plucking my eyebrows. It was a fun girls morning. Jeff, Jimi, and Bob hung around the house visiting and hitting golf balls into the woods. That afternoon we had a wonderful dinner celebrating everything we are thankful for. And rest of the evening consisted of a nap, eating-which never seemed to end, and lying around the house.

Friday, we set out for shopping. We spent several hours looking at various deals and fighting the crowds. It was crowded, but nevertheless, enjoyable to be with Jeff, Karen, and Tracey. Before heading back to the house, we stopped for pizza and then at their home a much needed nap. I think everyone slept for a couple of hours except for Jeff. The rest of our visit (consisting of that evening) went by fast.

We left Round Lake, Illinois at 8am on Saturday morning with a 12 hour drive a head of us; our destination being first Overton, Ne to pick up Miller and then finally my parents house in Stamford, Ne. It was late when we got in, about 10:10pm, but we made it.
We stayed up until midnight visiting and then up again early on Sunday morning to visit some more. Finally about noon, we decided it was time to head home. We arrived home about 5:30pm. I unpacked, did the laundry, and went to the grocery store before settling in for the evening.

We would like to thank everyone for their hospitality on our 2008 family tour trip. We thoroughly enjoyed every visit and every stay. I especially felt loved and welcomed into Jimi's family by everyone and that means a lot to both of us. We could not have chosen a better way to spend such a holiday with so much meaning of appreciation and thankfulness. We love you and are truly blessed and thankful to have each one of you in our lives. May God bless you.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi