Grandpa's Car

Hello Everybody,

Our week was busy, which in turn made it seem short; though, we enjoyed it.

Jimi went snow boarding with his friends Jussi and Juri on Monday. Monday evening he met up with some class colleagues at the coffee shop for web design talk. I spent the evening working, as well as unpacking, doing laundry, and working around the house.

Rest of the week Jimi continued to work on his studies. He also cleaned out the garage making room for my grandfather's car. I went to work everyday and worked mostly on my scrap booking in the evenings.

Our highlight of the week was from my mom, dad, and great niece's visit. They left Nebraska Friday morning and arrived at our house Friday evening. They brought us a car that had belonged to my grandfather handed down to my father and now handed down to me. It is a 1967 Ford LTD, and being garaged all of it's life, is in very nice condition. The car measures approximately 18'x7'. the garage length and doorway measures approximately 20'x8'. Jimi spent a lot of time earlier in the week making room for it. He had to get rid of a work bench, which we gave to my father, and he had to rearrange other things including his motorcycles. The car is nice and I know we will enjoy having it, but the real treat was mom and dad's visit.

Friday night we visited, and watched a movie. Refreshed on Saturday morning, we took everyone to our favorite breakfast spot, Lucille's. My great niece, Brittany, had never been to the mountains before, so we took a drive up the Peak to Peak Hwy. We made several stops so Brittany could get out and climb a few rocks, walk on the frozen river, and pond, and we toured the 'Chapel on a Rock'. We also stopped in Estes Park for pizza. Brittany was just amazed at the beauty of the mountains. We really enjoyed our day. Jimi really enjoyed the climbing and exploring he and Brittany did. That evening we watched another movie and then went to bed.

Up bright and early Sunday morning, mom, dad, and Brittany packed up for their journey back to Nebraska. Jimi and I went snowboarding for a couple of hours. That afternoon we took the LTD to the car wash and then drove it over to Gunther Toodys (a 50's restaurant) for lunch. Rest of the day/evening was spent on preparing for the week, getting groceries, etc.

Between all of our activities, Jimi would work on trying to recover and restore his laptop. On Thursday his machine bombed out. He lost everything including all his school work, pictures, his portfolio, and even the operating system. He handled it better than I would have. He worked diligently to put everything back and get back on schedule. Of all the files lost, less than 10% were recovered.  I'm sure he will spend a lot of time this week on the recreation.

The pictures I have attached are my great Niece, Brittany, she is 9 1/2, and the 67 LTD.

Thinking of you all. Have a wonderful week.
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

A Vegas Valentines!

Friends and Family,

Happy (late) Valentines Day to you!!

The beginning of our week consisted of work, school, and preparing for our three day trip to Las Vegas. We had a fabulous time.

We left about 5am Friday morning and met up with our friends from Michigan, Matt and Alisha, around 10am.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo, which was quite nice. On Friday we settled in our rooms, walked over to Planet Hollywood for lunch and window shopping and stopped at a patio grille for drinks. Jimi & I shared a 'Rum Keg", while Matt & Alisha drank margaritas. We went over to the Bellagio to get our hands wet at gambling. I broke even and Jimi played $10 on roulette and won $50. That evening we went to see 'The Ultimate Variety Show". It was a great show consisting of comedians, magicians, trapeze artists, and gymnasts. After the show, we were all beat, so we called it a night.

Jimi & I woke early the next morning and went to the casino to film footage for a school project. We also gambled a little: I lost 10 of Jimi's dollars on roulette, as did he. We also got a couple of coffees from Starbucks and some pastries for breakfast. We met up with Matt & Alisha about 11am and headed back over to Planet Hollywood where we ate lunch and began consuming cocktails. We gambled at Planet Hollywood for a while and then at the Monte Carlo. Again, Jimi was the winner. He started with $1 in the nickle slots and won $10. Then he took that $10 and played it on roulette winning $152. After a while, we decided it would be a good idea to take a nap before dinner and the club, as our plans included going dancing in an all night club. We took our naps and then went to eat at an all you can eat Brazilian restaurant; however, Alisha was not feeling well and I was not feeling up to par for the club scene, so after dinner, we took Alisha back to her room, while Matt, Jimi, and I went to the casino lounge. We had a few drinks there and before we knew it it was 1am. I was really sleepy, so we retired for the evening.

Sunday morning Jimi & I were again up early and went to the casino for coffee and some breakfast. We met up with Matt & Alisha at 11am, which was checkout time. After checking out we stored our bags with the bellhop and set out for the town. We went over to New York New York, the MGM, and Harra's Casino. Finally after years of faithful fan following I got to go to Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill. I was so excited. Alisha, Matt and I all agreed it was the best food we ate while in Vegas and the prices certainly were the best. We hung out there for a while. We gambled a little at Harra's casino and then headed back to the Monte Carlo to collect our bags and then grabbed a taxi for the airport.

All in all, it was a fabulous time and while we were not able to see everything, for Jimi and I it was enough. We were glad to be back home. We pulled in to our driveway about 11pm, exhausted and without even unpacking we were in bed snoozing.

The morning of Valentines day was very nice. Jimi woke me with "Happy Valentines Day Sweetie, I Love You". I had taken some modeling type photographs of myself (I've been working on them for months) and gave them to him in a photographers proof book and he gave me the perfect card and a beautiful sea turtle necklace.

We hope your Valentines Day was just as wonderful as ours. Happy Valentines!

With Love,
Jimi & Lorie

Moab Weekend

Friends and Family,

Hello and thank you to all who have supported Jimi in raising money for the ACS ski/snowboarding event. We have received awesome response and have proven that every little bit helps, as he is only $45 away from reaching his goal.

Jimi had class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday this week. When he was not in class, he was working on the house or his school work. He also fixed Jenn’s computer and kept my car one day to work on it. Friday evening he and Miller left for a weekend trip to Moab. They did some 4-wheeling, but mostly spent time capturing the beauty of the area in his camera.

 My week was the same as always, as far as work is concerned. I still find myself overwhelmed with work from Cencorp. And I had to work a little extra at Crocs processing month end sales reports.

I met my girlfriends Julie and Lisa for coffee Tuesday night. Jimi and I watched the movie “Rock N Rolla” Wednesday night. Thursday night Jimi and I went to Zo’s Sushi and Thai restaurant for dinner: the food was fabulous. Friday evening my daughter and I met my friends from work at Bagalis Italian restaurant for dinner and drinks. We had planned to then see the movie “He’s Just Not That In To You”, but it was sold out. We went home and called it an early evening. Saturday I spent the day working around the house. I met a couple of girlfriends at Buffalo Wild Wings that evening. Eventually we moved over to Old Chicago’s and closed the place down. It was a late night, but we had so much fun.

Again on Sunday I worked around the house. Jimi and Miller arrived home around 4pm and at 6pm we went to our friend Kay’s house for dinner. After dinner we spent a few hours on the Wii. We skied, snowboarded, ski jumped, worked a ball puzzle, and bowled. By the way Jenn bowled a 202 on the Wii. She is the Wii bowling Queen at this point. It was fun and we enjoyed ourselves.

That’s it…that was our week. Hope all is well with you and you have a fabulous week.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Fun Week

Hello Everybody,

 

Our weeks will begin to look up again. Jimi has been gloomy because we have not been as active as we normally are, so I tentatively filled our weekends on our google calendar from this weekend through August 2009.

 

Jimi went to his classes all week as scheduled, just as I worked for both Crocs and Cencorp.

 

Wednesday night I had dinner with my girlfriend, Brenda and Thursday night I met my girl friend, Jennifer for coffee at the coffee shop.

 

Jimi picked my daughter up from the airport on Friday. She stayed home for a couple of hours and I did not see her again until Sunday at noon. She had a busy weekend catching up and hanging out with her friends. We spent a few hours together setting up her room, etc..

 

Jimi and I went snowboarding at Eldora on Saturday morning. We didn't stay very long, but it was a good time anyhow. I am so out of shape and the sport requires a lot of leg strength. Three hours and 7 runs later my legs were like wet noodles. Getting back in to it gradually is the best way to rebuild my muscles and improve my skill. Jimi went on several runs on the black slopes by himself.

After snowboarding we made some very yummy homemade burritos together. We have our technique down and they are gooooood! After eating, we went to my girl friend, Jennifer's house and played Monopoly with her and her boyfriend, Darcy. Jimi and Jennifer had a good time squabbling back and forth. I'm sure I do not need to tell you the outcome of the evening, but I will. Everyone ended up bankrupt and Jimi, again, owned the world.

 

Sunday morning we met Jennifer and Darcy at the bowling alley. We bowled for a few hours and again, enjoyed ourselves. Rest of the afternoon Jimi immersed himself in his studies, while Jenn and I spent mom daughter time together settling her into her new home. Jennifer then went out with her friends, Jimi continued working on school work and I was left on my own. I watching a couple of movies, painted my fingernails, and played on the internet.

 

This morning we finalized Jenn’s classes with her counselor. She is enrolled in school and once again attending Longmont High School, just as she was when she moved

 

It was a fun week and weekend.

 

Love everybody.

Lorie & Jimi

National Western Stock Show

Hello Everybody,

The week did not start off so great for me. I came home Monday evening and began feeling nauseous, and by 10pm it was evident that I had a stomach virus. Jimi stayed up with me most of the night. I think we both slept between 2pm and 6am.Needless to say, I did not go to work on Tuesday. By that evening I wasn't feeling sick anymore; however, I had no energy from not eating.

I finally got our 2008 scrapbook posted on line. Please take a look, as many of you are in the album. With the 3d embellishments, it is much better in person. Anyhow, here is the link. Please enjoy! http://dogbonegraphics.com/blog/?page_id=247

Jimi started his final semester of college this past week. His schedule is as follows: Mondays - Web Design, Tuesdays - Digital Video, Wednesdays - PHP, and every other Thursday - the Capstone.

I spent nearly the entire day on Saturday in Mead with my girlfriend, Jennifer, and Jimi made a trip to Denver to take pictures.

On Sunday we went to the National Western Stock Show in Denver. We watched several shows: the mule keyhole races, the Clydesdale 8 horse team, the mule costume contest, and the Clydesdale heavy weight pull. While the mule costume contest was somewhat of a ridiculous joke, we sat in awe watching the rest. The mule keyhole races were fascinating; the way those mules move so quickly and turn on a dime was astounding. The Clydesdale 8 horse team was a beautiful sight. The winner for this show was for Colorado; however, the winner of all the combined team competitions was from Michigan. The horses were absolutely gorgeous. Finally, the heavy weight pull kept us on the edge of our seats to see weather or not the horses could do it. Those horses gave it everything they had. We saw them working and working to pull the bed of sandbags. Some tried so hard they would loose their footing and fall down. The winner of this competition was also from Michigan. We didn't get to see the animals in the stock yard, but had a nice time anyhow.

That evening we made homemade chicken noodle soup, watch some TV, and played cards.

That's about all for now.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Here's the latest...

Hello Everybody,
 
Jimi and I made the decision to bring Jennifer back to Longmont before the end of the school year. We are flying her home on January 30th; unfortunately, she will not be able to bring all of her belongings. She is shipping some of her smaller personal items through UPS, but she will have to leave her furniture. We weighed the options and financially it is not worth driving out there to bring her furniture back. It will be more cost effective to obtain new (used) stuff.
 
Jimi carpeted the basement for her and we rearranged the house a little. The basement includes a living roomand a bedroom. We set it up with a couch, chair, end table, and TV in the living room area and a bed and dresser in the bedroom area.The basement has a separateentrance, which will give her (and us) privacy from her and her friends coming and going. The change is going to be different having someone else in the house with us, but we think we are making it as easy on everyone as possible.
 
On Wednesday Jimi brought lunch from Red Lobster to work and we sat in the lunchroom eating together. That was sweet of my man. All my girl friends at work are jealous because he always does stuff like this for me.
 
On Thursday evening we went out to eat for a really nice dinner at O's Steak and Seafood located in the Westin Hotel in Westminster. Wow, that was a fancy place. My meal was like something you see on TV: a large fancy plate with two shrimps and two scallops on it. I was floored, but surprisingly with the side of pasty rice it filled my belly. Jimi ordered a smoked steak. He had a smaller plate, but more food. We giggled about it. Miller, however, had to wait in the car.
 
I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday morning and I am pleased to report that I am cavity free.
 
Friday night I went to dinner, drinks, and a movie with a group of girls from work. We saw the movie "Bride Wars". It was cute and I am glad I went to see it, but not a movie I would likely want to see again.
 
Saturday night Jimiand I went to a party in Windsor with Vicki, my friend from work. We had a great time getting to know some of her other friends, playing poker, dancing, talking, and lets not forget drinking.
 
Sunday morning we went to breakfast and saw some friends from work, so we sat together. And then we went home to clean house and do laundry. Later in the day, we bought Blizzards from Dairy Queen and ate them while taking Miller on a long walk. We buzzed through the grocery store and it was back home for the night. It was a pretty relaxing day.
 
That all for now. Hope all is well with you.
 
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

It's a work work work week

Hello Everybody,
 
One thing of interest this week, but otherwise it was productive for us, yet boring for you to read about; therefore, I will be brief.
 
I spent the week and weekend engolfed in working both my jobs. Jimi was very productive with honey-dos around the house.
 
We made time to cook together a couple of nights, which is something I really love doing, and we went to the local pub one evening for a few beers.
 
Saturday we rearranged a portion of the house. We disassembled what we used to refer to as the "reading room" and turned it into a working room for selling on ebay. We have a packaging/boxing table with shelves holding all our supplies and a photo table for taking pictures with a white and black backgrounds. We believe making the process more effecient will encourage/motivate us to sell the things we have that have been sitting around for a long time.
 
I spent some time on the phone with my exhusband and my daughter, Jennifer, this week. Jim S. was laid off from his job in Kingman. He has since accepted a position for a fire equipment company in Boise, ID.We are making arrangements for Jennifer to move back to Longmont with Jimi and I. The details including the date has not been worked out yet, but I will keep you posted.
 
I finished our 2008 scrapbook, but did not have time to upload them to our blog for you viewing. When I get them done, I will let you know.
 
We woke up to several inches of snow this morning and I am meeting Jimi for coffee in Niwot in a few minutes, and otherwise that's it. All is well and life is good.
 
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi