Where did the last 15 years go

Isn't it amazing that when you see someone for the first time in 15 years, having not spoken at all in that time, that it's as though nothing has changed.  I went to Nauvoo with Jenni and Joffie Heath; haven't seen them since 1996; and we chatted for 5 hours in the car there and 5 hours in the car back, plus hours while we were there.

Now staying at the Merrills in Kansas City - the kids are completely grown now; Daniel must have been about 4 last time I saw him, now he is 18; Thomas is grown up....(remind me to tell you the story of when I was babysitting and he hid in a locker - I thought he had been kidnapped, terrifying!!) - and now he's 6 foot something and all grown up - where does the time go.  Too bad I didn't get to see Stuart; he's away at college.  Chatting with Barbara and Markus is like we just saw each other last week.  Incredible, and delightful

Here they are - (sorry Joff!!)

(L-R; Joff; Emily; Markus; Stanley; Barbara; Jenni)

I feel like I've seen so much in the last couple of days (Nauvoo/Carthage etc) - but I have NEVER seen anything like this before....have you ever seen the closet of a 5 year look like this?...

...and Jenni was apologetic that it wasn't properly colour coordinated - I really need to sort my closet out, I can't be beaten by a 5 year old!

Carthage

This photo was taken through the bullet hole in the door at Carthage jail; Words can't effectively describe the experience of being in Carthage, I have always wanted to see this first hand, it was very moving

On the banks of the MIssissippi

The trees on the banks of the Mississippi were fascinating - my photo doesn't really capture it well; but it was quite bleak and cold; can you imagine having to leave Nauvoo mid winter in bleak cold weather - leaving everything behind, barely ready for a long trek west on foot.  How could I complain about sore feet after walking a half marathon?

Nauvoo

I've always wanted to come here...and here I am !!

Flew into Kansas City, Jenni and Joff met me at the airport and we (when I say "we" I mean Joff) drove straight here.

The hotel is delightful...the company is great.  I am SO looking forward to this weekend!

The first of the lasts

Was that my last presentation at Flextronics?  Maybe - time will tell.  We had the Cisco account team meeting in Austin today; this is a delightful group of people...most were live in Austin, the rest were on TelePresence...very neat technology.  The team gave me a few Texas gifts (a clock/ a throw and a HUGE mug)...I just need to find a way to get them home now!

right outside the office there were some deer....I just KNOW this photo would have been better if I had a decent camera...the SLR is getting closer to the top of the list!



Back on the road again

It takes a heck of a long time to get to Austin....I left the house at 10am and didn't get to the hotel until 9pm - it's almost quicker to fly to the UK.  A pretty uneventful day - there were a couple of photo's I wish I could have taken.  The first was when the plane was just above the clouds...it looks pretty cool, but I didn't catch it in time; another was when I got to Austin, there was a tree at the airport that was FULL of birds...but it was too dark.  SO; I've included this one.  It looked like the captain was trying to find his way into the plane, apparently he eventually found the door.

Putty and Paint

It's 9.30pm and I haven't taken a photo yet today...so I ran around the house looking for likely subjects, I'm sure there were some clever and artistic shots to be had, but I couldn't see any.  So I decided to see what the men were doing....

Boyce was running and hiding from me....his idea of hiding is standing in plain sight and covering his eyes...it is so funny!  I'll take a photo of that another time.

Dad was peering earnestly at his computer; but we had a photo of him yesterday.

So today is Arlan's turn - he was searching the house looking for places to touch up with putty and paint....

Everyone was being very industrious....and I was just wandering around looking for photo opportunities! Mission accomplished.

It was a gruelling match

...but this is the moment when my father in law got the winning card in a game of rook (The Johnsons call it "Nuts"  I have no idea why).  I was so close.  Boyce isn't a good loser so we had to forfeit a round to make sure we kept his spirits up and to avoid the inevitable Family Night Feud!  An appropriate way to finish off Family Day in Alberta :)

Not just any building site

On the way to Stake Conference this morning I decided to take a photo of the Calgary Temple building site - it seems that most of the work has been below ground level and then suddenly it's popping up above the ground....only 18 more months :)

...I think we may see the top of it from our house....now, if we could just destroy the house across the street, we would have a perfect view!!

Two for the price of one

I promise I won't charge for the extra photo, but there were two today.  I am beginning to love weekends since I decided I wouldn't use them to catch up with work; today was quite relaxing (but cold) - I just did chores, and this was a different view on the way back from the shops.  This was WAY prettier yesterday when there was more snow/frost on the trees, I really need to take the photo's when I see them instead of regretting it for 24 hours and then taking a sub-standard one!!

Then I had a relaxing afternoon at home - but I decided to take a photo of dinner in the making, there is something so appealing about colourful food...

 Finally, we went to Stake Conference this evening, one of the best things about singing in the choir is the fact we get comfy seats at the front...one of the worst things is when you want to go to the loo and there is no way out for 2 hours....tomorrow I have to go before I go

Another almost arty photo...

We bought these solar powered garden lights last year sometime, but I love how they look in the snow - I forced myself out in -22C to walk to the end of the garden for a photo this evening, it's only about 10 paces, but that seems like a long way in that temperature.

The highlight of today was deciding on a campsite for YW camp...I've been searching for a couple of weeks, and Connie mentioned Camp Woods on Sylvan Lake - it is perfect (when I say perfect, I mean it has showers and flushing toilets :) , and it's available.  That is such a relief; now I need to get to work on organizing the theme and the schedule...this will be fun :)

I left the house

It seems like I've been stuck at home all week - well I guess that's because I have been.  I realize that there are plenty of photo opportunities in and around the house...the trees in the back garden looked lovely covered in a thick snow/frost; but it was too cold to go and take a photo.

However, I did go out to dinner with some folks from work - Kathy is training Paulina (from Guad), so we took her out for a meal - just Kathy, Paulina, Scott and me - not too many of us left anymore!  There was literally NOTHING on the menu that I could eat - everything was either covered in oil or pasta; but I did have a few slices of zuchinni and onion, it was nice....the food looked and smelled delicious though:

just scratch your computer screen to smell the delightful aroma :)

...and another flower

We have way too many of these cactuses (or is it cacti?) in the house; but I must admit, I love it when they flower....this one with the white flowers is my favourite...

Car spa day

The weather was nice today, some of the snow melted and so the cars are filthy. I spent an hour in the queue for the car wash - but I think the car appreciated the effort.

The downside of a clean car is that I noticed a nasty scrape on the rear nearside bumper...when did that happen??

Happy Valentines Day

I need more drugs

So, I'm feeling the after effects of the half marathon.  I feel fine when I sit or stand, or even walk; but standing up from a sitting position is uncomfortable, and bending down is uncomfortable....I guess better training would have helped with that - or better drugs, one or the other.

Had choir this evening - we sound pretty good, but I wasn't enjoying having to practice standing and sitting, that said, I think it will be delightful next week  - and obviously (or maybe not) here is a photo of some of the organ pipes...

I DID IT !!!!

Apparently all you need to do to prepare for a half marathon is worry about it and make a half hearted attempt at training.  I finished....

The medal is a little over-kill really;  but I wasn't last (there was a 90 yr old with a walker behind me).  I was worried about whether I would have the energy; I had tons of energy, I was worried about whether my muscles would hurt - they just ached a little after about 19K; but the thing that screwed me up a bit was that my FEET were KILLING me after about 9K.  I tried everything to distract myself from my hurting feet; but I just had to work through it.  At least I made it.  My goal was to finish under 4 hours (I know, I know, hardly a lofty goal) so I succeeded, and it was an added bonus  that I wasn't last.  I ran a little and walked lots BUT I FINISHED!!

Driving home was entertaining - wind gusts up to 100 km p/h - I saw about 10 trucks blown off the side of the road - very nasty.

It may be too late to start training now

I'm just about to leave for Lethbridge, I'm going to stay in a hotel tonight and then do the half marathon in the morning...oh dear, I don't think I'm ready - but what's the worse that could happen??

So all I did today was sit in my office ALL DAY - catching up.

Even Hawaii isn't far enough away

I had to set my pc clock to Hawaii time in order to get this blog posted "today"  But for some strange reason, it still didn't work - so it looks like I missed a day - but honestly I didn't!!.  My flight from San Francisco landed at about midnight, and it was gone 1 am before I got on-line!
We had a staff meeting today with the Infrastructure Leadership team.  Today I had to start "carbing up" ready for the half marathon on Saturday.  It bothers me that I got cramps in my feet on the flight home - I sure hope that doesn't happen on Saturday.

Another day, another plane....  But I'll be home for the next week or so. Now I have to focus on Saturdays half marathon....life is just too exciting :)

Maybe my last trip to San Jose

Day two of the Snr Leadership Summit in San Jose - learned a lot about China and not much about future technology.  Then this evening we had another soiree; this time with a live band...

Scottie Willcocks has been coaching me on how to prepare for the half marathon on Saturday, so tomorrow I will need to eat some carbs - I really hope it doesn't screw up my weight loss :(

A bad workman blames his tools

We had the Senior Leadership summit in San Jose today; it was actually an awesome meeting, mostly heard from the CEO (Mike McNamara); tomorrow we'll have some external speakers (focusing on the China market)   BUT - maybe just as exciting was to chat with the professional photographer to see if I could pick up any photographich tips....and this is what I learned.....

I need a new camera :)

We had some more LOVELY looking food; but I couldn't eat too much of it.

Maybe one day I'll be thin !

The view from 3B

In spite of not looking forward to getting on a plane this morning, when I got up - it had snowed another few inches and the mercury had dropped to -17C.  I'm still not sure how the plane took off.  It took ages to de-ice the plane, and I must confess to being nervous that the de-icer stuff was frozen on the window when we finally hit the runway - so if it froze on the window - wouldn't it freeze everywhere else?  This was the view from seat 3B....

...and then 3 short hours later we landed in glorious sunshine in a very warm San Francisco, the view from seat 3B....

We had a little soiree tonight to kick off the Sr Leadership Summit in San Jose - I had a photo of me on one of those Segway things, but couldn't work out how to get it from my ipod to here...so you'll just have to trust me.

One of the best things about Sundays

----is that moment when the little button pops up on the chicken - heralding the fact that it is just moments from dinner time...

...and one of the worst things about Sunday is having to pack my bags for an early flight in the morning.  The car is picking me up for the airport at 5.45am - that sucks.  Another week in San Jose; but at least the weather will be better than here.

Only 6 days until the half marathon walk - am I ready?



Babies and Basketball

I love being woken up by grandkids...especially when it's not early!  Kathryn and Clint stayed over with Ezra and Bethany, because they bought Dad's van and they came up to collect it.  It will be so much easier for them to ferry the kids around in a minivan.

Is it just me, or are these kids gorgeous?!

Ezra has a delightful habit of running up to you with arms stretched wide and jumping into your arms for a hug....could he be any cuter?!

...and Bethany has a delightful habit of being Bethany!

This afternoon I took Dad and Boyce to see the Bowness High girls play (and win) in the final Basketball game...it was awesome, especially because they won :)

I finished the day with Stake Choir practice - a busy but lovely day.  Weekends are great when you don't work :)

I love Fridays

Doesn't everybody love Fridays - it was a pretty quiet day at work and then we made what ended up being a trek down to the South of Calgary for John Etheringtons birthday party (it was also Matthews dad's birthday)...so we all went to Tony Roma's for dinner.  Again, these are mostly snapshots, not photographic photo's, but for me they are a memory of a lovely evening...

John and Rita - How is it possible that they will have their Golden Wedding Anniversary next year?....

More of the family....just one spoonful of dessert for everyone to share...

L-R Rita; John; Pat (who is living with them); Trystan; Alyson

So we have wanted to introduce Pat to Boyce for a while to see whether they would get along well, we were hoping they would hit it off, but the entire conversation went like this:

Boyce:  Hello, my name is Boyce, I'm 50 years old and I come from Canada

Pat:       My mum died

End of conversation - so they may be slow to start, but we will persevere....at least they held hands (as this photo proves!)

and the food was delicious...

including the birthday dessert for the birthday boy.

Finally, when we got home, we were thrilled to see the grandkids - what a treat.  Ezra is just so amazing for his age, and he could hug for Canada, he's generous with his hugs and we all take advantage of that.  Bethany is just getting cuter by the minute...

The nights are drawing out

Sunset is actually in the evening instead of the middle of the day; it would almost feel like summer if we didn't have all that snow outside.

is this photo ALMOST artsy?

The diet is working!!

I didn't even realize how well my diet was working until I went for a walk and saw my shadow....it suddenly occured to me that not only am I significantly slimmer, but a lot taller as well - unfortunately I've also lost a lot of weight from my head, I guess that explains the bad memory.

After my walk I went to the eye doctor for a check up...she put those drops in my eyes that make my pupils bigger...so now I look like an alien; 7 ft tall, pin head with HUGE pupils....and what's with those wrinkles?!  Not a good day.



How long does it take do develop a bathroom in the basement?

....a very long time...I can't even remember when we started this, but I think it was AGES ago.  BUT, we're nearly there...this is how it's looking today:

Just one or two more days and it will be complete....and then we can move on to the next project.  The garage.