Our Sunny Carribean Cruise, 2010

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SLC Update

Russell and I have been in SLC for three days now looking for an apartment for him to stay in while we attempt to sell our house. We signed a lease yesterday on a nice, old place that is really close to downtown SLC. It has three parks right by it and City Creek meandering in front of it. It is one of those really great areas of SLC that takes you back in time. In the neighborhood there are lots of tall, old trees, great sidewalks, bridges across the creek, a memorial park for Utah war veteran's, and a definite slow paced feel. It is a block north and east of the conference center. There are missionary couples living there along with many other variety of folks. Russell will be about 5 minutes from his job compared to the 30 minute commute he has in Jackson. It seems like a nice place to be.

The apartment has one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and living room. There is no microwave or dishwasher so Russell says he is going totally paper and plastic for dishes. He says he may take one pan to the apartment but you know us, we are microwave cookers deluxe so I imagine he will do the same at the apartment. We are trying to decide if we can call it a condo, a suite or second home but since it is just an apartment that is as romantic a label as we can come up with. (any other suggestions ?)We hope to get a hide abed couch in case we ever have company but our finances are going to be a bit strained supporting two households so who knows if that will happen. Rae Jean has offered to furnish it with her abundance of furniture so I'm sure we will take her up on that. That will save having to move stuff down here from Idaho so that will be awesome, thanks Rae Jean. We will need to move a bed down is about all.

You will be welcome to come visit anytime, just know you will need to bring your own bed, pillows,towels,dishes etc. Just kidding, I am sure we will eventually get a blow up bed and all that other stuff too. Just a matter of getting it from Idaho to Utah. You maybe eating on TV trays which may be interesting because I am not ever sure there will be a TV there. Well, I guess there may be a TV, I am not use to the idea that there is just plain free TV to watch. We have lived so long where there is only TV if you pay for it that is it kind of weird to remember there are other options than that.

I love downtown SLC so I am excited about this all. Just pray for us that we get our home sold quickly, yeh, that will be a real miracle!

Our Wonderful Washington DC Weekend

Wednesday, May 27th, Russell and I flew to Washington DC, a place we had never been. The reason for our trip was to celebrate the retirement of Lieutenant Colonel Kim Paul Wortham. Kim is a close high school friend of Russell's from way back at Meridian High School, class of 1975. Just wish I had a picture of them from 1975, they look much different now!



His retirement ceremony was Thursday afternoon at Ft. Myers military base. It is adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, home of the unknown soldier. The ceremony was pretty awesome, here is a photo of Kim and then some video of the occasion. It was pretty spectacular and we sure were glad he invited us to go to it.







This drum and fife band was our favorite, (you drillteam sisters, watch how straight their diagonals are).

Here are some photos from our day walking, (and walking and walking) around the sites. Please know we are not looking our best, it was hot, rainy, and windy that day.

Drum roll please........Salt Lake City here we come

Here is our big news, we are moving from our wonderful, beautiful valley to a really big valley, Salt Lake City, Utah. Russell had his first day of work there today, Wednesday, May 20th. Holy cow we have had to keep that a secret for a week and a half and it was almost more than I could bare. Anyway, if you know any one who wants a great house in a great valley with great views and great weather (ha) just let us know because our house will be on the market soon.

Living in the Teton valley has been a dream come true. After leaving the Wood River valley our girls learned there really are other kids with values and morals and are just plain nice. Brittany and Colby have loved living here and will probably be the most sad to leave. How will Colby survive being so far from the Allan family in Jackson? Hmmm, I bet she and Jim never factored this move into their relationship, what is going to happen there?

This is a great opportunity for Russell. He will be over all the lending in Utah and Wyoming for Bank of the West. His little Jackson area has been the leader in lending totals for all of Utah and Wyoming for some time now, and he will now have the chance to do the same for the Utah region of the bank. Right now it is pretty much in the bottom of the pool for the whole bank so there is no where to go but up. Since fixing bank problems seems to be his specialty I have no doubt he will be really successful as he undertakes this challenge. I an really proud of him for all his hard work, and ability to problem solve.

I guess we will be down sizing with this move since the kids are pretty much gone, so, if there is anything we have that you love makes us a deal and it could be yours. Oh the joy of thinking about moving again, lets see, this is our 12th or 13th move so we should be pretty good at it. We have been really blest though, with each move, to learn and grow and hopefully become better parents, friends and members of the church that we love. We have a huge list of friends we send Christmas cards to every year and this move will surely add a bunch to that list.

As for me, I am ready for Salt Lake. It the past 11 years or more I have had an hour commute to do any kind of actual shopping, movie watching, or any kind of thing that simply doesn't happen in small towns. (like eating at real restaurants). I am a little sad at leaving my music job and job at the seminary but I am sure there are other opportunities just awaiting me. With one surgery behind me and one sadly loaming in my future it will be nice to just relax and have some fun with my family and I think Salt Lake is just the place to do that.

So there you have it...our big news is finally out.

Happy St. Patty's Day to Ya!

Hey all you lads and lassies, may the luck of the Irish be with ya today! We had a really fun rook party with our rook buddies Saturday night and we all had these fabulous hats and such to wear. Russell and I did not have the luck of the Irish with us, as neither one of us won the game but at least we were not the losers either. We ate green jello, green salad, broccoli, green grapes, kiwi, granny smith apples, green koolaide ice cubes in Sprite, pistachio cake and yummy scalloped potatoes with ham, (that were not green). It was a fun night!

Our Dance Lessons are Paying Off! Just Kidding, (no dance lessons for us!)

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We're Hot!

Please pause our blog music before you watch this hilarious little number.

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