2008 in a glance

We have had a great year with lots of interesting things.

In March We went to Kauai for a week. Just the two of us walking around looking at stuff, snorkeling, relaxing. We camped inches from the beach and then rented a cottage for a few nights with a screened in jetted tub. In fact we have had many little outings this year. Weekend trips, holidays away. Fun times.

One of my favorite outings was over the 4th of July holiday. We went to Zion, leaving super early in the morning and got there to blistering heat. We however stayed up at Lava Point campground-cooler & quieter. Did some hiking up there and eventually made our way down to the valley and the river-we had a swim day up into the narrows.

Another great trip was to JE's aunt and uncle's house in Allyn Washington and then on down to Portland for Labor Day. We spent a couple days with my sisters in Portland and saw the Portland Zoo. That is a great place to visit polar bears!

John E works still designing cars and loving it. We went to the LA auto show last month in November. In the beginning of December we went to a convention in Las Vegas. The weekend before we headed up to Zion again and did a bit of hiking and freezing in our sleep. Zion is such a beautiful place in Autumn and winter. We hiked Angels Landing and completed it for the first time in years-always some reasonable excuse. (To the lady who was taking her toddler up the mountain as we were coming down--I hope your kid lives to be old enough to enjoy his next birthday! Use smarts with your child, your job is to protect him! That still makes me mad) On Monday we traveled on to Vegas and the convention. We stayed in the MGM Signature. Oh so beautiful! the room was beautiful and had a huge jetted tub- our favorite! While JE was at the convention I made dolls for Ocean's kids and looked for work and played with a new friend-Nichole.

JE is a cub master for our ward--since the stake was redivided we have 1 cub.

In May I was made “head cutter” for the Opera and cut the Marriage of Figaro . It was so fun and Challenging. However that was a last hurrah for the Opera Company, it went under the week after the show closed. So now I am busy making Christmas Pressies and looking for work/networking. I am very hopeful and excited for the endless possibilities before me. I am the Enrichment Leader for our ward.

I had an interesting adventure recently. As I was coming out of our neighborhood market I passed a woman who was talking to her two little boys and said something to the effect of "I just need to figure out what to do." Somehow this phrase made me stop in my tracks and I asked if I could help with anything. To my surprise she said yes. She had locked her keys and cell phone in the car. I loaned her my cell phone and stayed with her and her kids while we waited for AAA. We talked and talked. She is a member of the church and lives just on the other side of the freeway. Funny that this happened so soon after my prayer for friends. Thanks God, I needed that!

For Christmas this year we go on a grand adventure A huge road trip Starting from Southern CA we will travel up the 5 to Portland to visit my family for Christmas. From there we will visit friends in ID and then down to JE’s family in UT for New Years. Then back home. We really look forward to this trip