Thursday, December 19, 2013

37: the latest lucky number

I suppose not many would think of 37 as a lucky number, but this year it is mine.  Last year it was 36.  So you can probably see where this is leading . . . . 37 years ago I was the lucky man who married Joanne Ottley.  And every year since has been a great blessing in my life to have such a wonderful, eternal, companion.  We celebrated today by just spending the day together doing stuff.  We took a walk this morning, then went around to various places and looked into moving our renovation project down the road a bit.  It was real joy just to be together.  Later this evening we went to Rocklyn to pick up a hitch bike rack that I found through Craig's List.  It was less than half the price of a new one, and in excellent shape.  So we can now throw the bikes on the back of the Honda and go different places to ride.  And because of where we went to pick up the hitch we got the added benefit of going around Pebble Creek Drive & Strand Road to see some of the most incredible Christmas light displays.  Then we went out to dinner at a great restaurant: Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ.  The food was great and the service was incredible.  I highly recommend it.
The stunningly beautiful sunset.
Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ - fortunately we had some left over and now have "take out" in the fridge.
The inside says "Still crazy about you."  So I may be crazy, but I'm crazy about the sweetest girl around.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Return of Mrs. Claus

The other night we attended the annual Ward Christmas Dinner.  It was a lot of fun.  The program was well done and there was plenty of food and good company.  We of the HP Group had a hand in providing the food, assisted by many who cooked up the enchiladas and rice.  The chicken enchiladas were delicious, as were the tamales, refried beans, chips and salsa, and our favorite arroz blanco con vegetales.  But before the dinner there was lots of entertainment for the kiddies in the form of Santa Claus in one room for candy distribution and photo ops, and Mrs. Claus in another room reading books to the young ones and generally instilling a modicum of calm.  Here are some photos of us with Santa along with Mrs. Claus in action.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

And Vice Versa

Last year mom bought a Ford Taurus, but it has been giving her some problems since we got back in town (and maybe before), and she has offered on a couple of occasions that it was a bit bigger than she cared to drive.  After it refused to start as we left Church on Sunday, we decided it was time to move on.  So yesterday we went to Dow Lewis Motors to see what they could do for us.  We looked at a pretty good variety of sedans, including a Chevy, a Toyota Corolla, and a Ford Focus.  And, of course, the car she ended up buying: a nice little Nissan Versa.  She test drove the Toyota and the Nissan, and they let her take the latter home overnight to make sure she liked it.  She did, and today she bought the Versa.  She was well cared for by Murray and they gave her a good deal, as well as giving her close to the maximum value for her trade-in Ford (based on my review of Kelly Blue Book).  They also pretty much just transferred over the extended warranty she had on the Ford to the Nissan.  So she has a good little car now and got it for a good price.  And best of all, she is happy about it.  Here are a couple of photos.