Luminaria

 I've had a nasty cold. Nasty.  I feel like I've been sicker this fall than ever before. I missed Thanksgiving and luckily had Friday off so I had some time to recover. By Monday I was feeling somewhat better and I did go to work but I was full of advil and cough medicine and wore a mask all day.

Luckily, Dion and his family still plan fun, festive holiday activities and he invited us.  Luckily, my cold was somewhat better to the point that I felt ok going to an outdoor activity.

I had received free tickets to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point from Angela so when Dion mentioned that they were going to go, we decided to go with!

The weather has been unusually warm (enjoyable but a bit freaky). I haven't ever been to this particular light show even though I knew it existed because walking around in the freezing cold winter weather just didn't sound enjoyable.  This time, it was warm enough that I was actually excited to go!  It is cool enough to have a jacket/coat but not freeze to death.

It was a really fun time with Dion's family, Lauren and Frank and I.

Thanksgiving 2021

Thanksgiving was a bit of a bust for me this year as I came down with a bad cold on Wednesday. I even left work early to go get a covid test, thinking that if I felt ok, I could still go to the family get together as long as I was covid free. But I felt like crap and decided it was best to keep my germy self home.  

We had a big gathering that I was quite looking forward to: Diane's family, Daren's family, Jared, Doneen's family including Chelsie, Jaime and Greg and their kids, Kari and Josh; Dion's family, and Lauren Davidson who is currently living with Dion's family while she goes to nursing school. Ryan/Kristal and Carter/Harley also went.

Frank took the opportunity of my illness to not go since family activities aren't his favorite anyway. Lame.

I had made stuffing, mashed potatoes and two pies (well Frank made the pies, obviously) that we sent with Carter.

It sounds like they all had a great time!

The one redeeming quality to the day was that we had a nice long video meeting with all the boys!  I love hearing them chat and talk with each other. That was really nice.

I watched a couple of Christmas movies and managed to unpack the fake Christmas tree, though I didn't decorate it or anything. But mostly I napped and sat on the couch feeling sorry for myself. 

My throat actually continued to get more and more sore as the day went on. It's now the next day and I'm wondering if I should see a doctor since the pain isn't improving and I'm taking too much advil.

But, even with a cold and sore throat, I have a lot to be thankful for! My family, my warm home, my job, Frank's job, Frank's health, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives it all meaning.

Arizona!

It's a bit of a long story but New Mexico Jennifer and I decided it would be fun to visit Arizona Jennifer for the showing of the new Top Gun since we had seen the original together as high school friends. We made all the necessary arrangements: hotel and flights, only to discover that the movie release had been moved to May 2022!  Gah.

But we figured it was past time for a girl's trip anyway and did not reschedule.

The night before the trip, New Mexico Jennifer (I will call her NMJ from now on) started to feel ill. Not covid ill but still...not good.  By the morning it was clear she could not travel but by that time I was on my extremely early flight to AZ.  I arrived and got the rental car and headed toward the hotel, even though it was only 8 am and check in was 3 PM.

We were super sad to be missing NMJ for this trip we had thought about for so long!  But apparently she was sick enough to not even have time to feel sad about it for the first couple of days...so she made the right choice.  Still, we are going to have to do this again in May when the movie actually comes out and she will just have to quarantine herself beforehand if necessary!

I was miraculously able to check into the hotel at 9 am!  Felt like a Thanksgiving miracle!  I took a much needed nap while AZJ got her child off to school and such.

The next two and a half days were just wonderful!  We walked around Scottsdale and had a nice lunch on that first day. 

And then, when AZJ had school obligations with the youngin, I went to dinner with my Dad and Lottie. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant and I ate about 1/4 of my gigantic Chimichanga and was still too full. 

Day two included a lovely hike and dinner at a super nice place where we watched the sun set and ate yummy food. AZJ seemed to be worried that I was too out of shape to hike very far and kept asking me if I wanted to keep going. Luckily Frank and I hike some and also go on walks together so the hike was no problem. I surprised her!  I may be chubby but I can hike. ha! 

The dinner was overlooking a golf course and we even got to watch a wedding rehearsal take place. Food was good and we had a fun time just talking for a couple of hours. AZJ may or may not have scoped out the place for attractive single men. 

Day three we both slept in and then I went over to AZJ's house and we just hung out a bit. I got to (re)meet her son who of course didn't remember me (It's been a while).

The weather was just so fantastic the whole time. Low 80's with a breeze. Perfect.