Hal and Lynn's BLOG: 2008

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas in Steamboat

Scott, Kristie and Lacey on their way to Steamboat Springs

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

Kristie and Lynn infront of our condo.

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

Present time. Lynn's turn.

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

Hal opens his first present.

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

Later we took a drive up the mountain in Steamboat Springs.

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

Scott, Kristie and Lacey on our drive.

From Scottandkristiechristmas08

A slide show of some of what we saw.

Then and Now

When we arrived this what it looked like.

From Hal and Lynn's BLOG

Now this what it looks like.

From Hal and Lynn's BLOG

Along with the snow there is a significant difference in the temperature.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

The Steamboat Springs Ward Christmas Party Friday December 19, 2008 was a big success! We went over to the church about 3:30 pm yesterday to help setup and decorate for the ward party. The Bishop was there by himself trying to set everything up. We started putting the Christmas tree together and then Brother Davidson and his two boys came and helped. The men all worked to get the stage brought in and set up and the lighting figured out. Jan Schumman, the Bishop's counselor's wife, showed up with her car filled with decorations from her home to put on the tables and what seemed like an impossible task to get done by 6:00 ended up looking very festive. It is so fun to be needed. The program was really nice with a couple of the singers with talent at professional level. The food was great and all seemed to have fun.

In addition to a good turnout by the ward members there were several non-members in attendance.

George Hernandez that we had met with for the first time earlier in the day also came. We had gone over to his place with Holly Fielding & Alberto Rosales (Alberto only speakes spanish) to give George a video. We ended up giving him the Video and a Book of Mormon lesson and he committed to read and pray. George speaks a little English, so it was interesting having Holly interpret as we taught. We invited him to the Ward Party and he came.

Holly Fielding teaches violin and two of her non-member students performed and their mom came to the party and to see them play.

This is the entire Primary plus a few friends. Small but mighty.

This seems to be the look of this season. Apparently no green Christmas for us.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Please tell it like it is!

Ok, so those of you who know me well know how I feel about stores that sell women's clothing sizes 14 and up. They have these cutesie names that drive me crazy. I'm sure you've seen them but I will refresh your memories, here are a few. Pretty and Plump, Encore, And More, August Woman, Woman's World just to name a few. Personally I would be happy if they would tell it like it is and make my size easier to find by just posting the sign to read large size clothing or something that really tells the true story. It's not like I don't know that I wear a large size or that I can hide that fact from the other shoppers in the store. They know what size I'm searching for.

I have the same issue with the weather reports here in Colorado. I want them to just tell me what the temperature is. No... instead they say things like this...today's temperature is going to be a high of 20 but it will feel like 5 degrees. Or..... today's temperature is 17 degrees with a wind chill factor of -8 degrees. Whats up with that, if it feels like 5 degrees just say is it 5 degrees. And if the wind chill makes it -8 degrees just tell me it is -8 degrees.

Ok, that's it for today, just trying to figure out how cold it is really going to be.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

We're dreaming of a "green Christmas" just like the ones we used to know!

Our first snow

and it snowed again the next day

and the next day

still snowing!

and still snowing

One day of sunshine and it is snowing again today

Everyone says this is just the beginning so get ready for more.

We are pretty much settled in here and are continuing to learn our way around. Driving in the snow is a different experience for us but Hal is doing well with my instructions from the passenger seat. I am sure that he is getting tired of me telling him to slow down. Last night we were invited to dinner at a ranch house north of town. That was a bit of an adventure driving out there. It was a really beautiful drive but on a dirt road so now I know why all of the cars around here are so dirty. Ours had stayed clean until last night.

We have been getting acquainted by trying to attend a few community events. We went to a Christmas boutique at the Lutheren church and met some very nice people. It was one of those boutiques that not very many people were in attendance and so we felt like we had to buy something but couldn't find anything that we wanted. We did finally see a cute metal star Christmas ornament and some cookies so we didn't look like total losers when we left.

The downtown shops are very fun to go through and since Hal is in a suit and me in a skirt we really stand out in the crowds. A couple of the merchants told us that we are really over dressed for Steamboat. Everyone is casual here. Oh well we are certainly making our presence known.

For a couple of days we spent time at the hospital with a young man named Alberto. His appendix burst and he didn't get to the hospital until it was almost too late. He was a very sick young man and has suffered some brain damage due to the incident. He was very agitated and the hospital staff was having a hard time keeping him calm and getting him to eat so they were asking people to come and sit with him. We finally got him to eat a little night before last. He was afraid to eat because he thought that it was food that made him sick. He doesn't speak much english and we speak very little (like none) spanish so it was fun to try to communicate with him.

We are still trying to figure out what to do on these cold snowy days but I'm sure that will come with time and as we get used to the weather. We kind of feel like we aren't doing enough yet.

We would love to hear from any and all of you. Our email address is hfl@garlic.com that seems to be the easiest form of communication these days.