GRATITUDE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We had a great one. I have a saint of a sister (actually two saintly sisters). One who has to put up with us when we come to town. We had great food. Brock lost at the game of Quiddler but made up for it the next day during the Santa run! Our nieces and nephews (I guess, grand-, it is) kept us entertained.

It was a lot of fun. We also were able to attend the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU MoA. It was very nice. I would highly recommend it. A great holiday and the weather cooperated.

Bring on Christmas!

All of us Santas before the race, cold but ready to run.

I had a better time than I thought I would!

Scott would have had a much better time but he ran with me a lot of the way. Brad and Jorrien ran together some of the way but Jorrien poured it on at the end. Are Tandi and Brock still friends? There was a lot of trash talking going on the weeks before the race. Bryce did great even with very little training. We missed Alicia but she had a very good excuse, her bosses needed her help with the parade!

Road Trip

Elise and I finally took a road trip before it was too late in the year to do it! We left for the west coast on a Thursday afternoon, made a quick trip to say hello in Mesquite and then on to Barstow that evening. The next day we made it to Cambria. This was the seaweed that was on the beach. I had no idea it looked like that. It was like big long tubes with bulbs on the end. Elise's sister, Amy, drove up from LA to meet us in San Simeon for the evening. We stayed in a little motel called Silver Surf(?). Kind of a dive but clean. Elise went out to the car to grab something (which was right outside the door)and some guy tried to follow her back into the room. It was just the first of a few weird experiences.

The next day we did a couple of tours at Hearst Castle. This is Elise and Amy in front of the outdoor pool. The day, all of the days, were overcast and foggy.
Here is the indoor pool. Incredible. Gold leaf in the tiles on the bottom of the pool. The skylights to the right of the pool (you can see the light above the diving board) were actually on the tennis courts above.

These were eucalyptus trees in San Simeon. Nature is amazing!

We left San Simeon and Amy and headed north. Along the way we stopped at the elephant seal beach. Hundreds of seals were sleeping and fighting along the beach.

We drove Highway 1 in the dark (which is a little scary, parts of the road are falling away or under construction, glad we were on the inside lane). Made it to Monterey and stayed in the Holiday Inn Express there. Nice hotel. You can tell we are getting old: we went to Chilis to dinner and split a meal, but it was 10 o'clock.

The next day we walked around Monterey, lots of shopping, saw Fishermans' Wharf. Had an excellent dinner there. Then did the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach. Here is a shot of one of the fairways. That night we moved to a hotel about 2 blocks away that was right on the beach., a Best Western. It was beautiful. That evening we sat at the big windows and read as we watched the waves come in. I love the ocean!

On Monday we drove all the way back to Salt Lake. Elise has been watching Drive Inns, Diners and Dives and picked up this restaurant in Truckee, California. It was an old diner that they had moved across the country to Truckee. The chef is from out of the country. The food was great. Definitely not diner food.

I drove back to Vernal early Tuesday morning. This is my odometer reading for the weekend. It was a lot of driving but went by quickly when you are with a good friend who you haven't talked to for some time!

A few months ago I saw in a fabric store a self-binding baby blanket and fell in love with it. I searched on the internet and found a pattern. I gave the fabric to a friend's daughter at her shower and told her the blanket was coming. I was a little confused at the instructions so her mother did some more searching, made one herself, and then showed me how. It was as much fun as I thought it would be and I was very pleased with the results. I hope to make more. It was the first time that I thought maybe it would be fun to sew for grandbabies!