Emily's Birthday

Today would have been Emily's 19th birthday.

Halloween 2008

Just a few pictures of what used to be our favorite time of the year.

One Year Later

Well, today marks the one year anniversary of the worst day of my life. I knew that the entire week, starting with Kathy's birthday last Friday and ending on Nov. 3, was going to be tough. I finally realized that there was no way I could work through this time so I have taken some time off of work.

I really had no idea what I was going to do today; what are you supposed to do at a time like this? Kathy and I decided to just stay busy so we cleaned the house from top to bottom...it needed it. After the girls got home from school we went to the cemetery. After dinner we watched Sharleen's new DVD of Singing in the Rain that she got for her birthday.

By way of comparison today was nothing...but I am not sure what I thought it would be. Nothing has changed, but I guess I am becoming used to the idea that this is how things are. I cannot believe it has been a year...it seems like yesterday and a hundred years ago all at the same time.

Camp del Corazon

Words fail me right now. I finally watched the Camp del Corazon 2008 video...

http://69.228.121.245/VIDEO/CDC2008VIDEO.WMV

I miss her so much.

Emily did the narration for the 2007 video to...

http://69.228.121.245/VIDEO/CDC2007VIDEO.WMV

Scared

OK, I know that just yesterday I was lamenting the loss of political posts and how I wouldn't be doing it for a while. Well, that was before I found this series of articles - http://www.ibdeditorials.com/series8.aspx. This scares the crap out of me! This guy is very close to having the power to do some really terrible things to our country.

More visitors

I noticed tonight that I have been getting a respectable increase in visitors over the last couple of weeks. Nothing spectacular but noticeable. I quickly realized that we are getting closer to the election and I am getting some hits on some old political posts. I am sorry that all the political stuff is so outdated. You would think that with this incredible election season I would be writing all sorts of offensive things. While I am very interested in what is happening, this all still seems to petty to write about. Maybe I will be back to my old self in time for 2012.

Pinetop-Lakeside Trip

Last weekend the girls, Kathy and I went up to the Lake of the Woods resort in Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ. We stayed 4 nights in a very nice cabin and did a ton of fishing.

They have there own private lake that was loaded with fish. The fish were very active bt very small! It was all good fun and the weather was perfect.

Sharleen caught her very first fish ever and then follwed it up with 17 more. She had 18 fish in 3 days of fishing.

This was a really nice getaway and the resort is highly recomended. It is a nice balance between roughin' it and staying in a hotel.

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

Last Thursday the family loaded ourselves into the car and drove to Durango Colorado for an extended weekend vacation. The drive up was really neat as we were able to see some parts of the country that none of us had seen before.

We stopped in at the four conners monument thingy, which I thought I had been to before (but I was wrong) and snapped a couple of pictures.

On Friday we took the Durango and Silverton train ride. During the summer this train goes from Durango up to Silverton (hence the name). During the Winter (which it still is in the mountains of Colorado) the train only goes about half-way to a place called Cascade Canyon. At that point the train stops and everyone can get off for a short lunch break.

On Saturday we decided to drive up the highway to Silverton. We had heard from some people on the train that there was still a lot of snow on the ground. The drive was very cool (and sometimes very cold) and the scenery was amazing. Silverton did not disappoint.

Silverton is hidden away is a small valley and when you first see it it does not look real. We spent a couple of hours exploring the town, which was mostly closed. Silverton has only one paved road (that we could find).

Sorry for the short write-up. It was a fun trip and higghly recommended.

Headstone is in

Well, it took as long as they said it would but Emily's headstone was delivered and installed this week. I really thought it would have happened much sooner but they said that the photo would add some time. I am glad that they took their time and got it right. It turned out...well...nice.

I am not sure I know what I feel about this. In a way it is good to know that this last item is done, but on the other hand it does not make me (or Kathy, or the girls) feel any better.

On a slightly different note, Emily's work (and Kathy's) build a memorial gardern to commemorate employees that has passed away.

It turns out that 2007 was a really bad year for Healthsouth.

I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone who has left comments and offered condolences. I am sorry that I do not answer them all, it is still tough to talk about all this and writing is not much easier. We are all doing well.