Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Ending 2010--Looking ahead to 2011

It's been a busy and stressful year.  As it comes to a close, I must say I'm glad to see 2010 end.  I have high hopes for 2011. 

We've enjoyed a busy weekend celebrating the Saviour's birth, spending time with family on both sides.  It was great to visit with my parents and family on Christmas Day.  On Sunday, we were able to spend time with Carl's niece and nephews in Provo and we always enjoy our time with them.

This week I also played host to our traditional "Friend's" Christmas party.  The girls I grew up with started a tradition of a Christmas party when we were 11 years old.  In those teen-age years, we typically went caroling (and spent several weeks beforehand practicing and typing up the words).  As time went by it became a Christmas lunch or dinner.  As our circle grew with marriages and babies, it became a family tradition.  We celebrated the 36th anniversary of that first party this week with a pot luck dinner and hours of great visiting.  To my kids, this group is a second family.  It's amazing to keep friendships alive over decades.  We rarely see each other on a consistent basis anymore but we can spend an evening catching up and reminiscing old times together as if hardly any time has passed.  They are wonderful friends!  We miss those who can't make it from time to time but it's a great tradition.


So, looking forward to 2011.  My daughter graduates from high school!  WOW!  It doesn't seem possible and I can't quite figure out where the time has gone.  She's been accepted to two colleges--Miami University in Ohio and Utah State University.  We're waiting to hear from the U and BYU before making her final choice.  I'm excited for her but this year will bring a huge change as she will move out of her childhood home and take the first steps into her adult life.  I hope the year goes slowly until August!

My son will leave on his international trip in just 9 days.  He will spend 28 days learning about and serving the people of Nepal as well as enjoying some adventures trekking in the Himalayan foothills and areas in India.  Lucky boy!  (However, I want those 28 days to pass relatively quickly so I guess the slow part of the year has to go from February to August).  He's also applied to work at Camp Steiner in the Uintah's again this summer.  I'll have one coming home from a summer away as the other packs to leave for school. 

Carl & I will get to practice being empty nesters again this year as Spencer travels during the fall with his school and Caitlin is away.  I don't mind the temporary weeks of relaxed responsibility but I'm awfully glad when they come home again.

I hope everybody enjoys winding down the year and looking forward to the next one.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Passwords

So, do you hate passwords?  I know we need them but I'm always forgetting them.  How many of you tend to use the same two or three passwords over and over again even though all the experts tell you that's not good security?  I know I do! 

We tried updating our cell phone account and changing some settings.  We didn't know the password.  We didn't know the password last time we tried to change it.  So, we keep resetting it and then we keep forgetting it.

As if remembering passwords wasn't difficult enough, what about all those stupid security questions?  My least favorite:  What is your favorite book?  Really?  Changes monthly, weekly and sometimes daily!  If I have to answer that one (some sites don't let you choose your security questions), I put Book of Mormon.  I know it's a title I'll never forget and it's always on my must read list.  If I choose, I like the ones such as What city were you born in?  Not a problem, it will never change since we're only born once.  What is your Dad's middle name works well too.  Another answer that doesn't change.  What was your favorite pet's name is one of those iffy questions.  Anything with favorite can be a problem.

How many of you have these silly security questions showing up on work related sites that other people need access to?  We have several advertising sites we use and more than one person has access and needs access.  Where were you born now takes on a totally different and challenging meaning.  Trying to keep track of where your co-workers were born is a great lesson in geography!

The reason I started thinking about it was I realized I wasn't sure what my password was to get into the blog to make a post.  However, I had my browser "remember" my password and I got in just fine.  Of course, I still dont' know what my password is which means I can only ever enter my blog from my computer but I can live with that (at least until my computer crashes at some future, unknown date--shhhhhh, that could be very soon considering how "mature" this computer is)!@!@!@!@!@!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Spring in the Rockies

What month is it?  May with spring breezes and flowers.  Have you looked outside lately?  How about snow, rain, and cold?  Welcome to Spring in the Rockies!


Interstate 80 was closed twice today due to weather related accidents at Parley's Summit.  In the first one there was no injuries other than to the vehicles and I haven't heard about the second one that happened later in the day.  It looks and feels like winter is still here.


Usually in May, we're flirting with when to turn on the air conditioning.  This year, the heat is still on and it's not a luxury--it's cold!  I'd put all my winter clothes downstairs when we had some nice weather a couple of weeks ago and I had to bring all the long sleeves back up again.  I had the space heater on in my office--which I rarely do in the winter--because I was chilled yesterday morning.


I just hope we still get a spring season and it doesn't turn into summer overnight.