A Visit from Mike's Parents

Well it feels like a month since I wrote although it has only been half. Since the girls left at the beginning of August I have been to Boise for almost a week, Las Vegas for a few days and last weekend I was supposed to go to Providence, RI, next week to Denver and then on to Albuquerque. The trip to Providence was cancelled at the last minute, but Mike had made plans to pick his parents up and have them spend the weekend up in Wyoming (Picking them up and dropping them off while giving me rides to the airport each way). So we drove to Ogden anyway, and his parents did come up for a visit to beautiful Star Valley, and we were able to be in Ogden for Mike's sister, Vicky's, birthday party. We still a great weekend (better for me than going all the way across country), we just need to slow the adventure down! (How many times have I said that in life?!) We did manage a horse back ride or three and a couple outings fishing, but not nearl enough for the summer we have.

Seems three of the contracts I am working on now have deadlines in the next week, so work has been ver hectic for me. I am loving the new work situation, I just need to spead it out a little more too. Mike's work has slowed down a bit and he has made lots of progress on our house. We'll be ready to send photos soon.

************************

******************************

We had a blow in our business plan last week. The Alpaca with the broken toe, who was still recovering in Denver and trying to get rebred (but not having any success), had a heart attack and died. Her recovery seemed to be going so well but I guess all the stresses took their toll. Stress in the number one killer of alpacas and she had certainly had her share of late! She was insured for the purchase price although she still cost us a lot for her surgery, breeding, transportation from GA, etc. On the other hand, I think something may just not have been right in her, perhaps it's best we can move on.

Just two days before that we mailed the check out on another girl at a friends ranch in Boise, so we still have six alpaca. This is Token. She is nursing a little one and won't be coming home until Thanksgiving or so.

Summer is over...

... or at least for all the school kids in Albuquerque. July was very busy, with travel and extra-curricular activities, so to get in enough hours was tough. After the Spokane trip, the following weekend the girls and I went to San Jose and visited my brother Keith's family and I went to a friend's wedding. This was a friend I had worked with at Washington Group (Steve Pham). Since he's Vietnamese and his wife is Chinese I felt very "white". The kids had a great time "hanging out" with their cousins (whom they have been getting very close to through instant messaging this summer). The cousins had a swim meet and a vacation they were getting ready for, so the weekend was very relaxing.

The next weekend Mike went to Alaska fishing. The trip turned out to be sort of a bust as most years the King Salmon limit on the Kenai river is 6 per day, but the run was so small this year that it was 3.. Then the day they arrived it went to 1, so twenty minutes later, when Mike caught his one.... Well, finally the next day they closed the season all together, so Mike got to catch one Salmon! The next few days they did some Deep Sea Halibut fishing, which Mike found interesting but requiring more muscle than skill. All in all he was not thrilled with the trip but it was beautiful and restful.

While he was Alaska, the girls went for a daylong trail ride on the horses while I sat in the car and worked. They had a great ride to Bailey Lake. That is beautiful too. Mike and I will have to go this fall.

In the last few days of July, I was not doing anything but work, the girls were sewing, sleeping, riding, and relaxing. If I was awake, I was trying to get billable hours in. But now it is August (the month starts fresh!).. I dropped the girls at the airport Thursday to go back to Albuquerque since school starts next week for them. Then I took off to work a few days in Boise (through the weekend.. again BILLABLE HOURS!) and next week I'm going to a conference in Las Vegas.