Another year has come and gone and I thought I'd be better about blogging. It looks like I wasn't. As a matter of fact this was my worse blogging year yet!!
It's not like nothing happened in 2012! Lots occurred but sometimes it just seemed like things happened on top of each other and it was too icky and time consuming to sort out or maybe it was just head-in-sand syndrome.
In April, we learned about a business investment opportunity. Through a series of coincidences or as we call them "non-coincidences" these days, we were able to learn about a start up company that had some exciting concepts and business opportunities. We have talked about an exit plan for the last few years for Gary to get out of Hewlett Packard. With this investment, we were hoping to see a place to jump if the opportunity came about.
Who knew it would be so soon? HP offered an enhanced early retirement package for the end of August that was too good not to consider. Through a LOT of research and soul searching Gary made the leap on August 31st. He has been devoting all of his business time to Blaze Technology since then. Hopefully they will be fully funded and running like a clock this time next year. :)
Stephanie turned 21 this year!!! What a fun trip we had to Las Vegas! We drove and drove and drove!!! The trip back was not such a great experience..... oh and maybe the trip over if you counted being lost in the middle of Nevada for an hour or two... but lessons were learned by ALL!!!! Whew!!! Flying would have been much too easy and we wouldn't have stories to tell!!!
We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on June 3rd. It was nice to get out and play. We went on a REAL date!!!
Can I still make him blush? I know he can make me! :)
We had dinner at Barbacoa, the most beautiful restaurant in Boise since Top of
the Hoff!! These doors were imported from Spain!! They built the wall
around them. It overlooks Park Center Pond. It's hard to remember what
this looked like 33 years when I worked across the street.
We went to The Anniversary Inn. Nice.... but this elephant stared at us all night long. Hmmm...... we'll just leave it at that....
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My friend Carla was married on August 25th so Gary and I both went to Pocatello for a combined trip for Carla's wedding and to see his brother Gene. We received a call that Gene wasn't doing well. It was nice to see Carla's family. It was really neat to see Bob Prestwich there too!!! He was the friend that brought Gary and I together initially. He was also my FIRST boy that was a friend date a zillion years ago like in Junior High. It was surreal and fun because Gary sang for Carla and Kevin's wedding way back in 1976. THIS wedding was pretty low key and very nice. She was short a music person (non-coincidence?) and I bravely jumped in for her going down the aisle music. I'm thankful this is her LAST wedding. John is a wonderful man and I see them together for a very long time.... like forever.
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Carla and John McNeil
We are both SOOOO thankful that we made that trip. The following week was Gary's last week at HP after 33 years. It was critical for him to be there through the following Friday on the 31st. Little did we know that we would lose Gene Thursday night. Gary was able to wrap up by noon Friday and we were on the road again.
Raymond Gene Wood - 8/30/12 Bob, Gene and Gary - Thanksgiving 2011
We were mourning for ourselves, not Gene. It was an opportunity for Gary's family to come together again. Gene would have LOVED to have seen the whole day transpire. I'd like to think he was there with this smile on his face.
Gary, Jeni, Rick's youngest son Tristan, and Rick
Rick is six weeks younger than his Uncle Gary, and Jeni is two years younger. They were raised more as siblings than niece and nephew because of Grandma Mabel and Grandpa Ray. They took Rick and Jeni with Gary on all vacations. They were very close.
Rick Junior, Rick, Frances, Rick Junior's wife and Rick Sr's youngest son Tristan.
Sue, Bob, and Zoey....... At lunch after the funeral. Yes Bob would wear anything his Grand-daughters want because that's just how he rolls as a Grandpa these days. :) LOL What a softy :)
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EVERYTHING seemed to happen all at once. As if this wasn't enough, there had to be more.
My Best Friend, Vicki lost her amazing Mother-In-Law. Rosemarie
Hess died suddenly on 8/27 THREE days before Gene passed and Gary left HP! It was unbearable to see the pain that these friends were in AND Vicki had a heart attack.
Thank God Vicki is OK today. I couldn't have been sane enough to write this today if she wasn't.
What a beautiful family Rosemarie left. There is peace in knowing that she was able to spend Christmas this year with Walt.
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Gary wouldn't let any moss grow between his toes for sure. Leaving HP after 33 years, losing Gene, and our friends turmoil propelled him into this new business..... salary or no salary!!! I'm so proud of his resilience to jump forward so abruptly!! My brain hadn't even caught up yet!!
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In October, we attended a beautiful wedding for our friends' son Blake. This is where the picture of Gary and I came from at the beginning of this blog. What a perfect setting on a beautiful day :)
The fall came with some fun things to participate in. I went to the Boise Temple open house with my walking friends.
Lisa Weyrauch died - 9/21/12
This brought sorrow and just a bit of anger. I went through a lot of crud with her when she lived next door. I could not have gone there again but thankfully she had a good friend in Arizona to help her through what she could. God bless you Pam for being that person for her. I pray for peace for her sons and that they may know that there are people still here for them.
Katherine Jones was Lisa's friend from a few years ago. She was a realtor that they worked with in Seattle for Carter when he was in school. Then Katherine and her family moved to Boise. I met her at Lisa's celebration of life. She wanted to see the Temple open house and we had a really good time together. I can say now that she is a friend too :)
The Celebration Pageant was Amazing!!! This was so cool to watch! 9300 Youth at Taco Bell Arena performing for President Monson.
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This fall/winter, I made another jaunt over to Pocatello for a day and brought Ann Jones, my sister-in-law back with me. We were able to see Carla before we came back. It was SOOOO awesome to see her and her Mom, Sister, and Brother-In-Law!
There were public tragedies that happened this year that were just too much to blog about. Twenty Six people's lives were ended two weeks before Christmas and millions of people have mourned. Blogging about my own life even in good times is hard enough but blogging about the craziness of our country would take too many volumes of data.
Somehow Christmas just happened before we knew it!!! I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do. I'm hoping to do better in 2013 with blogging, pictures, etc., etc....
Thankfully we can say goodbye to 2012 and look ahead!! Here's wishing everyone a healthy, happy New Year!!!!
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