February 13, 2006

We are terribly behind on the blog, so I’m going to try to sum everything up in this posting, and cut our losses.

Home sweet IBM. It’s so good to have a real job again. It was touch and go for a few months, but we’ve come out of it better for the experience. As Stony always says, “life is wonderful.”

For those of you that don’t know, I recently started working as an inside sales rep for IBM Rational development tools. Software development is a whole new world, and I have tons to learn. The environment at IBM is great. I’ve never worked in a place were the people are so interested in helping everyone succeed. There is a real sense of teaming, and empowerment. In addition to being measured on attainment, we are measured on our contribution to the teams that we are on – ie our extended field sales team, and our inside sales team.

The result is that people are always thinking of ways to improve and sharing those ideas with others. It’s really great. One of the reasons IBM acquired Rational, was for their sales program, and they are patterning the rest of the inside sales organizations after the Rational model. We get a lot of great press. I really lucked out.

January 23rd I went to Las Vegas for a partner meeting. I stayed at the Venetian resort, and it was actually pretty fun. The place is amazing, despite the fact that it’s a casino. Truth to tell, the casino is really only a small part of the resort. I was working most of the time, but I did get a chance to go to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I tried to take some pictures but if I used the flash, it reflected off the glass, and if I didn’t the pictures were too dark. My favorite section of the exhibit was of course the shark tank. They had several sharks ranging from one to seven feet. I snapped this picture in the glass tunnel. It’s not very good, but you can really see this guys teeth.

I left Vegas Friday night, stayed in Colorado Saturday, and left for San Jose Sunday morning for my orientation. San Jose was not what I expected, and I’ll say that I’m glad I don’t live there, and leave it at that.


I had a two week break between ending my last job, and starting at IBM. Hannah was jealous (As I would have been if the situation had been reversed), so she kept me busy with things around the house. However she did let me go snowboarding with two guys from the ward. We went to Copper Mountain. The resort was cool, and it was great to get on he slopes again. It had snowed the night before, and there were still some sections of fresh snow. I didn’t ride really hard, but I had a great time just being there.

House project number one was organizing the garage. I build a work bench from the scrap wood pile at Home Depot, and really lucked out. It’s exactly what I wanted and I only spent $15. We also bought some sturdy metal shelves for food storage, and will be restocking our supply at the end of this month. When I was laid off, we didn’t have a year supply, but we did have several cases of caned goods that we used up, and were very grateful to have them.

We also decided to go all out and build a cat tower for Sally and Reggie. I was a little apprehensive, because I didn’t want to be one of those people that has their house decorated with cat furniture, but the cats didn’t have anything to play on, and we didn’t want them scratching up the carpet, so we decided to go for it. Hannah designed, and we both build it. The cats absolutely love it. They spend all day up there looking out the window and sleeping.

A few months ago, Hannah was asked to coach the young women’s basketball team. While Hannah played basketball when she was younger, she hadn’t played in a long time, and was wondering why they had asked her. She found out that none of the other women in the ward played basketball, and Hannah was tall so they assumed that she knew what she was doing. By the way, that last sentence is almost a direct quote from the young women’s president.

At their first practice, Hannah found out that half the girls in the ward had never played basketball before, and she was going to have to start teaching the basics. Now when I say basics I mean basics – like how to dribble. They got creamed their first game, but they kept on getting better, and better. I was really impressed with how much the girls had improved. And the best part is that the girls love playing. They won’t let Hannah cancel practices, and go long every time they do practice. The one game they won was really intense. I couldn’t have been more excited if I was watching a play off game. They had worked so hard, and we knew that if they didn’t win this one, they weren’t going to win one all year. It was a close game, but everyone did really well, and they pulled it off.

Well that’s all we have time for so we’re going to sign off.

We love you all.

Eric and Hannah

And now your moment of ZEN……

Buckhorn Wash

When we went to visit my family in Utah we talked Stoney (Hannah’s Dad) into taking us to the Buckhorn Wash. For those of you who do not know Stoney he is a wonderful, kind, quiet man who knows the back country of Utah better than anyone. He’s like an off road atlas.

He agreed to take Eric, Hannah, and our friend Sean Gibson an hour and a half South East of Provo to see the Buckhorn Wash and the Wedge. As you can see from the photos the country was incredible. We were all alone and surrounded by red rock cliffs, Indian Petra glyphs, dinosaur foot prints and beautiful views.

Stoney took us first to the wedge where everyone scared Hannah by throwing large rocks off of cliffs. I think we counted 12 seconds before we could hear the rocks drop. The wedge reminds me of a slightly smaller version of the Grand Canyon. In a way it is better than the Grand Canyon because there aren’t any tourist, just eagles and chipmunks.

Stoney took his GPS unit and led us to a dinosaur foot print. That whole country is full of dinosaur remains. It was unbelievably fun to follow the GPS to the foot print. We all agreed that Eric’s brother David should have been there. In fact every time we go to southern Utah, we wish David was there to explain things….we would also enjoy his company : )


We stopped for lunch and decided to break out the old Red Ryder BB gun. Stoney and Hannah love to throw sticks in streams and use them for target practice. This time we only found cow pies. As it turns out, cow pies are just as fun to shoot as sticks and make great substitute clay pigeons.

As you can tell we’re running a little behind with the BLOG. Eric will try get us caught up before he starts his business trips.

And now your moment of ZEN……

Yes I'm holding a cow pie, but there are a bunch of leaves underneath so it's not touching my hands...I just had to make it clear that I don't go around touching things like that with my bare hands.

We love you all.

Eric and Hannah

December 25, 2005

What a wonderful Christmas. Eric and I drove back to Utah to spend the Holiday with my family. It has been several years since I have been able to spend Christmas with my sisters Sunny, Jenny and my brother in law Jared. The restful vacation and time with family was just what we needed. We were a little bummed out not to see Eric’s folks hoping to go out to Oregon this summer for a visit and hopefully catch David and Wren. One of the best things about our vacation was NO WORK. I took a week and a half off. Eric had been interviewing with IBM and decided that even if he didn’t get the job he needed to continue looking, so he quit Advanced Surgical right before we left, and planned to start looking full time when we returned. Luckily IBM called and offered him the job while we were in Utah. As it turned out, he negotiated a better deal then he had with his previous offer, so maybe things were suppose to work out this way.
The day after we arrived in Utah we all went to see the latest Harry Potter. During the middle of it they had to make some repairs to the film and consequently gave us all free tickets. We used the tickets to go see King Kong after Christmas. If you haven’t seen King Kong, take my advice and close your eyes when the giant slugs come.

Another highlight was our annual McCoard family, Christmas Eve pig out dinner. For the pig out we all draw slips of paper that assign us the main dish or salad or dessert or drink etc… Then we all go to the store together and buy the ingredients for our favorite food (whatever we drew.) Then we all pile into the kitchen and cook it up. What comes after is a very unconventional mix of foods. When Jenny was little she drew the main dish and made us all eat fish sticks for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately for Eric he was assigned the bread for the 4th year in a row.

Christmas day was relaxing. We went to Sacrament meeting in the morning and then went home, exchanged gifts, and laid around for the rest of the day. Stoney gave Eric his old spotting scope and they went and looked at Sheep that evening.

A few days later we went to Temple square in Salt Lake to see the lights, tour the conference center and check out the new Joseph Smith exhibit. We love Joseph Smith. There is a new movie that they are showing about the life of the prophet. It was sold out for months so we hope to see it next time we are in Utah.

We were able to spend a lot of time with Sunny, my sister, who is usually hiding at her boyfriend John’s house. Sunny, my mother and I threw Jenny a baby shower. I made lots of pretty treats and was pretty proud of how domestic capabilities. Jenny invited just a few of her friends and it turned out to be very entertaining. My mother gave Jenny one of her hippy 1970’s birthing books. Basically the book contains many naked photos of hippies giving birth. We passed the book around, laughed, scared Jenny and grossed Eric out.


And now your moment of ZEN……
Well Happy Holidays to all of those that we were not able to see. We love you all and miss you very much.

Love,

Eric and Hannah

December 18, 2005

(Eric) A few weeks ago Dad sent me some pictures of their trip to Alaska this summer. I decided to post this one of Dad on his hunting trip. He just looked so happy. He reminded me of a little kid on a dream vacation. I was going to use it for the moment of ZEN but I decided to post if front and center. I never asked him if it was ok to post it here. Dad, I hope it’s ok….of course if it isn’t it’s to late now.

For me this Christmas season has been a difficult one. I listen to talk radio when I work, and I’ve heard debate after debate on why anything having to do with religion should be taken out of the celebrating, so we don’t offend anyone. TV and news paper adds bombard you with messages stating that if you don’t by XYZ product your kids will be depressed or your spouse won’t think you love them enough to get ABC And news reports seem to focus on financial numbers – how spending trends compare with years past. It’s probably been this way my entire life, but for some reason it got to me this year. I was feeling pretty ‘Scroogeish” until the Cub Scouts did a service project for the Denver 1st ward.


Denver 1st is a Latino ward with ties to a few members in our ward. The ward is located near downtown and contains many needy families. Our six Cub Scouts were asked to help collect clothing and toys for this ward. We assigned each boy different members of the ward to collect from. They were also encouraged to go door to door in their neighborhood. The response was fantastic. We filled up my car, and the bed of a full size truck (it was over flowing). When we arrived at the church they unloaded and organized everything. They had to be reminded to stay on task a few times, but all in all they did a great job. I was extremely proud of them. Afterwards the Bishop spoke to the boys about the benefits of service. He said that for most of the families in that ward, those donated items would be the only Christmas presents they could give their children. It was a wonderful experience.

The service project was Tuesday. Wednesday night our ward activity director called and asked if I would be Santa for the ward Christmas breakfast. I said yes, but wasn’t looking forward to it. I told Hannah, and the first thing she said was, “Santa??? You don’t have the eye brows to play Santa….I’m going have to glue on cotton balls.” Luckily she never followed up on that, but I will say after viewing the pictures. I don’t have the eyebrows to be Santa.

The activity was really fun. When the kids would sit on my lap, I would ask them if they had been good that year. They all said that they had been good so I asked them to tell me one good thing that they had done. The responses were priceless. Towards the end of the event I let some of the bigger children sit on my lap. You may recognize the two in the photos. I am happy to report that they were both very good.

Both experiences brought me out of my funk and I’m again happy for the season.

(Hannah) Well, I think Eric has summed up our week. He did forget to mention a few important details so here they are: It has been so cold here that we have had numerous days below 0. (I have forgotten how it feels to walk around in -18 degree weather); Yesterday we made plates of cookies and vats of fudge and managed to eat a huge tub of cookie dough in a week; My new ipod was stolen at the gym and I have been moping around ever since. (It contained my secret stash of Destiny’s Child); Eric’s back is feeling better after a little fender bender; We had dinner with Joe and Wendy Harrison and got them hooked on LOST, our favorite TV show; And Reggie, my beloved cat, is too fat to jump up on the counter (which he shouldn’t be on anyway). He thinks he is still skinny and therefore puts forth the same amount of jumping velocity and falls short every time. I don’t know how many times I have seen him smack into the counter and fall back on his back and run away scared, like someone did something mean to him. (Eric) He really is getting fat. The other day he was standing on my desk with his front legs about an inch apart and I noticed that he had cleavage. I’ve tried to put less food in his bowl, but he just mows and mows. I finally give in and give him more.

(Hannah) Eric was a great Santa by the way. People only knew it was him because I was taking so many pictures of him.

And now your moment of ZEN......

We Love you all,

Hannah and Eric

November 28, 2005

Where to begin? I’ve procrastinated this entry, and a lot has happened, so I have to “work” on thanksgiving.



About two years ago, I went through a small pre-mid-life crisis. I felt like I had lost some of those things that defined me as a person. I was working at Novell, buying my cloths at the Gap, and hadn’t been doing hobbies that I loved doing - ie snowboarding, skating, rock climbing, ect. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I felt I was loosing part of the person I had once been, and becoming someone that I didn’t wanted to be. I felt that I looked, talked, and acted like everyone else I came in contact with. Whether it was true or not it was difficult for me. So, what was my solution? I bought a skateboard. After my purchase, I found an empty parking lot and started to relive days long past. About fifteen minutes into it, I attempted to perform an “ollie to curb grind” (popping the board in the air landing on a parking curb, and sliding the trucks / axles of the skateboard on the concrete surface). Well I didn’t have enough speed to slide, and my trucks planted firmly on the curb, while the momentum propelled my overweight body forward. I planted my forward foot, twisted my knee, hit the ground, and rolled twice. Bruised, battered, and humiliated I got back in the car and went home. When I told Hannah about the experience, she said “well at leased that’s out of your system.” We both laughed and thought it was pretty funny.

Shortly after moving to Colorado, I was placed in the Cub Scout program. One of the other leaders, Travis, is my age, and still skates. He’s a surfer from San Diego, and still try’s to keep up with all the board sports (skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding). Anyway, he told me that we should go to a skate park that’s close by. Wanting to go, but feeling a little apprehensive, I agreed on the condition that we go early in the morning on a school day so no one would see the 32 year old bald guy flailing around. On the selected date, Travis who is in real estate, had to cancel because of an appointment, so my friend Tim and I went alone. When we arrived there was only one other kid there. He was about sixteen (skipping school) and quite good. I swallowed my ego, and attempted the terrain. It was slow going, but I finally started to get my balance back, and ended up having a great time. The pictures aren’t’ very good, because the timing is off, but at lease you can see what the park looks like. I’ve been back once since then, and look forward to many more trips.

Last week I took my first work trip to Nebraska. I set up three appointments with smaller hospitals, and ended up visiting three more. The visits were really fun. I even enjoyed the driving. I did about six hundred miles in two days. As I write it down it doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider that I was doing visits through out the whole thing it made for long days. When I arrived in North Platte I had about 45 minutes before my next appointment, so I drove to nearest “hill” and snapped a few shots. It was neat to see the plains, but I’m glad I don’t live there.


The best part of the driving was that I was able to listen to CD’s that I haven’t listened to in a long time. On the way out I had a Jazz-a-thon. I started out with Hank Crawford’s “Wilde Flower” album and ended with John Coltrane’s “The Gentle Side of Coltrane.”

On the way back I rediscovered an old favorite – Ali Farka Toure with Ry Cooder. Years ago when I worked at the record store, I went through a Ry Cooder faze. He’s a blues guitarist, and I started collecting everything that he’d put out. When I came across this collaboration album that he did with Ali Farka Toure I was blown away. Ali is an African musician, and has several albums out, but most of them aren’t really my thing. This one however is great. No one interment stands out front and center. It all mixes together, and while it seems simple and at times a bit repetitive, if you really stop to listen they are doing some wonderfully creative things. It’s perfect to listen to when you’re driving or working at the computer…….enough with the endorsements. I’m just trying to spice up the Blog a bit, and tell you a little more then what we do from day to day : )

During my second to last Hospital visit, I had an interesting experience. I was meeting with the head of the Bio Medical department. For those of you that don’t know the Bio Med department fixes the medical equipment, and what they can’t fix the send out to be repaired which is were I come in. The guy was a bit crusty at first saying things like “I can do that for $20 and you’re going to charge me $180,” and “I don’t like sending my flex scopes to 3rd parties because the quality stinks.” He wasn’t being mean, he was expressing his concerns, and had a coarse way of doing it.

A few weeks before my trip, I had read the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” I had heard about the book many times before but always stayed away because is sounded like a book that focused on manipulation – which I didn’t want anything to do with. As it turns out the book is about human behavior, and how to understand that behavior to build relationships. It’s a great book and has applications in a business and personal settings, probably more personal than business.

One of the things that book talks about is becoming genuinely interested in other people. You’ll develop a stronger relationship with a person by getting them to talk about them selves rather then telling them about you, or in my case the service I can provide.

Feeling that the meeting needed a bit of help I looked around the room and saw that he had several model air plains hanging from the ceiling. I asked him about them, and he started telling me all about the models, his time in the Air Force, and doing intelligence work during the Gulf War. It was all very interesting, and the feeling in the meeting changed from confrontational to one of mutual respect. He even gave me two repairs and promised more if everything works out. The whole experience was kind of neat.

Today Hannah and I went to my cousins Joe and Wendy’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle, Katherine and Parley, were also there as well as a sister from their mission and her family. We had a great time. There was ton’s of food. We played games, watched football, ate pie, and relaxed. Joe spent 10 bucks on special holiday batch of “Jones Soda.” The festive flavors included such things as turkey with gravy, herb mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts with butter. Joe wanted to share, but Parley told him that because he had spent so much money, he should save it for him self.

The hardest part of growing up in Alaska was that it was hard to visit family. I’m really glad that we have the opportunity to do so know. Even though we haven’t spent that much time together, there is a bond. I found a whole group of people that have my Mom’s sense of humor. We’re defiantly family and it’s great.


The older I get, the more I appreciate Thanksgiving. It’s everything that a holiday should be. There’s ton’s of food, you get some time off work, hang out with friends and family, and spend the day being grateful. The other night I was listening to a talk radio program, and the host was asking people to call in and tell him about what they were grateful for. I thought it was a good question, so I asked it of my self and came up with several answers: my bike, our jobs, mountains, ect. But two things stuck out: My parents and Hannah. I have thought about this many times. I’m not sure exactly what my parents did, but I was raised understanding what and who to respect and why, the difference between right and wrong, how to judge between right and wrong, how to work hard, and a sense of what is important in life. Every good thing that has come into my life has come because of correct choices I’ve made with the knowledge my parents instilled in me. They’re wonderful, and I love them deeply. And then there’s Hannah. She is the crescendo of all the good choices I’ve ever made, both conscious and unconscious. She motivates me to be a better person, so that I can be with her. She’s beautiful, funny, and deeply thoughtful and spiritual. I love her with all of my heart, and would be so lonely with out her.

I hope you’re all doing well. Be grateful!

Love Eric and Hannah

And now your moment(s) of ZEN……

November 6, 2005

(Hannah) Well, I turned 29 and I am a little sad about it. Eric said that he didn’t have any sympathy for me because I was still in my twenties. Eric made me dinner for my birthday. He also bought me the book “Puss in Boots” and read it to me that night. I caught a cold for my birthday so Eric reading me cat stories in bed is just what I wanted. (Eric) Hannah wanted me to let you know that the reason she looks so puffy in this photo is because she's waring 7 layers of clothing.

Primary is going well. I love interacting with the kids and teaching in sharing time. I enjoy working with the senior primary the most. They are older and I relate with them better. The junior primary still confuses me sometimes. When the sunbeams flop around on the floor or cry it is difficult for me to reason with them. The primary program is next week and I have volunteered to help lead the music. I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I lead the primary songs. The kids look at me so earnestly. I know they are trying to read my lips so they can sing the right words. I exaggerate my mouth movements which cause me to laugh and then I make the kids laugh and it’s hard for me to get back on track. The children are so wonderful. I have never like kids so much in my life as I do now. I also love working with the other women in the Primary Presidency. Lori Lambert, our president is wonderful, patient and inspired. She is my hero.


Eric and I have been called to sing in the ward choir. I am very excited about the invitation because I miss singing in an organized group. Eric is a little hesitant; he has never sung in a choir before and in the past has always refused to go with me. I admire him. He was called by the choir director to come and because he believes in accepting all callings he is coming. I think that he will learn to love it and that this could be a blessing for him. He has a beautiful voice and never sings off key. He just needs to be taught how to read music and pick out the tenor part.

Eric and I sold our new Xterra and our Toyota Avalon in an attempt to save money. Eric was sad to sell his “dream truck” which we owned outright. It was hard to see it go, but we bought two other great cars, lowered our car payment and put some money in the bank. I bought a silver Passat which is a great car and provides me with heated seats and Eric got a Subaru Outback which he loves.

Yesterday Eric and I took a day trip to Boulder and Eldorado Canyon to check out the rock climbing. We were stuck in traffic for most of the time which allowed for great conversation. We were also birthday shopping for Jenny. I saw a maternity store and went to check it out but was scared off by the window display. Look close and you'll see why. Each one of what ever they are has something printed on them.

Thank you everybody for remembering my Birthday. Phyllis, you letter was wonderful.

Eric bore his testimony today in fast and testimony meeting. He said that he was grateful for our trials that we have had since we have moved to Colorado because it has brought us closer together as a couple and closer to our Heavenly Father. He was right. Life is good and hard sometimes but we are happy.


(Eric) Yesterday morning I woke up early and went for a walk up the Dutch Fred trail in the Pike national forest. It had snowed the night before and was absolutely beautiful. I hiked for about an hour and then spent another hour bouldering. I snapped this photo for Stoney’s photo contest. For those of you who don't know, Stony suggested a photo contest. It's not really a contest, but that's what I'm calling it. He picks a color and a theme and we all take pictures around the criteria. This month he picked brown, and something we're thankful for. My picture is of brown granite rocks. I thought it looked pretty, and you all know how much I love big rocks.

And now your moment of ZEN.....

We miss you all very, very, much and hope to see you all soon.

Love

Eric and Hannah

Oct 9-16

(Eric) I had an interesting thought this past week. As Hannah and I were singing the sacrament hymn him in church, a mother and her daughter sat in the bench in front of us. The girl is probably about four years old, and was dressed in a black shawl and was caring a purse. She was dressed just like her mother and was obviously feeling very grown up. She looked like she was having fun and was very cute.

This poor girl has some health problems that require her to take medication that causes her face and arms to swell up. I had seen her at different church functions and at a birthday party we attended a few weeks ago. I was impressed with how intelligent, thoughtful and kind she was as she interacted with the other children of the ward.

As I watched her take the sacrament, my hart ached with the thought of a life of hardship from illness. I was further saddened as I remembered that children can say and do cruel things with out the full understanding impact that it has. No sooner had I thought these thoughts that I remembered something that Elder Batemen said in conference (I’m going to paraphrase. For the full talk click on this link.) He basically said that at one time he thought of Christ’s experience in the garden as one where a “large mass of sin was heaped upon him,” but he now believes that it was a much more personal experience. In other words he felt every sin (infirmities) from every person. He also quotes Alma 7:12 which states: “He will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

I had read that passage in Alma a few days before I had listened to the talk, and it stuck with me. Then I heard Elder Batemen speak. When I saw the young girl it all came together – what it really meant. I had such a feeling of peace and gratitude. That Christ not only paid the price for us, but he has an intament and personal understanding of how we feel not only when we sin, but our sicknesses, our losses, our worries, our pains, and everything else that we feel. I’d heard it before, I’d even bore testimony of it on my mission, but this time I felt it stronger then ever before. What a wonderful blessing the gospel is.

I didn't want to give you a sermon. I just felt like sharing : )


Last week was pretty good for Hannah and I. Both of us finally made some sales, and things are starting to pick up. Hannah landed a large account and I received two good repairs, and sent out quotes for several refurbished scopes. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we feel better about our situation.


Yesterday we went for a bike ride up Indian creek. When we got there we were surprised to find about four inches of snow on the trail. There were patches of dirt, and we thought we still might be able to ride, so we rode for about 5 minutes, but as you can see from the picture the not only was there snow, but the early storm had done a lot of damage and there was broken limbs and debris all over the trail. (Dad, I told Eric to take this picture of me because you love me and moss!!)


Since it was a beautiful day, and the main road was clear, we decided to ride on the pavement. It was wonderful. One of my favorite things about Colorado are the brown granite boulders with pine trees growing around them. As we road, we passed several cabins. It was kind of cold, so the cabins were burning their stoves, and the whole area smelled like fall, and wood smoke…..wonderful.


After the ride Hannah and I went over to our friends house, Aaron and Kristen Hassle, and had dutch oven desert, and played Lord of the Rings risk. I love strategy games, but have a hard time finding people to play with me because they take so long. This time was no exception…we left their house at 2:30am. I had a great time, and couldn’t go to sleep because I was playing everything out in my mind. We had a really good time.










And now your moment of ZEN.....Sleepy Reg in a basket on top of our kitchen cabinets.



We love everyone and hope your doing well.

Love,

Eric and Hannah

October 3 -9

Greetings from rainy Colorado. How is everyone?


(Hannah) It has been raining all day. Eric is wearing 2 jackets and his robe. We are expecting snow tomorrow. Reggie is sad to be inside so we let him out and he came back with sever mud paw.


Eric and I have been working hard and took a trip an hour south to Colorado Springs to look at some cars. We are selling our Xterra and trading in our new Toyota Avalon, all in attempt to save a little money.

Inside the city limits of Colorado Springs, (which is the Provo of Colorado) is the Garden of the Gods. The garden is a piece of land donated to the public years ago by a local family. And is now maintained by the city and open to the public. It consists of some strange red rock formations right in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The hikes are more like strolls and camping or picnics are not allowed, but it makes for a great Saturday day trip. It’s a mini Zion’s. I am defiantly not a photographer like Dad, but I did get a cool picture of Eric’s shadow scrambling up a ridge.















And now your moment of ZEN....... This picture was taken right after we got up. the bed was still warm, and the cats jumped on it right away.


We love you all and miss you. Thank you for your prayers and concerns. Hope to talk with you all soon.

September 18 - October 2

(Eric) Well it’s been awhile since we’ve posted. No excuses really except that not much has been happening, so we didn’t have much to put up.

As you all know conference was yesterday and today. It’s not broadcast on TV here unless you have satellite, which we don’t, so we had to listen to it on the internet. At first it seem kind of inconvenient only being able to hear the audio, and not see the video, but then I remembered being a kid and having to see conference at the chapel, and realized that we have it pretty good. As always the talks were great, and they seemed to be just what I needed. I love the gospel, and I’m grateful to have a testimony. I would be unhappy with out it.


(Hannah) Maya Gibson had her 3rd Birthday yesterday, I was asked to make yet another special Hannah Piñata. This one was supposed to be a lady bug. When I took a look at the final product I had to quote Eric by exclaiming “scare ball”. I have never known what he means by that but it fit the occasion. Actually the piñata turned out better than I thought it would. Eric helped me make it the night before and then we left the wet piñata in the office with the window open. Well it was cold that night and the balloon shrunk and the piñata caved in on its self and was still mushy. Eric wanted to put it in the oven and I consented because I was busy getting ready for work. Well ten minutes later I hear Eric yelling and a few minutes after that he presented me in the bathroom with a steaming mass of newspaper. The balloon had swollen due to the sudden heat and then exploded leaving a huge cravas (sp?) with steam poring out of it

(Eric) When we moved to Colorado we were told that the area we live in is not suited for cats. There are too many foxes, coyotes, and turkey vultures. We heard horror stories about people’s cats disappearing, so we decided that our cats could only be out during the day time. This works out fine for Reggie. He is very sociable, and loves to be out side. We have to trick him to come in at night, but for the most part it’s not a problem. Sally on the other hand is scared of everything, so she hates to go outside during the day. Because she can’t go out night, she’s inside 24/7. It wasn’t a problem until recently when we noticed that she had started to scratch on the stairs. She is bored, so she scratches. We have a post for her, but it just wasn’t enough. Reggie, who is really just a follower, figured that if Sally could do it so could he.


We tried everything we could think of, and still they scratched. Finely I read an article on line about scratching. It said that one of the reasons cats scratch is to mark territory. If you spray some kind of citrus spray (which they hate) on the area they won’t be as likely to scratch there…if they have an alternative. Since we’re poor, I didn’t want to buy another scratching post, so I made one. Only cost me six bucks. I didn’t want to pay anything for it, but I couldn’t find any scraps.


After it was built, we started playing with Reggie around the post. As soon as he realized that he could scratch it, he started going crazy. He was clawing at it with all four paws, ripping into one room and then running full blast back to the post and jumping at it with all fours again. He was playing so hard that he started panting. We had to quit playing with him because our bellies hurt from laughing.

(Hannah) Well, you can tell that we have been busy working if the highlight of our week is the new scratching post.

Last Saturday Tsaile Gibson was baptized (she is the daughter of our friends Tim and Holly from Alaska who live by us now). She asked me to give a talk on baptism. There were two other girls their getting baptized, one was Sierra Wolfe. Eric is her home teacher so she asked him the give the talk on the Holy Ghost. So Eric and I were the two speakers for the baptism. It was wonderful to remember the day that I was baptized. Eric gave a great talk and used a rock spray painted gold as the Liahona.


Varenka Beesley Harman, her little boy Cedros and her parents, Colleen and Wayne Beesley came to visit us. It was so nice to see them. Varenka has always been a genuine friend. We went to the Molly Brown house, which is the preserved house of Margaret Brown. If you have seen The Unsinkable Molly Brown you know who I am talking about. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Those Beesleys know how to pick the winners. The home was amazing. What was more amazing is that Cedros (2) sat in his stroller through the entire tour. The tour guide even found Varenka afterwards to tell her what a good mom she is.

Varenka and Colleen drove out here but Wayne took the train from Salt Lake after flying in from Mexico. He had just finished a Book of Mormon tour in Mexico and Guatemala. Wayne rocks!! He was so excited about the Book of Mormon tour that he yelled out in the middle of Union Station “It was like freakin’ Sunday school the whole time”!!!! Eric was highly entertained by his enthusiasm. Later he showed us videos of the ruins which convinced Eric and me to work harder so we can afford to go too.

Colleen, Varenka and I also went to a thrift store that they knew about. It was defiantly not a Utah DI. Everything was new or in good shape and not picked through. Colleen stocked up on dress up accessories for her grandkids. She is a wonderful, patient grandmother. The Beesleys are wonderful people who were extremely welcoming when we were teenagers and still are.

Eric has lost 20 lbs and looks great. We just baked banana bread together and are going to take some to the Bishop. Eric promised him some bread for his help with a job referral. We have attempted to make him bread twice before but one batch was nasty and the other batch Eric ate.

And now your moment of ZEN....

We love you,

Eric and Hannah