Well we are back in Farmington after a trip to Tucson to see Ted, KC, and Lu. It was nice and warm there. We saw Arizona at its finest on the trip down. Thru the Salt River Canyon everything was green and in bloom and it had a certain charm. But past Globe it was still the Aridzona we remember. We helped work on KC's garden and played with Lu. We got to see her gymnastics class and she is really good at it. She can do handstands, round offs, and cartwheels. She is a good reader and has great fine motor skills so her handwriting is great and she is an expert colorer. It was fun to spend time with them.
It has been cooler here - only 14 degrees yesterday morning. It is not at green as here yet as spring is still on its way. We will stay here til next Monday to celebrate Jane's upcoming 4th birthday and Easter. Then it is off to Utah and Idaho. We will see family and friends on the way. Marv's scoutmaster lives in Moab and we are hoping to visit with him. My sister lives in the Salt Lake area as does Marv's sister. I got in touch with my old mission president and his wife and we are hoping to see them.
We are getting nearer to having everything in place for our mission. But it has not been easy. We spent an entire day getting a few things done. After several attempts to get a NM driver license, I simply got a state ID. The MVD is extremely picky and even after I got the original signed medical form from Minnesota, because two people wrote on the form, they wouldn't accept it. Only the doctor can write on it evidently. Then when we tried to get immunizations, at first they said that I would have to start all over again on the HEP A and B series. Finally after two hours, they decided I could just get the two shots I needed to finish the series that day. But Marv only got two shots and has to have another in Italy. Then Marv needed a copy of a church document buried in storage somewhere but we were able to get a copy from Duluth. But it can only be signed by the stake president who is out of town and since we are leaving in a week for Idaho, it will have to be mailed there. Then I needed a seminary graduation certificate but I never finished seminary (a religious class we take in high school) as they didn't have it where I went to high school in upstate New York in 1968. But we figured out a way around that too. So we think we have all we need now for our visa process. We just have to send off all the info to Salt Lake and they will take it from there.
We have our travel itinerary and training schedule. We only stay in Provo for a week now and fly out on the 8th of July and arrive in Milano on the 9th. We are so excited. Now we have to shop for luggage, clothes, travel stuff, etc. That is the fun part at least for me. Marv is NOT a shopper especially for clothes so for him it will be an ordeal. We (well, Marv) is in the process of buying a new computer and a new tablet for me. I dropped my Kindle and it died so we have to replace it. I am desperate for books!
We are loving being footloose and able to do whatever we want each day. Marv misses work less and less. The ability to just get up and go each day is fun. We like doing projects for the kids and I have made doll clothes for each of the girls. We are busy storing up memories with the grandkids to warm our hearts while we are away. We know that we are doing the right thing and that serving others is a great blessing not just for us but for our kids and grandkids. Ciao for now!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Tucson with Ted, KC & Lu
March 23,2013
On Saturday, March 16 we packed up and drove down to Tucson to see Ted, KC & Lu. It was a wonderful trip. Ted has been very busy with his job, and this looked like the only time he would be a little free for a visit. We had a wonderful time. Ted had a list of projects for me to work on while I was there. We installed/repaired a new sprinkler system that had 3 lines - 1) for KC to hand water her new raised bed garden, 2) a future line for the automatic watering of the garden, and 3) for the future front yard. I also helped assemble a new chicken coop for KC and also hauled all of the dirt for the new garden.
On Saturday, March 16 we packed up and drove down to Tucson to see Ted, KC & Lu. It was a wonderful trip. Ted has been very busy with his job, and this looked like the only time he would be a little free for a visit. We had a wonderful time. Ted had a list of projects for me to work on while I was there. We installed/repaired a new sprinkler system that had 3 lines - 1) for KC to hand water her new raised bed garden, 2) a future line for the automatic watering of the garden, and 3) for the future front yard. I also helped assemble a new chicken coop for KC and also hauled all of the dirt for the new garden.
New raised bed garden. KC is ready to plant. With the new Chicken coop in the background.
After we left the Easter bunny brought them 4 chicks. I think their names are Amelia Bodelia, Amelia Earhart, Betsy Ross, and Rosa Parks
I got to ride my bike several times and we even got to go see Lu at her gymnastics practice. WOW! I was really impressed with her ability to run, tumble, do round offs, cartwheels, hand stands and lots of other tumbling feats. Lu was clearly more advanced than the other little girls.
Lu doing her stretching warm ups
Friday, March 15, 2013
Farmington
Friday, March 15, 2013
Today is our last day in Farmington for a while. Tomorrow we leave bright and early to drive down to Tucson to visit Ted, KC and Lu.
I found the cable for my little camera so hear are a couple of pictures. Last Saturday we we drove to Chaco Canyon to see the Indian Ruins there. WOW! it was way more than I expected. There were 7 or 8 major villages. And each village was very large. I was very impressed. It snowed that day and there was a very stiff breeze (the only cold day we have had here).
This week we went to a private museum here in Farmington. This guy struck it rich in the oil fields here in the San Juan valley and spent every spare moment he had traveling the world collecting specimens and having them mounted. There were thousands of them!
He had animals from every continent. There were birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, mammals, even a few spiders and insects. It was truly amazing. The museum is open to the public by appointment only. It was a great trip. (about 2 miles from Leigh's home).
The place I have been riding my bike is up on the mesa south of the valley. It is owned by the Navajo and appears to be a well run major corporate farm spotted with oil and gas wells. Most of the roads are paved (chipped) and there is very little traffic. Perfect for biking. My 1st ride up there I got two flats from thorns so I ordered thorn resistant tubes and have had no troubles since. In the picture below beyond the farm is Farmington with the La Plata mountains in Colorado in the distance. Today was a little cloudy so the mountains do not stand out as much as on a clear blue sky like it is most days here. Today it got up to 75 degrees with almost no wind. It was a great ride!
Today I received what I believe is my last check stub from Northshore Mining. It will be tough to see those paychecks stop. It was a great 15 years up in Minnesota. But it sure is nice down here in the warm southwest.
Marv
Today is our last day in Farmington for a while. Tomorrow we leave bright and early to drive down to Tucson to visit Ted, KC and Lu.
I found the cable for my little camera so hear are a couple of pictures. Last Saturday we we drove to Chaco Canyon to see the Indian Ruins there. WOW! it was way more than I expected. There were 7 or 8 major villages. And each village was very large. I was very impressed. It snowed that day and there was a very stiff breeze (the only cold day we have had here).
This week we went to a private museum here in Farmington. This guy struck it rich in the oil fields here in the San Juan valley and spent every spare moment he had traveling the world collecting specimens and having them mounted. There were thousands of them!
He had animals from every continent. There were birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, mammals, even a few spiders and insects. It was truly amazing. The museum is open to the public by appointment only. It was a great trip. (about 2 miles from Leigh's home).
The place I have been riding my bike is up on the mesa south of the valley. It is owned by the Navajo and appears to be a well run major corporate farm spotted with oil and gas wells. Most of the roads are paved (chipped) and there is very little traffic. Perfect for biking. My 1st ride up there I got two flats from thorns so I ordered thorn resistant tubes and have had no troubles since. In the picture below beyond the farm is Farmington with the La Plata mountains in Colorado in the distance. Today was a little cloudy so the mountains do not stand out as much as on a clear blue sky like it is most days here. Today it got up to 75 degrees with almost no wind. It was a great ride!
Today I received what I believe is my last check stub from Northshore Mining. It will be tough to see those paychecks stop. It was a great 15 years up in Minnesota. But it sure is nice down here in the warm southwest.
Marv
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Officially Retired
March 12, 2013
Yesterday was my last official day of work. As of today I am no longer on vacation but I am RETIRED! It is difficult to comprehend even after the lengthy time it has been since my retirement party and all of our travels. Retirement is something that we look forward to for many many years, but when it arrives it is difficult to believe it is really here. All of my life I have worked. I have had a paying job since I was 12 years old and was a paper boy. Now it is time to enjoy our savings and put our efforts into family and the things that are really important.
I have settled into a routine here in New Mexico where I read a few investment blogs in the morning and catch up on the news, then I have breakfast with the grand kids. This is followed by doing a few home repairs that need attention and helping the girls with their school work. After lunch while the grand kids are having naps and "quiet time" I go for a bike ride. In any spare time I have been working on completing our income taxes and organizing our files that we are packing around with us. I am also going though a daily Italian course on the Ipad that is beginning to get difficult. I will persevere because I am convinced that this effort now will make it easier when we get to Italy.
I do have to say that the best part about being retired is the feeling that we can pick up and leave and go anywhere we want at any time. It is a very liberating feeling. But even with that freedom there are priorities and responsibilities. Just because we have reached the stage when we have accumulated enough wealth to leave the working world does not mean it is all about us. We must focus on our priorities and goals and stay busy doing what we can to make wise decisions.
I have lost the connecting cable that allows us to download pictures from the camera to the computer. As soon as possible I will post of few pictures.
Take care
Marv
Yesterday was my last official day of work. As of today I am no longer on vacation but I am RETIRED! It is difficult to comprehend even after the lengthy time it has been since my retirement party and all of our travels. Retirement is something that we look forward to for many many years, but when it arrives it is difficult to believe it is really here. All of my life I have worked. I have had a paying job since I was 12 years old and was a paper boy. Now it is time to enjoy our savings and put our efforts into family and the things that are really important.
I have settled into a routine here in New Mexico where I read a few investment blogs in the morning and catch up on the news, then I have breakfast with the grand kids. This is followed by doing a few home repairs that need attention and helping the girls with their school work. After lunch while the grand kids are having naps and "quiet time" I go for a bike ride. In any spare time I have been working on completing our income taxes and organizing our files that we are packing around with us. I am also going though a daily Italian course on the Ipad that is beginning to get difficult. I will persevere because I am convinced that this effort now will make it easier when we get to Italy.
I do have to say that the best part about being retired is the feeling that we can pick up and leave and go anywhere we want at any time. It is a very liberating feeling. But even with that freedom there are priorities and responsibilities. Just because we have reached the stage when we have accumulated enough wealth to leave the working world does not mean it is all about us. We must focus on our priorities and goals and stay busy doing what we can to make wise decisions.
I have lost the connecting cable that allows us to download pictures from the camera to the computer. As soon as possible I will post of few pictures.
Take care
Marv
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Well, we are in New Mexico and loving being with the grandkids. The weather is perfect and warm. We are trying to get used to being retired and doing projects for Leigh and Bryce to keep busy. Not that the kids don't keep us busy reading stories, helping us do chores, and playing outside.
We learned that in order to get a visa for Italy, we have to become either NM or ID residents. We chose NM because once we are residents we can apply for a visa by mail but if we become ID residents we have to apply in person to the nearest consulate in California. So we tried to become NM residents and applied for drivers licenses here. Marv did ok but when I checked that I am diabetic, NM requires a medical doctor to fill out a medical history first. So I am trying to get my doctor in MN to fill out the form and get it back by mail (won't let it be faxed or emailed must be original form so by snail mail.) Weird! So we are playing a waiting game. Thank goodness they pushed our leave date for Italy to July 13. We are getting so excited about Italy. We are trying to get immunizations done, visa done, financial stuff organized, clothes, etc. We are already getting info from the mission president in Milano which is nice. We feel so blessed to be able to serve in Italy and to serve our Heavenly Father. We both enjoyed and appreciate our first missions so many years ago. The spiritual and mental growth was tremendous and the experiences we had changed our lives and have been a great blessing throughout our lives. We will celebrate our 36th anniversary next week and looking back, overall it has been great. We have learned a lot, laughed a lot, cried some, lived a lot, prayed a lot, and enjoyed most of it. We have three wonderful children that we are so proud of. We have four super grandchildren that we love a lot. We are relatively healthy for our ages and are eager to see what the next 36 years hold for us. We've always told our kids as they grew up that life is an adventure and each new trip, goal, experience should begin with "and let the adventure begin". We also told them that adventures may not always be fun or go quite how we expect so just hang on and ride the waves. Families are so important and the most important aspect of this life. One of our prophets said that no success in life and compensate for failure in the home. We have tried to follow that sage advice in our home.
We continue the adventure here in NM for now. Later this month we will travel to see Ted and his family in Tucson. Ciao!
We learned that in order to get a visa for Italy, we have to become either NM or ID residents. We chose NM because once we are residents we can apply for a visa by mail but if we become ID residents we have to apply in person to the nearest consulate in California. So we tried to become NM residents and applied for drivers licenses here. Marv did ok but when I checked that I am diabetic, NM requires a medical doctor to fill out a medical history first. So I am trying to get my doctor in MN to fill out the form and get it back by mail (won't let it be faxed or emailed must be original form so by snail mail.) Weird! So we are playing a waiting game. Thank goodness they pushed our leave date for Italy to July 13. We are getting so excited about Italy. We are trying to get immunizations done, visa done, financial stuff organized, clothes, etc. We are already getting info from the mission president in Milano which is nice. We feel so blessed to be able to serve in Italy and to serve our Heavenly Father. We both enjoyed and appreciate our first missions so many years ago. The spiritual and mental growth was tremendous and the experiences we had changed our lives and have been a great blessing throughout our lives. We will celebrate our 36th anniversary next week and looking back, overall it has been great. We have learned a lot, laughed a lot, cried some, lived a lot, prayed a lot, and enjoyed most of it. We have three wonderful children that we are so proud of. We have four super grandchildren that we love a lot. We are relatively healthy for our ages and are eager to see what the next 36 years hold for us. We've always told our kids as they grew up that life is an adventure and each new trip, goal, experience should begin with "and let the adventure begin". We also told them that adventures may not always be fun or go quite how we expect so just hang on and ride the waves. Families are so important and the most important aspect of this life. One of our prophets said that no success in life and compensate for failure in the home. We have tried to follow that sage advice in our home.
We continue the adventure here in NM for now. Later this month we will travel to see Ted and his family in Tucson. Ciao!
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