We Hope You All Had A Nice Chistmas

We had a nice white Christmas in Nevada. The snow fell pretty much every day since last week and so everything was nice and white.

We spent Christmas up in Idaho with Gail's family and we all had a nice time. We left Wednesday morning and other than a little snow between Elko and Wells, had cloudy skies and dry pavement the whole trip. Once we arrived in Boise, we stopped to have dinner at Gail's favorite place, Olive Garden. We then traveled to Gail's Grandmother's for a family gathering. By the time we left, the snow was falling and by Christmas morning there were a few inches on the ground. Christmas morning was fun watching the boys get excited. As a family we went to see a 3D movie and then went back to Gail's parents for a gathering of her brother and sisters.

The day after was the shopping mad rush and each of us got what we were looking for. Nikolas got a Star Wars helmet, Matthew more Legos, Andy some gloves and Gail some nice flannel sheets. We had a great time shopping.

We stayed at Gail's parents until Sunday morning and then it was time to head home. Despite bad forecast, we had a safe trip home. Matthew stayed in Idaho to spend time with his Grandparents. Nikolas is glad to have the whole house to himself.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and we all wish you a happy New Year.

Holiday Greetings To All

Winter has finally found us in Nevada. It began to snow last Tuesday and continued to Friday. I need to clarify to those who live in an area where it really snows. What this essentially means is that it will snow for an hour or two, then stop, then start and then stop, so on and so on. Saturday the sun did come out and when all was said and done we had maybe 3-4 inches. Before you all say that is nothing, let me further explain. While Nevada is enlightened in many ways, the concept of plowing has not made its way westward. It is one thing Andy does miss about NH. So what happens is everyone drives through the snow, compacting and melting it, to then have it freeze and be covered by more snow. In addition to the snow the night temp. has hovered around 0 to 10 most of the week. Gail has had a few choice words about this phenomenon. Hopefully, the picture is now becoming a bit more clear. Friday night we had a bit of a scare, but no one was hurt and there was no damage to the blessed Volvo.

The boys are "finally on vacation." This last week of school went fairly well. The boys had the standard Christmas (yes, it is actually called that here) party, with the mandatory junk food. Each is doing well and very excited about Christmas. Matthew attends a respite program on Saturday's and this weekend the place had a family party which we all enjoyed. Matthew made a beautify ginger house and snow flake decoration. Nikolas is just excited for a new snow board so he can tear it up on the slopes, at least that is what he tells us.

Last Sunday in church the local high school select choir came to sing a few songs and it was neat to hear them sing about the birth of the Savior. That evening we went to hear the local hand bell choir do its Christmas concert, which we all enjoyed. The concert ended with a candle light rendition of silent night. The hand bell choir also did a number accompanied by some instruments from Africa, which was really neat.

The one down side about this week was that Gail came down with a leg infection on Sunday evening, so she was out of commission for the good part of Monday and Tuesday. Andy's schedule was such that he was able to help out with the boys Monday and by Tuesday, Gail was well enough to at least get the boy's to school. Her doctor tried a new form of treatment and it seems to be working quite well. Thanks to Gail the Christmas shopping is done and soon our annual letter should go out.

Andy was very busy this week. He had a few bench trials, several detention hearings, about 8 juvenile intake hearings and a juvenile extradition hearing. Friday he was in an all day preliminary hearing and bail revocation hearing. Needless to say he was quite tired by Friday evening. Thankfully, the next two weeks should be a bit lighter and we are all looking forward to having 5 days to spend together over Christmas.

That about sums up the news from Northeast Nevada. We hope all are well and have a Merry Christmas. Please take time this week to reflect upon the many blessings we enjoy and the source of those things. We as a family are extremely grateful to all our friends and family and wish you all the very best. Merry Christmas

We finally got a taste of winter here in Northeast Nevada. Saturday morning we woke to a dusting of snow and the temps only in the 30's. We cannot complain as we saw on the news how many of our friends and family in New Hampshire had quite an experience with the ice storm. Thankfully, we do not get ice storms here. We hope everyone is safe back in NH.

Our week was nice. The boys are getting quite anxious for Christmas to get here. The Christmas list is getting longer and the high tech gadgets wanted gets more expensive, oops I should have said extensive. It is exciting to see the boys anticipating this Christmas. Elko had its snowflake festival Saturday evening. There are performances and exhibits in the downtown area, followed by an evening parade. We all went to the parade downtown which was neat.
All of the floats were lit up with lights and holiday themes. Elko really enjoys having a parade, there must be at least 7-8 a year. Santa also made an appearance at the end driving around in a city firetruck.

We were excited to have our nephew/cousin Gareth with us for a few days this week. He came on Thursday and left on Sunday. It was nice for the boys to have time to play with him and we enjoy having him here. We look forward to being able to see him again.

Gail continues to be busy with both Pampered Chef and her cleaning business. She really enjoys the new job she has, she works less and earns more and it gives her plenty of time to do the other things she wants to do. Andy has been quite busy this week. He was actually here for the whole week, but was at work early and stayed late each day. He tried a few cases, did some preliminary hearings and had quite a few juvenile matters. We are all looking forward to the holidays and the opportunity to spend time together.

That about sums up our week. We hope all is well and your are enjoying the Christmas season.

Sorry about the lateness of this week's post. We experienced some technical difficulties (our Internet was down) so it has taken a few extra days to get things posted. Our week was pretty good. All of us are healthy and doing well. We still have not had any snow and until this last weekend we were still in the 50's each day.

The boys have continued to do quite well in school. December 4-7 was the annual Christmas Creche Festival in Elko. It is a multi-denominational event and was quite nice. Below is a video of the boys singing with our Ward's Primary Choir, which performed as part of the festival. Gail also participated in the Messiah sing-a long. The festival consisted of a huge collection of creche's, Madonna paintings and murals and a special exhibit of Greg Olsen paintings. The was a live nativity and performances over the 4 days. It is a very nice event.

Andy had a very busy week. He was gone quite a bit this last week. He was at a conference in Reno from Wednesday to Friday. Along the way he stopped in Lovelock, NV to see a unique courthouse that is in the round. He got a decent picture of it. He came back with glowing reports of Reno and now the family is going to have to find a long weekend to go check it out. While there he also visited Carson City, the capital, which is a neat place with many old Victorian homes.

We hope each of you are enjoying the Christmas season and are doing well. Until next week we send our best to each of you.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Life here in Northeast Nevada continues to go well. With the holiday this week it was a short one both work and school wise. Everyone was excited for the holiday. Andy had a few hearings, but most of his week was spent planning out the Thanksgiving dinner. Gail did her cleaning and tried to close out some Pampered Chef shows. The boys were just excited.

Andy started cooking on Tuesday evening by making a few pies. He could not wait to get home from work on Wednesday so he could begin cooking again. He made the onion pie, corn pudding, string bean casserole and rustic wheat rolls before coming to bed. He was up at 5:30 am to get the turkey cooking. This was Andy's first attempt at doing a turkey and all reports it came out well. Once the turkey was in the oven it was time to try and take a nap before getting up to do the potatoes and the maple glazed carrots.

This year we stayed home for the holiday and Gail's sister Ginger, her husband Eric and their son Gareth joined us. They came in on Wednesday evening and stayed until Friday.We were so glad they did. Gail and Andy remembered how much they enjoyed entertaining and you can see from the pictures the fruits of their labors. Gail did a great job with the decorations. We had a wonderful time. After dinner the boys and Andy had the "Pilgrim Wars" using straws and q-tips and everyone was laughing and having a good time. This may become a new tradition in our family.

We had so much food left over that after dinner Saturday night, Gail commented she wasn't going to be able to do turkey for another meal.

Friday, Gail went to do some shopping and Andy and the boys went to the movies to see Madagascar 2. We are so glad we had 4 days this week to spend together. Saturday brought the biggest adventure of all. Gail had some things to do at home so she did not go, but the boys decided to go find some of the abandoned mining towns in Elko County. The search was limited to the Northwest part of the county. Andy has been reading a book about the mines and each one gave directions on how to find them. The first stop was in a place called Taylors, then to Tuscarora.

Tuscarora is still inhabited and on the outskirts of town is the old cemetery which you can see to the left. The town looks like something out of a western movie. As you take the dirt road into the center of town you can see what appears to be the smoke stacks from some old smelters. There are no paved roads and other than a few homes, the post office and a stable/blacksmith shop, it is sagebrush. The boys thought it was a neat town.

Once leaving Tuscarora the boys headed to Jack Creek and then on to a mining town called Good Hope. On the way they saw an empty reservoir and lots of cattle and sage brush.

While the boys never did find Good Hope, Jack Creek is now a little resort hotel. Other than the hotel, the remains of the mining town we no longer there.

The boys wanted to do some prospecting for gold, so with there hammers blazing, you can see each doing their best to strike it rich. Unfortunately, the only thing discovered near Good Hope was a flat tire on the car. This put an end to the hunt for riches, so the boys headed home.

They all had a great time. Surprisingly, despite the hammers flying no got hurt and Matthew discovered a few rocks he had never seen before. He is becoming quite the geologist.

That about sums up our week. We hope all is well with you.

Greetings everyone, we hope all is well with you and hopefully you are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. The Mierins family is doing quite well. We have much to be thankful for. Despite a bleak economic forecast, we have a roof over our head, food in our cabinets and all of us are healthy and we are together as a family.

Nikolas had an exciting week. Below you will note that he has cut his hair and it looks pretty good. Gail took him on Wednesday and he begged to please be able to get "a real man's haircut." He really enjoys it. He was pleased to be able to see his eyebrows again and not have to keep pushing his bangs aside.

Matthew also had an exciting week. It was pack meeting for the cub scouts and Matthew earned his citizenship award. We are all very proud of him. Matthew was a bit sick the beginning of the week, but made a quick recovery and was back on his feet very quickly. Nikolas was then sick on Friday and also bounced back quickly. The boys continue to do well with school and overall just great. They are looking forward to the holidays.

Gail and Andy continue to be very busy. Andy was gone quite a bit this week. Tuesday he was down in Ely, Nevada visiting a new treatment facility and Thursday and Friday he was in West Wendover, NV trying cases at the Justice Court. He really enjoys being in the courtroom. Gail continues to be busy with her cleaning and Pampered Chef. She had a show Saturday and has quite a few scheduled for the next few weeks.

Saturday night we all enjoyed attending the fall concert for the Ruby Mountain Symphony. Gail is on the Board of Directors and the symphony is composed of local musicians. The concert was wonderful. It featured The William Tell Overture, The Pink Panther, 1812 Overture, Mozart's Violin Concerto No 4 in D major, with a soloist from the University of Nevada Reno, and a rendition of Casey at the Bat. We all had a great time and are looking forward to the spring concert

That about sums up our week. We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is almost here and what a fast month this has been. We are looking forward to spending time with family next week.

It has been a fairly typical week for most of the family. The boys went to school, Gail and Andy went to work, everyone is healthy and doing well.

We could not let Veteran's Day pass without sending a big thank you out to all our veterans for their service to our country. We had a nice Veteran's Day. We were all at home and spent the day together. Elko put on a decent parade and we all went down to watch it which was fun. Andy did go to the office for a bit, but just to take care of a few things for Wednesday.

Andy was off to Las Vegas Thursday until Saturday attending a conference on criminal law. He reports it was one of the better ones he has attended. While in LV, he went to a show at the Sahara, tried In-n-Out Burgers (pretty good), spent an evening with his friend James and went golfing. He came back pretty tired after a fast trip.

Gail continues to stay busy with her business and the new schedule. She is enjoying the flexibility she has, allowing her to be home more and focus on her new calling. She is now the ward music chair.

Not much else to report. We hope you are all well.

All is well.

We all continue to do quite well here in Nevada. It has cooled off a bit and we have had rain and snow, which was a bit different than this time last year.

The boys are doing great and we are proud of both of them for the great work each is doing and the fantastic grades Matthew and Nikolas receive. Gail attended an informational meeting this week concerning a charter school which will open in the new school year. We are considering having Matthew attend as it appears it will be a better environment for him. We will keep you posted.

Gail and her cleaning are going well. She is up to 4 accounts and along with her Pampered Chef business is quite busy. She is enjoying the change as it allows her more flexibility to do the various things she wants to do and it helps with the financial side as well. One nice benefit was going on a date this week for lunch. Andy and Gail hope to make this a more frequent event.

Andy remains quite busy with work. He has a few major jury trials coming up in the beginning of the year. Andy did not take the job with the District Attorney's office, but has left that option open for the future. We shall see what happens. Andy is on the negotiating team for the public attorney association and there were negotiations this week. The association and county appear to be getting closer and hopefully this will all be wrapped up by the end of the year.

Andy and Matthew went on a fun little trip on Saturday. In Battle Mountain fireworks are legal and so he and Matthew went out to check out the various shops. There is one store that has a fireworks museum with some pretty nifty items. No, they did not bring anything home, but the 100 shot aerial show was quite tempting. Matthew enjoyed the missiles and torpedoes one of the shops has outside (these are actual ones by the way, but are no longer live).

Hope you have a great week. We wish you all well.

We have had a very busy week, as usual. We have officially hit one year in Nevada. As reported last week we have survived and Gail has found some positive things to say about being here. We are off to a great start of our second year.

The boys continue to do very well school wise and both seem to have adjusted. Our family night this week was carving pumpkins and you can see the fruits of our labors below. The boys were really into scars this year so each has quite a few. Halloween has come and gone without much incident. Matthew was a pirate, Nikolas was Spider man. Halloween night was warm which made for good trick or treating. We had a few kids come by the apartment, thus we have some good stuff left over. Amazing how that works.

October 31 this year was also Nevada Day which celebrates Nevada's statehood. It is always the fourth Friday of October, thus the boys and Andy did not have school or work. Andy and the boys enjoyed being home together for the day. Elko put on quite a parade, which the boys got to participate in. Our Bishop works at the University of Nevada-Reno Fire Academy and they entered an classic fire engine in the parade. The boys got to ride in the fire truck and were quite excited by the opportunity. The parade had 3 marching bands and quite a few cowboys, fire trucks, police cars and about 20 floats. It was a nice parade.

October 31 was also Gail official last day at the daycare center as she has officially launched her cleaning business. She has 4 accounts now and is looking for more. This will allow her a bit more flexibility to do the things she wishes to do. Pampered Chef continues to go well. Gail had two shows this week and the reports are that they have gone well. Gail was a bit sick earlier this week, but whatever it was has gone. Thankfully, no one else got sick.

Last Sunday was our primary presentation and both boys did excellent. Nikolas was in the front and kept covering his face with the paper, but did a fantastic job when it was his time to speak. Matthew did very well with his speaking part and it was touching to see his class sing "Called to Serve."

Andy continues to be quite busy as well with work and his calling. He does get home in the evening which is nice. He sent off this week the application to take the Nevada Bar Exam in February. Yippee, we get to go through that experience once again. We feel he is a bit more confident this time. We will keep you posted.

We hope all of you are well. Please go this week to vote.

One year and counting

This has been an interesting week. The fall weather is nice and warm, which makes northeast Nevada nice. Today marks 1 year here and many great things have happened since we arrived. I think we are all becoming accustomed to, or at least some what accepting of life in the west. A sign of this was this morning reading the paper, neither Gail or Andy found interesting the want ads asking for winter sheep shearers or cattle herders. Yes, we actually have want ads looking for experienced cowboys. So, if anyone can "work on range lands protecting pregnant cows from harsh winter conditions, trailing groups of pregnant cows to assigned areas on horseback, using trained dogs, using appropriate trailing methods to avoid undue stress on cows to prevent hypothermia or death...set up camp supply wagon...break horses, rope calves......and live in a mobile camp on call 24/7" let us know and we will forward the ad. And you thought we were kidding about living in the wild west.

Matthew and Nikolas had parent/teacher conferences this week and both had great reports. Both are A/B students and we are very proud of both of them. Nikolas is looking forward to playing some baseball in the spring. Matthew continues to plan and build his Lego Command Station (he now has a very large plywood base sitting on top of his dresser) which he is preparing to submit to the 2009 Elko County Fair...which isn't until August.

Gail's Pampered Chef business is almost to the point of taking over her life. No complaints mind you. She has two or three shows every weekend between now and December 15th and a couple mid week shows just to break up the monotony. And because she doesn't have quite enough to do, she is starting up her own house cleaning business the first week of November. She has one week left at the daycare center and will go full speed ahead with her business the next week. Unfortunately, Gail fought a stomach bug this week and was down for the whole weekend. Maybe she will stop catching everything that goes by when she is no longer wiping noses and getting coughed on every morning.

Andy had a nice thing happen this week. The local District Attorney's office is losing an attorney and word on the street is that they want Andy. Several different members of that office, along with a detective on the Elko police force have inquired as to whether he wanted to join their office. Andy was told the "boss" wouldn't come knocking, he isn't the kind of guy that would pilfer an attorney out of the Public Defenders office, but if Andy was interested, the job was already his. Andy is quite happy with what he does, so he will not take them up on their offer, but he is honored none the less. He is quite busy and glad to be doing trial work.

Well, that about sums up our week. Hope all is well.

How about them Sox

All continues to go well for us here in Nevada. You will note below the extent of our fall colors. These were taken north of Wild Horse Reservoir. You will also note the birds swimming in the water. Those are pelicans. Believe it or not, we actually have pelicans in the desert. On Sunday we woke up to some flurries and we have had our first snow. All of it fell in the mountains, which makes them look nice. The best part was that Monday it began to get warm and we are back into the 70's. Hopefully, we will stay that way for a while.








We were saddened to here of the death of Scott Dimond. Our prayers go out to his family. We knew him briefly before moving last October. We are all grateful for the service he rendered in behalf of the great nation we live. Thankfully, there are still people in this nation willing to preserve the freedoms we all enjoy.

Andy had a doubly rough week as one of his clients was killed in an auto accident on Monday. Hopefully, there will not be too many more. He continues to be very busy and still enjoys very much the work he is doing.


The boys continue to do well in school. Gail is busy as always. Between Pampered Chef and the launching a cleaning business she keeps herself quite occupied. Andy and Gail celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary this past week. They enjoyed a nice evening out.


Saturday, we all spent the day in Twin Falls doing some shopping. We thought we would share one of the more interesting sights we saw. That is an actual urinal at one of the casinos in Jackpot. The boys get a kick out of this and require us to stop here so they can, well...I think you get the point. You gotta love the culture of Northeast Nevada.

We hope you are all well. Until next week.

What an Interesting Week

Our week began sunny and warm and ended blustery and cold. Yesterday and today has only been in the 30's and this morning when we woke up to snow flurries. The Ruby Mountains are covered and look nice. The good news is that it is supposed to warm up after Monday.

All continues to go well with everyone in the family. We had a quick trip up to Boise on Sunday and Monday to attend the funeral of Gail's Aunt. The service was nice and lead to some neat discussions in our family about the life cycle. The boys were well behaved and we had a nice quick visit. Even though the circumstances were not the best it was still nice to see Gail's family.

The rest of the week went fairly quickly. The boys continue to do well in school. Gail went with Matthew on a field trip to the Northeast Nevada Museum. He reported he was glad he lived now, considering how much work the pioneers did and the modern conveniences we all enjoy. He was not impressed with the idea of having to use an outhouse. He did enjoy making butter and he said it was quite good.

Gail has begun her cleaning business and so far has one account, but hopes that will soon expand. She did not have any Pampered Chef parties over this weekend. This was mostly due to Gail's sister coming Friday evening and staying until Saturday. We enjoyed having her here. She came and did a Scentsy party for her. If you want to know what that is give Gail a call and she will fill you in.

Gail and Andy are looking forward to this coming week as they will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. This past Wednesday we had dinner with our dear friend, Bill, who was one of the witnesses at our sealing. It was so nice to see him. We could not end off our weekly report without mentioning Andy had a birthday this week.. We had a nice evening at home. He reports it was especially nice and appreciated the calls and cards he received.

We hope you all have a nice week and take care until next.

Another week has come and gone and a quick one this has been. All of us continue to do well. We are coming up on 1 year in Northern Nevada and we are still together.

Gail is still going strong with her Pampered Chef business. Each week she has done 1-2 shows and enjoying it. She is considering starting up a new business in the area doing cleaning. It will give her a bit more flexibility and allow her to set a better schedule. She has one account and depending on how it goes it may lead to a few more. We will keep you posted.

The boys continue to both do well both in school and overall. Andy went with Nikolas this week on a field trip to hunt for fossils. All 3 of the 2nd Grade classes at Nikolas' school went. Andy described it as organized chaos. He was particularly impressed with the bus ride. It was fun and Nikolas came back with a few shell fossils. The location is not to far from our apartment and hopefully before it snows Andy and the boys will go back. Speaking of snow, Friday night into Saturday we received rain. It started about 6pm and didn't stop until early the next morning. We got more rain in that time than we received all year.

Unfortunately, this past week Gail's Aunt passed away so we were up in Boise for the funeral. We enjoyed seeing Gail's family and it is always nice to get away. We also enjoyed the opportunity to participate in our church's General Conference.

That about sums up the week. We hope you are all well.

The Update

We apologize to those who regularly check our blog for the delay in posting. We were gone last weekend and before we knew it another week had come and gone.



On the 16th Gail and Andy were off to Las Vegas to attend a conference put on by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The conference was held at Caesar's Palace, but we stayed at Circus Circus. Our trip started out rather eventful as we were only on the road 10 minutes and had a flat tire. 3 1/2 hours later we were on our way and despite having a 7 hour drive all else went well. Andy reports the conference was fantastic and he came away with a bunch of new information. While there we went to see The Bodies exhibit at the Luxor. Very fascinating. The exhibit consists of bodies and body parts preserved and on display explaining how the various functions of the body work. We really were impressed with the exhibit on the circulatory system. It is amazing how many blood vessels, capillaries and veins there are in the body.

While in Las Vegas we also had a chance to visit with Andy's Uncle Charlie. It was nice to see him. We also saw our friends James and Heather who were know from NH. In addition to the Luxor, we went to the Bellagio to see the water fountains. It was neat and beautiful. Gail's favorite part, other than getting to sleep in until noon each day was going to see Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay. It was a good show and we were able to get some decent seats. Gail even tried Thai food and admitted it is pretty good. We had a wonderful time.

While Gail and Andy were away the boys had a chance to spend time with their Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma came down on Tuesday and the boys went to Idaho Friday. They came home very excited. The best thing according to Matthew was the spicy hot Cheetos he brought home.

All else is going well. We are enjoying the autumn in Northeast Nevada. It is still in the 80's during the day but at night dips into the 30's. The mountains are pretty and we enjoyed some nice foliage. The boys continue to do well in school, Gail keeps busy with Pampered Chef and Andy still enjoys his job. We are all happily adjusting.

Hope all is well wherever you are in the world.

We have had yet another fast but exciting week. The best part of the week was celebrating Matthew's 10th birthday on Wednesday. He has been a blessing to our lives and we are grateful he is a part of our family. Matthew had some doctor's appointments on Monday and Tuesday, so he, Gail and Andy went left on Sunday evening and stayed with some friends they had not seen for a while. Monday was spent at various doctor's appointments and the end result is that Matthew is doing well enough we do not need to see them again for a year. Tuesday morning we went to Hoogle Zoo with Matthew and some friends of ours and had a great time. Matthew had his last appointment that afternoon. We had a birthday dinner and then came home. In case you are wondering Nikolas stayed with a friend of his so he could go to school. When we went to pick him up we were told he was one of the most polite boys. We are proud of him.

Gail and Andy continue to do well. Andy's leg still has not completely healed and so he is on different antibiotics. He continues to be very busy work wise. Gail is equally busy. She is contemplating a job change and trying to figure out what to do. We know this is short, but wanted to give our weekly update.

We hope all is well with you.

What a quick week we have had. Gail continues to be busy as always. Yesterday (Saturday) she had two Pampered Chef shows and booked 3 additional ones. Things have really picked up and she is glad. Gail was also invited to join the board of the Ruby Mountain Symphony. She attended her first meeting on Thursday evening. Her past experiences serving on the board of the Concord Chorale will come in handy and she is glad to find an outlet for her talents. The Symphony occasionally has guest soloists and may provide an outlet for her beautiful talents.

The boys both are doing well. Matthew particularly has really blossomed this school year. He continues to be getting great grades. Surprisingly, his lowest grade has been in math, which was always his strong point. Both boys seem to be enjoying school as well. Nikolas continues to practice his baseball skills and is looking forward to being able to play.

Since returning from vacation we have not seen much of Andy. This weekend he has been attending a class to obtain his motorcycle license. He concludes today and yesterday he had the written part of the exam, which he passed. He reports that he was very nervous yesterday while driving around, but had a good time and found it fun. Monday was the holiday and since has only been home to sleep and change to get to work. Tuesday he had a trial which was returned as not guilty, always a boost in the confidence. He was out in Wendover on Wednesday, juvenile court most of Thursday and Friday was occupied with a preliminary hearing on a major felony drug case. He really enjoys the criminal defense work and may have finally found his thing in the law.

That about sums up our week. We hope you are all well.

We had a fairly quick week. The boys continue to go to school and Gail and Andy continue to work. Andy did not work Monday as his leg was still in bad shape. He is doing better now, but the problem has not cleared up completely. He has spent a good amount of time with his leg elevated. He did return to work on Tuesday and did his best to stay off of the leg.

The boys continue to do well in school and seem to have had a good start. Matthew receives weekly grade reports and after two weeks his grades are all A's and B's. We are so very proud of him. Nikolas has taken a liking to baseball and is excited to play this year. Nearly every day he is outside playing catch. He has even recruited Andy to toss the ball to him occasionally. Without suprise we got our first call from the Principal this week. Nikolas apparently was not happy with a boy who would not stop bugging him, so Nikolas took matters into his own hands.

This weekend was the Elko County Fair, so Friday there was no school and Andy's office closed at 12 pm. It is a county holiday called "Fair Day." We were going to go to the fair on Friday, but it was still pretty warm (90's), so we went on Saturday. The main highlight of the fair is the horse races. We saw one, but it didn't catch the boys interest, so we did not stay long. The fair is not big and took us less than 2 hours to see everything (this includes the obligatory stop at the fair food stands). We all enjoyed the animals and home crafts. Matthew and Nikolas found out there is a Lego contest, so next year each will enter their own creations. Nikolas cried on the way home because he only got to do the boring things and never gets to do anything fun.

Despite it being very warm Friday and Saturday (mid 90's), the interesting thing is on Monday it is supposed to only be in the 60's with snow in the mountains. Quite a contrast.

That sums up our week. We hope all is well wherever you may be.

Busy week back

We had one busy week back in Elko. The boys started school on Monday and it only took until Wednesday before the daily ritual of not wanting to do homework began. Yes, beginning Tuesday the boys had homework. Gail says the battle has begun. Nikolas and Matthew report they both like their respective new teachers. Below are the boys on the first day of school. As you can see the New Hampshire influence has not worn off on Matthew.

It continues to be very warm in Elko. The daily temps have been in the 90's and very sunny. After a week of cool rainy weather in NH, it took a few days to readjust. Gail and Andy had fairly good weeks. Andy had another leg infection start on Tuesday and this one came with a vengeance. Thankfully he did not have to go to the hospital, but was sent home from work on Friday and told not to return until at least Tuesday. His week was very busy which did not help in recovery. He had his first bunch of juvenile intake hearings which are the equivalent of an arraignments. Gail was back to the daycare center and continues to book and hold Pampered Chef shows.

This morning we all travelled to the Owyhee Branch on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation to speak. Gail's parents met us there and it was nice to see them.

We have downloaded some pictures from our trip to New Hampshire which didn't make it last week. We stopped at Andy's cousin's house and Matthew had a chance to ride one of her horses. He said it was pretty cool and fun, but the best part was feeding them carrots afterwards.

The Friday to Sunday we were in NH we spent in Tamworth. Below is Mt. Chocorua and there is a lake of the same name nearby that we spent the day swimming at. You can see Matthew and Nikolas having a good time. Andy and his Aunt tried to swim to the rock out in the center of the lake, but were unable to find it due to the high water. Oh well, maybe next year.

We also had the opportunity to get together with a group of some very dear friends and could not leave out a picture of all the kids dressed up having star wars battles.

On our last day in NH the boys all went to Lucky's Barbershop and Shave Parlor to get haircuts from their favorite barber. Below is Matthew standing in front on Grandma's house with his green hair.

We flew back into Las Vegas and then before heading home we decided to stop and see the lions at the MGM Grand and take in an act at Circus Circus. The acrobats were pretty amazing. As you can see Matthew was pretty excited that we stopped at all of these places.

That about sums up our week. We hope you are all well.

We are back

We have all returned from our fabulous trip to New Hampshire.

Gail and Andy left to travel to New Hampshire on the 5th. They both flew out of Las Vegas and found a great deal at a local hotel which allowed them to park for the week and then on their return spend the night, total cost came to less than $100.00. The downside was that the flight left at 11:55 PM, so it was a long night or short morning depending on who you speak with. Thankfully, we arrived safely and without any delay. We were excited to see the boys as we missed them.

We did arrive on Wednesday to a good amount of rain. In fact, it did not stop raining until Friday. While in NH we visited with family and friends, all of which was wonderful. We spent a few days in Tamworth, NH and did some shopping. The weekend we were in Tamworth was the only time we saw the sun the whole time there. Oh well. The boys even had a chance to visit their favorite barbershop in Concord. Yes, we also got to see Oliver our cat we had to leave in NH when we moved to Elko. Overall it was a fantastic trip and are grateful we got to see as many people as we did.

All of us travelled back together and we left NH on Tuesday afternoon. I do not think there was a dry eye when we got onto the plane. Again, we had an uneventful flight and made it safely to Las Vegas. Wednesday morning we got up and did some exploring. We checked out the lions at the MGM Grand and went over to Circus Circus to watch some of the acts and play the midway games. The boys won some prizes. We got back to Elko about midnight. We enjoyed Las Vegas, but were glad to get back to the rural area without all the traffic and noise. We hate to admit it, but are probably beginning to appreciate the quiet nature of where we live.

Andy and Gail had to get back to work Thursday. Andy made it to his office for a couple of hours before heading out to Wendover to meet with his clients on Thursday and attend Court all day Friday. He got home Friday evening about 6pm and was glad to finally get a good nights rest in his own bed. This weekend was full of unpacking and cleaning up the house and getting ready for school to begin. The boys begin tomorrow morning. Thursday morning we had a chance to meet Matthew's teacher and are excited for this new year. It is amazing to think the summer is over.

Gail's Pampered Chef business continues to do well. While in NH Gail got to attend some Pampered Chef meetings and Saturday she had a very successful show which has lead to her booking three more shows. We are glad things have taken off for her.

That about sums up the week. We hope all of you are doing well and until next week.

This past week was very quiet in more respects than one. Tuesday morning Matthew and Nikolas flew out to NH with Andy's mom for a visit with Grandma. We have received daily updates by e-mail with some pictures. The first one shows Matthew and Nikolas are climbing on the Tilton Arch, which was located close to where we lived in Northfield. The second shows Matthew having a good time with Jim kayaking. We think it is on the Merrimack River. We have enjoyed their updates and are looking forward to their return just before school begins. It is amazing to think that in 2 weeks the boys start school again. The summer has sure flown by.

Things have been quite since the boys left. Gail and Andy have gone on a date nearly every night, including to the Nevada Dinner House, which the have decided is the best of the Basque restaurants in Elko. They had a movie night that worked out well. Gail went to see "Mama Mia" and Andy went to see " The Dark Knight", followed by a bit of pizza. Friday evening was the county picnic for all Elko County Employees which was nice. Saturday night they both stayed home. Gail tackled cleaning and re-arranging the boys bedroom which turned out to be quite a project.

Andy continues to be quite busy with work. Gail has had a good week and she continues to have Pampered Chef parties, doing one Saturday morning. While Mom and Dad have enjoyed a bit of time alone, we both miss the boys and will be glad to see them again.

That about sums up our week. We hope you are all well.

We had a fairly typical week. Matthew finished up his summer program Thursday and is looking forward to a few weeks off before school starts up again for the boys on August 18th. Where has the summer gone? Nikolas is ready for school to begin as he is getting tired of having to go to the daycare center each day. Andy and Gail continued to plug away at work. Everyone was ready for our little weekend trip.

We spent Friday night and Saturday in Twin Falls investigating the area a little more. We went so that we could visit the newly built Twin Falls Temple and take the boys to the open house.

This is a pictures of the Twin Falls Temple as the sun was setting. The temple is similar to the Boston temple, but not as large. The murals inside are beautiful, as you would expect. The woodwork, carpet and windows all have the Syringa blossom as the theme throughout. The Syringa is the state flower of Idaho.

We stopped to walk around the temple grounds but didn't stay long as the boys were tired and they were closing up for the night. We all had a wonderful time and Matthew especially was touched by the experience. How grateful we are for the temple and the sacred ordinances performed therein.

We drove into the Shoshone Falls park and were amazed at the falls. We didn't expect something quite so beautiful in the middle of the potato farms. The dam wasn't completely open, can you imagine what the falls would look like when it is? Shoshone falls is known as The Niagara Falls of the West. It is about 36 feet taller than Niagara and thanks to some conservationly fore-sightful people about a hundred years ago, does not have any commercially developed areas. The entire area is a city park run by the city of Twin Falls.

Up river from the falls is a nice little swimming hole which is part of Deirkes Lake. The lake is the result of the dam and offers all kinds of recreational activities. There was a nice playground and picnic spots and a very small beach. They have a shallow swimming area roped off and several lifeguards patrolling the rest of the water. You have to pass a swimming test to be able to leave the roped off area. They've built a retaining wall around one side with stairs to get in and out of the water. There's also a diving board built into the rocks or you can climb up the rocks and go cliff diving. The kids looked like they were having a really good time. Matthew has decided he's going to try the cliff diving the next time we are there.

The Snake River Canyon Canyon is beautiful. It lies in the area downriver from Shoshone Falls. It was created some 10,000 years ago when Bonneville Lake broke through the earthen dam and carved out this gorge as it emptied. Bonneville Lake covered most of Northern Utah, Eastern Nevada and parts of Southern Idaho. Nikolas kept asking if this was the Grand Canyon. Just as you come into Twin Falls, there is a section of the gorge that has been developed into real estate lots and a beautiful golf course. Andy and Nikolas plan to take their clubs next trip and enjoy a round of golf by the river.

The rest of Saturday was spent checking out the shopping in the area. Twin Falls in closer to us than Boise, Reno or Salt Lake City and we have decided after this trip to spend more time there.

That about sums up our week. We hope all is well.

We actually got some rain

As we left church today we saw rain, real honest to goodness rain fall. It went on for about an hour and it is the first precipitation we have gotten since the first week of June. It is amazing how things like this get your attention. Living in the desert sure changes your perspective and outlook on things. It reminds us of the contrast in environments between NH and NV.

Yesterday Andy and the boys went to a fishing derby put on by the Nevada Department of Wildlife at Angel Lake, which is another glacier fed lake located about 12 miles southwest of Wells. Wells is the community that had the earthquake back in February. Unlike Lamoille Lake we could drive to this one. It was really fun. The boys got to fish for a while, but then participated in a bunch of classes. There was one on water safety, the fish stocking program, fly casting (Nikolas won a special poster for getting the lure into the target area), how to tie a fly for fly fishing, how to clean a fish and the favorite, how to put out a brush fire. The BLM firefighters brought a tanker truck up there and allowed the kids to spray the firehose. Nikolas managed the firehose really well. Unfortunately, while Andy did bring the camera, the battery was dead, so we have no pictures to share.

Gail had a really good week. Her leg infection healed up and she was able to do two Pampered Chef shows, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Both went well.

Andy had a typically busy week. He was in Wendover quite a bit this week. Wednesday afternoon he was there for the juvenile drug court and then back Thursday afternoon and Friday, to meet with clients and attend various hearings on Friday. In between meetings he had a chance to do some exploring and found the old air base located on the Utah side of Wendover. This is where the crewfor the Enola Gay lived and trained. The Enola Gay was one of the planes involved in dropping the first atomic bomb, leading to the end of WWII. He also learned a bit about the history of Wendover. It was the location of the first licensed casino in Nevada. What had been called the Stateline Casino (it literally is on the border between NV and UT) received its license in the 1930's and still holds License #1. If you are ever in Wendover the casino is now called the Nuggett. It started off as a gas station and cafe with a few slot machines

That about sums up our week, we hope all of you are doing well.

Matthew and Andy had a very exciting day yesterday (Saturday). The cub scouts went on a hike up to Lamoille Lake at the top of Lamoille Canyon, which is about 30 miles from Elko. We all drove up the canyon when we first arrived and it is a beautiful drive. A lot of trees, granite walls and some beautiful small waterfalls. In order to get to the lake, it requires a 2+ mile hike over some fairly rugged areas. The boys left at 8am. Once to the top, they did some trout fishing, had lunch and then hiked back. Andy did make it to the top, but by the time he did, Matthew had already caught two rainbow trout and had eaten his lunch. Essentially, Andy made with about enough time to have a 1/2 hour rest before hiking back down. The lake is just gorgeous. It is a fed off of glaciers which run to the end of the lake and the trial there requires crossing some snowy areas. Matthew enjoyed being able to throw snowballs in July. The boys all got back to the trail head by 3:00pm. It was a fun day.

Nikolas spent the week playing up at his Grandma & Grandpa's house in Idaho. He enjoyed playing with the cousins and having a wider area to ride his bike. Grandpa even took him golfing. Gail, Andy and Matthew enjoyed having dinner every night and not hearing "I hate that." In fact each night we had something Nikolas "hates." Matthew enjoyed having the bedroom all to himself, but quickly discovered the excuse, "I didn't make the mess", doesn't go over as well when he is the only one here.

Gail had sort of a rough week as she developed another leg infection, the first since we moved to Nevada. She spent a good part of the week with her leg up and on antibiotics. Friday morning she traveled to Idaho to attend a Madrigal Reunion Concert which she participated in. All reports indicated she had a good time.

That about sums up the week. We hope you are all well.

We spent a wonderful weekend in Idaho over the 4th of July. It was quite warm here last week (upper 90's) and with the air conditioning not working so well in the van, we decided to get up early on Friday morning to make the drive. Surprisingly, we were on the road by 5 am and made it to Caldwell by 9:30am. The ride up was beautiful, the wildflowers were in full bloom and with the windows rolled down you could smell the wild rose bushes. The flowers were particularly nice driving through the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, which is on the Nevada/Idaho border. We saw quite a few deer and other wildlife.

We got to Caldwell in time to watch the parade which was fun. The boys had a great time and it was nice to see Gail's family. After the parade we visited for a while and then went back downtown for the fireworks. The fireworks were nice and Andy and Forrest put on quite a show on their own.

Saturday morning we did family pictures and then were off to the Municipal Park in Boise for a family picnic. We had a great time, especially the water ballon fight which did get a bit out of hand. Thankfully it was sunny and warm, so everyone dried quickly. Saturday evening we all attended Gareth's baptism. The service was nice and we were all glad to be able to witness this wonderful event.

Matthew is very excited for this upcoming week. He has the house all to himself. Nikolas stayed in Caldwell for the week so he could play with the cousins. Matthew, because he has school had to come back to Elko, but once he realized he would have the house to himself any resentment quickly dissipated. Actually, it was quite a quiet Sunday evening. We had a nice dinner together and then went over to some friends' house from our Ward for some snacks and social time.

Gail and Andy continue to do well. Gail is still plugging along with work. She continues to book more shows for her Pampered Chef business. Andy's office last week began representing juveniles and he had his first detention hearings. He was quite busy and is sort of learning on the job. The PD office has never done juvenile cases, so it is a sort of learn as you go process.

We hope you are all doing well and send our best until next week.

We have had a great week. Gail continues to have success with her Pampered Chef business. On Saturday (28th) she did another show here in Elko and was able to book two additional shows from that. In a few weeks she will be traveling to Salt Lake City to do some shows there as well. On top of her working at the daycare and keeping up with the boys, she has been very busy.

Andy continues to be quite busy with work, church and the boys. This last week was relatively quiet in terms of court appearances and such. He was out in Wells on Wednesday doing a few trials. Otherwise he spent the week preparing to begin the juvenile representations which begin Tuesday July 1. He and the boys got to the pool a few times and he went to swim laps in the morning.

Everyone had a very exciting day Saturday. Matthew began a new program that provides respite care and works on some socialization skills. While he was doing that Andy and Nikolas went golfing. They had a great time. Nikolas did very well on the golf course and he would play for a while and then just want to ride in the golf cart.

The weather continues to be fantastic. It has been in the 90's the last week, with beautiful blue sky and sunshine. The evenings are wonderful because it dips down into the 40's. It has been strange because we have gone two weeks without any rain.

Finally, we hope you are all doing well. We want to send out a big happy birthday to our cousin/nephew John as he celebrates his birthday. Until next week.

This past week it has been absolutely beautiful in Northeastern Nevada. The sky is so blue and with no clouds it is neat. We all had a busy week. Matthew began summer school and he was quite excited about that. He continues to struggle a bit, but this week we all attended a meeting of the Northeastern Nevada Autism Network and met some other families dealing with this, which was very helpful. Andy and Gail learned quite a bit. The boys are enjoying their summer. Nikolas attended a sleepover on Friday night at a friend's house in Spring Creek. He came home Saturday and reported he played X-Box and got to shoot a BB gun. Matthew attended cub scout day camp on Saturday. He came home reporting he did archery, shoot BB guns and even made a marshmallow gun that was neat. He seemed to have a great time. While matthew was at cub scout camp, Nikolas and I enjoyed some time at the pool and he actually swam a bit. He is making some great progress.

Andy had a busy week, mostly as he prepares to begin representing the juvenile cases that will begin on July 1. He spent quite a bit of time at the juvenile court observing and speaking with various people in the county involved with the programs.

We had a nice visit with Gail's Dad, Uncle, Brother and Brother In Law on Friday evening. They were all hear for the Rumble in the Rubie, which is a motorcycle rally. It takes place downtown Elko and was neat. Gail, Andy and Nikolas went over on Saturday afternoon and walked around. Nikolas got to go on a ride in a motorcycle and he said "it was fun." The rides were given as a fundraiser for children's neurological research. Andy went back that evening for an outdoor concert featuring the band Nazareth. The best way to describe it was a quote he brought back. There was a biker standing next to him who repeatedly yelled "You guys kicked "#$%" in '78, and you still kick "@#$" now." I do not think anyone under the age of 40 really appreciated the show and the only people really into it were those old enough to have probably bought their albums in the 70's. Andy reported the show was good.

That about sums up our week. Hope you all are doing well.

Our catch up week (with pictures)

We are all so very proud of Matthew. Below is a picture of the Bat mobile, Matthew's entry into the pinewood derby this year. He and Andy worked hard on it, with a bit of help from some member's of our Ward. This year Matthew made it to the second round and eventually ended up in 4th place. He did a fantastic job.



As promised from last week's post below are some pictures from our trip to Boise. The first is of all the cousins at Chuck-E-Cheese's. Below that you can see our pictures from the Old Post days we went to in Murphy, ID. You can see our budding cowboys: Nikolas; as he practices his roping skills and Matthew practicing his branding skills.

Nikolas and Matthew did a great job during the one room school house art lesson. I really liked the teacher's hat. Throughout the day there were different lessons, all done as if it was June 7, 1875. As we said last week, the whole event was really neat. Nikolas got a kick out of the tractor display, his Grandfather would have been proud of him.

This week went fairly smooth. The boys are enjoying playing outside. Friday, Matthew found a lizard around our apartment and had to keep it as a pet. We took some pictures and as Matthew went outside, the lizard jumped down and ran away, so no pet. Nikolas is enjoying all his birthday presents, specifically all his outside art supplies. Our sidewalks never looked better. Matthew will start summer school on Monday and he seems excited to begin.

Andy and Gail continue to be very busy. Andy had a particularly busy week and is looking forward to the next two as they are relatively quiet. He will be using this time to get systems in place for the beginning of his representing all juvenile cases. This begins on July 1, 2008. Monday, the 9th was a rough day as he saw a client sentenced to a long time in prison. The sentencing was very emotional and the hearing went on for nearly 1 hour as there were many witnesses testifying.


Gail had another Pampered Chef show Friday night and seems to be picking up business, which is good. This last weekend it has been absolutely gorgeous. The boys went to a Nevada Department of Wildlife Fishing Derby in Carlin on Saturday. Nikolas won a fishing pole and tackle set. While they didn't catch anything they had a great time.



Once back, it was off to the pool. Everyone, including Andy had gotten way to much sun. The boys finally got home about 4:30 and were exhausted. After dinner, it was movie night and early bed. The boys had a great day together. Gail went to a party in the morning and then enjoyed some peace and quiet.

This morning the boys surprised Andy with Breakfast in bed for Father's Day. He was pleasantly surprised with the toast, chocolate milk and grapes.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there and we hope you have a wonderful week.

We had one busy week last week. The boys enjoyed their first full week out of school, Gail and Andy survived the first full week of the boys being out of school. The week started out well. Unfortunately, Gail was not feeling all that well on Tuesday, so she was home from work. Andy had quite a busy week work wise and so he was not home much, even in the evenings.

The big excitement this past week was of course Nikolas celebrating his 7th birthday. On Thursday evening Andy and the boys drove out to Wendover to meet our cousin/nephew Gareth. He came back to Elko with us and the next morning we all piled into the van and headed for Boise. Friday was Matthew's turn to not be feeling well. He woke up that morning very nauseous, but really wanted to go. The fact he, his brother and Gareth stayed up very late didn't have anything to do with why he was not feeling well. We had a nice ride to Boise and about 4:30 that afternoon all the cousins met at Chuck-E-Cheeses. 8 kids and 5 adults, so do the math and you will find that it was a bit crazy. The kids had a great time and 3 hours later we had gone through about 360 tokens, not to mention the pizza. We arrived at Gail's parents' home about 8:30 and tried to put the kids to bed.

Saturday morning we all drove to Murphy, ID to go to the Old Outpost days. It was fun. There were covered wagon rides, a cattle drive, a branding demonstration, pioneer cooking demonstrations and a old school house where the kids had an 1875 art lesson. We had a great time and took a few pictures we will try and post. That evening we gathered in a park and had cake. Nikolas reports he had a great birthday.

Sunday we drove home, all exhausted and ready for some sleep.

Busy Week

We had one busy week in the Mierins Family. Monday afternoon, Memorial Day, we decided to go on a little family trip to see the Ruby Valley Wildlife Reserve. We had to travel through the mountains on a road call the Harrison Pass and saw neat things, including various rock formations, beautiful desert flowers and even some cacti. We have added a couple of pictures below.

Once through the mountains we came to this beautiful valley where the reserve is located. We saw some amazing birds there, including this one below that has a blue beak. We still haven't figured out what it is called but there are many of them at the reserve. This place is worth the drive and well worth the sites. One the way home we saw golden eagles and about 8 vultures dining on a deer on the side of the road. The vultures were huge and had red heads. Very cool.

Tuesday morning Andy flew to St. Louis to attend a conference on drug courts. He learned a lot of things and came back with some ways he can improve his role on the local drug court. While in St. Louis, he did a bit of touring around, including taking in a baseball game at Busch Stadium. Now for those of you not familiar, Busch Stadium is the place where in 2004 the Red Sox won the 4th and final game of the 2004 World Series to win their first world series in 86 years. The stadium that exists today opened in 2006, but if you look to the right of the picture below there is a hole in the ground where the old stadium was. Andy removed his hat and bowed his head in reverence as he walked around the area of the old stadium. By the way the Cardinals did win that night. They played the Astros and Albert Pujols hit a shot of a home run. Not to be outdone, Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman of the Astros also hit a 4 bagger. It was a great game. If you look at the picture inside the park, Andy sat on the 2nd tier behind home plate.

Andy stayed at the Hyatt Riverside, which is literally next to the Arch on the Mississippi River and in front of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. Below is a picture showing both things. Andy went on a tour of the Courthouse. The Court is significant for two very important things, it is where Dred and Harriet Scott filed suit in 1857 for their freedom as slaves. It is also where Virginia Minor sued in 1872 for the right to vote based upon the 14th Amendment. Well, as we know the ever sagely US Supreme Court ruled against both parties when their cases made their way to them. The Court ruled that slaves were property and not citizen's and therefore not entitled to the protections of the Constitution. Well not to be outdone and demonstrating their judicial fiat, Minor, who was white, but a woman, while a citizen, was not entitled to vote, because the Constitution did not guarantee the right to vote to all citizens. It is amazing to see how far we have come as a nation.

Before leaving St. Louis, Andy did have lunch at the restaurant of one of the creators of KC Masterpierce BBQ sauce. It was good. He flew home Saturday morning and was glad to get back to the desert. Friday was in the upper 80's and quite humid in St. Louis. Everyone was glad Dad made it home safely.

Everyone else had a great week. The boys are now done with school and seemed to survive. Both are excited about the summer. Nikolas honed his bike riding skills and we have included a picture of him being the daredevil he is. Gail had a very successful Pampered Chef party on Saturday. Saturday evening we all went to the Lion's Club Fair in town. Nikolas enjoyed riding the rides. Matthew decided he was going to use his money to play some games and he ended up winning a nice watch.



That about sums up our week. We hope you all are doing well.

Summer is about to begin

Well, despite this being Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of summer, the outside indicators would tell you otherwise. After some very warm weather, things cooled off this week. We shouldn't complain, it has been in the 60's during the day, but we were enjoying the warmer weather. We also have had some rain, which is sort of odd. Most "rain storms" last 2-3 minutes, but we actually have had some sustained showers. One morning there was even water running in the gutters.

As a family all continues to go well. We have added a photo from last weekend of Matthew and Nikolas holding Oscar. We all did have a great weekend and despite our scare with Nikolas were glad we got to get away.


On Saturday we took the boys to see the #12 Alltel race car which was here in Elko. Nikolas and Matthew had a chance to change a tire on the car. The company set up a display for the kids to try out and Nikolas did a great job, with a bit of help from Gail and one of the crew members. Matthew gave it a try and was very quick.

We were going to go visit Gail's family over this long weekend, but due to a bit of sickness, we were unable to go. Despite this we really enjoyed the weekend together as a family. There was supposed to be a country fair Saturday as well but we could never find it. We did discover a fruit and vegetable stand that had some great fresh fruit. We also bought a mini grill and have begun grilling again. The entire family really enjoys this, particularly Andy.

The boys are excited for their last week of school. Both will be out on Friday, which seems quite amazing, but the kids do not get off as much time in the winter as they had in NH. Matthew has had a bit of a stomach bug, which we cannot figure out what is wrong. Hopefully, it will resolve itself, but we may need a trip to the doctor.

Gail had a busy week. She was able to do a Pampered Chef show and finally after a few months things are really picking up and Gail has quite a few shows coming up over the next few weeks. Gail has cut back a bit of her cleaning which has her home two more nights a week. This past week was the first week of the modified schedule and it was great.

That about sums up our week. We hope you are all well and hope you have a wonderful week.

We have had one busy and exciting week. School is coming to an end and the boys are quite excited by it all. Matthew and Nikolas only have two weeks to go and are quite excited for summer to arrive. Speaking of summer, we experienced some summer like weather the past few days. Since Friday it has been in the upper 80's to the lower 90's and quite pleasant. Everything has fully bloomed and we actually are seeing some green once again. The tops of the mountains still have snow but where the snow has melted, the hillside is green and quite pretty.

The biggest event of the week was of course Gail's birthday. We all think she had a great day, but was sad and had a "I wish we were back in NH day." She was quite overwhelmed with all the well wishers who remembered her birthday, particularly her friends from NH. We went out for dinner to celebrate and all had a nice evening.

We were in Utah again this last weekend, which explains the lateness in posting. We left Friday afternoon about 1 pm and made our first stop in Tooele so Gail could do a Pampered Chef show at her sister's, which seemed to go quite well. We then headed to Cedar Hills to our friend's from NH, where we spent the night. We all stayed up to late visiting, but it was a great visit. Gail and Paula put on a wonderful baby shower for yet another of our NH expatriate friend's Irene. The boys and Andy played outside and went to the local Cabela's to check out the fish tanks and animal displays. The boys really enjoyed the indoor trout pond. Saturday night we were off the Logan, to see Irene and her new baby, Oscar, who was being blessed Sunday morning. Logan was beautiful and we may consider living there some day. All went well and we were home by 7pm, quite tired and ready for bed. As I said, we had a great weekend.

We hope everyone is well and send our best until next week.

What a quick week we have had. We all continued with our normal routines. Matthew and Nikolas went to school, Gail and Andy went to work. We did have some neat things occur this week.

We all travelled to Salt Lake City on Thursday for Matthew's doctors appointment. The appointment went very well. Overall we are pleased with the medical care he is getting from his doctors in Utah. This appointment lasted 2 hours and the doctor took the time to talk with all of us. She has come up with a diagnosis we had never considered so between now and September we all have some work. While in SLC we had a nice dinner and did some shopping. Gail also did some Pampered Chef stuff.

On Friday evening Andy and the boys went to the Father and Sons camp out. All reports were that it was a great time. The boys really enjoyed building a fire.

We continue to experience some wonderful spring weather. That about sums up our week. We hope you are all well.

Welcome May

Another wonderful week has come and gone here in Elko. The trees are in blossom, we actually do have flowers blooming and it is refreshing and invigorating to see the beauty of Spring all around us. Much like New England though winter reminds us it is king. Tuesday it never got about 40 outside and we even had some snow flurries.

Everyone continues to do well. The boys are counting down the days until the end of school, while Gail and Andy hope these last few days stretch out a bit more. We all cannot believe that the school year is about to come to an end. The boys will be done on May 30th. Matthew has shown some great improvements over the last months and we are excited to see him settle in. Nikolas continues to be the adventurous 6year old that he is, anxiously awaiting his 7th birthday in a month. The boys enjoy playing outside and two nights a week get to the pool with Andy. Which, by the way, despite being still a bit chilly, the outdoor pool in Elko has opened and Andy now anticipates that once this is discovered will require its more regular use.

Gail had an exciting development. She has signed up a new consultant as part of her network for Pampered Chef. She is entering a new phase as she begins the building of her dynasty. Gail continues to work at the daycare and enjoys doing so.

Andy's week went well. He had a trial on Tuesday that went well. His client was found guilty of the least serious of the three offenses he was charged with. Next week will be quite busy as he has 3 trials and 2 preliminary hearings. All of which occur over a 2 day period.

We just returned from a nice weekend in Boise visiting Gail's family. We went up Friday afternoon to attend our nephew/cousin Torsten's baptism Saturday morning. After the baptismal service we had a nice family get together, did some shopping and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We mostly visited with family and it was nice to get away.

Overall we are all doing quite well and hope the same for you. Until next week.

May is almost here.

This past week was rather quiet and uneventful. Andy and Gail went to work, Matthew and Nikolas went to school and everyone is doing well. That about sums the last week up. After a dusting of snow last weekend the warm weather returned and has been great. Almost everything has blossomed and we continue to be doing great. Gail's Pampered Chef business is doing well. She signed on a new consultant and booked two shows for the month. When she has a moment she has been working on it and hopefully all the hard work will pay off. After two jury trials in a row, Andy has a bit of a break. In another week he will have several bench trials one after another. He really does enjoy doing the trial work and this week, the judge who presided over his last jury trial told him he had done a very good job. He was glad about that. Before we end we wanted to send out a Happy Birthday to Grandma Mierins who has a birthday this week. We hope you all continue to do well and until next week.