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.