We hope you all had a Merry Christmas. The Mierins family had a great Christmas mostly because we got to spend it together as a family. We decided to do a special Christmas this year in Reno. We left Thursday afternoon and arrived in Reno about 3 pm. We stayed at the Circus Circus hotel and were expecting a quiet time together. Were we wrong. The place was crowded and started to get such about an hour after we arrived.

Our first task was to find a Christmas Eve service, which we did at a local Lutheran church. it was a nice candlelight service and reminded us of the great tradition we had when living in New Hampshire. After a light dinner, we gathered together to read Luke 2 and then went to bed. Nikolas was a bit concerned that Santa would not be able to find us, we assured him it would not be a problem.

Sure enough Santa did find us and the boys were very excited come Christmas morning. We enjoyed opening presents throughout the day. We had a nice brunch and took the boys to play in the midway at Circus Circus. By the end of the day we were quite tired and all had a good night's rest.

The rest of the trip went well. We went to planetarium and Nevada History Museum and took a nice tour of Reno. We did the obligatory day after Christmas shopping which left Gail happy and had some great pizza and bar-B-Q before heading home. It was a great trip.

We are very excited for Christmas. The boys are done with school until January 4th and Andy has submitted his grades for the class he taught at the local college. He is looking forward to teaching next semester as well which does not begin until the end of January. Monday evening we went to hear the local high school choirs give its Christmas Concert. It was nice and helped to put us all into the holiday spirit.

We had a fairly good week. Andy was home for the whole week although he did go out to Wendover to meet with clients Friday morning. Gail on the other hand was not doing so well. She had another of her recurring leg infections that really got to her. She spent a good part of the week off her feet. Thankfully she is now doing better and with the aid of stronger antibiotics feeling better.

The boys enjoyed a sleepover at a friend's house Saturday evening. When Andy went to pick them up he was told by Nikolas that his friend's dad was a better Dad. Oh well. While the boys were out playing Gail and Andy went to the local Bar Association Christmas party. It was a good time.

We hope all is well with you and we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Two words describe this week-cold and snow. We had some mighty cold weather settle in. Four mornings this week we woke up to temps of -10 or less. The days do warm up, but still the start of each day can be nippy. On top of the cold we had two snow storms that dropped a good amount of snow. Winter is definitely here.

The boys had a great week. Both had good reports from school and are anxiously looking forward to Christmas vacation. Andy will take some time off as well and is looking forward to being home after being gone quite a bit the last several weeks.

Gail did a Pampered Chef show in Wendover Saturday that went well. We all drove out Friday evening and spent the night with our friends. We had a good time. Gail is still receiving congratulations for her stellar performance at the Messiah sing-a-long. On top of all the other things she has going on she now has a voice student.

Andy continues to be busy. He finished his class this week and no waits to correct the final exams. The school asked him to come back next semester and he is having a great time. Not sure his students feel that way, but still. He also enjoyed being home this week, the first since the middle of October.

We hope all is well with you all.

We woke up to our first cold morning this Sunday. It was -2 this morning, but by the afternoon it warmed as it clouded up and by sunset we had snow. Such goes Nevada weather.

We are all doing quite well and so excited for this Christmas season. This last week was our community's annual creche festival which went great. Gail sang a solo in the Messiah sing-a-long and it is no exaggeration to say she was in a class by herself. It took almost 1/2 hour before everyone gave their congratulations. Elko has now discovered what Andy has known all along-his wife is talented. We were excited to have Gail's parents here to enjoy the performance.

The boys continue to do well and seem to be settling in better to school and their activities. Gail and Andy are doing the same with work. Andy was in Reno this week at a conference for Drug Courts and came home with some great information. We are glad that his travels are done for a while. The last six weeks Andy has been gone nearly every week.

We all hope each of you are doing well.

We have returned from a wonderful trip to Idaho to see Gail's family. We left on Wednesday afternoon and got back Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed a great dinner with family and are grateful for a wonderful Thanksgiving. Gail's sister hosted us all and from reports received the food was good and company fantastic. While in Idaho we had a chance to do some shopping, go to see 2 movies "Disney's -A Christmas Carol" and "The Blindside", both of which we enjoyed. Mostly it was great to get away and spend time together as a family. Andy and Gail's Dad, brother and brother-in-law went to do a food challenge at "Big Jud's" in Boise on Saturday. Big Jud's has a one pound hamburger and one pound fry basket that if you can eat, gets your picture on thier wall. The Challege was featured on the Travel Channel's Man v. Food show.

The rest of the week was fairly typical, the boys went to school and Gail and Andy went to work.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful week.

We are getting a bit of rain this afternoon.
Our week was fairly typical. The boys went to school and Gail and Andy worked. Well, Gail worked this week. Andy was a a conference in Las Vegas Wednesday to Saturday at Planet Hollywood. He reports it was a good conference about defending drug cases. He found Planet Hollywood a bit over the top. We were all glad to see him get home safely Saturday evening.

Gail's week turned out quite well. She participated in a Christmas bazaar which lead to her booking a few Pampered Chef shows which is always good for business. She also started a new cleaning account so needless to say she is busy.

The boys are getting excited for the holidays and so are the parents.

We hope all is well with our friends and family.

Andy has returned from his cross-country adventure. He and his friend Brian left Tuesday evening to fly out to NH. They arrived safe and sound and after getting a few things Wednesday departed for Nevada Thursday morning. Andy was glad Mom and Jim hosted them for the day and put on a nice New England seafood dinner Wednesday night. The trip went well and except for Wyoming had no problems getting home. Andy hit bad weather both entering and departing Wyoming. In fact, the interstate was closed Saturday evening due to massive accidents, so Andy and Brian sat out the evening in Little America, Wyoming. Andy got back to Elko about 2 pm.

The rest of us had a great week and were glad to have Andy home.

This post marks the 100th posting on The Mierins Family Chronicles (thought I would add this since it seems to be all the rage to make it that long).

We had a great week. It was a very busy one, but we all went with Andy to Las Vegas Thursday to Saturday while he went to some meetings. While there we saw the water fountains at the Bellagio, the observation deck at the Stratosphere and the pirate show at TI (formally known as Treasure Island). The pirate show was a clothed version of the peep shows occurring on the strip, much to Andy and Gail's disappointment. The show was much different than they remembered the last time they went. Oh well. It was the only disappointing thing about the trip. We stayed at the Stratosphere and had a nice suite. The boys had their own room and it worked out great. Friday afternoon we went out to see Hoover Dam and yes, we went on the dam tour and took all the dam pictures we wanted. Overall, it was great and we were glad to combine business with a bit of pleasure. We got back late Saturday and needless to say are all quite tired.

The rest of the week was typical. The boys went to school and Andy and Gail worked. We hope all is well on your end of the world.

We have just returned from a nice trip to Idaho to see Gail's family. We left Thursday evening. Friday was Nevada Day which celebrates Nevada's statehood so we all had the day off. We got to Idaho fairly early, but all went to bed to get some much needed rest. Friday morning Gail left to go to Sunnyside, Washington to see a friend of hers from high school who was producing a show. She went with another friend and had a great time. The boys stayed with Gail's parents and spent Friday doing so shopping and going to the movies. Saturday morning we helped Grandpa, did some more shopping and then went to Gail's sisters home for trick-or-treating. Nikolas went as a Christmas elf and Matthew a zombie soldier. The minute they got back the trading began and after the requisite dad tax began to consume huge quantities of sugar.

The rest of our week was busy, but good. The boys had parent/teacher conferences and are doing OK. Both need to do less talking and more work. Gail and Andy were busy at work as always. Overall, everything is going well. We hope the same is true for you.

What a fast week has come and gone. Our home has returned to some semblance of normal with the conclusion of the Wizard of Oz. As a result, Gail is in high demand on other productions and has been invited to perform at the upcoming Snowflake Festival in December.

The boys did have a decent week, although Matthew found himself in the Vice Principal's office for a conference with his father. It appears things have been worked out. Sunday was our ward's Primary Program and Matthew and Nikolas both gave talks which were fantastic.

Andy was in Las Vegas for a conference Friday and literally was there and then gone. He reported it was nice, but glad to be home. Saturday, Gail did a Pampered Chef party in Wendover and has another scheduled for December. Hopefully, business will pick up for her.

Overall, things are well for us and we hope the same with you.

The Wizard of Oz is finally over and now normalcy will return to the Mierins' household. Gail did a fantastic job and the reviews were all great. Nikolas played an outstanding munchkin soldier. We tried to put pictures up but for some reason we could not get them to upload to the blog. We were glad to have Gail's sister here as well as he sister-in-law to attend the Friday evening performance. It is always nice to have family visit.

Since the play occupied most of our last week, there is not much else to report on. Thursday to Saturday was spent at the convention center with the play. Andy was in Wendover Friday for some trials which went well.

During all of this madness we did celebrate Andy's birthday and Andy and Gail's 16th Anniversary. Andy and Gail did get to have lunch this week. Maybe they will find something to do now that everything has settled down.

We hope all is well with you wherever you are.

As fall descends on Nevada we are all glad ther is only one more week until the Wizard of Oz. The Mierins' clan has been quite busy as the performance dates of Oct 15, 16 and 17th fast approach. Nikolas has been singing, Matthew tolerating, Gail still has her hair and Andy is doing his best to stay out of the way.

All kidding aside, it was a good week. The boys continue to do well in school and are enjoying the fall and looking forward to Halloween. Matthew has gotten his zombie soldier mask and Nikolas has not quite decided what he is going to be. We are encouraging him to be a munchkin, but the idea is not going over well.

Andy and Gail were busy as always. Andy was in Wendover on Wednesday, but otherwise in the office. We had our nephew here for a few days so the boys had another playmate.

We celebrated Andy's birthday in style. Saturday evening our friends came over with their 2 girls and baby boy and Andy volunteered "us" to watch a friend's son for the evening. All in all we had 7 kids under twelve and 4 adults in our apartment, which was quite a feat. The food was great and we were glad to spend time together.

Sunday evening turned out to be nice as well. A neighbor of ours from NH was driving to SLC and stopped for a visit. We enjoyed getting caught up with them and reminising about New England.

We hope all is well whatever part of the world you are in.

Looks like this evening we could get our first snowfall here in Northeastern Nevada. All the sudden Thursday the heat was turned off and if the trend continues we may have an early winter. I am told this is common. We shall keep you posted.

Our week went fairly well. All of us have been quite busy, especially Gail as she works tirelessly to make sure the Wizard of Oz goes off well. She has been out late each night and half of Saturday. She will be glad in two weeks when it is over.

The boys are both doing really well. We got mid-semester grades and both are getting mostly B's which we are very proud. Each is excited for Halloween and cannot wait to be the bloodiest, meanest warrior to ever walk the earth.

Andy continues to stay busy with work and teaching. He is really enjoying his class and glad after the first exam he did not receive any nasty grams. He was in Wendover this week and had a trial that at the conclusion the judge complimented him on the job done. His client was found guilty but satisfied with the representation.

We really enjoyed the opportunity this weekend to participate in General Conference. How grateful we are to live at a time when we can truly hear a prophets voice.
We hope all of you are well.

Another great week has come and gone at the Mierins' household. Not much has changed since last week. We are really enjoying our early fall. It is still relatively warm and very sunny which is great. The boys continue to do well in school. Matthew finally has begun his PT which we are very glad about. Nikolas was quite excited this week as he earned the right to attend a pajama pizza party at school for being well behaved.

Gail and Andy continue to be quite busy. Gail is looking forward to the performance of the Wizard of Oz so she can put this behind her. She was not quite ready for the stress involved, but is glad to be involved in music. Andy continues to be busy with work and his class. The class' first exam is this week so we will see how his popularity drops.

Saturday was a fun day. We all went to the air show at the airport and saw some neat planes. Always great to do something together as a family.

Well we hope all is well with you.

We all had a fairly good week. The boys continue to do well in school. Matthew came home this week and announced he wants to play football. We are not sure where this came from, but will do all we can to help him prepare should he actually want to play next year. The boys are still enjoying being outdoors playing each day. One nice thing about living in Nevada is very few days were you cannot play outside and so the boys get to do so quite a bit.

Gail is busy as always and a month away from the Wizard of Oz. She will be glad when the performances occur which are scheduled for October 15-17 at the Convention Center. Her cleaning business is going well and we are glad for the most part the economy is strong in this area.

Andy was gone two days this week to Wendover for Court, otherwise he was home and we are glad. We had a nice trip to Salt Lake City yesterday to attend the temple for our Stake Temple Day. On the way home we stopped to have dinner with our friend's in Wendover. We were able to get a baby sitter so we had a nice adults night out.

We hope all is well.

What another quick week we have had. No travel involved, but still very busy. The boys continue to enjoy school and both seem to have adapted to their new schools. We have begun the traditional battle over homework now with both boys.

Gail continues to be quite busy with "The Wizard of Oz" as well as serving on the board of our local symphony. She has also picked up an additional cleaning account.

Andy, well, he just continues to be busy with work and his teaching. He is enjoying being an adjunct at Great Basin College and the class is going well.

We enjoyed the short week. Monday we spent the day at home as we prepared for Fall to begin.

Really not much else to report. We hope all is well.

What a busy week we have had. We missed having Andy around this week. Monday afternoon he left to drive to Carson City for a hearing on Tuesday morning at the state prison. He did stop home on his way from Carson to Wendover Tuesday to have dinner with us. Wednesday morning court started at 8:30 am and when he finished he left for Las Vegas. He was in Las Vegas for some meetings for the Nevada Bar Association. Andy was appointed to the CLE committee and the first meeting was Thursday. He spent the evening in Las Vegas with some friends from law school. He then drive back to Elko Friday and we were glad to have him back safe and sound.

While Andy was gone Grandma Davis came for a visit and we enjoyed having her here for a few days. The boys especially enjoyed her visit. Gail and her Mom went for a ride up to Lamoille Canyon.

The boys second week of school went well. Gail has gotten into her normal cleaning routine. The Wizard of Oz production is coming along and we enjoy listening to the boys sing around the house.

Saturday turned out to be a great day for everyone. Gail went on a shopping trip to Twin Falls with our neighbor Celeste and the boys went to the Elko County Fair.

We hope all is well where ever you may be.

We Survived Week One of School

The boys began school this week and mostly it was a success. Nikolas reports he really likes his teacher and new school. It was interesting this week that we received a letter indicating Nikolas was not accepted at his old school -Northside (long story) so he would need to enroll at Mountain View. The local paper this week reported that enrollment was down at Northside. We have not figured out why Nikolas had to change schools. It appears it was a good change for him.

Matthew did OK adjusting to his new school. We had a tiny blip the first day as it was discovered there was a nother child in his class who has difficulty getting along with Matthew. Unfortunately, he was given a new homeroom. While he was not happy about this he has made a new friend and really likes his science class because the teacher has some hissing roaches. Readapting to a school schedule was not as bad as we thought.

Gail continues to be quite busy with the "Wizard of Oz." Matthew and Nikolas are going to be in the play. Except for Andy this is a family affair. Gail reports the start of school is getting easier, but she was still a bit sad to see the boys go back. She is also readjusting her cleaning schedule and has picked up a few new accounts.

Andy continues to be quite busy. He is getting back into doing the adult cases after doing the juvenile matters for over a year. He is going to do his first parole revocation hearing this week. He also starts teaching his class this week. We probably will not be seeing much of him.

We hope all is well with you. Take care until next week.

The Mierins family finds it hard to believe summer has come to an end and the boys will start school in the morning. We had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to a great school year.

We were in Salt Lake City Monday and Tuesday of this week at appointments for Matthew. All of his doctors feel his is doing well, except there is some concern about one of his kidneys so we will be back in a few weeks to see the specialist. Except for the psychiatrist, Matthew does not have to see any of his doctor for another year. We were excited and feel blessed Matthew continues to make great progress. We were especially impressed with his new psychiatrist who we feel help with some of his anxiety issues.

While in SLC we had the chance to visit with some friends, including one of Andy's last mission companions. He was quite excited to see him and spend some time visiting. We also got to see out dear friend Irene and enjoyed a nice lunch with her.

The rest of our week was typical. Gail and Andy worked, the boys played and we saw little of each other until Saturday morning. We did go to open houses at each of the boy's schools. Matthew starts 5th grade and Nikolas 3rd. Each also goes to a new school, so we made sure to lay good groundwork for the transition.

We hope all have a great week this week.

We had a fairly low profile week. The biggest excitement was Matthew spent the week with his grandparents in Idaho. He reported a wonderful time was had. He played with his cousins, played outside and got to go to the pool. Nikolas enjoyed having the house to himself but did admit to missing his brother.

Gail's involvement with the production of the "Wizard of Oz" continues to multiply and Nikolas has even gotten into the action. He is going to be a munchkin soldier in the production. The play is going to be put on Oct 15-17. Gail doesn't think that will come soon enough.

Andy was just plain busy. He was in Wendover Wednesday, but otherwise spent the week at his office transitioning back into doing adult cases.

All continues to go well and we hope the same for you.

What a fast week we have had. Much stayed the same, except we had a rare rain storm Wednesday that dropped a good amount of rain for about an hour. I know that may not sound like much, but considering last summer we did not have any rain between Memorial Day and the beginning of October, it certainly was an oddity.

Gail continues to be her busy self between work and home she has managed to take on being the musical director for a production of "The Wizard of Oz." She spent most of this weekend working on various aspects of the production. She had the house to herself as the boys went to Idaho for the weekend. They returned late Sunday afternoon and Matthew stayed to have a week with Grandma and Grandpa.

Nikolas came home with his new bike he has been saving his money to buy and was quite excited to show it off to his friends. The boys are enjoying the end of the summer. It is hard to believe they will start school in 2 weeks. Tuesday evening we all attended the National Night Out here in Elko and the boys had a great time. Matthew got into the rescue helicopter, each of the boys tried on the impaired driving goggles and drove a golf cart and everyone came home with lots of goodies.

Andy continues to be busy. This week will be his first week since June 2008 he has not been responsible for the juvenile matters. The office has gone to a rotating schedule of handling those matters and his week is the first of each month. He has gotten back into doing adult cases and glad to be back in the fray. Andy was also appointed to serve on the Nevada Bar Association CLE Committee and is excited to get to work on providing continuing legal education. In three weeks he also starts his class he will be teaching, so the fall already looks quite busy for him.

Hope all is well where ever you may be. Until next week.

This was a big week for our family. Yesterday Nikolas was baptized and we are so excited for him. We had some great support and want to thank again our friends and family who came to support us. We had a great time and enjoyed the time we had to visit with one another afterwords. We are so proud of Nikolas for taking this great step in his life.

Gail and Andy were excited to have the boys back home. Matthew and Nikolas stayed in New Hampshire to visit with Grandma and Jim. The first few days were great but by Monday we both missed having the boys with us. The boys reported they had a great time on their own. They arrived back on Thursday and Grandma and Jim came to visit for a few days as well. While here Jim, Nikolas and Andy went to the driving range; the boys did tons of swimming at the hotel and Friday afternoon we all went for a nice drive up to Lamoille Canyon. Grandma and Jim left today and hope they had a safe trip back to New Hampshire.

Friday afternoon our good friend Paula arrived with her kids. She came out for Nikolas' baptism and spent a day with us. It was great to see here as well as another of our good friend's Leta on Saturday. We enjoyed having the company.

Andy and Gail were quite busy while the boys were in New Hampshire. Both worked quite a bit, but they managed to spend some time together and went on several dates.

Gail and I have returned from our trip to New Hampshire. Gail came back with a bit of struggle, but she did get off the plane once we reached Las Vegas. The boys stayed for an extra week with Grandma.

We had a great trip and even better weather. Our flight out to NH went great. We were all tired when we arrived, so day one we did some shopping. While there we enjoyed a few evenings with some of our dear friends. We have posted only a few of the pictures, but there are many more on our Facebook pages.


One of the highlights of the trip was the time we spent in Tamworth. The cabin is where we stayed and it was fantastic. It was quiet and peaceful and we had a great time. While there we got to see Andy's sister and nephews. We also got to do some swimming. Nikolas was getting some great air as his Dad threw him as far as he could. Andy and his aunt went for a great swim to some rocks on a sand bar in the lake.





Andy and the boys also enjoyed a trip to Boston. They went to Haymarket, ate some great pizza and then went for a walk through the North End, stopping at a few bakeries and taking in some of the historic sights. The highlight of the Boston trip was to the Temple of the Nation, otherwise known as Fenway Park. While they boys did not get to take a tour of the park, they walked around, hit to the official Red Sox store. The boys got a photo with Wally the Green Monster and even brought back some new hats. It was a great trip.



Gail and Andy had a good flight back. We got into Las Vegas about 9pm. We stayed at the MGM and it was nice. For some reason, maintenance decided to do some work on the room next to us so we were awaken by some drilling and banging.
We did some shopping in Vegas and then headed to Wendover to see our friends the Boatmans. It was great to see them.

We got back Friday and it was back to work.

While we enjoy the time at home, we will be glad to have the boys home. We hope all is well with you.

This was a quiet week at the Mierins household, mostly because we were down one child and kept ourselves quite busy. Nikolas enjoyed the week up in Idaho visiting with his grandparents and playing with his cousins. He got to go to the pool, eat at McDonald's and watch TV. When we would try to speak with him during the week we could get no response as he was trying to watch his shows. Matthew enjoyed the first day Nikolas was gone, but by day two missed his brother and was looking forward to his return. All reports were that he did indeed have a good time.

Matthew had summer school this week and after a rough start the first day he seems to be settling in quite well. Gail and Andy continue to be busy. Gail has gotten involved in the production of a musical to be performed in the fall. She has rehearsal two nights a week and other than the subject matter is glad to be able to use the talents she has been blessed with. She had a busy week work wise. She has her accounts set up so she essentially works every other week. She enjoys the time that gives her to do things with the boys.

Andy has been busy as always. Between church and work he keeps himself fairly busy. This last week was a bit quieter than normal. He is looking forward to teaching in the fall at the local community college. He will be teaching a course on introduction to American government.

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

We have had a wonderful week, mostly because we had a nice long weekend where we had no commitments or places to be.

Friday we all slept in, a rarity around our home, and once we were up we ran some of our weekly errands and then decided to go for a trip up Lamoille Canyon which is nearby. The pictures posted this week were all taken in the canyon. It was absolutely beautiful and as you can see we saw several waterfalls and even a neat beaver dam. We didn't find the beaver.


There is a six mile road that goes into the canyon and along the way we stopped to see several of the sites. There is one area that has several avalanches every year and you can see the effects of that on the topography. Once you are at the end of the road there are several trails to hike along. We hiked along one until we found this neat stream. The boys enjoyed playing in the water and Mom and Dad just enjoyed being together. The boys reported that the water was quite cold and you can see why from some of the pictures. There is still quite a bit of snow in the area.


Matthew the Polar Bear did not think it was that bad. Once he got out though his feet were beet red and very chilly. Nikolas "accidentally" dropped his shoe in the stream. Thankfully, some other hikers with a dog passed by and we were able to recover the shoe. After the hike we went home and had a great BBQ.







Saturday was also a great day. This weekend was the National Basque Festival. We enjoyed the Basque games. The games consisted of a weight lifting competition (how many times can a person lift a 225 lb cylinder in 3 minutes -the winner did it 21 times), a wood chopping contest and a relay race, which consisted of lifting the cylinder, cutting a log and running. In addition to the games there were dancing demonstrations, Basque singing and music and a sheep herding demonstration. It was really neat and we are glad we were here to participate this year. Saturday evening we sat on the hill near our home and watched the 4th of July fireworks which were spectacular. The display went on for almost 1/2 hour. Needless to say we were all very late to bed.





The earlier part of our week was fairly typical. Matthew went to school Monday through Thursday. Andy worked. He was in Wendover on Wednesday and went to a quinceañera which he thought was neat. Elko, like every other occasion has a neat July 4th parade. This one reflected the many cultures of the Elko area. Andy really enjoyed the Mexican riders and cowboys. One the them was doing rope tricks which were neat.

Nikolas left this afternoon to go spend time with his grandparents in Idaho. We all hope he has a good time.

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

We had one exciting weekend. The boys went to a cabin in Hobble Creek Canyon and Gail stayed at home. The adventures began on Friday afternoon. Andy and the boys departed for Utah about 12pm. They were going to stay with our friends, the Boatmans, at a cabin in the canyon. They arrived to a huge thunderstorm and once it passed the weather was absolutely beautiful.

Saturday morning they got up and went fishing

and caught some beautiful trout.

Andy and Brian met up with another friend of ours, Chris Johnson, and played golf at the Hobble Creek course, which by all reports was fantastic. The boys then all went kayaking and swimming and Nikolas took another try at riding dirt bikes (no burns this time). They finished off the day BBQing some ribs and had a feast. The boys return Sunday afternoon, all tan and tired and were ready for bed.

Gail enjoyed her weekend at home. She was doing a Pampered Chef party on Saturday and rearranged furniture while everyone was away. Other than some peace and quiet, she was excited because she made herself fish both evenings without any complaints.

The rest of last week was fairly typical. Matthew started summer school and had a good start. Gail and Andy worked and the boys continued to enjoy their summer.

We hope all is well.

We have been having a rather odd summer. Nearly every day for the last two weeks it has rained and not just sprinkled, but really rained. It has resulted in things staying very green and quite nice. It has also been relatively cool. Gail is happy, because by this time last year, things were beginning to turn brown and did not look so good. It is good to have her spirits up.

The big news this week was the Motorcycle Jamboree this weekend. The jamboree brings out the best in Elko culture, including Sue's Fantasy Club offering free drinks to its "clients" and setting up a vendor booth to sell alcohol laced Otter Pops. I am not making this up. One of the many shocks coming to Nevada was how loose the liquor laws are. Essentially, except for in your car, you can drink whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. Thus, the jamboree results in a lot of local yocals having a good time, insuring Andy will have plenty of work.

Andy was quite excited because this year there were suppose to be two nights of concerts. The first night L.A. Guns, Great White and Molly Hatchet were scheduled to play. Night two were two all-female cover bands Zepperella (Led Zeppellin) and Hells Belles (AC/DC). Andy went both nights. The first night was rained out and the second night the sound system did not work so well. He was greatly disappointed.

Other than the Jamboree it was a fairly quiet week. Our nephew Gareth was with us until Thursday and we enjoyed having him visit. It gave the boys someone else to play with. Gail did a few cleaning jobs, but she has arranged her schedule so she works every other week, thus giving her time with the boys. So far the schedule has worked out.

We are all looking forward to our upcoming trip to New Hampshire. Everyone is excited to be going back.

Not much else to report. Hope all is well with our friends and family.

We just returned from a long weekend in Idaho visiting Gail's parents. Matthew had been up there all week and he came back with us. He reported having a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. He went to the pool, built a fort and I think enjoyed most of all hot having to compete against his little brother.

Our nephew Gareth came with us on the trip and we were glad to have him with us. He will stay with us for the week and then Andy will take him back home when he goes to Wendover later this week. Our little trip was nice, despite the fat it rained each day we were there. We left Thursday evening. Friday morning we went into Boise to see Grandma Bates and then went to Chuck-E-Cheese's to celebrate Nikolas' birthday. We then went for a ride to Homedale to see some petroglyphs on some rocks by the Snake River. They were neat and we will try and get a picture up as soon as we get them downloaded.

Saturday was celebration day. We had a family get together in a local park to celebrate Nikolas and Gareth's birthday. It was a fun trip , but we were glad to get home.

The rest of last week was fairly typical. We all worked. Nikolas helped Gail out and it was fairly quiet with only Nikolas here. We hope all is well with you and wish you well until next week.

We have survived the 1st week of the boys summer vacation. This was also the end of Nikolas' baseball season and he did very well. During his last game he went 1-3 with another RBI and ended the season batting over .600. He had a great year and is looking forward to playing again next spring.

Gail and the boys were off to Idaho from Tuesday to Friday for a short visit. Gail attended a Pampered Chef training meeting and the boys played at Grandma and Grandpa's. Andy had to hold the fort down and was off to Wendover for Court on Wednesday. He missed having the crew around and was glad to see everyone on Friday.

Saturday was busy around our house. The boys were off to Cub Scout Day Camp, each came home with some badges, excited they got to shoot a gun and do archery, but the real excitement was the gold fish that came home. The boys named them Matthew and Nikolas so ...... we now have two boys and two fish with the same name. Andy relived the 1980's by attending an outdoor "Survivor" concert in Wendover. He came home humming "Eye of the Tiger" and reported it was very fun.

We cannot end our post this week without wishing a big Happy Birthday to Nikolas who turned 8 today. We are planning his baptism for August 1, 2009 in Elko for those of you who would like to attend.

We hope you all have a great week.

All is well in sunny Northeastern Nevada. It has been a short week since the last post but here is an update of what has occurred. Matthew and Nikolas are on top of the world-school is out. Mom and Dad are not so giddy, but glad each had a successful year. The boys will each be starting a new school in the fall. Matthew begins 'middle school" at Flagview-yes he is in 5th grade. Nikolas will go to the school for the area will live in and will begin 3rd grade. To celebrate Andy and the boys went to the movies and had a good time.

Gail would have come allow, but unfortunately was in SLC attending the funeral for the daughter of some friends of ours from law school who only lived 54 days. We were all saddened by her passing and have kept them close in our prayers. Gail left Thursday afternoon and came back Sunday. We were all glad to have her home.

Andy had a relatively quiet week. He was suppose to start a jury trial but it settled a week or so ago, so he had a clear schedule. Which worked out really well. This allowed him to participate in Matthew's field day Thursday. Andy oversaw the tug-o-war and had a great time helping out.

Nikolas' baseball season is almost over. He had a game Tuesday and Saturday and had one more Friday. He continued to do well and has shown great improvement in his playing.

That about sums up our week. We hope all is well with our friends and family.

We just returned from a fantastic weekend in Park City, Utah. We left Saturday morning and staying until yesterday afternoon. On the way back we spent the night in Wendover with our friend's the Boatmans.

Park City was cloudy and cool, but we still got out to see quite a bit of stuff. The boys took advantage of the swimming pool at the condo. In total I think we spent 5+ hours swimming. Saturday we mostly hung out at the condo, exporing the general area. We went into Park City and thought it was beautiful. The next morning we went to church and then for a ride. We stopped at the olympic center where the ski jumping and bobsled events we held and found it to be neat. The park offers a chance to take a bobsled ride, Nikolas was the only one excited to give it a try. Needless to say, he was outvoted.

We stopped to have dinner with our friends in Wendover on Monday evening. Brian had just bought a new dirt bike for one of his kids to learn how to ride. Nikolas asked if he could give it a try and as you can see he did pretty good on a 50cc dirtbike. He took to the bike quite naturally and now wants one. He did have a small spill and burned his leg on the engine, but that did not stop him from getting back on. He did a great job.

Just wanted to give a quick update and hope all is well.

We are in the midst of some beautiful spring weather here in Northern Nevada. You can smell the sage in the air, the trees are in full bloom and everything is actually green. We probably will not see any rain until the fall, so we better enjoy it while we can.

All of us are doing well. Nikolas continues to tear up the baseball field. This week he went 4-6 with another RBI. He is even beginning to play great defensively. His overall BA is at .581. Matthew has been making a great coaches helper and he even enjoys coming to the games. We are so proud of both of the boys.

Gail continues to struggle with the nagging cough she has had, but it seems to be on the decline. She was in SLC this weekend doing some Pampered Chef stuff. We joined her Saturday and had a nice visit with our friends Irene, Daniel and Oscar. We enjoyed getting away for the day.

Otherwise it was a typical week. We hope you are all well and until next week.

Greetings friends and family. Spring is setting into Northeast Nevada and it is the one time of year we actually have green around us.

We had some exciting things occur this week. The biggest was Andy being sworn into the Nevada bar. Thursday afternoon quite a few people gathered at the Elko County District Court to see Judge Puccinelli swear him in. We are all very proud and glad to have this over, the uncertainly was a bit troubling. We now know we can stay and have options. Andy was quite busy this week, he was out in Wendover on Wednesday and then tried a few cases in Carlin. He remains quite busy and is looking forward to transitioning out of the juvenile work in August.

Gail was not feeling so well this week, but seems to be getting better. She has had a nagging cough that just won't go away. She is staying busy and is getting more involved with a local theater company.

After much deliberation and thought we have decided not to enroll Matthew in the new charter school. Matthew is glad and we have had some transition meetings as he will be going to a new school next year.

Speaking of Matthew he continues to work on his entry for the Elko County Fair and wants to know how long until the fair begins. Nikolas continues to tear up the baseball field and after a great week he has raised his BA to .560. We are so very proud of the effort he is making.

We want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. We all hope you have a wonderful day.

What a wonderful week it has been. The biggest news was that Andy passed the Nevada Bar Exam, giving us some sense of security. He has a temporary license, but had to successfully pass the NV bar exam before October 2009. He will probably be sworn in within the next few weeks and hopefully we will have a picture to post. The results came out on Wednesday and what a relief it was for everyone.

In addition to this great news Andy won on two issues this week in Court. Thursday he won a motion hearing forcing the State to produce a witness in an upcoming trial. The witness was a phlebotomist who drew blood on Andy's client. NV has a statute allowing the introduction of an affidavit, without the witness and Andy challenged it on constitutional grounds. He was excited about this, then on Friday he had a long hearing concerning whether one of his juvenile clients should be certified as an adult. The end result was the judge ruled against the State and the juvenile will be adjudicated in the juvenile system. Andy was especially glad.

Andy and Gail went out twice this week to celebrate.

Gail continues to do quite well and slowly but surely the Pampered Chef business is picking up. Gail is also serving as the music director of a local theater group and she had her 1st meeting concerning the upcoming performances. She is quite excited to find an outlet for her talents.

Matthew and Nikolas are counting down the days until school is out. In 4 weeks the boys will be done. Matthew continues to work on his Lego project. The command center is looking quite commanding. Nikolas is enjoying baseball more and more. His Monday game did not go so well. He was 0-3, and struck out twice with the bases loaded, but like a good athlete he didn't let it get him down and he roared back for Saturday's game going 2-3, with 2 RBIs, his BA is now .353. We are all so very proud of him.

Wow, our slugger of a son continues to tear up the ball field. Nikolas has a .363 BA and in yesterday's game he drove in an RBI. He is really enjoying playing baseball and Andy is even happier having the opportunity to spend time with his youngest.

Matthew continues to do well. He is diligently working on his command center to enter in the Elko County Fair. Matthew has also discovered the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books and would not put down his book. He read one of the books in the series within 24 hours.

Gail was gone Friday and Saturday doing Pampered Chef shows in Utah. She reported that the show went well and was glad to be home. Well, she was glad to be home until she saw her sons. Andy decided he was tired of shelling out ridiculous amounts of money to get haircuts for the boys. Friday night he bought some electric clippers and Saturday morning AMM Barbers was in business. Andy was quite proud of his work. The boys liked the job as well, Mom not so much...Andy reports the couch is not that bad to sleep on.

Andy has been a bit on edge. This week bar results are released, so we will let you all know by next week.

We hope all is well with you. Until next week.

What a crazy week this has been. Wednesday we were under a winter storm warning and received 8 inches of snow. (Now before any of you laugh, I have not gone soft, this is the most snow we have had all winter, as in the whole winter we had less than 8 inches of snow fall and in one 24 hour period we doubled our snow fall.) Yesterday it was sunny once more and back into the 60's and today (Sunday) it was in the 70's. You have got to love Nevada. The boys were quite disappointed because they thought for sure they would get a snow day, but no such luck.

The boys continue to do quite well. Matthew is working on his Lego creation to enter in the Elko County Fair. It is the most complex Star Wars battle station yet. Nikolas is playing baseball and loving it. He had two games this week and went 2 for 6, scored a run and is just doing great.

Andy was suppose to have started his trial this week, but last Saturday his client was in an accident and broke two vertebrae in his neck, thus the trial was continued. With a cleared calendar he was quite busy filling in for everyone who was trying to cover for him this week. On Friday he was in Wendover covering the cases there and he managed to do 14 cases in one day, the most he has ever done.

Yesterday, after Nikolas' game we all went up to Twin Falls. Gail went to the temple and Andy and the boys went to Costco and running other errands. Andy wanted to go as well, but we got there too late. Hopefully, next time. We did have a nice day together and enjoyed going out for dinner.

Well, we hope is all well with you.

We all had a very busy week. Matthew earned a few new Webelos badges at the Pack Meeting and we are all very proud of him. The boys had a good week and are counting down the days until school is out. We registered both for a new charter school that is opening this fall. We are still debating whether both boys will go. All things considered everything is going better.







Yesterday (Saturday) Nikolas had opening day for the little league season. He was so excited to be able to finally wear his uniform. He has his first game on Monday night and he and Andy are enjoying the experience.

Andy and Gail are doing well. Gail has begun to book some Pampered Chef shows and will soon hopefully get back into full swing. Andy begins his jury trial this week and we will all be glad when it is done so we can spend time together again. He was gone most of the weekend getting ready.



We wish you all a very Happy Easter. The Easter Bunny was nice enough to bring us fruit and Fruit-Loops this year. Nikolas had his second trip the to dentist on Thursday morning and an hour and nearly$2,400 dollars later he had some silver teeth. Thus, you can understand why we are having a more organically based Easter.

All kidding aside, we hope each of you take time to reflect on the magnitude of the Easter season. It brings to pass the event required for us to find eternal happiness. We hope you all have a great week. Until next week.

Spring continues to tease us here in Northeast Nevada. We will have one day where there is clear blue skies in the 60's and the next it will be cloudy, in the 30's with flurries. With the arrival of April we hope to see more of the former and less of the later. All in all things are well with the Mierins family.

We all had a fast and busy week. Andy had to travel to Las Vegas for a meeting on Wednesday morning, so he left on Tuesday. His meeting went well and he was back to Elko by Thursday. He is anxious for the bar results to be released which is still a month away. He received word he was recommended by the character and fitness committee and now just waits for the exam results. He has a jury trial beginning in a week so he has stayed busy getting ready.

Gail and the boys travelled to Idaho to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. They left Wednesday morning and came back on Sunday. All reports are the boys had a great time and enjoyed the opportunity to play outside and visit. The boys are not to excited about returning to school, but it will only be 2 months until the school year is over and there will be a trip back to New Hampshire. Nikolas has enjoyed playing little league and is especially glad to have an activity just he and his Dad do. The season starts in a week and he is anxious to get out and play.

Since we were all gone there is not much else to report.

We hope all is well with our friends and family.

We a

The past week was quite good for the whole family. The boys are excited because they are now on spring break. We ended the week with Parent/Teacher Conferences and were glad to hear Matthew and Nikolas are both doing quite well. Each seems to be doing better and seemed to have begun to settle in to being in Elko.

Gail and Andy continue to do well. Gail had a bit of a reprieve this week. She was gone Thursday to Saturday at a Pampered Chef training in Salt Lake City. She also got to do some shopping and visited some friends. All reports are that she had a good time and we were all glad to see her return. I think she liked her away time (mostly the peace and quiet).

Andy and the boys had quite an adventure while Gail was gone. Friday afternoon they all went out to Wendover and spent the evening with some friends of ours. Saturday morning we got up and went exploring into the mountains in our friend's jeep. We were going to try and find an old abandoned mine, but the trail up there was not yet passable with all the snow. The view from where we were was spectacular and we could see almost 100 miles to the Wasatch Range. We all met up on Saturday evening in Wendover and had some great Mexican food at this place that is on the Utah side. Needless to say we were all quite tired and went to bed early Saturday night.

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

Well, spring is slowly trying to make its way to Elko. We had beautiful, sunny weather this week with temps in the 60's only to wake up this (Sunday) morning to snow on the ground. It was melted by noon, but sure dulled the spring excitement. Gail was so excited about spring coming that she left the back windows of the van open all night, only to discover small snow drifts on the back seat of the car this morning. Good thing it's only water.

We all had a good week and everyone on this end is doing well. Matthew finished up several sections of his Webelos scout book and will get three new awards this week at pack meeting. He also finished writing ten different poems that will go into a book for his fourth grade class. He ended the week by reciting a poem to the class, something he was very nervous about.

The boys are excited about thier spring break coming up the end of the month and Mom, well, she's working on keeping them occupied. She is planning to head for Boise later that week where the boys will be able to have some fun with their grandparents. Andy is going to be busy getting ready for some jury trials coming up over the next few months.

The most exciting thing to occur this week was the trip to the dentist. Matthew got out without any cavaties, again. Nikolas is excited, because as he descibes it, he gets some silver teeth. His molars are not doing so well and the dentist wants to put some crowns on them. Dad just says "Yipee."

This morning a stray dog appeared on our doorstep. It was still there when we came home from church, looking very lonely and a little hungry. Mom and dad are encouraging the dog to go home, where ever it came from, Nikolas is just stepping over the dog on his way in and out the door, and Matthew has given the stray a name. "Cooper" as he is now called, shows no signs of leaving, we may be the proud parents of a big black dog, whether or not we wanted to. Stay tuned for updates.

We hope you all are doing well. Until next week.

What a busy week we had in the Mierins household. The week started off fairly typical, but then got fun on Wednesday.

The boys' babysitter from NH, who now lives in Utah came with her husband and baby for a three day visit. The boys were so excited to see Irene and we had a great time with them. We thought we would add this cute picture of Oscar to our blog. He is getting so big and will soon turn 1. Last year when we went to his blessing, Nikolas was jumping on a bed and fell, receiving a concussion. Thankfully, this trip went safely and everyone, including our family, left in one piece.

Then on Friday evening, a law school friend, Kerri, who now lives in Northern California, stopped by on her way to Utah. Thus, on Friday evening we had 5 additional people in our very tiny apartment, but enjoyed seeing her. We had not seen them since 2002.

Then to top it all off we travelled out to SLC on Saturday to see our good friends, Josh and Becky and their twin boys. We enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and had a great visit. As you can see their boys are getting much bigger Needless to say we are all very tired. We have not done this much socializing and visiting since we arrived.

The boys continue to do well in school. Andy went with Matthew's class on a field trip Thursday morning as his class released trout frye into the Humboldt River. It was quite exciting and Matthew was so glad his Dad was able to go.

Gail and Andy are staying busy as usual. Gail lead a choir Saturday morning and following the performance was approached and asked to become the musical director for a local theater group wanting to do musicals. She was also asked to perform. The smile on her face when she came home said it all.

We hope you are all well. Until next week.

We all had an exciting week. The best part was the nice visit we had with Grandma Mierins and Aunt Millie. They were here last weekend. They had driven back with Andy when he returned from Las Vegas after the Bar exam. We were glad they could come for a visit. Monday morning we drove them to Salt Lake City and they flew home on Tuesday. While In Salt Lake Matthew had a doctor's appointment and we went on a nice little tour of Temple Square. All reports indicate Grandma and Aunt Mille got safely home. While Grandma was here she got us a webcam and we are now signed up with Skype. If any of you have this as well, let us know because we love using it.

The other exciting thing was finally have Andy back home. He had a busy week and then Friday afternoon he drove up to Boise to take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. It was the last thing he needed to do for his admission to Nevada. He will have all the results in April and he and he rest of us are glad because now we can have him home in the evening and weekends. He has some jury trials coming up in April and May and he is ready now to focus on those. He is still doing the juvenile cases, which keep him extra busy.

Gail continues to do well and is looking forward to some Pampered Chef parties coming soon. She is also directing a choir that will perform at our Stake's Woman's Conference next weekend. On top of her cleaning she has stayed quite busy.

The boys continue to do well. Each is anxious for spring to arrive as they have met a new friend at the apartments and have been spending a lot of time playing outside.

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

All is well in Northeast Nevada. We are awaiting spring which should be here in a few weeks. When spring finally arrives, the dust storms might not be as strong and we might not see quite so much mud blown onto the car.

It has been two weeks since our last update and much has gone on. Two weeks ago, we had a fairly quite week at home. Andy spent every spare moment studying for the Nevada Bar Esam. He left Friday night for Wendover to spend a relaxing night with a friend before heading for Vegas. Saturday he drove to Las Vegas and settled into the place he would stay for the week.

Andy spent this past week doing something he said he'd never do again. He spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Las Vegas taking the Nevada Bar Exam. While he doesn't particularly like talking about the experience, he said it went OK. The results come out on April 29, 2009 so it will be a couple of months until we know, although he said he felt good about the essay questions, it is the multistate bar and performance test that he had no handle on. He reported that the weather was nice in Vegas. While there he did get to see his good friend James, which helped him to relax.

Andy was glad to get home. When he came home he returned with his mother and aunt who are here for a visit. Grandmom met him in Las Vegas and before coming back they went to vist the Red Rock National Park. We have enjoyed having Grandmom and Aunt Millie here.

Gail and the boys missed having Andy at home. While Andy was away, they went to Idaho for a short visit. Matthew got to spend some time working with Grandpa Davis on some of his Webelos requirements by building a fire and cooking a tin foil meal. The boys had a great time playing outside and turned Grandpa's hauling trailer into a Viking Ship. Everyone was very happy when Andy returned from Vegas and we were very glad the exam was over and Andy was home.

We're glad the last few weeks are over and life can return to normal. We hope all is well with each of you, until next week, have a good one.

Winter has finally found us. Since last week we have had a few days of snow and much cooler weather and finally Nikolas has a chance to try out his snowboard. That being said, Wednesday evening was sign-ups for little league and Nikolas wants to play so bad, so we signed him up to play. Andy took him to the sign-ups and when he returned he said he has done something he is probably going to regret, he signed up to coach Nikolas' team. It turns out one of Nikolas' friends from church was also there with his Dad to sign up. The friend's Dad was saying he needed another coach for his team and well one thing lead to another and Andy was recruited. Both are excited for the season to start in April.

The boys both continue to do well. Andy is in his final week of prep for the bar exam which starts on Feb. 24 in Las Vegas. This next week he has a light week and will be pretty much studying for the week. Thus, we have not seen much of him and will not see him until he returns in two weeks. We will be glad when he is done so he can be around a bit more. Gail had a rough end to her week as she developed another leg infection. Thankfully, today (Sunday) she was feeling much better. Overall, her week was fairly typical: get up, take the kids to school, clean and come home until the boys return.

Nothing else to report this week. We hope you are all well and wish you the best until next week.

Well, not much has changed for the Mierins family since last week. The boys continue to go to school and do well. Nikolas is still excited about playing baseball and reminds Andy to not forget to sign his up to play. Matthew continues to show great creativity in his Lego building. The boys had a typical week. It continues to be unseasonably warm here in the desert, so we have little snow to show, meaning the boys have been able to play outside quite a bit, which has been a relief for Gail.

Gail continues to work in the mornings and she did a Pampered Chef show Thursday night that lead to hopefully two more bookings. She is waiting for Andy to finish the bar exam and then hopes to pick things up. Andy has been gone and will be for the next three weeks. He works during the day and in the morning and evening has been studying. The Nevada Bar Exam is Feb 24-26 and so until then he is pretty much gone. He did travel out to Wendover and Carlin this last week to attend Court, but unusually he is up and out early and then home late.

We hope all of you are doing well.

Well another fine week has come and gone at the Mierins household. The boys continue to do quite well. Other than going to school and Matthew having scouts, not much happened. Nikolas is a bit concerned because he has not had a chance to use his snowboard and it has been sunny and in the 40's nearly every day so what snow we had is long gone. He is hoping with a few more months of winter left we may get some snow and he can get out and use his board. Matthew did find some new Legos this week sitting on top of a garbage can in our apartment complex and now has even more to create with. We are glad he has something he both enjoys and requires him to use those creative juices.

Gail and Andy remain the same, both went to work and were quite busy. Andy has about gone into hibernation stage as he takes the Nevada Bar Exam in three weeks. When he is not at work or sleeping he has been studying and we have seen very little of him this weekend. Gail continues to work cleaning in the morning and Pampered Chef in the afternoon.

We are all well and doing fine.

We hope all is well where ever you are in this magnificent world. Until next week.

Greetings family and friends. All continues to go quite well in Elko. This past week was a typical week for us all. Matthew and Nikolas were in school and on Friday grades for the second quarter came out. Matthew and Nikolas both had great reports. Neither is on honor roll but we are proud of the effort each has given. All we can ask is they give their best. Nikolas is getting excited about playing baseball. Little League sign ups begin this week and Nikolas wants to play. He is sad that there has not been much snow this winter to use his snow board. Even our local ski area has been closed since all we have had since Christmas is rain and relatively warm weather. Matthew is glad that scouts has begun again and he is working on earning as many awards as he can. He has taken an interest in archery and we will see what we can do about this new curiosity.

Gail continues to work in the mornings and develop Pampered Chef business in her afternoons. She is seeing a renewed interest in shows and has had a few bookings lately. Andy continues to be busy as always. The Nevada Bar Exam is in four weeks and he has been studying away and over the next 4 weeks that will be his main focus. He has a few bench trials coming up in the next two weeks and has a jury trial scheduled for April.

Nothing else exciting to report. We hope all of you are doing well.

We had a very great week. We all were quite busy. The boys were back to school and Gail and Andy both worked. We are proud of Matthew who earned his Webelos badge this week and you can see him giving Gail her Mother's pin. The same evening was the rain gutter regatta. Matthew gave it a great shot and did the best he had. We are proud of the effort he gave.

With the long weekend we decided to go and explore Reno, Nevada for the weekend. We left on Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday the 19th. We stayed at the Circus Circus Casino which is in the downtown area and had a nice room. Andy was able to work quite a deal and we had a suite for less than $80.00 a night. The boys enjoyed the Ccircus acts and you can see the booty they brought back from playing the midway games. As you can see Matthew ended up with more prizes. He playing this cork shooting game and was knocking the cans over like there was no tomorrow, he ended up trading prizes up for bigger prizes.

Saturday morning we headed to Carson City, the state capital. Everyone enjoyed Carson and Gail decided that maybe Nevada is not all that bad. She was ready to move to Carson City. From Carson City we were off to Virginia City, a old mining town in the mountains outside of Reno. As you can see the town still has wooden sidewalks. Virginia City is also known for launching Mark Twain's career. It was here as a newspaper reported Mark Twain took his name and began writing what became classics
of American literature.



The Delta Saloon is one of the many saloons in Virgina City. Another famous saloon is the Bucket of Blood Saloon. The Suicide Table is famous for the amount of owners who committed suicide following losing fortunes at it. The table is a blackjack table and now enclosed in glass. In addition to the saloons there is a beautiful opera house and a firefighters museum, which the boys really enjoyed.





We tried to get up to Lake Tahoe while there but didn't quite make it. We did get to see the temple which is beautiful and from it there is a great view of the city. We are excited to get back to Reno to do some more exploring.

We hope you all have a great week.

It was back to school for the boys this week and after 2 weeks at home, Gail was glad to see that school was back in session. Other than the normal readjustment to schedules and getting back, it was a smooth week for the boys. Matthew has shown some great improvement in his grades and Nikolas got to be the line leader this week, which means he was one of the best behaved in his class. The boys were glad to get back to school and be with their friends.

Gail was back to cleaning this week and thankfully has been healthy. She is looking to some upcoming Pampered Chef shows as it has been a few weeks since she did one due to the holiday. She and Andy had the opportunity to also go out on a date twice this week, which was excellent.

Andy was quite busy. He was in Reno Monday and Tuesday touring a state run facility for juvenile boys and girls. He came back quite impressed. The rest of the week was chaotic with work. He set a record this week with one of the shortest trials he has done. He tried a case Friday that last 35 minutes and resulted in a not guilty verdict. Besides the fact his client was happy, he was excited for how quickly it went.

This past weekend we had a fun family outing. We went to Wendover to attend the baptism of one of Andy's friend's daughter. After the service we went to their home and went for a ride in their jeep out into the desert and mountains. We really enjoyed the scenery and stopped to see an arch which kept the boys really entertained. Each of us also had the chance to shoot an SKS rifle and Andy discovered the Gail is quite a good shot. Nikolas was the best to watch as the rifle was longer than him and it was funny watching him try and shoot. Matthew was able to hit one bottle, but the best part for the boys was the semi-automatic feature which allowed them to shoot off 10 rounds in a row which they found exciting. We had a great time and are thinking about getting a rifle to use for some target shooting here. We ended up spending the night in Wendover as our friends got a baby sitter and we were able to go out to dinner.

We hope you are all well. Until next week.

Happy New Year.

What a fast week this has been. We hope everyone is well and has a happy and prosperous new year. With all the terrible things occurring in the world, know that the Mierins family is well. We are all healthy and are together and despite what may occur around us we have each other and the joy that relationship brings. We hope the same is true for those friends and family who read our blog.

Matthew had a pretty exciting week. He spent the 1st half with his grandparents in Idaho. He was excited to get home because with his Christmas money he bought 10 pounds of Legos on Ebay. The box was waiting for him when he got back Wednesday afternoon. He enjoyed his time in Idaho. He played with cousins, went to the YMCA to swim (Grandpa reported he looked like a prune when he got out) and just had time away from "his annoying brother." We are all glad he had a good time.

Nikolas liked having the house to himself, but did complain (surprise, surprise) that he didn't have anyone to play with. He did like having unfettered access to the computer and the ability to watch whatever he wanted on TV. We got a new TV for Christmas and bought an amplified antenna, so we now have all the major networks to watch. We are holding firm though to no cable. While he won't admit it he missed his bigger brother. It became quite apparent because within 15 minutes of Matthew being home the two of them had an argument.

Gail and Andy are well. Gail had a few cleaning accounts, but mostly enjoyed being home with Nikolas. Andy had to work and had a busy Wednesday before heading to get Matthew on Wednesday. He met Gail's parents in Grasmere, ID to get Matthew. It is about a 2 hour drive. Grasmere only has an abandoned gas station and is quite a sight. He was off on Thursday and then back to work on Friday. Friday was pretty quiet, which he liked. He is getting a bit nervous about taking the Nevada Bar Exam in February. He as been doing some studying, but has put together a great plan for then next two months. The rest of our weekend was uneventful.

We had a family night for New Years. We played games, watched a movie and enjoyed each others company. We all went to bed fairly early. Thursday we worked around the house and just hung out.

We hope all is well with you all.