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.

Where exactly do we live?

Well, after boasting of the spring like weather we have enjoyed in Elko the last few weeks we got a real wake up call this morning-snow. Yes, after enjoying the warmth and sunshine we woke up to about an inch of snow this morning and may get a bit more before the day is done. So much for my bragging. I might add yesterday it was sunny and mid 70's. I guess that will teach me to brag.

Overall this was a great week. Everyone continues to do well. The boys had a good week at school. Gail and Andy enjoyed another week of work. Nikolas had his first trip to the dentist to get cavities filled on Tuesday-6 to be exact. Much to Dad's disappointment he reported after that it wasn't all that bad. Andy should be grateful, at least the kids will not develop a dislike for the dentist, but he was hoping this may be encouragement to start brushing teeth. Oh well.

Yesterday, Gail did a Pampered Chef show in Salt Lake City. We decided to go as a family. On the way we picked up our nephew, Gareth and while Gail did her show the boys went for a bit of an adventure. Everyone had a great day. The boys went to a place called the Mayan Adventure, which is a restaurant that happens to have a Mayan theme and does a short show involving cliff diving. The boys got quite a kick out of it. Once Gail was done with her show, we all went to Gail's sister's house and had a nice evening. We got home late last night, but sure had a great time together.

That is about all there is to report. We hope all of you are doing well. Check back with us next week.

Greetings from the Desert

Another wonderful week has passed in Northeastern Nevada. We are in the midst of some wonderful spring weather. Yesterday, today and tomorrow will be in the 70's and things are beginning to bloom, so we are glad to have some nicer weather. It has been nice all week and last Sunday we all went for a nice drive after Conference out to Jiggs. While out there we all saw a badger run across the road as well as a herd of deer grazing.

Before we forget we want to send a big happy birthday out to Grandma Bates.

Everyone is doing well. The boys were back to school this last week and it is amazing to think that in just 7 weeks they will be done. The kids get done the last week in May. They were excited this past week as they both were invited to a birthday party for one of our neighbors. Matthew ended up going, but Nikolas decided at the last minute he rather would go to the park, so while Nikolas went to the park, Matthew went to the party. Andy was in Salt Lake City Saturday attending a funeral for the mother of a friend of ours from law school. His trip went well and gave him lots of time to think about his trial. Gail is doing well and is looking forward to doing a Pampered Chef show this upcoming week.

Andy had his first solo jury trial which was very exciting. The trial lasted 2 days and the reports are that he did a good job. He continues to really enjoy his job and has finally found both an office and area of the law which he enjoys. He found out this week he will be heading up the representation for juvenile offenders. His office will begin representation of them beginning in June. He is very excited about being able to do that. This week should be quiet for him as he has no trials scheduled for the near future.

We hope all of you are well.

Welcome April

What a wonderful week the Mierins family has had. Last Sunday afternoon we travelled to Salt Lake City for a few days. Matthew had some doctors appointments at Primary Children's. We stayed downtown in an area that Andy served while on his mission and what a change the area has gone through. We feel very fortunate to have these doctors available for Matthew. His Neurologist specializes in pediatric strokes and runs a clinic where that is all she sees. All the appointments went well. We need to return in May to see one more doctor, but thus far Matthew is doing great and the doctors are pleased with what each saw.

As a family we also enjoyed some time together. Nikolas went to the children's museum and as a family we went to the Clark Planetarium. The planetarium was just neat. We saw a 3-D IMAX film about see dinosaurs. We came home Tuesday after doing some shopping. It was nice to be able to get away for a few days.

This week was spring vacation for the boys so they enjoyed being home. The boys mostly played outside and just had a great time. Unfortunately, the pool schedule was different so we didn't get to go this past week, but look forward to getting back this week. After being sick for quite a while it appears the family has gotten over it all.

Andy has his first solo jury trial this week, so once we got back he was busy getting ready for his trial. He continues to enjoy his job.

We were so excited to be able to participate in the Solemn Assembly to sustain President Monson on saturday morning. General Conference weekend is always a boost to our family. We hope each of you take advantage of the opportunity to hear a prophet speak. We all hope each of you are well and until next week.