We need a vacation to recover from our vacation. We have wonderful friends who took great care of our home and cats, but Andy returned to quite a pile at his office. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday playing catch up. Then on Thursday discovered another attorney who was thought to be on vacation has retired, so now the workload got spread even more. By Friday he was on top of all assigned to him.

The boys were glad to be home as well and for the last 100 miles talked about how excited they were to see Salem, our older cat. Salem was not as glad his people came home.

Gail had a performance this week signing for the opening of the Elko Senior Games and the show went well. She received an invite to sing for a group that will perform on Temple Square at Christmas. This outlet has really helped.

Matthew was off to Idaho to spend a week with his grandparents. He and Gail left Friday. Nikolas and Andy stayed home. Saturday was a great day. Andy and Nikolas spent the day working in the yard, fixed a sprinkler, did chores around the house and ended the day going to a movie. Both report it was an excellent day.

We hope all is well with you.

We returned last evening from a wonderful trip back to New Hampshire and Washington, DC. We left July 9th early in the morning and drove to Lincoln, Nebraska. Next stop was Cleveland, Ohio and we made it to NH on July 11th. We had good driving weather, no delays which made the trip easier.

Our stay in NH was wonderful. We spent time visiting with friends and family, did some shopping and just relaxed. Gail and Andy left for Washington on July 16th. Andy was attending a national conference on Drug Courts. Matthew and Nikolas stayed with Grandma Mierins and Jim. The conference was held at the Gaylord National Harbor side. Andy reports the conference was great with quite a few informative sessions. Gail enjoyed exploring the area and really enjoyed Mt. Vernon. While in DC, Andy and Gail sampled Korean, Pakistani, Ethiopian and Peruvian food. They also went on a tour of the Capital, FBI Building, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.

Matthew and Nikolas arrived on Thursday morning and the family went to explore the Museum of Natural History and Museum of American History. Friday we visited the Air and Space Museum located near Dulles Airport. One of the highlights was seeing a space shuttle. Friday afternoon we left for Nevada. We drove as far as Columbus, OH. We left early the next morning and made it to Omaha, Nebraska and the Rock Springs, Wyoming. We got back early evening on the 25th.

While a great trip we were glad to be home.

We had an exciting week. Matthew returned from Camp Kostopolus on Friday. While he will not admit it, he had a good time. Gail dropped him off on Monday morning and within 2 hours Matthew called to say he wanted to come home. Gail convinced him to give it a day and we did not get any other calls. Gail and Andy went to pick him up on Friday and he was excited to see us. Matthew said the food was good and the best part of the week was riding the horses.

Nikolas spent the week at his grandparents in Idaho and he also reported a great week. He went to the YMCA and the zoo and got to spend the week with his cousin. Gail's parents brought Nikolas back on Friday and we enjoyed having them spend the weekend.

Gail and Andy had a fairly quiet week working each day. They did get to go out a couple of nights, but missed their boys and were glad to have them home.

We hope all is well.

The house will be quite quiet this next week. Nikolas is in Idaho visiting his grandparents and Matthew in Utah attending camp for the week. The boys were very excited to go and Mom and Dad have mixed feelings. The week was spent getting ready for their departure. Matthew and Nikolas both had jobs to finish before leaving and the jobs did get done.

Gail and Andy continue to be busy. Gail's group sang Friday evening at a meet the candidates forum for an upcoming special election to fill the seat of our congressperson. Then on Saturday evening the group provided entertainment for the Relay for Life. The concerts both went well. Andy, thanks to Nikolas finishing his job, was able to finish the landscaping and planting in out flower beds. Unfortunately, for some reason all of our plants died. Oh well.

We hope all is well in your part of the world.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. We had a great week. Gail, Matthew and Nikolas left for Idaho on Thursday for a visit with family. They all returned Saturday afternoon. Andy remained home, but was quite productive. While gone he attacked the jungle of weeds in the front yard, cleaning out many and planting flowers in its place. He also filed in the gaps with some mulch. The project was about a 1/3 done when everyone got home. We had a family project to continue and got another 1/3 done planting some vegetables on the way. We hope to have all the flower beds done by the end of next week. Andy was quite sore when done, but sure enjoyed sitting on the front porch and looking at the progress made.

Gail and the boys had a great visit with Gail's cousin and playing at the YMCA. Nikolas particularly enjoyed the climbing wall and Matthew was in heaven with the mega pool. We are looking forward to our remaining summer trips.

We hope all is well with you.

We have survived the first week of summer vacation. Nikolas rides his bike and rip stick, while Matthew continues his exploration of the yard. Amazingly, neither has "time" this week to get a simple weeding project taken care of in the yard. This may change now the bike and rip stick are in time out until further notice. Matthew went on Youth Conference this week up to Twin Falls. He went to the Twin Falls Temple and camped at some hot springs. Unfortunately, he came home with a sun burn that blistered up. He reported it was a great trip. We are also getting some consistent warm summer like weather which has also been nice. Nikolas has now completed the baseball season and he received an award for being the most improved player on his time.

Gail and Andy continue to be quite busy and are looking forward to their various trips this summer.

We hope all is well.

We have had a busy two weeks here in the Mierins' family. Yes, the boys are done with school for the year which is almost to hard to believe. Nikolas earned a Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. Matthew did pass all of his classes. He had a rough year, but with a new school year and new school next year hopefully things will be better. We are glad the summer is here and are looking forward our trip this summer back to NH, then to Washington, DC. We also have some weekend trips planned to Idaho and Matthew will be attending summer camp the end of June.

Nikolas had an exciting week in baseball. Last Thursday he had such a good game he was awarded the game ball after his team came from a 4 run deficit in the last inning to win the game. Nikolas is now glad to be able to ride his rip stick and bike for the rest of the summer. He and Andy joined some friends over the Memorial Day weekend at some cabins in Hanna, Utah and had a great time. They enjoyed the trout fishing which was great and it was nice to get away together.

Gail and Andy continue to be quite busy as usual. Gail has secured several singing opportunities with her group for the summer. We are very proud and excited for her.

We hope all is well with you wherever you may be.