Even Further Behind

I saw that it's been a little over a year since my last post, and I'll try again, to be a little more current. All my time (free time, I should say) since November 2010 has been spent cleaning up/fixing up/repairing our Ridgefield house in Plano after the owners defaulted on their loan, and left it trashed.... literally. I hope to have it on the market now, in about 2 weeks, if all goes well.

Til next time.....

Way Behind

Hmm, I see by the date of my last post, that I'm about a year and a half behind. I found Facebook, and try to keep up with that... however, I've also been super busy on the job front, and with family, work, church, and Flight Simming with Delta Virtual Airlines, I have little other time. I'll try to keep up again.

An Embarrasing Moment

It's been a long time since I made a major blunder at the organ in church, but today, was one of the all-time best. It was Stake Conference. I was told before hand that there would would be a choir number, then a speaker, then the rest hymn.

I didn't hear the announcement of the order of the program... not sure why. So after the choir, and the speaker, I got up to play the intro to the rest hymn, not paying attention to what was happening. In my absent-mindedness, the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency had walked to the podium and was getting ready to speak, when I starting playing the intro to the rest song. It was like a fanfare before his talk.... Karen was sitting close by, and yelled my name, and I noticed there was someone at the podium.

I stopped playing, and everyone started laughing...I didn't think it was so funny, and could feel my head get very warm with embarrassment. So I went and sat back down, and tried to pretend that nothing happened, although everyone could see me on the stand. Oh well, I'm sure this won't be the last time something funny like this happens. Shannon told me that she thought it was hilarious.

Catch-Up Time

Well, now the summer has come, and the summer has gone, and I haven't written anything at all. I guess I've been either busy working, travelling, or on vacation, or just plain lazy. But Anyway, here's some catch-up news.

Shannon went to 2 dance camps, California, to spent time with Grandpa Munson, and some of her friends. She and I also went to our Munson Family Reunion at Tropic Reservoir, and had a great time. Karen stayed home. I think this reunion had the highest attendance since I can remember. It was lots of fun.

Shannon also went to EFY in Rexburg at BYU-I, with her cousin, Janessa. Karen went up with her, to see Elise and Annie while Shannon was in Rexburg. On the day they checked in, Shannon called me and told me they were going to the bookstore, and to see if I could see them through the bookstore's webcam. Here is the picture I snapped from the webcam... It was hard to get them to smile, because they said it looked silly smiling at a blank wall. http://www.byui.edu/Webcameras/

Here are some pics of the summer's events.

Dad resting in the trailer...his favorite spot is his recliner!

Part of taking a 4-wheel ride includes posing with his grand-daughter, and also fixing broken down machines.

Rae Jean and Don set up for their "Pet Rock" painting booth at the carnival

while Richard and Dana just finished a TREK in Wyoming.

Lunch time on the ride, and time for some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

And no reunion would be complete without a performance by the Uncles of "Ol' Shep"!

(The video is too big to load, so if you would like a copy of the video, I'll send it to you on a CD. Just email me with an address where to send the CD.)

Shannon Makes Officer

Friday night, Shannon tried out to be an officer of the Shining Stars Dance Team. She had been practicing the dance for a couple weeks before hand, and had to do an interview, and make a 'life book'. She worked really hard on the things she had to do, and was chosen by the other on the team to be one of the seven officers for this next school year. She was very excited, and they all went to Applebees after the try-outs to celebrate (I guess it's kind of a tradition thing..).

Go-in' To The Ch-a-pel.....Gon-na Get Mar-ried.......

Around April 10, Elise decided she wanted to bump up her wedding date to April 17, 2008, in Las Vegas. That was hardly time for us to arrange to get out there, but we scrambled and bought airline tickets/hotel reservations and flew out there on Thurs, the 17th.

We arrived around 9:00am in Las Vegas, rented a car, and drove to the Tropicana Hotel, where we were all staying. Elise and Rowdy still didn't have a wedding place picked out yet, nor did they have their marriage license.... so they had a busy afternoon getting the license, and finding a place to have the wedding. Karen went with them to look at wedding chapels, and they all returned back to the hotel around 5:00 pm. The wedding was at 7:30 pm.

Well, to make a long story short, I walked Elise down the aisle, and Elise giggled all the way, and kept pulling on me. As we got in front of the preacher, I was asked to give my daughter away.

It was a nice, short ceremony, and Elise and Rowdy looked very happy together. After the wedding, we went to Harrah's hotel and had their buffet, but since it was almost 9:00pm by then, we kind of got what was left. Having gotten up at 4:00am CST to catch our plane at 6:40am, we were pretty tired by the time the night was over.

The next day, we all just kind of hung out, did some shopping, etc, then met for dinner that night. I'm really glad my sister Dianne, and my Dad came for the wedding. It was good to have some family there. Karen's mom and sister couldn't make a decision to come on such short notice.

We flew home Saturday afternoon, and were ready for bed by the time we got back to Dallas that night. Daniel especially had a good time in the casinos. We hardly saw him. It was nice to see Annie again, and be with family for the short time.





Videos:

• Just Married - Part 1
  
  
• Just Married - Part 2
  

• Tossing the Boquet
  
  
  
• Watch the actual wedding.
  
  
  More pics can be viewed at the following website:
  http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=95rkfaj9.aud1kuz5&Uy=-l5tk0f&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=369294905497_891295234209&localeid=en_US

Karen's Green Thumb Come To Life

During the last few weeks, Karen has been planting flowers, and starting her gardening. Actually, she started in December planting her Tulip bulbs, because they have to be planted in cold weather.







Today, she finished planting her Earth Boxes, which is our vegetable garden. She planted tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, and still has one more box of something to plant. This year, we'll use the fence to help the tomato plants climb. These boxes really do well, and we have lots of vegetables every year. That's good, because we like tomatoes and cucumbers. And best of all, Hallie doesn't bother them! She also planted a few more flowers out by the front porch to make the house look even better!