Two Year Mission for Mars...........going on three.

Yep, you read it right. Mick has agreed to work another year here in Jersey. So our two year mission is now going to be at least 21 more months longer than originally planned. Good news, bad news......

Good.....getting to enjoy the seasons for another year.

Bad.....another winter shoveling the looooooong driveway with snow. It has been really cold this winter and it is only January. Some days the overcast and low ceilings get a little depressing. Good thing we have lots of lights. Missing the sunshine and nice days...almost everyday when you live in Southern California.

Good.....Church is always at 10am since we don't share the building with any other wards.

Bad....get to clean the church at least 5 times a year.

Good.....living in a rural area where we pass farms and lakes and ponds and Mick's commute is only 8 miles and 2 stoplights.
Bad....takes 12 miles to get to the closet grocery store. Costco is 20 miles away. Mick hit and killed a black bear only 1 1/2 miles from the house. Truck still isn't the same.

Good....Jersey Girls don't pump gas. Yeah...gotta love this when it is pouring down rain or freeing cold outside.
Bad....go to the gas station at least once a week because everything is so far away.

Good.....Made some great friends here in Jersey, have a fun job at Kohls and going to start teaching piano again to 2 new students. Also the adopted Grandkids are here.

Bad....missing all my good friends in CA and all my piano students there.

Good.....summers we have daylight from 5:30am until close to 9:45 pm. Lightning bugs are fun to catch and put in canning jars.
Bad....hot humid summers.

Good.....deer can be seen daily in the yard. We have a group of 6 that come in the front and backyard. A good size buck is with them. They love the bread and carrots and things I leave out for them.

Bad.....Lymes disease......the deer cause this great little disease. First spring here had a little adventure with this. Also the deer love my pumpkin plants and pumpkins.

Good.....the stars are amazing at night.
Bad....it is sooooooo dark at night with no streetlights.

Good....historical buildings, old churches, old barns and historic sights.

Bad......hard to find the latest and greatest.

Good...having lots of company since we live so close to NYC.
Bad....not having enough company since we live so far away from family and friends. Come on everyone, come out to see us. The next 12 months will go by way to fastr and you will have missed out on the cheapest bed and breakfast you will ever stay at.

These are just a few things off the top of my head. I need to get out the camera and take some pictures of the things I will miss. The past 31 months went really fast.....I'm sure the next 12 will go even faster.

Thanksgiving Twice

We were in California this year for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Mick had surgery on his knee and also had a lypoma removed from his right elbow the Monday before Turkey Day. He did really well, so as soon as he was alert from his anesthesia we headed out to the desert house.

This was Mick's favorite chair while recovery from his surgery. Notice the remote in his hand. He watched a lot of soccer games. I swam each morning and enjoyed my walks and Jamie finally made it out to California a day later than planned, due to snow causing her flight from Utah to be cancelled. She was with us Wednesday through Monday morning.

Even though it was cool for Palm Springs, we enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies of the desert house. The mountains even had snow on the tops. It was really a pretty sight.

We were able to go out to dinner with Ashley, my niece who is attending Pepperdine University. Afterwards we went to see the lights at the LA temple.

Since it was just the 4 of us for Thanksgiving we decided to go out to Marie Callendars for dinner. The past two years I've done Thanksgiving at the Desert House or St George and it was harder to do without all the big pots and pans, plus we had sooooo much food we ended up throwing so much away. I thought going out would be best, but......it was NOT THANKSGIVING to me. Yes we had turkey and all the fixings, but the yams were not prepared like Mick does them, the pumpkin pie wasn't my pumpkin pie, the dressing was mushy. I asked the waiter to take our picture and when he handed the camera back to me and I looked at the picture, I started crying. This is not Thanksgiving, I said. SO......

Since Thanksgiving was such a let down to me, I decided to have a big Thanksgiving Dinner here in Jersey when the family all got here. We had it the sunday before Christmas and had the Frugone's, Kathy and Steve Wilson, Cory and Sophie Grillone and all of us. It was great fun and was more like Thanksgiving with turkey, ham, pumpkin pie and all the goodies and smells that go wtih the holiday.

Fun activities included Mick tying up the boys, the boys tying up Mick, hide and seek, games, and trampoline time. Now this is more like Thanksgiving. A big crowd, lots of food and fun.