2010 - Part 1

2010 quite possibly was the best year of my life.  So many things came together in just the right way to make it so.  I wish I had time to wax on about the wedding, people, camping trips, unexpected blessings, canoeing, time spent snuggled up with my beloved ones, trips, becoming a grandma and so on...sadly it's month/year end and I don't have time right now to put together a pictorial trip down memory lane of the myriad ways that 2010 was indeed the best year of my life.  Suffice to say God has filled our lives with truly beautiful people that make our lives richer, who we love unimaginably, and who we are truly grateful for.  God has given us many experiences, moments, and just really great times this year.  My heart is overflowing with gratitude as I look back, and excitement as the page turns and we peer into all the potential of 2011.  J.

NPR's Nina Totenberg Apologizes

Watch this video...it is SO sad to me that it has come to this:



Let me say a resounding: 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Can't Breath = Can't Sleep

Struggling with our second bout of congestion/cough/fever/cold.  Tonight...well this morning...I woke at 2:00 a.m. when my decongestant ran out.  Laying there trying to decide...should I wake up enough to take more decongestant so I can actually go back to sleep?  Finally decided,  I fumble around in the dark finding the correct packet, fight to get it open, swallow the pills, and wait...and wait...and wait some more.  

Then CLICK it happened, my brain turns on and that is it...I'm wide awake and I begin mulling over the festering heart wound I've been avoiding since Sunday.  

Just when I'm relaxed and feeling the most comfortable WHAM!  He hits the target with a sound blow coming out of left field, I don't see it coming so take the full force of the blow and feel the concussion throughout.  There it is!  Blindsided, I ask myself...what?  Why would he say that?  What is he doing?  This is what he really wants? Or is he trying to make a point?!? No wait!!!  I don't understand!  Why is he saying that?  Did I do something wrong?  Why is he like that?

When confronted his reasoning was lame and made no sense.  It's deja vu and I don't understand it!  Hmmm if he's trying to make a point...what is it and why?  Upset, I ask myself am I over thinking it?  I don't think so...Am I hyper-sensitive?  Probably. I consciously decide to shake it off and let it go...for now...it's my birthday, I'm surrounded by my family, everything's perfect...well up to that moment.  Hit ignore and move on...

Ignore only works until 2:00 a.m. on a night when the decongestant only lasts 4 hours...then it's back...fresh and new as if it just happened...the hurt, and confusion, I mean.  Something is going on.  I'm going to have to talk to him.  It's hard, but it's now 3:00 a.m. and there are tears in my eyes. Something real is going on...a reason that he does this. That he says things like that.

Lord help me to be a wise, patient, loving mother.  Help me to know when to speak, and when to listen.  Help me to see clearly my son's heart and give me just the right words to speak at just the right moment.  Help us to sort out the issues and Lord I ask especially that you would make me less and you more...help me to lay aside my tears, and hurt to be the kind of mother that he needs me to be.  Help me to understand what is really going on here and know what specifically to do.  J.  

And P.S. Father could you help me get back to sleep for two more hours?  Please?

Grand Canyon - Day 2

We got up early on Thursday morning shook the dust from the crappy hotel off of our feet and headed to catch the South Rim shuttle to the South Kaibab trail.  This is the trail that the mules take to go down to the Grand Canyon floor.  Our goal was to hike down into the canyon to Oooh Aaaah point.  It's a small world...one gentleman on the shuttle was from Yelm WA.

This is the view from the top of the trail:

Looking down over the hill at the trail ahead of us:

The switchbacks were crazy!

This picture I took by hanging off the edge while Timothy had me by the pants.  It's hard to capture the steep depth of the switchbacks...they were impressive:

Us at the bottom of the switchbacks:

Prickly Pear Cactus:

 Oooh Aaah Point is aptly named:

Oooh Aaah Point - The Grand Canyon from Jeanne Hisey on Vimeo.

If anyone speaks French and can tell us what they all were talking about we would love to know!

We sat up on this rock:

And posed for these photos:

And one of the french men you heard talking in the video took this pic:

This is the view of the trail that continues down to the Canyon floor...it would have been cool to do, but you can't go down and out in one day...at least that is what they say...one man who rode the shuttle back with us said they were training to go down the trail we went down all the way to the canyon floor and out another way...they are doing it in April.  If you ride the mules you have to book 24 months in advance, we were told.  And camping along the trail just doesn't sound fun at all!

 We sat on the rock as long as we could...until someone else came along and wanted a turn.  And then we ascended back up the trail huffing and puffing and stopping many times for catch your breath breaks. 

 

They were doing helicopter maneuvers the entire time we were there.  We never did figure out what they were doing, but they were taking something to the canyon floor...kind of expensive whatever it was.

These are the switchbacks on this wall:

As we reached the top we laughed and pumped our fists in the air as we hummed the Rocky theme song.  Now to some this would've seemed like a piece of cake, and no big deal.  To us this was crossing off a Bucket List item.  We hiked into the Grand Canyon!  We had the time of our lives.  The whole way saying..."Do you believe this?"  "Wow!"  "It's like we are living someone else's life!"  We have no delusions.  We know we are middle aged, and as such we realize this is it!  This life we live is all we have.  We need to get to doing the things we want to do in our lives.  On the shuttle bus on the way back to our car I said to Timothy "I feel so alive!"  He said "Is that a euphemism for 'My body hurts everywhere?'"  We laughed and I said "Truly!"  For days we could feel our sore muscles and frankly it felt amazing.  We hiked into the Grand Canyon!  It was something!

On our drive back to Vegas to catch the plane home we stopped by the Hoover Dam.  The last time we were there they were in the early stages of building the Memorial bridge.  It looked like it was going to be impressive.  It truly is.  

Oh, and another interesting thing...the magicians Penn and Teller were in first class on our plane.  I wasn't going to take a picture, but since they were swarmed by others asking for autographs and such I took a picture from many feet away.  

Our trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon was spectacular.  We had such a wonderful time.  Everything from bathing in a luxurious tub filled with gobs of bubbles, to feeling God's presence in a new way at the Grand Canyon we enjoyed every single moment of it.  We are SO thankful to have won the trip, and we made the most out of it that we could.  

To Timothy:  Every single moment spent with you is a gift.  Thanks for a great few days of adventure and fun, and for 24 years of friendship and love!  I love you Baby!  J.

Grand Canyon - Day 1

We picked up our rental car first thing in the morning on Wednesday and headed off to the Grand Canyon.  One of the things I love the most about our marriage is that we truly just love being together.  We talked about important things, and about nothing.  We rode in silence, and listened to Satellite radio some.  Mostly we were just at ease, riding along enjoying just being together.  The terrain between Vegas and the Grand Canyon is desert.  There is a lot of nothing...tumbleweed, cactus, and a lot of open space with mesas and rugged mountains in the distance.

Our travel agent scheduled us to stay at the Grand Canyon Plaza Resort.  May I say...DON'T EVER GO THERE!  The room was a standard room...it was dark and the very small window looked out onto the pool area.  The major offenses were the fact that the toilet leaned heavily to the right...so you had to practically hold onto something while doing your business because gravity wanted to pull you off.  The other thing and this was major was that the bedding was horrid.  The sheets were literally see through they were so threadbare.  There was a fitted sheet, the flat sheet, and a very thin down comforter that literally didn't go over either edge of the bed.  There was no bedspread...they used another threadbare flat sheet as a bedspread.  Timothy had difficulty figuring out the very odd heater in the room and at 34 degrees outside we were freezing.  Thankfully there was another bed in the room which we robbed of it's bedding to make it through the night.  The continental breakfast was inedible so we opted for drive-through McDonalds as the options were few way out there.  Thankfully we were only there one night...and we weren't there for the hotel...the main attraction...The Grand Canyon:

 I took SO many wonderful pictures...the grandeur of it is beyond, and each part of the canyon is so different and unique!  It's as if you could see God's fingerprints all over it.  I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we do:

We walked miles and miles on the South Rim. 

Some girls from Australia told us that they had seen some sheep down a ways from where we were so we headed over there in search of the sheep.  I went to the edge and Timothy was saying...don't go any further...just as I saw him...we would call it a Ram...but they call it a big horned sheep.  It bolted when he saw me.  Check out the cool Pics:

 Such fun!

 

On our way back to the hotel we saw Roosevelt Elk(the pictures are horrible I had the camera set wrong...but you can get the idea.)

And a gorgeous sunset:

A day for the record books! We sucked the life out of every single moment!

Vegas - Pt 2

We spent most of Tuesday relaxing. 

We sat by the pool:

Wearing jeans(it was only 65 - 70) in the shade of the building, we relaxed and planned our trip to the Grand canyon.  We ordered drinks from the cabana girl...2 drinks, rum and diet, and crown and diet.  We figured they would be expensive...$12 or so each.  When she brought the bill we were blown away.  $41.50 for two drinks.    Lesson learned!  

We had panini's at Sweet Chill on the promenade level at the Aria.  The atmosphere was strange...all pink and plastic.  It looked like an old school lunchroom to me.  We did have fun with the huge chrome column:

It had this great reflective ability...think fun house mirror.  We loved that it made us super skinny:

We took the tram from the Aria over to the Bellagio and back.  

Such a great shortcut...and it was right in our hotel:

I didn't realize till we got home and I uploaded my pictures that my reflection was in them. 

In the evening we went to dinner at the Lemongrass(also in the Aria).  We had read very poor reviews about this restaurant, but we encountered none of the issues that were described.  The atmosphere was pleasant, the food was delicious. After dinner we went Viva Elvis(the complementary show tickets.):

Honestly it wasn't really my thing.  The dance routines and acrobatics were impressive.  It was just a little too over the top for my tastes.  

After the show we took the tram over to the Bellagio to see the Fountains of Bellagio!  What fun!  The show was impressive, and frankly it was just cool and fun to be out on the strip at night feeling the spray from the fountain and enjoying each other's company.  

Our time in Vegas was blissful.  The relaxing baths, and time by the pool, the time spent over fabulous food, and just hanging out together, the luxury of the Aria and blessing of a nearly free trip was wonderful!  J.

Comparisons

After seeing Eva smile...and one particular picture, reminded me of a picture of Peter when he was a baby.  What do you think...are there similarities?

My heart is so full it feels like it has been marinating in joy.  We are truly blessed!  Thank you Lord!  J.

Las Vegas - Pt 1

Waking at 2:30...and at the airport by 4(thank you Peggy!), we were in Vegas by 8:30 a.m. Monday 12/6 was our 24th anniversary.

Our hotel room looked like this:

And had a view like this:

The first thing I said to Timothy:  "I'm going to need some bubble bath...ASAP!"  To which he said:  "Be right back."  :)  Good husband!

This is how I spent probably 8 hours over the next two days.....FABULOUS!!!

My best friend from high school lives in Vegas with her family, so we had dinner with her on Monday evening:

After dinner we went back to our hotel and these are a few of the 24 tries it took to get a good "arm's length" picture.  It was too funny!

These are the outtakes:

My favorite - I SO love this man!  Happy Anniversary Baby!:

More to come!  J.