Farewell to Twin Falls....

For the past year and a half Steve has been working for a man in Murray, SLC, and most recently in Twin Falls Idaho. 

I have had the opportunity to travel up to Idaho with Howie the past six months.  It has been very interesting observing "my man" in action.  I have loved the time we have been able to spend together.  He has taught me so much about the hearing aid business.  I am planning on getting licensed in the near future so it was a blessing to be able to watch and learn over the past few months. 

He worked in the Sears store in the"Magic Valley Mall"  I always got a kick out of that name.  Not much magic happening there...that's for sure. 

He did have some pretty amazing clients and I loved talking with them and learning about their lives.  We had an opportunity to purchase this business but things did not work out the way we had originally planned.  Steve had a friend up in Montana who had been trying to sell his business.  We decided on a whim to go check out the area and the possibility.   We drove up one weekend, attended the temple there, and we  had a wonderful feeling about this new change in our lives.

I think the saddest thing about leaving Twin Falls was having to leave our "home away from home"

This probably sounds a bit strange but I became quite attached to this place.  Every week for three days a week we would go to this Hilton Garden Inn.  They were amazing there.  The best customer service EVER!!!  The rooms were beautiful and so dang comfy!.  Every person on the staff treated us almost like family.   One server, in the restaraunt there, even invited us to her wedding and asked Steve to write her wedding vows.  They had the most DELICIOUS fresh out of the oven cookies each night at 5:30 pm.  Their breakfasts were so yummy.  We were treated like royalty there.  Awwwww I miss it just thinking about it! 

I have a warm fuzzy feel each time I drive past any Hilton now.  I am NOT kidding either. Both Howie and I really loved it there and miss it.  Good bye Twin Falls.....Look out Billings....HERE WE COME!

I love Steve's business shots so I decided to post them both on here.  He is such a handsome man  :)

Well.....Once we were approved for the franchise we were invited to go to Minneapolis Minnesota to get a few days of training before everything was finalized. 

                                Howie trying to be a GPS....

They had everyone stay at the Sheraton in town

                                It was absolutely beautiful.....

We had a room right next to the indoor pool.  It looked very relaxing but we did NOT bring our suits.  The ten oclock rule does not apply unless you are in your own backyard!!!  lol  (family secret)

The trip to Minnesota was interesting to say the least.  I felt a little overwhelmed about all of the information that they were feeding us.  I was not so sure I really wanted to take on this new adventure.  Our lives are about to change forever and I was a little hesitant.  There was a man in the meetings that was probably feeling the same as me because one day after lunch he did not show back up in class.  When asked where he was they told us the he decided that owning a business was NOT FOR HIM!  I thought to myself....."you should have taken me with you!"  I am finally getting use to the idea of our changes in our lives.  Adapting is certainly a struggle at times but IT WILL GET BETTER!

NOTE.....We have been working in the business for six weeks now and have been EXTREMELY busy.  This is the first time I have been able to blog for months so I am way, way behind.  Soon I will be caught up and I will post about our new place in Montana and the Miracle Ear Business that we bought.  BUT...I have to post in order so that my journaling will not get too mixed up. 

Until then....ta ta for now!

Road Trip Back to Seattle......

A week after we got back from Megan's wedding we found out that her dad had passed away.  Steve really wanted to go back to Seattle to pay his repsects to Bill and his family.  Steve's youngest brother, Mike,  decided to come travel with us for the trip back up.  He brought his wife Suzy and his sweet daughter Addison. 

Addison quickly became my TRAVELING BUDDY! She was so well behaved!!!

She entertained us with her songs and her cute personality

She gives the BEST hugs!

We all gathered at Jeff's house (Steve's brother) the day before the funeral.  They have a beautiful home in Snoqualmie Washington.  They were perfect hosts and made us all feel very welcome.

I know this picture is very blury but I wanted to show their awesome deck area in their backyard.  You feel like you are up in a mountain retreat at their home. VERY PEACEFUL!   It was so nice seeing Steve's family again.

The boys in the kitchen.  These Howell boys sure know how to cook up a great meal! 

It was so relaxing to sit around and just visit together as a family

Kendall is a crack up.  He always makes me laugh
"I've got my EYE on you!"

Jan Kendra and Kendall flew in from Texas.  They just moved from Utah and we miss them so much.

This was the first time I saw Kendall without a hat.  I was actually stunned that he had so much hair.  For some reason I pictured him balding or something.  He has such thick, thick hair I doubt he will EVER loose it.  Holy cow it was strange to see him without a hat.  Looks good though  :)

Playing fairy princesses on the computer with my buddy...... 

Steve wanted to play with the fairies too!

Nova being cute with her big Baby Blues....

The Howell family NEVER gets together without a game or two of Screwball Rummey or Down the River.

This is Mike's FAVORITE pose.  Everytime the camera comes out....His hand goes up!!!

The only way to get a picture of him is if his wife holds him down and pleads for him to smile :)

Well the visit with the family was once again extremelly enjoyable.  The funeral was a beautiful tribute to a great man.

  I did not have a chance to get to know Bill Kenealey to well, but from the beautiful tallks at his funeral I learned a lot about what kind of a father, husband and grandpa he was

.  He will be sorely missed by his family and friends.

He helped raise an amazing ETERNAL family who all look up to him as a wonderful role model in their lives.  Our prayers go out to Val and the kids during this healing period in their life. We love you all!

I was NOT looking forward to heading back home.  The fourteen to sixteen hour drive was almost unbearable to think about.

Steve was pretty STOKED when he first  found out that the rental car company was giving us a cadilac to drive to Washington.  WELL.....I had ordered a FULL SIZED car so that we  would make sure that EVERYONE fit in comfortably.  When he drove up in the driveway (back in Utah before we left for the trip) and I saw this car,  I was a bit FREAKED OUT!!!! (to say the least)  Howie assured me that it was all they had left and we were basically stuck with it. 

It was an EXTREMELY snug fit!  Especially in the back seat.  VERY, VERY uncomfortable.

We had to make a lot of PIT STOPS to get out and stretch a bit

This is Addison's version of stretching.  She is quite the little copy cat

Here she is copying her mommy's actions as Suzy watches the boys stretch

It was nice to get out of that stinkin' car once in a while and stretch out our cramped legs

                                  Hey.....GET A ROOM!    :)

Relaxing in the shade

Oh man....when it was time to get back in the car it would almost make me sick thinking about it.  SERIOUSLY this is how much room we had.

I think we need to get a refund on our rental car. WHAT A RIP OFF!!!!  Not even room to get my HUGE size 9 feet  inside.

I really wanted to take this picture back into the rental car agency and have them explain to me how THIS CAR fits in the "FULL SIZE" category!  I DON'T THINK SO!!!! I couldn't even put my feet down straight.  If I had traveled a few weeks later (after my foot surgery) My big surgical boot would not have even begun to fit back there.  CRAZY!  

FULL SIZE.....NOT!

Anyway...It was nice when we finally made it home.  I felt bad for Suzy and Mike because they still had a two hour drive from our house to theirs in Manti.  YUCK!  Next time it will by by PLANE!!!!

I really enjoyed the company of Mike, Suzy, and Addison. Thanks for coming along.  Love you guys! 

Bowling for Dollars....

Since we were in town for Megan's wedding we couldn't pass up on the chance to hook up with the kids while we were there.  We met them at the bowling alley to have an afternoon of fun.  We wanted to do something different than just the normal dinner and movie night which we generally do when we visit Seattle.

 I don't think the kids were too thrilled when we told them that we wanted to go bowling with them.  They didn't seem like it was an activity that would thrill them much.  BUT....when the moola came out....So did their smiles.  Money...Money...Money!  Maybe this day won't be as LAME as they probably thought it would be!

The rules of the game were that if someone bowled a strike they would receive $5.  For a spare $3 and if you bowled a strike on your "Lucky number" frame (which was drawn before the game) you would receive $25. 

Heather and Spencer all geared up and ready to go....

They have their game faces on! 

Hayley had perfect form  :)

She was funny to watch because it was obvious she had never bowled before.  She kept us laughing all day!

Kylan was soooo focussed on the pins.  I loved to see his HUGE smile as he turned around after bowling a strike or a spare!  He would march over to me (the bank) and look at me like,  "allrighty now...hand over the money!!!" 

Hayley posing with her dad....

Get a STRIKE Howie!  We need to earn some of this money too  :)

Heather with her loot!

Heather REALLY banked today.  She bowled a strike in two separate games on her "lucky frame"  Not to mention the many, many strikes and spares as well.  She is quite the bowler!

We had a great time laughing and spending time together.  Everyone earned some well deserved cash.  We even awarded the booby prize to Hayley and gave her an extra  load of money to even things up a bit.  She was a great sport.  FUN MEMORIES!

 After the bowling we went to dinner and a movie...the ole standby.  There is a buffet dinner place that the kids always want to go to.  It has a lot of gooooood food.  I can't remember which movie we went to that night but I do remember enjoying their company. 

 So glad that we were able to spend some time with each of them this weekend. It was GREAT to see them again!

Heather invited us to stay with her while we were in town.  She has a nice cozy place and made us feel so welocmed.  She even gave up her bed and slept on the couch!  So kind and thoughtful.  Thanks again Heather!  You are so sweet!!!   Love ya!