Happy Halloween

Crystal was The Denominator for Halloween. I helped her make the costume so she could wear it at Barbara's math party at her school. Unfortunately, no costumes were allowed, so we'll save the costume for another day. It was a fun joint project for us, anyway. Now that we're finished sewing we can get back to purging the house in preparation for our big move.

For our Halloween dinner tonight we had tombstone potato bar, just like we learned to make at Relief Society Work and Chat this month! I just want to say, "Where have all the Trick-or-Treaters gone? It's 7 p.m. and we've only had about 30. We're going to have lots of leftover candy this year. Oh well!

Snow in Broomfield

We got a lot of snow yesterday!

Snow Day

Ed was kind enough to teach me how to use the snow blower before he left for work yesterday morning. We've had a great snowblower for a couple of years now, and I was surprised to find out I had no idea how to start it. That is either a reflection of how little snow we've had since we bought it, or how nice Ed has been to always clear the driveway and sidewalks. I think the latter. Either way, Ed starts his new job in Baltimore today, and was fortunate that his flight leaving Denver yesterday was not delayed despite the snow.

This morning we have about 20 inches of snow in the yard. We got pretty wet shaking the snow off our trees yesterday afternoon.

Last night we were treated to a power outage. We hunkered down to a game of Spanish scrabble. Sadly, the power outage only lasted an hour, and the magic was over. Happily we were able to enjoy America's Next Top Model later in the evening.

Concert with Men's Choir

Last night we drove to Greeley in a rainstorm to see Amanda's choir concert. It was especially good because she had a solo with the men's choir. They did a song by Schubert called Ständchen (Serenede). It was very beautiful and Amanda did a great job. We were very proud of her.



After the concert we had the pleasure of driving home in a blinding snowstorm. It was frightening, but, happily, we are safely ensconsed at home this morning.

Moving Move

The big news in the Bush household is that we're moving to Baltimore, Maryland! Ed starts his new (bigger and better) job this week, and we'll move in January, if everything goes as planned. Ed will now be a Vice President with his company. We're excited about the challenge and the opportunities this provides him. It will be fun to live in the east for a while. There is certainly plenty to see and do there. It should keep us busy for the next 13 years till Ed will be ready to retire.

The sad news is we're leaving Colorado, where we have lived for 24 years. We've loved it here. We've loved the people, the weather, the church, the schools, the opportunities for us and our children. We hope all our friends come visit us in Baltimore. We had a good cry at church yesterday when we told people we were leaving. I had my cry with the Bookies a few weeks ago. I imagine we'll have several more good cries as time goes by. We have loved Broomfield and the wonderful friends we've made here. It's been the very best of times!

Cousins confab

I like that title! Confab is short for confabulation, which is "casual talk." That's not only what we had with Sandi and Bob Hayden Friday night, but it's also an alliterative title to my posting! It's so nice having a cousin in Colorado. Sandi and Bob came up Friday to go to a meeting (Bob) and to the temple in the morning. So, we were lucky they were able to come over for dinner and stay overnight. They had planned to stay in a hotel, but when I showed her the guest suite at Chez Bush I was able to convince her that it was no inconvenience for them to stay here. Kent called it Norma and Ed's room. Since Norma and Ed aren't here much, it was nice to have someone else use it.

Barbara and Kent were able to come over on short notice to visit with us. Kent had never met the Haydens and Barbara hadn't seen Sandi for 30 years. They'd been living in Hawaii, and we never made it over to see them. We were interested in what life is like in Southern Colorado compared to Denver. We also heard how Sandi and her siblings banded together to help their aging father out of a bad situation. It's a story that could be better told in a novel than a blog posting.

Barbara, myself and Sandi cuddled up with blankets on the couch. Ed, Bob and Kent, all in blue shirts are in chairs. Crystal, who really looked like a good daughter by doing all the dishes and cleanup, later relaxed on the love seat.

Monster Mash

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Happy Birthday Brittany

We celebrated Brittany's 26th birthday Monday night. It was somewhat reminiscent of her 19th birthday. Seven years ago she was a homesick freshman at BYU. We surprised her by driving out (the entire family) and meeting her at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She cried and we cried because she cried. Seven years later she's back at BYU getting her Master's degree in Biology. She is a cheerful, confident, beautiful and talented girl. Happily, she was still glad to see us. Crystal and I drove out to Utah together. Ed Melzer baked a special four-layer chocolate birthday cake with almond flavoring in the frosting. Grandma and Ed made a wonderful roast beef and potatoes dinner for her (something college students don't see very often).

We were able to Skype Brittany's dad in Colorado on her brand new lap top. It's a great day to be alive! Has there ever been a generation blessed with as much instant gratification as ours!

I'd be feeling much older, knowing I have a 26 year old daughter, but knowing my mom has a 60 year old daughter (not me!), made me feel pretty spry still!

Steamboat Sojourn

Last weekend the Highland Bookies had their annual Literary Sojourn in Steamboat Springs. We stayed two nights in a really nice condo, ate some really fattening food, listened to five interesting authors talk about themselves, and stayed up really late talking. One of us got up really early Sunday morning to get back to Broomfield in time for the choir to sing in 9 a.m. church services.

Pictured  by the pool are Nora, Martha, Sheryl and Judy. We wished Diane (who was sick) and Anne (who hasn't joined us for years now!) could have been there. On the upside, we all got our own bedroom AND our own bathroom. Thanks to Bill for our fancy lodgings.

We learned at the Sojourn that Fiction is Real Life. As we talked about our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, we had to agree with that. The feelings and circumstances expressed in fiction are just as real as any life. The names and dates have been changed to protect the innocent. We laughed at John Darnton, who wrote a novel in which the newspaper editor is killed. He is very obviously a particularly disliked real life editor at the New York Times. The only difference was that instead of writing with a green pen (as in real life), he wrote with a purple pen in the novel.

We'll be sure to disguise our friends and family just as well when we finally buckle down and write our own Great American Stories.

For more Sojourn pictures, click here!

Garage Glory

Crystal mentioned she'd like to park the Tracker in the garage this week. Now that the tent trailer is gone, she thought there might be room. She was sorry she even mentioned it, as she ended up helping me clean the garage. It was desparately in need of a good scrubbing! So, in the end we threw away a ton of stuff that we had once thought might come in useful some day. It never did. We rearanged the garbage cans, the snowblower and the lawn mower and parked the Tracker inside. Just in time for our snowfall that is supposed to arrive this week! It brings me great joy to have a clean garage. I should do this more often!

Friday night was a special night for us. We took Crystal to the temple for the first time. The beams of light in the picture are a nice symbolic touch.  Barbara and Kent joined us, as well as Crystal's roommate, Laura and her husband. It was a beautiful fall day in Denver, the best time of year. Crystal still has 6 weeks before she goes to the Mission Training Center. Next week we're going to go to Utah, where we'll visit the Manti temple with Grandma and Grandpa Melzer.