Not a day goes by

when I don't think of you, Ray. Thanks for keeping an eye on us from heaven. Miss you!

Extra, extra read all about it!

Coming to Parker, Colorado in September 2008!

Wade and I are so excited! This is gonna be very bad for my diet, but verrrry good for my taste buds. I thought my next Spicy Crispy Chicken sandwich would be in Portland in October! Gone are the days of "importing" Jack in the Crack from Flagstaff in coolers. I'll never have to exit I-17 at Deer Valley just to get my fix.

Now, if we could just get an In-N-Out for Wade and an Ikea for me....

The newest member of our family....

subaru.com

Her name is Babe-the Blue Ox after the Paul Bunyan stories, and we love her. Wade needed a better snow car with air conditioning for his long trek to work. (He starts tomorrow.) When we saw her, it was love at first sight. I can't wait for it to get cold so I can try the heated seats!

In Bemidji, MN, where I spent a summer speaking Spanish with the mosquitoes.

A year ago today....

Happy 4th of July! Today, we are headed to Wash Park in Denver for a kegger and then to Stephanie's house. It should be a day of good food and spending time with good people. I am looking forward to it.

The 4th happens to be one of my favorite holidays, and what a great time we had last year (in spite of the heat!)

Here are some happy memories:






We are very grateful to everyone who traveled from afar to attend (our Grandparents!!!!) and especially those who worked very hard for us to celebrate in Kendrick Park... the Swansons, the Steve Allens, the Pat Allens, Erika, Aunt Bev, AmyD, Aaron and the Water Man who saved the day.

Everyone have fun and be safe today! Enjoy the fireworks (something I missed last year!)

Rockies Baseball

We got back in town just in time to catch the Rockies' game. It was a beautiful night, the stadium was very full, we were sipping beer, and the game was off to a great start....

But, then there was the 6th inning. During the top of the 9th, I felt as if I was watching Padres' batting practice, not an actual GAME.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Diego	1	0	2	0	0	5	0	0	7		15	22	0
Colorado	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0		8	9	0

Congrats, Blake! Your team beat the pants off us! At least our money went to help raise funds for high school baseball in our district!

Sheepwagon.... or BUST!

Wade and I headed to Wyoming for the "annual" Allen Family reunion. Aunt Pi and Brock were our fabulous hosts and Chen Jing and Alan Hogan were the only others who attended. We enjoyed the fresh mountain air, the good company, the starry nights, and the delicious cooking. Wade had a great time on the four-wheeler and getting "monster"rocks for Aunt Pi. I learned a lot about sage, Chinese culture, and making scrambled eggs on a BBQ grill. Overall, an outstanding trip! On the way back to Denver, we ate at Silvermine Subs. Yummy!

Here's the official report from Aunt Pi:

This is a report on the reunion that most of you missed. Those
few in attendance did think of all of you. Six of us showed up. Of
course Brock and I were already there and the real surprise was my son Alan and
his wife, Chen jing, coming in from Michigan. He hadn't gotten the word
that the reunion was cancelled for I thought they were going to try to go to
Alaska this summer or fall. I was real happy to see them. As I said
we didn't know they were coming. He thought it would be a good opportunity
for all the family to meet Chen jing. Anne-marie and Wade drove
up from Denver. Then over the weekend 9 locals did show up at various
times. Yes, Jim, the weather was sometimes a little cool but felt good
except for a cold wind most of Saturday. One morning the temp dropped
to 38 degrees, but the other mornings were like 42. The days were
beautiful.

Anne-marie learned how to cook scrambled eggs on a big griddle over a wood fire, she learned how to make sage smudge sticks, and she carried a baby monster quartz rock down a hill that was a very large quartz rift. The whole hillside was all beautiful quartz. See her photos. Wade was a wonderful cook and wood gatherer and he carried a huge monster quartz rock down for me. He also learned to love riding our new 4 wheeler. Chen jing and Alan gathered a lot of silver tip sage to take back to Michigan to make smudge sticks and Chen jing taught us all a lot about Chinese culture and way of living.

Since the custom has been set at reunions that the site for the next
reunion is usually decided at a reunion, we took it upon ourselves to make some
decisions for the group. It is very obvious that gas prices will not be
going down much in the future, so we decided that perhaps it is best to
have a reunion every two or three years and then people can save for it.
We also decided the next reunion should be in the midwest so we will
need someone to plan it. (any suggestions?) There are a lot of
state parks in the midwest. The geezers should not be the planners.
It is time for the younger crowd to take over that job. Anne-marie said at
one time someone had suggested that renting cabins and a houseboat at Lake
Powell might be a good idea. Brock liked that idea.

We had wonderful food since we pooled our contributions together. We had green chili stew, steaks, barbecued ribs, brots, and super delicious breakfasts. Anne-marie brought delicious muffins and cookies. We didn't go hungry. Chen jing got to try s'mores for the first time and Brock cooked fried pies over the campfire. Monday morning we all went our merry separate ways.
End of report,
Pi, designated chairman of
the 2008 Allen family reunion

Click here for a slideshow of all of our photos from this trip.

The famous sheepwagon

Sage burning ceremony (you had to be there).... Yes, I can verify it smelled wonderful.

Elk Park.... It reminded me of Kendrick Park in the days when it actually rained in Arizona.

Back country taxi service

The master chef works with young apprentice Wade

Philosophical

Today is Dad's birthday. He would have been 67. I light our memory candle from the Chapel wedding and thought of him today. It turned out to be a lucky day for us as Wade got a call back for a second interview. Wade sipped some scotch as a thankful tribute.

These two quotes seem to say everything I feel.

it is not "if" we will lose the things we love, it is "when". with some, the loss comes in a major catastrophic event. for most, love is surrendered one piece at a time...first childhood, a promising romance, the passing of a loved one, and finally a child who leaves home. but as we lose, can we not gain a deep knowing that in the presence of grace, love for the sake of love is eternal.

_________________

'how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down. and, so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one gigantic test followed by one gigantic lesson. in the end it all comes down to one word. Grace! it's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light'. Philosophy.

Thanks, Erika & Stephanie, for helping me see the good side to all of this!