(Working on adding images, check back later to see the pics!)

WOW, what a year!  It came in quietly and we hope it leaves quietly as well.  But the time between January 1 and December 31, has had high and low points.  But, for the most part it was a good year.

Weather sounds so boring, but his year we had extremes in every direction…Record snow fall 24”, then record drought, record cold -36 °and record heat 65  days over 100°.  Believe it or not our trees actually had pretty fall autumn colors.  We had just enough rain in September to make that possible.

The record snow storm and the ice storms from years past enabled Dan to play Paul Bunyan!!  We have a friend with a chain saw and Dan got to down his first tree.  After it was down, the garden looked really bare without the tree.

In the spring our neighborhood started an alert neighbors program.  We have a wonderful organizer that sends out emails about neighborhood news.  Each block has a captain, and Martha volunteered to be the captain for our street.  We organized an ice cream social in June, complete with a visit from the Tulsa Fire Department complete with Fire Truck.

The first of May we lost one of our babies.  Penny was 12 and developed lung cancer.  Even though we still have two other IG’s Bella (5) and Gabby (3) the house is really quiet.  We could always count on Penny for a good growl when she was playing with her toys.  Any one that has lost a pet knows how difficult it is to come home and not have that happy face to meet you.

We suffered another loss in May.  Martha’s Uncle Jene passed away.  Uncle Jene performed both our wedding ceremony and Martha’s sister and brother in law Beth and Ed’s wedding ceremony.  The Memorial service was in Arnett, OK.  Martha went with her parents.  It was a nice celebration of his life.  While we had mixed emotions, it was nice to spend time with relatives; an aunt, an uncle and cousins.

Also in May, Dan’s mother had to go to the emergency room as a result of a car accident.  We are glad she was not hurt, but the car was totaled.  It was right before Memorial Day weekend and quite an ordeal to get the car out of the storage garage and to the salvage yard.

In June, we made a couple of trips to the emergency room with Dan’s dad.  During the first trip the emergency room he was seen by an ER doctor that was making rounds and medical residents.  In his teaching to the residents the doctor said, “This patient has Alzheimer’s Disease”.  Dan and his sister learned at that time their dad had been diagnosed, three years before.  It has been and adjustment and learning experience for us all.  Thank goodness for the Alzheimer’s Association, OASIS (adult day care), and home health.

In July, Dan, Martha and Beth took Martha and Beth’s parents to Estes Park for the annual trip.  We had lots of fun and relaxation.  On our way down the mountain into Estes Park, the brakes didn’t work well and the transmission would not downshift.  Dan did a great job getting us into town.  The next day we took the Martha’s work van back to Boulder for transmission work.  The LUCKY CAR got to spend a month in Colorado before it was trucked back to Tulsa.  Several times we discussed going to pick it up to get out of the 100+ degree heat!!

Over Labor Day weekend Dan’s second cousin Dick and his wife Janet came to a high school reunion in Bartlesville.  They were able to spend an evening in Tulsa catching up with the McCarroll side of the family.

In September we made a trip to Oregon.  We toured our way through and visited many Pinot Noir wineries.  Unfortunately, our favorites are not available in Oklahoma and they can’t ship wine here.

We took a quick trip to the Oregon coast and ate clam chowder at the world famous Moe’s Restaurant.  We were able to sit right by the window and watch the seals in the surf.  We took a couple of days and went to visit Dick and Janet in Bend.  They were great tour guides and hosts.  We had a happy hour celebration with some of the best hors d’oeuvres we’ve had in a long time.  We also got to celebrate Oktoberfest in downtown Bend with beer from local Bend breweries. 

On our last day, we took the Columbia River Gorge Highway, east out of Portland and saw a series of waterfalls, with the most spectacular being Multnomah Falls.  It is a 611-foot-tall roaring, awe-inspiring cascade of icy water that lets you experience the power and beauty of nature up close. According to Native American lore, Multnomah Falls was created to win the heart of a young princess who wanted a hidden place to bathe.

In November, Martha joined the social media generation by purchasing her first “deal” on Groupon.  She’s still not on Facebook, but Dan is a Facebook groupie, checking in frequently.

Earlier in the year the owners of one of Dan’s favorite restaurant’s retired.  Sam and Nuhad owned Cedar’s Imports for over 40 years.  Her tabouli, hummus and cabbage rolls were the best in town.  Dan managed to get their neon sign to help him remember all the good times and delicious food.

Also in November we felt our first earthquakes in Tulsa.  I think there was one last year fall, but we did not feel that one.  Yes EARTHQUAKE in Oklahoma.  There was one 4.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale.  There were several pre-quakes and several aftershocks. 

This December, Martha presented one of the Advent lessons in our Sunday School class.  Thanks to Dan’s multimedia computer skills we were able to show clips of Las Posadas and the St Lucia celebration.  Both celebrations focus on the light of the Christmas season.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe a prosperous New Year.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

This year’s summary is going to start a week earlier than 2010.  Christmas 2009 was a very unusual Christmas in Tulsa; we had a white Christmas, complete with blizzard.

  On Christmas Eve Dan’s family comes to our house and continues his grandmother’s tradition of hosting her family.  Prior to the gathering Dan and I usually attend Christmas Eve service at our church and rush home to get ready for the party.  Last year, the blizzard kept us from attending the service.  Just as Dan was getting ready to cook the pork tenderloin (outside on the grill of course) he had to go pick up his parents; a trip that usually takes 10 minutes.  By the time he got back dinner was ready.  (Perfect timing!!)  Even though the group was small and the house was littered with snow boots, we had lots of fun, and more champagne left than usual. 

The snow kept us from traveling to celebrate with Martha’s family.  But thanks to friends down the street, we were able to walk a few blocks in the snow to celebrate Christmas with them.  We are thankful to have such good friends.  I think we both agree that a “White Christmas” is for the birds!!

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In July, Martha and her sister went took their parents to Estes Park for the annual trip.  Martha went on into Denver for a work meeting and Beth stayed and enjoyed the mountains.  They sat by the river and read, took naps and made trips into Rocky Mountain National Park to look for the animals.  We all agree the mountains are a great place to spend a week in July and out of the Oklahoma heat.

In August, Martha went with her friend Maureen on another road trip.  Maureen took her grandson to Columbus Ohio for graduate school.  We stopped in St. Louis to stay with Maureen’s sister and ate frozen custard at Ted Drewe’s, a must if you are ever in St Louis!!  We also took the ride in the St Louis arch, what a view at night.  Once in Columbus we acted like tourists and even ate at Schmidt’s a restaurant featured on Man vs. Food, a favorite tv show.  It was nice to be in Columbus and really see the town.  Any other time Martha is there, it is work related, the Abbott Nutrition headquarters in there. 

In October, we went to the east coast to see the beautiful fall colors.  We were in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.  Vermont was filled with waterfalls, New Hampshire with covered bridges and Maine with lighthouses and wonderful seafood meals.  One of our favorites was a stuffed lobstah at the Hurricane Restaurant in Kennebunkport.  On our lighthouse expedition we discovered a Man vs. Food restaurant called the Lobster Shack.  It was on the coast and the clams were wonderful.  We also found a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurant; The Maine Diner.  The lobstah roll was delicious.

One of the highlights for Martha was a tour of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory.  We got to taste the flavors and visit the flavor cemetery.  I can’t imagine who thought that popcorn ice cream was a good idea.

If the slide show of New England doesn’t show up for you, then click here.

We made it back to Tulsa and all has been quiet, until a month ago.  We rescued another dog.  Her name is Gabby and she will be 3 years old in February.  So far, she is getting along well with Penny and Bella.  We lost Kacey last spring.  Gabby and Martha have had a few interactions for her to learn who is really in charge!  I think I have my bluff in on her.

Thanksgiving brought everyone to our house again.  We celebrated with thirteen people.  It is so nice to have help with the food.  Then that brings us around to the end of the year.  We can’t believe it has gone by so quickly.

We are thankful for our family and friends and our Christmas Wish is for everyone to stay healthy and safe.  A special prayer goes out to those that lost loved ones this year and those in serving in the military.

We hope your holidays are merry and safe.

Merry Christmas to One and All!

First Motorola Bag Phone, first Apple Macintosh computer,  Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on its tenth space shuttle mission, first Poppa John’s Pizza,  Apple Computer unveils its Apple IIc portable computer, Manheim Steamroller, first megabit chip is made at Bell Labs, Russia and the  Soviet block boycotted the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, Pete Rose becomes the first player in the National League to collect 4,000 hits, Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire during a Pepsi commercial, Mary Lou Retton wins two gold, two silver and two bronze medals, the term cyberspace is coined by William Gibson in his novel “Neuromancer”, movies were Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Romancing the Stone and stonewashed jeans were introduced.  Why the history lesson?  All these events occurred in 1984-25 years ago.  The same year as we got married!!

The highlight of our year was our trip to New Zealand to celebrate our anniversary.  Our travel companions were Martha’s long time high school friend and her husband.  They also traveled with us to Ireland a few years ago.  The flight was a killer, even though it was overnight, we didn’t sleep but 10 winks.

Upon deplaning we crossed a decorative Maori threshold.  We toured both north and south islands; Auckland, Christ Church and Queenstown.  We participated in many fantastic activities and our favorites were:

• The Auckland Zoo, where we saw the tuatara, which is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. We strained our eyes to find the Kiwi’s (New Zealand’s national symbol) in their nocturnal habitat. 
• In Christ Church toured the city’s namesake Church, took the Trans Scenic Train and punted down the Avon River. 
• In Queenstown we took two Lord of the Rings Tours (no we searched high and low and could not find Frodo) and the plane ride; in a 10 seater plane to Milford Sound for the boat ride on the Sound.  You could almost touch the mountains!!

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In July we took our annual trip to Estes Park, CO with Martha’s parents.  The animals were plentiful this year.  Elk stopped traffic by sauntering across the road in the middle of the afternoon.  One afternoon Martha even saw a bear close to town.  Since she was by herself, nobody else was could collaborate the story, so it didn’t count.  It seems that the bears are being seen more often and sometimes in the middle of town during the middle of the day.

Thanks to a friend we were able to attend the Sir Paul McCartney concert at the year old BOK Arena in Tulsa.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show and we reminisced about our high school days.  We also were lucky enough to see the Billy Joel-Elton John concert in the same venue; an Elton John concert was one of our first dates.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with both families.  Katie and her husband Darin and two children Taiya and Riley were able to come to our celebration.  We were delighted that they were able to join us.  Katie’s almost six month old daughter; Riley was baptized the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

To get us into the holiday spirit we heard Manheim Steamroller before Thanksgiving and Trans Siberian Orchestra a few weeks later.  To top that off we made a quick trip to Kansas City to see the lights at Country Club Plaza.

Other special family events this year included: 

• Eddie (Martha’s sister Beth’s oldest son) became an Eagle Scout and graduated from high school as a valedictorian.  He started OSU and is a member of the President’s Leadership Council.
• Joey (Dan’s nephew) and Sarah became first time home owners. 
• Darin participated in a competition bike marathon in Leadville Colorado; (Lance Armstrong was also participating) and Darin finished in the upper third of the competition. 
• Martha took her dad to his 60^th class reunion over the Memorial Day weekend.  They met her uncles in Hollis, OK at the reunion, visited the farm, the stained glass window at the First Methodist Church, the cemetery and stopped to see if any tumbleweeds would blow by.  We spent the night at the Quartz Mountain Lodge, a special Labor Day reunion location for the Miller family.
• Beth took their mom to a family reunion in Norman the first weekend in December.

Dan and I joined the 21^st century [speak for yourself Martha] and became “texters” for the first time.  Dan also has a Facebook page; Martha hasn’t taken that leap yet!!  We also got a gas grill; Dan is practicing and has already mastered hot dogs and hamburgers.

We are still supporting Dan’s Alma mater with season football tickets.  This year we both assisted our Sunday School Class Presidents by executing different tasks, Martha is serving as Chairman of two different committees (silly girl maybe some day she will learn to graciously decline these opportunities).

Have a Great 2010 !