Reno Weekend

Curtis and I flew up to Reno this past weekend to spend time with Nick and Serina ... they were married two years this week! Boy, time flies. Anyway...Serina picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the Woffinden's home. Justin and Shauna lived in our ward in Avondale and have now moved to Reno. It was sooooo good to see their little family. They tell everyone HI and they are doing well. We had a great visit.

Justin & Shauna Weaver and kids

Nick and Serina after a family bar-b-que.

Nick & Serina took us to see the Worlds Largest Sporting Goods store. It is called Scheels. It was amazing! It had a ferris wheel in the center of the store. Every thing you can imagine for sports is in there: fishing, camping, hiking, archery, hunting, biking, volleyball, baseball...on and on. We spent about an hour in their trying to see it all!
The four of us went to see the new Star Trek movie. It was amazing!! Then we walked down to the River Front and found several kyackers testing their manuevers in the rapids. Nick was explaining that this river was man made with challenges for Competition! We watched these guys for at least 1/2 hour.

Curtis took the photo of Sandi, Nick & Serina at the River Front.

Saturday evening we went to Nick's parent's home to play games all evening. About 10:00 pm Nick's sister, Rachel, stepped barefoot on a ceramic thingy and it broke off in her foot! So.. they placed Rachel on the kitchen table (aka the surgery table) and Lorraine, Nick's mom, (an RN) went to surgery! Lorraine giving her lidocaine, Richard & Serina assisting!

Now you are probably wondering WHO took these photos??? Curtis

And where was Sandi??? Sitting on the stairs in the other room so I didn't have to see this all!
Surgery commences with the knife!
Good news, they got the piece out, by Sunday Rachel was doing great and walking on her foot!

Nick & Serina after the great Sunday dinner Lorraine fixed for us all.
Serina, Nick, Curtis and Sandi
before we left for the airport to fly back to Arizona.

Special Sealing Day in Mesa Temple

This past Saturday was a very special Mother's Day Weekend! Curtis, my mom, and I spent the morning at the Mesa Arizona Temple. My mom was sealed to her parents. Curtis and I were able to be proxy for her parents. Was a very spiritual and rewarding morning.

Me and my mom (Betty Gibb) in front of the Mesa Temple

Jaycie has Arrived!

Well all you friends and relatives who want to see what little Jaycie May Nielson looks like...here are a few pictures. She was born on Mon, April 27, 2009, at 10:08 am and weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19.5 inches long. At first her little face was round and looked a bit like Carter. But now her little face is elongating and looks more like a feminine "Jaren". She is soooo cute and petite. Hard to believe how little they are.

This is me holding her after she came home.

This photo is taken at the hospital the day she was born.

Carrie and the family are doing really great. Carter says he likes being a big brother.

Our Trip to Utah - Last Week

Curtis and I actually spent 9 days together....all day...24/7. It was great! We had some wonderful moments with friends and family. I have quite a few photos...to highlight what we did.

This first photo is our trip from Kingman, AZ up and over Hoover Dam. We had not been that way in YEARS because they are building a super HIGH bridge over it. So the last 2 miles to the dam was at less than 1 mph. It took us 2 hours! So this photo (below) is the back of this car that we watched FOREVER! That is the bridge they are building...we did NOT drive on it, but went under and around it.

This is the section taken from the road going over Hoover Dam. The two arches will connect and the road will rest on top. You can see the tower on the left side for it's support. To me ... looks scary!

Friday night, Curtis and I stayed at Lake Las Vegas Montelago Village Resort. This resort is about 10 miles east of Las Vegas on Lake Mead Blvd. We had a bed and breakfast rate. This is the photo of the resort. We ate at an Italian Restaurant...over priced and bad. But other than that...we had a nice romantic stay.

On Saturday morning we casually drove along Northshore Drive of Hoover Dam towards Valley of the Fire State Park (55 miles east of Las Vegas). It took us an hour to get there, then we spent 2 hours looking at all the beautiful formations. It was absolutely beautiful with the reds, greens from spring, and cool breeze ... NOTICE we are not there in JULY!

Here is some desert flowers blooming:

Here are some formations - looks like red swiss cheese.

Sunday we attended our nephew's, Jordan Nielson, mission report. He served in the Democratic Congo of Kameroon Mission (or something like that). While we were listening to his report, Jordan announced that his brother, Andrew, just received his mission call to go to Gana Accra Mission. Andrew reports July 31st to the Gana MTC!
Monday night we had Family Home Evening with Kevin & Renee (Curtis' brother) and their family. They asked us to tell about our trip to Egypt & Israel...so we brought our stuff to show and tell. The kids asked a lot of questions...it was great.

One morning we stopped at the Distribution Center to pick up items. The flowers out front were gorgeous. I had never remembered the spring in Utah looking so beautiful. Tulips and Daffodils everywhere.

One evening we went to visit, Bill DeWitt. He was Curtis' best man when we got married on June 20, 1975. They both served their mission together in Italy. Bill even married Diana Burgess who was a Sister Missionary in their mission, she recently has passed to the other side.
We took Melvin with us one day and we went to Salt Lake. We hit the City Cemetery looking for a few family headstones and then drove up to the "U" on the mountain. We had never done that before. We hiked up to it! It was so great...these two Utes. So we had to capture the moment...I got in the picture when a Census Worker walked by and offered to take our photo!

From the "U" we went to meet Curtis' brother, Kevin, for a tour of the new Church History Library. It won't be open for another 6 weeks, but we went everywhere. Got to see the vaults where microfilm, documents, etc... will be kept at 32 degrees and a couple that will be kept at -4 degrees! People who work there have special outerwear to wear while in there. We even got to see Marlin Jensen's office (Church Historian) and Kevin's office. Kevin is the Project Manager for the building. Here is the outside of the building. The very top corner window is Elder Jensen's office. He had a great view of the Temple block!

We had made reservations to attend a session of the new Draper Temple. It recently had its open house and dedication, so we wanted to see it. Then we drove up in the neighborhood...found "extreme custom homes" that looked like castles, even several "bank owned".

We then had time to drive across town and find the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Standing at the Draper Temple one can see the Jordan River Temple and this new Oquirrh Temple. It is more yellow in color and a rectangle with spire as compared to the granite gray square shape of Draper. They had guards at the entrance...still under construction...so we couldn't get closer.

We then drove out to Eagle Mountain. What a drive from Lehi, over a mountain, around a mountain, and finally you are there. It is very beautiful and looks safe...like you could leave your house unlocked or your car...and it would still be there in 5 minutes! We found Dwight and a'Donna Geddes and their boys. We had a great visit with them and had dinner. We sure miss them here. Dwight served as a counselor to Curtis when the Cold Water Ward was new! This was taken on their front lawn. In the back is Mt. Timpanogus.

Our daughter Heidi was graduating on Thursday and Friday from BYU-Provo. After 10 years of marriage and 4 children...she stuck with it and walked! We were so proud of her. On our way to Provo we stopped (with Nick & Serina who drove in from Reno) at the Salt Lake Temple and did a "live" session and enjoyed the beautiful grounds.

Thursday was the BIG graduation in Marriott Center. Before it started, Heidi's department held a special luncheon for the graduates and their families. It was very nice! We met a girl from her stake in Goodyear who's dad is Bro. Mark's serving as a counselor to Bishop Gerry Gervoac. Then later at the ceremony Pres. Uchdorft and Elder Russell M. Nelson each spoke. They were wonderful. My job was to take care of Noelle...I spent some time in the hallway. Curtis had the other 3 kids while Jace was running around with the movie camera getting great photos of Heidi through the program.

Friday was the Department graduation. We ran into Pres. & Sis. Hinton! They sat on our row. Their daughter was also graduating! It was a fabulous two days with our daughter.

Then we drove straight home on Sat, April 25th. We had every weather you could imagine. Rain from Kaysville to Beaver. Snow and Hail from Beaver through Panguitch to Afton, Ut. You can see the snow coming off the hood of the car!

Then from Page to Flagstaff was severe wind blowing sand and dirt. You would have thought we were in a sand storm in the Sahara Desert of Egypt! It totally etched my new windshield. I was worried about the paint! But we finally made it home. What a great trip. The next one is May 14th when we fly to Reno to watch Nick (our son-in-law) walk at University of Nevada Reno!

A Day with my Mom

Thursday was a day my Mom and I decided to spend together. We had an absolute adventure! We left my house at 7:30 am for Tucson. Patti's birthday is (April 12) today and mine was in March...so we were going to lunch to celebrate. Plus...it gave us the chance to SEE for ourselves how Kevin is doing. He was suppose to go back to work on Thursday, but he has this really bad foot wound from no circulation during his "heart episode/hospital stay". Dr. Whittaker did some surgery on it...so he hopes it heals! (Pun there!) Anyway...Kevin is still alive, put in a lot of pain.

Patti and Mom and I went to Macayo's for lunch. That is one of my favorite lunch spots in all of Tucson...they have a terrific chef! Food and service was great. We got back into my car (remember Wednesday with the flat tire?) and drove about 10 feet...it was acting weird. So I pulled over, got out, and the SAME TIRE WAS FLAT!!!!! Now either Costco didn't fix it right, or it was a NEW problem!

Well, I got the spare tire out (donut) and mom finally got the jack out. Patti starts jacking up the car. I am looking around for another Angel Man to show up. Ah ha! There he is. About 6'2" , big, sporting a Pink shirt and tie, with fancy shoes! He looks at me from across the 20 feet or so and spreads out his hands (like do you need help? action) and I yell..."Hi there, Yes, could you help us? He immediately comes over and proceeds to give us directions on how to change this tire! Now....you don't tell Gibb girls how to do this! Our dad made us learn how to change the tire on every car we owned BEFORE we could drive it! We were actually doing fine...but I wasn't going to let an Angel do his charitable service! He proceeded to explain what a tire iron is used for, "righty tighty" "lefty lucy"...I wanted to GAG! He was so full of himself. Patti is still jacking up the car and ignoring him! I finally said, "Sir, we know how to do this, we just need your muscles to undo the bolts. Could you do that for us?" (In my sweet voice). Man he huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs. He had to work! We finally got the tire changed. We thanked him and he was still trying to tell us how to do it.

Mom and I dropped Patti off at the house and we headed to the Tucson Costco to see about the tire. Well, the tire was damaged. We needed a new one. They could get us in at 4:00 pm. It was now 1:00 pm. So we left.

Mom and I drove to Chandler Costco with the donut traveling 61 mph. I was praying we wouldn't be rear-ended like Lappalainen's were years ago! We only had one truck honk at us for going slow. Mom says to me, "Wow, the scenery sure looks different. I don't remember seeing all this. Curtis would call me periodically to see where we were. We were never close to anything! Coming up on Red Rock, approaching Casa Grande, the rest stop, etc.... Finally we get to Chandler Costco (Loop 202 & 101) at 4:00 pm. They are the sweetest guys. We get a new tire and leave by 5:15 pm.

We then went shopping at the Distribution Center by the Temple, Seagull Book, and over to the Easter Pagaent. We find great parking 1 block away. We find 2 seats in the middle section on the 4th row! Dead Center! Wow! We are being blessed in spite of our adventures! We visited all day and evening.

What a great performance of the Easter Pageant. They had made some changes, new narration (I recognized the voice!) and re-adjustment of scenes. Was great. We made it home at 9:45 pm just as Curtis was pulling in from his Bishop Training meeting. Long day. We were safe, had adventures to laugh about, and enjoyed each other!

Thank you James!

Well, I had an experience this afternoon! I attend another CES class up at the Glendale Institute. We studied 1 Peter 1 & 2. Was great. So at the conclusion as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I turned left into traffic. Then you hear this awful noise that is really weird...it did not go "thump, thump" but I knew something was wrong!

So I turned left into the entrance to an apartment building just east of the Institute. Got out, right front tire is dead FLAT! Great! I put up the trunk, unscrew the big bolt to undo the Donut Tire. I lift it out and put it by the front tire. Then I try to get the jack out. It won't budge!!!

So...just like at the Grand Canyon (Connie, you'll appreciate this!) I decided to not let the next man to drive by! And....in my mind I am praying every minute...I need help and now! A white pick up with a tatooed man, missing teeth, stringy hair and fully loaded truck with scrap metal is preparing to exit the drive. I step over to the truck, in all my braveness, I say... "Sir, could you please help me get my jack out of my trunk? It is stuck." He said, "Sure, I'll help you." He took one look at my weird looking jack and said to me, "Mame (I am a mame now!), I think I better use mine!" He then proceeded to completely change my tire, and put my trunk back together. While he was doing this we had a great conversation!

I don't know if it was his wife or girlfriend (she had no front top or bottom teeth!) but she visited with us as well. He said when he helps someone, God blesses him! I told him he was my Angel today and that he certainly would receive blessings from above. He then told me how he has studied other religions...Jehovah Witness, the Mormons... At that moment, I told him I was a mormon. He said, "I like those mormons. When I was studying them, I helped them set up and take down the room and prepare for meetings when I lived in Missouri." His friend said, He is being watched over by Raphael (which ever Angel that is). He then said, I know one angel you guys have ...Angel Moroni. I am like that today.

After he was all done ... I asked him his name. It was James. I had no money or nothing I could give me (inside my heart I sure was wishing I had some...debit cards don't work in these moments!)...so I just stuck out my hand and took his in my two and thanked him A LOT!

So...there are wonderful Angels out there doing saving aid to us broken down in life!

San Diego Fun Time

I just got back into town last night. I have spent the last 5 days in San Diego to the National School Board Association Conference. I was the only one from our district to go (save money) and I had some really great experiences. I am only going to list a few.

I stayed at the Sophie Hotel in San Diego. It was a blend of American French. Very plush bed. Oh, I loved it! Down blanket, down quilt, down pillows! I felt like I was back in Europe. However there was NO room service. The only restaurant in the hotel has a French one and I didn't like the menu. So I got really clever for breakfast. I'd buy the food the night before, stick it in my room frig, and microwave it! I found a Ralph's store a couple blocks away.

I had to walk a block and a half to catch the shuttle that ran every day to take us to and from the Convention Center. That was wonderfully operated!

The first morning I got on the bus, I was introducing myself to the people on the bus. I like to talk! I asked one man where he was from. He said "Newfoundland". I said, the island or the mainland? He said Island. I said East side or West side? He said, East - St. John's! I said I spent three years in Stephensville. He said Earnest Harmon Air Force Base? I answer, YES! He is the first person in 41 years that actually knows that place! Anyway...he had quite the Irish accent. I remember growing up and learning Irish jigs, songs. We also learned a blend of Eskimo and French blends. Amazing funny place Newfoundland was...is.

I made reservations one evening at a nearby hotel to eat dinner by myself. I have eaten all my meals in my room with what I could find or at a fast food place. This time I was going to be brave and treat myself! So I went to check out the US Grant Hotel. This hotel was built by Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (2nd son of the President) in memory of his father. It was built between 1905 and 1910. It was restored to its grandeur just two years ago. After looking around the lobby and checking out the menu, I made my reservation. Then I went on to my classes for the day at the Convention Center.

While walking through the Exhibit Hall a lady at a booth said to me, I know you! I turned around and it was Shannon Drake who used to be a teacher at Country Place Elem. School here in Littleton School District! She asked me if I'd like to go have dinner with her. I told her I already made reservations at this really nice place, she could come join me. So we agreed to meet the in lobby that evening.

Here is a photo of the outside of the US Grant hotel.

While I was waiting for Shannon to arrive, I called Curtis to tell him that we have to stay at this place when we come back to San Diego. I said it is soooooo beautiful! He said, "Go find out how much it is to stay there." So I went to the hotel desk and asked. The clerk said, "Would you like to see the rooms?" At that moment Shannon walked up. We had 15 min until dinner. I said, Sure! So he called Clifford (an elderly black gentleman who had been with the hotel for years) to give us a tour. What an amazing experience that was! He took us to three different rooms. Explained the paintings in the foyers, hallways, bronze statues, etc... The photo below is a regular room. The painting over the bed is different in every room. They are for sale. They range from $500 to $1600 a painting, each done by hand. Unique!

Since we still had 5 minutes, Clifford took us to see the ballrooms for wedding receptions, wedding ceremony, the old "speak easy ballroom" with secret door, the old gentleman's smoking room. He demonstrated the lighting from off to fully bright for the effect you would want. He told us about the duplicated silk wall-paper, white gold-leaf trim, marble floors...oh my oh my. We were in back hallways and all over this hotel! We stepped off an elevator and guess who we nearly ran into? John Cleese the actor and his handler. He is really tall...felt like 7'! I thought he was a basketball star. I had no idea who he was! I heard Shannon say as he stepped aside for us to get off... "I am a fan of your's." He didn't reply, but he heard. It was rather funny.

Then we went to the restaurant. This is a 5 star restaurant, so think....tiny displays of art on your plate...not volume. I had Scottish Salmon (had no idea other than Salmon) for $28. Shannon tried the "Taste of the Menu" for $40. It was a sampling of a lot of stuff. We shared everything. We felt like Cinderella!!!! We ate for 3 hours. They kept bringing extra stuff out and saying "Compliments of the Chef". I guess they were entertained over our pleasure of the experience! We even had dessert, then another desert variety tray "compliments of the chef". I have no idea how much the dinner was...but it had to be up there! We sat a table similar to the shown below.

Every day of the conference they had a General Session where all 9,000 attendees went. Each day was a different speaker. Saturday was Arnie Duncan, US Secretary of Education. He was good, spoke about 1/2 hour. Sunday was Toni Morrison, a pulitzer prize author (never heard of her). She rambled, only spoke 20 min. Then Monday was Julie Andrews! I thought to myself...please give her more than 20 minutes worth of time! She had 50 min. They showed clips of her career. I said 20 feet (front row) in front of her! She was beautiful, poised, genuine, and witty. Can you tell I was in awe! I became very emotional. Yea...me! I took my cell phone and tried to get photos. But they just don't turn out. This is a photo I found online. She actually was wearing this outfit when she spoke!
So, I had a fabulous time. Many classes were incredible. I can't wait to share some with my fellow board members. Now...back to real life.

Saturday BBQ in Rainbow Valley!

Saturday afternoon we went to a potluck family get together. My sister-in-law's, Misty Gibb, parents Clint & Rosemary Hall host a spring and fall family potluck get together. Very relaxing...eating...visiting...playing games (like horse shoes). Clint even had a tractor with a wagon he gave kids rides around the property. At one time the golf cart was making loops with kids getting turns to ride. Jaren and Carter brought their bikes and had a grand time. I took several photos to document the event. The captions are below each picture.

Carter enjoying the day on his bike.
Curtis and Sandi.

L-RNatalie, Misty, Bud (real name Larry), and Cody (on his lap) riding in the Golf Cart.

Marlene Dean and my Mom, Betty Gibb. Marlene is my Mom's sister.

Marlene & Jim Deane.

Carter and Carrie Nielson. Carter was actually happy,

he just got serious right as the camera clicked!

Larry Gibb (my dad, Clint Hall, Natalie Gibb, and Rosemary Hall.

Thanks Rosemary & Clint for hosting a very relaxing, fun filled afternoon!

Jaren riding a Bike!

Boy...what a busy blogging day! I spent the afternoon with Jaren. We went to lunch and ran errands. Then he had to show me how he can ride his bike FINALLY! So here are some photos. He said to me when he rode back in..."Grandma, are you proud of me?" Now how would you answer that...but with a YES!!!

Carter trying to be like Jaren!
Jaren even looks both ways!

Ready to ride!

Cool pads! I think they are "Cars" or "Lightening McQueen" helmet & pads.

Perfect for Lightening Jaren!

Kevin making Progress

So many of you are wanting to know how Kevin is doing. I just spoke to Ashley (his daughter) and this is the latest.

Kevin is in the Telemetry Unit of the Oro Valley NW Hospital. His coloring is good; he is eating; going to the bathroom; and does NOT look like he has had a heart attack.

He does NOT remember short term. He remembers going to work...for a conference call to India...that is why he got there so early! He does not remember the day before the current day he is in nor why he is there. This memory lapse is probably two-part: 1) he hit his head when he had the first heart attack and now has 5 staples above his left ear on his head! 2) he has been in a drug induced coma and that takes awhile for the medicine to clear his body.

This afternoon they will do Ecco mapping (there is a medical word for this...but I don't know it) to determine if he needs an internal defibrolater (sp?). If he does...the doctors will insert that tomorrow. If he does NOT, he will come home tomorrow!

Ashley said the one thing Kevin is stewing and worrying about is "Where is my computer?" If you know Kevin, he is always on his laptop! The computer is at home and safe!

Stake Pioneer Trek Experience!

Our Stake, "Phoenix Arizona West Maricopa Stake", just completed a re-enactment of the Pioneer Trek up in Heber, Arizona vicinity. Curtis, "Bishop Nielson", took the following photos.

This shows part of the Pioneer people pulling their handcarts. Most were in families of 8-12 people with Ma's and Pa's.

This shows Becky Phelps leading the walking in this section!

This is what it looked like with kids pulling the handcarts with their family gear in it. Looks like Ma and Pa are walking behind.

Here is our 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric, Chris & Stephanie Walker. They were Ma and Pa for a small group. (The semi brought in the handcarts and they then had to be assembled the day before the trek.) They look happy and so in love! I think this was before the Trek started!

This is Connie & Wayne George (my sister and brother-in-law). Wayne is one of the Young Men Counselors in our Stake that helped plan and organize it all. I think they look cold! Look at that awesome Arizona sunset!

I find this next photo very interesting...modern world TENTS

with pioneer clothing and handcart.

After the bulk of the hiking, they had planned activities for the youth. These activities gave them a chance to see what life was like in the "Pioneer Days" and how to build team work (work together as a family). Some were very spiritual and some just fun!

The trek lasted from 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday to about noon on Saturday. When Curtis got home, all he wanted was a shower! I would have hated being dirty so long. One thing Curtis mentioned was that all the boys started noticing how beautiful the girls were without any makeup. They could actually see their real face! -- even if they were in bonnets and dirt. A big thanks goes to all who helped this event...Curtis said it was fabulous!