2017 year in Review

And I'll try again,

2017 year in review...
This year began with a lot of hope for what was to come. We had began to heal some from grieving my dad and things were beginning to look a little more bright. About 10 days into the year, my mother attended a drs appt and was eager to get home and had an accident in the drs office. She broke several ribs and had some other injuries and after spending the night at home, she was taken to the hospital. She only ever spent one more night in her own home. She spent 2 months trying to recover from this but in the end, it was more important to her to be with my dad. She fought a hard battle, but passed away March 18th, 2 days before her 80th birthday. Dan and I spent the next week helping get the house cleaned out (at least started) and things going as far as disbursement of their things.The month between January and March were pretty much consumed with this. we grew quite close with our next door neighbors who have become family (Charles and Gwen). Charles lost his mother only a couple of weeks before I lost mine. He has been much of a fill in father to me after my dad died and going through these experiences I feel made us all form a kind of bond. We met Charles through Kyler, then Kyler moved away (much to Charles' dismay).
In April, we lost a long time friend Glen. It was a shock. I guess they needed him in Heaven. Even though we live far away, this was a huge loss to our family. He was one of the true friends. AKA Candyman, Mr Mellow Yello, etc. We got to spend some time with Sam and Karl & Renae as they were here for Lizzie's dance competition. Also, had friends from Utah come visit. We were given tickets to Jimmy Buffet (Thanks Gwen), which was very cool! Also what made us look into the house seats program for locals here in Vegas. Learning about this has made it so we have been able to see a lot of Vegas and sort of live the Vegas life sometimes. Also makes it so we can take people to see things when they are in town. Pretty cool deal.
In May, we attended Lance and Lizzie's Wedding. Dan had the opportunity to be the photographer for this. It turned out very nice. Glad we were able to attend and be a part of this day. It was a good thing for our family as we all needed have some happy memories made.
June and July were consumed with changing of Dans job. He changed positions and companies, but never moved. The company he was working for "Solar City" merged with Tesla . This change has been a blessing and otherwise. Dan was promoted to Supervisor at his job.  We are still adjusting. It's pretty cool though, once people learn that Dan works for Tesla, he becomes the coolest guy in the room. Although he usually is anyway, it's pretty cool when this happens. Aubree and Matt purchased their first car. We got to see Natalie and Kelley for a few minutes. Jake got his drivers License. Also in July, My cousin Lori moved to LV and Aubree and Matt decided to move their wedding up (at my urging). It changed from March 2018 to October 2017. It was also the 1 year anniversary of my dad's death in July. Attended a few work friends birthday parties. (Dan's work people). Dan and I celebrated our 28th anniversary. We attended a dinner with all of the managers and supervisors and heard some pretty killer karaoke via Fernando. Then saw Frankie Moreno the next night. This one was one of Dans favorites.
In August Dan and I attended his family reunion in Hobble Creek Canyon in Utah. We camped, in a tent...enough said. It was a nice couple of days. We had to leave to get home for a work thing for Dan, but got stuck in stopped traffic for 3-4 hours less than 20 miles from home. Jake started his Junior year of High school. He is a student Leader and a pretty killer percussionist! Looking at a pretty sweet senior year. Only needs a few classes.
Between August and October, we were pretty much consumed with wedding planning. In September, my BIL Rick had an emergency quadruple bypass. He has always been kind of superman, so this was a little scary for everyone. He is doing well, when we were there for Aubree's bridal shower, just a few days later, he was up and at em like nothing had happened. So glad is is OK. he's pretty special to us. We got to attend a baby shower for Marilu's Daughter. It was pretty fun. MariLu is the bomb. She's very kind, and can make any kind of food and it is always delish. She even made Dan a Vegan Birthday cake. We got to see George Straight as well. 25th anniversary show from Pure Country.
On October 28th, Aj and Matt got married. Kyler married them, I was escorted down the isle by Jake, and Megan was a bridesmaid. All of my siblings were here. This was amazing to me. I even got to see some family and friends I hadn't seen in forever (Kathy, Lie,) and so many of my work people were there to support us. It was great. The wedding turned out pretty nice.  We attended weddings almost weekly before this one. Some of Dans work friends were getting married and one of them had him shoot their wedding reception. It was really fun. Many memories were made. I/we have gotten to meet some really cool people this year. Charles and Gwen moved, but they are very nearby so we are OK with it ;-)
November was pretty low key, we had Thanksgiving here, just us and Lori. We learned that even though he tried hard, Dan does not like Tofurkey...LOL.
Jim & Shirley were here for Christmas. Kyler came down as well and Lori came over. All in all we had a pretty nice Christmas.
Now we start 2018 with hope that this will be the year we meet our goals and have no losses.

Happy New Year! Wish you all a happy and healthy 2018!