Michael Buble'

Shawn and I had a great little get-a-way this past weekend. We left on Saturday after a late lunch and drove on the back roads (State Route 42) from our house to Cincinnati to go to the Michael Buble' concert being held Saturday night at the U.S. Bank Arena.



We stayed at the Westin Cincinnati, downtown. We had a great room (thank you PriceLine) and after a meal in our room, we changed and went to the concert. It was a fantastic night. Preceeding Michael Buble' was an acappella group from New York called Naturally 7. They

perform what they call "vocal play" which is where they vocally mimick different musical instruments (guitar, bass, drums, trombone, trumpet, violin, etc) while singing songs by others and those written by themselves. They sing blues, jazz, gospel and rock. They provided an incredible opening prior to Michael coming on stage.



Michael started about 9:00 p.m. and he put on quite a show. He really gets into the songs he sings and oddly enough somehow makes the evening feel intimate for the audience, even though there are 9,000 to 10,000 people attending. He sang for about 2 hours. There were times that his dialogue between songs was a little off-color and would have been better had he left it at home. All-in-all it was a great concert. He has a fantastic voice. I liked it well enough that we bought tickets for his Columbus, Ohio concert for Shawn to take Beth and Amber (sorry Kate).



After the concert, Shawn and I had a cup of herb tea and shared a piece of cheesecake in our room. The next morning we had a bagel for breakfast, read our books and then drove back to Columbus with my sister, Jody, and her fiance, Tom Grimm. They had flown in to Cincy from Denver so they could go back to Columbus with us and make some final preparations for their wedding in May. We drove back along SR 42 again, stopping in Lebanon, Ohio for a big lunch at the historic Golden Lamb Inn.



I mean it.......it was a great weekend. It was so nice not to be in a rush or feeling like we had to be somewhere specific at any time. Let's do it again soon, Shawn.

Winter Wonderland in Ohio

Kurt And The Little Tractor That Could.......Honestly Shawn,
don't you agree I need a bigger man toy than this???

Bailey - This is where he stopped.
Kurt went out and picked him up and brought him back inside.


A look at our front porch


Front of our house - taken part way down our driveway

The last two days have been great!! We love the snow. It has snowed since Friday morning, and it is still coming down (Saturday at 5:30 p.m.) We were out and about yesterday with little difficulty, except the traffic all moved about 20 mph. Our SUV was just fine and we didn't think twice about joining our dinner group last night over at the Barney's. Today was a little different story.

We awoke this morning to about 8 additional inches of snow on the ground. Our daughter Beth planned a group of her friends to be at our house today for a scrap booking feast. I got on our little tractor and started pushing snow off our driveway and parking area about 7:00 a.m., but I was unable to keep ahead of it due the volume of new snow coming down. Beth called to say they cancelled and so I came in for breakfast and some quiet time with Shawn by the fire.

By about 1:00 p.m. we were ready to get out of the house and see if we couldn't find some place open for lunch. McDonald's was it. All the malls are closed; the only stores we found open were the grocery stores, gas stations, Home Depot and McDonald's. Visibility was very bad (white out) and very few cars were trying to maneuver the poorly plowed streets. I pulled out two stuck cars using a tow rope I put in the back of the Denali. When we got home from our little jaunt, we got a call saying that church was cancelled tomorrow.

Update.......it is now 5:50 p.m. and the snow has abruptly stopped; the sun even popped through the clouds. What juxtaposition from the last 31 hours. Our snow total is 20.3 inches, which beats the previous record set in 1910 of 15 inches. I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our house, yard, Bailey in the snow and me standing by The Little Tractor That Could.

Shawn, Kate & Chad - With The Cousins

John, Grant, Jennifer, Todd
Claire, Morgan, Amelia, Amanda, Kate, Chad



While Shawn was in Utah, she stayed with Kate and Chad for a few days. While there they went to Todd & Jennifer's for dinner and some catching up with some of the cousins living in the Provo area.

Shawn's Quilt Retreat - Bryce Canyon, Utah

Ruby's Inn Resort Hotel


Bryce Canyon - Absolutely Gorgeous







Some Beautiful Quilts - Examples of Different Techniques


Shawn left for Utah, Bryce Canyon specifically, on Tuesday the 19th to go on a quilting get-a-way with several of her Upper Arlington friends (Troba Mangum, Karen Fulton). They were off to Bryce Canyon; staying at Ruby’s Inn Resort Hotel. Sharon Friedman (used to live in UA) met them, coming from Colorado. They seemed to have had a great time with the other 255 women who attended. They learned many techniques and methods from quilt designers brought in from various parts of the country to teach the classes. They attended classes and quilted all day and into the night. Shawn started several projects which She will work on over the next year or so. The girls had a great time.