My first and most likely only political post ever.

     I had the chance to attend the Denver Obama Rally on Wednesday October 24th with my best friend from High School and his family.  I have not seen G in over 20 years but we picked up like it had been 20 minutes.  It is so great to have somebody in your life that does not judge you and is family in all but blood.  So Kai and I drove through the night to get from Heber to Denver arriving just with the rush hour traffic, which I have to say was not as bad as I thought it was going to be but bad enough to remind me why I live and work in a small town.  Getting to his house I was greeted by his 2 lovely children B1 and B2, Kai was a little unsure of the situation given they had both a dog and a cat in the house but soon warmed up to G. and basically followed him or his mother-in-law around for the rest of the day.  We left the house and went to City Park at about 11 which ment we had 3-4 hours to wait till the President got there.  Lucky for us we were able to get in a pretty good location near the band and as long as other people did not have their cameras in the air we were able to see the podium where the President was going to be speaking. 
     The crowd was great, I felt like the turnout was huge but then again reference my small town statement above.  People were having fun, were polite and excited all in all it was a great scene that I have not really been close to since the mid to late 80's when we used to march against all sorts of things in Eugene while in high school or the rally I went to with Up House and Adverb when she was little for Jessie Jackson.  I will say the energy for Obama was more positive than it was at the Jackson Rally and that I feel Obama is a better speaker.   Just a personal opinion here. After about 2 hours of listening to a fairly good band and then some local politicians like the mayor of Denver and the Governor of Colorado we finally got to hear the President and I must say I think he is great, his message is positive he knows there is still work to be done and he is ready to take it on.  I will be voting for him based on what he has done over the last 4 years to help our country and what I hope he can do over the next 4 years.  I know that nobody is perfect and I would agree that he has his flaws but I truly think that he cares for the people of this country and will do what he can to make it better for the poor and the middle classes.  He is also for equal rights for all citizens which is a very important consideration for me and others I know and love, fair pay for women, and a women's right to make her on healthcare choices.  While I do not see his health plan being the best for the country that is only because I think we should have gotten the insurance companies totally out of the picture.  I do believe though that his health plan will provide care for millions that were not able to get it before and they can get preventative care and not only emergency care which is going to make it less expensive in the long run for all of us.  Ok so off of my soap box, here are some of the pictures from the rally.

Here is a link if you want to contribute to his re-election effort. 

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/2012/amberletuli

B2 and some sea shells from Oregon

Kai waiting in line just to stand in a crowd and see Obama, for a autistic young man he did great !

B2 playing of the statues outside of the Natural History museum

Kai and G, new buddies for life.

My second oldest and dearest friend

A smiling Kai

B2 was getting tired 

and so was unknown girl next to her

Banner, so bright spots against a pretty dull sky

Lots of these signs present

Looking out at the boat house City Park, Denver

A couple of young Obama fans

Colorado Congresswoman

Security was everyplace

Colorado Governor

The people in the bleachers, I wish I had been one of them after driving all night I would have liked to have not had to stand for 4 hours.

Our President walking out to speak

speaking and geting the crowd excited

sometimes this was all I could see

M. G's lovely and gracious wife.

B2 I just can not get over how much she looks and acts like Adverb.

Denver Mayor

Dixon the Parrot that for some reason thought I was funny.

Patterned Paper Love

I always get so excited by a new class and as far as I can tell Shimelle's classes are the best ones online. I really do not think there has been one that I have taken that I did not learn something from. This new class is all about using and mixing patterned paper. Anybody that knows me knows that I love patterned paper more than just about anything except travel and my kids. So when the new class started today I was ready to jump right in. What do you know she used a pp line that I could only find two sheets of in my stash. What was I to do? Below is what I came up with. Thanks Shimelle for the inspiration. Sorry the last pic of the layout is blurry I will try and get a better one tomorrow if the rain and wind stop and I can take it out side.
 The 2 pieces that inspired the kit I put together.

   
The 12 sheets of PP that ended up in my homemade kit.


 E
 The finished Layout, used a sketch from the Page Maps 2 book for inspiration.

C-Day minus10 weeks | Handmade By Kirsty

C-Day minus10 weeks | Handmade By Kirsty
I am going to try a new way of doing things this year and her 10 week approach sounds very doable.  I am still not sure where we will be for Christmas this year but if we are home I look forward to decorating and cooking.  If we are at Disney well that would be fun too and somebody else can do the cooking.

Prom 2012

Its 11-11-11

Thank you Beverly at Be Glorious for a wonderful blogging opportunity.
A great day for those who get into dates, I for one probably would not have noticed except for the fact that it seems that everybody is talking about it.  I worked with a nurses aide a few years ago that really wanted to have her first baby on 6-7-08 but she ended up having him on 6-8-08 and was so happy that his last number rhymed with his name Nate.  But in honor of the date, I decided to go with 11 of my favorite photos from 2011.  It has been a busy year, Camping in Colorado, and California we live in Utah.  Trips to Disneyland x2( if you count next weeks trip), Las Vegas and China, knee surgery again and with that a visit from Mom which was great.
 Also today in the United States it is Veterans day and I want to honor four of the very special men in my family that have served our country.  I am not the worlds biggest patriotic person but I do think that these men and the service they have given are special.  3 of them served in WWII and are some of the greatest men I knew save for my father and husband, and my cousin who is still serving in the Navy to all of you and my friend Destiny and her husband who were in Yugoslavia thank you!

Sunset at Mesa Verde, Colorado

Rachel and her Gramie.

My parents and brother taking in the sun? Oregon coast.

Old building with sunflowers in the fog, California

Rachel on the Oregon coast

Abby in the river camping, I did not get many photos of her face this year.  A challenge I will take on for next year for sure.

Brittany in the river camping

Three wise men, statues in Xi'an China

Kai a self portrait

Disney California Adventure

 

City wall Xi'an, lantern festival

These may not be my best photos of the year but they do the best job of telling a story to me when I look at them.

Next in this blog event is 11 things I want to accomplish in 2011
1. Finish my Ethics class
2. Start the next class in my Masters program
3. See the Ocean (take an Oregon girl away from the beach for too long and she gets home sick)
4. Spend more time having fun with the kids
5. Cook more meals at home, we have become lazy and eat out way to often
6. Mail Brittany's presents to China
7. Send off Rachel's application for her passport, and take her to pick up her drivers permit
8. Decorate the house for Christmas this is one I am looking forward too
9. Fold the laundry when it is first dry, I have a terrible habit of letting the clean clothes pile up on the dryer.
10. Spend more time crafting
11. Spend less time on the computer.

11 things I have learned in 2011
1. Durango Colorado is not as close as it looks on a map
2. I enjoyed visiting China it was something I was not really looking forward to, now I can not wait to go back
3. Third time might be a charm for my right knee but I am not going to test that theory
4. Rachel le wee is a good driver but she still makes me nervous
5. 3 dogs is more work than 2
6. If you do not see the humor in things you will go crazy, i.e. Kai outside in 32 degree weather without pants, and the following visit from the city police.
7.  There is a thing as too much work
8.  The kids seem to need me more as they get older even if they do not seem to think they do.
9. I take much better photos of things than people, but that the people mean the most
10. I still love living in Utah
11. Family camping trips are stressful, but when I look back all I remember is the fun parts.

Thank you Beverly for this opportunity for a special post in honor of this once in a lifetime day.