A dear friend remembered

Just a quick note to remember a dear friend that has passed away. Cydi Boorsma was a wonderful neighbor and sweet person to associate with. Terry and her have always gone out of their way to stay in contact with us and see how we are doing. We will miss stopping and visiting with her. Our heart goes out to Terry and the family at this time of loss. We hope and pray that they may be comforted and that their lives will be filled with peace and they will know that she is home.

The Changing of the Guard

I don't recall exactly when I purchased my four-wheeler. I would guess 2003 or 2004, some of you might remember. Needless to say I took a lot of crap owning a Yamaha and being a part of a family of Honda lovers. I have riden that bike in three states and over thousands of miles. It has taken me to some of the coolest places I've been in my life and returned me home. A few times it threw me off and I've abused the poor girl a bit, but all in all we have come a long way together.

Last summer she started acting up a bit while we were up Manti Canyon & on Thousand Lake. I didn't think much of it. Later on in the fall we went riding in Idaho's South hills and she died on me just as we crossed the Nevada border. I figured after five years of no problems maybe she was ready for a tune up. To my dismay I have since discovered that the CDI unit went junk. The price for the part is more than I would consider putting into the bike.

Now I would be dishonest to say that I hadn't been looking at new bikes. I had actually considered selling my bike this spring and purchasing a new one. Apperantly my act of betrayal was more than my poor four wheeler could handle. Her heart broke and she died.

On a positive note Honda's technology has finally conformed with my wants and desires. They have designed a bike just for me. I would be ungrateful to not rush right out and buy one. The new bikes a Honda TRX 700xx. I am excited to pick it up on Saturday. Hopefully we will have years and years of riding adventures without killing each other. I was slightly shocked at the sticker price and my main reasoning behind writing this blog is to cope with buyers remorse even though I haven't picked it up yet. I do take solice in the fact that boys need their toys. I don't know who will take care of the kids while Natalie's in school. It now appears that I will be busy, hehehe.

Nat & the Strad's

What a weekend. For Christmas this past year I bought Natalie some tickets the symphony, a night at the Anniversary Inn, & dinner at the Olive Garden. While we were in Salt Lake we decided to stop in and get Natalie's violin repaired because the glue was coming undone in one spot. They said that the repairs wouldn't take too long and we could wait while they got it done. Nat has been thinking about purchasing a new violin so she started playing some instruments in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. Peter Prier showed her quite a few & she found one for $24,000 that she really likes. He said that the violin has a really good one and then set it down on the table and suggested that they try some real violins. He opened a safe and handed her a violin. It was the Stradivarius "Firebird" made in 1718 in Cremona, Italy. The violin was worth about 8.2 million dollars not to mention that she was holding a piece of history. That is the violin in the first picture. The second picture is of a violin made by Joseph Guarneri in 1734 in Cremona, Italy as well. She really like that violin. At 5 million it was quite a deal. She then played another Stradivarius called the "Reyneir" made in 1681 & named after one of Napolean III's generals. The violin was apparently a part of Napolean III's collection & given as a gift to the general. It was amazing to think of history and the places that those instruments have been. It was also amazing to think that Natalie was holding something worth that much. Needless to say we didn't come home with a new violin. It was fun to see & hear them.

The symphony afterwards was great as well as the Anniversary Inn & Olive Garden. It is always fun to get away and spend time with just the two of us. The kids had a blast staying with grandparents & going to McDonalds with them. I think that they would have rathered stay with them then come home with us and go to school this morning. It was really nice to see most of the Family. We missed not seeing Mike & Becky.