We finally made it to Wyoming and are spending a few days with my Mom and other family members who live here. Today is my Mom’s birthday and we have a party planned tonight at my brother’s (I think he knows about it).

Yesterday we spent the day in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, some 30 miles to the east. It was fun shopping, eating and messing around.

We ended up at a Corral West Ranchwear store that was closing and my brother, my honey and I all bought cowboy hats. Not sure why, but we did. I guess we got caught up in the moment.

Last night we all gathered over here and took “cowboy” photos. I’ll get one or two posted when I get back home.

Boy, when the nights get longer, they get longer fast! Since today is the shortest day of the solar year, tomorrow morning’s sunrise –if visible behind the clouds — will be an incremental moment earlier.

We went to our friends Patrice and Harry’s annual Christmas party last night and really enjoyed it. They have the most eclectic group of friends — including us. It’s nice to see real diversity in whitebread Utah.

We’ve done a little Christmas shopping over the last couple of days. It really is more fun to give….

The weather is supposed to be stormy again tomorrow, and the the next day and the next day. It looks like our Wyoming trip may come after Christmas instead of before.

Tomorrow is my sister-in-law’s 50th birthday. We had hoped to be there for that event, but it’s not to be. She was here for mine last March and I hoped to return the favor.

My honey mentioned that his parents were driving up from Sanpete County to attend his Messiah concert tonight, so I bought a ticket and joined them. I just got home on slick and slippery roads, but arrived safe, sound and warm.

The concert was great and very inspirational. It’s fun to see people get caught up in the moment and let down their barriers.

Tomorrow morning we’ve tickets to see Brian Stokes Mitchell sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the “Great and Spacious” downtown and then tomorrow night an AIDS benefit concert.

Monday night is the final Messiah performance and I’m going with my honey’s Mother and sister, who are driving up from Nevada — barring any bad weather.

That’s a lot of events for this homebody.

As usual, I was the photographer at our recent family gathering in Mesquite and as usual, the candid shots tend to be the best ones.

After taking a couple of carefully-composed shots, this one suddenly appeared spontaneously from my honey and his his brother and two sisters. His dad just laughed, apparently not as jaded as the rest.

We had a fantastic and heavy dinner at my honey’s mother’s yesterday, which broke up about 7 p.m. At that point, a few of us went to spend a little “quality time” at the casinos, and while we didn’t lose our shirts, didn’t exactly walk away with Megabucks either.

This morning is more sunny in Mesquite and in spite of being “black Friday”, we don’t have shopping on the agenda. I think it’s leftovers for lunch, followed by a family movie outing to see “Australia”, the new film with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. My honey’s father served his mission in Australia in the early 1950s and has fond memories of his time there, and made the request for this movie.

We’re here until Sunday morning and enjoying the family time.

Thanks to Bonnie for sending me the link for this. Keith Olbermann is a commentator on MSNBC. Here is his editorial/commentary on California’s Proposition 8:

The weekend is fast ending!

We had brunch with Allison & Rawlin, Rob & Lee this morning at Over the Counter. Scotty bailed, but we gave him a pass because he’s got a new dog. (but that’s the last time, Scott)

I’ve spent the later afternoon updating my photoblog with images from our trip to Rome in 2006. Lots of memories sprang up. In spite of being back from Mexico only a week, I’m ready for another vacation.

I wonder if the economic issues facing the US and the rest of the world will impact us directly. These are scary times.

And writing of scary times reminds me that I think I mentioned that we early-voted on Thursday. It feels good to have that out of the way and to watch election coverage with a less-than-vested interest. My blood pressure is lower.

I guess it’s not a secret that I didn’t vote for McCain and 2012 candidate Palin.

Latest scuttlebutt is the $150k spent on new clothes to make her presentable to the common man. They could have saved money by shopping at Wal-mart.

The $22k bill for two weeks pay for her makeup artist bordered on obscene.

I remember rapid right-wingers screaming because Bill Clinton and later John Edwards had $300-400 haircuts, which made them “elitists”.

I suppose that if I had hair and money, I might spend that much to look good as well. But probably not.

We spent the weekend in Mesquite, Nevada with my honey’s sister, who was taking care of their mother, who had just had knee surgery (she is doing really well and seemed to be getting around better than we expected).

We had a very nice time visiting at their mom’s house. We had never spent much time there, but now that her husband is convalescing at his daughter’s in Las Vegas, the atmosphere is much more inviting.

We had a barbecue there last night with their other brother, who had flown in from Oregon for the weekend and then drove with his girlfriend to spend time with us for the day. They stayed until we watch the full moon rise and the sun set.

We stayed at the Eureka Hotel and spent too much money at the Eureka Casino, but had a fun time. We even spent some time at the pool yesterday (I’m not a sun-worshipper), but they had cabanas that provided plenty of shade and I was able to read my book and nap a bit.

We got home this afternoon and were just happy to be back where we can get on a regular schedule (those 2-3 a.m. nights kill me).

My honey leaves tomorrow for three days in Los Angeles with a new, Mexico-based customer (meeting on neutral ground I guess. Tijuana didn’t sound too exciting).

My brother just sent a photo of the marker we had erected for my brother who died last November.

I like the Comic Sans font (chosen by his twin brother).