Here is a little peek at our celebration tonight. Sorry I haven't been up to date on everything in the past little while but things will calm down over the next few days.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Love, Catherine Blondie Drorbaugh
On Saturday we went to Dr. Wahlen's, who Mom works with, for their annual Halloween Party. Everyone is supposed to dress up but Kaylee --a beautiful witch fashioned by Celeste--was the only one who got in the spirit.
(I personally didn't have my costume finished and had just gotten done with clinicals that morning. )
So at the party we carved pumpkins, ate great food, watched the kids parade around in their costumes for prizes, and then ran away while everything was still good and no one was too drunk. Yes they drink a little and in honor of this Jason helped me transform my pumpkin into a monument to them.---- See attached.
Mom, Heather(my roomate), and I took a little adventure down to Zion, Grand Canyon, and Jacob Lake over the weekend.
On Thursday night after rehearsal we drove down to Cedar City and me being the night owl listened to the Georgette Heyer book on tape while Mom and Heather dozed in and out. I had a hard time sleeping that night and we woke the next morning, had breakfast at IHOP and then went to Zion.
First stop was Kolob Canyon--Heather being the great photographer with the help of Mom's eye took this great shot.
We hiked to Weeping Rock, looked at the Virgin River and ate lunch next to the Emerald Pools. As usual I was exhausted and my leg decided that it was time to be done long before we saw everything. The highlight of the whole day was the fact that due to my big mouth we got into the park free. I had just mentioned to the park ranger that I had worked at Jacob Lake for so many years and was coming down to visit once again and she gave me a pass for the day......Cool beans!!
After Zion we drove to Jacob Lake Inn, Jacob Lak
e, AZ 86022. It was wonderful to eat at Nedra's Too in Kanab and to see the Rich Family!
The next morning Heather and I got up really early to see sunrise at Marble View but we didn't actually make it to Marble View Point because I got a little confused so I pulled off on a side road and made sure that we were at the edge of the plateau so that we would not miss the sunrise. It was spectacular.
After that we drove back to Jacob Lake and had breakfast and then a 2 hour nap for me. Mom had slept in because she was on "vacation" so she wasn't about to wake up early unless absolutely necessary. After lunch we drove down the the Grand Canyon 
and stopped at Bright Angel Point and headed out to Cape Royal for sunset. We met up with Minna at that point and had a great time with this wonderful couple from New York City. Dinner at Jacob Lake was great and we made time to visit with almost everyone. Oh and in the mean time we visited the Gift Shop about 4 times to look at all of the cool jewelry and other fine things to behold.
The next morning, Sunday, after sleeping in we ate breakfast and drove past the Vermillion Cliffs, across Navajo Bridge, and over to 
Horse Shoe Bend to look at another beautiful view of the Colorado River. Heather and I hiked out to see this spot. After that we loaded back in the car and started our drive home. Can I say how much I miss being down at Jacob and seeing the Kaibab all year long. Also, I miss the smell of sage and the ponderosa pine forest ( Not to mention the great food that is to be eaten there).
Kaylee Anne has become the new family photographer and insists on taking my camera around and snapping photos of everyone and everything. However, she does quite a good job. She also wants to see the picture after each time she takes one. Can you imagine what would happen if she had a regular camera and not digital.
In all honesty it has been more than just one week, but time has gone by extremely quickly. It has been one week since I started the new job and I have learned quite a bit and I know that the learning has only begun. However, I am not loving too many things because I am sick and trying to get better fast so that I won't fall behind. Yesterday was also my first day of clinicals for my CNA. I twas definitely an eye opener. I have worked as a caregiver before but this was more demanding because it was an entire hall of patients that were dependent upon us and not just one patient.
Other than that nothing extremely exciting has been going on. Last night Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Celeste, Jason, Kaylee, and I all went to Maddox for Vilda's 85th birthday. Vilda is Grandma's cousin and was part of the three some of Grandma, Effie Dean, and Vilda. Dinner was delicious and it was great to spend time with family since it doesn't happen very often lately.
Well here are a few pictures from Kaylees birthday party at Dad's house and then at Grandma's house. We tried to keep the spoiling to a minimum.
I thought I would shout from the roof tops, or just my blog, the great news I have. I got a new job as of Friday. I will be the Practice Manager for Lakeview OB/GYN in Bountiful, UT. Yes, I am finally progressing in my career and it looks like this will be a great challenge for me.
Sleep Over #3 on Friday--Kaylee came for another sleep over at my house. The extremely funny thing is that I fell asleep before she did. I have been rather tired from ever so many things going on at work and then trying to keep the peace between patients and entertaining a 3 year old has been rather trying on this old lady's body.
After another interesting Sunday, I have officially had my car backed into, picked some peaches, rescued Kaylee from her fit of madness after playing in the rain, gave Mom a back massage, and googled new blog templates. Doesn't that sound like a rather well rounded day?!
This will be an exciting week. I start my CNA course at the DATC along with working hard to keep everything in line at work. Mom bought a new car on Saturday, a Hyundai Santa Fe--2006. We will be heading up to Ogden tomorrow to turn in the Bravada. No tears on our part of the bargain. Mom got a really good deal and she is happy about it in the bargain. A great warranty comes along with the vehicle and it will be fun to continue to explore in her new purchase. (Can I say that I love car shopping. It is fun to try out all of the new features and buttons in the zippy vehicles that I could not afford or ever see myself driving in real life.)
Anyways--maybe the next post will be more concise... Love me as always.
We spent the majority of our day off at the Red Butte Garden's in Salt Lake City. They were beautiful. Kaylee loved the Children's Garden and being able to play around. I got a little sun and we all felt like we were sweating our brains out.
After going to the Garden's we stopped by This is the Place Monument for a few minutes. Celeste told Kaylee "We are going on another adventure." Then Kaylee replied, "Are we getting lost?" How did she know that we always were experiencing new locations that weren't always the intended destination.
We spent the evening at Mom's house inspiring our little pyro with more fireworks. She loves these so much that it is ever so entertaining.
Well, this month has been filled with many varied activities besides work...yippee!!!
Mom and I went to Arizona for 9 days and spent time with David, Amy, Emma, and Eli (oh and don't forget Lucy the new doggie). We swam every day and worked on our skin cancer when possible. On Friday it rained really hard and Emma, Eli, and I went out and danced in the puddles and splashed around for fun.
One of our many adventures was to go to Tucson and check out the campus of U of A. We found another stretch for me to covet in the bookstore. The campus is beautiful and we took a scenic tour on our way to find the medical center and nursing school. It would be dreamy to go to school down there.
Here are the future doctors of America. We went to the U of A Medical Center and I picked up a couple masks to have the kids try on. This was a hit.
The number one hit at the pool was my goggles which the kids wore more than I did. They were so cute. 
We also saw Wall-E which was another highlight. Emma proceeded to come home and find an empty box and with the help of Granna transform it into her Wall-E costume. Here is a little insight for everyone into the imagination of a 5 year old.
Over the last two weeks we have been working on re-landscaping Mom's back yard. Between our working we have retreated to Granny's house for a dip in the pool. Here are a few pics of the swimming. I have neglected to take pictures of the landscape project but will fully document this later for your enjoyment.
Kaylee loves her seal/dolphin and also as many noodles as she can manage to keep away from the rest of us.
The goggles are an absolute must have so that no splashes get in her eyes, not that she goes underwater unless by accident.
The little cheese.
Almost ready to dive. When Kaylee jumps to you it is more of a leaning tower of Piza than it is an actual jump.
Mom as always is the tannest of all of us. No surprise.
We had a happy Father's Day in our neck of the woods. On Sunday Mom, Kaylee, Celeste, Jason, and I all went to G'ma Mace's house so that we could have a barbecue. It got a little warm and we all ended up in the shade around the pool cooling our feet and chatting for a while. Here are a cute pics that I wanted to share with you.
The Men of Honor.
This is the Three Generation Scowl. Isn't it interesting how they all gave me the same look all at the same time?!
Now we wave goodbye until later. Love to all.
I was coming home from work earlier this week and thus sun was setting. I kept thinking of Minna, aka Melinda Rich, and how we would take ever so many pictures of beautiful sunsets on the Kaibab. So lately I have been carrying my camera with me because you never know when you will have a great picture to take. Anyways, past my tangent now, I pulled over and stopped next to... you will never guess... the cemetery and took a couple pics. I was too late to get the most vivid color but you can't just stop in the middle of the highway just for a great photo opportunity, that is if you care for life or car. It is amazing how God has created so many wonderfully beautiful things.
