Happy Thanksgiving

we hope that everyone had a great thanksgiving. we stayed home this year again, and I cooked dinner again. we were invited to have dinner with my sister-in-law ashley and her family, but there were supposed to be a lot of people that we didn't know and i knew that alex and i wouldn't be comfortable with it. it turned out that there was a lot less people and it was at barbs house. wish we would have known. we did however went out for desserts with mike, ashley and brittan. it was great seeing them. alex and mike talked shop (army) the girls were coloring and giggling with each other, and ashley and i tried to talk over all of it.

we ended up hitting the big sales on friday. actually alex made out his wish list and i went to the stores. i was smart and went out at about 8am. i wasn't going to get trampled on. my theory was if the item wasn't there for me to buy then it wasn't meant to be. all in all we had a pretty good weekend. i have two and a half more weeks of school left for this quarter. it will be nice to have a break and focus on family and my church calling. we hope that everyone is well and we will talk to you all later.

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote. A lot has been going on since August. Both the girls and I started school in September. My first day of school was on my birthday. I am taking a Para educator course. I should be done with it and have my degree in about a year. I am having fun going back to school. The girls are doing great in school. Ashley is done with speech therapy and they are both doing a musical instrument. Ashley is in band playing the flute and Sam is in orchestra playing the viola. they are both having a great time with it. They also played volleyball this year. Ashley has improved so much from last year. She has been diving for the ball and you can always count on her to yell "mine" even if the ball isn't going to her. This was Sam's first year and I think she had a good time also. Next on our list is basketball which starts after Christmas break.

As you can see how cute the girls are in there Halloween costumes. Sam was a bat princess and Ashley was Sharpay from High School Musical. We had a great time going to a couple of trunk or treats until Ashley got sick in the parking lot. Memories.

There really isn't much going on with us. Alex still has a couple of more years until he can retire. He wants to make sure that I will be done with school first so I can take care of him while he goes back to school. I will try to keep things posted more often. Talk to you all later.

Point Defiance Zoo

Our last little outing was to the zoo. Sarah was really upset because it was raining. Well it was only sprinkling but to her you think it was a down pour. We went early so all of the animals were active. We got to see the monkeys, elephants, whales, seahorses and lots of other animals. The girls had a great time playing at the new animal ave. There was a spider web to climb and a lemur jungle gym. We also got to go back to school shopping. I can't wait for the girls to start school. They don't start until the 2nd of September. They aren't the only one's starting school this year. I am going back to school. I am going for a para educators degree. which means when I am done i can work in the classroom. I will be going for 18mos straight but that is OK since the government is paying for it. My first day of school is September 29. If that sounds familiar to any of you it should. That's my birthday. Yeah for me, i get to start school on my birthday.

I did get a early birthday present. Since gas is so high and we needed on anyway, Alex bought me a new car. It is a 2008 Kia Rio, black. I love it. We have had it for less than a week and Alex only got to drive it twice. The test drive and half way home. We still have the van and Alex's truck. we kept the van so we would have something comfy to drive on lone trips. well i am going to end this. I'm sure you are all tired of hearing from me. take care and we will talk to you later.

Hunting Vampires and Werewolves

If any of you have young girls or have got caught up in the whole Twilight craze you know what I am talking about. Part of Sarah's graduation gift was a trip to Forks, Wa. It was a lot of fun. If you haven't been there it is a very small town with really nothing there. There are some stores and parks and even a little hospital but nothing to brag about until a unknown Aurthur by the name of Stephenie Meyers wrote a book about a family of vampires who lives in Forks. Now the town is overflowing with tourists. Every where we looked we found twilight fans. All the stores were selling things about vampires and even werewolves. (if you curious just read the first book. I guarantee that you will be hooked) We got to see where the main characters lived and worked. Sarah was upset when we went to the Cullen's house and found out that they and Bella went to Alaska to look at colleges. We did get to see Bella's house and where Dr. Cullen works.

The next day we went to La Push Indian Reservation to hunt wolves. Sarah said that she wasn't leaving until she imprinted (second book). She didn't and we made her leave. We did hike to second beach. It was a rough hike. A steep uphill going in and then a steep down hill with stairs. Which meant a steep uphill with stairs coming out. After we got off the trail we had to climb over 100 feet of drift wood. And they weren't small logs either. After we got to the beach we kicked off our shoes and went walking on the sand. It was so relaxing just being by the water. The girls had fun getting their feet wet even though the water was freezing.

After the long hike back to the car we decided to go home. It was a great little vacation even the drive there and back wasn't so bad.

The girls first concert

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote. As some of you know we had my little sister Sarah here the last couple of weeks. It was her graduation present from us and we had a lot planed for her. At the beginning of the month we went to a concert. It was Ashley and Samantha's first concert and we got to see one of our favorites. Kirby Heyborne. He had with him Corbin Allred (the main character from saints and soldiers) who was absolutely amazing. I was able to get us front row seats which all the girls love. Ashley spent most of the concert screaming "Kirby I love you. You rock!" Sam was a little restless towards the end. I guess she's just not used to sitting for two hours.

After the concert we were able to get their autographs. We saw Corbin first and he was a total sweetheart. He wrote on the picture that Sam had "This man loves you (pointed arrow to himself) do you love him check yes or no." Ashley had him sign her purse and he wrote "save your money + love Corbin forever." Sarah was wearing her I heart Kirby Heyborne shirt and Corbin wrote on the back that she loves him more. I had won a signed concert poster during the concert and wanted them to personalize it. Corbin wrote that i have a wonderful family and the drew a mustache and bread on Kirby's picture. he was going to do a eye patch but i said no. After we took pictures with him we stood in line for what seemed for ever to see Kirby.

I couldn't believe that when we finally got to the front of the line to see Kirby that he remembered us from last year. Actually he remembered the girls and then Sarah and I. He couldn't get over how tall the girls were getting. After he was done signing things for the girls and Sarah i had him personalize my poster. Ashley had pointed out what Corbin had done so he drew an eye patch on his own picture. All in all it was a great experience for us all especially the girls. I don't think that they will ever forget. My girls can't wait until next year when they can go again.

Snow in July

Here is video of the girls playing in the snow at Mt. Rainer. As you can see they are having a great time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Well the girls are another year older. Ashley has reached the double digits and Sam is nine. I swear they each grew like six inches since their birthdays. I believe that they were spoiled this year. Harmony and Go mo (aunt) were here for the Fourth of July weekend. Of course Harmony spoiled the girls and Alex. We went to mt. Rainer and Seattle. Suk's niece from Korea with her so we had to show her around. We all had a really great time. We took them to the space needle, pike's place market and the water front. They had a great time. It was sad to see them leave go. We had a birthday party for the girls on the 4Th while Harmony was here. We spent Sam's birthday in Seattle and took Harmony and Go mo to the airport on Ashley's birthday. Later we took them to Chuck E Cheese. This last Saturday we had their party with friends. It was a hot day so we played in the water having water balloon fights and water fights. We had a pinata for the party and we also set up the moon bounce. Over all I think that they had a great birthday.

I have been having fun with my new calling. I am in charge of my first enrichment activity this Thursday. I am really excited and nervous. I hate being in charge of things. Other than that not much is going on. Sarah is coming in a few weeks and we are really excited to have her come. I hope all is well with everyone. We will talk to you later.