Dumpin'

Dear Blog:

Oh how I have missed you! I know you think I am a fair weather friend, but I must defend myself. I fell into a big, huge pit called the HOLIDAYS! Don't get me wrong, I loved this pit and didn't want to ever climb out. However, I could not escape this pit long enough to get in touch with you. I hope you can forgive me and receive me with open arms as you always seem to do. To mend your sad heart, I thought I would send some pictures your way so you could see what has been keeping me from you!

Mom's graduation, 3 little cheerleaders, Christmas happenings with snow and ice included, visits with family, and visits with dear friends (fort worth stockyards, games, eating out), and even a big break on Maddie's little arm...

Decorating

Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.

BOO: did I scare you?

We had a fun halloween. We went to our neighborhood fall festival, a ward trunk-or-treat, and regular trick-or-treating. We ended up with probably 15 lbs. of candy. YUCK!

Audrey had a birthday, shout hooray!

Audrey also had a fun birthday party this year. Since her party was on the 30th of October, we had a halloween party. There was scary food, and witch's brew to drink. They decorated graham cracker haunted houses, and bobbed for apples. Audrey had so much fun dressing up and hanging out with her friends!

Lookout here comes a teen!

Indeed, we now have a teenager in the house. Whitney is so fun and fabulous (most of the time!) I hope she doesn't change much. Whitney turned 13 last month and had a fun birthday party with her good friends. The kids played volleyball and football in the backyard. They also braved the cold swimming pool. Luckily, the fire pit was working, so they could all get warm. It was fun to cook smores out in the backyard as well! We sure missed having her cousin, Rachel, here. Hopefully, they can get together again soon!

Valpariaso and Vina del Mar

After some confusion with a local tour company, Kevin hired a driver to take us out to the seaside towns of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. This was a place I had always wanted to visit, and it didn't let me down. We toured a house of a famous Pulitzer Prize winnner of poetry, saw the ports, ate empanadas for lunch along the coast, saw sea lions in the wild, walked in the sand, and so many other places. We both loved this day, our last day in Chile. Our driver took us to the airport that evening, as we were heading back home.

Cancer Stinks

So I need to take a break from my Chile posts. Yes, I am almost done! Recently we found out that my good friend was diagnosed with a very aggressive stage IV breast cancer. It is also in her lungs. We have been saddened by this news. We try to help the family any way that we can. I am constantly amazed by my friend's strength and her testimony, so it hasn't been all bad. Then, today we received a very sad email from Kevin's good friend, Fred. Fred and his family live in Austin, and we have been able to see them only once since moving here. Fred's dear wife, Caroline, passed away last night. She had been battling colon cancer for 5 years. She definately had her ups and downs, and even was considered cancer-free for a time. We are praying for Fred, and his 3 beautiful children at this time. We hope to go to the services next week.