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.

The Geysers

We travelled to a very small village called San Pedro de Atacama. The town is extremely rustic, which was so fun! We got up at 4:00 in the morning to begin our tour of the geysers in the High Andes on the border with Bolivia. We were cautioned to walk slowly, and to breathe deeply. They weren't kidding. The geysers sit at just under 14,000 feet! I think that is the highest place I have ever been. It was freezing cold, but so amazing! It was a fun day....

We also drove across the Tropic of Capricorn!

Chuquicamata

This was a mining town that Kevin served in for a time. The town was completely owned by the mine company. A few years ago, they decided it was unsafe for the people to live there, so they all moved to a nearby city. It is now a ghost town. That was pretty weird for Kevin to see this once vibrant city completely silent and still. We were able to tour the mines, and see some of his old areas!

On to Anto

Antofogasta that is! This was Kevin's mission city. It sits on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It is a port city with much to offer the local economy. There are all kinds of neighborhoods there from very well off to extremely poor. Kevin served in the poorest sections of the city for 5 months of his mission. I must say, that I am not sure I could've done it. The missionaries all around the world have such a marvelous and life-changing message to spread. I am sure at times Kevin felt that he just couldn't do enough to help the people that he had grown to love. I know that the best gift that a poor 19 year old, or any aged person, could give was the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Copiapo

Kevin spent much of his mission in the town of Copiapo. So, we definately had to go see his old stomping grounds. We flew up to the outskirts of town. Before heading up to Copiapo, we stopped to see a little fishing village named Caldera. We also got to see a popular tourist destination called Bahia Ingles. While in Copiapo, we had a very special experience finding and visiting a sweet couple that Kevin got to teach 20 years ago. It was definately an afternoon filled with the tender mercies of the Lord. I think our visit with Victor and Graciela was the highlight of our whole trip for Kevin. We spent quite a few hours with them! We also had a barbecue with Kevin's old mission friends and family. Thank you Yanina and Pato for a yummy dinner! We also got to drive out to see an old Inca mine and visit some of the infamous Chilean grape vineyards.

Puerto Montt, Chile

We travelled to the South of Chile, but only got to spend 22 hours there. We rented a car and drove around Lake Llanquile. What a beautiful and isolated part of the world. It was so cold, rainy, and foggy that when we drove to the top of the volcano, Osorno we couldn't even see it! Even with the less than tropical weather, it was so beautiful, green, and lush there. It is probably the closest we will ever get to the south polen and it really felt like the bottom of the world!

CHILE

Kevin and I had the trip of a lifetime. We went to Chile for 10 days at the beginning of October. We had so many amazing experiences! I can't write about all of them, but I will post a few of them over the next little while. For starters, I will post pictures of our first few days in the country which we spent in Santiago.


We enjoyed a city tour, an afternoon in the Pre-Colombian Museum, as well as a bicycle tour through the city. I think we both enjoyed the bicycle tour the most.


Kevin in front of the Moneda - which is kind of like the White House. Research what happened there on Sept. 11, 1973 to learn more about it's history!





SAN CRISTOBAL



Overlooking Santiago

Back in School

Summer ended so soon! We started back to school 3 weeks ago, and are finally getting back into the routine. It seems to get harder each year to start into the school season! Whitney is in the 7th grade. Brandon started middle school this year and is in the 6th grade. Audrey is in 3rd grade. And Maddie is now a big first grader. It should be a challenging, yet rewarding year!

To You
To sit and dream, to sit and read,
To sit and learn about the world
Outside our world of here and now --
Our problem world--
To dream of vast horizons of the soul
Through dreams made whole,
Unfettered, free -- help me!
All you who are dreamers too,
Help me to makde
Our world anew.
I reach out my dreams to you.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Link

Okay my link didn't work.

So to see the blog, go down to my boutique and click on "Blonde". Hope you'll enjoy!

Newfound Blog

I just stumbled across this blog that has such cute and simpe ideas for so many things. Thought you would enjoy. Go here to see!

WASHINGTON 20 July 2009

President Barack Obama was presented with five large leather-bound volumes today by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that detail his family history going back multiple generations covering hundreds of years. The presentation was made by Church President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They were accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who is also a member of the Church.

President Monson said: “President Obama’s heritage is rich with examples of leadership, sacrifice and service. We were very pleased to research his family history and are honored to present it to him today.”

Elder Oaks, who oversees the Church’s family history program, said, “The Church has great resources and experience in genealogy work, and we are proud to have researched such a unique and impressive family history.”

“I thank President Monson and Elder Oaks for sharing our religion’s tradition of genealogical research with the president and his family,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “I am also glad that President Obama and Elder Oaks had an opportunity to discuss their shared passion of the law. Recognizing the president and first lady's deep regard for family, I am honored that our church can have any part in documenting their family history.”

The Church has also presented personal histories to other U.S. presidents, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Read President Obama’s statement about the meeting

Forgotten picture

Somehow this didn't get on - ENJOY!

Mountains in TX?

There really are, but nowhere close to Dallas. Kevin, Brandon, Chris, and Gina drove to West Texas yesterday - eight hours away. The climbed and camped on the top of Mt. Guadalupe (the tallest mountain in Texas at 8000 ft.) I haven't been able to talk to them yet, but Kevin sent this picture of Brandon at the top! What a view, and looks like Brandon is in his element!

A day at Six Flags

Each year the elementary students have a chance to earn a free six flags ticket. They just have to read and track their time for 600 minutes. All of my elementary kids earned their ticket, so we just HAD to use them. We all had fun. Brandon tried Batman for the first time, and he loved it. Lucky for us, the lines were almost nonexistent. I don't think it was as hot as some of our days there last year either. All in all, a good day.

Weird Science

We spent a day at Fair Park going to the Science Museum. Maddie enjoyed the dinosaur dig and the big bubbles that Brandon made for her. I think everyone enjoyed the IMAX movie!