We went to bed last night with visions of a SNOWSTORM... when we awoke the snow was JUST starting to come down (around 6:45am)... it did not start EARLY enough... DARN!

But, after we got the boys off to school, Emma and I made a little friend. After a few rides around the yard on the surfboard, we came in for some chocolate, nice and HOT!

Thanksgiving 2009

Christopher was at the orthodontist a few weeks back (and what does that have to do with Thanksgiving you may ask) and he noticed that his tonsils were INCREDIBLY HUGE. We have known this for some time now, but they have never caused him problems. They were however causing his jaw and teeth to form a bit oddly on the bottom. So, for Thanksgiving this year, Christopher had his tonsils and adnoids pulled. All went well, but he is still on the road to recovery. Hence, we did not travel anywhere this year for the Holiday.

Instead of the traditional bird (AKA turkey) we decided to grill steaks! Ah. It was wonderful! Though I did miss the stuffing. Glenn missed the yams. Zach DID NOT MISS the gravy, for he claims it soaks everything! But Zach did miss the cranberry sauce. Nick was happy with steamed beans and rolls. Emma loved the steak and the rolls. She also helped me with the sugar cookies.



In the late afternoon we had friends over for dessert. We still had the traditional pumpkin pie. We also had cherry pie and apple cobbler. There were sugar cookies to decorate too.

Though we missed family and the Turkey Trot... we are very Thankful to be healthy and together. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Halloween 2009

As Heather and The Boys boarded the plane back to Colorado, we loaded up the van and headed for Houston.

We have this Family Tradition - decorate a bit for Halloween, cut out some jack-o-lanterns, then take off for a mini-vacation during the Halloween night. Ben and Zach are severely allergic to peanut, and since the day we found this out, Halloween and all the gathering of the candy has not been that much fun.

So, we have visited the Grand Canyon by train ('07), splashed at the Great Wolf Lodge ('08), day at Legoland ('06), etc. etc... fancy hotel, jump on the beds, eat icecream and stay up late watching movies... not bad at all!

This year we headed to NASA:

There were flight simulators, 5-story play structuce, movies, moon rocks, spaceships/capsules, a full size Saturn V rocket from one of the Apollo Missions, IMAX movies and so much more to see. The 2-hour tram tour was probably the most favorite though. We visited facilities on the campus where the astronauts train. We saw Mission Control! (It was empty this day, but will be full next week with the upcoming shuttle launch.) We got to ask "classified" questions! :) We saw rockets. It was just a fun day.










After the day at NASA, we headed for Hurricane Ike territory, namely Galveston... Galveston o Galveston... we walked the beach and tried to imagine what a wall-of-water would be like. It's so hard to imagine. It was a fun visit!

Visitors From Colorado

Heather and The Boys came out to visit this past week... what a FUN time we all had! We didn't have much planned - with soccer, gymnastics, Scouts, preschool, and other day-to-day activities... Heather, Thomas and Emerson were TROOPERS! They just slipped into our schedule or just stayed back and waited for us to come home after the day's end!

We did find time to carve our Jack-O-Lanterns! Thomas insisted that he was NOT ALLOWED to even touch the knives. Good Job Thomas!



We lit the fire pit one night. Of course with that came ooey-gooey s'mores! Heather treated us to a more healthy snack of baked pumpkin seeds from the jack-o-lanterns we carved earlier that afternoon.



Family Home Evening was just as crazy as ever!


And between all the rain and cloudy days, we did find a few days to enjoy the swings.



Thanks Heather for just rollin' along with us! We hope Mike has additional exams to take in the future and if not, you can still come! Mike too!

Groundbreaking

The Frisco Texas Stake was dedicated in May 2008. Since the dedication, we have been using our new building as a Stake Center. We had the opportunity a few weeks back to participate in the groundbreaking of our new Stake Center. It was a nice experience and adds further testimony to the growth of the church in this area.

The location is 5 miles from our home. (It is a nice Saturday morning run.) So, the following week after the dedication, a few of us ran out there and we are happy to report that the earthmoving equipment has started pushing dirt and the stakes are in the ground. I'm excited to run back there again to see the progress!

Dive Class

Zachary has been playing baseball for the last few years. He's pretty good at it too... but he just doesn't enjoy doing it. I have been trying to convince him that he should join swim team. He is a great swimmer... but he just doesn't enjoy doing it either. So, he convinced himself to take a diving class this past summer! :0

At the end of the class I asked him the question, "Do you think you want to continue?" He responded, "I just don't enjoy doing this. I'll do it, but I don't like it."




I was very proud of him. On the last day of class he did a dive off the high platform! Nice Job Zach! (I don't blame you for not wanting to pursue this either.)

The Luggage Sale

This afternoon after school the boys, Emma and I were sitting at the counter having a snack. Out of the blue, Christopher comments:

Christopher: Do you think I could have a luggage sale?

Cindy: ?? Um ?? What are you wanting to sell? Did you say luggage?

Zachary: Chris, you mean rummage sale!?!?

Christopher: Oh yeah, rummage... Ah... Yeah... a rummage sale! YEAH!

Cindy: Well, what are you going to sell?

Christopher: This is one of those things where you give the stuff that you don't want away and you get money, right!?!?

Zachary: Chris, the stuff can't be broke.

Christopher: But you get money, right?

Cindy: Christopher, how about this - you just go through all YOUR STUFF in your room and put it in front of your door and we'll go from there. Ok?

Christopher: But aren't we going to have the sale today?

Cindy: Christopher, it's Thursday and we're still doing homework and it will be time for dinner soon, then off to bed.

Christopher: Oh man. Maybe we can do it on Saturday when we have nothing going on.

Cindy: Sounds good! (I couldn't tell him we had 2 soccer games, 2 birthday parties and open-gym at gymnastics.)

So, there you have it. He is definitely drumming something up here. Apparently he needs some money? Wait and see!