Check out my new blog!

I decided to start a new blog ... I have maintained a workout routine over the years and it's become a part of my daily life. Almost every week I receive an email from a friend/acquaintance wanting to know about my workouts, what I do, how I do it, etc. So I decided that it would be easier to just blog my workouts and share with everyone.

Check it out! It's called A-Fit-Tude and let me know what you think. I would love suggestions on how to improve it.

Emi's track meet

Emi's last track meet of the season. She's having a bone scan next week because the doctor thinks she has a fracture. She had been complaining of pain. We assumed it was shin splints but we were wrong! Her orthopedist allowed her to run this last meet. Now for the scan ... She won't be able to run for district (for which she qualified). She's bummed but safety comes first.

Easter

Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures .. odd. So I will add pictures to this post later.

Easter was weird because it was just the 3 of us. It's a difficult weekend for Alyssa to come home because it's a ways to travel for a couple of days. She spent it with my parents. Christian opted to go visit a friend at college who wasn't going home, so he went to San Marcos. That left Dain, Emi and me. It was nice. We colored eggs, had a yummy meal, and I even made Emi go a hunt. When she woke up, I announced that she had to find her Easter chocolates. She looked at me and said, "so did you hide them or dad?" I asked her why and she replied, "because if it was dad, it will be hard. If it was you, it will take me seconds." ha ha Well, it was me and it took her seconds.

Pho

We LOVE pho, so we decided it was time to just make our own. We added a couple of things (broccoli) to make it more veggie friendly. It was YUMMY. In fact, we've made it several times since. YUM!

Keith Urban and me

I have been bugging Dain and his co worker to get me back to meet Keith Urban .. and it happened! lol It's funny because I have met several recording stars but this one left me speechless ... and I'm not even a huge country fan! ha ha ha

Emi's 15th birthday

I can't believe Emi's 15 ... She's our "green baby" as she was born on March 17. We love you!

Receiving her birthday spankings ....
Going out for Hawaiian food ... her fave ..

And at her request, a yummy guava ice cream cake!
Happy birthday baby girl!!!

Weekend Flight

We decided to take the plane out for a spin a couple of weeks ago. We flew to Brazoria, a small town close to the gulf. This is us landing at the airport ...

This is my reward for being such a good co-pilot ... YUM

And this is me, happily flying home. The End.

Dinner with Alyssa

I had to go visit my office in Utah in February and I was sooooo happy to have the chance to have dinner with Alyssa one night!! I met her in Brigham City. I know this is way late in posting but I just downloaded the picture! I love you Aly!!!

Ronald McDonald House

Every year I go with an association to which I belong and prepare and serve lunch at one of the Ronald McDonald Homes in Houston. Houston has 3 homes and all 3 are invited to lunch that day. It's a humbling experience! I'm very grateful for this privilege.

Houston Rodeo Cook Off

Dain has to go to Cook Off every single night for his job. I tagged along a couple of nights. We were also invited to the House of Blues tent and I have to say, I was impressed. Very well decorated! Wish I had pictures. Most tents are like a bar. Theirs looked like their restaurant. I was invited by a client to their tent but never made it there. We always leave early. ha ha

Grant-a-Starr 5K

We did it! Second year for us. It was a chilly day (for Houston) but we got up early and headed to Sugar Land Memorial Park for the 5K. Of course, Emi and Dain kicked my butt. lol

Woman of the Year Nomination

So Alyssa was nominated at Utah State University for the Woman of the Year Award. I'm so proud of her! She's in her third year of college and working hard to keep her grades up. She's also on the Dean's list. Yay Aly!

My baby brother

This is my youngest brother, Ryan, and his girlfriend Alycia. They got to go to the Grammys (lucky). Ryan was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had major surgery yesterday to remove nodules and lymph nodes. He will be at Huntsman Cancer Center for about a week and then starts the treatments and recovery. Weird thing is that this is my second brother to get it. My other brother, Andy, was diagnosed, treated and recovered about 4 years ago. What are the odds .... So as I sit here thinking about Ryan and wishing for a speedy recovery, I thought I would share a cute picture taken about a week ago.

Italy!

Dain surprised me with a trip to Italy where we went to celebrate my birthday and our 10th anniversary. I need to make a collage of photos because I have way too many!!!! We spent time in Italy in Turin and the valley of Aosta (our fave), a day in Chamonix, France, and a quick trip to Martigny, Switzerland. We so want to go back and spent a ton of time there!!!!!!!!!!!!! We loved the Alps and spent a day skiing Bardonnechia, one of the resorts for the 2006 Olympics.

Christmas 2009

We had a great trip to Utah!! We had so much fun and it was so nice to see everyone. Here are some pictures of our trip. First one, we took the kids for a family dinner at The Roof Restaurant and they gave us the corner table overlooking Temple Square. The view was amazing. It was a great dinner.

This is from Christian's ordination as an elder (yes, can you believe it?). We waited to do it in Utah so we could be with all the family. He had both grandfathers there along with uncles in the circle. It was very nice. I forgot church clothes and borrowed some from my niece (Thanks Sara!).

Last and never least :-) we got to ski. We had such a blast!!!

New Boots!

I'm in the process of replacing my shoes. I bought new Keen shoes as my comfort shoes which are great for every day wear plus to go skiing. I wanted a pair of motorcycle boots. I ended up with these Audie Calf Boots from Born. I LOVE THEM!

Silly People -- Silly Faces

These pictures crack me up!!!

Christian-Blinn College

We went to Christian's last football game to see him marching band. They won the game. It was fun to watch him marching and the day was just beautiful.


Last but not least, Blinn is playing for the national junior college championship!! Click here to read about it.

Ren Fest

Dain had free tickets thru work so we decided to go see what all the fuss was about. I was impressed! Very well done, lots of work involved. It's more like a temporary amusement park that just a weekend festival.

This is what the village looks like. Permanent buildings. Nothing in passing.
Dain and Emi doing archery.
Emi & I got to ride a camel ... Ironically, in elementary school, kids used to call me camel rider because they got Argentina and Arabia mixed up. Yeah, weird, huh? ha ha ha
Thank goodness these people work out. ha ha There were girls too but I don't have a picture (sorry Dain). :-)
Swings! how fun is that?

Biting Gecko ... really!

Dain saw this gecko by our back door. He picked him up to put him outside and he bit him!On a different note, I love fall and can't wait to make these: YUM.

Dain went back to Utah last weekend to see his dad who had eye surgery and to get his ski pass for the season. Here are a couple of cool pictures he took. This first one is the Brighton parking lot.
I love fall colors .... Can't wait for January when we finally see a bit of color around here!

Beautiful Polynesian Girl

Dain's Atkin grandparents served missions in Samoa and New Zealand back in the 60's. They were there for quite a while and learned to love the area. Then Dain's uncle was called to a mission in Samoa and thus started the family love affair with Polynesia. His grandparents bought some beautiful paintings while they were on their mission and now we have one of those paintings. Look how beautiful it is! Dain's uncle passed away a few years ago and then his wife remarried. She sent this painting to Dain, knowing he had always wanted one. It's now hanging over our mantle, having replaced our picture of Waikiki. :-)

U2

I stole this picture from Dain's work. We went to Dallas last weekend and went to Cowboy stadium while they were setting up for the U2 concert. I will add that picture once I download it. It was amazing to see the process of setting up for a concert. They had something like 75 semis. Plus we found out they have 3 stages and they rotate them so they can keep up with all the cities they're visiting.

I loved this concert like I loved all of their concerts. It rocked!!!! Bono is starting to sound just a teeny bit old ... sad.

I speak General American English

I got this quiz from a friend .... I guess I'm just average! I learned English in Idaho/Utah.

You Speak General American English!

70% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

Emi's First Day of School

Since I uploaded about Christian's move to college below, it's only fair I show Emi's first day of school ... I don't get to take pictures of Alyssa anymore on her first day ... lol
Doesn't she look excited?

Christian is off to college!

Better late than never at updating our blog. This is Christian heading off to Blinn.
All packed and ready to go ...

Driving into Brenham ...

And the dorms ...

Brotherly love

It just doesn't get easier to let them go!!!!