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!!!!

So Painful

This week I'm in pain for my cousin Sidney. She's my oldest cousin on the Pickett side. Within 24 hours, she and her family experienced a miracle and tragedy. First, her oldest daughter gave birth to her first baby, a beautiful baby boy. Then her second and youngest daughter lost her baby to what seems to be SIDS. He was almost one. And all within the same 24 hours.

I love you Sid!!! My heart aches for you, Corey, Shonne, Wes, Jill and Ed. Wish I could be with you.

The Real Moment

I haven't blogged in forever because I haven't downloaded my pictures from my camera. It takes like 5 seconds, but I haven't done it. This past month has been full of memorable moments. Moments that make parents proud!! Alyssa started her third year of college at Utah State (really, 3!!), Christian moved to Blinn College and started practicing with the marching band. School starts this coming Monday for him. And Emi started high school this past Monday. Just in case you missed it: HIGH SCHOOL. I don't like putting 9th graders with the rest of high school because it means they're older than I want them to be. :-) So now my house is completely quiet very early in the morning. Emi has marching band practice after school so I have a full day to work, work, work without interruptions. Wow.

I am so proud of the kids!!! They are growing up to be happy, responsible human beings. The picture above was taken in 1995. Alyssa was 6, Christian 4, and Emi a few months old. Really ... where has time gone. I'm the luckiest mom on earth. :-)

Washington DC

Took the family to Washington DC last week. We flew Alyssa up from SLC. On the way there, our flight from Houston was diverted to North Carolina where we spent the night. So we arrived in the DC half a day later than planned. Alyssa got to DC as planned so she checked into the hotel and spent the first night alone (which I think she loved). ha ha ha We had a suite so the whole family was together. In the past, we've split the kids into their own room.

We loved the monuments and museums. And yes, we walked and walked and walked. One of our favorites was the Ethiopian restaurant pictured below. Yummmmmmmy! I have been wanting to try it since the movie "Along Came Polly".

My brother, the M-actor

http://www.mormontimes.com/around_church/general_authority/?id=7017

My brother Paul has appeared as an extra in many Church movies. He's in this latest "Mormon Moments" (on youtube) about divorce. Nope, he's not divorced and nope, that's not his real wife. ha ha ha He's the bald guy (the men in my family tend to not have hair on top). :-)


He just sent me this picture. He's getting ready for another Church movie. That's why I call him the M-actor: Mormon. ha ha ha

Martina McBride

Took Christian and Emi to meet Martina McBride at Dain's work (thanks Sweetie!). Emi was impressed, Christian went straight to Martina's guitar players to chat with them. lol

Phantom

Dain surprised us with tickets to see Phantom tonight. Taking the whole family. I'm so excited. I have seen it many times and love it each time. Dain is being a good sport--he doesn't necessarily love Broadway plays. Christian is looking forward to it but Emi is not too sure. ha ha ha I wish Alyssa could be here too.

Aunt Margie

We were so lucky to have my Aunt Margie come to Houston to meet her new grandson. My cousin Mike and his wife Shelley live in Richmond and they had beautiful baby Will. I got to spend time with my aunt going to lunch and then had the gang over for dinner.

With my Aunt Margie ... we're much more alike than I realized. We had a great time chatting.
Christian and his cousin Will. The cutest baby!
My cousin Mike and Shelley. This is their first baby!

Christian's graduation

The Ward's brought Christian a gift ... so cute!
At the restaurant Christian chose (Razoo's for Cajun Food).
These are not in order ... Outside after the ceremony!
Grandparents waiting before ceremony started ...
The whole group after Christian's graduation. It was an amazing day!! We loved it!

Awesome days ahead

Christian graduates tomorrow. We've had the best week! It's been fun seeing him do his last band end of year banquet, senior presentation, seminary graduation, band concert, etc. Tomorrow, he's officially done with high school.
They're trying to say: Sugar Land 3rd lol
Blurry picture of his concert
With friends at the banquet
Yes, trying to smash a soda can ...
He wanted a picture with all the girls ... ha ha ha