It's raining!!

After a few years of not much rain, we've forgotten what real rain is like. The last few days have been a less than gentle reminder just how hard it can rain. Since 10 Pm last night we've gotten almost 5 inches here. Needless to say, it's a little wet and since I'm not leaving the house except to pick up and drop off kids at school, so I thought I'd update the blog.

Brennan and Tori both had inner-league basketball tournaments this week. They both have excellent coaches this year and did very well in tournament. Tori's team came in a heart-breaking second. In the 4th quarter Tori scored the tying basket making it 10-10 and then her teammate was fouled and scored 1. At the buzzer, the other team made a basket and won 12-11. Brennan's team, who are used to run away wins (they won their 1st game of the day 50-15) had a close one winning by only 2 points 29-27. They play the same team again this Saturday so the coach has called an extra practice. It's been fun to see both of the kids really improve their skills this year. Brennan holds his own on defense and has several fouls and rebounds to his credit. Tori has improved all around and has become a decent as a guard for the team. It's amazing what good coaches can do. We had not so good ones (and drunk ones) in the past, so this year has been really fun.

School started again last week, so we are back on the roller coaster. I have to say I really enjoyed our 4 week vacation this year. It ended much too soon. I'm already looking forward to Spring Break and Summer.

This year, the parent board (PAGE) I'm involved with for the gifted program in our district (GATE) decided to have a winter enrichment camp. We held it the Monday before school went back in and it was a huge success. We had over 100 kids there. Several teachers volunteered their time and did an awesome job. We had a science lab where the kids learned to wire a doll house, one teacher taught magic, we had art, math, drama and a newsletter group. The kids had a blast and we have started a new tradition. After a few years of working with people trying to push their own agenda, it was great to come together and do something for our kids.

Scott is taking an on-campus Statistics class this semester - so everyone pray for him. He also will be turning 40 next month - so everyone pray for him.

Well, it's still raining, but I've got nothing left to say, so I guess I'll go play the Wii with Kendall. Have a great day!

How to reduce an 11 year old boy to tears of joy

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope it was a good one. We had a terrific Christmas. I've had to adjust over the years to a new sort of Christmas experience than what I was used to as a child, but I enjoy quality time with my husband and children and this was 2 days of good quality time. A few years ago, we started a tradition of going to our local Boomer's and going miniature golfing on Christmas Eve (as long as it's not Sunday and it's not raining at least). Fortunately, the weather was wonderful. A little windy, but still in the upper 60's for both days. The kids had a blast. We told them that whoever won got all the presents, so both Brennan and Tori were super competitive. Luckily for all of them Mom won with a score of 61 - and since I like to share I decided to let them divide up the gifts. Tori came in a close second at 67. Shelby surprised us all and turned out to be quite a good golfer - she beat Brennan. We spent Christmas Eve night together with just our family. We watched "Home Alone" and had Christmas S'mores and hot chocolate. The kids all got new pajamas and were easy to put to bed.

Christmas mornings at our house are interesting in the fact that our kids don't get up at the crack of dawn. They can - they just don't. I woke up at 8 thinking that they were all watching TV and found only Brennan and Scott awake. The girls all appeared a few minutes later and the craziness began. Santa threw us all off this year and wrapped his presents. The little girls got to open theirs first. Kendall asked for and received a race track with cars that crash. Shelby asked for and received a Barbie and a bonus remote control Corvette to go with it. Brennan and Tori had asked for a Wii, but due to the extreme shortage, had been warned that it was a slim chance that it would come. Luckily for all of us Santa came through and we received a Wii. Brennan was so overcome with joy he started shaking and crying. (What a year NOT to pull out the video camera - AFV material for sure!)

Needless to say we've spent the last few days with the Wii - which is really quite fun. Its amazing the things you can do. We enjoy bowling, playing pool and ping pong, air hockey, tennis, boxing, baseball. It is a great family game console.

Scott's mom and dad came over for Christmas brunch as usual. Scott made amazing stuffed french toast (strawberries and cream cheese anyone?) - they were very yummy and I am surprised Dad didn't go into a diabetic coma.

We went over to the Rosenlof's for dinner. Dana & Jeff and all of their kids came up a day early due to Jon having surgery on the 26th. Everyone was there so it was a houseful. We stayed for a while and then came home. We don't really fit in there (stories for private conversations) - so we don't last long - and the kids were missing the Wii. I have a lot of frog-eye salad to eat. So if you feel like having a little, come on over!

See you in the New Year!

Temple Commemoration Day

On Dec. 1st Scott & I had a unique and once in a lifetime experience - along with 550 members of our Stake. As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the L.A. Temple each of the 42 stakes in the district had a commemoration day where we were able to meet in the Assembly Room of the temple (did you know there was one?) and then participate in an endowment session with our ward and another ward.

It was a wonderful day. We have lived in Santa Maria for 13 years now and feel as if our ward members as well as many in our stake are family. It was a glimpse for me of the Celestial Kingdom. We sat in a room the length of a football field with our family members and felt angels in our midst. The matron of the temple sang in the choir that was there for the original temple dedication in 1957. That year there was a flu epidemic and many members of the choir had laryngitis, but had angels to sing with them that day. It was an amazing and incredibly spiritual experience. It was great to be in the temple with hundreds of our family members and to sit with friends and participate in an endowment session.

Satan made sure that there were many obstacles, physically and mentally to get to the temple that day and I am glad that we were able to overcome them.

We are extremely grateful to Scott's sister Dana for watching our kids. It made for a long day for us, but was well worth it and our kids had a blast. We made the trip home that night - not getting home until about 1AM, but were very glad we made the effort to go to church the next day. Our Sacrament meeting was a spiritual continuation of our temple day - it was one of the best Fast & Testimony meetings we've had in recent memory.

We will never forget that day and have tried to share as much with the kids as possible. We hope that they're around for the 100th year celebration.

If we're in the desert, where are the kangaroos?

For all my good intentions, this sure has taken a while to update. So here goes nothing.

First, my apologies to all those in Utah who we didn't see during our trip at Thanksgiving. I always think I have a ton of time and next thing I know we're leaving the next day. So maybe we'll catch you in the Spring.

We had a great week in Utah for Thanksgiving. The weather the first couple of days, was just like home - warm and windy. Apparently, the weather was a little behind in the news of our coming, but quickly caught up and turned bitter cold as soon as it heard we were around. It never fails, bitter cold in the winter - blazing hot in the summer. We're going to throw in a trip at Spring Break - that should be interesting.

We can thank Shelby for our title this time. That was her question after we hit Mojave on the way. Our kids had a lot of good material this trip. Brennan was relieved that we would not have to be concerned with dehydration on this vacation, just hypothermia. (Update: Brennan learned how to treat hypothermia at his last Scout meeting, whew!!) He was also amazed at people who can draw on Etch-a-Sketches, because he can barely do a rendering of the Ogden Utah Temple! (???) In the meantime, Scott and I somehow always get a hankering for a Panguitch with a side of Kanab, somewhere between Cedar City and St. George.

We managed to throw in ice skating, movies, shopping (I only bought soup), the U of U game, oh and Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun! Tori, of course, was a whiz at ice skating. I managed to give myself a good bump on the head. Shelby was very persistent, falling at least 100 times, but never gave up.

Last, but not least was our fun 18 hour trip home, which included 120 miles in 5 hours and a 40 minute wait to get off of the freeway in Baker and another 20 minute wait for the bathroom. That was after the 30 minute wait for the bathroom in Jean, NV, where the attendant insisted on mopping the floor, while the line was out the door. Don't forget the 1 1/2 hour wait just before Barstow - where we got to see a Medivac land on the overpass and about 18 ambulances. However, we learned that we can get from Barstow to Santa Maria in less than 4 hours. We will not travel home on Sunday again, but it was fun to try.

That will conclude today's session. I have a lot more to say, but will save it for later. Thanks for reading! (My apologies to our family who have already heard or were there for all of this!)

Busy Doing Nothing

We have been busy doing nothing for a few weeks. You moms know what I mean. I don't have a spare minute in my day, but when you ask me what I've done, well... it amounts to nothing. At least nothing noteworthy or exciting.

The Red Sox won the World Series! That is very exciting at our house. Even Scott is a convert to Red Sox Nation. Ask Shelby and Kendall to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sometime. (We root, root, root for the Red Sox) Yes, they are brainwashed.

Halloween was fun. Our Ward and 2 others put on a carnival and trunk-or-treat every year. The kids always have a great time. I remember to eat before we go - I can't stand hot dogs. Anyway, you can tell from the pictures that it was fun.

All the kids are in the middle of parent teacher conferences. So far, I've had Tori's and Shelby's. They are of course brilliant and doing very well. Shelby's teacher said that she is one of the brightest students she has ever had. (She had Brennan and Tori as well.)

Tori has really improved her behavior, both in the classroom and on the playground. She has matured over the last 6 months or so and isn't as moody and volatile as she used to be. I haven't been to see Brennan's teacher yet, but he has had a much better year as well, so I'm expecting good things.

We will be heading to SLC for Thanksgiving at the end of the week. Kendall is into this not talking to people outside of our family (except Skyler's mommy). So don't expect much. She has been out with Grandpa Rosenlof for 3 hours and has not said a word. She is a pro.

Our older 3 sang a song for the Primary program a few weeks ago and are now in demand for the Christmas season. They sang "Love is Spoken Here" and did a fantastic job. Today, Brennan sang a duet with a girl for our Ward Choir performance and did a very good job. Its fun to have musical kids, its part genes and part osmosis. We have music all the time.

As for Scott and I. Scott was made Sunday School President last week (he gets to ring the bell!).

I've been spending a lot of time working with Jon and one of his clients so I've been busy, but I am making money so its not all bad.

That's it for now - we'll be back!