Another busy weekend...

Thursday was Mike's work party here at our house. That's what happens when you have a big backyard with a pool and bbq grills! I cleaned up in the house and Mike worked on the patio and food. Then Saturday I had swimming lessons in the afternoon with the neighbor kids I teach. Eliza and Olivia came out too and ended up swimming for hours!

Last night, Saturday, I attended the women's General Relief Society Meeting. It is broadcast from Salt Lake City to our meetinghouse that's just a couple of blocks away and all over the world as well. What an uplifting meeting it was! My favorite quote was from President Uchtorf "It's not necessarily the number of prayers you say, but the number of prayers you answer that will be of eternal importance". (That's from memory, so it may not be exact). If you want to hear some beautiful music and talks on the Savior and especially what we as women can do to serve others, click here http://www.lds.org/broadcast/grsm/0,6220,285-1-41-1522,00.html
or just go to Lds.org and click on the General Relief Society Meeting link.

Today, we went to church with family for Josh and Emily's baby blessing and then had lunch together at Bruce and Koral's house. Next week we will all meet at our home for our semi-annual after conference pot-luck!

Oh, and I can't forget about a wonderful experience Grandma Earl and the boys and I had last Saturday. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Symphony had two special guests put on an O.C. Tanner Gift of Music concert called "An American Songbook". They sang Broadway tunes and Patriotic selections. Brian Stokes-Mitchell and Denyce Graves were both great. But he was amazing and had us all on the edge of our seats, especially for his "Man of Le Moncha" song. I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful. Music can be such a blessing and lift the spirit. I know Heavenly Father knew that was just what I needed to hear! Every once in a while it's nice to go see something musical, especially for our children to have these experiences while they are young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZE4KGB6Wt4&feature=related Bryan Stokes-Mitchell "To Dream the Impossible Dream" He has an amazing voice, which was even better in person.
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Is Summer Over? Where did the time go?

I've been a little overwhelmed and have had a hard time wanting to add to the blog. Sorry, about the big gap again! Here are a few pictures of our latest happenings...

Eliza and two friends at our China adoption group picnic (August). The other girls thought this was a lovely place to sit, but Eliza wasn't so sure. She doesn't usually sit on top of flowers and that was just wrong!!

I looked over and saw all four of my "Luau" cuties by the swings together.

I have no clue what they were doing!

Eliza started preschool! She was so excited when she found out she would be going to school this year. She thought that meant she would have "homework, backpack and lunch!" We let her know she wouldn't have to take her lunch, which was rather disappointing to her. But as you can see, now she enjoys having lunch with just her and mom 5 days a week!

Kirk must have some technique of getting small animals and children to fall asleep!

That's probably enough for one entry.

I'll have some pictures of our visit to the zoo on my next post.

Mike becomes the "cat lady"

So, after our old cat, Miserable, died in July, I've been lonely for a cat. Sounds stupid when we already have two other cats at the house, but they don't have too much to do with me. Stephenie wasn't for it at all, but then, she said I could get one; and before she could change her mind again I brought home a little black kitty. After trying lots of names on him, I named him Voodoo. The family is split on the name. I like it and no one else does! He is extremely friendly and is always demanding attention. Stephenie just "enjoys" him waking her up every night by purring and wanting to be petted. Oh well, I like him! He has even made friends, more or less, with the other cats.

This is the picture of him before I brought him home. He is much bigger now. And it looks like he will be a very large cat when he's done growing.

Skagway and Glacier Bay (Alaska cruise)

Skagway: This is a small port. Only a few boats are docked. Notice the green and yellow train. The White Pass rail was an excursion some of our family took but it was cloudy and they didn't think it was really worth our time so we skipped it.

View from above. This is actually a picture Larayne took on their way up to the sled dog excursion.

We enjoyed walking through the cute little downtown area. It had wooden walks and lots of old buildings with plenty of shopping of course! We also saw the play about Soapy Smith (cute and well-done but a little pricey for what it was).

Back on board-hey Deb, what's for dessert? The food on Princess is fantastic! I ate too much most of the time though since I love food and have a hard time turning it down- especially when it is already paid for! Also, a rare smile caught on photograph of Robert (he will not smile for posed pictures no matter how hard we try to get him to).

Next day: Cruising Glacier Bay National Park

When we sailed into the bay for awhile, the captain pulled us up close for a good view and everyone congregates on deck to listen for the ice to "calve" or break off from the glacier. It makes alot of noise and is really fun to watch for. It was so cold, we all bundled up and they even had the carts around deck with hot chocolate. Which, by the way, I finally found out was FREE if you didn't have the alcoholic version. Oh, now they tell me! I would've been sipping on that the whole trip if I'd known! Also, the bar would mix you up some yummy chocolate milk too. Oh well, I guess the cold water I drank the rest of the trip saved me a few calories. We seemed to stun the waiters every time we turned down coffee and alcohol! Let me tell you, there is an endless supply of booze for those who wanted it but we really didn't see people overdoing it at least. (Or maybe we were just in bed to early to know!)

Quick draw! Debbie and Koral with their cameras at the ready. I'm just an innocent bystander this time.

The beautiful atrium where they took our group picture. I connects the dining and shopping areas. For some reason, I didn't see this area for the first few days of the trip, it's kind of easy to miss, huh?!
The excursions were fun at port, but we really enjoyed seeing the glaciers, playing cards (our version of bridge that Steve and Larayne taught us...it's addicting!) and eating dinner together. It was so relaxing to not drive anywhere and just walk wherever we wanted to go.