Snowy Day!

Kenshin and Eliza in front of our house this morning

We woke up to lots of fluffy snow! This was not a great day for us to have snow since Kenshin was going to visit a farm. It was pretty cold too. I'm hoping it will warm up tomorrow like they say it is supposed to! Eliza really like Kenshin after he made her some origami and played against each other on the Wii game. She's going to be sad when he goes home! Dressing up for the Church Halloween Carnival: Nerd (Zachary), Gaucho (Kirk), Cowboy (Kenshin), Zorro (Akiharo)
Akiharo is another student from Japan who is staying with my friend's family. They live very close to us and it is their first year hosting. We have tried to let people know how fun it is to host and I think I have another friend who will be hosting next year too!
Cowgirl Princess (Olivia) and Indian Maiden (Lauren-a close friend)


Jasmine (Eliza) and Witch (Grace)

"I'm so cold and tired!" Kenshin trying to stay warm and awake but not too succesfully! We were in line for the Halloween train ride. It has been too cold for him but I told him it is cold for us too! Just a couple of weeks ago we were swimming in our pool and now it is snowing!! It changed very quickly this year.

Kirk with Eliza and Kenshin right behind him on the train car. Type in "stringtown.us" (or google stringtown railroad)to look at some great pictures of the train. It's called the "Nightmare Express" and is really close to our house.

It's something fun we like to do this time of year, along with 1,000's of the local kids and their families too!

Kenshin Arrived Last Night!

Watching the donuts cooking at Krispy Kreme Donuts in Orem

Playing Wii games after a day at Park City and Salt Lake City touring

We made homemade pizza and then played some games together:

Kenshin and Kirk playing Chess

We picked up Kenshin last night. He was very tired but in good spirits. Last night we had a hamburger at Fuddruckers after we picked him up. It tasted really good to him and we all enjoyed eating with the cousins. (Doug and Cheryl's family decided to host a student this year too.)

Today Kenshin toured with his group in Park City at the Olympic Park and This Is the Place Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. I drove and picked him and our neighbor's student up in the afternoon. He said he was very sleepy today, which I expected. We wanted to relax a little more tonight, so eating at home and playing games seemed to be the perfect choice.

Tomorrow he heads off to a local farm for a visit and then we have a youth party tomorrow night that should be fun. We will all be wearing costumes, so the pictures should be really interesting!

Europe Cruise Pictures

1st Port: Stockholm Sweden

On the ship and leaving Copenhagen!

I'm sitting in the dining room waiting for the delicious food! Don't worry, we definitely didn't starve on this trip!

Heading into Stockholm: The ride into the city was georgous with lots of these little islands with homes on them. They use boats for transportation instead of cars. What a different lifestyle, but it sounds kind of nice to me!

Stockholm Sweden: on our way to the palace through some side streets.

Another Japanese student coming soon!

2 years ago, Takuya:

Takuya really loved our cat Voodoo (the black one in the picture above). He had a great time visiting with us and seeing all the sights too. Some of the funnest times were at home playing games with the family. We will always remember him and hope he's doing well.

Last year with Hinata:

Last year we had lots of fun with our Japanese visitor Hinata. He was very good at speaking English and was easy to have in our home. We hope we can keep in touch with him too. This year we will be hosting Kenshin who is from the same school in Japan.

We are all looking forward to his coming in just a few weeks!

Trip to Europe

One of the beautiful canals of Copenhagen

One of the food stands at a market we found by one of the canals

Enjoying my birthday dessert!

Anniversary Trip:

After the big birthday party was over and the relatives headed home, I started digging in and getting ready for our big 20th anniversary trip to Europe. At first I was in a daze and couldn't believe we were actually going somewhere just the two of us, much less to Europe! But after all the other summer excitement was over, I finally had time to plan and pack. And not much time at that point!

We tried to pack really light and didn't even take any luggage to be checked. We knew if we could wash our clothes during the trip, we'd be fine. Mostly, I focused on the kid's schedule and what needed to be prepared at home for us to be gone for two weeks!

Denmark:

When we were planning the trip way back in the spring, we knew we wanted to do something that involved Europe and some countries that would be truly interesting. Mike suggested the Baltic, but I really wanted to go to London too. Finally, we decided on a few days in Copenhagen, Denmark followed by a 10 day cruise of the Baltic. I was still hoping for London, but it just was too much to add on and wouldn't have been enough time to enjoy the sights of a big city. Maybe next time!

What we chose turned out to be the best possible option and we LOVED it! We would stay for 2 days before the cruise in Copenhagen and after for two days (Mike didn't want to have to go directly to the airport and have any problems with catching our plane.)

Copenhagen:

After a few frantic weeks of last minute packing and getting the house and schedule prepared, we set off early Wednesday the 28th of July. It was hard to believe we were really leaving! I can still picture all the kids waving to us from the front porch at home (sniff, sniff). I tried to be cheerful though and put on a brave face as we left them for the airport. I knew with Grandma Earl helping out at the start and my mom and Albert on the way for the last part of the trip, they were in good hands!

Things went pretty smoothly and soon we were on our way for New York and a change of planes before heading on to Denmark. It was tiring but with Mike's shoulder to rest on, I snoozed for part of the long flight at least. Besides a little drool on his shirt, Mike did OK too.

Flying into Copenhagen was lovely. We could see the fields and green, fairly flat country-side bordering the sea. The airport was easy and we made it through customs and got our luggage. The next hurdle was getting the right train to the station in Copenhagen!

We stayed at a really nice Marriott just down from Central Station. I got a cheap deal online for our room and it was even better than I hoped it would be. Next we set off to see the sights!

Highlights of Copenhagen:

As you can see from the pictures, it is a beautiful city with old buildings and many canals. We were able to walk all over the place and just enjoy being there! We found out that the street food of a type of hot dog with toppings and some that were nestled in a crispy bun were so cheap and yummy! My other favorite things were the danishes (of course!) and the fantastice belgian waffles. The bakeries were so wonderful. I think I could live on "bread alone"... and with a little fruit and creme on them too!

We took a bus once to see more of the sights, including where "The Little Mermaid" is usually sunning by the water, but she's in Shangai for 2010. The buildings and canals were so georgous! Mike and I really felt like it was the perfect city for a first time trip to Europe. It's clean, safe and people speak English in most places!

We had great Indian food and even found a fun place for my birthday dinner that we walked to from our hotel on the canal right behind us. (We walked out the back door and basically a few steps and you are at the pier of the canal). It was so easy to walk anywhere we wanted, plus we used the bus to get a better view of town. Fortunately, we saved the canal boat tour for the last part of our trip. You'll find out about our amazing boat ride experience later!

Our Summer Continued...

June

Trip to the ER:

We had an unexpected trip to the ER the Friday before we left Missouri. We were enjoying another yummy meal at mom's when Grace suddenly stared off into space and kind of froze. I was standing right by the table, so I saw it immediately. I thought she was choking on her salad, so after I quickly grabbed her, I checked her mouth for food and removed what I could. Then I did the heimlich (I just had some first aid training in spring). She was limp and just kind of slumped in my arms. It was terrifying! It was at that point that we knew we needed to call 911 fast. As I tried to see what I could do to help Grace, we realized we didn't have time for an ambulance to come and find us. Grandpa Albert drove with me holding Grace and rushed her to the nearest emergency room. The boys came for the ride while Grandma and Eliza stayed behind to call off the ambulance before it came to the house.

Grace started coming to during the ride but seemed really out of it. The hospital did several tests on her and talked with me about all that had happened. We found out that she had a seizure. I also found out after talking to Grace, that she could remember a seizure once in China.

We finally left the hospital about 10:00pm after they could see that she wasn't having any more seizures and seemed to be fine. We did get a prescription for her and watched her very closely the following few days.

It was certainly a frightening experience, but we were so grateful it wasn't during a more dangerous activity (swimming, etc.) or that it had happened while traveling and without the support of my mom and Albert. Thank goodness for them and for the timing!

Going home:
We had a 2 week visit with family in Missouri, so we didn't make it back until the middle of June. Just in time for Grace's birthday! We followed up with a specialist when we got home and Grace now takes seizure medicine and we try not to worry more than necessary. She'll take it for at least a couple of years and needs to have checkups with the specialist every 6 months for now. We did understand more about her difficulties with her sight and problems tripping and things like that. She doesn't have great peripheal vision, especially on her right side. Otherwise, she is doing fine and won't likely have any seizures as long as she takes her medication.

June continued with camping for me Grace and Zach and trying to get back to normal life following all the time away from home and excitement.

July

Back to normal:
I had a few days at home after all the camping and vacationing. Kirk and Mike helped out while I was at camp with Grace. It was so good to be home! We had a fun July 4th and enjoyed swimming and hanging out in our yard. I started teaching swimming and the days flew past. The boys worked in the yard and we tried to catch up on all the yard work that needed to be done. They mostly worked for lunches or outings, since that was their favorite form of payment!

Grandma Earl's 80th birthday party:
The next big event was Mike's mom's birthday party. The family planned for months and it was coming soon. Mike was in charge of food, a big responsibility for a group of around 100. Somehow, we all worked and it turned out to be a great party. Mike's sister Larayne and daughter Melanie, especially worked hard to make it look beautiful. They came from Oregon and Washington to be there for the week of the party. Melanie and family stayed with us and their boys and little girl had fun with our kids. We loved having them stay!

Catching up...

June trip to Missouri

One of the "kid's" favorite activities at Grandma Carol and Grandpa Albert's: nightly fireworks!

Grandpa Albert, Grandma Carol, Kirk, me, Olivia, Eliza and Grace

(Zach was the photographer)

Our hike at George Washington Carver State Park. (He's the one who created peanut butter, among other things.) The one above with Zach hanging onto the side of the bridge and mom is also on this hike.

My brother and family: Scott, Linette, Hannah and baby Hope

The girls with Hannah and Hope; and me, mom and Scott at lunch in Springfield

Granpa Montgomery (dad) with Grace and his buddy Eliza

(she didn't go through the cave at Silver Dollar City with us and stayed with dad instead)

OK, like everyone else, we had a VERY busy summer and it hasn't slowed down since school started! I've decided to make a bit of a report on our summer and go from there.

June

The day school got out, me and the kids packed in the van and headed for Missouri! The drive was lovely and we actually had a great time. I had a nice hotel booked near the Denver airport and that worked out perfectly after a big day of driving.

We stayed with mom and Albert the next night and were all happy to be together for the first time in months. Grandma and Grandpa took great care of us and made sure we always had something fun to do and something good to eat!

Grandpa and Grandma set up their camping trailer for us at the lake near Branson for a few days while we were there. We had fun camping and going to Silver Dollar City with the whole family. It is a beautiful area with just a short drive to Springfield. We were able to see Scott and Linette's family and Dad while we were there too.

Hope of America

Grace was in the "choir" for this event last night. Our 5th graders in the local schools make up the flag and sing all the songs. She loved it! "We Can Be a Light" at the end of this video is one of my favorite songs of the performance.

Princesses for a Day!

DISNEYLAND!

Monday
After a rainy start to the day, it turned out beautiful! We had to buy our passes for the bus first and had a slower start, but it worked out fine. It was not too crowded and we got on some rides pretty quickly.

Before,

and after!

We ALL loved Splash Mountain!

Grace and Kirk on the Matterhorn...

She loved anything that was a roller coaster, but not always the first time!

After eating lunch in the park, we went back to the hotel for a break. It was fun to relax and swim in the afternoons and then head back for more fun!

Spring Break in California!!

Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday was spent driving in to Anaheim from Las Vegas. (We only had to drive to Las Vegas on Saturday, so that was an easy day. Mike and the boys went to their Priesthood meeting for church with Mike's cousin Brad and his boys.) We all loved the room at California and were excited to get settled in and head to the pool.

The Earthquake

It was kind of an exciting afternoon on Sunday. We were there for the earthquake! It was 7.2 just over the border in Mexico. Me and the kids were heading back up to our room from the pool and were wondering why the elevator wouldn't work. We went and asked the front desk and they told us there was an earthquake! Kirk and Olivia had noticed while we waited for the elevator that they felt like the earth was moving or something weird, but Zach, Grace, Eliza and I didn't notice.

Mike, however, was on the 8th floor and definitely felt it swaying! We heard some rides were shut down at Disney too. Overall, it was an exciting event to be in the middle of, but Zach and I wished we would've noticed something!

After that, we all relaxed and listened to some of Conference before heading to bed.

Next: Disneyland!!