Black Belt Promotion

Spring Break

The kids had two weeks off for spring break. We stayed put for the most part. We did take them to Sea World last week. It was so fun. We hadn't been in two years, but decided to get season passes again. It rained the entire time we were there and it was cold and windy. The kids lasted to about 1 p.m before we decided to head home. All the rides were shut down because of the weather, but we did get to feed the dolphins. The kids loved petting the dolphins. It was fun to see the large aquarium with all the beautiful fish. It was nice to be back. We have so many memories there. We started going there when Marcus was just one. He's now eleven. It's a great place. We did get to see the Shamu show. The whales weren't cooperating, though. They had to stop the show and regroup. The ended up doing something different since they were rebelling. I've never seen them do that.

During spring break, we had some bad weather that included hail. It got pretty big. Anyway, long story short, we bought a new van that had some hail damage. There quite a few dings on the van, but I don't care. Because of the dings we could afford it:) It's a 2008 Kia Sedona (red, but not a bright, obnoxious red). It's sooo nice. I love all the extra storage. The kids are already fighting over the captain chairs. We couldn't be happier. Our older van was on it's last leg, so it was time to get it replaced. The hail worked to our advantage:)

Marcus has started mowing the lawn this year. I'm loving that:) It's nice to have someone else besides me mow the lawn. Scott would do it occasionally, but had a hard time with his allergies. He's getting so grown up. Marcus had another camp out this week. It was very cold for Texas. He was glad to come home and sleep in his own bed. Marcus is enjoying his new black belt status. He especially loves it when I have to bow to him. "Oh, the power," he says. Stinker! Marcus also had a chess tournament a couple of weeks ago. He won fourth place in his division and his rating went up since he did so well.

To keep the kids busy, they came with me to my meals on wheels route. They loved it. On our last stop, the lady insisted on giving them kisses. Jared wasn't too keen on the kiss, but gave her his cheek anyway. I was pleased with their good etiquette. They really enjoyed coming along. I took some of the scouts with me the week before so they could get some service requirements completed. They were surprised that there were apartment complexes just for "old people." Meals on Wheels is a wonderful program. I just love doing it. Our Relief Society has a team that makes deliveries on Wednesday and Thursday every week. We all just take turns.

I finally got all my tomato plants in the garden. I am hoping I will get a better crop this year. I planted roma tomatoes so I can make tomato sauce and jar can it. We'll see. Ceci and I are working on a fairy garden. I found some great Texas native flowering plants to put in it. They are real hardy and also attract butterflies. We put our fairy statue back there. We plan on getting more soon.

Austin Promotion

This past Saturday Marcus was able to get his black belt back:) Our Austin school likes to do their own promotion which I like. It's more personal that way. There were a lot of people crammed into the school. I've never seen so many people in there at one time. The school was also celebrating it's 17th anniversary so neighboring schools came also. It was a fun, but very long day.

Black Belt Testing in Houston

Last weekend we went to Houston so Marcus could test for his black belt. There were so many people there. I later found out students that come from schools that do not high enough ranking black belts to run dan bo nim testing have to come to Houston to test, so everyone there wasn't testing for black belt. There were about ten kids from around Texas advancing to back belt and about 15 adults. It was interesting to watch how it was done especially since it will be my turn next. I included some photos of Marcus doing techniques and then at his promotion. After the testing, he had to give his belt and certificate back since our school in Austin do their own promotion which will be tomorrow.

Little Forger

I just had to post this latest Ceci incident. She has to read to us every evening for homework and then we sign it off for her teacher to see the next day. We'll once Scott and I were real busy when she asked us to sign her reading sheet for her. Frustrated with her parents, she took matters in her own hands. From the photo find the entry for "A Gift of Crayons." Ceci forged her Daddy's signature and did a pretty good job! Too funny and a little scary...

Having fun with Grandpa and Grandma Gibby

The kids are enjoying their time with Grandpa and Grandma Gibby. They have been playing outside everyday in what snow they can find. They each made a snowman of sorts:) Marcus even shoveled Grandpa Gibby's sidewalks and enjoyed it. I don't know how long that will last if he had to do it everyday.

The kids love playing with their cousin, Hunter. He is so cute! He is quite taken with Marcus. I have a few cute photos of Hunter with the kids. They can't wait until Christmas. Hunter is enjoying attacking the presents and ripping off the bows. It's been nice to relax and basically do nothing. When we went to church it was so relaxing. I didn't have to do anything:) I have to say that was very nice. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Disneyland Fun!

We loved our time at Disneyland. We arrived last Sunday evening and immediately walked over to the park. It was packed because of the weekend, but we were so excited we didn't care. We got a fast pass for the Haunted Mansion and while we waited to redeem it we rode Splash Mountain. The kids loved it all. We stayed pretty late even though we were pretty exhausted from all the driving. We spent five days there. Some of the days were pretty bad weather, but on the bright side the lines were shorter because of it. We rarely used the fast pass since we could just walk up to the rides.

The kids loved Space Mountain the most. We rode that SO MANY TIMES. I was getting rather tired of it. I really liked California Adventure. We went there on Tuesday and loved the California Soaring ride. I highly recommend it. I didn't like the Tower of Terror. I don't like being dropped from high heights repeatedly. The kids, of course, loved it. It's hard to describe just how much fun we had. Maybe the photos I post will pretty much explain how we felt. It was wonderful. The kids had never been and Scott and I haven't been there since our honeymoon. I became pretty emotional the Sunday we first entered the park. I didn't think we would ever make it here. We had to postpone the vacation more than once. It was a long road to get there, but so worth the wait.

The day before we were to leave. Scott went down to the van to get something. He noticed the locks weren't working. He was finally able to get the driver's side open. When he tried to start the car. It was dead. No sound. Nothing. He tried to jump it, but it still wouldn't start. I was so worried. We were stuck in California with a dead car and had to check out of the hotel the next day by 11 a.m. Scott called a mobile mechanic that never showed up. Finally, he walked down the street to find a mechanic shop close by. He found one and they towed the van that late afternoon. The alternator and battery had to be replaced. Our vacation just got that much more expensive. Oh, well. I was so worried the van wouldn't be fixed in time to check out of the hotel. The Lord really blessed us and it was ready to go the next day by 11:30. The hotel management was very nice and didn't charge us an extra day. We had a late start getting to Grandpa and Grandma Gibby's, but finally made it around 11 p.m. We sat in some traffic in LA and were stuck on I-80 for 30 minutes going nowhere due to an accident. There was some snow on the sides of the road, but no ice. We made it to Reno safely albeit tired:)