Christmas

Here is a quick Christmas update!

It was nice to have Teresa home from BYU, though it seemed really short. Lots of her friends had 4, 5, or even 6 weeks off, home from college for the holidays. BYU got 2 weeks exactly.  It went fast.

I got fuzzy socks :)

David called from Italy, and we talked to him for a little while. He still looks like, and sounds like David! He likes to keep his hair pretty short...I think it's easier that way.

Frank's sis, Pam, made a trip out to Virginia, and we never see Pam! So we hopped in the car and took a (rather long) jaunt over to Fairfax Station. You can never predict traffic, and it always takes us longer than we think it will. Oh, well.

talking to Grammie D & Poppa Dave on the phone

Frank-Pam-Dana

We talked, we played games, we hiked around the trails by their house.

Nick got one of those scooter things for Christmas...no, they're called Hoverboards. So we all tried it out. He got the kind where the battery does NOT overheat and explode, or implode, or whatever they do.  His is the good kind :)

We also watched Elf!

It was a short trip, but jam packed and I THINK when you only stay a few days, you do not wear out your welcome. Ha-ha! It is definitely worth it to see the good people you don't see very often.

Kari :)

On Being Thankful and Sophomore Semi

Hola!
I had to sneak at least ONE post in, before November finishes.  This Thanksgiving weekend has been full of fun things, and lots of eating and good food and friends.  We even got to talk to a few family members along the way, too :)  Not all, but some.

THANKSGIVING DAY.  I like the Thanksgiving dinners we have, where I can SHARE the cooking with other people!  Our friends invited us over with another family, and we split the cooking.  I made 2 dishes: green bean casserole with the French Fried onions on top, and sweet potato casserole.  Yum!


Then we played games after the meal...Catch Phrase, and a new one: "Escape!"
 It's a problem-solving-help-each-other-out kind of game, finding treasure in an Egyptian tomb.  There is a CD with dramatic Indiana Jones music, and you have to get out by the time the music ends, so you're on a clock.  It was pretty intense.

I am thankful for so many things in my life!

My family.
A safe neighborhood.
Transportation.
Convenient and close food access.
Dishwashers.
Refrigerators.
A warm bed.
Books.
Airplanes.

Computers.
Phones.
Skype.
Microwaves.
National Parks.

Yellowstone

Autumn leaves.
Springtime.
The beach.

a few years back...

And now I'll jump back to the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Kara is the Sophomore Class President.  Basically that means she's in charge of class activities, and plans a lot of fundraisers to pay for those activities.

**If you click on these photos, they will be bigger.**

The big event for Sophomore Year here, is "Sophomore Semi."  For "semi-formal dance."  It was the Saturday night before Thanksgiving, and that Saturday was full of buying decorations, and going to the Weston Country Club early to decorate.

Kara is barely left of center

 Then go have hair done,

dress and make-up at a friend's house, and a pre-semi-party where we took lots of pictures.  Here are a couple of Kara and friends:

It was a whirlwind of a day...but I believe a good time was had by all!

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was a good one.  Kari

Kara: 2nd row, left of center by Janelle (long blond hair)

Soccer, Allergies and Unwelcome Tenants

Hello and Happy October :)

FALL COLORS.  Autumn is officially here!

October is one of my favorite months in New England.  The leaves are changing, and when it's sunny, it is just breathtaking.  Time for up and down weather, nice-one-day-and-frigid-the-next!  For example, we have some beautiful sunshine right now, and it will be in the 70's this afternoon.  Last weekend, in contrast, Kara had a soccer game and it was cloudy. and windy. and in the 40's. Brutal.

CONFERENCE. We had a nice conference weekend...every 6 months we get a special broadcast from Salt Lake. "General Conference" is when church leaders and our prophet speak to us and give us counsel and encouragement.  It's always an uplifting weekend.  I come away wanting to be a better person.

Teresa, at BYU in Provo, Utah, got to attend the Saturday afternnon session, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City!  That was an unexpected treat. One of the girls on her dorm floor got tickets from her parents, and a group of 7 of them went together.

ALLERGIES. Cleaning is sort of a necessary evil...I enjoy "Spring Cleaning" better than "Fall Cleaning," only because in the spring we have summer coming up to look forward to.  But the fact remains that the dusty corners that make Kara and I sneeze so much, need vacuuming in the fall as well.  She has allergies worse than I do, I think, but we both have itchy eyes and runny noses much of the time.  Our bunny Max has 2 shedding months of the year, and one of them is right now.  There's always something in the air :(

WINTER TENANTS? I only bring up "Fall Cleaning" because while I type this, I am staring at a spider in the corner of the window.  Fall also chases the spiders inside, who think they can set up shop and live with us in OUR house for the winter.  They are very wrong.

HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER..  Oh, I will include some soccer pictures of Kara, too...I tried to get creative and take some with slower shutter speed.

She's #3, in case you can ever see her number.  She plays "Sweeper," which is the last layer of defense before the goalie.  She protects the goalie, and hopefully the rest of the team protects her so she doesn't have to work so hard!  She's also reffing youth games on Saturdays.  Her schedule makes me tired but it's really just a couple of months...soccer is over at the end of October.

Have a great week!

Kari

Back in the Swing of Things

Hola!

Another week has started!  You'd think I could keep track of things better, now that I "only" have Kara in the house full-time.  You'd think.

BACK INTO THE SWING.  Kara has had a few soccer games so far this season.  She's playing "sweeper" on defense, the last layer before the ball gets to the goalie.  She's also reffing youth town soccer games on Saturday mornings, grades 3-8.  They play on Saturdays. I believe the oldest players she has reffed are 12 years old.  She has been an "AR" (assistant ref) for the older kids' games.  It's a pretty good seasonal job...she gets rough
ly $20 a game. Sometimes they give her back-to-back games, so last week and this coming week she'll do 3 in a row.  She puts her availability into their calendar online, and the assignments are computer generated.

COLLEGE LIFE. Teresa seems to be transitioning just fine, into her freshman year at BYU.  She's doing all the "fun" things of college!  Football games, campus photo scavenger hunts. She found a friend whose family has a boat, and one Saturday about 10 of them went tubing at a lake.  Another Saturday another friend invited her rock-climbing, with her aunt and uncle who have all the gear.  She also pulled together an intramural volleyball team. They play every week.

Classes? She assures us she is attending!  Ha.  This week the quizzes and tests start.  Hopefully all the reading she's been doing will pay off, in retaining all that information :)

TUTORING. I started back to school too, tutoring the ELL ("English Language Learners") students at 2 different elementary schools.  We picked up a few new students, and 2 of them (1 at each school) have ZERO English!  What an overwhelming situation for those children.  We are trying to pull them out a couple of times a day, and work hard on vocabulary, and the basics of following directions, and feeling comfortable with class routines here at the beginning.

HP announced that they are laying off another 33,000 employees, with the company split that is happening November 1.  Thankfully Frank is connected to the "other" part of HP, so we don't see his position being on the chopping block.  For now.  (!!?! Nothing is guaranteed in this life, right!  We are so grateful to be employed, one month at a time.)

NURSERY CREW.  I have a new assignment in our church congregation...they asked me to be on the "Nursery Crew!"  Frank and I are still teaching seminary one day a week (Fridays) plus when needed to sub, and Frank still works with the 11-year-old scouts every Wednesday and plans campouts for them.  Now I have joined 2 other women in caring for the little children in nursery during the last 2/3 of the church meeting block.  They can go into the nursery at 18 months, and they're in there until 3 yrs. old.

Frank is still working with the 11-year-old Boy Scouts!  Seems like once you learn the program, you are a valuable commodity :)

I was supposed to get this out at the beginning of the week, and suddenly it's almost Thursday...

Hope you're having a good week where you are :)
Kari

New Chapters, Soccer, Face Lift for the House

Here we are, near the end of August!  That means summer is almost over.  (Nooooooo!)

We found a garter snake in the front yard

NEW ADVENTURES for TERESA. We took Teresa to the airport last week, so she can start her newest chapter, as a freshman in college at BYU!  She packed so many social events into her last few weeks, we barely saw her.  "This is my last time to see so-and-so," or "we won't get together until Christmas, after this."  She put a lot of miles on the car :)

She and Kara went shopping a few times before she left...Kara is very 'aware' of clothing choices and getting a versatile wardrobe together.  She's a good resource to take shopping with you!  Here are photos of them packing, and also of the morning we went to the airport.

Kara, meanwhile, is also cramming in as much activity into her last days of summer!  Monday of this week, she went with a couple of friends to Six Flags.

SOCCER. Tomorrow is the first day of soccer try-outs.  Those practices are scattered over the next couple of days, and then regular soccer and school starts next week.

frog friend at a pond on one of our hikes

OK, now it's the beginning of September.  Kara went to school for 2 days last week, and now it's Labor Day weekend.

We're taking a Last Hurrah at 6 Flags for Labor Day tomorrow.  I think it's supposed to be 92 degrees.  Whew, hot for us!

FRONT STEPS.  I did not mention that we had a house project this summer...we had a porch with railing built, on our front steps!  It's always a little dangerous in the winter, to have cement steps and icy conditions, without a railing.

Porch Before

So we started thinking about it last April, for Pete's sake...we got 3 estimates, had samples delivered for the composite decking...and decided on what we wanted.  It took until August to get the details figured out, and put ourselves on the calendar of the guy who did it for us.

Porch After

Well, my allotted time for the blog is now officially expired!  I'll put in one more before/after picture of the whole house.  I really like the front porch...it adds to the look, gives some variety to the front of the house.

Have a great Labor Day!
Love, Kari