Visiting in New York!

Seth, my brother Steve, and I had the opportunity to visit Elder and Sister Decker (ie. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa) this past week.  We battled the freezing cold weather!  Seth was especially cold coming from tropical weather so recently.  We had a great time visiting all the church sites and meeting many wonderful people that work with my parents.

We hit the Syracuse scene a few days and saw the family.  Thank you to Tara and Brian for our wonderful accommodations.  We had alot of fun playing with the kids and going through pictures. It was a hard task but Tara even did a photo shoot of Seth.   He tends to make alot of funny faces when he is posing for pictures. We loved going through all the little towns and finding antique stores to reminisce in.  We have seen enough old stuff to last us for another year or so.

My mother broke her wrist on Saturday the 31st of January.  The seat of a piece of exercise equipment at her parents house gave way and she fell trying to catch herself with her hand.  It was her right wrist.  She wasn't even exercising, just sitting there. How is she going to write, paint, do dishes, curl her hair?  Since she is responsible the doctor let her wear a soft cast that she can take off to take a shower.  She is very grateful.  

I visited my good friend Randy Allen.  We knew each other in highschool and still keep in touch.  That was almost 27 years ago! Wow! Time Flies!

We played the domino game Mexican train!  Way fun!  We laughed and laughed.  I even caught a few pictures of Steve wearing an apron and holding a purse!!! (Ok, so he was helping Mom)  I love going to New York!  Now we have to get some of those New Yorkers to come visit us in California.

Elder Roberts is back!

The day finally arrived!  Seth is home.  It was a long day picking up Seth at the Los Angeles airport but not near as long as his 15 hours of plane rides.  He didn't recognize Wendy, he thought she was Janelle Mastaler from a distance.  Abbey also shocked him.  Emily looked about the same to him and of course Craig and I have gained a few pounds.  The adrenaline was pumping and he didn't stop talking till bedtime.  What a great opportunity he had to serve an honorable mission in the Naga, Philippines mission.  He definitely has a love for the Filipino people.  He has already told us plenty of fun stories and experiences.  Tagalog words are still quite often intermixed with his English.  Already I have been listening to Filipino music that he bought just before he came home.  His  Filipino companion told him what CD's to buy.  He said music was the thing he missed the most.  We are happy to have him home, but it is a little bittersweet for Seth.  The Philippines became home to him.  Our family has truly been blessed because of his service.

Los Angeles Zoo

What better activity than strolling through the Los Angeles Zoo on New Years Day!  We went with the Lacey family and Treya Smithson.  The Monkeys were by far the funniest.  Specifically the gibbons and the orangatans. The girls made fun of me because I kept saying how majestic the lions looked.  The Otters were entertaining.  There sure are some ugly animals, too. We walked a lot and it wasn't too crowded, so overall it was a very pleasant day.   And of course I got to try my new camera out and take tons of pictures.  I came home and deleted most of them, but I got a few good ones. Maybe next year we will try the Rose Parade in Pasadena! 

Christmas Spirit

Christmas time has come and gone once again!  It was hard for me to get into the spirit of Christmas this year, but about a week before it took hold.  I think I was more excited for Seth to arrive home on the 15th of January.  We had a great, quiet Christmas.  Seth called on Christmas Eve and we got to talk with him about an hour.  He sounded great.   The first thing he asked for when he comes home is eggnog.  At a whopping 143 pounds I think we need to fatten him up.  He rattled off his accomplishments of the prior day in Tagalog.  It was wild sounding!

We joined some friends Christmas caroling and reenacted the Nativity.  The girls did our traditional Christmas skit. Santa Clause vs. the Easter Bunny this year.  Of course the skits always end with a happy ending.  Wendy and Abbey got new rollarblades, so all three girls were skating around the house for awhile.  Craig broke down and got me a Sony A100 DSLR camera.  It is two years old, (e-bay Purchase) but it works great.  He wants to make sure I will use it.  I have already had fun playing with it.  Abbey and Wendy have also.  We now have a record number of close-up pictures of our dogs.  I told them if they take one more picture of the dogs, it will be off limits.

We watched some new movies, talked on the phone with family, had a great ham dinner and enjoyed each others company.  Who could ask for more.  Of course I have already taken the Christmas decorations down.  Emily and Wendy think I was premature.  We are supposed to keep them up until New Years they said.  It is my nature to get things back in order.  I hope all of you had a great Christmas!

Record Snow in Apple Valley!

It has been four years since our last snowfall!  We made up for lost time!  We got 10 inches of snow! You east coast people might think this is no big deal, but it left many of us stranded on closed freeways and schools closed even though it was finals week.  Most roads could not be snowplowed because we have one snowplow per county.  OK I'm exaggerating, All the kids say "Yeah" until they have to try and remember all the information that will be on there finals four weeks from now in January.