WEDNESDAY

...three down...

TUESDAY

...two down...

MONDAY

one down...

SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.....

The mom has so much to do with children starting school on Monday (Todd), Tuesday (Aaron) and Wednesday (Audrey and Lance), that additions to this blog are temporarily put on HOLD...

...check with me in about a week and a half!

Family trip

Mid July, we shoved the 7 of us and a nephew into the vehicle and drove 2500 miles to Crater Lake, Oregon, over to the Coast, down through the Redwoods to San Fransisco, over to Lake Tahoe and home. We tented except in San Fran. It was a blast (tons of fun and dirt), the kids were really good (surprisingly), and we made some awesome memories (like cliff jumping - ahhhhh). When I can get the camera back from Thao, I will put pictures up!

On the last day, during the drive home, I had the kids write down their 10 favorite things. It truly helped me to keep it all in perspective.

JOEY (age 4): The castle and beach at Lake Tahoe
Jumping off the dock

LANCE (age 6): swimming, crab fishing, tipool (tide pool), cratelake (Crater Lake), chasig chipmos (chasing chipmunks), chocelet, DS, seals and sea lions, rosting mashmeos (roasting marshmellows), going home

AUDREY (age 9): Cliff jumping, watching the stars, tidal pools, roasting 'mellows and dogs, the fresh air, exploring with friends, the smell of a campfire, the Silver Man dancing, hiking to Emerald Bay, seeing pictures in the clouds

AARON (age 12): jumping off the dock, jumping into Crater Lake, crab fishing,tide pools, adventuring, souvenir shopping, swimming, playing the DS, seeing animals, getting chocolate (at Ghirardelli)

TODD (turned 14 on the trip): Sleeping in a bed, jumping of the cliff

Where did the summer go?

What? Where did the last 2 months go? What happened to all that free time? And all those fun things we were going to do? Oh, yeah, summer happened...

Scout Camp
Lagoon
Friend's houses
Rearranging bedrooms
Summer homework
Fishing
Fishing some more
Soccer tryouts
Soccer practices
Cleaning house
Yard Sale
Haircuts
Giant, Huge, Way Fun Family Vacation!!!

It's been fun and busy. So now I know what happened... maybe!

School's out, Scream and Shout

Welcome, summer. Goodbye to school. Thank you, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Hargrove, as well as the teachers at the middle school. Audrey is sad, mom is glad, boys are screaming and shouting (at each other, at the homework mom gives them, at having to do chores, etc.). Time for adventures!

Introducing Supergirl!

I am so proud of my daughter. She is well rounded, beautiful, smart (way, way, smart), she is a great helper, and she thinks of others. The last week of school, she decided to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love. So, mom kinda sniffled as the scissors snipped away, but it is SO cute and fun and check out the curl in the back! It will be great for summer, it wil help a little girl who is losing her hair, and it has taught us all about serving others. I am so proud to be her mom... (sniffle, sniffle)

What a week...

What a fun and crazy week last week! Soccer games were exciting and stressful, teacher appreciation was appreciated, Joe's Crab Shack was yummy and fun, mom and daughter activity day was attended without mom, and mom was sick. Then I got sicker. And even sicker. Isn't there a rule that says mom's can't get sick? Or is that just the family rule? Oh, well... at least I'm finally getting better!

More awesome teachers...

From the kids...

Thank you to Mrs. Pincock, Mrs. Harrison, Mr. Davidson, Mrs. Melton, Mr. Kelley, Ms. Yawn, Mrs. Bohman, Mrs. Haines, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Mickelsen, Ms. Miller, Mrs. Hargrove. Thank you for helping us become what we are!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week

As a sucker mom for PTA, I have the opportunity to help with Teacher Appreciation Week this week at our school. So, to all you parents out there, PLEASE take the opportunity to thank those teachers who positively influence our children's lives and our lives. They do so much with very little thanks and a whole lot of complaints. Let us teach our children to appreciate the effort that others take in teaching them!!!!

Thank you to: Mrs. Wirthlin (3rd grade), Rita Yarbrough who believed I could DO math, Claudia Wright, Alan Parrish, Bob Rasmussen, a college history teacher whose I can't remember but who taught me to think outside the box. Briana Zenger, Brent Cox, Sara Saxey, Heather Cook, Hanh Auduong, Hoa Kim Duncan, my husband and my children. We all teach is many ways.

I was once told, "a teacher is a teacher as long as someone remembers them that way."

A Star is Born!

Audrey is a star! She participated in the Fourth Grade play and did a fantastic job as the goddess Timpanogas. Wish I had better pictures, but alas, the lighting in the school gym is not conducive to great pictures. I was so proud of her, though! She did a great job, as Mrs. Witt-Roper, Ms. Yawn and Mrs. Bailey all agreed! Way to go, my star!

Fun Pictures

Fun pictures of spring, Carson surrounded by kids, pretty ladies, crazy kids, and our Easter Egg Hunt!

Good luck, Minh and Cami!

Our good friends, Minh (Nathan) and Cami are moving back to Kentucky for a new job. Congrats to them, but we will miss tham (as will her mom!). We know they will be a blessing to the people back there, but they leave a hole in our little Viet group! We love you guys!

Happy Birthday, Lance!

Lance is a lucky little tyke! He got 2 birthday parties - one with family, squeezed in between soccer games, and one with friends during the time a soccer game got cancelled!!!! Lucky kid. He really raked in the presents, and got 2 yummy cakes (one of which dad took him to the store on mom's order and picked the yummiest chocolate cake! mmmmm). He is now six, sweet, sassy and smart. (Or smart - aleck?!?). He likes to build things (legos, Bionicles, tinker-toys), his favorite color is ORANGE, he loves his friends, bacon, watermelon, ice cream, wrestling with dad, playing the Wii, dogs and his pet rat. I'm glad he is part of our family, because it sure wouldn't be the same without him! Love you, Lancey-pants!

Hello...is anybody home???

OK so we've been busy the last couple months. Here's a brief recap...

Over President's Day in February, we went down to St. George for a soccer tournament. Todd's team did well, it was beautiful weather, we had a great time, and we got to see Hoover Dam where part of Transformers was filmed!!!!

I had the pleasure (?) of speaking in church about family history.

We had the great honor of welcoming home Staff Sergeant Matt Brooks from Afghanistan. It was our pleasure to be there with their family as he came home! May God bless this country and those soldiers who sacrifice for our freedom...

Thao's mom got married!!! Congrats to her and Quy! What a fun thing to experience.

My crocuses bloomed, then it snowed, then the daffodils bloomed, then it snowed, then the trees bloomed and it snowed...can we see a pattern here?

Lance lost his first tooth! Then his second!

We went to Moab in mid-March for Thao and Todd to run the Canyonlands race. Thao ran the half-marathon, Todd ran the 5-mile. They both did great, especially Todd! (sorry, honey). We explored the Price Dinosaur Museum, Nine Mile Canyon, and hiked to new places in Moab. It was beautiful and very, very nice!

Audrey was accepted into the Advanced Learning Placement Program for school next year. She will be attending Westland Elementary instead of Heartland. We will be sad to not be with Heartland next year but this is a great opportunity for Miss Smarty Pants!!!!

General Conference came and went and we celebrated it downtown again. Have you ever noticed that it usually is bad weather on Saturday, but rarely on Sunday?

The Tran family got to sing "I Feel My Savior's Love" on Easter Sunday in sacrament meeting. Lance, especially, was AWESOME!

Annual Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard was a blast. It amazes me that after 40 minutes of hiding eggs, and who knows how many hours of filling eggs, 400 of said eggs can be picked up in 14 minutes...

Whew! Now we are caught up!

Puppetering ROCKS!

Audrey and the Activity day girls in our ward decided to put on a puppet show for our ward. They began making their puppets and creating a script for the army of Helaman and Samuel the Lamanite. Todd was asked to be Samuel, both the real person and the puppet. Aaron was asked to help with the army of Helaman. They performed their show on Saturday and it ROCKED!!!!! I wish I could have recorded it, but all you get to see are pictures. What a fun experience for them and a fun way to expand their talents!!!!

Happy belated Birthday

Aaron is 12! And what a week! His birthday was on Monday, we had frozen pizza and soccer practice, he had a big ole party on Friday (what was I thinking to have so many 12 year olds over!?!?!?), and he recieved the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, with family over for dinner afterwards. What a crazy, fun week.

I'm am so grateful to claim him as my son. He is thoughtful (most of the time), crazy fun, a wonderful cuddler and back-scratcher, a fantastic artist -very creative, a great soccer player and a worthy priesthood holder. He loves animals and Yu-gi-oh cards, and he is a joy to have around. Our family would not be complete without him. How blessed I am to now have 3 priesthood holders in my home. He and Todd walk around saying "hey, deacon" to each other!

Happy Birthday, Aaron - you are AWESOME!

My "New" Bathroom

OK, I have so much to do today, and what do I do? Blog...

As I was cleaning my bathroom, I noticed the shower curtain was gross, and my rugs were falling apart. So, wa-la!!! My new, bright bathroom!

Question...

I have been listening to the news and radio and hearing alot about Pres. Obama, etc. Constantly I hear about how historic an occasion this is, and Ken Burns (the documentarian) said this is a new era.
So my question is this: He is our president, he is a man, he is HALF BLACK; why is it so historic? Does he have special powers no other president has? Does the color of his skin make him more powerful? Or does it not have to do with his skills as a president, but rather, the fact that a minority was able to become commander in chief? I have nothing against his color, heck, I married a minority, but I think people are making to big of a deal of the fact that he is HALF BLACK. This segregation is what causes all the problems we have relating to minorities. If we could just see people as PEOPLE, rather than black, white, Asian, poor, rich, Mormon, atheist, wouldn't that solve alot of problems???

On a somewhat related note...
No matter WHO we voted for, Obama IS the president. We should support him, because he has a dang hard job. We don't have to like or agree with him, but he IS our president.

Enough of my soapbox...