Awards

On Monday, when we returned from Thanksgiving break, Emily had her award ceremony for the first trimester. Although she skipped 4th grade at the beginning of the year, she still managed to make honor roll. She also got perfect attendance and a citizenship award. 

We are so very proud of the hard work she has put in this year. She is becoming more responsible as well and it is so gratifying to see her grow up.

They started a new program at school this year. All the kids who got awards, also received a medal and they get to earn pins to add to their lanyard all year long. Caitlyn was so excited about it that she woke up extra early the next morning so that she can go to her award ceremony!

Caitlyn received high honors, perfect attendance, as well as, citizenship. This is actually the first time she has gotten citizenship. I have been talking to her all last year about trying to work her way up to this award. It is not that she misbehaves in class, it's participating and answering questions and things like that that usually kills her. She is starting to come out of her shell a bit and it really shows. We are so proud of her!

Caitlyn's ceremony was first thing in the morning, so Christian actually got to come see her award ceremony before work, but mostly he came to help me because I have had so much trouble taking pictures in the dark room with all the kids moving about. So you will notice that Caitlyn's pictures look significantly better than the ones I took the day before at Emily's ceremony (which is barely useable). Hopefully, I will be able to take them better on my own next time!!!

Thanksgiving and other matters

After we got back from our camping trip, we had to put away all our gear, download and organize all our pictures and do loads and loads of laundry. As soon as I started to get a handle on the laundry, dishes seemed to appear everywhere as we prepared for Thanksgiving.

This year, my mom went on a trip to China, so she was not home for the holidays. My sister couldn't get together for dinner as she was spending it with her in-laws. She wanted to do lunch but it was too hectic for me to make it so early. And quite frankly, we were sick of traveling in the car at this point. We opted to stay home this year for Thanksgiving. A quiet evening at home was just the ticket after our big adventure.

My sister, my brother and their respective families got together for lunch to have Thanksgiving with my father. Since my brother and his family had no plans in the evening, we invited them to drop by to have dinner with us. We prepared a simple Thanksgiving dinner...turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower and Christian's famous wild rice and onion bread. Oh, and I made some pumpkin pie too. My brother brought a few sides as well, along with some fresh apple cider from his trip to Glen Oaks. So, in the end, we had quite a bit of food.

The girls helped Christian grind spices for the turkey brine. Plus they helped clean up the house...which was a big help. Unfortunately, we ran a little late and so when dinner was ready, we just set to it and I forgot to take pictures.

After Thanksgiving, it was more dishes...but since we had Thanksgiving at home this year, we had plenty of leftovers and didn't have to do real cooking until the end of the week. So, meanwhile, we broke out all the Christmas supplies and put up our tree. We decided upon making a tree decorated with only homemade ornaments (except the lights, obviously). The girls had a lot of fun making paper chains and stringing popcorn. I thought the tree might end up a little sparse, but we had more than I remembered in our stockpile and it filled up nicely.

Once the tree was done, we took our annual Christmas picture for our Christmas cards...a Herculean task. It is always a great trial of patience for everyone involved. When we were done, we took advantage of the campus being empty on Saturday and took the girls for a bike ride around campus. They love riding around the empty campus. It's a bit difficult to ride around the neighborhood because of all the cars and hills. They especially love going to the performing arts building, also known as the hideous ugly purple building. The girls have also dubbed it as the "death star."

On Sunday, we had the missionaries over for dinner right after church. They brought a guest with them. We were expecting 3, but only one made it so I made quite a bit of food which means, you got it...more dishes! Plus we are preparing for the primary Christmas program, so I brought home a big bag of nativity costumes to wash...which means, yes...more laundry. Lovely.

Vacation

Since we didn't get to do much for our anniversary, we decided to take off and get away for a while. We decided on a winter camping trip to the desert. Of course, a freak cold spell rolls in just as we set our plans into motion, but we were determined. I ran out and got the girls some thermal underwear and thicker socks, packed up and hoped for the best. We did alter our plans a little in where we were going to actually camp. Some places we considered were definitely colder than others.

Day 1:  Panamint Valley

It was beautiful, but cold and windy. We were a bit worried. Ominous black clouds were on one side of us and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We had a difficult time setting up our tent. The ground was so parched though, we could not drive any stakes into the ground because it was too hard. We had to bungee the tent down to some boulders and throw our gear inside to keep it from flying up and across the valley like a kite.

We ate our dinner inside our car. Luckily we prepared something that we didn't have to heat up. I don't think we could have cooked anything out in that wind. We also had some hot water in our thermos still to warm us up.

In the end, as long as you were not standing in the wind, it really wasn't that cold. We were quite comfortable in our tent. And the wind died down as the night progressed. By the morning, all was still.

However, because we fared so well, we decided to alter our plans again and attempt some of the things that we considered before.

Day 2 (part 1):  Darwin Falls

We headed out of Panamint Valley and headed up to the Alabama Hills. On the way, we decided to make a detour and took the girls to see Darwin Falls. We had never been there and would normally avoid places like that because they are usually overly crowded.

We got lucky and there were only a few scattered groups heading out as we were heading in and got the falls to ourselves for about half an hour before we headed back down the trail. The girls collected different colored rocks on our hike in. It was about a mile or so from the trail head. Emily got to climb a bunch of boulders along the way. We got to the fall and was able to stop and have a snack while enjoying the view before heading back.

As we drove away from the trail head, several waves of cars were heading in. I'm pretty sure they ran out of parking spaces shortly after leaving. We were very fortunate to have had the place basically to ourselves!

We continued on our way to the Alabama Hills...stopping for a quick lunch at a pleasant little spot a little off the road. The kids got to stretch their legs and get some air. We were doing a lot of driving and they were doing really well.

Day 2 (part 2): Alabama Hills

The sun was already starting to set as we arrived in the Alabama Hills. We had a hard time finding a camping spot as they all seem to be taken. We finally found a nice spot for ourselves where there were not anybody else very close by. We still heard some idiots screaming and playing loud music in the middle of the night but as they were at least a mile and a half down the road, it wasn't too bad.

The kids had just enough daylight to run around and climb boulders around the campsite while Christian set up our tent again. We had enough shelter in this area to set up our stove and get a hot meal. Plus, it was a lot less windy here. The night wasn't too bad, but it was noticeably colder. Caitlyn woke me up several times to snuggle up closer to get a bit warmer. We definitely need to invest in real sleeping bags for the kids.

Day 3 (part 1): Alabama Hills

One of the best things about waking up in the mornings when you are out camping is the view. It was such a gorgeous morning. We decided to dawdle a little and let the kids run around and do some more climbing. I snapped these pictures of the girls next to our campsite.

We stopped by on the way to our honeymoon in June Lake and took a picture not too far from this spot some fifteen years ago.

Day 3 (part 2): Eureka Dunes

Eureka was the ultimately the destination we wanted to get to on this trip. But as it is higher, it was also sure to be colder. We were also unsure of the camping situation. A lot of people go out to the desert this time of year. It is the busiest time of year for Death Valley.

The girls had heard our stories of how we went to Eureka 10 to 15 years ago. While we were making out way to the top of the highest dunes, we saw an F-18 flying nearby. We made a sprint to the top and nearly killed ourselves. But it was worth it because we could see the F-18 flying below us and so close that we could see the pilot waving to us from his cockpit. He did all kinds of flips and tricks around the dunes. It was the height of our trip.

We told the girls that we might be able to see one because they fly out of China Lake to practice there sometimes but that it was not a sure thing...only if they were very lucky like us! Caitlyn said that she was pretty sure she would get to see one since she feels that she is a pretty lucky girl. Guess what we saw as we got our of our car?

It flew by and did a spin. The girls were so so excited. We headed up the dunes and hoped that they would come back. We only made it up to the top of one of the lower of the big dunes. Christian and I were struggling a bit. It was a lot harder than we remembered. The girls were having a blast though...especially Emily. She is such a little trooper. She wanted very badly to make it to the top of the biggest dune. I think she could have made it too...but it was not in the cards for Christian and I. I am not sure that we will ever make it to the top again. We really felt our age on that dune. We were also constricted by time. We still needed to find a camping spot. We stopped to have a snack on the top of the dune and saw many cars come into the valley. It didn't look to good for us.

We sat for a while, waiting to see if the F-18 would come again, but no such luck. We kept hearing them flying around but they did not come back to the dunes. We headed down as the pressure of a place to camp was weighing down on us. Halfway down, two F-18 did another fly by.

They were still farther off, but we were more level to where they were. We were less lucky in finding a campsite though. All the cars we saw pull in had taken what was left of the existing campsites. So unless we wanted to camp next to someone else, we were out of luck. And we certainly didn't want to camp next to anyone. We decided to head to the backside of the dunes to try our luck on the 4x4 trail. As we were leaving the area, another F-18 flew right over our heads. We could see his exhaust nearly right in front of us. I'm sure he did it to scare us or something but it was pretty awesome. I was not nearly fast enough to capture that on my camera!

We didn't have much luck on the 4x4 trail. At some point, we just had to stop and turn around. There was just not enough clearance for our vehicle. It's more of a jeep trail. We were too wide and didn't have enough ground clearance. We weighed our options and decided to just go home. We had a good trip and were planning to leave in the morning anyway. Caitlyn loves all the adventures during the day, but come night, she really would rather sleep in her own nice warm, soft and cozy bed. She has always been that way.  Emily was a bit disappointed. She'll take her adventures over comfort most days. Although, for Caitlyn, it isn't just about comfort. She has always been that way. Even when she was little and it got late and dark at Disneyland, she would worry about where she was going to sleep. If she was away from home, she could only sleep if she was on top of daddy or snuggled up with mom.

We headed home, opting to grab dinner at McDonalds in town on our way out to save some time and to make up to Emily for leaving a little early. We got back without any trouble. Both the girls were pretty happy to get a bath/shower and to use a flushing toilet (as were we). We find that we are always more thankful for the little things when you have to do without for a while!

Our Anniversary

Fifteen years ago today, we got married at the Citrus State Historical park.

Last night, we let the girls stay up late watching a movie with us. We thought they would sleep in and let us have a late lazy morning. But since there is no school today, they got up before 7:am. Christian and I still tried to keep the kids busy so that we could spend a late morning together, it didn't work out quite as we had hoped.

In the end, we got up to have breakfast together, then we had to get ready to go to school. We had parent-teacher conferences all morning. We came home to have a quick lunch before Christian had to take off to work.

We had a quick dinner as soon as he got back. I made some fresh bread with some of Christian's new sour dough starter. And we had some shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta (shrimps were courtesy of our sponsor, the Marian Lui foundation). Thanks Marian, they were deliciously garlicky!

Then Christian and I went our separate ways. I had to go to a Stake Auxiliary meeting and Christian took the girls to meet up with the missionaries for some social with new investigators.

There's something wrong with this picture...can't quite put my finger on it....just something not quite right about it...hmmm.

Christian's Birthday

Christian's birthday was on Friday. The girl's got up to get ready for school. Before they left, they made their little offerings of love. Of course, Christian had to leave for work shortly thereafter. We had a quiet evening at home, as Christian hates going out anyway. Emily baked him the Swedish visiting cake. It turned out really well.

We went down to San Diego on Saturday to spend time with his family. I made a Boston Cream cake to share with his family. We had some crazy stop and go traffic in the first half hour or so. The drivers all around us were insane and homicidal. The cake slid around a bit and got a little lopsided by the time we arrived, but the girls did not get car sick and no one crashed into us this time, so I guess we had a pretty good trip.

We hung out with Christian's family, had pizza and played some games. The girls got to play with their cousins. We had not been to visit since the Spring and that other ill fated trip on our way home from S.D. I guess the girls have recovered from their ordeal, but my car will never be the same.

Happy Birthday

ENDEAVOURS.

And, even should misfortunes come,
-I, here wha sit, hae met wi' some,
An's thankfu' for them yet,
They gie the wit of age to youth;
They let us ken oursel';
They mak' us see the naked truth,
The real guid and ill.
Tho' losses, and crosses,
Be lessons right severe,
There's wit there, ye'll get there,
Ye'll find nae other where.


BURNS

Halloween Night

I took the kids to our ward's trunk-or-treat after dinner. Emily stuck with her sorceress costume while Caitlyn went to plan C, which was the Betsy Ross costume she originally wanted to go to the Halloween party in over the weekend. The only house we stopped by to trick-or-treat was our immediate neighbor's house. Christian stayed home to hand out candy for the handful of kids that might find their way up our street.

There were cars that just handed out candy but there were also lots of them that were set up for carnival type games.

There were several fishing type games, ring toss, an electronic duck shooting game (Caitlyn did extraordinarily well at that one), pumpkin bowling, eating donuts on a string (no hands), tossing bean bags into buckets and other targets. I can't even remember them all.

True to the carnival nature of some of the games, the girls tossed ping pong balls into little cups of water with fish and won some little feeder fishes. Lots of the parents didn't know what to do with them though and they tried to give them away or return them.

Emily and Caitlyn wasn't sure what to do with them either but wanted to keep them. Luckily, we still had an old tank in the garage that I dusted off for their new home.  We'll see if they live or not.

The mean mom that I am, I only let them go to each car once instead of letting them make their rounds through the parking lot over and over like some of their friends until the candy ran out. There was plenty of candy already. There is no reason to get an insane amount. They came home and sorted through their loot to see what they got.

We only got a few more trick-or-treaters when we got home. So, still not a whole lot. We thought there might be more this year since some families moved in at the end of the block, but we got our usual handful and that was it. The girls got to pick one candy each to have that night (plus Christian and I demanded a tribute from each of the girls...which we really didn't need to eat, but it was Halloween, what's a person to do?)

After the girls went to bed, Christian and I donned our Halloween costumes and took a few snapshots for posterity.

I found these Venetian masks at Target and put together some clothing for a masquerade. I actually sewed Christian's cape. I'm not that great at sewing but I figured a costume might be the way to go to practice since it doesn't really need to be perfect and it's worn in the dark anyway. A hooded black cape is versatile and can be used for any number of costumes in the future anyway.

The great thing about these outfits is that masks are not really allowed at most of the functions we go to and so we just wore them on our heads. We were just wearing normal clothes for the most part but we could still say that we are dressed up!

Halloween Day

Emily decided to go as a sorceress to school. Caitlyn went as a witch. Of course, everyone just thought Emily was a witch too. The kids had their usual Halloween party and costume parade around the school in the afternoon.

I liked Caitlyn's party this year. They really didn't do a lot of candy. They had more of an indoor "campout." They made a makeshift fire pit with construction paper. They sat around the campfire and told silly or spooky stories. Each of the kids had worked on writing on story draft this week and they practiced telling the story to their family as part of their homework. Then they took turns telling their stories in class around the campfire. They made star diagrams of the big dipper and put them up on the ceiling so that they could lay back and watch the stars. Then they were supposed to start their party with smores and apple cider. We ended up saving the apple juice for another day though, as we got heaps of juice boxes and things from other parents for the party. Plus they had healthy snacks like cheese sticks and carrots. Of course, they got chips and things too but for the most part, it was not the sugar fest that is normally at these parties.

As I was volunteering in Caitlyn's class, I missed the beginning of Emily's party. But they just passed out goodies and ate them. There was no shortage of sugar flowing at their party though. They tried to introduce something healthy like celery sticks but that didn't go very well. Who would want celery sticks when they had cookies smothered with frosting, chips, juice boxes and handfuls of candy?

The parade itself seemed a bit more chaotic than usual. Most of the little kids didn't even seem as cute as they normally do. Their costumes just aren't as innocent and cute any more. Too many of society's corrupt ideas have influenced even the costumes of the kindergarteners. It's very sad. They did ban the parents from dressing up this year, which I was really happy about, but that didn't really stop a few parents from doing it anyway, and of course, a couple of them could not help showing off their inner skank even at their children's school events. I had to admit though, that it was a little toned down from the previous year. I suppose we have to be happy with what we can get...