Fine! I will start posting again!

Welcome Fall!

Yesterday we celebrated Halloween at the kids' school.

I tutor 14 kids every day, here are 3 of my favorite kids!

Kai's classmate Josh... 

I think this is the best halloween costume!

I brought the pirate costume for anyone who needed it.

So Omar grabbed it, I just love this dude!

He's so sweet... and yet sooo mischevious!

I also tutor Cate, she was so excited to show me her costume!

Her teacher didn't even know she was missing from class!

Kai was a zoo-keeper for Halloween.

Simple. Easy. I like his style!

Masia and Sara dance around for Kai.... silly girls!

Avery looks adorable!

Denny is the Ninja. He randomly shows up at our house with his brother and the 2 of them play with Kai until we have to kick them out. (His mom had to come looking for him one day!) 

Last year I tutored Troy in the reading program. 
His mom is here today helping with the party.

Bunch of comedians!

Kai caught his teacher's shot, which is funny because she kept tricking me into shots, little devil she is! I love that Kai is in her class this year!



Santos gets bored in tutoring, he's a little stinker!

Watch out for the bear!

Is this a clip from a movie?!

Caden is one of my favorite kids... an absolute sweetheart!

The kids are supposed to be in their seats to get a cupcake...
mission impossible!

Ann and Brent came over to bring treats - LUCKY KIDS!

 I took Kai and Keala straight to the Moser's house first! They spent weeks building this 'spook house' onto their front porch. It was so creepy! Full of spiders, and zombies, and spooky noises! Cool!

I was thrilled it was so warm last night! I couldn't believe how many ward members drove into our neighborhood to trick-or-treat! We were the happenin' spot! So  many families were walking up and down the street!

One of our neighbors was even cooking hot dogs for everyone! (The Dad came and walked the kids with step-mom and me.) Brent opted to pass out candy (and keep his eye on the Jazz game!)

Last Friday I had a 'Witches Night Out' party. Kai and Keala were supposed to be with their dad for the weekend but Kai had a cough and didn't want to go. Good thing he didn't, one of his cousins suprised us with a visit! Keala invited the neighbor's new dog, so she brought over the dog and both her kids. It was an impromptu kids-party downstairs while the moms were upstairs. Fun for all!

Witches having fun!

My school picture this year!

I love, love, LOVE working at the kids' school!

They love seeing mom come into their classes and I love getting to know all their friends! I just adore these little guys!

Kai's You-Tube Dance Debut

Older siblings, Austin and Kasey teach Kai some sweet dance moves. Check it out...

Southwest Vacations Reward Trip

On May 1st - 4th, Southwest Vacations rewarded their top producers with a trip to Anaheim. Our first night in town they took us to Knott's Berry Farm after the park closed and hosted a cocktail hour and then dinner.

These cowboys performed a funny skit while we mingled during cocktails... tell ya more 'bout it later. (There was a lot of shooting involved! Kinda scary!)

It was fun to see the park through "travel and tourism" eyes. This is our group mingling as we waited for dinner.

After being escorted into one of the dinner theaters, we found all our tables decorated with cowboys hats. Such a cute idea!

Only the FUN people wore them though!

Snoopy came around and said HI to everyone!  Ahhh!

And then there was Disneyland...

The new "Cars Adventure" in California Adventure looks like it will be awesome! We had a private presentation of the attractions.

Here we are at the breakfast presentation of the new "Cars Attractions". The cool thing was seeing the engineers get so excited about their projects. Such a great presentation! Way to go Disney!

After a full day of conferences we were shuttled down to Dana Point for a look at the fabulous St Regis Hotel along with cocktails and dinner and CHEESE!

Random Disneyland photos from my phone.

I loved the Lego Store in Downtown Disney... only cuz Kai would have loved to see all the Legos! This was Lego-heaven!

 I forgot to mention I had lunch with Dad! A great lunch! Thanks again dad! (And even worse... I forgot to take a photo with Dad!)

Off to an Angels game for dinner and 'show' in one of their suites.

Fun and Yum! (unfortunately they lost... boo!)

Here Kitty, Kitty...

I know you're thinking... "why more pictures of the dog?" 

Well, because this is the "BEFORE" picture....

And this is the "AFTER" picture!

Brent says she looks like a 'skinned' rabbit!

Erika asked me to shave my dog before she watches her for another week. 

Now my dog looks like a CAT! She looks so weird!

Lazy Days...

Some days I tell Keala how much Maggie misses her when shes at school!

I really like how she gets how to use a pillow!

Or there are other optional places...

Yawn! Time for more napping!

Such is a dogs life!

The Scone Coma

Last Sunday we had our family tradition of scones for breakfast before General Conference.

The next 3 days I received requests for MORE SCONES. Here is my adaptation for Gluten free scones... I put the mix in a pastry bag and curled them around to look like a cinnamon roll.

This was last Sunday BEFORE the coma set in...

This is after...  And Kai took this video which he was so clever to do!:

Let's put The Netherlands Vacation in Order!

I thought... instead of reading all our posts about our Netherlands vacation backwards, (as it happens when you post them), I am going to put them in an order (that actually is backwards.) This way you can just scroll straight down to read right through all of them.  Alright, On your marks, get set, Go!...

Welcome to Amsterdam! March 21st

Greetings from MaryAnn! (That REALLY is her name). She was our Viking Cruise's concierge. After a long day of travel on Monday, MaryAnn helped us pick our tour for the next day... So after a quick bus tour of Amsterdam Monday night, we were fast asleep for a good night's rest in our beautiful cabin then off we went Tuesday morning to HAARLEM!

We started out Tuesday morning with fresh cooked omelets on board our ship. Then we were off to our walking tour of old city Haarlem as we listened to our guide through the use of these head sets that Brent is so graciously modeling here.

Haarlem is a cute city, and I hate to say it, but I think my husband is pretty cute too! (Cheese!) Its a little chilly in the mornings but such pleasant weather by the early afternoon. Onto the program...

One of Brent's favorite things about European cities are the town squares. Everyone loves an outdoor meal in the fresh air and plenty of people-watching. These squares are packed by noon! 

Don't you just love tourists, we take pictures of every little thing!  The first cheese shop we passed by was a novelty. (By the 33rd, we were over it!) This cute store-keeper invited us to come in and buy cheese, not just take a picture of it! Tourists!

We are waiting to go inside the Frans Hals Museum that housed a number of paintings from the Golden Age. We had our own private tour before they opened to the public. Rock stars!

After our tour of Haarlem, this was were we had lunch! Can you believe it! This Viking River Tour really knows how to do it up right!  The meal was slow-roasted pork on top of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Oh, so good. (And apple pie for dessert!)

Our lunch was inside this old mansion that is now used for group banquets. We won't leave the port till late tonight, so this evening we have our Christening Ceremony.

Pictured here are 2 of the 4 ships that were Christened. The ships recieve their names, and a Godmother is chosen to do the Christening. The ceremony included a broadcast from the workers at the shipyard. Pretty cool stuff!

The stage of the Christening Ceremony is placed here between the 4 boats, 2 on each side. The 4 Godmothers have Christened each boat and we are awaiting a cocktail celebration to start.

These 4 women holding the frames are the 4 Godmothers who were honored to each represent one of the boats. Forgive me for not placing their names, I can give you a full account later if you want!

This is the beginning of beautiful sunsets we enjoyed every night, followed by perfect weather every day. No one could believe how warm it was for us! The meals on the ship were just as fantastic too! Our dinners looked as beautiful as that lunch did, but I won't go into too much detail to not make you jealous. (It was awesome food though! I threw my diet right out the window!)