It's about...time

Yes, it's been awhile...so to get up-to-date, after Chris quit HP he took a week long fishing trip in the gulf with a group of guys including his brother and a good friend from Monterey. Chris' brother, Jon, came with his family so while the men were fishing, it was me and my sister-in-law and nine children, including the twin girls, Hayley and Hannah--it was wonderful to get to meet them, arriving from Kazakhstan only last February and see how they fit right in perfectly with their new family.

The kids kept busy with lots of swimming, board games, wii, movies, and some roller skating with a fun little trip to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. I think it was agreed that it rivals the best ice cream in the world, though we still haven't been able to purchase the blackberry cobbler ice cream we sampled--though the candy bar ice cream is fabulous.

And then, after the company returned home and Chris started work, he had to go to California for a week so the kids and I made a quick trip to the Austin area to visit our good friends, the Masters family. We toured the state capitol building, which is beautiful, and hung around till dusk to see hundreds of thousands of bats come pouring out of the big bridge there--it was freaky, but cool and it sure does stink around there. Hundreds of people gather every night to watch the phenomenom.

Soon summer ended, school started and my camera stopped working so I have no pictures of the last 3 weeks, but the kids are all doing great. Colton loves high school and learning German and swimming and water polo with the varsity kids. Eli's dragging his Euphonium back and forth to school everyday, but is still the happiest kid and Jake and Olivia have great teachers and are already driving me crazy with the homework I have to sign-off on and remind them to do. It's hard to find a quiet place for each kid to do their homework with seven people here constantly. Though Caleb and I enjoy a little quiet and together time now and Chris pops in occasionally from his office, which is almost finished, it is great to be back on a schedule, seminary and all!