30

Meeting Morgan

The kids and I went to Petaluma for the long weekend. I told them that there was no way I was getting out of my pajamas, then my mom thought of the great idea to go to Chinatown for lunch....I got out of my pajamas!

 We walked around downtown, which I haven't really done since high school!  Lots of memories came back and I realized why I was into certain things when I was growing up!  Petaluma is such a mix of a hick/hippy town!

 It was Susannah and Kevin's anniversary on Saturday, so we watched the girls...and met Morgan!

 Peyton was adorble, of course!

 And we all fell in love with Morgan!

 She is about 4 months old now and such a little sweetie!  She didn't cry at all and will just hang out and chill and then when you start talking to her, she will just smile this huge open mouth smile!

 Morgan is a perfect little addition to the family, we all love her so much already!

My Work Life Is Crazy

 Oh my goodness.  I don't think that I have ever been this busy in any job that I have ever had!  But I enjoy my job, so it is all worth it!  I've had to get everything all worked through for both K-6 13-14 enrollment as well as choice placement.  Plus, I had to redo the registration forms to make life easier for parents and our schools.  They also decided to change my schedule around a bit, so I will work one day a week at each of the high schools and they had me move my office at one high school to a different location.  I'm pretty happy about that because I really felt like the other office wasn't really mine and I was living in the shadow of the person before me.  Now I get to set things up how I want them!  I still have my office the same at the District office though, so I'm just running around all over the place, but it is also fun getting to know people in person at the elementary schools, since I mostly work with them electronically.

Hunsakers!

 Carrie and her family have been in the states for a bit doing their annual visit.  They were in California for a week, so I drove up to have Sunday dinner with the Hunsakers, Kearls and Wasdens.  It was FANTASTIC getting all caught up and being able to see one of my life long best friends. Pretty sure another visit to China needs to be in the works, especially since little girl Hunsaker is due soon!

I'm a Stalker

 Bob decided to take Lisa, Kyra and I to the PGA Pro-AM.  Kyra and I got to Monterey on Friday night.  We all went out to a fabulous dinner and then headed to our hotels.  We got up early the next day and headed to Pebble Beach.  It was a beautiful day and Kyra and I ended up following Josh Duhamel around basically all day...two feet away from him anytime we could get there.  I probably wasn't supposed to, but I got his autograph.  We weren't supposed to take pictures at all while we were there, or else that is something I would have documented...me with Josh, but that's ok.  We also saw Andy Garcia, the coach for the Niners, the Giant's Pitcher, Ray Romano...and other famous people that I don't know who they are!  We actually watched as Andy Garcia ran off the course and knocked on the door of someone's house so that he could go use the bathroom!  Josh was really funny though and talked a lot to the crowd.  I'm sure he thought Kyra and I were stalkers, but we calmed down after Kyra finally got up enough nerve to ask for his autograph as well.  We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but well worth it!  Thanks Bob!

Defying Gravity

We were totally excited to finally go see Wicked!  We decided to make a full San Francisco day out of it.  We went and played around Pier 39 before heading to the theater.  There was a groupon to do some sort of 7D experience where we were fighting zombies in 3D, with guns, sounds, lightening, moving chairs, etc.  It was pretty fun!  They were keeping score and I actually got 6th place out of 19...I guess if there is a zombie war, stick with me and you might get out alive!  

 We went and had lunch at the Crab House, which was SO good.  We also randomly got some mini donuts and ended up fighting over the whole bucket, they were soooo good!  The kids still bring them up!  Then basically shopped around and then headed to the theater.  The musical was awesome and we all had a lot of fun!

 Gotta love living in the Bay Area!  I feel so cultured!  :)

Utah Friends

Time went by really fast while I was in Utah.  I saw as many of my friends as I could, but it is never long enough with each of them!  I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I was sure that I was able to get a picture of getting to meet my new little niece, Scarlett...Jessica had a little girl on January 4th and she is just a doll!

     Yeah, I saw lots of other friends as well, but these are the only pictures I took...next time I'll take lots more pictures!

Am I Crazy??

I don't watch a lot of tv, but I watch Once Upon A Time religiously.  The other show I try to keep up on is Switched at Birth.  It is a show about two girls who were, obviously, switched at birth.  The twist is that one of them is deaf and so there is a lot of teaching about deaf culture on the show, which I think is great.  The other night I was watching Switched at Birth via the internet and there was a scene where the deaf kids at the deaf school were in their kind of deaf cultures class and the teacher proposed the question that if there was a pill that they could take and wake up the next morning being able to hear, would they actually take it.  Each student in the class went on to say that being deaf has made them stronger and special in different ways and said that even if this magical pill came to be, they would not take the pill and continue to be deaf.  Now, I completely agree that these types of things in our lives can and will make us stronger, but if someone told me that there was a pill that I could take to get rid of diabetes (even though it has strengthened me and made me special) I would freaking take that pill!  Am I crazy to be willing to give up diabetes to have a working pancreas again?  Am I crazy to think it is odd that a fictional group of deaf teenagers would refuse the ability to hear? Would anyone else out there take or not take a pill to cure them?

....and she's Married!

The thing that usually follows a bachelorette party is a wedding!  Sherstin was a beautiful bride and she and Jay are an adorable couple!  The wedding was down in Manti with a beautiful sealing, pictures and a lunch afterwards.  The reception was beautiful with the perfect theme for both of them:  Travel!  Then they were off on their honeymoon to Mexico!  I have to say (and publish it for the general public) that I called this after their first date.  The first pictures of Jay that Sherstin showed me, I told her that he was exactly the type of guy I saw her with :)  Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland!

    

Sherstin's Bachelorette Party!

Well, Sherstin getting married gave me the opportunity to throw my first bachelorette party!  Sherstin wanted it as traditional as possible....which you have to get a little creative when it is a Mormon wedding, but we had a lot of fun!  (well, I did anyway...)  We all had on our little black dresses and heals, had dinner at La Jolla Grove.  We played a drinking game (with martinellis, of course) where Sherstin had to pick our gifts out of a basket and guess who gave it to her.  If she was wrong, she had to take a shot, if she was right, we had to.  Needless to say, she had to take more shots than we did!  After dinner we went bowling...I think the people who worked there got a kick out of watching us in our dresses, feather boas and each of us had a bottle of martinellis in hand :)  It was quite the fun night with all of the bridesmaids!       

Morgan!

So, a couple weeks ago Susannah and Kevin got a call that there was another little girl that was looking for a fabulous family...and after prayers and fasting, they felt that this little girl was to come into their family!  They are now in the process of adopting Morgan Gail Thorpe.  Everything will probably be finalized by the end of the summer.  It should be a much easier process than Peyton, so that will be nice!  Morgan is now almost four months old. Kyra, Austin and I will be heading up to Petaluma this weekend to meet her...can't wait!  Just like last time, no pictures until after the adoption is final!  Yay for a brand new niece!  

 Oh, and here is Peyton in her 49ers outfit...too bad we lost the Super Bowl, cuz she looked dang cute!

Pinewood Derby!

 When grandpa came down, he helped Austin get his pinewood derby car ready...it looked great!  this was Austin's first derby and he got 5th place!  No only that, but he got the Gold Standard Award!  I think he had a lot of fun...he said he was nervous!

Doesn't he look adorable in his scout shirt?  I love it!

Training Dragons

 I heard on the radio that the live version of How To Train Your Dragon was coming to San Jose HP Pavilion.  I thought that it would be something Austin would like to see, so Lisa jumped on board and we got some tickets.

 Turns out Ashlee was going as well with her nephew.  They sat with us the second half of the show.

 I was totally impressed with the show!  It was awesome and extremely entertaining.  It was like watching a movie and a play at the same time!

 The dragons looked great and were huge!  Loved it!  If it comes to your area, totally go see it!