Dear Friends and Family...

I had no idea that you were still reading my blog while I have been off on some deserted (imaginary) island neglecting it! For the first time in months (or since the last time I posted...however long ago that was), I have come to visit the blog of my youth. I have aged slightly since the last time I visited, so this is bringing back some fond memories.

I also discovered that some of you have posted comments that I was not aware of. Seems like I used to have comments sent automatically to my email inbox, but for some reason, that has not been happening. So, if you felt snubbed by my lack of acknowledgement, I do apologize and assure you that it was nothing personal.

Finally, I have a bit of sad news to share. Our second computer (the one with all of our pictures stored therein) had to be disassembled and removed to make space for our old bed in the computer room. Why would we want a bed in the computer room, you ask? So that Chris can simply lie down to sleep once he has finished his gaming raids at all hours of the night. ;) Just kidding. The real reason is that we finally did get all of our new bedroom furniture, including a nice new king-sized bed (so we never have to sleep within arm's reach of each other again--Woohoo! just kidding) but we did not want to part with our old bed, either. Someday we hope to have a guest bedroom and will need a bed for our guests to sleep on. So, the moral of the story is that I am currently unable to post any pictures on this blog unless they come from our main computer. I might be able to expend a little effort to figure out how I can start dumping the pictures from my memory card onto that computer, but seeing as Chris is enjoying a well-deserved break from school right now, I might have to wait on that.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's holidays. We did, indeed, enjoy ours and are doing well. We love getting to have Chris/Daddy/whoever that man is ;) at home for 3 weeks, so we are taking advantage of our time together (relatively-speaking since he does need a rest.) I have more thoughts to share with you but will wait until another time, since it's 2:12 a.m. and, darn it, I have to get up before noon tomorrow. ;)

Thank you all for your love and friendship and for continuing to look at my blog even though I've been lame in not posting. I'm still glad that there are people like you who stop by to read it. I hope to write more in 2009--because this is going to be a very exciting year with much to blog about!

Happy New Year, y'all!

Our Trip to San Antonio

It has been a week and a half since we returned from our mini-vacation to San Antonio, but I finally have the pictures ready to post. We really had a lot of fun together even if we didn't travel far from home. It was so nice to just get away for a few days as a family.

Day 1: Remembering the Alamo and Discovering Hemisfair Park

Yeah, I remember the Alamo. Been there, done that a few times. But I have 2 kids now (native Texans even!) who had never been. Oh, they couldn't have cared a whole lot less, but I've got proof that we took them to see a little piece of Texas history.







On the other hand, I've lived here for how many years without seeing Hemisfair Park?! I'd actually never heard of it until just before this trip. It turns out that Hemisfair Park was the site of the 1968 World's Fair. The LDS Church had an exhibit there and my grandmother sang with a group at the Fair. It was such a nice evening to take a walk in the park, and there was also a pretty cool playscape for the kids.








Day 2: Taking Our Monkeys Back to the Zoo

It had been about 6 years since Chris and I last went to the San Antonio Zoo. It's really nothing spectacular compared to some other zoos we've visited, but we always love seeing the animals without worrying that the kids are acting like animals, too. :)












Day 3: Cascade Caverns: A Little Hole-in-the-Wall Kind of Place

Caves are a great place to take the kids, as long as you can leave them down there if they start throwing a tantrum or something. OK, well maybe not, but we thought we'd check this out since Chris is into cave exploration and we haven't been to Carlsbad yet. This one was not so exciting for us, but it was OK and Zachary seemed to think it was pretty cool. Ashley, on the other hand,...maybe not so much.








I'm finally beginning to see the light!


Day 4: SeaWorld: Save the Whale Show For Somebody Else!

We ended our vacation with a trip to see Shamu. We had season passes a few years ago, and unfortunately the shows today are all still the same as they were back then. We were going mostly for the kids, though, since Zachary wasn't quite 2 the last time we went, and Ashley had been only 4 weeks old. Zachary had a blast riding the Shamu Express rollercoaster. Ashley's favorite ride was the moving conveyor belt at Penguin Encounters. Forget the penguins. Just give her a ride on the conveyor belt and she's happy. Make her sit through 30 seconds of "Believe", though, and you won't be! :D Save the day by retrieving favorite blankie from the car and everyone lives happily ever after.

Day Seven--Packin' Up

What a lazy bum I was today (OK, guess that was Wednesday!)...well, until I started laundry mid-afternoon and began packing our suitcases. We really had no plans until the evening, so I was in no hurry to get up and at 'em. Around 1:00, Chris came in and announced that he and his dad were taking the kids to the mall to play in the kiddie area. That's the excitement of Omaha, Nebraska, I guess. As it turned out, the kiddie area was closed for some remodeling of sorts, and they went to Target and got Icees instead. Chris LOVES Icees, and I'm sure he needed a consolation prize after such a huge disappointment at the mall. Not long after they returned, and after I got to a stopping point in the packing, Chris' mom got home from work and we headed out to their favorite Chinese buffet for dinner. It's a tradition that Chris' dad holds dear. Whenever the kids come home for a visit, we must go out for Chinese. I guess you could say that we are a family that appreciates the simple pleasures in life. We had a nice dinner and came home for more fun and games. One last night to get our fill of Spades and our favorite board games. Then, it was time to call it a night.

Day Six--Hanging Out in our Hats

I snapped these pictures of the kids in the morning while we were all enjoying some downtime. I thought they looked so cute!

Tuesday, Grandpa watched the kids so Chris and I could catch a movie. I was excited because it has been a really long time since Chris and I have been to the theater together. I'd been wanting to see Shrek since I'd heard it was coming out. I couldn't believe that I was actually bored during this movie. I wasn't expecting that, since I loved the first Shrek movie and thought the second was OK. But this third one could have put me to sleep and almost did. Chris and I were both disappointed, but at least we got to have some time alone.

Last night, I went with Chris' mom to the temple again. Someone she knows in her ward was going through for the first time. It was a neat experience, as the room was full of people from the ward that were there to support her. It was a peaceful and enjoyable way to spend the evening.

Day Five--Our Day at the Zoo

Grandpa took us to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We'd been looking forward to this little adventure since we first planned our trip out here. I wish I could say that we enjoyed it immensely, but unfortunately, we will mostly remember how hot it was! We got to the zoo around 10 a.m. and hit the outdoor exhibits first so that we could see the ones indoors during the hottest part of the day. Actually, some of the outdoor attractions are still somewhat indoors, meaning that they are inside enclosures but are not necessarily air-conditioned, so even those really weren't all that bad. We got to see all the coolest animals, like the big cats, the "new" Gorilla Valley habitat (the last time we were there was 3 1/2 years ago when this was not ready to open), the bears, etc., before we got too hot and tired. One thing that I really enjoyed was seeing the new babies that were on display. There was a set of twin tiger cubs that were born just 2 weeks ago as well as a baby gorilla and a baby macacque (it's a type of monkey) that was just the cutest little thing. I have pictures, but of course I am still trying to figure out how to post them on this blog. Anyway, after seeing the main attractions, we had to make a circle around the park to see a lot of the other animals, and it was like walking uphill both ways! Lots and lots of exercise, considering we were pushing both kids in their strollers at a pretty steep incline. We couldn't believe how tiring it was, so we were glad when we'd seen all we wanted to see outdoors so we could hit the stuff indoors. By that point, we were all so worn out (I know, we sound like total wimps!) that we breezed past most of it just so we could feel like we'd seen everything before we left and were just glad to be able to escape the heat.

After leaving the zoo, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. That is what our kids like best, and we thought that would be a nice way to end the outing for them. After lunch, we headed back to the house, where we spent the rest of the evening relaxing. When Grandma returned home from work, we had dinner and the kids went to bed early (Zachary at 7:30 and Ashley around 8:15). I can't believe they are still asleep, but they've both been staying up later than they should and I guess it has finally caught up with them. Chris and his mom and I played a few games of Settlers and one round of the train game before it was time for her to go to bed. I was in the middle of doing some laundry, so Chris was waiting up for his pajamas to be dry but eventually gave up and went to bed awhile ago. I was working on a card and didn't want to have to save any part of it for later. I like how it turned out, but it just seems like something is missing. I'm not sure what it is, but aside from that, I was pleased with the results. Oh, I also finished up another card that I'd started yesterday. It required a zig-zag stitch, which I asked Chris' mom if she could help me out with since I don't sew. She pulled out her machine and tried her best, but the paper was probably too thick and her machine couldn't do the trick. She ended up removing the thread one last time and just ran the needle over the card to place some holes so I could stitch it by hand with embroidery floss. The results were reminiscent of my earlier days of cross-stitching failures, but I think from the outside of the card, it doesn't look bad. It's a birthday card for my sister, so she has to love me anyway. :) I think I'll need some lessons on paper-sewing before I attempt this type of card again.