1st ER Visit

Little man was getting on the playground equipment at school today & slipped & fell & cut his lip open. The teacher brought him to the clinic & blood was everywhere. Luckily, Andrea is the Health Clinic Aide & immediately took him to the ER! He was such a brave little boy, especially when the anesthetic didn't work. They injected it into the wounded area & it sprayed out the other end. This is right after they were done pulling & prodding his poor mouth & putting around 10 stitches in his lip/mouth area. Yes, he is in pain, & yes, that is blood on his shirt!

The fall was so hard that his cheek is bruised! We went home after the hospital to change clothes & then picked up a milkshake & fries for lunch. He went back to school a "hero," showing everyone his stitches & finished out the day.

Birthday Boy

Steeler's hat, past gift

Manchester shirt, past gift

IPAD 2, present gift

Smile ... priceless

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Birthday #3-FINALLY!

The Diva turned 9 & she finally decided how she wanted to celebrate her 8th birthday! Having a birthday around the holidays gets a little tricky for a party, & it just never happened. This year, we celebrated with pie, presents, lots of phone calls from family, then we surprised her by giving her horseback riding lessons!

We took her to dinner at Red Robin & planned a roller skating party in January at Skate City.

Her & her friends had so much fun! We should probably start planning her 10th party now!

Christmas 2011

Andrea was able to attend Little Man's Winter Party on the last day of school.

Then Andrea's brother's came & we went to the outlet mall on Christmas Eve! It was surprisingly empty. After we were done shopping, we made a stop at Claire's & told the girls that we were letting them get their ears pierced for Christmas! They were so excited that the sales clerk inside the store heard them screaming! (We purposely told them outside the store!)

We went to our friends' annual soup night on Christmas Eve and then opened the traditional pajama gift, then read Luke 2 & talked about the true meaning of Christmas.

Patti was lucky enough to have a layover in Denver on Christmas Day so she got to spend a few hours with us! After church we picked Patti up, exchanged gifts, ate Christmas Dinner, & played games before taking her to the airport. It was the first time in 4 or 5 years that Andrea's siblings have all been together for Christmas.

Our wall of Christmas cards was full this year! It was the first time ever that we have actually run out of room. We love our family & friends!

Andrea took Michael & Charlie downtown to see a few sights. We found this piano outside in a shopping area & started playing .

Thanks again for coming to visit, Michael, Charlie, & Patti! It was a lot of fun!

Christmas Choir Concert

The Diva gets to be in the school choir this year! She was so excited to perform in the Christmas Concert & has made so many new friends.

(She is on the very back row, with the santa hat, on the left.)

The Amazing Race Ends

We were sad to say goodbye & see our wonderful trip come to an end. On the way to the airport, we got in a car accident. The car behind us was rear-ended & pushed into us. The driver made sure we were ok, got out & assessed the damage to Marc & Amy's car, then told the guy who hit us that he had to go! (All in Indonesian of course!) That was a bad omen & the beginning of what would become a horrible trip home.

We love the Singapore airport! We went to the playground & then found a machine that makes postcards you can email!

We made our way to Manila & spent the night at a hotel. The next morning, we found this Lego display at the airport before heading to Guangzhou, China.

We were supposed to have a 6 hour layover but it ended up being much longer than that! We boarded the plane & waited an hour to take off. Then they told us there was a mechanical problem with the plane & that we would have to deboard & wait for a new plane. (All in Chinese-we had to ask someone to translate!) They gave us soda crackers, water, & soup in what looked like an Arizona drink can.

This airport is about the size of the Palm Springs airport & only had 2 restaurants, both of which had food we had never heard of. After being stuck there the entire day, we were very proud of our kids. They didn't complain too much & kept themselves busy with games & books before watching a movie. (We couldn't find a working outlet anywhere!) 3 hours later, we were finally heading home! We were about an hour away from Los Angeles when they told us the power was out in LA & we couldn't land. We circled the ocean for over an hour before finally landing & realized we had missed our connecting flight.

We spent the night at a hotel, courtesy of China Southern Air, & were finally on our way home. We arrived to alot of snow & freezing cold temperatures!

We were so glad to be home, & are very grateful for solid ground! It was such an amazing trip & we enjoyed every minute of it! Thanks to Wade, Connie, Marc, Amy, & family for everything.

** Update since we have been home **

We have learned that we will not be able to get airline miles from Delta Airlines for our China Southern Air (CSA) flights even though they are an affiliatel. Apparently, you cannot get miles on CSA for "discounted fares" & it says that on their website, IN CHINESE!! Needless to say, we are very dissapointed with CSA & do not recommend them! We had horrible service & wish we would've spent the extra $800 to fly Singapore Airlines.