in the States

All of the family arrived safely in the US on the 6th and 9th. I spent the first couple of days relaxing in Cody and trying to get over jetlag before taking off to NE WY for a few days to visit with my cousin as well as my brothers and their families. The time went all to quickly and before I knew it I was headed down to SD to be here for the arrival of my new nephew, Zane Alexander, who was born yesterday (the 18th) via c-section. I have enjoyed the past few days with the kids and my mom and grandma, visiting and catching up on life over the past year. I am planning to be here for a few more days before heading back to WY for other adventures we have planned. I am fortunate to be able to post pictures from here since my mom's computer has a card reader on it. Here are a few from the events that have happened since we have been here:

The night Greg and kids arrived it snowed a few inches. The kids really enjoyed playing in it and building snowmen (as you can tell they were dressed appropriately...not! I guess they were afraid the snow would melt if they took time to put on some pants and a jacket! :-). KD was so bummed he missed out on all the fun (since he was traveling with me and we left three days after Greg and the rest of the kids left).

Grandpa and girls.
This is the day that we drove over to NE WY. I left the boys with Greg so it was just me and the girls....my the drive was quiet! lol! This is the view from the Big Horn Mountains. It is so green and beautiful here this time of year.

The day after we arrived at my cousin's was the annual Hulett Rodeo and parade. Usually I am not there in time to take it in, but this year I managed to make it. It was something I did almost every year as a kid so it brought back lots of memories.

Here is my cousin throwing candy from the window of the ambulance. This past winter she worked very hard and got her EMT license. I am very proud of how well she did.
My younger brother is on the volunteer fire department. My nephew and niece rode with him in the truck and had fun throwing candy as well.
KJ at the rodeo.
My brother, his wife and kids and KJ and KR.
Cousins after eating blue raspberry snowcones.
On Tuesday my grandma, the girls and I headed down to SD to be with my sis at the birth of her fourth baby. Here are the kids at the hospital waiting for the birth.
Zane Alexander. 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long....so beautiful.

First family picture

Proud great grandma.

KR is so happy to hold her new cousin.

KJ needed in on the action too.

Another sweet picture.
Here are Keegan and KR showing off their hair. Both girls did locks of love this year.

That about sums up our adventures so far. I am looking forward to others to come as the summer progresses. I hope I can post again soon.

So far behind, there is no way I will catch up...but I am going to try:-)

I cannot believe how long it's been since I have posted an entry. If it didn't take so stinking long to upload pictures than maybe I would find time to post more often. Or maybe my life is just so crazy busy at this time of year that I just don't find time to post...whatever the reason, this may be my last post for a bit as I am headed back home for the summer where I will have a hard time posting any pictures...and if I can't post pictures then I don't like to post at all!! I will try my best to figure something out this year, but I won't make any promises..that is if anyone at all is still checking in on me! Here are some of the things we have been busy with these past few weeks!

KR had a good sized part in the elementary spring musical this year called "Pirates of the I-don't-Cari-bean". She was an angel disguised as a pirate. She had numerous lines and she and a few other little girls sang a little song (I wanted to put the video on here but it exceeds the maximum size allowed...bummer). The music teacher said she did a good job of helping keep the other girls on tune! She did a wonderful job (proud mommy moment). I think she may decide to try out again next fall...

KJ trying to get in the picture...too cute!

KL and his classmates did beach cleanup one day. Guess he won the award for biggest piece of garbage retrieved! lol!

Here he is with his friend (who is big brother to KJ's friend, Kaitlyn).

KD has his spring band concert. I thought I got some video, but can't find it now...probably would take me too long to upload anyway...sorry.

The week before school got out was the annual girl scout bridging ceremony. This year KR and her friend got to bridge up into the next group. They will no longer be Brownies, but will be junior girl scouts. I was the mom who helped this year and enjoyed it a lot. I think I might be doing the same role next year, which will be great. KR has seem to enjoy having me be a part of the group, so being able to do this with her has been a special treat.

Here she is receiving her new sash from one of the other junior girl scouts.

Quick picture of mom and daughter.
Of course I have to include one of her with her BF.

On the day before school finished KJ's preschool class, along with the pre-3 class, had a pool party. The day started off nicely, but before long it decided to pour rain! At least no one got sunburnt! You can tell from these pictures that KJ found it a little chilly!!

The rest of the elementary students took a hike/boat ride to a beach on the island. They also got poured on during their visit, as you can see from these pictures of KR with her friends.

This past Sunday night we attended Athy and Bruce's end-of-the-year beach party. As always, the food was fantastic and the fellowship was sweet. It was particularly bittersweet this year knowing that this will be the last one with them since they are returning to the US. It's highly doubtful any of the rest of us will have the gumption to plan and carry out a party of this size next year without them. They will be truly missed (and not just because of this!).

KR and friend having fun in the sand.

Picture of all (or at least most) of the ladies).KJ and friend enjoying the waves. Too bad the water isn't cleaner...

Graduation for the class of 2009 happened on Wednesday night. Here is KJ with her friend, Riley, earlier in the day. He graduated and will be attending college in Canada this next year. I know KJ will miss him a lot as will the rest of us. He's such a great kid and has so much going for him. He won the All Around Student award this year and I can't think of a more deserving student to win it. I know his parents are very proud of this young man. And it's so evident that he cares about KJ, which means a lot to us.

KJ was asked to be a junior marshall in the graduation ceremony this year. Her friend, Kaitlyn, had an older brother who was graduating and the class thought the two of them would make cute additions to the ceremonies. During rehearsal KJ was a bit squirrelly and was doing all sorts of silly things (you could tell she was out of her comfort zone), but during the evening itself she did a fantastic job. We thought they both looked so beautiful in their matching dresses!
I did get some pictures of her and I together that night, but then forgot to take them off the camera before Greg took it with him to the states...so I will have to post those at a later date, if I can.

Greg and four kiddos headed out to the states on Friday night. KD and I leave tomorrow night. We both wish we had been able to go with the others..this waiting around and traveling separately is not all it's cracked up to be!! The bright side is I wouldn't have found time for the lengthy (I started this yesterday and managed to finally finish up today) update if I had gone on Friday...so maybe it was worth sticking around here after all.

Farewell and Mother's day

I hope everyone had a great mother's day this past weekend.  I had a very nice day.  Greg had the kids make me a homemade card which was really sweet and made my cry. He also bought me flowers at the morning market and we all went out to lunch at Chilli's to celebrate the day. All in all, I felt very blessed by my children and husband.  I spent the day remembering how blessed I am to be the mom of these wonderful children!

Last Thursday night I mentioned we were having our staff farewell.  The evening proved to be quite long, but many of the people had come up with incredibly creative ways to tribute those who are leaving.  

Here are just a few of the ladies from school.
Me and my friend, Athy, who is leaving :-(  I am going to miss her SO much.
Because we have served ten years at the school we got a special gift. (It was a pewter clock...Malsysia is known for its pewter.)
Tomorrow night is KR's spring musical.  I am looking forward to it as she tried out for, and was awarded a speaking part in it this year.  I am so proud of her because a few short years ago she wouldn't even get up on stage with a whole group of kids let alone try out for a speaking part.  I will post pictures next time.  

Week in review

This week has been a busy one around here, but then that is pretty typical of life until school gets out in early June.  All the end-of-the year activities to attend and school stuff to finish up makes for some pretty interesting days and weeks...but that usually means time flies and before we know it, it will be time to hop on that plane and make our way to the US for our summer visit!  I am starting to get excited about spending the time with family and friends.  Every summer things can be crazy, with lots of traveling etc. but it's worth it to see everyone we don't get to see all school-year long.  This year, for the first time, we are hoping to spend the July 4th weekend at a summer church camp with some of our family...we think it will be a great time for us (and the kids) and are really looking forward to it.

Speaking of our week, here are a few pictures, in reverse order. 

KR and her girl scout troop sold used toys as a fundraiser.

...with her BF.
KD had his boy scout court of honor this week.  He received his first ever merit badge (shotgun shooting), for which I am happy.  He has started many but had finished none up until this point so I was pleased that he finally got one accomplished! Yay!  He also advanced to second class and then first class scout so Dad and I both got pins...fun, fun.

Pinning on the first class pin...
I was on stage for the second class pinning..(can you believe the other boy is the same ag as KD?)

KL also had his piano recital this week.  I had to get a couple of posed pics because I was too busy filming the piece to take pictures while he was playing.  Enjoy the video below...

Last night was our staff farewell.  We are saying good-bye to around 17 staff members.  Althought it's a hard evening it has great value at the same time.  I have pics to share about that in my next post.  Tomorrow a.m. is a ladies brunch at Athy's house.  The sad news about that family is that they were told a couple of weeks ago their company wants them back in the US this summer permanently!!  I am so sad and am going to miss her greatly...:-(  Life just won't be the same without her.  It really stinks living in such a transient community sometimes.