What a Great ThanksGiving Break!!

Steve is doing the update this week. What a treat!

We had a lot of fun in southern California this last week. It was good to spend some time with Leah's family. Everyone came down except Brian and his wife Amanda. They were in New York with her family. Things are changing here. There are now two babies in the family now. Oliver is 8 months and Noelle is 19 months. It was a lot of fun to have them around to play with. Leah left on Saturday and flew to Arizona. He old college roommate Mimi had a baby 5 weeks ago and she was dying to go out and see them both. She had a lot of fun spending time with Mimi, Dan and baby Claire. She also got to spend time with her Grandma Knudsen.

Leah Flew from Arizona to Burbank on Tuesday. I left work ~11:00 on Tuesday and drove down. We played games with Leah's family that night and then I got up at ~6:00 the next morning with Ryan (Becky's husband) and went surfing down in Orange County. It was a lot of fun. We went with his dad and brother. We got there ~7:15 and had to hike ~1 mile to the beach, so we started surfing about 7:45. We finished at 10:45. That is a long time to surf! The waves were pretty good and the weather was fantastic, so we kept surfing. I learned quite a bit from Ryan and his dad. My arms and shoulders were pretty sore for the next few days from paddling. The hike was pretty good, too, with a 9' surfboard under the arms, but it wasn't crowded at all because it is such a remote location. It is behind Camp Pendleton with very restricted public access. That night we went to the big LA Car show (the largest car show in the west, I believe) and saw all the cool cars for next year. There are a lot of really, really expensive cars. The picture is of a Rolls Royce that was priced at $495,000! It was also nice to see all the models of the normal cars at the same time to be able to compare them immediately to each other. We're not in the market for a car, but . . . Leah's parents house is a little small when everyone comes home so Brian and Suzie get a hotel in Pasadena when we are all together. We love it because it means unlimited pool and hot tub use. Above is Leah and Noelle and Oliver and I swimming at the pool.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we didn't do much. Leah and I woke up and went to the gym, then came back and got ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had that, played some card games, and then played football with Leah's family, which was actually a lot of fun. On Friday, we went to Universal Studios, which is pretty neat. It wasn't amazing, but it was a solid day of fun. I liked the rides that they had there, they just didn't have enough. It could be in part due to the fact that they weren't very crowded; the longest line we waited in was ~10 minutes. The coolest part of Universal Studios is the back lot tour. We saw different sets from films and T.V. shows like War of the Worlds and the Bates Hotel. Here is a picture of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. We ran out of things to do at ~3:30 and started going to shows, which were okay, but not the reason I go to an amusement park. Leah volunteered for one of the shows. We all got to sit in the front row to cheer her on. It was a special effects show. She went on stage and they super-imposed her into different movies, like the Nutty Professor. Notice how the screen "widened her" =).

On Saturday, we had breakfast with some of Leah's high school friends and their spouses. It was actually a lot of fun. When we left there, we went home and everyone got ready to go to the beach as it was a beautiful day (~75 at the beach). We went to Manhattan Beach and had a wonderful day. The tide was very low, lower than Suzy has ever seen it. The waves at Manhattan Beach are not very good, so Ryan and I skim boarded for an hour or so. Skim boarding is a lot of fun! It took me a bit to learn how to do it this summer (and I ate lots of sand), but now that I know how, it's great! We then went to church on Sunday and came home afterwards, which was a mistake. We should've left Saturday night before it got all trafficky, but we talked ourselves out of it. We knew better! Oh well, it took us 7 hours to get home instead of 5--not the end of the world. Anyways, that's about all that's been up with us the last week. I am getting ready to go to Orlando next week for a business trip. Leah will be showing up with Laurel, her old college roommate, mid-week to enjoy Disney World, etc. I will be able to participate at night and Friday and Saturday. Above is a picture of Ollie and one of Noelle.

Count down to ThanksGiving Break...

Another work week is over and I couldn't be more thrilled. It's been a long one, that's for sure. We had our Young Woman in Excellence program Tuesday night at the church. I was in charge of the music. We didn't have much time to practice, but the girls sure pulled it off. It is quite a relief to have that over and done with.

Steve is still in turn-around at the refinery. If I get home from school before 5:00 pm I can usually catch him before he leaves for work. Then he gets home at 7:00 am when I am leaving for work. They are suppose to be done this weekend. It will be great to have my husband back.

I have come down with the horrible cold that has been going around. It's been effecting my thought processes here at work. This morning I referred to my I.A Nicole as Mrs. Bonner in front of the whole class. She was up by the board and I asked, "Mrs. Bonner can you write the following names on the board?" Now the kids know that I really don't feel very good.

One more story, yesterday I had a student who wouldn't stop talking. After multiple warnings I asked him to move his seat. He said, "it's only 'cuz I'm white". I can't tell you how often I hear that sentence with a fill in the race blank at the end. I told him, and the rest of the class, that if you are going to choose to talk back to me please say something cleaver or Witty. I'm sick of the useless, stupid remarks. At least try to make me laugh or something. I think I am going to make it a new class rule...