Side note to "you must be a child of the 80"s if..."

So my most recent "you must be a child of the 80's if..." postings has to do with one of the biggest bands on planet earth, U2. U2 happens to be at the top of my list of favorites and I can't wait for the new album and tour. So to all of you who think U2 is to mainstream or popular for you, I'm sorry. But to everyone else who loves their music, all I can say is I can't wait to see them live again. It will be an awsome concert!!!

Hide and go Seek

It was Alyssa's turn for the activity at Family Home Evening last night. She's been dying to use the left over glow necklaces from the activity on Saturday. So we played Hide and go Seek in the dark with our glow necklaces. We turned all the lights off in the house and hid. It's not as easy as you think. You have to hide the glow stick too or you'll be caught quickly. We had a lot of fun and there are more places than we thought to hide in our house.

What a Day!

So living in California does have it's perks on occation. We were supposed to have a giant YM/YW activity yesterday at the beach and if the weather would have been like it was last weekend, 70's at the beach, we would have pulled it off. But instead it was cold and raining and we had to move the activity to the church and the YW Presidents house. Our ward meets with the Spanish Branch young men and young women so we had about 41 youth plus leaders there yesterday. Everyone had a BALL. We played soccor in the gym with one of the giant exercise balls, we had some really fun relay races, bobbing for Ding-Dongs in milk, squishing gross stuff into a water bottle until it is full (cat food, pudding, banana, etc) you get the picture. We had dinner and gave everyone a glow necklace and they walked to Sister Hoskings for our "spiritual" part of the day. We introduced the theme and had six of the leaders give a 1-2 minute talk about each part of the theme this year and to close we roasted marshmelows. Ken and I came home exhausted, but all of the kids had a great time.

"It was freezing butt cold!" -Alyssa

Alyssa and I went on a field trip Friday. We went to Antioch and got on a research vessel. The purpose of the field trip was to teach the kids where their drinking water comes from and what they can do to keep it from becoming polluted. There were four stations on the boat. The first one the kids got to drop a big scoop into the delta and pick up mud off the bottom. Then they rummaged around in the mud to see what kind of creatures live in the mud. They helped net fish and got to see what kind of fish live in the delta. They looked at plankton under a microscope and last they learned about the things we put down the drain or in the trash that can pollute our environment. I thought it was an interesting field trip. The only part that wasn't that great was the continuous rain. We were very wet, to say the least. However, Alyssa's only comment was, "It was freezing butt cold!" hence the title.

Wii, Wii, Wii, all the way home.

That's right the masses have spoken and we got a Wii. Of course I was the only one in our family that said we already have a PS2 so why do we need a Wii. But Ken's a great dad and he took his Best Buy Christmas money and bought a Wii. Alyssa is kicking everyones butt. We only have a couple of games but that's enough to keep everyone entertained.

Kayla has a Heart

Kayla had a routine cartiology appointment yesterday.(Everything's okay, so anyone that's freaking out can stop now.) She's very good at these kind of appointments. I know she doesn't like them at all. But guess what, Kayla has a heart and everything is working great.

A Day in History

I watched the inauguration of President Obama today with Alyssa's 5th grade class. The kids were bored and I don't know how much any of them got out of it. But one day they will appreciate the opportunity they had to witness this day in history. I'm thankful that I could witness history in the making.

How it all happened...

Months ago a plan was formed and over time it evolved into the perfect birthday present.

Monday, January 12, 10am
Ken and Janae go to talk to the dentist about a billing problem.
Shelisa leaves school to pack a bag for Janae.
11am
Ken is hungry and wants to go to lunch.
Janae picks In-n-Out Burger, but there is a twist. Ken wants to go to San Ramon to eat so he can stop at the Best Buy in Dublin.
Noon
Ken misses the exit to go to Best Buy and tells Janae he is kidnapping her and taking her to Disneyland for her birthday.

Thank you Ken, Shelisa, Kayla and Alyssa. I know it was hard to put such a great plan together and not say anything to me about it. I'm very lucky to have you as my family! I love you a ton!

Happy 40th Birthday!!!

Great job to my family for getting one over on me. They planned and exicuted the perfect birthday gift, a trip to DISNEYLAND!!! Ken kidnapped me on Monday and took me to Disneyland for my birthday on Tuesday. Thank you Liz and Kale for flying out to help with the girls. They had a lot of fun with you. I truly had the perfect 40th birthday!

The Crusty Outside and the Soft Middle

At breakfast this morning we had orange rolls. Ken and the girls started fighting over the middle rolls. I didn't care because I like the outside rolls. We starting relating this to our family and the consensus is...Ken is the soft spot in the middle. He will do anything for anyone and is always making sure everyone is happy. Janae, on the other hand, is hard and crusty. She just tells it like she sees it and she doesn't really care what you think. We told the girls this is what makes us so compatable. You need the hard and crusty and the soft spot to make sure everything goes well in a relationship and everyone is happy.

Kayla got braces!

Cute pink braces!

What's all the Buzz?

So, yesterday we drove past this house in our neighborhood and they were having their trees trimmed. No big deal, right? Until you see the amazing beehive that a colony of bees has built in the tree. It is so cool, Alyssa and I went over today and took pictures of it.