New Beginnings....

Well, it is now July of 2013, the last post on this blog was somewhere around June of 2010.  Many things have happened since that time.  I now have 3 beautiful grandchildren, and gained a son-in-law.  It has been an extremely long and rough journey for Matthew and I over the past 3 years, we have jumped from one place to the next, never really feeling settled.  I have gone to school for massage therapy, Matt has just turned 15 and is still a wonderful kid (for a 15yr old), Theresa has been married to Ashton a little over a year now, and she has been blessed with Braelyn, Cameron, and Austin Lee....her lovely family.  We have traveled many roads, met wonderful people along the way, left others behind and they are missed everyday.  As we embark on a new path, I will be posting and changing some things around in here...so look forward to the "New" Family posts :-)

Theresa's Fall Photos

Theresa, Lewis, Cody and Ashlyn.....

these are beautiful photos of them all.....

what a lovely family they make.

Robotics Tournament

Matthew and the VEX Robotics Tournament....

they placed 18 out of 37......

yeah for them!

Pumpkin Patch

There is only one Pumpkin Patch on the island, but one is all we needed....

Let's Go Fly A Kite.....

Orange Belt Testing-Sept. 8, 2009

Getting ready to break the board.....

Look...I did it!

Trading one color.....

For another.

CONGRATULATIONS MATTHEW.....

A JOB WELL DONE!

Stained Glass and Pottery

Matthew is trying to make a wind chime with some of our leftover glass pieces. He does not cut anything, but he is becoming very handy on the grinder. Eventually he will have something to show for it.

He has also started a pottery class, these are pics. of his 1st class, along with the end result for the day.

Matthew @ TKD

Here are a few pics of Matthew at TKD. He is practicing for testing. When we finally found a place for him to practice here it was very hard, he hadn't done it for about 8 months. The belt colors are different, the forms and moves are different as well, it was worse than starting from scratch. But I think he has finally gotten the hang of it and we hope he will test within the next couple of weeks.

Aug. Court Of Honor

Today Matthew was advanced to Tenderfoot. He also received two Merit Badges, "Fingerprinting" and "Woodworking". He also tried to get his "Weather" Merit Badge, he did everything but stand up in front of people and do a 5 min. speech. Maybe next year he will be ready for that part, I know I am NO good at public speaking. But, he and a couple other boys had to put on a skit, that's a start.

Day in, Day out...

It has been over a month since I have updated.....sorry.....been real busy but nothing interesting to report. Lets see, after William left I started working at the Ceramics Shop on the Air force Base in the evenings, and I absolutely love it, it is very relaxing. Matthew loves to come with me, he has gotten to pour and clean an ice cream cup, now it just needs to be painted (from beginning to end), will post a pic when he has finished. I also had to prepare for surgery on my nose, not being able to breath (or smell) is pretty crappy. My first surgery on my nose was 3 years ago, and it has been worse since then. Well, along with my nasal problems, a plastic surgeon comes in "is there anything about your nose you want changes, being as we are already going to be in there" well all of you that know me, know about my big, honking, nose so my response, "heck yeah". It is amazing what the Drs. don't tell you, like how bad it will be after, and how long you are going to be swollen, and that you won't be able to feel your nose for up to 4 months, go Drs. I understand how someone can go in once for a nose job (they don't know any better), but to continue to put themselves through they, they have to be minus a marble or two. Tomorrow will be week three, go back to the Dr. for her to tell me it is normal to be swollen and numb still, maybe someday soon I will look normal though, I hate going out in public right now. Oh, and I had to go back to work a week after surgery, fun times. When I am all healed up I will post before and after pics for all to see. Then, after surgery, had to get ready for school to start. I have put Matthew in a new program this year, the k-12, it is a home based/school based online/book program. Last week was our first week and I must say, it was hell. We could not get Internet on our laptops, so we spent the time in the upstairs spare room, with the dogs (god for bid they be left alone), doing the work. There was no inching your way into it, SLAM, full force from day one. A friend came and fixed the computers Thurs. night, Friday we were downstairs at the dining room table and did great. Things are about to get more hectic though, we have to start going to the physical school location 3 days a week starting next week (and still have to do the stuff at home), TKD twice a week, Scouts, and work. But you know what, if we can handle, our time here will fly by. Matthew enjoys the program and I think we will have a handle on it next week, when it is time to change. Will have to see.
Oh and by the way....I have lost 10lbs, yeah for me!!

Aloha and Mahalo William

Today Matthew and I had to take William to the airport, it was a sad day that I wasn't looking forward to. Was a very busy morning, didn't really get to spend time with him today before he left, but we had a lot to do. It was a great visit, I am hoping he feels the same. We have done so many wonderful things together, hiking at 3 different locations (2 of them were to waterfalls), underwater on the Atlantis, a Japanese Temple, snorkeling a few times (this was his favorite, all the colorful fish), kayaking, the aquarium, checking out the Honu at Turtle Beach, pineapple factory, and last but not least, the lu'au. There was also the food, the food here in Hawaii is great, everywhere you go you smell food, Korean BBQ and Romy's Shrimp, yum, yum. This was a great 3 weeks, some of you said it was a long time, but for us, it seemed to go by too quickly. He wasn't ready to leave either, if it weren't for his next summer vacation, I would have kept him longer. He has a way of making anyone around him laugh, he is so easy to be around and is very easy going. Those of you who have the pleasure of knowing him, know exactly what I mean. Farewell Will, I love you so much and had such a wonderful time, enjoy your next trip, and I will miss you dearly.