Summer 2008

This summer we went first to Washington DC where we did physicals, etc. for our extension of time in Hong Kong - 2 more years here...

While in DC, we got to spend time with Krista's family. You should check out her blogspot:

tklundell.blogspot.com

We then spent a week on a beach in Florida for the Lilly family reunion (Kelly's family). The 4 Lilly kids, our spouses, all our kids (except for 3 of mine - I'll get to that) and our mom got together for our mom's 75 birthday. It was the first time we sibs and our kids had seen each other in 4 years! We had a fabulous time!!! 

Of my kids, only my oldest, Krista (and her hubby Travis and daughters Kate and Brooklyn) and my youngest, Ryan, were able to go. Erika was due to deliver her first baby, David is on his mission in Taiwan, and Scott had just started summer school at BYU and HAD to attend classes. So they missed out and everyone really missed each of them.

After Florida, we flew back to the DC area and stayed at Krista's house in Maryland for a few days. I had such a fun time playing Grandmother, that I REALLY didn't want to leave. I had no idea it would be so fun. Kate and Brooklyn are so fun and so cute!!! Then we flew to Colorado. Ryan and I stayed a week there with my mom and Arvid spent only a day. He then flew up to North Dakota to spend time with his family.  He got to see almost all of his brothers and sisters and their families - and there are a LOT of them! I would have loved to go with him, but had such a limited amount of time to spend one-on-one with my mom, so...   I just love being with Arvid's family.

Ryan and I flew to Utah on July 14 to spend a week with Erika and Sterling before she delivered. Luckily we got there that night. After spending July 15 with her, that night she went into labor. Cami Lilly Fenwick was born in the early morning of July 16, 2008. She is a little doll. Included is a picture I took of her in her car seat coming home from the hospital at 1 day old. She is so  beautiful! 

I was lucky enough to be able to be with them for Cami's first 5 weeks - starting at day 1!!!  The next milestone will be for Krista and Erika to see each other and meet each other's new babies. 

Please feel free to check out Erika's blogspot occasionally for newer pictures of Cami:

sefenwick.blogspot.com

The remainder of the summer we spent in Utah.  The guys all stayed pretty busy and I held Cami. That's about it. Scott is enjoying BYU so far, but is finding Physics tough! Several of his friends from Hong Kong are there with him, so he's having fun. Scott works at the Cougareat at BYU - a popular food court. He's at Teryaki Stix.

My mom came to Utah in August to see us one more time and to meet Cami. One of the pictures is a 4-generation with Erika, Cami, Peggy and Kelly.

Ryan started 11th grade in August. The picture of him with his backpack represents his first day of school - a traditional picture I take every year. However, I was still in Utah on his first day, so this is about a week later. 

More to come!!!

Summer at the beach

Here are a few pictures from the beach in Florida! What a fabulous vacation we had with my family. My siblings all have younger children than mine. The oldest four cousins (girls) are very close to Ryan's age - all teens. So he had a bevy of beauties surrounding him (see the 6th picture).

We four siblings are Karen, Kelly, Karla and Kevin. The first picture is us 4 plus our mom. Next is our mom and our spouses.

Then we've got the entire group together. After that is a picture of the giant sandcastle we built. We had a professional sandcastle builder hired to show us the intricacies of building. We all had a hand in it. This was to celebrate the youngest cousin, Morgan Lilly's 8th birthday.

The pyramid features all the cousins (all except for my 3 middle children).

I'm including the family pictures of us four siblings: the Teeter's family (Karen), Carlson's (Kelly), Pavich's (Karla), and Lilly's (Kevin).

Reminder of names: Karen & Dan - Blaire, Barrett and Brendan

Kelly & Arvid - Krista (Travis, Kate, Brooklyn) and Ryan. Missing are Erika (Sterling, Cami), David and Scott

Karla & Todd - Sara and Samantha

Kevin & Demetra - Alex, Stephanie and Morgan

 

Kelly's new look

So I went into an upscale hair salon in downtown Hong Kong to get a trim. Only a trim. But this Italian woman got so excited about the long mess I had and wanted to shape it up a little. She suggested a little fringe (bangs) and a tiny bit of layering around my face. I said okay. What she described and what she did were vastly different to me.

The first week, all I could do was gel it and "mess it up". I got LOTS of positive comments about that 'do, but it felt a little too young and funky for me. Now I've been trying to tame it a bit and this is what I get - sans gel. I have yet to decide if I keep it or grow it out. Arvid likes it more tame, but most of my friends like the young, cool, hip, gelled version. I'm in between.

By the way, I'm having trouble uploading the picture, so you'll have to use your imagination until I succeed.

Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

We moved into a new apartment as our old one, US government owned, will soon be undergoing some major renovations. We are "officially" on the 11th floor (more like 15th as we're above all the parking floors and entry floors) so we have a great view. There are lots of amenities. 

I have included 3 pictures of our view - looking straight out, to the left and to the right. It's fabulous!  I also included the living room (tiny and crowded with our stuff, but nice) and the spacious, if not long and skinny, kitchen.

If you want to see our floor plan and examples of the apartments, go to: www.therepulsebay.com/apartments/rbaa_floorplan.html