6/27/10-7/3/10

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I can not believe how far we had to drive to get to the chapel this morning. Rich and Sharon's ward goes to the Willow chapel. I haven't been there since I was really small and I didn't remember how extraordinary it is. It has some amazing beams in the ceiling. It was also pretty cool to think that my dad helped build it!

I was very pleased that all of the kids went to their classes without argument!! I think that is a first for them while visiting different places! I was most shocked that Cole went. He came out beaming with a handful of candies from his classes. It was exciting to listen to the kids tell us what they learned in primary. It is amazing how much more you get out of church meetings when you actually know what they are saying!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

I got to go on my first four wheeling trip today. I've driven them around my parent's cabin but never out on a trail. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I was very nervous for a while but got a little more confident once I watched what Rich and Chris were doing. I guess I don't have to avoid each little puddle and rock on the trail! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous....once we stopped and I could actually look around me! I felt like a horse with blinders on while wearing the helmet and concentrating on staying on the trail.

I felt like a complete ding dong since I had a cramp in my throttle thumb so bad that I couldn't even push the lever to get going! It was such a huge source of frustration for me. (I later found out that a lot of people do have similar problems!!)

Overall, it was a great day. Morgan and Cole had fun riding along with Rich and Chris and we all made it back in one piece with smiles on our dirty faces. I think the best part for Chris was the fact that he finally got to use his truck to haul something!!

What time is it anyway? We have completely lost track of time with the extra daylight. The kids have been staying up until 11:00 at night!! We are such wonderful parents!

Alysa learned how to ride the little 4wheeler by herself tonight.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I was an emotional wreck today. Chris wanted to go into Anchorage and I was not wanting to have to face the reality that my family no longer lives there. I don't know why it has been so hard on me but it has really been a struggle for me. Everything we passed, I'd get teary eyed. It is so different now.

We had a few minutes to kill so I finally decided that I just needed to suck it up and go see the house to get it over with. Wow, that was REALLY HARD!! The trees have been changed and the cars in the driveway were different but the thing that set me off the most was seeing our name had been removed from the mailbox and seeing the old boulder that we used to play on. I remember when they paved our street and the workers found the big rock in the road and my parents told them to leave it in the front yard. I remembered all of the times that I have played or just sat on that rock. Why in the world would a rock make me so emotional??? I really must be loosing my mind! It also didn't help that Laina was in the backseat begging to go in and get the bag of ponies. (My old 'My Little Ponies' that I used to collect that the girls like to play with.) I don't know how she remembered those since she was only 2 1/2 the last time she was there and that they are actually in Vegas!! Even though it was pure torture to go there, I think it gave me a little bit of closure and I was able to become more of a normal person afterwards.

We spent a little bit of time visiting with Jessica and John and their kids before heading back to Wasilla again. I'm glad that I've gotten to know them a little bit better over time. They are a fun family to hang out with. It was great to see how well the kids got along also!

While going through some of the books that I bought at the garage sale last weekend, I came across a girl's baby blessing. I found the same name on facebook and sent the girl a note. I told her that I didn't know if she was the right person or not, but that I had this baby blessing and wondered if she wanted it. I was surprised at how quickly I heard back from her. She seemed so excited to get this. Maybe it'll have some remarkable impact on her life....or maybe she already has a copy and this is just another one!!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

We dropped the kids off at Duncan and Joy's house, then continued on to Anchorage to do sealings at the temple with Rich/Sharon, Duncan/Joy, and Teresa. I don't think we've all been in the temple together since David's wedding. It was very nice. It was also nice to see a bunch of our old family friends working at the temple.

We went to one of my most nostalgic restaurants for dinner. Good 'ole Lucky Wishbones. Ahh, the memories!! Tax season....Saturdays at the office with my parents....grilled cheese sandwiches...purple balloons. Good times!

Alysa spotted the first moose (alive that is...we've seen 2 dead ones!) for the trip.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Today was the day to work on the new deck for Rich and Sharon's house. Duncan and his kids came out to help. It was mostly the kids playing and Duncan, Chris, and Rich working. I tried to help out a little here and there but mostly felt like I was just getting in their way!

Sharon, Cami, Morgan, Ben, Cole

Brooke, Alysa

The float plane taking off.

Friday, July 2, 2010

I was so happy that Chris made the extra effort to take me to the temple today. We haven't been able to do a session together for a long time, so it was really nice to get to go. (Thank you Sharon and Rich for watching the kids all day!) After the session, we got to talk to more family friends and also meet the temple president and his wife. We also got to do a little tour of the mechanical rooms so Chris could compare them to the Quetzaltenango temple.

The wonderful trip to the temple was followed by a fun lunch of sushi. It was so strange to go out on a "date" by ourselves! It was quite nice!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

All of the Whitney family got together for a day at the lake. Chris's sister, Teresa, has a cabin right next door to Rich and Sharon, and they have lots of fun water toys. There was Rich and Sharon, Jessica, John and their 5 kids, Duncan and Joy and their 5 kids, Teresa and Dave and their 5 kids, Bob and his daughter, Amber, and grandson, Camden. It wasn't the best of weather, but it was better than most of the days have been up here. The kids had fun going for rides on the jet skis, as well as playing on the water trampoline and the paddle boat. The big kids played video games at Teresa's while the smaller kids played video games at Rich and Sharon's. There was of course, way more food than we could possibly force ourselves to eat. Great food, great family, and great fun.

Cole and Joey, the dog.

6/20/10-6/26/10

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day! Morgan got up and made muffins for Chris but they weren't done until it was time to walk out the door for church. So, we had muffins for lunch! It was nice to get a chance to talk to each of our dads today. We are all getting very excited to see them shortly!

At church, our friends were all very excited for us to go on our trips. One of our friends was saying how jealous they were that we got to go on vacation and they had to stay and work. Another friend asked Laina if she was going to miss him. After a brief pause, she replied, "No."

Everybody wanted to make sure that we were going to come back though!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Dave come into town today. After hearing that our water had been out all day and after working very late, he opted to stay at a hotel.

Other than finishing up some school stuff, packing, and cleaning, we didn't have a whole lot to do today.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The kids have done amazingly awesome with their school work! They have been working extra hard trying to get ahead with their math because we didn't want to lug all of it with us to Alaska.

This evening I had an amazing experience. I can't even think of the words to fully describe it and how it made me feel. I went to teach my last piano class before vacation. After class, I was waiting around for everybody to start choir. Somebody finally came in the chapel and told us that we were meeting in another room. When I went in everybody started hugging me and saying, "Feliz cumpleanos." I was a little confused and not positive as to what was going on. In the room, they had a bunch of tables and chairs set up and they had everything ready for a party. Usually once a month we have an activity after choir to celebrate each month's birthdays. This party was supposed to be for May and June. They found out that I was going to be gone for my birthday so they included me (July birthday!!) as well. At that point I was feeling pretty special that they thought of me, even though I wasn't going to be there. I couldn't figure out why they kept telling me to get my kids though. The kids weren't too excited to come sit in choir until they got served some food!! After some announcements (some of which I actually understood!), and naming everybody who was having birthdays, we sang 'Happy Birthday'. It was the next thing that really threw me for a loop. Everybody started taking turns getting up and bringing a gift to me and hugging me again. I went from sitting innocently to having my entire area covered in gifts. None of the other birthday people were getting gifts. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do....open them? wait? give a speech (yeah, right!)? I was so overwhelmed. Some of the ladies started motioning for me to open them so I began. I had no idea what to expect. I was so amazed by the love of these wonderful people. They range from young men/women to adults to grandparents and they were all there to show me that they cared. It was very heart warming for me. I asked Lily later why they did it and she said that everybody wanted to make sure that I knew that I was loved. I am going to have such a hard time leaving this ward when it is time to leave Guatemala! They have been so wonderful to me.

One of my piano students brought me pears from the tree at his house....another one brought me a cool, wool Guatemala bag. A sister in the choir brought jewelry for all of the girls, another dishtowels, etc. My special friend, Emiliana, helped us find traditional dresses for the girls a while back. She had a lady specially make a doll skirt to match. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Alysa and Laina agree and had to try it on their dolls before they would go to bed.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Am I having serious allergies? I have a horrific headache from lack of sleep and from using extra pillows to try to breath. What a great start to our trip!

Chris had a lot of work to finish up before we left so we didn't get out of Xela until about 3:30. The kids were able to relax a little and watch a movie while we waited.

The main road from Xela to Guatemala City has finally gotten fixed enough that it was a pretty decent road....for Guatemala! The tropical storm that hit a few weeks ago didn't want to let the road stay that way! Lots of parts of the road are still shut down because they were covered by landslides. Other parts are completely washed away. Even with that, the drive was pretty nice until we got sent on a forever long detour at Chimaltenango. There was a jerky driver behind us that kept trying to cut around everybody. He finally got around us and I told Chris that I was glad to get rid of him because he was making me nervous. It was probably about 15 minutes later that the traffic slowed down again and we finally found out why. The impatient little white car had tried to pass more traffic on a blind curve and ran head on into a school/chicken bus. I am so glad he wasn't around us when he did that!! Not to be a rude, but he kind of had it coming!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The big day....we're off to Alaska. The kids are happy, excited, and ready to go. Chris is happy, excited, and ready to go. I am happy, excited, but not ready to fly!! The "allergies" turned out to be a huge cold! The take off and flight were fine but the decent/landings were unbearable!! I have never had such serious pain in my ears on a flight! I couldn't hear anything out of my right ear for about 3 hours after the landing from the first flight. It didn't finally pop until the take off on the second flight. The flight attendant on the second flight told me to get some decongestant and that might help a little. I grabbed some overpriced medicine in Seattle (along with all of the fun candies that we haven't had in a while!!) and headed for our third flight. The third flight had 240 seats and 80 passengers so enough for everybody to have a full row. We had the entire back of the plane to ourselves! It was a great way to end our day of flying!

We arrived safely (and with hearing in both ears!!) in Anchorage at about 11:30 p.m. just in time for a 1 1/2 hour drive to Wasilla. I think we'll have to sleep for a day or two to recover!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Chris's parents house is very nice and on a gorgeous lake. We didn't know what time to get up since it is always light out! We hung out around the house for a little while before heading back to Anchorage to meet Chris's brother Duncan and his family to see 'Toy Story 3'. It is so weird being back in the states. I certainly do not miss all the swearing. I can't believe how liberally people use certain words. I was telling Duncan's wife, Joy, that that is one advantage to not understanding Spanish!! I don't know if people are swearing!

Being back in Anchorage has been a little bit emotional for me. This is the first time that I have been back since my parents sold the house that I lived in since I was 2 years old! I don't have the courage to even drive past it yet.

Not only have my parents moved since our last visit, but Rich and Sharon have as well as Duncan and Joy. On our way back out to Wasilla, we stopped at Duncan and Joy's in Eagle River. What an amazing place. Alaska definitely has its fair share of great scenery. It was very nice to see how well the kids all got along. All the girls almost immediately disappeared when we walked in the door. The two lone boys were a little bit more reserved.

We all went out to get some pizza at The Pizza Man. It was great pizza which I have been desperately craving! Thanks Duncan and Joy!!

On the drive back, we saw a moose that had been hit. It is always a contest (at least for me!) to see who will see the first moose of each trip. This is the first time that the moose was laying dead on the side of the road. It is always sad to see!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

One of the things that I have been most looking forward to with being back in the states.....garage sales. Yes, it is definitely an illness but the thrill of the hunt is so fun! Sharon, Morgan, and I went out with the intention of going into Eagle River. We never did make it that far before we had our fill. Our "jack pot" of garage sales was very interesting. It was a single lady in her 50's that had died. I swear that we could have been best friends if we had known each other. She was an amazing quilter, crocheter, etc. She had tons of collectibles that Sharon liked as well as books for me and the kids. Her remaining brothers and their wives were there working to clear everything out. It was so fun to exchange stories and find out that they were from SLC and LDS. Alysa was ecstatic to get her own triple combination! Cole and Morgan got the first 5 books in the Harry Pottery series. We spent so much time there!

In the front yard there was a lilac tree. When I walked out the front door, the smell hit me with the memory of our backyard in Anchorage. From that point on, everything was bringing back memories from growing up. I am DREADING going past my old house but I know it's something I've got to do eventually.

After we decided that we'd had our fill of garage sales, we headed into Anchorage to have lunch with Teresa. Morgan loves going out to eat with Grandma. It makes her feel so grown up! It was nice to talk with Teresa and catch up on her children.

We went and picked up Sharons car, went to Costco, then stopped by Jessica and John's house. Her kids are growing up so fast. They change so much when you don't see them for two years!

To get back to Wasilla, I drove Rich's truck and Sharon and the kids drove the bug. It was fun driving a truck again....especially on good roads. There is such a different mind set here with vehicles. Everybody has a big truck and they are all hauling RV's, boats, or other toys.

While the girls were out, the boys worked on getting stuff ready to put a deck on the house. Then the kids discovered the little 4-wheeler. It took them a few trips to figure it out but Morgan and Cole had a blast riding up and down the driveways and around the house.

6/13/10-6/19/10

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Church is still frustrating for me. I thought for sure I'd be able to understand people by now! I can't follow the lessons at all. I try, but usually end up with a headache by the end of church. I am doing much better when it is one on one and I can focus on one thing!

There was a family baptism tonight. I got to play the piano for the meeting. There were 3 teenage girls and their parents. Apparently the father is an English teacher but I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Today Chris and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. The kids were planning to play "restaurant" and serve us dinner but it didn't work out so Chris and I went out to dinner at a new restaurant. It was a fun little Italian restaurant where we got a bunch of seafood, pasta, and a HUGE salad! It was fun to go out and have some adult time!

(Laina was learning the letter 'O' today and made an octopus. We had to get a picture of the octopus for her!!)

(Morgan would have been in high heaven with this salad. She loves salads!)

Tonight was a huge milestone for the family. We have been reading the Book of Mormon every night for the last 5 years and finally finished it!! YEAH!! We're going to celebrate with a trip to Alaska!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I didn't have piano lessons today and the girls didn't have preschool so the kids just worked on school work and played. We also took advantage of a cloudy day and tried to get some pictures taken. It is so hard to take good outdoor pictures of the kids because Cole and Alysa's glasses change to a dark tint in the sun!

There are a few more pictures of Laina because she's still young enough that she just messes around when I take her pictures. The others pose and call it good.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Is it Saturday yet?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Now is it Saturday?

Friday, June 18, 2010

We finished our last full school lesson before our break today. The kids are excited for a break! We're going to take a little bit of work with us in case they have some down time but for the most part, it'll be a long break!

We celebrated with a pizza party and a movie. The kids love Friday nights.....so do I when I don't have to cook!!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

YEAH, it's finally Saturday.....not that we really did anything! We got all of the suitcases out and got most of our clothes packed. Now what are we going to do until Wednesday?

6/6/10-6/12/10

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Early this morning, Chris's paternal grandmother passed away. Only two months after her husband died. We are happy in our knowledge that they are now being reunited together and are no longer in pain.

We were also able to celebrate life today with Morgan's 11th birthday. I cannot believe how much she has grown up. I also can't believe that Chris and I are old enough to have an 11 year old! I think her favorite thing that she got for her birthday was the o.k. to cook dinner! She loves to be in the kitchen cooking....now if we could get her to learn how to clean up afterwards, we'd be set!

We messed around with the camera a little today. We need to get some updated photos of the kids.

Glasses that tint in the sun are not good for taking pictures outside!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

We are still plugging along with the homeschooling and finished our 100th day of school today. 80 more to go!! We're trying to decide if we're going to take some of their work with them to Alaska so that we can get caught up for next year. (We're off schedule since Guatemala's school year goes January to October.) We ordered the next years set of books today also. I sure hope it doesn't get too hard for me to keep up!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

We invited Smiley Guy to the piano recital on Saturday. The Orellana boys helped me out so hopefully he understood what I was saying. The kids are so nervous for the recital. I don't blame them. I am a nervous wreck every time I have to play in front of people!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

What a bad start to the day. Everybody is extra cranky for some reason today. It took a while but things eventually improved...a little!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

So, when can I start packing? Our trip is going to be here before we realize it. I just hope there aren't any more natural disasters between now and then that shut down the airport again!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Today we made over 100 chocolate chip cookies and another 100 Oh Henry bars for the piano recital tomorrow. I have NO IDEA how many people are going to show up. I was planning on the families coming but last Sunday they announced the recital to everybody!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Morgan had her birthday party today. We went and picked up two of her friends from primary and went to lunch. Morgan picked her favorite restaurant, Wendy's. Afterwards, we took her friends to see the temple and then roller skating. I was shocked at how well Morgan communicates with her friends. And yes, I was extremely jealous that I'm not that confident! The girls seemed to all have a good time. Cole wasn't quite sure what to do without Morgan to pal around with. Cole asked Chris and I why we were such show offs. I guess being able to skate around without holding onto the railing is considered showing off! I haven't been roller blading in such a long time. I kept having flashbacks of all my wipe outs in the past.... and yes, there were many! Laina was keeping up the tradition and kept flopping all over the place. When Chris asked her if she was o.k., she told him that she had a big tooshy so it didn't hurt.

Morgan, Katy, and Irma

Laina and Cole

Alysa

Katy and Morgan

Irma, Morgan, and Katy

The piano recital is finally over. The students did really well. I think they were all relieved when they were done! I am very pleased with how the whole thing turned out. I was expecting a lot more people to come though. There were several of the students that came all by themselves. I felt pretty bad that their families weren't there to support them.... maybe next time! I've already got ideas flying around for a Christmas recital! Maybe next time we'll have two classes to participate.

Lillian, Alison, Juan Fer, Astrid, Christian, Sebastian, Georgie, Elias, Juan, Kenet