Kweenmama's Kastle

Update

kweenmama — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:52:40 +0000

I’m not going to feel guilty. I’m not! Blogging has to be put on the back burner. Graduate school is tough! It is time consuming. I want to do my best, and so I let other things go. Blogging is one of them. I am not deleting my baby, but I just don’t know how often I will get to post–or visit the blogs of others. And so, with that said, here is a quick update on our family:

Hub – Will celebrate birthday #48 on Thursday! He is also enjoying the fruits of his gardening efforts. Zucchini or spaghetti squash anyone? He is counting down the days until Squid returns…

Squid – Will return from his two year mission for our church on the 30th of this month! He has enjoyed his time in Uruguay and will miss the people, but he is looking forward to attending college and enjoying this new phase of his life.

Huh – Spent the summer with us but is now back in school in Arizona. She recently sent me a text letting me know she had just killed a scorpion in her dorm room. Oh my!

Juju – Is attending the local community college while living with us. She works at a Thai restaurant and is looking for an apartment with her cousin.

Mack – Her plans to go to design school in California have been put on hold. With FIVE of us attending college this school year we thought she would get more student financial aid than she did. She/we can’t afford the short-fall, so she is working and saving money while taking online courses for her general ed. She is considering being a nanny in New York for a year to establish residency there and then attending a design school in New York and paying the resident’s tuition instead of the much higher tuition charged to people from out of state.

Shroom – Just celebrated his 18th birthday and is enjoying his senior year of high school. He has discovered rock climbing and tries to do it every chance he gets.

Hoob – Recently did some house-sitting for the neighbors across the street while they were out of town. They forgot to get the garage door opener from her when they returned and so Hoob sat at the window of her bedroom and made their garage door open and close while the two teenage daughters were in the front yard. Freaked them out! :-) My daughter is such a prankster!

Yawlin – On his own organized the fellow members of his scout troop to make cookies for their scout leader who had fallen at work and had broken a few ribs. He makes me proud!

Momo – As the newest “member” of our family, Momo is enjoying all things “American.” We took her with us on our family vacation and she “got” to try all sorts of roller coasters. Hoob includes her in activities with her friends and so she has enjoyed some of the high school football games, bowling, the game of ”Spoons,” face-painting, and jumping on the trampoline.

Max – The dog is still fat and lazy.

Maybe one day I will post pictures of some of our summer activities.

One day.

Maybe.

Until I post again…Chau.

Selling Lemonade Today

kweenmama — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:59:47 +0000

My neighbor posted on Facebook a picture of her son standing by his lemonade stand with a huge grin on his face. Her caption: Last taste of summer, 50 cents!

It worked. I sent my kids to go buy some lemonade.

An old American summer tradition has gone tech!

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I think this is the longest I have ever gone between posts on my blog. Life is super busy right now. I am hoping to get back to a regular blogging schedule…some day…hoping…dreaming…

The “Up House” has landed in Utah!

kweenmama — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:07:53 +0000

Just one of those random activities you do when you read about it in the newspaper.

And our family likes random!

Momo

kweenmama — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:56:50 +0000

I know I said I am taking a break from blogging…and I am, but I wanted to post the latest happenings with our family since that IS what this blog is all about. We welcomed “Momo” (nickname) to the United States and into our family for the 2011-2012 school year last night.

Yard Greeting

Yawlin at the airport with Momo's balloons tied to his ankle (courtesy of Huh)

How Momo really saw the yard greeting (we returned from the airport at 11:00 p.m.)

We look forward to getting to know Momo over this next year. We hosted a male foreign exchange student from Vietnam five years ago and had such a great experience we decided to do it again. We decided to give a female from Japan a chance to study in the U.S. this time. With the arrival of Momo this month, Huh returning to college out-of-state next month, Squid returning from his mission in September and Mack going to school out-of-state at exactly the same time and my schooling, our household is going to feel like it is in upheaval! Which, actually, is nothing new for us!

Taking a Break

kweenmama — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:40:00 +0000

I have two weeks left for this block of my graduate studies. And they will be two weeks from Hades. Time to take a break from blogging so that I can focus on my school work (and my family, of course).

C/ya

Girls Camp

kweenmama — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 05:28:13 +0000

Yesterday I returned from our ward (congregation) Girls Camp. With my call as Young Women President comes the annual summer girls camp. Last year it was a stake camp (all wards in our geographic location) and lasted for five days. This year it was only three days, but I still came home exhausted (and a little stressed about all the school work I haven’t done). But even with as tired as I feel, the camp was a great success! The girls and leaders had fun, unity was forged, and many expressed feeling closer to God.

Though I came home with almost 500 pictures I can only share a few here to allow for anonymity. Our theme was a “Survivor” theme–”Look to Me and ‘Survive.’” Most of the usual camp activities occurred. We did a craft, went on a hike, played games, acted silly, enjoyed the scenery and the wildlife, but it did rain both evenings which prevented us from having campfires and roasting marshmallows. It also made it too wet to go on a snipe hunt, which was a bit of a disappointment to the older girls. ;-)

Here are a few pictures that perhaps give a bit of taste of what camp was like…

Inside one of the cabins

One of the girls put my hair up into a "drill team" 'do

Appetizers for dinner

A visitor

Service project

The best part for me was being at camp with my daughter, Hoob. She really blossomed in a leadership position AND she received the award for being the funniest. :-)

I will take these experiences any day…whether school work gets done or not.

Snow in July!

kweenmama — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:34:44 +0000

Our 4th of July weekend included SNOW…

The snow was a short 20 minute drive from the cabin. Lest you think the snow was the only sight at the cabin…

It was a great weekend! And we made sure to remember the reason for the holiday…

What to Accomplish

kweenmama — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:06:08 +0000

We are heading to the cabin for the holiday weekend. Here is what I hope to accomplish:

*RELAX!

*Games with my family

*Get some great pictures

*Work on the second paper that is due for my Language Acquisitions class

*RELAX!

*Take a walk with my husband, hand in hand

*Ride the atvs

*Enjoy the stars

*Make s’mores

*Make dutch oven peach cobbler

*Roast hot dogs

*Snooze in the hammock

*Introduce my parents to the tv show Psych (we got my dad the first two seasons for Father’s Day)

*Did I mention RELAX?

*Picnic lunch in the woods

*Read (school assignments and for relaxation)

*See the fireworks in Evanston, WY

*Enjoy an ice cream cone while watching the fireworks

*Oh, and I can’t forget–RELAX!

Enjoy your Independence Day!

Heart Melt

kweenmama — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:33:00 +0000

What made my heart melt this week? My son. A hug from my son. A hug and tears from my son.

Yawlin returned this weekend from spending 2 1/2 weeks with his dad. He had a great time with his dad. They swam every day (almost a necessity in Phoenix), they went fishing, they barbecued, they took pictures and played games. Any time I sent a text asking how he was doing Yawlin always said he was doing well and having fun.

Yet, even with all the fun he had, when Yawlin walked through the front door on Saturday afternoon and I squealed and rushed forward to give him a hug, my tough 11-year-old couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

Which proves the truth: No matter how much fun one has…it is always good to get home to mom. ;-)

And boy did that hug feel good!

#6

kweenmama — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:07:17 +0000

Today is anniversary #6 for Hub and I, and I have spent it doing a group presentation for one of my classes and turning in a paper for another…and being sick and in bed. :( At least the weekend is close. If I don’t feel like going out tonight for our anniversary we can always do something over the weekend…provided I feel better.

Let’s hope I do!