Hey family! I seem to recall suggesting that someone put some pixs of my cute pregnant sister-in-law on the family blog. I don't see that this has happened yet.
Come on family! I'm hours and hours and hours away from everyone! Please share the picgturey goodness!

In other news, I love ya all and hope all is going well. For further details in my life in Korea, please view my blog:-)
Cheers!!

Well, if my kids bug me enough I eventually will do this blogging thing. Even though I work at a computer all day I still am leery about messing around with something new on the old comp. Maybe in the next life I'll be a admittance person into one of the kingdoms, ha ha. Anyhooo I am hoping to be better about the going's on in my life etc..... TTFN, M

Hey fam-er-ly! Well, I have almost completed my 5 th week in Korea. I am still functioning, but also still looking for my groove, and missing it terribly. I still haven't invested the necessary time to make sure that I have edible food to eat, which means that I am scraping the bottom of my firdge and getting creative. Tonight I threw some chicken, tortilla chips, cherry tomatoes and pepper jack cheese together and called it a very good meal. I am still burping cherry tomatoes, and I think that's a good sign:-)

I have been desperately missing television since I have been here. I am not thrilled to be stuck with myself in my own brain. My brain wears me out. TV quiets it down for a while. It guess watching TV is my way of self medicating my internal dialog. (Since when is dialog not spelt with a u or an e?)

Any how, today was one of the better days in the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays are very easy going. I have 2 classes that I teach, a private class for 1 hour and a student class for a hour and a half. The private class is easy. The student is getting lessons as a personal favor to the owner of the school. He has fairly good comprehension and is compliant with doing the work book and stuff. I asked him today if he would be willing to start reading a book instead of just doing the exercises in the work book. His English is good enough to where he just needs to get used to using it correctly. I don't know yet what book I'm going to have him read, but I am excited that he's willing to read one. Something juvy lit, I think.
The student class has 2 students. There is a lot of poetntial for have some fun. The powers that be would like me to use the usual work book, but they would also like me to use anther book of some kind. I would really like to find some kind of science book or history book or cultural book that I can use to help emphasize what we're learning in the other book. I have to spend a lot of time doing this and I don't want to get bored any more than the students.

Well, I need to go to bed. I have to get up early and figure out what I'm going to do for most of my classes tomorrow. I don't have a lot of resources at work, or a lot of personal experience to help me fill in the 40 minutes per class with anything meaningful or interesting, but I am learning and I hope to get better as I go. I am hopeful for the morning. I have my alarm set for 7:00 am, I think I just might get up when it goes off, the first time.

I love all my fabulous family. Follow the course, fight the good fight, keep the faith.
Peace and love,
Risa

Hey Nephi,
Still waiting for that post you were supposed to do about your camping trip with Naomi....

We would love to see pix and hear how it all went.

Hi all you readers out there in my family. If anyone is interested in a fun read of YA Lit Fantasy, I am reading a wonderful one right now. The series is by Garth Nix and it is his Keys to the Kingdom series. It has been so much fun to read it, I am on the third book right now in a series of seven. These books are very quick reads. He is such a fun writer. I enjoy his style and imagination. His other series, The Old Kingdom, which includes Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen are in my top ten (the series, not each individual book) list of all time favorites. They are more for older teen and up readers, and I absolutely love them, and own those ones, so if anyone needs a good read, let me know.

But back to the Keys to the Kingdom. I think that I will have Jarek read these, when he has time. He is reading so much lately. He is trying to read Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and mom just gave him one about the Nick of Time or something like that. So maybe these will have to wait a bit.

Anyhow, that is my post on that. Laters!

Okay, we all need to get better at checking in here on the Webb blog. I haven't been doing too good at it. i would love if everyone were involved.

Anyhow, only a week till Jacob, Millie and Ellery come down! We are so excited to see you guys and are especially looking forward to being in Mexico together. Bret is hoping that the chicken place doesn't disappoint. I am just looking so forward to being together and playing at the beach! Yeah!! I hope Enok and Ellery get along well.

okay, till next time....

I'm writing this post as a test so Tevia wont whine and cry and throw a hissyfit.
and because I guess I love her as my sister. Anyway, things are going very, very busy
with me right now. Life could be much better but it also could be much worse. My school
seems to be going well, but I don't even have much time to notice it. I still do, however, love
my job, a lot. I'm hoping everyone is doing well and wheather you stay out of trouble or not, well
that's not really much of my business, as I'm way over here in Japan and I can't really do much
about anything if I wanted to or not. I know I'm just rambling, but who knows, there may be some
kind of hidden message in this post. If you find the hidden message, let me know.
Well, I hope this is somewhat satisfactory to Her Majesty. Hope everyone is doing well.
loves and kisses and hugs


Neefee

We were so lucky as to have Quentin and Yesenia come down for conference. I love having them here. They are such easy house guests!

On Saturday evening they were milling around the swimming pool and Quentin kept harassing Yesenia about getting in the pool to swim. She kept saying she didn't really want to. Quentin was precariously close to the edge of the pool. Yesenia caught my eye and with a naughty little glint in it she silently conveyed her intent. I nodded my consent and next thing Quentin had been pushed unceremoniously into the pool. I was laughing my head off. He went in with not much grace but emerged with a smile on his face. Yesenia felt guilty for pushing him in and jumped in herself up to her waist, clothes and all. What a nice wifey! It all happened so fast that I didn't get a picture of it. Oh well, the memory will be burned into my mind forever!

The kids then wanted to get in the pool so they went and put their swim suits on. Like last weekend, the pool was still chilly and they didn't stay in too long. Bret decided to jump in too. It was all very humorous.

I somehow convinced them to play Shanghai Rummy with me, (they didn't want to try settlers). Risa came over and played with us too. I was laughing a lot and I haven't seen Bret laugh so much in a long time. (could be that I haven't seen him in a long time) I was winning the whole game until at the very end Bret pulled out the win like he ALWAYS does. I swear, it is uncanny how often he wins. If only he can be lucky enough for an assignment in London that would afford him all the things he wants for his career. :)

Anyhow, thanks so much to Q and Y for coming down and spending the weekend with us. Oh, one other funny thing. When Malik was saying a prayer on the dinner one night he said "Thank you for letting Yesenia and (then a pause and much thinking) the other guy for coming here." I was bad and couldn't help laughing. It made him sad that he forgot Quentin's name during the prayer and sad that I had laughed. But it was super funny to me. Good ole Malik! He always makes me laugh.

new mexico

I am in a writing rut. I need to post about this trip. It was a very fun trip. Okay, here we go. Lets see if I can do this without droning on and on and on...

I have to first of all start off with this little tid-bit. Dad had just gotten off shift Tuesday morning and was home nary a few moments and I thought he was going to pee his pants in anticipation! He had told us he had not been able to sleep that night due to the copious feelings of excitement overpowering him. I would definitely have to say the he was truly giddy about the trip. And I don't use that word lightly. He was giddy. It made me chuckle!

We got all the stuff hauled into the motor home and the kids helped grandpa fill the water tanks and Enok was in charge of pushing all the buttons and flipping all the switches in the drivers seat. He was fantastic at his job. We got everything squared away and headed off down the road. Well, we had to make a quick detour to fuel up and grab a few odds and ends we had forgotten to buy. Then we were on our way!

Our first stop was in a small town called Zuni. We were going to go to these ruins, but the tour wasn't for another couple of hours and we didn't want to wait around for it. Dad loved the town as it reminded him of Mexico. It was old, in the desert and dusty. It might have reminded me of Mexico if there were Mexicans there, but there weren't. So we continued on our way to El Morro (click on the link to read up on it in case you want to), which is a big rock in New Mexico. I had hiked there before a couple of times and was very excited to have my kids be able to hike it too.

When we got there Enok was asleep so we told dad he could stay behind and rest a bit since he hadn't had much sleep the previous night (due of course to being giddy) and that he could catch us up since Jarek and Malik aren't that fast of walkers. Mom, the boys and I decided to check out the shorter hike which would show us the pool and the carvings on the sandstone. We weren't able to hike the big loop since there was still snow on the back side of the rock. It didn't seem like we were out there that long, but by the time we got back to the visitors center and I ran out to check on the boys back in the motor home, they were already on their way out. I had to laugh my head off when I saw dad. He had tried to get Enok into the baby backpack and put him in it the wrong way. I had to take a picture of it.

We then hiked up the other side of the rock and up onto the top to see the ruins. I had forgotten that there was a box canyon in the middle of the rock. The wind was blowing a little and the air was somewhat chilly, but not freezing cold. I felt so peaceful when we made it to the top. You couldn't hear a lot of noise from cars or airplanes or anything much at all. Just the slight breeze and our own chatting. The hike was very nice even though the boys complained how tired they were. I made them keep going. The did pretty good though.

After El Morro we went to these ice caves. Well, there was a volcano and an ice cave. I can't remember the name, but if you look at the pictures we are standing in front of the sign. I thought this was so amazing. There was this cave and inside on the bottom and sides of the cave there was this very thick ice. The brochure said that the ice was like 20 feet thick. This ice stays there all summer and all winter. Because of the way the cave is shaped, it stays super chilly there. The temperature is never above 31 degrees. Dad said there was a much bigger difference in the temperature change when he had gone there in the summer. It wasn't quite as dramatic when we went becuase the air above the cave wasn't that warm. But I still loved it! We didn't go to the volcano part though. One other interesting thing about this stop was the lava flows. There were many lava rocks and you could see where lava tubes had collapsed. I thought of Risa cuz she likes rocks so much!

We then headed on to Grants. We had to stop at the store to get a few things then found our way over to the KOA. The boys enjoyed that and I actually took a shower at the KOA. That made me laugh. NM is an hour different than AZ so we ended up going to bed around 9:30 AZ time. The kids slept pretty well, except they got a little cold in the morning. They slept on the bunk in the motor home above the drivers seat. Enok got to sleep in the playpen. I actually stayed very warm all night long even though it was very cold outside. Must have been all the body heat in the small motor home. At any rate, we all slept fairly well and the next morning went to have a nice continental breakfast at the KOA lobby.

We headed out and started making our way towards Gallup. We had thought about stopping at two places on the way, but passed the exits so kept on going. We made it into Gallup and headed over to the El Rancho Hotel and Restaurant. It is supposedly haunted and the kids were so excited to eat there. I loved the old hotel lobby. Upstairs there were pictures on the walls of all the famous people that had been there. The kids really wanted to see a ghost, but no such luck. Enok probably scared them off with all the howling and moaning he was doing. Jarek kept trying to play tricks on grandma telling her that his silverware kept moving. It was very cute.

After that we headed up north some more and stopped at Window Rock. I had never actually been to there to see the rock that gave the town its name. It was pretty cool though. The kids had fun running around and getting some exercise. Mom was wishing Quentin was around. I'll let you all think about that one and draw your own conclusions. I would have loved if he and Yesenia could have been there too. They would have been fun to have around.

Our next stop was Canyon de Chelly. I had never been here either. I love all the canyons in Arizona and am so amazed at just how different, yet beautiful they all are. These canyons were kind of box-like and just amazing. We didn't hike down in them, but I wish we could have. I love being out doors. At one point Enok was getting a little frustrated and worried cuz he couldn't walk very well on the uneven surface of the rocks. And then another time he became entranced with his shadow and was following it around, lifting his legs up to see what his shadow would do and just enjoying this new find. I tried to get it on video but was too late.

Lastly, we headed to Holbrook. I never in a million billion years would have imagined that I would actually be staying the night in a hotel in Holbrook. We stayed at the Wigwam hotel right on route 66. The kids, well mostly Jarek, was so thrilled that we were actually on route 66. This hotel reminded me a lot of the movie cars. The guy that owns the place had a bunch of older cars parked all over the property, even an old tow truck. But the kids made it very clear to me that it wasn't 'mater since it was a red tow truck, not a brown one. In the morning mom and dad got a little surprise as the cleaning guy opened their door around 7:00 am. We didn't have any strange door guests though. Mom asked if Jarek had taken a shower in the wigwam, but Jarek was very matter of fact and said he didn't want to because real tee pees didn't have showers. He failed to notice that real tee pees don't have televisions, heaters and electric lights either... Oh well. I had to share a full size bed with the two older boys which was an interesting thing. Malik was in the middle and kept getting hot, so would kick the covers off. I would get cold and put them back on and it was like that all night long. But, what a great memory! hehe

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the stellar dinner we had that night. (that being said in voice dripping with sarcasm) This restaurant we ate at was probably on of the worst I have ever been to. The service was horrible and the food was pretty bad too. The first thing I ordered (after we had been sitting there for about 15 minutes) they didn't have. And after they told me that, it took them another ten minutes to come back and get my other order. The salad bar was the very worst one I have ever seen. It was even worse than the Chuck E Cheese one. I ended up getting ribs thinking that you couldn't go to wrong with ribs. Boy was I wrong. They were burnt to a crisp and the sauce was absolutely terrible. And Jarek's hamburger was very burnt and not appetizing in the least. And it was late so Enok was a total bear. All in all it was not a great experience. But it was at least an experience.

In the morning we decided to just head back home since we were only an hour away. At home we made our biscuits and gravy and dad took the boys to walmart to get their film developed. Oh yeah, mom and dad bought them disposable cameras for the trip. They took crazy pictures but had a lot of fun with the cameras.

This was a great trip. The pace was wonderful, the stops were so much fun, riding and sleeping and peeing in the motor home was fun and adventurous. We can't wait to hit the road again with mom and dad. Hopefully more of you will be able to join us.!!!!!!

Just some pix. We got to go to the fire station to visit grandpa while he was on shift. He let the kids climb in the fire trucks. One of the kids said they thought the inside of the truck smelled like bbq chicken. That made me laugh!

On Saturday night we went to the downtown chapel for a Valentine's Day party for the Spanish branch. They had music going so Malik asked Risa for a dance and she willingly obliged. Enok had a fun time getting to know Camilla. Piggy back rides must be all the rage for babies these days! They were so cute.

Well, I would post pictures from the temple, but I forgot to take my camera so I will have to bum some pix off of Risa and post them. The sealing was very beautiful and Quentin looked positively elated. I was worried his face was going to crack from all his smiling. Mom and I got to go through with Yesenia for her endowments and I was so glad to be there. Thank you Q and Y for allowing me to be part of this wonderful time in your lives. I am so happy for you both. We sure do miss those of you who are far away (that would be Nephi, Elijah, Alisha, Jacob, Millie, Ellery and Brandt) and wish we could see you all more often.

Oh yeah, we got to see dad and mom's little motor home. The kids really liked it, but Malik LOVED it. He went on and on about how he could live in the motor home. He was so thrilled with the idea that you could sleep, eat go to the bathroom and drive in one place. He is really looking forward to heading to New Mexico with grandma and grandpa in the motor home.

Happy Birthday to all those February birthdays. That would be Alisha, Malik and Me! Maybe Nephi will get around to posting something for us so we can see pictures of his kids. Thanks Jake and Millie for the cute pix of Ellery. She is so cute! We miss you guys. I will see you for sure in June. Can't wait!!!

Love to all and keep safe and happy.

Ellery's babysitter took these pictures the other day. Thought I'd share!

Well, during the first part of January we received an allotment for our home relocation from Prudential and had decided we would get a new T.V. Before Bret headed back to Hong Kong for the remainder of his time there we had gone to Fry's electronics to look at possible T.V.'s we would be interested in. We had narrowed it down to a few within our price range and decided to wait and see if they went on sale since a lot of televisions go on sale during super bowl season. That first weekend I didn't go see if they were on sale, but the second weekend I did. And surprise, surprise there was a great sale. We had initially looked at a 57" television, but that weekend the 65" of the same model was on sale for $400 dollars less. It was their weekly promotional item. It seemed kind of stupid to buy a smaller t.v. for more money, so I bought the bigger one. It is very big. I never in a million years thought we would buy such a large t.v. After I bought it I realized that I would need someone with a truck to help me get it home. As I walked out to my van the first name that popped into my head was Quentin. I knew he had a truck. I also knew that there were other people down here in the valley I could have asked, but I really wanted to see Quentin and Yesenia and so I thought I would give it a go to see if they would come down.

Fortunately for me they were willing to make the trip down and we got to spend the weekend with them. We, or at least I for sure, had such a nice weekend. The kids loved having them here as did I. It gets a little lonely around here when Bret is gone. We talked and talked and talked and watched Harry Potter 5 and Pirates 3 and laughed at the crazy funniness of Enok. We ate Indian food at Tandoori times two. YUM!!!! I was so grateful for them coming down, not just for the help in lugging my t.v. home, but I really, really enjoyed their company. So thanks to them!

While they were here we, including Risa, went hiking up at Thunderbird park. We had beautiful weather and all took turns carrying Enok every now and then. He did a pretty good job all on his own, but needed some relief from time to time. Yesenia was fast and got way ahead of us trying to work up a sweat. She was carrying Enok and so burned extra calories lugging him around. We are so lucky to live in a place we can go hiking in January!





Later this month we were able to celebrate Risa's birthday in a somewhat unconventional way, but a very fun way. Her roommates and friends threw her a quinceanera of sorts (albeit she was not turning 15) and we all got to dress up and enjoy being together. The decorations were very festive and it was very fun to see all these people celebrating my sister who I love so much. I was so happy for her and I could see that so many of these people truly love and care about her. She was quite the cheeseball and did the beauty queen wave and the actress in her came out more than once!

Her dress was hideous, but extraordinarily fun to behold. Mom looked so amazing, even though she ended up getting quite ill during the party. I had a lot of fun celebrating together with her friends and my kids loved breaking open the pinata. (sorry I am not putting the right punctuations on these Spanish words, I don't know the short cut keys to do that). Quentin and Yesenia made it down too even though they came late. They went to church with us and I loved having them here again. I feel so lucky to be spending so much time with my family. I love my family. I am grateful for all of you guys.

Anyhooo, we have had a fun January. At least I have. Look for my blog about my time in Hong Kong on the Wall's Abroad blog, if you want to.

Here are some more pictures of the party. I guess I have to type more words so that the pictures don't look too lonely. The kids had fun chowing on the food and candy and cake that was available to eat. I tasted the cake, and for me the best part was the chocolate cream in the middle. At least it wasn't carrot cake or cheesecake, two cakes Risa doesn't like but it was what she got at work. Good thing her friends know her better than her coworkers!

Hmm, what else can I write? I guess not much more. The kids liked wearing the Chinese outfits we got them, even though it was a Mexican themed party. Oh well. I thought they looked exceptionally cute. But I am a biased mother.

When I was out running errands I happened to stop into a Hallmark to fax some documents (a very expensive place to fax documents I learned) and the lady behind the counter was very enamored with Enok and his insatiable cuteness. She asked if she could give him a balloon and I, of course, said yes. This balloon went with us everywhere today. I tied it to his belt loop since he didn't like it on his wrist. If I just handed it to him, he would let go and then "bye-bye balloon." On the belt loop proved to be just the ticket. He could hold onto it when the fancy struck him, and then he could let it go and it would follow him around like a little puppy making it easy for me to see him no matter where he went.

It will be a sad day when the balloon is no longer floating above his head, but I am sure he will then just drag it around after him until ultimately, it pops!

Ellery has been flapping her arms like this a lot. It's so funny. We call it 'flying'.
My sister got a new puppy. Here's Ellery being excited and flying with it! Oh, and
that's my niece and mom talking in the background and is not the point of the video!! :)

Once upon a time there was this couple who went to Disneyland for their anniversary. They told everyone that they had a lot of fun, but nobody really believed they went to Disneyland since they didn't share pictures with everyone on the family blog. So one day, the wonderfully charming and absurdly busy-body sister came up with a plan. She managed to procure a copy of the pictures of the aforementioned trip and decided to post some of them for the benefit of all who dares read the blog. (which I am pretty certain is a small number of people). Nevertheless, the deed had to be done and she was willing to do the deed. She thought about making up a story to go along with the pictures, but figured she would give the couple a chance to redeem themselves and write about it of their own accord. So, here are some of her favorite pictures for all to see.

Hey Tev! I am sorry your hubby is leaving, but you two get some alone time soon! So that should be fun. I love you tons and tons! I hope you all are doing well!!!

I decided to mess around with my camera today and take some random pix. I could never get Jarek to come over for a shot so he isn't included. I took way too many pix and only got a handful of ones I liked. Call me crazy, but I LOVE taking pictures. enjoy!

This first one is of Enok just being photogenic.













This next one is of Malik trying to pose. I like it better when I capture him when he doesn't know he is getting his picture taken.














This last one is of me. I spent way too much time taking them of me, but it was fun to see how cheesy my poses could be. I wish this camera had the feature where you could focus the shot and then depress the shutter remotely, but it doesn't. Half the ones of me came out terribly blurry.