Belated Christmas present

So, last Friday we had Samantha's birthday party and while frantically deep cleaning I pulled out the piano and found a Christmas present trapped between the piano and the wall.  It was a poem from John written at school and made into a refrigerator magnet.  I was really impressed with it so I thought I would share so that his grandma and grandpa can appreciate his genius as well as his mother. 

                                                          Christmas
                My family is Christmas, everyone jolly adn filled with hope (most of the time).
                My father is Santa, big, jolly, and usually brining good news.
                My mother is warm fire, giving warmth and light.
                My brother is the tree, thinking that he is the best and the strongest.
                My sweet sister is the milk and cookies, so sweet that she is sometimes too sweet.
                My younger brother is the colorful lights, easily put out.
                My younger sister is a stocking, with sweets filled to the top.
                My youngest sister is a present that brings surprise and enjoyment.
                And I am the star at the top of the tree, shining bright with creativity and filling my family
                with light.


               By:  John


Just grateful I got to be the fire and not the grinch as I was on a cleaning tirade when I found it ;)

February break

For our February break this year, we  went to Atlanta, Georgia to visit Justin's brothers Micheal and Ryan.  They both recently moved to Atlanta, Ryan in August and Micheal in February.  Mike and Sarah were very gracious in hosting us just weeks after their cross country move from Logan, UT.  It was great to see them and their sweet kids and of course their new home.  It's huge and I think they will come to love it.  It was a foreclosure so has quite a bit of work to do, but I think they will be able to make it a great home. While there we:  hiked stone mountain, went to the zoo, did some geocaching, went to the park, visited the capitol building and olympic park.  It was a lot of fun, and I know the kids especially enjoyed having a little one on one time with their cousins.    

 The kids at the zoo pretending to be just hatched  baby birds.

 We also had the opportunity to visit some of our friends from the Bronx who moved to Atlanta.  Here is Carissa holding Kate and Me holding Addison.  We met up with them for pizza at kid's planet.  The kids had a blast and the adults got to catch up on all that we've been up to.

On the way back we stopped at Justin's parents home and had a nice visit with them.  We were also able to see Tyson and Janae one last time before they move to Las Vegas.  We had some tasty Cafe rio with them.