Monday, May 11, 2009

Young at Heart

Saturday we went to Little Sahara to do some riding. We met up with some friends and spent the day cruising across the sand and soaking up some sun. We had a fabulous time! The weather was perfect and the kids were having a blast.

Don recently acquired a Banshee (although he'll tell you it was a Birthday present for me) and was dying to test it out. Needless to say, he rode it once and then his oldest son confiscated it and spent the rest of the day on it. Don was able to snag it back long enough to make a couple of runs up Sand Mountain. He was happy as pie to be able to keep up with some of the best of them on the climb up the mountain. Talk about being a teenager again!! Oh, wait he never has grown up.

Earlier in the day he attempted to be a teenager again, and soon realized that he is getting older. The friends we were with had a motorcycle that was big and fast and the boys wanted to see dad ride it. So when we were over at what we call our "little sand dunes" he decided to give it a try. His first pass was great-made the jump and all was well. So he decided to go for another pass - not so lucky this time. He made the jump, but failed to let go of the throttle as he land and the bike shot out from underneath him bucking him off the back and making him land HARD on his shoulder and bottom. Lucky for him the sand cushioned his fall and nothing major was damaged, except for his ego! The last 2 days he is realizing that his body is not young anymore and he is hurting. We love ya, Dad!!!

Dancing Queens

Becca & Rachel have been taking dance lessons this past year. We are finally in the home stretch with competitions out of the way and a dance recital on Saturday. I have to brag about them because they have both done an awesome job!

This year their dance teacher chose TV Theme songs as the theme for the year. The kids have had a ton of fun dancing to some classic TV songs. Becca's jazz dance is to a mix of Laveren & Shirley and Happy Days. Her costume is a Poodle Skit and the dance is absolutely darling. At the Taylorsville Competition 3 weeks ago, they took 2nd place and at Lagoon two weeks ago they took 2nd place again. However, they missed 1st place by one-tenth of a point! But the girls did AWESOME!!! Her ballet dance I've only seen bits and pieces of. The music is from my most favorite TV show - E.R. I know this doesn't sound to fun of a piece of music, but the dance is beautiful (from what I've seen). I'm excited to see it at the Dance Recital.

Rachel's jazz dance is to the Doodle Bops. This is a show on the Disney channel. Her costume totally fits the TV show and the dance is darling. Mallory is in her class and the group took 1st place at Taylorsville - Woo Hoo! At Lagoon they placed 2nd, missing first by two-tenths of a point. These little girls danced their hearts out!! Rachel's ballet is to my other favorite T.V. show - St. Elsewhere. I've seen none of this dance and Rachel tells me that is because it is a surprise. I'm excited to see.

Great job girls for working so hard!! Despite a little complaining here and there, they have both given it their all.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

April Fool's Joke

Rachel has been looking forward to April Fool's day for weeks. She has come up with ideas and made plans to fool someone in our house. Well, apparently she planned to pull a joke on me, but Becca gave it away and broke her little heart. She was in tears yesterday morning.

She had got out of bed in the middle of the night and stuffed her pillows in her bed so it looked like she was there. Then she had climbed in bed with Becca to sleep. Her plan was that when I went in to wake her up, she would come in behind me and scare me. Becca was angry because Rachel didn't want her help and she slammed the bedroom door really hard, waking Don up and causing me to come flying out of the bathroom thinking something was wrong - ruining the whole prank! She was devistated!

After consoling her, I came up with a prank to pull on dad. We took his work boots and dumped dry cat food down into the toes and then waited for him to put them on. When he put his first foot in he yelled, "What the heck!" He seemed kind of upset and Rachel wasn't so sure that he would take the joke. I kept mouthing to her to say "April Fool's" but she was a little scared. Finally she said it and Don started laughing. She too then started laughing. He told her that he thought the cats had thrown-up in his boots. We all got a good laugh & she went to school and told her class about it. Her teacher thought it was pretty funny. Even dad told all the guys at work about it. Good job, Rae!!!!

Medieval Battle

On Tuesday night the boys had a Court of Honor. It was a Medieval Times theme and once again Alvin Merrill (the scout master) really got into character. He had made swords that were PVC pipe wrapped with swimming noodles and LOTS of duct tape. He had a "fair maiden" that they were fighting for. He called up each boy and knighted them, giving them each a very creative name. Parker was knighted Sir Mash Potatoes and Darek was knighted Sir More helping of Green Beans. Tristan Burgio was Sir Sharp Knife, Zach Bates was Sir Pepto Bismal and Parker's friend Brenden was Sir Gastrial Intestinal. I thought I was going to fall off my chair laughing. It was hilarious and the boys loved it!

He then had rounds where he let the boys battle each other with the swords, which Don & I thought was rather brave of him. The boys actually did pretty well with the rules and no one got seriously injured. Parker, however, did come out with a small black eye. He took a whack to the face, but he was okay and it made for a good April Fool's joke the next day at school.

Parker received his Automotive merit badge and Darek received his Camping merit badge and his Automotive merit badge. The boys are doing really great. Darek is to the point of submitting for an Eagle project and working on about 4 required badges for Eagle Rank. Parker is working on his Star rank and some required badges.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sand Storm

We thought we would enjoy the great spring weather on Saturday so we loaded up the trailer and bikes and headed to Little Sahara. What a mistake that was. Let's just say that miles of sand and gusting wind don't mix well. Saturday the temperature was beautiful and we had a little wind when we arrived, but by mid-afternoon the wind was blowing harder and made it miserable to ride. We had sand in our eyes and teeth and that was with helmets and goggles on. We thought we would ride out the night in hopes that the storm would roll in, bring some rain and wet everthing down good. Much to our dismay, the wind was still there in the morning. Now it was blowing harder and getting colder. The kids tried to ride in the morning, but couldn't see far enough in front of them to be safe. Don decided that we were packing it all up and going home. Needless to say, us and a couple of other trailers were the only ones that were crazy enough to try and ride it out.

I told my kids that this trip reminded me of a book we have at home that is called Sand. In part it says, "Sand is in my toes. Sand is in my shirt. So much sand!" Don added to the story with "Sand is in places I didn't even think it could get!"

As Grandma B. always says, "It's just another adventure!"

Thursday, March 19, 2009

New Addition to the Yei posterity

Donald's brother Doug and his girlfriend had a baby boy on March 15th. He weighed in at 7lbs. 50z. and was 20 inches long. He looks like all the other Yei boys. Not quite sure what to think of the name, but then again this is Doug we are talking about. His text message said the baby's name is Kayoshi (yoshi) Bradjamin Yei. I'm sure now you are laughing because Don, David and I were. Not sure if they are calling him Yoshi and if the middle name is a misspelling and it's suppose to be Benjamin. I told Don he would have to call him and get the pronunciation of it. Baby and mom are doing great. Grandpa Kay would be proud that he has such great posterity - 6 boys to carry on the family name!

There is possibility that David will be headed back to Iraq in April. It is a voluntary activiation. If not enough members volunteer than they will start picking men to go. Please keep him in your prayers. We really need him to stay here to be with his kids right now.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Disneyland

A few weeks ago Aly and I took a much needed vacation to Disneyland! We had so much fun despite the down pour of rain for 3 days. Local news said it was the most rain they had received in over a year. Go figure!

The first comical thing that happened to us was our flight. We flew into Long Beach which is the first time either of us had been to this airport. When the plane landed we were sure we were in some small country. In order for us to exit the plan we had to walk down a ramp (in the rain) and onto the tarmack. Then trek thru puddles of water to get to the "so-called" terminal (which wasn't any bigger than my home. The next thing that made us laugh was the baggage claim. This sits outside the terminal with a canvas over the carousel. Now if the weather was great this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but remember it is down pouring and cold.

By the time we made it to our hotel, we both had to change shoes and socks (drainage in California is not great. Lots of BIG puddles!)

Disneyland was fun. Aly and I spent three days wearing our heavy coats and blue rain ponchos! We were quite the beauty queens. After the first day we didn't even bother doing our hair. Because of the rain, lines were short and most things we walked right on to.

Our favorite ride was the new Toy Story ride at California Adventure! It was fabulous and worth the 40 minute wait. It is similar to the Buzz Light Year ride at Disneyland, but in 3-D. Aly and I would get off and get back in line. We were sure we could better our score each time. It became quite competative and funny.

The craziest thing we did was ride Screamin California 5 times in a row!!!! It was awesome! We acutally rode it like 9 times during the three days there. No line, it was great!

When we went back to the Long Beach Airport, we had to take a picture. We were still laughing about our arrival, but it just got better. We went into the area where you check in. It was about the same length as an isle at Walmart and about that wide and that included the "food court." After we checked in our bags we had to walk outside and wait in line to go thru security. Good thing they have canvas tarps over this area. Once thru security, we were back in the so-called terminal. There are only 4 gates and not enough space or chairs to support the number of people flying. Once again we had to walk outside and up a ramp (this one was covered) to get back onto our plane. We took some great pictures and had a good laugh!

All in all the trip was very enjoyable and good R & R. Now we all need to plan on going in 2012 because by then all the new rides will be done and opened in California Adventure. It is getting a major overhall with 3 (it might have been 4) rides.

Staute of Liberty

Staute of Liberty

Fireman's Memorial

Fireman's Memorial

Liberty Bell

Liberty Bell

Independence Square

Independence Square

Standing at the Lincoln Memorial

Standing at the Lincoln Memorial

Changing of the Guard

Changing of the Guard

Devil's Den

Devil's Den

Iwo Jima Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial