A cute picture of the kids eating at Fudrucker's at the Rashid Mall the other night.
Evan running in his track meet. (stolen from one of his Facebook friends.....thanks!)
Ok, so I got in trouble from Andrea the other day because I haven't been updating my blog enough. So, I'm vowing to repent and do better. Whitney has my camera in Switzerland so I am pictureless but that might encourage me to write a little more. Whitney, or the Swiss Miss, as we are affectionately calling her now, left Thursday morning. She had to be at school at 5:00 am to get on a bus to Bahrain and then a flight to Abu Dhabi and then on to Geneva. I have chatted with her a few times on Facebook and she is having a great time. When we bought the kids those itouchs for Christmas, we never dreamed how great they would be. Wherever there is wireless internet, they can communicate with us. We've also been getting emails from the teachers on the trip and all seems to be going great. She has vowed to take tons of pictures, but we'll see. That same Thursday Evan had a track meet in Udhailiyah. He had to get on a bus at 6:00, an hour after Whitney. Brad and I decided to head into Khobar and look for furniture.....again......This time we really did buy some things instead of just "look". We went to our new favorite store, "Anteek" or something like that. We bought a beautiful bookshelf, a tv table and some other little pieces. No use to describe them, I promise to post pictures later. This was Evan's last track meet of the season. He has really enjoyed cross-country and has done really well, even with the big plaster cast on his arm. Later that evening, Brad and I went back to Khobar (have I even mentioned on here how all the stores close all afternoon?? -so you either shop in the morning or evening or both- but no in-between!) We headed for the Dhahran mall. We found this new little furniture store in there and went in. We saw this really nice red living room set that we impulsively decided to buy. It is really nice and very similar (for those of you who know) to the big red leather chair we have at home in Louisiana. Anyway, we ran into some new friends, Rusty and Donna, and we ate at the food court with them (Popeye's!) and they gave us a ride home. A first happened tonight at the mall- a man shook his finger at me and fussed because my head was not covered! Uh.....what, forgive my trashiness?? We'd been warned to expect that sometimes. Another man laughed and waved his hand at me like "don't listen to him", something to that affect. Friday is our new Sunday here. Sunday is work/school as usual but Friday is the Sabbath. We went to our church meetings then home. I made the best lunch. I stuffed a whole chicken with dressing and had mashed potatoes and gravy. It was delish! Brad had a YM meeting and I took my "non-Sunday" nap. Saturday of course was back to school for Evan and work for Brad. All our new furniture got delivered today and I love it all. The living room furniture is HUGE and may have really been to much for the room. I need Andrea to help me arrange it!! I think we might end up putting the love seat in the other little sitting room. Things are still going really good here. We love and miss you all! Remember to read Taylor's mission blog! He's doing great!
Brad and I were lucky enough to both get to attend the leadership training before the general session. It was amazing. We all met together briefly then the ladies were taught by Sister Holland and the men with Elder Holland. They were both so down to earth and funny. After the conference we had a huge pot-luck dinner. It was such an honor to meet them and even have the kids pose for a picture with them. Sister Holland told Whitney that her granddaughter was also 16 and that she knew, if they were together, would be great friends! Isn't this picture the greatest?!?
