Happy Hanukkah!

Well, this has been a Christmas break of unexpected wonders. It started a whole week early as we had the beginnings of Arctic Blast 2008 and missed an entire week of school to snow days. Yes! (This was particularly enjoyable as my teaming partner is in Australia with family and I was making plans for the both of us.)

Luckily, I was iced/snowed in at my friend Penny’s house in Hillsboro, about 25 minutes from my house. I became “Aunt Alice” and started baking and cleaning and diagnosing and nannying and counseling and chauffeuring and imposing massive quantities of mommy-guilt. It was awesome!

During this week off, Penny’s son, Luke, Gabi and I made the world’s most awesome gingerbread house complete with rock garden, solar panels and smoke coming out the chimney. It was an energy conscious home. It is the year 2008 after all.

Saturday, I took my car in to get the alignment done and they reported that my car was not align-able and, in fact, not drive-able. Aaaah!!! So my dear friend, Penny Lou, drove me through the driving snow to my house where we cleaned my room, folded laundry and packed up for the upcoming trip to California for Christmas. The plan was to be stranded at Penny’s and then get to the airport on Monday for our flight.

Monday came, most of the flights were cancelled, but by some miracle ours was not. It was nearly time to leave on the trek to the airport (a two-hour tour since all public transportation was no longer working) when the flight was delayed slightly…by 20 minutes. Alright, we are packed, ready to go, better print the boarding passes so we do not have to check a bag or stand in the lines. There’s my flight….CANCELLED!!!

I had already called the airline and the earliest we could get to ANY location in Southern California was Friday night…the day AFTER Christmas.

BAH HUMBUG!!!

So it’s Christmas in the Northwest! We will hang with the Thornbrues. We love them and they love us! This is fortunate as we are in very close quarters and surrounded by piles of snow. We have at least 14 inches so far and are expected to get at least 2-4 inches more in the next day. The cold weather may have frozen some of our brains though. If you look closely, you will find that Ellie (Penny’s 11 year old daughter) and Gabi (my college-attending daughter) stuck their tongues to a light pole. The younger generation needs to watch and learn the lessons of A Christmas Story…I guess they’ll never win the major award.

This Christmas I am blessed to have wonderful friends who will house me, feed me, tote me, and most importantly love me. I hope you are all equally blessed this holiday season.

I am a Fat Hite.

I am the oldest of the Fat Hite children and I am fat. I am not the fattest I have ever been, nor am I the thinnest. I have been yo-yo-ing on the fat Hite scale for a number of years, perhaps all my life. However, I am determined to be less fat. I will be eating fewer calories and gyming twice a day. My goal is to bring my BMI into the healthy range. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, my healthy weight range is 122-164. Since they record weight in pounds and not kilograms, I'm in trouble. It will be a long row to hoe, but worth it.

You can read all about the Fat Hites at http://fathite.blogspot.com

It's a Happy Birthday!!!

My soon-to-be-sister-in-law, Danielle, marks the completion of two full decades in life. The wedding is three weeks from today on July 19th. She's great! I love her and can't wait to be officially related to her!

Happy Birthday Danielle!!!

My sis has a blog.

My sister, Caitlin, aka- Landy, aka - Caity, aka - Darwin, has a blog. It is very fun....and funny. If you read it, you will have a snippet of what my life is like living with her. Her first entry is a rant that can be expected daily....if not more frequently. Go check it out!

http://caitlinhite.blogspot.com/

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Well, it was my first official Mother's Day. It was a very enjoyable day indeed. Chruch was fabulous; I received my consolation geranium with pride. I had a bouquet of fresh flowers on my clean kitchen table. I talked to my mom. I opened the cheesiest card with the hand-written part starting, "This was the last card at Safeway's, I would have gotten you something more exciting." I unwrapped my first legit gift. Although to use the word "unwrap" is a slight exaggeration. There was a piece of newsprint paper declaring it to be fancy wrapping paper, but I could see right through it...quite literally. On the inside of said "wrapping" was this:This immersion blender that I have desired for quite sometime features:

• A robust motor and durable blending attachment that includes a premium stainless steel blade
  

AND

• Variable speeds provide greater processing control that adjusts to handle a variety of foods, beverages and soups

We made berry sorbet; it was DELICIOUS!!! The day ended with a wonderful dinner with La Familia Barney (our cousins who live right here in the 'Tron). It truly was a day to be remembered.

Another Wedding...still not mine.

My little brother just announced that he is getting married!!!!

Little Zach is marrying Danielle on July 18th(ish) in the Logan Utah Temple. Danielle (whose picture is coming) is also a student at BYU-I in Rexburg, ID and is originally from Mississippi. I have met her and she is really nice. I am excited to have another sister in the family.

It's a Girl!!

Arriving August 1, 2007 120 lbs. 64 inches!

Many of you may not know that I am a foster parent. The attached Asian is now more permanently attached. Gabi came to live with me last summer. She was a student of mine for two years before she move in. Now she calls my wee house, "home."

Gabi is Korean, no I mean actually from Korea. Born and raised in South Korea in the Capital city of Seoul, she speaks perfect Korean. Luckily for me her English is pretty fantastic. Since my good Cousin Scott only taught me one word in Korean this is especially good, otherwise she would be answering my questions of, "why" or "weyo" at all times. She is a senior this year and will graduate in less than a month, yikes!! We are deeply entrenched in the process of getting into college. She was just accepted to University of Oregon, which is exciting, but she is holding out for the true university of Oregon, Oregon State (Go Beavers!).

Now for the dirt, parenting is the most interesting, hard, fun, rewarding, weird thing I have ever done. My little sis, Caitlin (aka-Lola, Landy, Caity, Clayton, George), moved in this year too. The house has been full, and dirty. The new 50 cent rule should help with the latter. (Each item left out in the front of the house is 50 cents, eg-pair of socks=two items.) I never imagined that my life would have ended up here, but here it is and I wouldn't have changed anything...except for that one sunburn that one time....oh well. I love my life and my little family here in "The 'Tron."