Did I say never....

OK, so I said that we would never do a blog, but as we read the blogs of our families we decided to break down and take the time to do it.

We recently moved to sunny San Diego, California. Stuart is finishing his PhD in Clinical Child Psychology from Texas Tech by doing a one year internship through University of California San Diego. We miss our friends in Lubbock, TX, but have made some great friends here and are loving being so close to the beach. We have had a great time at the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, beach, pool, and parks. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I can really appreciate the beauty of palm trees. They are every where and I love it. The cost of living here is outrageous and so we are living in a spacious two bedroom apartment. It has actually been a lot of fun because we have a pool outside of our apartment, palm trees every where that we don't have to maintain, and of course less cleaning than a home. It still feels like we are on vacation staying in a nice condo or something. It has been a lot of fun.

Summer started 2nd grade this year. She is so much happier in this school than last year because at her old school, there was no recess. Here she has recess and it is just a much happier atmosphere. They allow children to be children. She has made several friends. I am her home room rep (we used to call them home room mom's, but I guess this is more politically correct) along with another mom. I am excited to be involved with her school. At her school there are 11 kids from church, which made the transition a lot easier.

Spencer started preschool this year and is loving it. He loves playing with his friends. He just loves singing and being sung to. He comes home singing the songs that they sing and also loves to sing one liners from songs that I sing to him. One thing that he loves to sing is, "I know the scriptures are true!" That is definitely music to my ears. I get to volunteer in his class at least 2 times a month. I love watching him interact with others. I was so shocked to see that he was so obedient to his teacher. I think it is that he is so afraid to get into trouble. He is so sensitive.

Nephi is my boisterous 1 year old. He is into everything. I no sooner clean up his messes and then realize he has made a totally new mess. Thank goodness for great articles in our church magazine the Ensign that helps me to remember to look at the positive in this stage. He is such a cute little boy that loves women!!!

Stuart has absolutely loved being so close to the beach. He has gone surfing a couple of times since we've been here. He never wants to leave. He has also been called to be the scout master and absolutely loves his scouts. He went on his first camp out this weekend. He had a blast. That is the perfect calling for him because of his love for youth and love for the outdoors.

I (Kathy) have been thinking a lot about how blessed I have been to graduate in Elementary Education from BYU. It has helped out tremendously in teaching my children. One of my favorite things to do is to create fun educational games for my kids. I love incorporating PE into the games so that they are exercising. I was so grateful for the opportunity to teach PE at Fun of a Kind back in Lubbock, TX. I have really been able to use some of those games into our home life to spice up our days. Summer's favorite game is Parts of Speech Charades, where your hint is a part of speech and then you have to act out the noun, verb, or adj. Spencer's favorite game is a relay race with flash cards or fishing for the alphabet.

Although I dearly miss the Young Women and sisters that I served with back in Lubbock, TX, I have also loved being in Relief Society (our churches organization for women) here in San Diego. I am the secretary. I love the sisters of our ward. They have been tremendously kind to us.