And while we were gone....

The first part of November we were traveling quite a bit - and the girls were left to fend for themselves. When we came back, these were the pictures we saw of Clarissa.

Hmmmm... maybe we should pay closer attention to our teenager!!

Luckily, she was in the play "Curtains" that the highschool put on. She did great and had a wonderful time.

All about Kaitlyn Now

Kaitlyn is in a choral group that plays and sings bluegrass? music. I think it is blulegrass, or close to it, I mean, look there is a banjo. She loves it and has performed a couple of different times.

It has been nice to have her in our home - she and Clarissa will sing together and it sounds great!!

She also dances!! She has been having a marvelous time in her dancing class, and she and her partner, Thang, did great in the dance competition.

It's autumn time

Dora loves going to 'Special Needs Mutual'. They do such fun things and are so nice to Dora - besides it gives her a whole new bunch of people she can say 'Hi' to.

Here they painted her cheek after the Halloween fun.

Kaitlyn got very creative and made pumpkin soup - in the pumpkin!! Dora can't wait!!

While we were traveling there were lots of leaves for the girls to clean up. They all did their part.

Moving on towards Halloween

If you haven't noticed I have been catching you up to our life these past few months. We are now at Halloween. Clarissa put on all the jewelry and dangly things she could find and discovered... being a hippie?

Dora was thrilled to be an M & M

If has been fun having Kaitlyn join our household this semester. Here are two sets of sisters and cousins.

Ummmm....

Settling into American Life

Clarissa got right into school by going to the 'Sadie Hawkins' girls choice dance. Her friend, Risa, knew a boy she could ask. They had dinner at our house and seemed to have a fun time.

Clari was worried about fitting into the school... I am not sure why??

She seems to be doing fine!

Dora went on her first date with our neighbor boy, Andrew. It was his first date and he asked Dora. As you can see, we have to hold Dora back!!! Actually, it is very cute. Andrew does the talking and Dora makes all the moves!!

Life in the United States

In July we moved to Sandy, Utah. And, since that didn't sound all that exciting we didn't blog anymore - but, we were wrong!! We are loving it here and life goes on as exciting as ever... just all in English.

Dora is in school and she loves her teachers, they are so kind and good there. We appreciate all they do. Here she is waiting for the bus.

paint paint paint

ok so we have gone on a painting spree.... kinda.. in that we bought a couple paintings and i finally brought one of my paintings home from school. =]

so the painting above is one of  St. Petersburg. It is actually a painting of a church that was really close to where we used to live. Mom and Dad both really like the colors in this =]

ok so this one has really interesting perspective... and.. you can't really see it in this picture but it also has a really cool texture in that the paint comes out of the canvas a bit to give the effect of the wooden texture.

I finally brought another painting home. This is actually the third painting i have done. In total this year i have done four. The second one i did is still hanging in school and i am still putting the finishing touches on my fourth one. This is actually done with acrylic paint not oil. I didn't like acrylic as much as oil though.. so this is the only acrylic i have done. Anyways.. there is a little sample of our new art =]

just stuff =] (this is clarissa again)

so a couple weeks ago we had youth conference! it was really fun! this was my second year going to it and i loved both times. i met lots of amazing people and it was overall really fun for everyone.. i will miss all of them and the experiences they gave me. above is a picture of our whole group.
these are just some aDORAble pictures of dora!! isn't her dress cute?? and its pretty hard to beat that smile! =]

before salt lake... Cairo!!

So this year for my school trip,  or "Discovery week" i got the chance to go to Egypt! it was amazing, wonderful, fascinating, beautiful!! and more and more! I loved it!!!! we had a great time!  Below is the view from our hotel room.. the river in the back... yup... thats the Nile! =]

the first place we went was the citadel which was kind of like a fort and inside there were several mosques and the palace.

We also met some new friends there. =] we came to really love the egyptian people. they are all really friendly.. and this was the first but deffinately not the last time we got asked for pictures.. and most times i don't even think we were asked =] but we loved to see them all smiling and waving.
The nile.. where we had lunch and went on a felluca (a kind of boat) ride.
A cat! yes in egypt cats are also everywhere!!!!!!!! this happens to be in the village of giza..mhhhmm right by the pyramids =]
Before going to the pyramids we went on about an hour camel ride in the sahara desert right by the pyramids. It was so fun! a little nerve racking at firs but once i got the hang of it camel riding was really fun!
We rode up to a hill where we had  this amazing view of all three pyramids... it was...well.. amazing!
me, on a camel!
The puramids were so cool! this is the great pyramid which we actually got to go into. there is a small tunnel that you have to crawl up into to get to the kings chamber which was basically a small dark room in the middle of the pyramid.. it was so interesting!
actually touching the pyramid!
the sphinx!!!!!! need i say more?
in egypt we happened to find a henna place so we stopped and got some on our hands.. it was really cool =]
on our last day in cairo we went to maccadum hills... or garbage city. Garbage city is just what it sounds like. Its and area in cairo where people dump there trash and several thousand people live there.. living off and recycling the trash. Most of the population there is surprisingly christian and so we visited a church there and an orphanage.. it was an amazing experience!!!
the church is carved out of a natural cave and on the side is also carved faith which i thought was really nice =]

after cairo but still before salt lake.. Siwa and the Sahara!!

Siwa is an oasis about 10 hours away by car form Cairo. We spent a few days there and it was so amazing! It is literally in the middle of the sahara desert and there are thousands and thousands of palm trees and hundreds of natural springs. The cutlture there is also fascinating as it has stayed the same hundreds of years. women still cover themselves completely and i was even asked if i was engaged =] seeing as i am the right age for it. 

Our first day in Siwa we traveled everywhere in donkey carts, which other than motorcycles and bikes is the most common transport in Siwa. I did help drive the donkey cart for a bit =].

First we went to the mountain of the dead where i saw yet another cat =] (above) and afterwards we spent the afternoon swimming in Cleopatra's Bath one of the many natural springs in siwa where cleopatra apparently swam after visiting the temple of the oracle... where we also went. Alexander the Great also visited this temple to ask whether he was the son of a god.
After swimming in Cleopatras bath we watched the sunset over.. i think.. a lake.... in siwa.

It was beautiful the picture doesn't nearly capture it well enough =]

The melted fortress of siwa... is literally just that. It was a great fortress for many many years until it rained for 3 days straight, which in the desert is obviously unusual. Seeing as the fortress was made out of a kind of mud brick.. the rain actually melted it.
Me and my friend Kendall with our new friends in a rug making factory. I helped make that rug by the way... maria.. the girl with the brown head scarf... taught me how and let me make four knots in the rug =] Maria was the one who thought i was engaged to someone else on the trip =]
The Sahara!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo cool!!!! the desert was perfect... you know in the beginning of aladdin?.. yup that is exactly what it is like.. disney never lies  =]

Sahara sunset...

Egypt just has beautiful skies in general.. especially when you are out in the desert. We spent our last night in the desert and me and a few friends decided to actually sleep outside. it got cold and sand was everywhere but that is unavoidable in the desert anyways.. but it was totaly worth it!!!!!! The sky was beautiful there were thousands of start out and i saw at least 8 shooting start that night =]
A group of Siwan men came to play traditional siwan music for us out in the desert and eventually they got us all up and dancing at about 12 at night =] they are playing in the tent which was set up for us out in the desert.
Our last morning in egypt we woke up in the sahara desert and as we were driving away i got a last picture of the sunset  through the window of our big four wheel jeep =]

Texas Blue Bonnets

In Texas at this time of year the Blue Bonnets are in bloom and everyone gets out to enjoy them.  This next week there will be the 'Blue Bonnet Flower Festival'.  They grow wild in the fields, and, obviously it doesn't matter what the sign says, we just have to get our pictures...      (I am sure they didn't mean us!!!)

Isn't Avery just so cute???

What can be said?... More cuteness...

Okay, it was a little windy...

Oh, good, Avery is helping so the hair doesn't get blown around so much.