Halloween Extravaganza 2008

And...I present to you Halloweenapalooza 2008:

Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!

My big, bouncing nephew has finally arrived! Well...it's been a couple weeks now. He was born on Oct. 6, weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 1 oz. (bless Sara's heart)!!

My brother and sister-in-law couldn't be happier - and more exhausted...Warren is just the cutest thing though. He's got a full head of black hair and has already made friends with his older "brother" cuervo (Jeff and Sara's dog). Anyway, just wanted to post a couple pics because he's so dang cute!

Halloween Countdown

wmode="transparent" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" >

So I'm happy...it's Fall!

My absolute, without a doubt favorite time of the year has officially arrived! Let's say it together, "Ahhh...Fall!"

Since we only have a few more weeks to go look at the leaves in the mountains change into their beautiful colors, Scott and I decided to pack up the family and had to the mountains today and enjoy the scenery...

Cindarelleeeeeee!

And so, I join the rest of the families who can now say, "I've taken my family to Disneyworld...and survived!" About two weeks ago, we ventured out with all the other Holdaways (Nana, Grandpa, all in-laws) to the Magic Kingdom in beautiful (and hot) Orlando. If you want to find out just how tough and resistant kids are, just take them to Disneyland for a few days! We had so much fun going on rides, playing at the waterpark, sleeping in the shade, jumping on the hotel beds, etc.!

Rylee, of course, was VERY excited to meet and hug the princesses. Finally, on the last day, we found Sleeping Beauty. All was well after that! Luke was Oohing and Wowing everything he saw, as well as getting all sorts of new treats to eat. We took him on some rides, too. I don't think he quite knew what to think of that, but at the same time, enjoyed the experience. Scott was as giddy as a little kid on some of the rides - literally, while people were screaming on the roller coasters, he was laughing the whole time. Quite funny - in the years I've known Scott, we've never been to an amusement park together until this trip. Now, I haven't been to anything Disney since I was a wee little girl, so I didn't remember much about Disneyland, except that space mountain was my favorite ride, so, of course, I had to go on that ride a couple times. Ahhh, memories. Well, I could go on and on, but I'm not. Here's some pics for ya:

On the way to Orlando (Luke's 1st plane ride)

Rylee and Cousin Carson

Luke hangin' at the water park

Rylee and Carson gettin' some sun

...and tigger too!

Finally, someone got their princess dress!

Yay for the teacups!

we found the mice hiding in the back of a house!

Luke's first big ride!

That's where the princessessess live!

Finally, Sleeping Beauty...the world is good now!

Viva la Donald Duck!

When you wish upon a star...

The Peking Duck has landed (and it was delicious)

So I have just returned from a very much underestimated month long stay in China. If you end up not liking this blog, too bad, I'm sleeping as I write this.

Wow, what an experience this last month has been. From meeting incredible athletes, to having terrible chinese food, using the "squatters", meeting George Bush Sr., singing Karaoke, having my Olympic moment at the best swim match EVER, to climbing the Great Wall, I can almost say I've seen it all.

China has by far exceeded any expectation I may have had. The people are some of the nicest people around, and, smog aside, Beijing is a very beautiful city. I was able to experience the things you read about in History - Tianemen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall, McDonalds...

Seriously, this has been the best Olympic program I have worked on. But enough of me chatting...I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking!

In front of National Stadium (bird's nest)

View from my apartment

...and this was only day 2!

halftime entertainment

Sr. Staff trying to figure out the subway

Your typical everyday fruit in China

Has anyone seen a volunteer? Anyone?

Relay swim team just won the gold!

We heard somewhere that the fuwahs were evil and

going to overtake the world

With Aaron Piersol

The Gold, baby!

Have you seen this man?

Ni Hao all (that's chinese for "Hello")! Yep, been trying to figure out some of the crazy language they call Chinese.


Getting back to the land of the Holdaway's, thought I'd send out the update on what's been going on. Not too much out of the norm to report except, of course, the man with the 'stache (pictured). Actually, we've been working alot on 'home improvement'. Scott has been super busy building shelves in the garage, getting our side yard leveled and the never-ending task of keeping up with the lawn. We finally planted some flowers in our yard (125 to be exact) and are planning to plant a few more as well as some other plants. It's looking really great and is starting to feel like summer with the bright colors of the flowers, despite the cold weather we've been having. Someone forgot to tell mother nature that winter is over - oh, wait - I think it's that global warming thing...

Onto other things...Scott and I just celebrated our 5th year anniversary (a record these days, I hear), Luke has 2 more teeth coming in (total of 6 now) and Rylee is well on her way to becoming the most independent girl that has ever been!


As for now, we'll try to keep Luke from eating the furniture, Rylee from "fake crying" and Scott from burying himself in the landscape and me from learning too much Chinese!! Zaijian! (bye)!



Scott would like to note that he had the mustache for only one day, it was only an experiment. And to remind him what his mustache is really like he allowed one picture to be taken for posterity. thank you.