Update-its long

at the Navy Beach on Coronado w/ Lauren

It is that time again! I have realized that I haven't posted anything about the family in awhile. So here it goes.

bunny cake at Grandma Shill's house for Easter

Garrett has finals in a few weeks. I feel like this year has flown by very quickly. He will leave for his study abroad to China only a couple days after his last final. I hope to cram in a bunch of "quality family time" in before he goes. He will be gone from May 14th until June 10th. We already have reserved the hostel he will be staying at. It will cost about 85% less than the hotel everyone else is staying at. I told him that the hostel is to be a secret so he has a place all to himself to study :-) Its a private twin ensuite which means he will have his own room and private bathroom. They also have free wi-fi as well as lockers. I assume he will also have a lock to his room. So many people go the really really cheap route (his room is 4 times the cost of other ones), but for 17 dollars, instead of 4, you get some peace of mind. The cheap rooms are shared with whoever else ends up at the hostel. That is crazy if you ask me, unless you are only at the place two nights and just carry everything around with you wherever you go. The hostel is a 10 min bus ride from his school and 15 min by bike. I have emailed the hostel a few times and they have been very helpful. They write back in pretty good English. According to reviews, the places has 95% positive reviews. We are very excited for him!

Reagan as Harry Potter (note: these are not her glasses)

Reagan is doing well also. She went to the optometrist yesterday to get her eyes checked. She did so well! I was actually really surprised. They did the same tests adults get, but she didn't have to do that air in the eye thing which is awful. She even let them put the drops in to dilate her pupils. I was quite impressed. She is getting glasses and has an astigmatism in both eyes. The dr really emphasized that she wear her glass ALL THE TIME. Of course her insurance doesn't cover the cutest frames out there, but one: she is only 3, two: she is cute in everything, and three: they will probably get lost/broken and we will end up buying another pair at Costco or Walmart before a new rx next year anyways. She basically wears the same two dresses all the time. A pink and white one our friends Lauren and Brandon got her for her bday and a purple one I got at Mervyns before they closed. The best part is that she usually has the purple one on backwards.

Maddie is doing well in school. We recently had her parent/teacher conf and of course she is super smart, but we already knew that. She is reading at a first grade level, so I have gotten some books from the library for her to read. She still has a very strong opinion on shoes, clothing and hair, but that is to be expected (I am the same way and was the same way) and I know that won't change. She has her friends at school and with Girl Scouts. She is always busy w/ homework. Luckily, this month they just have to write 5 sentences per day that use "star" words. We usually help her w/ the sentence and then she can pretty much write/spell it on her own.

I am staying busy working in Maddie's class and Girl Scouts. I also am still doing the monthly activities for the women at church. I am going to begin working with our area's school board rep as a community liaison. Along with that, I should be starting work at Maddie's school in the next few weeks. The job goes full-time next year which I am excited about, but also nervous seeing as I haven't worked full-time permanently since before getting married and obviously before having kids. Luckily, Reagan won't have to be in daycare all day since Garrett will only have a two classes per day in the Fall. I hope it works out. The health insurance alone will be worth it. I will be joining Garrett in China on June 2nd and flying back w/ him on the 10th. I fly into Shanghai and stay the night w/ his sister and her husband. We are sooo lucky to have them in Shanghai. I probably wouldn't be going if they weren't around. I then will take a train to meet Garrett in Hangzhou and then we will get a train back to Shanghai, meet up w/ the family and take an overnight train to Beijing!!! I am sooo excited. Meredith's hubby speaks Chinese so hopefully they will come. If they don't I will freak out. We haven't made permanent plans on exactly where we will be staying in Beijing. Its a large city (duh) and there are so many little 'districts' so I am still doing research. I would hate to get a hotel somewhere far away from where we want to be. We will be there three whole days (Sunday morning thru Wed morning) so we will head to the touristy areas (the Wall, Tienamen (sp?) Square, Summer Palace, etc). Adam (Mer's hubby) knows an area off the tourist path of the Wall that is supposed to be awesome! The budget will be tight so I won't be bringing home a bunch of touristy stuff. Pictures are worth a thousand words anyways, right?


My mom came and visited last week. She was really there for a Navy Educators Week, but we got to see her a few times. She tore her ACL a little while back and it looks very painful. I told her to have her surgery this summer and the girls and I will come take care of her.

Mariah (my sister) is due in a week and a half. I can't believe Samantha Lou is almost here. I hope she looks like me. Though it won't be too hard to have a light haired/light eyed kid between Kalon's and she's genes..

Ok, so that was a cheesy, life is perfect post. But, I still am stressed and stay up too late watching TV instead of going to bed. Once I start working that will have to change.