Free Skates

Hello Sisters.

Today we had an okay day at work. I even had a few minutes to skate in the warehouse hooked onto our offices. I now have jello legs. I am also keeping the skates. They will be great to use on the bike path in Chicago. Speaking of... I will be going back to Chicago on October 25th.

J2... call me soon. I'm thinking of booking my Mexico trip for November 5th or 6th for 1 week. Let's talk tanning. You probably can tell from the picture that I need a bit of sun.

Miss you guys.

J3

Up North

Hey Seesters,

Here are some pictures from our trip up north.

Bellaire had a great park. We played there a couple times. Mikey loved driving the bus.

Mikey didn't let vacation get in the way of his chores.

This was a rainy Saturday on Grand Traverse Bay.

Sun! We finally had a sunny day on our last day of vacation. This was at the little beach on Lake Bellaire.

This video is one of many on Sleeping Bear Dunes. Mikey actually walked 1/2 the way up by himself!

Jessie and Scott's Big Adventure!

Hey Sisters! Scott and I had the most amazing time in Peru. We visited Lima, Cusco and Puno. We went on a city tour of Lima which has a Central Plaza with beautiful buildings. Next we flew to Cusco which is in the Andes Mountains. From Cusco, we had to take a 1 hour 45 minute drive to a train station, then take a 1 hour 25 minute train ride, then a 25 minute bus ride to get to Machu Picchu...and let me tell you, it was worth it. The Incan ruins are amazing - built in the mountains - they are just incredible. We also visited the Sacred Valley in Cusco where we drove through several small Andean villages...most of the houses are made of adobe bricks that the people make themselves! From Cusco we took a very cool train ride to Puno. It was a 10 hour train ride...but it was nice to "just sit" for a day. :) The scenery was gorgeous and we were served a great lunch and tea in the afternoon! In Puno, our hotel was right on Lake Titcaca. We toured the Uros Islands which are LITERALLY floating islands made of roots and reeds. There are around 45 floating islands and about 1000 people live on these islands. They live in these reed huts - one family per hut. Imagine the plumbing...or lack of plumbing! We also visited Taquile Island - one of the largest islands in Lake Titicaca. This island was amazing as they still have traditions and a way of life that has been passed on throughout generations. I've attaced only a couple pictures to give you an idea of some of the sites. I will eventually send a slideshow with the highlights of our trip. Love and Miss you all. Talk to you soon!

Sorry!!! :(

Ladies,
Hi, I am SO SORRY for not writing back to you yet!! This week was a nightmare. I seriously think I got 14 hours of sleep...TOTAL. Not fun.
Jen~~~the pictures are so cute and my friends were very jealous when they saw how cute your card was. (all of them are cute, though! my melody, Jon? that was adorable :)
Jess~~~I love the card!! Shelley is so sweet. love the colors. and I can understand the spanish! We'll have to practice for Thanksgiving so we can both talk in spanish and make everybody confused. ;) I have my first Spanish test on Wednesday, and I don't know how I'll do, but I'm gonna try my best. pronouns give me problems, but i think it'll be okay.
Joni~~~I LOVED THE CARE PACKAGE!!! It totally made my whole week. Except for the fact that my roommate ate most of my cookies, and that made me mad (i think mom told you that). But don't worry, I didn't rain fire and brimstone on her TOO much. ;) haha.

Hmm...other news from me? well, the biggest thing to note is that....
I JOINED A SORORITY! Yeah, didn't think THAT'D happen, huh? :) Well, It's not like chi-o or anything like that, it's Sigma Phi Lambda (Sisters For the Lord) and it's basically like a club for girls who love God and we get cool t-shirts and plan parties and eat food and have fun together. No hazing, no sorority house (SU used to be an all-boys college), not even a selection process (there's only so many of us). And all the girls in it are sooo sweet! the edification committee (i THINK that's what they're called) puts decorations on our doors and there are, like, five different things on there. This weekend I'm gonna try to get a whole lot of pictures onto my computer and I'll put that one on here. :)
Otherwise, still working, still busy, (still single... :P) but still happy :) The weather turned a little "chilly" down here and all the native texans are shaking in their boots (it's 70 degrees, for Heaven's sake) and I'm just strolling along, chuckling under my breath at their wimpy constitutions.... :D
Well, I gotta go eat dinner, but I'll write back to y'all (thought you'd enjoy that ;) soon!

Love,
Jasmine ; )

We got back yesterday from a very relaxing 5 days up north. The weather wasn't too great, but we kept busy. We went to an indoor waterpark, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and spent some time in Traverse City. Mikey is saying a couple new words - Apple and French Fries. He also liked playing in the sand, which he called dirt. Mikey was a big boy and slept in his own room in his pack and play and only cried the last night.

We're all happy to be home, and the fence is DONE!!!! It's been great to play in our backyard and not worry about Mikey running into the street. He likes to swing the doors open and close. Derek's going to stain it this weekend, so it'll stay nice and pretty. 12 days until I have my ultrasound and find out if your going to have a neice or nephew! Can you believe it?

I'll post pictures soon... and video from our vacation :) JONI

Birthday Cake

This was taken after Derek blew out the candle on his Birthday cake. Uh, I hope Mikey gets over his fear of Birthday Candles.

First Day of School

2 hands free! Ian and Lucas are BOTH in school -- all day! Ian and I dropped Lucas off with no drama or tears. Easy Peasy. I hope he doesn't pick a fight :) My job is done -- for now! I don't know what to do with myself -- it's so quiet at home! Hope all is well with everyone! Talk to you all this weekend -- we're around!

The Fruits and Nuts in California...

Quite the fruits and nuts :) Just kidding. I had a great time in Cali with Jen and the 3 boys. I thought I'd share a couple pics with ya'lls. I will follow up (probably when I get back) with a costco slideshow - so you can see all the pictures. If you're wondering - what the H-E-double hockey sticks is on Lukii's head in the first shot - it's a cookie container! Yes, a plastic cookie container that Lukii kept taking out of the recycling bin and putting on his head. Ninang Jessie decided to make it into a cool looking hat by covering it with construction paper...complete with a fake feather :) Hey, at least he has his pants on in this picture. And Ian sporting his cool, new b-ball shirt and sweatband...his typical attire while I was in Cali. We also had a great day at the beach with the boys. More later! Love you! -J2

Tis the Season...

I didn't realize it it until Scott woke up Saturday morning, came downstairs with the BIGGEST smile on his face, singing the USC fight song, pulsing his 2 fingers in the air (signifying "fight on")...that it was FOOTBALL SEASON. You know what that means in the Reno house. Yes, football all weekend, Monday nights, and, occassionally, on Thursdays! I will not get a break...Needless to say, I'm looking forward to our vacation. This way I'll be able to converse with Scott without having to fight for his attention...especially during those SC games. (Whatever...)

Anyway, it turned out to be good timing for football to start. I was able to get away and volunteer at this orphanage and serve lunch to kiddies with my friend Tresa. It was a nice experience, and I'll definitely do it again.

Attached are a couple pics of this small riverboat tour we took a few weeks ago. It was sweltering hot that day! Anyway, the boat tour starts in this gigantic park in downtown Mty and takes you to the center of the city.

What's that on my head???

Mikey got this toy bin from the P's. Of course we thought it would be funny to put it on his head.