In my defence, I have been busy.....

Even my niece has been asking me why I'm not keeping up to date with the blog.... I'm just too busy to keep up to date but there is a lull this evening, altho I do have a great book calling me, calling me...
I'm in New Zealand right now...the very place I want to be, which is how I came to be in LA! The sun is shining, the sky is blue.... I am loving being with the family, I can't get enough of the kids...they may be sick of me grabbing them for cwtches all the time!
Since I last wrote....I had a great weekend with Deb in DC.... we went Amnish chasing - a bit like storm chasing only more accessible since the people were only in horse and carts! We had a blast!It WAS way too far to go for a weekend but I would do it again...I'm only here for such a short time, i want to make the most of it!
I went up to Sacramento for Thanksgiving with Jules and Dennis which was a lot of fun altho it was in the middle of my toothache trauma and that rather spoiled things. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Dennis's daughter's and we went to see gold rush towns...once again I was treated to a fantastic array of Autumnal colours so I feel well blessed in that area.
I'm running through my memory banks now to try to justify my claim to have been busy!
I did go out with a bunch of people from Church for a great Indian meal in Pasadena...the best I have had since I got to the US by a long way... I also went to somewhere with Gary and some of the other people I work with for Shanghai Chinese food and that was amazing - Gary knows where there is good food to be had and after all if you want to eat good Chinese go with a Chinese person! On the food theme, I also had some colleagues over for food at the house and cooked food with funny names, as requested ...it all turned out ok - phew! - toad in the hole can be temperamental at the best of times, knickerbocker glories are easy enough tho - I plan to invite them back soon so I can at least feel like the person at the centre of things like at home! Funny feeling!
December, while flying by was crappy in school terms...no Christmas to speak of and I really missed it...we just sang 2 songs at a 'Winter programme'... next year I am going to go totally overboard with the Christmas thing altho I did learn some great ideas for crafts! Have to say I was totally spoiled by the class with a very generous American Express gift card which I spent promptly on Cirque de Soleil tickets in Vegas and Ugg boots!
My tooth trauma took over my life for a while until I finally had a root canal and in fact am still waiting for the treatment to be finished...it has cost a fortune and made me ever grateful for the NHS(God bless Nye Bevan, I say!) I stand amazed at the whole health service in the US and cannot for the life of me understand why universal access to health care doesn't figure in some people's agendas...anyway, i will leave that alone as I can feel me getting my soap box out!

Tom came over for Christmas...I could hardly wait to get him here and we had a good time (I think we did anyway ...ask Tom!)We went to Vegas, shopped until we dropped, ate at some good and not so good places...went to Santa Monica, had a grand day out at Disneyland, celebrated Christmas with friends and neighbours and before we knew it, it was time to leave...me for warmer climes and he for the snow and ice that has been the feature of the British winter this year.
Oh, one yukky thing was I got a traffic ticket...except it came of course in Nancy's name - no-one wanted to discuss it with me because it wasn't 'my' ticket...I just wanted to pay it and get it over with...so that has had to go over to her to be signed and then we'll see what happens next...

Went to some cool Christmas things with my friend Debra - we went to see a live production of A Christmas Carol in Glendale one Sat afternoon then went to dinner with a lovely group of people that Debra knew - we also went to Irvine to a Break the Fast dinner, followed by the Christmas devotional and a lovely Christmas programme...trying to get the Christmas spirit...

Oh, spent a great Sunday with Alex Hathaway and her family too, who don't live too far away....we must do that again soon!

Have still kept up going to the Temple each week and enjoying it...have a calling at church now - teaching the Sunbeams (3 year olds) which I can't wait to start...

So the New Year beckons and I am looking forward to it in lots of ways.... plan to go whale watching one weekend, and to tackle my long list of things to do around LA which is ever burgeoning and I never seem to have time to get to... Didn't make resolutions...just too many things to tackle in my life!
So that's a quick round up of some events. I'm sure there were more... Tom did have a walk on role in 'Community' when we went to watch it filmed at Paramount...
NZ has been a blast and I am seriously considering coming back when I have finished school as the kids have a fortnight off in July and I could come then and have the time with them...depends on what else happens...I may get a better offer!!LOL I wish!