FINALLY !!!!!!! Engaged!!!!

When I asked Lacie what she thought Leland might want for Christmas, she responded "me to stop bugging him about getting engaged." Lacie has been waiting her entire life to get engaged and has been planning her wedding for years. It all became a reality on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, when Leland Lui finally popped the question.

Let's just say that this proposal story includes a flat tire, having only pajamas to wear to the proposal (because all your pants are in the washing machine wet), stress from preparing for your singing audition the next morning for the BYU music program, an upset stomach (because you need energy for your audition so you eat lots of carbs aftering not eating them for weeks ), and a very patient and understanding fiance.

I will admit I was a little annoyed because Leland had asked Craig for Lacie's hand in marriage clear back after the general priesthood meeting in October and Craig didn't say anything as instructed by Leland (I do understand the whole trust thing, but still...) So I didn't think it would happen yet as I was waiting for Leland to come talk to Craig. Nevertheless, I was very excited and thrilled when finally around 10:00 p.m., they were able to sit us all down and tells us. Brock is so excited to have a brother. I am just thrilled to be able know that Leland loves Lacie and will treat her well and take care of her.

They are planning on getting married July 10, 2010, in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, just a little over a year after Leland's baptism. We are so proud of them and that they have decided to wait the full year so that they can be married in the temple for eternity and start their marriage out in the perfect way.

Lacie got the ring she wanted!

Brock's life....

Brock turned 10 and wanted a new bike and guess what? That's what he got! Along with a Lone Peak cap that Justine saw at the store and insisted we get for Brock! We open presents before Craig leaves for work, which is why it is so dark!

Crazy hair day at school!!!
Finally Brock could have his birthday part now that football was over!

It would not be a party without sports!

Of course they had our traditional birthday breakfast, letter-shaped pancakes of each ones 1st initial (the M's are tough to flip).

Did I say we were done with football? I lied. It turns out they put together an allstar team to play in the Border Warz tournament involving teams from Utah and Idaho. The boys were excited to play at Real stadium.

Brock is #10 and has the red hand warmer on the front of him (above he is middle, below he is far left).

He is far left.

We manage to fit in scouts with everything else. Brock is now a Weeblo (and has been for a few months, but we could never get to pack meeting because of football).

Halloween Night

Kali is a "retro" girl!

Check out the funky eyelashes!Lone Peak football players - Karissa & Mariah
Brock, you need to get ready for Halloween! Oh, you are ready? What a nerd!
Leland is a great cook and very thoughtful. He made these gluten-free cupcakes with Reese's inside. Normally Justine would not even try a cupcake, but when she found out they had Reese's inside, she gobbled them up.
Brock's friends met together for dinner and then got an early start on the trick-or-treat thing. They wanted to cover a lot of houses, and they did.

They got tired and stopped at our house to warm up and trade and eat candy. They all unloaded their pillow cases and had tons.

Brock's friends are just good kids. When they found out that Justine loved Reese's, each of them quickly volunteered to give her one of their Reese's. I was very moved by their kindness, and Justine was thrilled.

As if the candy was not enough, they needed food munchies to keep them going.

What a fun night!

Carving Pumpkins

I love when Halloween comes! Carving pumpkins is a family tradition and Leland joined us this year. Justine has a hard time liking the "goo" inside but eventually got into it and laughed.
Masterpieces! Notice the headless pumpkin head on the backrow.
Brock always has 1 thing on his mind...

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Mariah and frineds decided to have a superhero theme, Batman. Notice Mariah and date are the only was "off" from the rest of the group. He had quite the fun personality to match Mariah's. They had a lot of fun.
Mariah likes to be the "center" of attention, even in pictures!!!

Football comes to an end...sigh!

I have to admit that I love watching Brock play football. I love how excited and obsessed he gets about it. I love the friendships he forms and the discipline he learns. I love the cheering fans and the encouraging coaches. I love the way he leads his team in cheers to pump them up. I love the fall afternoon games that bring families and friends together. Unfortunately, that all came to an end when they lost in their playoff game. It was quite a shock and disappointment as we were actually the better team (really).I love that Coach Fullmer always started and ended the game with a prayer from the team or coaches. Only in Utah and aren't we lucky.
Craig coaches because of Brock and delights in how well Brock does. Brock and some of his football buddies.

Goodbye until next season!!!

NEW AND UPDATED POSTS - YEA!!! Can you believe it?

Yes, I know it has been awhile since I posted anything. Life gets so crazy busy! I will try to catch up so things will be out of order (pretty much like my life)! Enjoy!

BEAR LAKE

I really needed to get out of town for fall break. Our wonderful friends, Nick and Annette Ivins (and Ryan) offered their family condo in Bear Lake. Who can pass up Bear Lake? We just relaxed the whole time and had a blast. Thanks Nick and Annette! The scenery was absolutely stunning with the autumn colors and smooth blue lake.

This is the position Nick and Brock were in about 50% or more of the time. What were they doing, you ask? Wii and Playstation 3! They were in heaven.

There were games to play for the rest of us too!
Every night was movie night.
There was an indoor pool...
Craig was so thoughtful and did the dishes and started the dishwasher. The liquid soap did say "dishwashing soap" on it. Um...but it didn't say for dishwashers on it, hun. I hear from the kitchen from Craig, "I think we have a problem" as the suds spilled out onto the floor.

We decided to play tennis...I have not laughed that hard in a long time. I sat out at first to record the play and it was a comedy. Craig was serving from behind and hit Justine in the bum. Mariah either didn't have her contacts in or there was a hole in her racket because she just was not connecting up. Craig again hit from behind Justine, the ball hit her racket, and then bounced back and hit her in the forehead. I have never seen that before. She thought it was pretty funny. Brock didn't hit the ball so it hit him, right where it really hurts. He was on the ground crying while we were all rolling on the ground laughing.

We were terrrible at tennis. We spent more time hitting each other with balls and chasing balls then we did actually hitting the ball to each other. Oh well, it was good exercise and fun.

You can't got to Bear Lake without getting a raspberry shake!!!

ANOTHER NEW POST ON THE NEXT PAGE....FOOTBALL INJURY AND DRAMA

Football Injury and Drama

Brock's team was playing their first playoff game and they were excited. About 10 minutes into the game, Brock made a great tackle but ended up hitting his head on the ground. He came out for a few plays and then went back in. Another great play and another hit on the ground with his head. This time he was crying with pain and didn't get up. An ER nurse on the sidelines checked him out and his neck hurt so she said not to move him. The ambulance was summoned and they went to work on him. Knowing how much ambulances cost, I thought we should have just thrown him in the back of the car and taken him to be checked. I kept that opinion to myself as I didn't want to look like the unconcerned mother. LOL

They totally taped his head to the backboard and strapped him down. He couldn't move even if he wanted to. That backboard later became a "sore spot" literally for Brock later on. I felt like someone in a very bad parade riding in the front of the ambulance and waving to people as we left.

The doc wanted to make sure everything was okay so he sent Brock for a scan.

Brock's teammates were very upset that Brock was hurt. He is usually the guy leading them in their cheers and pumping them up. There were some tears but they dedicated the game to Brock and came back to win.Because we waited so long to take off the neck brace, it actually started hurting Brock the most. He was so glad to get it off after finding everything was okay and also glad to hear the team won.

We appreciate the many phone calls and inquiries into Brock's welfare. What a great bunch of people we get to call friends.

Leland Liu gets baptized...

As many of you know, Lacie has been dating Leland since the beginning of the year. He has many member friends and neighbors, but really looked into the church last year. He announced to us just the week before, out of the blue, that he was getting baptized. He had been attending church meetings and reading scriptures with Lacie. Suddenly, he realized he actually did have a testimony. It was a sweet day. Leland's older brother has been a member for 14 years and waiting patiently for others to join. Below (r to L): sisters Lori and Lora, ing-ing (Chineese version of Grandma, but I have no idea how to spell it) who does not speak English but is so cute, Leland, sister-in-law April marred to brother, Loren. All the little kids belong to Loren & April. They are a very nice friendly family.
Our family was so excited to have Leland join the church (for many reasons, wink, wink)!
I would say Lacie was the most excited this day!!!