Happy Thanksgiving

We decided to take a little get-away trip and went to Reston, VA.  It's a town about 2 hours away and has cute little shops and events happening throughout the weekend.  We first started out the day with trying our hand with ice skating.  We didn't last very long, but at least now Lillie can say she went skating.  

We then walked around the area and the hotel.  

Here's Lillie in the hotel room.

Then we got ready for dinner.  We went to a restaurant across the street from the hotel.  We were surprised at how busy the place was.  Our food was so good!  We were very pleased.

Then after dinner we went to the outlet mall at 9PM, and got some good deals!  The lines were pretty crazy.  They wrapped around the outside of the store.  Kim got her Christmas presents already!

As fun as today was, we have some fun things planned for tomorrow. 

Christmas comes to the Sakais early this year (2013)

Childhood ornament tree...filled with my childhood ornaments growing up.  We add new things to this collection each year to give to Lillie someday.

For the family room couch, we bought some Christmas pillows this year.

We also added this year, a felt garland, strung across our picture window, to display all the cards we get from family and friends.  It is very festive.

We are ready for Christmas to be here already.  What a fun time of year!!

Lillie goes on a field trip to the National Acquarium

Kim was a chaperone on Lillie's field trip.  This was their group.  Zachary, Lillie and Alyssa.

They must have had a good day, because on the way home, they were zonked out!!

Jared Williams to serve in Argentina Resistencia Mission

My counselor's son is leaving on his mission November 6.  The Williams are one of the best families we know and they have done a great job with their oldest son, Jared.  He is going to be a great missionary.  Before he left, we had a little tribute dinner to him at our home.  We invited Pres. And Sis. Volk as well.  They are the other best family in the stake.  We had a great night with giving tribute and counsel to a great young man.

It was a good Halloween!! 2013

We went trick-or-treating with our friends the Staleys.  It was a fun night, the weather was mildand perfect for walking around the neighborhood.  We have two witches, a buttefly and a fireman!

Day at work with dad

Lillie wanted to see what dad did at work.  She had a blast.  She wants to go to work with daddy all the time.  She may have gotten a false sense of what work is all about, since as you can see below, she played with her dolls, and played on her iPad.

Hello to a new car

The Mazda CX7.  We love it so far.  We've never had an SUV, and we wanted to get something that had AWD and would handle well in the snow.  The dealer gave us a good deal on it, $1500 less than the asking price.  We are still a little skeptical, but happy so far.  It drives well.

Farewell to a great car

Last week, I got rear ended as I was driving into work.  I am okay, but the car did not fair so well.  The person who rear ended the car said that her foot slipped from the brake peddle to the gas peddle and reamed the car into another car in front.  Everyone was fine, only my car was damaged the most.  The insurance company deemed the car a total lost.  We are getting $2000 for the value of the car.  We might get a little more as we are asking the insurance to add the cost of some recent repairs we made.  So we are in the market for a new car.  

We have had our Honda Accord since 1993 when Kim's mom surprised her with a brand spanking new car.  The car travelled across the ocean when we got married and we've had it for 20 years.  I guess it was time anyway to get another car.  

Thank you green car for all the years you gave us!