I LOVE AUTUMN!!!

Hello friends and family! As you can see, it has been 2 years since anyone has added to our family blog. OOPS! Megan set it up for us, and I am JUST BARELY becoming computer literate and expanding my technical horizons, foraying into the blogger territory ever so gently! I am hoping to upload some recent pics. Much has happened over the past two years. I will update with highlights as I can recall:

July 2008 - We moved from our previous home 3 blocks away into our new home. David wanted a pool, and we found a lovely home with a small pool.

We have enjoyed putting our home together. We did some remodeling during the first six months of ownership. We have enjoyed the additional space, and hope to fill it with college children bringing their friends home, friends and family coming to stay, and grandchildren :)

During fall/winter of 2009/2010 we had our nephew Steven McCombs from Ajijic, Mexico come and live with us, attending his first year of HS. He and Connor are the same age, so they braved their freshman year together. We loved having him live with us and were sad to see him go in June of 2010.

As you can see in the above picture, in June of 2010 our son in law, Owen graduated from UCSD with his Masters Degree in Business. We are so proud of him, and happy for both he and Megan to be finished with school! They are both working and expecting their first child in April 2011!

Our darling daughter, Hillary Mae accepted a call to serve as a proselyting missionary to the Chile, Concepcion Mission. She reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah March 3,2010. She will serve until September 2011. We have LOVED receiving weekly email from her. She absolutely loves what she is doing, loves the people, and is enjoying this new adventure in her life.

We found a darling cabin in Lake Arrowhead, CA! We purchased it in March and have been remodeling it since then! It is almost finished. We absolutely loved celebrating July 4th holiday at the Lake. A barge of fireworks was pulled out onto the lake, and a fantastical fireworks display commenced and lasted for about 20 minutes. David, Connor and Katherine have enjoyed their new found sport/love! Motorcycles and exploring the many motorcycle trails winding through the San Bernardino mountain tops. I hope to get some pics on here soon!

That is a lot of updating in one sitting. Hope to be able to update more frequently. Would love to hear from any of our friends and family who blog!

Megan's New Job!

Well, Megan got a new job teaching English at Crawford High School in San Diego! She is learning a lot and has really diverse students: Vietnamese, Cambodian, Somali, Hispanic, and African/African-American! This is a picture of her very own classroom! We are very proud of her! GO COLTS!!

Israel and Egypt

We just got back from our family vacation from Israel and Egypt! It was such a great trip thanks to Dad's hard work and planning. Everything was so magnificent. Israel was very religiously intriguing and Egypt was hot! Overall I think everyone is just really happy to be back in the states where the tap water is safe!

Disneyland with STEVEN!

So I have promised to post these pictures for a while and finally ... here they are! These are the pictures of our Disneyland trip with Connor, Katherine, Megan and Steven! We had so much fun. Steven especially liked Space Mountain. Connor got pooped on, which everyone got a big kick out of. It was a really nice day! I wonder if the kids had as much fun as I did! ;)

The Big Move!!

For all of those who didn't know already, the McCombs family is packing up the old house and moving into a bigger one in a week! Everyone is so excited about the move, especially dad because he says he "now owns water." He would of course be referring to our very own new swimming pool!! The new house has a swimming pool and a real backyard with two sideyards even! this house will be a really fun place to come back and visit when we are all grown up and have our own kiddies! There is so much space. Katherine and Connor have both picked out their rooms already. There is a library and a window seat, so the English major inside me is practially drooling, there's a pool and built in BBQ area for dad, a huge driveway for Connor and his skating, and a huge kitchen and downstairs master bedroom for mom! Hillary has more to hide now if she doesn't want to be seen as a rich city girl ;) and a separate garage for her little Jeep! There is even a rumored crush living next door for Katherine! It is perfect! Mark your calendars and if you know us and need our new address you had best call soon! New house...HERE WE COME!!

Movie Critique...

Last night the fam went to go see WALL-E and everyone felt differently about it. This is a space where everyone can add their own review of the movie!

Megan says: I thought WALL-E was pretty cute. It was no Finding Nemo or Toy Story, but I thought it was funny and sweet. I especially liked the humor and love story that happen between WALL-E and Eve. Overall I would have to say that I'm not sure it was worth seeing in the theaters but definitely worth seeing!

Dad said: "It was depressing: fat people, computers, and polluted world. All things that are sad and depressing. It was icky."

Countdown to Israel

51 days left until The McCombs Family, Owen and Megan West, and guest Alissa Jane will be departing to Israel and Egypt! Dad has been anticipating this trip to the Holy Land for years and we are finally going! We will walk where Jesus and the Pharoas walked and experience the majesty of the Holy Land- unless we die from excitement and anticipation!!