Rapid Life

Snowmobile

2012-02-09T15:19:00.001-10:00

It has been so fun to have Nathan home. The transition back to family can be a little rocky, but so far everything has been great. Sometimes by the end of his two weeks of leave after a deployment, I am itching for him to get back to work. He is heading back in to work tomorrow, and I'm not even feeling a little sick of him (yet!).

me - still happy!

We didn't go on a cruise, or take the kids to Disney World, or go to Hawaii. Those kinds of things are tricky to do when you have school aged kids. And I think learning how to be a family again, at home, is a good thing.

So, we just stuck around here. Nathan has taken the little kids to school each day, and has rushed out to meet them after school. John and Emily are loving that (I usually make them walk alllllll the way home.) He has been a good sport about cub scouts and violin lessons and wrestling meets and band concerts and volleyball. Whew. It's been a busy, and fun two weeks.

Nathan and I did plan a little mini get away in the Black Hills last weekend.

First, we took a nice drive from our house, up Nemo Canyon, and on into Deadwood. Then, we had lunch in Lead at the Roundhouse Restaurant. It is a beautifully restored roundhouse with a nice menu. You could even eat in a engine! Which we started to do, but then our server spilled our drinks while climbing the stairs to the engine, so we decided to sit down on the ground floor.

at the Roundhouse Restaurant

Next, we drove to the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. It is a lovely log cabin lodge in a beautiful location - towering canyon walls, deep snow, waterfall - beautiful!

We had dinner at the Latchstring Inn across the street. We also had breakfast and lunch there the next day. Breakfast and lunch were great, but dinner was a little gaggy. Who serves a caesar salad with fake powdered parmesan cheese? So weird....

But dessert was amazing! We split an Apple Dumpling. Mmm... It was so good, we decided to come back and have another one at lunch... and then we had to make a batch when we got home. Yum! That recipe is really close to what we had at the restaurant, and the sauce is amazing - it looks a little thin and watery when you poor it in the pan, but it turns into a rich caramel sauce while it bakes. Must eat with a scoop of ice cream!

I had made reservations for the snowmobiles several weeks before our trip. It seemed like a good idea at Christmas time, but we haven't had much snow since then, and I really thought I should cancel. When we got up into the hills (really not far from our home, just 45 minutes or so) there was lots of snow. And lots of snowmobilers at the lodge. Trailers of snowmobiles from North Dakota and Minnesota. And snowmobiles zipping all around.

There are 350 miles of groomed snowmobile trails in the Spearfish/Lead/Deadwood area. And lots of people enjoying them, but not so many that we felt crowded.

I rented a double snowmobile, mostly because that was all that was available, and also because I am a wimp. It was fun, but I could see Nathan looking longingly at the wild trails of the cooler and more agile one-person snowmobiles. Our machine was kind of like a station wagon...

But the trails were great, and we were able to get unstuck both times we crashed!

Lovely views of the back country. We were even in Wyoming for a while.

It was a cold day, but not too cold. Most of the snowmobilers we saw appeared to be professionals with their slick snowsuits. We were looking a little getto in our military issue gear. But we stayed warm!

It was a fun little get away, and we had a great time! Yay!

Welcome Home!

2012-01-27T07:39:00.002-10:00

Tuesday To Do

2012-01-23T18:01:00.001-10:00

I love to do lists. There is something really motivating about crossing stuff off! I have so much to do in the next few days that I feel like I just might explode! (Some of this stuff will be done by my ~~minions~~ kids.) * updates at the end

To Do:
~~Make a list~~
Run (~~maybe~~) no!
~~Clean Shower~~
~~Quick bathroom wipe down~~
~~Consider going out to the base for "resilient training?"~~
~~Dust~~
~~Dust mop Upstairs~~
~~Vacuum Rugs~~
~~Mop~~
Clean out my closet
~~Vacuum stairs~~
~~Vacuum basement~~
~~Think~~ about giving the dog a bath (I thought about it and decided not to)
~~Find the sign~~ and the staple gun
~~Practice Violin~~
~~Go to the Store~~
~~Violin Lessons~~
~~Wrestling~~
Return movies
~~Charge Camera~~
~~Chicken Tacos in the crockpot~~
Stay off the computer!

I was sitting in bed at 8:30pm, writing this list. My list got bigger and bigger, and I started to feel nervous, so I jumped up and (quick!) cleaned out my closet, plugged in the camera, moved the laundry along, and found the movies that I need to return! I think I can sleep now...

* It snowed last night. Which was not on my list! Seriously! So you can just add, start Hannah's car, scrape snow, shovel sidewalk (twice) to that list. What really stinks is that I just got both my car and Nathan's car washed yesterday... It's okay. I decided not to run and not to go out to the base. That leaves me more time to vacuum... Have a great day!

* It is lunch time and our house is so clean! I am going to put the chicken in the crockpot now, and get ready to go to the store. I can't forget to get dog food...

* Last update - it's 10pm and I am tired. I have another list for tomorrow, but I think I'll stick to pen and paper. It's amazing all the things I can do in a day when I really have to!

Writing (and other goals) Update

2012-01-22T18:30:00.002-10:00

It is time to write about writing. I am really enjoying my 34 minutes of writing daily as part of my Round of Words in 80 days, but weekend writing just isn't happening. We had a super long 4 day weekend last week and I was feeling guilty for not keeping up with the writing, but I've decided that's just the way it is. I can't write on the weekends. I'm just writing for me, so I get to decide! I've been playing around with writing some little scenes. Kind of silly and frustrating and fun.

Last weekend when I wasn't writing, I found a video series on Yahoo called the Failure Club. I didn't even know there were videos made by yahoo, but this one was really interesting. In the show, there is a group of adults working toward crazy goals (jumping horses, stand up comedy, writing a famous Christmas song, etc.) Things they always wanted to do, but just didn't really have time for or didn't really think that they could do.

All year they will be working to do something really crazy and fail and learn along the way. I think the point of the show is that we often tell ourselves we can't do things because we might fail, when instead we should try to do hard things - that failing isn't the worst thing that could happen - the worst thing is doing nothing at all...

I've only seen a couple of episodes, but it is fascinating, and it made me think about this crazy writing thing I'm trying to do. I love writing. I want to be a writer, but I just don't know how, and I am scared to really try. It is a crazy goal that may not be realistic, but it still worth doing. Even if I fail. Just one day at a time!

=====

In other goal updates,

I am cooking more real food. I have been planning more meals each week, and finding quick things to fix on days that are busy. Guess what? Cooking dinner doesn't seem so terrible. I can definitely say that I am cooking at least 3 good dinners a week. I think I can even move my goal up to 5 real dinners a week, now. Something great about fixing real dinners, is that we do a better job of cleaning up the kitchen on the nights that I cook. I'm not sure why, but if I pick up pizza, we just don't follow through with our dinner jobs. But if I fix dinner, then, by golly, someone else had better be washing the dishes and wiping the table! On the menu for this week is grilled chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos, lasagna, homemade pizza, nacho noche, and ribs. Everything served with broccoli, because I accidentally bought a gargantuan bag of broccoli at Sam's Club. What was I thinking!

In running news, last week was cold. Really cold. I only ran 3 times. And all 3 times I was a little worried about frost bite. Hannah and I went on Monday when my car said that the temperature was 11 degrees. I'm not sure what the wind chill factor was, but it was really too cold to be out there. It should be warmer this week, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to run...

I think I can cross off most of my Organizing goals. I took a large load of stuff from the basement to Goodwill this week. It felt good to just let it go. That was a really cold day. I didn't have my gloves on while we were unloading the car, and my fingers were aching by the time I hopped back up behind the wheel. It was like 2 degrees out there and the wind was just brutal! The basement storage room still needs more work, but it looks a lot better. I am really glad that I worked on Nathan's shop earlier in the month while the weather was nice!

And my violin practicing goal was not on my original list, but we had our recital on Friday, and I did just fine. I did not get lost and I didn't run out of the room crying. Yay me! Being about 30 years older than all the other students is only a little embarrassing!

Fainting

2012-01-18T06:35:00.000-10:00

Sydney has a little problem.

She faints sometimes.

She has fainted twice at school this year. Once in her woodshop class and once off the risers in her choir class. She has also had several almost passing out episodes, and has passed out other times in the last few years.

Yesterday, Sydney, Hannah and I were shopping at the mall. She tried on a couple of cute skirts and some jeans, and as I was checking out, Sydney disappeared.

I started out of the store while Hannah went to go find Sydney. I thought maybe she was just looking at the clothes, but Hannah found her in the back of the shop near the changing rooms, laying down.

She had no color in her face. She is pale anyway, but she really had no color, except for her freckles. Her skin felt cold, and she was sweaty. It was an actual cold sweat.

She didn't think she passed out, but was not sure. I had her lay down with her knees up, and she rested for a while.

When she felt better, we walked to the food court and bought two different strawberry smoothies to taste-test.

The Strawberry-Julius was the winner.

The problem is, I don't know what to do. When she first passed out at school this year, I took her to the doctor and they ran a full EKG and did a simple neuro exam. They also ran a blood test. Everything checked out fine. They recommended more protein in her diet. I told her she should stop wearing her corset!

I'm a little worried, because it is still happening... On the other hand, when you google 13 year old girl and fainting, it turns out it is a rather common thing. So maybe I shouldn't worry...

I don't know. Sydney is not a weak little girl. She is not afraid of anything. She is strong and fast and full of energy.

Should I ask for a more thorough physical? Any thoughts?

Busy Weekend

2012-01-16T06:59:00.000-10:00

On Friday, Hannah had a gig. Her friends were playing at the Dahl Emerging Artists Program, and they asked her to "open" for them. I just found a short video of her on a local news station. You can't actually hear her play, but she looks so cute playing the Manta Ray Uke, made by Nathan.

I wasn't able to go watch Hannah's big performance because we had 4 little 5th graders learning how to do the Hoe Down Throwdown for the elementary school talent show over here at our house. (so cute) But Hannah came home just dancing around and happy about it. She was invited to come back and bring her dad, too.

here's the link again: http://www.blackhillsfox.com/2012/01/13/Dahl-serves-as-venue-for-emerging-artists

I wish I could just put the video here. Do you know how to do that?

Later on Friday Night we hosted a Seminary Party. There were about 15 kids from church over here eating pizza, watching a movie and playing games. The big hit of the night was PIT, and when things got a little out of hand (read LOUD), I found some sparklers that were left over from the 4th of July and they had a great time with those!

On Saturday, John had his first wrestling match.

I felt entirely out of my element and just about to cry all day. I really wish Nathan had been there to help John. It was definitely a dad world. But John wrestled hard and did a great job.

Here is a video of John's last match:

Mustache, Ukulele, Writing Update #3

2012-01-11T18:27:00.000-10:00

Nathan has been working on growing a mustache the last few months.

Hannah's tried out a few mustache styles, herself.

A sliced peach mustache?

Emily has taken the art of mustache to a whole new level.

Huh?

Even Grandpa B. tried it out!

I am trying NOT to grow a mustache. I hope. But I think my un-mustache may be chapped. I went running today and it was cold and windy. I wore a little muffler around my neck and chin and nose, but it would get too hot and sweaty, and then I'd move it down. And then the sweat on my face would kind of freeze and now my upper lip area is sore and red. Hmmm.

The mustache is just a little bit of deployment fun.

Nathan has had another project to keep him out of trouble.

Building Ukuleles.

He has built two himself, and helped build another two.

He has had a little workshop in his room. Do you see that crazy contraption back there behind the uke? It is used to form the sides of the ukulele, and I had to mail it to Nathan. It is full of cranks and turning parts and an electric pad and plug. I was pretty sure I was going to be picked up as the unibomber after I mailed it!

Aren't they beautiful?

Nathan learned how to build these while we were in Hawaii. I think he's pretty amazing.

And so is his mustache!

*****

Also amazing, is the 34 minutes of writing that I'm doing daily as part of the ROW in 80 days... I am enjoying using my time more deliberately each day with writing as a part of that. I have been writing and thinking about teen parenthood. Partly because I'm writing about it, and partly because it has been a weird year with Hannah being the same age that I was.

Sometimes when I am cheering her on at her latest big event, I think about the me that was 17 and I worry about her (me). When I was 17, I really didn't worry. I felt all grown up. I felt like I could do anything, and though I had messed up, everything would still be just fine.

But looking back as the mom-of-a-17-year-old, I can see all the many ways in which things could have gone wrong. So many what ifs, that I get a little catch in my throat just thinking about it!

Hannah, Sydney, Emily and John. Dec. 2011

And then I look at the family we are and I wonder if it is unlucky to say, Wow! Look at us now!

It's time to start writing about something else. Tomorrow. I'm just not sure what....

Writing Update #2

2012-01-08T19:45:00.002-10:00

I have 3 things I need to do each day for 30 minutes each.
Running
Writing
Practicing my violin

The running happens just after the kids get dropped off at school. It is easy, and I have a running partner, so I can't just not go. The other stuff should just fall in to place when I get home, but it is more complicated...

Last year, Emily started playing the violin, and I did, too. I love it. Except for the practicing part. Or maybe it's the not practicing part. I hate showing up to a lesson without having practiced the week before. There is no way to cheat and pretend to have practiced 6 times when you've only picked up the violin twice in the last week.

I'm really good at making Emily practice. It's harder to make myself. But once I start, I love it, and have a hard time stopping, often practicing more than an hour (i'm sure I can use more than an hour of practice each day...)

So every day I made my to do list.
run
write
violin
...other good stuff...

and each day I was able to cross off
run
write
violin

Did I mention I love To Do lists?

Go me! But in my mind I would have this little fight: "I need to practice, but if I practice now, I won't have time to write." So I would sit and write and have to cram my practice time into the after-bedtime hour. Or I might say: "I must practice now, I'll write later" and then I'd have to write late at night...

I'm not sure why I can't seem to do both in the morning. According to my To Do list, it should work.

As I was writing about myself as a teen parent; something I rarely talk about, but something that I think I should talk about sometimes; I have thought of some things that I haven't thought of in a long time.

Here is one little story:
We had a one car (a sweet '77 Toyota Corolla), and Nathan worked evenings at a gas station. Usually he took the car, but for some reason I had the car one night. I packed up baby Hannah, and we picked up Nathan from work. I must have been having a diaper emergency because we went to Walmart at 2am to buy diapers. Why didn't I use the car and go to Walmart earlier? I don't know, but I think it was because this was still early in our marriage and I thought shopping was something so fun to do that I wanted to share it with Nathan!

We bought our diapers and headed up to the check-out stand. There were a couple of check out ladies there talking, and they oooo'd and awwwe'd over our little baby as we were paying.

Just as we were about to leave, someone ran past our check out stand, and grabbed our diapers, and ran out of the store!

Crazy! Who steals diapers? But things get crazier - Nathan ran out of the store after the guy, and I ran after Nathan with baby Hannah in my arms. Nathan caught up to the guy in the parking lot and got our diapers back, and we went home. The end.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder what we were thinking? How dangerous! That guy could have been on a diaper stealing crime spree - he could have been really dangerous! I wonder why we didn't just yell, and let Walmart give us some new diapers. I also wonder what Nathan said to the guy when he caught up to him?

It is so strange that I'm not actually sure if it happened. I'm honestly not sure if it's real. I think it happened, but it seems so crazy, that I'm wondering if it was a dream. I haven't had a chance to ask Nathan if he remembers it.

++++

Update about other Goals for the month - I think I'll just update these on Sunday from now on:

Running:
I ran 5 days this week. We did stairs one day, and I ran 3.5 miles one day. Not really a long run, but it's a start!

Cooking:
We even cooked this weekend!
Sunday = Dinner with the Mac Family. They made the most amazing Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin. I made salad and deviled eggs and dessert. Yay for good friends!
Saturday = breakfast for dinner: waffles, sausage, eggs, smoothies.
Friday = homemade pizza: I went out for dinner for our anniversary with a friend whose anniversary happened this week, too. But I left everything for Sydney to make pizza on Friday. It turned out so good that we had it again on Saturday for lunch.
Thursday = nachos. My favorite!
Easy meals. I'm not sure why it always seems too hard to do... I need to make up a list for this next week...

Organizing:
I did a good job in Nathan's shop - it wasn't as bad as I thought. Need to start in on the scary basement storage room tomorrow...

I love Nate!

2012-01-06T07:37:00.002-10:00

1992 Climbing Half Dome

1994

AF Ball 2010

A letter to Nathan on our Anniversary

18 things I love about you:

1 - I love your brown eyes.
2 - You are a great dad!
3 - I love how steady you are.
4 - I love the way you love to sing.
5 - You are a great kisser!
6 - You are a careful builder of many things - furniture, ukuleles, a home, a family
7 - I love how you can just close your eyes and go to sleep. So easy!
8 - You love to try new things. And then you are good at them. I love that!
9 - You make me feel pretty!
10 - You don't know how to waste time.
11 - You still like to ride a motorcycle!
12 - Your smile makes me smile.
13 - I love talking to you. You ask good questions and care about my answers.
14 - Do you know that you are very strong!
15 - You are a great dancer.
16 - I like the way you can make me blush!
17 - I love cooking for you. You don't seem to notice that I'm not good at it!
18 - Sometimes you have to go away, but you always come home!

I love you Mr. B. Come home soon!

Love,

PS. Here is my favorite deployment poem. Another little anniversary love note.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

- e.e.cummings

ROW 80 (and other goals)Update #1

2012-01-03T18:25:00.003-10:00

I thought I signed up to do the Round of Words in 80 Days challenge, but maybe I didn't. I'm not sure. I couldn't find myself in the list of blogs, so I signed up again.

Rapid Life. Slow Writing. That's me.

And the challenge started yesterday. Yay!

My goal for the next 80 days is to write for 34+ minutes a day. That's all. Easy. Just write with out distractions. I'm just starting this thing. And so far so good. As part of the 80 day challenge I will be blogging updates each Wednesday and Sunday.

I decided to start by writing a little sort of journal about me. On Sunday we were visiting with some friends and one of the teenagers asked everyone how they met and how they proposed, etc. Everyone else had such sweet stories, while I just kind of sat there. I always feel a little uncomfortable talking about falling in love with Nathan because we were so young. Our favorite joke: How did you propose? answer: You're WhAT??? isn't so funny when you are talking to teenage girls from church, you know? (in my best mom voice, "I may have been a pregnant teenager by your age, but you, young lady, are not allowed to....blah blah blah")

Especially since our daughter Hannah (a super amazing and wonderful Senior in High School) is now the same age as I was when we got married... (happy anniversary to me on Friday! la la la! 18 years!) But it's no fun to have nothing to say for yourself at a party. And it is good for the kids to know that their parents love each other, right? So I wrote a little about Nathan's mullet and all that other good stuff (mexican wedding suit for prom?) (kissing in the hallway at mom and dad's house -sorry mom - while playing hide and seek with little Erin!)

I'm not really sure what this update thing is supposed to be about. Do I just say GO ME? Or what? Did I write too much? My plan for the next 77 days is: After I write all I can think of about the joys of teen-parenthood then I think I will just find some writing prompts and work on those for a while. 34 minutes a day.

***

I set 3 other goals for January: Cooking, Running, and Organizing. It's kind of early to update, but here ye be: (I'm wondering if that's a South Dakota regional saying, here ye be, instead of here you are, or here goes... I have heard 2 different people say that recently. So weird.)

Food - cooking 3 actual meals a week that don't include frozen chicken nuggets or a packet of fake cheese.
Do I really have to update this? already? I need a couple more days for this one. I did fix pulled pork sandwiches on Tuesday. Yum! But Monday was McDonald's. Monday was rough. A certain someone who is old enough to know better (name with held for the protection of the guilty) threw up in my car. Not on any of the 2 heavy duty plastic carpet protectors, or on the wimpier removable carpet carpet protectors, but between and under and around them. Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth...

And then after I cleaned up all that nastiness that and applied generous amounts of vinegar and baking soda, and changed clothes, I had to drive with Hannah to a little town about an hour away (we took a different car. smelled better.) And back. And Hannah said she needed MickyD's after that long drive. So I went with it! I did not have a Hot Fudge Sundae like I wanted though. That's good, right?

Dinner tonight = Spicy Honey Chicken with rice and veggies. And I mean it.

Running - 3 days down, 3 days running.
Monday = 3.1 miles in 36 minutes with an average of about 12 minute miles. major hills. blech.
Tuesday = 3.25 miles in about 34 minutes with an average of about 10:50 minute miles. worse hills but better run.
Wednesday = 3.01 miles with my running buddy. 12 min. miles. slow running, but good talking!
tomorrow I'm planning to do the stairs at the track.
Total this week: 9 miles
Total this year: 9 miles

Organizing - work on 4 areas
Christmas Items are all packed up and put away. Nicely. Woohoo!

Nathan's shop is swept out and all odd tools are set out on the work bench. I need to vacuum it and bring down more tools from the other garage. Why do the tools migrate? I would love to go through his shelves and organize everything, but he may not really appreciate that... So I'll stick to vacuuming up all the dead flies and dust, and returning all the wayward tools to the shop. My plan is to finish that up this week while we have nice weather and then attack the scary basement storage area next week.

Craft - o - Rama

2011-12-29T06:48:00.001-10:00

I heart kid crafts. And luckily I have a kid or two who will do crafts with me. (Thank you, Emily!) Christmas time is prime crafting time here at our house. First there are all the decorating projects, and then there's gift projects.

Thanks to my sister, Mary, I joined Pinterest this Thanksgiving and we were able to make make make all December long. I printed out several pages of pictures and craft instructions, and set up a table with craft supplies. Then I rented Christmas movies and we got to work. I hope you don't mind if I indulge in a teeny bit of bragging here....

Ribbon Trees with wire, beads and ribbon.
By Emily.

Paper ornaments by Emily and me with paper and brads.

Pom Pom Ball with foam ball, small pom poms and pins.
By Emily.

A little gift for my Primary Class.

Tick Tack Snowmen with paper, ribbon, tape, and a 1 inch hole punch.
By Sydney.

Lunch Boxes with a placemat and ribbon. Crochet washcloth.
By me for Mom and Sarah.

Chenille Owls by Emily. So cute! and a little ladder Christmas Tree for the basement.

After we made decorations and gifts for our friends, we started making gifts for each other. Last year we made a rule in our family that everyone had to make a gift for everyone. We made some fun things last year - hair flowers and marshmallow guns and stilts, but this year we really out did ourselves!

It was like Santa's workshop around here with everyone sneaking around trying to finish gifts for each other. It was my favorite part of Christmas, even though there was a moment when I thought I might go crazy, trying to help everyone at the same time.

John carved bows and arrows for everyone.

They really work!

Hannah made tents for Emily and John. They slept in them all week!

Emily made an S for Sydney

She also made made swords for John! Fun!

Emily made a couple of holders for Hannah's hot hair tools. Sydney made a couple of little pouches for earphones for Hannah and me, and she made a bag for Emily's violin music. She also made a duck tape wallet for John.

I made PJ pants for everyone!

I took the Christmas lights down from the house today, and the garbage man already took our tree, so I guess Christmas is over until next year... Time to think about Valentine's Day!

To Do List 2012

2011-12-28T18:52:00.002-10:00

The year is winding down, and deployment #4 (or maybe 5. I lost count...) is nearly over. It's time for some goals! I love a To-Do List, and I want to be more deliberate about my time.

de·lib·er·ate

Done consciously and intentionally

intentional - wilful - studied - willful - purposeful

I think I'll try to keep it trackable and just start with the month of January:
Food
Running
Organizing
Writing

Food:
Cook at least 3 good dinners a week

Not including Sundays. Sundays are easy. All the other days have been really hard for me this fall. A real dinner does not include Mac n Cheese, frozen pizza, or corn dogs...

Just tonight, I was telling my friend Megan about my cooking problem and Sydney piped up and said "But we have really good breakfasts!" Which made me feel great. Thank you, Sydney, you are my favorite! I have been fixing really great breakfasts this school year - egg sandwiches, pancakes, french toast, smoothies. And I fix lunches nearly every day for everyone. Yay me! (to make me feel a little less guilty about my dinner problem)

Dinner is just hard. We are busy several evenings every week - wrestling, violin, church night - but I will PLAN meals and USE the crockpot.

With Nathan coming home in about a month, I should probably get back in the habit of real food....

Running:
Run 5 days a week
3 days @ 3 miles
1 day @ something different - stairs or hills or intervals
1 long run

I have had fun running with my friend Amy this fall. But we have both been busy most of December and have done a bad job of getting our morning run to happen. Time to get back to work.

On the other hand, it could get really cold here in South Dakota. I am amazed at how much I have acclimated to the cold. A couple years ago I would never have run on cold days. Now I know that 20 degrees F is just fine for running with a fleece and some gloves and a hat. Temps in the teens require a muff for my nose and maybe another jacket. But anything colder than that is just too cold for me. I have a Y membership. As part of my goal, I will plan to use the Y if temps are below 20 degrees F.

Organizing:
Help! Nathan is coming home in a month and my storage spots are a mess! Here are the danger zones:

Christmas Stuff
Goodwill Stuff
Basement Storage Room
Nathan's Wood Shop

Christmas stuff needs no explanation. Goodwill is on the list because that place is hard for me to get to, and I know after the basement storage area gets cleaned out I will need to go there. Or maybe I can have someone come here?

The Basement Storage Room is the worst - it contains my sewing stuff which has blown up all over the place with all of our Christmas crafts. Lots of other hazardous items are also stored there like Nathan's abundance of uniforms and boots and bags, craft supplies, too-big and too-small clothes for kids, camping stuff, baby clothes, SCUBA gear, boxes - lots of empty boxes, and more... SOS!

The wood shop is really Nathan's zone, but I promised to clean it out while he was gone and I never did... It's not too late!

I think my goal for organizing will be one area each week:
This week = Christmas stuff
Next week = Basement Storage Area
Then = Goodwill
Then the Wood Shop. Though I should maybe watch the weather and work on the wood shop while we it is warm.
That doesn't seem so bad!

Writing:
This is scary.... I enjoy writing. Or I used to love writing. I think. This blog used to be my favorite thing, right? But I got busy and let it go.

I am going to set some writing goals and join A Round of Words in 80 days. Here are the rules: Decide on a goal, write it up on your blog, check in twice a week by writing about your writing on your blog. I'm not making big plans like write the Great American Novel, but just wanting to start some actual daily habits. Here are my goals for the next month to 80 days:

Write daily.
Read a book about writing.

I wish I could say: Write 500 words a day, but I don't actually know what 500 words a day looks like.
So for now, let's just go with Sit Down and Write. Each Day. 34+ dedicated and deliberate minutes a day with no internet or phone calls or washing dishes. Just writing. Even just a little.

Anyone want to join me?

Checking Back:
blog twice a week about goals - Wednesday and Sunday
FOOD - 3 good meals a week
RUNNING - 5 days a week
ORGANIZING - 1 area a week
WRITING - daily.

Happy New Year!

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-10T15:06:00.001-10:00

It's a tradition, we have to cut down our own Christmas Tree. We have cut down our own Christmas Tree each year that we have lived here in Rapid City. This is our 5th Christmas in Rapid City and our 5th tree from the Black Hills. We move around a lot, so having a tradition that we can claim is kind of a big thing.

Here's John and Sydney, ready to cut down our first Christmas Tree in Rapid City back in 2004.

This year I wasn't sure about cutting down a tree without Nathan, so we were thrilled when our friends the Policky's invited us to go with them. And that's just what we did. We went up the road a ways and hiked around in the snow looking for just the right tree. It was very cold!

It's strange how in the woods you lose all sense of how tall the trees actually are. Here's a little tip for making sure you don't end up with a tree that is taller than your house. Use your saw to measure the height of your ceiling. If I have the saw in my hand, and raise my arm straight up, the saw just touches the ceiling. Any tree taller than the top of the saw would be toooooo tall!

All the trees are a little scrawny and Charlie Brown like, but we found a tree we all liked.

Hannah did all the chopping. She is very strong!

Then we carried it back to the car. We were glad to have some friends with us to help tie it to the roof of the car! I still have your nice rope, Don. Sorry!

When we got it home and into the house we noticed that it is even scrawnier than we thought, with a major bald spot or three!

But we think it's lovely!

Merry Christmas!

Let it Snow

2011-12-08T19:52:00.019-10:00

It's Christmas time in South Dakota. Brrr!

We have had some good snow already this year, which makes me so happy. I love the snow in December! (not so much in March and April....and May....) But right now I love it.

I went out early this morning to start the car for Hannah, and I was completely surprised by a fresh coat of snow. I was so excited that I almost fell down the stairs - but that wasn't the snow's fault - that was because I couldn't see very well, it was still night time at 6:07am and the porch light only comes on after you take a few steps, and I wasn't wearing my glasses because I broke my glasses on our trip to Utah, twice, and I was looking at the snow falling and not paying attention to where I was walking... but I didn't fall, I only almost fell...

I did sweep the snow off of Hannah's car and start it up for her, because I am nice like that, and I don't want her to have an excuse to miss early morning seminary. I also made her some french toast. I think I'm turning in to my dad! yikes!

Back to the snow:

I think that's one of my favorite things - snowflakes on John's eyelashes!

And another of my favorite things: Sydney taking a break from sledding. We were at the Policky's house in those photos. The Policky's have the best sledding hill around. These photos were from before Thanksgiving when we had a huge snow storm and invited ourselves up to sled at the Policky's and were fed the best toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup ever! Yeah for good friends!

I was actually wanting to write about our Christmas tree (which we chopped down in the woods, with some good friends - the Policky's! again!) but blogger can't see those photos for some reason. And you never know when I'm going to want to open up blogger again, so I thought it would be better to write something than to write nothing, which is what I usually do: nothing.

Though I cancelled Netflix last week, so maybe my computer time will not all be wasted watching Dr. Martin episodes...

and maybe if I just tell myself to just write something, not everything, I'll be able to come back to this thing.

The problem with getting behind by a couple of years, is that I feel like I need to go back and write about that one time we went to the fair, or if I'm going to post about Christmas,

then I really should post up a Halloween picture,

and maybe a back to school photo....

(blogger is obviously holding a grudge as it won't let me rotate that photo to save my life no matter how many times I've rotated and saved and uploaded it's still sideways. sorry!)

and then it just gets out of hand....

Mini Muffin Advent Calendar

2011-12-03T16:36:00.006-10:00

We made these Advent Calendars at a Relief Society Activity earlier this fall. Mary asked for directions, and I thought I'd post them here for her.

Supplies Needed:

1 Mini Muffin Pan. Wally World carries these for less than $5.

2 pieces of colored paper as your background color.

6 more pieces of colored paper for the fancier front of the squares.

1 piece of vellum paper to print numbers on. You could just write on your squares if you want to.

Stickers, buttons, brads, etc.

Magnet strips

1. Let's just get the scariest part of this project over with first: drilling holes in the mini muffin pan. When I first tried, I was sure it was too hard for me to do, but then I put on my heavy gardening gloves and a pair of Nathan’s safety glasses and drilled all the holes all by myself. I used a 3/8” bit, and centered the holes at the top of the muffin pan about 3 inches apart. Be careful, those metal shards are scary! Then you can string a ribbon through the holes and hang your advent calendar on the wall.

2. Cut 24 2 ¼ inch squares for the background. 2 sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper = exactly 24 squares. Using a paper slicer made this really fast and easy.

3. Cut 24 2 inch squares. Six 2 inch strips cut into 2 inch squares = exactly 24 squares. Choose six different paper colors and patterns for these squares.

4. Round corners if you wanna. Rounding all those corners took forever!

5. Glue 2” squares to larger background squares.

6. Cut out number circle and glue on each square. I printed the numbers 1 – 24 on vellum paper using a font that I liked, then cut out each number using a 1” hole punch. I have seen others use vinyl stickers or print numbers directly on the paper or just write the numbers with a marker.

7. Embellish squares with stickers, cut outs, buttons, and brads.

8. Attach magnets to the back of each square. I used a roll of magnet and cut it into small squares. The magnet I used had a sticky side that I attached to each corner of the square. If I were to do it again, I would have cut a long thin strip about 2 inches long by ¼ inch wide and attached to the top and bottom of each square.

9. Slice apart daily thoughts, fold, and put inside each muffin cup, then cover with decorated square. I used an article from the December 2000 Friend Magazine for a daily spiritual thought and activity. You can just write a little something to put in each cup if you want, like: bake cookies, drive around and look at the lights, go ice skating, make snowflakes, etc.

10. You can add a treat, too. A mini Reeces cup fits perfectly. For our family, I put in 4 tic-tacs for each day, so each kid can have a treat.

A couple of other good countdowns:

New Era Magazine, Dec. 1999 - simple daily service ideas.

New Era Magazing, Dec 1998 - a more elaborate countdown with a thought from a General Authority, a scripture, an activity or service idea, and a song. This is my favorite one.

We just hung our new Advent Calendar up today, so tonight we are catching up.

Happy Christmas!

Prom

2011-04-16T14:40:00.010-10:00

Here are a few quick pictures of Hannah and her Prom date, Thor. I just thought mi familia might want to see the pictures quick.

Thor arrived at about 12:30pm to pick Hannah up. He looked rather dashing in his tux!

It took a couple of tries to get the flowers on...

Details of the back of the dress. Hannah and I worked long and hard on this dress. And it turned out so cute! Isn't she adorable!

We ~~were stalking them~~ followed them to StavKirk to take pictures.

I thought that taking pictures at 1:30pm seemed a little early. But about a half hour later the place was packed and there were lines of people waiting to take pictures.

Cute looking bunch of kids!

Hannah and Becca

And it started to rain

Hannah and Molly

Have fun! Be safe! Don't make me stay up too late!

Acclimating

2011-02-02T07:22:00.002-10:00

We have been back in South Dakota for just over a year.

Last winter, when we first got here, I wore long john's under my jeans every day. I wore two or three pairs of socks. And I was still achy-cold in my bones.

This year, I find a fleece jacket can be worn almost all the time. This week with temperatures down below zero I have had to wear a real coat (and hat and mittens and scarf.) But just one pair of socks.

Yesterday the temperature stayed at around -3 degrees all day. It was really cold! This morning I headed out to take the kids to school and it felt warm. The temperature gage in my car said 12 degrees. It's funny how 12 degrees can feel nice! I am planning to go running outside a little later today...

I think I must be acclimated!

Dancing in the Minefields

2011-01-25T16:25:00.004-10:00

I found this sweet song today. It is about marriage and love and all that good stuff. After I watched this video three times, I bought it off Itunes. I never buy songs. You have to see it!

ps - can't you imagine Mom and Dad dancing at the end of the video?

Eeeeeek

2011-01-19T18:12:00.004-10:00

Buckle your seat belt - Hannah is behind the wheel!

Yesterday Hannah took the South Dakota "driver's permit" test and passed! The only question she got wrong was: "How far ahead should you turn on your turn signal?" and she answered: "Several blocks ahead!"

No, actually, that is a question that Heather got wrong when she took the driver's permit test (20 years ago.) Why I remember that is a mystery. I lost my purse twice today, but I remember the question my big sister got wrong on her drive-test....

Back to Hannah - she passed the written test, and they printed up her new Instructional Permit, right then and there.

Hannah has 3 months to drive with me before she can be a solo driver. I'm not sure if I'll survive. Today I picked her up from school and she jumped into the driver's seat. I had her drive all around the parking lot at school to warm up. Then she practiced parking and backing up (while I gripped the door handle.) Then we headed out in to the wide world.

We drove through the quiet neighborhood behind our house and she did great. I only had to grab the wheel and swerve to miss a parked car once....

I have a feeling she's going to want to drive to school tomorrow.... Wish me luck!

Bald Eagle

2011-01-03T07:36:00.005-10:00

When we headed out to the car for school this morning, big fat snowflakes were falling. It was beautiful. We don't seem to get the big snowflakes very often.

By the time we got to school (a couple blocks away) it had stopped snowing. I dropped off the kids at school and decided our neighborhood streets were too messy with the new snow and with the snow from the weekend to try to jog on, so I headed over to Sioux Park to run on the path by Rapid Creek.

As I expected, the walking path had been recently snowplowed! I love how I can count on the path to be clean, even when the roads are a mess! I wonder whose job it is to plow the path?

Just as I was getting warmed up, another walker on the path pointed up and said "An eagle".

It took me a minute to find it up high in the branches of a tree over-looking the river. But there it was. A real live bald eagle. With a white head, dark body, and a yellow beak. I had to stop and watch him a minute to make sure he was real. He turned his head. Real! Cool!

But no camera.

I jogged and walked and waded through some snow for about 30 minutes. And the eagle was still there when I headed back to the car. I think he looked at me.

The woman who pointed out the eagle to me said that he was there yesterday morning, too.

I hope he's there tomorrow.

I'll bring my camera.

Native American Day

2010-10-11T05:14:00.004-10:00

It may be Columbus Day where you are, but here in South Dakota it is Native American Day. Hey, I think I blogged about this before - isn't a blog cool!

When we lived here in Rapid City the last time, I knew there were Reservations around, but we never ever went to one. I wasn't even sure if you were allowed to drive to a Reservation. Did you need a special ID card or something?

We also never went to a Pow Wow or ate Indian Fry Bread. That's not true. I have eaten Fry Bread. Yum!

When we were in Hawaii, we really loved having the opportunity to learn about different cultures and get to know people from all over the place. It was strange to come back to the mainland and go to church with all white people, and see just older white guys sitting up in front of the chapel (The Bishopric)

We felt bad that we hadn't taken advantage of the opportunity in SD to learn more about the Lakota/Oglala Sioux people.

All this to say that our family has a really great assignment for our church. We had been asked to attend church in the tiny little town of Kyle, SD once a month. Kyle, SD is on the Pine Ridge Reservation, about an hour and a half from here.

Last month, our first time going out, we totally got lost. We found the address for the Kyle Branch Building on LDS.org, but our GPS led us to a little neighborhood, not to a church. We drove around the neighborhood about 3 times, seeing the same dogs and waving at the same grandpa... Then we asked a police man where the Mormon church was. He directed us to a Catholic Church.

At that point we were late. And feeling a little stressed.

We found a gas station and got directions to the tiny little Mormon Church.

It is the smallest Mormon Church I have ever seen.

There were people waiting for us, and we had a really nice service.

Yesterday was our second trip to Kyle for church. We knew where we were going and arrived early, and waited. No one came. Until right at 10am, when everyone arrived. Lots of people. There were almost 30 of us!

Hannah played the piano, we had the Sacrament, we learned about Temples, Testimonies were shared, and I really felt the Spirit. It is a blessing for our family to have this opportunity.

Then we had a pot luck! Sister Chang's Stew was a hit, and someone brought the most amazing cinnamon rolls. The drive home was beautiful - the fall colors across the prairie and the Badlands were perfect. It was a great day. I'm looking forward to our next trip...no special ID needed!

on why a blog is cool

2010-10-09T07:31:00.005-10:00

It has been about 8 months since I last updated my poor blog. I'm going to blame it on the move and the home improvement show happening in our house. Moving makes me a little depressed. House projects are dangerous.

I SHOULD blog about the amazing fall weather in Rapid City

I SHOULD change my blog name back to Rapid Life - did we really live in Hawaii for 3 whole years? Waimea Bay? are you just a dream?

I SHOULD post photos of all the cool stuff Nathan has done to our 1970's dream house. Emily say's Nathan needs his own tv show. She's right, he is totally amazing.

I SHOULD sign up for a facebook account since I promised Kelley I would...for christmas...

sorry Kelley...

I AM going to write about how my blog saved my bacon. (or rump roast?)

I need to make stew for tomorrow. It is very important that I have a huge pot of stew ready by 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.

I started searching for a good stew recipe, but I couldn't find exactly want I needed. I wanted Sister Chang's Beef Stew recipe.

Sister Chang is an amazing cook. And when the Wahiawa YW needed stew for anything, we asked Sister Chang. She could whip up the best beef stew you ever had. You cannot beat Sister Chang's beef stew, eaten in a parking lot in downtown Honolulu, after walking around the City Lights at Christmas. Ono!

I googled beef stew, best beef stew, tomato beef stew, hawaiian beef stew, pioneer woman beef stew.... you get the picture.

I printed off a couple of recipes, but I none of them were quite what I wanted.

Then I remembered that one time I actually made Sister Chang's beef stew. She gave me the recipe after Sacrament Meeting one week so I could make stew for something with the young women.

I ran upstairs and searched through my pile of recipe cards and scrap papers. No beef stew recipe.

Then I started jotting down notes from memory - tomato sauce, cabbage, oyster sauce, etc. But I'm not the kind of cook who can just throw stuff together and have it turn into a hearty stew.

THEN I thought I should maybe search my blog.

And I did.

and I found it!

Thank you Sister Chang! Your stew is going to be perfect. I hope... I wonder if you can get oyster sauce in Rapid City, SD?

That's why a blog is cool. You can find stuff you forgot you had.

but only if you write about it in the first place....

Goal number 1. Just write. nothing fancy.

see you soon!

Come on in!

2010-02-19T08:56:00.003-10:00

Internet. At home. Awwww!

Here are some things I know about the house after living in it for one week:

I am not scared to sleep here.

In fact, sleeping in my own bed is wonderful!

The person who lived here before may have been scared, though. There are double and triple locks on all doors, including the door between the basement and the upstairs. Even the double windows have double locks.

The mice seem to be gone!! No new droppings since before we closed on the house. Keep your fingers crossed.

An oven not cleaned for several years is beyond disgusting.

Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner (2 cans) + 6 SOS pads + 1 razor blade = mostly clean oven.

The supersized basement is awesome!

The supersized box fort in the supersized basement is super awesome, but enter at your own risk - it may cause clausterphobia in adult sized people...

The cool blue carpet that covers the entire upstairs is in really good shape and is extra cushy. Too bad it is the same blue color as the task bar at the top on my computer screen.

Living without a dishwasher is possible. I've never lived in a house without a dishwasher. Hannah and Sydney are muy excellente dish washers! It may help that until yesterday I was not willing to cook in the beyond gross oven.

Rocks are cool. The previous owner (the one and only previous owner of this house, actually) was apparently a renowned rock person. The kids have been finding evidence of this under the snow in the backyard. Lots of little (and bigger ) interesting rock bits.

If you keep snacks around, teenage boys from church are willing to help with all sorts of moving chores, like carrying boxes downstairs, carrying boxes upstairs, carrying boxes out to the other garage, setting up the tv/vcr/dvd/hd converter thingy/antanea, minor light fixture repair, etc. Bonus points if a cordless drill is involved!

The wheelchair ramp that takes up 5/6ths of the garage really needs to go. soon. and I mean it. I'm willing to live with the mostly clean oven for a while, but we need to be able to use the garage. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to scrape ice off your windows each morning?

The wheelchair ramp that takes up 5/6ths of the garage is great for riding your bike down. And probably it should stay in place until after we re-do floors and use the ramp to roll the extra heavy piano that is resting in the garage at it's peril until the new floors are done up into the house. But right after that, the ramp needs to go to a good home.

It is always wierd to fit everything from one certain house into a totally different house.

Uh, can't thing of anything else right now. Off to find photos...

Established 1980

Home Sweet Home

2010-02-13T12:26:00.005-10:00

We closed on our first house on Wednesday. Hip Hip Hooray!

We shoveled snow and cleaned the house Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday our household goods were delivered.

Since our new house is an awesome 1970's shag-carpet-popcorn-ceiling dream house, we have a little work to do. So we had the movers put most of our stuff in the basement. The basement is enormous. I wish I had pictures for you, but we won't have internet until Tuesday. Sorry! Like I was saying, the basement is huge. It is "finished" in that the walls are real walls with drywall and texture and the floor is tiled and the ceiling is popcorned, but it is a huge empty space the size of the house with no walls dividing it up. Or is was empty before we lined the walls with boxes and set up the couches and TV in the "family room".

Emily, John and Sydney set up a large box fort in the basement today. They also played soccer down there. If I could find the roller skates they could really have some fun! John is disappointed that there's not actually a bowling alley in the basement. We must have told him at some point that we "could have a bowling alley down there" and he thought we really meant it.... A plastic bowling set is on my shopping list.....

I'm slowly working my way through the boxes. All the kitchen things are out and put away. The bathrooms are set up. And the beds are made. But there's still a lot to do. And a lot that I'm not going to do for a while until we scrape the ceilings and redo the floors and move things in up stairs.

It is really fun to actually be in our house and not transitioning any more. We have been "moving" since the middle of December. It is the middle of February!!! And even though the house is a little quirky, it is kinda cool!

Anyone want to come clean out my oven?

The importance of warm socks

2010-02-06T11:18:00.003-10:00

It is cold here.

We have had lots of snow and cold temperatures! Earlier this week we had a rare day with temperatures in the 40's and it almost felt warm. But not really. I washed my car that day at one of those drive in and spray down your car places and thought my fingers might fall off.

I wanted to drive through a car wash but I couldn't find one. Since then I have seen two, so I know where to go next time the temperatures get above freezing. There is something about driving on melted snowy roads that makes your car just filthy.

I have been trying to exercise daily and it is a challenge. Did I mention it's cold. Yesterday I wore 3 shirts and a coat with a fleece lining. My arms were not cold but my toes were.

I have been wearing two pairs of socks everyday. And everyday my toes just about freeze off while I am waiting for Emily and John to go into their classes.

I think I need to find some kind of heavy duty wool socks. Except wool makes me itchy.

Also, I am prone to blisters on my feet when jogging, so I have invested in a few pairs of super nice running socks that never give me blisters. Unfortunately they are all ankle socks. I don't want my ankles to freeze so I am running in my usual two pairs of tea length socks. I'm pretty sure that's not the official name for the length of my socks. They are not knee socks, they are not ankle socks, they are halfway in between - tea length!..

They keep my ankles warmer, but the seam has a tendancy to roll under my toes and irritate me. Grrrr. Frozen, irritated toes are not happy toes.

On a brighter note, there is a sweet little path through Rapid City that I just love. I used to jog on it occasionally when we last lived here. This time we are living even closer to the path, so I have been jogging or walking on it almost every day. The city keeps it nicely cleared, and it is just the place for a bit of exercise.

Yesterday morning we woke to a couple inches of snow. After I drove the kids to school, I decided to see if I could walk on the path and I was happy to find that someone had plowed it. It was in better shape than the roads! I saw several others out walking as well. One older gentleman was out feeding ducks. Fun!

8 minutes 14 seconds

2010-02-01T06:27:00.002-10:00

I'm at the library again, and this time I'm using a computer with a 30 minute limit. I have only 7:44 left. eeek.

I was thinking last night about our move. Again. It's all I think about, really. And though I hate moving, there is one good thing about it:

When you are new somewhere, and bored, and have no friends or commitments or plans, you really get close to your family. It has been so sweet to see the kids growing closer together.

Last night the kids were all playing a game and laughing and talking together. It made me smile.

Sweet!

ps - not that they didn't like each other before...

Library Blogging

2010-01-30T11:56:00.002-10:00

I'm back at the library and have a minute online, just enough time for a quick blog.

I forgot how fun it is to post up a blog and get comments from friends.

Hi guys! How are you? Thanks for all the friendly comments!

I wish I had some pictures to share, but we won't have the computer for a couple more weeks.

The kids all started school on Tuesday. It was the start of the second semester here in South Dakota. In Hawaii the kids started school at the end of July, so they were able to finish the first semester before Christmas. In moving here, I knew we had a few weeks before we HAD to be in school, so we took advantage of my parents' hospitality and stayed there as long as we possibly could, arriving here in Rapid City just in time to register for the Spring Semester.

Second Semester started Tuesday. And so did the kids. 4 kids. 3 different schools. All really close to each other. The high school and the elementary school are within walking distance of our new home, though the middle school is a little bit farther. Not that we are walking, it's too cold and we aren't actually in our new house yet.

In Hawaii the little kids were in a huge school of about 900 students with kids coming and going all the time. Several a week. My good friend Kelley works at the school welcoming families and helping with the transitioning kids every single day of the school year. The school that Emily and John are now enrolled in has less than 200 students, and new kids are a BIG deal.

Our first morning there, I walked John over to where his class lines up and the kids all started pointing and giggling "there's the new boy!" "what's his name?" "John! his name is John..." John got shy, so we left and walked Emily to class first, where some helpful girls asked "are you Emily? Come line up over here!" They are both really loving their new teachers and classes. They have lunch and recess at the same time, and sometimes they even play together on the swings.

SWINGS! Did you know that swings are illegal in Hawaii? City parks are not allowed to have swings. No beach in SD, but we do have Swings!

On the second day of school, Hannah's band teacher asked her if she had a brother in first grade. He told her that his son is in John's class. Then a girl in band said, "I'm assuming you also have a sister in 3rd grade... my little sister is in her class..." Small town!

Sydney is doing great, too, though her schedule keeps changing. Next week will be easier.

With everyone back in school, I suddenly have lots of time. What to do?

Aloha from South Dakota!

2010-01-29T08:10:00.004-10:00

Time for an Update!

What a wild winter.

Remember when I thought we were staying in Hawaii until the Spring? I wonder why I thought that was a bad thing? Brrr! It is cold here at 44 degrees North Latitude. Here's my to do lists for the last couple of months.

November:
Nathan suddenly got orders to go to training in Texas and left the kids and I to finish up the semester and pack up our household goods and leave paradise. Just in time for Christmas.

December:
Pack household goods... Check!
Check out of housing... Check!
Say Aloha 'Oe to good friends. Check! (and boo hooo)
Go watch giant waves... Check!
Pack 8 bags and 6 backpacks... Check!
Send the Suburban off across the ocean.. check!
Go to the beach one last time... Check!
Catch a taxi and fill it with 8 bags, 6 backpacks, and 5 people... check!
Check in 11 pieces of baggage... Check!
Ask a stranger to switch seats so he didn't have to sit between Emily and John... Check!
Fly across the Pacific Ocean... Check!
Rent a car in LA and drive to Modesto... Check!
Visit California Cousins... Check!
Brrr. California was cold at 44 degrees F.
Buy coats and socks... Check!
Drive to Utah through the snow... Check!
Kiss Nathan under the mistletoe... Check!
Share Cocoa with cousins and sisters and uncles and grandma and grandpa... check!
Go sledding! check!
Go to South Dakota and find a house... Check!

January
Send Nathan back to Texas to hurry up and finish your training already.. check!
Say goodbye to cousins and aunties and uncles... check!
(John said - it seems like I have lots of moms!)
Go Ice Skating! Check!
Hang out with Grammy and Grampy a couple more weeks... Check!
Welcome a new baby cousin! check!
Drive over to Denver to meet Nathan and switch cars... check!
Have an adventure along the way... uh oh... check...
Drive up to South Dakota! Check!
Brrrr! Check!
Start school... Check!

coming soon...

February
Stay warm
Close on new house
Scrape popcorn ceiling
Welcome home Nathan
and.....more adventures ...

Buddies

2009-11-17T20:55:00.003-10:00

These two dudes had a great time together.

Dad always jumped into the way back seat in the 'burb to sit next to John.

I'd hear Grampie in the back saying, "Have you ever had a horse bite?"

Never heard that one before... Ha ha ha!

Tiki Hut Tours (take 5)

2009-11-15T22:09:00.004-10:00

Look who came to the Aloha State!

Grammy and Grampy McB!

We had such a great time while they were here. We dragged them to all our marching band competitions and volleyball games, to dinner at friends houses, and even to a beach or two.

Unfortunately, all the beach photos are on Grammy's camera. She'll have to email me a couple to use on the blog...

Here we are at our little Wahiawa Botanical Gardens. It is a cute little park right on the way home from church.

It is not a fancy garden, but it has some nice trails and impressive trees!

More photos to come....

To Do

2009-10-01T09:26:00.005-10:00

It's been a busy week, and the Tiki Hut is looking a little neglected. I really want to lay down and take a little nap, but before I do I need to get some stuff done:

To Do:

~~Make a list!~~
~~Blog~~
~~Call Running Store and let them know I can pick up my shoes tomorrow~~
~~Tidy Up~~
~~Fold Laundry~~
~~Dust~~
~~sweep~~
~~Mop~~
~~Vacuum~~
~~Wash special wash items~~
~~Rotate my mattress~~
~~Bathroom wipe down~~
Figure out dinner
~~Call Bellows - make camping reservations for Fall Break~~
~~Move the piano~~
Set up my sewing machine

That should do it!

What did you do today?

It's Aloha Friday

2009-09-25T11:16:00.006-10:00

We are coming up on 3 years in the Aloha state, and we love it here.

3 years is the magic number for military assignments and so it is nearly time for us to say Aloha Oi.

But it looks like we get to stay a little longer! Nathan needs to do some training before we head back to Rapid City, SD, so that leaves the rest of us here in Hawaii until at least April. And hopefully we'll be able to finish out the school year.

I've been a little frustrated about not knowing our actual move date, and I'm ready to be a bit closer to family, but who doesn't want to spend winter in Hawaii? Plus, it just gives me a little more time to learn how to surf...

* * * * * * * * *

on the subject of beaches... kind of...

Over at Quiet Life, Donna asked about nursing photos. If that grosses you out, don't scroll down.

About 8 years ago, we had some family pictures taken on the beach in Pensacola, FL. I love those photos. Our friend, Heidi Salgado, was our photographer. She did a great job. At one point I sat down in the sand to nurse Emily. Heidi took a picture, and it's the only picture of me nursing that I have. (or atleast the only one I'd show you)

Sydney and Nathan. NAS Pensacola. Sunset.

Non-Nursing photo. Last chance to not scroll down....

4 kids x about 2 years of nursing each = 8 years of lactation.

Several of my sisters are having babies this year, and though I don't miss the middle of the night feedings. Or the accidental wet spots. I do miss nursing. Is that wierd?

I love Emily's little arm up over her head. And her toes. And the fact that she's not actually a little baby. She is like 18 months old! In my imagination, I thought she was smaller in that picture. he he he.

Happy nursing!

Air Show

2009-09-24T14:48:00.007-10:00

Because dancing the night away was not enough Air Force Birthday-Fun, we spent Saturday celebrating at an Air Show with the Air Force Thunderbirds!

I love Air Shows.

The Blue Angels are my first love, but the Thunderbirds put on a great show.

The show was great, but the little man who came and stood too close to me, put me in a bad mood.

He was standing so close that his shoe was touching mine and his elbow was resting on my forearm. He didn't seem to hear or understand me when I mentioned that he was standing too close. If I moved over, he just moved closer.

At one point I said, "Please move. You are standing too close to me. Your camera is bumping my son." He set his giant camera down and seemed to scoot even closer to me. Grrrr.

I later told the story to my friend, Diane, and she said it was a cultural thing. Tourists!

That's too close!

Off we go
Into the Wild Blue Yonder...

.

Happy Birthday Air Force!

2009-09-21T11:28:00.003-10:00

Nathan took me to the Air Force Ball this weekend.

Doesn't he look dashing in his uniform?

I must say that finding a dress that fits, and is cute and works with the Mormon-modest guidelines, and doesn't look like it belongs on the mother-of-the-bride is really hard. I think I'm going to sew for the winter formal.

ps - those two pictures were taken before I realized Nathan's bow tie was skiwampas and that he had forgotten his silver buttons...sorry Nathan... my eyes are closed in all the other photos...

The highlight of the night was seeing a WASP - Womens Airforce Service Pilot. "During World War II, a select group of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models...They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women in history trained to fly American military aircraft."

I was hoping that her name was listed on the program, but it's not. She was adorable! She attended the ball with her husband, a retired Air Force general. He was her trainer in flight school, over 60 years ago! Cute!

Happy Birthday, Air Force!

The Choice is Yours

2009-06-02T09:34:00.009-10:00

I had a very grouchy day on Thursday. The little kids and I had to wait around after school for about an hour to help Hannah with a crazy recycling project. (What's with all the end-of-school silly projects?) It was raining. It was hot. The kids were hungry and tired and bored. And they picked and picked at each other. And it made me crazy!

When we got home I sent Emily and John to their room and I went to my bed, and I kind of forgot about them. After about a half hour John came downstairs, then ran back up the stairs.

I got up to see what he needed and found a little note by my bedroom door.

I cannot find the actual note, but the drawing at the top of this blog is another note he wrote that day. What did I do with that note? I know I put it somewhere very safe....

Here's what he wrote:

Mom, I know that your mad. Esept (except) make it a great day or not. The choice is yours. John

Waaaaa!

Every morning at school they have a little Character Education message. The 5th grade students take turns reading the message (be nice, don't be a bully, etc) and end each message with "Make it a great day. Or not. The Choice is yours."

Thank you John! I'm going to make it a great day!

Em and John, makin' it a great day. Box optional.

All Hail the Queen

2009-05-23T10:52:00.009-10:00

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
Garlands of Flowers everywhere
All the colors in the rainbow
Maidens with blossoms in their hair.

Sydney and King Miles, wait to enter the May Day Celebration.

The King and Queen enter,

Parade around,

Bow to the people,

and sit to review all the performers.

The Royal Court performs Kawika

John is a little Myna Bird

Sassy Little Myna Bird!

Shoo!

Emily performs Pearly Shells

Shining in the Sun

My heart tells me that I love you, more than all the little pearly shells!

Each grade level performs a dance. Even the teachers dance! The ladies perform Milolii,

and the gentelmen perform Kuu Hoa.

Sydney performs the last hula of the day, Kawaipunahele.

Sydney - Noi Ka Oi

(Sydney's the Best!)

Sydney said she was so nervous her leg was twitching.

She is a lovely dancer!

All Hail the King and Queen of May Day!

Coming Soon -

2009-05-21T15:41:00.013-10:00

Tomorrow is May Day Celebration at our elementary school. In Hawaii, May Day is a chance to celebrate Hawaiian culture and tradition. A Hawaiian King and Queen are crowned, Princesses and Princes from each island come to court, and each grade level presents a Hula.

I blogged about our first May Day in Hawaii two years ago - May Day 2007. We had been in Hawaii for just a few months. Sydney was in 3rd grade and Emily was in Kindergarten. John wasn't in school yet. The girls had just started hula classes. I remember being curious about the 5th graders in the May Day court and thinking how cute the Queen was in her white dress.

Fast forward to today, Sydney is in 5th grade now, Emily is in 2nd grade and John is in Kindergarten and they will all be performing in tomorrow's May Day Celebration! What makes it even more special is that Sydney is queen for May Day! Congratulations Sydney!

We found a lovely white dress (with a little train) and she has been practicing her hula. Tomorrow is her big day!

In case you want to study up on what May Day celebrations are all about, here are a couple of examples of other schools' May Day Programs:

Priory May Day Court

Ka Beauté o Nu`uanu

To Do for tomorrow -

buy leis

.

(This is not May Day. This is from earlier this spring. Sydney wants me to tell you that is NOT her shirt. Just before the performance Sydney realized she didn't have her white t-shirt. It was too late to run home for it. Luckily, I was wearing a white undershirt. Sydney didn't think it was lucky, but it was better than the striped pink shirt she had on...don't forget white dress tomorrow...)

More ROC

2009-05-14T22:00:00.009-10:00

365 bells? on each dress

Aztec Dance

Samoan Sasa

Marcus

African Dance
Did I mention that Maybelline and Marcus are newlyweds?

Native American Hoop Dancing

I tried to google more about Hoop Dancing, but I didn't find much information, so I'm still wondering: How many hoops do they use? What are the different forms that they make? Is it a competition dance? How do you win? How old are you when you learn how to do that?

I am totally fascinated by this. How does that work?

Here's a close up of her hands and all those hoops.

Beautiful!

The hoop-girls were amazing. Did I already say that? They really were. It's not like they were just standing there on stage braiding hoops together. They were hopping and dancing around the hoops the whole time and then - shazam! - another hoop hops up and - voila! - she is an Eagle.

It makes our hula-hooping-on-the-wave-board trick look a little shabby. oh well. I can't do that either...

I wonder if they do hoop dancing in South Dakota?

I still have more pictures from the ROC performance, but it's mostly a Maybelline-Show from here on out (she is just so darn cute, and she danced in most everything), so I'll post them if she wants me to.

ROC - Remembering Our Culture

2009-05-13T06:10:00.009-10:00

Maybelline and Co

Abe

Senoritas

Fan Dance

Abraham vs. Jefferson

Bravo! Hana Ho!

Uwe - Sound Man and hoop dancer extraordinaire

John and Jefferson

Hannah and Muchachos

ROC at home

Last week we had the chance to host some kids from the performing group ROC - Remembering our Culture. ROC is made up of students attending school in the Provo area. They are from South America, Asia, Polynesia, and all over the US. The group encourages the students to get an education as well as learn a little more about their culture. We were totally blown away by their show where they performed songs and dances from around the world.

The biggest surprise of the week is that we knew one of the perfomers, Maybelline! Hi Maybelline! We met her when she was in High School back when we lived in Texas. And there she was last week, riding along in our car, asking if we had ever lived in Abeline, TX.... small world....

The show was great, but having the group stay in our home was even more fun. They kept us up late, got up early, and ate all the food in our house (only joking), but we loved it! They felt like family!

We have more pictures of the show to post later* - hoop dancing and the Aztec dance and more....

*hopefully sooner rather than later. sorry poor neglected blog-o.

Has This Ever Happened to You?

2009-03-14T13:27:00.003-10:00

I've been running in the dark lately. I just can't seem to catch a run in the day time, so I've been running early in the morning, or later in the evening. It is a peaceful time to run.

No army guys counting loudly ... 7 .... 8 ....9 .... one ZERO!

No troops taking over the sidewalks.

Just me and a few other people out walking or running or biking, too.

But something weird seems to happen each day.

The lights go out.

I'm just jogging along, thinking about my to do list or my shoes or singing along to Sydney's iPod, when all of the sudden a street light goes out. Bling. Right as I run under it. And it gets really dark. And then another street light goes out as I pass by.

Scary!

It makes me wonder if Dumbledore is hanging around, with his put-outer.

Does that ever happen to you?

Johnny Lingo Had a Cow

2009-03-13T09:45:00.004-10:00

Last night Hannah was babysitting at Enrichment Meeting. One of the kids bit her on the hand. I was imagining it was a toddler, but it turned out to be a big kid, maybe 8 years old. Great.

Also at Enrichment, we had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. I have never actually eaten Hawaiian Haystacks IN Hawaii. I have had them in the past. They seem to be another favorite Mormon food item, along the lines of green jello with shredded carrots. A "Hawaiian Haystack" is a scoop of rice, a scoop of chicken in a kind of creamy sauce, some crushed pineapple, some green onions, and some fried crunchy noodle things. All us haoles in the group knew what Hawaiian Haystacks were. All the locals had no idea what to think of it...

Along with the Hawaiian Haystacks, we watched Johnny Lingo and talked about how to be an 8 Cow Wife. It was a really cute night.

Did you know there is a new Johnny Lingomovie?

Before I Forget...

2009-02-10T11:13:00.005-10:00

tap. tap. tap. is this thing on?

We hiked out to Kaena Point this weekend. Kaena Point is as far west as you can go on Oahu. It was hot and sunny and far. But it was fun. And we saw whales!

I carried the snacks and water, Nathan carried his newest Uke and the camera. I'll be posting up some photos from our hike this week. Did I mention we saw whales? and albatross?

My favorite photo of the hike, though is this:

Go ahead and click it and see it bigger. Isn't Hannah lovely? And the misty mountains and the white sand, and the ukulele on the beach. Ahhhh. I love Hawaii!

Did I tell you Hannah got her hair cut? It is a really cute little cut. At first I missed her long hair, but then a minute later, I remembered that I actually love short hair. Cute, Cute, Cute! I have to say that this is not the finest example of her hair-do (or hair-dude as John likes to say) but it is still a fun photo.

One day after track practice she told me that one of the older boys on the team (a senior, ooh la la) told her her hair looked really cute.

The next day she pointed out to me the boy who complimented her hair.

It turns out they have the exact same hair cut!

Longish hair on boys seems to be the thing around here lately.

It looks cuter on Hannah!

*************

before I forget, here's some running log updates:

last week of January, I ran a grand total of 6 miles.

January running total: 51.5 miles

Today's run: 3 miles

This week: 6.5 miles

This month:19.5 miles

This year: 71 miles

not bad!

Kung Hay Fat Choy

2009-01-27T10:55:00.003-10:00

People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.

1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009

Chinese New Year is a big-dang deal in Hawaii. Unfortunately we did not go downtown for the parade or fireworks. Boo.

#######

Here's some more stuff I Didn't/ Don't Want To Do

I really should be working on the school year book. I just don't want to.

I could go running, as it is 11 am and I am still in my short-shorts and tennis shoes. But it's a little chilly and drizzly out. I think it may warm up in a bit. Putting on a long sleeve shirt would be too much work.

Mopping is also on my list. But I need some ammonia. And mop and glow. My neighbor just gave me a recipe for stripping the ugly high-school-tiles that make up the floor of all the twin homes in our military housing area. These tiles are dull and dirty. If I had one of those awesome spinning floor polishers usually found at hospitals, I would totally use it. ("Don't fight it, Don't fight it" - Mary) Maybe tomorrow. I promise not to mix with bleach.

The month is almost over and I should go Visiting Teaching. But I never made appointments. Friday might work...

I'm not sewing. I bought some cute red fabric to make this apron. But my sewing area is bombed out. And I don't want to have to clean up the craft supplies to get to my sewing machine.

And I'm not taking the stinkin' Beginning Ukulele Class, either. I found out yesterday that it is cancelled due to lack of interest. Maybe more people will be interested in June...

+++++++

That was a downer of a list. To end on an up-note...

Emily is making a list of homophones for homework this week. Words like

two

&

to

&

too.

or

hear

&

here.

While we were looking up the spelling of hoarse (not to be confused with horse), I thought of a funny thing John said a few months ago. John has a friend named Will. He loves Will. He would play at Will's house every day, if he could. Will is a good sport and plays well with John, even though he is a bit older than John. He also plays well with Emily. He's just a great kid to have around.

Anyway, one day John learned about Whales in school.

After school, John told me that there are two Whales:

Whales in the ocean.

and his friend Will !!!

John really does pronounce Will's name like Whale.

Will doesn't seem to mind.

He's cute like that.

}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{

Happy Chinese New Year!

.

This and That

2009-01-24T12:03:00.004-10:00

Nathan is building another Ukulele. He's got the body all formed and is working on the fret board today. It has been so interesting to see it coming together.

Steam bending the sides in the kitchen.

Hannah picked up my Uke yesterday and it turns out she knows how to play. I know she can play the guitar, but I was surprised to hear that she can play the ukulele with more of a Hawaiian sound. She says lots of kids at school play the ukulele, and it is not uncommon to see (and hear) local kids playing while walking between classes.

I am going to start a beginning ukulele class this Thursday night. I'm a little nervous.

I had a great run this morning. 6 miles. I ran six miles last Saturday down on Hickam AFB and thought I was going to die on the last mile. Today I ran from our house up toward Kole Kole Pass. The first 3 miles slightly up hill. Then down hill all the way home. I did not feel like I was going to die. That's improvement!

We watched City of Ember last night for movie night. Sydney and I recently read the book. The book was really good. I liked the look of the city in the movie, but I fell asleep before it ended, so I'm not sure how it all worked out.

I always fall asleep during family movie night. Reminds me of my dad. Snoring away during the movie....

**********

today's run: 6 miles
this week: 15.5 miles
this month: 45.5 miles

Book Talk

2009-01-21T10:20:00.006-10:00

I have had NO books to read. None. Nada. okay. We have a few books here, and I have had fun re-reading middle grade books with Sydney, but I needed something new. So last week I went online to see if our library carries Hannah Coulter so I can join the Hannah Coulter Book Club For Copy Cats.

It was not a surprise to find that indeed, our library does NOT carry that book. or any others on my list.

I hate that.

Our base library is okay. The people who work there are friendly. They have books. Just not a wide variety, and not a lot of new new releases. Except movies. They do have lots of new movies. And video games. Sydney was watching for a book that was in the "in-processing" category for over a YEAR! ggrrrrr.I have found it best to browse best sellers and award winners from 2005 or earlier.

So I ordered Hannah Coulter from the nearest bookstore. Which is also small. It's not in yet. I'm going to check today, when I head out, to see if it has arrived.

I did go to the library yesterday, and came home with several books. Yeah for a pile of books, even if they weren't on my list. I feel almost anxious if I have nothing to read.

So I started reading A Great and Terrible Beauty last night and it was so scary! I had a hard time going to sleep and kept hearing scary sounds. Good thing Nathan is home! I have to finish that book today, before it gets dark...

What are you reading?

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T09:29:00.006-10:00

Did you know the inauguration broadcast here at 7am! Very exciting! Did you watch? or attend? or sleep in?

++++

The holidays are long gone, but my holiday mess was lurking in our storage closet. Five odd-shaped boxes of ornaments and decorations, and seven grocery bags of lights were taking over!

Thanks to the challenge over at Spouse Buzz, and a storm that wasn't, I got motivated and tackled the mess. I sorted out a few sad ornaments and moved the rest into 3 easy to store containers.

One with just lights. One with just ornaments. One with decorations and Christmas books. (and one with the shivers)

This will hopefully make it easier next year to find just the items I need. Anything to make next Christmas easy is a good thing, since we will be moving around the holidays.

+++++++++++

Today's run: 3 miles
This week: 6.5 miles
This month: 36.5 miles

Storm's a Brewin'

2009-01-16T09:13:00.003-10:00

School was cancelled (does canceled have one l or two?) because of possible big winds today. That seems kind of odd to me, to cancel school because of a maybe storm.

We've had some wind and the rain has come in, but mostly we're just lounging around in our pj's wondering if we have any treats to snack on... This guy, though, lost his roof in the storm last night.

I'll find a way to send a message if the storm gets bad!

Honu

2009-01-14T11:12:00.002-10:00

We went to the beach on Saturday and made a new friend.

He was just laying out, catching some rays.

I think he just winked at me. Or maybe he fell asleep. It was very relaxing on the beach, with the waves rolling in.

It was a little overcast and I didn't feel like swimming. We had gone to the beach the night before and I wasn't actually interested in being at the beach. I'm sad to say that I was grouchy. I hate that. Grouchy at the beach is unusual for me. Grouchy when we get home and I find a beach sized pile of sand next to the bathtub is more common.

Hanging out with a few turtles made me feel a little better.

Ali'i beach is a great spot to see turtles. There is a beach further along the North Shore called "turtle beach". Bus loads of tourists stop there to see the turtles. There are even volunteers who stand near the turtles and make sure visitors don't harrass them. I'm surprised they don't sell turtle t-shirts. It is a busy beach.

This beach is not busy, but we see turtles here all the time. Plus there is good parking, and bathrooms. Important things.

+ # + # + # + #

School is back in today. The kids were home for about a month for winter break. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was nice . Lots of sleeping in and playing outside and going to the beach. It is nice to be back to a regular schedule.

Nathan's online masters program is back, too. Which means evening computer time is a hot ticket item. I fell asleep last night to the lullabye of the professor's lecture.

+++++++

running log
today: 4 miles
this week: 11.5
this month: 24.5

Fish Lips

2009-01-12T22:00:00.006-10:00

I'm entering this photo of Sydney's fish lips in a photo-blog contest at I heart faces.

Check out the competition, or enter yer own mug here:

I wonder if they'll have a pet competition...

*********

running log
today's run: 2.5 miles
this week: 7.5 miles
this month: 20.5 miles

To Do 2009

2009-01-11T17:38:00.003-10:00

I love To-Do lists. I keep little lists all over the place. Lists of books I want to read. Lists of things I need to remember to not forget. Lists of groceries. Lists of stuff for Nathan to do.

I like to think of New Year's Resolutions as the mother of all To-Do lists. I think I did pretty ding-dang good last year with my list of goals. Woohoooo for no car payment!

With just one year left in Hawaii, my goal list for 2009 revolves around making the most of our time here.

Learn to Surf
Go whale watching
Go to the Kona Temple
Have family photos taken on the beach
Hop to Guam
Hike the Haiku Stairs
Read, Pray, Smile everyday
Keep a reading log
Keep a running log
$ave $ome $$$
Work on Food Storage
Try one new recipe a month

That should about do it.

Do you set New Year's Resolutions?
Is there something that you are particularly proud of accomplishing from last year?

It's Aloha Friday

2009-01-09T09:22:00.004-10:00

Look who came to visit! I'll admit, I screeched when I saw this warty guy hanging out behind the door. This bufo seems to live nearby. I wasn't sure what it was, so I looked it up:

"If you see a toad in Hawaii, it's most likely a toxic Bufo Toad. These toads are easy to identify. A Bufo Toad has a dry warty hide that may be yellowish-green, olive-brown, reddish-brown or grey. Their heads are boney with ridges shielding their eyes. Bufo's bellies are pale with dark molting. These toads can be 4-9 inches long and can weigh up to 2 pounds.

Bufo Toads have toxic secretions that ooze from parotoid glands located on the back of their necks once they feel threatened. If one is squeezed there is a high probability that the venom will inject into its victim's eyes. The Bufo Toad will often arch his back in the direction of anyone that comes within close proximity." Read More Here

It may not have been a good idea to have let the kids hang around watching this guy all morning, but luckily none of the kids were poisoned. I have heard of dogs in the neighborhood getting sick and foaming at the mouth after biting a toad, though, so be careful....

I never did hear him say Rrribbit.

++++++++++++

I've been working on the yearbook all week, editing and uploading photos that I took at school in the fall. As I was searching for a photo last night, I came across this:

The perfect picture for an Aloha Friday

Shaka, Sydney!

which reminds me of a little girl in our ward. She is about 2 and a half years old with long long black hair. Her dad is in the Bishopric, and every Sunday she tries to break away from her mom as they walk into the chapel and run run run up to say hi to her dad at the front of the chapel. Last week she came zooming up the aisle, waving her little hand with thumb and pinky out, yelling "shaka daddy, shaka!"

++++++++++++

One of my goals for the new year is to keep a (slow mom) running log. I'll post it at the bottom of blog entries on occasion, unless I can find a handy widget to track it for me.

Today's Run: 3.5 miles
This week: 12 miles
This month: 18 miles

Happy Aloha Friday!

15 years

2009-01-06T07:42:00.003-10:00

Come my love, I'll tell you a tale
of a boy and girl, and their love story,

and how he loved her oh, so much,

and all the charms she did possess.

Now this did happen once upon a time
When things were not so complex.

My love is like a Storybook story
But it's as real as the feelings I feel.

Dear Me

2009-01-04T20:52:00.006-10:00

Dear Computer,

Please please please let me upload those photos from the new mixer vs. old mixer smack-down and New Years Eve at the beach. Pretty please!

Your old friend,
W

Dear Hannah's little cute camera,

I heard that the humid salty air of Hawaii was hard on delicate electronics like yourself, but one year seems like such a short life to me. Is there something we could do to convince you to stick around a little longer? Aren't we cool enough for you? We will miss you!

Signed,
Hannah's Mom

Dear Edward,

You were rather yummy in your debut movie, though I think you got a little carried away with your hair. Tell Bella "Hi" for me.

Swooning, even though I still like Jacob better,
W

Dear Kidos,

We have 10 more days of winter vacation. What do you wanna do? Wash windows? Clean the blinds? Go whale watching?

Love,
mom

Dear Wahiawa 2nd Ward,

I love 8:30am church! We were home before I would have even gotten everyone dressed for church last year. Yippee for an afternoon nap and time after church to have friends over for dinner!

Your,
Sister B

ps - could you please tell the RS that it is cruel to pass out giant sized candy bars on fast Sunday, even if they do come with this year's lesson schedule.

.

How (not) to win friends and influence people

2008-12-31T03:03:00.005-10:00

We had an interesting day today.

Nathan is taking some online classes, and one of his professors is vacationing in Hawaii this week. So today, we met up with him and his wife to spend a little time in the ocean. We wanted to entertain and impress them, so we took them up to the North Shore for a little diving.

The surf report said the waves were way down on the North Shore. Shark's Cove looked a little rough, so we decided to stop at Waimea Bay. One of my most favorite spots. I've talked about this beach before.

Unfortunately it was raining when we got out of the car. And the water was murky because of all the rain! we've had. (It is raining right now, by the way.)

Even though we had some rain, it wasn't too cold to have fun at the beach. But the water was junk! I couldn't see anything. Sometimes I couldn't even see the fins of my swim buddy.

We made our way across the bay and found some rocks with a bit of coral and fish. Whew, I was afraid we would only see leaves and sticks. We watched the fish for a good long while - humu-humu's, convict tang, parrot fish, a cornet fish, and more. Then we watched some crazy people jumping off the big rocks.

While floating on my back, I saw one young girl watching for the right moment to jump in. She let a few waves pass by, waving her arms around like she was going to go for it, but then chickening out at the last minute. She finally stepped off the rock as a wave passed. yikes. Watching the jumpers, made me feel a little sea sick.

After all our water fun, it really started raining. Along with some impressive thunder and lightening. I was wet and cold and ready to go. Unfortunately we made a sad (and embarrassing) discovery as we were rinsing off the equipment. We realized we had locked the keys in the car.

The cell phone was in the car, too.

I had to walk over to the life guard station and climb up the stairs, in the rain, and ask for help. Oh, the humiliation.... There were a lot of life guards.... Luckily I was able to phone a friend. The terrific Mrs. J went by our house, got our spare keys, and drove them out to us. Sorry Mrs. J! The life guards kindly pointed out that locking the keys in the car is better than losing them in the sand or the ocean.... maybe....

We stood in the rain a while longer as we waited to be rescued. (Hurray for Mrs. J) Then we went to lunch. But it was just a little too chilly to stop for shave ice. That was a shame. And though we were all a little wet, it was still a nice lunch. The conversation was fun, even if the diving was a little bit of a downer. (get it? diving....downer....I crack myself up!)

We returned the good prof and wife to their downtown Inn (by way of a muddy detour at the Birthing Stones, and a chance encounter with a smelly homeless man.) It was a really odd day.

I hope our little misadventure won't affect Nathan's grades!

ps - christmas decorations are still up...

pps - Happy New Year!

ppps - I hope it's not so rainy at Bellows this afternoon. And no jelly fish, either.

I need a List

2008-12-29T09:48:00.005-10:00

It's Monday morning, almost 10am, and I'm sitting here at the computer wasting my day away. What I need is a LIST!

To Do:

~~Make a List~~
~~Run~~
~~Shower~~
~~Call Dentist~~
~~Call Housing~~
~~Call Bellows~~
~~Take out the Garbage~~
~~Blog~~
Un-decorate the Tree
And other decorations
And outside lights*
~~Pick up Hannah at 11:30~~
~~Go to the Library~~
~~Ortho at 2:30pm~~
Dinner - Pizza

That's what I should do today....

*This was the first year ever that we put up outside lights on the house. It was so cute! I especially loved our little palm tree all decked out. But putting those lights up was so scary! Here's a photo of me and Sydney perched on the roof. Yikes!

Down, down, down, it was a long way down!

...okay. TIme to get goin'.

+++ updated at 11:17am. back to report that I scored reservations at Bellows for New Year's Eve! Woohoo!

Guest Blogger: "Nate Tells How to Build an Ukulele!"

2008-12-25T13:34:00.024-10:00

Over the past ten weeks, I've spent three hours each Saturday morning at Hana Lima 'Ia (Made By Hand), learning to make a tenor-sized ukulele. Very fun, and challenging! Very annoying to Wendy, as I've needed the car on most occasions, due to never-failing weekend rain! I would normally ride my little motorbike to such events in the rain, but I'm getting too conservative in my older age to endure such inconveniences; water soaked wood isn't fun to work with either!

Here is a short report about what I learned from Mike Chock at Hala Lima 'Ia over the past 10 weeks and a brief look at the steps to making a custom "Uke". The more salient underpinnings to this story really share a technique on how to waste much time in said workshop and then avoid having your spouse file for divorce :)

1. Choose the wood for your Uke: I used Bubinga for the back and sides, Engleman Spruce for the soundboard and Mahogany for the neck...cut to rough shape and inlay Abalone shell around the soundhole.

2. Glue in bracing and shape for "tonal and structural quality" - whatever that may mean. Don't gouge into Wendy's dining table!!! That would really annoy her.

John was wondering what in the world I was doing for a little while! He just kept on smiling'. This is an important lesson for you guys out there: even when your wife may have no idea that your selfish woodworking habit is really a vehicle to a good Christmas gift, just keep on smiling and tough it out!

3. Get that neck "shaped up"! Curses to those Krispy Kreme doughnut drives!

4. Bend the sides with this contraption...this part blew me away! Oh the deep-hidden secrets of the Master Luthier.

5. Join neck to soundboard and fit sides...it's starting to look like an Ukulele.

6. Block sand the sides for a nice fit of the back piece.

Add a custom label in case you want people to know who made it...Of course, this is risky because if the Uke ends up sounding horrible...well, then people will know who made it!

7. Cut frets, design fretboard, cut soundhole, glue on back and it's getting closer than it's ever been before to being complete...What?

8. Have a spunky 10-year-old help you design and cut out (with a jewler's saw), a "Honu" inlay to add a custom feel to the headstock. Sydney really helped me out on the design and cutting out the Koa, Spruce and Black Walnut for the headstock. Thanks Syd! She even cut herself out a Bubinga turtle and made it into a necklace.

9. Install headstock inlay of Sea Turtle and shape headstock to look like the wavy ocean.

10. Install bridge, tuners and strings, and then have a few "experts" play your Uke to see if it sounds good. I got two really qualified opinions. Both the master luthier and the seven-year-old agree: "It makes a good sound!"

So, when it is all said and done, the boy gets to play in the workshop...he is not altogether an idiot, because he gives his girl the Uke for Christmas, she forgives him for all of the time he's wasted and for all of the times she's been stranded without a car. And they lived happily ever after...

Coming soon: A music video of Wendy's first song on the Uke...she may need some help with this one, Abby!

Wendy,

Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger...

MERRY CHRISTMAS Everybody!!!
- Nate

Mele Kalikimaka!

2008-12-24T18:12:00.004-10:00

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say "Merry Christmas to you."

Here's our wonky Hawaiian Christmas Tree, a Norfolk Island Pine.

They are also called Cook Pine. I think my mom has one as a house plant. I love it! Emily says Merry Christmas!

Here's what I was doing on Christmas Eve. Watched a surf competition, found 3 green sea turtles sunning on the beach, taught Emily Sydney and John how to skip rocks, and ate shave ice. Ono!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Buddies

2008-12-14T20:51:00.006-10:00

I am working on the yearbook for our elementary school this year. The project for last week was Buddy Pictures. For just one dollar, you too could be in the school yearbook with a friend. We took over 200 pictures and most of them turned out great!

It was fun to see all the kids wanting pictures with their friends, but I was surprised by the huge turn out. Taking the photos was a breeze compared to the editing. Not that the photos really needed much editing, just a bit of cropping, a little contrast adjust, and some unsharp mask, but I spent the entire "rain day" working on it and was left with a sore right arm from all that mouse clicking... wa. There must be an easier way...

Here are two of my favorite buddies:

Fun!

-------

ps - rain rain go away

pps - the PX was flooded and is closed due to the damage.

ppps - I can't wait to show you pictures of our Christmas Tree!

Flood Watch

2008-12-11T07:24:00.003-10:00

We are in the middle of a big storm. It rained and rained and rained all night, and this morning our base is totally flooded. As I attempted to drive to seminary it was more like boating then driving.

I should have turned around when we saw the first stalled car near our home, but we drive the biggest car in Hawaii, so we powered on. As we left the base, the slope of the hill by the track field was a huge waterfall, think Niagra Falls. At about that point we decided it would be best to head back home, but it took us about 45 minutes to get here. We passed 2 closed gates to get back on the base. The poor gate guard at the Lyman Gate was standing in water up to his knees, and as I flashed him my ID card, my windshield wipers were splashing him... splash.... splash... splash....

We had to wind our way around the base to avoid particularly bad spots. There were stalled cars all over the place. The water was deep and scary. Danger!

But we slowly made our way home and found out that schools are closed! Not quite as much sledding as a snow day, but still exciting.

I think I'm going to go take a little nap...

Soccer Season

2008-12-09T05:58:00.006-10:00

Hannah hasn't played soccer for a couple of years, but she decided to go ahead and try out for the high school team. First she was going to try out. Then she wasn't. Then she for sure wasn't. Then, the day before tryouts started she decided she might as well try out. She made it!

It's usually pretty easy to spot Hannah on the field! There she is, with the ball! Go #21!

She has a game tonight. Good luck Hannah!

************

This morning I am heading to the Ala Moana mall, a big open air mall down in Honolulu. I am not actually much of a mall shopper and have only been to the Ala Moana mall exactly once. And that was just for lunch. I'm going with a friend, so I think it will be fun.

Going downtown on a school day makes me a little nervous. I don't have a cell phone and I worry. I also get a little worried about traffic. If for some reason traffic is bad (ie an accident on the road, or construction, or just basic slow moving cars) we could totally get stuck. Getting stuck makes me nervous because then I would be late picking up the kids from school. And I'm never late. It may be a good idea for us to practice the "mom never showed up to get us" scenario....

But I'm sure we will have fun, and we won't get stuck and will return home in plenty of time to pick up the kids, head to a soccer game, then a science fair, then to the church for mutual. (a little pep talk for me)

**********

one question: Christmas cards are arriving and I'm wondering if you do anything cute with yours to display them?

Sewing

2008-12-03T12:27:00.003-10:00

I had some sewing to do this morning that I just didn't want to do. I'm not sure how it happened, but I said I would sew a couple of hula skirts for some girls in our hula class. Hula skirts are easy, it just takes a little time, and I didn't want to have to go upstairs, clear off the sewing table, and sew.

This morning I was thinking about going to the library, but those skirts were hanging over my head, so I made a little deal with myself: no library until the skirts were finished.

The skirts are done and the kids are out early today (and every wednesday) so it looks like I'll get to go to the library after all. Woo hoo!

And it turned out the sewing was rather fun. It made me start thinking about some other sewing I want to do this month. Christmas is coming and I'd like to sew a palm tree Christmas countdown (should do, like tonight to enjoy the whole countdown thing), a couple more hula skirts as gifts, and maybe some pj's.

Are you planning to make any of your gifts this year?

Pilates and stuff

2008-11-20T10:42:00.004-10:00

I went to the Pilate's class today that I tried to go to last week, but missed. Have you done pilate's before? I haven't. It was kind of interesting. Very relax-y. Stretch-y. Not high tech. I have a feeling my tummy will be sore tomorrow. I am planning to go again next week.

I am still not eating sugar. I did just fine at yesterday's pre-Thanksgiving dinner. While preparing the candied yams, I was a little shocked by all the butter and brown sugar. More sugar than yams, actually! I skipped the yams. And the pies. I brought home some cake and cookies for the kids. I did not sneak into the kitchen to eat the treats.

My 21 sugar-free days ends next Tuesday. I feel kind of powerful and strong. It turns out I don't NEED it. There is a bag of peanut M&M's in the kitchen and I haven't had a one. And I'm not even feeling sad or left out about that. Do you know how unusual that is for me? Candy, chocolate in particular, usually CALLS to me. I am planning to stay in control of my eating and limit sugary treats to Holidays and other special occasions, not each and every afternoon.

I just ran in and weighed myself. I'm down one pound since last week and I am now at a reasonable weight for me. So I won't mention my weight again here.

That's good. In other news, I haven't been to the beach in almost a month. That is not good. I am going to fix that this weekend.

What are you fixing for dinner? I am not interested in cooking, but my family keeps expecting to eat all these meals. Crazy people. Help!

I feel like I'm on a cooking show

2008-11-19T06:54:00.003-10:00

Yesterday it was 2 large crockpots full of beef stew, and a pan of apple crisp.

Today I have a pecan pie in the oven, a double batch of rolls raising, sweet potatoes ready to lose their skins, and potatoes waiting for the pot. And it's not quite 7am!

Yikes.

Yesterday was YW in Excellence for our ward. It was a fun night, and my stew turned out great. I'm not really a stew maker, so I got Sister Chang's "recipe". I wasn't sure about all the cans of tomato and the oyster sauce, but it really turned out yummy. Here's what I scribbled on my Sacrament Meeting program:

1 tray of stew meat. not the Costco size tray. Trim.
Onion
Celery

Brown meat with onion and celery until it gets kind of juicy. Transfer to crockpot. and add:

1 can tomato soup
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes

I didn't know the sizes of cans so I just guessed. Let that stuff cook for a few hours, then add in:

Carrot
Potato
Cabbage
Celery
A handful of Hawaiian salt mix
a dash of pepper
beef bullion, just a cube or two
Oyster sauce. a bit.

then maybe a half hour before serving mix some flour with water and stir it in to thicken. Add salt to taste. But not too much. Enjoy. This filled my crock pot to the brim.

Today there is a Thanksgiving feast at Nathan's work. At 11:30am. I'm glad I'm not roasting the Turkey. I woke up early to get everything going. I hope I can get the rolls done and still get the kids to school in time.

This feast could really put at damper on my no-sugar for 3 weeks thing (one more week to go. Yeah me!) Here's my plan: turkey and all the fixings including cranberry sauce = yes. Pies = no. I hope that works.

What should I wear today?

Lazy Weekend

2008-11-15T13:57:00.005-10:00

It is raining cats and dogs. Or maybe geckos and frogs. Lots of rain.

And it almost feels cool* enough for some cheesy potato soup. Mmmm!

Just the sort of day to lay around reading and napping! So far today I have taken one two hour nap and read half a book.** Perfect! Unfortunately reading and napping does not interest the kids so much.

They were playing in the garage, watching the rain, but I just saw Emily putting on her poncho. I have a feeling I should get out some towels and heat up water for hot cocoa. It's not often that hot cocoa sounds good here.

There goes John in his poncho. I wonder why he's not wearing his rain boots?...

Do you have any weekend plans?

Later tonight we are heading into Honolulu for the Symphony. And dinner, I hope!

* if's funny how 78* with a slight wind can feel cool.

** The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society

Thursday check in. on Friday

2008-11-14T06:35:00.004-10:00

Where did Thursday go?

Last week I cried to you about a little problem I was having, and I'm back to check in.

I had a goal to drink more water, stop snacking, and do all that good stuff. It looks like it's paying off, I'm down 3 pounds. Yippee!

I'm also doing no sugar with Amanda and co, and I have to say that it is working. It has been a week and two days and it's really not been a problem. I said no to brownies and pie this week without feeling deprived. In the interest of full disclosure, I was force to drink some kind of poi and banana smoothie at the ward potluck following the parade on Tuesday. I didn't actually want any, as it looked rather grody, but it tasted really good. I'm sure it was full of sugar.

In other good-for-me news, I went to the gym yesterday. My friend told me about a Pilate's class she attends, and I told her I'd meet her there. But I went to the wrong gym. I didn't realize there was more than one. Since I was going to be too late for the class, I went ahead and had a tour of the Martinez Gym. Then I headed over to the other gym and picked up a class schedule and spent a half hour on the elliptical machine. I guess that was fun, but living in such a beautiful place, I think it's silly to work out on a treadmill when I could be outside, you know?

I'll check back next Thursday and let you know if I made it to the Pilate's class...

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T19:56:00.005-10:00

In celebration of Veteran's Day, we walked in our little town's parade. There were marching bands, and, old tanks with tracks, and troops of marching soldiers, and a truck with a D-Day survivor and us.

Our ward (congregation) decided they wanted to participate, again. We did this last year, and Nathan and his dad (both veterans) walked together. Nathan is out of town this week, so he missed all the fun. And boy was it fun....

Did we build a float? or Find some mini motorcycles to ride? or Maybe push a handcart? nope.

We just walked.

We had a few missionaries, and some boy scouts with flags, and a scraggly group of kids and parents. One child cried the entire route. Appropriate, I thought.

It was embarrassing to me, though Emily and John loved it.

Right behind our sad group was the cutest bunch of marching ukulele players, ever. There were about 50 children, all in matching yellow hawaiian shirts, strumming and singing as they walked. They were adorable. I want to join that group next year....

I saw a news camera zoom in on them and I've been trying to find video of it, but I guess it didn't make the evening news. Shucks!

+++++++++

I have been seeing some young wounded warriors around the base lately. There is a boy in my son's class whose dad was badly wounded in Iraq earlier this fall. The boy left school for about 2 months while he and his mom travelled to be with his dad in the hospital, but he recently re-enrolled in John's class. The dad has walked his soon to class a few times, with a walker. He has both of his legs and arms, but he seems kind of strapped together with lots of braces and wrap.

There is another dad that I see occasionally in the mornings at school. He is young and strong and has one prosthetic leg.

That is the kind of thing that brings tears to my eyes and takes my breath away. These are the young men and women veterans who need our prayers, and maybe something more, this Veterans day.

*****************

A few years ago, actually exactly 4 years ago during the last election cycle, I was driving some kids up to Mt. Rushmore for a school field trip, when one boy in my car asked Hannah what her dad's job was. Hannah said he was in the Air Force. The boy said "My dad would NEVER do that." Meaning he would never serve in the military, ewwww!

I don't think I said anything, but I remember wishing I had said something like, "whew! Isn't he lucky he won't have to, since other people are willing to sacrifice to protect his family."

And you know, I'm so glad that little boy's dad doesn't have to serve in the military if he doesn't want to, but I am proud today of those who have chosen to, expecially my own Veteran!

Isn't he cute in uniform?

Weight-Gainer 2000

2008-11-06T13:23:00.007-10:00

When we were first married, we lived close to Nathan's family. Nathan's brother, Terry, and family lived in our same ward, and we spent a lot of time hanging out at their house. I've written before about Nathan's brother and his teeny-tiny Army shorts.

I was kind of shy at this point in my career. And easily embarrassed. Terry was (and is) really into fitness and body building. He had slightly embarrassing pictures of hot babes and nearly neked dudes with major muscles. He also had a giant sized jar of Weight-Gainer 2000 sitting on top of the refridgerator. Weight Gainer 2000 was (is?) a protein powder for weight-lifters, I think. Awesome.

I'm not telling this story to make fun of Terry. Hi Terry! But since I spent a good portion of my time at their house being embarrassed for one reason or another, this is kind of fun!

No, really, I'm not here to actually talk about Terry. I'm here to discuss that Weight Gainer 2000 stuff.

It's got a catchy name, don't you think. Weight Gainer 2000. Here is the sad tale of my own personal Weight Gainer 2008. Waaa.

Exactly 3 months ago today, Nathan returned home from Iraq. Woohooo!

Today I weigh exactly 10 pounds more than I did 3 months ago.

boooo. hiss.

I have a feeling it has something to do with being content, and cooking real food, and going out to eat, and ice cream Sundaes, and forgetting to run, and homemade chocolate chip cookies, and french fries, and fresh cinnamon rolls...

Mmmmm. Sounds good.

No. Bad. Very Bad. It is time for drastic measures. Food journal. More water. More running. No more brownies.

I'll be checking in here each Thursday to ~~keep me honest~~ let you know how I'm doing.

Any favorite healthy eating tips?

Laughing

2008-11-03T16:27:00.008-10:00

Way back, long long ago (last month) when I was avoiding my blog, my sister Mary and her family came alllllll the way across the ocean to visit us in Hawaii.

It was so fun. Mary has posted up a lot of awesome pictures of the grand time we had.

And it was fun.

We swam

and snorkeled

and hiked

and pigged out on shave ice

and hula'd

and paddled

and had an all around wonderful time.

And though swimming with the humuhumunukunukuapua'a was amazing (that's not actually a humu. I think it's a triggerfish. maybe.)

and the sunsets on the beach were beautiful...

...the best part of having them here was just hanging out with my sister.

She is so fun. And funny.

Mary, you crack me up!

10 Tricky Things that made Halloween a real Treat!

2008-11-01T18:49:00.007-10:00

#1 - the cutest fireman around

#2 - The cutest fireman around in the easiest Halloween costume in the history of my mom-hood.

Hi Fireman John!

#3 - Fun neighbors to trick or treat with

Don't forget #4 - one coolio dad to take the kids around the neighborhood so I could ~~read~~ hand out candy to ghosts and goblins

#5 - cutie pie flapper girl in the dress that worked just fine.

# 6 - Bollywood

#7 - Henna Tattoos

#8 - more cool neighbors of the tween variety to trick out with!

#9 - one white sheet = costume happiness

#10 - two white sheets and two adorable girls too cool to trick or treat this year.

It was a fun night of dress up here in our little neighborhood. If giving out lots of candy = success, then I think we deserve a gold star. I gave away 4 giant bags and 16 smaller bags of chocolate and skittles.

Has anyone else around here eaten way way way too much Halloween Candy?

uggg.

Thanks for the idea, Amanda. I think I'll try that no-sugar thing...tomorrow....

Boooo!

2008-10-31T09:06:00.003-10:00

Suddenly, Halloween has arrived! Boo!

How exciting!

John's class has a costume parade today. I didn't know schools even allowed that any more, but John's fireman hat and boots are in a bag in his backpack waiting for this afternoon.

Here's a spooky Halloween story:

Ever the Halloweeen procrastinator, I still need to finish up Emily's dress. Last year Hannah wore a red flapper dress. All year Emily has loved that dress, trying it on to see if she was tall enough to wear it. It made her feel fancy. When we were talking about costumes earlier this month, Emily said she wanted to be a fashion girl, with the long read dress and a pair of high heel boots. Eeeek! Even though Emily felt fancy, the dress was just too long and a little silly on her. This week I showed her some flapper-girl pictures and talked her into letting me cut down the dress to fit her.

That red sparkly fabric is the worst stuff I have ever tried to sew. I forgot how much I hated it last year. It has little glitter pieces that are glued on, and the glue gums up the needle and the thread breaks after only about 10 stitches. Grrrr.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a solution to that problem. A little cooking oil! I put some oil on a dish cloth and wiped down the needle. That allowed me to sew about 2 feet of fabric before I needed to un-gum the needle with a fresh coat of oil. Problem solved, but I still need to do a few more adjustments to make the dress fit just right. It's going to be so cute!

Sydney is keeping her costume a secret. Shhh! I'll post photos tonight.

Hannah says she is too old to trick or treat, but she and her friend are dressing up in Toga's and will pass out candy to the "little kids." Too old to trick or treat? scarrrrrry!

I hope your Halloween is a fright!

ps -

Dear Blogger,

Sorry I've been avoiding you. I hope you don't take it personally! I'll try to keep in better contact.

From your old friend,
W.

Spooky

2008-09-20T08:28:00.003-10:00

Every night while Nathan was gone, I left two lights on. One little light in the kitchen, and one light in the little bathroom.

At bedtime I had this whole routine. I would turn off the lights in the front room and turn on the light in the kitchen. I would turn on all my bedroom lights and then go out and turn off the hallway lights and stair lights. I would make sure the light was on in the little bathroom and that the door was only about an inch open, then I would make my way to bed, turning off lights until my bedside lamp was the only light on (besides the kitchen light and the little bathroom light which I left on all night every night.) Then I would read until I was ready to sleep and I'd switch off the lamp by my bed.

The light from the little bathroom let me feel safe, but wasn't so bright that it interupted my dreams.

With Nathan home now, I don't leave any lights on. I feel safe. Isn't that the best?

Here's the spooky part. The other night I stayed up reading while Nathan went to bed. Everyone was asleep but me. When I was ready to go to bed I turned off all the lights, even the little one in the kitchen and the one in the little bathroom. I remember pausing to ask myself if I needed to leave that light on to light my way to bed, but then I decided I didn't need it and I turned it off and went to bed. That's not the scary part, yet.

In the morning I woke up at 5:24am, as usual, unfortunately, and got up to make a little breakfast for Hannah before seminary. I found my glasses and brushed my teeth and headed out of my room.

And then I noticed something spooky. The light in the little bathroom was on, and the door was open just so.

I know I didn't leave it on. I am 99.5 percent sure I didn't. I asked Hannah if she had come downstairs before I got up and she said no. Later in the morning I asked Sydney, Emily, and John if they had gotten up in the middle of the night and used the little downstairs bathroom. They said no. Nathan said no.

How did the light get turned on?

I'm sure I didn't leave it on.

I think.

Spooky!

Aloha Friday

2008-09-12T08:55:00.003-10:00

It's Aloha Friday!

Time to eat some Mango.

Mango is my favorite new fruit. I love it. I could eat mango every day!

It is mango season in Hawaii. You can buy mango all over the place. I like to stop and buy mango from a car that parks along California Avenue in Wahiawa. I also buy local mango at the Commisary or at fruit stands along the North Shore. If you are not lucky enough to live in Hawaii, you can buy mango in your local grocery store. I hope...

I don't think I ever ate fresh mango before we moved here, and I had no idea how to cut one. Luckily, my friend Myrna is a mango expert. Her mango tree gives her way too much fruit. She freezes mango for mango smoothies and mango cake. Myrna showed me how to cut a mango to get the most out of the fruit.

You have to let mango ripen, just like peaches or pears. When you are able to press the fruit in a little, like a pear or a peach, then it is ready.

Some people are very allergic to Mango. It is usually the skin that causes the irritation. So be sure to wash your mango and peal it first thing. Myrna says to peal your mango in long strips from the top down. Don't cut too deep and waste that good fruit.

A ripe mango is slippery and juicy. I usually peal and cut mangos (mangoes?) right over the sink. Once your mango is pealed, you can start slicing off the meat in long strips.

A mango has a large furry pit. You know you have reached the pit when it gets difficult to slice. I think it feels kind of icy when I am cutting close to the seed. After you have removed all of the mango from the pit, you are ready to enjoy.

Mmmmmmango!

September 11th

2008-09-11T06:11:00.005-10:00

It must have happened 7 years ago. Emily is seven years old, now, and she was just a tiny baby that day.

We had lived in Pensacola, Florida for just over 6 months. It was our first ever military station. Nathan had just entered the Air Force and was in Pensacola for a year or so of flight training. Pensacola NAS is a beautiful base with some lovely historic buildings and homes. I loved seeing all the young sailors in their white hats waving cars onto the base. At that time we would drive up to the gate in our awesome brown Dodge Grand Caravan with the gold running boards, and the gate guards would see the stickers, snap out a salute, and we'd just coast on through without stopping. Easy peasy.

Things have changed.

On September 11, 2001, we were up stairs doing school work (I was home schooling Hannah) when Nathan showed up in the middle of the day. Very unusual. He came upstairs to find us and he couldn't even speak. He ended up writing it down. I still have that little paper telling me that two buildings had been hit...

Life on base changed immediately. Getting over the bridge and onto the base took hours while each car was searched. No more cute sailors in white. Guys in camo with big guns started doing the ID checks. One day that week, we took a little hike on the base out to look at the bayou, and as we were strolling along looking for wildlife, we saw a young marine staked out, watching for intruders. That scared me.

Today, I am typing this as soldiers are gathering for PT in the field behind our home. In a few minutes they will start shouting and counting. And in a few months 75% of the soldiers on our post will be deployed to one place or another.

We have not forgotten.

Hmmmm....

2008-09-10T09:49:00.005-10:00

With John starting school a month ago, and Nathan back to work, I suddenly find that I have a large chunk of time to myself. And I like it.

I haven't had "my own time" like this since I was a teenager....

Monday I cleaned cleaned cleaned, then I took Hannah to an ortho appointment, then went grocery shopping, and before I had time to put away all the groceries, it was time to pick up the kids.

Tuesday I was lazier and did a little online shopping (I hope my new Landsend overstock swimsuit fits. More importantly, I hope Hannah loves her new swimsuit. fingers crossed.), read the news, whipped up a batch of pizza dough, washed sheets, and read until school was out.

Now it's Wednesday. Wednesday is a short school day. I'm not sure why, or if I like it, but that's the way it is. I stayed at the school this morning and helped in John's class. I heart kindergarten!

And now I have 1.5 hours to get all my jobs done before the afternoon crazies. I need to go to the exchange to buy some envelopes. Then I need to go to the post office where I will use one of those envelopes to send a letter. While I'm at the post office I will send a little package to Kira! Hi Kira! Sorry it's taken me such a long time to send those photos...

After the post office I may buy myself some lunch. Or maybe I'll come home and make myself a BLT. I'm not sure. Then I'll walk back to the school and start an afternoon of fun.

sidenote: Once I saw a book at the library called No One Cares What You Had For Lunch - a book for bloggers. (or something like that) I didn't check out the book. Obviously. Maybe I should have.

Anywho. This isn't supposed to be a To Do List post. This is supposed to be me writing about how I'm not sure if it's okay for me to still be just a stay-at-home-mom now that all my kids are in school full time. I've been thinking maybe I should think about finding a little job. I don't know.

Here's why I don't think it will happen:

I don't really need a job. And, frankly, I work really hard between the hours of
5:30am-8:00am and 2:00pm-8:00pm. That is 8.5 hours of wild work, not including
any time spent on laundry or dishes or
sweeping while everyone is gone. Also, I love volunteering at the school and if
I was working (at say, the school) I wouldn't really have the time to volunteer. And don't forget blogging. Hello!
I have hardly had a chance to sit at the computer all month. If I had a job, my
blog would seriously suffer.

Here's why it could be fun:

I've never really had an actual real job. Maybe working would be a good thing.
And the school is hiring.

I don't want to start the whole working verses stay at home conversation, okay? I stay at home. Whatever. That's fine. When I was younger I felt more religiously zealous about staying home. And I'm glad I've been able to, but I don't think it's the only right or good or perfect way to be a mom. And also I think things are different as babies get older. That said, what would you do?

Real Life

2008-09-09T05:50:00.008-10:00

Nathan has been home from Iraq now for just over a month. And it has been mostly smooth sailing so far (knock on wood). There was some initial angst, but that was due to some overachievers in the Flight Records office, not me!

We've all had to make some adjustments - Nathan was a little unprepared for the afternoon rush around here, and the laundry staged a coup. But things seem to be slipping back into real life and it feels good.

Yesterday was my day to drive Hannah and co. to seminary at 5:45am. I jogged while they were studying and it was nice to have a moment to reflect on the last few weeks. It is kind of weird to be in that place that I was waiting waiting waiting for, you know? I have spent most of the last year worrying and waiting and worrying some more and it feels great to have broken out of that cycle. But it is so easy to start taking regular life for granted. So I spent a little time thinking about me and taking stock of whether or not I'm doing all those things that I said I would do when Nathan got home.

On my way back home after dropping the kids off at the high school, I drove past our elementary school, and saw Nathan and the kids walking down the sidewalk with backpacks on and hair slicked down.

It was a beautiful morning!

=

All I want for Christmas

2008-09-06T13:15:00.003-10:00

Emily lost both of her top two teeth this week.

She lost the first one about an hour before school pictures. I cannot wait to see how cute that little snaggle tooth smile turned out! She lost the second one this morning.

She is having a hard time saying words like sister and sweet. She also says she can drink without opening her mouth!

John wishes he had a loose tooth, too.

ps - I hope the toothfairy remembers to come tonight...

.

5 Years Old

2008-08-31T11:39:00.007-10:00

Please, everybody, look at me! Today I'm five years old you see! And after this, I won't be four, Not ever, ever, anymore! I won't be three-or two-or one, For that was when I'd first begun. Now I'll be five a while, and then I'll soon be something else again! (Marie Louise Allen) John's Olympic Birthday party was a Gold Medal event! We competed in the long jump, the high jump, the discus, the shot-put, a sponge relay, gymnastics, a water balloon free throw, and a marathon. Sydney and her buddy Olivia were the official judges. They demonstrated the events and kept the little kids in order! I wasn't sure if the kids would enjoy it, but they were totally in to it, and wanted to do each event over and over! The most popular was the gymnastics.
Happy Birthday John!

Turtles at Ali'i Beach

2008-08-20T05:53:00.006-10:00

Last weekend (or was it the weekend before last?) Hannah and Nathan went scuba diving at The Trench.

They saw turtles.

Lots of turtles.

Here's Hannah with a turtle.

Hey, Hannah! Stop harassing that turtle - that's illegal!

The other kids and I snorkeled closer to the beach. We also saw several turtles. Two came up on the sand and sun-bathed with me.

Emily and Sydney were snorkeling together a ways out. It is really shallow for a long way, and the ocean was calm, so I let them get out a little farther than usual. They were having a good time together, until I heard screaming. And they both scrambled back to the shore, splashing and hollering all the way.

Sydney told me that they were snorkeling along, looking for fish, minding their own business, when all of the sudden a huge turtle came over to check them out. His head was right by theirs! Scary! After that they stayed closer to shore...

Yeah for turtles!

.

P.S. I want to make sure it's clear that Nathan is home now. He had two weeks of leave and will head back to his regular Air Force job tomorrow (although I think he may take another 10 days off.) He's not going back to Iraq any time soon. I hope.

.

Bowled over

2008-08-19T06:19:00.002-10:00

Nathan's two weeks of official leave is over tomorrow. Can you believe it's been two weeks? We have been partying hard over here at the Tiki Hut. It has been so fun to have Nathan home! and I have been avoiding the computer. I just haven't wanted to waste any time! But now it's time to catch up....

Bowling with John:

John has kept a list of fun things to do with his dad, and bowling was right at the top. Each and every phone call from Nathan, John would run down his list: bowling, snorkeling, wrestling, and the water park... so far they are 3 for 4.

John's score wasn't as good this time as the last time we went bowling, but his form was awesome! Here's a funny from John: the kids and I went bowling the weekend before Nathan came home. That makes it sound like we bowl a lot. Not so. Thank goodness for the bumpers! That night John said in his prayer "...and thank you that I got one strike and two spares at bowling..."

He totally beat me...

coming soon - scuba-ing. glider rides. a jam session. and a Lost casting call.

.

Home Again

2008-08-09T10:58:00.003-10:00

John and Dad

Sydney and Dad

Dad and Emily

Hannah and Dad

What a great week!

The night Nathan came home seemed rather unreal. We tidied up the house, hung the welcome home banner, and I started a movie for the kids while I headed to the airport. Nathan wasn't coming home with a big group. His group came home a few days earlier, so it was just him. No big ceremony or parade. Perfect!

There was construction at the airport, and I missed the parking garage and ended up leaving the airport and having to drive into Honolulu to turn around! I was plenty early, so I just kept calm and tried again.

At the airport I went to the USO and filled out paperwork so that I could pass through security and go to the arrival gate to meet Nathan. Then I had to hike from one end of the airport to the other (twice) in my cute red sandals. That airport is bigger than it looks.

Just after I found gate 22, an airplane pulled in. They were about a half hour early. Yipes! I saw a few other families waiting for their dads, too. I felt like I had electricity in my skin while I was standing there, waiting.

It was fun to see Nathan before he saw me. He is so cute!

We broke the "no PDA in uniform" rule! Then found his baggage, said "Hi" to his commander who had come to welcome him home, and headed home.

The kids hung a Happy Birthday banner for Nathan, and taped paper over the door for him to break through, since he missed his birthday while he was gone. That was totally fun. John thought that was great.

It is so sweet to have our family together again.

Welcome Home, Nathan!

Note From Nate

2008-08-05T07:12:00.002-10:00

Hey Everyone!

Thanks to all of you for making Wendy's blog so much fun over the last seven months. I've been able to read it from time to time and it's really kept my spirits up. I'm at the Atlanta USO waiting for my flight! I'm on my way home...Wendy, you are completely HAWT!...and you always exceed my expectations. I love you.

Mary C., I would have loved to see you guys in Balt-more. I can't wait for your visit. See you soon!

-Nate

(Nathan just sent this comment to yesterday's post. I hope he doesn't mind if I make it today's blog post.)

Checking My List

2008-08-04T00:03:00.006-10:00

I worked hard last week so that I wouldn't have any big projects to do if Nathan got home earlier than expected, so my to do list for tomorrow is easy-peasy:

get hannah to her first day of seminary(!)
get the kids to school
do my regular Monday Clean-o-Rama
hope for a phone call from Atlanta
wash sheets
and go to the commissary

Not bad.

I just love lists, don't you? As a special treat I have an old list to review. I thought I'd revisit my list of deployment goals/New Year's resolutions to see how I did. Here it is, copied and pasted from January 3rd - slashes added:

This year I want to:

1 ~~Spend less $~~

2 ~~Save more $$$~~

3 ~~Pay off the big red 'burb~~

4 Stay home more

5 Write

6 ~~Read good books~~

7 ~~Take a class~~ (hula)

8Learn to surf for reals

9 ~~Plan and Survive (and hopefully even enjoy) Girls Camp~~

10 ~~Run 5x a week~~mostly

11 ~~Do the Great Aloha Run~~

12 ~~Hang curtains~~ and pictures in my bedroom

13 Look Hawt when Nathan gets home in September

In Review:

I am most proud of #3. That was my main big goal for this deployment. And it was tough, but we did it! It was an exciting day when I got a little notice from the bank, stating me that that giant gas guzzling car taking up two parking spots at the grocery store is mine! All Mine! Which makes it easier to do more of #1 an #2!

All year I have done a great job at #10...until last week...in which I ran just once. Yikes. I hope that doesn't affect my chance at #13.

Did you notice I wrote "September" on #13. All along Nathan was saying July. I was saying September. It is better to be pleasantly surprised with an earlier return date, don't you think?

Unfortunately, I still can't surf. I will learn to surf. I will... I will... hey Mary, wanna take a surfing lesson with me when you come visit? Let's try to leave the guys at home so there won't be any more of those embarrassing photo's...

I wish I had been better at #4 so I would have had more time for #5. It seems like I got busy busy busy as soon as Hannah started rehearsals for her play, and I haven't had a chance to slow down since. I have a feeling things will change a little when there's more than one driver around here, and me with just one car.

And here's me, way back in December, working on goal #6:

That's all!

Waiting

2008-08-03T08:30:00.003-10:00

Maybe it's a good thing Nathan didn't make it home from Iraq this weekend.

I gotsta read!

Bella: "Should I be afraid?"
Edward: "Terrified."

Soon

2008-08-02T08:35:00.003-10:00

Earlier this week I got a note from Nathan saying "I'm making my way home."

I spent all week trying to decipher those 5 words... what does that mean exactly? coming home when? this week? next week? I worked through the tension by cleaning out closets and getting my hair done. I finally got to talk to him this morning.

Just a few more days until he comes home!

Yippeee!

Here is some reunion advice for myself from the ghost of reunion past.

Deployment #1. John was a baby, I was a new Primary President, and I shovelled a lot of snow while Nathan was sitting easy in a tropical location. I had crazy expectations when he got home, and I was easily disappointed.

Reunion #1 lesson learned - have less expectations. and relax.

Deployment #2 The kids were a little bigger and a lot busier. I spent a lot of time with the snow shovel, again, while Nathan was (again) in a tropical location. Nathan came home at the intersection of track and soccer seasons. We also had piano lessons, preschool, and lots of Primary responsibilities and activities. I tried hard to remember deployment lesson #1. But I think I disappointed Nathan by all our busy activities. My favorite thing about that reunion is that I made arrangements for Nathan and I to escape for a night about a week after he got home.

Reunion #2 lesson learned - don't be so busy, and take the time to escape.

Deployment #3 - I'm in the tropical location this time! Ha! And already this week I've been fighting the expectation game.....but I'm working on it! What I'm really worried about is lesson #2 - don't be so busy.

The kids are getting settled into the school routine, and our calendar next week is looking full. Today I am going to call and find a replacement for myself for YW and cancel piano lessons. I'm skipping the PTO meeting and I'm also going to email the band director and let him know that I won't be able to make it to the band parent orientation meeting.

Luckily I already arranged a carpool for cross country, but but there's still the 5th grade pizza social and the Kindergarten orientation... arrrg.

I know some of you have been through bigger and badder deployments than I have, and I know you've got some great advice, so let me have it. Give me have your best reunion tip!

*I wonder if my favorite babysitter is available for a weekend later this month...

School's In

2008-07-31T21:06:00.003-10:00

After just 6 short weeks of summer, we are walking back to School.

We were excited to find that both Sydney and Emily ended up with our #1 top teacher picks!

Sydney was not so excited about the photo-shoot. Mom. Please, this is embarrassing me... Notice the star lei she is wearing? She learned how to make those last week, and gave that one to her teacher. Sydney is so crafty!

Emily, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to smile for me.

John doesn't start school 'til late next week, but he's got the morning routine down!

Happy Back to School Day!

Most of the Hawaii schools do a year round kind of thing. We get about 2 weeks off for fall break, 3 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks off for Spring Break, and 6 weeks in the summer. I guess that works, especially since it is always beautiful and summer-like in Hawaii, so why not take a few weeks off throughout the year?

Even though our summer felt way too short, back to school time is still totally exciting. Walking down to check out the class lists + sharpening pencils + buying new slippah's for school = Fun!

High School

2008-07-29T08:29:00.004-10:00

Wait a minute. Did you say high school?

Are you sure?

You can't be old enough to be in high school already.

Oh. I guess you are!

Have a great day!

Get to class!

Monday Random

2008-07-28T07:00:00.003-10:00

I have a cold. My nose is stuffy and my ear aches. And I keep sneezing. Blech.

School starts tomorrow. Eeeek! This short summer thing isn't my favorite.

Remember when I couldn't decide about John and school? We did decide to go ahead and register him for Kindergarten, and he's so excited. He has a backpack and new shoes and he's ready to go.

Did I ever tell you I had a sea urchin spine in my foot? Back when Hannah was doing her dive class in early July, I kicked a sea urchin at the beach (accidentally) and one of it's pokies ended up in my toe. It was like the size of a piece of broken pencil led, and I couldn't get it out. I was told to leave it alone as it would soon just dissolve, but it's been almost a month and it wasn't dissolving. Is this grossing you out? It's gone now. Last night I got it out with a needle. I'm so glad to have my toe back. I was afraid it would sprout and I would start looking like a character from Pirates of the Caribbean with sea urchins and crustaceans growing on me....

That was gross.

I don't know when Nathan's coming home from Iraq and I'm not really allowed to ask, but I started cleaning out closets this weekend! The pantry looks fabulous! Now if I could just find a dress....

I told John he had to eat 4 bites of his chicken before he could have more bread, since he is 4 years old. He told me, "Wow, you are going to have to eat an hundred bites, mom!" ouch....

Bad Dream

2008-07-26T06:04:00.003-10:00

It's been a while since I had a bad dream about Nathan.

But, early this morning I had one of those bad bad dreams. I don't remember the whole dream, and I don't wanna write about all of it and jinx myself or something, but it ended with me trying to decide if it would be better to move with the kids to California near his family, or Oregon near mine. (which is a tiny bit odd since I don't have a whole lotta family in Oregon)

and then I heard a knock on the door.

The knock woke me up from my bad dream and I stayed in bed until I heard another knock to be sure I wasn't still dreaming.

at 5:45am.

That's just the kind of thing to stop my heart.

and make me wish I wore attractive jammies to bed last night.

But I scrambled to find my glasses and my robe. I made it to the door and looked out the peep hole......

...and it was just a neighbor kid offering Hannah a ride to cross country practice, not a few men in uniform. Whew!

note to Nathan: come home soon!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

2008-07-24T07:04:00.000-10:00

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly at Camp

2008-07-21T21:45:00.006-10:00

I really had a wonderful time at camp. I loved it. Even though I was stressed right up through the drive there, that feeling of angst went away as soon as we got to camp and started setting up. I had a great time, and I think most of the girls did, too.

This year's camp was different than anything I have ever experienced, either as a leader or as a girl myself. It was a ward YW camp, not a stake camp. So all the planning and set up and cooking and activities and supplies and equipment was up to us. With just two of us really doing the work, it was tough. It didn't help that one of us was out of town for half the summer and the other of us' husband is gone. But we did great, if I do say so myself.

The Good:

Bellows was the perfect place to stay. The beach was beautiful, the camp area was shady and grassy, and it felt very safe. Some beach areas in Hawaii don't feel as safe, but I was able to sleep well - and that is extremely rare and important to me. Remember me yelling for dad to save my life in the middle of the night on Mt. Adams? yeah. that kind of thing still happens to me... but not this year!

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was so fun. You should go there if you come visit Oahu. But if you are coming with a group, do yourself a favor and don't mention that little fact to the ticket people. They have crazy rules about groups there. I should add that to my bad list, but it turned out good in the end.

The hike to Maunawili Falls gets an A+. A week before camp, we set up a compass treasure hunt along the trail to the falls. The girls followed the clues along the trail, collecting little star beads in the YW colors. Brilliant. Swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls was cool. The girls jumped off the rocks into the water. I did not. The hike seemed to be the girls' favorite thing about camp.
Watching the sun rise in the East. Wow.

Catching crabs on the beach after dark.

Singing silly songs around the campfire. This is a secret that I have wanted to save as a surprise for when Nathan comes home, but I have to write it here, so if you are reading this, Nathan, cover your eyes. For fun this summer, Hannah's piano teacher taught her how to play the guitar and she took a little break from piano. Hannah is a genius and picked up chords in like a day. Watching Hannah play guitar by the campfire with all the girls singing along was so cool. (The day we got home from camp we had to rush over to the Haleiwa Arts Festival so Hannah could perform with a girl band. She played guitar and sang her little heart out. I'm hoping someone will email me some photos of that so I can blog about it properly.) Anywho, the campfire songs were great. You never know if the girls will go along with your ideas, and I was a little nervous that there would be some 'tude about singing, but I was wrong....the singing was fun!

Having the best babysitter ever taking care of my little kids. Cammie was a dream come true. She doesn't believe in television, and my kids were in craft heaven all week. They love her and are dreaming of the next time she gets to babysit.

The Bad:

Bellows is a military area and to stay there with a bunch of non-military people was complicated. I had to gather a load of information and fax it to the security people a few days before camp. Unfortunately my fax was lost and it took 4 trips to the gate (15 minutes from camp) to sponsor people on, and 4 more trips to the security office to get it all taken care of. Grrrr.

Planning and buying and organizing all the food is a daunting task. It is so hard to know how much food to buy. This year was easier than last year, as I made an awesome spreadsheet last year, but it was still hard. And though we did a better job this year splitting up the cooking between years, I had a hard time letting that task go. It didn't help that I seemed to be the only person who was capable of looking through the coolers and boxes to find the different ingredients.

A giant centipede in the middle of the night. Eeek!

The Ugly:

One of our leaders was a little bit left-over happy. She just could not let the leftovers go. That made for some ice chest challenges. Peach cobbler rewarmed and served for 3 days...Gha.

Girl trouble on the mini-golf coarse. I was having a fabulous time swinging the club when all H.E. Double Hockey Sticks broke loose. One girl called another girl a mean name, that girl started to have a panic attack, no one would take the blame or apologize....oh the drama. All the drama made our YW leader have a bit of a break down, too, which was surprising. What would camp be without the drama, though?

The bites on my belly. On about day two of camp I started to notice a couple of bites on my belly. When we got home and I saw myself in the mirror I almost started crying. I look like I have a bad case of the chicken pox. I'm told to keep cortisone cream handy and they should go away in a week to ten days (I hope it's gone before Nathan comes home...maybe you shouldn't read that part, either, Nathan.)

I heart YW camp!

Girls Camp

2008-07-15T21:18:00.002-10:00

Confession: I don't actually want to go to camp.

We are heading out tomorrow and I am already feeling frazzled.

But, I'm sure it will be great fun.

Here's our schedule:

Day One:

Set up at Bellows at about 3pm.

Go swim at the beach until dinner and campfire.

Walk back to the beach and look at the stars. Find the Big Dipper and the North Star. Hunt for crabs.

Day Two:

Watch the sunrise.

Go to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. Identify some fish.

Go back to camp and play at the beach. Maybe some noodle surfing!

After dinner, play miniature golf.

Day Three:

Hike to Maunawili Falls. Jump off the rocks and swim in the pool.

Go back to camp and swim some more at the beach.

Roast marshmallows over the campfire.

Day Four:

Pack up.

Go home.

Hug and Kiss Sydney, Emily, and John.

Shower.

See ya Saturday!

SCUBA

2008-07-09T21:01:00.009-10:00

Last week Hannah took a SCUBA class. Now she is an actual certified PADI diver. Go Hannah!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-07-06T09:10:00.003-10:00

My birthday wish:

I have a feeling that wish will come true in the next month or so.

la la la!

happy birthday to me...