Busy or at least pretending

What have I been doing you ask? Well, I would like to say I have been doing some amazing things over here but that would be a lie!! See for yourself.......

1. We made a pinewood derby care and then raced it.

For the last three years I have done the pinewood derby without Teds help. I don't know how it has worked out this way but he has been out of town every year for the entire week!! (I feel really bad for C. I am clueless when it comes to derby cars. At least this year, he didn't come in last every time, baby steps!)

2. We took pictures of ourselves making funny faces. This was a hit. Who doesn't love to see themselves make funny faces. Some of us enjoy it more than others.

3. We opened presents from the coolest Aunts on earth. Ted has two older sisters, they are amazing. Melanie has two daughters of her own and lives in California. Lynette has two dogs of her own and lives in Colorado. They both are very different but my children adore them. When the two of them come into town my family is beyond excited.

Melanie is so great to do one on one time and just sit and listen to them talk. Of course, every child loves to be heard and that is exactly what she does. Paige is always asking me, "When do we get to see Aunt Melanie again?"

Then there is Lynette, she is wild and crazy. On St. Patricks Day this year, C wakes up and says, "I wish Aunt Lynette were here because she is always crazy fun on the holidays!". It opened up my eyes to how much they treasure those interactions with their Aunties. I could go on and on but instead I will say this.

Package in the mail: $40

Knowing your Aunt thought about you: PRICELESS!

Our package from Aunt Melanie was actually hand delivered by cousin Amy and Uncle Keith. I love those faces!

C absolutely loved this helicopter that Uncle Keith brought. He has played with it more than any other "toy" I've ever bought. How does that happen?? So much for mother knowing best!

4. We chilled with Grandma. We always have a good time together. I still marvel that she gets so excited to see her great grandchildren. I take them by at least 3 times a week and her excitement hasn't decreased from day one! She is always happy to see me but there is a definite difference when I bring by the Great Grandchildren.

5. I was reminded how life can change in the blink of an eye. We have good friends that let us know their two year old son was diagnosed with brain cancer. As I listened over the phone to the sequence of events that had happened to them in the previous 48 hrs I was in shock. I was embarrassed for myself when I said, "I can't process this, I'm in shock". Can you imagine how they must have been feeling? As I have watched them dealing with this I marvel how they take the little things in life and make them into miracles. I think sometimes I expect big things in my life when it is really the little things that make life a miracle. I know they have their moments, we all do, but I have been reminded that life is too short to waste dwelling on the unchangeable. I must be grateful for the little things in life because that is what life is made up of, the little things!! BTW, go hug your child.

Hmmm, did I mention....

I got a new hat and sunglasses in Hawaii???

I didn't think so.

Pool here I come!

What time is it???

It must be time to have a water gun fight, never mind the snow on the mountains.
I definitely wasn't ready to bring out the water guns
but I think I was the only one with those evil
thoughts!! Here in Utah when it's 80 degrees

ITS HOT!!!!

We hope whatever you did today, you enjoyed it as much as we did!!

Aloha!

I loved the fern plants on our jungle hikes. I need some of these in Utah!!

Outside the LDS chapel in Honolulu.
On the temple grounds. The temple is currently closed for re-modeling.
See the turtle in the background?? I know it looks like a rock but it really is a turtle!
We saw a total of four turtles that day. I loved it. I took waaaay too many pictures.

The parrot picture. I am surprised this picture even turned out. I was
laughing so hard while I took it. The big brother was a little freaked out by the whole
bird on my head thing.

We loved climbing trees by the beach!! Almost couldn't get enough of it.

Here are the turtles again. I wanted to bring one home!! I'm sure they would looooove the

bathtub.

The view was always amazing at the end of our hikes.

We just couldn't get enough of the beach.

I loved this trail. The tree branches made great steps. I might add we were a muddy

mess by the time we reached the top.

I couldn't get over the size of the tree trunks. I wish I had a tree like this in

Utah!

We took over 500 pictures on this trip. I won't bore you with anymore but we had the time of our lives. Nobody wanted to come back and all three children were begging us to live

in Hawaii for the summer. The truth be told, I was begging Ted

to stay the summer in Hawaii. If only it were that easy.

Growing Pains

We just got back from an amazing vacation to Hawaii. I had a great conversation with T yesterday while on the beach. It went something like this.

T: Mom, look (points to chest area). My Nibbles they are sticking out.

Me: (laughing hysterically, almost peeing in the ocean) Your nibbles??? You mean your nipples??

T: Yeah, my nipples.

Me: (lifting up T's swim shirt) Oh, it looks like you are getting rubbed raw from your swim shirt. Lets take your shirt off and then it wont rub your chest.

T: (shirt is off and examining his "nibbles", the area is slightly inflamed and raised from being rubbed raw) Mom, it's alright I think I'm just having growing pains.

Me: (containing laughter) Growing pains??? What do you mean??

T: See how its sticking out. I think I'm starting to grow right here so it hurts!!

Note to self: teach son that boys nibbles don't grow.

Puzzle Time

This is what we did today. It was a good time and we owe it all to a wonderful Grandmother, better known as Hama. It never fails, every holiday we get a package in the mail from Hama. Everyone gets so excited and there is always something fun to do inside.

Thanks Hama! You really are the best!!

Just a side note on the puzzle. I was a bit embarrassed for myself after putting the puzzle together. Each state has the capitol city labeled on it. I was reading through some of the states and I could not remember the state capitols. What is up with that??? I remember memorizing them in the 3rd grade but I could not tell you half of the state capitols for the east coast. I couldn't believe it. What was even worse is that none of them even sounded familiar. I couldn't even pull the one liner "Oh yeah, I remember now" because it wasn't even there. I felt like one of those lame-o adults on the Jay Leno show under the "Jay Walking" segment. It was not a good feeling!!! I guess I know what I need to study.

Dirty little secrets

I guess if you want to get technical, its really not dirty. All the clothes piled up on Teds side of the bed are clean, really, they are. I just need someone to come fold them up and put them away. Do I have any takers???

Ted has been out of town and my older brother has been in town. There is no time for silly little things like folding clothes, at least we have clean socks. The dirty clothes hamper is empty, does that count for something???

It's that time!

Are you wondering what "time" I'm talking about? Well, there is no need to wonder any longer. The pictures say it all. It's time to go outside and play soccer with snow capped mountains. Hello, what other time would it be!! I'm not complaining here because about 10 mins prior it was raining with snow capped mountains. We were very happy with how the weather turned out for soccer tonight. We had a great time because we made a couple of GOALS!! What more can you ask for, right??

Puberty!

Today I had my two nephews and oldest son in the car. I had stepped out for about 5 minutes. All the windows were up in the car and this was the conversation when I got back in.

Me: Oh my goodness, you guys stink so bad. This is so foul I might puke! (roll down my window)

My Son: (pointing to my oldest nephew) It's your puberty that stinks!

Oldest nephew: (head bent over to arm pits) No, no it's not me, I put my deodorant on today!!

You never know when your puberty is going to strike, please make sure you have your deodorant on!

Note to self: teach my son that "your puberty" doesnt stink!

Weekend, a success!

I think this picture summarizes it all.

Deep meditation, very deep.

I hope none of you went quite this deep today!!

I almost feel bad admitting to this but I took great pleasure in photographing my little nephew. You wonder why a person would feel bad taking pictures of their little nephew, well he would get so mad at me. He is a fireball to say the least. He is extremely volatile which leads to some great facial expressions. I only wish I could have gotten some better shots. These pictures do not do his little personality justice. World, watch out because here he comes!

He did not want me to look at him here, so he closed his eyes. We all know that if you close your eyes the bad people go away.

I'm so happy! Oh wait, you took my picture. I'm not happy anymore!The weekend of listening to General Conference was a good one for me.

Life is too short, be grateful for what you have.

Better, much better

You know there are just some things that taste better when they are broken into little, itty, bitty pieces. As a kid, I loved breaking my slice of bread, it just seemed to be that much tastier. If it wasn't in little pieces then it had to be smashed into one big ball or else it just wasn't as good. I know it sounds silly but try it, you will see. I know someone else who thinks the same as I do.

Ahhh, much better!

I just have to show this. I went to visit Grandma the other day and she asked me to bring this shirt home and sew a few seams that had come un-done. Imagine that, after 30 years a seam is coming un-done!! I just love the polyester and the print. So Grandma, but so back in style!!

You know you love it!

Politically correct

Here at our house we like to treat everyone fairly. We don't want anyone to feel inferior or less of a person so we aren't picky, we are challenged eaters. Some days are better than others. I struggle with challenged eaters because I eat everything, well almost. I have to admit, I don't have much sympathy for challenged eaters. I am finally learning that making a big issue over what a person will and will not eat is pretty much a waste of my time. I haven't yet been able to convince my challenged eater to like something they don't like. So I don't make a big deal anymore. I insist they try everything I cook and then we move on.

Anyway, today was a hard day. I forced my challenged eater, no names please that would only bring more unwanted attention to the challenged eater which is not politically correct, to drink Emergen-C. I thought this would be a "treat", silly me!! I thought every child would love to drink something besides plain, old water, I was WRONG!!

Now, I'm not saying it tastes like candy but I'm also saying it doesn't taste like brussel sprouts(sorry all you brussel sprout lovers I would rather drink horse pee!). So you get my point here. Well for challenged eaters drinking Emergen-C is like the last thing on earth you can do. I will say, today my challenged eater did not cry or put up a big fuss. I was very, very impressed with how she met the challenge, see for yourself.

If you are not aware, there is a process.

First, the nose plug!!

DRINK. FAST. phew. I'm done.

Second, eat something you do like immediately after the swallow!

It's as simple as that.

FYI, food of choice this a.m-LIFE cereal.

BTW, I adore my challenged eater!

Can the joke be over???

I know it's April 1st. I'm in for a good joke but I think it's time to call this joke done.

Where is the sunshine???

I need a little green!!