Summer Fun

Last Saturday was the annual Fireman Breakfast. It was our first time, but definitely won't be the last time. Eden mentions it several times a day now and loves to wear her fireman hat-I need a picture of that. I wonder if she'll do that until next year. It was a fundraiser where the firemen cook a great breakfast and we buy it, eat it, then play around on the trucks. How rad is that old fire truck? Taj was loving the bell.

We love Farm Country (Thanksgiving Point). Eden had her first horse back ride and kept saying "Again" afterwords and Taj picked the biggest horse he could find. We laughed at the baby cow that could lick his own nostrils. It was good times.

We've been out to the parks and thrown hundreds of rocks into streams all over town. This is such a beautiful time of year, and such a beautiful age for the kids. I'm loving watching their excitement over the world. It's something new everyday. Summer is fun!

Sometimes...

Sometimes just going outside is enough to fill up a morning. This little ladybug kept us busy for about 45 minutes.

Sometimes Taj and Eden are the best of friends. Some mornings Taj will tell me we need to go get Eden because he loves her. In this picture he started out holding her hand so she'd be brave enough to slide into the terrifying depths of the water. After a few times I guess he got bored cuz he pulled her down into the pool really hard. She got upset and ran to me. Taj ran over after her and told me he came because he loves her. Hmmm. They're pretty good together most of the time, and the naughty brother sister thing is the "sometimes". I am SOOO glad to have two kids now that they are buddy's.

Sometimes I don't mind the early wake up call. Eden still LOVES her belly button. It's her pacifier I guess. Some mornings she'll have opened the gate for easy access to the belly button and it's so cute. Mornings are usually my favorite time of day with the kids- usually, but sometimes... It's a good thing the kids are cute.

True Love

Somehow way back in February (Valentines Day) Micah intuitively knew that I would desperately need a break from the kids on May 23rd and 24th and acted on it. He got us tickets for the Flight of the Concords concert in Las Vegas and made all the necessary arrangements for it. It was a very sweet gesture for a delayed Valentine, and I had been looking forward to it ever since.

Like clockwork May 23rd came around and I was at the end of my rope. How did Micah know? He whisked me away to lovely Las Vegas. Actually, I can think of more appropriate descriptive of Vegas, but I digress. It was my weekend away. I have few complaints. FOTC were amazing! Amazing! Here's the best photo. Sorry, no robot costume pic's. How can they make a career of what they are doing? I felt like I was hanging out with some good friends that happen to speak in music. Argy-boy won me over too (plays Dave and is usually very crude on the show, but kept it clean for that night in Vegas of all places).

So it was a great couple of days. I must mention that we were hit hard by the Vegas crowd this time, worse than we remembered in the past, and while there are some cool things about the city -New York New York's roller coaster ride on the roof, The Venetians real gondolas, great buffet's, warm weather, and oh, the Bellagio- we don't think we'll be returning for a while and we hope our kids never go. While walking around I came up with a short checklist of ways to evaluate whether or not I'm staying away from the Las Vegas lifestyle.

1. Am I wearing high heals with my swimsuit, and if so, do I consider it my outfit and wear it around non-water areas of town?

2. Do I have fake boobs? (that would be easy to tell)

3. Am I ordering alcoholic beverages at 9 in the AM?

4. Am I wearing a little black dress and holding a gold clutch (the Vegas uniform apparently)?

5. Am I yelling, "Woooo!" often and for what others would assume was no reason at all?

6. Am I smelling other peoples armpits in hotel lobby's?

7. Do I make out with people in swimming pools and make people uncomfortable?

And did I mention how Pleasant ville Utah felt after the trip? Kinda put things in perspective. In conclusion, it was SO nice to get away. It was fun to be a kid with no schedule. I love love love hotels. My husband knows me better than I know myself, and can see the future :).

Following Through

After about a year of thinking how much our overheating vacuum sucked (in the sense that it did not suck well at all) I got my new vacuum today. I LOVE IT! Hoover wind tunnel, if anyone was wondering.

So while I'm vacuuming the entire house like a madwoman, each room twice and showing all the amazing stuff it was sucking up to anyone around- and to think I stood up for my other vacuum for months and months, I got to thinking about all the other things I tell myself I'll do week after week, day after day, sometimes several times a day and DON'T DO for any reason other than I have no follow through-ability. I've always been pretty flaky I've decided, and unless there's a really good outside motivator, chances are I won't get myself to do it.

Here's a small sampling of my frequent vows:

-Get to bed early

-Put the laundry away; there's always laundry to put away

-take my camera with me everywhere I go

-thank Micah more for all the work he does for me and the kids

-take cookies to my neighbors

-do something by myself while the kids are still awake (while they're with a responsible adult)

The list goes on and on. I'm not going to get down on myself because while I'm not doing these things I am very busily doing other things. The wind tunnel just made me realize how satisfying it can be to actually follow through. I suppose as long as I keep swimming and take tiny steps, like getting the vacuum I'd been thinking about for months, I'll be o.k.

Cabin Fever

We just got back from a weekend at my Aunts cabin in Heber (thank you again Rosy!). We fished, hiked, played in the dirt, had water gun sneak attacks, fed ducks, cuddled, watched wildlife (Taj and Eden included), ate lots, and just enjoyed being family.

I know I tend to complain a lot about some of the things in my life I can't control, but lately that has been replaced with gratitude to our Heavenly Father for knowing what I need in my life better than I do. I have a beautiful life for which I am grateful. I am even beginning to see the good that's coming from some of the things I have fought against. I'm sure it wont be long before I'm gritting my teeth about some of life's daily annoyances, but for now I am grateful. I guess it was a good weekend.

Catching Up

I'm not sure if it was noticed or missed but I haven't blogged in a while. We've been keeping busy with a few things-some worth mentioning and some I'll mention just because I feel like it.

Eden and Taj love the trampoline- LOVE the trampoline, and hallelujah, Eden is finally confident enough to jump alone and even with Taj. In this picture it looks like she got my genes and can't jump more than an inch, but not so. She's got skills.

My brother Jake and his family Mariko and Amaya came to visit (thank you Kegan for getting married near us or this might never have happened). We loved having them around and wish it was always that way. We enjoyed Discovery Gateway, Red Mango, Tepanyaki (sorry Amaya), shopping with Mariko, Dew, Kangaroo Zoo, and lots of hang out time. I was surprised at how many fun things there were for us to do. I actually wished there was more time to show them all of the fun things to do here. Utah has some good things going for it I guess.

Micah went to Mexico and returned without any signs of the Pig flu. He went for work, just like they do every year around this time, and other than feeling sluggish from all the amazing food he feels fine.

One of Micah's best friends since he was ten years old has been staying with us for about a week pining over a lost love. He drove from New Mexico to Montana to try to win back the "love of his life" and didn't get the results he was hoping for. He's been fun with the kids and reminds Micah and I how great we have it in life and love.

There's been a lot of other stuff going on too, but I'm out of pictures so until next time.

Work in Progress

We had fun this Easter weekend. That's right, it's Easter for us all weekend long.

We went to the wild free for all Easter egg"hunt" at our city park. For the 3 years and under it's a blocked off section of the grass with candy and plastic eggs spread across the area. Pretty tough. They obviously don't know that Taj and Eden have been trained to find candy.
That afternoon we dyed eggs. We had two packs of dye instead of one so we put two pellets in each cup and the colors were AMAZING. S0 vibrant and dyed them quickly, which is perfect for our attention span.

The Easter Bunny found our house, and my goodness that Eden girl can find an Easter egg. She's got skills. I wish I had footage of her spotting the egg and taking off in a run for it. Taj did well too but once he saw her working it he started waiting for her to find one and try to beet her to it. She didn't mind though. What she does mind is when you take away her candy after her hands and mouth are full of it. Lesson learned.



While Easter is always wonderful and a special time I feel like I'm still kind of wrestling with balancing the pagan and religious aspects of the occasion. I hope to do more of the candy, hunting, silliness part of the holiday on Saturday and then reserve Sunday for the true meaning of the day. Food and Easter clothes aren't going to cut it. What do you guys do? We're still a young family and are looking for traditions to adopt. Anyone?

Reality Bites

We're heading back to Utah tonight. I know we'll be back to Hawaii someday, and I also know that we have a great life waiting back in Utah, but it still hurts. Here's just a small list of the things we will miss:

Goodbye morning walks/runs by the beach.

See ya hammocks.

We'll miss you toes in the sand while watching the sun go down.

Until next time neighbor kids coming by to play with Taj.

I'll be dreaming of you Storto's, Wailua Bakery, Sharks Cove Grill, Pizza Bob's salad, Kua'aina, ice cream shop in Hale'iwa whose name I can't remember, Foodland Sushi, Hawaiian Sun's, Bale's, Hale'iwa Eats, farmers market....

Laters surfboard that magically rides any size wave and fits into the turtle bay closet.

Goodbye local grocery store where we bump into people we know and love.

Was great to hang with you beaches where the kids played happily for hours giving Micah and I the chance to surf and relax.

Love you warmth and sunshine that gives us the chance to play, even in March, and tire the kids out so they sleep better than they have in months.

Hasta trees that Taj and Eden love to climb.

Oh, plumerias, tahitian gardenia, pua kini kini, we will miss looking at you and smelling your sweetness. I can't believe I didn't take a single picture of Eden putting them behind her ear.

I'll remember you always Micah's wedding ring that rests somewhere at Waimea Bay.

You are my happy place ocean so crystal clear I can see blue and yellow fish swimming around from my surfboard.

I'll stop myself because I could obviously go on and on forever and because some of my favorite things are feelings that can't be put into words. I feel so blessed to have had so much time here in paradise with my favorite people. I'm grateful for the memories we've created together here and the way this place is helping to shape my kids approach to life. So until next time Hawaii, Aloha oe.

Wordsmiths

Taj was trying to eat some pistachio nuts and asks, " Can you pistach these for me?"

Instead of tiki torches we get "tiki tortures".

Pretending to be a camel he tells us to "look at my plumps."

Eden is talking A LOT. I don't think anyone but us can understand her. Taj says she's speaking Spanish. One of my favorites is when she grits her teeth and says "Bee-bee." Then calls to each of us until we look. I don't think she knows she's as little as a lot of the "bee-bee's" she's pointing to.

She can say flower and points to them and then to her ear.

Instead of seagulls Taj says "singles".

Taj asked if the Holy Ghost is a scary ghost. We had a nice long talk.

Anytime we put music on Taj asks what the song is saying and why. There are some long car rides.

Eden loves to play with whatever Taj is playing with. She's learned a lot of words from him too. Poo poo, no touch, Iron man (with an Iron Man song), that, that, that, this, that... you get the picture. I love that she is talking more and look forward to the next new words.