TRY it

If you haven't had a chance to try this FUN workout, you really should!

A girl in my ward started an early morning class (6:45) and on some days

it is hard to roll out of bed (especially with a baby who STILL wakes up in the night),

but I am always so glad that I did.

It's an awesome workout, that is just fun.

A welcomed change from my boring routine.

Yes, I feel uncoordinated at times, but so does everyone else.

We just laugh about it and keep going!!

ZUMBA, ZUMBA ZUMBA!

THE Rock

We met our friends at the park today for a picnic.

After we ate the kids couldn't seem to find

anything to do in the entire park, BUT

play on this one rock.

(Ame, Emma, cousin Ella-who has been sleeping

over for a few days, Olivia, and Isaac)

Kaipo says Livy is his girlfriend
girls havin' fun together being silly

And I just threw in this random picture of Ash

swimming because I could never get him

or his buddy Gabe in any of the pictures above.

Fathers

(I wanted to post this yesterday, but our internet has been funny lately)

I am surrounded my some pretty amazing fathers!

Of course my own Father is one unforgettable person.

I think this picture depicts a few of his best qualities-

a leader and a teacher. A man of incredible wisdom!

I love you dad and am so thankful I was blessed to have

YOU as my father! You have always made ME feel

special. I am one lucky girl!!

I was sad to not get to celebrate the day with you

(my mom was not feeling well, so we decided it

was best to stay away, both for her sake and ours)

Then there is Quinn, the father of MY children.

He loves to spoil these kids and it is obvious they

LOVE their daddy. He works SOO hard to

provide for and take care of all of us.

Last week when I got to go away on my

getaway, I wasn't sure what I would come home

to??? I was pleasantly (and humbly) surprised that he

had worked his tale off, getting all sorts of

stuff done in our yard that needed to be done,

he did laundry, dishes, kept the house in order

and most importantly took good care of the kiddies.

These 4 kids are soo lucky to have this amazing dad

and I am extremely blessed to share this life

(and eternity) with him and our beautiful children!

I don't have a picture of him, but we spent

Saturday evening with Kimo (QUinn's dad)

and the family. Its been awhile since we have gotten

together with them, so we really

enjoyed our time together.

Kimo is such a thoughtful, compassionate,

and caring person. I feel so blessed to
be apart of the amazing Hanamaikai Family!

(here's Nalu with his cute little cousin,

Amaya, just a month younger than him)

and the rest of the cousins

having fun jumping

and making smores

For various reasons, it probably wasn't the most
idealistic way to celebrate (and for QUinn
maybe not the most exciting time), but that
doesn't mean the LOVE and APPRECIATION
is any less. I must add I am also grateful for the
incredible brothers/brother-in-laws who
greatly influence my life and those of my family.
Thank you to all the AMAZING
Fathers in my life!

A QUick, WONDERFUL trip

Tuesday Nalu and I got to join my mom on a

getaway to Idaho, to visit my grandma.

Quinn was surprising open to the idea of me going,

even though it was a busy week of swim lessons,

arts in the park, birthday party and he also had class one night.

Plus we have been trying to get several things

done in our yard. I made a few arrangements for the kids

to be taken care of the night he had class,

and then I was off. It was a perfect 3 day trip!

It was such a pleasant drive. Nalu was an ANGEL

and my mom & I just gabbed for 4 straight hours (each way).

I cherish that quality UNINTERRUPTED

time with my mom!, cuz we don't get it very often!

My grandma was the PERFECT host-

fantastic meals, lots of fun & enlightening conversation

and entertaining scenic drives. This is one amazing woman.

I have always known this, but spending

a few days with her I realized even more

why she is. For a woman her age I am so

impressed with all she still does.

She works in the temple weekly,

cooks/bakes-oh her rolls and cookies are the best,

keeps up her yard, reads a ton and just continues to

educate herself in soo many ways.

She has such a love for the Lord and the gospel.

She is a true disciple and an exemplar woman.

I see why my own mother is so amazing!

I hope to one day become even close to the kind of woman

that these two incredible ladies are

(not Nalu, my mom and grandma)!!

When I was getting ready to go Ame asked

me if I was going to bring her back a souvenier?

Obviously Idaho SOUNDS like a exotic place :)

I explained to her it was just like Utah, but did

bring these back...
the kids didn't think they were so grand

(and I can see why-I didn't really remember

what they were until they opened them)

One of the sights we saw on a drive one day-

my moms school house from grades 1-8.

It is actually someone's home now.

I thought I took a few (better) pics, but this

is the only one I found on my phone.

rainy day plans

What do you do on a RAINY & COLD

Saturday, the first week of Summer Vacation???? tHaNk GoOdNeSs for Classic Fun Center!
It was especially needed to get the kids out of the house,
after we had all been stuck indoors with flu for several days.

Nothing like bouncing, climbing and running off

lots of energy!

Its the SIMPLE pleasures that make life

more enjoyable for MOM and the kids!!

SUmmer begins...

This week was the first official week of summer,

and we started if off with swim lessons.

It began as I expected-Ame was a great listener

and student (always willing/wanting to please),

Kaipo just wanted to swim,
not listen so much.
After the first class his teacher
said I can teach him, but he will
learn A LOT more if will actually listen
DUH!!
So we had a talk and made some
deals with Kaipo and he has been
doing much better
AND sooo proud that he swam in the
deep end.

Ash was very timid at first
and it took the first half of class
to get him settled and willing
to stay in class (as I expected)
but now he is doing GREAT!

The reward for everyone
after the 2nd day of lessons
and making improvements
was to go meet up with some friends
for a picnic & FUN IN THE SUN.
The park by our old house in
Riverdale just put in a splash pad
so we had to go check it out.
Unfortunately not long after we arrived
it stopped working. A HUGE disappointment
for us and the TONS of other people there,
trying to beat the heat.
But we had fun playing at the park anyway
and of course seeing old friends!

You can tell we haven't had too much

warm, sunny weather here.

Even these kids need a tan!

The stormy, cold weekend we have

ahead isn't going to help with that.

Maybe we will actually get to enjoy

SUMMER before the kids go back to school?!

7 months and counting...

Nalu continues to be the JOY of our family.

What would we ever do without him???

He loves to watch his CRAZY siblings and

interact with them. The boys are always fighting

over who gets to look at him, or hold him.

Needless to say he has NO lack of attention!

Despite getting an eye infection a few weeks ago,

then having the flu this past week,

he continues to be a happy boy!

What are you guys doing to me?

Probably what goes through this little guys

mind several times a day.

Whatever he may think, he is still soo easy going,

loveable, kissable and oh soo sweet.

We LOVE you soo much Nalu boy!!

New Discovery

I visited a specialty store today and

here are a few things I added to my pantry today.

Nothing really out of the ordinary,

EXCEPT that it is Gluten Free.

Yes, this is a NEW discovery we have recently

had. QUinn went in for a physical and

some blood work several weeks ago and we

just received a call from the Dr. last week

informing us that QUinn has Celiac Disease,

which is an allergy to GLuten.

My first reaction hasn't been real

positive and I am still VERY overwhelmed

by it all. I mean really???

Gluten is in EVERYTHING!!!

I did come across a GLuten Free Store

but I am going to have to get a part time

job just to afford buying anything there.I KNOW things could be soo much worse,

and in the grand scope of things we are very

lucky this is all that was discovered.

I am trying to be positive about it and

do lots of research, and find ways to make this

fit more comfortably into our family

lifestyle. I just feel the weight of all of this

is on ME and that Quinn is only going to

kind of make changes if I provide a means

to do it. So if any of you have insight, encouragement,

information or contacts that can help me DEAL,

I would greatly appreciate it!

preschool graduation

Kaipo has finally hit that BIG milestone

of no longer being a preschooler,

and he is very ready for Kindergarten now! We are all soo proud of this BIG, SMART boy!



SOme of the things about Kaipo at pre-K:
*he can spell & write his FULL name
(no easy task for a Hanamaikai kid)
Kaipolani Keli'i Hanamaikai
*he can say & write his address and phone number
*he can whistle
*he can wink
*he can blow a bubble w/gum
*he can read and write simple words,
phrases, and small books
*he has such an imagination, is
very creative and loves to draw
*his appetite is incredible & he is
ALWAYS hungry (I have no idea where it
goes in that skinny body)
*he LOVES to play super mario on the Wii
*he is becoming more athletic
*he still loves to dress-up, action heros & really
likes to build things with Trios and Blocks
*he can FINALLY ride the new bike he got
for his birthday WITHOUT training wheels
(and yes the video is sideways cuz mom ALWAYS
forgets & turns the camera like taking a picture
and then remembers after the fact I can't rotate video)

VERY cool

For the past several months Ame's class has been learning about

The Rainforest

Then they turned their classroom into an Rainforest.
with all kinds of art work, and other creative & unique stuff
and then they became TOUR GUIDES

This past week family and friends (and all the other

classes at school) got to enter the RAINFOREST.

Kaipo and I went over one day (and then dad & Ash went

another day, but no pics from their visit).

We got to look at snake skin through the microscope,

learn & see so many cool things

all from the BEST tour guide ever!

They have each been keeping a rainforest journal,

which they wrote in daily as if they were IN the rainforest

and the experiences they were having there.

Ame has been doing extra research at home on the

computer, and has just had soo much fun learning

and discovering all she can about the rainforest.

We had so much fun visiting too!

What a creative and neat experience for those first graders!!

I am grateful for her teacher that provided such a fun

learning opportunity.

good bye to a friend

Earlier this week I met some friends at Cold Stone to bid farewell to a sweet girl in the ward. Heidi (in the middle w/grey stripes) is such a neat, fun girl. I first met her last summer at a RS party and instantly felt connected. FOr one we were both pregnant and had our baby's within a month of each other. Her husband is a Murdock (car dealership) and is being transferred to Tremonton (of all places) and Heidi is soooo NOT a country kind of girl. She is a cute girl who LOVES to shop, and I would say is pretty high maintenance. So needless to say, she was NOT excited about this move. But you do what you gotta do, right?! I for one know that! She has already promised she will be back on occassion

so we all look forward to being with her again!

the last of it

Tuesday evening we went to a BBQ for all the studio 48 competition teams. When we arrived the line to get food was all the way across the park. QUinn instantly was like lets go. But I convinced him to stay and good thing we did, cuz Ame was the winner of one of the HUGE team trophies. The anticipation has been building for weeks, since they told the dancers about this drawing. She was soooo hoping she would win one. Afterwards QUinn and I told her that we had never really won any kind of drawing, so her luck it definitely better than ours! She was exstatic to say the least. Hurray for Ame!!! (now another giant trophy...what to do with it)

Ame anxiously waiting to hear what her

individual award would be.

Fun memories for a little girl!!

Fun for Some...

Our fun weekend started Friday night,

when we headed up to Logan for a

birthday celebration for little Tay Tay.

Only Ame, Nalu and mom got to go

because Kaipo and Ash are both

fighting an eye infection, so dad

stayed home with them.

I don't have any pics of the festivities,

but Karli did a great job on the party.

It was simple and sweet, just right for

the BIRTHDAY GIRL!

And the cake & cupcakes were soo

creative & cute. Way to go Kar!

So glad some of us could make it!!

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

Saturday morning Kaipo was suppose

to have his last soccer game, but

due to the continued eye infection, he had

to miss the game. Such a bummer!

But a teammate dropped off his trophy

and getting his very FIRST trophy definitely

MADE HIS DAY!!
Saturday afternoon Ame had her dance recital.
Mom decided to carry on the tradition from
her younger days, and get Ame a corsage.
She LOVED that little surprise!
This is it with STUDIO 48.
We are taking a dance break and going
to try some other THINGS.
But Ame has had a fun, busy year in dance.
We are soo proud of her and all her hard work.
She has such a talent and is a fantastic performer,
but she wants to TRY other things while she is young.
(A wise decision we think-
these are the years to discover her passions)

The boys are still fighting the eye infection

and we hope that passes soon, cuz this coming

week is even busier than the last!!