trouble???

Do I look like I could rob a bank?

OK, maybe not that kind of trouble....

but my daddy sure thought this was a funny picture pose.

a fun night out

Our good friend's, the Jordyns, called yesterday and said they were taking their kids to see the lights @ Temple Square and were calling to see if we wanted to join them. We were just sittin' around, not doing much and thought it would be a fun thing to do. So we bundled up and headed to Salt Lake. We did not know what we were in for-backed up traffic all the way to farmington(coming from the North), crowds galore because of the Jazz game and several other things going on downtown. We finally made it to the Gateway and took tracks up(which is always fun for the kids to ride) to Temple Square. The hustle and bustle of people felt like Christmas though. It was enjoyable to just be out and about! Luckily there were a few places indoors that we could visit and get warm.

Ame was very excited to watch the life size nativity outside.

She was so overly concerned when she saw it playing, while we were INSIDE. She didn't understand it played over and over, so she wouldn't miss it!

It was definitely COLD, but....
What a better way to put you in the Christmas Spirit!

Kaipo kept saying he wanted to go inside the castle. It is quite a magnificient place, isn't it!

A sigh a relief

Up until last Friday, I (or I should say our family) has been consumed with getting ready for our Christmas Party, since I am the Activities Chair in our ward. We decided to do it Hawaiian Style, which is NO SIMPLE TASK. I had great help from about 6 committee members to cook rice, pork and chicken for 300+ people. QUinn and I tried to do the food as traditional and authentic as possible, which was A LOT more work, but worth it in the end. Of course we way overestimated and had way too much food. But as everyone says, better too much than not enough. We donated a ton of left overs and have still been eating it for days ourselves.

Ame's Hula group came and performed as our entertainment, which made the night even more fun for all who attended. I had soo many people (especially the old people in our ward) comment that it was the best christmas party they have ever been to, much better than the traditional Ham and Potatoes. Which was good to hear, and made all the work worth it!

We of course ended the night with a beautiful spiritual program (unfornately several people left after the hula performance and missed the best and MOST important part of the night. I used this book as my focus of the program.

If you have a chance to get a hold of it, it is a very touching & heart-warming story. Included with it is a CD by Hilary Weeks. We used it as well and made a picture show that turned out beautiful. I am still very moved every time I hear it!

It has definitely brought the Christmas Spirit into my life this Holiday Season

and I hope to many others (maybe even yours).

Oh Christmas Tree...

We have pretty much always had an artificial tree (Quinn and I). Growing up, we always had a real tree and I kind of miss that, but for now an artificial one just seems easier.

Maybe I can just find a candle, so we can still enjoy the real tree smell.

The tree we've used in years past was just getting old and the stand had to be rigged to actually stay together and hold the tree, so I decided we needed a new, bigger one (since we have such high ceilings), and thanks to KSL, we found this 9ft tree for $50!! It isn't pre-lit which is a bummer, but what a steal, huh?

I also decided we needed somewhat of a new look, so we've made some changes.

The string of balls says Mele Kalikimaka. The white star, in the middle, I thought was cute

it says BELIEVE in the magic. And I have also done new bows and balls. I do need a new star for the top of the tree, but I guess that will have to wait for next year (it is somewhat expensive to get ALL new decorations, especially when the tree is 9ft tall). So I will just have to gradually add to it. But for this year...I am VERY happy with our new tree.

I am still in search for a nice looking stocking holder (that isn't just metal), since I actually HAVE a mantel now to hang our stocking on. So if you have seen anything fun, let me know.

The big debate Quinn and I had was where the tree should go, in the family room is where I thought, cuz then WE can enjoy it, OR in the living room is where Quinn wanted it, where it can been seen from the outside. The only thing now is our tree is too tall for the living room, so maybe we can make our old tree work and next year have 2! Then we can both be happy!!

(I'm not ready this year to decorate 2 trees)

A Snow Day

So we went to bed Friday night and it was cold, but just raining...then we woke up to this!! Of course the second the kids woke up and looked out the window they wanted to go outside and play. But I had an meeting (to get ready for our christmas party this coming Friday, talk about stress week) in the morning and didn't want to "do the snow thing" before. SO I told them if they were good they could go out after my meeting.

And they waited somewhat patiently.

All bundled up and ready for some fun! They even thought it was fun to help Daddy shovel the driveway. I wonder how long that excitement will last??

Luckily I had just bought them new coats a few days prior, but was still in search for snow boots (which I have to say are not a cheap thing to buy, EVERY YEAR). So unfortunately here Ame is wearing tennis shoes and Kaipo is wearing Ame's old boots from last year (that of course don't fit her anymore). Despite the cold feet, they had a blast!

Mom headed out and did some shopping that afternoon and found snow boots for both the kids, so now they can be COMPLETELY warm and dry when they go out and play in the snow. I got both of their boots a few sizes bigger, hoping they will fit for a couple of years, I just don't know if they are TOO BIG.

Our Little Snow Angel

I have never been so appreciative for a backyard WITH a fence, as I am right now. It is awesome to let the kids go out and play in the snow (when I don't want to) and know that they are safe and cannot go anywhere...especially Kaipo.

Family pics

On Saturday, Quinn's sister-in-law (Raschel) took family pics for us. She is really good at photography and even better at photoshop...good thing cuz as you can see in this picture we are missing one grandchild. Kyle decided it wasn't something he really wanted to be apart of, despite his parents many attempts to persuade. So once he calmed down, Raschel took a picture of him alone by the rock and now will attempt to add him to the rest of the group, using her wonderful skills.

This was just a picture I took with my camera, while everyone was trying to get their kids to look, smile and stay in the picture. Raschel did get some great shots (about 400 of them). Unfortunately, out of ALL those pics not one has everyone (in the WHOLE family) looking. Thank goodness for the wonderful invention of photoshop, Raschel will be able to make it look like one big happy family!

Oh, you gotta love family pictures!!

Hope it was good for you

We hope everyone had a nice, relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Our was filled with all of the above.

We spent Wednesday evening with Quinn's family in Eagle Mountain (his brother Kam has a house out there) and then most of the day Thursday, with my family @ mom and dad's .

It was great to see my brother Aaron and his family. We don't get to see them very often. His boys are all so unique-both looks and personality. But all cuties! And of course it is always great to see Grandma Thurgood, soo happy and healthy.

This was the first time all of my family has been together for quite a while, and maybe the last for even longer, since mom and dad will be gone in a few months!

It was soo fun to see all the cousins playing together (with minimal fighting). Ame had a blast, even among ALL THOSE BOYS!

I think she had even more fun holding that sweet, precious Baby Kaiya.

Unfortunately, I got zero pics of all the fun. But my mom and Karli seemed to be snapping lots, so I am sure their blogs will have some great pics.

I soo love this time of year and look forward to the wonderful Christmas Season.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

ALREADY???

Baby Ash (who is everyday becoming less and less of a baby) is 8 months old today, and coincidentally has taken his first crawling movements today as well. I'm not sure what makes it official crawling, but he is definitely scooting on his arms. One thing I know for sure.... I am not quite ready for this !

As you can see from the expression on his face, he is pretty determined!!

Nursery Lessons=FHE

I love to see each Sunday, when Kaipo comes out of Nursery, what lesson they have had. And especially what creative prop has been made to go along with it.

If you can't read this one, it says:

Scripture Specs

help me see my way to heaven.

One of the eyes is the Bible, the other is the Book of Mormon.

We always save what the kids bring home from primary and nursey and make that their lessons for family home evening. The kids are always soo anxious and excited to give their lessons and share what they learned. It makes family home evening so easy and fun for all of us! The kids are much more anxious and interested this way.

out with the old...in with the new

TEETH...seems to be the big issue around our house these days. First Ash cut his first two teeth and now Ame has officially lost her first baby tooth. It has been loose for a while and we tried a few times to pull it, but that sucker was holding on tight! Then she lost her bravery and wouldn't let us try anymore. So it just got looser and looser, until it was literally hanging by a thread. She finally let daddy try again. This time was A LOT easier.

As you can see in the picture below, the adult tooth has already come through, even while the baby one was still there. So she hasn't really had any time WITHOUT a tooth.

Being our first time with a lost tooth in our house, the tooth fairy wasn't quite sure how much to leave, but decided $5 for the first tooth. I don't think that will be the regular amount, this was just the first, special one. We will have to see what the tooth fairy decides from here on out. Any advice? The big debate was dollar bills (mom) or quarters (dad). The tooth fairy did quarters. So, the first thing Ame said in the morning when she opened her little tooth bag...I wonder why I didn't get dollars. I guess the tooth fairy know for next time!

1st teeth

They're finally in.....Ash's two bottom teeth!

(yes, both at the same time)

At 7 1/2 months

This morning, through the runny nose, extra fusses and crying-mommy discovered the first teeth finally through. He has been soooo slobbery and chewing on everything for like a month or longer (it feels like). Of course, mom always assumes he's gotta be getting teeth, but nothing seemed to be coming. Then when you don't really expect it, there they are.

I tried and ....

tried. Even got daddy in on the picture attempts.

But, Ash just didn't want those little teeth on camera.

He even opened wide, but they just didn't show.

I promise.........they are really there.

costume to dress up

Ame and I had discussed the idea of getting a new dress-up, after Halloween, since she didn't really get a real costume for halloween, at least nothing that could really become a dress up afterwards. I told her if we could find something on Sale, she could choose one. We hit wal-mart and they were completely bare, next we tried Shopko and got lucky. This costume was $50 (I would never pay that much) but was reduced 75%, so we got it for $12. It isn't a REAL cinderella costume (as Ame so quickly pointed out) but she was happy with it and I was even more happy to find such a deal!! This picture is a pretty poor one, cuz it is taken with Quinn's camera, but it captures the costume good enough.

photo shoot

So, a few weeks ago, LeAnne (my sister-in-law) was gracious and patient enough to meet us at the park for a little photo session. I guess I shouldn't say little, cuz we were there for a few hours. But now I have hundreds of pictures of great snaps of the kids. LeAnne has a great eye, and got tons of cute shots. Here are a few...

Can you tell Ame LOVES to pose?

Kaipo was a bit difficult to get a snap of, so we had to get creative. LeAnne was soooo patient. I would have given up long before she did.

We only got a few of Ash even looking up. He was mesmorized (sp?) by ALL the leaves.

I like this shot beccause it captured PERFECTLY what this experience was like.

Ame posing pretty, Ash eating the leaves, and Kaipo collecting sticks and running wild (we fortunately got him to sit for just a second, literally)

As you can see I went with the whole Camo idea. Ame has a cute skirt on, which you can't see. She saw these pics and said she looked naked (bottom half of course).

LeAnne you're awesome!

THanks so much for your help and for doing such an amazing job!!

Much better than I ever could have done.

HALLOWEEN FUN,AND MORE AND MORE...

I sort of feel halloween'd out and it isn't even officially halloween yet. But the kids have had lots and lots of fun and that is what it is all about!
We went to a community halloween carnival, which is usually outside at the park right down the street, but because of the winter storm we had over the weekend it was moved into the community center. They had games, story telling and a bake sell. It wasn't super exciting but the kids got to dress up, see their friends and play games, so it was worth it for them.

Don't let the smile fool you, Ash didn't really like his costume, especially the hood.

But isn't he the cutest Spiderman ever???

SUPERMAN

What a grin...

Ame loves to bake and decorate the cookies

Kaipo loves to eat them

Daddy helped with the pumpkin carving-he cut out the face on one and Ame colored the face on the other pumpkin. One pumpkin carving was enough I guess. They're holding each others finished products. Mommy even cleaned and roasted the pumkin seeds.

Ame's class @ their school, all ready for the Halloween Parade. Kaipo even got to join in the fun.

Ame's teacher, Ms. Mandy w/her little girl. What cute matching costumes, huh!

The kids got to have a parade all throughout the high school and went into several of the classes where they got to trick or treat and get their bags filled with candy.

Kaipo was in heaven and loved all the attention. He felt like such

a BIG BOY at school with his sister.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Halloween!! We sure are!!!

home decorating

This is what I've done in Kaipo's room. The order I got actually came with 6 surfboard and a ton of flowers and leaves, so it is actually on two walls. I like this wall better, the other has different designed boards. A student of mine, a few years ago, had made me his name sign and it goes perfectly with the colors.

And this is the vinyl saying in his room.

Here is one of the walls in Ash's room. These are called "wall-pops". I found them @ Lowe's, and they come in all sorts of colors, shapes and designs. They are awesome because they are adhesive and can be taken on and off as many times as you want.
Great for trying to come up with a design!


Ash's room is somewhat decorated with the "pond animals" so this is his saying...

These are also "wall-pops" in Ame's room and a cute saying for our girl full of dreams!

It is fun to come across easy inventions that really add character to a room.

our strippling warrior

So yesterday, when I went to pick up Kaipo from Nursery, one of the leaders (who just loves Kaipo and is soo good with him) said Kaipo was REALLY good today, and he was a true strippling warrior (which happen to be what their lesson was about),

hence the 3 large scratches to his cheek, he is pointing to.

He was "attacked" I guess you could say, by one of the boys (Zach) whom they already have a lot of issues with and he isn't even 2! The nursery leader said Kaipo didn't fight back, but was really SAD, so she took him for a walk and got him some candy (and magically he was all better).
I just didn't know the kids needed hands on experience to become a real strippling warrior!

I guess Kaipo is already living up to the vinyl saying I ordered for his room:

Don't wait to be Real Man, Be A Real Boy.

We love you Kaipo are so proud of the great boy you are becoming! It is OK to be full of energy and excitement for life. We wouldn't want you any other way!

PS: a funny side note- I got a phone call last night from the mom asking if I could watch their 2 younger kids (which would include Zach) while she went to help in her older daughters class. Fortunately I had plans the morning she wanted help. I mean do you really think that is a good idea after what happened?

No, we are not really feeling that bad about it. Zach's dad is actually the couselor over the Activities Committee, so I work with him a lot, we played in a volleyball tournament w/ both of the parents on Fri. nite, his mom made mine and Karli's baby slings, so as you can see we have a great realtionship w/the parents. They're really cool and laid back. Maybe too laid back, huh?

A visit to the fire station

On our way home from dance class last night, we drove past the fire house and they were having an open house. So we hurried home and had dinner, then headed back to have some fun. Kaipo, was in HEAVEN sitting in the drivers seat!

I don't quite think this is how a real fireman poses.

This kind of simple family time is so memorable, especially for the kids. I'm glad we went, even though Ame is going to the firestation for school this week too. Two times is better than one!

Some friends of ours, from the ward, were there at the same time. They have a boy Kaipo's age and a girl Ame's age AND a baby just a month younger than Ash (they also have an older boy).

A little side note: Jody's (on the left) dad is the president of the PCC. (you'd think they would be polynesian, huh? we did. it seems to make sense that way, but no)

super hero party

Ame and cousin, Ella-she was looking pretty foxy as wonder woman. Daddy told Ame she had tohave long hair to be wonder woman, which is true-that really does make the costume.
Kaipo's costume was a bit too big, so we had to do some pinning in the waist area. But he was loving being a superhero!!

A few weekends ago our good friends daughter, had her 6year old party and it was a super hero theme party. So kaipo was superman (also going to be his halloween costume) and Ame was catwoman (she also said it was going to be her halloween costume, but has since changed her mind-I was bummed because it really only took about $4 to construct her costume and now she wants a $35+ costume instead, but she changes her mind like everyday.. so we will see).

Anyways, they had a BLAST dressing up and playing superhero games. Of course this party fell on our first blizzardy cold day so the party had to be moved indoors. But the kids didn't seem to mind at all. I think it was the birthday girls' parents who had a harder time with that.

Off to School

We wish it was to Kindergarten, but Ame is off to preschool. She actually missed the first day because we were still in Disneyland, but we came back in time for the 2nd day. She was a little distraught cuz we hadn't been able to find her a backpack before we left on our trip, so she had to take just another bag. Luckily we took care of that over the weekend, so she is good to go tomorrow! She is attending the pre-school at one of the high schools here. There is 2 head instructors and then the students are the teachers aids (they take a class in which they prepare lesson plans and then teach the preschoolers). I have heard really good things about this program, so we will see. The only tricky part is she has an alternating schedule every week, MWF or T, TH. Luckily we get a calendar to keep it straight.

One of our neighbors have a boy who is 4, named Garrett (you may have seen him in a previous post holding hands with Ame), who is also going to the same preschool. That will be nice because his mom and I are going to take turns taking the kids, so we don't have to both drive there each time for class.

Ame is really excited and we think she will have a lot of fun!

Mouse in the House???

Last night Kaipo woke up in the middle of the night, calling for daddy (a somewhat frequent occurance). When Quinn went in his room he said there was a mouse in his room. Quinn quickly flipped on the light, pulled out the drawers below Kaipo's bed and searched the room, but did not find any unwanted guests. Who knows if it was a real thing Kaipo was talking about. It could have been a dream, could have been the Mickey Mouse ears hanging in his room, or the recent catching of a mouse in our garage.
Yes we did catch one! Quinn and I both, on seperate occassions swore we saw "something" run and hide in the garage. So we got some mouse traps. I set them out, the sticky pad kind, and sure enough the next morning when I went out in the garage WITH the kids to leave, there is was. It must have just recently gotten stuck in the trap because it was still squirming. YUCK!! Luckily quinn was home and I frantically yelled for him and he came to the rescue. I told him we were leaving and he needed to get rid of it. QUinn was quite distraught, I could tell by the look on his face and didn't know quite what to do. He called me a little while later and said he just couldn't kill it. So instead he carried it over, still in the trap, to the church field and carefully removed it from the trap. He even said he had to peel its sticky arms apart, hoping he didn't break them or anything (with gloves on of course). QUinn said somebody else would just have to kill him, cuz he couldn't do it! What a kind and gentle person you are quinn, so full of love for even the grossest little creature.
I am just glad I wasn't the one who had to take care of that pesky little thing!
Hopefully now that our yard isn't an open field (we now have grass and a fence), we won't have any more little critters running around!! Especially in our house!!!
I sure hope this time Kaipo actually didn't know what he was talking about.