Another Thankful Day

Our Thanksgiving Day started with Flag Football, for Quinn. He tried to organize a Turkey Bowl. That was such a BIG thing when we lived in Hawaii, but he only got one other ward to get involved, so it was just a fun/competitive game with some friends.

Unfortunately, as he dove to catch a ball, he landed right on his shoulder. It has really been hurting him since then. He even gave up a golf opportunity today, so I KNOW he truly is in A LOT of pain!

The kids enjoyed donuts and hot cocoa at home. It was just too darn cold outside to watch daddy, that early in the morning. Plus no other families were there to support, so we decided to enjoy a relaxing morning at home instead, and leave the BIG boys to their own fun. Ash is trying to copy his SILLY brother and sister, but kind of missed his eye!

After daddy got home & had a soak in the tub (to try and relax his shoulder AND back) we headed to my parents house-wishing they were there-to hang out with my brother Jason and his family. We saw my sister, Karli for a few minutes and she took some family pics for us, but then they were off to feast with the Grover's.

We snacked A LOT before dinner, but managed to save room for the awesome dinner LeAnne made. I should have taken a picture of all the food we had. The nice thing about A LOT of food, is there is a lot of left-overs. She was generous enough to send some home with us, so we could enjoy more yummy food as leftovers!

LeAnne's sister & husband, and her brother all joined us for dinner as well.

In addition to an awesome meal, we had delicious desserts to top it all off. LeAnne made pumpkin squares, pumpkin pie and apple pie. I made a chocolate/mint bundt cake, for those non-pie fans (Quinn).

It was a relaxing day, FULL of Food and great company. The kids played hard and the rest of us talked & talked!

****

I felt tremendously grateful as I contemplated my blessings through this day.

Why am I so lucky to have been given soo much??

I have the greatest family-husband, children, brothers, sister, parents and in-laws-who all love me, despite all my shortcoming!

I have so many more blessings that are near and dear to my heart. I feel so indebted to all those who have blessed my life, through their often tremendous sacrifice.

I hope to remember THESE thoughts more throughout the coming year, especially when I am feeling selfish and NOT SO grateful...

because I am SUCH A LUCKY GIRL!

Laurel Activity

Each of our Laurels have made or are making a quilt this year, so we have had a few late night "get-togethers" to work on someone's quilt. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with these young women. They are such strong, ambitious and fun girls! One of them (the one in the pink shirt to the left of me)just let us know she got accepted and has decided to go to BYU-Hawaii, so of course I am SOO excited for her!!Of course you can't have a party without LOTS of treats!!

Thanksgiving Fun and Feasting

Today was the last day of school for Ame and Kaipo, before the Thanksgiving Holiday, so they each had Activities and a Feast! I had to run Ame's snack up to her school so I decided to stay and watch the fun things they were doing. They each made up their own Indian Name and Ame's was PINKY FIREFLY (interesting choice). They got to each make their own FRY BREAD.

And do INDIAN DANCES around the TeePee.

And even make their own cup of pudding.

Ame has an Indian Doll that her Grandma Frankie gave to her a few years ago, so she brought that to share with her class.

And here is her class FEASTING on all the snacks they made at school and the ones they each brought from home. No Turkey at this feast, but lots of yummy kid food!

After I left her school I popped over to Kaipo's preschool to see what they were doing (which was probably more of distraction that anything, but a mom has to try and be fair, right?)

Here is my other Indian child. He was given the name RUNNING WOLF. Very fitting I think!!We didn't stay long here, Ash was desperately needing a nap, and mom was ready for HIM to take one!

I feel very thankful-for beautiful, healthy children, who are able to go to school, be safe, while learning and having fun! I feel blessed to have a husband that HAS a Job, or multiple ones, and works very hard , which provides the opportunity for me to have flexibility to join my kids at school, when I can or want to, and not have to work myself (right now).

Life is busy, and full of stuff...but how else would we want it!

****We are truly blessed****

BYU-H Luau

Saturday night we were excited to go to a BYU-H Alumni Luau.

It was a family event and the kids were excited to go too!

Ash didn't really like the idea of having to SIT STILL.
He would much rather be climbing the tables and chairs, anything but sit still!

The FOOD and ENTERTAINMENT did not disappoint.

Kaipo trying to immitate the Maori dancers.
As soon as they start to chant ka mate, ka mate, his attention is drawn 100%

Hopefully, one day, he will be our little warrior dancing The HAKA, not just from the sidelines.

***

Although we had a good time at the Luau, we were a bit disappointed that we didn't see anyone we knew from our days in Laie. We saw a few familiar faces, but none that we really knew.

Wall-E

Ame's School had their book fair this week and to top it off

the PTA sponsored a Movie Night, featuring Wall-E.

The kids thought it was pretty cool-movie, popcorn, friends!

grateful

I just had to post this, so we could all remember one thing to be grateful for...

thanks Kaipo for the reminder!!

inspired post...GIRLS

I read my friend, Jamie's, Blog and was inspired to write a little incident from last night. Well, my kids went to a neighbors house last night, while I was at YW's and Quinn was teaching class. They have 2 girls (8 & 5) and a boy Ash's age. Kaipo LOVES to play with the girls and Ame is pretty good friends with these girls as well. But I was talking to their mom (when I picked them up) about girl troubles and all the ISSUES they have with friends. Ame comes home every other day (sometimes every) telling about how someone won't be friends with her or someone else, for something someone said or did. I DID NOT EXPECT girlfriend troubles to start in Kindergarten! I know us girls are sensitive but, my goodness!!! Anyway, last night Ame and the girls-Lily and Avery, had some issues, mostly when we were getting ready to leave AND IT WAS WAY PAST THEIR BEDTIMES. Not only do girls get their feelings hurt SO easily, but saying sorry is also such a difficult thing to do. As much as we talk about these kinds of things after they happen and how to deal with it better next time, WE are still learning over and over how to handle it better and BE a better friend!!

YW Night

Last night was our Young Women In Excellence Night.

As you can see from the invitation it was Oscar Night...

a time for the GIRLS to shine.

They were encouraged to come in formal attire,

or just their BEST Sunday dress.

Of course that means the leaders have to do their best to support
that idea. Well the dress I wore to my brother's wedding is the
dressiest thing I have in my closet.
This is my dear friend and our YW's President.
She is a fantastic leader!

The girls had a great time and were good sports in the dress-up idea.
I didn't get a picture taken until several girls had already left.
I should have also taken a picture of the room is was decorated really cute
with shiny stars hanging from the ceiling, there was a red carpet
to walk on as they entered the room,
and the girls hands were traced and put on a cute page with
their name (like the celebrity sidewalk thing).
After our speaker, we presented each girl with their own
OSCAR and as they came up they got to tell about something
they did this past year, in the area of personal progress.
It as a super night to honor our YW for all their hard work
and helping them to (hopefully) feel special!

The 3-Barrell takes me back!

Working with the Young Women has its benefits, in so many ways. Spirituality aside-they keep me young, somewhat hip, and up to date on what is cool! A few months ago some of the girls were telling me about this 3-Barrell curling iron. I finally decided to buy one, mostly for MY little girl. Ame has such fine hair and it is hard to keep any curl in it, besides putting in sponge curler and they shrink her hair so much. I got the new curling iron b4 Halloween to try something new with her costume. She REALLY likes the wavy looks it gives her AND her hair stays long! We decided to both go wavy for church today. This picture was taken later in the evening, so Ame's waves have died somewhat. I felt like I was taking a step back into the high school days, with my curls! I don't know how often I will take on this style (it was a bit time consuming), but it was fun to try!

Dentist Check-up

It is always a great feeling, after you have your teeth cleaned!

It is even a better feeling when they announce...NO CAVITIES!

The kids have theirs next week,

hopefully their check-ups are just as positive?!?!?!

Out with the OLD, In with the NEW

For some reason, first thing Saturday morning

I had the urge to take down all the Halloween Stuff.

So out it went...

And in came the NEW simple fall decor.

I got this plaque from my friends boutique

a few weeks ago and thought this was a

good time to put it up.

And I really do have so much to

BE grateful for...

look at these glowing angels all ready for church

bright and early!

We normally don't have church until 1:00pm,

but our friends were blessing their baby in Orem

@ 9:00am(a good hour drive from our house).

I got up at 6:00 (or so I thought) to shower,

and when I came out of the room (Quinn had been

up early doing school stuff), he reminded me it

was only 5:30 not 6:30! What could I do at that point,

since I was already showered and WIDE awake?

Just make sure we were ready to go on time,

and now I had PLENTY of time to do it!

Halloween-Round 2

We had planned to take the kids out trick-or-treating around 5:30.

Well Quinn got held up somewhere, and the kids

could not wait ANY LONGER, so I took them out

(QUinn caught up with us shortly after). Because we rushed out

the door so quickly I didn't get nearly the pics

I would have like to. I even forgot my camera at first

and had to race back inside to get it b4 Kaipo was

half way down the street. Darth Vader was ready to sit down

and have a snack of candy after the first house! After about 6-8 houses Ash had had enough,

so QUinn took him home (after picking up some pizza)

and they were the candy passer-outer at our house,

while I took the other 2 around the rest of the neighborhood,

or at least until Kaipo had to go Potty (of course).

Luckily we had been to enough houses by that point, so we (or I)

called it good!! Their treat bags were full enough and now

the kids could pass out the candy.

Is it me, or is Halloween just not as exciting as

when WE were kids???

Maybe its just cuz I am NOT a kid anymore!

But I just try my best to make it FUN

& memorable for my kids.

And oh the excitement that those words bring...

*TRICK OR TREAT*

Hope you had a good one!!

A.M.

I thought it would be nice to have school off today, and not deal with the craziness of everything for Halloween ALL IN ONE DAY, but maybe I was wrong. First of all-since it is a Holiday, the kids expect mucho excitement, but it is hard to find entertainment that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, of which we haven't already done! So we started off our day (after my LATE morning run of course), with a request from Ame. She wanted a Halloween Breakfast! Well since Mom didn't really plan ahead for that one, I had to pull some tricks out of my hat (or the pantry). Luckily things always seem more appealing with food coloring and cookie cutters. So we had pumpin spiced & shaped french toast, cranberry/orange muffins (which I happen to have a mix of in the pantry), and witches brew (green colored apple juice). The kids were pleasantly suprised and happily filled! We have watched movies, played games, had a picnic & LONG playtime in the park and now are just waiting...for the anti-climatic (for me anyway) part of the whole day...Trick-OR-Treating!

But I am sure it will be ultra fun for the kids, and we will have lots of candy, pictures and memories... to remember this Halloween night!!

Halloween-Round 1

In our school district, the teachers get a "prep day" on

Halloween (lucky them), so today was the day of

celebration for all!

Here is Ame as an Indian Princess

(THANK YOU sooo much grandma and grandpa-

you couldn't have picked out a better costume)

Kaipo as Jengo Fett, from Star Wars
Ame got the special priviledge of being the
"teacher helper" today, which meant she got to
lead the class in their parade around the school.
The girl directly in front of Ame is dressed
in the costume most people imagined, when
AMe said she was an Indian Girl
(she finally had to start saying a girl from india,
but even then some still didn't know what she meant )
After their parade, they did all sorts of fun activities;
this one was making spider cookies
(Ame came home sad because she put her cookie in her
cubbie to save and someone ate it-HOW RUDE, huh)
They also did pumpkin bowling, musical chairs-but they
were tomb stones, races and a few different activities.
I stayed with Ame part of the time,
then raced over to Kaipo's pre-school
to help his teacher. When I got there they
were getting ready to
eat donuts on string w/no hands.
Ms. Michelle read fun Halloween stories,
and made witches brew.

Another fun game was pass the pumpkin,

while the music played, and who it stopped on

GOT A PRIZE.

I am so grateful I could be there with both of my kids,

on their day of extra fun!

Quinn didn't tell me he had given his class a take home test,

which meant he got to stay home today. That sure made the

juggle of today AND Ash, much easier!

**Thanks for the surprise honey**

Happy Halloween to All!

pictures and ducks

Tonight Ame's hula group met to take pictures.

Ame has had a stomach ache ALL day,

but she was a trooper and went to put on a smile anyway! They were told to wear their favorite costume, which

looks quite nice with the whole group(shows off all the costumes),

but I don't think looks quite as good in their small groups pics.

While we were waiting, we walked down to the river

and found ALL these ducks!

As soon as we got close they were swarming us-

I guess their way of begging for food

(too bad we didn't have any).

Ame got scared and ran away, but Kaipo is a boy of

NO FEAR!

pumpkin decorating

Instead of carving pumpkins this year we decided to paint them.

This may be another NEW tradition, because it is so much more

enjoyable for the kids! THEY can actually decorate the pumpkins.

The kids decided to have a witch and a pirate this year.

Kaipo gave the ideafor his, but mom and dad painted

the majority of the pirate,most of his painting is on the back.

On the other hand, Ame did paint most of hers.

They are saying, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, hence the wierd

expression on AMe's face!

The cute hanging pumpkin spider was made

by Kaipo at preschool.

Ame really wanted a hat for her witch,

so mom ran to the $$ store this morning a luckily found one.

Now they are complete and decorating the front porch,

awaiting all the trick-or-treater in just a few days!

another empty space

This girl is losing teeth all over her mouth, and is breaking the Tooth Fairies Bank! On our way home from Provo last night, Ame was like... this thing sure is wobbly. I think I'm gonna pull it out. I gave her a napkin for better ease to grip the tooth, and sure enough she pulled it right out! That was tooth #5. She still has one more loose tooth in her mouth. Who knows how soon SHE will pull that one out!

Color Me Mine

Ame's cousin Ella had her 7 year birthday party at a place called Color Me Mine, which is a paint-your-own ceramics studio. It was a very cool place, with unique pieces such as vases and cookie jars, platters and bowls, dolphins and fairies, dogs and cats, you name it. For the party, the girls had a choice between a mermaid or a fairy. They got to choose what colors they wanted to use and away they went. Ame chose a fairy. In a few days (after they have been baked) their masterpieces will be ready to be picked up. Quinn's sister, Haruko ,was very kind to let her daughter Ella invite all the girls from her 1st grade class, plus her cousins. This was one loud and crazy group! But what a great idea for a young girls birthday party.
And of course, HSM was the cake choice.

We sure love cousin Ella and think she is such a cutie!

Reflections

Take a few minutes to reflect on our Savior. Go here...
http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/
thanks Katie (and Julie) for sharing this with me.
I have been touched!

HSM3 surprise

So a few days ago, I decided to SURPRISE Ame and Kaipo,

by getting on Fandango and buying tickets for

High School Musical 3.

I told them I had a surpise for them on Friday,

but they would have to wait until then to find out what it was.

Kaipo hated the idea of not knowing,

and Ame just asked a lot of questions

tryingto figure it out!

I think Ame did figure it out, but they

were both super excited anyway!!

We had some time to waste, so we hit the arcade.
This was Kaipo's first time in a Movie Theatre.
We don't have dollar movies close, but
I figured as much as these two are into this show,
I could slurge and take them on a date!
And the show did NOT disappoint.
Kaipo was out of his seat most of the time dancing,
and Ame was trying hard to sing along to all the NEW songs!

It is so fun to make your kids day, especially with

things they don't get to experience very often!