Aloha

Brian and I just got back this morning from our trip to Oahu. Here's my travel journal and some pictures!

Saturday August 1, 2009

This morning we got up and ready. We took Eliza and Libby to Chrystalyn’s to stay until tomorrow night, then we took Ellie and Hattie to my parents to stay. They were all pretty excited to go to their places. From there Brian and I headed to the airport. Our flight left at 10:55, so after we got checked in, we read and had a bite to eat. The plane ride was smooth and about 6 hours long. I did some reading and I listened to some podcasts. Brian listens to podcasts and talks on his iPod, but this is my first time and I loved it! I downloaded several free ones from iTunes and I was set. They also played 17 Again on the plan, so I watched that. It was okay—a little silly but it kept me entertained.


After we landed—about 3 local time—we got to our rental car place, then drove to our hotel. We are staying at the Moana Surfrider in Honolulu. We have two balconies—one from which you can see the ocean. Driving to our hotel was crowded! Kauai is much different and much less populated. This is far more touristy it seems. We got to our room and got settled a little bit, then walked down to a little grocery store for some milk and cereal. We figured we could eat breakfast in our room to save some time and money. We got a half gallon of milk, which was $3.00, but the gallons were on sale for $8.99. CRAZY! The cereal was pricey, too.

We came back to our room and relaxed for about an hour before going down to the welcome dinner. It was out on a lawn and right on the beach.

The view was so beautiful! Dinner was a buffet with a variety of foods…Brian was more adventurous than me, having mussels, squid salad and salmon. I opted for the prime rib for my main meat. After some dessert—fresh pineapple and cannoli, we took a little walk on the beach. I don’t think I have ever done that, so that was fun.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

This morning the time difference threw me off a little. We went to bed last night around 9 Hawaii time and I woke up and I thought, “Surely it’s about time to get up.” I looked at the clock and it was 2:15. Crazy! So I went back to bed until about 6. I laid in bed until about 7, then Brian and I got up and ate our cereal. We had planned to go to the 11 AM church meeting, but since we were already up, we decided to hit the 9 AM sacrament meeting. So we got ready and drove to the building. It was the Honolulu Tabernacle. The building was really neat—it reminded us of temple grounds—lots of lush flowers and landscape, a reflection pool and really neat, large mosaic of Christ.




Church was good. I was a little nervous—being in a new place, but there seemed to be a lot of other visitors. The chapel was so big—it had rows and rows and rows of pews, then on either side were additional pews facing inward. We ended up sitting in front of a family—reminded us of the movie—Singles 2nd Ward, I think. They had this sesame mix—it was so crunchy and loud. Then I smelt tuna!!!!!! It was so potent. I didn’t turn around to see if that is what it really was but we figured it was. It made for a fragrant hour (ewww!). It was testimony meeting. After the bishopric member shared his testimony which was really good, there were only 2 more testimonies! One guy was up there for like 20 minutes. He was very entertaining and he told the story of his conversion. He owns a VIP tour company and he would point out the temple when he was on the North Shore and he kept hearing negative comments about Mormons. After about a hundred comments, he decided to go in to the visitor's center. He ended up spending 7 hours there. After that and seeing that the members were actually nice people, he stated taking his tours to the visitor center and made them go in! He said he told them they could go or they could walk and get off the tour! After a while and after missionary discussions, he was baptized. After sacrament, we walked around the building for a bit—it’s really neat—where you go outside to get to the classrooms and the rooms open to the outside. It ended up being a good time. From there, we drove around a bit to see parts of the city. We decided it’s a lot like New York but without all the traffic. We drove past a King Kamehameha statue and drove by Diamond Head.

We got some lunch, then went back to our room. The Next Food Network Star finale was on this evening, but they replayed all the episodes from this season. So we watched a few of those and got to watch the finale. We also switched rooms. Our first room was nice but had two double beds. It would have been okay but being pregnant—it was just a little snug. So we now are on the 4th floor instead of the 17th and a little closer to the beach.

This evening we took a scenic drive up Round Top Road to a state park. The drive up was so pretty—LUSH, LUSH area—like a rain forest. At the top there is a little park and a scenic lookout.




We drove back down and got some dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We shared the stuffed chicken tortillas and it was plenty! I can’t eat too much at a time now, so it worked out great. We topped it off with some Baskin' Robbins.


Monday, August 03, 2009

This morning we got up and ready. There was a group breakfast, so we went there for that, then Brian had a meeting that started at 8. I went to a couple stores close to the hotel, but all that was really open were the ABC stores—like a mini grocery/souvenir store. So I went back to the room and waited until time to go down to the spouse meeting. It was combined with the financial advisors and basically they did introductions, the host from St. Louis did a firm update, then a guy from the hotel talked about things to do while we were here. After the meeting we were free to go for the day. We went back to the room, changed into our suits (yes, I actually got into my swim suit this time! LOL) and went down to the beach. Brian has wanted to try surfing for the longest time, so he finally got to fulfill that wish! Right by the hotel is a little surf place and you pay for an hour of instruction with a small group. I think there were 6 or 7 in his group. He got a mini lesson on shore from “Blue”—an older Hawaiian guy—then they were out in the ocean surfing.



After a few minutes, he was able to get up. And he did it over and over again until the hour was up. He got up several times and had fun surfing. He said it was tiring and he realized why his shirt is called a rash guard. He wished he had worn a long sleeve one, as he had a little rash on both arms from paddling. And the inside of his knees were red, too, from laying down and then getting up. I sat on the shore and took lots and lots of pictures. I am glad he got to do that!



We went back to the room and got changed, then grabbed a bite to eat a little food court at the Royal Hawaiian. We went to one store, then went back to the room for a nap. Brian said he never feel asleep because the room was too warm—I had turned the air up a little bit before. Oops!! After we got up, we drove around—saw the inside of Diamond Head Crater. You can hike up the inside, but that was out for me, so we just drove in and out. Then we took a road that went right by the ocean, so that was pretty. We drove in a few neighborhoods and awed at the homes and their beautiful view. We drove a little further and stopped at some scenic views. The ocean was beautiful—such a deep blue color. We drove back and went to dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Neither of us were too hungry, so we split a burger. The waiter talked us into fries—we should have asked how much—it was $4.75! Then Brian got a soda and the waited asked if he wanted bottomless. Mistake! We got the bill and it was $6.75. OUCH! The redeeming (somewhat) thing was that you got to take the “colorchanging” mug and you could come back for a free refill anytime without having to eat again. We got a chocolate cake to go and we ate it later tonight. It was SOOOO good. So rich and decedent. Yum!
Like NY, there are people on the street trying to earn a buck. They fascinate me although I never put money in their buckets. This guys was clothed in newspapers...very well done.



Tuesday, August 4, 2009

This morning we got up fairly early and got ready and ate cereal for breakfast. We got our car and headed up to the North Shore. We drove up the west side by the Dole Plantation. There were tons of pineapple growing alongside the road. We wanted to do a little shopping before we started at the Polynesian Cultural Center which opened at 12. We ended up passing the little town we wanted--Halewie--and instead kept on going to Laie. We first went to the temple. It’s closed for about a year and a half for renovation. It was weird to see it like that—it was cement color instead of the vibrant white you usually see in the pictures. And the front windows were boarded up. We went in the visitor’s center for a little bit and went to the Distribution Center for a couple things.



We drove by BYU Hawaii and decided I should try to get a teaching job there. Ha! Surely they need an English professor!

We still had a little while before the Cultural Center opened and we realized that a couple places we wanted to go to were back in that little town we had passed. So we drove all the way back and ended up eating lunch at a little bakery Wialea Bakery. We split an egg salad sandwich. It was so good! We shared a cookie, then I got a Matsumoto shaved ice. I got creamcicle and strawberry with ice cream. YUM! It was soooo good.

The ice was so soft and to have the ice cream in the bottom was a nice treat. Then we drove back to Laie and spent the rest of the day at the PCC. It was a lot of fun and we had a good time. We went around to all the villages. I think we only missed Samoa. But we got to see the cultural presentations for each village. They were so entertaining and informative. I think our favorite was Tonga. They had some people from the audience come up and play the drums and it ended up being very funny. We also saw the Canoe Pageant which is like a parade on the water. That was fun to watch. This evening we went to a luau. There was some entertainment and of course dinner. Brian really enjoyed the food—I thought it was just okay. But it was the experience, right? After dinner we did a little shopping at the marketplace, then it was time for the evening show—Breathe of Life. It showcased each village and the costumes, music and dancing was just amazing! So entertaining. The best part was the fire twirling at the end. Now I’ve twirled a fire baton before, but this was out of this world. They were SOOO fast. It was great. It was a long, tired, but fun day.








Wednesday August 05, 2009

After getting up and ready this morning, we headed out to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium. We had heard a couple people mention it, so we decided to give it a try. It was a lot of the same stuff over and over again, but it was still fun to look around. We found little Hawaiian dresses for Ellie and Hattie, necklaces for Eliza and Libby, flowers for their hair and $5 sunglasses for me. We left there and headed to Pearl Harbor. We weren’t sure if we would make it in time to get a ticket to go see the USS Arizona, but we did. Our tour wasn’t until 12:15, so we looked around at some of the artifacts, then got some lunch before headed to our tour. It’s free to go to the USS Arizona so we opted to do that. Some of the other tours looked fun, but I think we got our fill on this one. Maybe if Brian goes back someday with my dad they could do the other tours. The tour started out with a little video about events leading up to Dec. 7, 1941, then talked about the actual day. It was interesting to learn some more about that day in history. From there, we took a little boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. You can see shadows of the boat under the water and a couple parts stick out above the water. It was neat to see and I’m glad we could say we saw that.



We came back to the hotel, took a little nap, then ate dinner at La Cucaracha.

Then we went to Borders and got a couple books to keep us occupied. I got a young adult book called The Mysterious Benedict Society and Brian got a WWII book called Flyboys. We ended the night with some ice cream and headed back to the room.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

This morning we got up and kind of lazed around a little bit. We finished off our cereal (yay!) and read more of our new books. Brian stayed up and read a ton of his. I read a lot, but ended up falling asleep. Our activity we wanted to do today was snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It’s a nature preserve and they limit the number of people/cars at a time. So if you miss the morning wave, you kind of just have to keep driving by to see when they open the parking lot again. We drove by the first time around 10:30 and the lot was full, so we ate lunch at Burger King, then drove back by and it was still full. We stopped by a couple of scenic views and as I was getting in the car from taking a picture at one, I could see the sign changed to open. So I jumped into the car and we hustled over there and made it in! We paid our entrance fee and watched the brief video about the preserve and how not to touch anything, etc., then we walked down to the beach. We rented masks and went down to the water. Brian ended up being the only one who snorkled. I totally chickened out. I am just not an ocean fan! I told him I think I would be better if I was just dropped off somewhere and couldn’t touch the bottom. I don’t like walking on the sand and being pushed around by the waves. It’s just too unstable! I know, I am a wimp and I wish I liked it better, but that’s just me! Brian has learned that is me, too, so he went off and enjoyed snorkeling. He came in and out several times and had a good time. He saw several neat fish he said. I sat on the sand and let the water come over my legs. I enjoyed that.





We hiked back up the hill to the parking lot and headed back to the hotel. Tonight is a farewell dinner out on the lawn overlooking the ocean. Should be good.
Dinner ended up being very good. We were too full for dessert, so we grabbed a plateful and ate it later in our room.
Eliza made us a sign before we left to display in our room.

Today my parents picked up Eliza, Libby and Ellie and took them back to their house. Libby had earned jewelry making with my mom, so they all ended up making bracelets, necklaces and Eliza even made earrings. Later they dropped Ellie off at Brian’s sister’s house—Laura—for a little sleepover with them and to play with Tommy. She was really excited. Then my parents took Eliza and Libby to meet the teacher at their school. I didn’t want them to miss because we were out of town, so we arranged to have my parents take them. It sounds like it went well. They both have nice teachers and got to look around the classrooms and find their desks, etc. I can’t believe it’s time to start school again! I am going to miss them.

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Yesterday, Friday, was our last day. We got up and ready and checked out of the hotel around 11. Our flight didn't leave until 10:30 PM, so we had some time to kill! We went back up to the North Shore (less crowded!) and we ate lunch again at the little bakery.
And we couldn't resist another shaved ice. This time we got strawberry cream (YUM!) and mango.
Then we drove around to see some of the beaches there. In the winter the waves are 30-50 feet high. It's hard to imagine. We decided if we come back, we'll go to the beaches there. So much less crowded! The ones by our hotel were packed. We saw this old car at one of the beaches.



We also stopped at the Dole Plantation and walked around a bit and read a little bit about its history. Here's a cute little pineapple growing.



The plantation was lush with vegetation and flowers.

After driving around as much as we could, we took our rental car back and got to the airport around 5:30. We had a while to wait, but we both read. I ended up finishing my book. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next one in the series. We had some dinner at the food court and waited for our flight. We were on time and flew overnight to arrive about 7 AM AZ time. I really don't like flying overnight. You don't sleep well and it just totally throws me off on my days/hours, etc. Yuck.

Overall we had a fun time. Just enough busy with enough relaxing. I think unless we were going specifically for Pearl Harbor or the Cultural Center, we would opt for a less touristy island, but we still had fun and enjoyed our time together.

End of Summer

I was feeling a bit emotional tonight as tomorrow is really the last day of summer! With a vacation next week and when we get home, we'll just have a couple of days before school starts. It's a bit heartbreaking. I think I'll just make my girls snuggle with me all day. I don't think they'll go for it, but it's worth a try!

I'll miss making their chore charts each day. I'll miss Libby giving Hattie piggy-back rides around the house. I'll miss Eliza trying to get the girls to play school or have a makeover. I'll miss Hattie wanting Libby to hold her. I'll miss all the girls playing Barbies together. They have really been into Barbies for the past few weeks. Once they can get past seeing who can hoard the most Barbies, they have a fun time. As hard as it is sometimes with all of them home during the summer, I just want to keep them in my close watch and not let them go off to school into the world!

Tonight Ellie was so cute while she said her prayers. She said, "I'm grateful that Jesus likes us and that Eliza, Libby and Ellie can help Hattie not scream anymore." She also said, "...grateful that Jesus doesn't like us to kick (not sure where that came from) or we'll go in a timeout."

Rice Krispie Treats

Why are homemade rice krispie treats so good to me right now? I especially love them warm--just after mixing. And I love them when they are soft and gooey. Yum! Can you tell I just made some today and ate way too many?!

I was also productive though, so maybe that balances it out. I picked up some fat quarters from a quilt store out in Surprise. On Tuesdays their fat quarters are 10 for $20. The bad part that I didn't think about until I was there was that I had to buy 10 to get the deal. I was just thinking $2 each. They all will be used though for upcoming gifts. So this afternoon Libby helped me cut fabric and make some burp cloths for a baby shower I have on Saturday. It's always fun working with new fabrics.

Family Reunion and an Expensive Souvenir

On Friday around noon we headed up to a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. "On the way," Brian wanted to stop in Flagstaff to look at a car he found. We stopped, he looked at it while I took the girls to a park and made sandwiches and ate. He like it and bought it. So that was our expensive souvenir from our trip. LOL. It is actually going to hopefully be a good car for driving back and forth from work and was in nice condition. It's a 98 Civic. Much better than some we looked at. Some either had really high miles or just weren't clean or had salvage titles. I can't believe what some people try to hide when selling a car! We subscribed to CarFax so he could check out cars he found. Brian found one in Gilbert and was going to look at it but before he went he ran the report and found it had a salvage title. The guy said it had been a good car and I think even said no accidents! Crazy. But I think he lucked out with this car. We stopped at Brian's sister's house to print off a three-day permit/plate, then from there, we drove two cars to Eagar where our hotel was. It was actually nice breaking the girls up into two cars--we decided maybe should take two cars on every trip! Ha ha! The drive was so pretty! Makes you want to move somewhere cooler and greener like that. We got to Eagar around 6, where we met up with my parents and brother Brian and his family. We got some pizza for dinner and Dairy Queen for dessert. Yum!

The next morning we got up and had the continental breakfast and went to the reunion, which was held a little further in Alpine. It's so pretty up there! After everyone arrived, we had lunch. Each person brought a side to share and the hosts provided the meal--delicious pulled pork and brisket. Some of my mom's cousins are cowboys and ranchers, so you know you are going to have good meat! After lunch there was a "talent" show. For our family's (my parents and brother and family, too) we did a skit of things that we learned from our grandma(Doris) and great-grandma (Emma). We decided it was an "untalent," but it was fun to remember what we have learned from them. Some of the other talents were telling an ancestor story or singing. It was entertaining. After that they basically cleaned up and were done. Before we went home, we wanted to stop by my grandma's brother's cabin in Alpine. We used to go there quite often growing up, but I haven't been there in years! It was so fun to go see it. Many of Uncle Beans and Aunt Lorna's kids and grandkids were staying there for the reunion. They brought up some horses, mules and even a little pony who pulled a little cart that the kids got to ride on. They had a blast. Eliza even got to ride one of the horses and was in heaven! Out back is a little rope swing and the kids had a great time swinging and swinging and swinging! It was fun to let the kids play and visit with many people I haven't ever met. After leaving, we left and drove home. It was a beautiful drive until we got closer to Globe. We got home late and hurried and went to bed to get up for church in the morning.

On Sunday, we went to church. Libby and Brian ended up coming a little late after some drama over what she was going to wear. She didn't want to wear the new skirt and shirt we had picked out together, but her other one church outfit is getting too small! Argh! Hopefully she'll come around soon.

We had a great lesson in RS about adversity. It was one I needed to hear. I feel like I have been dealing with a lot of various trials relating to kids. It's been hard lately! But the lesson helped me keep things in perspective and remember that is why I am here. The teacher mentioned a quote I need to put up...it was something to the effect of "If God brought me to it, He will bring me through it" or something like that.

After church we hung out at home until we went to Brian's parents' for dinner. It's been a few months since we have had Sunday dinner over there, so it was fun to have it again.

Today Kari and I walked. It's been a while since our vacations have seemed to be one right after the other. We did our usual route. I felt like I waddled a bit and wasn't as fast although it took us the same amount of time. It's so hot out though! The rest of the day we tried to catch up from the weekend--cleaned some, laundry, Costco, etc. For home evening I showed the white dress video that I saw at camp and we talked about it. I love that video!

Boring

Seems like I need school to start so I feel like I have something new to write about. Yesterday was kind of busy though. We had to take Brian in to work since his car wasn't done yet. During the day I had a dr. appointment. The 7th month is always when I have my HUGE weight gain month. This time was no different. I about fell off the scale when the nurse weighed me. Dr. McKernan was happy to see it and said we'd just call it a "productive" month. In the PM we had to pick Brian up, pick up his car, had family home evening and I think that was it.

Today I was a slave driver. On Monday, two of my girls' behavior was less than desirable, so today was filled with chores and worksheets all morning. No computer time all day and only one TV show after all their stuff was done. The good thing was getting my house clean with their help. In the afternoon we went to my parents' house. My mom, Libby and I went to Last Chance looking for a church outfit for her, but they had one rack of kids' clothes. Bummer! She wears the same outfit week after week after week. Stubborn! I have taken her looking numerous times but she won't wear/get anything different!!! After that we did a couple other errands, then went home.

Girls' Camp

This past week I got to go to girls camp up in Pine at camp LoMia. I helped out a little with the two crafts, but mostly I took pictures and put together the slide show that was shown on the last night. I had a great time and loved being able to be kind of all over camp seeing every part. I felt a little spoiled being able to be on the stake staff and sleep in the stake cabin. I guess it was good being pregnant and all so I could get some rest at night. Let me see if I can recap some highlights...

Tuesday--
I left early Tuesday morning and rode up with Brooke and Cherice. We had fun visiting on the way up and got there quickly. The other stake wasn't done cleaning yet, so we just kind of waited around (loitered) until we could get in and put our stuff in our cabins. The theme for camp was One Life: Decisions Determine Destiny. The concept was to teach the girls that we have one life and the decisions we make will determine our destiny. If the girls can realize that now (and we can remember it as adults) we'll make better decisions. Anyway...on Monday the girls had certification, craft and another activity. The craft was to make an oil lamp (like the 10 virgins' lamps) out of clay. Some of the girls really did amazing lamps! The evening activity was skits--each cabin had to make up a skit and do a modern day parable. They were pretty cute. The last part of the night was singing trees.

Wednesday--
I slept pretty well considering the loud, plastic coated mattress. Wednesday was hike day, so I stayed behind and helped out around camp with whatever needed to be done. In the afternoon, they had a "Carnival of Life." On Tuesday the girls could earn tickets for doing nice things and service and they could redeem them for activities at the carnival. There were also a couple activities at the carnival where they could earn more tickets--but not all the girls even saw one of the extra things they could do, but that was part of the teaching/learning. Some of the fun activities the girls could do were bubble gum blowing, a couple water games, face painting, a scream contest or they could get popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones. YUM! The caper lady (chores) had those three machines and brought them to camp. The cotton candy was SO good--some of the best I've had. Good thing I don't have one of those machines. The snow cone machine would be fun, too! Perfect for a summer day.

That night the stake YW was in charge of the program and they had a speaker who talked about staying on the path and how our decisions can lead us to the temple or lead us away from the temple. As part of her talk, she showed this video that someone made for the song "What Heaven Sees in You." I decided it wasn't fair to show that video to moms who missed their kids. It is such a touching video. As a mom to girls, it makes me really feel the importance of my calling as their mom and how important it is to teach them and raise them up to be righteous women. Not a small task.

Thursday started early because it was the day for the obstacle course. We had to be down there at 6:30 so we could know what was going on. I didn't sleep great that night because I think I kept anticipating my alarm going off. Oh well. The obstacle course was such an amazing experience. The girls started together, then they were taken one by one and blindfolded. From there they were led to a rope which symbolized the iron rod. Along the rod, there were people there who talked to them. Some were positive and gave them some encouragement and others were "temptations" who were trying to get them to let go of the rod. The part that was most touching to me there was when one of the leaders tried to get them to let go of the rod. Many of the girls held on to that rope for dear life and would not let go. It just made me think of the temptations and filth that they are exposed to and to see how strong they are and how much they want to choose the right and stay on the right path. I took a lot of pictures of that because it really showed their determination and faith. After the rod the blindfolds came off and they went through activities that were symbolic of the three kingdoms and like a journey through life. They went on a little rough hike up part of a mountain, then came back down. Then they had to walk a tight rope bridge. Then someone talked to them individually about milestones in their life they would reach if they would make certain choices. The last part was the girls taking a little zip line to the end where they were welcomed into what was symbolic of the celestial kingdom. They were able to go into a white tent that had the scriptures open and picture of the Savior. Then they came out and waited for the rest of their "family" (cabin) to finish up. By the end most of the girls and all the leaders who went through it were teary eyed and clearly touched. It was such an amazing activity and one that really had a positive effect on the girls. They talked about it during the rest of the day and during the testimony meetings that night.






In the afternoon, Becky came up for the craft. It's a really cute "All About Me" journal/personal history. The girls got to choose papers for a cover to put in a "half pint" three-ring notebook, then they spent the rest of the time answering questions on the inside.

They also used the photo I had taken of each girl on the cover. Becky posted a link to the PDF download to the inside pages on her blog if you want to do one for yourself! It's such a great jump start to a personal history--your life written in your own words. So important.

During dinner that night, Kayla (one of my former YW who helped me take pictures) and I went to the stake cabin and finished up the slide show. I was thrilled that it worked and we got it done in time. I went back for the very end of our testimony meeting, then we all met back in the Ramada for the slide show. I think they girls really enjoyed it. They screamed for every picture that came up. Kayla and I decided we didn't need to worry about music next time because you couldn't hear it! After that was over, I was relieved.

On Friday we just had to get up, clean up and leave. They did awards for the girls' certification, too. Brooke, Cherice and I left by 9 and I was home by 11. I had a great time and I thought camp was a success. The food was wonderful and it was even better that I didn't have to prepare it or clean up. Spoiled! I was grateful for the chance to go and that some friends helped by watching my girls while Brian was at work. On Thursday afternoon, he took the girls up to his parents' cabin and they stayed all day Friday--they didn't get home until 9:30 that night. So I got to come home, unpack, get all cleaned up, SLEEP! and take it easy. It was so nice. I must have been tired--I slept for over 3.5 hours.

On Saturday we took it easy--stayed at home, did some errands and such. Brian's car acted up AGAIN. It's at the shop waiting to be looked at. He thinks it's just a hose, but it's still a pain. That night we went to Jared and Chrystalyn's for game night.

Yesterday was church, I taught my lesson, we had a great lesson on charity in RS. I need to have more charity. In the evening we went to my parents' for dinner. For dessert we made shakes. They turned out so good! Yum.

An Ellie Funny

This morning I was telling Ellie her choices for breakfast since we were low on milk. I told her she could have dry cereal, a pop tart or I would make her a waffle. She said, "We don't eat waffles for breakfast!" Like I was so silly. I guess I need to make real breakfast more often. The only time I "make" waffles (e.g. pop a frozen one in the toaster) is for dinner. She doesn't know that waffles are really a breakfast food! And speaking of silly--Ellie is silly and so much fun. She brightens our day. And did I mention cute?

My mom has a project to do for 7gypsies and it's a Christmas project, so we had a Christmas photo shoot last week. We snapped some pictures of my girls all together. I am glad we took them!

Swim Meet

On Saturday Eliza had another swim meet. She did well again and had a fun time. She got third in the medley relay, third in the butterfly, second in freestyle and first in the freestyle relay. She was so pleased to get that blue ribbon. Swim team is over for the summer. Yee haw! We made it through and I am glad Eliza had the experience.

I've spent some of the weekend getting ready for girls camp. I think I'm all set to go. Just crossing my fingers that the slide show works on the last night. No pressure for me!

Wicked

Last night we went and saw Wicked. The girls and Brian and I have been looking forward to it ever since we bought the tickets back in February. We took Ellie and Hattie to Brian's parents' for a sleepover while we went. We picked up my parents on the way and headed to Gammage. In our row and the two behind us, we probably saw 15+ people from our stake. So random that we all had tickets the same night! The play was awesome. I enjoyed it more this time I think because I knew more what was going on and caught things that I hadn't before. The actors did a great job. We thought the Fiero was great--had a great voice! Brian liked this Glinda better than the one in NY. She wasn't as over the top as the one in NY and this one had a little better voice. This Elphaba was really good. I thought she rivaled the one I heard in LA and NY until it came to the last note in Defying Gravity. She just didn't belt it like the other ones did, but she still did really super job overall. Eliza and Libby really enjoyed it, too. They were tired at the end but managed to stay awake. They loved knowing the music and enjoyed seeing what was going on when the songs they liked came up. My parents really enjoyed it, too. They have seen the Wizard of Oz a few times, so they caught all the references to that. It was a fun evening/late night out.

Downer Day

Today was one of those days where you just want it to be done or to curl up in a ball and wait for tomorrow to come. Maybe not that bad but it was just one of those hard parenting days. I think parenting should be like medicine--doctors are allowed to "practice medicine." I think we are always "practicing parenting." I heard one of the general authorities say or I read it in a talk--something to the effect--that parents take too much credit if their children do something great or do something wrong. It's so true...especially the latter. When our children act up (at least I do), I tend to blame myself and feel like it's reflection of me or that other people are thinking that I am horrible mom...etc. Just to backtrack--Eliza, Libby and I picked up Ellie and Hattie from Brian's parents' house from their sleepover, then we went to my parents' house. We loaded up and went to my dad's summer program. The girls were a little obnoxious on the way and just nit-picking at each other. We went today because the Brady's (my mom worked with Dotty for LOTS of years at Pioneer) brought their animals to show the summer program kids. So I took my girls to see the snakes, tarantulas, turtle and gila monster. They did well during that. Ellie and Hattie had no problem petting the snakes. In fact, Dotty put the snake on Hattie's lap and she just petted it. So funny! I was back several feet! She put it on Libby's lap, but she didn't' like it. Eliza pet it I think. They also touched the turtle. That's it. We had lunch in the cafeteria after that and had ice cream. On the way home, Libby was a bit difficult--just picking at Hattie and such. We went back to my mom's to pick up my car so we could go to JoAnns together to get some batting. My mom had my girls and I drove my car so we could just leave from there. Long story short--one of my girls just continued to be difficult and misbehave despite warnings. So she had to sit in the car with my mom while we went in. She was just very difficult and not very nice to me or my mom (or her sisters!). SOOO frustrating. Eventually she calmed down and was fine. But anyway--it's one thing to deal with tantrums at home but when she is mean to others, it is not fun. Like the quote I heard, I tend to blame myself and think other are thinking I am not a good parent...blah blah blah. Of course I can't be totally blame free, but I've been pretty down the rest of the day after that. Tomorrow is a new day, right? Hope it goes better. Tonight Brian took Eliza swimming at the resort with my brother and his family. We were all supposed to go but Libby lost the privilege from her earlier episodes. Hattie still had a little fever, so I kept her home. Ellie was all ready to go, then had an accident in her swim suit. Another reason for my downer day--like the straw that broke the camel's back. That is something that we've been dealing with for over a year. Ack!!! So I kept her home, too. Once again--thoughts of people saying, "Why can't she figure it out?" "What's wrong with her?" go through my head. Add to that another child who won't use any restroom except at a house and a very reserved/shy child in public, etc., I am starting to feel like a failure!

Hopefully one day I'll look back at this entry and laugh. But until then hopefully writing about it with be cathartic and maybe one day my girls will benefit from reading about hard times I had as a mom and maybe it'll help them get through any difficult parenting times they are going through.

Monday

Sunday morning came really early. Libby and Eliza had a hard time getting up because of the late night of fireworks. We made it just in the nick of time for church. My lesson was on the word of wisdom--pretty straight forward and hopefully I didn't make it too boring! The rest of the day was spent at home and then dinner at my parents. Brian had a fireside so I stayed behind and came home a little later.

Today was a productive day. The girls and I (mostly I) thoroughly cleaned Eliza's room and then Libby and Ellie's room. That meant going through all the "stuff." Not clothes, but the little "treasures" that they like to collect. I was able to get rid of quite a bit. It always feels good to purge and clean like that. It took most of the day, but it's done!

We also listed one of our cribs on Craigslist last night and today someone called to come buy it. I love Craigslist. It's already sold and gone! It was easy. I just listed our crib bedding so hopefully that goes soon, too. Now I have enough money to buy some fabric for new bedding. Yay!

Happy 4th

Yesterday Brian worked some of the day. Libby had one more swim lesson and did great. When Brian got home we all got ready and first went to Wal-Mart. Our vacuum went on the fritz, so we were looking for another one. It's our life story trying to find a vacuum that will last! From there we headed to Mesa. My parents wanted to get everyone together for dinner and visiting. We met at Oregano's and had dinner. We had to split up between two tables--all the grandkids but Luke at one table with my parents and me and everyone else at another table. How did I get so lucky?!? We had a really fun time though. The bring out dough balls for the kids and little pans for them to form the dough. It's just a time filler as they just toss the dough when the food comes. It worked though and kept them entertained!

From there we went to my parents' house for a little bit. After we got home, Brian was putting the kids to bed and I headed to Kohls and Wal-Mart. I got a $10 off any purchase coupon and I can never let those go to waste. It's free money! I've needed a pair of brown dress shoes and they had some great clearance shoes. I found some for $8.99. I also got one other little thing and paid 79 cents for all of it!

Today we got up early and were at the annual 4th of July breakfast. Our bishopric always does such a great job--yummy food and "the fire truck." The fire truck has been a ward staple lately---the kids love to take rides on it and they sprayed water on the kids for a little bit. There were also snow cones at the end, which is always a hit.





We came home and hung out around the house until early afternoon when we went to Kelmen's baptism. Karolyn is a really good friend and my girls love to play with her kids. It was Kelmen's big day. It was such a nice baptism. While he was getting ready after being baptized, they showed the little movie called A Pioneer Miracle. It was such a darling movie with such a great message. I'll have to get that one. After the baptism we went to their house for BBQ and swimming. We all had a great time. The kids seriously swam from when they got there at 4 until about 7:30 only getting out to eat very quickly and for dessert. They were having so much fun. Brian swam some with them. Hattie jumped in a zillion times and so did Ellie. Poor Ellie--when I put her to bed I could tell her eyes were bugging her. She was like, "I can't see..." They were red from being under water so much! We had fun visiting with a couple other couples and Karolyn and her parents. After baths when we got home, I put Ellie and Hattie to bed and Brian took the other two to catch some fireworks. I volunteer to stay home! LOL. I had to work on my lesson, too.

Oh Brother

This week Hattie started climbing out of her crib. We were spoiled with Ellie because she didn't do it. I guess I should be glad she didn't start any sooner. But this week during a nap, she came out. Then this morning she came in our room in the morning. That made for a miserable nap time today--trying to keep her in her bed and getting her to sleep. I am not ready to give up that nap time. I ended up laying with her for a couple minutes and she was out. If that is what it takes, I'll do it! We are going to put her in a regular bed soon in Eliza's room to get ready for the new baby, so I guess it happened at an okay time.

On Wednesday we didn't have swim team (hallelujah), so we got up and did our things, then went to swimming lessons for Hattie and Ellie. They are doing really well. Jenny works with Hattie on what to do if she falls in, so they practice that during her turns. Ellie is just working on taking breaths while swimming and she learned the breast stroke, too. It was really funny watching her work on her legs. You could tell she was concentrating so hard but sometimes they wouldn't do what she wanted. She picked it up though!

We came home and waited for Brian to get home to have dinner. After dinner Brian went off to mutual and I went off to another two mutuals to take pictures. I had my girls with me and let's just say I will be glad when I am done. It was a hastle. The second mutual I went to was at someone's house and I was told they would be doing cooking certification for camp. They were but they were also swimming. One of the leaders who has girls my girls' age were swimming, so my girls thought they should be swimming, too. It was an ordeal. I almost had to laugh about how distraught they were that I wouldn't get their suits and let them swim. Or that I wouldn't take them to the resort to swim, etc. Libby was sobbing and Eliza was crying pretty good, too. It was a sight! We survived that and got to bed!

Swim team this morning was nice since Brian stayed home with the other three, so I got to sit and enjoy and read. Later Eliza and Libby had a play date, so I just had Ellie and Hattie for their swimming lesson, then we stopped by my parents' to say hi since we haven't seen them all week since they were at girls' camp. Ellie had fun "shopping" around her house for things she could put in a bag and take home. She is so funny. We came home and I dealt with the climber during nap time until she finally went to sleep. Ellie and I played and then made dinner. We went swimming at Brian's parents' tonight. Hattie and I weren't in too long as there were TONS of bees. They would come in about groups of three and Brian and his dad spent the whole time killing them. It was crazy how they didn't stop coming.

Brian got his car fixed...the radiator was cracked which was causing the engine to overheat...blah blah blah. That translated to a $770 bill this time. So we're up to about $2000 in the past two months for it. I think he'll end up keeping it and in a couple months getting a smaller car for work and just save his Land Cruiser for camp outs and off roading. Don't you hate car repairs?!?!