1st Day of School

Today was a bittersweet day as is every first day of the new school year! I always think about this quote when it comes to the beginning of the year:

"Being a mother means that your heart is no longer yours; it wanders wherever your children do."

So true. This morning went well. Everyone got ready smoothly and we were able to leave in plenty of time to take pictures and get to school. Eliza had picked her outfit out on Saturday and Libby just said she would decide this morning. And she did! I am so grateful it went smoothly and that no one complained about going. We went to their classes--Libby's first--and met her teacher. We got everything out of her bag and looked around a bit. We told Libby we were going to drop Eliza off but that we'd be back by to check on her. She wanted to go with us. So she did. We went to Eliza's room, found her desk and got her all situated. She got right to work on the word search at her desk. She said she had butterflies, but she did well. Libby didn't say she was nervous, but I could tell she was. Just a flushed face and had that nervous look. This day always tugs at my heartstrings! It's so scary sending them out into the world where there are more influences and kids who aren't always nice, etc. But as Brian assures me, they know what is right and will do well. We left Eliza's room and went back to Libby's. By then there were more students and she sat at her desk and got to work. We said our good-byes and went back to wave at Eliza and then back to wave at Libby one more time. I am waiting on pins and needles to hear how today goes!

I am sad some of the pictures are blurry but they are still cute.






After dropping them off, Ellie, Hattie and I went to Wal-Mart to stock up from being gone, then we came home and are just trying to pass the time until pick up!

OK--so pick up took a while since all K-8 get out at the same time. The girls were so hot when I got to the front of the line to pick them up. I felt so bad. They both had a good day though and said their teachers were nice. I am glad their day went well!

Articles

For the plane ride, I printed a bunch of articles which ended up being really good. I found them at the BYU Family Expo website. Here are ones I read and enjoyed and there are also a ton more there that are really good.

Building Confidence/Self-Esteem in Children/Teenagers

Accentuate the Positive

Parenting Children and Teens in Positive Ways that Matter

Other transcripts...

For the podcasts, I went to iTunes podcast page and searched for LDS. There were a bunch there. My favorites were the Seagull and Cricket ones where Steven Kapp Perry interviews someone each week. They were entertaining.

Stake Conference and New Calling (again)

Here are some of my favorite thoughts from the adult meeting of stake conference last night.
--We show our gratitude by our works.
--1st Corinthians 10:13--we won't be tempted (or challenged or given more adversity) than we can bear.
--We will have the strength to meet any challenge we are presented.
--Be meek and lowly of heart. (Meek= stands in awe of God's creations, remains silent even when accused, teachable, not casual towards things of an eternal nature) (Lowly of heart= comes when we realize what we caused the Savior in His suffering, having remorse that we have hurt others, complete submission to His will)
--To love is to create; to hate is to destroy
--We should embrace challenges of life with greater gratitude
--We should view challenges and adversity as an opportunity for growth.
--Get on your knees and ask for help. He wants to help us.
--Talked about Michelangelo and how he wanted to learn to draw, but was asked to draft, sculpt, cast, paint and to be an architect. He was willing to learn and try new things. In regard to callings we are extended, we shouldn't say, "I am not ___________ (e.g. a nursery leader and primary pianist, etc.). We accept and do our best. That is humility. We can't tell the Bishop what we can or can't do. We can explain a situation if we think there is a conflict, but then let the Bishop decide. If we don't accept the calling, we are breaking the covenant.
--All ordinances we are part of help us become like our Savior.
--If we look at our lives as an act of creation and that we are being molded, it will affect every decision we make.
--Heavenly Father gives revelation to parents in regard to their children.

Before the meeting last night, a member of the high council wanted to meet with me. He tried to get hold of us this past week, but we were gone, so we didn't meet up until last night. But I was called to be the secretary of the stake young women's presidency. It definitely came out of the blue (just as I was getting going teaching my Sunday School class). But change is good, right? I am excited to serve in that calling--something totally new.

Today we had the 1 PM session. It was weird since we are used to going at 8:30 and not having time to do anything before. We made it to conference and enjoyed it. I am always glad for the adult session because I can get a lot from that meeting and can take notes, etc. In the Sunday session, I am trying to keep the girls reverent so any bit I can hear is a perk. It was a good meeting though. There were two young kids who spoke--they both did so great. Sweet little Kylie P. was bearing her testimony and she fainted though. I felt so bad for her. She was looking a little weak and pale towards the end and I looked over at Brian and we wondered if that would happen. Luckily her mom could tell she was struggling, so she went up and was there in time to catch her. Poor girl. The one thing I took from President Wagner's talk was to be more specific in my prayers. I always think I am, but I am going to do even better. He said to say exactly what your desires are and to pray for each child by name for specifically what they need and you need. I am going to try out that challenge/promise. I need help and I need revelation in regard to them.

After conference we came home. Eliza and Libby played well together and I made brownies (used my friend Kari's recipe for homemade brownies with frosting. Yum!!) with Ellie and Hattie. They love to help and to lick the beaters and the bowl! We had spaghetti for dinner, followed by dessert. The girls got their baths/showers and I put Hattie to bed. Then Brian gave Eliza and Libby a father's blessing for the start of school. I think the girls were excited to have a blessing before starting school tomorrow and I am grateful Brian does it each year. It makes me (and hopefully them) feel more at peace. Brian also gave me a blessing, so I appreciated that.

After the girls were in bed, we got as much done to pack their lunches and I wrote little notes to put inside. I think I get just as anxious and nervous as they do (probably more) and would love to be a fly on the wall all day!

Home

We pulled in our driveway around 9 this morning. On the front door was a welcome home sign and all around the house were signs welcoming us home! They girls were glad to see us--like surreal to them--like is it really you!??! Abbie our sitter did a fantastic job and took excellent care of our girls and house. It was nice for them to have a couple other sleepovers and we are grateful to those who helped, too. We unpacked some and showed the girls the souvenirs we had brought home for them. They showed us the fun things they did this week.

So today we just played and enjoyed being with the girls. Hattie wouldn't let me out of her sight and I spent most of the day holding her! She gave me lots of hugs followed by a kiss, so that was cute. A funny thing she has been saying lately that I wanted to record is that when someone does something wrong, she'll say, "_____________ (insert name) is in Trimble." She thinks that is the word for trouble. It's very cute.

This afternoon Brian had a leadership meeting as part of stake conference, and after was the adult meeting. We didn't feel like getting another sitter for the girls since we had just been gone for a week, so we traded off. I went to the 6 PM meeting and Brian came home with the girls. The meeting was good. I heard a lot of things that I needed to hear. I'll have to record some of my favorite quotes/thoughts tomorrow. I need to get to bed! It's been a long couple of days.

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.