Oahu 2011

This year Mike's work trip was to Honolulu. It was a pretty quick trip, but we made the most of it. The first day we rented a car and went to the North Shore.

We did the hike to Waimea Falls. It was an amazing walk through a nature preserve up to the falls. There were people swimming by the falls. That made me miss the kids because our kids would have loved swimming there. (Another thing that made me miss them--a waiter one day was named Christian and our waiter another day was named Andrew.)

I took pictures of a few flowers we saw on the hike.
We shared a pineapple burger in Haleiwa and then went to this place with all of these funky vans and buses that sell fresh shrimp.

Temple in Laie.

The temple grounds are beautiful.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was great. We saw a few of the island presentations then went to the Luau. The show, Ha: Breath of Life, was amazing. We had great seats with a great view of the performers. Seriously, one of my favorites from this trip.

The next day we got up early to be at Pearl Harbor by 7 a.m. when tickets go on sale. We got tickets for the Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri. That is Mighty Mo in the background.

The Arizona Memorial.

USS Missouri.

Melanie and her family just happened to be on vacation the same time we were. We went shopping with them and had some hawaiian shaved ice.

One of my favorite pictures--our friends Matt and Andrea on the hotel grounds.

The last morning of our trip we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We took Andrew's underwater camera and got pictures of lots of fish.

It always takes me a few minutes to warm up to the whole thing. I have to get used to the breathing and I have to go to my happy place to block out the Jaws music that plays in my head.

When I was 19 I stepped on a sea urchin while on vacation in Hawaii with my family. Now, every time I see one I get freaked out. So, Mike and I snorkeled for about 45 minutes and we were sort of doing our own thing, when I saw a whole clan of sea urchins in the coral. I panicked and headed for shore. 45 minutes was plenty for me.

Mike took some video while snorkeling.

It was an amazing trip, but it is always great to come home to my babies.

DARE graduation

(Andrew pictured with Heather Anderson, Miss Utah 2007 at DARE graduation.)

He said he only wanted her to sign his shirt, but then I asked for a picture. She put her crown on him and then he gave his signature smile.

Andrew loved DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education.) He took it seriously and talked a lot about the things he was learning. It gave us a chance to talk about things like alcohol and tobacco too. In his DARE essay he wrote about tobacco:

"Your teeth will look like you haven't brushed them in months and you'll seriously need a breath mint. If you play sports and smoke, you could suffer from shortness of breath and dizziness. That would suck for me to smoke because I love sports."

I think he gets it. I hope he gets it.

kitty love

Every day after school, the kids go immediately to the "cat nursery" in their bathroom to pick out a kitten. If we are home, someone is holding one. I took these pictures on Monday, about 10 minutes after they arrived home.

Bev is crocheting a sweater for one of the kittens.

Andrew takes one in his bed every night while he does his reading. Last night I worried to Mike that the kids were going to have a hard time giving them away. He reminded me that right now they are just little Zhu Zhu Pets that are cuddly and don't do much, but that they will grow up to be rascals.

Let's just say that Tiger is not a fan of the intruders. She avoids them or growls and hisses at them. As the kids were holding the kittens, I looked up and saw her perched on the mantle, disgusted with us all.

twins

When Mike helped me photograph the kittens, we ended up one photo short. I only had six. Over the last few days, as we have held them more, I realized that we actually did photograph all seven. The problem was that two of them look identical.

I googled it and found out that indeed cats can have identical twin kittens. All of their markings appear to be identical. Who knows? All we know is that they are darling.

shooting

The tradition continues. Ryan and Landon bring the goods. Afternoon session of General Conference ends and the adults steal away. Grandma watches the kids and we head up Spanish Fork Canyon.

Every time we go it takes me a minute to get up the nerve to pull the trigger. Then I get into it and I start to like it.
This .22 revolver is my favorite.
Melanie with Ryan. (That gun he is holding scares me quite a bit.)
The guys took turns pulling the clay pigeons.
I took a lot of pictures--practicing for the photography class I am taking. I shot just at the right time to capture the shell casing flying out as he shot the scary gun.
My tough sisters.
Melanie (13 months younger than me,) me, and Camille (13 months younger than Melanie.) Natalie stayed home with her brand new baby and Erika, who is pregnant, stayed back to help Grandma with the kids.
We finish up with just enough time for these guys to meet my dad for the Priesthood session.
I just finished the book, These Is My Words. It is about a woman living a tough life in the Arizona territories. She deals with scary guys and "indian trouble." She keeps a "kitchen pistol" in her apron pocket as she goes throughout her day. Her use of the pistol ends up saving her and several other people.

As we were shooting, I kept thinking about that kitchen pistol, feeling grateful that I don't need one, but wondering if someday I might. I really don't love guns, and until recently have not wanted one in my house. I am getting closer and closer to adding one to my 72 hour kit.

youtube parenting

Every kid has his or her currency. Jessica earns youtube-viewing privileges . She loves watching Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Jaden Smith and funny cat videos. We try limiting her pop-culture exposure, because it can get a bit much. The hair and makeup and dance moves. The songs about romance and the rock stars and the crotch-grabbing. I want to protect her and keep her little, but she is way too interested in it all.

So, I am trying to find some new stuff to interest her. We had success with this one. We watch it a lot lately and she loves it (I do too.)

So, when you give a pig a pancake, she's gonna want a little Michael Jackson to go with it.

She also recently added Steven Tyler to her "rockstars I like" list. (She learned about him on Idol.) I let her watch this one once. I couldn't understand the lyrics to "Walk This Way," so I googled them. Yeah, I will be watching this one alone--in the privacy of my craft room. That Steven Tyler is sort of yucky and interesting at the same time.

cuteness times seven

I just had to get some pics of these little darlings on their third day of life. They were born Wednesday at 5:30 a.m.. Andrew thought he heard birds chirping and then realized it was little "mews" he was hearing. The average litter is between 2 and 5 kittens. Mama Cat had 7. She is such a good cat and mama to her babies.

They are all mostly black, some with stripes and a little white.

This one is the only all-black one. His nickname for the first day was DumDum because he was the last one out and had a hard time finding his food source. I thought he might have some issues, but he seems fine now.
This one sort of breaks my heart. He has the little raccoon eyes and is totally black on the back, but striped like a jailbird on his tummy.

This one is the darling of the bunch--really pretty mix of white, black and stripes.

This little guy always looks like he has a fauxhawk.
Seriously, I don't think there is anything cuter.
Mama does great with us holding them, but when they start to whine we give them back because she gets nervous.
The kids are in heaven over these kittens. They are so much fun. (Of course, they are really easy right now. I can imagine things could get crazy with 7 rambunctious kittens here in a few weeks.)

In about eight weeks, we will be looking for good homes for these guys. So, if you know anyone, give me a holler.