Enrichment night Luau

Here's Mary and Aislinn waiting to meet the ladies as they arrived with a traditional "aloha" greeting! The ladies really enjoyed being greeted, and the leis really added that extra touch that made it special.


Here's the display of the fun glasses we had for punch! Only at a Luau, can you get the ward to buy these types of glasses!! And the baby is little Brandon Castro, who's about 6 weeks old, but he's still so tiny and slept through almost the whole party!

Then we all sat down and ate some dinner. There was lots of yummy pulled pork with delicious salsa (click on the picture, the recipe is on it!) and lots of salads and yummy desserts to enjoy! And check out the pineapple getting grilled! Yummy!!

And this here is Darla, our enrichment leader (on the right) and Emily, who is one of our sunday teachers. They tried running from the camera, and then realized that I wasn't afraid to post a "backside" picture just to teach them a lesson!! (I wish others had been this quick to learn the lesson!)


The Maoriachis.

The whole group!

Enjoying the show!

"Yeee-Hawww"

When dinner was over, we were entertained by a trio of New Zealanders, who called themselves the "Maoriachis". They were really fun and sang some beautiful music. New Zealand music differs from Hawaiin music in the sense that rarely use instruments, but lots of body slaps and stomping to keep the beat. They even taught us a little dance, but I don't remember the name of it, but it was really fun. Everyone loved the part where you swung your hips and yelled, "Yeee-hawww"! Then they showed us the Haka, which is the war dance that they perform before traditionally going to war. But mostly they do it before sporting events now. It was fascinating to watch and I found that I was missing alot trying to take pictures. They sorta go into a trance and their eyes look a bit glazed while they are chanting the Haka. The picture shows a bit of what the eyes looked like, but a video would have been so much better. We all really liked the Haka, and most of us could have listened for hours, it was just entrancing to watch!

Julie, Michelle & Caroline! See it wasn't so bad!!

And here's our sweet Tina, our RS pres. She and her husband (and their two boys) are leaving for Italy tomorrow. We are all a bit jealous, but she will be missed and I hope you guys have a good time!

OK, when someone poses for a picture LIKE THIS....it BEGS to be posted somewhere! Thanks Kristine!! Made my night! And finally, you know it was a successful party when the glasses are empty and people are still smilin'! What a great night!

And to finish off with my favorite pictures of the night. I just couldn't stop from snappin' pictures of this little cutie. But my absolute fav, is the one of the back of his head. They always have those awesome little wrinkles on their heads, but so hard to get a good picture of!

Thanks everyone for making it such a fun night!

isn't this the way it is these days???

This just tickled me silly when I saw the sign. Look closely. For several reasons. One.....it's at Wal-mart----need I say more ! :) Two......It seems that things are going up in price almost daily...and here's the proof! I really wish it wasn't that way, but it looks like it's not changing anytime soon.

Hope this makes you smile.....and not get too angry at the latest economic problems. It always makes me laugh when a wal-mart employee isn't smart enough to get the sign right! (I know....someone COULD have switched them, but I 'm not giving them that benefit!!)

Tonight's our enrichment Luau, and it will be tons of fun! I'll post some pics tomorrow!

Play day!

I guess I just decided since the teenagers are home and they don't get up until 11:30 (and that was after the vacuum was going, so I'm sure it would have been later if I hadn't vacuumed) that I would give myself a playday! (Too bad I didn't decide this until after I vacuumed!!) So I sat and scrapped for a couple of hours! It's been a couple of weeks since I did any scrappin' and it felt good to be creative again. I even bought some new supplies, just to make it an authentic "play day"! So this is what most of my pictures look like of Carissa....running away from me! So I decided to use the Dr. Suess lines from the book "oh the places you'll go". I plan on making one for Nikelle and Donavan too, but with a different quotes from the book. I love that book, and think it has such a great message. If you haven't read it, get a copy (or check it out) it is really sweet (and of course it's Suess, so it's a little crazy too!)

What's your nerd score???

You know you are curious to know how nerdy you are!! Admit it!! Now go take the test! Now I just need to have Andrew take the test!

And here's Andrew's score. Not quite as nerdy as I expected, but it's still up there!

THIS is why we don't.....

buy marshmallow cereal for this little girl! I made the mistake of leaving it out on the counter, (instead of putting it back on the top shelf in the pantry) she pulled a chair over, got it down and proceeded to dump out all the cereal in search of ALL the marshmallows. And believe me, the quest was not finished when I took the pictures, she continued until the entire box was emptied! And the only reason I allowed it was because when it's gone....it's GONE! And you will NEVER find marshmallow cereal at this house! Now how

to convince my husband to QUIT buying this garbage!!! Maybe the pictures will convince him that it really isn't worth the few moments of satisfaction it gives him to see her smile and think he's the "coolest dad"! (Cause really I don't care if a 3 year old thinks I'm cool!) Another one of those things that I REALLY wish he hadn't started!




NEVER AGAIN!!

(Look at the JOY in her face?? She told me that she made a "big Mess!" Little stinker!!)

Happy Birthday to {ME}

It's not very often that I get excited for my birthday....but this year is a bit different. I don't know what caused the extreme change in me, but it was 3 years of sittin' around that caused me to loose perspective. The perspective that I lost was in being healthy. I literally gained 20 pounds "just one pound at a time", and pretty soon I was feeling awful! My motivation started last February with an enrichment night where we talked about making more healthy choices in our every day lives. At first I wasn't convinced that I needed a complete life change....yet....so I made a few changes.....and sure enough I saw something happening. Then I decided to start moving again, first just by walking more....and I lost a few pounds! Then the revelation came that I needed to "workout" (something I'd been avoiding for years!) So being the Biggest Loser Junkie that I am, I bought 2 of the DVD's, and eventually starting using them. Once I started moving, I noticed such an improvement in my energy levels and no more huffing and puffing every time I carried my oh-so-heavy baby (Only 24 pounds!) up the stairs! Those were just the first things I noticed. Then after just 6 weeks I had dropped 13 pounds and around 3 inches from my waist! Well that was all the convincing I needed to keep going! After all it wasn't really that hard! Just making the decision to do it was the hard part!

My next "revelation" came when I was in the store looking at cookbooks and found one written by none other than Jillian Michaels (a trainer on the Biggest Loser) called "Making the Cut" and I knew I had to have it. I LOVE this BOOK!! She has meal plans and recipes in the book that are AMAZING and SO yummy!! Andrew has told me that he always feels guilty eating out because he knows the food at home is SO much better!! Now I'm not saying that I am some amazing chef or anything, I just follow the recipe! It has completley changed how I eat, and it has made all the difference! When you have food that is so flavorful, you really don't miss the fat!

So the reason that I say Happy Birthday to {Me}, is that I had told myself back in March, that I would love to loose 10 pounds by my birthday. I knew it would take alot of work, but I never thought, EVER, that I would be able to say that I've lost 21 pounds!! The picture above of me in my "fat pants" are ones that I was starting to wear everyday, because all the other ones were getting snug. What you see there is the loss of 6 inches in my waist, 4.5 inches in my hips and 3.5 inches in my thighs. For anyone who thinks that 20 pounds isn't that much and it doesn't really alter your lifestyle (I mean 20 extra pounds doesn't make you obese), for me it meant a differnce of 8 sizes!! YUP Eight!! Crazy huh?

So if there is anyone that needs a bit of motivation, just start! you will NEVER feel better!! And if you need any yummy recipes, just holler! I'd love to share.

Now for the other birthday story. As you may have guessed, I opened my birthday present a bit early........mostly because I'm the one that bought it......and there was NO way I was waiting any longer for my camera! But Andrew always likes to give something on the day of the birthday anyway. (He knew I wouldn't eat cake, so he had to go to plan B) So the story is this......He saw this show years ago (20+years?) and thought it was amazing and somehow remembered the name of it. He noticed on a site and decided to get it for me so that I too could share in the wonderfullness of this show. I have no idea what it will be like, but I will keep you posted! Hopefully it won't be ultra LAME....but he tries.....and at least it's not fry sauce!!!! (Anyone who needs the story on that one can check out the layout from an earlier post, titled "culinary surprises")

So this is my very best B-day and am SO happy & proud to have accomplished my goal, and so excited that it wasn't that hard to eat better. Just about being empowed with knowledge and knowing what is good and not so good!

Wanted to throw in this picture too! Just to say thanks to my wonderful mother for all she did for me growing up and teaching me to be the best mom to my big/little kiddos! Thanks mom #?? years ago!

(Isn't my mom a babe?? I mean look at that perfect hair!!) Love ya'

my little PSA

Just wanted to pass along this little picture! I was on the phone last night when my neighbor knocked on the door, Nikelle came down to see what she wanted. She pulled her without saying anything, right out the door. Right under my garbage can was a snake. A harmless "little" snake!! I say little because it was about 3.5 feet long!! Needless to say, my "PSA" is: when you have to take out the trash, or take the cans to the curb........do it in the daylight!! (And wear shoes!!) Just my little two cents worth! Yes we managed to capture it, and release it back to the field. As they are getting ready to pour the asphalt in the church parking lot, they have been packing the ground down this past week, and I'm sure this won't be the first snake we will find close by!!

























So while we were all outside talking about the snake, and doing some visiting, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the neighbors, since I already had my camera out! Lindsey, I hope you like this picture! Andrew & I don't have many of us together, so I always try to grab couples, and since you will very soon be in "new parent" mode, I hope this is a special shot! The little boy is Mary's "little man" Coleman. He always has the cutest smile, and he can turn his tongue sideways, and it always makes me laugh!! Then I snapped a picture of my cute Andrew. He went and got his hair cut today and he wanted to pose looking all "cool"! I think he looks rather nice!!

These here are some pictures of my columbine blossoms. I love that they have come back this year! I was a little nervous planting a bloom in such a shady spot, but they seem to be doing really well. In fact I think they are crowding out my daylillies, so I may have to move them. I love the colors after such a long snowy winter (we haven't all forgotten have we???)



Mom: aren't they pretty???

Then this last one just happened! Literally!! We were standing around talking and noticed the sun coming back out. I turned around and there was the most beautiful sunrays poking through the clouds. I snapped the picture and was pleased with it, but decided to play around with some settings. Then I couldn't replicate was I did the first time.......so I guess it's not always true that you need to take 100 pictures to get a good one! Like I said this one was the lucky shot!! But I think it looks amazing, and after I get my 1.8 lens, then I can play with that one (today or tomorrow Jen)
Tomorrow will be Nikelle's last day of school, and then they are both going to be home all summer! I guess we better start planning some fun things that are close by that can be done in one day! Any ideas, please pass them along!