MAYLIN2007

On day two we drove to Laie. It was a beautiful drive. The highways that go through the mountain tunnels are magnificent. We first made a stop at the temple. It was a wonderful experience. One, I hope my children will remember.   Then we went to an arch that is just down the road. It was so beautiful. We were all amazed at the sea and the mountains. There was such a calming beauty.   After this, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The kids LOVED this!!! If you asked them what their favorite day was on our trip they all say, "The Cultural Center, but then everything was awesome." Alex got called up to participate in a coconut milk drinking contest with a Samoa guy. When Alex got on the stage the guy said, "Whoa, you are bigger than you look from far away." He had Alex guzzle a coconut with him to see who could finish first. Alex came pretty close. We loved it when this boy climbed a coconut tree, however, it sparked something in Alex.....and the rest of our t...

We arrived in Oahu on the 14th around 4. We spent that night swimming in the hotel pool, going to the store to get food as we were doing a lot of our own cooking and walking around where we were staying. The next day: AUSTIN's 19th b-day, we started out with a drive to Round Top to check out a view of Honolulu, a visit to the Punch Bowl Cemetery, the Utah memorial at Pearl Harbor, time at Waikiki Beach, a show and sunset on the beach and a quick visit to the International Market. We also had cake for Austin's b-day the waiters at the restaurant sang to him too. The kids loved snorkeling at the beach! They found some great sea urchins and they saw a turtle too! I enjoyed my time floating on the big round inner tube, I even fell asleep on it! By afternoon, we walked down the main road to the International Market. Wow, did we see some interesting characters trying to earn money on the sidewalk. We bought Malasadas at the market along with some papaya. After that we headed back to ...

  Can you guess where we have spent the past 16 days? Hawaii!!!!! We left on Dec. 14 and just returned hours ago. We had 16 fabulous days in the tropics. We island hopped from Oahu to Maui to the Big Island. It was great. Just wanted you to know we are safe and sound and that we had a great time! We are tired, but pretty dang happy! We will post more details about our trip after we have a brief nap and finish the HUGE amounts of laundry.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!! We did! Will post more soon. Happy New Year!!!! Be safe.

  Pictures of our one and only ice skating trip this year. Funny thing, it happened after her skates were off. Also, bad day.....got my hair cut. I only got it cut because I had a few split ends. Told the girl to take off 1/4 of an inch. Told her I didn't want to be able to even tell I had my hair cut. She said okay. Guess what? She took 2 1/2 inches off. That will take me a year to get back. Not happy. That girl is goin' down. ;) AND, went to get my camera charger from my camera bag. Not there. Instead a big rock! CHILDREN!!!!!!

Direction is more important than speed. We are so busy looking at our speedometers that we forget the milestones. Unknown- I seriously feel like I am speeding down the autobahn. I know I have just a few precious weeks left with my son and I want to spend every moment with him, but unfortunately, both of us are on the fast track to get "necessities" done. Austin is in the middle of finals. Every waking moment is spent studying, test taking or doing a paper. He did get a 97% on the math test he did over the weekend!!! Woot Woot!!! But since then, he has written a 7 page paper, written 4 papers for Philosophy, taken a guitar and fitness final and he still has two more finals. I am also not helping things. My life is on cruise control and it is set to over the speed limit! I am busy packing for our trip. I am shopping for mission stuff and taking care of last minute church responsibilities that need to be done before I go. I am also hosting (cooking some too) for our company Chri...

The other morning while getting ready, Jay said, "Here we go. Another Ground Hog Day." I laughed. It you have ever seen the movie "Ground Hog Day" you know what he meant. Some times life is the same thing over and over, just like in the movie. Everyday we get up at 6:20 a.m. and get the kids off by 7:20. Then EVERY morning I unload the dishwasher and load it again. I do my best to straighten up the kitchen from breakfast. I get ready, make my bed, get Maylin ready for school and then I go exercise. I pick her up at noon and we eat lunch and then home school. Of course the day is filled with various errands etc and then carpool begins along with homework, dinner, clean-up and unloading and loading that dishwasher again so it is ready for me in the morning. Of course, there are those life moments that sneak in and catch us off guard. For example, losing your wallet or phone, running out of gas, a car breaking down, Christmas lights not working, etc, etc....you get my ...

It has gotten cold here. I will say that the past few days have been in the low 50's which is VERY nice, but the mornings are cold and the days before that were SOOOOOOO chilly. For fun, the kids have turned to crocheting. One of their cousins turned them on to it, so they have been making hats, hats and more hats. Austin made a hat and scarf for his friend that is a girl. He spent hours and he had me crochet a flower for the hat and scarf. They turned out amazing! Alex has made about 5 hats so far. He says he is giving them to his friends for Christmas. Fine by me. Maylin and I have been wrapping presents and making cupcakes. We made strawberry flavored cake with vanilla icing. We added pink sprinkles and then I found a bag of malted milk balls from Halloween so we put one in the center of each cupcake. They were darling and they tasted great! We took a few around to some neighbors. We are taking a vacation soon! Everyday Maylin asks if it is time to pack yet. I tell her everyday ...

Here is a brief recap of what we have been doing to celebrate. First pictures are of us at our annual trip to "Eat Like a Pilgrim." We once again enjoyed the food and the entertainment which included games, goat milk, hard tack tasting, dancing and a tug-a-war. We had Jay's brother's son with us this year. The mics weren't working so it was hard to hear the program, but overall it was great.       Here are pictures of the Thanksgiving Feast I did for Alex's class. It turned out so well. I love my boy.   Alex is so cute! Finally, here are pictures of some of the BIG family dinners we have been having this week. Man, I have never had this many people in my house for more than a day. It has been fun.....and interesting. Lots of stories!We had 21 people for two days. Now we are down to 18. The kids are in heaven to see their cousins. Sometimes, I feel like I am in dish heaven (maybe hell). That many people makes for LOTS of clean up. The greatest event of the wee...

I just realized it is the middle of November. Where in the heck did time go? I have 58 days left with Austin at home. It will be here before you know it. We have been busy. Friday I did Alex's 7th grade Thanksgiving Feast. It was a full dinner for 35. The tables were set so beautifully. It turned out great. I was a bit stressed over it and didn't enjoy it as I wished, as I knew that just moments after I finished with that and got home, I would have 12 house guests waiting at my door. Obviously,we love to have visitors, but I felt like I was going from one big project to another. The next day, Saturday, Austin went to the temple for the first time. It was amazing. Afterward we had a big family dinner. It was so great to see Austin in a place we have wished he would someday choose to be in. Today we had a baby blessing for Jay's nephew's baby. Good to be with family again. This week will be filled with family and visitors. Holidays are great for that. I will admit that it...