"Turkey-Lurkey!"

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday! We did miss our family that's spread out over the globe: Maui, Oahu, all over California, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Florida and Peru. Our awesome friends, Jeff, Jackie, Veronica and David had us over to join them for the holiday. This was so gracious of them and the feeling I had of love, friendship and gratitude for them was overwhelming. I discovered a saying this year that I've come to really relate to: "Friends are like family you find along the way." I look at the amazing friends that I've come to know in my life and feel that they really do become my family in so many ways. Jackie did a fantastic job of cooking and everything looked so pretty (two separate accomplishments in my eyes). We had a nice meal and looking back it's funny because Lana was asleep for the first part and then played under the table with Veronica for the rest of it. She's usually the one that says, "I WANT FOOD!" but she held out pretty much until we got home and dove into the left-overs (again, thanks to the Enos family!). I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving as well and felt true gratitude for the many blessings that the Lord showers upon us. Is it just me or is time really starting to fly by?!

Thuch a thweet lithp

Lana, "I'm tho nithe. I give lotths of hugths and kitheth."

Translation: "I'm so nice. I give lots of hugs and kisses."

Gotta listen to the boss...

I've been on the computer for a while now trying to order some pictures off of snapfish.com. I was about to do a post on this blog when Lana comes up just now and says, "That's enough computer, mom!" Looks like I'd better get going and pay attention to her.

How much do I love doing the dishes?

The other day I was in the kitchen fixing dinner. Lana loves to join me and help out in any way she can- mixing, pouring, throwing things in a bowl, etc. While I'm by the stove, Lana pulls up a chair and says she's going to do the dishes. (Can't argue with that) She turns the water on and starts moving the plates around and just kinda playing in the water. Right as I'm turning to her to turn the water off she throws down the spoon she's holding and says very fervently, "I'm SO SICK OF THIS!" I couldn't help but just crack up because it was absolutely the most perfect impression of myself done by my 2 year old daughter. I guess someone has been listening to my complaints after all. Thanks for helping Lana-girl!

For Halloween Lana and I headed over to a Pumpkin Patch not too far from where we live. Poor Mat was at work and missed out on our little excursion. Last year we visited the same pumpkin patch and Lana did a few things but was too small to really enjoy all the fun activities they have. This time around she went everywhere: to the petting zoo, up to the top of the haystack with the other kids, rode on the carousel and train and even did the big slide! She liked pointing out all the pumpkins and I had fun spotting out all the cute costumes the kids were wearing. It was nice going there in the early afternoon because it wasn't too crowded and all the parents were pretty laid back. In the past Lana has been VERY apprehensive when it has come to swings and big slides. This year they had a big bouncy slide and she insisted that we do that before we left. So...I though I'd let her get a closer look to see if she changed her mind and she didn't. She made a little friend there and this little girl helped her all the way to the top and then they slid down giggling together and climbed up again. This was repeated over and over until the boy who was manning the booth at the time picked both girls up and carried them to the top. HA! What a guy. Lana had a lot of fun and I was glad we went.

Ok. Lana has been telling me for the longest time that she wanted to be "a mean Captain Hook" for Halloween. (Peter Pan is one of her favorite movies). So I bought her a hat, patch, hook, fake earring...the whole pirate gear. While we were getting ready to go out trick-o-treating she decided she wanted to be a butterfly and would not (absolutely would not) put on the pirate outfit. DANG IT! So, I put together a last minute butterfly costume and thought I'd take a picture before we left. She looks miserable in the picture because I told her not to rub her face or the make-up would come off. I think that made her want to rub her face even more. Happy times. Once we got some candy she was fine. Imagine that! We had a great time trick-o-treating and I think Mat and I will enjoy next year even more cause we're gonna think of some sick costumes!

Our Spooky Treats

 

Lana was my little helper as we made some spooky treats for our play group. Our feast consisted of: cheese fingers, bone breadsticks, broomstick pretzels and apple teeth. It was so fun to make some weird food and just be silly together. Lana was so excited to see her friends at the play group since we've been out of town for a while and she worked hard to put this together with me. She also made some pumpkin playdough which turned out to be really gooey. Without hesitation, she'll dive in and get down and dirty when it comes to crafty things, but then she enjoys cleaning herself up right away. So, I think she gets the first part from me and the second part from Mat!

I'm so grateful to have cool moms to hang out with. Though I don't get to see everyone as often as I'd like to, I do get a kick out of seeing Lana interact and enjoy her playtime with her friends. And I love having adult conversations and insights into the lives of other moms who seem to me like they do it all!

Hawaii Trip Continued

As part III of our Hawaii trip, we take you back to Oahu. This last week was really all about cramming in all our favorite things. Talk about happiness overload! We went to our favorite family beach- Hukilau, visited our favorite Hawaii friends, ate our favorite snacks, reminisced our old stomping grounds of BYUH, TVA, Temple, etc. Mat and I visited our old office at BYUH: Human Resources and were so happy to see familiar faces. Good ole Travis is still there and I was so happy to see him and that he's doing so well. He's a big part of all my favorite memories of BYUH. Katrina- I saw Johnson Mak! Remember him? One of my old teachers, Bro. Kaanga, remembered me and I was so happy. Especially considering that I wasn't an outstanding student in any way. I think Mat was the popular one cause it seemed like he was running into old friends left and right. We had a nice time hanging out with the Bybee Ohana and catching up on all their little adventures. Their kids couldn't get any cuter. Dave and Mat were cracking up at all their old memories and I have to admit that the bear-spray-dog-attack was a great one. Great times in Laie.

We even went back to our favorite movie rental place which is now called "Ohana Video." Lana and I took a trip back out to the North Shore and went for a nice stroll and hung out on the beach where we spotted a turtle. Hawaii beaches are the best!

The biggest Mahalo goes to David and Carol and Aaron Yuen. How much sweeter can you get: they met us for dinner, played a bit, took us for Cold Stone ice cream, met us at the beach, let us shower at their place, took us for L&L's, and then met us at the beach AGAIN and then lent us their house to shower and get ready while their out of town. We got a huge kick at how Aaron and Lana hit it off. They gave each other a kiss and it was cute and then they just kept kissing so Carol and I had to hold 'em back! One time Aaron even tried to crawl onto Lana's car seat! Carol, you are such a great friend and I've loved every second of our friendship. It's so wonderful to see how we've grown, and changed, and in a lot of ways stayed the same. It's also wonderful to see how we (and the boys) have morphed into parents and are enjoying this stage of our lives. We love you guys and really appreciate your friendship!!