Just some random pics of some of my cuties

Marcus came home from church this past Sunday wearing a "I Am A Child Of God" crown...it's been ripped in at least three different places now and each day he asks me to fix it so that he can continue to wear it. He LOVES that thing.

Princess Bed

Somebody's birthday present arrived in the mail this week--and Daddy set it up today. :):):) Thanks Nana! She LOVES it!

Sprawled out on her bed and on the cell phone to boot (of course she's just trying to call Nana to squeal thank you), I'm seeing her future self....

Friendship Bracelet

Activity Day Girls just started up again in our ward. Last night was the first meeting and the girls ended up making friendship bracelets. There wasn't enough time to finish them that night, so after school today, Julia finished hers. She's so proud of it!

Perspective from a 5 year old

So I just finished putting away the laundry--Evelyn was keeping me company. Our conversation was like this:

"Mom? How old are you?"

"I'm 31."

"31?! Whoa, you're about to die!"


Uh, apparently 31 is pretty old to a little 5 year old. I got a good laugh at the whole idea though. That girl cracks me up.

How Can I Be

Just had to share this--what a way to start the day. :)

Some good looking dudes I saw at KoOlina

Recovery Time

As most of you know, Ry had PRK done on his eyes last week. The recovery has been a bit difficult for the past few days (but we were expecting that). Ryan pretty much can't take his sunglasses off for more than a couple of minutes and needs to have his eyes closed much of the time. He was given four days off for recovery--and the kids took full advantage of him being home so much.

Everyone on the king chair with Daddy (who really has his eyes closed) while watching Kung Fu Panda.
On a rare moment that his eyes weren't hurting as much--I forget where I had gone but when I got home, I found that Ryan had gotten himself and Marcus ready for the day...with matching hairstyles.

We really consider it such a blessing that Ryan was able to get his eye surgery. It'll take a full month before his eyes are completely healed--but by then he'll have 20/15 vision (which is absolutely amazing to us...his vision has always been so horrible). As it is, he's sitting at 20/40--a big improvement already. Hooray for sleek vision!

A very Happy Birthday!

Evelyn enjoyed a wonderful birthday last week. She was soooo excited to receive so many letters in the mail--I think she was more excited about those than the actual gifts! All week long all I heard was "Mom, on my birthday I get to open my letters, right?" She NEVER asked if she gets to open presents that day. How funny!

But here she is opening her presents from Mema and Papa. She had spied these just the week before and had her heart set on Thumbelina. She actually got two of these--the other is a brunette that she lets Julia play with.


And the one she was REALLY drooling over in the store....

Yay! Thank you sooooo much Mema and Papa!

Ok, quick story--she's been into disney princess polly pockets for quite a while. She has just about every one out there, but she was always asking for Princess Jasmine. I tried telling her that they didn't make her (I'd never seen one (and to my knowledge they didn't)...just the other regular princesses.). Well, when I did the shopping, I spied one! And JUST ONE. Her collection is finally complete!
Reading her letters

What's a birthday without a yummy cake covered in sprinkles? Can you tell that I let her decorate with the sprinkles? It was very moist...and crunchy. ;)

We wanted to thank everyone for their letters--Evelyn enjoyed them soooo much! Western Grandma, Aunt Margo, Mr. Potato Head, and Granny Mac...big thank yous! She was excited to go out the next day and get sets of small unicorns and horses that her polly pockets and thumelina's could ride on. She also bought a new dress up doll game for her Nintendo DS (a hand held game).

Thanks everyone!

Emergency preparedness...uh, sorta

So we know that Felicia (now a Tropical Thunderstorm) is headed our way (our island is right in the middle of its path). We're prepared with 72 hour kits and I was remembering all the water bottles we had in the fridge in the garage.....uh, HAD. I'd forgotten that the kids were using all of those during the summer while they played outside and I would use some while working out on the treadmill. When Ryan and I went to see how our supply was doing, we found out that it was completely used up. There's no water to be had at any stores. So what's our solution? Tupperware. :) We have tons of it and so I filled each and every one with water.

Obviously, the tupperware isn't going to cover all the water needs (it takes a gallon just to flush the toilet). So I've been filling our laundry buckets with water to keep in the bathrooms. This totally reminds me of the Philippines--bathing with buckets.
We are expecting 15-35 mile an hour winds, lots of rain/thunderstorms, and are under a flood watch. They say that during these storms that the power typically goes out and that means no water (hence my makeshift supply). We have our 72 hour kits, a gas grill (and we have plenty of propane) and I stocked up on more beef jerky, crackers, ramen, and spam today. We'll call to let family know how we weather the storm when we are able. But truthfully, I'm not too worried about it.

On a bright note, there are 18 ft waves out there for some serious surfers....

More hair fun

I've been having some serious fun with my girls's hair lately. I managed to snap a few pix of Evelyn's do this certain day. It looks like just a regular half ponytail in the front....

But then you see the back and it's just soooo darn pretty! I put her hair in a half ponytail...and then put a sock on top of that. A rolled up sock (that has the toe cut out of it) and then spread the ponytail over it to cover it up. Instead of using bobby pins, I just used a black ponytail holder to cinch the hair down. Then a bit of curling with a straight iron and voila! Instant cuteness!

To see the tutitorial on how to do this, go here:

http://www.girlydohairstyles.com/2009/05/perfect-updo.html

First Day of School

Kids started school earlier this week. Everyone was so excited. Evelyn doesn't actually start til next week, but she insisted that she needed to wear her backpack as we walked the others to school. And if everyone else was wearing one, then by golly Marcus needed to wear one too! Jacob was being sulky in this photo, but that only lasted for a minute.

Polynesian Cultural Center

We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center a couple weeks ago--W-O-W. So much to see and do! In this first picture, we're seated for a float show.

And here they come! Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, ect. It really was something awesome to see.

I'll tell you what--those ladies from Tahiti seriously know how to hula!

Ice cream anyone? You better believe we got some!

My kids took one look at this tiki thingy and all they could say was "Dumb dumb, give me gum gum!"

A small version of a hut type thing that people used to live in...see the next picture for an explanation...

We took a float trip ride that gave us a tour of the entire park.

The girls got to experience fishing--just like what the men do (in some of the places we learned about, it's the MEN that do the cooking--strictly. I think I kinda like that.....). ;)

Tattoos were galore here.

Julia getting her own gecko tatoo.

Evelyn trying to make fire using a certain kind of wood.

Julia trying her hand out on it too. We did see some smoke coming up...

The kids had an instructor that taught them how to do a simple dance that involves coconuts. After learning some moves, they were put up on the stage to perform for their families. Soooooo cute!

We found a small place where young teenagers were practicing the fire and spear dance. These guys are INSANE!

Ummmm, yeah, he actually put that THING on his TONGUE.

Yeah, heaven baby! Ry got a pina colada drink, a mango, and a strawberry one for all of us to share. Yummo!

The kids had no problem sharing. :)