Ko Olina, Hawai'i

Well, we're here, our first time to Hawai'i. It is pretty darn pretty. Temperature is an amazing and heavenly 71 degrees! And the hotel is just lovely too, gotta like Marriott - as Corey said, they are "made to please the eye and gladden the heart."

We arrived in Honolulu around 12:30, spent an hour getting our car (long line) and then came here to the resort to check in. Then we walked around. View from our deck - we're on the lowest level, so we can walk right down the grass and on to that little sidewalk which leads out to the pools and bbq pits and beach. Little slice of paradise.

We walked around the grounds. One look at the pool, and all I could think ~ "The kids would love that!!" I personally don't want to go swimming, but feel like I need to take a swim through the cave on their behalf. We'll see.

(They really would have loved it!) Then we continued our meandering, out along the path by the shore, there are four little man made beaches. Pretty cool. We walked as far as we could (blocked off for construction) then we walked back. The sunset was awesome. I could watch the sun hang in the sky all day.

One more cool plant. Gosh I love all the plants and flowers and creations on this planet. I love the sun, the moon, the ocean, the sky.  

Scripture for the day ~ Mosiah 4:9 "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." I cannot comprehend how I am on just a small island of the Pacific, but I get here and drive around and see that I'm surrounded by huge mountains and huge sky, and this is just one little island? The world is so small, but it is so big, I can't comprehend it. but I know the Lord can. He created all these wonders and beauties for us to enjoy, his children. It's just amazing. The attention to detail that He gives to it all, from the colors on that all leaf plant there (no flower blossoms, just amazing tie-dyed leaves!) to the flourescent red sun setting in the sky, to knowing it's really the ground beneath our feet spinning while we're rotating around the sun, it doesn't stop. It's just amazing. Everything is amazing, so be happy!

I Didn't Cry

I have been home for about an hour after dropping off Owen. He's spending two days with Corey's brother and his wife. And then my little sister Beka will be watching him for three days. And then my mom will have my baby in the car when she picks us up at the airport at 7 am Tuesday morning. It was a long drive home. I listened to 1 Nephi 1-9 on the drive. Before I turned that on, I was thinking of Owen and I could have started letting the tears flow, but I guess I'll use a strategy we use on the kids to help them not fuss: distraction. If I can just keep myself distracted for the next 6 days, I should be able to not cry while we're apart. I am excited to have a few nights of uninterrupted sleep. Sorry to my family that's watching Owen that you won't be. But it's just for a few days.

This past Sunday at church, I received an answer of how to behave when I'm feeling sleep deprived. The lesson in Releif Society was an introduction to Howard W. Hunter, the latter day prophet that we will be studying this year. In the January Ensign, there is an interview with his son Richard. Richard went to law school like President Hunter did, and when it was hard he asked his father how he managed... "When did you sleep?" (and my ears perked up) President Hunter replied that "he studied as much as he could, and when he was so tired that he couldn’t study anymore, he would sleep for three to four hours. That went on for five years. I marveled at his grit." My Owen has only made my nights tough for 5 months. I know it won't last for 5 years without a bit of a break, so I can handle this. I can have some grit like President Hunter. I resolved after that lesson to work harder, to leave it in the Lord's hands, I will trust in him to help me through the days and renew by body and give me strength.

"By Dad"

We are leaving for a parent's only trip early on Thursday morning. Not even the baby will be tagging along. This is the first time we've done a "just us" trip in 13 years. The children have been very tender and have been giving us hugs and leaving us tender notes around the house to let us know they will miss us. This was by Lily.

We are gonna miss them so much, but will try to enjoy getting to know each other again. 

License

Joseph has always been a pretty intense kid. He's approaching all the changes of life as a teenager with his usual "go get 'em" attitude. So, since he's 16 now (like, for over 24 hours), and since this just happens to be the first day the DMV is open since he turned 16, he says it's time to go get that driver's license. So, since we really didn't do too much for his birthday, I thought maybe this could count and give us a little bit of points for not being total flaky parents. Ok, Joseph, I'll pick you up from school and we'll go to the DMV. I'll even let you drive to see how you do and make sure we want to go through with this.

He's a pretty good driver. Ok. Into the DMV we went. The DMV has come a long way since I turned 16. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes, I kid you not. We walked right up to the desk, no line ~ "Got your application? Thank you, sign here. Sit and say cheese." We didn't even have a chance to sit down cause they called his number so quickly. "Now - serving - B - 109 - at - window - 16"

He came prepared with all his certified documents again, but I guess we didn't need them since they were in the system from when he got his permit. Still, so responsible!

He even paid his own $30 fee. 

I almost helped him out, hate seeing all that birthday cash disappear so quickly, but since we're letting him play grown up, I did my best to resist. (Paying for a high school parking pass tomorrow, it just disappears, huh!)

Natalie and Sophi were running around and laughing, so fun to leave the house!! Owen, or is that Joseph? (blink-blink) Woah, when did that happen? Where's my little Joe boy? I got a tall young man as a kid? And time goes by. So we left, then he drove us home as we talked about what days he can have the car. I only need it on Wednesdays, so if I just schedule my time and do my errands that day too (or wait until after he is home) then I don't have to drive him to school in the mornings anymore! Hey, I guess I could get used to this! He's going to take the car to school tomorrow and is even going to (gulp) drive himself to his band practice in American Fork tomorrow evening. He's been driving there for the past year with Corey in shotgun, I guess it's time to let him fly. Good luck Joseph, we'll be praying for you!

Louisville

Ethan had the time of his life in Louisville Kentucky this past weekend with his band, the Little Big Band of Caleb Chapman Music, for the JEN Conference (Jazz Education Network). His plane left Wednesday around noon, he got home today at 2. We got to watch all the fun via the facebook of one of the chaperones, Erica (who is hilarious!) They took good care of him and all the kids.

Ethan's depressed now, poor kid. Here are some pictures of the fun he had via his instagram (btw, sooo annoying that you can't just right click and "save image" on those, I had to print screen and paste in paint and select and copy and shrink and paste and save for each one of these photos, you're welcome Ethan for my efforts to preserve your young teenage memories...)

With Victor Wooten above, Wycliffe Gordon below

Jeff Coffin gave Ethan a thumbs up after his solo

The Galt House hotel, Ethan had a great time on his trip and would have loved for it to last longer, like, forever...

At the airport on the way home~ so sad when a party comes to an end.

Back to snowy Utah.  

He's been sleeping most of the day today, asked me to wake him up early tomorrow at 5 so he can do his homework. Sorry it's back to reality, Ethan, but if it makes you feel better, we're very glad to have you back home.

Joseph is 16!

Yes, a 16 year old! Are we ready for this? Where did our little Joe go? (What a cute little guy!)

Well, ready or not, the time has come. Joseph is super super excited to date and drive (in that order.)

I think I'll start taking a birthday picture of each kid on their birthday, like a nice one. Here is my first attempt with Joseph. I took this picture of him today after he got home from the temple. He went with Corey and his friends Scotty and Talmage to the temple to perform baptisms. (what a good kid) I took it at his grandmother's request, she makes these awesome Priesthood lineage print outs for the boys each time they are ordained to a different office of the priesthood and she needed a current picture of Jospeh. As I took this photo, I thought it would be a nice tradition, so hopefully I'll remember to do this on the next kid's birthday. So, after they got home, and I told Joseph I didn't make a cake yet. So he made it. And he grabbed the Angel food cake mix and made it like a regular cake (meaning he beat it for 2+ minutes) so it was nice and frothy and soon we had an exploding burning cake in the oven. "What is that smoke smell?"

Angel food cake burning on the pizza stone. 

We tried to finish cooking it to see if some of it could be saved, but it just kept growing bigger and was still wet, so Joseph made brownies instead and we let the whole angel cake sloop down the disposal. He laid out his loot all over his bed to admire it. he feels so rich right now. But poor kid, we're making him start to pay for stuff (like his private lessons and $3K of his tour expenses) ...but enjoy that feeling for the day that it last, Joseph!

He had plans to go on a date, but then his friends had to work, and this and that, so he stayed home with all of us instead. Trying on his new bowties - which he learned how to tie via this nice youtube video (cause the instructions that came with the tie are absolutely useless)

Then time to blow out 16 candles on his dino cake.

Putting some extra sugar sprinkles and frosting on there, cause we all know those store bought cakes don't have enough frosting. "Happy birthday to me!"

Mel wrote "Joe" with some long sprinkles. They put some green frosting on the mouth, it's a plant the dinosaur is eating.

All those candles so close together, gonna start a fire. Wishing you a great 16th year Joseph!

Pirate Game

On Saturday, during the last free moments before the school routine kicked in again, Abi and Lily played a pirate game.

They dressed up in their pirate costumes and boarded their ship to sail for adventure and secret treasure. Unfortunately, the ship crashed, and Captain Abi and pirate Lily were washed ashore.

Luckily they didn't lose their treasure map in the sunken ship. Melodie made the nao, cause she's our creative genius. This is the second one she made actually. The first map had things marked around the house for what they were, aka stairs, girls room, kitchen, etc. Abi asked if she could make it more "pirate-y". So the kitchen became the Land of Kitch, the girls room became "Girls Island", the stair became "The Ralls of Carpet" - so fun!

Now to go find that treasure!

 Ah! The key to the treasure box!

They had to sail again, so they built their own ship. Music stand doubles as a sail, nice.

Pirate Lily ready to protect her shipmates from any local troublemakers (aka brothers)

And X marks the spot, the treasure was in "Isle of Laundry"

Mel had put some treats and jewelry and toy money in the treasure box. Thanks Mel for helping your little sisters' imagination game be even more fun!

5th Grade Science Fair Project

It's Tuesday morning. Wesley's Science fair project is due tomorrow. He had the whole break to work on it, but who wants to do a science project over Christmas break? Therefore, he really hasn't started anything for it. So it's 8:20 and they leave for school in 10 minutes and he decides to work on it a little. The experiment originally was to predict the difference in bouncing tennis balls that were hot or cold or room temperature and then put it to the test. I thought that was a pretty good one for 5th graders. Then they changed it to see which tennis ball bounced higher - one soaked in milk or one soaked in water. Wesley's theory was that the milk one would be heavier "cause milk has more ingredients." "Weren't you going to do it with temperature?" Yeah, but now we're doing milk and water. Ok...

So, he takes a tennis ball in water, and does three trials of dropping it after soaking it in water for 5, 10, and 15 seconds.

The repeat the trial with a new ball in milk for 5, 10 and 15 seconds (you have to do 3 trials)

 Record the results... and done!

Now it's time to go to school, and he and his lab partner just need to make the poster after school. Well, that was a lot easier than when I helped Hyrum two years ago. Note to self: sometimes it's best to not help. He went over to Anna's house after school and they made their trifold for about an hour and then he came home and pronounced they were done and ready for their presentation tomorrow. Yes, best to let them own it. I was proud of Wes for doing it on his own and that it was there idea even if it seemed a little silly and not really scientific to me. They are just in 5th grade, let it be a 5th graders work.

Back to the Grind

School's in session again, boo. I'm already struggling. All my helpers are gone all day. And now I just sit around and don't get anything done. When I do get Owen to sleep I'm faced with the dilemma all mothers face of do I take a nap to try and catch up on sleep? or do I try to actually get something done? I haven't been taking naps, but he doesn't sleep long. Seems like I just kinda hold him all day. Or see how long he'll play in his supersaucer while I try to load the dishwasher or wipe off the table. I'm grateful I can watch the 11:00 devotionals, they are on everyday. They save me.

Yeah, I'm in a bad mood. Feeling like a victim. Might be cause I'm exhausted. Waking up several times everynight for 5+ months will do that. Might also be because Corey was out of commission all weekend with a bad cold - in bed for 48 hours. He was able to function a little bit on Sunday night after the neighbors saved us with their Tylenol. I have plenty of Children's Tylenol. Don't ask me why I don't have any for adults? Gotta remember to pick up some of that. He felt well enough to eat so the kids hurried and brought him food. What to eat first? The toast before it gets cold? or the cereal before it gets soggy? He did his best to stay on top of both servings.

And then it was back to reality today. I was able to survive with Corey sick cause I had all my kids to help. Now it's just me biding my time all day until they return. I need to figure out how get a better handle on my life. Wish they weren't in school. Sigh.

Ski Day

We had a fun day skiing yesterday and a bit of an adventure too... Abi and I had to be rescued by the ski patrol, we were stuck. Here's how it went down~ In the morning, Corey and most of the kids went out skiing. Corey and the 10 year olds Wes, Tess and Anna, all stuck together, and the older kids went on their own in groups. Here is the view from the cabin's deck - the run goes right past the back deck of the cabin. Have fun Wes!

I stayed at the cabin with the kids 8 and younger. I knew that Corey woke up not feeling very well. (...His staying up til 2:30 talking with Joseph and his friends probably contributed to that...) but fatherhood calls, so out he went.

Abi wanted Corey to come back to take her out and kept asking when Dad would be back to get her. I texted Corey per her request. All he said was that it was really really cold. Everyone that came back was really pink in the face. I was surprised with how long Corey and his trio stayed out considering the freezing cold and his ill feeling body. When he came back around 1:00 he went to bed. Sorry Abi, your dad can't take you. When Ethan came back, I tried his boots on and they fit me fine, so I borrowed his skis and coat and was able to find enough winter gear to keep me alive and I told Abi I'd take her out. We had to walk all the way across the parking lot (so sad!) to get to the Explorer Hill for her to warm up and get her ski legs back with.

After 2 runs on that, I didn't want to wait in the long line again for such a short run, plus she was ready for a green. Come on, Abi, let's go. So over to Majestic we went, down Mary Back and Lost Maid. She did awesome. 

The far side of those runs on Majestic puts us on a path that leads to Milly's Express. The Milly runs are close to the cabin.

Ethan was ready for us to come back so he could go out. I told him we were going to do one more quick run. I hadn't run Milly yet this year, and thus in my state of ignorance for how hard it is, had a lapse in judgement and though we should take the lift up and just ski down to the cabin. Yes, that would be fastest. Plus, who wants to walk all the way across the parking lot?!? That would take forever! Plus, Majestic's lift is way slow. Yes, this is a good idea, it's 2:15, we'll just do a quick run and be done, cause it was super cold, and it was also really really really windy. So windy, in fact, that shortly after we were dropped off at the top, they closed the lift. We were going slowly because the wind was blowing so hard and we couldn't really see the path. Plus now there were no skiers coming by us to show the way. We went around Backdoor but missed Main street. I tried to hold her between my legs and let her hold the poles, but we fell and were just having a rough time. Looking at the map now I'm guessing we went left of Mainstreet and toward the blue and black diamond runs.

We tried to ski again, but it was too steep for Abi and she was paralyzed. It looked like "cliffs" everywhere, as Abi says, so we took of our skis again and I'm holding her and my skis and my poles and we were going no where fast as we did our best to slide down the hill till we found the green run (which wasn't going to be there). But without our skis off, we couldn't walk very well cause we kept falling through the snow. No one was around. After 50 minutes of trying to get down the hill, I summed up at that our current rate we were going to be on the mountain for about 3 more hours. So I gave up with our efforts and called Corey to ask his advice. He called Ski patrol for us, and they were sweeping the mountain still anyway, and a nice man name Scott came by and asked if we needed help. Yes please! I think we were near the top somewhere after where Exhibition and Easy Out split. He showed us where to go to hike up to get back on Main, Abi didn't want to ski though so she said she'd just walk it down. No, that's not going to work. He asked "Do you want me to get a snow mobile for you?" Yes please. And then a few minutes later a nice man on a snow mobile loaded the both of us on and drove us down the hill to the cabin. Abi was thrilled "I can't wait to tell Juju that I rode a snowmobile!!" (I thought the snowmobile was going to tip over as he went across the hill, and I've had that happen before, not fun! I was totally leaning trying to keep it upright. I didn't trust it, but I did trust the driver that he knew what it could handle.) We arrived safely and I went in and it took me a while to warm up and even longer to calm my nerves. Corey and Ethan had gone looking for us but luckily they weren't too far, as it was for them the same as it was for us, which is slow in the snow. Corey was ready to brave the storm though, even if it killed him, he'd risk his life for me. I felt bad for leaving Owen for so long and for Ethan that I kept his skis longer than our agreed time of one hour.

Next time we'll walk across the parking lot!