Gobble, Gobble

This year for Thanksgiving we had Elder Shemph and Elder Gerrard over for dinner. I think we were all a little homesick :)

Oooh Maaaan!

Why, WHY does stuff like this ALWAYS happen when Chris leaves?! Last week Chris had a conference in St. Louis. I drop him off at the airport Thurs. night, and the next morning, this is what I woke up to. When the police arrived I filed a report, and they dusted for fingerprints. Nothing. Drats. Since nothing was stolen he figures they were going to steal the car. The tint acted like tape and held the window together somewhat, so he figured they gave up when they couldn't get in fast enough. He informed me it only takes 20 seconds for a theif to hotwire a car. If I had a gun it wouldn't take me 20 seconds to shoot them...to hit them maybe.

Furlough Fridays

With the flailing economy, and Hawaii's budget crisis, the state has implemented Furlough Fridays. So, between regular holidays and Furlough Fridays, my kids now have a 4 day school week virtually every week. This is on top of getting out early EVERY Wednesday. When are my kids supposed to learn?
So what do we do on all these days off? We get a season pass to the coolest water park ever, which happens to be down the hill from our house.Corynn, her best friend Mya, and Dallin at Wet n Wild, Hawaii. Masen and I love to chill for a few hours while waiting for the older kids to wear themselves out. I'm a little concerned about how my kids will fare once we get back to the mainland. I SHOULD be doing educational stuff with them on all this time off, but cummon....we live in Hawaii! I have a feeling we will be looking into the Sylvan Learning Centers once we move. Until then, bring on the fun!

Aloha Kellers

Last month the American Dental Association Conference was held here in Honolulu. We were so excited, because this meant we would get to see some dear friends whom we hadn't seen for many years. The Kellers were our BFFs in North Carolina. We had all just gotten out of dental school, Chris and Dave were in the same residency, our kids were the same age (and attended the same pre-school), we went to the same ward...it was like looking in a mirror. After residency they moved to Germany, Virginia, and have now settled in Washington. We were so happy for the chance to see them, meet the younger two kids, and show them a little of this beautiful island. They stayed at Ko'Olina for the first half of their vacation, then came to stay at our house for the last part. We had fun swimming at their condo pool, swimming at a couple of beaches, going out to dinner, visiting the Dole Plantation, and listening to General Conference :) I hadn't taken any pictures of their stay, so as they were getting ready to head to the airport, I hurried and snapped some pictures in our back yard. Above is Rachel, Dave, then David, Bella, Savannah, with Ben on the ground (silly boy). Below is all the kids. They had such a blast playing together. Hey Kellers, next time the party is at your house!

Trick-Or-Treat

Although the weather says it's July, it actually is Halloween. The past week has been so hot and muggy, it was hard to get into the Halloween spirit. In spite of the hot weather, the kids were excited to get dressed up and beg for candy. Dallin was supposed to be Darth Maul last year, but the costume was too big. One year later, thanks to a massive growth spurt, it fit him.Corynn wanted to be a vampire this year. She was very particular about her hair and make-up (hey, she might have some girly in her after all). She HAD to have sparkles on her face, because everyone knows that vampires sparkle (thank-you Stephenie Meyer). I tried to convince her to loose the fake teeth, because everyone knows that vampires don't have fangs. She didn't buy it.

Trunk-or-Treat has become a yearly tradition for our family. Corynn tried to ditch us in favor of going out with friends, but the mean mother I am made her spend SOME time with our family. I'm not ready to have a teenager yet.Here I am as Little Red Riding Hood, getting ready to put Masen in his turtle costume. Heaven knows I wanted to do a family theme for costumes, but really, Halloween snuck up on me too fast.As usual, the kids got way more candy than they can ever possible consume. We just threw out a storage baggie of last years candy! Sunday morning they were WAY more interested in candy than getting to church. Really, can you blame them?