Catch up

After we dropped off Nicole and Alana last week, we went to Lowes for their free project for kids but were late but we were able to get the kit and put it together at home.

I was brave and held pieces for Blade so that he could hammer it together. He didn't hit my thumb...he didn't hit the nail every time either but he got the hang of it and got the nails hammered in.

Chay and Blade each made one of these goal posts and there was a folded football that they "flicked" between the goal posts. It was the perfect project for the Utah-BYU game that day. (Utah beat BYU by alot)

Then we piled into the vehicle so that Blade could examine MeMeMa's rings and pick the one he liked, and drove to Crown Burger.

Sorry, AFTER I started eating I thought that I should take a picture to share with those out there that enjoy eating Crown Burgers when they come down here to visit. It was just as good as you remember.

PaPa and MemeMa relaxing watching TV.

Dave and I decided to give Chay and Blade Outdoor Challenge for the Wii so that there would be something for the kids to do when Dave's friend from work came over for dinner with his family. I didn't get any pictures of them playing but I can tell you that Chay broke out in a sweat...

Tuesday it was time to rake up the leaves again, and we recruited more parents to help us with the project.

Blade got a hold of my camera and I was surprised to see this picture of me raking the leaves with his toy rake. Every rake I tried to use, he would take from me, except for the toy rake...he never tried to take that one away.

Then it was a trip to Costco to get things for Thanksgiving dinner.
Blade wants this dinosaur for Christmas and loves to play with it whenever we're at Costco. I'm the type of mother that told him to just enjoy it when we go to Costco (hoping that the novelty will wear off. Now, if that dinosaur could walk around the house while carrying Blade, maybe I could see the fun in it...)

Chay,Blade and Papa went for a walk and Blade found a HUGE leaf that he brought home to share with me. I'm sure he wasn't disappointed with my reaction but it really was huge.

I say "was" because the next day, Blade took things into his own hands and this is what became of his impressively large leaf....

MeMeMa made homemade macaroni and cheese (per Dave's request) and sweet potato casserole for our Thanksgiving dinner. I love sweet potato casserole...

We did have turkey for Thanksgiving but it was cut and on a plate instead of having the entire turkey on the table. It was a great Thanksgiving dinner but we were missing our Nicole sitting at the table.

Papa...

Blade was amazed when he pulled his straw out of his cup and there was an icecube on his straw, AND he could slide it up and down the straw! That kept him entertained for minutes until the ice cube melted too much.

Hawaii

Alright mom so here are some pictures of what i have been up to. i hope that this makes you happy! the message you left on my phone sounded only slightly desperate for me to put pics on your blog.

So Alana and i had a good flight to hawaii! it did not feel like 6 hours at all, maybe 4.





we had to walk outside to get to the baggage claim area and we were so excited and amazed at
how beautiful warm and humid it was. a couple that was behind us when we walked outside said "oh look, now we can can go home."
Then we went to erika's concert and listened to her play songs that sounded like animals. (she was not the only one playing. fyi)Then on angie's birthday we went with a friends of mike and angie and this guy climbed up this huge coconut tree like it was nothing and pulled off coconuts and cut the tops off and we drank the milk and ate the meat, then he went up again and cut off leaves and made a basket.


so i want to go eat and am too lazy to move all of those pics s please see the top for the pictures of this. after doing this i reall have no idea why anyone would want to keep a blog. this is so much work!!

so i will probably not do this again so mom you will just have to wait until i get home to see pictures. i love you guys!! that means everyone.

And they're off...

A quick post to let everyone know that Alana and Nicole are on the way. They posed for a few pictures but once we got to the serious things like getting tickets and checking luggage, they forgot about the rest of us. Amazingly, Alana was 1 pound under the weight for one suitcase before she would have had to pay for the transport of her luggage . Talk about great packing...

Nicole and Alana are finally showing excitement about their flight to Hawaii, as Alana mentioned, it still doesn't seem real.

Pulling out of the driveway.

Arrival at airport.

Chay and Blade moving quickly by running on the moving belt... as if they need to be moving quicker...I can't keep up with them as it is.

The excitement grows as we are in the terminal waiting for the elevator.



Alana getting assistance to obtain her boarding pass without a confirmation number or bar code. It's amazing, you just swipe something with your name connected to it, like a debit card and the machine pulls up the ticket assigned to your name. Technology is amazing.

The two single girls "leaving on a jet plane..." for Paradise.
....at the security checkpoint...
"only passengers with boarding passes beyond this point"

Chay not too happy about going back to the vehicle instead of boarding a plane with Nicole and Alana.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

I didn't get the Christmas tree up when Mom, Dad and Doug were here but, I did get it up yesterday. I think Dave still thinks it's too early but I want family to enjoy it and so while he was out, I brought the tree down from storage in the attic (or is that no longer called the attic since we having living space up there?)

Dave helped me put the tree up and unwrap it while Blade unwrapped the top section. He was so excited and it was like watching him open up a present. He was focused, had a huge smile on his face and nothing would distract him.

Not a great angle for me but but it's a funny angle from Nicole's view from the loft and so I share it with you. I didn't know he was there and so it's a good thing I didn't decide to squat down.

Dave just looks like he is having so much fun unwrapping the tree, like going around the May Pole with a skip in his step.

Nicole had the job of working on part of the top of the tree and thank goodness we have the loft because that is the only way that we can reach the top.

And then Dave and I started to hang our ornament collection, Black Santas for him and Flintstones for me. (And you know there has to be a Black Santa because as Dave would tell you, there is no way that as a child he would believe that a white man would come down their chimney and leave presents). Chay and Blade joined in for the festive activity of putting on the ornaments.

While Dave was busy putting his Santa figurines/decorations on the ledge, Chay and Blade took time to pose for the camera, I think it's a "Charle's Hells Angels" type of thing.

Chay's favorite of the black Santas is one that my cousin Amy gave us years ago. It dances while the song "Dancing around the Christmas tree" plays. Both Chay and Blade were seen standing and moving their hips side to side like Santa but they wouldn't let me get a picture of it.
Wouldn't be it wonderful as adults to have that look of "pure joy and happiness" that Blade has on his face when we looked at the simple things of life?



I bought myself a Christmas gift already and treated myself to the new Flintstone ornament that Hallmark put out this year! I was so excited when I saw there was a new one. There hadn't been new Flintstone ornaments for years and then the past few years I have been very lucky! Okay, maybe I do get that look of pure joy and happiness with some simple things in life...

A view from our loft so that you can see Dave's Santas, I knew that ledge would come in handy for something eventually.

This dove has been on the top of our tree every Christmas since 1997. This dove was from Nana's (Dave's paternal Grandmother) funeral and it's a way we pay tribute to her and remember her as we keep her in our lives.

While the tree was going up, Dave's Mom was busy cooking cabbage and red rice. It was very good but...you know what cabbage can do. And it seems I have a very efficient digestive system because less than an hour later....well, you know...

And on that note (no pun intended), ...until next time...
"the Final Countdown...."