Mother of the Year Award Goes To...

I recently enrolled George and Henry into swimming lessons on the north shore because their swimming skills were seriously lacking considering we live on the beach and the vast ocean is 25 feet from my back door. Consequently, Henry is enrolled into the same swim class as a somewhat famous local singer's son (Jack Johnson) so I often have the chance to talk with him or his wife while our sons learn to swim. Since we are at the pool for about an hour each time, it is nice to sit and small talk with the other parents. And since Mark has been working from home in the afternoons, I have been relieved to leave Theodore at home to take a nap while I whisk the boys off to swimming lessons.

Unfortunately on Thursday, Theodore was a bear (hahaha...Teddy bear) and he wouldn't take his afternoon nap. At the last minute, Mark put him out in the van for me while I loaded up the boys for swim lessons. We were running a few minutes late so when we got to swim lessons I told the boys to hurry in. Henry jumped out of the van and tried to slam the van door closed. His attempt was unsuccessful and the door bounded back. He tried three more times, each attempt being as unsuccessful as the first. Frustrated, I snapped at him to just run into swim lessons and I would shut the van door. I walked over and slammed it closed, mumbling about the piece of c#%* van that I drove, and I quickly followed the boys into swim lessons.

I walked into the pool area and checked to see if Henry and George were settled in. I picked up their scattered slippers and towels and scanned for a seat. Frustrated and overwhelmed with the list of things I had to do that night I huffed as I plopped down next to my friend Donnette. Donnette gazed up and smiled warmly. Feeling a little release of tense stress, I half-smiled back and asked as cheerfully as I could, "Hey Donnete. How are you today?" She mentioned that she was busy as normal and then asked, "Where is your baby today?"
A fog muddled my brain as I stumbled on saying that he was at home with Mark again...and then the fog cleared and my worst mommy reality shot straight to the forefront of my mind. "AAAAGGGhhhhhh!!!" I screamed, "I left Theodore in the van!!!" As bewildered thoughts of how I could leave my baby coursed their way through my mind, I raced out of swim lessons and to my car. On my frantic dash to reach Theodore, I noticed that another van was parked unreasonably close to mine and that parent was on the side by my van unloading his kids. His all too familiar face glanced up at me as I came bounding wildly towards the vans. "Hey how's it going?" Jack asked. In a high pitch, almost hysterical voice I replied, "Not so good, Can you please mooooove cause I left my BABY in the van and I have to get him NOW." He laughed as I felt utterly mortified at the embarassment of having left my baby in the van and then it being made known to another parent, namely Jack Johnson. He leaned over and squished himself into his van as I plucked my sweaty Theodore out of his car seat.
At least to make me feel a little bit better Jack mentioned that it happens to everyone and he had done the same thing just a few days before.

Visitors and Sight Seeing

Over the last month and for the next few weeks, we have had visitors. Since our visitors want to see the sights, we have been able to see more and more of Hawaii. Mark's mission buddy and his wife came to visit the day after my sister left and then the last day that they were here, my friend from my BYU days came to visit.
This picture is taken just outside our backdoor. The tide was really low and the beach was so calm, so we took the kids out first thing in the morning.
oops! I thought I rotated these pictures, but I guess I didn't do it right. The little mommy play group that Henry and I go to took a hike to Wiamea waterfalls. Since the mommy group was going, I thought it would be a great time for my friend, Diana, to see the sights.
One unexpected sight we saw was this crazy peacock that walked right up to the visitors center and poked his head around.

Study, Work, Eat, Sleep alittle...Study

I am pleased to announce that the MBA excursion that we have taken to Hawaii is now coming to a close...well maybe. Yes, Mark will be graduating on Sunday August 12th at the Stan Sherriff Center at University of Hawaii. This post is premature because any readers of this blog who are interested in coming, you are welcome to come that week and celebrate with us. As for leaving the island right after he graduates, that idea has changed from 90 percent sure to 68 percent sure. I will be updating my blog on this matter in the near future.

Mark finished up his last semester of classes the end of April. He now is working on a final internship and a local business consultation project. So, since he has finished classes, I thought I would get one last picture of him studying hard!

Mom

When I was 16 I swore that I would never be like my mother. What "good" mother would require her daugther to be home at 11:30 on a Friday night or make her daughter cover her bare shoulders? What "good" mother would make her daughter do chores before leaving the house or pay for her own outings with friends? In my eyes, my mother was absolutely ridiculous with her harsh rules and expectations...

On this mothers day I want to give my mom a piece of my mind...to say THANK YOU. Thank you for teaching me the basics of cooking so I can now prepare healthy well balanced meals for my own family. Thank you for teaching me the value of house work so I now I know how to keep my own home in ship shape condition. Thank you for reminding me to date appropriately and dress modestly so I was prepared to marry a righteous man. Thank you for making me pay for clothing, college and life, so I now know how to balance my own budget and provide for the necessities that my family needs. I love you mom, and I think you for giving me "Peace" of mind to know I can be successful being a mother to my own family.

In addition, here are 10 great tips my mother taught me:

1. If you don't brush your teeth, your breath will smell like chicken poop. (Generally this will most likely occur right in the middle of sacrement meeting, and you will need to be reminded loudly by your mother)

2. If you feed your dog turkey during Thanksgiving dinner, you dog will get the most horrid, unbearable turkey farts!

3. If you want something really bad, just spit in one hand and want in the other and then you just have to see what you will get more of.

4. For life's everyday illnesses, the magic pills are....m&ms!

5. For every other illness you can just find the cure and 100 other articles on WebMD.

6. Bright pink and bright orange do not match unless you are filipino.

7. What could be better than Harry Potter...oh yeah, Harry Potter on tape.

8. Sometimes Po-doggies are treated better than the humans in the calabio house.

9. If you ever leave the door open you are clearly born in a barn.

10. If you ever leave the door open, the worshipped po-doggie will escape and can only be lured back in by her loving master...MOM!

I love you mom!

AaaaaaPUGH!

Over the last week, my sister Leslie and her daughter, Emily came to visit us in Hawaii. We had a lot of fun gorging on the local cuisine and visiting the beaches. We spent time with my sister Rachel and her family and played games. On Sunday when Rachel came over we went out to my beach and took pictures. Then the other nights we played Settlers of Catan (if you have not played this game, find someone who has it and play it...you will love it)

I just have to humbly admit that I won Settlers all three nights that we played! hahahaha...I AM A WINNER!!! Anyway, hanging out with Leslie was lots and lots of fun. It is too bad that they live so far away.
Here is a picture of Rachel's kids, Leslie's daughter Emily and my boys! Yes I know that Rachel's baby is bigger than my baby...and he is two months younger! That kid is a mammoth!
"Oh Mom, what big hair you have," Emily commented as she gazed lovingly at her mother...

May Day

In Hawaii May Day is a huge celebration to remember Hawaiian heritage and to recognize other cultures. For months the students at the local schools prepare preformances. The students in every grade level preform dances and songs to present to the Hawaiian Ali'i (royalty)...not actual royalty, but chosen students to stand as each island's royalty.
Since my sister Leslie is here to visit us this week she came with us to see George's school May Day preformance. After the Ali'i came out and preformed their hulas, each of the grade levels preformed a cultural skit/presentation. The kindergarteners represented the United States of America and their songs were patriotic. They sang a big band 40s style song and then "I'm proud to be an American." I have to say, it was the Kindergarteners that stole the show! Here are a few shots from May Day

These little girls were so cute! They sang a 40's big band war song and danced.
You can see how hard George is concentrating on getting the dance moves just right.

Rat-too-tee means RAT

When you come to Hawaii, we will be sure to take you all around and show you all the lovely sights. Among the beauty of Hawaii you will also have a chance to see Hawaii's stunning wildlife, take for example the rat in the above picture.

My sister Leslie arrived yesterday from Washington state to visit for a week. As we drove from the airport she commented on the lush green fertile landscape and the bright blue of where the sky meets the ocean. I promised to take her to see the sea turtles (as mentioned in my previous post) and the humpback whales. Think how surprised we were this morning to find out that we could also add rat to the list of exciting wildlife to see. Yes, it is sad that there are rats that infest this land and sneak into my home, but what a great "hawaiian" experience for my sister Leslie. I promise all who visit me that I will try to share with them the real Hawaii that we have grown to love!
Here is Mark the Rat Hunter. For many moons he has fret over this persistant, oatmeal eating creature. Since he ate through the container that held Mark's special "Coach's Oats Cracked Oatmeal", Mark has vowed to get revenge! Look who the winner is now! That will teach you mister Rat!!! SUMMERILLS ARE WINNERS!

Honu means Turtle

Since we moved here almost 2 years ago, I have been offering our home to friends and family to stay at, but sadly the only people who have been able to take us up on that offer have been my parents and Mark's mission buddy, Josh and his wife. We were so excited when are PG, settlers-playing buddies, told us they were coming for a week. The Hales came last week Wednesday and left this evening. While they were here I took them all over the island, from Makapu light house to Haleiwa for shave ice. In fact, we were lucky to see humpback whales on Saturday and then giant Honu (sea turtles) today. It turned out to be perfect. Today for their last day in Hawaii I drove them out to Lanis (or turtle beach). This beach is popular because the Honu love to sun bathe on its shore. After a yummy breakfast of portuguese sausage and eggs at Hukilau Cafe, we drove to lanis just in time to see 5 or 6 Honu playing in the waves. After we watched them for about 10 minutes one of the turtles bobbed his way onto the shore and slowly crawled up on the sand. After he came out, another turtle followed in his path. It was great to watch the beautiful turtles make their way out of the ocean and onto the beach. Wish you could be there too....ahh, I sure do love living in Hawaii.

This guy was pretty big. Henry had a great time watching him crawl up on shore, and since he was so slow, we had some fun photo opps!
Here is me and Haley at Makapu light house look out. We spent the morning hiking up and we were both pretty tired at the end. From the lookout we could see Molokai and a group of Humpback whales doing pectoral fin slaps on the water.
I couldn't resist a picture of the turtle butt! If you are feeling saggy and overcome with cellulite, just imagine, it could be worse. This guy needs to do some serious butt crunches.