Hawaii

It has taken awhile, but I am finally getting some Hawaii pictures posted.  Sometime near the beginning of October, Thomas' sister got engaged.  We were very excited for her.  She had said since she was small that she was going to get married in Hawaii, and she stuck to that. 

We got in to Hawaii at about 11:00 and it took a while to get to the hotel and get settled, so that first day didn't really count.  All we saw was the Alamo rental station and the hotel.

Day 1 was the wedding.  We had planned on going to session at the temple before the wedding, but due to me being sick on the flight the day before and Thomas feeling a little bit nauseous that morning, we didn't leave quite early enough.  We still left fairly early, but we took our time and didn't rush.  One of my favorite things about Hawaii was coming out of the tunnel that separates the South and North sides of the island.  It was amazing to be back in the sunlight with a view of the ocean and excessive amounts of green everywhere.  Since we were early, we stopped at one of the small beaches that line the road.  It was a small cove with no one else there.  When we got to the temple it was still really early, so we drove a ways up the North Shore. We felt overdressed for the beach there.

The Wedding was beautiful.  Everyone was amazed that we all came so far to support the happy couple.  The sealer shared several little known stories about the temple and how it came to be built. 

After the wedding we went to Papa Ole's Kitchen.  We took the food to the beach, where we did some additional photos. 

On the way back to Honolulu we realized that we had lost my dad's GPS that we borrowed.  We had been really careful with it, but there was some confusion on the way into the temple and we couldn't remember if we had taken it off the dash.  We either forgot and it was stolen, or it was dropped somewhere.  I was sick about it a good portion of the trip.  We spent a couple of hours the next day retracing our steps trying to find it.  Unfortunately it never showed up.  The good news was, the day we got back was Black Friday.  I got an identical one for about $40.00 less than my Dad had paid. 

After returning to the hotel that first night we decided to go for a walk.  We were about two blocks from the Waikiki beach.  We strolled down the beach for about 6 blocks and then came back through the shops.  It was a nice walk, but when we got back we realized we didn't have a key to our room.  The lady at the front desk was very helpful. 

Day 2:  We spent the morning at Pearl Harbor.  It was very interesting.  There was so much to see there and we only had a couple of hours.  We did go over to the Arizona memorial.  It was sad, but also... I am not sure how to describe it.  You see all those names of men who died before they even knew what was happening.  You see the oil still bubbling up after nearly 70 years.  I would definitely like to have a change to go back and learn more. 

After Pearl Harbor we headed back to Leia to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We were a little unsure at first how it was supposed to work, and what we were supposed to do.  There are seven different islands represented at each one they do a presentation at a specific time.  You have to follow the schedule, which we didn't realize at first.  My favorite part was the Canoe show.  They do traditional dances from each island on a canoe.  We also splurged on some really good ice cream.  In the evening we went to the Luau for dinner. I didn't like most of the food.  I did however enjoy the purple poi rolls.  After dinner was the big show.  Fire dancing is always fun.

Day 3: Thomas got up and went snorkeling.  I did not go.  I was worried about being cold and misserable. I really don't like being cold.  This was actually my birthday.  My brother and sister in-law invited me down to thier room for some birthday cake they had bought.  It was very nice of them.  After that I headed out to do some shopping.  I got some ornaments for the christmas tree.  I also got a couple of surongs and some makadameina nuts.  Once Thomas returned we checked out and headed to the Dole Pinaple plantation. Thomas loves pineapple, so this was a must see on his list, or rather it was a must taste. We ate lunch in cafe, which was fun.  I had a terriatky burger.  It was pretty good. I wasn't that impressed with the main part of the plantation. I don't know that the train ride was really worth it.  The botanical garden though was gorgeous.  It was fun to see so many exotic plants growing natuarlly.  They also have a giant hedge maze there that I wanted to do, but we were short on time. 

Besides being my birthday it was also Thanksgiving.  I was a little sad about missing the big day at home.  It is one of my favorite holidays.  I really like turkey.  Everybody met up dinner at a place called Chuck's Cellar.  After a small emotional incident while waiting for everyone to show up, Thomas and I headed down to the beach.  I felt bad that we hadn't really gotten a chance to just hang out on the beach.  I played in the surf while Thomas took pictures of the sunset.  After the sun set, we headed back to the restaurant.  My pants were wet, and it was a little cold, but I felt better.  I enjoyed the dinner, although it was the first time I had ever had fish for Thanksgiving.  Following dinner we did a bit more shopping then headed back to the rental car place and the airport. 

Despite a few momments it was a nice trip.  Definately too short.  It just means that I need to go back again.  I think everyone needs a little bit of tropic in the middle of the winter.

Hair Bows

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before, but Isabelle is a girly girl. She loves dresses and nail polish. From the time she was little with only two boy cousins as models, she would carry around purses.  I don't know where it comes from.  I am definately not that girly.  I know that part of it comes from her princess obsesion.  She has lost or ruined all of her hairbows.  While I was at the craft store, I bought some of those flowers so i could make her some new ones.  I completely forgot about it until I was cleaning. I set them aside where Isabelle found them.  She wanted to know what they were for.  After I told her, she kept aking me when we were going to make them.  Did I also mention how persistant she is?  If you say you will do something later, she won't let you forget.  I ran up to my sisters to borrow some ribbon.  Got out the glue gun, and put a couple together.  We had some difficulties, because she would put flowers together and then we couldn't convince her that they didn't match.  She definately has her own sense of style. 

Everyone tried them on. 

Doesn't Daddy look cute!  He is such a good sport.

Spring Break Comes to an End

My spring break is basically over.  I know I still have the weekend, but it is going to be very full with Easter stuff.   Hopefully this year I will even get some pictures posted.  I still have a partially written Easter post from last year that never got posted.  I seem t have a hard time getting the big things up here.  Like Hawaii.  I actually uploaded some pictures, they just aren't posted. Maybe soon.  I  didn't mean to ramble though I was going to tell about the rest of my break because it really was a pretty good week. 

Isablle had been asking for quite a while if she could go to the park.  Not just any park, but the castle park.  We had told her we could go sometime this week.  Wednesday was supposed to be the warmest day of the week, so that is the day we picked.  I spent the morning doing some cleaning and then we packed up our lunches and headed out.  As anticipated the park was very busy.  My sister was bringing her kids as well.  Isabelle was anxious for her cousin to show up.  Even after they got there, they had a hard time focusing on their lunch.  They just wanted to go play.  Finally we let them go.  The castle park has some slides, but it is mostly walkways, ramps, and secret cubby holes. They had a lot of fun running up and down and around.   I spent most of my time in the kiddie area with Tristan.  He liked to swing and go down the "lide."  After about an hour we said it was time to go home.  We, the adults, were more than ready to be done.  The kids thought it was a tragedy to leave so soon.   I decided to stop at Grandma's house on the way home. It isn't very far specially since the road was closed and the detour took us down Grandma's road.  She wasn't home yet from getting her car fixed, so we got Tosha out and took her for a walk. I got her harness on all by myself.  I was very proud.  I was a little worried about pushing the stroller and holding the leash, but it mostly was fine.  I even got some help.  Tristan kept trying to hold the leash for me while he sat in the stroller.  It was super cute.  He didn't hold on very tight though and then I would have to chase the end out he the leash.  Isabelle spent most of the walk saying how tired she was and out of breath.  Curiously she wasn't too tired and out of breath at the park.  Grandma got home just as we finished our walk.  We stayed to visit with her for a little then headed home.  Thomas was supposed to be home by then, but he had some problems come up at work and was taking longer than expected.  His day off ended up being a 12 hour work day.   I did some more yard work while we waited for him.  Then we watched some Mary Poppins and headed to bed. 

I had thought Thomas only had off work Tuesday and supposedly Wednesday, but he had Thursday off as well. We had a game day at my mom's house.  Thomas went to go "exercise" at the pool.  Everyone was a little late getting there and things weren't getting started.  I didn't want to waste my day, so I finally got a game of Settlers of Catan going with the boys. The two oldest nephews are both going to turn 13 in the summer.  I can't believe they are that old.  I think that the other is about 11.  They are almost the same age as the kids I teach.  We actually had a pretty good game.  I would have won if I could have got four more roads.   After Thomas came we played a game called Wonders of the World.  I think it is kind of fun.  It is however a little bit compicated and I guess I didn't explain it well.  Both Thomas and my mom (who had played before but it had been a while and she didn't remember the instructions) were confused.  It ended up being a three way tie for 43 points and my nephew getting 44 points.  Then I realized that the score for my set of cards was supposed to be squared not doubled.  I had nine points for that section instead of six.  I beat him by two points.   Isabelle wanted to go home with her cousin.  When I went to go pick her up they wanted to have a sleepover.  I thought that would be fine.   She is so sad about her cousin moving.  They had gotten and offer on their house Thursday morning and my sister spent part of the day dealing with that.   We went home and got her stuff and sent her back.  At about 10:00 that night we remembered that we had a doctors appointment at 8:45 in the morning. 

We did not get up as early Friday and we meant to.  It ended up being a bit of a rush. We were only about two minutes late for the appointment and had to wait almost ten minutes still, so i didn't feel too bad.  Everything went well.   Both children are healthy.  Isabelle is 34 lb. and 19 percentile.  almost 42 inches and 37 percentile.  Tristan was 24 lb. and 17 percentile.  31 inches and 5 percentile.  For our kids that is really good.  Tristan especially has moved up a little.  The funny thing is despite being that low in weight and height, his head is 53 percentile.  After the doctors we went home and got ready to go back to Grandma's house for the day.  Thomas was working in the afternoon to close.  I had planned to scrapbook with my mom.  I paid for my younger sister to take Isabelle to see the new Chipmunk: Chipwreck movie.  They both really liked it.  I put Tristan down for a nap and we got quite a bit done.   I took last Thursday and Friday off of work to go to a scrapbook party at my great-aunt's house.  It was a lot of fun.  She had tons of supplies and didn't mind letting us use any of it.  My mom had a similar party back in October.  I didn't take off work that time, so I was only there for Saturday morning.  Before that I hadn't done any scrapbooking for several years.  I have gotten excited about it again.  Isabelle really enjoys looking through them and there aren't that many pictures of her. Most of the pictures are on the computer in digital format.  I kind of need to decide if I am going to keep making traditional scrapbooks or if I want to try something more digital.  Thomas is supposed to do one of the online books they print for his Africa trip.  It was his birthday present last year, but he still hasn't gotten me the pictures.  I also have points from pampers to do a book, which I wanted to do for Isabelle.  The day did not end as well as I had hoped.  I was planning on staying at my parents to watch a movie or something fun, but both the kids were having meltdowns. It was probably because of the shots.  We packed up and headed home.  Both kids were in bed and asleep by 8:30, which for us is really good. 

Productivity

Monday was not a good start to my vacation.  I was full of woe is me and self pity.  I hate it when I get like that, but I can't seem to help it.  I tend to worrry about things, and be overly critical.  The good news is that it didn't last all day.  The evening actually turned out quite nice.

Waiting to Begin

 Isabelle had found the egg dye in the cupboard and was anxious to use it.  Sunday we cooked eggs, but we didn't quite get to the coloring part.  We promised here we could do it on Monday when her daddy got home from work.  She has a very good memory and doesn't let things go.  As soon as he got home, she wanted to color eggs.   We got the dye ready, and then we colored eggs.  Thomas is really good at this (and anything else that has an artistic edge to it.)  He actually uses his drummel to engrave designs into the eggs.  They are really quite fancy.

Drummeling the Eggs

Working Together

I don't care about the eggs. Could you read me a story?

In the mail we got a flyer for Toys R Us.  They were having buy one get one half off on Legos.  I was supper excited.  That is a great deal.  We ran over to the Toy store.  Unfortunately our local store has terrible selection.  I had also looked online.  They were out of stock on three of the four sets I was interested in.  Not mush of a sale if you ask me.  We ran over to Target while we were out and found one of the Dino sets on sale.  I think it is sad that both Target and Walmart have better Lego selection than Toys R Us does.  I am very excited for Easter.  I do still need to get a couple of things, but it should be fun.




Tuesday was one of those days that I wish could happen all of the time.  I was productive, and I got stuff done.  I got things done I had been putting off for weeks.  It is spring break, and originally we were going to go on a little trip down to Dinosaur National Monument.  It didn't quite happen because the arrangements didn't  all get made, but we will probably still go sometime soon, and it probably was best that we were home.  I got up, well not early, but at least on time.  I decided to run the car over to get inspected.  It was actually due in January, but so were the rest of the cars, and mine ended up with a broken exhaust manifold.  So we waited.  Since it wasn't registered we didn't drive it.  A couple of weeks ago when I tried to take it it, it wouldn't start.  Apparently a battery can go dead from just sitting.  Anyway so I went to the store, and I got there just before the guy who opened the store.  I was going to read while I waited, but then I thought it would be a great time to grade papers, so I did.  I got most of the 9th grade worksheets done.  When I got home we made breakfast and got everyone dressed.  Then I worked on my resume.  (I really do want to do something different, I just don't know what.  Which is a problem.) Also, while I was working on that I called the a car place about the seat belt  that broke in my car about a month ago.  I still drive to daycare, but I haven't been able to go anywhere further than that.  I had a (hopefully) great idea.  We made several inquiries about the part, but the only one that responded is in Virginia.  It was going to cost about $10-15 for shipping.  The store is actually very close to where my brother-in-law is living.  I asked if he could just pick it up and bring it back on the plane with him this weekend.  I am still a little worried they won't want it in his carry on for some reason, but otherwise it worked out really well.

 By about noon we were ready to go.  We dropped the kids off at my moms for my younger sister to watch, and we headed over to LDS employment.  I have been trying to get Thomas to go for quite a while.  I am not sure the trip was as productive as I had hoped, but at least we both now have accounts and know how to look up jobs.  Our next stop was the tile store.  We picked the darker redish tile, which also was the cheapest.  It is now ready to install, except this weekend being Easter.  I could really use a Saturday as well as the Easter weekend.  We have three egg hunts all on Saturday.  While we were out, we also stopped at Walmart and got some Easter things.  We then headed home.

I had told my sister to feed the kids peanut butter sandwiches, but that didn't sound tasty to her.  Instead she served homemade Macaroni and Cheese.  It is one her favorites. There were leftovers and she very kindly shared them with us.  (Speaking of my sister, she has a job interview at Lagoon today, so we are praying for here and keeping our fingers crossed.  She really needs a job.) 


On our way into the house the children were distracted by their bikes and strollers.  They thought they needed to be used., so of course we ended up going on a walk.  It was nice, except that Isabelle kept panicking about going too fast, so we ended up going at a snails pace.  When we got home our productivity lagged a little.  I think I played a round of Tetris while Thomas took a nap.  I then decided to join him.  Who says that napping isn't productive?  Unfortunately I tried to get the children to nap with us, but it ended up waking Thomas up.  He got up and I finished the nap.  I woke up a little while later to someone head butting me until I moved.  Toddlers can be so sweet.

 

The last thing on my list for the day was yard work.  We actually made some good progress.  We got several more of the flower beads cleaned out and some of the wood chips spread around.  (I might add more pictures later.  My camera ran out of batteries after I took the one of the wood pile.)  We then went in and I made potatoes and chicken gravy.  It was very tasty.  We wanted to watch something.  I had borrowed several family films from my Mother-in-law, so we decided to watch one of those.  We picked Mary Poppins.  Both of the children were enthralled.  I was surprised how entertained they both were.  even on the slower parts. It is long and kind of episodic, so we only watched to the end of their first outing.  The next night we watched through the outing to Uncle Albert's.  I think the next bit is when they go to the bank.  I am not sure where the chimney sweeps come in.

Like I said, it felt like a very productive day.

Frustration

I am feeling very frustrated today.  I should be having fun and enjoying spring break.  Instead I am bummed out and depressed.  I feel like everything goes wrong at once.  Of course it has all been building for a long time.    First off I am totally stressed out about what to do about kindergarten next year.  I can't find anyone to watch Isabelle and my schedule doesn't work.  I would have to drop her off a little over an hour early for Morning kindergarten and I would be about a half hour late picking her up from afternoon.  I have no idea about the rest of the day.  She could still do the daycare, but she would need a ride.  I was hoping to not pay daycare now she is in school.  Ideally I would just quite so I could be home and be involved with her schooling and spend time with her before she starts going to school full time.   Unfortunately it doesn't' seem like that is an option.  Especially with all of the unexpected expenses we keep having.  We have had to buy new tires for all three cars, plus brakes and rotors for Thomas' car.  We had the expenses from the windstorm in December.  The roof was patched, but the vents are still leaking and some if not all of it needs to be replaced.   The wood floor needs to be sanded and re-varnished.  We didn't do it when we moved in although some spots needed it.  Here we are five years later, and it really needs it, especially those spots.  Our dishwasher has been having problems, so I had some plumbers come out and give us an estimate.  According to them there is about $600 worth of work that needs to be done to fix the dishwasher and increase the pressure to the whole house, which is apparently really low.  There is an additional $400 worth of stuff which they said wasn't imperative, but probably should be done before something breaks.  I think I can get new toilets though for about the same price they wanted to replace the insides of them.  How is anyone supposed to have fun with their families if all you do is take care of emergencies.  If anyone knows of a management job that pays more than managing a fast food place let me know, or a part time job here in town that pays well let me know.  I know it isn't likely, but I keep hoping that perfect job will come around.  Part of Thomas' problem is that he doesn't know exactly what he wants to do with his business management degree.  He is too busy at his current job that pays him half of what he is worth to even look for something else.   I am tired of my job.  I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy working with most of the kids, but I am sick of planning, grading, discipline, and politics.   I hate having to spend hours of my own time grading papers, which the kids just throw away.  They don't even read the comments I made.   I just wish that things were simple. I know they never are.    There was that conference talk about not being jealous of other people because they received blessing that you didn't.  It isn't that I am not happy for them, but sometimes it feels like everything is working out for everyone else but not for me.  I know that their lives are probably not as perfect as they seem, but at least it isn't everything in their lives that is broken and defective.  It seems that everything is out of my control and there is nothing I can do to fix any of it.  You can't live on wishing things were better and different.  It wears you down.  How do I find happiness with where and who I am?