A week in Hawaii!!

So when I said that I've been busy, I forgot to mention that I had the chance to spend a week in Hawaii with my mom and sister Gina. I'm pretty sure I have the best husband EVER to let me go AND to watch the kids the whole time. We got a really good deal on a hotel (thanks Krystal!) and Jameson was generous enough to use his Sky Miles to "buy" a plane ticket for me and my mom. We rented a car for cheaper than normal (thanks Pace!) and I would say we were definitely HOOKED UP.

Some things we did were:

* Watched the Pipeline Masters North Shore surfing competition (amazing!)

* Shopped

* Spent time on the beach (I have no idea why it is highlighting that)

* Snorkeled Hanauma Bay

* Went sight-seeing

* Shopped some more

* Got lost a lot even with a GPS ??

* Ate-Lei lei's, Dukes, Rainbows, Mac 24/7, Ted's and many random "hole in the wall" places that were excellent!!

* Had lunch with Tufanga-a former mission companion of my brother Jacen and a player for Hawai'i's Rainbow Warriors Football team. His cousin also came along. (Go #'s 49 and 51!!)

* Chatted with some freakies (hot tub man and 50 year old dudes on bikes!)

* Spent time at the hotel's Internet cafe while watching the rain.

* Witnessed rain like I've never seen before-but hey, it was Hawaii so who cares right??

* Played Mexican train dominoes til the wee hours of the night-the same dominoes that almost cost me $90 because they put my suitcase over the weight limit!!! It was worth it though!

Here are some pics...

You can't really tell in this picture but the waves were pretty big. It was fun watching the professional surfers surf the famous North Shore waves.
Very pretty rainbow!

We had a very fun time and it was hard to leave my kids yet it was a much needed vacation. I was excited to get back home to them and not so excited to get back home to the snow!

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I've had time to post anything new because we have been doing so many fun things! Over Thanksgiving we had Jameson's sister and her family (Asenith, Curtis, Cambria, McKenna, and Dixon) stay with us. On Friday night we rode the Front Runner to SLC to see the lights at Temple Square. The kids, especially Jaxon, were very excited to be riding on a REAL train!! It was a lot of fun but it was COLD!! BUURRRHHH!!

Well at least the oven is clean...

This one has taken me a few days to find funny. The other day after breakfast I was trying to get Jaxon and Brooklyn to play together. I went upstairs and gave them a great idea (so I thought) to put their play tunnel together and connect it to their table to make a hut. I helped them get started, then headed downstairs to get breakfast cleaned up saying, "Put some stuff in there too." (pointing to the stuffed animals). I MEANT for them to put a few friends in there to play with. So, I got the kitchen cleaned, and found that they were still entertained!! No fighting, no screaming, no tattling... so, I got ambitious and started to clean the INSIDE of our oven which I HATE to do. I got the whole kitchen cleaned including the outside and inside of the stove, microwave and fridge. I finally decided that the silence could not be a good thing and marched myself upstairs only to find this...

All of Brooklyn's clothes out of her drawers...

Every book off the shelf....

And the ENTIRE "hut" and tunnel filled with the clothes, books, and toys from the toy box!!!

Here's after I dumped out the tunnel.

I was glad they played so well together and we got it cleaned up but the worst part about this is that now Brooklyn thinks this is what you do when you play. She has duplicated this about 4 times now since then!!! I'm glad I took pictures but I've got to be sneaky about it when I take pictures of something like this or else they think I'm taking a picture because I thought they did a good job. I told them I was taking a picture so I could show Dad!!

I am so THANKFUL for...

1. A great family including a great husband and 3 of the cutest kids ever!!!
2. More fabulous family members on both sides: Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas, brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, and nephews.
3. Loyal friends who, even if I haven't seen them for a little while (say 1 year or so??) can call you up and talk as if no time has passed and crack you up like no one else can! (thanks SUM!)
4. Modern conveniences like running water and online shopping ;)
5. People who drive slow and prevent me from getting a speeding ticket because I cannot pass them.
6. This great free country that I, along with many messed-up people live in (for the record, I don't consider myself one of the messed up ones-pssh of course not ;)
7. Holiday candy to accompany the holidays.
8. (speaking of holidays) Christmas music in November-I admit I kinda like it-it doesn't get annoying until December 21st.
9. Grocery store baggers that help you out with your groceries when you have 3 kids and a cart full...am I supposed to tip them? (shhh..ignorance is bliss!)
10. Last but not least, Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me!!

Halloween!!!

Well, better late than never I guess!! The kids had fun dressing up this year for Halloween. I always get their costumes a few months (yes months) early because I learned the hard way when Jaxon was little and couldn't find anything. So they've been excited for some time now to dress up. The Monday before Halloween we had a party at Grandma and Grandpa Frew's house. The kids had fun playing together and they all looked so cute!
Lisa planned a really fun spooky walk that really wasn't spooky until Tyler decided to hide in the bushes and give the kids a good scare!! Awww...Tyler- we're missing you already!!! (Left on November 5 for the MTC!!)
And here is Halloween for our ward trunk or treat.. They looked so cute and got tons of candy!

DORA THE EXPLORER

SPIDERMAN and our cute little (chubby) BEAR
Yikes! That's a scary witch!
We stopped by Michelle and Chris's house on our way home. Here's a cute picture of Gabe and Elora-both looking thrilled to be dressed up!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today Jaxon's preschool took a field trip to Black Island Farms in Syracuse. He was so excited because he remembered it from last year. He even woke up today at 6 am!!! Brooklyn got to come too and she loved it but she froze!! The slide this year was bigger than it was last year. I couldn't believe that he dared go down it. Here they are on the little cow/pig train...they had to be right behind the tractor!

I loved the way that Jaxon had his arm around his 'sissy' the whole time!!
They got to pick a pumpkin from the patch too!!! How fast time goes....here's last years picture of them getting ready to go.. And, last year in the pumpkin patch!! I can't believe how fast time goes...I was pregnant with Gabe in this picture and now look at him.. He had to stay home...maybe next year!!

The good thing about Campbells

So I got some inspiration from my friend Liz (thanks LiZ!) to clean out my pantry-YIKES!! I keep thinking that we need to get our food storage in order so for starters I went to Macey's and loaded up on some case lot items. I came home and looked at my pantry and wondered where it was all going to fit. It became evident that the pantry was going to need a makeover. I decided to take a before and after picture.

I learned some useful things from this little project:

#1: The makers of Campbells soup knew what they were doing when they designed their cans. Unlike the off brands, their cans stack impressively well.

#2: The Great Value Wal-Mart brand stacks the WORST!!! (I guess you get what you pay for aye?)

#3: We NEVER use cream of celery soup

#4: There CAN be such a thing as a lone weevil....or can there???

#5: My kids Do notice when things are clean...especially Jaxon (big surprise) who said, "Good job Mom!"

#6: I do have a little OCD in me.

#7: We do pretty good at eating things before they go old....This was the oldest thing I found...

Yes it says 9/13/06...

#8: It will only look this good for today so I'll enjoy it!!!