Makahiki Pinewood Derby 2012

After winning the Pinewood Derby for our ward, Micah qualified to go on to the district level. They usually hold it at Makahiki. Did you know that Makahiki is the oldest scouting event in America? I learned that that day.  The other cool thing is that Micah's cousin Raiden won the Pinewood Derby for their ward as well. Coincedence? I think not. LOL! Let's just say that they have good Pinewood Derby support at home.

There they go, lining up the cars on the track.

Micah on deck. He was so nervous. His time was about 3 seconds. There were some cars that made 2.9 seconds.

In the end, Micah placed 4th for the Hukilau district.

He qualified for the finals, and came in 24th in the state. Awesome job Micah!!!

Micah and cousin Raiden. Our Pinewood Derby boys for 2012. Good job boys!

Our Sweet Sixteen

It's our Sweet 16th Anniversary and it was a great day, especially for me. Randy took the day off so that when I came home from work, I could go to sleep and get some rest. I was so excited to get my shift over with, so that I could hurry home and sleep.

When I woke up, I was surprised with flowers. It was such a sweet surprise.

I then headed out the door to the salon to get my hair done.

 Headed home, got ready, got the kids settled and headed out for a night on the town with my sweetheart!

 Destination: CHEESECAKE FACTORY!! There's only one on the island. There are about 1 million people on O'ahu alone (I think). So the wait was long. Good thing we didn't have the kids with us. We were able to do a little shopping during our 70 minute wait for a table for two.  Once we got in, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. One of the reasons I chose the Cheesecake Factory, other than I have never been there before, was that they had a HUGE menu.  To go along with their HUGE menu, they give you HUGE portions. It was awesome and we were stuffed. Randy literally took one bite of the dessert and called it quits for the night. I should have done the same, but I went ahead and ate half the cake we ordered. I know. I'm such a pig. LOL!

It was a great night!! Thanks Randy for sticking with me despite all my flaws. Believe me, there are many. I look forward to many more great years together!!

P.S. Oh yeah, I need to post another wedding picture of us from back in the day. LOL!

May Night Practice

Everyday for almost a month, these kids have been getting together practicing their dances of their culture. In this case it's Tongan. I didn't realize how happy that would make me watching Leigh dancing the dances that I learned growing up in Tonga. What's even more full circle is that the woman teaching them was my teacher in high school as well.

Puppets

 Cub Scouting is awesome!! I love it. My boys love it. Enough said. For a couple of weeks now, the boys have been working on these marionette puppets. They are so cool. Of course the lovely Aunty Polly came up with the idea.

Micah is almost done. I think all that's left is to tie the strings and paint. Looks good Micah!

Stake Conference

This stake conference was an anticipated one, mainly because Kara joined the Stake Primary Choir that was to sing at our meeting. I'd been with her to the many Sunday practices and heard the children sing. The music was beautiful! When it came time for the choir to perform, they were awesome!! I will admit, tears were shed during their beautiful singing. So proud of Kara for wanting to have this great experience.

 I snapped these during their practice before stake conference.

 Kara and two other girls from her primary class.

Can you tell the one on the left is getting embarrassed? LOL!

From the messages I did hear (in between chasing around my toddler), they were of course very needed and inspirational. Elder Whiting was the presiding general authority and gave a great message.

We did something this year, that we hope to make a tradition every stake conference. Usually after conference is done, we are sitting in the parking lot for a while, waiting for our turn to get out of the parking lot. This time we decided to have a picnic.

 It was great!!! We had pigs-in-a-blanket, baked beans, fresh veggie sticks n dip, chips, and raspberry crumb bars.

Best decision ever!! The kids loved it! Micah said he couldn't wait for next stake conference. Everyone was fed, and it was a nice time to get some wiggles out before heading home for a nap.

Saturday Lineup

First up - Temple!!
It has been awhile. It was so nice to finally be able to go.  It's so great when you walk in and feel that peaceful feeling. I especially love seeing people that I know. Everyone seems different in the temple, like they truly are your brother and sister.

Next -- Home Chores!!

There's nothing that makes me more happy than seeing my family get out there and work together : )

Lastly after all chores were done - Adult Stake Conference Session!
It's kind of sad that this is my first ever adult stake conference session. We have always just forgotten or, we had babies that we really couldn't leave behind. This year, we made an effort to really go. There was a point where it would have just been easier for us to say, no, we should just stay home. Recently Randy and I were talking and decided that we needed to make a better effort to put the Lord first in our lives. So that's what we did. In the end, everything worked out great and we were able to go with peace of mind that we left our kids knowing that they would be fine.

 The session was great. Elder Whiting spoke and shared things. It was funny, because a lot of what he talked about has been what Randy and I have been talking about, including going to the temple and putting the Lord first. There's hope for us yet. LOL!
After a long, productive day, Randy and I went for ice-cream before heading home. Without any shame, I went for the Sundae!

Friday Afternoon

It was such a beautiful day today. I couldn't NOT take my kids to the beach after school. As soon as they were home, we got our swimming gear on and headed out. The kids loved it. Jace finally figured out how much fun the beach actually is. The older kids are so great with him, including him in all their sand play. Leigh was out body boarding the whole time we were there.

Easter Traditions

Easter time is here again. Another excuse for our family to get together to eat, not that we really need one. 

 R.T. and Jett. Everyone is getting to be so grown up.

 This year was kind of rainy, so the ground was wet. To avoid a big mudfest, we hid (I use that term loosely), the eggs in the house. I'm not sure if we had enough eggs.

Just kidding.

Jace got to go first. He didn't get very far because he was too fascinated with opening the eggs. After 2 minutes, the rest of the gang was unleashed.

 Everyone went scrambling for their eggs. Of course everyone was trying to find that "golden egg" that grandma usually hides. Grandma hides other monies in other eggs.

 Everyone's checking out their stash.

The kids have so much fun. They do love the eggs with money. Some of them come away with a ton of money. Grandma and Grandpa are very generous that way. We always stay after and just visit. It's great family time, always.

Clean up and Shirokiya

 It was a busy day. To start off, we awoke bright and early and headed to the chapel to help clean up. My kids groan when we wake them, but they feel pretty good about the service they give when their done.
Following the clean up it was off to other errands.
For lunch we splurged and took the kids to Shirokiya. It is a Japanese store that they have here in Hawaii. On one of the floors is a type of Japanese food court. It is overwhelming if you've never eaten there. Heck, if you're just plain hungry it's overwhelming because there is yummy food EVERYWHERE!!

Our kids have never eaten which is why we went. They loved it!! It took awhile to get everyone their food and to find a spot to sit, but it was worth it! They're already working on what they are going to choose next time they come back.

BYUH Culture NIght 2012

 Culture night at BYUH has been something that they've done for a looooong time. When I attended BYUH, I remember participating in Culture Night with the Tongan Club. It's a fun experience. The great thing about it is that anyone can do it. Anyone can join any club and participate in that culture's dance. Everyone loves it!! We took our kids to watch. They were a little skeptical if it would be fun. We told them that we wouldn't stay for the whole thing and leave to go get ice-cream after. Two hours later, we had to convince them to go. Funny story though, we were walking out of the CAC building where we saw the Maori club lined up and ready to go perform. Without hesitation, our kids did a 180 degree turn, and headed back in to go watch them. After that performance, we left for our treats. This is one of the many things I do love about living here. Our kids get exposed to so many different cultures. Definitely a blessing.

Passing the Time

We seem to be making this a Friday tradition, Jace and I. Friday mornings I'm usually really tired from working, but Jace doesn't go down for a nap till around noon. So, to pass the time, we hit the beach. It serves a double duty. Something to do to pass the time, and it let's Jace get all his energy out, making him definitely ready for nap time : )

Shopping with Mom

Ok. I know I showed a picture like this before, but I couldn't resist showing another one. I can't help it. He's so darn cute when he's "pushing" the shopping cart.

Haircuts!

Haircut time!! I love when the boys get a haircut. They look so handsome when they're done. We take all three boys including Jace. He just gets a buzz. So far he's had three haircuts and hasn't cried once. We'll see how long that will last.

Lunch Time with Daddy

Sometimes when we take lunch to Randy, we find a shady spot in the parking lot and let Jace out. He enjoys running around and climbing trees. I am grateful to live so close to where Randy works to be able to do this whenever we want.