Super Raider - Kara's turn to be by herself

We've kicked off the school year with a good start. The first month in and Kara was chosen to be a Super Raider for her class. She was happy this time to be the only one in our family for the month of August. Last year, she and Micah were Super Raider for the same month.



Congratulations Kara ------ keep it up!!!

Happy Birthday to our Favorite Dad!

Today was my hubby's birthday. Many funny things were said by my kids when dad's birthday was coming up. Upon discovery of his birthday being on a Sunday, one exclaimed that "we need to get him a Jesus tattoo." I know, a little irreverent, but funny. When hearing that Randy was turning 41, another of our precious children commented, "Awwwwh. He's growing up."
His birthday didn't turn out the way I had planned in my head (we've been EXTREMELY busy to say the least). One of the reasons why I love him, is that it didn't bother him at all. Leigh made him breakfast in bed. The kids made him a card. Randy's leaving on a trip to Seattle for a conference, and he's been asking me to come along. Well, after looking over things, I figured I would be able to go. So Happy Birthday Dear!

We LOVE you!!

New Moon Trailer

I did this last time when Twilight came out. Let's just say I felt the need to be consistent. The New Moon Extended Trailer debuted at the VMA's tonight. It was nice to watch it on my new flat screen TV in all it's HD glory! After watching it (maybe 20x's), it's obvious that Summit has stepped things up a notch, or two, or ten, with the quality of movie-making in the next part of this saga. Majority of people will say that New Moon is their least favorite, but Chris Weitz has definitely made it look exciting! New Moon comes out this time, the day before my birthday. Like I texted to my Twilight BFF (you know who you are), I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who can't wait for her 33rd birthday to come. Let the countdown begin (actually, you know that countdown started the day after Twilight premiered. LOL!). So, go ahead and watch it. It's all you got till November 20th, baby.

An Urgent Sunday

I found myself this afternoon in the Kaiser Urgent Care Clinic. Tyler had fallen on his wrist the day before, but didn't tell us till this morning that this had happened. It was swollen, he couldn't hold anything or rotate his hand. Sounds broken to me. After an XRay, no fracture. Whew! Dodged that bullet (a cast in Hawaii, is NOT fun!).


Tyler still has to wear a brace, till his wrist stops hurting. When he came home, he needed to finish his homework. We laughed out loud when he looked at us with that "Are you serious" look and said, "Don't I at least get a scribe?!". I felt bad for him, and volunteered.

Micah . . . . . . well, we are not quite sure what is going on with him. He had this blister on his leg (about an inch in diameter) on Friday. It looked like a burn. It had popped, we cleaned it and put an antibiotic ointment on it. By Sunday, it had doubled in size, including the area of skin sloughing off (sorry, don't mean to gross you all out). So I took him with me to get checked as well. We wanted to make sure it wasn't a flesh-eating bacteria. No, seriously, we really wanted to make sure it wasn't that. That doctor suspects that it is a staph infection. She gave us a prescription ointment. We shall see what happens. Where did he get it from? With him, there is no way to know.

This took up pretty much my entire Sunday, but I didn't mind. I'm happiest when I'm taking care of my family. I don't say that to brag at all, it's just true.

P.S. Lab results did say it was staph, but the infection is responding well to the ointment. He should be better soon.

Grandpa's Back!

Like I said, we are a stop on the way home for Grandpa! He came back, unfortunately, only for a day. So we just hung out.

He came bearing gifts as well. The kids loved it! My dad and I drove to Wal-mart to get a few things, picked up some Korean BBQ on the way home. It was good food.


We ended the night with a birthday cake. Tomorrow is Grandpa's birthday, but he gets on a plane tomorrow to go home. With crossing over the dateline, his birthday actually ends the minute his plane takes off. We decided to celebrate while he was here with us.


It is supposed to be a fish if you look carefully. It didn't quite turn out the way we wanted, but it was still delicious! We miss you and can't wait for your next visit! (Bring Grandma next time).

A visit from Pompa!

Some of you may already know that my parents are temporarily living in the Gilbert Islands. Along with overseeing the church facilities in the Gilbert Islands , my dad is also in charge of the Marshall Islands. The flight from the Gilbert Is. to the Marshall Is. is actually about 1 1/2 hrs. Unfortunately, there is no such flight. So, when my dad needs to go the Marshall Islands, he flies from there to Fiji, then to Hawaii, then to the Marshall Islands. Guess who he visits with in Hawaii?! -----Yay me!!


This past weekend, my dad stopped over and stayed with us. It was such a great visit. From the moment he arrived at our house Friday morning, he and I talked, and talked, and talked. We got some work errands done that morning, then I took him out to lunch. Micah joined us because he was home sick that day (poor guy). We went to Leilei's Restaurant at Turtle Bay Resort. The food was great! We got home, and my dad took Micah out, while I took a nap. When I woke up, the kids were home from school. We planned some menu items for dinner, then went back to the store with Pompa (one of my niece's calls him this), to buy the ingredients. Leigh and Grandpa made otai, while I made chicken enchiladas. Dinner was great.

Then a fishing trip was planned. Tyler and Grandpa made some more trips to the store to get bait and other goodies. We were up BEFORE the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning ----- 4:45am to be exact! We drove down to Haleiwa and began our fishing adventure.

In case any of you have never seen this phenomenon, this is what it looks like outside BEFORE the crack of dawn (LOL!). Dark! The guys getting all their baits and poles ready.

Our novice fishermen.

Kara, handling some bait.

Here's what Micah caught (haha!). Nah, that's the bait they used.

Yay! The sun was starting to come up. Randy and the kids casting, waiting for that bite.

Here's what they caught. Any guesses? Leave a comment.


Randy and Micah getting their hooks prepped.

Granpa showing Micah how to cast.

I was trying to be "artsy" with this shot. I need a real camera.

Eventually, the kids decided to play with the bait. There is a barracuda in the cooler that Grandpa caught. Any guesses yet on what Randy and the kids caught?

The boys. Grandpa forgot to turn and smile.

We had such a great time! We went home exhausted and it was only 10:30am (LOL!). That night my dad and I stayed up talking. It was so fun. We went to church the next day. Came home and had a nice dinner. We watched home videos and then it was time for Pompa to go on to the next leg of his trip. We were all sad after he left. The great thing though about being a stop-over on the way over, is that we get to be a stop-over on the way back. Yay me!! Grandpa will fly in next weekend before heading home. We already have plans in the making.

A FHE lesson idea

If you are needing ideas for FHE, I've posted a few that we've done for the past couple of weeks on my other blog "had a moment to spare". You can click on it on the list to the left.