Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween week was a lot of fun.  The girls were Ariel and Sleeping Beauty, and they enjoyed a few nights of unabashed princessing.

Thursday night was the Sentinel School Carnival, where Grandma S works.  The girls spent the night there after the carnival, while Farmboy and I drove in to Phoenix to go to the Mesa Temple and then pick up our sister in law, who was coming to town for a visit.

Sunday was the Primary program, and Pea had two speaking parts.  In the first, she told about how her scripture hero is Queen Esther (who she picked herself), and the second was about how scriptures are 'inspiring messages' written by prophets.  It was hilarious watching her.  She is a natural ham.  Strawberry had a very minor part, as she is in the nursery (not yet being 3).  The nursery kids did get to join in on one song, "I am a child of god."

Finally, today was trick-or-treating.  we drove around the neighborhood, visiting mostly houses of people we knew.  We stayed out about 45 minutes, which was plenty for us.  It's a lot slower with little ones, but they sure had a blast.  They didn't get as much candy as I anticipated, probably because of how slow they walked between houses.  We probably only made it to 8 or so houses, but it's not like they needed more candy anyway.  Everyone told them how cute they were, and they loved it.  The neighbors were "awww" inspired whenever Strawberry would tell them, "I Sweeping Beauty".

What cute girls, and a fun week.

My Trip to Hawaii

I am going to tell you about how wonderful and amazing my trip was, and then you can be jealous.  Heck, I'm even a little jealous, and I was there!  It was just so wonderfully peaceful and beautiful, and we were just feet from the ocean.  I think the best part was that we were in the non-tourist area, so it wasn't really ever crowded or loud.

First of all, our accommodations:

Sunrise, as seen from our balcony

Our condo was in the best imaginable location.  We were on the southernmost point of the island, so both sunrise and sunset were over the ocean.  Our balcony faced east, so we got to see sunrise every morning.


We did some really fun things:

Kevin and I at the Mini Golf Botanical Gardens

I wanted to go to one of the many botanical gardens, but they are fairly expensive as a rule.  We found this garden on the North Shore, and it was a garden with a twist: it's a mini golf course.  As you go from hole 1 to 18, there are plants arranged around the holes that show the botanical history of the island.  Thus, we start at hole 1 with native plants, there before anyone came here, and go through the polynesian, plantation,  asian, and current plants.   I took one picture at every hole, leaving me with a photographic history of the island.  I'll post them in a separate post.

At Kilohana Plantation

Apparently, Kauai used to be a big plantation island.  It isn't so much any more, but there are hundreds of fallow fields all over the island.  Because the island is so mountainous, the plantation owners employed terrace farming, so there are rock walls and overgrown fields in lots of hidden, out of the way places.  A few of the plantations are still open to the public for touring, and we went to Kilohana Plantation to do just that.  It has some shops and a train that goes all around the grounds, but we didn't do the train.  There is also a luau in the evening, but we didn't do that either.  Can we say expensive?  We walked around the grounds on our own, and they had some fields of sugar, papaya, and tapa root.

 Of course, we did other things, like shopping, sight-seeing, and snorkeling, but I don't really have any pictures of that.  I was too busy!

Sunset from our condo

And to top it all off, here is a picture of the sunset from some benches downstairs at our condo.  I love this picture.  It just reminds me of the waves, the cool breeze, and the smell of the ocean.  Aahhh.

Crafty Mamas

We made little stuffed birds today for our Thursday crafternoon.  I made one for Pea, one for Strawberry, and we made several more for the other kiddies.  It was lots of fun and a joint effort.  I think they turned out really cute.  This one is Pea's; Strawberry's is purple, and she wouldn't give it up to have a picture taken.

Danelle was one of the moms over today, and she made this.  She was going to a wedding this weekend and made this as a gift.  The tutorial for how she did it can be found here. Enjoy!

Busy, busy, busy

It has been nothing but crazy over here lately.  I got a cold, which turned into a sinus infection, that I have been battling all week.  I'm definitely on the upside, but I still sound gross and am all snuffly, plus I seem to get worn out somewhat quickly. Then, Emily was sick for one night, miserable with a fever, which I thought was because she had gotten what I had.  Instead, it turned out she was getting four teeth in (all of her canines).  Poor baby.  She's fine now and has a mouthful!

In spite of this, it's been a really busy week.  I have started doing yoga this week, and have done three days thus far (I skipped three due to illness).  It's kind of kicking my butt, but I guess that's a good thing.  As of yesterday, I'm down 2 1/2 pounds.  Not bad, not bad.

Also, I've been cleaning and organizing trying to get my house back into some semblance of order.  Not an easy task, might I add.  Too many vacations and other events where I had stuff packed up and never really unpacked, lots of laundry in piles that I wasn't willing to wash, and a giant explosion of a toy room.  But it's mostly done now, and we can actually *live* in our house again.

And now, some pictures that never got posted during my summer hiatus:

Doorway Puppet Theater
Strawberry hasn't really figured out to keep her head down behind the curtain.

I made this SMU pillowcase for my brother,
who is attending the university  beginning this semester.

Monster Hunter Alpha

Monster Hunter Alpha
by Larry Correia

8 out of 10
Adult Science Fiction / Horror

This is book three in the Monster Hunter series.  Larry Correia does not disappoint.  Incredibly well-written and well-paced.  His books thus far show the promising trend of improving with each new release, leaving readers excited for more.

That was really more of a review of the author than the book itself.  But to be honest, I would read anything Larry Correia puts out and have yet to be disappointed.  Caveat: this is NOT young adult fiction.

That being said, this book didn't receive higher marks for one reason: it was missing my favorite characters.  Learning more about Earl was really awesome, and I agree that showcasing Earl precluded having Owen be the main character.  The fault was neither the author's nor the book's; I think the problem is that I have developed a teensy crush on Z.  Of course, as a glasses-wearing sci-fi fan who likes to imagine herself as being as rockin' as Julie, I suppose it was inevitable.  Now Correia comes along and makes Earl as awesome as Z, and what's a girl to do?

Update! And Invites!

Okay, so much has been going on in my life, and I haven't been blogging at all.

First of all, a status update:
I am NOT teaching at Antelope this year, although I am volunteering in order to help Kurtis out with Calculus.  I have been staying at home, and I somehow seem so much busier!

On Wednesdays, we go to the library for storytime, then our friends who meet us there come back to our house for snacks and some preschool activities.
On Thursdays, we have a Ladies' Craft Day, in which I pick a craft I have been wanting to do (or one of the other ladies suggests), and we get our craft on.
Fridays and Saturdays Kevin is home, so we do family things.  Meanwhile, I also have started a Mary Kay business, and I do a lot of appointments on those days.
Sunday, of course, is church and family day.

Also, I have two activities I would like to invite any of my blog readers to.
1: Online Book of Mormon Book Club - This is going to be a combination discussion group and institute-like class.  I will be using the BoM Institute manual (at least, the one they had back in the day when I took it) as well as some supplementary articles.  It will have an emphasis on Hebrew, historical, and Biblical connections.

2: Artist Trading Card Club - This is not my brainchild, but I read about it and thought it would be a really fun thing to do for kids.  Each Art Trading Card is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", and they can be decorated in any way imaginable.  Then, cards are traded and collected in much the same way that baseball or other trading cards are (but not sold!)  I think this could be a really fun alternative to penpals, and a great way to keep in touch with other kids, both friends and family.

Note: I am considering an ATC for adults, too: favorite trading cards would make great gift tags or could even be added to the front of a blank card for great handmade cards.

If you're interested in doing any of these activities with us, let me know (comment me!).

As for my writing group, plan on starting back up September 1st!  Summer is over, let's get to work!

Memorial Day

My littlest brother loves the armed forces. His entire room is decorated in camo. He takes it very seriously, though. To him, being a soldier isn't just about shooting people and having fun in battle (which I imagine any real soldier would agree with). He believes it is a duty to protect the people and the nation, and he honors and respects any who put their lives in the way of danger to do so.

This is a picture of the mirror in his bedroom, and I think it says a lot about his personality. I don't know who the trooper is in the picture, but Jared was proud just to be in a picture with a soldier.

I am proud of my brother, and I am so grateful to all the soldiers. I know I'm a little behind on posting, and it's not Memorial Day anymore, but I still want to post my thanks to all the soldiers who have laid their lives on the line to save mine. There is a special place in heaven for these men and women.