Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Not quite done.

I'll bet you thought I was done posting pictures from Hawaii. You were so wrong.

It was fabulous spending time with my mother on this vacation.  Not only because she's super fun and wonderful, but also because it's like I have my own personal professional photographer following me around everywhere.  Kind of like the paparazzi.  Except not annoying or invasive.  And (as far as I know) she doesn't submit any incriminating or embarrassing photos to magazines. (I just have to make sure I don't piss her off - because she definitely has quite a few of said photos...)

Anyway, here are some of the pictures she took while we were there ("some" because I'm sure I'll post more, later, when I feel like it.):

Playing in the water at Ke'e beach. *Sigh. So beautiful.

I love that smile. 

Snorkeling at Anini beach.
(this picture makes me giggle every time I see it)

 (and so does this one)

Time for some family photos!


And here is our whole family. I sure love them.

Monday, November 28, 2011

So festive.

This is my tree.

This is a snowman.

This is Santa Claus.

And this is a penguin.

Merry Christmas month.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving.

Today is Thanksgiving (uh...duh).  I started the day off by reading an inspiring blog post by my sister-in-law, Jennifer (here).  So much of it I found incredibly applicable to how I am feeling about my life, right now - regarding letting go of things, living in the moment, experiencing life in new ways, improving yourself, loving those around you, etc.  I think it would greatly benefit everyone if they would take a few minutes and read what she has written. (The video is quite inspirational, as well.)  She included a few quotes in her post, one of which is a favorite of mine:

We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-- T.S. Eliot

Reading her post inspired to me feel even more excited about this new chapter I am entering into. Thanks for taking the time to write all of that and share it with us, Jen. I sure love you :)

Now that the Thanksgiving festivities (i.e. the only-acceptable-once-a-year gluttonous scarfing of the turkey and pie) are over for me, I am able to sit down and relax. This is actually the first Thanksgiving evening, ever, where I have been by myself.  At first, I started being all "woe is me" about it, but then I thought: Hey- I have, like, 5 hours all to myself! WOO HOO!!!  So I'm going to start putting up my Christmas tree. And maybe browse some ads for Black Friday shopping. And turn up the music as loud as I want. WHATEVER music I want. And dance like an idiot (because that's the only way I know how).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I love you all- SO much. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Muchas gracias.

What are you going to do once I stop posting every day? Cry, probably, huh? Well, here's the good thing- maybe now you can stop wasting SO much time perusing through my blog and you can finally get on with your busy life.  It will be a difficult adjustment, but I know you can do it.  I believe in you.

Until then, here's another "Gratitude" post for you.

I'm thankful for Kennedy's teacher. We have lucked out each year (so far) with having incredible teachers.

I'm thankful for my own education. I'm also thankful for all of my past teachers who actually put up with my incessant social-butterfly-ness (which I may or may not have passed on to Kennedy...).

I am thankful for my dad. He is such an outstanding person - a wonderful example to me of honesty, love, realism, humbleness, kindness, acceptance and knowledge (among many others). I am excited to spend Thanksgiving with him, tomorrow. :)

I'm thankful for Justin. He is such a great dad to Kennedy, and loves her more than life, itself.  She sure loves her daddy.

I am thankful for my health (physical, mental and emotional). ... (Although some people might question the state of my mental health, on occasion).

Finally, I'm thankful that tomorrow is Thanksgiving (which is the whole reason I made this stupid goal of writing "thankful" posts on my blog, every day) (ok, not "stupid," but time-consuming) (and I guess I did benefit from it, at least a little bit) (so I'm thankful that I could be thankful all month long).  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(And I'll leave you with some pictures, because I have so many to share.)

Here we are at the Kilauea Light House. We sure make a cute little family, don't we?

And this IS the Kilauea Light House.  Apparently it's a great place for whale watching... if' it's whale watching season. Which it wasn't.

We went to Hideaways Beach  to look at the very cool tide pools. We saw quite a few little fish and a LOT of sea cucumbers.


Shortly after this picture was taken, I was super awesome and slipped on a mossy rock and sliced open my foot. Ouch. (I had to remind myself that, even if the blood-smelling sharks found me, they can't swim in tide pools.)

Oh look! Cute moorish idols! Don't worry, little fishies- the sharks won't get you here.

Here are the cute cousins in front of the renowned Hanalei taro fields.


And behind me is the beautiful town of Hanalei. *Sigh... I miss that place.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Unconditional Love

Today, I'm thankful for the fact that I am comfortable enough in my own skin that I can make a complete a** of myself in public.   For example - my brother and I made up a dance. It's called The Unconditional Love Dance - meaning that a person who loves you unconditionally should continue to love you even after seeing you dance like this (thanks for the video, mom):



That would be some true love, right there.

I'm also thankful for cameras/pictures.  I love the fact that we can capture moments of our lives on film, so that we can later reflect back and reminisce about those many meaningful moments (such as the one previously mentioned).


Speaking of pictures, here are a few more marvelously memorable moments from my trip for your viewing pleasure:

One of the days we were in Hawaii, we went snorkeling at Ke'e Beach. I was amazed at how many fish I saw- and also how vibrant their colors were. I also saw a sea turtle resting under a rock, which was pretty dang cool. The water was vividly blue. It was gorgeous. No pictures of that, sorry.

Emily and Kennedy did some boogie boarding in the ocean.

Marie watched them from the side lines.

We saw a beaching Monk Seal. It was so cute :)

This beach is at the end of the road, on the northwestern side of Kauai. Right next to the beach is a trail head where you can start the hike to see the Na Pali coast (which is one of the most spectacular sights I've ever witnessed- see this old blog post).  Since we didn't have hiking shoes with us, and the trail was muddy, we decided to just go up a little bit so that we could see the first lookout. We left the kids back at the beach with their grandma (and with the soon-to-be-hungry baby...).

This was our first spectacular view. Um... wow? Yeah. If you look closely, you can see our three little girls playing in the water.

See? ( I was testing my camera's zooming capability. I was impressed.)

Here is the view of the Na Pali coast. Beautiful, eh?



 And this is my sweeter than sweet sister-in-law, Jen  :)

At this point in our hike, baby Aysia was hungry and wanted mommy. So Brandon and Jen ran down the trail as quickly as they could to relieve our mother of the screaming infant... Sorry, mom. :)

Which reminds me- I'm thankful for my mom. This really deserves its own separate blog post, but for now I will just say this: my mom is such a wonderful person.  She is extremely loving, kind, caring, smart, funny, creative, supportive, accepting, generous, beautiful, compassionate, talented, etc... and, above everything else, she still loves me after seeing me perform the aforementioned dance.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Crafternoon!

I am thankful that Ashley lives less than 10 minutes from me.  It makes it very convenient for when we want to have a fun little Sunday Crafternoon (get it? doing "crafts" in the "afternoon"? Craft + Afternoon = Crafternoon? *sigh. I'm so clever, it almost makes me sick).  The plan was for us to do a Thanksgiving craft, but, believe it or not, there are very few (if any at all) Thanksgiving crafts at Michael's, right now. Instead, we decided to buy what was on sale and do some Christmas stuff.

No door is complete without a Christmas wreath!

Also, I'm thankful for my wonderful neighbors who helped me rake up my leaves, today. Not only am I thankful for the fact that they are so helpful, but also I am thankful for their example(s) of maintaining a positive attitude in the face of adversity. They are a sweet couple who have had to battle with cancer. The one has just finished her last round of chemo, and I am SO impressed with her strength.  Her last treatment was just 2 weeks ago, and the very next day she and her partner were outside walking around. And they have already been out hiking, jogging, and now helping me rake leaves. They have such a positive outlook...and they're so strong. I'm very thankful to have them as neighbors (and friends). 

I'm thankful for the beauty of the night sky. I love gazing at the stars and the moon. I think that's one reason I love camping, so much- being able to see thousands of stars at once, without having the city lights outshine them.  It's such a stunning and spectacular sight. 

Lastly (but not least(ly?)), I'm thankful for all of you. Thank you for being my friends (and/or blog stalkers- whatever).

Friday, November 18, 2011

Friday Funday

As Rebecca Black would say, "It's Friday, Friday". And today, she would be correct. Hallelujah, for that.

Yes, peeps. I'm grateful that it's Friday. It means that the weekend has officially begun. What are my plans, you ask? To clean, take down the rest of my Halloween decorations (don't judge me), contemplate putting up my Thanksgiving decor (for a WHOLE week), then probably decide against it, hang out with my little miss K, and perhaps snuggle up with a blanket, some hot chocolate, and a good book.  Sounds like a glorious weekend, to me.

I'm also grateful for IMDB (The Internet Movie Database).  Do you want to know who was in what movie and when and what else they were in and who was in it with them and what ratings that movie received and who directed it and what else he directed and who was in that and when they were born? Well, you can. (I'll bet you're so relieved, aren't you? You're welcome.)

Lastly, I'm thankful for my iPhone. I love that I can listen to music - on my phone. Whatever music I choose. 10 years ago (?), the only way to listen to music on your phone was when you were put on hold. And that music usually sucked. Unless you really like Kenny G, then I guess you wouldn't find it sucky.


And guess what else? Here are some pictures. But only a couple. I won't overload you all at once. You need a little time to recover from their awesomeness, after all.

My brother and I....when we get together, we are somethin' else, I tell ya. I mean, individually, we're pretty strange, anyway, but once we unite... watch out, world.


Here is the point in our vacation when I let Kennedy try her hand at photography. She asked me to be the subject, and instructed me to pose in various ways.  "Make a crazy face. No, mom- crazier. No, CRAZIER!!"


Next was "Make a maaaaad face, mom."  ...

Now there's a look that could kill. You sure wouldn't want to meet me in a dark alley.

Finally, I daresay this was my most favorite picture from the trip. For the record, the horses weren't even moving.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sunsets

Remember how Hawaii is all beautiful and stuff? Well, it is. And there are few things more beautiful than a sunset on the ocean.



Then, you come home to Utah, which is obviously not Hawaii.  And when you least expect it, like when you're driving home from work (last night, for example), you are rendered speechless by the transcendent display of colors in the sky. I daresay this is far more magnificent than any sunset I have ever seen in Hawaii (sans the obstructive power lines)- the entire sky was splashed with vivid colors. Good job, Mother Nature.



p.s. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful for picturesque sunsets. And even more specifically- the fact that I don't have to travel anywhere to see some of the most glorious of them.

p.s.s. Now that I've written the word "sunset" a few times, I'm realizing what a strange word it is. You know how when you say a word over and over it starts to sound like gibberish? "sunset, sunset, sunset, sunset" ... Weird.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Attitudes and pictures!

Well whaddya know? I'm posting some pictures. But first things, first- my gratitude for the day.

- I'm thankful for FOOD. Man, oh man, I love to eat.

- I am thankful for my neighbors. They have been so helpful with picking up Kennedy after school when I have to work... I don't know what I'd do without them.

- I'm thankful that I have the ability to choose my attitude. Today I chose to be happy and optimistic. :) I'm thankful that I can also choose my reaction and how I respond to things. I am response-ABLE.

- And I'm also thankful for movies. All kinds- except horror movies. Those I am not so thankful for. At all.

Ok, now, on to the pictures!

Here we are, sitting at Bubba's, waiting for our delicious burgers. Kennedy obviously had more important things to look at.

She's such a poser. I have NO idea where she gets it from. *cough cough*...

Wow, right? I mean... just... wow.

She is such a monkey. A very cute monkey, might I add.

It's completely normal to pretend that a fruit roll-up is an extension of your tongue, right? Because people were giving us strange looks.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

*Sigh

Yes, yes, I know. I skipped another day. What are you going to do about it, huh? Probably nothing. Yeah, well, me too.

Some days I find that it is far more difficult than others to find things to be grateful for... BUT if my 7 year old can find five things she's thankful for when she is pissed off at the world, then I can, too.

Here goes.

- um...my short commute to work.

- cute jackets (more particularly the new one my mom bought me for my birthday). I love jackets. Probably my favorite article of clothing. Besides flip flops.

- chocolate chex cereal.

- the fact that I still have a pulse.

- funny blogs.

There. I did it. Five things. It was actually a bit harder than I had expected, but I did it. Go me.

Now it's time to change my woe-is-me attitude and get back to my sunshiny self. Ready, set, GO!
(That is bound to work, eventually, right...? ... )

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Home

We are just going to ignore the fact that I skipped yesterday. Ok? Ok.

That was the best vacation I have ever experienced. 'Twas epic. Wow.  I will totally post pictures...later...when I'm not so exhausted. :) However, even with how much fun it was, I must say that it feels nice to be home and in my own bed.

So today I'm thankful that I have a place to call home.

I'm also thankful for the unyielding support of those closest to me, when I chance to be having a rough time... especially my mom and Ashley. I love you both, dearly :)

I'm thankful for airplanes.

I'm thankful for grocery stores.

I'm thankful for socks.

And finally, I'm thankful for the fact that I had an entire week to spend with Kennedy- we had such a great time and had some much-needed mommy-daughter bonding moments :)

Friday, November 11, 2011

Thanks.

I was going to take today off from blogging, but then I started to feel guilty. Stupid guilt. So here I am, telling you more of what makes my heart happy.

Today I am thankful for aaalllll of my friends and family who were sweet enough to take time out of their busy schedules to wish me a happy birthday. It makes a girl feel mighty special, I tell ya.

Next, I'd like to give a little thanks to Facebook for reminding half of those people that today was my birthday, so that they could wish me happy birthday. (I am definitely thankful for those bday reminders- I admit that I do not know many of my friends' birthdays...) So thank you, Facebook.

Lastly, I'm grateful for connections. Like, the deep conections you can sometimes feel with certain people. You know how sometimes you meet someone and you just know you're going to be friends for life- no matter what? Forever? Like your souls just somehow know each other? And no matter how much time has passed you know they'll still be one of your best friends? Always? Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's on my list of what I'm thankful for.

How is your list coming along?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Thanks and pics

I finally have a few minutes (and access to my mom's computer) to upload pictures to share! Huzzah!

First, however, I will continue with my November daily thanks:
Today I am thankful for the internet. How cool is it that we have nearly all of the information in the world at our fingertips- especially if you have a phone with web-browsing capabilities? Pretty dang cool. Having an argument about the spelling of "ulterior"? Or do you want to know how the moon makes the high and low tides? Or what makes the sky blue? Just look it up. Now you're smarter. Good for you. It is crazy to me how accessible all of this information is- and so instantly. It is absolutely incredible.

I am also thankful for the people in my life who make me laugh. I have some pretty hilarious friends. I also have some dang funny family members. So- thank you to all of you who make me (or have made me) laugh. Please don't stop doing that. :)

And now it's time for a lot of random pictures from my trip (so far). I have quite a few more on my actual camera (these are all from my phone), but I will put those up with a later post. Enjoy!

To start off, here is the promised picture of the glorious rainbow I saw the other day (at least the left half of it):

...and here's the other half (it was so huge!!):

This is the beach I ran to that morning. Beautiful, right?

One of the beach days.


Eating dinner with my big brother :)

We made leis one evening, and Kennedy made this one for her head. And then she totally posed like this on her own... I'm in so much trouble when she grows up.

Another beach day.

We stopped at a "dry cave"...and Kennedy decided to be scary. She did a great job.

GORGEOUS Kauai sunset.

Kayaking this morning!

In the middle of our kayak adventure, we hiked up to this waterfall:

...and because the trail was so muddy, and the only shoes we had were flip flops, it was easier to just do the trail with bare feet. It was actually quite fun.


The moon was gorgeous tonight! Full moon tomorrow night...? I can't wait :D

And, as always, I love my keiki!!