Just one more day until December starts and then just 32 short days until 2010. Uhmm.. I guess not really "short day" as they are all 24 hours long, like every other day in the year. I am thinking about writing a lot but I will spare you and just post some pictures. By "some" I mean a lot.
For our Thanksgiving feast we met with mucho families at the church. There really was way too much food including a smoked turkey, a deep-fried turkey and a dutch oven turkey. Don't you worry, I tried all three.
A favorite hiding spot of the little one
Gonna take some pictures of Jaedyn.... but she is not over here. At least we have a pose from Kalani and a cheesy grin from Caleb. Now off to find my daughter
...of course! Playing basketball. I better go get her so they can start playing again.
Well look at that! They all decided to let her play afterall.
One of these days we will take a real picture..... maybe
Three days of fun with family, three plates of Thanksgiving dinner, two plates of Thanksgiving dessert, three stores to shop at on Black Friday, three hours of standing in line... oh the joys of Thanksgiving. And I don't mean that sarcastically. And them matt sends me this.I have not decided if I liked New Moon. It was leaps and bounds better than Twilight... like that was hard to do. I will decide not to decide though. I know i can think of at least three ways I can better spend my time... like painting a table or playing with my baby or organizing my socks.
Which ones should I make. Really, I need help. I can't decide. My sis sent me this link. Its for the Celebration Shoppe. Let me tell you, that lady is a kindred spirit. Too bad I don't get paid for my creativity. Oh well. Its not like I can take it with me when I die. (My new mantra). Check out more craft ideas here.
Christmas gifts-done Christmas cards to mail-done House cleaned-done Baby napping-done Email checked done Letters to missionaries-done Closets organized-done Food Storage organized-done Shower and dressed before 4pm-done
Why yes, I am pretty productive today if I say so myself. And what else have we been up to you ask. Well... Last night we read a talk about anger called School thy Feelings, Brother by our Prophet Thomas S. Monson given in Oct. He talks about how anger is NEVER justified and shares some stories to make it clear why it is a negative feeling. Pres. Monson quotes this interchange:
“Did that man intend to insult you?”
President Grant replied, “No. He told my friends he had rewarded me handsomely.”
To this the older friend replied, “A man’s a fool who takes an insult that isn’t intended
This created a springboard for a lot of discussion about anger and taking offense. I realized that even if someone intends to give offense, I have two options. 1) to be upset 2)Address it and move on. I tend to dwell on things, whether it is positive or negative. And as we continued to read, I came to an understanding as to where I can improve. And so, as 2010 approaches, those thoughts have been recorded and are part of my new resolution.
How weird to celebrate a 14 months marker. But... McKay and I still celebrate our First date. Complete with re-enactment. If you want to know more, ask McKay to tell you. It involves pie.
We (meaning Jaed and I) stay pretty busy. Between the library and playgroup and chasing her down to change a diaper and get the penny or button or endless supply of candy she ALWAYS finds out of her mouth.. I am able to snap a few picts for the family that is far away. Observe
The best morning hair picture yet
Seriously he is one good looking guy and he is all mine! Don't you LOVE that dress. Thank you Tia Tia and for all the other cute clothes you give me. Hopefully we will have a boy next too.
At the library she loved the books but saw the computer. Yes, she really is clicking the mouse onto Dora The Explorer. She must take after me being so smart as she is. I just love the weather here in Houston! And I think I look pretty good.. minus my MC Hammer pants. And I just realized i think I have lost that shirt. What a bummer.
Pre-smashing -finger -in -door. Yes, her nail will fall off.
I painted a mural on butcher paper and made it into a tablecloth with food for her birthday. There is a tree, a car, three flowers, and a sun... all made with food. Yes, go ahead & oohh $ ahh...
A few weeks back, I appeared in the Houston Chronicle Newspaper regarding food storage etc. How weird to see your face splashed across the pages of print). Since that time however, I have been really awful at emailing and returning calls (let alone even answering the phone). Why? It actually has nothing to do with food storage. I have been crafting like crazy. Wanna see? What is not pictured are the calendars and photo books that have finally been done. Whew!
This was/is/ an oak amour. I painted it and added some girlie things and.. waahola! There are pink sparkles on the knobs (can't you see them sparkle). Inside its is an art station. I cut our cork board and borrowed some chalkboard spray paint and installed a metal panel to double as a white boaord and magnent board. So far, the little ones loves the taste of the pink chalk and the wooden magnents. It was a fun weekend projectThe EASIEST headbands ever. (I shouldn't say they were easy) The HARDEST headbands EVER! These took me so long to make. Thank you to my beautiful niece for modeling them. Doesn't she have lovely hair?
Notice the leg warmers and red toenails...
And these ones as well.
They started out as cute knee high socks... now, they are her essentials to every outfit. I am going to bring back the 80's. Well, at least the leg warmers. Btw, these took a whole 10 minutes to make. Grrr!!! I mean, "these took HOURS to make!"
Not pictured: Holiday banners and birthday calendar and lots of cards
So New Moon came out yesterday? (yawn...) Although with all this hype has come counter-hype which is actually quite funny. Example, this quote from Jeff Vice of the Deseret News, "At this point, all the makers of the Twilight films would really need to do to keep the "Twi-hard" fans happy is simply shoot some footage of actors Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner reading the best-selling books aloud."
In all fairness though since Makana posted all three trailers of the movie in a previous post, I thought I would share this one. Enjoy
Begrudgingly use the word "STUPID" putting myself at full risk for a using a not-very-good-descriptive-word. Why you ask? Well, I am certain when I tell, you will unknowingly be nodding your head in agreement...
I really like this CD... as much of it as I have heard. And it all started with me ABSOLUTELY LOVING Party in the USA. (You just nodded your head too didn't you?). I was innocently driving myself to play volleyball when this song came on. Suddenly I put "my hands up and the butterflies went away, I was nodding my head like "yeah", moving my hips like "yeah" " and I realized that there is no way I am the only closeted-Miley-Cyrus-lover. Please.
McKay: Makana, you need to go ask the ultimate source Makana: McKay! ARRGGGGHH! Well I already Googled it!
and....
McKay: This past week I learned on facebook......
I thought I would give you a little unasked insight to how much we inadvertently depend on the computer. :)
The laundry is going, the dishes are done, baby is napping and I have a lot to do today. And so I sit in front of the computer contemplating this upcoming year and a certain 4 letter word as my phone is buzzing off the hook since I forwarded my email to text format thanks to Google and Matt. And wondering why when I need to look up anything, I go to the Internet rather than the bookcase to find a definition of a certain four letter word. G-O-A-L
Main Entry: goal
Pronunciation: \ˈgōl, chiefly Northern especially in 1b & 3a alsoˈgül\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gol boundary, limit
Date: 1531
1 a: the terminal point of a race b: an area to be reached safely in children's games 2: the end toward which effort is directed :aim 3 a: an area or object toward which players in various games attempt to advance a ball or puck and usually through or into which it must go to score points b: the act or action of causing a ball or puck to go through or into such a goal c: the score resulting from such an act
My goals for today include 1) finish a Youth book I am almost done with and 2) really study the scripture, not just read them. (That, my friends, is a battle and it should not be and is a WHOLE other conversation)
But back to goals... I like definition 2. And as I sit here my mind is wondering a few things one of which is where really is my effort directed to and pondering on this talk from General Conference. And with all this seriousness going on inside my head (which I don't like very much, uh, the seriousness, not my head) I picture making these from Anthropology and and am very excited
ps-since starting this post, I have ended up adding 7 more things to my to-do list for today. I mean really!? I guess the aprons will have to wait.... :(
What a beautiful looking group I do have to say so myself. All those people with beautiful tan skin and such talent for dancing.... and yes, I am one of them. Was it ever a doubt? I mean, really!? (reference to SNL "REALLY" episode with Amy Pohller if anyone gets it)
I think that the title says it all. But, I will explain what you are looking at. These are people. And not just any people, but truly amazing people. The chosen people in case you in doubt of who they are. The lucky few who have been able to attend the north shore campus of BYU which is harder to get into than Harvard. (Hmm, I wonder what that says about me since I got in. I think I am getting a big head now. I am going to be sure to run that little fact in to my extra smart, extra-handsome chemical engineer hubby)
What Hawaiian lu'au would it be without dancing? This was the last dance.... :(
Another "REALLY" moment. Jaedyn saw the beautiful dancers and just walked right up and started to dance along. (notice the little hula girl emblem on her shirt?)
Thank you to Allison for such a wonderful evening of food and dancing and remembering. Suddenly I am wondering what the heck I am doing in Texas and why I am not in HI. (Even the abbreviation for the state is friendly!)
Jaedyn has lots of tricks. She can sign, say prayers, and sniff out candy ANYWHERE! And, as you can see, she will be the next Kung Fu Panda. Or Chun Li.... remember her really fast leg move? Or Jackie Chan. Get your autographs now folks! :) (i know, no one really cares but her parents that she can climb up everything and anything but thought it was worth sharing for the grandparents)
I really enjoy our ward family. A ward is another name for a congregation. And moving onto this one has been really a choice. For those in our ward, well... it is no doubt that you will agree. And for those of you not.... I am deeply sorry. :)
Let me elaborate. I believe that every day there is something to do. Meaning: there are numerous groups to be a part of such as: Recipe exchange, book club, lunch bunch, play group, walking and yes, even gun group. (we do live in Texas you know). I am surrounded by extremely talented women and amazing families who have endured so much and are stellar examples to me.
One of my very most favorite activities, however, happen on Monday nights. Twice a month to be exact. And in the spirit of record keeping, I will even post a few snapshots. You see, on Monday nights we have FHE. Also called Family Home Evening or Family night. It is a night set aside each and every week to be with FAMILY.We play games, eat treats and learn about faith or service or prayer or gratitude. And twice a month we join two other familes. Oh how I love these familes. And so, I say thank you for being in our Family Home Evening group.
I just thought of something. Why do I even bother blogging. With few exceptions (like my friends Rick and Nate or my brother JD or brother-in-law Brandon) my male family and friends don't blog, nor, I believe, do they even read our blog. I know this because I read their (or their wives' blogs). So my audience in writing this is my wife's friends many of whom don't know me. Oh well, like I said, I read my friends' wives' blogs and even comment sometimes so I guess that's not too big a deal.We had a great Halloween. On Friday, I went to work as "Cloudy with a Chance of Rain". I taped cotton balls to me and then when people asked me what I was, I replied, "cloudy, with a chance of rain" and would then spray them with a spray bottle I was toting around (thanks Lexi for the great idea!). This is the first time where the majority of people that I worked with dressed up for Halloween. It was far better than it was last year at the same company where only the sales department dressed up (at my encouraging). I think that influenced others to join in this year. Of the 15 people that were there, 11 dressed up, not bad odds!
That night we went to a Halloween party thrown by our friends Jimmy and Julie Newton (aka: Elphaba and Dracula) who live in our same apartment complex. Julie loves Halloween and really gets into it. It was a fabulous party.
Jaedyn won the costume contest as a little witch and Makana and I "complimented her" by going as a cat and cauldron, respectively. (makana here: McKay was an amazing cauldron!)
(Hah! I finally got that annoying fly that was flying around here for the past half an hour! I think I'm going to leave it on the desk for Makana to see) hee hee hee
Saturday was the ward trunk or treat. My dry ice from the previous night had evaporated in the freezer (who would have thunk?) so half of my costume was ruined. I just went with a Nacho Libre mask. Later we went up to another party at Julie's parent's place (hence the title) and had a trunk or treat there along with hayrides.
They have several acres of land up there complete with a catfish pond, barn, and farm animals. Our crazy Jaedyn even managed to soak herself in 4 inches of water by falling off a footbridge. After crying for a few seconds she was ready to get back on the bridge and to try walking on the sharp rocks after the bridge. That girl has no fear.
Anyway, hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!
yes, our little family on a hay ride! YEE HAWW! We are so good looking I can't stand it!
makana here again: I love chickens. Ill explain later.
Well today we had something that we haven't had in a really long time...my "famous" mashed potatoes. At my urging, Makana finally bought a bag of potatoes. She hadn't bought them in a long time because she doesn't really like them. I love them, but I don't care much for rice. Makana, with her Hawaiian blood, loves rice so that is what we generally have with our meals.
Quick story about the mashed potatoes. Growing up, Mom would make us dinner 4 nights a week (M-Th). Friday nights, we were on our own, and on Saturday nights we would usually order pizza from Little Caesars OR Dad would make us his famed grilled cheese (or grilled tuna cheese) sandwiches. Sunday was always Dad's cooking day. Anyway, Monday through Thursday the meals would be any number of dishes, most were really good. Well, my Dad on the other hand, has always been a meat and potatoes guy and so it made sense that almost every Sunday dinner (with the exception of Fast Sunday) we had meat and potatoes. Not that I minded; Dad's meat, with few exceptions, would turn out great and his mashed potatoes are still the best I have ever had, anywhere (period, exclamation mark - I know that doesn't make sense, but I wanted to be emphatic). I would often help out peeling the potatoes or cutting fruit and so I would watch how he cooked the potatoes. Basically, he would use evaporated milk and fluff the heck out of the potatoes and then add quite a bit of shredded cheese. Then he would salt and pepper it, just right. Quite simple really, but nobody cooked 'em like Dad did. Well when I went out on my own, I tried mashed potatoes myself. It took me couple of times to master them, but now I can say that I too make the best mashed potatoes anywhere (period, exclamation mark).
Well when Makana and I were first married I told her I would like to continue my family's tradition and cook on Sundays. That lasted maybe a month and a half. I didn't have many recipes in my repertoire and so I would spend a lot of time on Sunday cooking. I hated it and would get angry and frustrated, so I stopped and Makana has been cooking ever since (with a few notable exceptions). She has asked me a couple of times if I was ever going to pick that up again and I wasn't opposed to the idea. Well today she asked me if I would cook dinner and I begrudgingly said yes. Then I remembered that we had potatoes! Mashed potatoes for dinner here we come!
After I got some good mashed potatoes in me, I figured, why stop there? So I decided I would post on the blog today (the blog is another thing I had agreed to help out with, but with which my efforts have been subpar). Just look what happens when I get on a roll!
“Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. Parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles are made more powerful guides and rescuers by the bonds of love that are the very nature of a family.”
"In terms of priorities for each major decision (such as education, occupation, place of residence, marriage, or childbearing), we should ask ourselves, what will be the eternal impact of this decision?"
