Kathy&Mike

Some of the things that grow here.

2012-02-13T11:56:00.002-07:00

I've said it before, but I love all the things that grow here. Most grow wild and grow everywhere. My favorite are these trees with the red flowers. They are so beautiful, I'm going to do a post only on them at some time in the future. I think they are called African tulip trees, from my google research.

The yellow hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower and they also grow everywhere, as evidenced by this one growing in a parking lot.

Most of the beautiful flowers and plants here I cannot identify. This looks like a Hawaiian orchid to me, but I'm not sure.

These are plumeria, which have the most intoxicating fragrance.

I cannot identify this, but I love it.

This little ground cover grows all over the place and some people don't plant grass; they just mow the natural ground cover to create their lawn.

A big plumeria tree.

These are papayas growing. I love how they grow from the stem.

Don't know what this is, but I like it.

I LOVE the palm trees!!!!!!!

Mike and I "putting out the vibe."

This is Hawaiian ginger. There are several different colors of this that grow here.

Kids grow well here too. See how big Joey has gotten?

LOVE the Bird of Paradise!

Mike of the jungle.

How Preemie Mothers Are Chosen by Erma Bombeck

2012-01-30T00:33:00.001-07:00

This post is dedicated to my Jessie Ju Ju Bean.

Did you ever wonder how the mothers of premature babies are chosen? Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth, selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to take notes in a giant ledger. He passes a name to an angel and smiles. “Give her a preemie.”

The angel is curious. “Why this one, God? She’s so happy.”

“Exactly,” smiles God. “Could I give a premature baby a mother who knows no laughter? That would be cruel.”

“But does she have the patience?” asks the angel.

“I don’t want her to have too much patience, or she’ll drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she’ll handle it. I watched her today. She has that sense of self and independence so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I’m going to give her has a world of its own. She has to make it live in her world, and that’s not going to be easy. This one is perfect. She has just the right amount of selfishness.”

The angel gasps, “Selfishness?! Is that a virtue?”

God nods. “If she can’t separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a spoken word. She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says ‘mama’ for the first time, she will be witness to a miracle and know it. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see – ignorance, cruelty, prejudice – and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.”

Thank you for blessing us with our little miracles God! We are forever grateful!

Christmas & Bicycling the Coconut Coast

2011-12-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas was pretty quiet and uneventful, but here's a couple of pictures.

We all three got Broncos shirts from Santa.

Joey got more board shorts. It's pretty much all he wears, except on Sundays, so he needs a lot of them.

My honey and me.

I found a sprouting coconut. Too cool.

Yesterday we rented bikes and cycled the bike trail along the Coconut Coast in Kapaa. We had a great time. Here's my boys.

The ocean was beautiful, as usual. I could sit for hours and just watch the waves. It's kind of like watching a fire burn, always changing, always beautiful, always amazing.

Water break.

Father & son.

Mother & son.

The bike path follows the coast. It's so beautiful.

At the end of the trail.

This sign shows a map of the bike trail.

Visitors From the Mainland

2011-12-02T20:38:00.001-07:00

We really do love having company come from the mainland. We were fortunate to have my mom and dad come for Thanksgiving. They stayed two weeks and we had such a great time with them.

I tried to teach my dad how to snorkel. I thought we might have better luck in the pool than in the actual ocean. The snorkeling lesson ended up pretty much as a failure, but at least we tried.

At the Coconut Marketplace, they do a free hula show every Saturday. During the show they pick men from the audience to come up and learn to hula (they picked Mike once; I might have posted pictures). I knew Dad would be a great hula dancer and he did not let me down.

We took Mom and Dad to the Fern Grotto. It's such a beautiful place and they loved it.

We also went to Smith's Tropical Paradise for a luau. It was wonderful, as always. Mike arranged for the MC to say happy anniversary to Mom and Dad, since it was their 55th anniversary the day after we went. They danced to an old Elvis Presley song. It was very touching. Brought a tear to my eye.

Every week we have visitors in church, so at the end of the meeting we stand in front and sing a song of aloha to all the visitors. Mom took a picture of it.

Mom and Dad liked the replica of a Filipino village, but they were a little too tall for the house.

Here we all are at Lydgate Beach.

Our favorite place for Hawaiian shave ice is The Fish Hut in Kapa'a. Grandma and Joey loved it.

Mom & Dad above Queen's Bath, where the view is fabulous...

And at the Kalalau Lookout up in the mountains of Koke'e, where the view is fabulous, too.

We were sorry to see them go home, but we sure were glad they came to visit.

New Grandbaby!

2011-11-09T22:24:00.001-07:00

One month ago, my precious grandson Brayden was born. He is SO ADORABLE!!!!! We love him SO MUCH!!

I was able to go to the mainland for a week and see him. It was wonderful to spend time with my sweet daughter and her family. I loved bathing him and caring for him. My favorite time was when I kept him with me during the night. He slept next to me and I held his tiny hand all night, until I had to wake his sweet tired mama to feed him.

Brayden's big brother Andrew loves him. I had so much fun with Andrew and Megan. We read books and went to Chuck E Cheese. We stayed so late we were the last ones there. I am so thankful for all seven of my grandbabies. I can't even express in words how much I love them. Each one is precious, priceless, and PERFECT.

Cane Spider

2011-11-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

Since we moved to Hawaii, people have told us about cane spiders. I was told that cane spiders have been known to send many a Haoli screaming back to the mainland. Today we finally saw one. It greeted me in our garage when I got home from work. Like all of our Hawaii pictures, this one doesn't do the real thing justice. It was very big and impressive.

The stick in the picture is a broom handle, so you can sort of tell how big the spider is. Because I had been expecting to someday see one, I didn't freak out. I just did a little gasp and called Mike the Mighty Bug Hunter to come get it. He got it on the mop and took it outside.

I honestly don't think I have ever purposely allowed a spider to live before, but this one was magnificent and I know that he is not only harmless to humans, but beneficial. He eats mosquitos, flies, and cockroaches. I am WAY more afraid of cockroaches than of spiders.

Botanical Garden

2011-11-02T19:46:00.000-06:00

There are several botanical gardens on Kauai and I finally went to one of them. The movie Jurassic Park was filmed here, and the scene where the dinosaur eggs hatch is in this garden.
These trees are ficus trees and they are so AMAZING.

Joey is wearing pajamas because it was Halloween and that was his costume. He was Rip Van Winkle.

I knew the trees would be big, but I was astonished at how big they actually are.

The garden was so beautiful. If I didn't have a job I would volunteer there.

I don't know why this photo turned pink but I think it's kind of cool.

Mindy & Ashlyn Visit

2011-10-24T13:38:00.015-06:00

I'm way behind on blogging, so I hope to do several posts over the next couple of days to catch up. Mindy and Ashlyn came to visit and we LOVED having them here. It was wonderful. Ashlyn loves the water and really took to the beach. Here she is at Polihali beach. There's a long story about that night that I might blog about later.
Ashlyn at Anini beach.

Granny, Grandpa and Ashlyn.

Joey likes to pretend he's meditating.

Our BEAUTIFUL girls! We love them so much!

Ash, Min, and me hiking the Kalalau trail.

More Kalalau. Ashlyn really didn't like hiking.

Grandpa, Granny and Ashlyn at Po'ipu beach.

I love this little bikini girl.

Mindy & Ashlyn with the hula girls at Coconut Marketplace.

One of the hula girls gave Mike this flower and then asked him to come on stage and dance the hula.

He did pretty well, for a Haoli.

We love our Ashly girl! This was taken at Lydgate beach the first night they arrived.

Also at Lydgate beach.

We had a great time with them here and we wish they could stay forever!

Sand Men Are Good Boys

2011-09-17T22:04:00.002-06:00

Here's Joey with his friends Josiah and Tajh at the beach. They rolled in the sand to cover themselves, then thought they were pretty cool.

Here's a picture I found on my camera last Sunday. I guess he took this of himself while we were getting ready for church. Tomorrow all three sand men should look like this.

Lihue Ward Cultural Night & Talent Show

2011-09-04T00:55:00.006-06:00

Tonight was the Lihue Ward cultural night, pot luck dinner and talent show. We were supposed to dress in traditional dress from the country of our ancestry, so I whipped up a pair of lederhosen and dressed as a German. Mike and Joey went dressed as modern-day Americans. Here is a Hawaiian shaka from Frau Kathy, Lee the Scot, and Pepe Le'peu.

The missionaries dressed up as missionaries.

My friend Sharon from work did a western-style skit with her family, compete with her husband walking on his hands.

Lee the Scot played guitar and sang. Our bishop's family did a hula routine. Several other people sang or told jokes. Our missionary from New Zealand did this way-cool thing that I can't describe that quite a few men here know. The only way I know to describe it is that two guys that were from Samoa did it on the Biggest Loser a couple of seasons ago. It's sort of a chant with a dance with cool facial expressions. Clear as mud??

Joey and I have both been learning the ukulele and Joey has gotten good enough that he could have played for the talent show, but we didn't think of it until after we were there. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

P.S. So it's kind of cool how you can learn anything from Google. I just found out what the thing was that the missionary did. This is what I learned: "The Haka is both war chant and challenge. It is characterized by loud chanting, much aggressive flailing of arms and stomping of feet, fierce looks and in the end an angry sticking out of tongues."

Funny Family Night Activity

2011-08-28T23:23:00.006-06:00

Joey was in charge of Family Night and his idea was to have a play dough sculture contest. He made a mommy and baby bird:

I made Craig and Jaylyn:

Ha! ha! ha!

Mike was the judge and he ruled that we both won!

I Love Concerts

2011-08-25T18:50:00.004-06:00

It's interesting to me that when I was on the mainland (translation: an easy place to get to) I never had concerts to go to, except Country Jam, which is just really annoying. Now here I am on a rock out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and in less than a year, I've been to two concerts and they were both groups I LOVE.
Last night Mike and I went to see the band America at the Kauai Marriott. They were AWESOME! I sang and screamed and danced so much my throat is sore this morning.

In June the Stylistics came. Another one of my favorites from younger years. They, too, were AWESOME! Again I sang and danced and screamed.

The Stylistics even did the song from my wedding: "You Make Me Feel Brand New."

It's funny that I love live music so much because normally I hate noise. I can't stand the sound of the TV most of the time unless it's very quiet and the comercials are totally muted. But when there's a live band playing, especially one of my favs, I like to sit in the very front where I can see well and it's very loud and I have such a great time. Who needs alcohol? I get high from music!

Here's a hint to anyone who might be considering giving me a Christmas present this year: I would love CDs from America or the Stylistics.

Cuteness

2011-08-15T14:04:00.003-06:00

I've said it before, but I seriously have the cutest grandkids in the world. Watch this if you don't believe me and then you'll know:

Geckos

2011-08-01T00:00:00.002-06:00

I remember my first few days on Kauai. I was staying at a sort of junky hotel while I looked for a place to live. One night while I was talking to Mike on the phone, a creature ran across the wall in my hotel room. I freaked out, just a little. I remember zipping closed my suit case so the lizard would not get in it. Ha! Ha!

Now I know better. The little lizards here are geckos and they are my friends. They eat really bad creatures like mosquitos, flies and cockroaches. They come in various shades of yellow, brown and green. They are really cute when they walk, with their little bodies wiggling like they are dancing. They make a really cool sound when they talk to each other at night, kind of a "click-click-click" sound.

The picture is a gecko on screen to the glass door in our living room. We watched it eat bugs off the screen and it was quite entertaining.

Now that I'm a little more savvy about the tropics, I really love the geckos. We get an occasional one in our house and I don't mind at all, except that sometimes they poop on the walls.

I'm So Sad

2011-07-27T22:58:00.002-06:00

I'm so so sad because nobody comments on my blog lately. I know you're out there... At least I think you're out there. Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there? Don't you know I live for comments???

Joey's New Friend

2011-07-24T01:23:00.005-06:00

Our condo's back yard attaches to the back yard of an assisted-living facility (which is probably why it's REALLY peaceful and quiet here). We often see the ol' folks walking around.This old gentleman pushes his walker outside every day. He is very cute, all slumped forward over the walker. We've watched him walk for four months now, and finally yesterday, Joey went out and talked to him.

Now they are good buddies. The man's name is Mike and he sits on the bench looking at our back lanai and waits for Joey to come out. He is 85 years old and he used to work for NASA so he tells Joey wonderful stories.

They are so cute together that I couldn't resist taking their picture. I thought neither one would notice, but Joey said they both did and Mike told him to smile at the camera, your mother's taking our picture. To which Joey said, "Figures."

Hiking Sleeping Giant

2011-07-24T00:46:00.009-06:00

We three musketeers went hiking up one of the Sleeping Giant trails.

Joey snapped a pic of me.

The pictures are kind of backwards, because this is the view from where we hiked to, up the mountain.

This looks over the area called the Wailua houselots.

Me and Joey on the bridge.

Mike and I on the mountain.

The beginning of the trail goes along a pasture

where these friendly horses live.

It was a beautiful day. We had a great time making memories.

Random Stuff

2011-07-10T18:24:00.005-06:00

Not a lot of exciting stuff going on lately, so I'll just post some random pictures. Here's Joey with his friends Tyrus and Micah.

Sometimes the rain here comes down REALLY hard, I mean in buckets. I tried to get a picture of it but it doesn't do it justice.

These are fruits called rombutan and lychee. The red hairy ones are the rombutan. They both have white fruit inside that tastes very similar, sort of like plain sugar... very sweet with no "fruity" flavor, just sugary.

And now, the world's greatest, cutest, smartest and all-around BEST grandchildren, in random order:

Andrew

Megan

Ashlyn

Rachel

Craig & Jaylynn

Happy First of July!

2011-07-04T00:37:00.003-06:00

Friday evening we went to the Pacific Missle Range Facility on the west side of the island for an Independence Day celebration. It was tons of fun!
The party was held on the beach, which was a little different than the other beaches we've been on here. This beach had no trees, only a huge expanse of smooth sand leading for miles in either direction. It was pretty breathtaking.
After eating food from the carnival-type booths, we watched the sun set.

If you look closely, you can see the island of Niihau in the distance.

After the sunset, we watched a cool fireworks show, followed by a program put on by a group of Hawaiian drummers. They were awesome. The group was all women and they did a tribal-type drum show, dancing as they drummed. They were super buff.

After the drummers, there was a live band that played 70s and 80s music. I had such a great time dancing!

The actual 4th of July celebration will be tomorrow in Lihue, so we get to celebrate twice.

I Missed the Sharks!

2011-07-02T14:15:00.001-06:00

Once again, I did not have my camera with me. I really need to learn to take the camera EVERYWHERE I go because there's always something amazing going on here. Anyway, Thursday Mike, Joey and I went to Salt Pond Beach to swim and relax. It was a beautiful day and we were walking along the reef. I was just trying to keep myself from falling on the rocks; I was really concentrating on watching my feet when Joey and Mike suddenly started yelling, "Look! Look!" I turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of something in the water before it disappeared.

Joey, Mike and virtually everyone else on the beach saw an adult shark about 11 feet long with its baby swimming along side it. They were swimming right along the reef about 10 feet from where Joey was walking.

I TOTALLY MISSED IT!

PS to the Previous Post

2011-06-29T14:10:00.001-06:00

Last night on the news there was a story about a 35-year-old man that drowned after jumping at Kipu Falls. So I guess that means we will not be doing any more jumping there... DANG!

Am I Brave? Or Just Stupid?

2011-06-16T19:11:00.004-06:00

Last Friday was a state holiday for us, King Kamehameha Day, so I had a day off and was not even on call. Joey and I decided to have a fun day with just the two of us, since Mike's on the mainland right now. We spent most of the day at Poipu beach playing and soaking up the sun. There were two very big sea turtles also soaking up sun right at the edge of the water. We sat in the warm sand and kept them company for a while. They were beautiful. They stayed there all day. I would have taken pictures but I didn't have my camera with me. After the beach we had pizza at Pizzeta's in Koloa (one of our favorites), where Joey made friends with some men watching sports at the bar and had some pretty hot debates about teams.

On the way home, we decided to take a detour and ended up at Kipu Falls. This is a beautiful little spot near Lihue. We hiked the short hike to the falls and there were a couple of people there already. We watched them jump from the cliff at the top of the falls into the water. Then they got the rope that swings out over the pool and started swinging on it, landing at the base of the falls. After you land, you swim to the cliff and climb up a ladder someone has conveniently placed there back to the top of the falls. It looks fun, but I had no intention of actually doing it, mostly because I had no idea how deep the water was, and in my warped way of thinking, the deeper it is, the scarier it is. Also, I was two days from my 49th birthday, so, of course, I am too old to even consider doing such a thing.

Here's the scene: Joey, me and four teenagers from the mainland. As we watched the teens swinging out over the water, yelling and screaming and basically having a great time, we decided to do it. I stood on the edge holding the rope listening to my heart race and thinking I'm not really going to do this, am I? After a few half-hearted attempts at stepping off the cliff, I actually DID. I went soaring through the air, suspended by a rope, swinging like Tarzan through the jungle. It was exhilirating! When the rope started it's back-swing, my weight pulled me off the rope and I sailed to the water, landing with a big splash and a BIG smile.

WHAT A RUSH!! It was awesome! I swam to the ladder (not an easy feat for this poor swimmer but I did it) and climbed up. The teenagers were all impressed that this old grandma did it.

Joey did it twice after I did and the second time he did it, he didn't let go of the rope on the first swing, so he kicked off the cliff to swing again before he finally landed.

We were hyper driving home, let me tell you! What an adventure we had! When we got home, we googled Kipu Falls and found some terrifying videos of people having horrendous accidents on rope swings. We decided it was a good thing we didn't google it before we went or we would have NEVER gotten on that rope. As it was, we had a terrific time in our ignorance and no one was hurt.

I did not have my camera to take real pictures, so I got an internet picture for this post. If you look closely, you can see the ladder. The rope swing is at about the 11 o'clock position in the picture, hanging from a huge tree.

Queen's Bath

2011-06-09T23:31:00.009-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we took pictures from the cliff overlooking Queen's Bath. This is a beautiful swimming spot on the North Shore. In the winter the water is too deep and wild to go there, but in the summer it's a popular place.

Bird of Paradise. So pretty.

There were only a couple of people swimming but we had a great view from the cliff above. One of these days we'll go down the trail and swim there ourselves, but we haven't tried it yet.

This is an interesting place right next to Queen's Bath. You can also see it from the cliff above. There's a wild video on YouTube that shows some people swimming here when the waves are rolling. It's called something like "Not Queen's Bath But Close By" and there's one called "Boy Gets Flushed." Check 'em out if you get bored. It's pretty amazing.

The Garden Island Touches my Heart

2011-06-03T22:17:00.007-06:00

Hello world! Here's an update on what I've been doing the last couple of weeks.

I went to the mainland to help my dear daughter with her new twins. It was a wonderful trip and I love, love, love all my grandbabies! I got to see five of my six grandbabies and I just can't even describe how much I love them all. It was a very busy trip, trying to see my family and helping with two babies.

The weather was so cold! I froze the entire time. I'm not sure I can describe how I felt when I landed back in Kauai. The air feels different here. It's warm and humid, which some people don't like but it felt wonderful to me. The first thing I did in the airport was take off the jacket I had worn for two weeks, spread my arms wide, inhale a big breath, and SMILE! Then I wiped the tears of joy from my eyes. I really was so happy to be back home.

Home. Wow... weird that Kauai is home to me now. Someday (fairly soon) we will leave Kauai and move back to Colorado (which is truly my real home) but being back here just feels so wonderful. I am again awed by the beauty of this amazing island. I don't think I will ever take this beauty for granted. I love how everything here is green and lush, full of life and growing. This morning I lay in my bed waiting to hear the Hawaiian doves that coo so often. Within a minute or two I heard one and again I SMILED. That is the sound of Hawaii to me. I went to work and was greeted with hugs, cheek-kisses and welcome-back-wishes from the wonderful friends I work with. They said they missed me and asked how the babies and the rest of my family were doing. My boss found me to say welcome back, gave me a hug, asked me about the twins, and cried when I told her how they were doing (this is a little different from my boss in Colorado, whom I hardly ever saw).

To those dear loved-ones that I saw on the mainland this last two weeks: Please don't mistake my love for Kauai as a rejection of you all or of the home that I love there. Please try to understand this almost spiritual love I have for this new home of mine. It does NOT mean I don't want to be with you! I just want to treasure every single moment I have on my temporary island home because I know this time is short-lived and this place truly brings me JOY. JOY! Not just pleasure but true, deep JOY. I wish I could find the words to adequately describe my love for Kauai, but I can't, and I really don't expect my loved-ones to understand it, but please just accept it and support me and let me experience this life adventure to the fullest.

Happy Birthday One-Year-Old

2011-05-13T21:32:00.005-06:00

Here in Hawaii it is tradition to have REALLY big birthday parties for babies when they turn one year old. When we went to the birthday party for my friend Carol's daughter (see last month's post) I thought it was larger than life since there were about 100 people there for a 9-year-old's party. Carol had rented half of a pizza restaurant.

Now I know that Carol's party for her daughter was nothing compared to the parties people do here for their one-year-olds. Here is an example:

This is posted on the bulletin board at work and we are all invited. In case you can't read the fine print, it says:

FIRST BIRTHDAY CIRCUS
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!

Saturday June 11
Kekaha Harbor House

FOOD
Inflatable Slide
Face Painting
Train Ride
Hypnosis
Airbrush Tattoo
Balloon Twisting
Cotton Candy
Shaved Ice
Carnival Games
Happy the Clown
FUN
GAMES

DON'T CLOWN AROUND COME & JOIN THE FUN!
BYOB

This baby's mama, who is my co-worker, told me that she expects -- you'll never believe how many people -- for this birthday party: EIGHT HUNDRED! That's right, 800 people.
I don't think I even KNOW 800 people, let alone know them well enough to provide a party for them for my baby's birthday.

WOW! Hawaiians sure do know how to have fun!

Incidently, my friend Carol explained where this elaborate party thing came from. She says that traditionally in the Philippines, a large number of babies did not live to see their first birthday, so when they did, it was cause for great celebration. 'Makes sense to me.

The Hanalei Surf Riders' Big Win

2011-05-07T22:07:00.004-06:00

Today was the last game of the year for Joey's basketball team, the Hanalei Surf Riders. They lost every single game in the regular season. In three games, they lost by only one point. Today was the tournament to end the season and the game was intense. The kids really, REALLY wanted to win just once. They played the Bulldogs and the Surf Riders quickly took a 7 to 0 lead in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs made a comeback, took over the lead and kept it. At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Bulldogs were ahead 17 to 13.

Joey scored the next 4 points. He drove in, cut over to the top of the key, and hit a sweet jump shot. Then he went down, stole the ball on defense, drove in for a lay-up, and tied the game. The crowd went wild (at least Joey's mom did).

The game ended up with this score: Bulldogs 19, Surf Riders 21!!!!!!!

I was so happy I almost cried! The kids were ecstatic! Finally a WIN!

Then the best news of all came. The coordinator of the league announced that the Hanalei Surf Riders had won the trophy for BEST SPORTSMANSHIP of the season! I was so proud of the kids and their coach Blake and their assistant coach, (my honey) Mike.

HOORAY SURF RIDERS!

Spinner Dolphins

2011-05-01T01:11:00.002-06:00

The other day we went to Kalihiwai beach to hang out for a while. I was surprised to see, just a little ways from shore, spinner dolphins. They were so beautiful. Of course, I hadn't brought my camera so I got these pictures off the internet just to show what spinner dolpins look like. They jump up out of the water and turn somersaults in the air before they go back down. It was thrilling to watch.

We watched them from the beach for a while, then got in our little beetle beach car and drove up to a little cliff looking over Kalihiwai Bay and watched them from there. That was a great vantage point because we were almost directly above them and we could see them really well.

I need to get into the habit of bringing my camera every where we go because every day there is something beautiful to see.

Hanalei Young Women's Luau

2011-04-28T18:48:00.005-06:00

The Hanalei Young Women hosted a luau to raise money to go to Especially for Youth in Honolulu. It was lots of fun and the cost was way less than any other luau on the island. Here's the band:
The band is made up of Coppin (in the middle) from our church and two other guys that we don't know. They played traditional Hawaiian music and they were wonderful.

Joey and a bunch of little girls sat right by the stage, enjoying the show.

Here's the food. Kalua turkey (yum), chicken with long rice (yuck, tastes good but looks like snot so I can't stand to eat it), cole slaw, steamed rice, pork lau lau (yummy at the luau, gross in the hospital cafeteria), haupia (yummy coconut pudding), taro mochi (REALLY yummy dessert made with taro and rice flour), pineapple upside-down cake, coconut & macadamia nut cookies, and coconut cake.

The hula dancers are some of our Young Women.

Here's Coppin doing a fire dance.

We had so much fun!

He Hears Me

2011-04-28T18:32:00.002-06:00

I have always known that God hears and answers my prayers, but sometimes He does it so effectively that it's almost comical. Take today, for instance. Here's a little background information: Because I have two grandbabies in NICU on the mainland, my boss has not been putting me on the work schedule since I keep telling her I have to go help my daughter with the babies when they go home. They are now way passed their due date and are still in NICU and we don't have any idea when they'll go home, so I keep having time off and then not going, and then worrying about getting enough work hours so that I can afford to go when the actual time comes.
This week I had only twelve hours in. I have to work a lot more than that to keep our health insurance and to make ends meet. Last night I prayed to Heavenly Father that work opportunities would come so our family could meet our obligations.

Here's the funny part. This morning Michelle called and asked me if I'd take her call shifts tonight and tomorrow night. Sure! Then Tomi called and asked if I'd work her twelve-hour L&D shift on Sunday. Sure! Then Savitri called and asked if I'd work her twelve-hour L&D shift on Saturday. Sure! Then my boss Bonnie called and asked if I'd like to observe (paid) in the OR on Friday in prep for some training that's coming. SURE! Then Jen called and asked if I'd work four hours of her shift on Thursday. SURE!! Then Vicky called and asked if I'd take her call shift on Saturday, but I had to say no because I'm already working for Savitri on Saturday.

WOW!! Sometimes the power of God amazes me! I keep telling Mike he doesn't need to worry about things because He always takes care of us. This all happened this morning after last night's prayer. SO FUNNY!

Snorkeling With the Sea Turtles

2011-04-26T11:49:00.002-06:00

We love to snorkel and one place we go is Anini Beach. We always see sea turtles there. My friend Donna from work saw an octopus there. She also frequently sees sea horses, but I have yet to find one.
Our sea turtles look like this, but I don't have an underwater camera so I got this pic off the web.

Another web picture.

See, my pictures don't look exactly like the ones off the internet, but this really is a sea turtle picture I took.

Please believe me! This really is a turtle!

Joey and I like to find a turtle and then swim around with it for a while. I love when they come up for air. It's fascinating to watch. I rise in the water with the turtle and when I look above the surface, the turtle looks like a great big snake coming up. I know this sounds crazy, but I think Joey and I have followed the same turtle around twice. Yeah, I know what you're thinking... they all look alike, right? But this turtle has a shorter foot or fin or whatever you call it on the right in the back than on the left, sort of like Nemo the fish. He hangs out at Anini and we are friends now.

Say It Out Loud

2011-04-26T00:29:00.002-06:00

I'm starting to like the Hawaiian accent and even starting to speak with it... a lot. You can speak it too, if you read this out loud:
This is written on the bleachers at the gym where Joey plays basketball. It is re-printed on each set of bleachers so it is printed exactly like this six times.

Basketball Season Once Again

2011-04-21T00:50:00.004-06:00

Once again it's that time of year when Joey plays basketball. I love to watch him play.

He just keeps getting better and better and this year he is really doing great!

He is number 4 (in the black shirt) and here he is making a great shot.

Once again, the ball is sailing from Joey's arms toward the basket.

At this league in Kauai, there are boys and girls on the teams. Joey says it's a little different playing with girls but he's getting used to it. There's a little girl named Zoe on his team and she is a scrapper!

She and Joey are the best players.

I love this picture of Joey getting the tip-off. Look at that graceful form!

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a sports fan, but I really do love watching my boy play. I am so proud of him.

Not Completely Paradise

2011-04-15T20:01:00.003-06:00

While Kauai is amazingly beautiful and the weather is always nice and beautiful things grow everywhere and there are no snakes and people have a wonderful spirit of aloha and it looks like heaven, I don't believe it is actually heaven and this is why:

Life's Burning Questions

2011-04-15T01:53:00.004-06:00

Today at work my friend Carol asked me, "Why does splenectomy only have one E when spleen has two?" And I answered, "Why is Filipino spelled with an F when Philippine is spelled with a Ph?" Anyone know the answers to these questions? Because Carol and I are stumped.

What We've Been Up To

2011-04-11T11:23:00.002-06:00

We have been very busy and that's why I'm behind on my blogging. Saturday we went to a birthday party for the daughter of my BF from work. My friend Carol does birthday parties for her kids like no one I've ever met before. There were probably 100 people there.

I LIKE PIZZA!!

Here is my BF Carol and her daughter Tierney. If you look closely, you'll see some old geezer in the background that you might know.

Waiting for the feast. After we ate salad, pizza and pasta, Carol kept bringing out desserts. She's amazing! Not only birthday cake but also marshmallow cupcakes, chocolates, lollipops, cascaras, cream puffs, and other Filipino desserts that I can't remember the names of.

Here are a couple of pictures taken in our new condo. We are loving it. It is a lot newer than our old one and it seems cleaner and a lot more open. Joey has the upstairs (which is just a bedroom, bathroom and walk-in closet) and he thinks he's in his own man cave now. BTW, Joey's room is the perfect guest room... hint... hint...

The move was pretty easy, as far as moves go. We didn't have too much stuff to take, since most of what we own is in storage in Colorado. Our old landlord said he'd never seen renters leave a place as clean as we left ours. I was not surprised to hear this, and I guarantee that the new place is cleaner now than it was when we signed the rental papers.

This I know because I cleaned it!

An Explanation For My Absence

2011-04-09T00:51:00.004-06:00

Mindy commented that I need to blog more, so I'm going to try to do better on that one. There are two reasons I have not been blogging lately. The first is that we moved to a different part of the island. I'll post details about that in another post, but the short story is that we went without the internet for more than a week, besides the work of moving. The second reason is that I have been spending WAY too much time with these people: I really do like my job and my co-workers, but we have been very busy and lately I have been working more hours than I like to. This picture is a repeat from when Flat James was here.

Here's a picture of Mike that I wanted to post just cuz he's so cute in it. This one was taken at Anini Beach, which we used to be able to walk to from home. Now we have to DRIVE to the beach. Oh, woe is me!!!

I know this post is lame, but I just wanted to put something quick on the blog for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a real update on what's going on in our neck of the woods.

P.S. Just in case you were wondering, the picture in the previous post was taken by our son-in-law Ryan when they were here. Yes, it really is that beautiful here. That was taken on their hike along the NaPali coast. I love the picture so much that I had it enlarged and framed and now it is hanging in our bedroom.

Tsunami? What Tsunami?

2011-03-14T00:18:00.005-06:00

Thursday night we were up all night watching the news of Japan's earthquake and listening to the local tsunami sirens go off every hour. It was quite exciting listening to the news reporters talk about the wave that was heading directly to our little island. When the sirens started, we noticed a lot of our neighbors getting into their cars to go who-knows-where, even though we are in a safe zone. I think they were heading for the grocery store since the news reporters kept stressing the need to have at least a week's worth of food on hand.

Joey was a little afraid and wanted to spend the night in our room. We all watched TV until the wee hours. The tsunami was expected to hit Kauai around 3:00 a.m.

I fell asleep before anything happened other than the sirens.

About 4:00 a.m. our phone started ringing, a couple of people from the mainland (where it was later) asking if we were okay.

We were fine.

I thought maybe things would be interesting at work on Friday. I wondered if I'd do ER-type work. I wondered if I'd even be able to get to work since the road there goes right along the beach.

Well, the drive was totally normal. The road was totally normal. Then work was totally normal. The strangest thing about the tsunami was that it didn't seem to hit Kauai at all, at least from my point of view.

So it turned out to be kind of fun, because we had all the excitement with none of the bad stuff. Kauai is still heaven on earth!

Flat James

2011-03-05T12:50:00.003-07:00

We love having visitors from the mainland, and we've had quite a few lately. One of our very special visitors was Flat James. He is my nephew, who is related to my other nephews James, Aaron, and Alex. Flat James arrived via the US Mail and we're enjoying his visit very much.

Here is Flat James at the Kileauea wildlife sanctuary, looking at pictures of whales. He did get to see real whales, too.

Our condo has a pool, where Flat James loved to sun-bathe.

Here is Flat James enjoying the water. He didn't have a swimming suit, so he had to swim in his clothes, but he didn't mind.

One day, I took Flat James to work with me. He helped me care for my patients, including this cute little girl.

Back at the Kilauea Lighthouse.

Sorry the pictures are out of order, but while Flat James was at work with me, he felt a little sick so we put him on the monitors, but he was fine, just a little Island Fever.

Flat James went with us to a luau. The hula dancers thought he was so cute!

These boys did the Imu Ceremony and Flat James helped them.

Flat James loved the playground at Lydgate Park. He played all day.

We have been to the beach several times since Flat James arrived, but, for some reason, he never goes with us. I think he's afraid of the water. Once we can talk him into going to the beach, he will be ready to return to the mainland to tell his school class all about his Hawaiian adventures!

Precious, Precious Grandbabies

2011-02-07T19:44:00.005-07:00

February 6 at 3:40 a.m. two precious, precious babies came into the world. They are our newest grandbabies. They are so absolutely beautiful. I love them so much and hope and pray for them to be strong and to thrive.

Baby girl is Jaylyn Taylor and she weighed 2 lbs, 13 oz at birth.

Baby boy is Craig James and he weighed 3 lb 6 oz.

I'm wondering how I can have so much love for people I haven't even met yet.

Beach Car

2011-01-20T11:12:00.002-07:00

If you hadn't heard, we bought a little beach car. It's a silly little VW Beetle and we are having fun with it. Gas is super expensive in Kauai and so we wanted something that gets good mileage, we wanted something we could buy for cheap, and we wanted something fun. Our little Beetle fits the bill. We keep it loaded up with the boogie boards and beach chairs and use it as our fun car. I also use it to drive back and forth to work (about 54 miles a day) because it's better on gas than our Ford. I think we will never be able to get the sand from our feet vacuumed out of it, but we don't care.

This is a view of the NaPali Coast taken from a look out at Koke'e. This is the closest you can get to the NaPali Coast unless you take a helicopter or boat. The day we went the air was really "voggy" so the view is hazy. "Vog" is a smog-like mist that comes from the volcano on Big Island and it looks like you're in a cloud. You can't smell it or anything; it just makes the air hazy.

At Koke'e we saw lillies growing wild. I took pictures because I knew I had certain daughters who LOVE lillies.

There were also hydrangeas growing EVERYWHERE. It's cool to see things growing wild outside that I've only seen in houseplants and floral shops before.

So, So Sad!

2011-01-20T11:08:00.003-07:00

Look at our sad, sad swimming pool! Closed for repairs for two weeks. Joey is going through swimming pool withdrawal.

Oh, The Humidity

2011-01-07T20:24:00.005-07:00

A while back I mentioned on my blog that there was an unidentified fruit in our yard, then later I mentioned that it was passion fruit, or liliqoi (I'm not sure I spelled that right). The plant now has blossoms on it and they are amazingly beautiful. I know, I'm always saying that things on this island are amazingly beautiful, but it's always true. This island is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL! Here is a picture of the passion fruit blossom from our yard.

Don't you agree? Amazingly beautiful?

On to the humidity topic. It's probably common knowledge that Hawaii (tropical jungle) is more humid than Colorado (high altitude desert). It's especially humid here in the so-called winter. There are some things about the humidity that I really like and some things that I don't care for so much. Some things about the humidity that I like:

* I can breathe better, less stuffy nose.

*My skin is softer. I have not put lotion on my hands one single time since I moved here and in Colorado my hands were so dry in the winter that they would crack and bleed.

*Bottles of stuff like soap and sunscreen that have a pump-top don't get a dried-up blob on the end of them that makes the pump not work.

*Wet wipes stay wet, even in the hot car, even in the hot car for weeks and weeks.

*Amazingly beautiful plants grow everywhere.

Things about the humidity that I don't care for very much:

*Gum gets really gross in my purse. It gets wet and sticky. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but when you try to open a piece, it sticks to the wrapper and looks and feels like ABC gum.

*Food gets soggy. We have all our cereal, crackers, stuff like that in plastic containers in the cupboard to keep them from getting soggy.

*My hair is straight and when I curl it, it goes straight again after about five minutes.

*Mold grows in the shower if you don't clean it often enough. Yuck.

*Towels get stinky if you try to hang them up and use them more than one day.

*Hard candies liquify and melt into their wrappers and on to the counter tops.

*If you set a glass of cold liquid on any surface, you end up with a huge puddle of condensation. We even get a puddle underneath the glass table, clinging to the upside-down surface (does that make sense?).

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T11:58:00.005-07:00

For New Year's Eve we drove down to Poipu Beach and spent the day there. We had a great time relaxing, soaking up some sunshine, and swimming. We waited all day for New Year's Eve fireworks.

We have never been so close to fireworks before. It was awesome! We sat in our lawn chairs on the beach and watched the display.

It was really cool to see the reflection of the fireworks in the ocean and how the waves lit up when the light hit them. I wish I could have gotten better pictures of the water.

The weird thing was that I kept thinking it was the 4th of July, not New Year's Eve. It was warm and we were sitting there watching fireworks and people were barbecuing and it just felt like the 4th of July. Very strange.

The coolest thing happened while we were at the beach. We saw whales! There were at least three or four whales going along the coast. We saw them coming up for air and blowing their blowhole-things and one flapped its tail. It was an amazing experience. Then, when we were on the beach waiting for the fireworks, I saw a shooting star. I haven't seen one of those since I was a little kid sleeping out in the back yard. It was just an amazing day.

When I went to upload the pictures from my camera, I found that Joey had taken pictures of some of his Christmas toys. Here is one of his Lego creations. Thanks Jessie and TJ for the GREAT Lego set!

Oh, what fun!

2010-12-26T18:33:00.004-07:00

Christmas Eve was not like any Christmas Eve we've ever had. Mike, Joey and I went to the beach and had some boogie-boarding fun! On the North Shore of Kauai, the waves are stronger in winter and we got beaten by the surf. The ocean was angry that day, my friend.

I was all excited about the waves until one picked me up, knocked me off my boogie board and slammed me down to the bottom of the ocean (only about 4 feet deep, but it was still scary). When the surf tried to take off my swimming suit, I decided to sit out for a while, even though Mike was getting a great laugh.

These pictures are all mixed up, but this is Mike on Christmas day in his new Hawaiian shirt I got him.

Mike and Joey chillaxin' in the afterglow of Christmas dinner.

Back to the beach on Christmas Eve. Here is Mike enjoying the view of the pounding surf.

Mike and Joey enjoying the board.

Oh, what fun it is to have a Hawaiian holiday!

Church Christmas Party: Hawaiian Style

2010-12-19T00:07:00.006-07:00

Gotta love the church Christmas party! Ours was last night. We hoped for a great time and we were not disappointed. The kids did a great program portraying the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
There were tables full of great food. Our branch president cooked kalua pork and chicken, poi (yuck, but don't tell any native Hawaiians that I said that), an oriental chicken-and-noodle dish, and rolls. The rest of us brought salads and desserts. We had haupia (yummy coconut pudding/jello type stuff), a salmon dish with tomatoes and onions, lots of fresh fruit, and a huge abundance of high-fat, high-suger desserts - YUM!

After the program we had an open mic and several little girls performed, including this little cutie.

My favorite thing of all was when these two men played Hawaiian songs on the ukulele and guitar and sang. Then two girls from our branch performed an impromtu hula. It was wonderful!

I thought Joey was going to be a wiseman, but I was surprised when he came out on stage with top billing: Joseph himself. He looked so cute.

Missionaries always add to the fun. The Haole (white) one is from Idaho.

Our beloved branch president, President Koga, who did the cooking.

Look closely, there's Mike and Joey enjoying the food and fellowship.

Feathered Friends

2010-12-13T20:14:00.003-07:00

There are so many things to love about this magical place called Kauai, but our feathered friends are one of my favorites.

These beautiful birds are called Brazilian Cardinals and they always hang out near the pool. Joey has started bringing crackers outside with him so he can feed them when he goes swimming.

Mike almost got one to eat out of his hand today.

Kauai has chickens EVERYWHERE!!! I love them. They are at the airport, the hospital, the school, the church, the mall, the grocery store, everywhere. Here are some in our yard.

A mama and her babies in our yard.

This mama had nine chicks and we fed them cracker crumbs so they like us now.

Here she is looking into our house, waiting for food. Her chicks are all hidden under her belly.

There are chickens at the beaches.

I think it's really funny that we lived on a farm in Colorado and we had no chickens for the last several years. Then we move to a condo in Hawaii and every morning, we wake to the crowing of roosters. A lot of people here complain about the roosters, but I absolutely love the sound of them. They don't wake me up anymore; I guess I'm used to them. I love to listen to them crowing and to the clucking and chirping of the hens and chicks.

You might be wondering if there's chicken poo everywhere, but there really isn't. Maybe the nightly rain washes it away, I don't know, but it really isn't a problem.

I love the chickens!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2010-12-05T20:48:00.008-07:00

I was thinking about doing a blog post about all the beautiful flowers that grow here, but then I realized that there are too many different ones to do that because I just keep finding more new ones. So instead, I'll just include some in all the other posts from time to time. I have no idea what this one is, but it was growing in the parking lot of the shopping center in Kapaa. Things grow EVERYWHERE here. I've never seen such beautiful parking lots in my life.

This afternoon, Joey and I went around our yard to see what we could pick. We came up with this assortment:

There is a coconut, five oranges, three papayas, one passion fruit (also called lilikoi) and one big avocado.

Draw your own conclusions about this very strange orange.

On to the Christmas subject. Here is our little tree. I bought all the stuff, including the tree itself, at Walmart, and decorated the tree while my boys were camping with the cub scouts.

No Rest for the Weary

2010-12-05T20:39:00.002-07:00

Just as I predicted, Mike got a call from the Kauai Stake President yesterday, wanting to meet with us this morning. He extended Mike the calling to be first counselor in our branch presidency. Our little branch comes from the three towns on the North Shore of Kauai: Hanalei, Princeville, and Kilauea. Our chapel is beautiful. It is located in Hanalei, across the street from a beautiful view of the mountains. Hanalei is the area known in the Puff the Magic Dragon song as "the land called Hanalei." It is truly a magical place.

Mike served for about three years as a counselor to Bishop Todd in Colorado, then served as the bishop for three and half years, and now is a counselor to President Koga, who is a sweet, humble and kind Hawaiian man, a taro farmer in Hanalei. We have grown to love him and his family very much already.

We feel so blessed for Mike to have the opportunity to continue serving Heavenly Father is this capacity. I guess we'll get to know the people here pretty fast now.

A Very Weird Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T11:00:00.005-07:00

Sure didn't seem like Thanksgiving this year! Weird thing number 1: I had to work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so we had our Thanksgiving on Tuesday.

I did the usual, cooked all day, and the dinner was great.

Weird thing number 2: Only three plates at the table. So, so weird! I really missed having more family to celebrate with us. I'm used to a big crowd.

My boys were anxiously awaiting the blessing so they could chow.

The cook.

Joey opted for a turkey leg. He pretty much cleaned it. He ate turkey and watergate salad (which he calls "watergreen salad") and that's it.

After dinner, the cook rested while the boys did dishes.

Weird thing number 3: It was about 77 degrees all day, sunny, warm, green and beautiful.

Language Barrier??

2010-11-22T10:45:00.003-07:00

When I first got to Hawaii I wondered why I had a difficult time understanding some people. There are many Filipinos here and it took me a while to get used to their accent. The native Hawaiians also have their own dialect and it takes some getting-used-to also, especially for a red-neck girl like me. Here is an example. This is a copied-and-pasted, actual, unchanged in any way, ad from Craigslist (I did star out the phone number):

Nissan hardbody 1989 excab primer. project so no mo door panels,no rust truck runs cherry did oil change not too long ago..couple clicks too start um den your ready fo go.dis thing is bac tax das y da buggah ste cheap....so yup any question lemme know numba-808-***-8113

Any one else have trouble with that one??

Hungry? (Seriously This Time)

2010-11-14T16:41:00.005-07:00

Since my last post was about some disgusting things to eat here, I decided to do a rebuttal. This post is about the beautiful foods that grow in our yard.
The first one is not food, but I couldn't resist posting a picture of a hybiscus. There are all different colors of hybiscus here, growing wild everywhere. This one grows by our patio.

At the end of October, I bought seeds for tomatoes and cucumbers and planted them in pots on our patio. It's amazing that they are growing in November, but here they are.

These berry bushes also grow wild. I don't know what they are or if they're edible. Anyone know? They sure are pretty.

Okay, on to the food. This is an avocado tree that grows in our yard. Because we live in a condo, it's first come, first served, but we have gotten quite a few avocados from it. They make the yummiest guacamole. I hate it when no one gets the avocados and they fall on the ground and the chickens eat them. There are wild chickens all over Kauai, but that's a subject for another post.

See the avocados up near the top?

In a previous post, I said there was an unidentified fruit growing in our yard. I have since found out that this is passion fruit. Joey and I picked a couple and cut them open and they smelled SO GOOD!! But they were too sour to eat and then I found out they are not ripe until they are yellow and wrinkled.

This is a banana tree in our yard. The tree puts out a big strange flower and then the little bananas start to grow at the base of the stem. Eventually the flower dies and the bananas keep growing (the bananas are right in the middle of the photo).

More bananas growing after losing the flower.

This is an orange tree. They taste SO sweet!

I have discovered that I love papayas. I bought some from the grocery store before I realized that's what was growing on this strange tree. I think it's weird how they grow from the trunk.

I love all the free food that grows in our yard!!!

Hungry?

2010-11-07T23:42:00.004-07:00

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is not intended to be insulting to any group of people. I'm just showing my picky eating habits.

One interesting thing I've encountered since moving to Hawaii is the different foods that people here eat. Every day at work, there are strange foods on the table in the break room. The nice (and very tiny) little ladies who bring this food in always offer to share, but I usually say no. What would you say?

Today this was the fare. It's hard to tell what it is, but the gray things are little fish, complete with heads and tails. The white things are my favorite (NOT): onions. I have no idea what the red things were and I don't think I want to know.

If this doesn't suit your fancy, how about some chips? Sound good? Here are the chips that were on the table:

Hmmm... chips sound good, right? Well, you have to be sure to check out the fine print before you eat.

Have you ever heard of octopus flavored chips? No, I did not try them. They smelled even worse than Cool Ranch Doritos.

Joey's Having Fun in Hawaii

2010-11-03T23:16:00.006-06:00

Now that we are a little more settled, we are really starting to love our new home. Right down the road from our house is this view:

The beach is down below.

If you're wondering what Joey's been doing, this is pretty much it:

Joey had to have a TB test and then wait for the results before they would let him attend school here, so here's a typical day for Joey and Mike, just killing time:

Coming out our front door:

This is again at the end of our road:

Looking down over the Wailua River:

Joey looking at Opaekaa Falls (the same Falls as in the title picture on my blog):

I accidently put this picture in twice and now I can't figure out how to take it out, so don't look at this one (hee hee).

This is Joey's school. The mountains behind the school are sooo beautiful. Today, because it has been raining a lot the last few days, we counted ten waterfalls coming down the mountains behind the school. If you look closely, you might be able to see a couple of them.

The first time Joey saw his new school and saw how beautiful it is, he said, "Wow! I feel like a snob now, going to such a pretty school!"

Joey misses his dog Hershey, but he does have new pets. Yesterday, he found a tiny frog in the swimming pool and caught it in a bucket.

It was a cute little thing, but it did not stay in the bucket and we can't find it now.

Tonight we ate guacamole made from avocados that we picked in our yard. Hawaiian avocados are much bigger than the kind we're used to, but they taste the same: YUMMY! We also have oranges and bananas growing in our yard, and lychees and some other as yet unidentified fruit.

Our New Home

2010-10-22T19:20:00.005-06:00

I decided to post a few pictures of our new home. Here is our living room:

Our kitchen is small, but functional.

Dining room:

Bedroom:

We also have a big bathroom, and a bedroom and bathroom for Joey. Here is the swimming pool, which is right outside our back door:

I don't plan to use it, but the golf course is across the road:

This is the path to the beach, which is absolutely gorgeous:

It's a little strange to me that our house doesn't have an air conditioner or a furnace, but I'm getting used to the idea, especially since I haven't felt the need for either one yet. Another strange thing is that our washer and dryer are outside, in a little fenced-off outside room. Some houses here have outdoor showers, which is an intriguing idea...

A Most Beautiful Day

2010-10-22T19:04:00.003-06:00

Last week we had a most beautiful and longed-for family event. Mindy and Jake and their little daughter Ashlyn were sealed together as a family for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City temple. It was so wonderful to be there with my precious daughter (all of my precious daughters!).

Mindy has married into a great family. I have loved their extended family for many years. Here is the Mike and Ronda branch of the family. I feel so blessed to be related to these good people.

More people I am blessed to be related to: my sisters. All of my sisters were in the temple with us. It meant so much to have them there and I love them SO MUCH!

Here is beautiful Mindy with her two little girls, Rachel and Ashlyn.

Here is the entire crowd. We had such a wonderful day!! I wish I had the words to describe the depth of my happiness at seeing my daughters live the lives that Heavenly Father wants them to live. I am just so proud of them and their husbands and children. I can't even express how much I love them.

What a gorgeous family!!!!!

Update

2010-10-10T19:52:00.002-06:00

I guess it's time for an update. Sorry I have no pictures to post, but I left my camera in Colorado. When I get it, I'll post pictures.

A week ago, I moved into our new home. It's a two-bedroom condo and it's nice. We have a great swimming pool right outside and a nice patio. Also, we have NO fleas; I did NOT rent the flea-house. There is a great beach within walking distance of home. The walk takes only about ten minutes through the jungle, but it's very steep so it's a workout.

Work is going very well. I am enjoying it so much that I almost feel guilty getting paid. The pace is much slower that at St. Mary's and it's way less stressful. It's like I have all the good things about working with none of the bad, and I'm even getting paid more, too. Can this be real??

The best news of all is that Mindy, Jake and Ashlyn are going to be sealed together this week in the temple. I am so happy and proud of them and I can't wait to see all my family!!!!!

FLEAS!

2010-09-29T19:40:00.002-06:00

I said in my last post that I wanted to look at one more house before I decided which one to rent. The one I looked at yesterday was great, but had one small (HUGE) problem. It was infested with FLEAS! I've never seen fleas before and wouldn't have known what they were if the realtor hadn't told me. All I knew was that there were tiny black things crawling up my legs as soon as I entered the place. It was DISGUSTING!! The place was very nice, and the owners offered to have a pest control company come and spray but I just couldn't get past the grossness of it.

So I am moving Saturday into a great condo that I saw on Monday. The carpets need to be cleaned before I can move in, so I am trying to be patient in my little hotel room until then.

The good news is that tomorrow I will finally be working for pay! The whole time I've been here I've been working on completing my ACLS certification and renewing my NRP (Neonatal Rescusitation Program) and I got both of those finished, so, YAY, I can start earning $$ tomorrow!!

First Few Days on Kauai

2010-09-27T22:19:00.001-06:00

Aloha! What a week this has been! I arrived on Kauai last Wednesday night, picked up my rental car and drove to the hotel I had reserved. It is not a nice hotel, but it is right on the beach, so I am enjoying it.

I discovered that I need ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) certification to start my new job here (it was not required at St. Mary's) so I have been VERY busy completing that course. It's been stressful and my brain has felt tired and taxed, but today I finally finished it all. YAY!

I also have spent many hours looking for a place for us to live. The house we thought we were going to rent turned out to be a little disappointing. It was dark and smelled yucky and had an annoying neighbor WAY too close for comfort. I spent a couple of days looking for a place fairly close to my work and I found nothing but yuck, yuck, YUCK! One night I sort of had a panic attack, thinking what the *##(@*$ am I doing here??? I called Mike, even though it was the middle of the night in Colorado, and he talked me down from the edge of the cliff I was on and put things back into perspective for me. We decided to stick to our original plan, the one that brought us to this point in the first place, which was to live in the most beautiful part of the island even though it'll be a longer drive to work. So the next day I set out on a new quest to find us a home in the town we fell in love with when we were here last month.

I have looked at several places and actually found two that I liked and would feel very comfortable in, but there is one more I want to look at before I make a committment, so I am hoping to see that one tomorrow. I'm getting tired of being homeless and living in a very shabby hotel. When the turquoise blue shag carpet (circa 1970) starts to get to me too bad, I walk down the sidewalk to the beach and feel wonderful again.

Tonight I watched several young boys surfing. They were awesome! A few nights ago, I walked down the beach a little ways and sat on some volcanic rocks and watched the surf pound the shore. There were little black crabs on the rocks, which were interesting but a little creepy because they looked like tarantulas.

One morning last week, there was a monk seal on the beach. Monk seals are endangered and are protected in Hawaii. They gorge themselves on food then wash up on the beach, where they rest while they digest their food. Within a few minutes of people discovering it, there were people here from some protection agency surrounding the monk seal with crime scene-type tape so no one could get near it. When I returned to the beach that evening, the seal was gone.

Everyone please send up prayers for me to find a decent place to live, and soon!

time to go private

2010-09-11T13:23:00.002-06:00

I'm going to make my blog private, so please give me your e-mail address so I can give you permission to view my blog.

Stay tuned for exciting news and the big adventures of Kathy & Mike!

GRANDBABIES! GRANDBABIES! GRANDBABIES!

2010-09-02T10:12:00.001-06:00

My precious daughters are giving me more grandbabies!! ONE is coming from Angela and TWO from Jessica!
I'm so happy !!!!!!

Swimming With the Dolphins

2010-08-22T21:14:00.002-06:00

During our catamaran tour of the Napali coast, we saw a bunch (school?) of dolphins. They were beautiful, swimming right alongside our boat.

Kayaking the Wailua River to Secret Falls

2010-08-22T20:33:00.009-06:00

On Thursday, Mike and I went on a tour with Ali'i Kayaks. We kayaked two miles up the beautiful Wailua River, then hiked about a mile more to Secret Falls. This entire trip I kept thinking it was unbelievable how beautiful this island is, and this river and jungle certainly fit that description well.That silly little person at the bottom of the waterfall is me. That was without question the most invigorating shower of my life. The fall was so forceful it nearly knocked me to my feet, but I loved it.

Part of our hike. I kept singing "George, George, George of the jungle..." There were even hanging vines we could have swung from.

Here is Mike enjoying the jungle.

Here I am crossing a creek during the hike.

I loved these old, old trees. You can't really tell from the picture how huge they are.

Napali Coast

2010-08-22T20:08:00.004-06:00

Mike and I took a catamaran cruise up the Napali coast on the north east side of Kauai. Because the mountains on this side of the island are so rugged, this area can only be seen by helicopter, hiking, or boat. We chose boat and had a wonderful time. After cruising up the coast, we stopped for a while and snorkeled in the beautiful blue water.

If you look closely, you might be able to see that this is Mike snorkeling.

Here we are, after snorkeling (drowned rats). Behind us is an area of the Napali coast called the "cathedral" for obvious reasons.

Here is Mike pretending to captain the boat.

This coast is, like the rest of Kauai, unbelievably beautiful.

Waterfalls are abundant on Kauai. Here is just one of many.

Our catamaran went inside two sea caves. Very exciting!

WE HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME!!

Kauai means BEAUTIFUL!

2010-08-15T20:30:00.001-06:00

Here we are in Kauai, Hawaii. I used to think the Caribbean was the most beautiful place on earth, but I'm beginning to think that the Caribbean is second and Kauai is FIRST. This place is absolutely unbelieveable! I've been trying to upload pictures but the computer I'm using is just too slow and the beach is calling...

Grandbaby(s) To Be!!!!!

2010-08-09T20:20:00.005-06:00

WOW!!!!! I'm so excited! Our dear daughter Jessica and her husband TJ have completed the IVF process and IT WORKED!

Here is a picture of my two grandbabies that were transferred to Jessie's womb:

Aren't they just absolutely beautiful?? IVF is such a miracle. I am amazed that these two clusters of cells have the awesome and miraculous potential that they have. How may people have pictures of their babies this early in the game?

Jessie had a positive pregnancy test that tells us that at least one of those little sweethearts is thriving and growing. Our family is giddy with happiness and with gratitude to Him who makes life possible. Grow, littles ones, grow!!!!

Pigpen Awards

2010-07-26T08:14:00.003-06:00

This weekend was our annual family campout. I love the campout. It's always so fun and this year was no exception. There are lots of kids in our family and they are so fun to watch. We did notice, however, that they got just a little bit dirty.

Here's our Joey.

Joe and Derek are showing off some animal bones that they found.

My nephew's boys.

Too funny that here are four girls. Two are relatively clean and two are COVERED in dirt. Megan is so much like her mama. At that age, Angela could play all day and not get dirty either. London was so dirty that the dirt was falling off of her.

Our little Andrew. His shirt used to be white.

His hair was so full of dirt that it hardly looked blonde anymore.

In spite of the dirt, we had a wonderful time. I love my family and I'm so grateful for this tradition of camping together each summer.

"Hoping to Adopt:" Fastest success story ever

2010-07-25T19:13:00.005-06:00

Maybe you remember reading my post a couple of weeks ago about Mike and Mary, who adopted our little granddaughter Rachel. After only three weeks on the "hoping to adopt" list, they have a new little son and he is BEAUTIFUL!

We are so happy for this beautiful little family. Baby Reed is gorgeous and we can't wait to meet him. Huge congratulations and much, much love to the four of you from us.

Obeying All Safety Rules

2010-07-10T12:23:00.003-06:00

Boys always obey safety rules, right? Here are my boys doing just that:

Rule Number 1: Place a child at the wheel of a big piece of farm equipment and let him control it.

Rule Number 2: Stand on a precarious edge of that farm implement and allow the child to raise you high in the air.

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Rule Number 3: Operate a chainsaw while standing on the precarious edge of that farm implement while that child is at the wheel.

Mike and Mary: Hoping to Adopt

2010-07-05T21:31:00.003-06:00

You might notice the new gadget here on my blog that says "Hoping to Adopt." This link takes you to the blog of our very, very dear friends Mike and Mary. It feels strange to call Mike and Mary "friends" because they are really family to us, but we're not biologically related. Mike and Mary are the adoptive parents of our precious little granddaughter Rachel. Rachel will be two years old this month and we love her and her parents very much. We feel that Mindy was truly inspired when she chose Mike and Mary to be the parents of her daughter. Rachel's adoption has led to a sweet association with Mike and Mary that we believe will last a lifetime and beyond.

Now these dear parents are wanting to give Rachel a little sibling. I have added their link to my blog just in case anyone out there knows of a mother who might be considering an adoption plan for her child. Mike and Mary have my unqualified endorsement! Please consider them!

How He Did It

2010-06-20T21:54:00.002-06:00

Joey explained that he was holding the can in his right hand and shot at it with his left hand. The BB went through the can then into his hand. Doesn't that make perfect sense?

Self-Inflicted GSW

2010-06-20T12:24:00.004-06:00

What a week this has been. After a couple of really bad days, Mike, Joey and I felt like we needed a get-away. Friday we loaded up the car and went on a picnic. We drove up Unaweep Canyon and found a nice spot by a creek. We ate our picnic and waded a little. It was wonderful. As soon as we arrived home, our friends Danny and Joellen called and said they were heading for their cabin and did we want to come? Even though we had been in the car all day, we still jumped at the chance. We loaded up the 4-wheelers, packed an over-night bag and again headed for the hills.

The cabin was so wonderful. We enjoyed a nice dinner and conversation with dear friends. We slept well, then awoke to a beautiful Saturday morning in the mountains. We took the 4-wheelers on a very long exploration and had the most wonderful time. We were awed by the beauty of the state we live in. Everywhere we looked there were picture-post-card perfect views. It was just heavenly. Joey caught a fish and learned how to clean it and he was so excited to eat it.

While dinner was cooking (steak and fresh fish) Joey went outside to play with the BB gun. A few minutes later he came back in with a hole in the palm of his hand and a BB just under the skin in the back of his hand. The BB had passed all the way through the muscle, but not through the skin. Joey showed me the wound, then passed out on the floor. We quickly loaded everything back up and headed for the ER.

Here is the x-ray of Joey's right hand with a cute little BB inside.

This little bugger is the offending BB. Joey wanted to keep it.

Here is the entrance wound one day after the "incident."

In the ER on Saturday night, the doctor made a small incision in the back of Joey's hand to remove the BB. Here is how it looked on Sunday.

This is the back of Joey's hand with the BB still inside. You can barely see it in the picture, but it was pretty obvious in real life.

This is the entrance wound on Saturday, when we first arrived at the ER.

Here is our little man, waiting to see the doctor.
It all came out okay; Joey is taking some really good antibiotics and resting and his hand is pretty sore. The worst part was that we missed the grilled steak and fresh fish!!!

Our Little Farmer

2010-06-11T20:30:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year again... when every few weeks the hay lies in windrows in the field, waiting to be baled. Today Joey decided to be a farmer and help out. He hooked the John Deere wagon to the 4-wheeler and headed to the fields.

Here he is with the pitchfork, pitching the hay that the power rake had missed back into the row.

When he was finished, he loaded up his equipment and headed home for dinner. What a great little farmer he is!!

Who Adores Baby Ashlyn?

2010-06-11T20:02:00.002-06:00

Who adores baby Ashlyn? I would have to say her mommy does.

Why do we adore her?

BECAUSE SHE'S BEAUTIFUL!!!

Granny Kathy adores her, and so does Great-Grandpa Newell.

Great-Grandma Carol absolutely adores her.

Thanks Mindy and Jake for having this precious baby for us all to love and adore.

chiropractic woes (really long, read only if you're bored)

2010-05-21T12:02:00.011-06:00

Once upon a time, I had a great chiropractor. He was kind, caring, skilled at adjusting my back, and hardly ever said anything too weird. Then my lovely insurance company decided he was not "in network" and wouldn't pay for his care anymore. My quest began for a new chiropractor.

Here is what I want from a chiropractor: Adjust my neck and back to help the pain go away.

Here is what I do not want from a chiropractor: Try to sell me some miraculous supplement or try to sell me the idea that you can cure everything from infertility to cancer.

I really wanted to find a doctor within about 5 miles from where I live, so I checked out the ones listed by BCBS as "in network." I first came up with Dr. S.

Dr. S's office is in the top of a dilapidated building next to the railroad tracks that also houses a dog-grooming business and a barber shop. When I first entered, I was assaulted by the stench of very strong cigarette smoke, which I hate. The office was shabby. In the waiting area there was a worn couch with an old afgan thrown over the top, a couple of wilting plants and some out-dated Yoga Journals. Dr. S greeted me and I sized up his appearance from head to toe: long, unruly hair, beard and mustache, faded t-shirt with a slogan on it, baggy shorts, completed by hiking sandals over hairy feet.

He led me into the treatment room, where I was instructed to remove all clothing from the waist up and put on a hospital gown. I settled myself on the treatment table and listened to a train rolling by while I looked at the faded home-made shabby curtain over the window.

When Dr. S was finished with my treatment, I decided he wasn't so bad. He did a lot of massage of my back and neck and just a tiny bit of adjusting or popping. I did feel better, so I made another appointment.

I should clarify here that my insurance pays for 100%, yes, that's one hundred percent of chiropractic care after I've met my deductible for each year. Well, after several visits to Dr. S I got a bill in the mail for $155. I called his bookkeeper/billing clerk (who is also his wife and this was his home phone) to ask what was up. She said my insurance pays only for adjustments, not for massages, so the bill was for the massages. Hmmm... that's a lot to pay for care that is one hundred percent covered by insurance, especially when I never suspected that I was there for a massage, I thought I was there for chiropractic care. Can't do it!

So, with pain in my neck, I made an appointment with Dr. G. The office was pleasant, clean and modern. I was not super happy to see the adjustment table sitting right in the waiting room, within view of everyone who might be there. I was greeted by the receptionist,who was obnoxiously perky and who was wearing short pants with spikey high heels, and asked to fill out patient paperwork. The first thing on the paperwork was this statement, "At birth, most people are already affected by damage to the spinal column and local nerve system due to the trauma of the delivery process." Wow, I was born already damaged? Pretty depressing.

What followed was an hour and forty minutes of pure torture. I felt like I was at an Amway convention. The "doctor" spent this entire time giving me a sales pitch on the benefits of chiropractic and "educating" me on how damaged my body was. I kept thinking, "I know I'm damaged. Just fix me, please." He talked like a time-share salesman, using catch prases like "spinal layers of injury" and "subluxation degeneration." A lot of what he said was pure baloney, like "in a normal, uncomplicated birth there is an 80% chance of injury and a 10% chance of death to the baby." After 100 minutes of sitting on a hard chair listening to a high-pressure sales pitch, my neck was killing me worse than ever. At this point, Dr. G says I need to make another appointment for two days from now, to go over his findings and hear his recommendation for care. I was hurting, dissapointed in how the appointment had gone, and getting very frustrated, but I agreed, thinking maybe all this torture would be worth it when he finally gets his hands on my back.

This morning I went back to Dr. G for my follow-up visit. I was first required to watch a 10-minute video that said the same crap he had spouted for so long on Wednesday. Then Dr. G came in and showed me diagrams of my back and neck and how damaged I am, again saying the same ole sales pitch that I had memorized by now. He said, "I had spinal surgery when I was nineteen. That's what makes me a great doctor. I've been there." A GREAT DOCTOR!!! Get over yourself, you Amway Distributor!!!! Then Dr. G said, "I will accept you for chiropractic care if you'll committ to having an open mind and doing your part." Excuse me, I didn't know I had just spent three days and $240 to be interviewed to see if you would "accept me." He also said I am required to attend a meeting called "new patient orientation" and that I have to bring another prospective patient with me, "no one is allowed to come alone."

When the written treatment plan was placed before me, I could take no more. He was asking me to pay $736.75 for eight weeks of treatment, this was AFTER the insurance paid their part. Then, I was to pay $131.70 per month for the rest of forever for him to do "what he thinks I need" as follow-up care, again this was AFTER my insurance paid their part. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Why would I pay for care that's 100% covered by my insurance if only the so-called doctor would bill it appropriately??

So I am still hurting and back to square one. I'm going to call my old, great, normal-person chiropractor and ask him what'll it cost me to come back. PLEASE!!

PICTURES

2010-05-13T09:15:00.007-06:00

May 10

May 11 and 12, in random order

NEW GRANDBABY

2010-05-12T09:31:00.002-06:00

My newest grandbaby was born at 11:32 last night, on her great-aunt Laurie's birthday. She weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and she is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Unfortunately, I left my camera at the hospital, so I'll post pictures later. Mindy and baby are both doing great and I LOVE HER!!! Her name is Ashlyn Cora. Stay tuned for the pics!

FINALLY SPRING!

2010-04-29T08:52:00.001-06:00

This winter seemed to be extra long and cold and I'm so happy that it's finally spring! I love spring! I am just so happy to see the world awakening and coming back to life that I had to take some pictures in my yard and post them.
The periwinkles that I planted along the driveway the summer that Jessica got married are finally, just this year, starting to look the way I imagined they would for the wedding.

My spinach and snowpeas are coming up in neat little rows. I love to look at my garden from my kitchen window.

My daffodils did very well this year, too. The strawberries are starting to get blooms on them, so I hope we get some good fruit later.

My tulips are almost done already for this year, but they sure were pretty. I only wish they lasted longer.

I LOVE SPRING!!!

Baby Shower

2010-04-20T08:51:00.003-06:00

Saturday we hosted a baby shower for Mindy at our house. I took a few pictures. Here are some of the guests enjoying the food.

The food was so good! Thanks, Ronda!

And a huge THANK YOU to Angela, Megan, and Andrew for coming over to share in the fun. I love seeing my grandbabies and I miss them so much. It was wonderful to have them here.

Now, which one is really pregnant?

Family Centered Maternity Care BOO YAH!!!!

2010-04-13T20:59:00.002-06:00

Yippee! Yahoo! My opinion was heard and the visitation policy at work has been changed. Today at work I got the official e-mail that went out to all the staff outlining the new policy. It is now up to the patient who is in her room, as long as the situation is safe. She can have her family, her friends, and her children with her if she so desires. We are still encouraged to keep visitors to a minimum and we are still not allowing children in L&D except the baby's siblings, but the ultimate decision lies with the patient herself, where it should lie.

I'm giddy about this decision. I'm ecstatic about this decision! This is EXACTLY what I wanted to see happen.

No More Latisse

2010-04-01T16:12:00.002-06:00

Well, my Latisse story is coming to an end. About two weeks ago, I noticed that my vision was getting very bad. I had lasik surgery several years ago to correct severe near-sightedness and the world was starting to look very fuzzy again. I went to my eye doctor and he said it was not from using Latisse, because he had not heard of that being a side-effect of the product. Then he could not immediately pinpoint what exactly the problem was.

My doctor and I decided to try an experiment. I stopped using Latisse and scheduled another appointment for today. Two days ago, I suddenly noticed that my vision was better again. It's still far from 20/20, but it was like it had been for the last year or so, certainly good enough to get by. Sadly, I began to suspect that the Latisse was indeed the culprit.

I went to the doctor again today and told him my story. He concurred that Latisse was probably the problem. He said my vision was much better than two weeks ago and essentially the same as it was last autumn. He said if I wanted to, I could experiment with Latisse and use it again and see if it had the same effect, but I am not going to do that. I would much, much rather be able to see than have long eyelashes.

It's ironic that just today, my daughter commented on how long my eyelashes were getting. They are certainly longer and darker and thicker than they have ever been in my life. I'm kind of sad to be giving up on the idea of beautiful lashes, but it's just not worth not being able to see.

The good thing, I guess, is that I only bought that one little bottle. The financial investment could have been worse. And I do have great lashes for the time being, until nature replaces them with microscopic blond ones.

Fire Me If You Must

2010-03-28T14:44:00.002-06:00

I have been working in Labor & Delivery for about four years now. On occasion, I have disagreed with a co-worker or two about allowing visitors into our department. In January, we moved in to the new tower, to a much bigger unit with locked doors. Since that time, some of my co-workers have become even stricter about visitation from family and friends. A couple of times, I have felt very uncomfortable over this issue.

Now there is a committee examining this issue. The leader of this committee, Kim, sent out an e-mail asking us to elicit the opinions of our patients and their families on the visitation policy. I took this opportunity to voice my opinion by sending an e-mail to Kim, with copies sent to KR , the director over Women's and Children's Services, and to JS, the Director of Nursing for our hospital. This is the message I sent:

Hi, Kim,

I wanted to provide some feedback with regard to your recent e-mail concerning the visitation policy. I have strong opinions on this topic.

I am a firm believer in Family-Centered Maternity Care. I know some of my co-workers are complaining that I am personally too lax on visitation and I know my practice is part of the "inconsistancies" in visitation, but I believe in allowing loved-ones to be with the laboring mother if she so desires. I cannot, in good conscience, refuse to allow a patient the comfort of her children, her family, or whoever it is that brings her a sense of security and gives her a positive view of her birth experience. I believe it should be the patient's decision who is allowed in the labor room (so long as the situation is safe).

I realize that is is sometimes a pain to work around several people in the room. I realize they are sometimes annoying. But I am willing to put up with that annoyance to create happy memories and promote family togetherness for my patients; as our hospital's own booklet states, "Having a baby is a joyous, family experience." This same booklet also advertises, "Our Labor & Delivery Services are designed to allow each mother to have the kind of birth experience she desires... If you wish, your family can be with you throughout labor, delivery and recovery." If we are not going to provide Family-Centered Maternity Care, why do we advertise that we do so?

With trepidation, I hit the "send" key and sent the message off. My very vocal co-workers who desire to keep family and friends away from our unit are constantly spouting the "visitation policy" which seems to back up their opinion. My thoughts as I sent the e-mail were that I was going against hospital policy and I may very well end up fired. I was also thinking that if we keep this policy and insist that we nurses follow it, I may end up working some place else by choice. I feel so strongly about this that I was willing to lose my job over it and truly thought I may end up doing just that.

Wow! Did I receive the opposite reaction! I was amazed when the following message arrived from JS, Director of Nursing:

Kathy: thank you for your willingness to express your opinion and most importantly having the patient and family centric view that you have. Now lets see if we can get your colleagues to re-examine their position.

A couple of hours later, I received a message from CG, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the hospital. I nearly cried when I read:

Kathy, I love your passion about this. I lost my grandfather years ago when I was 15 and was not allowed into ICU to visit and the negative experience has stayed with me to this day. He died on Christmas Eve and it still haunts me how I was treated. It propelled me into nursing and as an advocate for visitors and the family centered care model. I applaud your efforts and hope you can be a champion to assist with changing the culture that seems to have developed in the mother-baby area. JS sent your e-mail on to me as he was so pleased to get such a positive response. Nice Job. Thank you for caring about families and making a difference one patient at a time. They do remember!!!!

I could hardly believe it! Not only was I not fired, but the big-wigs agree with me!!!! Too cool! I haven't heard yet from KR, my immediate director, but maybe when I go to work again there will be something from her. I'm very curious to hear her opinion.

Latisse: Two Months

2010-03-13T18:59:00.002-07:00

I've been using Latisse for two months now and here's how it's going. I'm still using the first bottle I bought in January, the bottle that was supposed to last only one month. There's still quite a lot left in it.

My lashes are getting very thick. I can really notice a difference now. They are also longer and slightly darker. They are not very impressive without mascara because they are still pretty blond, but putting on mascara is kind of fun because the lashes just pop out like magic! They are not quite as long yet as the extensions were, but they are thicker.

Speaking of extensions, I figure that the Latisse has now paid for itself, assuming I would have continued getting extensions for the last two months. I would have paid $120 in about eight weeks of extensions, which is what I paid for the first little bottle of Latisse that I'm still using.

I stopped using the brushes that came with the product and bought a tiny eye-liner brush. I put one drop in the lid of the bottle and dip the brush in. I have plenty of product with only one drop to do both eyes, top and bottom, each night. Then I rinse the brush with hot water and clean it with rubbing alcohol, just to be on the safe side.

I have to say, so far I am LOVING Latisse. I am excited to see what my lashes are like in another month.

Las Vegas for Spring Break

2010-03-13T18:20:00.005-07:00

Mike, Joey, my parents, and I went to Las Vegas for Spring Break. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Mike and Joey on the shuttle to the strip. Look closely at Joey's fingers. He thinks he's so funny.

These are some fairly new buildings on the strip that look like they're falling down. Inside is the City Center mall, which was funny to us because every store was a designer store, you know, the kind of place where it costs $800 for a purse. I did look in one beautiful store where the clerk tried to sell me a $900 skirt. I was really tempted, but decided to pass.

Mom and I went the The Phantom of the Opera. I LOVE IT!!!!!!! I took this picture of the chandelier before the show started. When the show starts, the pieces of the chandelier move around the room and then finally join together in the middle of the ceiling. This is the only picture I got because after I snapped it, I was tapped on the shoulder by an usher and told picture-taking was not allowed.

Here is Joey in the pool at our resort. I thought it was too cold to swim but he had fun.

This is the roller coaster at New York New York. Me and my boys rode it. It was expensive but darn well worth it.

Mike and Joey always find the shooting games. Here they are at Circus Circus.

I always find the roller coasters. Joey and I rode this one in Circus Circus.

Joey, Mom and Dad walking around Ceasar's Palace.

At the aquarium at Ceasar's Palace. Joey and this fish liked each other.

Joey and I at the aquarium.

Mom and Dad were a little worn out from all the walking. Escalators gave a moment's rest.

Joey on the strip.

We went to Hoover Dam. It was amazing and scary. This is the view on the lower side of the dam.

Mike on top of the dam.

This new bridge is being built over the canyon by Hoover Dam. It is huge.

I was worried about the claustrophobia warning when we were considering touring the inside of the dam. I was a little relieved when we discovered that it cost $30 per person to tour and the group decided to pass.

Here is Joey on top of the dam. His right side is in Nevada and his left side is in Arizona.

A Cute School Assignment by Joey

2010-03-05T15:42:00.004-07:00

Joey came home yesterday with a completed assignment from school that I loved. It was a paper he had written and it went like this:

"I'm writing about a wedding. The wedding is important because it's my sister's wedding. You need to be 20 years old to get married. Have a ring for each other. A DJ. Some tables and chars. Some food and people need to come. You need some music. You need a flower gril and a ring bear. A braid and groom, or also called a gril and a boy. You need a marriage lisens. That's all you need to get married."

Rachel Visits

2010-03-03T08:30:00.004-07:00

Our granddaughter's parents went on a cruise so Mindy is tending Rachel while they are gone. We are having so much fun with her! She is SO adorable!

Rachel discovered that wrapping paper is a really fun toy.

I think she is absolutely beautiful.

And I'm so glad that she is happy!

Joey's Getting So Good at Basketball

2010-02-20T22:16:00.004-07:00

Joey's team has played together for several weeks now and it's fun to see how much they've improved. I never knew basketball was so complicated, but his coach is teaching them plays that go right over my head. Today, Mike helped coach and, even though the score was not kept, I am certain that our little team won. Joey made three baskets. Here's one really nice swish (keep your eye on number 7):

The players line up facing each other so each player can see who he's supposed to guard. They are so cute pointing to each other. Even with this preparation, they sometimes forget who their man is.

Quick Latisse Update - 1 month

2010-02-17T09:03:00.004-07:00

I passed my one month anniversary of using Latisse and I have noticed a difference. The last week or so I've been noticing my upper lashes are thicker and just yesterday I noticed they are longer. I don't know if they are longer than they would have been if I had not done extensions or if they have just grown back, recovered from the damage. Anyway, they are definitely longer than they were a month ago, and much thicker. My lashes are still very blond, though. No change in the color, so without mascara I look like I have no lashes at all.

It's been kind of a pain getting used to putting on and washing off mascara again.

I have not noticed any darkening of the skin, like some people report with Latisse. I don't have any irritation or redness, absolutely no negative side effects at all. It actually feels kind of good when I brush on the Latisse, kind of cool and soothing.

I stopped putting it on my lower lashes because I saw a woman on TV who had these long black lower lashes and she looked weird. Plus, I think some of the stuff might migrate to the lower ones anyway.

I am still using the first bottle I bought and it feels like there is plenty left.

Pinewood Derby 2010

2010-02-08T09:18:00.005-07:00

February 6 was Joey's second Pinewood Derby.
I was supposed to work but got the wonderful four a.m. call that I was low-census-on-call for the day. I was so glad to not miss the Derby again.

Here are the proud parents.

Cub Scouts is such a great program and Joey has great leaders that give so much of their time to these precious boys. I appreciate them very, very much!

Joey and Jonathan are hot competitors. Joey won first in the Wolf Den and second in the whole group. Jonathan took first overall.

Look closely... See that blue truck winning!!!!

We have such a cute group of boys!
And one cute girl who held her brother's car.

Here's our little cub scout with his winning truck.

Thank you, Jadie, for the pictures, since I was a dork and forgot my camera.

Quick Latisse Update

2010-01-31T13:02:00.002-07:00

I have been using Latisse for 18 days and this morning I already noticed something. My lower lashes are longer! I am very surprised because I fully expected to not see any results for at least a month or two. I was putting on mascara this morning and suddenly did a double-take in the mirror when I noticed a difference on my lower lashes. It's amazing!
But I need to clarify a couple of things. First, the Latisse directions say to use it only on the upper lashes. I've been cheating a little and putting it also on the lower ones. I can make one drop of Latisse do both eyes, upper and lower.
Second, I think it will be a long, long time before I notice any difference in my upper lashes. This is because my upper lashes are very damaged from all those months of getting eyelash extensions. My upper lashes look like they have been cut off very VERY short. I still have about five or six extensions on each eye, so my upper lashes are very weird looking right now and I think they will be for a while.
Anyway, I am encouraged and hopeful for good results in the upper lashes in the coming months.

Joey's first basketball game

2010-01-18T15:55:00.004-07:00

Saturday Joey played in his first basketball game.

Here is Joey on the bench during the game. The two women are a mother and daughter coaching team. Joey wasn't too thrilled when he discovered his coach was a "girl" but she does a really great job and he loves her now.

The team before the game, waiting to start. Joey was very excited.

Here is video of Joey stealing the ball. It was such a cool move!

In Joey's league they don't keep score, so every team wins. We are so proud of our number 7!

A Princess Turns Five

2010-01-18T15:13:00.002-07:00

On January 4 our little grand daughter Megan turned five years old. She is such a special little princess and we love her so much!

Happy Birthday, Megan!!

Latisse

2010-01-15T18:13:00.004-07:00

I have been blessed with microscopic blond eyelashes. I always envied dark women with their beautiful long, dark lashes. I have been getting eyelash extensions for about a year and a half now and I have decided to try Latisse instead. Latisse is the stuff Brooke Shields is advertising. I decided to blog about my success (or lack of success) with Latisse. I know some of you will think Latisse (and lash extensions) is a silly waste of money, but here's my rationale: I work very, very hard and I deserve to spend some of my hard-earned money on something frivilous and fun for myself.

So, I'm going to confess all, even the cost of this whole project. I have been spending $50 every three weeks for eyelash extensions, plus twice I've had to pay for an entire new set, which raised the cost to $75. Here's total:
78 weeks divided by 3 means I've had extensions about 26 times.
26 times $50 is... HOLY *&()^&%!!! $1300!!!, plus the extra $25 twice means I've spent about $1350 on eyelashes. Wow! I've never stopped to add it up before. What an eye opener (so to speak)!!

The last couple of months, my eyes have been irritated and sore after I got extensions. The last two times they were very painful. The extensions are beautiful for about the first week, then they start to clump together and curl in strange directions and a few fall out so there are empty spaces.

The pros to lash extensions: they do look beautiful for about the first week. They are long and black without mascara. They make the morning and the nighttime routine faster, no mascara to put on or wash off.

I bought Latisse for $120 for one bottle. I started using it on January 13, two days ago. I got it from one of the doctors I work with, after speaking to my optometrist, who assured me it was safe. I have heard that it costs less if you get a written prescription and shop around. Walgreen's is supposed to be $80 to $99 per bottle. I also found on the internet a product that claims to be "generic" Latisse for only $10 per bottle, but I don't trust that one.

Anyway, the label says to put one drop on the applicator and apply it to your lash line like eyeliner each night, using a new applicator and a new drop for each eye. Here is a much cheaper way to do it:
Put one drop into the lid of the bottle, then dip a new applicator into the drop and apply to the first eye. There is still plenty in the lid to dip the applicator again and apply to the other eye.
This way, you use only one drop per night instead of two. Theoretically, this should make the 30 day supply last twice as long.

The most dissatisfying concept with Latisse as opposed to lash extensions is that extensions give you beautiful lashes instantly. With Latisse you have to be very patient. It takes the average person about 16 weeks to have long, thick, dark eyelashes. So once the extensions that I have now have all fallen off, I will be back to my microscopic blond lashes for a while. I'll have to start using mascara again. Ugh!

Once you get through the initial 16 weeks or so, you go to the "maintenance" phase of Latisse use. For as long as you want to keep your long lashes, you continue to use Latisse about twice a week. When you stop using it, your lashes will slowly go back to their original (microscopic and blond).

For 78 weeks, here's the cost of Latisse:
$240 for the first 16 weeks.
$240 for two more bottles which might last the next 62 weeks, assuming there are 60 drops in a bottle and I use it twice a week.
Wow! WAY cheaper than extensions!

So there's the beginning of my Latisse saga. Are you bored out of your mind now? If anyone's interested, I'll keep updating on this subject and let you know if my experiment is a success or not.

Merry Christmas from our house!!

2009-12-25T13:20:00.007-07:00

I love Christmas! Our tree is so beautiful this year.

Jessica, TJ, Mindy and Jake spent the night with us for Christmas Eve. We woke up at seven a.m. to Mike playing Christmas music really loud.

Mike gave me a laptop computer, from which I'm writing this post. I LOVE IT!

Santa also brought our family a Wii so here's what's going on at our house today:

Vacation Week 2: Caribbean!

2009-12-03T23:01:00.008-07:00

Our favorite thing to do for vacation is to cruise. This was the fifth cruise Mike and I had been on and Joey's second. In Fort Lauderdale we boarded the MS Eurodam and headed for the Caribbean.

Mike and Joey played a little basketball on the ship.

We docked first in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We toured two forts in Old San Juan. The forts were built in the 1600s and were used by military until after World War II. They were beautiful. The first one we went to was Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

Wild iguanas wander all over the place in Old San Juan.

Here I am sitting on a big pile of hot balls.

The second fort we toured was Castillo San Cristobal, named for Christopher Columbus.

I gotta admit, the dungeon creeped me out a little

and the tiny tunnels were a little scary.

The view was beautiful as we walked around Old San Juan.

Our next stop was St. Thomas. Locals really do drive around on these narrow streets and they drive on the "wrong" side of the road. It's amazing and more than a little frightening to ride in a taxi.

The beach at St. Thomas was gorgeous, even when a tropical storm blew in very suddenly, drenched everything, then suddenly blew out.

Mike on the beach, before the storm drove us to downtown.

Tropical paradise!

Our last stop was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, which just so happens to be the most beautiful place on earth without question. Here we are on the ship's tender to shore.

I love this place!

This is the most beautiful beach in the world. The water is shallow and warm and the sand is white, and soft and fine as powdered sugar.

Here's Joey getting ready to snorkel with the sting rays.

The sting rays were awesome! We snorkeled in their little corner of the ocean. We fed them squid. It was sort of creepy. They suck the gross little things right out of your hands. We stood in the water and the sting rays swam between our legs. The are soft and slimy. It was an amazing experience.

Joey reluctantly posed for a picture.

Time to say good bye to our vacation. Boo hoo!!! I gotta figure out a way to live in the Caribbean!

Florida Vacation

2009-12-03T22:00:00.009-07:00

On November 1 our family went to Pompano Beach, Florida for some R&R. We stayed in a four bedroom, four bathroom condo. It was so nice!Good bye, Cold! Joey and I love the warm weather.

This is the infamous bathtub where Joey got electrocuted. I will be forever grateful for those little switch thingies they put in bathroom outlets that trip when too much electricity goes through the system. I think that little thingie saved our boy. I will never leave a plugged-in curling iron on a counter next to a tub again!

Our little Andrew loved the sand.

Grandpa Mike helped the kiddies build sand castles.

Here are Mindy and Jake at the resort where we stayed.

Jessica and TJ enjoyed the beach.

Oh, how we all love this little guy.

This is living!!

Joey loves the surf. I tried to boogie board and got one good run but the waves were incredibly strong and they wore me out very quickly.

Andrew and Megan playing at the pool at the resort.

Joey is trying to decide what strategy to use when blasting Megan with the water cannon.

I loved the kitchen in our condo. I wish I could have taken it home and installed it in my house.

We just can't keep Joey away from video games, even on vacation.

The resort had a tiny kiddie pool that Angela, Andrew and Megan enjoyed...

and a fun water slide. That tiny head at the top is Joey.

Angela, Jessica, Mindy, Mike, Kathy and Andrew chillin' at the pool.

"This looks like a dead fish." Oh, Megan, that's because it IS a dead fish!

Angela, Megan and Andrew buried Ryan in the sand.

Telling secrets on the beach while Joey plays.

Some of the People I Love

2009-10-10T21:54:00.006-06:00

I truly and absolutely have the most wonderful family
in the world a nd the best, most beautiful children ever made, without question.

I love my Daddy.

I love my Mommy.

I love my husband.

I love Princess Megan.

I love my Jessie-Ju-Ju-Bean.

I love my Ange, Ryan and Drewbee.

I love Teej.

I am so blessed that my daughters chose good men to share their lives with.
They couldn't have chosen better.

How on earth did I get such BEAUTIFUL daughters?

I love Min and Jake.

I love silly Joey.

I love precious Rachel.

I have never seen such cute kids as my grandkids. I love Megan and Andrew.
Sometimes I am in awe of the blessings Heavenly Father has given me.

Family Reunion 2009

2009-09-08T13:16:00.002-06:00

For Labor Day weekend we went to our family reunion. Each year, my family plans a weekend camping trip together. This year was our 25th anniversary of this tradition. I LOVE IT!! We took our 4-wheelers this year, which added to the fun.
Our grandbaby, Andrew, loved the 4-wheelers.
Our daughters Angela and Jessica enjoyed the outdoors, with Andrew and Mike on the 4-wheeler.
My favorite time was spent holding my precious grandson. I love him so much.
Ryan is such a good daddy. He has fun with his kiddos.
Our first family campout/reunion was in 1984 at Ragged Mountain with about 10 people in attendance. This year I counted 47 people. We really missed those who couldn't come.
I love my family more than anything and I'm so glad we continue this wonderful tradition.

San Antonio (Chapter Two)

2009-07-27T19:47:00.003-06:00

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I discovered Facebook and have neglected my blog ever since, but I do still like blogging and I'm still lurking around out here.

We got to go back to San Antonio this week, since we had free lodging and we still had our raincheck tickets for SeaWorld. When we went in March, we froze and when we went this time, we roasted. It was VERY hot and humid, but we had fun anyway. Here we are at SeaWorld waiting for the Shamoo Killer Whale show to start.
The pictures are mixed up, like I usually do on my blog, but anyway, here is the Riverwalk side of our condo. Ours is the first rounded balcony.
Back at SeaWorld. I was so moved by the killer whales that I nearly cried. Silly, I know. I don't know why they affected me that way. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that these majestic beasts weigh between 8000 and 12,000 pounds and they follow their trainers around and obey them like puppies. They are gorgeous and very thrilling.
The view out our balcony. San Antonio's famous Riverwalk is right below and the Hard Rock Cafe is right across the river.

Joey eating at a restaurant on the Riverwalk.
Joey and Mike played video games at the Buckhorn Saloon. They're still arguing over who actually won.
This is a house in the German historical district of San Antonio. Those early Germans sure knew how to build! Their houses were beautiful!
This is the laundry room of the gorgeous house pictured above. It was in a small separate building. I took a picture of it so when I start complaining about laundry, I can look at this and be grateful for my Whirlpool washer and dryer.

A Wonderful Wedding

2009-06-02T17:26:00.004-06:00

Friday, May 29, my beautiful daughter Mindy married Jake Hawks. He is a wonderful man and we feel so blessed. All of our daughters chose great husbands. We are happy to have them all in our family. The wedding was absolutely beautiful! I'm still not getting the hang of blogging the pictures in the right order, so these are kind of backwards, but here's a look at the gift table at the end of the evening. Thank you to everyone for supporting our kids.
Jake's car was decorated very tastefully by some of the girls in the wedding.
The food tasted as good as it looked. Yum! (by the way, Hi to Mike B. and thanks for coming!)
Mr. and Mrs. Hawks. May they always be as happy and in love as they are in this picture.
They held hands all through the ceremony.
Walking our little girl down the isle.
Joey was ring bearer and Megan was flower girl. They did a great job and they looked so precious.
Mindy waiting for the ceremony to start. She seemed very calm.
I am so happy for my girl!