Boutique

Becky and I are going to sell items at a boutique in Bountiful.

Date: Dec. 11-12
Time: 10am-8pm
Location: Just north of Dick's market (2200 S. Orchard Drive)

Come and check it out. There will be tons of fun and unique Christmas gifts!

Christmas Card Workshop

It's that time of the year again! All of the details are posted in the link below:
http://embellishedbybrenda.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-card-workshop.html

If you cannot attend the workshop check out the card kits to go in the link below:
http://embellishedbybrenda.blogspot.com/2009/11/november-card-kit-of-month.html

Please pass this info on to anyone you think might be interested. If you bring a friend you get a small gift. There will be Christmas goodies and prize drawings. You won't want to miss out on this fabulous girls night out!

Moving

So...moving has been a real pain for everyone. I will update more about the new house and stuff later. I don't have internet access at the house yet but hopefully soon, but until then I'll use the internet at work. I've never been so relieved to go to work as I have this week.

Hawaii

This is the view of the resort we stayed at from our room. Isn't it gorgeous? There are a few pools and the one at the bottom of the pic has sand for the first half and isn't very deep for little kids. I thought that was kinda cool. It is a very family friendly place. There is also a water slide at one of the pools and waterfalls that go into some of the hot tubs...so romantic!

This is the memorial built over the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. We stood on it and could see parts of the ships hull and oil is still leaking out. You can see part of the gun thing on the ship sticking out of the water to the right of the memorial. We also watched a video with actual footage from Dec. 7, 1041. It was a great experience, but super sad.

On our way to the famous Waikiki Beach we saw these cool trees that get so big that roots grow from the branches all over and root into the ground when they get long enough to hold up the tree. Below is Mike, Me, Britt, and my Mom.

This is Waikiki Beach. It was really fun and every square inch of the beach was covered with people. Bryan, Britt, Mike, Brandon, and my Dad went boarding on the boogie boards. Katelin and I hung out where it was a little more shallow and sandy because the reef was rough on our feet.

Dad, Britt, Katelin, and (Bryan in the back). Bryan thought he could swim out far enough with the boogie board without flippers...little did he know that he wasn't moving at all once he hit a certain point so Brittany became his tug boat and tugged him out to sea.

This the beautiful Hanauma Bay that is a famous snorkeling spot. Unfortunately it is closed on Tuesday and that is when we went by so we only got a peek.

Isn't the scenery here GORGEOUS? I love how green it is...on one side of the island. The other side is more dry and desert like.

Here are some wild chickens on the side of the road. I thought it was kind of odd. They also have wild cats by our resort. We saw the "cat lady" feeding them.

We got to enjoy the Polynesian Culture Center on Wed. This was the view just inside the front gate.

Mike was really hungry and praying for food to appear in his great bowl in Tonga.

On the left is a piano/organ that is over 150 years old and it still plays. The rest are pictures from the show in Tonga. It was neat.

I learned I never want to visit Figi. They still practice head hunting in some areas and if you go in the wrong door they will club you to death, no questions asked. Their program was mostly about killing people. Does anyone still want to visit Figi? I don't.

Samoa was my favorite show. On the top left he is rubbing a smaller stick on a larger stick. Both sticks have to be of the same wood. The second picture to the right he is touching the end of the larger stick to the husk (hair like stuff) inside the outer shell of a coconut, then below he closed up the sides of the coconut, opened it up and on the top right you can see it smoking. The bottom left (on the right side) shows flames and then he stomped it out with his bare foot. It was super cool and the Chief was hilarious!

On the left is the Chief holding his coconut stick like a bazooka...and then he sat on it and rubbed all of the coconut meat (the white stuff) out of the coconut then squeezed it in the coconut husk and made coconut milk. That is right...the clear stuff you see when you break open the coconut is juice, you have to milk a coconut. I got to taste the juice which is gross, but I'd like to taste the milk sometime. I also tasted the fresh coconut, unsweetened, which is actually yummy...but don't eat too much or it will act as a laxative is what I've been told. The pictures to the right is of a guy who climbed a coconut tree with his bare feet and hands. He did it in about 10-15 seconds. Then he posed at the top and halfway down for pictures. It was cool!

Other various pics from the culture center...the bottom right is just after we got laid. :)

Just before we left the culture center we caught them getting ready to practice for their Halloween show that starts next week. The bottom right shows them putting a couple bodies into the river. One of them hit their head pretty good and the people putting the bodies in thought...OW! and put their hand to their head like it hurt.

Snorkeling at Shark's Cove. It was fun and we saw a ton of cool stuff, but the water was a bit rough and pulled us into rocks and stuff since the water isn't very deep in some areas. Britt is in the big pic on the bottom left, my Dad is on the top right, Bryan and my Dad are on the bottom left.

Here is a pic of some of the waves at the North Shore. The news said a high tide was coming in Thurs and Fri so we went to check it out. This is Waimea Beach. You can see the curl in the waves on the left and the top right is after Mike rode the wave on the bottom left and it washed him ashore. You can see Britt under the wave on the bottom left to the right of the pic and Mike is in the left on a boogie board. The bottom right two pics were almost the last two pics of Britt, Katelin and I alive. Britt had been hanging out and riding the swells having fun. She got out and I decided to join her and no more than 30-60 seconds later we almost met our fate. There are no pictures of the waves that came in next because people were worried about counting heads and making sure no one drowned. These waves were at least 12-15 feet high and we got the warning from the life guard tower seconds before they hit. The first one I turned and saw moments before it swallowed me into the curl and smacked me down and it was HUGE! I got up and tried to climb out of the ocean with little success. I no more than got a small breath before the next one hit and I swallowed salt water. Since the first wave fed into the second wave it was even bigger. It beat me up and threw me down. I was hoping the water would retreat soon since I didn't get much air and I put my hands in front of my face so that it didn't knock me out on the sand. Just as the water pulled back I scrambled up the sand digging my hands and feet into the sand and the tide pulled me back. Finally I got a good grip and took off up the shoreline. The water is so strong I almost didn't make it and Mike came running to help me. It was scary but we made it out alive. Needless to say, my time in the water at this beach was very short lived.

I am a alive!

After our brush with death, the boys still had a little fun. One of my fav's is the one of Brandon on the top right. Check out the big waves that were about 10-12 ft...it was crazy! The one the bottom right shows only Brandon's boogie board...he was toast. The big one in the middle on the bottom was Bryan...he caught a great wave...go Bry! He also jammed his ankle really bad and ended up in a wheelchair for the remainder of the trip.

After the big waves we ate at Giovanni's Shrimp truck. It was good.

On Friday we went sailing and snorkeling on the Catamaran. There were spinner dolphins close to where we snorkeled. They were so cool and they just had babies 1 month prior to our trip so some of the dolphins were about the size of two footballs. So fun! We saw tons of fish here...and near our resort we saw sea turtles, an eel, and an octopus. I wish I had a water proof camera like the others did. Next time I will. We also went by the Dole Plantation and got to learn about how they grow pineapples and such. It was cool.

More pics around the beautiful resort. I loved it there and will definitely go back and would someday like to be an owner so I can go all the time.

Except for the grandchildren, the whole family made it for this trip. We had a ton of fun and got to celebrate my Mom's 50th B-day 1 week early. She is still in Hawaii and will be there on her actual birthday (Oct. 1) with my dad, her parents, and sister with hubby. In the pic below is Top: Bryan, Katelin, Britt, Brandon, Jill. Bottom: Mike, Brenda, Debbie, Jay.

Hawaii really IS PARADISE!

Kazia's First Day of Preschool

To say that Kazia was excited to start school is an understatement. She's been talking about preschool since she turned 3. Unfortunately due to my work schedule she was not able to attend preschool at 3. We got to go shopping for a couple supplies and put them in her back pack and she was ready to go.

Uh, Oh! You mean I might have homework!?!

What a poser...she's adorable...what can I say?

Her first day was a success. She made a new friend named Lissa and got to play music, have a snack, make a Kazia doll, and other various activities. By the time she woke up from her nap she was ready to go back to school. I hope she keeps up her enthusiam throughout the year.

Jade's Scary Room

As most of you know, that live in Utah, Hwy 89 has been under construction for the past 2 months. They have been cutting parts out a lane at a time and re-paving it all in one night. This machine is so loud that it vibrates our whole apt. and feels like someone has the base up too high on their music and it rattles everything on the walls.

One night Jade kept telling us she had to go to the bathroom over and over. We got angrier and angrier everytime because she didn't really have to go. We thought it was a ploy to stay up. I even got on her level and told her how angry I was that she lying to me. She looked at me with her big eyes and worried face and said "Angry". She looked so sad and I felt bad but we put her in her room again. We even resorted to spanking her since we put her to bed at 7:30pm and it was now 9:45pm.

As the noise got louder from the construction machinery she pleaded louder and more fervently that she had to go to the bathroom to the point that she was hysterical. It was then I realized that she was scared. I went in and asked her if she was scared of the noises and she said "scary room".

That was the end of any peaceful bedtimes at our home. Every night she cries about her "scary room". We even started letting her fall asleep in our room, take her to her bed, and turn on her scentsy candle as a night light since it is so bright. Numerous times we have found her trying to crawl into our bed and laying on the floor in the hall. I even pulled her out of my bed when I got home from work and Mike had no idea she was there. He had put her back in her bed when he went to bed and she quietly crawled in with him after he was asleep.

This particular day she tried to crawl in our bed and I told her no and to go back to her bed. I was too tired to enforce this so she laid on our floor and used Elmo as her pillow and quickly fell asleep. It was too cute so I had to take a picture.

Do you think I could file some lawsuit against the construction company for traumatizing my child??? I am just glad that we are moving soon so that she has a new room that is not scary anymore.

Southern California Trip

I can't tell you how excited I was to go on this trip. Besides our trip to Miami for our honeymoon, Mike and I haven't gone on any big trips since so this was awesome. Mike came home 2 Monday's ago and told me he was leaving on Sunday for San Diego and I told him "Not without me!" We quickly planned an eventful trip and off we set on Saturday night. Mike flew out on Sunday. I stopped a few times to rest my eyes but we made the trip in farely good time and the kids were awesome.

The Beach...

On Monday we hung out at the beach. The girls LOVED it. Jade was the first to venture out into the ocean.

It took Kazia a little bit to feel comfortable enough to walk out a few feet.

We took Jade's sand toys and they had so much fun building sand castles and sitting on them or wrecking them with their boats and shovels. Kazia asked to be buried in the sand and Jade was happy to help.
Then it was Jade's turn. She's pretending to be asleep.

Sea World...

We went there on Tues. and Wed. The dolphins were awesome. Jade kept saying "Suit...Suit...Mommy Suit" She wanted her and I to go swimming with the dolphins like the trainers.

Here is proof that if you keep the kids on a schedule...they can sleep just about anywhere. This is on the grass out in front of the ticket boothe's at Sea World.

I had to wake them up a little early to hit the Shamu show which was well worth it.

The whales are amazing!

After the show we went below to see Shamu up close in the tank and we got a great view.

Next we headed to the 4-D Elmo show. The girls looked stylish in their 3-D glasses. Unfortunately as the show blew and sprayed us in scared Jade to death and she cried through most of it.

Kazia had a great time though.

The girls also loved holding the star fish. Hands-on is great for little ones.

I lost my camera for 2 days (which I found under the seat in my car) and so I don't have any pics of the Zoo or Mike at Sea World but I went to the Zoo with another lady and she's going to send me some pics.

Off to Disneyland...

While Mike, Jon, and Kazia went on Star Tours Jade and I wandered around and we found Alice. Jade thought she was Cinderella since she was in blue and she was happy to hold her hand and walk a little bit with her.

Tarzan's tree house was one of the girls favorites.

Jade is really into trains these days so we rode the Disney train 2 times.

While the others were on Space Mountain I took Jade to toon town and she loved playing on all the cool stuff. She didn't want to give up her spot on the fire truck.

The girls got pulled into the parade and got a chance to dance and interact with people and characters. It was great!

When we tried to leave Disneyland at 10:15 we didn't get out of the parking garage until 12:30. It was ridiculous. AVOID the parking garage at all costs. This was my first and last time to do that. We got home around 1:30 am and Mike went surfing at 5:30 am with Jon and Dave. When he got back we went to the...

Wild Animal Park...

We had a great time at the Animal Park but it was so hot that I think we got a little heat stroke.

There was a petting area where the kids could pet some deer and Jade had to give all of them "luvs". She's really not checking out the rear as it may seem.

We also took a African Safari Tour that took you up close to many of the animals and they were in exhibits that represented their homes in Africa. They had a ton of giraffe's.

We got a great view of the Lion and Lioness. They are so BIG!

After the Animal we were so tired that we took a nap, went to a soccer game that some of the family was playin in, and had a family dinner. It was great to see everyone and catch up a little. Thanks guys for letting us hang out!

Well, all good things must come to an end. It was an exhausting ride home and when we got home we were so tired. There was a thunderstorm so we put the girls in bed with us for a nap and when we woke up and moved out of the bed this is what we saw. PRECIOUS!