leaving on a jet plane

this is the post i was supposed to do on friday afternoon, but never got around to doing. so, we've actually already left on the jet plane, arrived, and spent a whole day here!

we left friday afternoon, had a layover, and got in around midnight. and this little baby sure was a trooper! you'd think that she would be so exhausted that she would sleep, but no! she was happy and hyper!

if you ever find yourself on an airplane in a very confined space with a hyper, yet happy baby, here are some things that you can do to keep her entertained:

*give her a cup or two of ice, just be prepared to clean up a few water spills:

**teach her how to scale the leather seats, like a monkey:

***give her a baby wipe so she can blow her nose, and "clean" the windows, and the seats, and the tray tables:

****then, during your layover, let her run around in an attempt to wear her out so much that she will sleep on your last flight:

but, of course, in our case it didn't work. she was up until we reached grandma's house! that made for a very trying day today as we drove around for several hours looking at land with a realtor!

we made this quick trip to albuquerque, nm because mitch has a job interview on tuesday. thanks to bridget who is bravely watching our two older ones for the weekend, we were able to make the trip with only the baby!

we thought the other two would be sad that they weren't coming with us, but every morning for the last week the first thing they would say is, "how many more days until you leave? i can't wait for the party!" i guess we are they sad ones that they were so excited for us to leave!

although, nani did tell me friday morning after mitch left for work, "mommie, i almost had tears in my eyes when daddy was leaving!"

well, i guess that makes me almost feel better!

am i back?

no more sicky poo's in our house.

no more excuses not to exercise.

ran this morning and "muscle class" with rachael and bridget.

cycle class tomorrow early (ugh) morning.

run and yoga thursday.

swim and lift friday.

am i back on the exercise wagon? we shall see! at least i am now accountable to all of you dear readers!

**i'm working hard to get my exercise incentive this week because i missed out on $40 in the last 2 weeks of sicky poo's!

i'm a great mom!

yesterday, i attended our stake's women's conference. it was a great experience! it was the first one that i had been to in a long time and it was so uplifting and energizing!

during the conference i attended 2 classes. one was on parenting and the other was on marriage. both classes were excellent!

whenever i attend these types of events there are different things that stand out or things that really strike a chord within me. you know those moments when you think, "wow! that was meant just for me!"

well, this conference was no different! while i was in the parenting class, brother winkle was sharing a personal story about a time when his grandchildren had spent the night. that morning, his 7 year old grandson woke up hungry and proceeded into the kitchen to make some breakfast. brother winkle continues to describe what his 7 year old grandson did; he went to the cupboard and pulled out the griddle, got some bread and some eggs and began making himself some french toast! this kid was only 7 years old, the same age as our oldest (who, by the way does not know how to make french toast, but that might just be because she doesn't like french toast!)!

brother winkle then explained, and this was my "wow, i'm a great mom" moment, "the reason my grandson was able to make his own french toast at age 7 is because his mother is a great mom! in the morning, she sleeps in and because of it he is learning to be independent and self-reliant!"

yippee and hallelujah!

i used to feel guilty that i am not a morning person, that i sleep in well past the time when my kids get up, but now i know that all this time i was just being a great mom!

so, from now on i will stop feeling bad when i wake up late and go downstairs to find all three of our girls playing with each other and taking care of themselves! when the morning sunlight has been streaming in my bedroom window for several hours and i am trying to coax myself out of bed, i will just keep telling myself "you're being a great mom! you're being a great mom!" as i roll over and go back to sleep!

sicky poo II

here we go again! this time my sicky poo is this daughter:

she's enjoying a day home from school reading her chapter book and watching chicken little and star wars!

i am not surprised she got sick today, i was going to go on my first run since my first sicky poo put a screeching halt to my exercising over a week ago! isn't that how it always happens?

dang murphy!

what i did while my husband was in the mountains sleeping in a cave

on thursday night heidi called us to invite us over for a game night on friday. sadly, i had to decline because mitch was most likely going snow caving with the young men. i said "most likely" because they weren't sure if they had enough adult leaders to go. i mentioned this to heidi and she quickly volunteered her husband who, being from arizona, had never been snow caving before. he reluctantly agreed to go.

so, the next afternoon i sent my "hot dog" (notice the hat) of a husband to the mountains with andy.



that same afternoon i called heidi and suggested that we should do a ladies game night while we were husbandless. she loved the idea, but because it was such late notice we only had three of us to play games. what game did we play? the game we are all addicted to:
have you played it? you should!

we stayed at heidi's house (my three kids spent the night, thanks heidi!) playing and eating chocolates until 3 am!! yup, you read that right! we didn't leave until after 3 in the morning! are we pathetic? no, we just know how to live it up when the husbands are gone!

when mitch dropped andy off the next morning, heidi told them that we stayed up until 3 that morning playing settlers.

so, mitch calls me on his cell phone and says, "how ya doin'? you sound a bit horse, like you didn't get much sleep last night! i think i got more sleep sleeping in a snow cave than you did sleeping at home!"

i'm pretty sure he's right!

that first date

do you remember the very first date that you ever went on?

do you remember who it was with? your first crush, a family friend, someone you'd never met, the nerdy guy that you didn't have the heart to say "no" to?

do you remember what you were wearing? that cute little sun dress, stone wash jeans and a t-shirt, that mini skirt you shouldn't have been wearing, a formal dress?

do you remember how you felt? excited, mature, a little unsure of yourself, dread?

a first date is a big deal! there are so many emotions, worries and butterflies. you wonder if you look okay. you wonder what you will talk about. you wonder if he will ask you out again. you wonder if you will still like him when he drops you off at the end of the date. you wonder if he will try to kiss you and if he does, will you let him? with all of these wonderings, it is difficult not to be a little nervous.

well, friday night a first date took place between girl and boy.

they were too young to be out on their own so it was a well chaperoned event and quite the family affair.

girl was filled with all of those emotions that accompany a first date, but mostly she was just nervous. as she waited for boy to arrive, she didn't know what to do with herself or her hands:

after what seemed like an eternity, boy finally arrived on his shiny new scooter. That boy sure knows how to impress the girls! how can a girl resist a cute boy on a scooter? seating was limited, so his only rule was that she hold on real tight!

a romantic dinner was arranged with the radio flyer dinner cruise company (girl has connections because her sister works there as a wagon puller). now, at this age dinner can be a messy affair! so, boy's mom provided trough bib's to minimize the embarrassing messes. they both ordered pepperoni pizza, which was cut up into bite size pieces and placed ever so delicately in their individual trough bib. they enjoyed their meal as they took several turns around the cul-de-sac taking in their surroundings. conversation, as i'm sure you could guess, was kept to a minimum!

girl's other sister just happened to be working that night, too (i said it was a family affair!). she was their waitress. girl and boy seemed to be more interested in what the other was drinking, so girl's sister had to keep returning the cup to it's rightful owner!

as far as first date's go, this was a pretty good one. they didn't worry about what they would talk about because, well..., they don't talk yet. there was no awkward moment at the door when boy dropped girl off because, well...., he didn't drop her off -- the mom's actually had to unstrap them from their dinner cruise safety harnesses after dinner was over. and i'm pretty confident that this will not be the last time that they will get together!

worm

growing up as the daughter of the scout master, i had some very great opportunities for adventure. my favorite trips of all were when i was allowed to tag along on the scout river rafting trips to the american river near sacramento. i mean, what teenage girl wouldn't love going on a long road trip with a bunch of cute scouts?! the girl to boy ratio was SO in my favor! of course i was WAY to shy to actually converse with any of those boys, but i sure loved watching them from a far and dreaming.

being that my dad went on many camping and hiking trips with the scouts, we had a good selection of sleeping bags in our family. the sleeping bags in our home were always easily accessible and never packed away in storage because they were used so frequently. if not on my dad's scouting trips, then for sleep overs with friends.

one of my favorite games to play when the sleeping bags were out, was a game we appropriately named "worm". there really wasn't much to the game, but it was fun still the same!

to play worm, all you needed to do was climb inside the sleeping bag head first so your head was at the foot of the sleeping bag. then, you would either slink around on the floor like a worm and try not to bump into anything or you could stand up and try walking around.

sounds pretty thrilling, huh? for some reason, it was always such a hoot!

so, you can imagine my enjoyment friday morning when i came downstairs to find our girls playing their own version of "worm".

this is a "lala worm". it looks like she just swallowed something big and round. apparently, kawena wanted to share her baby einstein video with this lala worm.


here, the lala worm is emerging from it's bag. i know this picture is a bit blurry, but i just loved the scraggly hair in the face, and her expression is priceless!


kawena worm


nani worm

sicky poo

well, my workout is pretty much shot this week. i've got a snotty nosed baby that won't eat anything! makes for a very fun time, indeed!

so, for all of you who check my tickers daily, c'mon i know you do (i just tell myself that so i'll keep running and swimming! ha!), the numbers won't be doing much this week, except staying right where they are! *sigh*

better luck next week! i'm praying for a speedy recovery and super immunity for my other two girls, not to mention myself and mitch!

now, i need to go cuddle up with my sicky poo!

monkey

since the weather is still pretty chilly, when i go running i need to wear something to keep my head warm. well, kawena got this cute little hat from my mom the last time she was here. on the mornings that i run, as i am getting bundled up for my run, kawena will come to me with hat in hand and ask me to put it on.

last week she was walking around the house still wearing her hat when i noticed her little ears sticking out from under her hat.

with her ears sticking out like that, i thought she looked just like a little monkey.

and this picture just confirms it!

because you asked

i admit that i didn't give any information to the why, the how, or the "what the heck were you thinking" regarding the state of my hair. from your comments i can see in your writing what you are not saying.

so, i am here now to explain and clear up any confusion that may have resulted from my previous two posts.

first of all, in no way shape or form did i go to my hairstylist and say, "make me a blonde!" believe me, i, more than anyone else, know that i would NEVER look good as a blonde! i'm hawaiian, for cryin' out loud, not to mention filipino and chinese! our kind tend not to look good with blonde hair! i know this! so, just to be clear, i did not and will not ever purposely try to be a blonde!

phew, glad i got that cleared up!

i did, however, go to my hairstylist and say that i wanted some light streaks of color to add a little interest and pizazz to my otherwise plain, brown hair. after that point, i don't know how i ended up looking like this (maybe it was the bleach!):

when i got home and looked in the mirror i was shocked by what i saw! how did this happen?? i thought, maybe it will look better when i wake up in the morning...

that first and only day as a blonde, i did not go out in public without a cap of some sort on my head! when people asked to see it i refused to remove my hat (a very select few managed to get a glimpse). i knew that there was NO WAY i was going to be able to live like this much longer. something had to be done! a girl can only wear a hat for so long. a baseball cap at church just doesn't go over very well!!

i called my hairstylist and begged and pleaded for her to fix it. much to my delight she could see me that night!!

she did not get rid of all the blonde, but she was able to cover a lot of it up. i do like it much better, but i still think there is more blonde than i would choose to have.

many of you asked to see the "re-do" pictures so here is what i look like now (note: the pictures of my blonde hair looked much better than it did in person. yep that's right, it looked much worse than the pictures showed, just ask the priveleged few who saw it! just the same, these pictures make my hair look darker than it really is, thus appearing better than it really is.):

i like the back the best because it is still dark on the bottom. in this picture it looks more red than blonde, which it is not! who's that cute baby?

the blonde streak on the side of my face in this picture is probably the closest representation of the color in my hair

so there you have it! many of you may think that i was a big baby about this whole ordeal, but for a girl who had virgin hair up until this year, it was traumatic!

the sad thing about this, is that now, i just want my plain, brown hair back!

blonde comments

lala: "mommie, if some people go running with you this morning, i think they are really going to like your blonde hair!"
*except for the fact that i am purposely wearing a cap to conceal it! other than that, yeah, i'm sure they'll love it!

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mitch called me this morning and this is what i heard when i answered the phone: "hello? hello? is mahina there?"
me (a little weary): "it's me!"
mitch: "oh, i didn't recognize you with your blonde hair!"
*(thick sarcasm) hardy har har! except you can't see my blonde hair through the phone, hon!

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lala: "mommie, why could we go to your activity a long, long time ago when your hair wasn't blonde?"
*i'm just trying to figure out how my blonde hair even entered into this conversation

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lala mentioned something about my blonde hair and i told her that it wouldn't be blonde tomorrow:
lala: mommie, why isn't your hair going to be blonde tomorrow?"
me: "because i am going back tonight to get it fixed!"
lala: "well, then why did you get it colored??!"
*a very good question! i've been wondering the same thing!

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i called mitch on my way home from getting my hair re-done tonight:
me: "hi!"
mitch: "hey how are you?"
me: "oh, so you recognize me now?"
*thank goodness for that!

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elizabeth: "i can't call you blondie any more! i'll just call you streaker!"
*hmmmm, don't know if that's much better!

oh my word! what have i done?

just call me "the blonde hawaiian"! ack!

photography courtesy of lala!