Hawaii Vacation 2008

Hawaii Slideshow Coming Soon!

I've been working on this slideshow all morning. I'm exhausted. Pics, pics, pics. So much beautiful blue water, beautiful blue skies... and outside my window is cold, white snow, with icicles, and sub-tropic temperatures, and I'm stuck indoors with an overactive 7 year old, years worth of laundry to do, dishes exploding out of the sink AND the dishwasher, floors that need swept, teeth needing brushed, dog needs walked, Mike's stuff needs put away (who can come help me haul it to his bed, so he'll actually have to live with it instead of my having to see it all the time?), clutter everywhere!!

Back to the pics of the best vacation ever. When CAN I go BACK!!?? I promise, I'll take my dog so no one else has to care for her. She'd love it too!!

A Time For Giving, and Gratitude

Not too many weeks ago, our Wight family found out about a dear friend of ours that has had tragedy strike in his family. He's not just a friend, he's a relative and one of our very favorite country artists. We have prayed and prayed for his son, Briggs to recover from medullablastoma, a type of brain cancer. He's only two, but he has the heart of a lion and has been fighting courageous battles daily through this trial. We are very excited that he was able to come home for Christmas, and that his parents are able to care for him. Prayers are needed greatly. Their daily updates on their carepages page speak of their gratitude, Briggs' fighting spirit, and the many blessings that have come their way during this stressful time. A friend of theirs has set up a website to help us all follow along, make donations and get the word out. Please visit www.teambriggs.org to see updates on Briggs' condition.

And I'll get to the Hawaii stuff again later. With all the Christmas hull-a-baloo I'm really needing some honest down time. I'll put together a slide show and post it this week. We had a MARVELOUS time.

Why I Have Time to Post in Hawaii

I think I want to come with a tour guide next time. But today we started off slowly. And it is getting dark here so quick each night. This whole post/comment is so random. I honestly think things through most of the time when I post, but I'm just sitting here in our room, next to the open door to the ocean porch that is pitch black.

Did you know that palm trees when blown in the breeze just so will make the exact same sound as rain on pavement? Yup, it does. Very confusing when you are kind of expecting rain anyway. You just never know.

Today we: went to Turtle Bay, some shore just west of that to watch some incredible waves/surfing (Kelli B. I saw YOUR twin out there! She did dang good! And I have pics to post later!) Elise, Mike and Alan hung out IN the water, while I just watched on pins and needles as waves from 2-7 feet came crashing around my family. Okay only about five of them were actually over Mike's head as they crashed around him, but it sure looked like it hurt. Alan got a nose full of sand from one and a pretty good sized wave got Elise at least twice. We went on a walk on our beach here and Mike and Alan caught a small sand crab (I have pics!) and Elise continues to scream when they are mentioned... someone please tell me why she is terrified of crabs, but will pick up a grasshoper no questions asked!??

We've been taking it slow because my poor legs are retaining water at an interesting rate. I'll take pics of my ankles tomorrow. If I'm up walking too long or too fast, my stomach starts to tighten up, and not let go. The doc didn't seem concerned about this when I discussed it on my "pre-flight inspection". It only happens when I walk too much. So I walk less!! The sun is GONE by 6 and I'm not sure what to do after dark here, and we haven't really had the chance to do much during the day since our late starts have been causing lazy mornings (which is perfectly fine by me!) On late starts we've had to wait for Lance and Ryan to return from the other side of the island to either do something with them (they had our car) or take them to the airport to island hop. We got to the best breakfast place on the island Hukilau and it was jam packed yesterday morning... so we ate at McDonald's which was amazingly beautiful inside for the run down shack it looked like outside. The food was the same though, although the menu did include SPAM which we don't eat in Utah, at least I don't think we do, do we??

We plan on going snorkeling, back to the PCC, and doing more beach watching/playing in the next few days. We pick Lance & Ryan up from the airport again on Saturday. They went to Kauai, I think. We've decided to cook more and eat out less since it isn't terribly expensive to stay in, but we do want to hit some hot spots keeping in mind that I can't eat sushi!! We got corn, coconut and some crazy delicious red fruit that was fuzzy on the outside today from a roadside stand. (wow that sentence is a nightmare!)

I'll post this since it is so long. It started out as a comment back to Kelly!

Rock on Rip Curl Mom! Any other fun ideas? It has been too cold for a shave ice, honestly!

Oh, yesterday we went to: The Polynesian Cultural Center (did the Luau AND the night show), Mike and the boys went to the Laie Temple while Elise and I went to the grocery store. I got all that in reverse order, we went to the PCC last!! Didn't get back till late, so we crashed after that.

Hawaii 5-0

I'll start off at the airport. We arrived safely and timely too! We got there just in time to hear that we needed to be there EARLY because of a headwind. Thank heaven. Mike got us some lunch at Burger King, and we marched onto the plane.

Here is Elise watching the airplane get loaded up.

A view from the window. Pic courtesy of Elise.

Photo: Vicki courtesy of Elise

Photo: Elise courtesy of Elise

View out the back of our room. We are on the 5th floor. The weather has been pretty good. Windy mostly on this side of the island. Mike's brother and cousin were staying on the west side of the island. His brothers have left this morning for another island, and his cousin is here hanging out with us. We had a couple terrific rainstorms, and some great ocean breezes.

We saw sea turtles swimming out there yesterday morning. At first we didn't know exactly what they were, but we figured it out. It was neat to watch them surface and disappear gradually beneath the surf.

I'll update again later. We went to the PCC yesterday and I got some video.

Stolen Holiday Eating Tips

I just borrowed, okay I totally stole this from one of my friend's blogs just now. I loved it!! It sounds like something I'd say. And I'm not Aunt Vic to this cute kid, but he is cute and I'd let him be my nephew... Now if I could just figure out how to steal her christmas tunes.

Thanks Karen!!

Holiday Eating Tips:

My sister (or as Austin says when he saw her Christmas card "My favorite Aunt Vic") sent me this email and I thought it was great....Enjoy!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday
buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you
see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're
serving fudge.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You
cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who
cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if
you're going to turn into an eggnog-oholic or something. It's a
treat. Enjoy it.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of
gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out
of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim
milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like
buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to
control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is
to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New
Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to
do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after
circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food
and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like
frosted Holiday cookies, position yourself near them and don't
budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of
attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave
them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each.
Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin.
Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one
dessert? Labor Day??

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the
mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean,
have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the
party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.
Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the
corner. Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but
rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly
used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Video to Watch

Okay, if you are NOT a dog lover, maybe you are a snow lover. If you are neither of those, maybe you'll still like this video if you love watching animals do stupid things. Or maybe you are just cold hearted and can relate to how cold this dog must be after his romp in this beautiful powdery snow....


Go here: http://maniacworld.com/dog-having-a-blast-in-the-snow.html

And hold your belly, cause I did. It reminded me quite a bit of last years snowfall here at my home, and my little puppy (okay she wasn't that little, but she was a puppy and I had to dig her dogloo out several times with her trapped inside wondering what the blazes I was letting the cold air back in for...) running around in the snow. She learned to eat apples in the snow last season. Now she is eating ALL the apples in the yard as my apple tree is very overactive and I hate the apples on it. They are gross.

But she loves them.

I've got tons to do today, so I'll post something important tomorrow.

Exciting UltraSound

Okay, so I just had to let you ALL know a little tidbit about our last ultra sound. You know, the long one where they make the mom drink a whole quart of water before they press down on your bladder to "get a good look" around.

We've got, of course, the small look at this baby being a little girl... but beyond that she's got a beautiful skeletal structure and

We got a great pic of her face. She looks exactly like Elise did. Pointy chin, perfectly spaced eyes, cute nose and posed for the shot too. Maybe I'll figure out how to get that on here so you all can see her. I carry it around in my purse if you happen to see me and want to see it sometime.... Just ask.

Only difference, this one would not let her legs be still for a second. I swear she's a ballerina who loves to fly. It isn't kicks, it is real honest to goodness flutters. You know when those ballerinas fly up in the air and wiggle their feet back and forth? Yah, like that. I'll never be able to do that.

From her very first ultra sound she's been moving around. That first one we caught her having the hiccups and rolling, yes full barrel rolls.

Beyond the baby update. I've been watching Elise carefully for years and I think she has some potential as an aerobics/athletic instructor of sorts. I'll catch her stretching in the living room and talking out loud about what she's doing. She just tells me she's practicing for when she shows her friends at school how to be athletic like her.

HAHaHA!! I love that kid!

Now if I could just get her motivated to clean my house. Oh, it is Saturday. blah.

Quick AHA Moment

So on my way home from lazing around at my mothers for an hour or two after my chiropractic visit today, I realized that no matter HOW hard I try to bring a piece of mom's homemade fudge home for Elise, it doesn't make it 5 minutes in the car before I've mindlessly eaten it all gone. Or did it just disappear? Yup I think it did, right into my cavernous appetite for things I shouldn't eat containing too much sugar or salt and not enough water.


Oh, and you CAN send a thumbdrive through the wash and it comes out squeeky clean with your pics and docs intact. Though I wouldn't suggest doing it just because. Because THAT part is scary.

Hallelujah!!