Easter Part 1

I would have had this up sooner but we lost our camera for a while. We had looked everywhere we could think of where it might be. Then today while Jason and I were talking about it, Anna said it was under her bed and promptly went and got it. Apparently she hadn't heard us talking about it before.

We had a great Easter that lasted pretty much all weekend. It started on Thursday at Keiki Steps. The teachers and some of the parents brought plastic eggs and we had an Easter egg hunt. Anna was discerning about the eggs she would pick up. The ones from the parents had candy in them but the eggs from teachers had fake money. Once she realized this, she only wanted the eggs from parents. First, she targeted shiny eggs and once they were gone, I had to point out other eggs with candy in them. She even picked some up, shook them and put them back on the ground if they didn't rattle.

Waiting for our turn to go in. We weren't actually able to use the basket but at least it gave her something to play with while waiting.

The next part of our Easter was a community Eater egg hunt on Friday. Moms at Keiki Steps who had gone the year before said it was crazy but I wanted to try it anyway. The organizers kept parents off the field this time so I thought it would be workable. It was still crazy. They had the little kids in the batting cages so they didn't get run over and they could keep the parents out. We braved the crowds and pushed our way in when it was our turn.

Anna was a little wary when she was waiting for all the kids to get in but calmed down once she saw me outside the cage.

Once they got started, she seemed less interested in the eggs just on the ground but got the ones that were "hidden" on the planters. We only ended up with four eggs but she seemed ok with that.

Yundon

Playing on a frog sculpture at one of the resorts over near Kona.

These days, Anna pronounces her ls like ys. I first noticed it when we were in California and she said her real house was in Yundon. It was really cute when we pulled up to my sister Kristen's house and Anna said, "look, Yundon!"

The other day at Keiki Steps, her friend Andi had a toy from home named Lulu. Naturally, Anna pronounced it Yuyu. After Andi tried to correct her, Anna said, "that's what I said, Yuyu." We had to explain to Andi that that was how Anna pronounced Lulu.

My Favorite Mom-isms

I don't know if I've mentioned this here or not but my mom is a HILARIOUS woman. So to honor her for Mother's Day, I thought I would put up some of my favorite quotes from her. And since I see my sisters (and sister in laws) as the center of all wisdom in the universe with regards to child rearing, there are a few quotes from them too.

- (shove) I'm nice! (to my brother as he was saying how nice his mother in law is)

- hehehe This is so inappropriate! hehehe (during a laughing fit in the temple)

- I just skip those parts (when recommending a book with steamy sex scenes in it, or when I'm reading said book and she hadn't warned me before I started it)

- I think we've prayed enough today (to my dad, he had just gotten off of his mission and was still in missionary mode of praying frequently)

-It sounds like you (her defense for mis-quoting us in one of her many magazine articles.)

- I called you so I wouldn't kill my kids (my sister to my mom on discovering her twins had smeared a whole tub of margarine all over the dining room, including the new carpet)

- Yeah, but you didn't understand any of it (when we realized that many of our favorite childhood movies are not actually appropriate for children - like Gigi or 1776)

- Having a baby is like having your heart outside of your body and walking around (my sister on motherhood)

- I don't want them to be comfortable, I want them to suffer. Really, really suffer (in discussing the three degrees of glory and where people like mass murderers will go)

- Oh I can't stand that woman! (My sister was talking about someone she was having a hard time with and Dad and Grandpa were both trying to point out her perspective. Mom came in, asked who we were talking about and this was her first reaction.)

- A mouse tattoo? That's kind of a different demographic. And how many people who get tattoos want mice anyway? (Her reaction to hearing a commercial for a bank and their promotion for a 'free mouse pad too' if you open an account with them.)

- Now you know how much I love you (to me when I first had Anna)

So what are your favorite Mom Abbott quotes?

Dancing....WithTheStars!

Before I start on this week, I want to say something about last week. It cracked me up that they had Hanson on the show. It was funny hearing their song now that their voices have dropped.

The extra judge this week was fun. By now, I feel like I can almost predict what they judges are going to say about any given dance and have been able to guess their scores after their comments. So it's nice to have a new judge to mix things up a bit.

Team dances: I like the team dances. It's fun to see the people working together and the dances turned out fun.

Chelsea and Mark: They do some fun and funky and different things on the dance floor and have all season. I think it works well for them because it matches their personalities. That and they do it really well.

Kendra and Louis: She just looks uncomfortable while dancing. I think I'm done with her on the show.

Kirstie and Maks: He finally got to her. It was kind of sad that she lost the dance in the end there because it was going so well. And I love her shoes.

Ralph and Karina: Ralph is a great dancer and the quickstep is one of my favorite dances. They did awesome and I loved it.

Hines and Kym: Why Kym can't just wear a dress is beyond me. Does she really need that whole open side to her outfit? That being said, I liked how their dance was a very traditional tango. Very fun.

Romeo and Chelsie: For some reason, Romeo reminded me of Will Smith in his costume. I thought his Samba was fun but it felt a little wooden or sedate or something like that. It just didn't seem quite right.

Update: Did I call it or did I call it? This week's Macy's Stars of Dance performance is an amazing ballet dancer. Here is the segment from the results show. At the beginning is the background on the girl and the performance begins at 1:40.

Life without Jason

Jason took off this morning to go back to Oahu. In some ways, I hope this week goes better than next week. In other ways, I can only hope it goes as well. Let me explain. On the day Jason left, I was taking out the trash and found the bag has leaked into the can so I had to double bag it and clean out the can. Then as we were playing outside, Anna had an accident that resulted in a bath. At the risk of being too gross, I'll share a funny story. She told me the poop just came out and she tried to push it back in. So considerate.

The next day is when the really fun stuff happened. I had a ton to do such that we were going to go to the store straight from Keiki Steps. As we were leaving the parking lot, I went to roll the window up and the front passenger side wouldn't go up. I had no idea why. Once I got to a place where I could pull over, I listened a little bit and thought it might be a motor problem. Well, I couldn't go to the store like this so I went home. I decided I would just tape plastic over the window, run my errands and talk to Jason about it later. So I got all the stuff and tried to tape the plastic and realized this is a two person job, especially with all the wind. I grabbed all the stuff, drove over to a friend's house and she held while I taped. Then we went on our errands from there with a little person who was tired and not happy about leaving her friends for the boring store.

Thursday morning, I took Jason's dad to work which isn't a big deal but I only had a half hour to get ready before he was ready to go. Fortunately, I had time to stop at Starbucks for hot chocolate and scones before going to Keiki Steps. While we were there I unthinkingly ordered a drink for myself but not one for Anna. Naturally, she was not ok with this so I just looped back around and got her a drink too. The girl working the window thought that was pretty funny. Side note, the cranberry scones at Starbucks are SO good! I'll have to fight the urge to go back for them regularly. Fortunately, the rest of that day went well.

So in those respects, our week without Jason last week was crazy. I had no idea Jason held our lives together so much. On the other hand, through all of this I was blessed to be calm, positive, quick thinking and pretty much just took things in stride. When I had to clean out the trash can, my thought was, "oh well some other things won't be happening today, lets play outside longer". In that respect, I can only hope this week goes as well.

Car update: On Saturday, Jason and his dad took the door apart and discovered the window cable had snapped. So they took the thing out and have ordered the part from the dealer. For now, they have propped the window up with a block of wood but have left the door taken apart. At least we don't have to deal with the loud plastic on the window. Naturally, this week we have to have our car's safety inspection. I hope they don't mind the opened up door.

Barns and Beaches

This is going to be my last post about our trip to California. Because of that, I'll add some stories that don't really match the pictures.

After the weather got nice, we spent a day at a barn and beach. The barn has a bunch of animals that you can feed. Here is Jason and Anna feeding some goats. She thought it was pretty fun.

One day, my mom and I were watching Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and my dad came in. He watched it for all of two minutes before walking out likening the experience to sticking his finger down his throat or poking out his eyes. We were a bit surprised at the visceral response he had to the show.

Then Anna found a friend. They played for a while and had a lot of fun chasing each other around in circles.

Meanwhile, Jason rested on the grass.

From there we went to the beach. The weather was nice but the water was cold. Anna and I ran down and got our feet wet. That was pretty much all we were interested in.

My mom told me about when Jason and I got married. I was 20 and apparently I looked pretty young. So much so that one of the ladies helping me get ready in the temple asked my mom how old I was. When she told her, the lady said I looked about 12.

Just before we left, my sister Hilary had a birthday party for her son. They went with a Hawaiian theme and it was fun listening to the Hawaiian music. It made me ready to come back to the island.

Funky Tree Friday - Easter edition

For Easter, I found a tree that perfectly captures the meaning of the holiday: death and new life.
This tree is up in Volcano National Park along one of the trails there. It's a tree that had somehow been knocked over. I guess the roots were still firmly in the ground though because the branches then became new trees.
And not just any trees. Here is a view of looking up along the branches. As you can see, they are full on, big trees. So it's kind of a funky set of trees but at the same time can give us hope about the good that can come of bad events.