Wish we were there.......

Just a few more pix of Kauai, because I'm SO wishing we were there right now.
And, I never posted any pictures of our big 8-mile jungle hike along the NaPali coast.


Taking a little break.

I love this.

"Can you believe it?"

"No way! You're kidding!!"

Amazing sea cave that went in one side of a cliff & out the other!

I did not touch the color on this picture (taken by Evan, BTW).
Fabulous!!

Four miles in we reached this incredible waterfall.

It's difficult to capture the scope of it.

We seriously underestimated our drinking water needs, so it was a rough hike out.

It was a bit Bataan Death March-ish. I think we were all dehydrated & hallucinating by the end.

The rest of the trip, if any of the kids heard the word 'hike', they completely FLIPPED OUT!

Hanalei taro fields.
I swear I do feed this kid!







Aaaahhhh!
What I'd do to be right there at sunset again.........

Praised Behavior Continues

I try to keep in mind, throughout the day, this little phrase, straight from child psychology textbooks.

Praised Behavior Continues.

Because it works like a dream!

Yet, some days it can be such a gosh darn challenge to find something the slightest bit praiseworthy!!

It was a rough morning getting the kids off to school today.

One of my boys (who shall remain anonymous), does not find it necessary to wear underwear lately.......I've resorted to daily underwear checks.

So this leads me to my one & only praiseworthy behavior so far today.

"Great job! You put some undies on this morning!!"

I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Oh Baby!

This is baby Blake, our newest little cousin.
I'd forgotten how tiny these little guys are!
I want one!!!
I love his furry little shoulders. So precious!!
Did I mention how baby-hungry I am right now??

Happy Birthday Jake!!!

My little boy turned 11 today.

Where did the time go?!!

I swear it was just yesterday that I was cooped up in a 3rd story student housing apartment in LA with a 2-year-old and this baby who cried non-stop til he was 2 months old!

Fond memories.

Good thing he was so stinkin' cute!!!

People always tell me what a great kid Jake is.

I tell them, " I know".

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Gus Bus

He's a solid 2 1/2.

With deep brown eyes & darling dimples.

He enjoys the outdoors, drawing with markers, Little Einsteins, Daddy throwing him on the bed, destroying his brothers' Lego creations, cooking with Mom, putting all kinds of things in the trash, telling everyone to "opp it" (stop it), doing everything by himself, going to Nursery, flying random objects around as spaceships, giving loves when someone's hurt, lining stuff up, and taking one little bite out of every single piece of fruit in Mom's fruit basket.

Mommy's little angel.

Good times with the Bakers

We visited our fave friends, the Bakers, in LA this past weekend.
It was such a blast!
We hung out at their cool house. Jill made us a FABULOUS dinner.(She is probably the best cook I know & I totally aspire to be like her. Her homemaking skills are so inspiring to me!) We went thrifting & got some great deals (brand new Suns jersey for $1.99!). Hit some cool antique & vintage clothing shops in Hollywood. I got this plaid polyester shirt from the 70's for Zane, that I swear is the same one Brian wore for his Kindergarten school pictures! Zane wore it to school on Monday. HILARIOUS. I got a total Carol Brady dress, a bright purple disco bellbottom pantsuit.......sweet stuff!! We stood in line for 20 minutes for some Pink's hotdogs. We ate dinner at The Ivy. And we were so grateful that Brian's LA driving didn't kill us all.
Good times.
Good friends.
We go way back with the Bakers.
We met them in dental school at the University of Washington & they became like family to us. We spent four years together. Scraping by in our awesome student housing apartments. Making our own Thanksgiving dinners together, Tulip Festivals, spending too much money at U Village, cruising the Burke Gillman, Saturdays at Bell Square, Ivars, Nasai, Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place, our little trip up to Victoria, pregnancies, babies, board exams, weird Seattle ward members, even weirder neighbors, Dairy Queen runs, the Dental School Prom, the Garns & Christensens, talking endlessly about "when we're out of school..........."

A little walk down memory lane.......


Kylee, Marlee & Caroline in the tulips.
Who's car was that?!!

Brock & Mars in our courtyard between our apartments.
At the "Dental School Prom" with my new Rachel from Friends haircut.

Greg, Evan & Brian. They spent ALOT of time in this clinic.

Yeahhhh!! Now we get to start paying on those student loans!

Dental School Graduation. This was 1997.
The Bakers then left Seattle for LA to set up shop, & we also left for LA for UCLA Orthodontics.

Jill & I crying at graduation. I'm 7 months pregnant with Jake.

So here it is Jill! My favorite one of your BEAUTIFUL kiddos!

We had a little photoshoot while we were there.I love Kate's dreamy look. They all did so good!

Love it!

I'm lovin'........

......how Max says, so cheerfully, "See you in 6 hours!" every morning as he leaves for school.

......that I have older kids that can read to the younger kids.

......dirty, sticky two-year-old hands!

......how our house is a stray animal magnet (new stray cat....no name yet).

.......that I have the best church calling ever!.......Activity Days!!

......that we happen to know a really good Orthodontist.

......how I was so proud of myself for talking most of the kids out of playing soccer this year, then somehow ended up with basketball, football, art classes and soccer!

What the.......

This is what happens when you're 13, and no one will take you to the mall, or the movies, and you already went swimming.

It started with the hair, then my makeup.....

I'm not sure what look they were going for....... 1980's Flintstones maybe???

They were HILARIOUS!!

"I'll Take Jake"

Yay for our new Vice-President!! We are SO PROUD!
It was a tough campaign, but our man worked hard & delivered a great speech & was victorious!!!
So.... now I'm wondering how a kid who can't seem to figure out how to flush a toilet, or get his dirty clothes into the laundry basket is going to function as a school VP.
We'll pray for a miracle.
But I must say, this boy with his big chocolate-brown eyes just melts my heart. He is so sweet & always so sensitive to the needs of others. He's always looking after me , holding the door open for me, asking me how my day was, trying to help me out in any way he can.
Amazing!!!

I VERY reluctantly agreed to let him sign up for drums in Band. How could I say no to those chocolate-brown eyes??

"Don't worry Mom, I'll only practice in the garage", he told me.

Well, I'm happy to report that he hardly ever practices!!

So it's worked out great so far!

We love you Jake & Congrats!!!!