5.20.2010

The House

Last weekend Ryan was out of town and I finally took the kids to the beach! With all of our moving we haven't been in ages! We had a lot of fun =) The kids are posing here with their little friend.

And here it be! The HOUSE. The most common question we get is, "Do you live in the whole house?" Most homes here are broken up to allow a number of different people/ families to live under the same roof to lessen the mortgage. We are grateful that we have the whole house to ourselves. There are four bedrooms and *gulp* four bathrooms. An office for Ryan, and then your standard living room and an extra partial kitchen/ family room upstairs in a loft type area. Oh yeah, and my favorite- the laundry room. No, I'm not being sarcastic either- just wait and see!
Walking in the front door. You see the dining table and all of those beautiful built in cabinets. And of course boxes...
Turn to your left and this is the view of the living room.
Other side of the living room. To the right of the keyboard in the corner is an entry way right into the kitchen where the dining table sits.
Right here! The door on the left is a 3/4 bathroom. The door on the right is to the garage. There is also a cute pantry that I failed to take a pic of.
Another kitchen view.
At the front door if you turn to your right you walk into the office.
Then you go up the stairs and this is the family room area. That darkened doorway is another bathroom.
Another view. That door goes to the outside. This part of the house was the "Ohana" unit. There was a wall that separated it from the main part of the house. But we had the previous owner (who was also the builder) tear it down. I will show you the view from that balcony outside that door.
Awww beautiful!
And here is Hunter's bedroom. He even made his bed by himself! This is the bedroom apart of the Ohana unit.
There was no closet in here so we added this massive thing. Obviously it's not finished yet.
This is out on the balcony outside of Hunter's room. The house in front is owned by our friends the Moffat Family. The are great! They have two little girls and our kids love playing together and running back and forth between our homes. So they are the front house and we are the back on this lot.
Here is the view with my back to the Ohana bathroom and you can see the partial kitchen. The wall used to divide the hallway right at that angle. And on the Ohana side they had a stove and a refrigerator to complete the kitchen. That first open doorway is the laundry room, the second is the main bath and the door at the end of the hallway is the master bedroom.
This is the girls room (opposite the laundry room.) The crib will be moved into the nursery but we're still waiting for that room to be finished before we can do so. The wall that the crib is against is new. The bedroom was HUGE so I had it divided into two bedrooms and then we added closets in each. I'm SOOOO glad we did!
Here is the laundry room! It's my own personal office! It's soooo big. I love it! But of course it gets the most neglect b/c I don't have time to do anything for myself these days. BUT it does hold all of my craft/ hobby type items for when I DO have time for it. The walls are lined with built in cabinets!
This is the main bathroom.
And here is our blessed nursery! The crib will go against the wall on the right. We are still waiting on the door from the hallway into the bedroom to come in!
And of course, the master bedroom.
Another view where you can see the walk-in closet and the bathroom.
Here is our bathroom. I like it a lot!
Especially this part!
And there you have it folks! That's the house. Come visit us and you can stay here!

Oh yeah, and for those of you that have been asking- here is a picture of my belly at 5 months pregnant. The end. Off we go to the airport in a half hour. Wish us luck!

Plans

We leave for the mainland tomorrow. I'm PLANNING on getting pictures of the house posted tomorrow at some point before we leave (it's a night flight.) So cross your fingers, say your prayers, whatever you do and hope that it gets done!

We will be gone for about 6 weeks! Ryan has two brothers getting married this summer about 5 weeks apart- and my brother, Adam gets married in between both of my brother-in-laws! So it works out nicely- although 6 weeks is A LONG TIME to be away from home, your own bed, your routine, your life. We will make the best of it. Although we are already excited to make it back to Hawaii and hit the beaches!!

Funny, we haven't even left yet. The difference is that Hunter's last day of school is tomorrow and Gabriella finished Pre-school today; which means we can hit the beach pretty much anytime we want to!! If we're around that is.

So off we go on our adventure and hope that I get some pictures posted TOMORROW of the house. Oh, and my belly for those of you that have asked for them. Although I'll be seeing you soon anyway! And PS, I'm HUGE. I shouldn't be this big at 5 months pregnant!

5.13.2010

No Frills.

This is a post I've thought about doing the last couple of days... when life seemed like it was pure hell for me. And then the unexpected happened. It GoT wOrSe.

Is that possible? Of course. I often say the cliche phrase "when it rains it pours." I guarantee you those kinds 0f phrases aren't made up just b/c someone thinks they sound cute. No, it's based on the fact that it happens. And it happens to me.

Life is sailing along just fine when the *crap* hits the fan. ThAt WaS tHiS wEeK fOr Me.

Before I begin I will put out my disclaimer that this post is purely for me to remember this week and not for *you*. You are welcome to read it, but it has no frills and is VERY long. That is how I write. Full detail. But that is also how I remember a specific story and I didn't want to forget this one. That being said, read on. If you dare. And if you don't, I won't be offended.

It all began Monday when Kolea was running a fever of 103.8. Since we've moved here she's been getting these "phantom" fevers that come and go with no other symptoms- and they are really high like this one. A few months back I took her to the ER with a 104.7 temp. They told me she was fine.

Anyhow I was thinking this was another isolated attack when Gabriella woke up with a fever on Tuesday. I don't even bother to take their temperatures most time time- I can just *tell* when they are REALLY hot. Tuesday afternoon, our friends (also neighbors) told us that their 4 yr old was at the doctor that day for her Kindergarten visit and was told that she had a slight case of tonsillitis. PS- Gabriella as if on cue began complaining about her throat hurting. No, she does NOT know what the word "tonsillitis" means.

The entire day on Tuesday was spent holding and juggling two hot, sick little girls.

Wednesday we went to the doctor. Yay! We got in early and learned that Gabriella *probably* has strep throat. We will find out "for sure" tomorrow (Friday.) They gave us antibiotics anyway b/c they said it looked soooo bad in her throat. As for Kolea, her throat was red, but not that red. Her ears (which she'd been tugging on) had a *little* bit of fluid but nothing to be alarmed about. As for her fever... who knows? So they couldn't tell me anything or help me with her. Nice.

Between the Tylenol and Motrin, the girls seemed to be surviving and I attempted to do some shopping at Target where we picked up Gabriella's prescription. We got home- they took naps on the hour + drive home (I told you I live in the country!) And we were thinking that things were looking up!!

Ryan and Hunter made a run to the dump to get rid of all the excess boxes that had been littering our porch for the last week- from unpacking. And the girls seemed to be playing around outside just fine. Yes! I sat in a chair (outside near the girls) to relax for a few precious moments w/o them needing to fight for space in my lap... which is gradually getting smaller with my ever growing belly. AnD tHeN iT hApPeNeD.

I don't recall hearing a crash- but there must have been one and I've since blocked it out b/c of the stress of it all. So there must have been a crash and I heard Kolea scream. Any mother that knows her child well can determine ANY type of cry that comes from that child. Is the child annoyed? Sad? Scared? HURT? My baby was hurt. I was only about 12 feet from her but she was around the corner of the house so I couldn't see her. Gabriella stood right in my path holding a broom perpendicularly as if she was TRYING to close line me. I literally slammed into her, picking her up under her arms at the same time and *threw* her out of my way (BTW she- Gabriella, was just fine, just a little stunned.) I'd NeVeR in all my life heard any of my children cry this way. The way I was hearing Kolea cry- and I felt like I couldn't get there fast enough even though I was in an all out sprint and only 12 feet away.

I rounded the corner and saw her. Crumpled in a little ball. Face down. Legs and arms tucked up underneath her. She was in the fetal position and I couldn't imagine what the problem was until I saw it. Next to her lie a HUGE (heavy and long) 4x4 beam with heavy rusted metal prongs on one end. It wasn't touching her but was laying on top of half of her blanket which could've meant only one thing. It MuSt HaVe FaLlEn On HeR.

I scooped her up in my arms, trying to be careful since I didn't know where she was hurt. I tried to pull her blanket out from under the beam but it was REALLY, really heavy. I couldn't believe when it didn't come on my first couple of pulls. Finally I put some muscle into it to dislodge the blanket (knowing that it would help soothe Kolea- otherwise I would've left it till later) when the jerking motion picked up the beam just enough to have it come crashing down on my pinky toe. Oh my gosh. Let me just die now. And have I mentioned that two out of the three times I've given birth I did so w/o out any pain meds? I know I am strong. And I can handle pain. But this was the last straw.

I ran into the house to examine my screaming baby. Gabriella is following in tears and I lose it. My own little, insignificant toe is on FIRE from the stupid beam, the stress of the last few days with sick children comes full throttle at me in a rush of despair and I begin to bawl.

I see a 4 inch scrape that is slightly bleeding on Kolea's right leg (keep in mind she's only 20 months so this takes up half of her thigh.) That isn't what concerned me. It was her right foot. It's been smashed. At least that is what it looks like to me. The only thing I can think to do - and that she'd be able to stand is to run COLD water over it to keep it from totally swelling into a marshmallow. It's already shades of blue, green and purple. And there was a slight puncture on the bottom of her foot. The bruising pattern doesn't even make sense b/c the top left of her foot and the bottom right are what was hurt. How does that even happen?

I just prayed. I prayed and I prayed to God that He would be merciful. That He would take away all of this pain, knowing that He could. My baby doesn't understand pain like this. It's not like you can reason with them and say "OK, something fell really hard on your foot and now it's going to hurt for a bit until your body makes it all better." No, there is nothing to do but to hold your screaming child and pray for some type of reprieve.

I phoned Ryan. Bawled all the way through our short conversation. He got the point that he needed to be home. I needed his help to determine if we should take her to the ER or not. I didn't know if it was broken or just badly bruised. Ryan got home and we decided to keep her home for the time being. I played "This little piggy..." with her toes in an attempt to move them (the corresponding bones) and see if it caused pain. She seemed to be able to tolerate it w/o too much discomfort. Good.

I held her. Just sat on the luv sac and tried to do all I could to make her comfortable- which wasn't much b/c I'm sure her foot throbbed. I'd already forced Motrin down her throat (she's not into taking medicine these days) and I had a baggie full of ice that I gently rested on her foot (with a towel around it) as she could tolerate the cold. Again, she doesn't understand. There is no reasoning with a 20 month old to explain WHY you need to keep ice on a wound such as this! So we did the best we could.

I asked Ryan to give her a blessing. He told me he already had a couple of days ago. I mentioned that was for her fever. This would be for her foot. To ease the pain, help her relax and bless her that it was not broken. He of course did this. I am so grateful to be married to a worthy Priesthood holder. A man that doesn't have to think twice about whether or not he is worthy to act in the name of God and give a blessing to a baby in need. It is a real blessing in our family life and I have FAITH that according to the Lord's will we can be healed of our ailments. There was a peace that lingered after his blessing of healing that he pronounced on Kolea.

We sat in the luv sac for a while and I read to the kids. Kolea would periodically grab her foot and cry b/c of pain. It was very tender. She got restless and wanted to get down and walk. She attempted and failed. She could not walk.

The rest of the afternoon was slow. I know the blessing she was given made a HUGE difference in her demeanor. She wanted to be with the big kids outside so she sat in a little camping chair with her foot tucked in and interacted with the kids as they played around her. Hunter and Gabriella were so cute with her and would carry her wherever she wanted to go. But mostly she just wanted to sit in that chair and laugh along with them. My heart went out to her. A couple of time she attempted walking and was unsuccessful. It was too painful. I still wasn't convinced that it wasn't broken.

Later in the evening I saw her being to put a little pressure on her foot. She went to bed early and slept solid all through the night (unlike the previous couple of nights.) She was spent. Today she seemed much better. Her foot is very, very bruised and ugly. I will have to take a picture of it tomorrow (seeing as she's been in bed for two hours already.) She is walking on it now. Sometimes with a limp - the saddest thing ever- but she is walking. That is what she wants to do. I'm convinced that it's NOT broken and all due to the blessing she received.

Kolea is a very HAPPY child. She does all she can to enjoy life. As I remember her lying in the fetal position in more pain than she'd ever felt before- more pain than any child should every experience, I am sickened by the thought. And this is from a smashed foot! Imagine those that go through even more. I think of the children all over the world that are in pain. Little children. Babies. Especially in places like, Chile and Haiti. Places where they have had natural disasters and these little children are in such GREAT physical pain- not to mention emotional pain as they don't understand what is going on around them. Or why these things are happening. Why do they happen? I don't know. Why do they suffer? What does it teach us? I know that I'm having a "slap in the face" lesson about compassion and caring for others. Or rather BeInG aWaRe Of OtHeRs. Their struggles and their hurts. Also, counting my blessing.

Funny enough that at the beginning of this week I began praying that I would be a happier person. I felt like I'd had a pretty rough month with rolling my ankle and then having to deal with it (read: crutches) through packing a moving an entire household. It's been stressful and I haven't been very happy, just stressed. So I began to pray for happiness. And you know what? It worked!! I've been much happier this week even though all of these stressful things were going on. And I've found myself counting my blessings. Trying to look at the positive or imagine how a situation *could've been* worse- which made me grateful for the situation I had!
I know that Heavenly Father looks out for us and He teaches us different things at different times in our lives. Sometimes (unfortunately) other people are effected adversely to teach US something. That beam didn't HAVE to fall on Koela's foot. God could've made it stay on that little ledge on the wall- or have her move away before it fell. He is all powerful, all knowing. But there was something for me to learn. Not even Ryan. Me. I still ache for my baby. For the pain she felt and experienced. It was an accident. It wasn't something that she "brought on" herself as often trials are. It just happened. And things like that "just happen" to different people (no matter age) every day.

What really got me on the computer tonight was the fire engine practically outside my front door. Something happened to someone across the street tonight. I don't know what happened but it couldn't have been good. But that person is a child of God. I will pray for that person tonight. Just like I'll pray for my children. And the children all over the world. This may seem like a cheesy post- but I didn't write it for you. This is for me. This is my journal. I want to remember how I felt at this time. It's not often that you hear about the really crappy days. It's the pictures in the photo albums of the fun times that get you from one event to the next. It's not like you see the picture of that day when you felt depressed. The day when your sick children have draped themselves over you and are crying simultaneously. Who documents stuff like that?? But those days are important too. They help us count our blessings, as I am doing today.

I didn't want this post to be picture-less so I put the picture of the first place we saw (and learned) of the name, Kolea. This is on the Big Island in Waikoloa Villiage. The place was called the Kolea condos. The Kolea bird is Hawaii's Golden Plover. It's a powerful little bird that flies each year between Alaska and Hawaii. If you know your geography there is not a single place between those points in the Pacific ocean for a bird to land. It flies straight through. It is a bit of a miracle.

My cute, sweet, happy baby, KOLEA.

PS- As a funny ending to all of this madness (well, funny is relative) Ryan phoned me at noon today telling me that he'd probably have to fly to L.A. tonight with his friend Axle. They are starting up a Taco business here and need to go look at trucks. You know the "Roach Coach?" Yep. That'll be them. Anyhow, he said it wasn't a for sure thing. At 4:30 this afternoon it became a "for sure" thing. They left for the airport by 6 pm which meant that I missed out on my girls night of going to my friend's baby shower. (I tried getting a babysitter- but unless there is a student here that can drive herself over- it doesn't happen. And I only know ONE girl like that- she couldn't come.) And not five minutes later Hunter was telling me that he was cold and didn't feel well- his throat hurt. Yep. Fever. Well WTF?

Like I said "WhEn It RaInS, iT pOuRs!"

At least now that I've done all of my crying... I'm now laughing. What else have I got?

5.06.2010

A Novel; Sit Down and Strap Yourself In!

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

What is under tent #1? Our house of course! I know you're all dying to see our new home we just bought (well, new to us) but it'll have to wait for another day. This is what it looked like when it was being fumigated. Pretty sweet huh? =)

As for now, I have to catch up from two and a half months worth of 'non-blogging' and I will begin with the most recent, descending to the oldest event (mid-February.)

* * * * * * *

This is Ryan and I as of yesterday, May 5, 2010. It was our 9th wedding anniversary! We went to dinner in Honolulu at Ruth's Chris- the ONLY place I will order a steak. This is significant because I simply DO NOT order steak. Normally I don't think it tastes that great. But at this place... WOW! As my M-i-L would say "it's so good your tongue will slap your brains out!"

We decided to splurge for our anniversary (plan to drop $100) because we never ended up celebrating my birthday in January OR Valentine's Day. I figured if you roll all three dates into one, we'd spend about that much. =) However, the other thing about Ruth's Chris is that you get the royal treatment~ at least for your anniversary! Not only did we have a booth with fresh rose petals all over it, they also brought us a complimentary dessert of chocolate, coconut dipped strawberries (in the picture) AND we received a $25 gift card for the next time we want to go back!! Which of course we can go back in the future and just order dessert and it'd be more than covered. Yay! It was a great night!
The last two days have been filled with May Day performances by Hunter's Elementary school and Gabriella's pre-school (which combined with another Elementary.) These kids are amazing! The dancing was phenomenal and I was shocked that I was watching children do the types of dances we saw...

Of course, the "joke" goes that not much learning takes place after December around these parts because every class is busy practicing for May Day! Well, it certainly shows! In poor test scores and their beautiful performances. It's very oximoronic. (Is that a word?)

Here is the King and Queen of May Day and their court. These are all sixth graders.
Each grade did dances from a certain country. The theme was "Treasures of the World." The Kindergarten portrayed England. Basically they were a bunch of hippies dancing all over the place to Beatles songs. They had fun- but compared to the other grades and costumes, they kind of got the shaft! Ha!

Hunter is in the middle of the picture at the back with blond hair and an orange bandana.
Here he is in all of his English pride glory. =)
Here is my darling Gabriella waiting for their May Day program to start. Can you believe how she blends in with all of these cute Polynesian girls??
They were about to walk out to the floor- they were arranged to look like a flag. It was really cute! Gabriella is a funny girl. She's very happy and normally wears a smile until she sees me watching her. Then suddenly she becomes all sullen. I haven't figured it out yet. Hence the unhappy faces in these pictures! Silly Ella!
* * * * * * *
A random picture from a couple of days ago. Hunter was sooooo excited... he'd snuck up on this butterfly and caught it! He put it in his bug catcher for a couple of hours to admire it and then let it go. It was really fun to observe it so up close!
* * * * * * *
Hunter has been taking piano lessons since the beginning of the year. Gabriella also began, but we stopped after about 8 weeks and decided we'll give it another couple of years for her to "be ready." Hunter, however has excelled at the piano (although he complained every week!) This was his first recital and he did so well. Way to go Hunter!
Kolea is an aspiring pianist as well. She's posing next to "auntie Stef," Hunter's piano teacher.
* * * * * * *
A few weeks back our wonderful friends, Rick and Tiina came to visit us from Texas! We had so much fun with them... so much in fact that I hardly took out the camera! So there are just a few pics of our fun times. We went to the Big Island for two days to go through the temple. We left the kids behind with our friend, Ashleigh who was brave enough to watch the kiddos- just kidding, they really are good kids =) and she was awesome with them!

It's always nice to take some time away from your children and remember why you fell in love in the first place with that person that shares your bed every night! Thanks Rick and Tiina for some great memories!!
We went to Roy's for dinner one night and I had to take a picture of our dessert. It's a molten lava chocolate cake. YUM!
We explored and chilled at a couple of different beaches. So cool.
Check it!
And enjoyed the gorgeous sunset that Kona has to offer.
* * * * * * *
Another fun thing we did (why is this underlining?? It's so annoying) was go to the PCC. Hunter and Ryan tried their hands at doing the stick toss. This is done while the dude there chants.
Gabriella was showing her skills as well.
And here you see Kolea's skill. Her skill of being cute.
* * * * * * *
So we are down to EASTER! Whew! What a ride!

Every year I throw an Easter Egg Dyeing Party. And every year it's so much fun! So even though we're the newbies here I couldn't have it any other way. Keep in mind we lived about 15 minutes away from the rest of our ward and friends so I simply announced what I was planning and brought it to them! I told all of my friends to spread the news and that anyone was invited-- all they had to bring was their own hard boiled eggs to color and I would provide the rest.

So this is a sample of the crew that turned out for our "party." It was so much fun, and over so quickly!!
There are Hunter and Gabriella hard at work.
Smile! Yay we love dyeing Easter eggs!
We even had a new comer try her hand at it. This is our friend, Sandra from Guatemala City. She'd NEVER dyed and Easter egg before! So we were glad to oblige. =) This was on Good Friday.
We have a tradition in our family. One that Ryan forgets about EVERY year. But that's OK. It was a tradition that I grew up with, not him. The Easter Bunny visits our house on Friday night so that the kids can find their Easter baskets Saturday morning. They can enjoy all the candy they want. Enjoy the secular side of it and have their major sugar highs all day Saturday! That way when Easter Sunday rolls around, all of THAT hype is gone and we can focus on the true meaning of Easter. I love that my parents did this for us growing up (we NEVER knew any differently until we'd left the nest!) So this is how we do it now for our kids and it works great!!

Along these same lines, we've decided that we like to give a little gift to the kids at Easter time since both of the older two have birthdays in December. So they don't get much else the rest of the year, ya know? Anyhow, Gabriella is four now (and the size of a five yr old) and seeing as where we live... she desperately needed a bike!! I decided that this was the perfect time for her to get one. The Easter Bunny could bring it! That way it doesn't look like I just went out and got her one- which is what I was about to do. I don't want the kids to think that we can just get them whatever they want, whenever. I like to reserve that for the holidays...

Anyhow, that's what she got! And she LOVES it. She and Hunter ride together and play together so much better ever since she got her bike. =)
Aren't they cute!?! Of course we couldn't give her THAT and not give Hunter anything. He got a Nintendo DSi. He's been asking for one, but we have a PSP so I reasoned that it was good enough- even though there are only like two games for it. Anyhow, I realized that with the flights we have coming up to the mainland and all the travel this summer I would need BOTH kids to be busy. So we have a friend that put movies on the PSP for Gabriella (she can watch during the long flights) and Hunter got a DS (that he can play all during the flights.) Smart huh? So really, it was an investment for my sanity. =)
We did do one little Easter Egg hunt on Sunday. This is not typical for us, but I actually pushed for it since we'd missed the other TWO hunts that had happened on Saturday. Remember this was during General Conference (well not "during" but the same weekend) and we were tired of being cooped up inside. So here is cutie Kolea "finding" eggs.
What is a typical thing you do on Easter Sunday? Have a big dinner of course with your family!! Well, seeing as none of us students have family here we wanted to host a pot luck at our house so we could create the "Easter Sunday Dinner" atmosphere. We had a great turn out with a lot of delicious food. Thanks to everyone that came and made it special. It's nice to be able to celebrate with our newfound friends!
And besides the church or outdoors- our living room/ kitchen area is the next largest place to hold this type of event!
* * * * * * *
And last, but not least...

In the middle of February there was a competition at BYU. It's the Business Plan Competition. Basically you can submit a business plan and it is judged. The top winners receive a cash prize to help them get that business started and turn it into a reality.

Last year was the first year it was done. The winner was our friend, Brett. He started a little company up at Turtle Bay (the ONLY hotel on the No. Shore) where he rents out scooters, motorized bikes, and none other than the awesome SEGWAY!! Well, it's actually a segway tour which is so stinkin' fun! But the others you can rent for a day or two and take off property. He's been very successful with it so far and it hasn't even been a full year yet! But thanks to the money he received from winning the Business Plan Competition he was able to get things under way and start building the company.

Anyhow, Ryan and our friend, Axle (from Mexico) entered and came in SECOND place! Yay! Their plan is to start a Taco truck on the island -- selling D-lish Mexican food. There is a real "need" here since it's extremely hard to come by. So we are very excited for them! As a side note, the first place winner is also a friend in our ward!! Way to go Mike! I think it speaks volumes of the quality of people we have around here.
So we come to the end of the novel. Did you survive? Did you see it through to the end? It's OK if you didn't, but then you don't know about Ryan's most recent endeavor! He's the busiest guy I know. And I'm sooo proud to be his wife!