One more pumpkin

We set the (fake) pumpkins out early this year, like the first week in October, maybe to make up for not having used them at all last year. And we added a pumpkin for Halyn. It seems our pumpkin patch has grown quite a bit over the years.

Marin loving her some sweetheart.  

Class Act

Who is 3 years-old and insists on writing his own destiny? THIS guy!


















He asked me lots of questions, in his very distinctly Abramic way:

A:"This is my school, right? It's preschool for big boys."

X: "Yes, Marin goes to her school, Santi goes to her school, and Abram goes to preschool."

A: "Oh I see, Abram goes to Abram school. But not Santi and Marin, huh Mom? Just Abram. Just Abram goes to Abram school."

X: "That's right, you're a very lucky boy. Your teachers are Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Maulhardt."

A: "Oh I see, Mr. Andrew (as in Tio Andrew) and Mrs. Walmart."

I wonder if he was expecting to see Tio Andrew at Walmart. Well he didn't show any disappointment when neither of those materialized.

Like an old pro, he walked in, found his name and owned his cubby.

He was plenty OK with me leaving him to embark on his own adventure. I was pretty OK too. Seeing him so confident and comfortable put any concerns to rest. Plus, he is number 3 to go off to preschool. With each subsequent child, I imagine most parents settle in a little or just grow really, really tired. 

Halyn is just stoked to finally get some alone time. I forgot what it was like to have only one child at a time, and this has been quite a joy for the two of us. I hope to blog about it more.

Good luck in school Aboy! Your teachers are undoubtedly bound to have some good times ahead.

SingSing

We taught Abram to sing the song, Latter-day Prophets. It was so much more fun than I could've ever imagined. I had no idea that in just a couple weeks, he would get it down so well. The first video is the final outcome of singing it together as a family every night after scripture study. I suppose I shouldn't have taken the video right after lunch. You'll see why.



This second video is of Abram learning the song for the first time with the help of his lovely sisters. They are so great. I heard them several times singing it with him. Thanks girls.



The third video is just me trying to capture this experience and Abram more concerned about showing off. And Halyn trying to get involved, like she does. He was more exuberant in this video than in the one at the top because that one shows him behaving (sort of).



Abram was able to sing to Daddy after he had come home from a trip and it was such a cute surprise. Then Abram thought he was on a roll of impressing people because now he's sung it for the missionaries after dinner as well as for his nursery teachers at church. Where does he get such a thrill for performance? Oh yes, you're right, his Grandma Nay.

Picnic Saturday

Last weekend was a picnic for one of the clusters in Brian's company. It was nice for them to invite our family to get to know them better and for the kiddos to have a little fun. To my satisfaction, not one of my fair brood was burned while running around in the sun.

Bri and Abram trying their hand at the egg toss.

It ended badly. For the egg.

All lined up for the potato sack race.

Rinner noticing that the potato sacks get smaller and smaller as she grows up.

Abram's first sack race. He just wanted to do what the big kids were doing. He actually did a pretty good job. There's a short video of him at the bottom of the post.

Santi crossing the yellow ribbon. 

Halyn playing it cool and playing her dad. She lights up when he's around and he's a sucker.

Schooled

To the point? They're back in school which means we're back on a schedule, with a long list of responsibilities and beholden to someone else's demands and rules. Nah, it's not so bad.

The hard part for me is that I spend far less time with my oldest girls, far less than I'd like. Even though this has been the first summer of real and sometimes relentless bickering between them, they are so fun to have around. I will very much miss their voices throughout my day. Not to mention the help they are with the younger ones. So that'll be a big blow to me. Enough to homeschool? Nah, it's not so bad.

Backpack flair. Both girls picked up new backpacks this year. Apparently an important life decision at this age because we shopped and shopped and shopped for them. We fared much better in pursuit of fashion where I learned that I have become almost completely irrelevant. 

Like so:

Me: "Hey girls, this is cute!"

Cool person between the ages of 8 and 10: "Yeah Mom, totally cute!" (and sounding very sincere)

Me (getting very excited that I made a good call): "Do you want to try it on?"

Cool person: "I'm fine."

You're fine? Does that mean no? At least they know how to let one down easy. 

After these pictures, my girls went their separate ways; Santi returned to the safe haven of elementary and Marin off to carve her own niche into the mysterious realm that is Middle School. Fortunately Marin's been extremely excited (though still detectably nervous) about a Brave New World.

Little Santi was excited to meet her teacher and relieved to discover that she is nice. All summer long, she was so nervous to start third grade. A grade for which she felt desperately unprepared. She was intimidated. Fortunately her STAR test scores came in after our vacation and gave her a tremendous boost in confidence. Just in time. Now she's enjoying the prospect of everything written in cursive.

Middle school orientation went great and other than having a bottom locker, which she aptly brushed off as inconsequential, Marin was ready. It was still hard to watch her go. Poor thing has always had to be the trailblazer of the children. But I'm convinced she is the one who best has the disposition for it. I love her for loving us enough to see us struggle as her parents through her many inaugural stages of development and maturity. Our guinea pig. She's most likely already earned her mansions in Heaven.

The Friday before school started we had a bunch of Marin's friends over for a late night. It turned out to be a great time. There are four other girls in our ward who are starting middle school this year, a fact they've bonded over. So each of those girls was invited to come and to bring a friend from her respective school so the group could meet more girls.

Marin had so much fun playing hostess and the girls were virtually self entertained (again, I was a little irrelevant. She doesn't need me for everything anymore. I'm learning to be OK with that). A taco salad bar, 2 gallons of berry lemonade, 8 bags of popcorn and 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies later, they had figured out the exact location of each other's lockers, decided on a suitable hangout for break and lunch, and retold Grimm's tales of middle school, like having to change for P.E. Yikes!

This whole thing is bittersweet in the worst way. We love that Marin is growing up and love who she's choosing to become. She's remarkable. And not because we are her parents, almost despite us, more so because she has a strong internal compass that points her in the right direction almost all the time. She's courageous and persistent and will invoke all of her passion and wisdom to fight even the slightest injustice (so that's not always easy to parent when the "injustice" is your fault). 

Is this the same girl who clung to my arm when just a few months old, refusing to go to anyone else? And yet if I were to meet her back then as she is today, I would see a resemblance of that fierce independence softened with compassion and charity for others. This girl wants to help heal the world's ills. I am curious to see the course of her life and pray there's a relevant part for me in it.

Four Item Plate

On one of those overwhelming days (which as far as you're concerned happens once in a blue moon) when I may have been heard to say, "Four children? What was I thinking? I'm not so sure I can do this," my very wise and extremely patient husband said, "It's like the four item plate."

What the heck? What are you talking about?

He continued to explain (and I'm paraphrasing this Brianism): "When ordering Chinese fast food, you think to yourself, 'one item isn't enough, two items is good, but maybe for a little variety I'll order three items.'
Then you see that the four item plate is only 25 cents more, so you go for it. At some inevitable point during the course of your meal, you wonder if four items is just too much. But you've already gotten yourself into this and you don't want to waste anything, so you just do it even though you feel pretty sick and self-conscious." (So, this is the thought process behind a man's eating patterns? I don't understand it, it's Chinese to me.)

And so it is. I've ordered myself the four item plate and at times just feel sick like I'm not quite good enough to finish it up, to be the kind of mother these children deserve. It helps me revere those women who have ordered the buffet and get like 6 or 8 items or more, a decision bordering on the saintly and the insane.

But there is that little fortune cookie at the end with the little nugget of wisdom that most likely says something like, "You will be successful in your efforts" or "Your many hidden talents will become obvious to those around you."
In that case, it doesn't really help that one of our (embarrassing) family traditions is to tag the line, "on the toilet" to the end of our fortunes. Can I ever win? Maybe if my fortune turns out to be,
"Don't ask. Don't say. Everything lies in silence..."

What would I do if these children weren't so gracious and forgiving of my many mistakes? By virtue of that alone, how could I not but love them with everything that I am?
To put it in perspective, the sacrifices required to be a mother are minute compared to the enormous blessings in this life and the next. And wherever I am truly deficient, there's always therapy.

Horse Around

Santi attended Horse Camp last week. Other than riding on a pony at the fair or horseback riding on South Padre, it's something she's never really done before. And those aforementioned times, the pony was tied or her horse was drawn by someone else while she rode. So for her to put aside fears of the unknown, dig in and do something out of her comfort zone was particularly impressive to us. We're so proud of her.

Hawk was Santi's horse for the week. Boy did this horse have plans, plans that didn't include cooperating with a timid and somewhat nervous rider. Hawk had every intention of doing the opposite of Santi's command. Santi sometimes came home frustrated and exasperated with the personality of her horse, but she worked really well with him toward the end of the week.

Let's face it, grooming a horse was not on Santi's top ten list of things to do in her life. It turned out to be her least favorite responsibility of the week. Something about having to stick the brush into the horse's nostrils, or something. 

Santi was lucky enough to attend camp with our neighbor and her BFF. So glad these girls have each other to pal around.

Abby and Santi showing Aboy where to pet the beast. Abram was all eyes and could not stop asking when he would get to ride the horse. I'm serious, he would NOT stop. His little voice is heard on all the parents' home videos saying, "Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mom... I ride the horse too, right? First Santi's turn, then it's my turn."

Santi leading her horse out to the arena. She's so tiny.

Santi mounting Hawk bareback. Each of the children had a choice to show English, Western, or Bareback. I was quite impressed that Santi chose to exhibit bareback. She said, "Yeah, it's hard to put the sadles on and take them off, so I just picked bareback." Nice to hear her source of inspiration. 

According to her teacher who has some 20 years experience teaching has never had a student of any age mount bareback alone on the first try, until little Santi. (So that dolphin kick from swimming really did come in handy. I'm just saying. It couldn't have hurt.)

After the show, Santi was pleased to have done well and I think a little relieved to not have to brush down her horse again.

I shouldn't be at all surprised that Aboy used his school boy charm to win himself a brief ride on one of the ponies. He's very pleased with himself, as you can see.

All of the kids in Santi's class receiving their certificates.

Santi receiving her certificate of completion, an award she truly worked hard for.

Seeing her out in the arena, I really couldn't believe she was out there on her own. I was speechless. Not sure whether it's something she'll ever do again. I think the lessons and newly gained confidence will stay with her though. Man, this girl can do anything if she really wants to. I wonder what will happen when she finally figures that out for herself. I'll be watching.

Kaua'i? Yes please.

At work, Brian met his "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" which basically means he was rewarded with a Big Hairy Audacious Trip to Kaua'i and I convinced him to take me with him. Uh, yeah. I can't even begin to explain how lovely the trip was, but the Grand Hyatt Resort Kaua'i (not a usual venue for us) offered more than we had time to enjoy. I couldn't get enough, and if it wasn't for the children we left at home, I could've stayed a lot longer.

A room with a view. I took this picture from the bed in our room just after we arrived. Seriously, I plopped myself onto the bed and had barely enough energy to switch on the camera, point it, and... shoot. The absolute coolest thing we did as soon as we got there, was sleep. No noisy kids asking for food or babies begging for bottles. 

The strange, for sure.

This little fella was our friend and hung out just off our balcony. I think it was leftover room service he really wanted to befriend.

Brian and I in Hanalei on the north shore. We went up with the Cleggs and all tried our luck surfing. It was maybe the very funnest thing I did there. And funniest.

Amber and I with our instructor, Keton (spelling?) who didn't feel it all that important to pull his wetsuit up. So that was interesting.

Brian paddling out. Tight.

Looking good. Bri was pretty awesome, it was fun hanging out together.

Waiting for that perfect wave, or that perfect courage.

Who's that girl? First of all, that wave was huge. I should photoshop how big it was for real. Or at least, how big I'm saying it was.

And you can ride these babies all the way in because your board is as big as a door.

Taking a breather. Because whether it was that I was out of shape (yes) or the adrenalin (maybe), my heart was nearly bursting out of my chest. The BEST part of surfing in Hawaii was that I was still nursing Halyn when I left, so that made paddling out so much fun. SO much fun. Can you hear the sarcasm?

I love Hanalei! I should have ten babies and name them all Hanalei, I love it so much. I did happen to fall in love in Hanalei. Twelve years and counting...

Another go. We couldn't get enough. If only our bodies could keep up.

Our version of the Frankie and Annette Beach Party.
Look at those crazy longboards!
We never rode tandem, though.
What a shame, that would've been a great photo.

I so heart the Cleggs. And the backstory is this: Brian and I knew Mike from our College Times days at UVSC (now UVU). Brian and Mike now work for the same company. We are so happy to see that there really is a woman patient enough to put up with Mike (wink, wink). And amazing by her own right. We had so much fun with them. After this trip to Hanalei, the Cleggs insisted we get Saimin noodles (a local favorite at a local joint), which is basically top ramen. So... yeah. Wasn't a lover of the homemade MSG noodle soup. But I still love Cleggs.

Spouting Horn, which is basically a hole in the rocks and as you'd imagine spouts water when the tide comes in. What I didn't expect was the insidious gurgling and growling noise that precedes the gush. It actually creeped me out and reminded me of when I almost drowned in Mazatlan when I was young. I think it was the sound of the water on the rocks that reminded me of being tossed into the jetty. So when we went snorkeling just after this visit, I couldn't relax enough to enjoy it. I was actually freaked out. And since I normally LOVE the ocean, I realized it is water against rocks which puts me on edge. So there you go, a bit of self-discovery.

Me shopping is definitely more fun than me thinking about drowning. So I did more of this than snorkeling. Funny thing is that Brian loved snorkeling and actually did Snuba with Barry.

SNUBA: kinda like scuba because you have an O2 tube and tank, but more like snorkeling because you are limited to shallow depths. And then like both because you look like I giant dork with bug eyes and big lips because of the masks you have to wear.

Apparently a few years ago there was a hurricane and all of these chickens and roosters were set loose and now they run wild all over the island. They are so much a part of the landscape now they are even depicted quite often by local artisans. At first I thought it was kind of cute, but only a few days of these feral creatures pecking around your feet wherever you go, sort of becomes annoying. And gross. Like rats. Why I took this picture instead of far beautiful scenes, I don't know. Memories, I suppose.

Another random photo, but I loved this tree. 

It's viney branches take root into the ground. Strangely cool.

We freakin' biked Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.

At 6:30 in the morning.

And it was cold.

And windy.

But we couldn't miss out on this opportunity.

Because it was beautiful. Every square inch (that I could see).

And when I say biked, I want to say that it was an intense ride 24 miles uphill. But in truth, it was 12 miles downhill on cruisers that squeaked when you braked. We rode up on a passenger van and cruised the rest of the way stopping to hike a little and eat wild guava. Mmmmm...wild guava.

Here we are with our guides. My favorite guides of all the tours and excursions we took. This guy Harold knew lots of really cool things about so many different things like, HilaHila, a plant that "sleeps" or contracts when you touch it. He shared a lot of cool legends and historical contexts and he made me really want to visit the most native island of Ni'ihau.

If we had more time I would've liked to hike the other side of the canyon, so it's definitely on our "To Do" list for another visit.

Amber trying sashimi for the first time with Matt Church. Brave soul.

Something wicked this way comes. 

I can't even remember what this was called, but it had lots of cream and lots of chocolate. 

And macadamia nuts, of course.

Some weird fruit that I couldn't bring myself to eat but Brian said it was tasty.

Behind every good president are some pretty great directors of nursing who put up with him when he was an administrator. And thank Heavens for these ladies, Karen and Josie, who not only put up with all of us, but took the time to teach Brian almost everything he knows. I truly, truly love them. And miss them.

One of the nights we went to a luau, of course. Can't go to Hawaii and not go to a luau. So the food was pretty darn good, can't say so much for the desserts. The French still have it.

We didn't realize how many couples from work were at the same luau until we got there. So good ol' Bri made BFF with one of the hosts and requested we be seated with the Ports, which of course required a nice tip. Then we saw the Burtons, and Bri went and found his BFF and did the same thing.

"Oh the Terry's are here? Brian, go find your buddy."

"Hello Haneys, come sit with us, Brian will take care of it. He's got connections."

So that kid had a good night and went home with Bri's wallet.

Brian and I trying to learn how to use poi balls. You can see the intense concentration I committed to learning this task, or art.

So Michelle waltzes in and shows me up on poi ball usage.

Bri gets it down.

Show me that again...

...and even if I can't get it down, at least I look this good while doing it. My open mouth really conveys my confidence.

Part of the cast of the luau. And will you please put on a shirt? Jeez!

Michelle and I posing. We also took a crash course in hula dancing, on stage, in front of everyone.
The proof? Bri was busy somewhere rearranging the seating chart, and even though Barry had the camera...I don't know. Where were you on that one Barry? But we were the best ever. Almost professional.

We surfed again in Hanalei, this time with the Ports and Rachelle Terry. We met up with the Burtons and the Gardners too. Such fun people!

It's like the elements were against us this time. There was a swell on the north shore and the waves were pretty big and choppy, but we couldn't pass it up. Again it was so much fun. We all surfed in the bay while Clay went out on the reef with the real surfers. We all just pretended to be as cool.

The highlight? I got totally barreled. Intentionally? Uh, no.

So we're out waiting for a wave to come in. All of a sudden my good buddy Keton (from the beginning of this post) looks at the waves behind me and gets all wide-eyed, turns me around and says, "Um... just start paddling out. GO!"

And I'm like, "Huh? What?" and then I see this ginormous wave (no exaggeration, I swear it) and after I peed my pants, I took the deepest breath possible. Being a featherweight (or a dork), I couldn't push my board through it and rode it up and it broke on me. ON me. Get it? 

I felt like I was in a washing machine and had no idea which way was up until my feet were touching the bottom. I still didn't know if my head was even above water, but I took a chance and opened my mouth to breathe when Keton said, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Are you OK?"

And just as I'm about to take a breath and say yes, 4 cups of salt water come gushing out of my nose. Mmmm... tasty! Not to mention totally attractive.

And he immediately says again, "Hold your breath!"

It was a freakin' set and I was hammered. Ponytail? What ponytail? The waves ripped it right out and I'm sure I looked like a drowned rat.

All the instructors were like, "Yeah! You got barreled!" Like I was awesome for taking a hit. I had no idea what the heck was going on. So yeah, I'm awesome.

The lesson: ditch your board and dive through the wave next time dumb bell. Oh, OK.

Bri and Barry did some body surfing and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. Michelle and I were loving our hubbies. Although the instructors all had eyes on Michelle. For real people, that's probably why I got barreled. Everyone was checking up on Michelle. She's probably used to that, beautiful people are.

I was nicknamed the "Grasshopper" by the instructors, which doesn't sound very flattering. Apparently because I jumped right up on the board every time (and maybe a little too soon?) Ah, well.

The post-surfing feast at Tropical Taco was much more pleasing to me the second trip to Hanalei. Fish tacos with homemade corn tortillas. Now we're talking. Followed up with snow capped shaved ice? Can it get any better? I submit that it cannot (B. Regan). Plus we stayed and did a little shopping. Heaven... This is where I bought the girls some Hanalei Surf shirts so they would know that Dad and I surfed there. They were less impressed with me than I was. Oh well. Maybe I'll improve by the time we all surf together as a family.


Another excursion took us on buggies with Kauai ATV tours whose motto is: "Do something dirty."
Not a problem when you get into one of these things. It was fun, I'm not going to lie, however, it was far more of a fulfilled fantasy for Brian than for myself. I was knocked around so much, even harnessed into my seat as tight as it could get. It was also a pretty frigid day and after "doing something dirty" and being all wet, the wind against my cold body shivered me timbers. So, toward the end, I was kicking myself for not having opted for the spa.

Almost the entire tour was people from Ensign Group, and you can't ever go wrong hanging out with Ensign folk. I'm so happy to have gotten to meet more people who make Bri's company great.

A cheesy smile and two-thumbs up in anticipation for the road ahead. See that little towel on my lap? Our guides called them "Hawaiian windshield wipers" for our goggles. And Bri is sitting on a "Hawaiian seat cover" which translates to a piece of cardboard folded over to protect his royal tush from the bolts securing the seat into the buggy. That would've left a mark.

Are these things sturdy? They look questionable to me.

The Monets, a very fun and adventurous couple I got to meet... finally.

The Ports which is Texan for, "We are so cool, we don't even look like tourists when we hang loose." Bri really misses working so closely with Barry since we left Texas.

The Cleggers. So in love they're even holding hands, awww.

Our whole group including our instructors hiney. These guides were so crazy, I could never really tell when they were telling us the truth.

Here we are in front of the cane tunnel in the Ha'upu Mountain Range. This tunnel was bored into the mountain after WWII by ordinary guys (not engineers) after their day's work in the sugar mills. The tunnel shortened the haul of sugar cane from going all the way around the range to a clean shot through. Apparently, it is only 1 foot off of being exactly straight. Amazing. It was pretty cool driving through it.

Brian and I jumping into one of the hidden waterfalls of the tour. Pretty chilly, but again, I was willing to take the plunge knowing I'd regret not having done it.

Slightly dried off from our dip in the exotic pool.

Extremist (sort of). I love Brian, he usually is up for pretty much anything. Except a pedicure (which is a real shame).

More Cleggs. Funny how Kauai ATV touts that this is unspoiled tropical land for us to explore... in ATVs. Yeah.

See how pleasantly pleased Brian is to be so dirty? and driving? More thumbs up.

More hang loose. Not because I'm feeling it, but more because the guides kept pestering me to do it. By this point, I was pretty dang cold. Here's your hang loose...

I didn't mind so much getting dirty with Brian. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

I certainly can't complain about the landscape. It really was the highlight for me.

From Kauai, with Love.
I really do love you Garden Island.

Other highlights not pictured:
Brian snorkeling (and me failing to) in Poipu. He went pretty far out, which made me a little nervous, but he got to see some pretty amazing things. As he was looking straight down at the ocean life below he saw this huge shadow emerge from his right. It startled him, because let's face it, shark is always on the brain when snorkeling (or it should be). As it came closer, it turned out to be a giant sea turtle. Brian said the turtle had this look of nonchalance and was just like, "hey dude" as he paddled by. Brian reached out but thought better not to touch him, there being a hefty fine for doing so.

Brian and Barry as SNUBA buddies and playing football with a sea cucumber. Dorks.

Eating the yummiest dish of macadamia nut crusted mahi drizzled with a liliko'i (passion fruit) sauce. I was on vacation, remember? I didn't have to watch calories.

Eating at Roy's with Ports, Monets, Cleggs and Rutters. Yummy salmon, but it was the sauteed goat cheese stuffed dates that stole the show for me and Brian. I'm closing my eyes and reflecting upon the taste as I'm typing this. Mmmm...

Lounging at one of the many jacuzzis at the resort. It had the most amazing ocean view and right on this salt water lagoon at the resort. Just as the sun was setting, we had the jacuzzi all to ourselves. It was perfect. Until the hairiest man in the world and his cute wife decided to join us. Then we got out.

Church on Sunday in a beautiful chapel with beautiful people. It also happened to be testimony meeting so we were able to hear from the congregation. It was such a tender moment when the whole church sang, "Aloha Oe" to a family that was leaving. I loved it.

No pictures of us sitting in the back of the American Airlines plane and the flight attendant saying, "We ran out of meals for this four hour flight. Here are some extra pretzels. Have a nice day." Totally lame. The upside? I did have licorice in my purse, so we weren't going to technically starve. The downside? I hated licorice by the time we touched down in Lihue. So for the flight home, I came prepared, because it happened again. Now that's customer service!

And last but not in any way least:
Thanks to the brigades it took to watch and care for our children while we escaped. Nana had the wee ones while the big girls stayed and played with the Grandpa Finn and Lainie, and later Grandma Nay and Squirts, et al. Thank you, thank you, thank you.