Hawaii, sigh

Wow where to start? I had a wonderful trip with my big sis Kasey. Matt sent us to Hawaii to celebrate her 3oth birthday. How lucky am I that he chose me? Very lucky indeed. We had a fabulous time together. Endless laughs and inside jokes.

A breakdown of our week:

Thursday- We ate breakfast in the hotel (Matt is a goldcard member and so it was free each morning). Then we worked out and headed to the beach. We had to duck from the rain one time but for the most part it was perfect. I think we were both in shock. No one crying, no cleaning, no carpooling. Just lots of sun and beautiful scenery. It was a bit surreal. Later that evening we went to the Cheesecake Factory and shared Chicken Madiera. Unfortunately Kasey's chicken was a bit undercooked so we didn't finish the meal but our dinner ended up costing nine dollars and we both got free cheesecake. We were in a great location for lots of good food and shopping.

Friday- We got up early rented a car and drove to Pearl Harbor. After PH we drove to Walmart to pick up souvenirs for the kids. Then on to the Dole Plantation for pineapple whips. YUMMO! Later we drove up to the Northshore to lay out. We ended up passing by a beach that was hosting the triple crown surf competition. It took a while but we finally parked and then walked out to the beach and found a spot to watch the competition. We felt so cool watching a surf competition. Such posers! We stayed there until late afternoon and then drove to the temple to go through a session. Once the session was offer we hurried to the Polynesian Cultural Center to watch the night show. It was a busy day but we were pretty proud of all our accomplishments.

Saturday- We returned the car and then went back to the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast we went out to the beach laid out for a few hours and then went to CPK for lunch. We took afternoon naps and then took the shuttle to the best mall. It had every store you could ever want to shop in as well as every restaurant.

Sunday- Kasey's 30th b-day! We went to a delicious breakfast at a hotel overlooking the ocean. The waiter gave Kas a lei for her birthday. We ended up laying out at the pool that day because the weather wasn't looking too great. Later we went out to eat at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Unfortunately I got sick minutes after taking my last bite so the rest of the night wasn't too fun.

I left Monday at 11:30 in the morning. It was so sad to say goodbye to Kasey especially since she was going to be stay 36 hours longer than I did! But she needed it much more. Man I love that girl. We seriously had a great time. We would worry it was going to rain every day but each time we stepped out to go to the beach the sun would appear and the clouds would part! It was weird having pictures taken of myself. You feel kind of funny after always taking them of your kids. It's so nice to have a tan but I feel like it's already fading. This needs to be an annual event!

In case you didn't know Kasey is 27 weeks pregnant, doesn't she look good?

Thank You Mateo. I will forever be indebted to you!

Off!

On a romantic getaway to Hawaii with my sister tomorrow! Okay definitely NOT romantic but so relaxing and fun. I still can't believe I am going! I always get nervous and worried when I'm getting ready to leave my kids. I just worry that something will happen to them or to me. I know that once I get on the plane I'll be fine.

I've been so busy lately. I just really need a nice break too sunbath, read, sleep, swim and hang out with one of my favorite girls.

Rylee has been busy as well lately. She is such a climber. She climbs onto the table. On the pull out drawers in my bathroom and on every chair she can find. I think she might be busier than my boys were. So much for a mellow one! But she is so much fun. She started saying,"Uh Oh" (spelling?) yesterday. She is talking a lot more. She also loves to point at what she wants.

Ammon has gotten into fixing his hair lately. Every morning he gets out of the shower searches for a comb, combs it and then hairsprays it. Today I had to tell everyone he fixed his own hair. Yes, it was that bad!

Cohen was worried that I was going alone on my trip but relaxed once I told him Kaden's mom was coming with me. They don't seem to mind that I'm leaving. I think it's because they get Grandma (who spoils them rotten) in return. Who could blame them?

"My first Trophy!"

Ammon had his soccer party on Friday. We went to a local pizza place. I didn't tell him before going that he was going to get a trophy because I knew surprising him would be even better. The coach called each kid up one by one and talked about the great things they did over the season. When it was Ammon's turn he was soaking every word the coach said about him up. But getting that trophy was the highlight of his week, well maybe even year! He kept showing everyone and saying, "Can you believe I got my first trophy?!" He would say it over and over to Cohen and then he said,"This is my first one but I'm going to get lots more in football and baseball." That made his dad very proud. When we got home he had to call grandma and grandpa right away to tell them the news. He slept with the trophy and ended up getting in bed with us in the middle of the night. I got him tucked in between Jody and I and then he said, without even opening his eyes, " I can't believe I got my first trophy tonight." It was the cutest thing. He shows it to everyone that comes to the house. It's so much fun having a kid that gets excited about everything!

Thank You California!

We did it!

Vote Yes

Happy Halloween!

It's been a busy day! Halloween gets much crazier once your kids are in school. Here's a rundown of my day:

• 8:00 a.m - Took Ammon to school. Costume and all.
• 9:15 - Drop Cohen and Faith (the girl I watch but just finished my last day watching today) to preschool. Head to Raley's to get food for Ammon's school party.
• 10:00 - Prepare food.
• 10:45 - Go to Ammon's class for his party. Watch him sing 5 Halloween songs with his class. He is in the front singing loud and acting out all parts!
• 1:15- Get home from the party. Put the kids down for naps.
• 2-3:15- Take a nap myself! Hurray. I haven't been able to take naps lately. Get up and clean up around the house. Talk on the phone, check emails.
• 5:00- Go get a jack-o-lantern pizza at Papa Murphey's. The boys came with me and got free mini pizza's. The place was packed we waited in line for 20 minutes.
• 6:00 p.m. - Get home and bake pizza's. Eat. Get kids ready to go out.
• 6:30- Trick or Treating!
• 8:15- Kid's are tired and ready to go home.

I'm not complaining. I really actually love being busy. Rylee wore her Tinkerbell costume all day. I swear she knew she was dressed up. When I went into Raley's to get a few things people were giving her lots of compliments and she would duck her head like she was embarrassed. She loved trick or treating. She would grab as much candy as she could and try to go in people's homes. I think she was even trying to say trick or treat. She would go right up to people and start "talking" to them. Cohen got freaked out one time when a guy dressed as a monster walked by. When I picked him up he was trembling and his little heart was beating so fast! Ammon was there to check people out and touch all of the decorations. He is such a funny kid. Right now he's watching Halloween movies. We had a great day. Thank goodness the weather cooperated.

In case you weren't sure:

• Ammon is Zorro (not a ninja, like some people thought)
• Cohen is Peter Pan (not Robin Hood)
• Rylee is Tinkerbell
• Jody? Well he's my sugar daddy, of course!

Donate

With only six days left before the election we need to make sure our voice is heard. If you support Proposition 8 please donate! Supporter's of No on 8 have donated millions. Like I said before most donations recieved by Yes on 8 are made in small increments. Anything helps! And anyone regardless of what state or country you live in can show your support. Let our voice be heard. Donate here.

Please post this on your own blog!

Biden on Ellen

Biden’s appearance on the Ellen show had been widely publicized for much of the past week, and both he and Obama have said that they would not support a same-sex marriage.

This is where he changed his stance on the issue.

Biden reminded the audience that both he and Obama had both opposed Bush’s proposed Federal Marriage Amendment on a national level, which would have defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

“I think it’s regressive, I think it’s unfair, and so I’d vote no,” he said.

This is frustrating to me because during the vice presidential debate on October 8th, when asked this same question:

Let's try to avoid nuance, Senator. Do you support gay marriage?

"No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that. That is basically the decision to be able to be left to faiths and people who practice their faiths the determination what you call it."




It's disturbing. If the republican nominees had changed their stance on a major issue, people would have been in uproar. What do you think? Dem's or Repub's I want to hear from you!

It's been a busy week! I went with Ammon's class to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday. It's really cute to see him with his friends. Later that day my mom came for a visit. The kids LOVE it when Grandma comes. She brought fun halloween bags full of prizes and candy. They will be so sad when she leaves tomorrow.

Thursday Jody and I drove to Clear Lake. He had to visit some doctors there so we stayed in the Konocti Resort. It's not a very nice place to stay but clean. The spa and health club made it worth it. We worked out together in the evening (actually fun), played tennis, swam and went out to dinner. It was so nice to spend some alone time together.

Friday night I hosted a candle party for a lady at church. I enjoyed having some good friends over for dessert and girl time.

Today we went to Ammon's soccer game. Everytime he kicked the ball he would look at us and give us a thumb's up. After the game we went to his school's Halloween carnival. It was a great carnival but a little warm. It's still in the eighties here! But I'm not complaining, Kasey.

removed.

The video from the previous post has been removed. Just like the signs! Anyway it was my favorite one yet. Bummer. Here is a new one. Not quite as stirring but you get the idea.




My favorite part, "It's demanded of us that we tolerate. But yet what this is screaming is intolerance.

Freedom of Speech?

I was so happy to get this video emailed to me. I keep hearing about people's Yes on 8 signs being vandalized, stolen or replaced with No on 8 signs. To be quite honest every time I drive by a No sign I have an impulse to do the same thing. Fortunately I've been taught correctly that everyone has the right to say how they feel and believe. Prop 8 signs have been popping up EVERYWHERE here. Even in Walmart and Safeway parking lots. On the way home from church yesterday I noticed that someone had put a Yes sign next to a No sign in a public area. I told Jody that it would be gone the next time I drove by. Sure enough this morning the No sign was up but the Yes sign disappeared. Ripping out any person's sign seems a bit desperate. I wonder if the No on 8 voters have had any of their signs taken as well. I hope not. To go along with this, supporter's of vote No are writing letters to TV stations begging them not to play Yes on 8 ads. Desperate indeed. Gay people say they are fighting for equal rights while ignoring the freedom of speech. Everyone has a right to have their voice heard and seen.

Please donate here so that your voice will be heard on November 4th.

Yes, More Prop 8

Just as opponents of Proposition 8 are airing television commercials labeling as a lie the claim that gay marriage will be taught in California public schools unless Proposition 8 is passed, a Massachusetts couple is appearing in a powerful new ‘Yes on 8’ television ad that begins airing today explaining that gay marriage was taught to their seven year old son and his classmates in second grade. Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2003 and their public schools actively instruct young children on gay marriage.

Robb and Robin Wirthlin’s seven year old son, Joey, came home from school one day to tell them his teacher had read the class a book about a prince who married another prince and the two men went on to become, “King and King.” The book includes a scene of the two male princes kissing each other.

When the Wirthlins contacted school officials to complain about gay marriage being forced on young children in the Massachusetts public schools, they were told they had no right to control the curriculum, no right to be notified when gay marriage might be taught in school, and no right to pull their child from class.



The Wirthlins courageously decided to fight the system, and filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston. Unfortunately, both the district court and the Court of Appeals ruled against them, stating that parents had no right to be notified of this instruction or to remove their children from class while gay marriage was being taught. Just a few days ago the United States Supreme Court refused to hear their case.

The impact of gay marriage on California public schools has emerged as the top issue in the Proposition 8 campaign. Opponents of 8 claim that “Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools” but as the Wirthlins’ experience in Massachusetts shows, it has everything to do with schools.

Ironically, the frantic efforts by the No on 8 campaign to deny any connection between gay marriage and public schools was totally undercut when a public school in San Francisco escorted a first grade class on a field trip to City Hall in order to witness a lesbian wedding officiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom. School officials defended their decision as providing the young children with a “teachable moment.”

One of the top leaders of the No on 8 campaign called the lesbian wedding field trip a “public relations disaster.” But that is not stopping them from continuing to deny that gay marriage will be taught in public schools unless Proposition 8 is passed.

In fact, the No on 8 campaign is raising money at an unprecedented pace. They have collected $3.7 million in the past week, and secured pledges of an additional $4 million.

Our media buyers have determined that the No on 8 campaign will be able to spend $1.4million more on television ads this week than our campaign can afford to spend.

That means that our powerful new ad featuring Robb and Robin Wirthlin may get drowned out by No on 8 ads claiming we are lying when we warn voters that gay marriage will be taught in public schools unless Proposition 8 is passed.

We cannot let this happen. Polls show that Prop. 8 is ahead by a margin of 48% Yes to 45% No (CBS/Survey USA poll taken 10/15) but if we are outspent by $1.4 million this week, our lead will vanish and we will be in grave danger of losing the campaign.

Will you donate? You may be thinking this cause doesn't affect you living in Utah, Arizona, Alaska, Georgia, Florida. You get the idea. The truth is that it does and will affect you. It will affect our society. Please take the time to donate today! Most of the money that has already been donated to play these ads on tv has been in the amounts between $25-$100. You really can make a difference. www.protectmarriage.com

festivities

Have you ever eaten so many pumpkin bars that your sick? That's me right now. They are so addicting. It's a combination of the cream cheese frosting with moist pumpkin cake. I eat so many this time of year that I don't feel like making them for a whole year. Ammon has the sharing can for school tomorrow so we made some sugar cookies for his class. Not the typical ones that take hours, a simple no frosting recipe. If you'd like I will share it with you. So add a few cookies on to my pan of pumpkin bars and just imagine how disgusting I feel right now.

This weekend we went to a Harvest Party that some friends here have annually. It's truly wonderful, picturesque and one of those memories, as a child, you will always have. Imagine a home situated on five acres. A warm clear evening, children running freely, eating every type of cookie, cake, candy and popcorn imaginable. Food, every kind of food. Hay rides on a tractor down to a spooky gazebo where you get a treat bag. A pumpkin patch to pick all kinds and sizes of pumpkins and as many as your arms can carry to take home. Jump house, trampoline, swing set, tetherball, a fire pit and lots of happy people. Ammon spent his evening chasing and holding a snake. Cohen jumped and ate way too much junk food. Rylee literally ran away all evening long. I chased her and Jody played tetherball. We had a great evening. This is how people should celebrate the fall season. Good times.

How does same-sex marriage hurt me?

As I've gone out and polled for Proposition 8 I've learned that most people don't think same-sex marriages will affect them. Some feel that they don't have the right to choose whether people of the same-sex should or shouldn't be allowed to get married. Personally I don't care what others want to do until it affects me and most importantly my children. I've been criticized for worrying too much about the way two people love each other when some feel there are more important issues to worry about.

Let me just say that I am a mother. As a mother my most important concern is my children. Ammon is five years old. If this proposition does not pass there is a good chance that he could learn about gay and lesbian couples in school. Of course down the road he is going to learn one way or another but now is not the right time. I want to keep his innocence as long as possible and when the time is right Jody and I will be the ones to teach about such issues.

If you're not sure how this prop or if it will affect you. Please watch this clip.

fun weekend

We went up to my parents last weekend. The kids love it when we go and HATE to come home. My mom told Cohen he could stay and live with them and he seriously wanted to. When I told him I would miss him he said, "But you have Ammon."

Friday night I went to the ward craft night with my mom and made some cute decorations. But the best part was getting to spend time with my old friends in McKinleyville. When we were done with the crafts we went to Denny's for dessert. It made me realize how much I miss having good friends. Luckily I've finally got a couple of them here!

The kids and I went with my mom to the CASA walk the next morning. The boys loved it but I froze the whole time. Definitely something I DON"T miss about living there. Then we went home and took naps. My mom cooked a full turkey dinner that night. It was delicious! I helped a little but couldn't keep up with her. She is seriously an animal in the kitchen! Maybe that's why her kitchen is a wreck when she's done cooking and mine is clean. I clean as I cook and she cleans when it's all over. Tasha and Craig came over later that evening and hung out with us while the kids ran around. I loved holding her baby, Bailee.

At church the next morning Cohen pushed the fire alarm. The minute he did it he started bawling. It was a little embarrassing. The primary was half way out the building, the Arcata ward was in the middle of blessing the water, while my mom ran to call the fire department. Leave it to Cohen. Jody said he looked at his friend Chris and said,"Where are my kids?" He knew it had to be one of them.


The night we got home Jody went to check on the boys after they'd gone to sleep and he found them snuggled up together!

This is the saddest face. Ammon was very upset to leave Grandma and Grandpa.

Ammon convinced everyone to play duck-duck-goose with him.

My friends Dana and Stacey came to visit from Calgary, Canada on Monday. It was so great to see old friends. Dana and I used to work together at Budget and I became good friends with both of them while living in Provo. Thanks to facebook we found each other! Their boys are adorable. Cohen and Joshua became fast friends. If only we lived closer to them.

We Need You!

This is the first of a few posts I plan to do about this subject. I feel very strongly about this issue. Last night I was able to attend a Fireside at the church which discussed Proposition 8. It left me feeling inspired to put in my full effort. Yes, as a family we've polled people in our neighborhood by knocking on doors and recording information and we've donated a small amount of money to protectmarriage.org but we can do more. Last night we were asked by the general presidency of our church to give 4 hours a week to this issue, to "Go Viral" (meaning blog, text, facebook) and to get out there and talk about it with everyone. Maybe this is why I've never gone private as a blogger. Whether you are a member of the LDS church or not, if you believe as I do, we need your help!


So let's start with the basics. Some of you may be saying to yourself, " Prop 8, now what's that one about?"


Proposition 8 is simple and straightforward. It contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61% of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Because four activist judges in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote, we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Voting YES on Proposition 8 does 3 simple things:

It restores the definition of marriage to what the vast majority of California voters already approved and what Californians agree should be supported, not undermined.

It overturns the outrageous decision of four activist Supreme Court judges who ignored the will of the people.

It protects our children from being taught in public schools that “same-sex marriage” is the same as traditional marriage, and prevents other consequences to Californians who will be forced to not just be tolerant of gay lifestyles, but face mandatory compliance regardless of their personal beliefs.


Check out the sidebar to the right for more information.


That's it for now but I will be hitting on this issue a lot for the next month.

hope this makes you laugh

Don't I look like Rumor Willis? Bruce and Demi's Daughter.

John Travolta?

This was way to much fun. Our friend Dan was here last night. He has this fun program on his mac laptop. We laughed so hard. I could have done it for hours! If you don't have a mac then find a friend who does and try this out.

Loving Him

I'm not one of those girls that gets all gooey, goo-goo, googly eyed or whatever it's called. I don't compliment enough, hold hands enough or say thank you enough. It's something I need to work on. Despite all those things I'm putting it out there. I love my husband. Okay that wasn't so hard. I really, really love him. He is so good to me. Yesterday I was driving home from the gym and a thought came to me. When the kids are grown and have moved on and it's just him and I. We are going to have a lot of fun together. We are going to be happy and have a great life. He is going to be a great person to grow old with.

I'm one lucky girl.

He's not too bad on the eyes either.

Ha!

bits and pieces

Ammon is writing like crazy now. Everyday he writes little notes. Usually with the word the, his name, and random letters on them and then pictures of all of us. It's so cute to see them taped up around the house. He talks about this girl Nicole from kindergarten a lot. The other day he came home and wrote her name on a paper. He only knows how to spell a few words so in order to learn her name he must have been memorizing it and practicing it at school. I think he's got a new crush!

We sat around all weekend watching General Conference on the BYU channel. I felt especially emotional this weekend. The talks were so uplifting. I love to feel inspired to do and be better. Some of my personal favorites were Uchtdorf, Holland, Monson, Wirthlin, Hales, and Eyering. Did I really hear Elder Hales correctly when he said, "Leave a comment on someones blog?" That was hilarious! I love conference weekend. Jody went to priesthood with a friend last night so I had a couple of friends come over. I made chicken noodle soup, rolls and then cinnamon rolls. I love fresh baked stuff but after eating so much Jody and I are both feeling a little sick.

Friday night Jody and I were watching a movie in our room and the boys were too afraid to watch one downstairs so we let them watch a movie in our closet on my laptop. They thought it was really cool. They've been really into building forts lately. Unfortunately Rylee tends to tear them down. Ammon usually ends up yelling at her but she keeps going back for more. She is hilarious. Having two brothers sure makes a girl tough. If she falls down, bangs her head on something and gets hurt she usually just gets back up and keeps going. She loves to point at things. She's also learning a few more words, doggy, binky, bye-bye.

Cohen is still missing Disneyland. We were running errands the other day and he randomly pointed to a neighborhood and said,"There's Disneyland." Then later in the week he told me that we needed to go back to Disneyland because Mickey Mouse was sad that we left. Then he proceeded to name every character that was sad we left and said, "we need to go back to make them happy. " Did I mention that he is fully potty trained now? Ever since he started preschool he has done great. He's never had an accident at school! We were feeling pretty sluggish after sitting around most of the weekend so we went on a walk and took the kids to the park. As I was putting on Cohen's shoes he said, "You're a great mommy. You're great at fixing things. You're great at cooking stuff. You're great at waffles and letting us stir the waffles." He is turning into such a sweet boy. He randomly tells me he loves me. Like when he was getting his haircut a while ago he looked at me and said. "I love you mommy." The lady cutting is hair almost started crying because it was so sweet.

Kasey will love this one. Ammon came home from school yesterday and told me several times, "Mom I want to move to Alaska." I guess some kid at school was talking about Alaska today. He didn't even know that Kaden and Alexa live there. When I told him that his cousin's live there he REALLY wanted to move there!

I've finally got some girlfriends to hang out with here! This week I think I did something with my friend Kelly everyday. I convinced her to join my gym and we worked out three times together. It is so nice to have a good friend and also someone who wants to get out and do things.