Taco Soup and Snowman Dishes

I thought I had left these dishes in Idaho-since snowmen don't exist here, but when we unpacked they somehow had made it into a box. It was a cool, windy day so I decided we needed a nice "winter meal" of taco soup and we should use our snowman dishes. Notice though, that even on our "winter" day we still have short sleeves and the girls are wearing capris. We enjoyed eating on our snowmen dishes and remembering Idaho winter days and storms. We do miss eating soups and casseroles and other cold weather food.

Familiar Faces

Friday night I got a phone call from a family from our ward in Ephrata. It's probably been 10 years or more since I talked to them. They were here for a family vacation and wanted to say Hi. We met them at the temple and visited for awhile. It was fun to catch up and find out where all of their kids are. Even though it has been so long, it was so great to see familiar faces! (Sorry the picture is so dark-too lazy to fix it.)

Tsunami Warning

Knock, knock, knock!!!
When you hear that sound at 3:30 AM you know there is something wrong!

Our neighbor came to warn us that there had been an earthquake in Chile and we were supposed to evacuate in preparation for the potential tsunami. We don't have TV at home and didn't want to take the time to find out more details on the internet so we began packing. From the urgency that our neighbor had (maybe it was too early in the morning to interpret correctly) we thought it was a "get out now" warning.

So, we pulled out our 72 kits (which we learned were very inadequate) and packed food, clothes, toys, and books for the kids for who knew how long. I was impressed by our ability to get all packed into the van by 4 AM. Unfortunately, we tore our children from their beds that early. We headed to Mike's office to get a few things he would need as far as BYU was concerned. Being the comms guy for the university, he had responsibilities for keeping the campus and parents updated.

Our original plan was to evacuate up to Temple Hill after getting the things he needs from his office, but figured we'd be just as safe and considerably more comfortable to just stay put in the air conditioned office. When we got there and turned on the news, we found out that the initial wave was not estimated to reach us until 11:19. The alarm didn't sound until 6 AM, which I figured would have happened at 3:30 or 4 if it had really been that urgent. But in the name of safety and "just in case"-we left in the dark. :) It made for a VERY long day for my kids! (And me, too!) Bryn doesn't sleep so well if she isn't in her crib, so naps were a little challenging, but we made it work. I even got to take a little nap with her.

Waking them up in the early morning scared them. It made for a good teaching moment that if we follow the prophet's counsel to be prepared, then we don't need to be afraid. Even if our house was destroyed, we had food and clothes and each other and it would all be ok. It was funny the things they were worried about-like their toys-that we left in our house.

At the end of the day (or I guess middle of the day) the warning was called off with only a little bit of water movement on the big island of Hawaii. I think my kids watched more TV hanging out in Mike's office than they have all year! It was a good dry run and we were grateful that we didn't see any real excitement.

The Music Man

BYU-Hawaii put on The Music Man so Whitney, Kenna, and I had a Girls' Night Out. Bryn got to have a Daddy date at home. :) We had a lot of fun and though the plot was over their heads, they loved the music and dancing. It was fun to see our cousin Karenna in it, too. Grandpa Jones was in this play when he was younger, so we called him on the way. He told us which part he played so we could watch for it. I"m excited for many more years of GIRLS' NIGHTS! I do love my girls!

The Chef Is In!

Often on Sunday Mike takes over making dinner and gets creative. I don't really like to try things that I don't know we will like-but he is a little more adventurous. This was a recipe he found for Parmesan Chicken that turned out SO YUMMY! I married a good man!

Valentine Surprise!

We sent the girls on this fun scavenger hunt to find out their Valentine Surprise.

The final clue sent them to Bryn's crib where it said that Bryn sleeps there now, but not for too much longer! They didn't get it. So Mike told them to look at my tummy. Unfortunately, because I have been more sick than I have been with my other three and am showing earlier, it has been harder to keep a secret! They tried to lift up my shirt to find another clue! But then they got it! We are so excited! (Due date Sept 22)

The morning after taking the pregnancy test I left this note for Mike on the mirror.

Valentines' Day Hair

I wish I could take credit for coming up with these hairdos, but I can't. I have 2 blogs that I get a lot of ideas from. I am really not a creative person, but I can copy with the best of them! Hair was fixed and ready for church at 8! I LOVE doing my girls hair! And so far-they like to too. (Most days.) Sad will be the day, when they are ready for me to give it up! But I'll enjoy it while I can!

Surprise Trip

Our neighbor friend, Savannah, got to come for a surprise visit to see her dad for a week and Kenna and Whitney LOVED it! It went by too fast though!

We had to say goodbye before my girls got their hair fixed-it's a little scary!

We had Savannah over for a Valentine Breakfast-pink heart-shaped pancakes and another pancake in the shape of their letter and pink milk. Yummy!

Beautiful Girls

Maybe I've ruined my girls by wanting to take pictures of them so often and having them pose, but we were walking home from school and they saw these statue things and said, "Hey Mom, "We could all sit on one of these and you could take our picture! Whitney can sit on the biggest one and then Kenna and then Bryn on the smallest. That would be cute!" I love my girls!

Twin Day

During Spirit Week, we had a twin day. It worked out well that my girls like to match and the "twin" they chose was a little smaller than them. They both even insisted that there hair was fixed the same with the same bow/flower. These are two of their best friends.

Whitney and Keili

Tia and Makenna