Aloha, Aunt Stef!

Aloha, Aunt Stef! Stefanie came to Hawaii and spent our birthdays (hers is one day after mine) together. It was so much fun to have her here!

Happy Birthday! We made a fun video with help from all the Johanson family-it was a hit!

At the PCC, they show you how to husk a coconut. He sure made it look easy - but in reality - it only LOOKS easy. With the help of Mike's buck knife and some serious muscles we did get it open. As you can see-it took some major consentration.

We learned the coconuts have faces. And what is a face without a hairdo?
If you look closely, you can see its pigtails.

After it's husked, the work is not over.


Apparently we didn't take good enough notes because ours broke into about ten pieces instead of just two. But we laughed really hard the whole time. So we got our dose of endorphins for the day AND a workout - what a deal!

Happy Birthday Week

Mike decided this year they would celebrate not just my birthDAY but my birthday WEEK. So Sunday after dinner he scooped me up and put me on the couch with a book and an umbrella drink, with the girls fanning me. It made us all laugh. Another day he made me a strawberry milkshake. YUM!!!

French Toast with a candle (not my birthday yet)

Still not my birthday - but I got to wear the crown all day. I love morning pictures - they always capture me looking my best!

My cake - in case anyone is wondering all those decorations ARE edible! :) Ha ha!

Magical Moments

We had the privilege of experiencing one of Heavenly Father's many wonders. There are several milkweed plants where monarch butterflies lay their eggs. Naturally, the eggs hatch into caterpillars and we got to witness the transformation 1st hand. You know the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"? Well, these were seriously hungry caterpillars! The book is ficticious on what they eat, but we were amazed how such a little creature could eat so much so fast! Daily it was visibly bigger. It was so fun to watch!

One of my favorite parts was watching the caterpillar go into its chrysalis. The process itself takes only about 3 minutes and right before the girls went to school, we happened to notice it starting and watched the whole thing. Unfortunately, I was too caught up in the wonder of it all and didn't think to get the camera to tape it until it was almost finished. So below is what I did get. It was amazing! And to think that in a week it would be completely different!

They both hatched on my birthday! Happy Birthday! We missed it in the hussle and bustle of getting the girls out the door. But it was still neat to watch them pump their wings to dry them.

The caterpillars were named Sophia and Lucia - (I'm pretty sure the butterflies had different names, I just don't remember what they were.) We took them to the girls' classes so they could share our science experiment. I was amazed how much the kids in Kenna's class already knew. Many of those things I had just learned on the internet that morning. (Thanks Wikipedia! Ha ha Stef!) After school we let them fly away - it was magical!

Kenna was really nervous to let the butterfly climb on her finger, but after much coaxing she did it. She was really glad that she decided to. We got way more pictures of the process with Kenna.

Whitney's, on the other hand, was ready to get out - she didn't even stick around for a good picture.

1st of Many More to Come

Our beautiful plumeria tree started blooming so we can make leis! YAY! They smells so good! This is documenting our very first - picked from our very own trees.

Super Citizens

Every month during the school year there is an assembly to honor kids who have been exceptional in their class during the prior month. It is called the Super Citizen Award. Our girls were both chosen for the same month - lucky for us we got to celebrate both at the same assembly. :) Tradition here is that you give leis for any/all special occasions. Our girls were sure to remind us to bring leis, knowing we aren't really Hawaiian thinkers yet, so they weren't the only ones without.

Fireknife Competition

We decided to get season passes to the PCC so that we could attend this fireknife competition. The girls have loved having them - they would go to the canoe parade every week if I would let them. And the activites have yet to get old for them. We've heard they do some fun things on the lagoon for Christmas and Halloween so we are excited to visit regularly.

The youngest fireknife competitor was 8. Two boys in our ward competed and got 2nd place. It is amazing to me that these boys are my girls' ages. I don't even like them to swing sticks around - let alone ones that are burning!

1st Ponytail

It's a monumental day - Brynlee has enough hair for a ponytail! YAY! (Yes, that is a ponytail sticking up above her bow.)

And she's been flirting with crawling - oh man!

New Classes

It has definately taken some getting used to, but the girls have both started really enjoying their classes. They both have great teachers that have been very patient with the transition and the missed days of school from Whitney's accident. We took these pictures so they could write letters to their old classes in Idaho. They do still miss their teachers and classmates from Idaho.

There were several kids missing this day, but the first grade classes only have 18 kids each. Great for individual learning.

We've loved the diversity in their classrooms. To begin with, it was a challenge for them to remember names - it still is for me - but they have adapted well. In fact, they have added so many words to their vocabularies. I heard them playing ponies the other day - they were at the library. One was checking out a book about Fiji and the other had chosen one from "the shelf that no one picks" called "Cockroaches in Your Home." I laughed so hard! There are so many words that they didn't even know before we moved here (cockroaches, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, boogie boarding, surfing, etc) that they now talk about in casual play. What a great experience for our family!

Tap, Tap, Tap

This is Mike's bird friend that Makenna named Marco. He has started visiting Mike regularly, watching him and even tapping on the glass. But with a view of the mountains, palm trees, flowers, etc from your office window - you really can't complain! This picture doesn't even really do the view justice.

Springtime

When we were here interviewing I was talking to some moms about things I would miss if we moved here and told them I would really miss the seasons. One of them told me, "We have seasons here. My boys know when the waves are big - it's winter, and when they are small - it's summer." Ha ha!

I was a little afraid that I would miss out on Springtime living here. I do miss the drastic contrast of cold and snowy to warm and blossoms, but I have been happy to see that I won't completely miss out on new growth. These plumeria trees are in our front yard. When we moved here neither even had leaves. The bigger one is now beginning to bloom and the other is just barely starting to get buds for leaves. So here we sing "Popcorn popping on the plumeria tree!"

I love seasons of growth and new life. I guess that is what we've begun here - a new season of growth.



If you look close Whitney and Kenna are in the tree. They LOVE to climb this tree! (Against their father's will.) But can he really expect to have a great climbing tree and not let them climb?! I don't think so. It's part of being a kid, right?!

May Day

Every year the girls' school does a HUGE May Day production. Each grade learns a few dances from a different country and they learn about traditions and customs in that country. Then everyone goes to the PCC on May Day for the performance. The venue seats 2,700 and about 5 min after the doors opened it was packed. Before it started there was no longer even standing room. One of my favorite parts was knowing it was such a community event. I don't know how many students there are at least 100+/grade and almost all the costumes were made by parents or teachers. The dances were also taught by parents or someone in the community all volunteering their time. That is always neat to see. It was a fun thing for Kenna and Whitney to be able to do. They both did great! We were so proud of them.

The first graders learned about Native Americans

Kindergarteners stole the show (apparently they always do) with Italy. She was front and center. Her partner's mom posted their dance on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxq8zbKDLP0. I know I'm the mom, but it was pretty great!

Mmmm . . . Homemade Bread

Because of the price of groceries here, I decided I needed a Bosch before we moved. I found one on Craiglist a few weeks before we moved here and it is getting well used! My friend, Tiffany, did an enrichment teaching us how to make her wheat bread and we love it! It is super tasty and we LOVE fresh hot bread!!! I'm sure we eat more than we would of the store-bought, but it is better for us, right?! YUMMY!

Finger Update

At our last doctor's appointment (end of March/Beginning of April) Dr. Shin gave Whitney the green light for any kind of activity. No more bandages and no more keeping it out of sand and water at the beach. YAY! I figured I needed to get some pictures of how it was healing. Her index fingernail is split in the middle, but don't worry - we can still paint both parts of it. The middle fingernail looks normal at the nail bed, but then wraps around the end of her finger - also very paintable. Again, we feel so blessed that it was only the tips of her fingers. And I am glad to put away my nurse hat for awhile - hopefully a long while!

Kenna felt left out that I wasn't taking pictures of her hands too.

Painted Toes in the Sand

I painted Brynlee's toenails for the first time awhile ago and had this fabulous idea to paint all three girls' toes matching and take pictures of them in the sand. Theoretically, this is a good idea but logistically, not so much. Sand gets everywhere and hides the cute polish - which was the whole point of the picture in the first place. Brynlee didn't love the sand on her feet and wouldn't hold them still. It was a nice idea, but didn't turn out how I had envisioned it. I guess it took Thomas Edison a few tries to get it right too.

Snorkeling

We took the girls snorkeling at Sharks' Cove for their first time. Unfortunately, this was the only picture we took. My apologies for the graphic nature of this photo - but her face cracks me up! Mike and I, in a joint effort, were trying to get her changed without smearing stuff everywhere and Whitney decided we needed a picture. To me, her face says, "All you can think about right now is a picture?! Don't you see what I'm sitting in?!"


The girls loved snorkeling. Mike was on Brynlee duty on the beach. I didn't even put a mask on because I was helping the girls. They had their lifejackets on and I led them around the rocks so they could just worry about breathing underwater. They're naturals! We look forward to lots more fun snorkeling adventures.

Kenna's 1st tooth

We called Kenna "Sharky" for awhile because instead of coming in under her baby teeth, her two bottom teeth came behind so she had two rows of teeth. They came at least half-way in before we finally got them out. She wasn't as faithful of a tooth wiggler as Whitney so I had to wiggle on them every night. Dentist Mommy tried to tie a string and pop it out before it was ready, and it traumatized her so she didn't like me to even touch it after that. Mike says teeth pulling is my department. He's not up for that - but faithfully photographs me doing the dirty work. It finally got so loose that she turned it backwards and she still wouldn't pull it out. Once I convinced her it would stop bugging her if she just twisted it back around, she popped it right out and was very excited. (Forgetting how much pursuasion it took to get her there.) And shouted from the rooftops that she had pulled her own tooth. Crazy girl!

Yes, that is a jacket she is wearing, but not out of necessity. The girls have missed their winter clothes and at random like to wear pants and jackets - just because even though it makes them sweaty. I, on the other hand, haven't worn pants since we moved here and only wear socks with my running shoes. It's a beautiful thing!

Naked Baby!

Brynlee LOVES her baths! And she looks so cute all snuggled up in her towel!

Nice shot of her buddah belly - she's a chub! Locals joke that she fits right in with the Samoan babies here.

Our Friend, Jack

Can anyone classify this friend? We aren't exactly sure what he is - but the girls enjoyed having him be our pet for the day. That is the best kind - for a day. We found him out on our covered porch. He wasn't around for more than 5 minutes before the girls named him Jack. Kenna had a friend over and she wasn't afraid at all. She chased him all around the porch until she caught him. Unfortunately, he wasn't too excited about being caught and bit onto her hand and wouldn't let go. (Maybe that is why she hasn't come back to play.)


She didn't panic or anything, but calmly told me that it hurt a little. If it had been Whitney or Kenna, they wouldn't have picked it up in the first place, but they certainly would not have been calm about it being attached to their hand! I tried to pry it off with my nail, but no luck. Luckily I thought to get a stick and successfully detached it from her hand. I figured they would be done playing with him after his viciousness, but no. He didn't bite again after that and all three of them had him crawling up their arms and everything. They loved it. I think he must have enjoyed it too, because he didn't try to get out of the porch area. That evening they set him free. See - no mess or clean-up, no feeding, lots of entertainment and pictures, everyone is happy. That is my kind of pet!

Kenna's brave friend. (Jack is under the chair)

Happy Easter!

Our family was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting for Easter Sunday. What a great time to really study our Savior and His atonement. The Bishop even wanted our girls to speak - I am pretty sure my first Sacrament talk was after I turned twelve. Honestly, I was preparing myself to give their talks for them. They wrote their talks themselves, with only a little help from us. After practicing all week they were ready, but I still wasn't sure if they would really give them in front of everyone. I was so proud of them - they both did fabulous! I love the gospel and the roadmap it gives me to teach my children about our Heavenly Father's plan.

Brynlee didn't have much to say - I tried working with her, but she just wouldn't. Actually, she has lots to say - always when it is real quiet at church. Maybe next time.

Makenna's Talk
On Monday night for Family Home Evening we had our Easter lesson. My mom hid Easter eggs that had symbols of Easter inside. One by one we opened each egg and talked about what was inside. One egg had a nail for the nail prints in Jesus’ hands. Another egg had a red cloth like the one the soldiers put around Jesus to make fun of him. Another egg had cotton for the clouds that took Jesus up to heaven. On my last egg there was nothing inside and I wondered if mom had forgotten it. She asked me why I thought it would be empty. Then I remembered it was for the empty tomb. Jesus wasn’t there. I’m grateful for Easter that we can remember what Jesus did for us. I know that Jesus died and was resurrected and that I can be with my family forever.

Whitney's Talk
When I think of Jesus and his atonement, I think of a book we have called You are Priceless. It is about a little girl names Sarah who really wanted a bike. When she asked her dad is she could get one he told her to start saving her money. She saved everything and even did extra job to get more money. After saving for awhile, she came to her dad and asked if she could get a bike now. He said they could go look. So they went and she spotted the perfect bike. She was so excited until she saw how much it cost. She only had 61 cents. She told her daddy that she would never have enough money to buy the bike. She was very upset. Then her dad wiped away her tears and said, “Give me what you have, and a hug and a kiss and I will do the rest.” She was so happy and even gave extra kisses and hugs just to be sure. This story is like the atonement. We want to live with Heavenly Father again even more than Sarah wanted the bike. But no matter how hard we try we’ll still make mistakes and like Sarah we won’t be able to do enough. So Jesus says, “You give me all you’ve got, and a hug and a kiss. I’ll do the rest.” I’m grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and that he was willing to pay the price so I can live with Him again. I know that the church is true.