Aloooooooooooooooooooooha!

So, here's the skinny. Ever since we got engaged, Adam and I had been saving for a trip to Germany (where he served his mission) to pick up his little brother (who was serving a mission there). But his brother ended up getting sick and got reassigned to Florida and with the dollar being as weak as it is against the Euro, the Germany trip wasn't going to happen.

One day, it occurred to us that we're going to have a kid soon and vacationing will not be the easiest thing in the world. We thought, since we took a conservative honeymoon, we'd better hurry up and take one last trip if we were ever going to do it before our whole world changes. Only weeks before we boarded the plane, the plans were made. Adam found a mad crazy package to go to Hawaii and so we told our jobs and took off. Here's some of the highlights:

At the edge of our favorite beach (Kailua) is a street called ALALALALLALALALALALALLA! I decided it's called that because there's NO WAY you can get anywhere but in a circle on that street. So you see, the street is laughing at you!

Here's a view down the beach where we spent most of our time. We chilled in the water...

climbed our way through a rocky, pretty dense jungle in the middle of the island on slippery muddy rocks in flip flops to get to the top of a waterfall...

cruised around the temple, BYU-Hawaii and the North Shore...

Hiked up a volcano (this time in better shoes)...

Hung out with some penguins at Hawaii's version of Sea World which is right on the beach (you can see sand and waves the whole time you walk around the park) ...

Visited Pearl Harbor...

Met a submarine at Pearl Harbor and cruised out to the USS Arizona memorial where we saw officer Lisenby's name on the memorial...

Paid a visit to a pineapple plantation...

Visited the Polynesian Cultural Center where Adam stole the show. Here he is playing the drums with his new found friend. You wouldn't believe this but Cornfed was working the crowd and had everyone in stitches by the time he got off the stage.

See? He's modeling the crown he got in exchange for his amazing drum solo

I got to make friends with some Easter Island locals (which was a part of my mission) like this fine friend and I even got to chat with a kid who worked there at the PCC who was actually from Easter Island!

We went to a botanical garden and tested the local fare. Adam thouroughly enjoyed himself as you can see...

And we still managed to relax and enjoy. It was such a beautiful place to be. There was so much to do...and see! For example, we ended up sitting behind Mahele (Kristin's BYU freshman year roommate) at church on Sunday!)

We also took a tour of historic Honolulu, including the royal palace, government seat, supreme court building, governor's home and the oldest China Town in the US. We visited Hanauma Bay, ate WAY TOO MUCH macadamia nut ice cream and explored the entire island, including inland jungles and rain forests and the entire coast line, all in our super RAD mustang convertible. It was such a great trip. We feel really lucky we got to go before the baby came, and before I got too large to enjoy all there was to do outside. And it brought back fond memories of my trip there years ago with all of you.

Thought of the Day

So Lisa's Dad works in an office where he gets some hilarious forwards. I have been tempted many times to post some of them on the blog because I have laughed so hard I have cried. So in light of nobody posting, I thought I should share this thought with all of you.

"SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING, BUT
THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN YOU PUSH THEM DOWN THE STAIRS."

How true is that. Anyways, I just thought that was worth sharing.

Why isn't anybody posting?

I know your lives are exciting...now why don't you post about them? Here's my excitement for the day. Today for after school snack, while the kids were getting their stuff out to do homework and looking for something to eat, I stood in the kitchen eating jicima dipped in cottage cheese that I had mixed ranch dip mix into. Carter, my pickiest eater came over and wanted to try some. He did and he liked it. Then malia, my next pickiest did the same. Before I knew it, it was standing room only around the vegetables and cottage cheese. I love it when my tricks work...i.e., eating something in front of them rather than offering them some.

My second bit of excitement...my bell peppers are growing. I have like two or three that are about the size of a pea right now. Love it!
!

PMS...O...

I took my last final Tuesday night (HORRAY!) and the new semester doesn't start till this coming Tuesday, so naturally I'm spending 5 of my 6 days off in sunny California. After arriving, we headed strait to Tito's Tacos and then over to La Brea Tar Pits to meet up with Krally, Steven, and Lu Lu. I think the best part of the adventure was either the sign reading "Birds are nesting. They may act aggressively" or Steven getting busted for picking up the turtle. After the museum we headed back home and then to strait over to Monk Shabunk's open house. I know this may come as a shock but picture #3 is actually a drawing, not a photograph. Mackenzie had to pick her favorite family member and write about them. I made to stand by the drawing in her classroom and inform all those who passed by that I was the inspiration behind her assignment. By far the greatest assignment Kenz showed us is displayed in picture #5. Mackenzie and her friends created a clothing line which they named "PMS(O)" It is the first initials of all the creators. I was the only one who could keep a strait face when she was describing it to us. And then, I asked her to stand by it for a picture and totally unprovoked she came up with the pose you see in the picture. Now if that isn't a a PMS pose, I don't know what is...

Neato Frito Pedo!

Recognize this dude? Yes, I thought who better to wish Justin an HBD than his old pal (and VERY close friend, I might add) Monchichi. That's right. I went ahead and went there!

So, happy b-day to the man who quickly outgrew the nickname "General Fats" and moved on to any number of other supremely stellar nicknames like the one mentioned in the title. You know, we owe a lot to Justin. It's not every man who can don an easter bonnet and make it look cool. Nor is it every big brother in the nursery who will pop some other kid in the beak to get his little sister her glow worm back (I would have been traumatized without it. The kid was totally asking for it). Or jump on the hood of a moving vehicle only to find that the occupants of the car may or may not have been other than the people he was expecting.

Perhaps the crowning moment of Justin's hilarity was the tackling of the trashcan at Disneyland when he came up swinging afterwards. I was fairly certain that I'd caused internal damage from how hard I laughed. Just more evidence that wherever Justin goes, there is fun. HBD, Justino!

Sleeping Beauty...

I think Malia must be growing because most afternoons, this is how I find her...sacked out on the couch sucking away on her thumb. It makes for very peaceful afternoons...until the little bear wakes up and then it's all about whining and being held. I wonder where she gets that grumpiness from?

Gardening tools...

What? Not everybody uses drills to plan tomatoes? Yes folks, these are what I use to garden. I have always wanted to plant vegetables. So, this year, our circumstances permit it...we have enough space, and spots where the plants will get plenty of sun. So, I bought some plants and then went out to plant them...I could not get down more than two inches in that DIRT. The locals call it "hard pan." I call it cement. Our dirt is so hard, you literally have to get a hammer drill with a mack daddy drill bit to drill a hole. Mind you, even with that, the hole only goes down like three inches or something. Then, you get the biggest regular drill bit you have and drill holes in the side of the hole for the roots to grow into. I gave up after like 8 or 9 plants and bought some pots and planted some of the tomatoes/cucumbers/basil in the pots. That way I didn't have to break out the drill bit. When we have some tasty tomatoes this summer, I'm going to be glad I did this. But for today, I'm exhausted!!!!!!

Wedding Bells are Ringing

Or maybe there's just ringing in my head...Hey everyone! For those of you who haven't heard the latest, the wedding is back on for May 31st. Stephen and I are working on our temple paperwork though I am doubtful we will have a response by May 31st. Procrastination does not pay off! Now all I have to do is get the time off work and plan a wedding in 6 weeks. As of now, we are just planning on having a civil ceremony at Tesoro with no reception following. Anyone that can be there--great! Anyone that can't make it no hard feelings. Stephen and I are taking a huge leap of faith on this one and following the counsel of my attorney. Thank you for your continued prayers. We need it!

Quotes from Malia

Malia: "Mom, scoot me. I'm going to fall on my baby head."

I go over and scoot the bench in.

Malia: "Thanks mom. Thanks for saving me."

Adorable.

The zoo

I only remember going to the L.A. Zoo growing up...I'm sure we've been to others, but i don't remember them. The L.A. Zoo is up and down hills...mostly up hills, actually. So you have to hike the whole time. Some friends and I went to the zoo in Fresno and it was all FLAT. There was no hiking involved! The animals were actually out and about and it wasn't even crowded! The girls had a great time. I did learn one lesson though...I AM DONE WITH STROLLERS!!!!! Malia won't ride in them any more. She just wants to "help" push it around which ends up in run over little feet, very slow progress, and grumpy mom! No More Strollers!

Easily entertained...

Bella and Malia are in their sleeping bag (which is slippery) and sliding down the stairs. They are laughing hysterically...Seriously, wouldn't it be awesome to be that easily entertained?

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...

Okay...here's some pictures from our cruise. The first one is the skyline of San Diego which was just cool looking. That was our first stop. We wandered around in Seaport village and checked out this awesome U.S. Navy ship that was parked in the harbor. The weather was fabulous. The next stop was Catalina where we froze our noses off. It was so cold, when we got back to the ship, it took me like three hours to thaw out. We did do a tour there of the island which was fun. There are only 800 cars allowed on Catalina Island. The wait list is 15 years to get a car. And gas is crazy expensive there! It's over $4.00 a gallon. The post office doesn't deliver...the people have to go to the post office to get it. When there is bad weather, the barges that normally bring in all their food only bring in the four most important things...bread, milk, eggs and beer. Nice. I really enjoyed it. People drive golf carts there instead of cars. The next day we were in Ensenada. We took the bus downtown and just walked around in the shops. We bought some souveneirs for the kids (the mexican dresses that the girls are wearing). We went to a restaurant to have some authentic mexican food and instead were treated to microwave warmed Mission tortillas and some disgusting "inards" if you will. We went back to the boat to get a real lunch.

The food was great. I loved the appetizers...they had a cold strawberry soup and a pear soup that I loved. I also ate eggplant for the first time. Rick had lamb one night. One night they had a chocolate buffet at midnight. it was so beautiful looking. They had ice sculptures and big swans made out of white and dark chocolate. It was absolutely gorgeous...you had to wait in line for quite awhile to get there though...It was worth the wait for the chocolate covered strawberries.

The entertainment was fun too...there was a great comedian who made fun of singers. He could sing really well, himself, but he imitated others and that was very funny. There were a coupld of Las Vegas style shows taht were less than fabulous. My favorite was karaoke. I love watching people do that. Some were really good and really got the crowd into it. Others just stunk but were having a good time doing it. It was good fun. There was an adult scavenger hunt one night which was very funny. People were doing crazy stuff like taking out their false teeth to show to the M.C., men walking around in their girlfriend/wife's shoes, women dumping out their purse to show the empty purse to the M.C., and men holding hands with other men, skipping around. (I will not mention names, but rick may or may not have done the last thing I mentioned...). All for a Keychain!!!!!

I highly recommend crusing. I think it would be even more fun if there were other couples with us...who's in?

I never wanted to be in the marching band...

but today, when I was on the phone, I was walking around getting stuff done, trying to be somewhere quiet where I could hear. This went on for about 15 minutes when I noticed that I was leading a parade around the house...Rick was downstairs and I was upstairs...and following me were four kiddies. They seriously followed me upstairs, downstairs, in my room, in the loft, and back downstairs. I feel like I'm that drum major guy leading a marching band in a parade...

Dinner conversation...

Malia is sleeping on the couch in the other room (dressed like cinderella, incidentally). Bella and Carter are eating at the table. I hear from the other room..."Guys, guys, guys" (Progressively louder)

Carter (to Bella): Bella, should we answer that?
Bella: I guess. (Malia definitely has control over this house)

They walk in the other room and come back with Malia in tow. They all three sit at the table. Carter shares some of his chicken nuggets with Malia.

Carter: Say thank you Malia.
Malia: No, you say thank you to Princess Cinderella.

In other words, she will only be referred to as Princess Cinderella. (And Carter ought to be thanking her for her very presence.

That's okay because one day she got dressed in one of Mackenzie's old bridesmaid dresses and carried around a purple magic wand. She insisted that we call her "Your highness." I can't wait til she's a teenager. This should be fun.

We're Baaaaack...

Folks, a good time was had by all. Rick and I just returned from our cruise. Let's see...sunshine, quiet, five course dinners every night, unlimited soda refills, a midnight CHOCOLATE buffet, my first slight sunburn of the season, drunk people doing crazy karaoke, people attending to our every need, somebody making and unmaking our bed every day, No DISHES, and No CHILDREN, cheap shopping in Mexico, good books to read, lots of places to lounge, poolside drink service... Who's in for next year? More details and pictures to follow. But, for now, I have a chemistry test tomorrow at 8:00 AM, an "enrichment interest survey" to create and circulate for sunday and a R.S. lesson to prepare for Sunday also. I gotta get my head in the game...maybe after just one more nap.

In the news

The picture on this article just cracks me up. I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, but it's worth a look!

We had tornadoes!!!

Here is a post that I just posted on the Cochran blog and thought you guys would be interested in reading it as well. Hope all is well!



It all started around 3am last night when I noticed some lightning outside that was flashing in a way I've never seen before, so I went outside to watch it cuz it was cool (yeah, I'm pretty smart!). Anyway, it was crazy, whenever the lightning would flash, the area in the sky around it would turn a NEON BLUE! It was weird! It was a little off in the distance (maybe around a couple miles away) and the weather wasn't bad at all at our house at that time. Anyway, so the color of the blue was SO amazing that I went to wake Dale up so he could see it. Just in the time it took me to go get Dale and have him look out the window, the weather had changed drastically (it was like it went from 5 to 100 just in that short time!) and the storm was over our house, lightning in every direction going like every half second and inbetween those seconds, there was more lightning flashing in other directions... it was seriously crazy! Then the wind picked up and our electricity went out. We heard tornado alarms going off in the distance and so we went to gather the kids and Chudleigh, ready to head for our little safety spot in the house and just sat there, in the dark, lightning flashing like crazy, wind blowing waaaay out of control and just sat there waiting for the neighborhood tornado alarm to go off. Anyway, after about 20 minutes, the storm passed and headed towards Plano (where Uncle Rick is). Everything was fine, thank goodness.

Ok, so fast forward to tonight....

As I was driving to Woga Gym in Plano, I noticed that there were HUGE oak trees split in half and down along the street and uprooted, power lines down everywhere, roofs messed over. As I got closer to Woga (and to Uncle Rick's house - he's a block away from Woga), the damage got worse and worse. It was CRAZY!!!! Once I finally got to Woga, it was chaos just trying to get into the parking lot because everything was taped off and the entire intersection was blocked with emergency trucks everywhere because of more huge trees and power lines being down... not just the power lines but even the big wooden poles that hold the lines were down!

Anyway, so when I finally made it into the Woga parking lot, I noticed that the building was damaged big time and it was all taped off... and yet, there was still class going on! We had to actually walk underneath the tape to get to the doorway and yet, class was STILL going on! That's Texas for ya!

Oh and on a side note... I did pass by Uncle Rick's house on the way home to make sure his house was ok and it's fine. There's trees throughout his neighborhood that are down and the entire neighborhood smells heavily like sap, but luckily Uncle Ricks house is fine and the humongous oak tree in his yard is unharmed. I did notice, however, that one of his shingles is hanging off practically, but that's nothin thank goodness!!!! Anyway, thought I'd share! Welcome to Texas, Kate & Justin!! Hope you're ready for this! :)

I heart Cub Scouts!

Some of you may have seen these shots on my blog already but I thought they were just too priceless to not post here too so everyone got to see Brando's rite of passage. So, thanks to the Cub Scouts, Brandon needed to get his Outdoor Cooking merit badge. You know what that means... Uncle Adam at his best. I mean, if ever there were a skill that this man had mastered, it's the grill. So, here's Adam teaching the kiddo how to construct the perfect burger. (Evidently this is an art form) Brandon is obviously reveling in his new found "man skill..." (Dale is just outside the shot and was gracious enough to let us partake in this man-fest that is the first cook out of the season)
I managed to cruise outside to the garage right in time to catch the tail end of Adam teaching Brandon "Grill Safety 101" with Dale looking on for supervision, perhaps... My personal favorite part was the discussion of the explosive properties of several different types of gases when exposed to flame. I really couldn't follow the conversation...too much chemical reaction discussion for my simple mind ...but the take home message was definitely obvious: BOY SCOUTS, YOUNG AND OLD, LOVE FIRE AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT! (cough***Dale***Adam***Brando)
Here's Brando eating the fruits of his labor. I personally partook and I have to say, let's hear it for the Boy Scouts organization that gives Dads, Uncles and boys the world over a great excuse to get out to the grill and me an excuse to partake in the goodness. These boys are culinary geniuses. Thanks Dale and Steph for including us in the fun. I'm glad Adam has a nephew around now that the pink team is winning at the Braun house! (P.S. Girls rule!)

2fer-ific

Can I just say that another one of the benefits to being a California is the Disney 2fer! One day at Disneyland and another day at California Adventure for free! We enjoyed the second half of our Happiest Day on Earth on Thursday, enjoying perfect weather and amazingly short lines.

We're thinking of a repeat adventure at Christmas--who's with us?

Go Matty...It's your birthday!

Ah Mattykins. Badgew. Matchoo-choo. Bunners. Happy Birthday, Matty! The thing that's awesome about Matty is he's this incredibly smart, tenacious, persistent kid who busts out and says the most outlandishly hilarious thing and manages to keep a straight face. He's an amazing listener and has a gift for being very thoughtful and sensitive. I got to be kind of a Matty hog for several years when it was just he and I up at BYU together and during those years, he became one of my closest friends. Being that it's his birthdee, I thought I'd share some highlights.

1. Matty opened his mission call in my living room in Provo. I had to help him figure out how to pronounce "Tegucigalpa." Funny how his Spanish can run circles around mine now.

2. It was my birthday and I'd had the worst week in the world. I went out to my car and Matty had literally crammed my car full of Hot Tamales, balloons and a really thoughtful note. Or on another birthday, Matty and Coach told me they didn't have time to hang out at all that day and then surprised me by showing up at the law school with balloons and took me to dinner at my favorite Mexican Restaurant.

3. The countless BYU games that Matty and I attended together. We had tickets with all the kids from the Valencia/ Santa Clarita Stakes but so many times it was just he and I. One game in particular duing Matty's freshman year, BYU beat U of U in a 4th quarter thriller so Matty and I rushed the field. Or this photo above where Matty and I decided to go despite the bad weather. We had like second row seats and Cosmo came by to reward our loyalty. Yay Cosmo!

4. He somehow talked me and Coach into playing on a co-ed intramural soccer team. Terrible wouldn't begin to describe how our team was but it was probably the most fun I'd had in ages. The highlight of the season was when I was down right by goal and one of our players was on a fast break. He made quick pass and both Matty and Coach saw it...only they were coming at the ball from opposite sides of the field. They both sprinted at the ball full speed. Neither one saw the other until too late and they positively flattened one another. It took like 18 whistles by the ref and roughly 3 minutes for us to stop laughing long enough to get back to the game.

5. Finally, the little show off went ahead and graduated like eleventy billion years early so we got to walk together. Lest any of you be decieved, I'd like you to know that under Matty's robes, he's wearing some surf T-shirt and cargo pants. TAKE THAT, DRESS CODE!

Matty, I miss you now that you're so far away but we'll always have "Lil' Brudder," won't we? Happy Birthday! Back to you folks. Let's hear your Matty love!

Because you REALLY wanted to see more...

I really have nothing to say...but isn't it time to post more pictures of Sarah and shamelessly endorse her as the cutest ever? I think so.

Here's her five month old picture. Remember when the bear was bigger than her? I do.

Here she is in her Easter dress from Nana. I love this face.

We've been giving her some baby cereal every now and then at dinnertime. This is a funny face but she actually really likes it and will smoothly eat spoonful after spoonful. I feed her as kind of a hobby, and to keep her happy while we eat. (Don't remind me of this when her emotional eating actually becomes a problem.)

And lastly - like mother, like daughter...

Friends...

How cute is this? This is "Pweston," one of my friend Elizabeth's kids. He is the cutest, squishiest little guy. He and Malia love to play. I love having him over because he's happy to eat and run outside the whole time. And, he doesn't take any of what Malia dishes out...and he calls her "Mawea." What's not to love about that?

*%#$ trash people

So, I came home from getting Bella her kindergarden shots today to see this. Anybody who knows Jake knows he is obssessed with basketball. He plays outside shooting hoops EVERY DAY...The stupid trash people must've knocked it over when they were getting our trash. They SUCK. A few weeks ago, they dropped the trash can in the middle of the driveway. I hit it when I was backing out (because it is too short for me to see it out our back window) and broke our tail light. I was ticked then but now I am beyond pissed. That hoop cost like $300+ and he got is for christmas. Rick called the trash company and the supervisor said it's against city code to have basketball hoops in the sidewalk or the street because it's city property. Ours was on our sidewalk.

So, who has any ideas how we can get this replaced by either the manufacturer or the trash company? If you know me, you know I can't just let something like this go. Somebody's going to pay for it and IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ME! So, let's hear your ideas...

I never blog anymore

Justin checks the blog more than me these days, it's sad. I discovered that I would sit at the computer while neglecting household chores, and I don't have that luxury anymore. I have to keep the sink empty, the laundry folded and put away, and every bed made. It is exhausting! I try to clean in the morning, leave and not go home until about bedtime. It is a pretty effective system. But we have a second showing tomorrow night, so everybody cross you fingers and pray for an offer before I get committed! Maybe then I can keep up with family news, too.

My little climbers...

This morning, the girls have been up to mischief... especially Brooke. She's definitely the leader and Brittany will usually just follow. Anyway, here's a couple pics of where I found them this morning and to make things worse, I found Brooke getting into the medicine cupboard earlier (she says she was looking for bandaids - which they're obsessed with), so I think it's time to move the meds to another location. Scary!

Living the Dream

Its been a while since I've posted on the blog so I though I'd get you all caught up on this crazy life I'm living. It's actually more for my sake than yours because I use these posts for my journal. Since knocking down the parking sign (which was the last time I remember posting)

I went to Vegas with a group of friends,

went to my first NBA game,
fell in love with my new roommate, had the best Easter since the year Justin got caught nailing Brett in the head with an egg, (picture taken at the release of our Easter egg hunt) became an expert hula hooper, and attended The Festival of Colors. As you may have noticed, my friend Lauren and I got REALLY into the spirit of things. When we arrived we walked into the temple, which had been transformed into this Hindu version of DI, and we just had to get some outfits. And whats an outfit without a jewel for your forehead and some face paint? Our ensembles did not go unappreciated...my friend found that first picture of us on the event's website the next day. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of The Festival of Colors but it is SO rad. Its at a Hindu temple in Spanish Fork and basically what happens is there are performers for the first couple hours and then they stop the show, light a witch manikin thing on fire and then signal everyone to start throwing their chalk at each other. The third picture was taken right after the chalk throwing started, I'm the suffocating smurf on the right. I was tempted to post more pictures so you could see just how chaotic the whole event was, but I'll spare you seeing as I already have 9.

The point is guys, I'm living the dream and I'm doing my best not to take it for granted. Sometimes when I get overwhelmed with midterms or finals I start wishing college away but then there are times like these to remind me of just how good I have it.