People, A little help here???

Okay, Jake has been home for one day and I'M GOING CRAZY. There's something about him being home that makes me and the other kids crazy. I wouldn't say it's necessarily him, but the dynamics definitely change and my day goes like this...Jake and Carter playing nicely, bing horrible to Bella...then Malia screaming and whining because Carter is pestering her. Then, Bella decides she want to play with the boys who absolutely won't let her. Meanwhile, Malia is still screaming and whining, but now whe is pulling on my legs. Bella has decided she should whine and cry so she starts and Malia gets irritated, so she pulls her hair and scratches her face. I put Malia in her room where she screams (still). Now Jake and Carter are arguing and they get into some kind of wrestling match. Malia has now decided she's ready to be happy, so she comes out, announces, "I got off my bed, mom. I'm happy." Then, Jake and Carter decided to play with Malia, again not including Bella who begins crying AGAIN. Why am I virtually insane? I have no idea.

So, I have nowhere to blow off steam but the library at night when I get to escape for a little while and I get here to read somebody else's posts...BUT THERE ARE NONE! What is wrong with you people? I need to live vicariously through you and you're leaving me with NOTHING. I know you can do better than that. People, post something PLEASE. Do I sound desperate yet? Because my sanity is hanging by a thread...

Okay you masculine people...

Here you go. Is this satisfactory? Next time, go to "Template" and pick your own! You're contributers...that means you can do it yourselves. Can't wait to see what Courtney picks...

Peace Out Hawaii

So yesterday was kind of my last day in Hawaii. I leave tomorrow morning at 6am to go to the airport so technically tomorrow is my last day but really today is. Buuut seeing how today is Sunday and you can't really do jack (especially when all your friends have left already), yesterday was kind of my last day. Tara was supposed to be on my same flight but she decided last minute to go to school in Provo for the summer so she changed her flight to the Thursday before. Even more last minute she decided that she wasn't going to school any more but our original flight was already full so she wasn't able to change it back. Everyone else I knew took off Friday. The point of my rambling is that I've spent my last weekend in Hawaii alone, and as they say in The Little Mermaid "that is very boring." Yesterday I hit up some of our favorites spots - sunset beach, matsumoto's shaved ice, sunset again, and ted's bakery. While at matsumoto's I ran into the Pickards, man did I look like a loner. I was like "I swear I have friends..." Anyway, these past two months have been incredible. I came here expecting to spend two months laying on breathtaking beaches, but it turns out laying on the beach was one of our less frequent activities. Tara and I made a list of the things we've done here but there are over 60 things on it, so I'll just have to share with you a few highlights.

Baptisms at the Laie Temple - I don't know how many temples are like this, but the baptismal is located directly in the center...weird...Tara and I made a wrong turn and almost walked into a session. Talk about awkward...

We both learned to play a few songs on the Ukelele and for me who is not exactly musically inclined that is quite a feat.

We ate Matsumoto's shaved ice, Hukilou cafe's banana pankakes, and Ted's Bakery's carrot cake - these places are legendary around here and if you ever get the chance to eat at them you'll know why.

Jumped off lots of cliffs. The one I'm jumping off in the picture is the rock at Waimea bay.

Snuck into World War II Bunkers which now house props from all the movies filmed on Oahu, like Jurassic Park and such.

Hiked Stairway to Heaven. I'm not sure exactly how to explain this hike to you. It is basically a staircase that goes up along the side of a very very large mountain, and keeps going so far that as you're hiking it you feel like its actually the stairway to hell. It's closed off now and may or may not be legal to do. What you're seeing in the picture is not the top, by any means. It's not even the first platform, which there are 5 of before you reaching the top.

Rented mopeds in Waikiki with a group of 16 of our friends and spent the day riding them up the coast line. You'll see a in the picture a chunk of our group leaving costco where we stopped for lunch.

I wish I could tell you guys about everything I've done but that would take far too long. It's funny to me to think that at one point I was in it for the tan, because it didn't take long for that to become one of the least of my concerns. Everyday I was doing something new and incredible and that's what I'm going to miss most about Hawaii - the adventures I had and the people I had them with. Just to warn you, if I post any blogs in the next couple weeks they may be various combinations of sad, depressing, and extremely negative but hopefully you all willl understand why. The transition from Hawaii to the mainland won't be any easy one, in fact the only thing getting me on that airplane tomorrow (aside from the desperate plee of my bank account) is knowing that I'm headed to California and not Utah.

What happened to the Blog?

On behalf of every male that posts (regardless of how infrequent) we (come on guys I need your back up here) hereby boycott this blog until we get a background that is not completely emasculating! I am trying to get prepared to have a boy for goodness sake. I have a lot of playing Pretty Pretty Princess, dressing up, wearing clip on earings, necklaces, and hair clips, and pink & purple sparklies to get over. Can you help a brotha out? For all of you Office fans out there, the blog is officially "shunned."

signed,
no longer willing to sacrifice masculinity (I don't have much left!)

Seriously adorable...

Check this out. These are the cutest pictures of Malia. Judy was watching her for me while I took the big kids to a free movie. It's hard to picture this little face yelling "Zip it Bella" all the way from Fresno to Valencia, but she did. Good thing she's cute.

Bedrest (is that one word?)

I just wanted to let everyone know that things are looking good for us here in Sacramento. We went to the doctor's yesterday and they said that things haven't changed at all - which is good. It means to me that I likely won't have to be put upside down in the hospital for quite some time and I should be able to keep this baby in until she's ready to come out. GOOD. VERY GOOD. It, of course, also means that I will continue to stay flat, but I'm starting to get used to that and as of yesterday, I can now enjoy a pleasure we probably would have never experienced otherwise - cable. Wow. Sometimes my choices are so overwhelming that I have to just turn it off and breathe. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for us. We are learning and growing a lot, but I believe that everything will work out wonderfully!
-L

Fresno

Okay folks, so we officially moved. The move went very smoothly...sort of. After sweating out whether or not our stuff would fit in the biggest moving truck Budget had...the elder's quorum managed to stuff every little bit in which was some kind of miracle. The actual drive up was lovely...Malia had bronchitis, Bella threw up a couple of times and the moving truck wouldn't go more than 25 miles up the grapevine. After we got there, the new elder's quorum unloaded us (for which I am grateful) and we now have an apartment lined from wall to wall with boxes which are not going to be unloaded since we have to turn around and do this again soon. The first night was tough...the boys were crying and although I tried to hold it together, Nana and Papa leaving was sad for me. Little did I know, my night was about to get worse...much worse. Bella threw up a couple more times and THE AIR CONDITIONER DIDN'T WORK. Which, if you've ever been to Fresno is A VERY BAD THING. They fixed it the next day after sleeping in a house that was 83 degrees. At some point int he midddle of the night, I was lying on my pillow crying because I was hot and tired and I WANTED TO GO HOME. Too bad I was home.

Anyway, things have imporved since then. Everybody is well. We went to a ward bar-b-que at church which was so fun. People are so friendly. And, even better for me...not all the moms are model skiny and gorgeous. They're more your average kind of people which I LOVE! The party was at this group of four houses on the same street owned by a dad and his three grown sons and their families. The backyards just don't have fences to separate them so it's like one huge backyard. The next night, some random person I sat behind in church invited us to a bar-b-que at her house. She lives in the country next to her three sisters and her mother and they all have lots of property. The kids WERE IN HEAVEN. We ate overlooking their pasture. After dinner, the kids fed the cows and had races in the dirt. For entertainment, they threw oranges (which were ruined in the frost) in the street to see them smash. The, the evening culminated with a homemade airgun which they filled with glow sticks and shot into the air like fireworks. The kids had such a fabulous time. Oh, and let's not forget the kittens...five of them. Malia dragged them around by their necks and they just kind of hung limply while she lugged them around. We had so much fun. I can tell I'm going to like this ward. In sacrament meeting, I noticed two women with tattoos, a lovely older lady with lavender hair, a few people in wheelchairs, and families with kids of all ages. Now that's my kind of ward. A little of everything. I really enjoyed it and people were so nice to us.

Anyway, that's it for now. In case you haven't figured it out, I don't have access to a computer except if I go to the library or somewhere else that has a computer...so my posts aren't very frequent for now...