Aloha Oe Wailuku Ward!

Today was our last Sunday with our Wailuku Ward, and there aren't words to describe how much we will miss our ward family of the last three years. Each of the members will always hold a special place in our hearts. As a tradition here, when anyone is moving away, after the closing prayer in sacrament meeting, the ward sings Aloha Oe to them and present them with many lei, as kind of a final goodbye. The first time we experienced this tradition, I didn't know the person that was leaving, but the song and the love expressed through the giving of the lei, made tears come to my eyes. We have sung Aloha Oe to many family, friends, and missionaries going to their missions and going home from their missions. I cry each time. Today was our turn, and I could barely get through the first line. The people of our Wailuku Ward are the most loving group of people I have ever experienced. We will truely miss all of them. Instead of having our regular third hour meetings, the bishop took pictures of the entire congregation, and then we had a potluck dinner, so we could say our goodbyes. I hope that we will be able to keep the spirit of aloha that we have been surrounded with for the past three years with us, and that we will be able to share it with others. We received so many lei, we could barely see over the top of them. We told people that we wouldn't need scarves when we got up to Alaska, because we had enough to keep us really warm.

Good bye Wailuku Ward! We will miss you all greatly! Thank you for loving us. We have loved every minute of our time here, and are grateful that you could share it with us. You have taught us so many wonderful things. If you ever want to come and visit us up in Alaska, our door will always be open to you!

A Hui Hou!
Na Ohana Jensen

Ha`aheo ka ua i nâ pali
Proudly by the rain in the cliff
Ke nihi a`e la i kanahele
The creeping silently and softly up the forest
E uhai ana paha i ka liko
Seeking perhaps the bud
Pua `âhihi lehua a o uka,
Flower âhihi lehua of inland.

Hui:
Chorus:

Aloha `oe, aloha `oe
Farewell (to) Thee, farewell (to) Thee
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
Sweet fragrance dwelling in the dark forest
"One fond embrace", a ho`i a`e au
One fond embrace, before I now leave

"Until we meet again."

Moving Day 3

Well, the computer is almost out of battery, but we are on the third day of packing, and it was supposed to be the last, but the mover guys are on Maui time, so they are coming back tomorrow. We got most of the upstairs cleaned today...the walls, mirrors, windows(inside and out...Darwin and Isaiah went out on the roof for this!), carpets vacuumed, and some of the bathroom tackled. I even vacuumed the screens. We are in the bed and breakfast now for the first night, and earlier we took the kids to see Wall-E. It was pretty cute. Darwin had to go to work and to get some nail hole filler, so I am doing this really quick. I sure hope the movers get a move on tomorrow...because I don't work on Sunday, and Monday is our checkout with the property manager.

Good-night!

Moving - Day One

My camera is buried somewhere in a suitcase, and the video camera wasn't so here is a video of our first day of packing...mostly boring, but hey...it's a post! =)

A lady from church took the kids for the whole day, which was really helpful. I left mid morning to take the sleeping bags to the laundry mat. I got some crocheting done, and listened to about 12 chapters of Genesis on my ipod. I've had a goal for a little over a year now to read the bible cover to cover, because I never have, and now I've read the beginning of Genesis like three times. I found out you can download the bible for free on lds.org, so I am changing my goal slightly and am now listening to it. I can multitask this way...lol. I can clean house or sew, and still make my goal. I actually learned some things...go figure. I'm not sure I knew that Joseph with the colorful coat was the son of the Jacob that worked for his wife's father to earn her, and then got given the older daughter, and had to work seven more years for the one he wanted. I know you all knew that...and I did know both of the stories, but didn't make the connection between the two.

Anyway... =) ...The movers will be back tomorrow at 8am, and this time, they are taking my computer. I may have a magic trick up my sleeve, so I might be able to post even after they take my computer, but we'll have to see. If not...see you on the other end!

A Younger Looking Me

Yesterday my friend Ketra, took me to get my hair done as a thank you for helping her in the library all this year. It was nice to see her one last time, and I am going to miss her a lot when we move.

Thank you Ketra for the wonderful friend you have been to me, and for my beautiful hair...hehehe... I loved working with you in the library, and I'm glad I got to know you. It was nice to have someone else that understood why I couldn't stop in the middle of a project, and also got excited when we figured out (after cataloging 100's of books) that the Dymo could print on two lines. I hope you have a fun year next year...keep in touch! ~~MeJ~~

This is a before picture of my hair...notice that I look very...errrr...mature.

This is my after hair...no more grey! Wooo Hooo!

More Brite Music..for Joel (because he asked) =)

Click here for more information about the songs
Click here to create your own MySpace Playlist

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

Moving stinks.


I am excited to move, but the getting to it really stinks.


I probably won't be posting too much until August, because in 5 days, the movers will be coming, and then I won't see my computer until we unpack it in Juneau....as soon as we find a place to live.

Today, we just sold our desk, table and chairs, couch, recliner, and fish tank. The house is getting emptier, and I am still not ready to leave...but my reality meter has swung drastically in just the last 24 hours. Tomorrow I get to get away for a few hours, and spend some quality time with one of my friends for the last time...


My list of things to get done is slowly getting shorter (and longer) all at the same time, and I hope I can get us all packed and ready for the movers by Tues. night. I will be so ready for a vacation by the time it gets here.


Sorry this is not a better post, but I just feel overwhelmed today. I also have to prepare a talk for sunday, and I don't know when I'm going to have time to write it down.


Happy thoughts for today:
The stuff we needed to get rid of is gone
The new furniture is purchased and on it's way to Juneau (I love IKEA!)
My hair will not be gray tomorrow...=)
My kids have been angels today
I have not been a frenzied growly monster today
I had 2 hours of silence so I could prepare for my talk (the topic is service)


Wish me luck...I'm going to need it!

WHAT?!? Nostalgia gone awry

I have added a music player to my sidebar just so all of you could have a good laugh...but don't push the play button before reading this post. I don't know how many of you grew up listening to Brite Music by Janeen Brady, but I did. The songs were so fun and they covered many topics...holidays, seasons, religion, physical activity, values, animals, etc. ...and my brothers and I used to play the tapes nonstop. We would run all over the house while "See Me Run" was playing and I have sung many of these songs to my children. I have tried to find them on the internet, and a few years ago, I was able to buy a CD, but they were expensive (it is one of those home party kind of businesses) so I just let it be for awhile. Well, yesterday I had one of the songs stuck in my head, and I thought, I really want these....nostalgia....and they are very good songs for kids. The company has now gone digital, and is selling the albums in MP3 format for $9.99. I bit the bullet and bought 5 of the albums that I had as a kid. I spent the rest of the day blasting brite music through the house and singing and dancing with the kids. (All of them liked the music, except for Brooklin...she thought it was too babyish for her.) Anyway, while I was making dinner, one of the animal songs came on. It is called "A Seal And A Walrus" I didn't really remember this song, but as it started, I said outloud "I think this is a funny one". It started to come back to me, and I began to sing along. It didn't seem too funny of a song, until the last two lines, and then WHAT?!? I thought these were all just cutsey little kid songs! Needless to say, we have now listened to this song a hundred times and bust up laughing every time. Even Brooklin isn't tired of it yet. Enjoy!

****Oh, and you have to double click on the song title (yes, i know the player doesn't really fit on the sidebar) and it will start playing.****

Pictures from a Tongan Graduation Party

A couple weeks ago, a boy from our ward graduated from high school, and he had his graduation party at the church. His mom asked me if I would be kind of the "roaming photographer" for the event, so they didn't have to worry about pictures. I said sure, and I took 150 pictures for them. We have been to enough parties here to know what to expect, but it was bigger and better than I thought it was going to be. Here are some of the pictures I took.

This is the guest of honor's table. There were two graduates and their parents and a few other special guests that sat at this table. There were two pigs, and lots of fruit and other food.

This is the food for all the other guests. The young womens served all the food for the event.

After the dinner, we got to enjoy many dancers. This girl is was in Caleb's grade at school, and she did the may day dance that they learned.

These are I think some of the cousins of the graduate, and they did a very cute haka dance...I know that isn't how you describe a haka, but the boys were really trying hard to look like the older guys when they do it, and it was cute.

Next, was the tongan money dance. Because it was preformed inside the church, the graduate's sister told the audience that sticking the money to the girls was not allowed, but that there was a box to the side of the stage for any donations. Normally, everyone gets up and sticks money to the girls (they are well oiled and it sticks to them). Aleta, also recently posted a money dance picture and explaination. The girls were really beautiful, and I loved their costumes

This is a girl in our ward. She did a hula. I think she has won some kind of award for her hulas....anyway she is really good.

After the hula, we had four girls do a Samoan dance.

Then another Samoan guy came out and did a dance, and then the girls rejoined him for the end of it. His sister is in the white shirt and jeans...and she is our Nursery Leader.

The final dance was the graduate and all his football buddies doing the haka. He is the one with all the leis and wearing the lava lava. I guess they did this at their football games. It was really good, but the pictures are not as effective as a video of it would have been.

London's baptism

Our baby girl was baptized today. I took these first four pictures the other day so I could get a good shot of her in her dress while I wasn't running around and such. She was actually baptized in this dress and then she wore the dress I made for Brooklin's baptism to church today and after she got dunked. I didn't make her dress, because it is actually really easy to find an all white dress here. They have them at almost every store.

Here are London and Darwin right before her baptism. It's not really appropriate to take pictures of the actual baptism, so this is from right before and the others are from right after.

After her baptism...which was done in an outside font that is located in the center of the church in a little courtyard...all the church members gave her many leis and gifts. This is her with her many leis.

Newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Here we all are!

A hard day at work!

I have often been accused of not working hard and playing all the time by my family members and I want you to know that it is just not true. So to show how hard I work I have decide to post today's efforts on this blog site. This should put to rest the unfounded rummer that I do things that are unrelated to my primary responsabilities during the work day. Now two Saturdays ago I worked the entire day talking to people about how to prepare for a hurricaine and conducting a harbor patrol in Kahului harbor. As a result today may not be the best example of a hard working day but I will do my best to put the right type of spin on it.

I arose a 0300 to begin an arduous day of work. I arrived in the harbor in time to assist in launching the vessel and getting underway in moderate to heavy seas where we could assist the Maui Fire Rescue vessel (who really did launch at the same time and went fishing in the same place) provide oversight to recreational activities happening about 12 miles outside of Kahului Harbor. When we arrive we found that there were Mahi Mahi (dolphin) and Ahi (tuna) that needed to be taken as sample specimens from the environment. We did the best that we could to take a sampling that were representative of the area: 2 dolphin and 4 tuna. When we completed the sampling we decided we should widen our search for other types of life. During our fishing (I mean searching) we collected a short billed spear fish. I will admit that it was a lot of fun to reel this one in.

OK, I have a really cool job and I had fun today. I hope all of you have as much fun as I do. Love what you do and do what you love.

This is the demonstrating my workout in the short billed spear fish lifting exercises.

This is me and Hunter Betts (the vessel owner).

This is a fish sample that we took. OK, they are a little small, but they were a lot of fun to catch.

update to the 92 out of 200 thing

My mom wrote me this email, so I thought I would post it...it was cute....and my new total is 94. My responses are in red and if there are parenthesis, then that wasn't in the email...it is just for explanation. NERT!

So a few questions:

When did you ever hold a tarantula?In kindergarten...Tammy the Tarantula

Have I ever seen a meteor shower? I'm sure I saw the northern lights while I was in Alaska.

You did hold a baby goat!yes...but it said lamb, so i didn't highlight it

#32 made me laugh and you know why....................you did care once!!! (My mom and my dad came home from somewhere one night, and I was totally dancing my legs and arms off in front of a mirror...so I wouldn't look goofy at the stake dances...and I didn't see them pull up. They must have watched me for a good 20 min, before they decided to let me know that they could see me through my open window. I was completely embarrased, and I just sunk down below the window and stayed there!)

Man, you did #46 and I had the opportunity and never did it once.

#81 will NEVER happen to me!!! (she is terrified of flying)

Which historical place did you live in?duuuuh....you came to visit me there...when London was a baby...(we lived in Washington DC)

Did you never perform on a stage in all your years in band?I guess I was in roadshows, and we did preform onstage in band

You never made a hole-in-one even in miniature golf?i can't remember...but I don't think I have

What did you invent? Something to do with baby blankets???I invented the hair pillow (it is a small pillow with real hair sewed into one side. The short version of this story is when Isaiah was a baby, he would wake up every hour of the night and I gave him a pony tail one night...i had just cut Brooklin's hair...and he slept for six hours straight. The only problem was he was pulling all the hair out of the rubber band, so I sewed it into a small pillow. He is on his 4th one now, and still sleeps with it every night. He likes to twirl it in his fingers to help him relax)

You wore custom made shoes when you didn't learn how to walk until you were 15 months...they had a special heel and inserts. and you learned to walk right quick.

Are you sure you never took hunter's safety? Dad said all of you kids did except for Marnie.I never did either

What's an NJP newsletter?????????idk (I actually just googled this, and it stands for non-judicial punishment, and it has something to do with military discipline...so I guess you would know if you had one!)

92 out of 200...still plenty of things to experience

Here's what you do: copy the list, and then bold the things you have done

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby’s diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said “I love you” and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing (do manmade rockwalls count?)
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don’t
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school (in two months I will!!)
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway (or equivalent to your country) play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter

ok...now you all are "tagged"...and thanks jannet, this was fun!

Happy Birthday to Isaiah!

Today our baby turned six! He opened his presents this morning, and then promptly went outside to play with them. He got a bug vacuum, a roly-poly bug playground, a go diego go playset, a pooh bear, and a magnifying glass. He went out and vacuumed up a roly poly bug and a lady bug and put them in the bug playground, and then came in to tell me that they wouldn't play on the slide. He chose to have us cook him dinner instead of going to IHOP again, when we told him he couldn't get the whoville pancakes because he didn't eat them the last time we went there. He got around it by asking for pancakes with a lollipop stuck in the top for his dinner. (which is basically what the whoville pancakes are at IHOP) . We gave him a stack of pancakes and stuck a dum dum through the top...and he was happy and ate the whole thing.

We went to Wal-Mart this afternoon (all of us) to buy a present for a birthdy party Caleb is going to on Sat. and while we were there, Isaiah kept on asking for everything, and telling us it was his birthday, so we should just get it all for him. I told him he should be happy for the gifts we did get him, and just because it was his birthday, that didn't mean we were going to buy him stuff all day. He got this puzzled look on his face, and said, "Well how come the other day when it was London's birthday, you bought he headphones for her ipod on her birthday after she opened all her presents?" HE DOESN'T MISS ANYTHING!!! I tried to explain that the headphones that came with the ipod didn't stay in her ears very good, so we were just replacing them so she could listen to it...and then I gave up and told Darwin to explain it to him. Dar said, come on Isaiah, I'll buy you something...!!...so now Isaiah has an ipod shuffle for the airplane!! (and do the rest of us!) I'm not really sure how it happened but it had to do with a lot of children using their best puppy dog faces, and me leaving it up to Darwin...with the understanding that I wouldn't be mad if he got them, just I didn't want to be there, so I went to the fabric section at Wal-Mart and he let the kids pick out what color they wanted.

Anyway...

We all love Isaiah. He is the funniest kid. Just on Wed., we were at the park and he was sitting on my friends' lap and he sniffed her and then told her she smelled like "sugar on the ground"! When we all recovered from laughing, we asked him what that smelled like and he said, "Well, it's not good."...!!!! He is an amazing helper, and as you can tell he pays attention to details. He is cute as a bug, and he thinks it is weird when people ask to touch his hair...but he will now tilt his head toward them and say thank you, when they tell him what cool hair he has. He has an expression for everything, and can be my best cuddle bug, if I need a hug. He is also very charming...he picks a flower every sunday for Grandma Lulu, and sometimes for his friend Nalea. He also just started picking a flower for his friend Lauren's mom every day when she comes to pick Lauren up from school. He doesn't let anything stop him from accomplishing the things he wants to do. He is also a great singer, and when the kids sing in church, you can hear his voice above the rest. Some of the kids even hold their hands over their ears, because he sings so loud, but I love it. We are very grateful to have Isaiah in our family.

We Love You Isaiah!

Brooklin's award ceremony

June 4, 2008

Brooklin received an award on Wednesday night. She participated in a program at her school called Renaissance. She received a trophy in the bronze catagory.

The renaissance program was developed by a man in South Carolina in 1984, and has been implemented in over 1,800 schools nationwide. The basic goals of the program are 1.) To have the students improve their GPAs. 2.) To improve school attendance to 95%. 3.) To reduce disciplinary referrals by 15% and 4.) To promote community service of the students.

The requirements for this program are in three catagories.

Gold Card

All A's

One hour of community service per quarter

No suspensions

No class A, B, or C referrals

Maroon Card

B's or better

All other requirements as listed above

White Card

C's or better

All other requirements as listed above

Brooklin had straight A's all year, except for math and she had a C in Math all year, so she received a white card each quarter. The recognition awards were Diamond, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Tiger (their mascot). To receive the Diamond award. the kids had to have a gold card for quarters 1, 2, and 3 of this year. To receive Gold they needed two quarters of Gold. For Silver they needed either 1 gold and 1 maroon, or 2 maroon. For Bronze: 1 quarter gold and 1 white or 1 maroon and 1 white, or 2 white and for the Tiger award they needed either 1 quarter gold, 1 quarter Maroon, or 1 quarter of white.

Soooo...she did three service projects, and got good grades and wasn't suspended and we are very proud of her!

This is the award table.

Brooklin shaking hands with her principal and vice principal

B leaving the stage

SCHOOL IS PAU!!

June 5, 2008

Thursday was the last day of school for us. The kids all had parties and I enjoyed my last day of silence in the house until next school year. They got out early and when I went to pick them up, I was expecting a few sad faces from the little kids...but they were all smiles. I don't think it totally registers with them that they won't see their school friends again. Caleb gets to see his friends once more this Saturday...because his friend (who's birthday is after we leave) is having his birthday party early, so Caleb can come...but he is very emotional with good byes and will probably have tears after the party is over. On the other hand, I was expecting Brooklin to be jumping up and down with joy, and she came to the car bawling! She has had a really tough three years here and I thought she would be glad it was over. She looks a lot different than most of the kids at her school: she is really tall, has huge, poofy, light colored hair, she has acne already, and loves reading and school. Everyone here is short, has blemish free tan skin, and straight long black hair. I know that it should make a difference, but in middle school, it doesn't help to be different, and a lot of the kids have mostly just ignored her(which is almost worse than teasing), and a few of them have picked on her. This year she finally found some girls to be friends with, and last week two of them quit talking to her and started glaring at her when she tried to talk with them. She isn't sure what she did to upset them, and it took me 45 minutes of talking last week to figure out why she was having such a gigantic attitude. We both did some crying, and she is worried that her Alaska friends will have moved on without her, and won't want to be her friends either. I told her I was sad that they would treat her that way, but if she could just put on her tough skin for the next week, then it would all be over, and we could be done with it. When she came to the car crying, I assumed that one of the mean girls had put the icing on the cake, and I was ready to go into momma bear mode. Turns out she is crying because she is going to miss her friends! I said, "What!! Brooklin they were mean to you! Why are you sad?" She said, no not them, I will miss the other ones and she named off three other girls that I didn't know she was that good of friends with. I really got it all wrong...lol. Anyway, we are glad that school is out, and now I'm making them do housework all day long every day until we move, so they don't tell me they are bored....j/k, but they are going to help me get the last few piles and boxes of stuff mucked out and get the house spiffed up, so when the Relief Society sisters come to help me clean: A.) I will not be embarrassed by our large collection of dust bunnies and refrigerator science projects and B.) They won't have too much to do. Now I only have one more post before I am done for today! Yippie!

Happy Birthday to London

June 3, 2008

Our London turned eight on tuesday! We asked her what she wanted for her birthday, and she gave us a long list of expensive gifts that included; a TV, an ipod, a cell phone, and a Nintendo DS. She actually went on for quite awhile with her wish list...and we just smiled and nodded....SURE. What she actually got for her birthday was a pair of pants, new "real" scriptures and a pink case for them, a poodle Webkin, and an ipod shuffle with some accessories. We only do five presents for our kids, so we're always fair and don't go broke...lol...especially in December and in the spring. For 6 weeks in the spring, we have four birthdays, mother's day, and father's day, so it is just like Christmas all over again. She also got to go to the mall the night before her birthday and get her ears pierced. (Our family rule for ear piercing is 8). It was pretty funny. She watched her sister (and auntie) get their ears pierced four years ago, and she told us she never wanted to have it done. Sister didn't cry, but Auntie did and I think it scared her enough (at age 4) that she told us for almost two years after, that she didn't ever want her ears pierced. We asked her a few weeks ago if she wanted to have them done for her birthday, and she was a little thoughtful about it, but said that she did. She has been very good about cleaning them three times a day and twisting them a lot. There was only one girl in the shop when we went in to have them done, so she had to get them done one at a time. After the first one she was not sure she wanted the second one done. =) The lady did the second one, and she looked like she might start to cry. The lady had given her a sucker to hold for after, and I grabbed it and whipped it out of the wrapper and was like "Look! A sucker! Hurry! Eat it! Eat it!' I popped it into her mouth and then she started laughing like crazy, so we avoided any tears and she ended up laughing...yeah! One of our family traditions is to let the birthday kid choose a restruant to eat dinner and London choose IHOP. I also took Guri Guri into her class for her birthday. Guri Guri is a little like ice cream and all the kids totally love it here. They couldn't believe I had brought them some to school! It was very cute.

London is a sweet girl. She is also true to the poem about little girls, and has quite a bit of spice to her. She loves to play dress up/make believe, and can entertain herself (and Isaiah too) for several hours. She almost never tells me she is bored. She loves to sing...and since getting the ipod for her birthday...has pretty much been singing non stop for three days now. (another wild tangent...when she got home from school on her birthday, she said three things to me. 1. Did you charge up my ipod? 2. Did you put songs on it for me? 3. Can I have it? She never said another word, except singing, until dinner...hehehe) London is like a little mommy and loves to play with little kids. She is gentle and kind to them. She is a good friend and is a great helper at school and at home. She likes to help me when I am cooking too. London does well in school, and especially likes math. She likes to read too. We are so glad that she is in our family.

In our church, children can be baptized at the age of eight. London has chosen to be baptized and we are all very proud of her for making this decision. She is going to be baptized on June 15th (Father's Day) after church, by her dad. She asked her primary teacher and I to speak, and asked Brooklin to say the closing prayer. She also is going to have the primary children sing for her. We have bought her a white mu'u mu'u to be baptized in...but we haven't given it to her yet.

We love you London!

London's new earrings.

London's new webkin.

She named it Kadey.

London's new scriptures

ipod

She was very excited to get an ipod shuffle. Now she and her dad look just alike, and they both say "What?" and "Huh?" a lot.