I meant to post this the other day and forgot.
Just wanted to say.......

(that is Merry Christmas in Hawaiian if you didn't know)

Just a Typical Male

Today we got free tickets to the Hawaii Bowl and decided to come (pictures to soon come). One of the teams mascot is the mustangs and they brought their mustangs with them. After they scored the mustangs went running across the field. As my friend's little girls pointed and yelled "Look at the horses" little Eric pipes up with "Look at the cheerleaders". (In his defense the cheerleaders were doing back flips across the end zone.) It was just too funny!

Meet the newest member of the family......

her name is Hera and she is our new dog. I know most of you are thinking how much I dislike dogs and are we crazy. Well yes we are. :) the dog fight has been going on in our house for 8 years and I finally gave in. Eric was looking the other day on Craigs list for dogs and he came across her. The owner is moving to Japan and of course can't take her. He was giving her away for free and just wanted to make sure that she went to a good home. He brought her over and she could have cared less about us. She is a boxer terrier and 1 1/2 years old. He said that she is a good dog, never barks, never jumps, doesn't chew, doesn't get on furniture, and already spayed. So after talking to Eric I told him that he could have her. I haven't totally been against getting a dog I have just always said that when we do get one it can't be a puppy (I think puppies are cute but I HATE the puppy stage) and the dog had to be house broken. Because she was already trained and was good I gave in. For the most part she has been really good. She has done everything that the owner said she doesn't do, including getting on the couch when we are not home (a couple times we have come home and peek in the window and she is lounging on the couch). She is getting better though. The best thing about her is she could care less that I am here half the time. She LOVES big Eric and follows him everywhere. Little Eric is in heaven and loves to play with her and give her treats. Eric is going to Atlanta next week for work so she is going to be in for a rude awakening but I guess that will be our bonding time. We really couldn't ask for a better dog.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving this year has come and gone and for the most part it was a good holiday. My only complaint about it was it sure doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. but I guess it is hard to feel like it when you have shorts and a t-shirt on. :) We also really missed family.
Our ward offers every year to cook the turkey in the imu. You might ask what an imu is - it is cooking in the ground; just like they do a pig. A hole is dug and filled with volcanic rock and wood. The turkey's are then put in, covered with banana leaves and then with a tarp. It was such a cool experience. We dropped the turkey off on Wednesday night and then it cooked all night and we picked it up Thursday morning. Unfortunately it was raining Wednesday night so we didn't spend much time out there. I got a quick picture from Wednesday night. I did forget to bring the camera Thursday morning so we had to use our phones; not the best picture but it will do. :)
The turkey was really good. At first I couldn't tell much of a difference but Eric said he could. He also said that it was so tender that he didn't even have to use a knife to carve the turkey; the meat just fell right off the bone. I'm so glad that our ward did this so we could experience it!

I hope to get back in the habit......

of blogging. I don't know what my problem has been. I never feel like sitting down and actually doing it. I think I am pretty much caught up now. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with school so than end up not feeling like doing anything. My current class is kicking my butt but we have a week and a half left so I should make it through. I have a few more posts to do from this week and hope to get to them today. From now on I hope to get back in the habit of blogging at least once a week. We'll see how well that one goes over. :)

Furlough Friday

With the Furlough Friday's we have had to find things to do or else little Eric drives me CRAZY! On the second furlough Friday we decided to meet big Eric at the bowling alley at lunchtime and bowl a game and then get some lunch. We discovered that the bowling alley has a lunchtime special. For the 3 of us to bowl a game with shoe rental; it was only $5.25. We decided that this was going to become our Furlough Friday activity. This past Friday I remembered to take my camera. I just had to take a video of Eric bowling because he wanted to be just like a big kid bowling. I just thought it was too cute not to share.

Adding to the Zoo at the House

For the past couple of years we have had some problems with uninvited animals coming into our home (to remind you click here and here). Why did I think here would be any different. We have had the typical ants and spiders in the house along with a few geckos (which I don't do well with). Well about 2 weeks ago it was the breaking point; we had a mouse in the house. It was one morning and we had just gotten up. I was sitting in the living room and something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough a mouse was scurrying across the floor. I went running upstairs and told big Eric he had to get up (he had the day off)because there was a mouse in the house. He went beside the couch so we knew that it was probably on that wall. He looked behind the couch and my computer desk. We didn't see it but called the exterminators. Of course they couldn't come out until the next day. About an hour later I was sitting at my computer talking to my sister and happen to look over and see it peeking out from beside the piano. I of course freaked out and went running upstairs. We never saw it again, the exterminator came out put out the sticky traps so then all we could do was wait. The next day we still hadn't seen it and figured that either it was still behind the piano or somehow it had made its way out of the house. Three days after seeing it, it was finally caught. We haven't seen anymore and hopefully never will. The whole thing just grosses me out!

Random Pictures

Here are just a few random pictures that I have taken lately.

we have discovered that you can roast marshmallows over your stove burner. It has become our new favorite past time. Just watch out; you can still light the marshmallow on fire. Just turn your burner on high, and roast to a perfect brown color.

Here Eric is playing Wii Mario Kart (one of our favorite games) and he climbed up on the stool to play. I asked him why he was standing on the stool and he told me that he could play better this way.

Just thought this was cute. Eric dressed up on his Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume from 2 years ago (best money ever spent) and was playing with his Buzz Lightyear. Just thought it was cute.

Flag Football 2009

This year Eric is playing flag football and is having a great time. It is fun to watch. Here are a few pictures from the season so far. We have 2 more weeks left; I'll try and get some more pictures.

after his first game

waiting on the bench for his turn

Eric and his friend Logan who is on his team. They happen to be in the same class at school. Their teacher calls them the tornado and hurricane. :)

Halloween 2009

Wow I can't believe that Halloween has come and gone. Where did the year go? It was a pretty typical Halloween - except that we spent the afternoon at the beach. Eric had a football game that morning and after we headed to the beach. We met some friends down at Hickam Beach and enjoyed the sun! At Hickam Beach you can rent kayaks and paddleboards. We decided to rent paddleboards and we would all take turns with going out and watching the kids (there were 4 couples). That is the first time I had paddleboarded and it is alot harder than you would imagine. I had a lot of time trying to get my balance. Me and Eric have decided the next time he has a day off when little Eric has school we are going to go paddleboarding again. We got home in enough time to shower, eat dinner and than it was time to go trick-or-treating. We were going with our friends up the street. Me and big Eric were not going to dress up but everybody was and we didn't want to feel left out. I had to think of some costumes for us real quick. I decided to go as a Pampered Chef and big Eric went as a tourist (he had major raccoon eyes from the beach earlier in the day). Little Eric was the cutest pirate around. All in all it was a productive Halloween.

carving pumpkins

(we didn't realize that here in Hawaii don't carve your pumpkin till the day before Halloween. We had carved ours on Monday, the next day they had already started to mold and Wednesday we threw them away because they were starting to rot. Needless to say we didn't have any pumpkins on our doorstop on Halloween.)

Eric scooping out the guts

concentrating really hard on my intricate design

little Eric's pumpkin that he carved himself

our finished products

the cutest pirate ever (the first year ever he could wear flip flops trick or treating)

our family Halloween picture (i know my hat looks retarded. It was a 5 minute project :)~ )

A Nice Night for a Bonfire at the Beach

Some families from our ward got together one night a couple of weeks ago to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows at the beach. Lets just say it was so much fun! We got there right before dusk and swam until it was dark. Then it was time to light up the fire. We roasted hot dogs and than moved onto the smores. Some of the guys even went swimming again after we ate. After that we just sat by the fires and told stories and enjoyed each others company. It was just a great night with great friends!

roasting the perfect marshmallow

my boys

the girls

the kids

listening to a great ghost story

Soccer 2009

Eric got done with soccer last month. Big Eric was able to help coach until he went to ANOC. Of course little Eric loved it and did pretty good. Just a few good shots of him.

Honolulu Zoo

The day we checked out after our staycation the mother's day group from church were meeting at the Honolulu Zoo. We had never been so we were pretty excited to go. Unfortunately the day it was SO hot so I was having trouble enjoying ourselves. Little Eric had a good time. We'll just have to go back on a different day with big Eric and enjoy ourselves more.

Warning - you must be older than 18 to look at the next picture!! :)

As we were getting ready to round a corner we heard this weird noise but didn't think anything of it because we were at the zoo. We passed the corner and this is what we saw. It was kind of funny because we were there with mother's group. Just the other day we were driving down the road and little Eric said, "mommy remember when we were at the zoo and the one turtle was on top of the other one and the bottom turtle was making a weird loud noise." I thought I was going to die laughing. I then had to reassure Eric that the turtles were just wrestling.

Staycation

During fall break I couldn't afford to go anywhere and I was feeling pretty bummed because Eric was at Ft. Benning for ANOC and i was here by myself. My friend Amanda then invited me to go on a staycation with her. Her husband was deployed and she needed a break and had decided to get a hotel room at a hotel in Waikiki for the night. So we packed things up and off we went. Before we could check in we decided to spend some time at the pool. We ended up spending the whole afternoon just at the pool; we didn't even make it down to the beach. That was just fine with us because than we didn't have to deal with the sand. We than went to one of the restaurants at the hotel and had a nice dinner. Than Amanda took the kids to the playground and I ran over the Cheesecake Factory and got us some cheesecake for after the kids went to bed. Then we just went back to the room and hung out. It was a great break and just nice to get away. Thanks so much Amanda!!

Eric, Brooklyn and Landon

Train Ride to California

To get back to California from Utah and because things just had not worked out in the way of flying into the same place we were flying out; we decided to take the train back to California. We have always wanted to take a train ride and thought little Eric would think it was really fun. It was really nice and once we got into California it was really pretty. It didn't take any faster to get back but it was great that we didn't have to drive; we just got to sit and watch. Just thought I would add a few pictures from the trip.

Utah 2009

At the beginning of August we had the opportunity to go to Utah for a family reunion on my mom's side It was held at a ranch up in the mountains. I had forgotten how beautiful it was there. It was originally supposed to be in conjunction with my Grandma's birthday. Unfortunately my Grandma left this earth life a little early. It was still fun to get around the family and spend time with those who I haven't seen in a long time. We played, laughed, talked and just had a good time. The first night we still celebrated Grandma's day and it was great to remember such a great lady.

the lodge where we all stayed

big Eric going to ride horses

little Eric riding the pony (one of the rules on the ranch was everybody had to wear a life jacket while riding horses; I guess it was in case you encountered a flood. :)~ )

feeding the pony

little Leah wanted to join in on the fun (she is so cute!!)

shooting bows and arrows for the first time. He was pretty good.

the first time he hit the target

Even though the whole getting there was a HUGE headache (see previous posts) it was all worth it! I can't wait until the next reunion.

The Joys of a Military Space Available Flight

Flying Space Available is the way to go. We flew Space A this past summer to get to Utah for the family reunion. Once you get up to cruising altitude you can get up and move around. Most people find an empty space on the floor and claim it to lay down and sleep or just to stretch out. It was really neat because they let me and little Eric sit in the cock pit for the take off. We found a small space and Eric and little Eric had a great time. They played and wrestled and then laid down and took a nap. If you have the time and patience - it is the way to fly!

getting ready to take off

doesn't he look excited to be on the plane

helping pass time by wrestling some

all worn out so now it's time to take nap



I got a video of them having some fun. You can't hear much except for the sound of the plane. Sorry that it is sideways. I wasn't even thinking when I taped it