i want some manoa!

I made it back to my hawaii home and a little puppy dog by the name of jordybug followed me. so i took him to see the turtles...

and the albatros... and we traversed the rainforest to take a peek at this beauty...

but all the puppy dog could do to thank me was say, "i want some manoa, i want some manoa, i want some manoa!!"

so i guess i gotta give him more...

snow pants made for two

starhead and sweetbottom

Almost all of us: Dave, Sarah, Laura, Jordan (sweetbottom), Mom, Amy, Marylu, Dad, and Anne.
It was great to go to the temple as a family- it felt like heaven!!

sweet jumps

this used to be my playground....

we call it the 'new park' because when we were growing up they built a bigger and better park on the edge of town so the park we usually went to received the name 'the old park' and only the old school kids went to play there. the new park had sand courts and a big hill and.....it was a mile away from home. it was still fun to go there and roll down the hill in the summers and sled down it in winters. takes me back....

gingerbread house front porch

I helped Ashtyn and Chayse create a gingerbread house yesterday and Ashtyn had a novel idea that in all my years of making gingerbread houses, I had never thought of...

I was the designated icing lady, methodically doing my job of applying the icing in the appropriate places when I noticed the door was placed in the center, high off the ground on the front face of the house. I instinctively moved it down to the bottom and center of the graham cracker- in it's traditional place. Ashtyn calmly protested by handing me the 'steps'. I admit at first I did not understand but shortly realized that she wanted me to make a front porch for our gingerbread house. cleva, cleva.

call me 'shawty'

They might be giants. This is the recently engaged, Shellie and Brian. The will be tying the knot around March 14th and honeymooning to, you guessed it, my hometown of Hawaii. I am planning to bunk them up on my couch, although now I think of it- my couch isn't 6 feet 9 inches long! Brian, you'd better find alternate lodging. sorry, dude.

Left to right: Ben (this is the guy all my friends seemed to have a serious problem with- he clashed with Casey, Faith and Patrick- don't worry guys you'll probably never be forced to bear his presence again.), Yuri, Justin, Emily, Casey, Faith, Doug, Gina, Me, Brynley, and Nate. The next picture is Casey, doing us all a favor, trying to strangle Ben
I can't remember what we were laughing about here but I'm sure it was good. Casey was giving me a hard time every time I said anything tinged with connotations to Hawaii- sombody's bitter- but she cuddled up to me in an expression of forgiveness and acceptance. I practically forced Patrick to my party and into this picture. It has been ages since we cruised together. (oh, they all gave me crap about that expression too. To cruise: def. to go or move along in an unhurried or unconcerned fashion. If you were up with the times you would know that cruise has replaced chill.