Jared's Valentine's day at the office

Jared gave all of his patients a rose on Valentine's day. You better believe he's all booked up for that day next year! (Not really, feel free to book one for yourself. I think I might!)

Our weekend

This weekend, we bought an airplane teeter-totter thing at Costco and since it was warm, we decided to start putting it together. The box said, "Assembles in as little as an hour!" so we thought we were good. NEVER BELIEVE WHAT A BOX SAYS!
This was a progress shot a couple of hours later. "Where is the final product?" You may be asking yourself. After about 4 hours, a couple of stripped screws, and A LOT of frustration, we gave up. This project will be finished on a weekend in the future. Side note: Notice how little snow there is in our backyard. The front yard is another story! Our house faces north and there is still quite a bit in the front. Pretty soon, I'm going to be like the old guy in my parent's neighborhood that shoveled the snow off of his grass and into the street.
Chandler test driving a jeep at Toys R us. This is what we have to do for fun in the winter. Visit the toy store. We tend to leave with someone in tears at not being able to buy something, but they are getting better.
Preston test driving an Escalade.

Church activities and Help wanted...

This past weekend, our ward held its annual primary talent show. It's really fun to see the kids show their stuff. The little ones are the best because they do things like throw a baseball, whistle, dance around, etc. Chandler decided that he wanted to do a cartwheel, so that's what he did. It was pretty cute.This is Chandler with his buddies (Ethan and Jake). Ethan hit a baseball for his talent and Jake "fielded" some grounders from his dad.
This is Chandler in his pre-cartwheel stance. The picture of the actual performance was just a blur.
***In other news, I was just sustained as the 1st counselor in the YW presidency in our ward. Now I will have to take a more active role in planning activities. This is where the 'help wanted' part of the title of this post comes in. I am desperate for fun activity ideas to do with just our class (Mia Maids), with all of the Young Women, and also all of the youth combined. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR IDEAS IN THE COMMENTS OR EMAIL ME-EVEN IF I DON'T KNOW YOU AND YOU ARE A RANDOM BLOG STALKER, I STILL WANT YOUR IDEAS!
This was our last combined activity. Can you guess what it is they are doing?
It's 'Human Foosball.' You know that game that you spin the players and knock a ball into a goal. This is the human version. The kids had a great time!

Decision 2008...

If you're anything like us, you have been enjoying this election season, but have been wondering what was missing.  No, it's not that perfect candidate ready to throw his/her hat in the ring, it's the political satire on Saturday Night Live!  Now that the writer's strike is over, SNL will be back this weekend.  Now the campaign will officially be started.  Tina Fey is hosting the first episode, so it should be a good one.  I have been watching the news of the election thinking, "I bet SNL would do a hilarious Mike Huckabee!" so many times.  My wish finally comes true this Saturday night.  One of our all time favorite clips was during the Bush-Gore campaign when there was an interview with "Bush" and he got distracted by the cat's ball of yarn and ended up rolling around on the couch and playing with the yarn.  I couldn't find it on YouTube, but here is one that I also get quite a kick out of.  Push pause on my music player and Enjoy!

My Ode to Snow

This is actually Jaime, I was signed in as Jared when I originally posted this. Sorry about the confusion.
We woke up to more snow this morning, so allow me to express my angst in the following poetic (I use that term very loosely) expression.

My Valentine's Day Ode to Snow

Six more inches, another backache
How much more do I have to take?

Shovel, shovel, shovel is all I can do,
I think I'm going to need some more IBU.

Valentine's day is supposed to be warm!
Since when did this become the norm?

I need some sun, green grass, blue skies,
That poor old groundhog didn't hear my cries!

I guess I just have to 'endure to the end'
An early spring would be my best friend!

Happy Valentines Day, everyone! We love you all! (except the random stalkers who may stumble across this post) :)

We're back!!!

Note: I think if you roll your mouse over the pictures, it will show you the caption. We made it back alive and well with a little more color on our faces and new resolve to make it through the rest of the long, drab, winter. Enjoy the pictures and here is a brief synopsis of our trip:
Travel to Hawaii:
The boys were quite good. Preston did kick the seat in front of him for awhile, but a VERY dirty look from the lady sitting there put a quick end to that. All of our luggage made it with the exception of BOTH of our car seats. I guess if we had to lose 2 things, that was a good choice. We rented car seats from the car rental company and were in business. We were all exhausted, but excited when we got there.
Sunday-Day 1:
Wynn, Joyce, Jared and Chandler attended sacrament meeting at the local ward (yes, they said, "Aloha!" at the beginning of the talks). It was Superbowl Sunday (and we were all jetlagged) so we pretty much hung around the condo and ate 7-layer dip, shrimp coctail, and veggies and dip. By the time the adults had finished watching the game, the boys were going stir crazy, so we made our first trip down Kuakini Highway to a local park and let them run around for awhile. Chandler made some new friends named Kona (the name of the city we were in) and Patrick. Very friendly people.
Monday-Day 2:
We visited some ancient burial grounds from 500 years ago. There was a nice little walk down to the shore through some lava rock. Beautiful scenery. Next we headed south to the 'Place of refuge.' The Hawaiian name for it is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. That's why we stick to the English translation. Beautiful place and lots of history. While visiting there, we came across a gecko. The boys were excited to find their first creature of the trip. It was crawling along the garbage can when we found it. The boys went exploring around the tide pools there and found tons of hermit crabs. Chandler put 7 of them in a cup and brought them back to the condo with us. They only lived a couple of days, but it's the only pet we've ever had so it was fun for him. While some of us rested, Jared took the boys to the pool at the condo complex, but it didn't last long because they quickly realized that they don't heat pools in Hawaii. We ended the night with dinner at Bubba Gump's overlooking the ocean.
Tuesday-Day 3:
We noticed a sign in the elevator that the water would be off on Tuesday, so we decided that would be the perfect day to be gone. We made the 2 1/2 hour journey south to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We enjoyed an enormous and delicious cinnamon roll from Island Lava Java for breakfast (they are even mentioned in my guidebook). We had prepared sandwiches before we left and had a nice picnic just as it started to rain upon our arrival. The rain kept picking up and pretty soon we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. We were basically in the rain forest. We purchased ponchos at the gift shop and set out to see the volcanoes. We saw steam vents and craters and even some Ne ne (Hawaiian geese). Wynn, Jared, the boys and I took a short hike through a lava tube. It was really cool to see in the middle of the rain forest. Some of the highlights for the boys were their hats with the lights on them (see pictures) and what they called 'pig monster.' A wild boar that they had on display in the visitor's center. We drove ALL THE WAY back to Kona and had Chinese take out for dinner while we watched the Super Tuesday results.
Wednesday-Day 4:
Can you believe we had been in Hawaii for 4 days and not been to the beach? Well it had not been the best weather and we were doing other things, but the time had definitely come. To quote my guidebook, "You know how frenzied a dog can get when they go to the beach? That's how most people act when they see Hapuna for the first time." It is a perfect beach. Lots of soft sand and clear blue water. It even has restrooms and a little grill that sells food and drinks. Joyce and Jared snorkeled and the rest of us relaxed, caught some rays, played in the waves, and got some reading done. We enjoyed this beach immensely despite it being 30 miles north of where we stayed. On the way home, we hit Costco for some cheap gas and souvenirs and then Hilo Hatties for some Hawaiian clothes. We had a great dinner at Big Island Grill.
Thursday-Day 5:
We went to a Farmer's Market about a block from our condo. We got some locally grown star fruit, pineapple, and some other things I don't know the name of. Chandler got his first (of two) temporary tatoos of the trip. Wynn, Jared, the boys and I went to explore Old Kona Airport beach and then hit the local playground again. That night we went to a Luau at the King Kamehameha hotel. We watched them pull the pig out of the ground, got some more temporary tatoos, and had a great buffet dinner. After dinner there was a great show that demonstrated dance and costume for several polynesian cultures. The boys' eyes were absolutely glued to the stage for the entire performance. I worried about them being up so late and not being able to sit still for the show, but they loved it.
Friday-Day 6:
We went to find another beach to spend the day at, and ended up driving back up to Hapuna again. Seriously, it's a great beach. Preston, who had started getting a cold, got some sand in his mouth upon arrival and threw up. Not about to let this ruin the day, Jared rinsed off his clothes and put his swimsuit on. He was ready to go. Jared dug a big hole in the sand which was a huge hit with the little boys. After playing so hard, Preston took a nap in my arms at the beach while I read. On the way back we hit HORRIBLE traffice due to some construction. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get home. It was still worth it.
Saturday-Day 7:
Wynn and Joyce attended the Church broadcast at the local ward building, while the rest of us went to 2 different Farmer's Markets, a candy factory (great salt water taffy!) and took some pictures outside the temple. After lunch at the condo, we headed out to Wawaloli Beach which is located near the Natural Energy lab. This place has a sandy area and also some huge tide pools in the lava rock that you can swim and play in. There was some pretty impressive marine life in the water too. It was a great last stop for us. We headed back to the condo to pack up. After we were ready, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner just up the street. I think the loud music was a bit much for the eldest of our group, but the food was good and it was close to where we were.
Travel home:
We left Hawaii at 10:30 pm local time. I have never been able to sleep on airplances and this was no exception. I thought since it was so late, I would be able to sleep-I was wrong. The first 3 hours of the flight were so turbulent that they didn't even turn off the fasten seatbelt sign. A baby nearby was crying too. The little boys slept soundly for the whole flight, so for that, I am grateful. We had a 4 hour layover in Oakland before finally returning home.

So maybe the brief synopsis wasn't so brief after all, oh well. If you're still reading, I apologize. We did have a great time. The boys were troopers and we can't wait to go back!

Things that make you go hmmm....

So I was at the pharmacy this morning picking up Jared's medicine. I happened to be thinking about all of the pharmacy robberies that have been going on lately (the past couple of years). I was looking around at all of the meds and the cameras and monitors (I didn't look that great on camera, either by the way--those cameras must add ten pounds too). I know some pharmacies are raised up (Jerry Seinfeld has a great bit about pharmacists needing to feel superior), but this one wasn't. It wouldn't have been too hard to hop over the counter or anything like that. And then it hit me! When I buy tickets at a movie theater the cashiers are shrouded in bullet-proof (maybe) glass and I have to talk to them through a special microphone thing. I guess the real crime happens at movies theaters and we have just been mislead by the media that pharmacies are where theft is common! So, now the question is, why can't pharmacies set themselves up like movie theaters and just talk to us like Darth Vader through the glass and put our medicine in the little metal dish thing that we normally get our tickets from? It seems to me, an excellent solution to their dilemma! Just a random thought...