Christmas Pictures

Christmas is in four days and I realize that I am not at all ready for it yet. I haven't even mailed out all my Christmas cards yet, not even sure I'm done making them. Oh well...

Anyways, I wanted to post these pictures we took a few weeks ago so my MIL can look at them in case she didn't get her card in time. This usually the different pose we take whenever we have our pictures taken. As I mentioned in this post, I've decided to have our pictures taken at the beach this year and as you can see, it was a real distraction to stand still and pose when the water is sooo tempting like that. Some of these pictures are labeled...click on 'em if you want to see it.










Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. I know it's a busy month and with Christmas in four days, I'm sure every kids anywhere is excited about Christmas whereas I'm sure the adults are as crazily busy as ever. Remember to take a little break in between and reflect on what the true meaning of Christmas is. On that thought, I want to wish you all the best this Christmas. If I don't read, respond to anyone's post from now til Christmas, just know you're in my thoughts and prayers and a have a very Merry Christmas.

Take care and God bless!!

Pearl Harbor Remembered and a Tribute to the Armed Forces

Today, 68 years ago, Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu was attacked by the Japanese Troop. I would have to say that is one of the sneakiest thing that an enemy has ever done..the Japanese sneaking up on U.S. like that. So today, I just want to do a little remembrance tribute to all those unsuspecting soldiers who sunk down with the ships at the harbor and for all those soldiers who lost their lives defending themselves from that vicious and sneaky attack.

For the lives lost...we will always remember you and for all you did, what you died for. To the families of those loved ones died at Pearl Harbor, me and mine will forever be grateful to you. In memory of those brave soldiers, I've enclosed a couple of videos here. Pearl Harbor will live on in our hearts forever!!

Hope those two videos were a touching one for you. I've decided to enclose one more video...this is a gratitude video. Because of all that the people in the armed forces are doing to protect the people of this country, every American should be singing this song. I'm ending this post with this last video as a way to say thanks to every soldier everywhere, from the past, present and future, for what you're fighting for, for putting your lives on the line that we as a people living as a nation can have all the freedom we have today.



I am extremely grateful for the selfless acts of individuals who care so much about people as a whole that they hardly give a thought to themselves and put their lives out on the line so this great nation can stay the great nation it is, that America will forever stand as a safe haven for any and all who seek a place of refuge. And I am forever grateful that because of the armed forces, my family, my hub and my children can proudly stand under the flag of USA and proclaim their heritage. Thank you.

Food, Food & Who's Got Food

I know Thanksgiving is over but I just had to share what I did on Thanksgiving day. OMGosh, all those food, I'm still stuffed from them. Who's idea is it anyway to wait til close to the end of the year to stuff ourselves like pigs? My fridge is still loaded with left-overs and my hips and belly are even wider and bigger than they were.

Not that I'm obsessing over my weight or anything. I actually didn't mind the pounds I picked up over the years but do the food have to settle in the middle of my body, my belly and hips? Why didn't it distribute itself proportionately throughout my body? Huh? I'd like my butt to be a little bigger..LOL..or even better, why not make me a little taller so then I wouldn't look so much like a plum? And the thing is, in a few weeks, I'll be stuffing myself again celebrating Christmas...I can't help it, I see food, I have to eat it.

But enough about that. How is everyone's thanksgiving? Did you stuff yourself as much as I did and did you have a great time? Was it a stressful time for you? Did you spend practically all day in the kitchen preparing a big feast for your family? I had a great time for Thanksgiving. I only had to cook one dish for Thanksgiving. One of my best friend along with any friends we know got together for Thanksgiving and have a huge potluck. There were so many different delicious food, it was hard not to sample any of them. Here are some pictures.

These are just a few of the food I managed to take pictures, there were three tables of food....salad table, main dish with the starch and a dessert table. There was the traditional Thanksgiving food, turkey with its trimming, ham, mashed potatoes, yam, etc...then there were some local food, my absolute favorite, Tahitian Tuna sushi..hmm, yum.

There's my friend Jackie giving me "shaka" sign...this her house. She was our hostess and we have our party in her backyard.

Here is my plate of food...the first plate anyway..LOL. See the shrimp, oh my, I can never pass up shrimp and tuna..raw tuna that is. Yeah I know, it may sound gross to some of you about the raw tuna but don't knock it yet if you haven't tried it yet...kabish! LOL


We even had live entertainment.


Since everyone was so stuffed and there still tons of food, we decided to have anyone interested to stand up and learn to dance some of the Tahitian dances..of course, I designated myself as the photographer so there is no way you will see me up there making a fool of myself especially since that kind of dance and I don't mesh well.



Even the guys got up and did a number, of course by then, I was already too lazy to do anything but just sit and enjoy the view. We ended the day with Karaoke. Talk about a fun, memorable day.

Look at the contented faces of my kids...LOL.

There ya have it folks...a great Thanksgiving weekend. I am so thankful to be able to spend the day with those I love, my family and great friends.

Congratulations to the Winner

Thank you all for entering my give-away. It was very fun reading all of your comments.

The winner of the give-away is Emily over at Art & Sewl who wrote, "Oh man - I want to win like nobody's business!! It is all so cute and I need it all. Please enter me. I never win these giveaways so fingers crossed my luck changes!!" Congratulations, Emily...email me your mailing address and I'll send your prize off to you.

For those of you who voiced your interest in the tote bag and crayon roll, go to this site for the tutorials. I think you will find more fun and easy things you can create too. As for those of you on this island...all THREE of you, yes, you three, you know who you are, we can get together and have a fun day making these two items, aight?

Ok..thanks again ladies for entering.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Aloha all,

I don't want to let this day pass me by without expressing my gratitude. There are so many things I am grateful for so I'm just going to list a few:

1. My Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ
2. My family...my hub and kids
3. Friends
4. Good Health
5. Living in a Free Country
6. A Home-roof over my head
7. Food and all the other modern convenience of life that sometimes I take for granted
8. Extended family (parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and in-laws)
9. This beautiful world I live in
10. Living on a beautiful island where it's pretty much warm all year right
11. The Troops who're out there fighting for my freedom(thank you guys so much for all you're doing)
12. I am grateful that I am teachable enough to learn new skills and able to share it with anyone
13. This last one...I am really thankful for all you bloggy friends out there and all those who read this blog and comment on it...it means a great deal to me

And so many more....

Anyways, I found this video and I liked it so I thought I'd share with you all. So, have a great Thanksgiving and may you stuff yourself to overflowing..LOL. Enjoy!



♥ and G0d bless!!

Picture Taking at the Beach

Christmas is right around the corner and that's all I can think about these days. In fact, everything I do or think about has something Christmas thought to it...I don't know why that is but seems like I'm more excited about Christmas this year than I was any other Christmas. And not because I'm getting loads of presents or anything like that...heck, I haven't even started shopping for my kids yet. It's just the feeling about Christmas and I can feel it in the air. And I kind of feel a little guilty that I am not even thinking about Thanksgiving at all...don't get me wrong, I will have my Thanksgiving get-together and I have loads of things I'm grateful for.

Like everyone else around the holidays...family picture becomes a must on my list. But to cut down on the cost, I take our family pictures(have a friend do it or whoever was available at the time we needed the picture taken) instead of going to a photo studio to have it done. I'd rather spend the money on something else than have it spend on pictures...of course, if I have a professional photographer as a friend, I would pay her to take my family photos. And since I make my own Christmas cards, I think it only fitting that the pictures that go with it be also made(taken) by me.

Anyways, for every year since we started doing this and the kids were old enough to actually cooperate with a smile on their faces, we've been going over the Laie Temple (for those non-Mormon readers, this is the Mormon Temple) to have our pictures taken there. The Temple itself is beautiful and the landscape is absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately this year, we are unable to do that because the temple is closed for renovation. So, I decided that we will have our pictures taken at the beach. I love the idea of sending our Christmas cards to our family on the mainland with a picture of us at the beach(a kind of a joke strategy my hub and I have started to share to torture our family on the mainland to get them to come visit us..naughty uh? LOL).

So yesterday, after weeks of planning, color outfit to match, I made a deal with a friend of mine to bring her family and we can each take each other's family pictures. Everything worked out pretty smoothly until we got to the beach. Trying to control the little kids to stay away from the water long enough to take pictures was a bit of a struggle. I have to keep explaining to them that it's still Sunday and we still need to keep the Sabbath day holy and that we weren't there to swim which was really something else. We took tons of pictures since everytime most of the family is ready with a pose, one of the kids would move or blink. And I want to say that my hubby and my friend's hubby were real troopers, they didn't complain once and went along with both of our whims. When we say, stand a certain way or look a certain way...they did, which helped because when the kids see how patient the dads were to the mom, they couldn't help but follow suit. I am happy to report that I got what I needed out of our little photo session and didn't lose anyone to the temptation of those beautiful rolling waves. Oh but how the kids were so tempted to jump in the water full suit.

I was going to wait til closer to Christmas to show off the result our photo shoot but I am so excited about how these ones turned out. My friend took these and just emailed them to me so I thought I'd post them. We decided to do a walk on the beach and have her take different take on it. As you see the number of people in the pictures, you can give me virtual high five for tackling this task and managing to get away with everyone's cooperation. Enjoy.

(From left to right: Steph, Jon, Jen, Chris, Kat, me, Kev, Dan, & Joe)



Oh by the way...my give-away is still on...if interested, go here to enter. You still have til this Sunday.

Spiritual Sunday

We're having a Regional Conference and President Monson is going to be our main speaker today. I'm so excited to hear him speak today so I thought I'd share that with you all.