Fall Fun

Why is this time of year SOOO insanely busy. I feel like we hit the ground running every morning and don't stop until we go to bed. For instance yesterday I got up at 6:15, was at the grocery store at 6:45 and litteraly did not stop until 10:30. All 3 meals were eaten standing up while doing other things. The most frustrating part is at the end of the day, the list seems to have grown rather then shortened.
Despite my grumblings I LOVE this time of year and all the activities going on, we have a Halloween activity of some sort or another everyday this week except today (and that's only because it's snowing/raining and it was an outdoor activity, yes it's october and we have a nice sprinkling of snow on our lawn). I have to admit I've come to love the fall and the cooler weather with the beautiful leaves, cool air, the baking,etc (the only thing that keeps me from fully enjoying it is knowing what's around the corner).
Anyway, with a lot of activities comes a lot of pics. We haven't gotten pics of every event as we are still without a camera. Here's the happenings over the last month or so. They've all been taken with a camera phone or or video cam but at least we have the memories right!
First a few randoms from our phones!
Here is the KING of Halloween. Tavita talks about Halloween everyday, all year long (SERIOUSLY!). We have a daily dance party to Halloween music and have to make some sort of Halloween craft/treat at least a couple times a week. (Need any ideas we've come up with some easy fun ones, sadly I haven't taken many pictures)

The three stooges (The blonde one is their brother from another mother)

Kalei showcasing the pumpkins from our garden. Note the Halloween books she's sitting on. The boys set up a whole display around the pumpkins.

The boys and their beloved pet Hoppy (look closely at Brayden's finger) They took very good care of him for a few days, attended to his every need, talked to him, brought him along wherever they were playing. I started to get worried their beloved pet would die on them and cause some serious heartache so I convinced them Hoppy's family was worried about him and needed him to come back. There were a few tears but they said they were glad they made Hoppy and his family happy again.

Random picture of the kids playing at Wal-Mart but it's a great shot of Brayden's mop before we finally convinced him to cut it.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Junior recently completed his first 5K about 5 weeks ago.
Here are his cheerleaders all geared up and ready to go.

Getting ready to race, obviously very deep in thought.

The video camera was to slow to get any pictures of him actually running, so here Junior is reinacting his run to the finish.

The sweaty trackstar

Junior and most of the 100 day heart challenge crew

Tavita and one of our Halloween projects: candy corn cookies

The finished product. Tavita loved this one because he got to use a rolling pin, pizza cutter, knife and piping bags.

Two weeks ago we did a movie night at our house. We hung a big sheet on the wall, Junior got a projector from work, and the neighborhood came over. The kids loved it, I think they loved the postmovie dance party the most!

Tavita rolling in the popcorn. There was more popcorn then carpet when all is said and done, thank goodness for vaccuums.

Kids were literally scaling the walls, leaping in the air, rolling on top of each other. It was hillarious to watch, the amazing thing is despite the chaos, it was all laughter and no tears.

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch we go to every year. The kids love it because they get to cut their own pumpkins then have a few other activities. We love it cause it's FREE (aside from the pumpkins)
Kalei would've been content hanging out with this mule all day. She was enthralled.

Kings of the haystack!

"She thinks my tractor's sexy!"

Mommy n LeiLei

Apparently we have 4 children, who knew!

In search of the perfect pumpkin.

"Not quite sure what these things are, maybe if I sit on it, something will hatch out of it!"

Brayden cutting his pumpkin

Tavita cutting his pumpkin

Kalei's turn!

Junior with the pickins'

"I can do it, I know I can!"

Who needs a sand pit, when you can have a corn pit?

Brayden doing what little boys do best, exploring!

We had new neighbors move in behind us. It used to be a bunch of single guys now it's a family with 4 kids (ages 6,4,3,2). We LOVE having them there. We get along with Luke and Erin really well and our kids play great together. Only problem is because of the way things are laid out you have to walk down the street and around the corner to get to eachothers houses. On Saturday Junior and Luke took care of that problem.
I present to you the, "Hobit Hole"
Junior and Luke hard at work. They had no plan, just kind of let things unfold as they went along.

Practicing their "deer in headlight" look!

The kids with the finished product (It even has self-closing hinges!). They LOVE it! They find every reason imaginable so they can use it.

After the project we had a little fall fest. Our backyard gets a TON of leaves. Here's an idea. I started leaf blowing, decided it was a bit self-defeating so gave up. Two hours later it looked like this. It had been completely clear from the tree over.

Junior brought these boxes home from work. They were used as coffins, leaf containers, hide-n-seek tools etc.

Brayden in a leaf frenzy

Rolling down the hill

They waged war against the blower

Brayden and Emma performing a zombie dance for us

Kalei, wasn't sure what to make of it all, but she slowly joined the fun

Luke being pulled into a leaf war

After all of Junior's hard work, Tavita quickly dismantled it all (and had quite the mishevious grin while doing so!) Oh well, that's what we do, we rake piles for the kids recreation then after a few weeks we finally bag them. After all, what's the point of fall leaves if you can't play in them!

100-day heart challenge

STILL no camera. I've finally resorted to using the camera phone and our video camera "still-mode" niether of which take the best of pictures but at least it's perserving memories. Anyway, that's my excuse for the lack of blogging.
However, this particular blog has no need for a camera so I shouldn't be using that as an excuse.
In June, Junior was chosen to do his companies 100-day Heart Challenge. He and 14 others were given personal trainers (though Junior's quit after a couple weeks so he was largely on his own) was given access to the hospital's gym, attended weekly nutrion classes and had to document everything they ate.
It was a fun challenge coming up with a bunch of new meals that were low-fat, whole grain, low-sodium (his biggest goal was to lower his blood pressure), low-cholestrol, yet not low-taste. We actually came up with some really good ones and have continued to try to eat that way the majority of the time (though it's nice to be able to eat a good roast dinner from time time).
Another big challenge was portion control. Junior usually at the typical polynesian-sized meals (large plate, lots of rice, lots of meats, lots of servings). We now eat of the dessert sized plates (our dessert plates are pretty decent sized) and try to have the veggies take up half the plate. He'll occasionally take a second plate but even then it's less then a single serving on a big plate).
He already biked to work most days but he started going to the gym and running and lifting as well. In fact for the grand finale of the challenge the contestants took part in a Run for Cancer 5K. Junior came in 1st in his group (the guy that came in actual 1st came in in under 15 min pushing a stroller. Still trying to decide if he's human or not).
At the end of it all (end of September) they did a nice fancy dinner and handed out awards for all the different categories (lbs lost, inches lost around waist, blood pressure, triglycerides etc). Junior won for dropping his cholsterol the most (big thing because a couple years ago his cholesterol was getting dangerously high which he regulated through slight change in diet) now his cholesterol is GREAT!
He also won the OVERALL!!! I was so proud of him. He's now down to 10% body fat, lost 2 1/2 inches around the waist, lost around 18 lbs, his triglycerides are down 78 points his blood pressure went down etc. He's my lean mean fighting machine! The night of the dinner some of the girls were poking at his muscles in amazement then apologized to me. I told them to poke away, I can't resist them either. Ha ha
Junior with the 2nd and 3rd place winners! (Who needs a camera when you can steal it from the company website!)

He now has access to the gym for the next year, won some gift certificates, etc. Mostly he's just grateful for the change in lifestyle it invoked in him. It was good for our whole family now the kids will have the healthy eating and importance of exercise ingrained in their little brains from the start and hopefully follow suit as they grow.