Jammin Out

Ahh homemade jam, there's few things better in life. At least that's how we feel in this house. Just so happens our friends across the street think the same thing. So, we held the 2nd annual jam making fest a couple months back. Only problem is none of us are experienced "jammers". We're capabale of making some beautiful jam but as for the amount of each thing needed we're clueless. The end result was over 80 jars of jam. And that's just where we decided to stop and just freeze the rest of the strawberries for smoothies and what not.
So, how does one go about making such mass amounts of jam?
Make sure you have your washer/decorer (aka Jeremy), your masher (aka Junior) and most importantly make sure you leave the measuring and keeping track of how long each batch has set to the WOMEN. We appreciated the men for their grunt work but allowed them few liberties.

When things get to crazy you enlist child labor (this isn't even halfway through, we forgot to take a final picture of the towers upon towers of jam)

And no, being 8 months pregnant does not get you out of any work!

What do you do with 80 jars of jam?
Why divide them between the two families and chow down of course. We're already on jar number 6.
It could be said we have an unhealthy addiction but what do you do?

The wind in his hair!!!

Man, if I ever take a break from blogging, I dread doing it because it seems such an ominous task.
Junior did finally make it back safe and sound from Samoa. The kids were pretty well glued to his side for awhile. They got worried whenever he left for work and would ask if he ever was coming back. haha
Anyway, as I mentioned in some earlier posts, Brayden has been working hard to learn to ride a two-wheeler. To a 5 year-old riding a two wheeler is the definition of freedom. I realized his major need for this when his two best friends Carson and Jeremy both learned to ride two-wheelers and took off for the park one day. Poor Brayden was left walking alongside the stroller with Jeremy's mom. Poor kid didn't even have a bike to learn to ride on (well, he had a 12 in one he got for his 3rd birthday and his knees were to his ears everytime he rides it, Tavita had taken it over MONTHS earlier). We knew he needed a bike but never put much thought into it because wiggle riders were the obsession and he never showed interest in bikes (the previously mentioned bike was in almost brand new condition when Tavita took it on, he has now done a wonderful job breaking it in)
Anyway, in the end we decided an early birthday present was in order. He was over the moon excited when it arrived (lets hope the excitement was enough to get him through the dissapointment of the lack of presents on his birthday next week) and bought him a bike. My brother and I put it together and he was filled with all the confidence in the world. Then he went on his first practice run...
He did great for his first time. He had the balance from the beginning. Problem was he's always been my conservative child (at least in some aspects) and he was very conerned about crashing. As soon as I would let go he would ride into the grass and jump off his bike. By the end of the first day (which last about 20 min or so) he was convinced he was never going to learn to ride a bike.
We had a pep talk, discussed the importance of believing in yourself.
Tried a few more times, took a few hard falls, his fear of crashing got worse.
Then one day we were practicing in our cul-de-sac. I started him off then let go but kept running behind him like I was still holding on and he did great. It wasn't until he lost balance that I let him know what was going on.
The confidence returned. He was shouting and dancing in the street. Then I let him know I was letting go and he went right to the grass again.
Enter Daddy!
The day after Junior got home we went out to practice. Within 15 minutes he was riding like a pro. His only hold up was starting on his own but he got that the next day. Guess there's just somethings that is better with Daddy then with Mommy!
When Junior got home I could finally stand back and take some pictures to remember it all.
Starting out and heading for the grass

Daddy helping him get started.

Going a little distance on his own but still a bit nervous

Moved to the street so he could use the grass as a crutch

Crashed a few times but was doing great!

Minutes later he was off!

Now Brayden has the long awaited freedom that comes from riding a bike. He rides every spare minute he has. He'll ride until dinner, come in gobble dinner down and be right back out there. If I'm ever not sure where he and Tavita are I can rest assured I need only to look out the front window and there they will be zipping down our neighbors driveway (has a perfect hill and straight shot out) and into the street (good thing we live on a cul-de-sac). He's taken a lot of nasty falls due to his need for speed but he gets right back up. His poor bike has taken a beating but that's what first bikes are for. It still his pride and joy.
For some reason I haven't gotten any pictures of the little speed demon but do have a picture of his resulting battle wounds. This was taken will icing his knee after a major fall. He loves zipping to the end of the street then flipping around as fast as he could. Well this time he flipped a little too fast and the momentum sent him flying into the curb sideways. We heard HIM, not the bike, hit from where we standing at the other end of the cul-de-sac. Seriously thought there would be a broken arm or something. My dear neighbor carried him inside for me (between that and pumping his tire for him, Brayden now feels Russ is a bike guru and no one should work on his bike but him). Luckily it was just a bruised kneee, to match his other knee, and the ones all down his shins, and the cuts and bruises on his elbows, and face. None of these came from learning to ride the bike but from his love of the wind in his hair!

As for me, well it's another bittersweet reminder that my little boy is growing up. Now I just have to face him heading off to kindergarten in a few weeks!
(and yes we did this polynesian style with no shoes. Probably not the safest thing in the world but I can't get my kids to keep shoes on their feet for the life of me)

Memories for Daddy Part 7

I'm not gonna lie, I was really hoping that Part 6 would be the last chapter. Turns out you were enjoying your vacation in Samoa too much and decided to stay a few extra days. Haha!
We're doing another sleepover in our room tonight. Think the kids are still going to push for these when you get back. It'll be interesting trying to fit all 5 of us in the bed.
Well, the past three days have been as busy as ever.
Tuesday was friends, friends and more friends. The friend count got up to 8 extras that day. Then I found out you missed your flight, panicked and kicked them all out the door.
Wednesday was another waterpark day (went with Hoovers and Gees. Since there were more "big kids" Brayden got to try the Vortex aka "toilet bowl" he loved it), then friends, friends, and more friends.
Today was library day (craft time and canopy capers) then friends, friends and more friends.
There of course has been the usual chores and preschool mixed in there. Brayden suprised me and did quite a bit of his math workbook without me even asking. He did a great job on it too!
Some of the highlights from the past three days:
-Finding Kalei scraping then eating chewed gum off the sidewalk at Seven Peaks! Yes, it was as gross to see as you are imagining. Stringy gum, compliments of some total stranger and steped on by who knows how many people, stuck all over her hands and mouth.
- Brayden yelling "Now that's the spirit!" Then turning to me asking, "What does that mean anyway"
- The kids helping me carry the groceries in last night. They were all carrying them in so happily and seemed so grown up doing it (Even little Leilei insisted i give her two bags at a time to carry). It was one of those moments where I just sat back and thought about how fast they're growing up.
- We had the Whitaker's grandkids (in visiting from Georgia) over today and their grandson walked around with one of Kalei's tutus on the ENTIRE time. I laughed everytime I saw him. Not sure what he thought it was, but he was usually slinging a gun or sword along wih it.
- Tavita's epic tantrum when leaving Seven Peaks yesterday. Ok, it wasn't a favorite moment, but boy was it memorable. I'll spare you the details but it involved: unheard of volumes of yelling and screaming, having to strap him into the stroller, him dragging his feet trying to keep me from pushing the stroller, things flying all over the place and oh so much more.
He FINALLY calmed down on the way home when he realized he was getting no where with the fit. Then by the time we got home he was walking a little gingerly saying his feet hurt really bad. Hmmmm...I wonder why.
At one point in our talk about behavior he said (all very calmly), "No Mom, you need to listen to me! I'm the one in charge." and at another point (in regards as to why he was throwing a fit) "I'm a little kid and that's what we do!"
All in all it was pretty impressive for a usually quiet kid.
- Trevor and Brianna moved on Tuesday. The kids had a blast watching them load up the truck/playing in the truck while they were trying to load it. Apparently they think people just empty their houses on occasion and pack them into trucks for fun because they had no idea they were moving. It wasn't until that night I was putting them in bed and said somethign that is struck them.
It was heartbreaking. They just started sobbing and noting I could say would console them. Hopefully Rodney stays down in the aparment for awhile because they sure don't like people moving out of there.
-Brayden's reaction when he realized he had been riding his bike by himself for a good distance. Everytime I let go he freaks out and jumps off the bike. So I decided to let go but keep running alongside him like I was still holding on and he did great! Once he stopped I told him and he was grinning ear to ear. He was so proud/excited he couldn't even speak.
- Kalei's new habit of calling me "Wissa" all the time instead of "Mommy"
-Tavita being a sweetheart and choosing the movie Brayden wanted instead of the one he was "really, really wanting" (it was his pick tonight). Decided he could watch his movie anytime and wanted to "make Brayden so, so, so excited"
- Tavita being too scared to go down to eat his breakfast because "a giant flying mosquito liked the way he tasted". He brought me downstairs to see it and I saw/heard nothing. "Mom, move out of the way and let him see me. Once he sees me he'll come because he loves eating me" Never found the culrpit but he did have a bite on his forehead.
Lastly, I loved walking in the other night and seeing this:


It was the night they realized Trevor and Brianna were moving. Tavita was so sad he was down with me and these two had cuddled up to comfort each other.

Memories for Daddy Part 6

Happy 4th of July my love!!! The fireworks have been going nonstop since Friday night. Aerials are now legal and boy have people been having fun with them! It's midnight and they're still going strong.
We started the day off as we have in the past. Headed over to the Balloon Festival at about 6:45 (Tavita and Kalei were having a hard time getting up and going)
We got there just in time for the pledge. Oh, and some guy was up in that balloon proposing to his girlfriend.

The boys were paying no attention to any of the other balloons because they had heard rumor of a Darth Vadar balloon. They were so excited when they found it and saw it going up.

But then the wind picked up and it just about took the crowd out. Check out the number of people jumping on the basket trying to stop it form continuing to blow across the field. People were running everywhere trying to get out of the way.

Needless to say the balloons were collapsed quickly and the launch was cancelled. (Luckily we'd gotten up early enough to see them launch from the house on Friday and Saturday). There were a few people who left their baskets up and let people climb in and pull the torch. Brayden was a little skittish of the loud noise so opted to stand outside the basket.

We then did a pitstop to see Rachael and she of course loaded the kids up with an ever so healthy breakfast.
Here the kids are waiting for the parade to start.

All the late nights and early mornings started catching up to Brayden. He was good once the parade started.

Kalei however snuggled right up to Chet and was ready to sleep right through the parade.

Then Ariel came by on a float and she got her second wind.

The boys of course were more excited about the Star Wars float that followed.

We headed home with high hopes the kids would all knock out for a little wile. Unfortunately Tavita was the only one that got any sort of semi-decent nap, even though they were all very much in need of one. I quickly got the lawn mowed/edged then we headed back to the Freedom Festival.
Since it was our 2nd time there the kids all hit up their favorite parts (there was only so much for them to choose from since I'm too cheap let them do any of the paid attractions). I'm sure I looked like an absolute nutcase pacing here and there with my eyes constantly darting around trying to keep my eye on all three (fortunately they were all close together)
Kalei chose the bounce houses

Brayden: the Scales and Tails show (he absolutely loves that show and was the one pushing for us to go back so he could see it again)

And Tavita chose to dig in the sand/

This evening we had a BBQ with the Halls. I made a red, white and blue trifle in your honor. Too bad your not here because none of the kids were too big on trifle (they all wanted the leftover donuts Rach brought by) and we have a TON leftover.
Then of course we ended the night the All-American way by lighting up the sky!

All the kids LOVED the smoke bombs.

Some of the traditional sparklers.

Kicked things up a notch and busted out these bad boys. The ultimate sparkler of all sparklers.

The night ended like this:

Luckily the fireworks still went off just fine.
Favorite part of the night:
Lit of one aerial then told them we had saved the best for last. It was gonna be big and scary so they had to back up.
They were all ready to make a break for the house and Luke let off a tiny little one. The kids of course followed with a chorus of complaints so we told them we could do one last one.
It wasn't gonna be very big but it was all we had left. Luke then lit a killer aerial that made for our own little firework show. They were shrieking with delight.
Anyway, less then 48 hours til you get home. We are all getting so excited. The kids have been asking about you nonstop all day. We all love and miss you!

Memories for Daddy Part 5

"Only 3 more sleeps to go!" That's what I keep telling the kids (I think I'm the one who get the most reassurance from that)
Kalei has gone from constantly asking, "Where's Daddy?" Or saying "I DON'T KNOW!" If you'd ask her where Daddy is.
To calling every male close to her "Daddy" (Tyler, Trevor, Jeremy and Luke all have been given the title at one point or another)
She's still trying to select a daddy but now she'll proudly say "Faamoaaa" when asked where her daddy is.
Been so crazy the past couple days haven't gotten a chance to blog.
Friday I cleaned while the kids lounged.
Headed to the waterpark for the day. Gees and Hoovers where there. Having friends always makes it more fun. As we were getting ready to leave Brayden was "STARVING" He was "Hungrier than an empty snake!" Promise of lunch waiting in the car was screaming his name but he really wished he could have a hamburger from the concession stand cause "it was the best smell in the world"
Suddenly a lady came up and asked if we wanted a meal voucher. They had an extra and wanted to make sure it went to someone that would appreciate it.
Brayden was elated and asked, "Why has everyone been giving us so many free tickets lately?"(Stadium of Fire, the parade, meal vouchers etc).
I replied, "Cause Mommy must not play the part of single mamma very well and people can sense it!" haha
Rest of the day was spent playing with friends, running a few errands, and heading to bed early. Well, they did, I never get to sleep early when you aren't home.
Oh, and we may or may not have had Macey's ice cream cones for dinner. And they may or may not have had one apiece! Don't worry I made sure they had a healthy snack before bed.
Here are the flowers I planted out front. Why do you not see the plant you ask? Because Tavita picked several of them, then took a picture as proof of his crime.

Highlight of the errand running, FIREWORKS!!! The kids have been eying them all weekend and can't wait for Monday!

Saturday morning we woke up ready to kick off the 4th of July weekend. Oh how I love this weekend. FAVORITE weekend of the year. Really wish you were here to enjoy it with us.
Started off the morning with the usual chaos mostly compliments of Kalei. By 10 am she had
1. Emptied the sink and climbed in for a bath. Not too bad of a thing except she kept using the hose on the sink to spray everything down.

2. Flooded the mud bath. (this girl and her obsession with water!)
3. Picked all the flowers as fast as I was planting them (and there already weren't many left after Tavita had gotten through with them). I just decided to think of it as pruning, and many more beautiful flowers will come in their place.
4. Gotten a bag of cornmeal and dumped it EVERYWHERE. Then Bowzer followed behind licking turning it all into a nice thick paste to clean up.

Decided to get her to where no more damage could be done so we headed out to pick cherries. Man there are a lot of beautiful red cherries up top that we can't get through. In fact, I'm no where near the acrobat you are so we only wound up with about 1/4 of a bowl. The boys had fun picking though.


While one person picked, the other two would swing!

Got cleaned up from our chores, ate a quick lunch then headed off to the Freedom Festival.
Started off at the Crandall Printing Museum. All three of the kids were absolutely enthralled with all the different types of printers and other gadgets to look at. I was enthralled with the house and it made me want to buy a turn of century home!


Then it was off to Colonial Days segment. We wandered around for a bit. Aside what's in the pictures, the kids also really enjoyed watching the guys that was melting metal and making different objects. Not really a blacksmith because he was just working over a tiny little fire.
The boys thought the cannon was way cool. Brayden however did not like it when the actually fired the cannon. Scared him to death and he took of running out of the yard!

These cute ladies were taking donations to support all the reenactment. I fully intended to donate as we left but didn't get a chance as I was chasing a very scared little boy down the street.

They thought living in a tent was a pretty cool idea but didn't like the idea of selling our house and giving it a whirl. Their favorite part of the tent was actually the feather pen on the desk. They thought they'd be a cool way to color.

When you get home I'd like you to build one of these to put in our yard please. I think it would do wonders for discipline problems.


We then made our way down to the Freedom Days carnival.
Luckily we go there just as the Scales and Tails show started. The kids loved seeing all the different animals as much as they do every year.

Recognize this? They were in there for a LONG time. I was very impressed with how good they did at taking turns with each other on one of the diggers.

Went back to Scales and Tails to try on a snake necklace.


Watched the JuggleNuts as they juggled knives and fire.

My favorite part of the show: They were slicing a carrot to show how sharp the knives were and sent carrot flying everywhere. Tavita ran around to gather pieces and eat them. I told him they were too dirty to eat. He then faithfully held on to one of the pieces the rest of the day (it turned completely black) and when we got home asked me to wash and peel it so he could eat it.

Went and got ourselves some patriotic art done on our faces for the show that night.

Made some rocket balloons.

Then there was an ordeal with a girl (I'm guessing she was dehydrated/overheated) and the ambulance came and eventually took her away. Brayden kept asking what was happening I told him that she probably didn't drink enough water or wasn't used to the heat.
He was then very quick to leave, "Mom, lets get out of here. I don't want to wind up with a needle in my arm like that lady". Then on the way home he said he was going to spend the rest of the day inside until it was time for Stadium of Fire and asked me to make sure the RVS (aka AC) was really cold in the house so we could all cool down.
Your very independent daughter making the long trek back to the car with her rocket baloon and her boppidoo wand.

Despite his worries about needles and ambulances, brayden did stop to do a little Irish jig as the bagpipes passed by.

Came home and took naps had dinner then headed off to STADIUM OF FIRE!!! It was so nice of the McMoils to give us the tickets and they were thoroughly enjoyed.
Getting ready for the show to start. The boys were a bit bummed about missing Cul-de-sac of Fire and thought they'd been duped when they sat in chairs for 45 min with nothing really going on.

Then NFL star/former BYU player Chad Lewis came on stage to get things started. There was a spark of excitement in their eyes.

Then as they started singing "God Bless the USA" (as you know, my all time FAVORITE patriotic song) some planes flew over head and dropped a few things out. Their eyes were glued to the sky while trying to figure out what was headed our way. They went nuts when the realized it was people falling from the sky. One of them unfurled the flag part way down.

All made perfect landings....except for the guy with the flag. He clipped a barrier and went tumbling, all entangled in the flag. It was really cool to see everyone rush to the flag to get it up off the ground, one or two people did help the skydiver as well.
However, everyone was so worried about the flag and skydiver, it took a little while to realize the poor guy in the corner there had been taken out along with the barrier. Fortunately he was ok too.

They then sang had a video of 13 year old David Archuleta singing the Star Spangled Banner 7 years ago at Stadium of Fire which after a few lines was taken over by the live 20 year-old David Archuleta. They had fireworks going along with the song. It ended with fighter jets flying low overhead and a live feed from the one of the pilots giving a message to both those in attendance and military personell oversees (did you know they broadcast Stadium of Fire to the troops?)
Needless to say, by this point the kids were fully hooked and rivited in their seats.
A bunch of dancers performed a few numbers.

Meanwhile they let these giant beach balls go for a stadium version of volleyball. The kids loved having the balls come flying at their heads.

One of their cool formations, also made the Statue of Liberty after it got dark.

Next good ole' hometown hero David Archuleta came on stage to perform.

The lights then dimmed and out came Brad, accompanied by roaring screams. Gotta admit, the man puts on a great show!

Too close up to really see but Kalei was having the time of her life dancing along to Brad Paisley's music. The boys on the other hand enjoyed the first few songs, then got impatient for fireworks.

Sadly at this point my camera died. Apparently the kids had been playing with it alot more then I thought that day and didn't realize the camera was drained til we got there. I did however make sure the video camera was fully charged and got it all on video, along with some still pictures on there, just don't know how to load them on the computer.
Anyway, after Brad Paisley the dancers performed a few more numbers with fire works going off. Then it was time for the Firework Spectacular, and spectacular it was. They had patriotic music blaring as a continuous stream of fireworks just kept going and going (they played Neal Diamond's "Coming to America" made me think of my dad"). The entire stadium was shaking from the noise. Your kids (including the one who turned tail and ran from the cannon) loved every second of it. Can't wait for you to see their faces on video. HILLARIOUS!
Few of my favorite moments from that night, not yet mentioned.
- Tavita nailed himself hard on the door handle a few days ago, got a killer goose egg. But it's a very precises goose egg, small and high. He kept saying, "Mom, my horn is hurting so bad" Tyler and I kept laughing everytime he mentioned his "horn"
- The guy that was caught popping his girlfriend's pimple on the jumbotron while we were waiting for the show to start. He was hard at work for quite awhile before either realized what was going on. INSTANT red faces!
- Kalei rubbing Tavita's head on and off thorughout the show. She liked the feeling of a buzzed head. I liked seeing the two of them actually getting along!
- Upon hearing that fireworks are now illegal in Hawaii Brayden responded with, "That SUCKS!" Tyler and I couldn't help it and busted up laughing. I regained my composure and tried telling Brayden that while he may hear that term used, it's not a nice thing to say. His response, "Well, people making it so other people can't play with fireworks isn't very nice, so we can say not nice things about them."
Couldn't really argue with his reasoning, but still told him not to say it anymore!

Today was relatively uneventful aside from the fact the kids didn't get to bed until almost 1am and were up by 8 so we had A LOT of crying. In fact Tavita cried the entire way to the park when we took Bowzer on a walk.
Sad thing was we got to the park and it was totally trashed from the night before. There were fireworks EVERYWHERE and very little effort to clean up. The boys were devastated. "Why would anyone do this to our park." "That was so mean of them, I feel really sad inside".
We cleaned up the sand pit which had a concentrated amount of fireworks in it and they felt a bit better but it was really pathetic to see people put forth so little effort to clean up after themselves.
Made it to church in one piece despite the fact NO ONE would take a nap. Kalei has taken on the habit of letting out her ear piercing scream everytime Tavita comes near, which made things exciting.
The Winters invited us over for dinner. It was really nice taking a bit of a break and enjoying some adult conversation.
Anway, off to bed. Gotta head out for the Balloon festival in 7 hours!