Why Why!!!!!!!!

I don't know why I do the things I do...
Both of my kids need hair cuts - bad. I know some of you are thinking "THANK GOODNESS SHE IS GOING TO CUT LIAM'S HAIR!" Well.. no I'm not. I will cut it but it will stay on the longer side. He has such great thick hair and he looks so cute with a surfer/island look. But I admit right now it is CRAZY long!!! I want to get it trimmed but the last time I took him to someone on Guam they totally hacked it! She told me it would look like Zac Efron (High School Musical - he is so cute!) and she did a HORRIBLE job! So now if I ever want it cut I just take him to my guy in Houston. I do think it is a little crazy to pay for haircuts for little kids, especially boys, but I really am going for a look with Liam and I don't want someone to make him look stupid! Besides I only cut his hair about twice a year, so I'm really not spending that much money. And my mom is so desperate for me to cut his hair she usually offers to pay for it. HAHA! Kelly keeps trying to convince Liam to "cut your hair to look like Daddy". And while I do think my husband is very handsome... well... he and Liam have totally different hair! I am not just going to let Kelly whack it all off! I'm standing firm on this one. Liam has the rest of his life to have a straight-laced look... why start now???
Well after all that ranting that is not why I'm writing this. This is actually about Arie. She has been needing a trim as well. She's never had a haircut really... 1/4 of an inch here, 1/4 of an inch there. And once we had someone trim her bangs. I haven't wanted to cut her hair because she has fabulous little ringlets in the back and I know if I cut her hair they will be gone. But the problem is that the hair that grows from the top of her head has no curl - it is completely straight! So her hair looks a little ratty. Or to use the phrase my family uses - it is a little "cat-sucky". Well after I bathed the kids tonight I decided I would try and trim her hair when she got out of the tub. It was a mistake for several reasons. One - because Kelly is flying and I didn't have anyone to make sure she kept her head still. What should've taken 10 minutes took 25! Second - I'm REALLY bad at cutting hair. Cutting hair really is a talent. I hear parents say all the time that they cut their kids hair and sometimes I'm thinking "yep you can definitely tell!" Other people, even though they aren't professionals, do an ok job. I'm NOT one of those people. When I put her to bed her hair was still half wet so I have no idea what it really looks like, but I'm nervous to see it in the morning. I'm nervous that the little tendrils will be gone forever, and that my last minute ambition of putting fringe around her face was the stupidest decision of my life! When it comes to my own hair I'm pretty much fearless. My attitude is that hair grows back, nothing is permanent. I love to experiment and have totally different looks (I don't really have that opportunity on Guam though). But when it comes to my kids hair I'm definitely freaking out!!!! I cut about two inches off of Arie's hair which is actually a good amount of hair! I'll take pics in the morning and hopefully it won't be as bad as I'm thinking it is. Doing hair is NOT my calling in life!

A LOT of catching up to do.....

So it has been FOREVER since my last post on here. Its not that we've had incredibly boring lives lately it is just that I haven't had the patience to sit down and catch up on everything. I think the date on my last post was November 8th,, so I will try to go through our latest pictures and update everyone on our lives. This may seem really random with no thought behind it - but there is too much to cover for there to be any organization.

Kelly had his 34th birthday on November 12th. He and I had gone out to eat a few days before at this awesome local seafood restaurant called Proa to celebrate. Kel also had the opportunity to celebrate in Texas with family because he had some training to do. I don't have any recent pictures of Kel to put up here - I say recent because Kelly has lost 25 pounds!!!!!! He and a friend started a weight loss challenge together complete with a contract and everything. Kelly has been very motivated and has done a great job. I always think he looks good but he looks really good now! :) Because I don't have a picture of Kelly that shows off his new slender physique I will pay homage to him by listing my favorite things about him.

1. He doesn't take life or himself too seriously - Kel and I can act completely ridiculous together and laugh hysterically together and I love that about him. He isn't afraid to act stupid or goofy and he loves to try and embarrass me. Sometimes it works - but even then I'm grateful that he is like that.

2. He loves food especially my food! HAHA! I would be so depressed to be married to a boring and unadventurous eater. Kel will try anything and he usually loves it all. He also always goes on and on about the things I make. Maybe he is easily impressed, but I'll take the positive feedback anytime!

3. There is a saying that says "You can tell who a man really is by the way he treats his mother." Well I think they wrote that saying because of Kelly. He loves his Mom!!!! Not only does he love her but he is always willing to do anything for her. Now that we live far away he doesn't get to do things for her very often, but we when we lived in Texas (and when we visit), we pretty much have to be in an impossible situation for him to not drop everything to help her out. When we were dating and his Dad was in Iraq he would always tell me that he felt it was his responsibility to look after her and do things for her so that she wouldn't ever need anything. And now Kelly puts all that same energy and love into my Mom as well. He is always willing to help out and do anything that she needs, even before she asks for it. It is the running joke in our family that Kelly is my Mom's favorite kid. My mom says it isn't a joke because he really is her favorite.

4. He always goes out of his way to make sure everyone around him is comfortable and happy - if we are ever in a social setting he makes sure he talks to everyone and makes sure that those who don't really have anyone to talk to are included.

5. He is a PEACEMAKER - believe it or not it took me a while to appreciate this quality in him. Being a true peacemaker is a wonderful quality to have, but I often noticed that in his efforts to keep the peace in relationships in his life (family, work, friends) his feelings often got over looked. It takes a patient person and very loving person to be willing to always put aside their own feelings for the feelings of those around him.

6. He is very handy - he can pretty much do anything! He loves to fix things and he can usually learn to fix anything even if he hasn't seen it before. He says that I'm easily impressed, but he really is very handy to have around. My mom told me I had to marry him after he fixed my Uncle Craig's boat once. But he really has a nack for understanding how things work.

7. He is always willing to tell me when I'm right and he's wrong - ok ladies who wouldn't want that?!?! He doesn't tell me I'm right just to please me - believe me I've been wrong many times and he doesn't pretend I'm right to get me to shut up. But I have to say, being with someone who is not afraid to admit when they are wrong - and better yet admit when I'm right - is very refreshing! I need to work on that skill myself ;)

8. He loves adventure - I don't really want him to love some of the adventurous things that he loves; motorcycles, spear fishing at night, driving race cars. But I am really grateful that he has a love for life and a love to discover new things. He and I share a lot of the same passions and we really want to pass those things on to our children. He isn't afraid to do anything, and he is always encouraging me when I do get scared. I've tried things that I thought I would never try because of him. He won't settle on having a boring life, he wants to see the world our heavenly Father has created and he wants to show those things to our kids. A lot of people dread the thought of their kids leaving home. I know I will miss our kids greatly when we our empty nesters, but I also can't wait to have even more adventures when it is just the two of us.

9. He is an AWESOME father - Liam and Arie absolutely LOVE being with Kelly. He has so much fun with them and they have so much with him. He somehow got them to love brushing their teeth, they think it is party time at night when it is time to brush their teeth. He not only plays with them and makes sure they are well provided for; but he isn't afraid to show them affection and he really wants to teach them how to be good children and responsible adults.

10. He loves his Heavenly Father and his Savior Jesus Christ - because he loves them so much he chooses to honor his Priesthood and the temple covenants he has made. Kelly isn't a perfect person or anything, but he knows what is right and wrong, he knows what his Father in heaven expects out of him, he knows how to live his life to be an example for his children to follow, he knows the real meaning of integrity.

Kelly would probably be uncomfortable knowing I put all of this on our public blog for everyone to read. But he really is all of those things. It is those things and thousands of others that make me love and respect him more and more everyday.

Ok - Thanksgiving!!! We had the opportunity to meet my Mom in Hawaii for the week of Thanksgiving. Kelly's schedule ended up getting messed up at the last minute, so he didn't get to spend as much time with as he would've liked but the trip was still very fun. We didn't tell the kids that we were going to Hawaii to see Momo, because my Mom really wanted to surprise them. When I got off the plane in Oahu I kept telling the kids to look around to see if they saw anything special. When Liam saw Momo he took off running and screaming towards her. In true Arie fashion, Arie followed behind doing the same thing, only she had no idea why she was screaming. Liam jumped up to hug Momo and Arie hung back a little startled by the commotion. The trip was fun and we did a lot of fun things together. Best part of it was I didn't have to make anything on Thanksgiving and we didn't have to do any cleaning. Worst part was Kelly wasn't there and we weren't around a lot of family. Here are some pics of the trip...

Hawaii was a lot of fun. The weather was AMAZING!!!! The beaches were beautiful (including the surfers on those beaches - right Mom!). We sent Momo off to Kona so she could work and we took off back to Guam. Normally when we go to Hawaii we fly on the direct flight between Guam and Hawaii on a 767, but this time we decided we would fly with Dad! When the 737 (Kel's plane) goes to Hawaii it takes a unique route that has been labeled the Island Hopper. You basically hit several islands in between Guam and Hawaii picking up passengers and cargo along the way. It is a very long day, 6 stops in all, but I really wanted to experience that with Kelly as one of the pilots. Flying as a non-rev on the Hopper can be tricky because they will throw you off fast if they need to put more cargo on board. Being thrown off and stuck on these islands isn't exactly what you want to happen, but I decided I'd chance it anyway. Kelly's family friend, Dennis James, called the Island Hopper the "last bastion of really great flying in the world". The pilots out here consider it the only time that they really get to do their jobs. There are short run ways that leave you no room for error, and most of the airports are so tiny they look like little shacks. It is sort of the Wild West of flying. And most of these islands are so small and so remote it is a really cool chance to see them. Our first stop was Majuro just a tiny atoll about half way between Oahu and Guam. I wanted to get off the plane and take lots of pictures but the weather wasn't so great and....

... these two were out cold!
Our next stop was Kwajalien. Kwaj is actually an Army base and they wouldn't let us off of the plane because the whole island is a restricted area. But the kids still had a lot of fun...


They got to push all kinds of buttons and pretend to fly. Kelly definitely has one of those "Cool Dad" jobs that will be impressive for a long time.
Next stop was Kosrae. Kosrae is very tiny and very remote. Supposedly there is great diving there and people go there to connect back with nature. I loved going into the tiny airport here because you could tell that flying was still a big deal to the locals. The locals that got on the plane had on their best dresses and had tons of fragrant flowers in their hair. It made the plane smell great! Kosrae is also known for a certain citrus fruit that can only be found there. You can by a bag of 20 for about $2 from some of the locals at the terminal. They are small, green, and taste sort of like a tangerine only better. The thing is you have to finish all of them before you get to your next stop - agriculture laws or something. Another cool thing about doing the island hopper was that on those tiny islands airport security is really no big deal. The kids could run all over the runway while we had our layovers and they could really get up close to Daddy's "office".


Next was Pohnpei, also very small, remote and beautiful. Also a very short runway!!! Not that long ago a Japanese plane went off the end of it into the ocean! But those continental pilots are too well trained for a mistake like that... especially a certain FO Monson! His landings are perfection! After Pohnpei we were on to Chuuk. Chuuk was pretty. I really want to go back there too for the diving. After Chuuk we were finally home. Considering how extremely long the day was the kids did very well and had a lot of fun. It was really fun being on the plane with Kel while he was flying too.

After Thanksgiving it was time to get ready Christmas and to plan Arie's birthday party! Arie turned 2 on the 9th on December. We had to do a party for her because last year we hardly even celebrated her birthday - her FIRST birthday - we are horrible parents! The morning of her birthday we did b-day pancakes with a candle and we sang to her. Then for her party we had some kids over and we decorated sugar cookies. Arie got lots of great presents too.

It is hard for me to believe that Arie is already 2! She has brought so much joy to our family and I'm so grateful to have her as a daughter. Although I'm sad that she is growing so fast it is also so much fun, because the older she gets the more fun she has with her brother. Liam and Arie are quite the two-some! They bicker a lot and fight over toys, but they also have so much fun together. Arie worships her brother and he really does love her so much too. Listening to them play or watching them from around the corner are my two favorite activities. They crack me up! I'm so grateful for my brother and sister, and they truly are the two people I'd choose to be around anytime. I pray that Liam and Arie will have that some bond someday.

As most of you know Kelly and I are expecting baby number 3! We are really excited and we feel really blessed to be able to have another sweet baby in our home. We have decided this time around that we want to be surprised and not find out the sex of the baby. I thought my personality would NEVER let me do that, but I have to say it is so much fun! Kel thinks it is a girl, and if I had to guess I'd say a girl too. But what is weird is when I refer to the baby I always say "he" and I had a dream that I had the baby and it was a boy. Who knows!?! All I know, is I love the whole surprise thing. How many great surprises do you get in life anyway? I know, I know, it is a surprise if you find out at 20 weeks or at 40 weeks. But I can't wait for the doctor to say "It's a...."! It will be awesome.

Well this may be the longest post in the history of blogger. I actually have a lot of videos that I need to post as well, but those take forever!!!! and I don't have the patience tonight! So i hope everyone is doing great and I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and holiday season. OH YEAH!!!!!!! I'll post about Christmas later! HAHA!

Election 2008

Well another Presidential Election is over. I'm sure many of you are disappointed by the results while some are very excited. I myself wasn't thrilled about either one of the prospects. Our new President - President Obama! While I don't agree with him on a lot of things, I have to say I'm so excited to see our nations first black president! I have had chills watching all the celebrations on TV for him. No matter how this election went history was going to be made, and it was really exciting to see which way it would go. I have to admit that although I wouldn't have voted for Obama, I'm so excited to see our country in a place where we will elect a black president.
I have always struggled with racism. Not struggled in the sense where I have felt like a racist!!! FAR FROM IT! I am APPALLED by any sort of racism and ignorance. It disgusts me the same way that sexual abuse and abuse of animals and children disgusts me. I have a really hard time being around people who make racist comments or who are close minded to the fact that we really are all the same. I hope all of those people have their feet in their mouths now. Of course those people will be the first to say when he messes up that it is because he is black. BOO on those people!
I do have a concern though that the history books won't be fair and balanced to Mr. Obama. He is such a media darling that no matter what he does, bad or good, they are going to LOVE him. Like I said I don't agree with all of his policies and ideas - but for me this post is not about that. I am really just so excited to see our country here in this place. I'm so excited that I'm alive to see something like this. I'm so happy that my children will see him as president, even if he does mess up. Hopefully it will make it harder for them to learn any sort of ignorance and judgement towards a persons race.
Racism is disgusting. It comes from fear, ignorance and insecurity. Those are three qualities that I can hopefully keep my kids away from. It is obvious that everyone in the nation wanted a change. I know that Obama wasn't the change that everyone wanted. I don't want a lot of the changes he says he wants either. But I do love the change of the face of this nation! We have always been told to pray for our leaders - lets continues to do that! We should pray for them whether we agree with them or not. We should pray for their safety and for their strength and health. Our country has taken a huge step forward in some ways. I hope he does a good job. I know I won't agree with him every step of the way but I hope he is good for this nation, because we really need something good right now.

Photo Tag!

Thanks Marie - this one does sound fun! What you have to do is go into your picture files and upload the fourth photo in your fourth folder and the sixth photo in the sixth folder. Now.. lets see what those are....

> HAHAHAHA Marie you are in one of them!!! The first one is of our primary party, and the next one is under the water when Kel and I went diving!

I'm tagging... Ashley, Alli, Stacy, and Kristi!

Halloween 2008

So it has been a looooooooong time since I've updated this thing - and right now I'm only going to talk about Halloween. Maybe I'll update more later.

Halloween this year was definitly the most fun so far. Liam really understood the holiday and has been super pumped about it for a while now. And if Liam is excited about something you can bet that Arie is also. This year we knew Liam would go as Batman. He has had a Batman obsession fo quite some time know and we knew without a doubt that is who he would be. Arie would've been Batman too if we would've let her, but Liam really wanted her to be a princess. When we went to the costume store we immediately found Liam's Batman costume but we had a harder time finding a princess for Arie. We had to settle on Tinkerbell - but I think it fit her personality perfectly!!!

A week ago we crashed a Halloween party at our old church. It was really fun to see old friends and it was fun for the kids to get to wear their costumes before the big day. Halloween day was also full of fun activities. Liam's school had a Halloween parade and then a carnival afterwards. And then last night we went to our old neighborhood where there was a big bounce house and a trunk-or-treat. It was really fun to hang out with our old neighbors and having a trunk-or-treat with people you know made it feel a lot safer.
That is Liam all dressed up on the way to his school's Halloween party. He's on the phone with Mo-Mo telling her all about how cool he is! Here is Arie also anticipating the party at Liam's school. she just LOVES any chance she gets to be with Liam!Liam's got his bag and he is ready to go! You can tell in those pictures he always has to look in an upward direction or his mask would slide down. Liam NEVER broke character the whole time - he even spoke in a totally different voice. Here is Arie trying to steal from the other kids cubbies. She looks sweet, but never trust her :) The next few are pictures of Liam's class. There were so many cute kids and it was really fun to finally put faces to the names that Liam is always talking about. And it was nice to meet their parents as well. Arie was on sensory overoad the whole time we were there. She got into everything and was basically being her sweet destructive self. We finally just decided that she couldn't be trusted and that she had to be held. She didnt' really care for that idea... After lots of picture taking in the classroom the kids finally got have their parade. They paraded out of the school to the Ace hardware that backs up to the school. The employees at Ace handed candy out to the kids as they walked through the parking lot and through the store. After the parade we went back to the school for carnival. There were lots of fun games, bounce houses, and they were raffeling off a Wii. Sadly we didn't win the Wii - oh well there is always next year. There was a lunch for everyone - the traditional Guam favorites of red rice, kelaguen and long grain rice noodles. YUM YUM!!!!! A few days before Halloween Liam realized that Kel and I didnt' have costumes. Well this upset him and became obsessed with us getting outfits of our own. We gave in and we all went to the Halloween store together. I looked for the cheapest one that would cover up my recent weight gain - I went as Bruce Lee the Dragon Ninja. Kel on the other hand had a very important role this Halloween. Liam was going as Batman so what else could Kelly be but.......... ROBIN!!!!!!!!!! They were the perfect crime fighting duo! Liam thought it was pretty much the coolest thing that ever happened. I have to say kel is such a good sport because his costume was soooooo HOT! He kept it on for well over an hour - which is way better that I would've done. Anyway - here we are at our friends Halloween party... Check out the super hero stance! Oh man!!!! Those two were hilarious! Once we got to the party we hardly saw Batman again. He spent most of the time in the bounce house. I on the other hand spent time following Arie around making sure she didn't steak other peoples candy and food. Our friends have one of those yellow and red cars - you know the kind for toddlers that look sort of cartoonish. Well Arie LOVES these! She hogged the car the whole night. At one point she got out and when she returned back to the car she saw that another little boy had gotten in the car. Arie stared at him for a while with a very angry face and then went up to the car, opened the door and tried pulling the boy out by his head!!!! The car became her obsession that night and she soon realized that her wings made it very inconvenient when getting in and out of the car. So she went from this ... to that!!!!!!!!! Once we started trick or treating Liam came back into the picture. I sat and handed out candy, while Arie sat in the back of the car with me and ate everything that I wasn't handing out. After the party we went home and spent an hour or so waiting for Arie to come down off of her sugar high. Once we put her to bed Liam stayed up with Kel and I while we watched Young Frankenstein. Liam loved it!