happy valentine's day!

the kids love getting balloons for special occasions (and i love the dollar tree's balloons), so we sweetened today with some lovey mylars, little debbie valentine cakes in lunches, and dinner served on (thrift store) china with blue kool-aid. do they look thrilled? cause, believe me, they were. really. okay, maybe i was the one super excited about the china, and the kids were psyched about the kool-aid. what is it about fancy dishes that makes everyone happy about what they're eating? note to self: MUST TRY THIS MORE! we hope you all have had a day filled with love and a few pleasant surprises!

p.s. the heart shots are for bethany - since kawelo has us quarantined with his hacking cough, i can't have her over to show her the magic i made with some paper mache hearts - i really love how they turned out! yay - decorations i'm happy to keep!

deal alert!

good morning!!

go check out this post for a fabulous code for $2 in free mp3 songs from amazon!

free music!! love it!!

koa quotes

scene: koa is sprinkling valentine's nonpareils onto brownie bites after mama douses them with dipping chocolate (TOTALLY delicious and super easy, by the way)

koa: i'm on the fast side.

mama: the fast side of what?

koa: you know, how some people are on the fast side, and some are on the slow side?

mama: that's good to know. which side am i on?

koa: the slow side.

thanks a lot, little man! (he's just so cute i want to smoosh him!)

Evidence that I also went to Hawaii

Koa crabbing (we caught 6!)

At Waimea Bay (we didn't jump off of the rock - on account of the huge waves)

At the Polynesian Cultural Center with a big Easter Island statue

If you look hard, you can see a giant sea turtle amongst the rocks

At the Hawaii temple with Auntie Kei, and cousins Ilima and Anela

More Good Times

Went to the BYU-H basketball game last night

Aloha Stadium Swap Meet this morning

And Matsumoto's Shave Ice on the way home!

Monday Fun-day

Yesterday was fun-filled: went to the beach and the Polynesian Cultural Center

In addition to jumping waves and throwing sticks into the water, Koa made a few variations of sand castles and watched the kite surfers.

The PCC has some great things for children to do: Koa's favorites were the bowling (Hawaiian game called ulu maika), and fishing.

And of course anything where a little boy gets to throw a spear and get a tatoo is an automatic winner!

New Year's Fireworks

After waking up at 5:30 am, the drive to Nashville, the 2 hour flight to Houston, and the 8 hour flight to Hawaii I thought Koa would crash and fall asleep once we were at grandma and grandpa's. I was wrong ... he had to partake in the firework extravaganza before going to bed around midnight our time. Glad we're here!