road to maturity

several events in the past year have led to my feeling more like a grown-up. even though i had two kids already, i didn't really feel like i was older than 20 until we bought our home last summer. buying our home was awesome! i could paint the walls any color i chose (thank you, james, for that freedom!) and replace flooring and plant whatever i wanted. however, there is a side to home-ownership that is decidedly un-fun. replacing the chimney cap. fixing the air conditioning. having shingles replaced. even though each of these is totally not where i want to spend money, they are necessary and i need to look beyond the money vacuum and see the benefits of home maintenance. kalei's going to school has also inspired more maturity in me. now it really matters that she is in bed by 9, and that she eats enough breakfast so that her brain doesn't shut down 2 hours after she gets to school. each of these events has prodded me to put aside my own desires (to ignore the rusty chimney cap and blow some money at the pottery barn outlet! or to let kalei and koa stay up until james gets home after teaching a night class!) and focus on what's best for the kids, or the house. now i get to focus on what's best for our family. i'd really like to go to china. i think it'd be awesome to stand on the great wall. however, the prophets have counseled us for longer than i've been alive that debt is a no-no. we have been warned and warned to get out of it as fast as we can. so, with that in mind, i've decided to stay home. james' trip is paid for, but he won't make enough by teaching the class to even cover my airfare. i'm disappointed, but, honestly, china was never on my list of top 5 places to visit. so, like the mature person i'm trying to be, i'll set my goals and focus on debt-reduction so that we will be in a better place by the next summer olympics. that way, i'll be able to go somewhere that is in my top 5: london. :) -bess

Budding Artists

Here's our tribute to "So You Think You Can Dance" as referenced by Malia (when I figure out how to link to the actual blog, I'll do it, but for now you'll have to trust that she's made such a reference). Not only dancers, but photographers too! Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

11 weeks young

kawelo is 11 weeks old now and it seems like it's just flown! since he's our last baby, we're really trying to savor his babyness and time is slipping by way too fast. at his 2 month appointment he was already 13 pounds, and we think he's been our smallest baby! he loves to watch kalei and koa run around and he coos and quivers like he just can't wait to get out there and tear it up with them. koa calls him "beddo," since he can't say his v's or l's, and is generally good with him (although he will poke him awake if he gets bored while shopping - little stinker). kalei loves "baby kawelo" and remembers him in her prayers every night. he's definitely a blessing and the perfect caboose to our family train. -bess

Doing a Yahoo search on yourself

So with all of the extra time I have now before classes start and things get really crazy, I decided on a whim to do a Yahoo search on myself (I guess some people "Google" themselves, but I am partial to the Yahoo search so that's what I went with). In addition to the department webpage (which I had to lobby for a year to be added to) and all of the old research stuff that is out there, I was surprised to see that I was listed in the WKU Libraries blog. Although I am glad that our upcoming journal is being advertised, I guess you never really know what is floating out there on the internet about you ... kind of frightening when you think about it. -James-

fix it or forget it?

i've always been late. i was born 2 weeks late, and it's been downhill from there. my senior year of high school, my dad taught seminary in our living room and i would walk in late - still in my pj's. i was only on time for my wedding because i woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. my parents are very polite about it, but will tell me it takes 20 minutes to get to their chapel when, in reality, it only takes 10 in the hopes that i will get to church on time when we visit. i think i'm supposed to be embarassed by my perpetual lateness and make a resolution to do something about it, but i have way too many things already on the "to be fixed" plate to add something that just seems to be a part of me. i'm afraid to pray for help on this because i don't want Heavenly Father to send me some kind of awful experience to teach me to be on time. i mean, life itself is already enough of a refiner's fire without me asking Him to turn up the heat. i do want to eventually be a punctual person, but first i want to be a patient person, a charitable person, a humble person, a budgeted person.... :)

great expectations

perhaps jumping right into calorie counting was a bit lofty in the goal setting department. apparently i am unable to go cold turkey on sugar at this time. there are two, sometimes three, times during the day when i get munchy: late morning, mid-afternoon, and late evening. i prowl the kitchen looking for just the right snack, and rarely does celery hit the spot. however, i am working on making healthy-ish calorie substitutions. for example, instead of ice cream, i'll pick an ice pop. still technically empty calories, but less of them, right? that's a step in the right direction! :) and it's a frozen liquid, so it's almost like having a cup of kool-aid, and that kinda meets part of the eight daily glasses of water recommendation! i'm telling you, i'm this close to a healthy diet... or an honorary degree in rationalization. :)

choice & accountability

okay, so this is the first day of calorie counting. even though i have thoroughly enjoyed indulging every chocolate cake/cookie dough/m&m/ice cream craving i've had for the past year, the time has come to break myself of this extremely delicious habit. i must admit i'll miss it. the children won't because i hardly ever ate anything scrumptious in front of them - i didn't want to share. i'm hoping the benefits of weight loss will overshadow the sadness and, perhaps, crankiness of sugar deprivation. i've heard it takes 21 days to break a habit. 21 days = 504 hours. wish me luck! 4 hours down, only 500 to go. :)