Going Digital

I've done it. My first digital scrapbook page. I had a little help from a program but I am still pretty excited to have learned so many cool things. I have no plans to be a completely digital scrapbooker but I will use techniques I have learned doing this page on future pages. My motivation behind the whole thing is the yearbook I am helping create that is all digital. Now if I only can remember what I've learned.

The Nice Family

The Nice Family (they really are nice) came to visit us and our warm weather from their freezing cold weather in Utah. We love having visitors and are really glad they were able to stay with us for awhile. When the guys left (Her husband Adam and son Marshall) the girls got to play. Since my kids were in school and Richard was at work we really did get a few girl days in before they left. We went shopping, hung out at the beach, shared ideas on many "girly" topics, went out to lunch, and cooked treats in the kitchen. It was so fun to have other girls in my house and I especially enjoyed Hilary and her excitment in wanting to help me make yummy treats.

La Perouse

On Sunday afternoon we went on a hike around the lava fields at La Perouse with our good friends the Nice's. It was a very windy day but it kept it from getting too hot on the black rock. It used to be a private hike that only the locals knew about (however we saw Tim Conway the first time we went) but now it is known to practically all visitors. It is still an amazing view and I love the contrast between the dark lava rocks surrounding the clear blue/green tide pools.

New Promotions

Saturday Jordan and Brendan tested for new belts. After doing their forms, self defense techniques, answering questions and breaking boards they both got their new promotions. Jordan had to break 5 boards this time and Brendan had to break 3. Brendan did a flying side kick for one of his breaks and tried so hard to jump high and break it. But he missed breaking it and landed right on his chest taking the breath right out of him. He was a trooper though, and after they helped him recover he got right back up and tried again- this time breaking it.

Brendan earned his high purple belt and Jordan earned his low blue belt. They stand in order of rank so for this class Jordan was the highest ranking belt and got to close. (Which means he got to speak Korean and lead everyone in bowing.)

Star Bag

Last weekend Dylan got his first homework-The Star Bag. He was so excited to get it and very serious about needing to do his homework. For his homework assignment Dylan needed to look at the stars and then record his experience in the Star Journal. The Star Bag included a story book about planets, a red flashlight, constellation charts and phases of the moon, and the star journal.



The whole family participated. When it started to get dark we took blankets outside to lay underneath the stars. First we saw the moon and Dylan picked out what kind of moon it was. Then we looked at the stars. It wasn't quite dark enough yet so we were not finding any constellations. (Dylan said they were on a different island). As it got darker, we found Orion's belt, Betelgeuse (he loved saying Betelgeuse), and Saturn. We also had a book about the night sky that we referred to and Dylan was so excited to see these constellations in the book and sky. He suddenly became an expert on anything star related. We couldn't point out anything to him anymore because he was going to show us. We no longer could use his red flashlight to look at the pictures because he said his teacher Joni said only he could use it. It was fun to see him so excited about his homework. He loved it so much we all did it again the next night. When I went to pick him up, after he had returned the bag for the next person to use, he said he didn't have the bag and we couldn't look at stars anymore. I tried to explain that we can always look at stars but he said we couldn't because we did not have the bag anymore.

Can't wait for his next homework assignment.

Happy New Year

In just a year my boys have gotten bigger, older, wiser (hopefully), and in my opinion more handsome. I hope this year to cherish more moments with them and continue to remind them of how special they each are to me and our family.

To celebrate the start of this new year we went to, the best location ever, Grandma and Grandpa James home. Right before the clock struck midnight the whole island lit up with fireworks. We were so high up we could see fireworks going off from all over the island. It was so amazing to see so many fireworks going off all at the same time. Some close some far away and lasting longer than any show we've seen. The Fourth of July does not even come close to New Years in the number of fireworks that people let off.

Christmas 2007

For Christmas Eve we spent a nice evening, that included a Christmas program, at Grandma and Grandpa James' house. Dylan slept through dinner and woke up just before the program started. He and Brendan were supposed to sing Jingle Bells together for the program but with Dylan still sleepy Brendan sang with his cousin Ethan. Jordan read a Christmas poem and after Dylan fully awoke, he played drums while everyone sang Jingle Bells.

After getting home late that night, all the boys went right to bed. However, Brendan could not get to sleep. He wondered where Santa was and made sure I left cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. He was so excited for Santa to come and therefore, Santa had to wait a long time before coming to our house. Brendan was the first one in our room that morning, around 6:30 AM. He was so excited he could barely stand still and he had the biggest smile on his face. He wanted to know if he and Jordan could set up the Wii they got for Christmas. I let them have at it and stayed in my bed until Dylan woke up. Dylan saw presents everywhere, since the boys had already scattered their Santa gifts all over the room, and didn't know what was his. Once he found his Leapster though, he didn't move until I showed him the rest of his presents. Dylan and I went to check on the other boys downstairs and this is what we saw. Wii everywhere. They were still trying to set it up but were off to a good start. Jordan was also very excited to get the Wii and finally was able to get it all hooked up. They played it until we left to go see family again but only after Richard and I had our chance to play Wii Sports Tennis.