shaw-wright memorial day miracle

the day began with the pitter-patter of rain on the skylight in our bathroom ... we lazily enjoyed the music of memorial day morning and then realized we were late for breakfast with my parents!  we sprang into action getting dressed, reading scriptures, saying prayers and loading in the car the things we'd possibly need for the day ... umbrellas, coats, blankets, extra clothes, extra socks, etc.  breakfast was yummy (thanks papa!) and afterward we played a little hungry hungry hippo and catch phrase.  then it was time to head on our way.
we stopped in at Old Navy and got ourselves some flag shirts (bogo prices are the best!) and then headed to the wrights to begin this year's shaw-wright memorial day ... as we pulled into their driveway it was coming straight down and we hustled inside out of the torrential downpour. 
the kids played upstairs and down, watching a movie and playing with toys ... the rain didn't seem to bother them, nor the fact that they were trapped inside with the rest of us ... somehow that was only a problem for the grown ups ...
"if we go anywhere outside we're going to get wet, and anything to do inside is going to be crowded ... "
"let's go on the boat!!  it can't be that bad ... we can bring our own blue sky (a tarp) it'll be fun!!" 
"look up the weather ... "

and will wonder's never cease!?  it's like a little Memorial Day Miracle for us!!

Somebody knew it wouldn't be 'shaw-wright' memorial day if we couldn't have an adventure!

 we loaded up the kidlets, the babiest boys with the dads went to get the boat ... and the rest went with the moms to get dinner at safeway.  we took the boat out on Lake Washington and made our way past Mr. Gates home and under 520 ... past UW Stadium thru the Montlake Cut and under the Ship Canal Bridge into Lake Union.  We could see Gas Works Park and the sun was shining it was LOVELY, Magical even!!
our time was running short so we didn't make it to the Locks but decided that we should definitely do that if we get another sunny weekend before the wrights leave ...

Shaw-Wright Memorial Day 2010

all in all it was a wonderful day with wonderful friends and a wonderful tradition that we'll have to continue for many years to come ... just gotta relocate ourselves i guess!

our kids are getting so big!!

"Watching with All Perseverance"

I sure love it when there is a 5th Sunday in the month!  We meet  for the 3rd hour as a united Priesthood and Relief Society ... and I get to sit next to my honey and listen to a member of the Bishopric teach us.

Today we discussed Elder Bednar's talk from the Saturday Session of General Conference.  I remember hearing this while I sat in the Conference Center with my Mission friends!  I wrote 2 whole pages of notes then and today jotted down a few reminders:

~ Let them do the talking - LISTEN!!

~ 'It's no coincidence we have 2 ears and 1 mouth' ... we should listen twice as much as we talk!

~ Teach individually ... all of our children are individuals and we need to listen and learn how to teach them on a personal level for them.

~ Provide a sounding board for them.  Sometimes they just need to talk things thru for themselves and don't need us to tell them what to do ... just be a sounding board for them.

~ Bear spontaneous testimony ... "I bear you my testimony" and "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." is not always necessary.

~ Their reaction is very telling as to where they are spiritually. 

~ Invite them to act ... be 'doers of the word' (James 1:22)

~ Teach them to seek opportunities to do, to help, to act.  On their own, they can see what needs to be done ... help them understand that it's a great thing to be anxiously engaged ... and to not wait for instructions all the time... but then let them.

~ "Turn 'em loose" - and encourage them, even if they fail let them do it their way!  There's something to be said for independant learning ... they will learn so much more by doing things by themselves!

READ & STUDY this talk.

I think I'll take my own advise and take a minute today to read this talk.  It's a good one!

how do you do that fondue that you do so well??

like this!

it's a whole lot of what we do best ... talk, eat, spend a lot of time together ...

and chocolate.

YUM!

Friday Night Party Plus Fondue ... So. so. so. fun. FUN!

(if i use the word more than once it means even more ... right?)

thanks for the great collage, Nicki!

inspiringly flexible.

For the last nearly 5 years I have been attending a yoga/pilates class at the Y.  I'm a front-and-center kinda girl ... not because i want to be an example ... but because i want to be able to see the teacher and myself in the mirror ... so i can get it right.  as you may know, when one practices yoga they are upside down a lot, looking thru their own legs at the other people behind them doing the same poses.  almost every class i have been to Shirley has been quietly stretching, inspiring, encouraging in the back corner of the room.  she became a fast friend and a kind of mentor.  she's darling, kind and the sweetest yogini i know!  she is moving away now and will be missed.  i only hope that i can be like her when i'm 60ish.

I'm going to miss you, Shirley!

on your marks, get set, GO!

thanks to my neighbor Luiza and her iphone ... she snapped this shot of us and emailed it to me last night!

yup ... we raced ... and as you can tell by that blur passing me up - he won -
even though he gave me a HUGE head start!

learned something new today ...

i googled (such a funny word isn't it? ... but i use it all the time - i google everything, if i need an answer to how many tablespoons are in a cup, what's the temperature on the moon or where can i find hamster wheels that don't squeak ... i google it! if i need a pic of flowers, President Monson, or the New York skyline ... i google it! if i need a word that rhymes with purple or a poem about sisters ... i google it!! - anyway ... what was i was saying?) o right ... i googled 'lactic acid muscle soreness' and found out that:
"Lactic Acid is not the culprit for this muscle soreness."

what i'm experiencing from my 3 consecutive days working out is:

"Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

Lactic acid is responsible for the burning muscles during and after exercise and this is why many suspect it to be responsible for soreness 24-36 hours after intense exercise. However, lactic acid is completely flushed out of muscles within 30-60 minutes of finishing intense exercise. There is no abnormal levels of lactic acid in the tissues or blood when the dreaded DOMS strikes.

Research indicates that DOMS is more likely caused by localised damage to the muscle fibres membranes, the connective tissue and the contractile elements - namely microtrauma to the muscle fibres. Over the 24 hours after intense exercise, the damaged muscles become sore and inflammed. Chemical irritants are released from damaged tissue, triggering pain receptors. In addition to the injured muscle fibres, there is an increase in blood flow causing a swelling of the muscle tissues which again may stimulate pain receptors. In the morning following the exercise, the muscle fibres are fatigued, have microscopic tears and are inflammed. The muscle nerve supply perceives this as an abnormal state and sends pain messages to the pain.

Typical recommendations for dealing with DOMS include light stretching and exercise, massage (of course!), submersion in a hot bath, etc. All these are aimed at lightly increasing blood flow to the muscles and damaged tissues to facilitate repair (and not flushing out non-existing lactic acid buildup)."

looks like i need a massage and a hot bath tonight so i don't want to die when my teacher kicks my bum tomorrow!

update: doin' pretty good

Easton loves to mark his Book of Mormon ...
he is learning what we mark ...
sometimes it's hard to tell 'Lemuel' and 'Lord' apart ...
they both start with L

Our scripture reading and marking coupled with family morning prayers is the bright spot in the beginning of each day ... we gather in the living room on the floor with our copies of the Book of Mormon and our 4 colored pencils and we each read a verse ... after each verse is read we see if there is anything to mark and at the end of the 6 verses we talk about what we learned ... today Nephi was telling his brothers to have faith. We are trying to be more like Nephi ... go and do, follow the Lord's commandments and be faithful - "[the Lord] is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban..." Then all the pencils are collected, books stacked ("i want mine on bottom!" "i want mine on top!" "just put it on the stack!!") we kneel for morning prayers and we're off and running again!

the rest of the fantasy ...

our first pic in paradise

our first pic in front of the ocean.
a wave came up behind us just after we had the pic taken and soaked andy's shoes
not. happy.

Pearl Harbor Memorial
what a sacred and emotionally moving place

we spent the whole day at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Luau, show, dinner, tour of the temple grounds ...
it was magical!

Andy got to join the Samoan man on stage
to drink some of the coconut water!
bleh.

the International Market Place
the best place to barter for good stuff!!

our ocean view balcony

our last sunset
so beautiful!

we sat on the beach and watched the sunset ...

the parrot man put the birds on us, took our picture
and then asked for some money ...
sorry dude, i only have coins!
and he DIDN'T want them!!

beautiful and fragrant plumeria tree right outside our hotel!

Hanauma Bay

we snorkeled in the salty water at Hanauma Bay

we saw a turtle!!
and took some underwater pictures ...
that didn't do the colors justice!

one last touch from the warm Hawaiian ocean

I honestly still can not believe that in reality, not just my fantasy world, we went to Hawaii!!  Our short stay in paradise was fantastic ... dreamy ... out of this world!  I have so many more pictures ... mostly as proof that it actually happened.  Andy promised that he would take me back again someday. 

and for now, that promise seems far away, but someday we'll get back there. 

 

someday.

Porcupine Meatballs

Ingredients:

6 lbs           •1-1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
3 cups        •1/2 cup long grain rice
3 tsp           •1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2tsp    •1/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup       •2 Tbsp. minced onion
depending on how many meatballs you end up using you may have to use 2 cans and a cup of water or 3 cans and 1 1/2 cups of water ... and so on ... so long as you have enough sauce to cover the meatballs.
                         •10 oz. can condensed tomato soup
                         •1/2 cup water


Preparation:


In large bowl, combine meat, rice, salt, pepper and onion (i did this part with my hands - cuz that's how my mom does it). Shape into small balls (using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop). Heat tomato soup and water in cooker, using brown function or not closing lid (or don't and pour the soup and water mixture over the meatballs when you get them in the cooker ... ). Drop meat balls in soup mixture. Close cover securely, then bring up to high pressure (that's when the rocker is making a steady/rhythmic sound) and cook for 10 minutes. Let pressure drop of its own accord (natural pressure release - in other words: don't take the rocker off or you'll spray your ceiling with the entire contents of the cooker). Serve over hot cooked noodles boiled diced potatoes. Serves 6

(if you go ahead and quadrupal the recipe, since Costco sells 6lb packages of hamburger, you can make some and freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put the frozen meatballs in a ziplock ... several meals done!! i should mention here that i did the 6lbs of meat in 2 - 3lb batches ... my biggest bowl wasn't big enough to mix all 6 at the same time... )

Total time needed: 35ish minutes (if you've got pre-made frozen meatballs). It took me about an hour to make 62 meatballs (ice cream scoop size, there would have been more if i had used my cookie scoop) with 6lbs. of meat, and then 25ish minutes to cook them up (cuz they weren't frozen).
If you're going to have the meatballs over diced, boiled potatoes: use the little red ones (that way you don't have to peel them ...) cover the potatoes with water and start them cooking when you close the pressure cooker lid ... they take about the same amount of time.

These tasty meaty spheres can be prepared for my Birthday dinner and Mother's Day dinner ... or for when you need to hurry and cook up something for impending guests, cuz you took a nap on sunday afternoon and didn't get anything else ready - especially if you had someone do the quadruple thing for their Birthday/Mother's Day dinner and have a bunch in your freezer.

I'm pretty much an expert at this recipe {wink wink}...

YUM!

fact or fantasy??

I haven't yet posted about my wonderful, amazing, can't-believe-it's-come-and-gone trip to Hawaii, I think I need to today ... it's been sunny around here lately (it's trying to be spring) but the warm is missing ... maybe these pictures will help warm me up!

It all started last June-ish ... a friend of mine called to ask me a 'strange and huge favor'.  She and her family were heading off to Hawaii for what may be the last time in for a while (dang economy!) and so this time they were taking their whole family - 4 kids; 12, 10, 8 and 5.  The dad was going to have to work for a portion of the time and she, my friend, was worried about being alone with 4 kids with so much water and people in a place where she couldn't control the environment like at home.  So 'would I like to come with them and be a kind of second mom/helper/friend?'  Would I be willing to ditch my own 4 crazies to spend a week in Hawaii??  Stay in the Hilton Hawaiian Village with them for free ... swim in the warm ocean, walk on the beach, hang out by the pool, play with the kids ... Oh and maybe Andy would maybe want to come and meet me after they leave and the 2 of us stay for a few more days!? 

This is a 'favor'!?  My kinda favor!!

I jumped at the chance!  Sept 2009 marked 10 years married and it had been my pie-in-the-sky dream to go to Hawaii for my 10 year anniversary - now things were falling into place for it to actually happen!

SO ... I left Nov. 1st, rode Hawaiian Air to Honolulu...

swam in the pool

played in the sand

I arrived to find that the hotel was magical, the pools (there were 3) and waterslides were fun and fantastic, we were practically on the beach, the salt water was blue and warm!! ... I had died and gone to paradise!!

we ...

climbed trees at a nearby park by the beach

rode the elevator several times a day ...
just for the fun of it

played cards while the warm rain fell.

and said goodbye all too soon!!  it's true that the time flies when you're having fun!!

stay tuned  ...

i'll be back with the shorter but more romantic part of my dream trip soon!