This Is Us

So today I grabbed a meal from Wendy's. I got back to work and took three bites out of my cheese burger. Then on the fourth bite I pulled it away and there was a hair. Oh... I couldn't spit the bite out fast enough. I threw it away and just ate my fries and drank my coke. Oh, I'm still really grossed out about it. I thought about calling and complaining, but where I don't have any evidence, they would probably just tell me sorry but there wasn't anything they could do about it. So I'm just going to stay away from that Wendy's for awhile.

Day 7 - So today we woke up really early because we had to be at the dock by 7:50 so we could board the ship and take our Na Pali Cruise Tour on the Catamaran (sail boat). We met at the office and then the captain walked us down to the ship. It's a no shoes ship, so we had to take our shoes off, and leave them on the dock. I thought that was so cool, because I love not wearing shoes. So we boarded the boat, they went over safety tips, and we were off. They gave us breakfast, which was good, it was cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit and drinks (soda and water). Once the boat got out in the ocean, every once in awhile you would see flying fish jump out of the water fly away from the boat and dive back into the ocean. It was so cool. I got a picture of them, but you have to look really hard to see them. About 10 more minutes and we came to a huge family of dolphins. They were so cute and loved the boat. There are two points that come off the front of the boat, and we were able to get some fu...

Day 6 - Well today we got up and ready, put our swim suits on again, and went to McDonald's for breakfast. They have a Island breakfast which is Spam, Eggs, and Rice. We didn't try it, we got the traditional breakfast... bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. LOL! Then we went to Wal*Mart (yes, even though we hate it), because we knew they would have boogie boards. We also bought some snorkel gear, but ended up not using it and taking it back. Then we headed for the beach again. We went to the south beach that we had found the other day. We had so much fun playing on the boards and riding the waves. Nick caught a little wave, and a HUGE wave came up behind him and crashed over him. I was worried for a minute because I couldn't see him, but then he stood up. I was so relieved. Then I noticed that the wave had knocked his glasses off, and they were lost to the sea for good. Then we were riding waves and as I was coming in, another one caught me and dragged me back out. I got covere...

Day 5 - So today we were trying to decide on what to do. We remembered that yesterday we drove past the Kauai Coffee Plantation, and decided to stop by there. We aren't coffee drinkers, but thought it would be cool to see the plantation. It's was okay. They had free coffee tasting... you could taste every kind of coffee they make, but since we don't drink that didn't excite us. We did get some ice cream and a drink. I got Banana (Nick didn't want any) and Nick got a Sierra Mist (they didn't have Mt. Dew, he was so bummed). I found the cutest key holder for your purse: It slides on the edge of the purse and on the other side it has a clip so you can clip your keys to it. This is wonderful! Now I don't have to dig for my keys. We didn't spend much time there and drove back to a trading post that we had seen earlier. They had some really neat stuff and we got some more souvenirs. On the tree outside of the store they had a sign hanging. It was so funny, it...

Day 4 - We knew we wanted to do the Zip Line, so Nick got some brochures from the front desk the night before and we looked through them and figured out which one we wanted to do. So this morning we went back to the Activities desk and asked if they had any openings. They didn't have any for Thursday, Friday or Saturday, but they had a cancellation that day. We said okay, and we had 20 minutes to get over there. Luckily we had already put our swimsuits on, we just had to grab a couple of things and we were off. Except I had to borrow shoes from the Zip Line place, because silly me, only brought flip flops. So we hurried over there, got registered and our gear then we were off. We got to ride in this cool truck. It had 6 wheels, but there weren't any windows, or seat belts. It was really fun. BJ drove us, Pono and Alohe were our guides. It was so much fun, as you can tell by our photos. On the way there Alohe sat back with us and told us about the zip line, and some stuff about ...

This morning when I came into work the front of office wasn't so bad, but when I came back to my desk it was freezing. I had to turn my heater on first thing, and do you know what the temperature read??? 60 degrees. Yes 60! Burrrrrr..... Janet called and they got it fixed, there was something wrong with the setting. It's starting to warm up now, thank goodness! I didn't want to keep my heater on all day.

So before we left for Hawaii, I printed some coupons off of a couple websites. On Wednesday we went to Albertson's to see if their General Mills items were on sale... and they were. We were so excited. So we went through the coupons, got our items and a couple other things we needed, and got in line. Then it was our turn so I handed the lady our Preferred Savings card and then the coupons. She started going though them, even before she scanned anything, which we thought was weird. We stood there for about 5 minutes while she look at them, then excused herself and said she would be right back. She walked over to the Head Cashier and talk for a minute, then came back over and said that she can only accept 2 coupons per product. So for example: we could only use 2 coupons and get 2 Pillsbury crescent rolls instead of using 5 and getting 5. I said what??? She said that there was only one website and they would only let you print off 2 coupons, and people had been copying them...

Day 3 - We woke up around 7:00, got checked out and headed to the airport to fly over to Kauai. The roads there are really neat. The freeway has a highway underneath it. Here is a picture: We took the highway underneath because it wasn't as busy... we were in the middle of the morning rush-hour. Their rush hour isn't that bad, but because they only have 2-3 lanes on the Freeway it was pretty packed. We drove around a little bit trying to find a gas station, and finally got the GPS out and found the closest one. We turned the rental car in and they took us over to the airport in their shuttle. The driver asked us where we were from and when we said Utah the first thing she asked was if we were Mormon. We said yes, and she said that her cousins are Jack Mormons. Which she then asked "You know what that is right?". We nodded, and said yes. Then she talked more about her cousins and their missions, and that they live in Utah. We got to the airport and went through securit...

So Xander's hair has been getting longer, and I knew it was time for a hair cut, but it takes so long with the scissors, and he's afraid of Nick's trimmer, that I have been putting it off. Well last night I told him that he needed a cut hair (I know it's backwards, that's what the kids call it, cute huh?!?) and he said "Okay, but can we use Daddy's trimmer?" I was so shocked and said with a lot of enthusiasm "YES!". I was excited that he would let me use them. So I got it out, put the 7/8" on, and he covered his ears with his hands. I showed him that it wasn't very loud, and told him that he couldn't have his hands there because I didn't want to cut them with the trimmer. I moved his hands down a little, then he put them to his side and said "How about right here. Let's have my hands here". I laughed and said okay. He was so good. He didn't move and just let me trim his hair. He was so excited about it, and ...

Day 2 - We woke up around 6:00 A.M. and went to an "orientation" that the company, who we bought our vacation through, was having. It wasn't really much of an orientation as it was a sales pitch, but at least we got breakfast out of it and some really cute pictures of us (I'll have to scan them in). They were trying to sell us tickets to do stuff at a lower price. But since we only had time to do one thing that day, and we were leaving for Kauai in the morning, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center ( PCC ). That is the coolest place. We had to rent a car because the PCC was on the other side of the Island. So we rented a car and it was pretty cheap... only $29.00 and that was a Mid-size. They gave us a map and said we could go up and across, go through the mountains, or go along the coast... guess which one we picked. Yep, we went along the coast. Their "Freeway" is only 3 lanes and it's 50 MPH. A big change from 5-6 lanes and 65 MPH. Then we had to...

Brichette's two front top teeth have been loose for some time now. She lost her two front bottom teeth about 8 months ago and they came out fairly quickly, so I was thinking these two would too. But they haven't. Actually the one that has been loose the longest is still there. Funny! So last night as I was flossing Brichette's teeth the one half came all the way off her gum when I pulled the flosser back out. She was bleeding all over the place, and wasn't as scared as she was when her first two came out. She was giggling and getting way excited. So I asked her if she wanted me to finish pulling it out. She said no, but then I reminded her that it didn't hurt. It was just a light tug and then it was out. I was so afraid she was going to swallow it while she was sleeping, but I didn't want to say that because I didn't want to scare her. Finally she agreed to let me finish pulling on it. I barely twisted it and it came out. She was so excited to put it unde...

Day 1 - We left home around 4:30 A.M. Got to the airport and checked in (we used the sky cap that is outside, it was so much easier), and then went inside, found the terminal, and waited to board the plane. Poor Nick had a migraine, and got sick. He gets those now, ever since he had is fall at work. I felt so bad for him, and so helpless. I didn't know how to help him, other than saying a prayer. We boarded the plane about 5:45 and left just minutes after we boarded. It was a small plane, because we just flew into L.A. I'm not sure what big city we flew over, I thought it was Las Vegas, but I couldn't tell for sure. But I got a fun picture of the city lights. We arrived in L.A. and had about a 2 hour layover then boarded the huge plane for Hawaii. It was 3 seats - isle - 5 seats - isle - 2 seats and it had probably about 50 rows, not counting first class. Nick and I had the 2 seats so we didn't have to sit by anyone else. The movie they played was Speed Racer. We were g...

Okay, so I should be able to post about Hawaii tomorrow. I love the vacation, but I hate the catch up work, clothes, cleaning, etc., that you have when you get back. Plus the flight back was a killer... We left at 8:45 P.M. Hawaii time, which is 12:45 Utah time, flew 5 hours to L.A., and then we had a 3 hour layover in L.A., so we didn't get home till 11:00 A.M. Sunday morning. That really wiped us out, and then having this stinking cold, we were almost dead tired. Luckily my parents let us sleep in their bed for a couple hours, and they watched the kids for us again. Thank You!!! I have the pictures posted on my MySpace (it's marked private, so you have to be on my friends list to see them), but they don't have any captions our anything. http://www.myspace.com/glam_princess80 Sorry... we know you all have just been dying to see our pictures and hear about our trip. LOL!!! J/K (unless you really have). Have a great night!

So we are back home. We were home sick yesterday... Nicolas and I caught a cold from this lady on the plane (on the way down)... such a bummer. She was sitting in front of us hacking up her lungs. Luckily we didn't get sick until the end of our trip. It would have been a real bummer if it would have kicked in on the first day there. We had so much fun!!! The weather was so nice, and it only rained once and for only about 5 minutes. We really enjoyed our time alone together, but were happy to get back home with our kids. We missed them. I will post about each day, once I get everything caught up. I hope everyone enjoyed their week.

Alright. I am leaving for the day and won't be back until September 22nd. Sorry there won't be any new updates until we get back. We hope everyone enjoys their days!

On this day, 10 years ago, Nicolas and I were married. I can't believe that 10 years has already passed since we were saying our I Do's. That was the best beginning of the rest of my life and eternity. I had the best childhood that anyone could have had... I had wonderful parents, who gave us a lot of things most children never got. We went on so many fun vacations... Just a few: Disneyland (every year) - Staying in the Biltmore RV trips - We were so hot after hiking that we all took our shirts off (Maren and I were little kids) Oregon - Square dancing Mexico - Visit my grandparents (my dad's parents) Easter Vacation (the strike) - Even though the Easter bunny didn't visit us, we got lots of fun stuff from our trip! I'm sorry we got so upset about that! We were loved so much by our parents and by many wonderful family members, raised in the church (for the most part), and no matter how bad we were, no matter what we had done, we could always come home to a hug. ...

As I was thinking about what to blog about today and I went over some things... it then hit me how selfish I am. Today, 7 years ago hundreds of people lost their lives, and here I am thinking about me and what I should talk about. I feel horrible that I didn't first think to blog about 9-11. Thank you to all the Men and Woman who were there that day helping to save lives, even though most of them would not make it out alive. They didn't think... Oh I can't do that I might not make it home to my own family... instead they just ran right in and rescued as many as they could. They truly are heroes and have a special place in my heart and a special place in Heavenly Fathers heart. I received an e-mail that showed some of the 9-11 photos (if you didn't get it let me know and I will forward it to you). I just can't imagine what those people on the plane, in the building, on the ground, or out in the water on boats, must have been feeling, thinking, or wondering. I f...

So over a week ago we went to Chili's for dinner. We love it there... their food is so good, and they have a great variety of food on the kids menu, even though our kids usually order their usually Mac & Cheese. We try to get them to try something different every time, a couple of the times we've gotten them to try the pasta or the pizza, but mostly they eat the Mac & Cheese. This time was one of those times we got Xander to try something different, but Brichette had to have her Mac & Cheese. She ate almost all of it, which is really good since the bowl they bring it out in is fairly big. Xander ordered the cheese pizza, but when they brought out my Big Mouth Bites (little cheese burgers), Xander told us that he had ordered those. So I shared with him. :) Nick ordered the Bacon Cheese Burger, and it must have smelled really good, because Xander wanted a bit of it. Then for dessert we ordered their sweet shots. I got their Cinnamon Bun, and the kids got the Chocolate...

So when I was younger the four of us used to go square dancing. It was the three of us at first, because my dad didn't want to go. But finally after a lot of my mom's begging (I think my dad would say nagging) he went, and he LOVED it. Well, I think I quit dancing around the time I went to high school, and my parents went for a little while after that, but then they to eventually quit. So just recently they started back up again. They realized what fun they were missing and started going 3 times a week. Well they've cut back some and are just going twice a week (I think) and have even started round dancing (kind of like ball room dancing). They are even the Sheriff's at the Rocketers Club. Which I can't really remember all of what they are supposed to do... but one thing is they get to "fine" people for things that they pick. So like if they said you have to pay $1.00 if you are wearing red, then everyone wearing red would have to pay $1.00 and that get pu...

So a couple weekends ago the kids wanted so bad to stay at Page and Chevonne's house. So we set it up and they were so excited. We planned it about 4 days ahead, and the kids asked for all 4 days if that was the day they were staying over. We would tell them No, a couple more days... Not until Sunday night (Labor Day Weekend). So it finally came, and they couldn't wait to get over there. Here is a couple pictures of them on our drive to their house. Brichette sure loves to pose for the camera, and the camera sure loves her! She is one beautiful little girl, and will be one beautiful lady (just like her mom... LOL J/K) Xander had just eaten some chocolate before we left, and I didn't realize how messy his face was. :) But, Messy face and all he is one handsome little man and will stay that way... Be a very handsome man, just like his dad (Not J/K, this one I'm serious about). So while Nick and I are in Hawaii they will be staying a night with Page and Chevonne. My parent...

On Saturday we went to Boondocks. It was fun, but a little irritating. In order to ride the Go Karts, Slick Track, and Bumper Boats and play Laser Tag, you have to be 40" to ride/play and 60" to operate them (not the laser tag). I told Nick, that the height thing was really stupid because that means that Mieshka (his sister) wouldn't be able to operate them. So anyway, Xander is under 40" and therefore couldn't go on or do anything but the miniature golf and the video games. Oh... and the Jungle Gym they have (kind of like the ones at McDonald's, only better). He was so upset, and so was Brichette, because we didn't want to take Brichette and not Xander. Which it's not Brichette's fault that they set the height requirement so high, but we were there to be together as a family, and if we had to separate to do things, we weren't going to. But they had fun golfing, playing the games, getting prizes from the tickets Nick won, and playing o...

I had a Laffy Taffy today and thought that since I am in a GREAT and silly mood for a Monday, I would post the two silly jokes that were on the package. 1) What is a Buckaneer? 2) How do you get an alien baby to sleep? 1) Expensive corn 2) You Rocket LOL! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha... He He He He He... Oh... Hope they made you laugh a little bit.

So on Tuesday after the kids were out of school, Lorena and the three of us went to the Zoo. We had so much fun. When we first got there all of us were so hungry we got something to eat before we did anything else. There was a squirrel that was running around picking up the crumbs from everyone. So Brichette wanted to throw him some food. Instead of her throwing him a little piece of her pretzel, she threw him a huge chunk. I told her that he can't eat that big of a piece and to throw smaller pieces, but when I turned around it was gone. Now I'm not sure if it was the squirrel or the peacock. The peacock was out begging food from anyone who would give it to him. Anyway... we started putting french fries closer and closer to us, and the squirrel kept getting them. The one picture I got he is right next to my feet. Then we went to one of the Monkey's house and looked at the cute little ones. Then stepped outside and saw some more monkeys. Then we saw the white alligator. He ...