Jared, Jared, Nate and a Swing Set

Not long after we got back from vacation, we were off to Kailua. A mutual mission friend - Jared Jones, his wife Miyuki and son Ashton were visiting the islands and staying with Jared, Kalei and Jaeden. We had dinner together and the kids played on the swing set in the back yard. Alyssa put the moves on Jaeden shown with a look of terror - "Wat dis crazee wahine doin?" Meanwhile . . back at the ranch . . the boys were breaking all kind of playground equipment weight requirements by sitting on the swing set.

July - vacation!

Nate had training in California, so Alyssa and I tagged along to vacation and visit the family. We stayed with Grandma Lee, Uncle Jeff, Aunty Meri and Cousin Thomas. Notable events included: 4th of July flag raising at Los Alamitos Ward, visiting Grandpa Leighton in the cemetary, Ahlstrom family BBQ where Alyssa was first introduced to a trampoline (nuff said!), swimming (the weather was unusually cool for July), Thomas enjoying fireworks while Alyssa ran for the hills, Nate carpooling with Greg to training and discussing the latest in sporting news, visiting my former coworkers and our friends from Cypress 1st ward. After serious debate and much sanctioning from relatives, we decided to take Alyssa to Disneyland. She loved King Trident's carousel at the California Adventure. She refused to get off unless we promised to ride again. We also had a BBQ at Grandma Lee's and had over family friends. My high school friend Willie Goo and his new wife Sarah made the drive from Irvine to join us for pupus. I somehow managed to convince my poor husband to help transport my board to Hawaii - somewhat stressful managing a child and surfboard but I have thoroughly enjoyed getting back to the water. All in all a great vacation - thanks Grandma Lee and Hess Family for all the fun.

June - Cousin Maile visits for the day

Alyssa's cousin Maile come over for the day. We set up a tent in our "yard" (4"x 18" patch of grass) and the girls played inside the tent. We had yummy manapua, pork hash and noodles for lunch courtesy of Aunty Britty. I left the girls in Alyssa's room to take a nap - all I could hear was laughter and movement and came in to find them bouncing everywhere. Alyssa took a nap and Maile helped me cook some corn and rice for dinner. It was a lot of fun and we hope to have Maile over again soon!

June Showers bring August flowers

In June we had a bridal shower for my cousin Jaimee who got married in August. We hung all the pom poms that Jaimee is pictured in (and many others not pictured) from a tent we set up in the ward cultural hall. Note: tents are a lot easier to assemble with instructions. The cultural hall looked great and the ladies who attended had a great time.

June - Tutu and Me Graduation

Tutu and me finished in June for summer break. To cap off the year the children who were moving on to preschool or kindergarten donned their caps and graduated from Tutu and me. The parents brought a ton of food for lunch and every child got a book and there was a balloon artist as well. We'll miss all the kids that are moving on and wish them well in school. I figured out part way into the year that the little girl pictured with Alyssa was the daughter of my seminary class president -small world. We have both enjoyed Tutu and Me and look forward to the new school year.

Bulimic Blogging - End of May

It looks like about four months have passed since the last post. It's time to sit down and regurgitate what we've been up to. A daunting task that when finished brings relief - until another four months pass. Memorial day weekend was a weekend of discovery. We had some passes for the Discovery Center and invited G-pop and G-ma to come along. Alyssa got to explore possible careers in public transportation, wear silly sea creature hats with G-ma, blow giant bubbles and have excessive amounts of fun.

May - "I'm not dead yet"

I hit the big 3-0 and my mom, aunties, cousins and grandma's hosted a ladies night out at Buca Di Beppo which is fortunate since we needed an army and several hollow legs to eat all the food (we still took home a bunch of leftovers which mysteriously made their way into Sunday dinner the next day). The sad picture of Jaimee is in memory of Lung shimai who was not there to enjoy the festivities. I don't think 3 decades has thrown me into any sort of midlife crisis - just grateful for great family and friends and I hope the next 3 decades are just as great! Oh and age certainly does not bring wisdom - I brought my camera only to find I didn't load the memory card and had to steal my cousin's pics.

April - feeding the ducks

For a field trip Tutu and Me traveling preschool had the kids go to Hoomaluhia Botanical Gardens to feed the ducks. It was a nice sunny day with loads of bread and crackers to feed the ducks. Unfortunately Alyssa has never fully recovered from the petting zoo I took her to in Orange County. She is terrified of animals big and small. I tried to get her to throw crackers to the ducks, but she stuffed them in her mouth and took off running in the opposite directions.