interesting tidbit

The kids were eating their mini 'sicles' tonight after dinner and Brinlee asked why it is called a "popsicle". I remembered reading about the history of the popsicle somewhere, so I looked it up and thought I would share.

Popsicle History

The Popsicle brand is an American Classic! Beloved by the young and young at heart, Popsicle pops come in a variety of flavors, colors, and texture everyone can enjoy. In fact, the Popsicle family includes more than 30 creative variations on the original Popsicle product.
The Popsicle ice pop was accidentally invented in 1905 by 11-year-old Frank Epperson. Epperson left a mixture of powdered soda and water and a stirring stick in a cup on his porch. That night San Francisco experienced record low temperatures, and Epperson awoke the next morning to find a frozen pop that would eventually become a favorite American treat.

An Accidental Discovery Becomes a Popular Product

Epperson originally named his creation the "Epsicle," and it quickly became popular with his school friends. It wasn't until 1923, however, while running a lemonade stand at an amusement park in Oakland, Cal., that he realized the commercial possibilities of his invention. Epperson changed the name of his treat to "Popsicle," after his children’s frequent requests for "Pop’s ’sicle," and applied for a patent. The patent for frozen ice on a stick was issued August 19, 1924. Around 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the brand name Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company in New York. By 1928, Epperson had earned royalties on more than 60 million Popsicle ice pops.

The Growth of Popsicle

The popularity of the Popsicle brand continued to soar through the 1950s. Many families moved to the suburbs and could afford modern conveniences, like refrigerator/freezers. It was at this time that the Popsicle multipack was introduced and sold in grocery stores.
In 1965, the Popsicle brand became part of Consolidated Foods Corporation. At that time, the company offered 34 different flavors with new and exciting treats introduced continuously.
In 1986, the Gold Bond Ice Cream Company in Green Bay, Wis., purchased the U.S. operations of Popsicle Industries. Three years later, Gold Bond was purchased by Unilever, and in 1993 the name was changed to the Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream Company. Today, Popsicle is the No. 1 kids’ novelty brand.

It's all about the sugar and spice

We had a crazy morning! My ultrasound was at 8am up in Mililani, so we woke up at the crack of dawn to get everyone ready. We left the house just after 7 and stopped to treat the girls to donuts at Foodland. We arrived in Mililani at about 10 to 8, but could not find the office. The lady at my regular office in Kapolei had given me rough directions, but obviously not enough, because we couldn't find it. I called every couple of minutes until 8 to try and get through, but no answer. Finally at 8:07 they answered and were like you're in the wrong place, but only a few blocks away. She said it was right next to the 24 Hour Fitness on Kamehameha Hwy. So we headed that way. Then my phone rang a few seconds later and the girl was like "You are going to have to reschedule your appt because the tech has another patient in 15 minutes". I said, "Oh, ooook... Well, I still have to see the dr so I will come anyway." So we get to the 24 hour fitness complex and it wasn't there, so I called again. She said "Oh, well you need to go back towards Kam. Hwy and cross it from 24 Hour Fitness and we're in there!! GRR (someone needs to get their directions straight). By the time we got there it was 20 after. I went to go in and the door was locked. UGH! I had to knock on the door and they had to let me in. I checked in and she said "You will have to reschedule your ultrasound". I said, "Well, you know we were here 10 minutes before our appointment and no one would answer the phone to give us directions." She said "We don't answer our phone until 8." I said, "You didn't answer your phone at 8, in fact you didn't answer until 8:07, according to my cell phone call log. If you had answered your phone at 8, we could have gotten here in time." She rolls her eyes and says "Well, I was answering other calls." OOOOO I could have slapped her!!
We were the only ones in waiting room and I saw her grab my file and walk over to the ultrasound gal. I could only hear them and the tech was saying something about how she can't take us because it will put her whole morning behind. (Which I understand...I hate waiting too). Then the tech came out and said that she can give us a couple of pictures of the baby, but cannot do the entire scan because of time. So she took us all back and took a quick peek. She said that it's not "definitive", but she is 90% sure it's a girl. Pretty much for lack of not seeing "anything" there, it looks like a girl. Usually with the girls there are the 3 lines indicating "girl", but we couldn't get a clear shot. Baby was rolling around doing flips in there. She also made glances at the brain, heart and internal organs and said she doesn't see anything right away that looks out of the ordinary, but she'll be more thorough at my next appt. She gave us 7 pictures, which was really nice of her. I thanked her several times! Then I apologized to the receptionist for getting short with her and thanked her for asking the tech to let us take a peek. She kind of blew me off (BRAT!), but I feel better for having apologized anyway.
Here are a couple shots:

Profile, then foot, then mid-section

Casual Day

I am really sad, but I forgot to take pictures of the girls today. Mariah wore her favorite High School Musical T-shirt with some shorts and Brinlee opted to wear a Sunday dress with her "high heels". Funny girls!

CAPTCHA

Ok, so I am NOT a fan of those little captcha thingy's that make you type in the gobble'd gook letters to verify that you are a "real" person. They are a waste of time to me. Anyway, I personally have never had any problems with "spam" comments until now. I got my first one the other day from some guy wanting me to look at this Portuguese Massagem blog. It was actually pretty interesting, although most of it was in Portuguese, but I figure if all I get is one spam in the 8 months that I've been blogging, then I'm doing alright. Especially if a blog is set for only invited readers....what's the point of captcha? Only your readers can comment anyway, right?!

Beach Day

In Oregon on "beach day", no matter what time of year it is or how COLD it is, everyone would wear shorts and "flip flops" with sunglasses, etc. Well shorts and "slippers" are everyday school-wear here, so we added the usually banned hat and sunglasses.

Pajama Day

They were both really excited for this day. I even got Mariah to let me tie ribbons in her hair!

June 4, 2008

Several people have told us that once you've lived here for 3 years, you never want to leave. Well, we moved here on June 6, 2005 and are set to fly out on June 4, 2008. PHEW! Just under the mark!! I'd hate to think how much harder it would be to leave just a few days later...

Sports Day

We didn't really have any sports jerseys, except for their Kulani Dance Studio practice uniforms.

After a small threat....

Hat Day

Today is the first day of Keo'neula Spirit Week. It is hat day. Brinlee got up all stoked to start the week and Mariah is less than enthused.

SCHOOL SPIRIT!!

Not so much...

Keone'ula Elementary School Spirit Week

This week is spirit week at the girls' school. It's weird to me that there are 6th graders at the same school as Kindergartners, but I haven't personally encountered any problems. Anyway, the 6th grade student council came up with each of the theme days. I will post pictures of the girls on each day.

grammar check

BLOGSPOT!!! ARE YOU READING??!! You guys need to add a grammar check to your spell checker. I just did a mock post to see if it would pick up correctly spelled words, but that were used in grammatical error and it said no misspellings found. This is what I wrote:

"I took a photo of are family yesterday. Are oldest is 8 and are youngest is 1. I am so glade you like it."

No misspellings found?! YIKES!

A weird dream

I had a really wierd dream last night. You can read about it at my dream blog if you want. thoughts.com

MRE

Usually on General Conference weekend we rotate the food in our 72 hour kits. I had mentioned to Will that I would like to "use" our kits as if we were in an emergency situation that weekend to see if we really could sustain ourselves and because we need to use up the food in them as we are not taking them with us. He hesitated saying that he didn't think we should use them, just in case.

I have been packing and trying make sure that we will have enough space for everything we want to take and I needed the backpacks. I am going to let the girls pack their own carry on and whatever they can fit in there, they can take and everything else will be left here. So I emptied 2 of the 72 hour kits yesterday and decided to make dinner with the MRE's in there. I had bought those official military MRE's from someone selling them at the Kam Hwy swap meet when we first moved here and they were only a couple bucks each.

So I made the Chicken Noodle and Vegetables in sauce from Mariah's bag and the Pasta and Vegetables in Alfredo sauce from Brinlee's and then I took just the MRE from Will's made the Pasta and Vegetables in Tomato sauce.

When I opened those bags, I was SHOCKED to find out all the stuff that comes in one of those. I assumed that it was just the meal that was printed on the outside of the box, but NOPE! There was a little pack with drink powder, TP, tabasco sauce, a spoon, 2 pcs of gum and salt. Plus there was a granola bar, a pouch full of peanut butter and either crackers or a piece of wheat bread, another large drink pouch and a pouch of pears or peaches with a small candy treat like hard candies or a package of M&M's. I thought the $2 bucks I had paid was WAY worth it.

I decided to boil some water and prepare them the way I would if we were in an emergency, especially since I thought my kids would eat them better warm. They each tried all of the kinds and each settled on one they preferred. They ate an ok amount, they weren't excited over it and even I thought, well, if I were starving this would probably taste pretty good. It did have a different taste, but I just thought that it was probably because of the way it's cooked and packaged.

Well, then we started opening the other stuff. The crackers were stale as all get out. The peanuts in the nut packs were totally rancid and I took a bite out of this Snickers peanut bar immediately spit it out and rinsed my mouth 4 times with tap water. The roll of "hard" candies were so squishy then felt like gummy candies. The only thing that was semi edible was the piece of wheat bread that Mariah and Asia split and seemed to really like with the PB that was still fine. There were 2 oat and honey granola bars, both of which were rancid. I couldn't find a date on a single thing, so whoever sold these to me must have had them a while and we've been here 3 years now. I finally found one package of cheese crackers w/PB that had an exp date of July 2000. Needless to say they were very expired. I was so thankful that we never had a real emergency happen. We would have been pretty hungry. Luckily we wouldn't have starved because the PB pouches were all still good.

I will definitely go the MRE route again in the future because they are so darn handy, but I will definitely make sure that I purchase them from someone reputable that can verify the date!

The 8th grader in me....

So those of you that know me really well, know that I used to have an obsession with Mariah Carey. From the moment I first saw her sing on tv sometime around 8th grade, I have been obsessed! Hence the name of our first born girl.

Just a little background. I have ran out and bought every single one of her albums on the day it came out (except this last one, which I will hopefully get sometime soon). Every year on her birthday (March 27th), I would think of her and secretly wish her Happy Birthday. (Ironically, I was set to be induced on that very day with Brinlee, but then I went into labor 5 days early). Anytime I have seen her on a magazine cover or noticed her inside, I would buy it on the spot and had been saving them in a huge stack for years. I think I finally got rid of them right before we moved here. Right now she is on the cover of Allure and I used some self restraint at the grocery store the other day and didn't buy it, even though I really really wanted to!

Sometime around 10th grade, my dad was watching Mariah perform on tv and I had just come home from probably a cheerleading practice or game or something and he said, pointing to the tv, "Do you know who this is? She kind of reminds me of you." When I came around and looked at the tv, it was Mariah!! I was like, DUH DAD, that's Mariah Carey. I guess because we both had big long bushy curly hair and kind of full cheeks...who knows?! Also, those of you that know me, know that I have some pretty crazy dreams at night. I have had SO MANY recurring dreams about Mariah. A lot of the time we are really good friends and are usually out shopping together or having lunch. A couple of times there have been really dramatic moments where she has called me in tears or come over to visit and needed to "talk". I always used to wake up from those kinds of dreams and think, maybe someday we'll really be friends. HA HA HA!

After I graduated HS and dropped out of beauty school, I did a lot of temp work in the Portland area. One of my jobs was receptionist for a real estate company. I was there for about 2 months, but did not want the permanent position and so they asked me to train the "new girl". Long story short, this chick was from NY and had gone to HS with Mariah Carey. She was one grade younger and said that her cousin, Brenda, was really close friends with Mariah. I totally tried to scheme and get info, but I think she thought I was weird. LOL!!! (I AM WEIRD!!!)

My sweet sister, Jackie, gave me my first opportunity to see Mariah live in concert in Las Vegas. We were living in Orem at the time and my Mariah was just 6 weeks old when Jackie called me and asked me if I was sitting down. I said "yeeeaaahhh....?" She said "You are never going to believe what just happened! I just won 2 tickets to the Mariah Carey concert from the radio and I want you to have them!" Bless her heart, she had been on the phone for days trying to win them for me and she finally did and we had AWESOME seats. We were just to the side of the stage, just 6 rows back. She even let Will go with me while she and Paula baby-sat tiny Mariah. The concert was March 21, 2000 (a week before her birthday) so I made a sign that said "Happy Birthday, Mariah" and on the other side it said "My baby, Mariah Capri, born Feb. 5, 2000." During one of first songs, she pointed and waved at my sign! I could have died! I ended up taking 4 full rolls of film during the concert (Boy, I wish we'd had a digital...LOL). And at the very end she came out for an encore and most people had already started leaving, so I moved toward the front our section that was nearly empty to get a closer look and she walked out from back stage right in front of my section. I had to decide whether I wanted a close up picture or put my hand out to shake hers, as she had it up touching the others that had gathered beside me. I decided that a picture would last longer, so I snapped one really quick and just as I was about to reach my hand out, she turned to go back on stage. A few weeks after the concert, I had the sign sitting against the wall in our bedroom and Will goes "Happy Birtday?" I was like, "Huh?" YEP, the sign was mis-spelled!!! HOW EMBARASSING! She was probably pointing and laughing at my sign....GRR!

Anyway, Mariah has been going through a rough couple of years and I have maintained that she'll "get over it" and I think she just might be. I saw her for the first time in a really long time on SNL a few weeks ago and I was totally impressed. She didn't look hideously immodest, as she has been looking and actually sounded GREAT! It had been a long time since I felt that way about her. When she closed the "Idol Gives Back" show last Wednesday night, I was starting to feel excitement about seeing her perform. THEN, last night it was Mariah Carey night on American Idol and I totally felt like an 8th grade girl. The first person she "coached" was my fav, David Archuleta and I was amazed at how down to earth and friendly she was being. I felt a sense of weird overwhelming pride in my chest. As the night wore on, it was getting worse! By the time Kristy Lee Cook had her turn, I was seriously in tears. I just kept thinking how CRAZY it would have been to have to opportunity, not only just to meet Mariah Carey, but also get to sing for her and have her give you advice!!!!! I would have absolutely freaked OUT!

Before you eat...think!

Several years ago, I attended a Relief Society Enrichment Night in Vancouver and my friend Taryn taught a nutrition/portion size class. She had this hand out for everyone and I have always had it on my fridge. I have had friends ask for a copy, but never have done it, so I thought I would share with everyone.

Before you eat...think!

Are you really hungry or just ...

*thirsty? Drink water.
*bored? Do something.
*stressed? Relax.

If you really are hungry...

1. Eat now before you are too hungry to make a good choice. If you're already starving, drink a BIG glass of water to fill your stomach while you prepare your meal.
2. Pay attention to portion size.
   
   
   Meat = deck of cards
   Fruit = fist
   Milk/yogurt = tennis ball
   Cheese = thumb
   Butter = thumb tip
   Bread = one slice, 1/2 bagel
   Rice or pasta = ice cream scoop
   
   If in doubt, check the serving size on the label and measure.


3. Set a limit on how much you will eat.
4. Cook only enough for one meal.
5. Use a small plate. Fill 1/4 with protein, 1/4 with carbs, and 1/2 with fruits and veggies.

While you are eating try one of these...

1. Put your utensil down between each bite.
2. Pause for 3 minutes.
3. Use all of your senses to enjoy your food.
4. Pay attention to your appetite.
5. Don't be afraid to leave food on your plate!

Help! I'm still hungry!

1. Wait 20 minutes
2. Have a big glass of water
3. Brush your teeth
4. Have some gum or a mint
5. Fill up on veggies

#2

I competed for the title of Miss Oregon USA when I was 19. I helped my roommate do her hair for the final competition and she ended up winning the whole thing! She was on the live Miss USA showing in fall 1997, competing for the Miss USA 1998 crown. I can't remember what place I took exactly, but I did make it to the top 10 semi-finalists.

I couldn't find any on stage pictures. These are all from back stage.

This is the roommate that won, Kara Jones.


This is my friend, Kari Adams. We met the very first year that I
competed for Miss Teen All American. We ended up competing all
3 years together and then competed again in Miss OR USA. Small world.

#3

Right before I got Stymie, the snake, I had a pet gecko named Petey. He died after only having him for about a week. Lucky for me, Petco has a 10 day return policy for any pet that dies within 10 days of the sale. That's how I got Stymie. I traded!

#4

I had a pet snow cornsnake named Stymie. I got him sometime in 97 and we had him until Mariah was born. I donated him to a 3rd grade classroom.

Stymie had just shed his skin for the 1st time since I got him.

He always felt so smooth and soft after shedding old dry skin!

#5

I did child care for my friend, Tasha, that owns a YOGA studio for about 9 months just before we moved from HI. It was called YOGA 4 Ewa

#6

I am so scared of dogs. And don't try to tell me that your dog is super nice and never jumps on anyone cuz it won't matter to me. All I see is something that wants to touch me and rub against my clean clothes and maybe bite me for all I know.

#7

I have gone to Young Women Girls Camp 8 times (as a youth and a leader collectively).

#8

I used to be completely obsessed with Mariah Carey (hence my 1st daughter's name). I stopped obsessing, but I still like her and she's getting better. She went through a rough couple years.

#9

I was a nanny for about a year and a half for my good friend in Utah, who was also my OB. I watched their 3 year old for a couple of months and then she had her 2nd baby just 4 weeks before I had Mariah. When Mariah was about a month old, I went back and was there for about another year.

#10

I have been to the UK 3 times and one of those times I stayed with my English friends there for over a month.

#11

In fourth grade, I saved a classmates life and received a citizen award with a gift from the school.

#12

I have bought and sold on eBay since 2000.

#13

I hand make high-end children's jewelry. My company is called Groove.

#14

I still dream of being a photographer one day.

#15

I worked at Gap during the holidays when Mariah was a baby. I am certain that I spent double the amount I made while working there!

#16

I LOVE surprises!!!!!!

#17

My favorite candies are anything Reese's and I have recently found a renewed love for Lik-a-Maid Fun Dips. YUM! (gotta love those prego cravings =>)

#18

I love to snowboard and boogie board

#19

I have been in 8 car accidents (mostly driving in all, but not all my fault) and 4 fender benders

#20

I am obsessed with picking at stuff. (i.e. scabs, pimples, dry skin, etc.) GROSS, I know.....

#21

I used to dream about one day being a famous singer. I came so close to auditioning for American Idol (where I probably would have made a fool of myself). Maybe I'll get to live vicariously through one of my kids???
LOL

#22

I was the executive secretary to the VP of a company called Colonial Pacific when I was 20.

#23

Some of my favorite sounds are a baby's giggle, piano music, the ocean, soft rain, and a new baby's 'hum'

#24

I have a best friend from each place we've lived (sometimes 2 from each).

Tracie Strand is the first and longest friend I've ever had. We met at age 3-ish when our older sisters, Cheryl and Jackie, were friends and in the same grade at school and same gymnastics class in town. Then we ended up having the same 1st grade teacher and she introduced me to her friend, Jamie Imig, who was also in our 1st grade class. Tracie is the one that I got my tongue piercing with. The very last time I saw her in person was on my wedding day in June '98. We lost touch for a long time after that, but are now back in touch for about 2 years now!

At my 7th birthday party. I'm in pink in the middle, Tracie is on the left in stripes.
(That's Allison Pepper on the right)

Jamie came in to town for a visit at Christmas time and we all went
shopping at Lancaster Mall and ate at the McDonald's across the street.

Tracie and Jamie shopping

Tracie and Sean Kennedy (my senior prom date that ditched me)

Isn't she beautiful?!

Jamie Imig (now Jayme Horton) is the first person I remember calling my 'best friend'. She and I were inseparable from 1st to 5th grade. She moved the summer after our 6th grade year to Utah and then shortly after that to Arizona. She is still there and married with 3 kids.

This is 1st grade and 5th grade

Halloween 1988

6th grade outdoor school with our counselor "Peanut". 1989

Summer 1990. Jamie came back to visit and I got to
go camping with them at Detroit Lake.


Senior Picture (from AZ)

Jolene GrosJacques (now Ferschweiler) has been my best friend for the longest period of time. We met in 5th grade when the 2 elementary schools in town converged to the one middle school. It wasn't until our Sophomore year while cheerleading together that we started to become close. After graduation, and after I had dropped out of beauty school was when we became closest. We were inseparable and even worked together for a while at Boston's Pub and Grill as waitresses. Now she and her husband (and 3 kids) live just a few blocks away from where we are staying at my parents. It's been so good to see her again!!

Sleepover at my house. March 1990

Last day of school in 7th grade. June 1991.

Jolene with her now husband, Dusty. Summer 1997 (I think).

Jolene and Tracie at the Portland OR Temple on my wedding day.
June 26, 1998

Girls only sleepover at Jolene's during a trip home in May 1999.

Jolene on a girls only road trip through UT. 1999

Amy Mayall (now Young) is my "European" best friend. LOL! She and I met when my parents took me there in the summer between 10th and 11th grade. My dad baptized her mom while he was serving a full time mission there when he was just 19. Her mom was 17 at the time. She converted and married her husband and they have 10 children. Amy is just a year and a half younger than me and we hit it off immediately. We've kept in touch through the years and I've been to visit her twice since that time. Once for a month over Christmas and New Years '96/'97 and then Will and I (with 4 month old Mariah) and a bunch of my family went there when she was married in June of 1999. I don't think I can remember all of the times she has come here to visit. It's been a lot!! Now that she has 4 kids, though, she hasn't been over in a while.

My 2nd time there. I flew by myself and stayed for a month!
Dec. 1996

Trying on fur coats and hats on "the mile" in Chicago
Aug. 1997

With my favorite cousin Mac in Indiana for his mission farewell.
Aug. 1997

When she visited us in UT, I cut and colored her hair.
Feb. 1999

Her wedding in England. June 2000.

Jennifer Timothy (now Rouska) is my soul sister! We met during my first stint at Bon Losee Academy and didn't really care that much for each other at all. It wasn't until halfway through that we started to talk and hang out. After I left, we kept in touch and after Will and I were married and I moved to UT, we realized that we couldn't live without each other. We even ended up pregnant (with Madison and Mariah) and due on the exact same day!

Jen is more than a friend to me, she is as close as a sister can get. We've been through so much together and our lives have been so parallel. I'd marry her if I were a guy!!! LOL (You know I love yer guts, Jenny Penny!) We always say that when we're old maids, we'll live next to each other and make each other laugh until we die.

On a road trip with Amy Mayall through UT.

Family fun day at Lagoon. (her son Kade) June 1999

My graduation from Bon Losee. We are only 2 months from delivering
at this point!! Dec. 1999 (I have some better pics of us pregnant together,
but they are packed somewhere in the mess of our stuff right now.)

Picnicing up Provo Canyon. May 2000

At the Vernal Temple for their sealing. Jan. 18, 2001

Jen and Madi. KJ and Mariah. Just chillin'. Spring-ish 2001

Visit to good ol' Vernal, UT. I was pregnant with Brinlee. Mar. 2002.

The Rouska's got lei'd in Hawaii! Mar. 2007

Pali Lookout. O'ahu, Hawai'i. Mar. 2007

Erin Carnell (now Heninger) and I met while I was at Bon Losee. She is cousins with Jamie Jensen, whom I was roommates with at Raintree and partners at Bon Losee. When fall came, Erin moved down from Canada to start school. Jamie moved into a different apartment with her, which happened to be right below mine. We three were always in trouble about something. Jamie's parents thought that we were causing too much trouble for Jamie (it was actually the other way around, but....), so they made her drop out and move back home to Idaho. Erin and I became inseparable after that. There wasn't a night club or party left unturned until after we'd been there! ha ha ha! She and I stayed in touch, even after she went back to Canada. And even despite the fact that her parents thought I was a bad influence. LOL!!

I actually convinced her to wear a dress!! It's my
dress, but still. I'm sure we were going dancing or
something..not sure. Feb. 1996

At one of the hotels in Vegas. She's probably
calling her sister, Kristen, who lives there to come
and pick us up. Jan. 1996.

Somewhere in CA, after the Dallas Cowboys won the
Super Bowl. We had attended a Super Bowl party with
my friend, Sergio Salzano. Jan. 1996.

Crystal Sautter and I became friends under the oddest circumstances. While I was pregnant with Mariah and finishing at Bon Losee in '99. Crystal was assigned to me for her hair color appointment. She was also pregnant, but due much sooner than me (in Sept/Oct). She returned to me once or twice more before I graduated and I had given her my home number in Orem so she could call if she wanted her hair done. Well, she never called and I didn't really give it much thought. But then one Sunday (around Summer 2000) this new couple showed up in our ward and the wife looked so familiar. I asked her after sacrament meeting why she looked familiar and she didn't know, but I looked familiar to her, too. We finally realized where from and became fast friends after that. Elle and Mariah are a little more than 4 months apart in age. We had so many people ask us if they were sisters or twins because they resembled each other so much. I wish we lived closer together so that the kids could play. She also has 4 children, and all of them are GORGEOUS!! I have tons of pictures of us and the girls playing together when they were little, but I can't find a single one. This is the only recent picture I have.....their Christmas card photo. It's darling, though, huh?!

Christmas 2007

Taryn Harmon and I met at our ward in Vancouver in 2003. We had both been searching for a close (in person) friendship for a while. It was like our spirits knew each other instantly. We became fast friends (as did our husbands) and we were pregnant together with Eden and Asia in 2004. She was due only a couple of weeks before me. Tige and Taryn were the first of our friends to come and visit us in Hawai'i and we had a BLAST!! I am so glad that we will have the opportunity now to let our friendship continue to grow.

Kristy and Asia. Eden and Taryn. Apr. 2005

Taryn, Eden (sleeping Asia), and Tige at Ko'Olina, O'ahu, HI. Oct. 2005

Dotty Walsh and I also met at our ward in Vancouver. We were partnered as visiting teaching companions a few months after we'd moved there and I was also called to serve in the Young Womens program where she was also serving. Dotty is someone that I really admire. Her spirit shines through so strongly and she makes me want to be a better person. She and Monte didn't have any kids at the time, though they'd only been married just 6 months less than us, but we found that we had TONS in common! It wasn't long before we had a semi large group of friends that we would often hang out with together including the Harmons, Dan and Patty Nordstrom, and Mark and Erin Prusse. As more young couples moved in, our group grew larger. We were so sad to move away from all our great friends.
(Dot, I hope you don't mind that I lifted these pics from your myspace?? I have so many pictures of all my friends, but they are buried in some unknown black hole for now)

Dotty and Monte Walsh

Kapua Kai is my best Hawaiian friend! =D We met just a few weeks after we'd moved into the ward and she had just given birth to her 4th girl. Our girls are all similar ages, so it was natural for us to become friends. We also have very similar taste and habits. As we became closer friends, it was eerie how parallel our lives really are. Our families became known as the Hapa/Hauoli twins (brown/white). We miss them so much right now. We hope they make good on their promise to visit next year. Kapua gave birth to their 5th girl this past January and so, naturally, we had to follow suit and spit out another girl, too. UGH! (LOL j/k...seriously).

Kapua with 1 day old Tatum. Aug. 2006

our trip to Maui. May 2008

our trip to Maui. May 2008

I feel so blessed to have such beautiful friends (inside and out). They have all touched my life in such different ways. I would NOT be the person I am today without the influence of each and every one of them. Not too many days go by that each of them aren't in my thoughts.

Thanks for the memories ladies!