Today is Tuesday, January 27, but I'm posting for Sunday and Monday. On Sunday we went to church in Laie. It's right next to the temple. The ward members are so kind. You can just feel such a great love here. It was a good meeting. Good talks about staying humble, helping your family and going forward in faith during this tough economic time. Isn't it interesting that the feeling of economic hardship is everywhere.

Then we went and walked around the temple grounds. The temple is shut down this year. They are taking off all the paint so they can repaint it. We went to the visitors center and watched a few movies and guess who we met? - Mark Eubanks!! He use to be a weather man on channel 5! He was very nice and told us the weather forcast in Utah - snow, rain and wind.

After that, we went over to Gma &

Gpa's condo and had really yummy hawaiian style pancakes. This picture is blurrier than I'd hoped but we had banana's, pineapple, coconut, macadamia nuts and coconut syrup on our pancakes!! YUM!!

Then we played a card game called 5 Crowns with them it was a good day.

On Monday we went to Costco. They almost didn't let me in. I guess my membership doesn't allow me in until 11am and it was 10:30am. I got separated from dad and gma & gpa but as soon as explained that I was with them they let me in.

Then we went and sat out at the beach at Turtle Bay while dad and gpa snorkled. It was so pretty and sunny you could see so many things in the water - it was so clear. Gma and I saw tons of whales out close to the horizon. It was fun we saw them raise up their tales and splash and we saw their fins come clear out of the water!! After that gma and I played in the pool. Then we went to sharks cove.

It was pretty calm this time and we were able to walk around in the pools just to the west of the cove. We saw all sorts of interesting fish and we even saw something that looked like a BIG OLD HAIRY legged spider!! Gpa insisted that is was some sort of sea creature, but we aren't so sure. Gpa and dad found lots of neat shells and then we tried to capture the sun set. I'm sure you can see - that dad was thrilled!! ;) We had a fun day and want to go back when we have more day light. Dad found you some neat shells.

Oahu on January 24

Hi Chapmans & Boys - hope you're having fun. Here's a little bit of what we did today.

We went to Ko Olina on the West side of the island. Dad & Grandpa went snorkeling. . .

and Grandma & I hung out in the beautiful park there.

Then we walked around to see what else we could see. The hotels there are gorgeous and really fancy and the landscape is just beautiful!

Here's what the entrance to the park looked like and the road out. It was really pretty here. Grandpa and Dad saw a really cool Trumpet Fish, Two Sea Turtles and an Octopus!! They said it was well worth the drive. What do you think?

Then we went for a drive to Haleiwa to get a shaved ice at the Aloha General Store - yum!! Grandpa got a smoothy and Grandma got ICECREAM - she loved it, but oh boy did she cough afterwards! She said it was well worth it!

Then on the way back to the condo we saw a beautiful rainbow, though this picture does not give it justice it was so brilliantly colored - it was a fun day!! We had to keep reminding ourselves that it's JANUARY 24th and it was 81 degrees here today.

We missed you today and want to bring you next time for sure - love you guys hope you are having fun and being good. Talk to you soon!!

Christmas Memories

Christmas this year was really weird for me this year. I think it had to do with several things. First of all both my parents are gone and it was weird carrying on traditions without them. The other reason was that we had everything ready for Christmas probably by the middle of October and I think I just had a hard time holding onto the Christmas Spirit that long.

Then the last reason is because Zac lost the "magic" of Christmas this year and that was weird to see him be excited but not have that same magic in his eyes. It turned out really great though. The kids had a really fun day. Their big famiy present was a Wii from Santa and I was worried that would be all they wanted to do, but they played with their other things for a long time first and then finally tried out the Wii. That was great.

As you can see there were still plenty of happy smiles and when Christmas finally came the kids still had a great time. I am just glad it got here, we had a good time and it's all done.

We also got two tons of snow!! Jeff's parent's always come out to our house for breakfast and I wasn't sure if they'd be able to come, but after shoveling the driveway and walks at least three times and them coming out in four wheel drive and very slowly - they made it!!

Here's my attempt at showing you how much snow we got. It was kind of fun in a way because that's what Christmas time brings - snow!! It gives it a great Christmas feel! I guess there were a lot of people who wanted a white Christmas!!

Christmas Eve 2008

Soup & Bread Bowls with My Sisters, Brothers-in-Law

And Nieces & Nephews

This Was a Special First for This Year!

A Visit From Santa!!

What a Special Treat - Thanks Santa!!

Little Nephews & Nieces

Lot's of Smiles

Special Talents

Re-enacting the Nativity

Such Special Memories to Cherish!!

And. . . .Opening One Present Before Bed!!

New PJ's!!

And. . .that's what my Christmas Eve was like this year!!

New Hats

We gave the kids new winter hats and they were thrilled!!! It never ceases to amaze me how such a simple thing can bring such happiness.

They played with them for about 40 minutes - they made up games and silly hat styles. Then they wanted me to take pictures. So, I snuck in a video and had to share it. They are pretty still because they thought I was taking a picture. Just had to share cause it made me laugh (hope it makes you laugh too!)

Honorable Mention!!

If you know Zac you know you can almost always find him drawing or writing stories to go along with his art work. He has become quite the little artist. This year the theme for Reflections was "WOW!!" how easy is that. I told him to turn in one of his pictures because whenever he shows them to anyone (including me) I always hear the same response, "Wow! That is so good Zac!!" So. . .needless to say, he turned in one of his most recent and favorite drawings.

He did a great job, he got an award for honorable mention and I thought it was definately worth mentioning too!!

Great job Zac - keep it up!!

Thanksgiving 2008

This Thanksgiving was different then any I've had in the past. It ended up being a lot of fun and we had some great times, but it was really different. Sometimes, it's hard to know when to change traditions and start new ones. This year seems like it was just the beginning of changing traditions for me.

First off we had Thanksgiving early. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law Mandy & Steve were able to come in to town the Saturday before Thanksgiving (which we really were so excited for!!) so, that's when we had Thanksgiving Day - it was so nice to be all together as a family for the holiday - it was quickly apparent that it didn't matter that it was before the actual holiday. The point was everyone was together to celebrate it (well, except for Kendal that is (we missed him) - it always seems like someone gets sick).

So. . . on Thanksgiving Day we had finger foods and smoked turkey sandwiches and just hung out with each other. This time Kendal was there but Gpa Quick ended up having to work and of course Mandy and Steve had to go back home. It was still great to get together and hang out, just different once again.

It didn't stop there, then on Saturday my sisters and I decided to get together and Rose's house and play games and have left over turkey sandwiches and veggies. It ended up that we were able to stretch the holiday to include everyone. It was fun.

I learned that traditions can change and still be really fun - you just have to get your mind around it. I am definately a creature of habit, but it can be taught!! :)

The other thing that made it extra different was missing my parents around, that is really tricky. In one way I tried hard not to think about it, because it made it feel sad, but in another way it was good just to remember those fun times together, cause that's some of the best memories I have.

Overall - Thanksgiving is such a great start to the holiday season, it helps you to stop and remember all the things you should be thankful for each day!!

Family, Cousin's, Good Food, a Home, Laughter, Children, and the Gospel pulling it all together !!