Mahalo!

I can't believe we only have one more day in Maui, but we've had so much fun the past few days! I flew over with Maddie and Lauren on Sunday morning to meet my parents and Chase who had already been here for a couple of days.

As soon as our wheels touched the ground Maddie whipped out her carry on and pulled out a pair of blingin' glasses and a plastic lei she had packed just for her arrival! How does she think of this stuff?

We went to dinner our first night here at a little restaurant outside by the beach and they had a Hawaiian band and hula dancer act for our entertainment. My mom said she'd give us $10 to get up and dance on the lawn in front of our table so we put on a little show of our own. I'm pretty sure Maddie had the best moves ;)

A girl came by our table selling real flower lei's much to Maddie's relief, since her plastic version was almost completely unravelled by the end of dinner. Lauren wanted to show off her lei in a unique way, and with a...unique face.

We just had a mini-melt-down, here in room 9122, but Chase has stopped jumping on people and everyone has stopped crying now. Guess that's my cue. More pics and stories to come!!

Oh yeah, Brent couldn't come because he has to work, so be sure to give him some extra love this week since I'm sure he's terribly, horribly, awfully lonely without me. ;)

A star is born!

If you don't know my sister Maddie, this video is probably the best way to become acquainted. She video chatted me a few days ago and said "Look, I'm on YouTube!!!" (she's the crazy girl on the Left).



Also, yesterday we were taking Jaxon for a walk and as we turned a corner we heard someone turning off on a side street behind us yell out "Maaaaddiiiiiiieeeee!". I asked her if she knew who it was and she said no. I said, "Well, then it must have been one of your adoring YouTube fans!". She thought about that for a second, then smiled and kept walking.

"Fun" Run, and other Memorial Day Stuffs...

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I would participate in a run for fun. I stuck strictly to swimming sports in high school and most of college until I took a running class at BYU and ran my first ever mile! Sad I know. But running is a little more convenient than swimming most of the time, and it's easier to find people to run with than swim with.

Anyway, our ward had a 5k Fun Run on Memorial Day and somehow I convinced Brent to run "with" me. He decided that he'd lag behind a few minutes to make me look good...what a sweetie ;) So I ended up crossing the finish line before him...and all the other women running!! I couldn't believe it, I hadn't even been training for a 5k, but I have been running with this crazy group that leaves at 5:50 AM! I know, shocking. It's all thanks to Teri, who really should have been there to beat me. I probably would have gotten better than 24:15 if I was trying to keep up with you!

So the running itself wasn't very fun, the last mile or so was especially torturous because they had us loop back around the section of the run with the biggest hill in it! But after I finished and sat down for a while to avoid spewing, it was great! They had pancakes and fruit and we talked to all our friends and hung out for a while. Brent made me take a picture with the winner's board:



And major props to Maya (11) and Alex (10?) McFarland who won for the primary girls and boys respectively...they finished right behind me and definitely gave me a run for my money! I told them when I was their age I couldn't run half a mile without puking on the side of the track. Seriously.

Anyway, enough about running, it still kind of scares me. On to the bbq!! Teri and Rob graciously invited us to their beautiful new home for a "cook out" as they say here in the dirty South. Andrew and Tiffany came too and we had a lovely, delicious time. I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few good ones.






After dinner we went to Angels & Demons, which I wasn't too excited about, but it ended up exceeding my expectations! I never saw the DaVinci Code but I read both of the books and liked them. It was a great weekend, thanks friends.

Cabers and Kilts

Who knew Winston-Salem was such a hotbed of cultural diversity?? There was a Celtic festival here a few weeks ago that opened my eyes to the fascinating world of "Scottish Highland Games". Unfortunately we were only able to stay for two of the events, the Scottish Hammer throw and the Caber Toss. Behold the Hammer Throw:



One of the kids of the family we were with asked me "Why does he have to scream like that?". I told her that it looks like it hurts.

The other event we saw was the Caber toss, where the men basically take a huge log and try to throw it up in the air so that the the top end hits the ground then flips over and lands in a "12 o'clock" position. I don't even know how they pick the darn things up.




All in all it was an extremely interesting and educational experience, and I wish we could have stayed for the rest of the events (actually, now that I think about it, that was definitely the hottest and most humid day of the year so far and I was ready to get the heck out of there and take a shower. This old lady standing in front of us at the games actually passed out it was so hot!).

Teri even showed up with Maizey eventually just to make the day that much more special ;) Baby Maia is obviously not scared of dogs, she kept trying to stick her hands right inside Maizey's mouth! Haha, fearless.