A picture of ME from 1996

I just wanted all of you to see what I looked like in 1996. Can you see the resemblance to my twin?

SURPRISE!

On the 10th of this month, my DH turned 50!! I wanted to surprise him with a birthday party. It started out going to be at a friends house because I wanted to do a luau them. They, having a built in ground pool, would have been a perfect place to have it. But then I couldn't figure out how I was going to get him there (he doesn't know them as well as I do). So then my master mind started working and I decided to make it a HP Social and get the HP Group Leader involved. (He knows DH well, and he wanted to be in on the big surprise)! We decided to have it at our usual gathering place, a log cabin owned by a family in the ward. It had more parking available anyway, but just no pool; a pond, but no pool. I had everything planned already, so to work I went. I told him what I wanted to do. He said he he would help, just let him know what he needed to do.

So I started working on the invitations. I went to Wal-Mart and bought lots of cute stuff with the luau theme. I went to Party City and found a few more cute things. Then planned the menu. Went on line and found every one's Hawaiian name in our ward's HP Group. Even had my daughter, A, to help print on name tags Hawaiian words for a game we were to play. And finally the entertainment! (We have a family in our ward who are from Samoa and knew that they would probably know how to do the hula)!

Well, Monday pass, I got a phone call at 9AM from the HP Group Leader. He said that the family that owned the log cabin was about to have a death in the family and so he wanted to know what I wanted to do. I said, have it somewhere else. He said, OK, where? I said how about the church? He said, well he didn't really want to go through what it took to have it there...calling to make sure the building would be available. I said...so what do you suggest. (Now folks, remember the post I did last week on "COWS" or "RHINO'S". This is where that comes in). He said...CANCEL IT!! I was like...NO, THAT'S NOT AN OPTION FOR ME! I had already spent TONS of money on the event, including buying me a cute mumu and him a shirt! He said, well I don't have time to call everyone and call to find out if the building is free or not. I said...WELL, I DO! He said, OK, if that's what you want to do! So I called, took me two hours to find out if we could have the building, and found out it was available. At which point I called him back and told him the building was ours. Then he said, well what about contacting the people. I said, I will do that as well! So I started emailing everyone in our ward. To make a long story short, cause it's already long enough, the LUAU happened and it was a SUCCESS! Everyone LOVED it. But they thought the the HP Group Leader had done it all. So when people came up to me and was talking about how wonderful it was...I humbly said, I KNOW...I PLANNED IT!!...right down to the decorations, the games, the food, even the big surprise when a sister came in with the cake! NOW, I had some people, I won't mention names, who thought that he was going to be mad...but HE WASN'T! He would have (OK has been) in the pass ANGRY that I surprised him...but because of my MASTER PLAN (and I think because he has matured in his old age) he was fine with all of it!


And now for your viewing pleasure I will show you some pictures of the night's festivities.

The Serving Table

Some of the people in attendance

Playing "Pass the Coconut" - she's out!

DH and Bishop playing "PASS THE COCONUT"

My favorite of the evening. DH preparing to be taught the hula! I picked out the "BIG KUHUNA HAT" and the grass skirt!!

DH doing the hula. Does he look like he is having fun or WHAT!?

And last but not least, his birthday cake!

Over all, everyone had a GREAT time...and poor DH will never be able to live down the fact that he did the hula dance for his 50th birthday!!

My baby's having a baby!

My daughter, J, is pregnant with her first baby. She and her husband have been wanting a baby for a while now. She just found out today that it's a:

GIRL!!

Nana is ECSTATIC! This will make 2 boys, and 2 girls!! She will be here the end of November!!

This STUFF is handy!

Got this in a email from a friend...THANKS SHERRY! Some of it I have done and some I have heard about. Anyway, I thought there was some good "stuff" in it!

1. Use Empty toilet paper roll to store appliance cords. It keeps them neat and you can write on the roll what appliance it belongs to.


2. For icy door steps in freezing temperatures: Get warm water and put Dawn dish washing liquid in it. Pour it all over the steps. They won't refreeze. (wish I had known this for the last 30 years!)


3. To remove old wax from a glass candle holder, put it in the freezer fora few hours. Then take the candle holder out and turn it upside down. The wax will fall out.


4. Crayon marks on walls? A damp rag, dipped in baking soda. Comes off with little effort (elbow grease that is!).


5. Permanent marker on appliances/counter tops (like store receipt BLUE!) Rubbing alcohol on paper towel.


6. Whenever you purchase a box of S.O.S Pads, immediately take a pair of scissors and cut each pad into halves. Instead of having to throw away rusted and unused and smelly pads, this would be much more economical. Now a box of S.O.S pads will last indefinitely!In fact, the scissors get 'sharpened'' this way!


7. Blood stains on clothes? Not to worry! Just pour a little hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time!


8. Use vertical strokes when washing windows outside and horizontal for inside windows. This way you can tell which side has the streaks.Straight vinegar will get outside windows really clean.


9. Don't wash windows on a sunny day. They will dry too quickly and will probably streak.


10. Spray a bit of perfume on the light bulb in any room to create a lovely light scent in each room when the light is turned on.


11. Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You can also do this with towels AND linen.


12. Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3hours prior to burning.


13. To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new!


14. To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stove top.


15. Spray your TUPPERWARE with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.


16. Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn's natural sweetness.


17. Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half, and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.


18. To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area and you will experience instant relief.


19. Ants, ants, ants every where. Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So, get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march.


20. Use air-freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still, leaves a lovely smell to the shine.

Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer........

• Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China.


• Clean a vase.To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets.


• Polish jewelry.Drop two Alka Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.


• Clean a thermos bottle.Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).


• Unclog a drain.Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, and then run the hot water.

Makes you wonder about ingesting Alka Seltzer, doesn't it??

Which one are YOU?

A few years ago, I was introduced to this book:

I was involved with sales at the time, and our "upline" told us to get this book and read it! I did and I LOVED IT! Not just because of the sales tactics, but I felt that it really described personalities of some people. The author refers to you as a "RHINO" or a "COW". Let me go over the differences between the two animals.

Meet the "Rhino". They are thick skinned. They sleep very little, and when they are awake, they CHARGE through the jungle, letting NOTHING get in there way. There is nothing they can't tackle. If something hits them, they rarely feel it, and they CHARGE on! It is all for nothing, or nothing at all!!

Now, meet the "Cow". They have soft skin. They usually stay in one place all day "grazing". They chew their cud for LONG periods of time. They stand around waiting for something to happen to them, instead of them making something happen. They are knocked over easily (true story with my mom and a cow). If there is something blocking them, they don't go around, they turn and run!


So why am I telling you all this? This past week, I have encountered, I am sorry to say COWS!! They have had excuses like; "It's too far", "That takes to much time", "It might be raining", "I don't know who's in charge", "We'll just have to reschedule", "That's too many people to call", etc, etc. ETC.!!! I don't know what has made me notice it more this week...maybe because I am involved in so many things getting ready to happen this weekend...or maybe it's the alignment of the STARS!! (that why I have won so many contests of my twins, so I figured that's probably why I am encountering so many COWS too!!)

So my question to you this morning...

ARE YOU A "COW" OR A "RHINO"?

Hopefully, you are a thick-skinned, mad, charging rhino and the torpedoes will run out before you would ever go back to being a lazy, old cow in the pasture.

KEEP CHARGING! I AM!!

DISCLAIMER: I do LIKE cows! As a matter of fact, my kitchen is decorated with COWS! BUT, I do not adopt their "attitudes". It is strictly for decoration only!!

Beautiful Hawaii

That's right folks...don't be hating!! Last year on this day, August 19, at 6:38AM we left for BEAUTIFUL HAWAII! We went to the Island of O'ahu.

Those words do not even come close to describing how beautiful it is! It was a very LONG flight with layovers. (I think by the time we got there we had been up for 36 hours). It was a life long dream of mine to some day say I went there. But I never dreamed in a MILLION years that we would go! My DH surprised me in June with the itinerary of our trip. We did have a good reason for going there too. Our only son, had his first son, our second grandson, on the 22 of July. So that made our trip even more special for going. While there we got to do LOTS of fun stuff as our daughter-in-law would take us sight-seeing during the day while our son was at work, and at night we would all go out together. While there, we got to do and see the following things.

Nu'uanu, Oahu

On Tuesday, we went and visited this place. This is called Nuuanu Pali. It is a lookout down to Honolulu. I found some interesting facts about this place...that I did not know at the time.

Nu‘uanu had been the home to Hawaiian chiefs and royalty for a long time, and continued to be so. But in the aftermath of the Mahele, with land now privatized, lower and then central Nu‘uanu became popular locations for many wealthy non-Hawaiian businessmen to establish their homes. The cooler uplands of Nu‘uanu were far more comfortable than the hot plain of Honolulu, and the easy proximity just uphill from the government and commercial center of the islands made Nu‘uanu an ideal residence. The result is a landscape of large and gracious homes, many of which remain today, albeit not always as homes.

(This is our son and daughter-in-law (with our grandson in the stroller) at the top of the hill to the lookout point. It was so windy that we could hardly walk!)

Battleship Missouri

Our daugher-in-law took us here while our son was at work. We took our new born grandson, Ben too. He did so good that day. Again I didn't know much about this ship until now, while I made this post. Here is the link if you want to read more about it.

Pearl Harbor

When you leave the Battleship Missouri, they take you by tour bus over the bridge to Pearl Harbor where the USS Arizona sank. It was a very humbling experience to go there. They ask you on the way over (you have to go by boat) to have a reverence about you as you tour the wall of names of the airmen, soldiers and sailors that lost their life that day. The top picture (we did not take) is of the memorial that is placed over the USS Arizona. You can see the outline of it in the picture. We could actually see the ship under the water as well while inside the memorial. The second picture is of smaller monuments of two other ships that were sank that day. The third picture is of the wall of names of those that lost their life that day. If you want to read more about it, go here.

Grandson's Blessing
On Wednesday night, we went to the chapel and gave baby B, a name and a blessing. My DH got to do it. It was a simple ceremony in the bishop's office. A friend that we hadn't seen in about 7 years came and joined us.

Afterwards, we all went to P.F. Changs in downtown Honolulu. Although I can say that I was not impressed, my son and his wife loves this place. (I think it's because of what I ordered, because I had eaten at another P.F. Chang's in UT and I love it there).

Laie, Hawaii Temple

On Thursday, our friend took us up to the Laie, Hawaii Temple. We spent the majority of the day with her. These pictures do not show the breathtaking view from the steps of the temple out to the ocean. (The last picture was not taken by us). Here are some facts about this temple:

The Laie Hawaii Temple marks a significant milestone in the Church because it the oldest still operating temple that was built outside of the state of Utah. The building of the temple was announced in October General Conference in 1915. The site had previously been chosen and dedicated on June 1, 1915 by President Joseph F. Smith who had served in Hawaii as a missionary and had a great love for the land and people. The site for the temple is on 11 acres of land that was originally part of a 6,000 acre plantation the Church bought in 1865 as a place of gathering for the Saints of the area. The design of the Laie Hawaii Temple was made to look like the ancient temples found in South America. President Joseph F. Smith stated many times that he wanted it to look like Solomon’s Temple from the scriptures. It is one of the few LDS temples that does not have a tower or angel Moroni. The Laie Hawaii Temple has a total of 47,224 square feet.

Atlantis Dinner Cruise

Thursday evening, we went on a sunset dinner cruise. We boarded in downtown Honolulu. We
went on a Atlantis Navatek Cruise. Here's a little blurb about it:

Only on Atlantis' Navatek I can you experience the smoothest dinner cruise Hawaii has to offer. The vessel's unique design allows it to virtually glide across the water. In fact, the cruise is so smooth you might not even notice the boat is moving until you gaze out it's spacious windows to enjoy the remarkable sights passing by. It's the only dinner cruise that goes beyond famous Diamond Head to reveal the opulent southeastern shores of Kahala and beyond. Watching the sunset into the sea and seeing the sparkling lights of Waikiki will become memories that you will enjoy well into the future.

While on board we had a live entertainment including hula dancers. They called men up out of the audience to learn the hula. They asked DH but he wouldn't go!!

The sunset was absolutely breathtaking!

Polynesian Cultural Center

On Friday afternoon and evening, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We toured seven authentic South Pacific villages, and viewed their lifestyles. The villages were SAMOA, NEW ZEALAND, FIJI, TAHITI, TONGA, the MARQUESAS and OLD HAWAII.

We indulged in a sumptuous all-you-can-eat buffet dinner.

We didn't get to experience the elegant Pageant of the Long Canoes, but others did.

We ended the evening by attending an incredible extravaganza night show – Horizons – featuring over 100 performers.

(This is also the night I got my black pearl necklace and pink pearl earrings from here!)

Pyramid Rock Beach

On Saturday, our last day, we decided to take it easy and go to the beach. The Marine Base has it's on beach. Here is a little about that beach:

Pyramid Rock beach is a pretty cove of sand with a wonderful ocean view, located on the northern end of Kaneohe Marine Corp Base Hawaii. Many of the other beaches on this base are comprised of lava shelves, rocky coasts and strong wave action. But for a calm, sandy beach on the Marine Corps base, Pyramid Rock beach can’t be beat. The beach is named for the pyramid shaped rock that almost protrudes out into the ocean. Unlike the other beaches on base, Pyramid Rock beach is protected by Kaneohe Bay, making for lovely calm water; whether you want to swim or kayak, the waters at Kaneohe Bay are spectacular.

This picture I refer to my "Baywatch" Babe!!

My son decided that we wanted to go snokerling. But unfortunately, he couldn't find his all his gear. All he could find is his flippers. He even had a set for his dad. Notice the "pro" and the ameatur"!!

We left Hawaii on the evening of the 26th. We had the most WONDERFUL time visiting our son, daughter-in-law, and new grandson. It was a one of those special memories that I will remember for a very long time! If you haven't been to Hawaii...GO!! I am counting the days till my next dream vacation! You knows where that will be!?