yee haw ya'll

howdy!

not sure why being in Dallas makes me go all texan, but its fun for a bit.

we are here after a long, terrible red eye flight from Hnl-dfw.

eekkks.

its great to see family and especially the cousins playing together.

ahh. and our first stop was....TARGET!

dang that place is heaven.

am scoping out some other stores and even looked in the phone book and ran across KI Memories. I called and bummer...its not open to the public. Must find some other scrapbook stores. It has been FOREVER since i stepped foot in one.

also to do...

see santa.

toys r us.

more family.

IKEA

malls

outback and other yummy restaurants.

and lots more sleep because we are all screwed up.

hope your Christmas week is a good one!

santa love and a new do

ew whatta bing boom...

da da da da da da..

today was a good day.

i am singing that song as i type here.

so today was a happy saturday and its not even over.

yes.

i am stressin about leaving for the mainland for two weeks.

but i am thrilled to see everyone.

to get ready, my husband took the kids for the morning for some shopping and such while mommy got her hair done.

can i just say ...I feel sexy!

it has been so long since i remember feeling this way.

it must have been way before i had my kids, so i am grinning ear to ear.

its amazing how a new do can boost your spirits. oh yeah.

tonight we are going to a chirstmas party too, so HOT DOG, its going to be fun.

shakin it all about on the dance floor.

and santa...

i know i know.

i made my little one be tortured by wearing those silly reindeer ears and sitting with santa, but sometimes you do what you have to for a picture right?

And big "oh yea's" for my Olivia.

she was terrified of sitting with santa and then finally did it and got the cutest photo.

love the holidays.

elf yourself today!

this is too funny not to try ....really!
I saw this on a few blogs and had to give it a whirl.
put a smie on my face for sure.
check mine out here.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=4b4005f853b2b103238338dG06121316

ZING bang BOOM

snap! i can not believe my name is on this list.
for real?!? when i saw this call on Falyn's blog, i knew i had to go for it. SO me. I love love love how Kristen brings in misc. goodies to her kits and can hardly wait to get my first one to play with next month. Thanks so much....still can't believe it....yipee!!!!
If you have not seen her kit....speed up your type ridden fingers and check it... http://www.zingboomkits.com/

with this great news too, i want to thank michelle for her sweet words about the whole design team thing. you were right!

also Had to jump in on this weeks Dare with the Effers. http://fortheloveofeffers.blogspot.com/

Jamaica came up with it this time around and i LOVED the dare.

Make a layout about your name.

Of course my Dad gave up the fight to name me Porscha , but whenever i think of him telling the story..i giggle. was so fun to make a page to document it too.

in other fun stuff....

I got a super sweet postcard from Deanna in the mail and it made my day!! thanks girl.

also in fun mail..i got not one but 2 ultra cool CJ's from heidi....eeks...i can not wait to get workin on them. Its so fun to see them at this stage as they are almost done. I have to say a huge thanks to you too girl for the Jam cd! at lunch today, the kids and i were rockin out to NKOTB, Lisa lisa and so many other great 80's music makers.

what a fun week it has been.

a little cheese and scrapbook goodness

oh what a happy boy. Give him something sweet and he'll ham it all up for us.
That happiness on his face almost brings me to tears. A-friggin-dorable!

and some new pages....i am in the groove and pumpin out some fun ones i think. And with this spurt of funky ME pages, I got the courage to try out for a couple kits clubs.....so nervous about it though.

wish me luck.

a few updates

sorry to start out on a bad note but....i finally have some news that will hopefully help my little boy. He is way WAY allergic to Peanuts. Since he was born he's had skin issues and i have tried everything to try and fix it. I followed my motherly instinct this last doctors visit and now have a huge answer. Yes, it sucks he is allergic, but thank God we know what to do to avoid future pain and suffering for him. Tonight i will sleep better and tomorrow its back into the doctor to get to the bottom of it all. Wish us luck.

so on a happier note...D http://deannacorinna.blogspot.com/ made this awesome banner for me to use. To bad i am not computer saavy enough to get this on my header,(even with all her help), so i will just display its prettiness here for all to see...thanks Deanna!
also, i am wanting to get busting out a christmas book of all the things i love in my home this time of year and here are a few photos i hope to include. Traditions are too fun not to record.
gotta love christmas dinner ware! *love* that i got most of it on super clearance, as i call it, at Target a few years ago. ahhhh...bliss. I am totally wanting to do this too http://skullsorama.blogspot.com/ . A day in the life...how fun huh? ahhh...hopefully now that i am kicking this cold i can start getting some fun stuff done instead of napping.

the 4th already??

our christmas card pic...
Olivia enjoying the toys for tots train and not happy to be giving away a Dora toy to this great cause. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy to give though....
a Williams Sonoma cake that i wish i had time to make....how cool is it really? it blows a gingerbread house way out of the water.....

and a Christmas gift i made for Dad.....one of many i am making this year. Its so fun to give something from the heart and use up scrappy supplies at the same time....

wow December is already flying by.

as i moved my little snowman calendar guy to today, the fourth, I am just shaking my head.

This year i am really trying to enjoy each moment of this Christmas. the good, the bad and even the ugly.

A BAD....the kids and i came down with a little bug and darn, its just no fun. After a trip to the doctor today, it was treat time though. A little shave ice always makes us feel a bit better and its the closest we get to snow here.

A GOOD.... i went to our little scrapbook stores Christmas party and got 50 % off my entire purchase!! I was so tickled.

happy 4th to you and yours

love the first of the month

reason 1...
I get my first peeks at the kits i subscribe to each month. Scrapologie and poppy ink are my two current ones and man are these things the best?? So addictive too. Sadly i can not imagine when i will end my subscriptions ...never hopefully. really sad.....i am already scoping out a few more...eeks.
reason 2...
i sit down and look at whats coming up for the month.
the first big thing is a Xmas parade tonight.
and then tomorrow...
du du duhhhhhh..the Army/ Navy game! Its huge in my house being that Anthony went to the Naval Academy. Even the kids have outfits to wear in support. GO NAVY!!

reason 3...i love the fresh start feel of a new month. and for some reason knowing that this is the last month of 2006 ,i feel i need to do alot. Make sure my year is complete. and with that comes a time of reflection and of course i love that.

so happy december 1st to you!

yummy

so who are the geniuses working at Old Navy?
Bringing super, yummy , chocolate covered goodies in this store for only 5 dollars. for real. so smart or i am just a sucker for anything sweet.

honestly.
i am eating this goodness ( the piece in the above picture) as i am typing and feeling a bit gulity at the same time.
yes.
it was a good deal.
yes.
it tastes awesome and is so festive.
but.
huge but.
this was suppose to be a stocking stuffer for someone else.
oops.
guess i need to go shopping again.

a maui good time

the boys enjoying the Maui Ocean Center's turtles.IRL...loved meeting up with Miss D bird herself. She is ultra cool. I have to say that i am a huge nerd and was so nervous. When we saw eachother we just hit it off though. Talking and laughing and just hanging out. Its probably a good thing we do not live on the same island because we could do some major shopping damage. and can you imagine combined shipping...oh yea! I hope we can for sure meet up again and do some scrappin. i had a blast, even though our visit was short. and thanks Anthony for taking the kids to Happy Feet, even though they were not so happy while watching it.Uncle guy checkin out the fish with the wee onesthis time last week we were packin up to island hop over to Maui for Thanksgiving with my brother, Sil and nephew Logan. We had such a fun time.
it started in the airport with miss Olivia, the flight attendant wanna be, trucking her toys. Loved seeing that.
Then we enjoyed a beachside, potluck style Thanksgiving. Yummy!!!
More time was spent shopping, eating, and enjoying the beach. It was so wonderful to see all the cousins playing together. There is nothing as special as time spent with family. It will be nice when we all live closer and can do it more often.

so now we are in full gear Christmas mode.
tree. check.
decorations. check.
music. check.
feeling of comfort and joy. check, check.
stockings hung. check x 4

I know its not even December yet, but man i love me some Christmas time joy!!

for real?

this is one of my most favoritest pictures ever!!

took it at the HNL airport and am so tickled that she is a ham for the camera and i could get a photo like this.

i used to be a flight attendant and there's my little girl being like one.

***aaahhhh dang...love this***

had a great weekend

have lots to share

be back soon.

got alot to do while the kiddos are nappin.

thankful am i

in no particular order really...just a few things i am thankful for this year.
my health
my precious babies
my loving husband.
our safe and happy home

this can of cranberry sauce...yummy
my family....every one of them.
that i still am my daddys little girl.

that i just killed a flying cockroach in our house. can't have those flying around when i fall asleep.my new nephew that should be born anyday.

the beautiful beach we call our backyard.
my mom's english boyfriend that is visiting her and keeping her so happy.
that i have almost lost all of my pregnancy weight...whew.
that i am learning to run. still hating it, but learning to accept it in my life.

Most of all....
the love and support of all my friends and family.
my life would be so empty without your relationships.

Happy turkey day to all.

its the most wonderful time of the year.

i know, i know.

its not even Thanksgiving and already I am Christmas bound and giddy. Hence the holiday colors on the blog even.

Just got back from my weekly Costco run and got this Martha Stewart Holiday gift mag and whoa!!

my poor husband sat with me watching football while I ewwwwed and ahhhhhed over this thing.

so many beyond great and simple ideas for holiday gifts and even recipes.

minty marshmellows?!? Who wouldn't love those in their hot cocoa?

mmmm. i can smell it already and feel the warmth in my hands.

not i like i need warmth here because it was in the 70's today, but i can blast the AC, bundle up and make me some right?

this mag is only 7 dollars ( 30% off that if you buy it at Costco) and is so well worth it.

i can post again.

dang...blogger was not wanting to work with me the past few days, but i am here now.

still working on the circle journal thing with the best group of girls out there.

just finished Michelle Guray's http://allanmichelle.typepad.com/ and dang that things a beauty! next i'm due to get Alex's and can hardly wait.

i love these things.

so anyway, we have this post going where we can say "hey" and i was curious as to what everyone's scrap area looked like and to hear where everyone scraps. we have a super long living room and we split it in half with the couch and so the backside of the room is our office/scrap area. i was ecstatic when a local restaurant went out of business and i got a huge metal rack for my organizer boxes and a gigantic table for workspace that i covered for super cheap. yipee. about 6 years ago when we lived in Virginia, i used our coffee table and would have to do the pack up..then bring out game. fun times. its funny how this hobby can take over some major space, but for good reason though. right?

don't i look like a little wimp gangster in the one photo? it made me laugh though so i thought i'd share it.

since taking those pics the other day, i cleaned up a little and found some projects that i have been wanted to do forever. So i stuck my heels in and made Kyan's name. Forgot how easy those things are and am so glad i finally finished it for his room. Poor boy. Its so much funner to decorate a girly girl room and so i have long had Olivia's done and now i have got to push to get his all fun like. one step down, many more to go.

also in crazy news here... we had a tsumami watch here again yesterday. eeekks. We got a call at 5 am but luckily it passed with minimal results. Below is an article that was in the paper and for sure got me a little rattled.

Story:Mini-tsunami has minimal effect on Kaua'i Surfers and fishermen noticed a tidal change that exposed reefs after yesterday's tsunami, but no damage, injuries or severe flooding werereported on island, officials said. The only reported flooding was a 21/2-foot swell that flooded a parkinglot at Nawiliwili Harbor, according to Mary Daubert, county spokeswoman. For more of this story, click on or type the URL below: http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2006/11/16/news/news02.txt

the key word in there in MINI. yikes. any at all is too much for me.

The whole warning got me thinking about how i need to be more prepared now. A little good comes out of everything right?

ideas are a flowin'

dang.

dang.

i got this http://www.anthropologie.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE catalog in the mail yesterday and am in awe.

the christmas ornaments in here have my mind spinning.

gotta make something cool like that soon.

november 8th here

WIshing a huge, big, gigantic happy birthday to my mother in law Vera who is celebrating her 60th today. I hope you are truly enjoying your special day and we'll have to do a belated celebration when we come to Dallas for Thanksgiving.
Happy birthday to Jamie (kokopuffs) too. Made you this little goodie bling tin filled with some fun embellies. It will be coming your way soon. Happy day!!!fun news for me too. I was asked to be a guest designer at a challenge website called Beyond Appearances and this is my layout...you can check out the details here...
http://beyond-appearances.blogspot.com/ what a fun thing to join in with you girls....thanks!

just a another day here

not much is new really.

mom always says "no news is good news"

took the kids to gym playgroup this morning.

mailed off some goodies.

really want to ask for this http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/classesheidis.html for xmas

enjoying listening to tunes on my ipod.

hanging out in the sun and so glad its not cold here.

sending my warm juju your way if you are where its cold.

bummed that the Bachelor is not on tv tonight.

heading to craft night soon though and that'll be fun.

proud of my husband for finishing this 10 mile run 1st in his age group http://www.kauairun.com/2006.pdf ...go baby go!

thinking how fun it would be to make a mini book of all his race stuff...hmmm.

enabler alert (nsbr)

ok for real?
i got this email and thought my friend was joking.
checked it out... its for real!
makeup for one dollar.
yes you read it right, 1 dollar.
check it here...
http://www.eyeslipsface.com/elfshop/default.asp

it seems as though the company is just starting up and wants to get their name out there.
HELLO?
worked on me.

and a happy Halloween it was.

a chance run in with
Britney Spears, K-fed, and
baby sean. Can you believe
it?!?
gooey twix filled baby boy fingers.








Old school candy..Hello?? made my night for sure. Even my tongue was filled with colors from the Razzles!! loved it!

And then my little unicorn. So precious. Thank goodness that we have dress up costumes because after she changed her mind about being Dora, the Unicorn came in quite handy.
she looked so cute running around with her little pumpkin pail and saying Trick or Treat in her shy girl voice.
i loved every minute of it.
Even Anthony and i dressed up for the night. I tried to figure out how to be Fergie but couldn't think of a way to not look trampie. She can pull it off, but i sure don't have the body or the courage with two young kids to give it a whirl.
i did go as a skydiver though. So less cool but the look worked due to Anthony's gear .
Anthony at the last minute made himself into a rubics cube. i'll just not even go into detail, but it was a sight to see.

what a great way to end the month!!

almost

secretly, i was hoping kyan would start walking more on his own by today.

so close but not quite.

i can't wait to see my two little ones running about together.

he sure does love pushing around Olivia's shopping basket filled with girlie things though.

pink glitter purse and all.

secure in his boyhood i suppose.

pump it..

LOUDER.

pump it.

louder.

gotta love the black eyed peas.

We carried their fun spirit into Halloween this year at our house.

Anthony and Kyan dressed up as black eyed P's for the kids party the other night and looked awesome. Surprisingly Kyan did not mind the black around his eye either which was a huge plus.

The coolest part is that they won best family costume and a 20 gift cert. too.

Olivia dressed up as Dora but threw a huge fit on the way. Basically, she showed up in shorts and shirt because she had torn all the accessories off on the walk there. oh fun times of a two year old, i'll tell ya.

Tonight we put out some more decorations and are so ready for the actual Halloween on Tuesday. I think i may find a way to dress up as Fergie and really carry out the whole Black eyed peas motif.

isn't it crazy how Halloween goes on and on now. I don't know about you, but there have been tons of parties and garb for this holiday. I love it, but it feels like Halloween is a week long affair this year.

Before i know it all the fall stuff will be down and it will be full blown Christmas time. Wow, how time flies.

Hope everyone has a great Halloween.

aidaisms

"all these changes make me feel like i am going through puberty all over again"

from the mouth of my neighbor, aida, who scrapbooked for the first time this week and got her hair chopped off.
I wish i could be as witty as her sometimes. I've told her that she needs to journal on my pages the way she tells stories....always hilarious and clever.

I used to be the only one around where i lived that scrapbooked and now its spreading like wildfire. We even have a group that gets together every other monday night. Its always so fun to see the different things everyone comes up with.

thats the magic of scrapbooking ...i love it

Monday night bliss

we'll welcome to 2006 for us.

we are not the ones to run out and buy new things, especially big things, but with the opening of Costco and a coupon ANthony could not resist.

This mack daddy tv is quite the treat for him. Its been 12 years since he bought a new tv so he figured it was time to upgrade. Having HD (high definition) on a flat panel is beyond words.

especially for the kids while watching Dora the Explorer...dang.

I was never so spoiled as a kid. But i guess its a family spoil so we are all lucky.

WAtching football on it last night was crazy!!! you can see every detail, including sweat and other delightful things you'd rather not.

Maybe it was good tv juju i had, because i won again this week in Fantasy football.

I am the only girl in the league, so i really love when i win. and there is money at stake so thats a plus for my competitive spirit.

**not to mention I got my first Circle Journal in the mail from Heidi and WOW.

i had seen pics of it on your blog girl, but it blew me away in real life.

love it so and hope to work on my entry tonight. yipee!!!

seeing this...

...makes me so happy. Seriously.

like the warm and fuzzy, wanna grin ear to ear happy.

Those smiles are priceless and wow, isn't my step mom a bathing beauty.

she'll hate that i put this on here, but i love it.

I grew up never knowing my grandparents and am so thankful that my kids get to spend such quality time with their's.

We had such a wonderful visit with my parents while they were here. Nothing is like seeing my kids hug up to them.

warm fuzzies again....ahhh.

Sad to say, I have not had a chance to start my class at Shimilles yet, but i am thinking about moods and this feeling of happiness is for sure going on my happy page. Hopefully this weekend i'll be able to work on the booklet a little more.

fun times.

big day here...

HUGE!!

today was the grand opening of Costco here on Kauai.

It has taken forever, but it is here and it is grand.

so awesome to have some reasonable prices.

for real.

just a quick example.

gas price pre costco...$ 3.38

now...$2.79

are you kidding....such a change and now more money to spend on scrap goodies.

after shopping with tons of people with permagrins, I overfilled my cart with lots of fresh fruits, veggies, meats, kids food snacks and lots of other yummy things.

As i was drooling over the size of the fresh prawns ( banana size..no joke), a man passed by and said " wow, this Costco opening is bigger than Hurricane Inikiwas in 1991." Damn. I was not here for the Hurricane thanks goodness, but i for sure got what he was saying...too funny.

gotta love it!!!

we clean up ok

ahhh...what a breath of fresh air.

Anthony and I had a Navy Ball to go to at the Grand Hyatt and decided to stay the weekend. My parents were so sweet to fly out from Idaho to watch the kids while we had a weekend away. Mind you..this is our first time away from the kids for more than a few hours, for over 2 YEARS...LONG OVERDUE.

We had such a fun time and felt like young kids in love again. What a rejuvinating thing for us. We enjoyed the pool, drinks and relaxing more than words can say. Saturday night, we got all dressed up and danced the night away. Dang i love dancing with my man.

If you ever come and visit Kauai and are looking for somewhere heavenly to stay...check this place out.http://kauai.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/index.jsp

Due to the late night and wonderful drinks, we slept through the quake that took place on Sunday morning. Thank goodness, because otherwise i would have run home crying for my kids. Pretty scary considering quakes are not a common thing here in Hawaii. I just thank my lucky stars that everything is ok. THanks to all of you that called or emailed concerned for us. So sweet.