Officer of the Month

We are so proud of our Grandpa Aubrey, who was named Officer of the Month! Click on the picture to read the Hawaii Police Department News Release, which describes his important role in investigating some financial crimes and to read the wonderful words of praise by the Lt. Officer who nominated him.

The Good News

The good news is that after a little more than 3 weeks of torturous anticipation, Elder Marcus Auna's call to serve came in!

Let me begin by saying the polls were way off, as they tend to be in cases like this. Even though the survey was small, 5 out of 7 people guessed Asia. Mom Lyn was rooting hard for Korea! : ) However, the Lord called and chose Marcus to serve in the San Bernardino, California Mission! We are so thrilled for him to start his adventure sharing the gospel. It's so wonderful to see how he is preparing himself, keeping himself worthy, and also feel of his excitement and desire to serve the Lord by sharing the Savior's gospel of "good news"!

The picture above is of Koa, Kai, and Marcus. Actually, Kai was one of those who guessed closest to the mark. He guessed North America, while my mom, Patty, guessed the exact state, California. Nice guesses!

Mom Lyn was so excited that she called the whole family. She even called a person she didn't know! : ) She had a long conversation with a lady she thought was Aunty Candice because she was acting so interested and friendly, until she mentioned that she hurt her back playing golf - Aunty Candice doesn't play golf. After mom had that realization she tried quickly to end the conversation and the lady thanked mom for letting the family know - so maybe she knows who she was talking to, but to Mom Lyn it's still an embarrassing mystery. I couldn't stop laughing!

One fun trivia fact about Marcus' mission is that Landon Donovan, a professional soccor player and member of the U.S. National Team and the Los Angelos Galaxy team, resides in San Bernardino.

Also, according to Wikipedia (click here to read the rest of the article), "San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States by area, containing more land than each of nine states. The county is larger in area than the states of Massachussets, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware combined. Any of those states could be replaced in the list by New Jersey, Vermont, or New Hampshire." In Elise's words, "Wow, Amazing!!" Good luck, Marcus! Our prayers and love are with you.

(Click on the map, and it will link you to an larger version, and click again to get a clear picture.)

Out to the Olive Garden

A couple of weeks ago, we went to lunch with some of our favorite friends, Michelle and Damon, to the Olive Garden. Even though we have been there before, the place was impossible to find! Let's just say, we took a very scenic route. Once we got there, the kids had so much fun and were so well-behaved. Besides, how can you go wrong with soup, salad and breadsticks?! Delicious. Actually, I stole these pictures off Michelle's blog and posted it on mine! : ) Elise and Damon were just too adorable, I couldn't help it.

Every morning, Elise asks for her friends, especially Damon, Ches, Taylor and Ethan. This week has been a drag because we are in self-imposed isolation due to a stomach bug the kids are recovering from (which we also unwittingly gave to Damon, poor guy).

Michelle is one of the people who help keep me sane! She lives right across the parking lot, so we hang out a lot. It's nice to be able to talk about our kids, their growth and the cute things they say, our challenges and sucesses, our dreams, working out (she inspires me! We used to work out together until she joined a gym. : ) and other goals... Besides that it's also fun to talk about stuff like reality tv (lol!), books, ways to record our memories... She once drove me to the temple twice because it was rainy, I didn't have a car, and I forgot my temple reccomend. Can you see why we love the Holbrooks?!

Another person I'm so grateful for is Sarah W.! I think I'll save her for a future blog...

Happy in Hilo

Hi! I wanted to introduce you all to some of Aaron's family and Aaron's mom's side (The Napeahi family)! These pictures of this past August when we went home for my Uncle's funeral in August. If you want to know who someone is, just move the mouse over the picture (just click once to activate the control) and there should be a caption. Enjoy!

Amusement Park Junkies

These pictures are of our trip to Disney World this past June in celebration of our anniversary. My sister Liz came too and was very kind to watch our kids the night of the 22nd. She's so fun - we'd scream together & giggle, and of course the kids love her so much, just like they love all their aunties and uncles!

We loved the whole trip, though we were going non-stop for six days - Magic Kingdom, MGM studios, the Epcot Center and Animal Kingdom. Aaron was so adorable - he had it all planned out (we're talking maps and spreadsheets: ), where we needed to be to get the maximun enjoyment out of our trip. He reminded me a lot of my dad, in that way.

Elijah got a little sick on the trip, but thanks to his daddy who took him to the clinic, he was able to get some medicine and recover a little bit. Elise loved the spash parks, water parks and anything to do with Nemo. We even got to see Nemo the musical which was performed with larger-than-life puppets. It was beautiful!

The "big kids" (Aaron, Liz and I) loved the fast and visually creative rides like Space Mountain, Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster, Hollywood Towers, and Expedition Everest. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Okinawan Obon festival

This photo taken around Grandma Masako, was of this past August when all my side of the family went home to Maui for my Uncle Les' funeral. He was a kind, generous man (topic for a future blog: ) and my mom's younger brother. Now she is the only surviving member of her family. Despite the somber circumstances, it was great to be with family, support my mom and celebrate my Uncle's life. By coincidence, we got to attend an Okinawan Obon festival, which is a way that Okinawans honor their dead ancestors. My father played music with several others for the festival and mom danced gracefully as we tried to emmulate her. Dad played the Sanshin (object pictured with Vickie) which is a three-string banjo-like musical instrument. We borrowed my Aunty Amy's hapi coats and Vickie brought her own kimonos. If you click on one of the Obon video links on the right sidebar and then scroll back up to the top of the page, you'll get to see the YouTube videos that were created and posted by dad, and you can see some of the dancing and hear the music Dad played. It was a great way for all of us to remember culturally where we come from and a wonderful introduction for Elise and Elijah!

Homestead Farm Revisited

What a great fall tradition! However, it still felt like summer both years we went. This first picture is fall 2006 and features from left to right: Ethan, Elise, Damon, Summer and Ches. I borrowed this second picture from Tiana Christensen's blog, which is of this past fall with Ches, Elise, Elijah and Annika. For those who are not familiar with Homestead farm please check out their website! It is farm situated on beautiful rolling hills that allows you to pick your own apples, berries, pumpkins and even saw down your own Christmas trees. They offer hayrides to large groups and have small wagons, like the ones in the pictures, to pull your kids around in. The only thing you have to pay for is whatever you pick. Tiana's mom treated us to the apples and I made a pie on Sunday for our neighbor using their fool-proof crust recipe. It turned out pretty good but I need a lot of practice! I told her that I could mess up a "fool-proof" recipe! : )

The farm was a lot of fun for the older kids this time - Ches and Elise both picked small apples and tasted them on the way back to the register. Tiana's mom pulled all the kids, pumpkins and apples! She's in good shape, I'm impressed. Tiana joked that it was her new hip. : ) Later though, her mom teased her and said we should have pulled Tiana around in the wagon, and maybe that would have motivated little Ellie to be born! We love the farm, and wish more of the gang from last year could've come, too.

Sears Photos

A couple of weeks ago, we went with our friends, Ethan and Sarah Woodbury to take pictures at Sears - the first professional pictures we've ever taken of the kids. Sarah and Ethan are vetrans, Ethan is so good at smiling and posing for the camera! Elise was never really cooperative until Elijah came along. I think the whole situation was less scary with her brother. Elijah, on the other hand, like Ethan is a total ham for the camera.

Aloha!

I was really moved by Elder Eyring's talk during General Conference about remembering and recording our experiences for the sake our children. He shared a sacred experience when he saw the selfless service of his father-in-law in building a water pump for his family late at night. Elder Eyring was touched and was told through the Spirit that he was not recieving these experiences for himself and that he should write them down.

So with that powerful sermon in mind, we're jumping on the bandwagon and venturing into the world of blogging as one method of journalling. (Is that a word?) I've also recieved some encouragement and inspiration from my good friend and neighbor, Michelle. I've read some of her great posts and viewed some adorable pictures of Damon, which has motivated me to document the life of my family out here in DC/MD.

An inspiring quote from Elder Eyrings talk: "I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."

("O Remember, Remember," General Conference, October 2007)

Through her eyes

I have often wondered what it would be like to view the world exactly as another sees it. What inspires creative people and how do their minds work? As I look at a piece of art or read a book I recieve impressions, but I doubt what I perceive is the same as it's creator. I also wish I could see what my children see - what's special about a pile of dead leaves?

I have talented sisters, and Liz is really gifted in photography. I feel that I get a glimpse of what she sees when I look at the photos she's taken and feel the same way as I read my youngest sister's Connie's perceptive blogs. It's a great way to get to know someone, and while sometimes I wish I saw things the way they do, I know that it's a gift that we each see so differently.