And the luau!

Let me just say that a trip to Hawaii is not complete without a luau, and I think we went to the best one possible. Kristopher's friend Kapena hooked us up - and it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!! Here are the highlights:

right when we arrived at the place we got treated like VIPs - leis around our necks and private photos with the performers. This dude had some rad Samoan tattoos on his body all underneath his garment here. Kristopher was especially freaked out by his belly button tat!


We did some crafts, like learning how to do traditional Hawaiian weaving techniques.


My finished woven crown!


Kris and Mel's!


Then we did some good old fashioned spear throwing. WOOHOO! Kapena was a crazy spear throwing fool!


And of course, it was tattoo time for the boys. First Kapena got one on his face, then Kristopher. By the end of the night these guys had started a trend - and you could see face tats all over the place!


And of course we girls wanted one too! Actually I just wanted that cute muscular Hawaiian boy to rub oil on my arm and draw pictures on me ;)


Aren't we so tough? LOL


It was finally Rick's turn...


And the boys... all done! hee hee!


The sun set on the horizon and we heard the sound of a conch being blown, which signalled us to the amphitheater where we were told the tradition of the luau and the kinds of foods we would be eating tonight.


And then a couple of very strong men took the pig that had been roasting out of the ground!


After that, dinner was served - we went to our table where we found these little plates awaiting us. Dessert was first! Pineapple, coconut cake, and a square of a sort of coconut-jello-ish thing that I can't remember the name of... Melissa does, though. Ask her.


Our salad course - with a raw salmon ceviche sort of thing on the side. I really liked the salmon. The salad wasn't anything spectacular though.


Bread! Made with taro root so it's purple! Awesome!!


We were in a rad VIP eating area (THANK YOU KAPENA!!) and got to have a personal visit with the Girl With The Coconut Bra Which Plays The Queen :)


And also The Cute Tattooed Boy That We Met Earlier Who Plays The King!


Finally it was time for dinner - pulled pork (MMMMM), a chicken wing, fish, green veggies, and THE MOST AWESOME RICE EVER. Sticky, flavorful... I had like 3 helpings of the rice!


Then the boys went up with 98 other people to learn the Hukilau. They even got certificates for graduating their "Accelerated Learning Course in Hula" haha


This was when Kristopher had already consumed several crazy drinks, including this one - called "The Slimer". Of course here he had taken a coffee that was on the table and had added it to the drink for what he called "extra flavor". Um. OK.


Me? I had plenty... plenty of Mai Tais. I think this was #5.


After dinner - the show! It was a beautifully entertaining piece with several dance numbers and costume changes. I was getting accused of only wanting to take pictures of the cute Hawaiian boys, so this one is evidence that I also took photos of the girl dancers!!


Boy With Tattoos was also the Samoan Fire Dancer! WOOHOO!! This part of the show was phenomenal!


It was an amazing night that not even the random rainshower could dampen. Rick and Kristopher drank too much (again!), so of course they were paying for it the next morning. Melissa drove us back to our hotel (which was literally blocks from this cove) and we got our swimsuits on and went in the hot tubs. The boys liked scaring people with their tattoo faces. They were like total 9 year olds! We were *so* not ready to have to leave this place tomorrow.

Day 2 part one...

Aaaah. After a lovely morning which involved sleeping in, we met in Kris and Mel's room for breakfast of french toast and bacon.

Only these are electric stoves and, well, we had a bit of trouble cooking the bacon.

Here's Mel trying to fan the smoke so we don't set of the smoke alarm :)

And Rick is setting the table. Mimosas, anyone?

After breakfast, we decided to go out to the cove to play cards and hang out. Only we didn't want to be in the sun, so we decided to go on the hill instead of the beach. Once we got there, it was windier than we anticipated, so we just fooled around with the camera for awhile until heading back inside for a rousing game of canasta!

Up next... the evening luau!! :) :)

Day 1 - that evening

Rick and I on our beach at the Marriott... we rented a cabana for the afternoon and took naps in it and just chilled. It was awesome! I read all sorts of fun stuff like People and Entertainment Weekly... brain fluff. Gotta love it!

For dinner we went the new restaurant on property called Chuck's. The boys shared a bottle of red wine while Mel & I had champagne. We had a table that overlooked the luau the resort was having, which was cool - tomorrow night we will go to our own luau! YAY!

The salad - a yummy all you can eat salad bar with fresh baked bread and really great soup.

I chose the seafood sampler platter - mmmm!!

After dinner, the boys ordered a Drambuie for each of them. Keep in mind, they had already shared a bottle of wine. You can only imagine...

Kristopher was having all sorts of fun with the spoon toward the end of the night,

And he insisted that I take this photo of his "butt". Here ya go Kristopher. Sigh.

More later! :)

Hawaii, day one, part one - in pictures :)

Our trip to Hawaii began late, late Wednesday night. We arrived at the airport around midnight Thursday morning for our 3 a.m. flight - and Kristopher promptly found a nice place to take a nap.


Melissa and I spent our time watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD (I have officially started watching... episode 1 season 1! WOOHOO!), playing cards, and listening to her iPOD. Here we are bringing SexyBack. heh.


For the most part, we slept on the plane. Direct flights are definitely the way to go. When we arrived in Honolulu, we got our rental car and then proceeded to Waikiki to visit with a church friend, Chuck Davison. He treated us to a lovely oceanfront breakfast buffet at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.


The food was AMAZING - and soooo fresh! The perfect way to start our trip. This was an awesome omelet made right before my eyes. They also had fresh mini belgian waffles, a smoothie station, and all the yummylicious pastries you can imagine.


Chuck was an awesome host to us - he showed us the suite at the Sheraton Waikiki he had, and generously offered to let us stay in the room for free! The suite had 2 rooms and 2 beds, so it would be perfect. Right on the 15th floor, overlooking the ocean. He was leaving the next night, so we could totally use it for the last 2 days of our trip! What an awesome blessing for us! We were stoked to know we could come back to this place in a couple days.

Afterward, we went to the place we were staying for the first two nights - the Mariott Ko Olina Beach Resort. Our friend Kapena hooked us up with a couple of rooms there. He used to livein Vegas but recently moved back to Hawaii and works at a sister property to this place, and got us the employee rate. We didn't know at all what to expect from this resort, and we were perfectly happy with the Waikiki Sheraton. In fact, we were considering just staying in Waikiki since we knew that place was cool.

That was until we saw this resort. OH MY WORD.
This place was freaking AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Our room (Kris & Mel had an identical one down the hall):

As you enter... there is actually a foyer! Marble floors, granite countertops, crown moulding. OH AND DO YOU SEE THE CHANDELIER??? And this is just the beginning...

The fully-stocked kitchen to the right. Hardwood floors, maple cabinets, full appliances, dishwasher, full fridge - and behind a cabinet on the right (not shown), a stacked washer and dryer (!!!!)

Looking left from the entry - the bathroom. That shower was freaking AWESOME. HUGE. And major water pressure! And look at the cool wall sconces! And marble floors!

The living and dining room areas... the couch is actually a fold-out bed too! Seriously though I cannot get over the chandelier!

There is a sitting room to the left. The slider led out to our Lanai... we were on the 4th floor. It was so nice to go out there and just relax. :)

On the balcony :)

And here was our view! The beach was just beyond the pool.

The sitting room - the perfect place to curl up with a good book! The bedroom is just off to the left of this room.

Looking into the bedroom... these cool sliding shutter doors closed it off and completely darkened it when we wanted to sleep.

The gorgeous bedroom! The shutters you see there open up to the bathtub, just on the other side. There is a huge closet on the left, right through the first doorway there, and you can see the bathroom (also accessible from the foyer) in the back.

The tub!! It was HUGE!! And DEEP! And it filled up in no time flat!! Did I mention this place has amazing water pressure? LOL! It was so cool to be able to peek out the tub into the bedroom and then out the window :)

You can see why we just did.not.want.to.ever.leave!!!!!!

More photos later - what we did on Thursday, and the dinner that night... :)

Sigh.

Sunsets in Las Vegas are just not the same.

More later - I want to recap the trip in photos and I will do it a bit at a time :)

Something's missing...

But I can't put my foot on it. Maybe you can help me figure it out??

(oh yeah... and 8 hours till I leave for Hawaii! The bags are all packed! My clothes *did* arrive! All is good and happy and fabulous and wonderful!!! yay yay yay yay yay! I'll be back on Tuesday!)

26 hours!

TWENTY SIX HOURS and I will be on a plane to Hawaii!! I cannot believe it! I am up right now, packing, writing lists, and organizing last minute things so I don't forget anything. Making sure all is arranged and ready with the kids and the house and the dogs... checking that the bills will be paid while I am gone... etc etc etc etc etc....

I had bought a bunch of sassy cute new clothes from ModBe for the trip - and they haven't arrived yet! They were supposed to be in last week, but because of their big sale (every piece was only $5), things got backed up. But according to UPS, the package will be in by 6pm tomorrow evening! YAY! Nothing like cutting it waaaay close. Hopefully the clothes fit. LOL!

I.AM.SO.EXCITED.I.CAN.HARDLY.STAND.IT!!!!!!!

charging camera battery right now!!! wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

LOTS of children.

I am babysitting my friend Erin's kids this weekend, so she & her hubby can get away, and also to prepay her back for watching my kiddos next weekend while Rick and I are in Hawaii. So since Thursday and till tomorrow I have 5 children under my roof.

In an attempt to wear them out, I took them to Red Rock Canyon for a hike and a picnic. They loved climbing all over the rocks... and of course they had no fear! We went to Calico #2 first and Lost Creek after that. No waterfall... sigh. But it was still fabulous - the weather was absolutely perfect and we really had a great time!

Here are the Rock Stars... ;)

THEY ARE HERE!!

My canvases have arrived!! Oh my GOODNESS they are awesome!! :) :)


Riley loved that his head was bigger than he was!


A side view...


Another look at the sheer size of them compared to my little dude...


And, finally - the view as you walk in the front door!
The smallest canvas is 16x20 and the largest is 20x30! WOWEE!

Conceding defeat.

Although this is a super bowl-related post, this is not about the super bowl. Cause I knew the Colts would win ;).

This year we decided to go low key. No going to parties or hosting parties. Just us and Liane & Carl. A non-party gathering at our house. Then we got a call from our friend Kristopher who didn't want to go to a party either. So we said he & his fam could come to our non-party gathering, which was turning out to be more party-like than we anticipated, but our friends are totally cool & low-key, too, so we knew it was all good.

Then Rick decided he wanted to move the TV downstairs. Yeah. The new one. And the TiVO. Sigh. I fought him tooth and nail. I didn't want the big TV taking over the downstairs. I liked it being more of a family room and less of a TV room.

Unfortunately I have to admit that it looks really good up there. Really good. And the smaller TV isn't so bad up here. It's not the best, but really it's fine. I think I will miss the TiVO the most.

So here I am, conceding defeat.
and possibly saying that Rick was right. For once. but don't tell him ;)

Let's face it.

Nothing's better than a sock monkey dress.

Quotable

After my son burped the other day:

"Mom, I farted in my throat."

Words of advice...

As a mom I realize that I am in a unique position to offer sage words of advice that will mold and shape my children into the citizens they will become. And nothing is sager than the advice I offered my son the other day:

"Riley, don't bark like a dog when you are excited. It just doesn't make sense."

Someday, when I am old - or maybe dead - quotes such as these will be attributed to me in a compliation book. I am sure it will be a bestseller. :)

messing around in photoshop

and I got this cool B&W photo conversion - thought I would share.
Might need to blow this one up big ;)

Sorry Val.

Here's the correct link for viewing the wedding pics....

Liane's Wedding
Type in "medley" for the event ID :)

And here's some shots I had on my computer of the wedding day...

before the ceremony getting some photos with the photographer...


right after the ceremony - husband & wife!


Someone making Liane laugh till she cried :)


fa-mi-ly! fa-mi-ly!

Sisterly Love

I love my sisters, even if they won't blog ;)

Sweet joyous relief!

The projects (all 17 of them, including instructions and step-outs), are DONE and mailed out to my editor. I have proofed one of my recent sessions and it goes live tomorrow. One more session to proof and I am ALLLL CAUGHT UP!!!! Awesome!

At first I was sad because both sessions I had this weekend got cancelled... but it ended up being a blessing in disguise, cause I had time to get stuff done around here. Of course there is still a Mountain of Laundry to fold. Can I just say that I *hate* the fact that my pile of laundry is neverending? Just when I am happy that everything is done and folded and put away, people start wearing clothes. And getting them dirty. And then I have to do more laundry. For me the hardest part is doing another load on the day after I finally finished The Mountain. I just want to avoid laundry at all costs. And I do. And then I have another Mountain in a few days. Sigh.

A couple fun shots of the kiddos to end the post...


Violet on her scooter :)


Riley playing with his Star Wars guys :)

blah blah blah

I know.
I suck at blogging. Really. I was planning on making it an everyday thing and then stuff would happen and then I was thinking about blogging but I couldn't cause I realized that first I needed to share about this or that or something else and then I got busy on the computer and well, it didn't happen.
But stuff has happened. Like Liane's wedding!!!! It was beautiful and perfect and wonderful and everything. And let me just say if you ever want THE MOST FUN THING at your reception, you need to get a Photo Booth. It was AWESOME!!

Check out all 700-some photos from the wedding HERE (type in "medley" for the event ID).

So much else going on...

Finally after a 6 month magazine freelance dry spell, I am working again on some FUN projects that really excite me! I actually had FOUR magazine assignments in the span of a week. INSANE. It's feast or famine around here. My scrap room desperately needs cleaning now. I am gonna work on it today, and hopefully that will inspire me to finish the rest of my projects :)

Oh - I haven't mentioned this yet...
I am going to HAWAII with Rick!!!!!! In like 3 weeks! FOR FIVE DAYS!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!! I have never been there. It will be A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

I think that's a pretty good update for now. Heh.
Really. Once this round of assignments is over. Yeah. I will be a consistent blogger then. LOL

I love my canvas company!

They just had a huge sale for photographers and I took full advantage of it :)
I placed a big order for an arrangement that will go on our main dining room wall right as you walk into the house... so the next time you come over (well, in a few weeks...), this is what you will see:


Only keep in mind, it is HUGE. The print of the two kids in the top middle is 20x30!!! I cannot WAIT for these puppies to arrive :) :) :)

Ok Torm. ;)

The update:

Christmas.
It was fabulous. I decided this year to be more of a participant and less of a photographer. This means fewer photos, but still tons of memories. Breakfast was at our house - Rick's parents, my parents, Liane, Carl, and of course all of us. Homemade Belgian waffles with strawberry compote, fresh blackberries and raspberries, and whipped cream, champagne and orange juice, and lots of sausage :). After breakfast we read the Bible story of the birth of Jesus and put him in the manger. Then it was FINALLY time to open presents. Our family has the tradition of opening them one by one. Although it does end up taking forever, I love that we all get to see what everyone gets.

Despite our attempt at scaling down Christmas, the kids got tons of stuff. Here's the rundown:

Coolest gifts:
RILEY - the Lighting Up Light Saber from Auntie Liane! He showed off all his Jedi skills right away!
VIOLET - Moon Sand from Auntie Liane! Awesome stuff. She had been talking about it and begging for it for months.

Most Thoughtful Gifts:
Both Kids: Jim & Val sent them an email - on behalf of the children, two goats were purchased for families in Africa. The goats will provide milk for the family to drink and make cheese and stuff to sell at the market. A practical way to share the love of Jesus with others! The kids each have a little goat toy I found to remember to pray for their goat families every night. And they do. It is so sweet.

Most Appropriate Gifts:
Riley - Music! He got a keyboard from Papa & Mamalali and a set of handheld musical instruments from Tinty and Luke! He immediately started composing. :)
Violet - Her journal kit from Tinty and Luke! She opened it up, sharpened the pencil, and immediately wrote her first journal entry: "I wanted a scooter and I got one from Papa and Mamalali!" I'd say her Razor scooter was a close second in this category.

Best, most favorite surprises ever:
Christmas morning the kids were having a great time opening gifts. Riley kept running upstairs to put his stuff in his room, which was making us nuts. We wanted them to stay downstairs with the family. Plus there were still tons of presents to open!! So Rick went up there and shooed him downstairs. Sure enough, though, about 20 minutes later he was upstairs again. Only this time - this time he came running downstairs, yelling, "VIOLET!! VIOLET!!! COME UP HERE!!! THERE IS A NEW BIKE IN MY ROOM!!!! COME SEEEEEE!!!"
And sure enough, there in the middle of his bedroom was a brand new bike! We coule hear Violet squeal and then say, "Ooooh!!! Let's check MY room too!" followed seconds later by "ME TOOOOO!!!! THERE'S ONE IN MY ROOM TOOOOOO!!!" and we all went upstairs to see the incredible surprises. There, in both kids' rooms, were new bikes. We have NO IDEA how they got in there! Everyone was downstairs all morning and we definitely didn't see anyone try and bring a bike up there, let alone TWO! It *must* have been Santa! He is the only one with magic that can do that. This Christmas will always be remembered for that incredible surprise. And let me tell you, that was the coolest, most magical moment we've experienced with the kids. Unadulterated joy and wonder. Can't beat that ;)

The family party continued that afternoon at my aunt Tish's house...
Memories from there include:
Leslie falling into the tree. HAHAHAHAHA
Grandma not wearing her hearing aid and everyone having to YELL stuff to her... and she *still* didn't know what we were saying.
Gluhwein. I made it myself. It's just not Christmas if I am not sipping a cup!
Me finally sitting at the grownup table. ;)
Liane sitting next to me at the table and us trying to gross easch other out.
Hans falling asleep at the table! HAHAHAHA
Rick getting "The Player" watch he always wanted!
Me getting awesome new stainless steel cookware! WOOHOO!
Did I mention that I am now in the John Hardy club? Yesssssssssss
Carl videotaping everything.
Lorraine's cheesecake.
Heather coming by to visit - and donating to a very special foundation as a gift to my parents. FINALLY SOMEONE MADE MOM CRY THIS YEAR!! I think even Dad got teary eyed, which means Heather really won. ;)
Rick falling asleep on the floor and everyone pelting him with wrapping paper balls while Carl videotaped. HAHAHA

New Year's Eve
PARTY AT THE BALDWINS!! Once again, I was a participant, not a photographer. I kind of enjoyed that! Lots of friends came over - Leslie and Cheryl watched the kids while the grownups played games and drank and had loads of fun & merriment. We drank some awesome Chandon champagne that was a gift from my parents, and stayed up way too late playing things like Mexican Train, Taboo, pool, and Boggle. :) Leslie, Cheryl, Liane, and Carl stayed the night - and the next morning we had Christmas Breakfast Part Deux - waffles, sausage, champagne, and orange juice. I love having a house that can host big, fabulous parties like that!

And now... it's Wedding Week.
Liane and Carl get married on Saturday.
I am the matron of honor. Violet is the flower girl. Riley is the Ring Bearer (he calls himself the Ring Master! lol). Loads of prep work to be done - such as the Very Special Shower that Melinda and I hosted for Liane on Monday night.

The theme was "Member Night" - you know the kind of Member I am referring to. Beef Stick. Piece of Pork. One Eyed Snake. Yep. That one. We had cherries. Yep. Peenie pasta. Of course the infamous cake (let me just recommend that even with Google's "moderate safe search" you should never look for instructions for how to make one of these cakes online). I decided to wing it - and ended up making it with 3 muffin cups (larger than cupcake cups) and an 8 inch round cake. Two cups were the balls and the third was the head. I formed the "shaft" by cutting a column out of the center of the round cake. We frosted it with a nice, fleshy color of frosting and added chocolate sprinkles to the balls as the piece de resistance. hehe! I used the top and bottom of the round cake to make a separate cake, a pair of lips, that was our decoy for Liane. She really was looking forward to her scandalous cake and we told her that it didn't make it thought baking, and all we could salvage was enough to make the lips. Little did she know that we had it all wrapped up for her to open like a present. Of course, I made sure Liane's came in a pink box. OH YES I DID!!!! It was all sorts of silliness and innuendo and loads of fun. We played Dirty Minds, gave her a collection of "Sex for Dummies" books, and of course her own collection of scandalous lingerie. Yep. She's ready to get married now ;)

Today I have been working on the programs for the wedding - they ended up looking awesome! WOOHOO!! Tomorrow I will be getting the house cleaned, and then the weekend of partying begins! Of course it's supposed to snow on Friday and Friday's expected high is 40 degrees... so the anticipated outdoor wedding may have to be moved inside... nothing like the unexpected surprises to keep us on our toes!!!

Updating...

I have a large update post to share soon... but for now I wanted to share my updated site. Check it out: www.speckledbirdart.com

I will be working on the galleries in my portfolio this week, too. Check back next week to see all the cute new photos there as well!