Naiya's Sealing

The day Naiya was sealed to Mike and Holly was an eternal joy that is impossible to describe in words. I think it best to just see it on the faces of Mike, Holly, and Naiya.

We made a special trip to Idaho at the end of October and into November to be there for this day. A few people asked us if we would be going for Naiya's sealing and for her blessing. This was NEVER a question for us. We wouldn't have missed it for the world.... but almost because of a marathon. The morning of the sealing I left Rulan and Kathy's house early (we stayed with Rulan and Kathy for a week). It's a good thing. I had to take the girls to Amy and Henry's house so Colby could babysit the girls. A marathon nearly kept me from reaching their house and getting back to the temple on time. I was in tears as I was driving on a dirt road around a mountain to try and find the back entrance to their subdivision. I was by myself as Rusty had gone early to be Mike's escort in the temple. I made it in the nick of time. The ceremony was beautiful. Naiya, in her white dress, looked like the angel from Heaven that she is. Afterwards as we were each congratulating Mike and Holly, Naiya reached for me ( I know she did). They had a huge outpouring of support. Merrill and Nancy flew in. Verna, Phillip, and Susan drove down from Provo. All of Holly's family was there. My mom and dad came from Pocatello. They had several friends come also. We were also able to attend her blessing the next day in Rulon and Kathy's ward. She is such a special little girl. You couldn't help think of all the circumstances that went into her being sealed to our family. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was sent to us by a loving Heavenly Father. He knows our needs and the righteous desires of our hearts. We are so blessed to be sealed together as a family.

As icing on the cake...

-Kyleigh and Katelyn got to play with Nama and Papa in Boise.

-We got to go to Pojo's and play.

-We went fishing with Amy and her boys at Glenwood pond, and fed the ducks.

-Kyleigh got to make lots of Christensen cousin friends. She especially got along with Cade.

-Mike and Russ rented mountain bikes and had a great time.

-We got to spend time with Matt.

-I got to spend an extra week in Pocatello with my parents.

-My siblings and I were all in the same place at the same time (rare).

Cute Snapshot.

Kyleigh, Katelyn, and Naiya.

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween has not been a holiday for us this year. Rather, it is a season. We started out the Falloween season with a halloween party for the girls. The Giles family had the party. Kyleigh is just between their two oldest girls, and Katelyn is the same age as their youngest. There were 17 kids, I repeat... 17 kids participating in the party. That doesn't include the babies, of which there were 2 sets of twins. Wendi is so brave. The kids had a total blast decorating haunted houses and pumpkins, doing a costume parade and playing games.



Next was the cub scout halloween pack meeting (for those of you who don't know Rusty and I are den leaders. Rusty also serves in the elders quorum presidency). Each of the boys had a game planned. Rusty and I kept things moving and did a decorate your own cupcake and make a pop up ghost card booth. It turned out really well. All of the boys enjoyed being in charge of a game and all of the families had fun.



Rusty and I went to a costume party last weekend. We had tons of fun there, too. Rusty was a washing machine, complete with dirty socks on the top. I was a dryer, complete with a picture of my own clean laundry behind the dryer door. Mike and Holly were the burger king and dairy queen.



We carved a pumpkin for family home evening on Monday. Katelyn has had a terrible rash and had already had her bath for the night, so she didn't get into it too much. Kyleigh played with the pumpkin guts until it was a smooth ball of schmooooog. She wanted to keep it in the fridge and try to bake it the next day. We made her throw it away and once again we were the meanest parents ever. What to do, what to do.



Tuesday night was trunk or treating/games/chili cook-off at the church. It started to rain before the trunk or treating so it was actually table or treating. The people in our ward are so generous. They give out chips, full size candy bars in cute bags, toys, cookies, pretzels, and handfuls of candy. It is nothing like a student ward. For trunk or treating Katelyn dressed up as a box of laundry detergent. Get it... to go with the washer and dryer. Kyleigh was cinderella. That's kind of a stretch of the imagination. Cinderella doing laundry in her ball gown? Naiya was a small fry... with the burger king and dairy queen. Holly whipped Naiya's costume up a few hours before the trunk or treating. Notice the fry's and her ketchup headband. Seriously, have you ever seen anything so cute?

GG and Gpa and Nama and Papa both sent the girls a box of Halloween fun. We have been drinking from our pumpkin cups, eating candy, playing with the halloween finger puppets, wearing fun headbands, etc. The girls get so excited when a package comes for them.


The Peterson's brought us over a fabulous plate of halloween goodies one night. There were spiders, eyeballs, and the whole nine yards. I have never gotten a plate of Halloween goodies. How fun is that!



We leave for Boise on the night of the 30th, so our celebration is not over yet.



Happy Halloween to everyone.

Golf Ball Sort

A few posts ago talked about the golf ball hike that we frequent at Kukuiolono Golf Course and Park. We continue to go on our golf ball hike and this is the second half of the hike, the golf ball sort. "The sort" is Rusty's favorite part. He likes to collect golf balls and I like to collect books. We have a mutual agreement; I am excited about the huge box of golf balls on the back porch and he is excited when I bring home ten more childrens books from the thrift store that won't fit on our bookshelf. He decides if a ball goes in the keeper box or the driving range container. Kyleigh helps daddy decide where the balls go and she and Katelyn both distribute them to their new homes. Jake chases the balls that Katelyn purposely throws on the deck, then she yells "NO AKE, NO." I count the balls as they are put in their places and then we all ooh and ahh at how many balls we found (usually around 100).

Orca Whale

Yesterday we got a call from Holly as we were eating breakfast. She told us that there was a baby Orca whale on Brenneke's beach in Poipu. We finished breakfast and jumped in the car to see the baby whale. We have seen lots of monk seals and a sea turtle on the beach, but this was quite a site. I have since learned that orca whale do not traditionally habitate the waters near Hawaii, so where this whale came from is anybody's guess. It was scratched up and being pushed back and forth by the surf. It's underside had terrible scratch marks from being dragged over rocks. Behind him in the surf were tiger sharks waiting for some dinner. He was still alive when we were there, but we later found out that they euthanized him and put him on a flatbed truck to take him to a burial spot. It was a big deal. I would say atleast 150-200 people were there when we were there. They had a traditional Hawaiian blessing on the beach for the whale. It was amazing to see the whale, but the situation was so terrible for this whale that it just made your heart go out to it.

Mischief maker

Uh Oh. No wet wipes. There was a whole box. Where did they go?

It seems someone has put them ALL in the TOILET. They then tried to flush them.

Who do you think it was?

Don't look now, she can tie her shoes!

This year, for various reasons, we are doing homeschool kindergarten. We are learning lots of things, but sometimes it is hard to quantify how much KyKy is learning. This is one absolute. She can tie her shoes!!!