Thanksgiving Week...

Hi Family,



I arrived at mom and dad's house like I was full blown moving in. I had two lunch box coolers worth of bacon, sausage and roasts along with a crock pot of a ham (Mr. Piggy came home from market and got roasted!) because my freezer wasn't working and had either begun or fully defrosted all of my food!


Anyway, I had also brought just a LOT of stuff. Didn't hardly use any of it, but I'd rather have more than enough than not enough, eh?


Arrived on Wed. afternoon after a 3.5 hr drive from Amity. It usually takes me about 1.5 hrs - traffic was INSANE in the membrane. My foot hurt from breaking so much.


Had a quiet night and woke up early on Thursday. Thank goodness too because I got my yam (1) and sweet potatoes all ready. They were, IMHO, fantastically close to perfection. I added peaches again this year and because I grabbed the wrong nuts, pecans along with the walnuts. So, if you are a nutty and fruity person, you would've loved my yams. I am both nutty and fruity and I LOVED THEM!

Thanksgiving was just lovely. The niece and nephews were just "good" enough! LOL...we danced to Shake your dragon tail and the theme song from Dragon Tails. That, and Betweent the Lions are my favorite kids shows. I adore PBSkids.org. I'm sure that parents aren't really interested in their toddlers wanting to use the only computer in the house but this is where you go to DI or GWI and get a used, working crappy lap top and let them play and learn to spell, type and have fun. :)

Anyways....Ah, I stayed up too late on Thursday even though the plan the entire time was to get up at the o'dark 30 and get to shopping. I got a txt from my friend Cherish around 10:30 and I txt'd back and said, hey gal, I'll pick u up at 5 am. She said sure. I was stoked! I woke up right around 4:30 and txt her to see if she was awake and she ---- WASN'T. That's ok, I just laid back down and went back to sleep. However, she called at 500 or 530 and I went and grabbed her and we headed out. DISCLAIMER: This was both her and my first time ever doing the Black Friday thing. I might have done it once as a teen, but 10 am doesn't constitute "early radical" shopping and working at the mall really does not count at all.

We first went to Jantzen Beach - for you non PDX'ers, this is a very large shopping center dedicated to serving mostly Washingtonians because it's just .4 miles across the bridge allowing us to shop without sales tax. Yes, it's nice, except I'm an Oregonian anyway. Back to the meat of this story. We started a Circuit City and then Best Buy. Cherish headed to Toys 'R' Us while I went in and checked out laptops. Now, listen here folks - it was 6 AM and there were no parking spots. And, all of the computers were gone - or at least committed to folks who I guessed lined up at 2 am. That is just crazy. I got the whole "You should come back at 9 to see if there any remaining" message. So, we headed over to Burlington Coat Factory and then Target. For anyone in the TV market, they had a heck of a deal at Target for 26" lcd for $299. Hard to beat...but WalMart did. WalMart at 10:15 was still chaotic and they still had 50 Wii's. This is a record because it is pretty tough to find a Wii anywhere around this neck of the woods.

After WalMart, we weren't done...no, we had to go to Ikea, back to the other side of PDX, by the airport. It's a good thing that PDX isn't that big of a city, lol...but there Cherish visited many more stores than I did. In fact, I've lost track. I did go in Dress Barn and she went into Bath & Body Works, I think. I wanted to get to Ross, but my feet were killing me and I'd been shopping for 6 hours. Ladies and Gents, this is a record for me!!!! Plus, I'm far too out of shape to shop for 6 hours. I don't know how I made it.

Then we picked up Cherish's precious cargo and headed for my parentals for left overs and to watch PS I love you and The Golden Compass. The food was even better on Friday, plus, we were HUNGRY. I ended up with a skirt, a sweater blouse, a new laptop and three movies, which I am giving to my parents. Oh, and a new mp3 player - a really great steal, 4 GB for $25~.

The next day I got up and drove home and tried to pick up, etc. because my parentals were going to come over and look at my freezer, etc. Plus, it was my plan to put my tree up and get it all trimmed. So, I spent Saturday shopping for plumbing supplies with my dad on the awful concrete floor but seriously, my dad is pretty smart after all (love ya daddy!) b/c he knew that buying the stuff would be less expensive and he was right. He also fixed the front porch light for me. Gosh I need a man who is as good as my dad. They just don't make 'em like that anymore - or do they and I'm just not cutting them any slack? That's another post.

Sunday it was lovely to go to church and see my "ward family". I had missed them.

Ok, that's enough for 4 days, seriously. It was a very enjoyable weekend and although I was busy and tired most of it, it really was the way life should be.

Oh, and for the record - I decided on November 30th, that would be Sunday? that I would read the Book of Mormon from the Introduction to the final page in December. This gives me 31 days to read it. Anyone want to join me? I plan on 20 pages a day and that takes just about 30 mintues. If you are late, you can simply read 21 or double read and catch up...it is only December 3rd. And it really only takes 18 pages a day to complete it. Come on, you can do it. Click here to join me! I am looking forward to the quick read type of study this will bring. I have already caught some very sweet whisperings from the Spirit. One about "tender mercies". Those mercies have a special place in my heart and are included in Step 2 of the churches recovery program guide. Plus, that talk was given the April after Will moved out (Jan) and how grateful I was for someone to recognize that we all have need for tender mercies in our lives.

Hugs,

Sharon

Arizona Thanksgiving

I made this turkey and gravy. It fell right off the bones so I had to put it in the tray right away!

Kale above after having a little bit of turkey

Karen breaking the no white after September rule!

Food that we made and brought for dinner including other things that were waiting to be eaten!! Gobble, gobble!

Nathan grilling his famous Chili cheese and bacon poppers!

Nathans dad, Bob frying the turkey with his brother Ben to the left helping along!

Nathan and his mother, Dot.

Hi everyone...thought that I'd share a few photos of our Thanksgiving down here in Mesa.
I had to wear white so that I'd break the "no white after September rule"...I just did it be comfortable! Yep, my hair is flipped out and dang is it cute like that!

Enjoy...oh by the way, the turkey you see is the one that Karen, yes, oh Karen made for dinner just for Nathan and his parents that you see in the other pictures.

Love,
Karen & Nathan

These are a few pics of Thanksgiving. Before and after. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Lessons in Gratitude

My Thanksgiving has extended to this entire week. Starting on Saturday with a potluck dinner with the family readiness group where we met with the other families of soldiers with Steven and had a briefing to give us information about how everything is supposed to work.I learned a lot that I need and met some more people. Aukai and Keli'i got to play with new friends.
My lesson continued on Monday when my friend, Sheena called to ask if I wanted the kids to go to her place to play and I could get things done. I had been sick and was really tired but I needed to get stuff done for Tuesday when my Home Teachers were supposed to come over and haul away anything I had ready to go out the door. So instead of trying to clean and pack stuff with the kids unpacking the same stuff, I was able to get groceries, clean my fridge, and get some stuff ready to go before I got too tired.
Then on Tuesday, my HT did come over just as planned. But, unlike the plan, they didn't just haul away the stuff I had ready, they stayed and helped me clean and rearrange my living room so it was exactly how I wanted it! They moved my TV to the other side of the room in mere minutes and that alone would have taken me an hour full of unplugging, unhooking, disconnecting and carrying. All they did was work together and move it all at the same time.
I have been able to talk with Steven, get my home warm, get groceries for the kids, clean, and play with my kids. It has been a wonderful week full of blessings for which I am eternally grateful.
I hope all of your weeks have been full of thanks too. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Love, Janell, Aukai, and Keli'i

Oh no......

Nobody would have guessed this morning when I got up to go to work that Nathans Honda wouldn't work and that in the middle of going to work, it would stop right on the exit that I take to take the back streets to work.
Well, it happened. I take I-10 to I-17 and then I take the 16th St exit and then go to 24th St and then right up to the back side of the buildings because there is NO traffic that way. The worse part of the morning traffic is the exit off 59th Ave to 27th Ave, other than that, it is pretty clean.

I took the exit and then all of a sudden, the car turned off. I only made it off the exit because it rolled until about a car lengths away from the turning light so that I could turn right. Many people just drove by and left me until a gentleman in his truck asked me if I needed help and then he pushed me to the right and on to a side street. I called Nathan and we laughed at the whole thing because it happened to him some time back too while sitting at a light. We are fine, we made it home to and called Abe to have him suggest a car electrician because Nathan is now convinced that it is an electric issue, which I am starting to see that it is true. We have had everything else fixed and not anything electric, so now we are convinced that it is that.

Needless to say, I don't have a way to work today until we know that we can get another car to get me there without it falling apart. Nathan is still not feeling well so he is asleep and if a school calls him today, he'll need to get there :o)


This last week was exciting. I worked about 3-4 hrs of OT so that I could have some mailing money for 2 packages that need to go overseas. Steven is in Iraq and Elizabeth is in Germany and I want to get something off for Christmas for both of them. I'm hoping to continue to do well at work this winter because that will help me make my spring and summer flourish! My prayers are all about success as Nathan is trying to continue school and finish up. One more year to go exactly :o)

I don't have to work Thursday or Friday for Thanksgiving so I'm trying to figure out what I'd like to do on Saturday. Friday I am going to be home most of the day, hoping to take orders for Pampered Chef or I'm done with it. I can't sell something that nobody is interested in. It has been hard the past couple of month and I haven't had a party at all and people haven't been interested in doing a party. I know that the economy is not looking but, but even better to order stuff and cook at home. Restaurants are way over rated anyways and home cooked food is always better. Anyways, I have a all day online/email/phone show going on on Friday so I really don't want to go anywhere as I might miss an order.

Saturday I thought that it would be nice to go to the mountain so that I could touch snow and be done with it for the fall/winter. We'll see...I also think that it would be nice to go in December too. Ka'le liked it last winter when we were up in Show Low and Snowflake.

I hope Nathans sinus' get better before the Holidays because he'll be miserable while his family is here. We're just taking appetizers. Someone at work wants me to make pecan pies for her and she'll pay me to do it :o) She only wants 2 and that is doable so this afternoon I'll go get the pie crusts...I already have everything else to make them. That is an easy service project from me to her. Trish is the lady I work with that wants them and she is so sweet so she deserves them.

We're getting ready to take the car up to Abe, go to Costco and Fry's. They have turkeys on sell for less than $5. We're going to grab one and cook it up and and take it all apart and freeze it.

Have a great week everyone. The Holidays are officially upon us!

Love everyone,

Karen

Wicke Connections: General Womans Conference 09/2008

http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-37,00.html

Not going to get to go to AZ

Hi,

It was so nice to talk to kenji yesterday for a few minutes. No, I won't be able to head down to AZ (less seats available than ever before) but thanks for the invite Karen. So mom, this means that I will be coming. I already bought some yams and sweet potatoes. :)

What else would you like me to bring?

Hugs and take care,

Sharon

hahaha...anyone want to remember who this is?

Another week down...

So another week is over and done. I am very glad. I want the entire time to fly but I'll take the days passing at a normal rate.
We had a pretty uneventful week last week. I had my book club on Tuesday, playgroup Wednesday ("group" is a loosely used term as we were the only ones there), Thursday I scrubbed down the kitchen and bathroom (it's actually still clean! Thanks kids!), Friday we talked with Daddy for most of the morning(!!!!) and Saturday we dealt with runny noses and coughs so we didn't do much. So there's our week!
Steven is doing well. He doesn't really get along with his roommate but he has 2 good guys that he spends most of his free time with, so I've adopted them for Christmas. They'll all get small stockings with Dollar Store toys, a utility knife, and a candy bar, not much but at least they have something to open. The official last day to send care packages for Christmas is Dec 11 around here, but to be safe, if you want to send anything for Christmas plan on sending it around Dec 4.
This next week, I'm hoping that I'll be much busier. Tomorrow we have free pictures being done through www.oplove.org (check it out and donate if you can, it's a wonderful program), Tuesday I have an FRG meeting, Wednesday is empty so far but I hope we make it to YMCA to play, Thursday we have a birthday party for my nephew, Friday is open as yet (see Wednesday), and Saturday we have a potluck Thanksgiving party with the FRG and a briefing on the soldiers. So the week should fly by.
Our newest project for the kids to do for Daddy is that we went for a drive after Stake Conference today to gather pretty leaves so that we can iron them between wax paper and send Daddy autumn. They were happy to do that. We're holding it together pretty well these days although Aukai still whispers to me that he misses Daddy and they both freak out when they see him on the web-cam. They are so sweet. I am very blessed.
I hope that everyone is well.

Sick week

This week has been fun. Since last Sunday I have been very busy. I have taught 2 evenings this week of ELL to adults. I loved it and was substituting for Tracy Astle, our friend as she was gone for a trip with her grandmother.

Where is my grandma, I wish we'd go on a trip together! That would rock :o)

Anyways, Nathan has been sick since last Sunday. He only worked 1 day this week and that same day he went to class and it about killed him and so he has been trying to rid of the stupid flu/sinus infection that is killing him. This is kind of gross, but get this, you know the phlem and crap that is in your throat and when you cough or sneeze and blow your nose it comes out (well, sometimes), get this...it was coming out of his eyes! Yep, it was coming out of the inner corner of his eyes. It was so nasty. All he does it take medicine and sleep, which I am grateful for. I get stuff done when he is in knocked out!

I have worked long hours this week, it seemed like. I am still #1 for the division. I really enjoy what I do. I go to work for my teachers and really enjoy working with them.

I also went to nursery today. Those poor kids. One little girl Madison makes herself physically sick if she doesn't have mom, dad or grandma there with her. She threw up all over me, all over the floor, all over her clothes and there was yeah, well, no change of clothes for herself. I kept telling her that if she throws up she'll have to stay in class with me because she wasn't going to go to mom, dad or grandma. I told her that if she didn't play and be nice and hang out with other kids, she wasn't going to be able to come to nursery anymore. She cried for a little bit and then started to hang out with the other kids. She smelled bad, but I don't care...she was away from her parents! She'll do better from this time forward.

There are new brothers, Seth and Jeffrey that are in the class who are 3 and 2. They fought and cried and threw themselves on the floor the entire time. I seriously wanted to laugh at the entire nursery the whole time I was there because I couldn't believe what they were doing. Seth even nailed me a few times with a fist and boy was he mad. I can understand that though, they are new and in a new class with new kids and teachers and parents are leaving them somewhere new. They just want dad most of the time. Kayden Ramirez is a complete crack up. He wants to be in charge of everything so he pushes other kids around to do it. After he pushes them, you have to tell him to not push or hit and so then he'll walk up to them and give them a kiss or hug. It is so funny because that other kid is like, what the heck you just nailed me and now you're given me loves...whatever and they walk away.

Brin, a husky little girl is so funny. She is a pusher and bully too. She'll kick but when she gets older and then get her butt kicked if she doesn't learn to keep her hands and feet to herself too. She'll realize that there will be bigger kids than her and they'll kick her tail if she touches them...with time, she'll learn.

We played games and danced today in class, so other than the kicking and screaming, it was a great day.

Sacrament meeting was refreshing. The spirit was there as I had prayed for it this morning to help me decide whether or not I needed to take a few online classes to certify to teach middle school here in AZ. I'd like to. I know that the money will change, but that is OK. If I can get the DOE to take away student loans, I'll take the deduction in pay. That'll help! I did feel fine to do it so this week I'll look into taking Structured English Immersion, Arizona History and the US Constitution class along with Introduction to Middle School: Curriculum and Instruction. I know there will be other classes, but these are usually the main ones. I'll know about the others later. These classes I can have done by January if I schedule them right.

Well, I need to get ready for bed. I've been going to bed late and I hate it so I need to be ready for bed no later than 9:30 PM.

Have a great day.

Hey there y'all

Hi fam,

It's been a very crazy week. If you had asked me this day last week I would have said I quit my job, move out of the area and leave it all behind (and hopefully my entire behind too, lol)

However, over the last about 5 days, I've just been more bold in asking for help at work - getting the job done. So, I have two-three new helpers in Tillamook and 2 new in EV which will really help. Each of them are able to bring even more helpers to the table.

Saturday we had Pow Wow and it was sooo fun. My favorite class was Ceremonies and Pizzaz and I learned a lot about how to recognize adults and kids in a very simple, fun ceremonial way. Our instructor was AWESOME!!! You know there are some people who do scouting, some people who do it because they have to and some that GET IT. She way got it. If we could clone her, wow, would that be awesome.

Today had tithing settlement and I totallylove my bishop. He always laughs at my dumb jokes. I asked him if I could get be released from Relief Society and he said no way. I told him that I thought that my lessons were sort of repetitive and boring and he said that that wasn't the feedback he'd been getting. The counselor over the teachers so doesn't like me and she rarely if ever hears my lessons anyway, doesn't participate and told me once that she never feels the spirit during my lessons. That's hardly groundwork for a great relationship.

Anyway...Christmas is coming and I can't wait to put up my tree as it's an equal opportunity ornament tree- one that offers equal viewing for each ornament as it's prelight strung and SPINS!! I love it. I looked for other colors and ornaments to try and change it up this year however I just couldn't bring myself to do it! I might alternate or something but I just couldn't bring myself to change it all over.

See you all soon and HOPE to hear from you all soon. Let's use this tool, k, folks to stay in touch.

If you dont' want to type twice, just copy and paste, that works as well.

Hugs and kisses,

Sharon

My blog site

I'm not going to blog here this week because I did it twice already on my site.
So, all you'll need to do is go to karen-nihipali.blogspot.com and you can catch up on me there.

I have heard from Steven a few times this week too. I'll be sending sheets to him for Christmas since that is all he wants and needs. I won't send food because frankly, he doesn't need anymore! HEHEHEHEHE.

Have a good day.

Karen

webcams are wonderful!!

Yesterday we got to see Steven for the first time in 3 months! We got both of our webcams up and running. The kids LOVED it! They talked at the screen, blew kisses and waved at daddy for an hour! It was wonderful to really see him. It's been a long autumn for the kids as they only got to talk to daddy on the phone for a matter of minutes maybe once a week after he arrived in Kuwait. It's a blessing to have the technology that so many abuse, but we definitely put it to good use. We should be able to talk and see daddy anytime they're on base since he has the internet right in his room.
Steven just finished a 40 hour class on the Caiman mrap and he passed his final test with a 98%!!! He missed one question due to misreading it. He is now liscensed to drive all vehicles that are in Iraq except the tank. This makes him more useful to everyone and has kept him learning.
The kids are doing better since seeing Daddy. They even slept better last night than they have in weeks!Talk about a confirmation on the importance of Daddy. Mommy is doing better too and actually got to sleep before mignight for the first time in 3 weeks!
Yeah for webcams!!!!

Good November

I love November! I love the feeling of Autumn, I love the change in the color of the leaves, trees and shrubs. I love that the sun goes down sooner & that it is a little darker earlier and that the wind is cooler. Well, dang it...I am living in the wrong state. Arizona had Halloween on Friday and it was a whopping 92 degrees. Only 50 kids came by which was disgusting because the year before, there had to have been at least 300 and the year before that, at least 200. I think that it is the economy for 1 and for 2, the freaking' weather. Who wants melted chocolate? Not me...I bought pretzels anyways so my chocolate wasn't melting.

We had stake conference this weekend, however we didn't attend ours because it was televised statewide and so we packed up the dog and some clothes and spent the night out at Thomas & Laurels' home to attend conference with them, Ben, Darwin and Collette. It was a blast. We played games afterwards, the majority of them took naps. I read a few books and played with Ka'le. The house is big enough that he could get lost which was a blast because I could hide and he would run around trying to find me...that was fun. Conference was on unity, change and hope. Elder Packard spoke and he wowed me with the spirit and his awesome stories of being a fighter pilot.

We were also admonished to write a book about our conversion and what it has done for our lives and what it will do, hopefully for the future. So, for everyone...that is what you're going to get for Christmas, according to mom, we aren't drawing names because nobody has the $$ to do it, which is fine, but everyone knows how to type something and mail it out.

I took a couple of pictures and will post them later. My battery died so I couldn't take more! That was sad :o(

We have a very busy November! Nathan is working the polls for voting on Tuesday and I am going to work my butt off this week at work so that I can rack up some OT to pay for Christmas (which I am going to try to keep a secret for Nathan...he needs a pair of shoes so I need to make a few extra dollars).

I am very tired...I need to get to bed. I have been going to bed pretty late lately and its killing me productively at work! I love the mornings and Nathan is a night person so as mentioned, the nights are killing me...this isn't working out well...but it will.

Have a great November.

Like any other Latter-day Saint,it is fast Sunday. I can't fast being I am diabetic, but I do try to fast with the spirit. We had a good meeting in Sac. and a really good Sun. School class. We had a good lesson. Dad is working the midnight shift for the next three weeks so is taking a nap till 9:00 pm. LeiLani was going to go to worrk, but now is not as Ikaia isn't feeling well and loosing weight again only weighing 33 pounds at aage 3. David is still on the road and should be home tomorrow or early Tues. It has been a long trip this time. Steven is safely in Iraq, not sure where, but he left Kuwait and doing Ok so far. Grandma is also doing well. She forgets things but still can carry on a conversation. the girls and Laarry are ready to start the building of the houses. glad it is them and not me. We are all fine and hope the same for all of you. Love, Mom and Dad

A new month...

Hello Family,

It's fast Sunday and as fast Sunday's go, the Spirit was strong and accounted for during Sacrament meeting. Sometimes it's less so but today it was brilliant and strong. I noticed my old visiting teaching companion (she's only old bc she went inactive) sitting in the 2nd to the last row. I was so excited for her.

Our ward has Break the Fast still...it's a remainder from the days of being a branch and I have a feeling that it isnt' going anywhere soon. I actually managed to put a roast in the crock pot and contrinbute to the meal this month - once a year isn't too bad is it?!?

Yesterday I had my Lia Sophia party and I would like an order from mom (or dad for mom), Karen (or Nathan for karen), Janell and Leilani. You see where i'm going here don't you?!?! Gifts are for giving!:) It was really fun, 3 single adults from another ward, 1 from my ward, my visiting teaching supervisor and mother of 3 small (under 5) children and two non-members friends and one brought a neighbor. It was packed in my little living room. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was grateful for a reason to clean the bathroom floor, hang up all my clothes and get the laundry off the bathroom floor. See, I CAN do it.

As far as work goes - Tuesday I finally got written up for a bad performance las quarter. This is all mainly due to the lack of performance on the golf tournament. Everything revolved around that event including a lot of time that I could have spent doing other things. I'm still not worried, I know there is a plan for me.

Grad school essays are on the top of the list to complete today. I have 3 of the 10 done but dang, they are each just a little bit different so I have to tweak each one according to the questions.

I am sitting here with General Conference playing in the background. My favorite talk from the Sat AM session so far is from the Hispanic lady who talked about missionary work. I couldn't keep the tears from flowing, similarly to the first time, when she talked about how she married in the temple and had 8 kids, their children served missions and the work never stops, nor does the goodness from those who serve or chose the Lord's Church. I have so much respect for all those who join the church.

This week, I have jury duty orientation all day on Wed and appts every single day the rest of the week. Busy, busy and more busy. I'll be up on Friday bc it's staff meeting day. Oh joy.

Hugs and kisses to all the babies. And Aukai, "fire engine!" LOL...

~Sharon