The Clouds of Loulu Lane

Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T12:01:00.001-08:00

New Orleans

2011-12-14T19:39:00.001-08:00

Ben had his Mid-Year conference in New Orleans this year and I couldn't resist tagging along. The weather was a beautiful 7 Deg the first day we were there and we took advantage by taking a tour on a horse and buggy through the historic parts of town.

Our Tour Guide Molly

The French Quarters, all of these shots are taken from a moving buggy, but the architecture and culture are just amazing. I don't want to move here anytime soon, but its a must see!

This old mansion is set in the middle of the French Quarters and the original iron fences used crops to show posterity.
I love the rod iron porches that are all through New Orleans.

This Historic Church was re-built 3 times because of floods. The last time it was re-finished was in the late 1800's. It has a 3 year waiting list for weddings.

This is the oldest standing original building in Quarters. It has survived all of the major flooding.

Historic Napoleon House.

Famous Bourbon Street. Its clean and peaceful during the day, but watch out at night!

My Favorite, the local Jazz. I loved seeing these musicians out on the streets doing their thing.

Ben got invited to a Pharmaceutical party on the field of the Super Dome. It was really cool being on the field, Ben got to throw and kick field goals.

Presley and Layla LOVED the Saints Cheerleaders. Well Presley did anyways, Layla just wanted to steal a pom pom.

The girls pretty much danced it up on the field all night and finally went down on the side lines to watch Ben throw passes.

I took the girls to the ZOO because Ben was at the conf all day. They had a bayou/gumbo trail with these little shanty houses.

Unfortunately the weather got really cold and rainy that day and we didn't get to stay the whole time:(

This is how me and the girls spent most of our time. Layla on the bed playing games with my tablet.

Presley playing office at the desk with the phones unhooked.

I didn't get to take pics of the food we ate, but lets just say, if I don't eat another po-boy anytime soon it would be just fine with me!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Olivia and Rapunzel with pascal.

I was a little in over my head trying to sew these this year, I completely underestimated how much trouble the ears and nose would give me. Mima's scary pirate trunk

No I didn't die my hair--LOL.. Jack the pumpkin king and his girl (Nightmare before Christmas)The family

Mima and Pop the Pirates with the girls

The kids with cousin Peter Pan (aka Taylor)

Wolverine (aka my brother) and his wife Alicia

I heart Fall

2011-10-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

Our Fall: (this post is backwards, so the first photos are the most recent activities)

St. Joseph's Pumpkin festival. It was so much fun to experience our small towns festivities. The girls had a BLAST riding carnival rides and ponies!

I mistook Micheal Myers for Ben--LOL!

Yes, Layla got a sweet little hair cut to her shoulders. Now her Donald trump bangs match the rest of her hair.

Presley Loved her pony Sugar.

Pumpkin patch with cousin Taylor. He wasn't so happy that day.

Presley had her 4th Birthday and Mima and Pop drove up for the evening. (she hit jackpot with all her new toys!)

Yes, I made this crazy dog cake for Presley. She is really into puppies and loved this cake.

My first EVER apple pie (just ignore that I didn't have a real pie tin). We picked the apples from Schweitzer Farms. It was soooo yummy, Ben and I seriously ate the whole pie in one sitting.!

Summer, I will miss you!

2011-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Everyone is going to miss jumping on our new trampoline. It was probably the best buy ever! The girls love it, but putting it together wasn't so fun.

You may think this is just a cute pic of P, but she is really hiding a tool behind her back.

Both girls wanted to help dad

Its a low to the ground fully enclosed 8 ft trampoline--seriously perfect for kids! Plus I can even jump on it, so they will love it for years to come.

I am going to miss my cherry tomato plants!

The girls are going to miss their oasis pool!

We are going to miss how tiny our newest addition is. Presley named him Tuc and the girls are in LOVE! I'm not sure Tuc is, he hides when they come near!

I am going to miss Tuc's room. He lives on our back porch right now, but it in the winter we will have to move him inside. Right now the girls are forced to have monitored visits with Tuc. But most of the time I catch them standing on chairs to watch him.

What? We aren't standing on chairs!

Our Summer so far...

2011-07-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Celebrated Layla's 2nd Birthday

Presley drew a family picture for us. (Ben and I are in the middle) Pretty good for a 3 year old!

Taylor turned 1! This is my Bro Wes and his wife Alicia. (plus Wes finally got out of the hospital!)

The girls play at the pool or water park alot!

They got to take rides with Pop on his 4 wheeler.

We moved to Saint Joseph and celebrated with dinner.

Ben started his Residency at Heartland Health and turned 31!

Went to the dollar movies. Yes we still have to strap Layla in!

Celebrated July 4th and finished redoing the vintage/thriftstore furniture we bought. There are a few pieces of furniture in these photos that used to look like old scraps of junk. (I'll post more on that later).

The girls got bad girl tattoos and watched the fireworks.

The week I never thought I would see!

2011-05-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ben and I traveled without the girls to Hawaii for his med school graduation. Congrats to Ben, or Dr. Benjamin Cloud (now). He graduated with a Pharm. D degree on May 14th and I couldn't be prouder of him!

Graduation dinner hosted by The University of Hawaii- Hilo

My two favorite Hawaii girl friends. I have missed them so much since we moved from Hawaii, they will never know how lucky I felt to have them as friends while I lived 1000's of miles from home!
Ben and his friend Jason after graduation

Richardsons Beach park- Hilo. I have imagined myself back at these beautiful parks so many times when I was freezing in KC from snow!

Our celebration dinner- Waikiki

My favorite surf town in Oahu

Waiamea Bay- Oahu, one of the best beaches on the island.

More photos of Hale'iwa town

Hawaii, you will always be a part of my life. I already miss you and the great sleep I got without the girls on this long awaited vacation!

And the Residency is............ Saint Joseph Missouri (St. Joe)

2011-03-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

We found out last Wed early morning that Ben matched with his first choice in the ASHP Residency match with St. Joe Missouri! We are thrilled because it was more stressful completing the application, interviews and waiting to hear, then we thought it would be! Not to mention we think it's just a darling town and can't wait to move. Here is a link to the town in-case you want to check it out. http://www.stjoemo.info/images/stjoseph.cfm

Congrats to Ben on all of his hard work, I am so proud of him! (Also, he finished his last day of Pharmacy school the same week. What a huge relief for us!)

Pneumonia, Bronchitis and Pre-school

2011-02-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

There has been so much going on, but my whole family has been to sick to post anything! So here is a break down:

*Layla gets pneumonia! (really, very scary, we are still taking her in to get chest x-rays just to make sure its gone)

*Presley (they thought it was pneumonia, but its really bad bronchitis and ear infections!)

*Then I get sick with it, actually still sick with it. Probably should go to the Dr but I keep thinking it has to be done soon, its been over a week!

*Then Ben gets it, but not as bad thank goodness because he is doing night rotations and shifts at Wal-Mart.

*Now my brother Wes is at the Mayo Clinic (having surgery tomorrow) on his kidneys. This has been a long time in the making, WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU WES!

*Then Presley started Pre-school! It was nearly impossible to get her into pre-k when we moved here because it was the middle of the year and all spots were filled EVERYWHERE. Then my friend here e-mailed me and said her daughters school just got an opening and I jumped on it!!!! Can't believe Presley is in pre-school, she seems so young to me. But she LOVES IT! Thank goodness its only 2 times a week, I had a hard time letting her go:( She looks so tiny compared to her big back-pack!

Obsessed with Mormom Mom Bloggs

2011-01-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs/index.html

Everyone needs to read this link! It's great, it talks about a non-Mormon sub culture who is obsessed with reading Mormon mom's blogs. I died laughing because she has pegged most of the blogs I read and I admit even I could be stereotyped in the same group at times. But regardless if Mormon moms try to portray this picture-perfect, enjoyable, trendy-catalog life, people are reading them and are inspired by the joys of a family life. I say keep blogging! Enjoy:)

I will drive 5000 miles and I will drive 5000 more!

2010-12-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

It’s been soo long since I posted but here is a short sum up since we left Hawaii:

*Landed in LA in November, stayed a few days and visited Hollywood, picked up our car from port

*Drove from LA to AZ, saw the Grand Canyon (it was free the day we drove through-- what luck:)

*Drove from AZ to NM, saw monument valley (so beautiful!) (Ben had to be in NM)

*Drove from NM to CO (stopped at the 4 corners and the Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings-- really something to see!)

*Then Drove from CO to Missouri (to my parents house), hung out with my family, Ben started work at Wal-mart.

*Then we drove to Branson Missouri to hang out with my family for Thanksgiving. We all stayed in a sweet cabin, it was a lot of fun. (sorry mom and dad, I don’t know why I didn’t get photos of youL…) Ben also met a famous old school boxer when we went out with my sis an bro in law.

*Flew back to LA for a Pharmacy conference, Ben had to meet a few of the residency sites he applied for, made a family vacation of it at DISNEYLAND! (Too bad it was sort of cold and rainy--we look pretty bad in our photos!) But we got to see our good friends Lindsay, Jason and Lily:)

*Then we had to drive back to NM and we drove 1000 miles back!

*1/2 week later drove to Texas and spent Christmas with Ben's family. We had a great time, I was really happy the girls got to see the grandparents, it had been a while.

Now we are back in Missouri and Ben got another call for an interview in OK-- so it looks like we will be back on the road next week! We will keep everyone posted on where we end up.

'a hui hou'

2010-11-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Some of my most precious memories happened on the big island, some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen are in Oahu, and I could never explain the closeness my small family has felt being together so far away, but I have missed the comforts of family and the conveniences of the mainland more times then I like to admit. As we made our final decent on Friday I felt sad, but I also felt extremely happy because this chapter in our life has closed and the possibilities for the next are even more exciting.

We sing this song in Hawaii as a farewell. It is commonly sung at church to dear departing friends. It brings me to tears as I sing along in my head. I will miss you Hawaii!

Aloha `oe

E ke onaona noho i ka lipo

One fond embrace

A ho`i a`e au

Until we meet again

Farewell to you, farewell to you
The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers
One fond embrace,
'Ere I depart
Until we meet again

Pre Halloween Party

2010-10-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue at our ward party.

Playing Halloween games

Strawberry posing. I have no idea where she learned to do this, but all of her pics are like this, sooo funny.

A rest on the big crab on our way home. Lemon Meringue was tired and took off half of her costume.

P turned 3

2010-09-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

It seems crazy for me to think my oldest child is a 3 year old! I love this little girl more than words can say, she is so special to me.

Thank you grandparents, aunts, Hawaii aunties, uncles and cousins for all the wonderful gifts. They piled up over the week and we finally let her open them early. Presley felt like it was her birthday all week and LOVED it. Plus Layla liked it too(when P would share) LOL...

Cute Girls, Crappy Camera!

2010-08-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

The girls at Chuck-E-Cheese. They had a blast, thanks to all the free token coupons Ben found:)

The girls looking so cute and sweet, after being so bad in church we had to go outside and hang in the courtyard.

P and L robot dancing from marcie cloud on Vimeo.

This video is so funny to me, Ben and I crack up at Layla because she walks slowly behind Presley trying to get on camera (like one of those people you see trying to get on the news--LOL). This is actually an older video--P now sings this song perfectly, but its too cute to not post....

Presley singing the ABC's from marcie cloud on Vimeo.

Its been a long time! Our Summer

2010-07-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Its been soooo long since I posted. Our internet isn't the greatest right now, but I finally got these video/photo slides to load.

Here are a few things we have been up to:
*eating out
- Super large Pancakes (as shown on Man vs. Food-Hawaii .. Ben's B day)
-Yummy Nachos
-Matzumotos (famous shaved ice on North shore --it has vanilla bean ice cream on bottom and smothered in condensed milk--so GOOD)
-Cholo's (our new favorite Mexican food on North Shore)
*Had 2 birthdays (Layla and Ben)
*Took the girls to their first Carnival
-Presley got to ride a horse for the first time and they both got to ride rides.
*Swimming at the beach a lot
*Going to the Zoo (at least once a week)
*Hiking
*Touring the island
*Tried to sneak on the set of the new Pirates of the Caribbean. (We have a few pics of the new Black Pearl ship)
*And mostly just hanging out and enjoying each other.
*Presley and Layla are like my 2 best buds!
*Ben of course has nearly completed 2 dif hospital rotations and will be working a retail rotation 7 on 7 off next round. He is really excited to hang out more!

Miss everyone hope you are having a great summer!

Cloud summer part 1 from marcie cloud on Vimeo.

Cloud Summer Photo Video from marcie cloud on Vimeo.

My baby is 1 today!

2010-05-22T12:14:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she turned 1 today. Where has the time gone?
A few things about Layla:

* She is walking everywhere now
*Loves to eat EVERYthing I give her
*Has the cutest curly hair
*Always smiles when we look at her
*Says "thank you" after you give her something
*Has 3 1/2 teeth
*Loves to roll around on the floor with Presley

*Shares birthday (May 22) with her cousin Emily.--Happy B day Em:)

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl.
xoxoxo
Mommy and Daddy Love you!

Waikiki, our new home for 6 months

2010-05-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a few pics of our new Condo for 6 months in Waikiki (pics taken at night, so kids sleeping and maybe not as clean as it should be;0).

We absolutely LOVE it here. The condo is a one bedroom with a wall that slides open, so we had to move the bed into the living room and the sofa into the bedroom, that way Ben and I can watch tv and hang out at night and girls can have a room. Presley didn't like the foam floor bed I got her so I returned it, but she loves the couch and Layla pack-n-play fits perfect in the closet:)

This is also an official invite to all of families and friends to come visit us!! The couch makes out to a bed so Ben and I would give who ever come the bed in the living room (plus we own 2 air mattresses). Free place to stay in WAIKIKI, cant beat it. We are less than 2 1/2 blocks from the beach, 3 1/2 blocks from the Zoo and shopping is Everywhere, plus we have a large balcony with a great view....

All about Ben!

2010-04-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about Ben these last few days and all the time the poor guy has spent studying in med school the last 7 years (4 undergrad, 3 pharmacy school). I want to tell him how grateful I am that he is doing all of this for our family. And it's all coming to an END-- HURRAY:) His hard work has paid off, the stress is almost over.

My mother in-law sent me these great photos of Ben and I had to post them. I just want to hug that pudgy boy and see him blush. So cute!! Plus, that top baby photo reminds me of layla soooo much. Look at what a great guy/Dr. that kid turned out to be. We love you Ben-- Marc, P-lady and lulu:)

Happy Birthday Tiffany

2010-04-08T21:52:00.001-07:00

My older sister has a B day today:) Here are 6 things to know about Tiff...

1) She loves the color red

2) She is obsessed with trying to find the 'perfect' jeans

3) Is always re-doing something in her house

4) Is the mom of 3 adorable kids and a wife to a great husband

5) Loves to talk on the phone along with being a good listener

6) Has great wrinkle free skin and she is older then me ;0 lucky brat:)

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter.......

Spring Break 2010

2010-03-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ben had Spring Break last week and we have been out having such a good time. I never wanted it to end:( I swear I never got dressed, I stayed in either a swimsuit or sweat pants the entire time! It was the best. (we spent it in Waikaloa--other side of island)

a few favorite things we all got to do
Ben: cook/grill ribs and eat every last one on his own, go on a 6 hour fishing trip (too bad he didn't catch anything:(...)
Marcie: sleep in a few days, drink fruity drinks, drive to south point, take super long naps
Presley: swim and chase turkeys every night (the turkeys came through every evening and you could hear them gobble.) P loved it!
Layla: swim in her baby tube. She loved being free and able to walk back and forth in the 15 inches of water.

Enjoy slide show

P and Layla swimming

Presley Chasing the Turkeys (She wanted to see them every night!)

Tsunami or not so Tsunami

2010-02-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

First I wanted to thank all of my friends and family members who were so worried about us. We appreciated all of the phone calls and messages trying to warn us. It was a pretty crazy morning in Hilo with sirens going off every hour, people freaking out in grocery stores and gas station lines. Its a good thing Hawaiians are so laid back! People were a little more aggressive during the Hurricane Rita evac when we lived in Houston (guess we manage to follow natural disasters). However, because most of the shortages we experienced in Tx were from people using up resources I thought it might be best to make sure we had a full tank of gas, milk, water and diapers. One thing we learned about living on an Island is that when the grocery stores run low it can be a while before a shipment arrives. So THANK GOODNESS we got spared.

Alot of people were really concerned about us because they new we live downtown bay front in Hilo. So I thought I would post pics of just how close we could have been to

disaster.

We really didn't see much action. Here we basically saw the water pull back and push forward at a really slow rate over the break wall.

Look who came to Hawaii

2010-02-21T22:53:00.001-08:00

Ben's brother Noah and his family just popped into Hawaii last week (literally-- they caught a Mac flight on space A--something to do with Military). But we went to Oahu and stayed with them a few days and had a blast. It was really great for our girls to hang out with their cousins. Presley loved every min of it. Plus we got to see a few sites I hadn't seen before. Thanks Noah and Kathrine for letting us crash with you:)

These pics are all taken at Hanauma Bay (one of the best snorkeling spots in Oahu)

Valentines day with the Clouds

2010-02-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Ben and I aren't huge celebrators of Valentines day but we decided to cook ourselves a really good dinner and put the girls to bed early on Sat night. Since we can't ever go out to dinner without the girls, preparing a new special recipe always feels like a treat.

I found a SUPER yummy Beef Tips with Mushrooms in a Red Wine Sauce served over Sliced Baked Potatoes and a even yummier White Chocolate Almond Pie recipe. We topped it off with a sparkling grape juice and a little "Sam Cooke" music to set the mood. It was really relaxing and truly felt like we were eating somewhere else. The only thing I was missing was a waiter to refill my glass and serve me dessert LOL. Guess we can't have everything.

Then on Sunday we packed a picnic lunch and took the girls up to Akaka Falls. Its one of the Big islands most beautiful natural wonders. Huge waterfalls set in the rain forest. The girls loved it! I also got Presley twinkies as a V-day present. It was her first time eating one and she was instantly in LOVE, she ate 2!!

New Year Update

2010-02-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

Presley loves playing with Layla. She acts so grown up, she even never lets me take a good pic of her, she will make faces or turn her head (no idea where she learned this). She is also talking up a storm and can count to 10 and say part of the ABC's, plus she is pretty much potty trained--hurray P lady:)

Layla is crawling everywhere and trying really hard to walk by holding on to anything taller then her and scooting along (ie the sofa, chairs, beds, side tables- you name it). She LOVES to follow Presley all over the house and play with her, she even tries to eat the food Presley is eating so I have to put Presley's chair up high-LOL!

Ben is doing great in school, his first test started off well and he is now training to run in a mini triathlon. He ran 6 miles tonight, its even motivating me to run more so I hope he keeps it up:) We will be running in a 5K together in March.

Dad and Presleys Texas Day

2010-01-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Ben's parents got Presley a Texas Cheerleading outfit last summer and it finally fits her now. So Ben was really excited to wear his matching jersey for the game day and eat ribs with her Texas style.

Plus Layla has learned to drink from a sippy cup. She started by stealing Presley's over Christmas and now she really drinks water out of it. Smart girls for a 7 month old!

Holiday Update

2010-01-03T09:27:00.001-08:00

Since I have been really bad at updating my blog I am posting a quick update on what we have been doing this month.
*Eating out at great places
*Hanging out with my family (all but my sisters fam, the snow wouldn't let them make it:(...)
*Playing games
*Watching movies, at home and in theatre (LOVED Avatar)
*Enjoying my moms holiday cooking
*Eating tons of sweets
*Watching Layla crawl everywhere
*Watching Presley play with her new toys and play princess dress up
*Watching the girls play with the grandparents
*Decorating for Christmas
*Enjoying the snow
*Plus Ben has been working

Count Down to Christmas- Favorite Holiday Movies

2009-11-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know Thanksgiving isn't even over yet but I am sooo excited about Christmas this year. Maybe its because Presley is starting to understand who Santa is, or maybe its because I get to go home Dec 4th and start the Holidays early. But we have already started watching Christmas movies with the girls and I am loving it! I want to know what everyones favorite Christmas movies are. I want to make sure I'm not missing on any of the classics out there. Most of you that know us, know that we are BIG movie fans but it may surprise you that we are constantly finding movies we haven't seen. So please list them all:)

ps-- ABC family is starting their count-down to 25 days of Christmas. They have great shows every night http://community.abcfamily.go.com/25-days-christmas/schedule

My top 5
Elf
Christmas Vacation
(all old school claymation-- ie Rudolph, Year without Santa Clause etc.)
Christmas with the Kranks
Mickeys Christmas Carol

Presley and Layla's dance off

2009-11-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

Another crazy Sat night at the clouds house. I crack up every time I watch this because Layla gets so excited she jumps her chair into the wall. Thank goodness she has a tray around it. And of course P is always cute being crazy, happy P.

I forgot to tell everyone that Presley got to help make Halloween cookies for the first time:) Well at least she tried to, she pretty much grabbed the fork I had out and would sneak little bites of the dough (takes after her dad!)

Trunk or Treat (my favorite time of year)

2009-10-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

Our ward had our Halloween Trunk-or-Treat tonight. My friend and I decorated my trunk for the activity. The girls had a blast, well Presley (aka Tinkerbell) loved it. Layla (aka pink/purple bug) just hung out and tried to eat her hat. I decided to hand make their outfits (with a little help from Tiff sending me wings and booties for P) because we are limited on only walmart costumes here in Hilo and fabric is only 2$ a yard.--- Let me just say if I don't see a sewing machine for another 5 years it would be fine with me. It was more work then I bargained for, plus I didn't have patterns so I made it all up. (I had to re-fix everything a dozen times--hahah). The things you do for your kids!

Tinkerbell /happy little bug/family with our trunk/Our friends in HI

30 Something

2009-10-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Today I hit my dreaded milestone of "30". I survived and actually feel good about it. I decided to look at the small lines taking up residency under my eyes and welcome them as a reminder of all the wonderful years I have lived and how lucky I am to have a beautiful family who loves me. I woke up to phone calls from family members and ate lunch with 2 of my best girl-friends here in Hawaii (Ben watched the girls so I could have a real lunch break:) Then in the evening Ben took me to Maui Tacos where we split 1/2 price Taco Tuesday and came home and had a big spread of cakes and ice cream. It was great.

ps-- my sister posted a really cute B-day blog for me. Check it out (thanks Tiff, you made my day) http://tbuhman.blogspot.com/

P and I taking a ride before we ate tacos

Can Ben pick great B-day treats or what (I love him and his sweet tooth very much:)

New pics of girls

2009-10-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show everyone how much the girls are growing (esp for those of you who don't live around us). Layla is really growing like a weed, she is quite possibly the biggest and strongest 4 month old ever. She can already sit up on her own. Presley is P-training and doing such a great job, I pick 3 times a day and put her on her potty and 70% of the time she actually goes--YAY P-lady:)

Our fast get-away to Honolulu

2009-09-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ben and I can't decide if we want to finish up his last year of Pharm rotations in Honolulu or stay here in Hilo. So we decided Sat morning to catch the next flight out and check out the island of Oahu and the area we could be living in. We seriously booked a flt, room and rental car, packed 1 bag 2 babies and 2 car seats within 1 hour and left for the airport. We had a blast and LOVED Oahu. We got to see so many sites, the poor girls got dragged everywhere and got so tired but we only had 2 days and 1 night to fit it all in.

Dole Plantation

Layla at Laie Temple

Presley and Dad on Boat ride to USS Arizona (Pearl Harbor)

Mom and Girls at the beach in Waikiki

Big Gun at Pearl Harbor

Temple in Laie (around the corner from BYU Hawaii)

More Ships at Pearl Harbor

Presley Turns 2

2009-09-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

My little baby is growing up. Today is her 2nd birthday. I can't tell you how much I love this little girl, I have thought all day long about all the memories I've shared with her, from the moment the Dr. placed her in my arms to the day she took her first steps. She is so precious to me, and I am so thankful that I get to spend my life with her.

Presley had a great little party with some of our friends and a few of hers. She loves all of her gifts "Thank you everyone for being so thoughtful!" She was so excited about her new toys that she didn't go to bed until way after 9 and she screamed until I let her sleep with some of them.

Slide show- Enjoy:)

Video- Blowing out candles

My cute Girls

2009-09-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday we drove to Volcano state park and ate a picnic lunch. The girls looked so cute in these photos I couldn't resist posting them.

Sun-fun weekend

2009-09-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

The school library was closed this weekend so Ben decided we should drive to the other side of the island to test out his new "toy" (his metal detector). He found a whole $ dollar $ in change--hahah:) But we had fun anyways. P loved playing feed the birds and Layla just chilled in her chest pack.

Back to Hawaii

2009-08-31T18:06:00.000-07:00

We are back! Its been a really LONG time since I posted so I am updating on both of the girls.

Presley ( now 23 months) learned how to crawl in and out of a crib over the summer so we had to get her a toddler bed ASAP. This took a few nights of super nanny-ing it over and over & OVER. But after a week she is sleeping through the night, not getting up wandering around the house @ 3am and loving her nap time.

Layla (now 3 months) has become a chubby baby who literally rolls over every time I put her on her belly. She is so sweet and calm all of the time.

Presley Update

2009-07-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

P has been having a blast all summer! She is at a good age to start site seeing. We went to the KC Zoo, T-rex exhibit, planetarium, Chuck-E cheese, water park, playing at the dock on grandpas lake property-- you name it. She is becoming a good big sister (this took a while-- I think she thought Layla was a play doll for a while-hahah).. Plus she is really talking now. I cant count how many words she knows and she greets us every morning with a "hey mom, what you doing?" so cute..

Layla Update

2009-07-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know its been a while. We are at my parents house in the mainland for the summer (Ben is interning in KC) and their Internet is a little in the dark ages!--haha:) But here goes--- this is a short update on what we have been doing (I don't have a photo editor on the comp--so you have to deal with red eye;0)

Both Presley and Layla are doing well and growing like weeds. Esp Layla-- I think she is even bigger then P was at her age (if that's possible:)... Enjoy--

Layla-2 weeks old

4 Weeks

6 weeks

8 Weeks

Introducing Layla May Cloud

2009-06-06T18:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has taken me sooo long to post new pics of our new addition. I guess its the lack of sleep:) She was born May 22nd @ 6:40 pm. 7lbs, 2oz, 19in long. She is already growing like a weed and weighs over 8lbs now. Its funny how each of your children take on a different personality. Presley is the obnoxious one and Layla is so quiet and easy going. Thank goodness!!!:) Here are a few pics from birth to now of our pretty little girl. Enjoy.

Presleys last week as baby and only child

2009-05-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

So this is it! Our new baby is coming tomorrow and poor Presley just spent her last week as the only child and our baby:( But she at least got to be spoiled from Grandma Nelson (who flew into HI on Tuesday night). We have been spending the last 2 days visiting local sites while Ben is on Hospital rotations. Presley has been having a ball with grandma and seems to have taken up with her quite a bit (thank goodness, because she is going to spend all day alone with her tomorrow:)! Oh- and did I mention I am soooo excited its my last day to be pregnant!!!!!!

(at the airport)

(At the Zoo - its a really small-- free zoo, but P loves it)

(At the Lava Tree State Park. )

Presley an artist in the making

2009-05-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to blog about right now other then the normal (I need to have this baby now, I am miserable, can't sleep, uncomfortable--hahah:) So I thought I would take pictures of P coloring because who knows when I will update this after the baby comes. Presley needs another post before we have a new baby to blog about.

As you can tell Presley loves to color. She finally doesn't try to bite into the crayons. But I have to tape the paper down otherwise she colors on the table. (why do kids always do exactly what you don't want them to??) hahah. Kids-- Gotta love em. PS-- if you look closely she mainly colors with her left hand-- she may turn out like her daddy and be a lefty.

My new stroller-- I LOVE it

2009-04-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

Ben and I have had our share of stroller problems. Partly because we bought a crappy stroller that was in our budget when P was born and it fell apart. Then I just used a small umbrella stroller for P after that (needless to say it worked better for her then the old one).. But we decided we needed a double stroller, mostly because my favorite thing to do is walk at the park every day. So Ben researched and found a double tandem stroller he loved and we found a good deal on Amazon for it-- with free shipping to Hawaii!!. The good thing about it is that is pops in any other infant car seat/carrier. So we could recycle our old one, but they didn't match and I didn't like the way they looked together. But thank goodness for E-bay!! 15$, free shipping and 3 days later we got in a perfectly matching car seat cover that looks great. (I had been searching online FOREVER to find a car seat cover to match-- they were all 50+$, then Ben said, check E-bay-- duhhh!!! )) Anyways, check out all the cool ways I can change up my new stroller. Can't wait to use it:) (My favorite thing about this stroller is that the seats lay all the way back if the kids fall asleep--so great).

They can face each other

They can face forward

With the new car-seat cover (the old one was navy blue checkered-gag!)

Another Post about Presley

2009-04-21T18:33:00.001-07:00

We recently walked Presley down to the Merry Monarch Parade (it was literally 4 blocks from our house). She LOVED it, but got really tired on the way back as you can tell.

This is a dancing video of Presley a few days after Easter. As you can tell she still likes playing with the plastic eggs.

Presley's 2nd Easter

2009-04-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

This Easter was a little more fun for P. She is starting to understand how to hunt for eggs and she definitely knows what candy is now:) We had a fun day hunting for eggs, BBQ with friends, eating TONS of candy and relaxing as a family. Enjoy the pics.

Happy B day to my sister

2009-04-09T00:39:00.000-07:00

Today is my sisters birthday.

These are a few of my favorite memories of her:

1) Twirling a fire baton in a red polka dot uniform at my 2nd grade Assembly (she had super long hair and I kept thinking it was going to catch on fire).
2) Playing barbies together for HOURS or until our legs fell asleep from sitting with our legs crossed.
3) Letting me go out on my friends graduation night even though I was supposed to be grounded (mom and dad left her in charge:) Don't worry-- your too old to get in trouble now-hahah;)
4) Going to movies with me when mom and dad moved us to Missouri the summer before my senior year in high school (I didn't know anyone yet so we hung out alot).
5)Taking a propane curling iron to girls camp so she could make sure she could curl her famous bangs under any circumstances (just in case a boy happened to sneak into camp--hahah just teasing Tiff).
6) Sitting in moms white Lincoln (in our drive way) listening to "Winds Beneath my Wings" by Bette Midler- she listened to it over and over until she had all of the words of the song written down so she could memorize it.
7)Singing "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme me What I Cry For..." solo as part of your 8th grade choir program.
8)Singing Reba Mcentir's song in your leather-fringe outfit at the local county scholarship pageant.. (for those of your who didn't grow up in Duncan-- this was actually normal-- but still super funny--hahahah)

Happy B day sis:)

Kaumana Caves

2009-04-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

We ran across these really cool caves driving around. Of course I am too big to be climbing around in them, plus they aren't lighted and you need flashlights and tennis-shoes so we only looked around the entrance. They were formed a LONG time ago by lava. Pretty cool- enjoy.

Spring Break 09

2009-04-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

P's new hat and spring break re-cap:

I am getting a little lazy with my blog lately. But here is a slide show of our spring break. We traveled to the other side of the island for 4 days. We rented a condo with our Kamaina rate that allowed us to cook in the condo and save $$$$. We relaxed, ate out 2 times, swam, went to the beach, looked at shops, bought P-lady Melvin the giraffe - took him everywhere with us and mostly slept!! It was great. Tooo bad I am way big prego and SLOW right now--hahahah:)

The craziest part of our trip was on the way home. We had just under a 1/2 tank of gas and decided to go on saddle rd (bad road through mountains- but cuts time by 30 min). Well, our gas light came on and we had almost 30 miles left. hhahah- scary, no gas stations-- nothing, middle of no where!!! But it was all down hill so we coasted the entire way and to our surprise made it easily to Hilo and a gas station. I LOVE our HONDA!!!

Crazzzy P-lady

2009-03-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Presley thought she would entertain her sister to be on Friday night-- enjoy:)

Sun, horses and prego belly

2009-03-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here are a few clips from our weekend. Presley got to ride on a few horses at the mall and LOVED it, plus we took a drive to the other side of the island because Hilo wont stop raining. I even posted a few pics of my belly for those of you who have been asking!! And YES, that is snow on the mountain shots (this island has every type of weather:)

To potty, or Not to potty train???

2009-02-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

At our last Dr's visit with Presley she told us we could start potty training @ 18 months. I've been reading online to see when kids are ready etc. Presley fits most of the signs (ie hiding when she has to potty, wanting it to be private, she understands commands like go sit in your chair, bring me this etc..). But I thought I would see what other moms out there thought about this. I decided to take a month and just introduce her to the idea of it. I got her a potty book and movie and have been keeping track of when she goes #2 etc. We also found a cheap kids potty at sears and picked it up. I let her sit on it but its pretty clear she is unsure of what it is. So please post your thoughts or your experiences and if you found a book useful for parents let me know.

Valentines Day 2009

2009-02-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

Ben got to take the day off of studying, so we spent the whole day together-- :)
We went to Kens House of Pancakes for breakfast

Looked around at a few shops, came home and took a family nap, then made valentines for the grandparents with Presley (for the Nelson and Cloud Grandparents)

watched a few cartoon movies with P and then put her to bed early. Then Ben and I ate a really yummy dinner at Cafe Cloud:) It was really relaxing to have a dinner without P hanging on my leg. We listed to Sam Cooke and it really felt like we were dining out.

Menu
Grilled Strip Steak
Baked potato
Steamed asparagus
Sparkling grape juice

and

Earthquake cake and ice cream

Then we watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

(movie sucked! but the day was fun anyways:)

Family Update- some of you may be asking what happened to the Clouds???

2009-02-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

So its been nearly 2 1/2 weeks since I have posted anything. I guess I didn't have much to say. So I decided to give you all an update on each of us.

1st: Presley

She is nearly 17 months old (Feb 19th). As you can tell she is starting to look so grown up. She has learned to throw little fits and right now I think its funny, but it is wearing thin!! She loves food, almost anything I give her she will eat, (minus raw veggies-still have to mash those). But she is so much fun, she's like my little best friend. But she has learned to do things I hate like run down our drive way away from me laughing while I yell for her to stop! I guess all kids like to disobey:)

2nd: Ben

He is doing really good. This semester seems to be so much better for him then last semester. We actually get to see him more. He really likes his hospital rotation and gets to see some crazy patients, he loves to tell me about them. He is making great grades in his classes and has been able to play a little more sports this semester (ie golf and b-ball).

3rd: Me
I am doing good. I will be nearly 6 months (24 weeks) next week. This pregnancy is getting to me, my belly seems to grow daily (I swear its much bigger then with Presley!). I had my first ultra sound a few weeks ago and baby is really healthy and moving around like crazy. The Dr.'s are 85% sure its a girl, so we will see..

my new favorite craving (open face, toasted, honey-wheat-bagel sandwich with pepper jack cheese!!- I could eat these all day long. )

Back to the warm weather. Plus P's new hair techniques

2009-01-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

We had a really great Christmas break in the mainland. It was nice to see family and to feel cold weather for a short time. There is so much I could blog about that happened over break but I decided to start fresh here in Hawaii.

Today was MLK day so Ben had off from school and we took P-lady to the beach. She had a blast and I am starting to remember the things I like about Hawaii:)

Check out P's new skills:)

Early Christmas for P-lady

2008-12-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Because we couldn't bring all of her presents to the mainland. Santa hired a special LARGE elf to put together Presley's trike before Christmas. She was sooo surprised and excited when she saw it in the living room. She literally paused in the hall and her eyes got really big and her mouth opened wide and looked at me like, "is that mine???" So cute, she had alot of fun smiling and riding around on it (well, being pushed around on it- she isn't very good with the pedals yet).

Santas "special LARGE elf"

The funny things Presley does

2008-12-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

I walked in my room and P-lady had been digging in my t-shirt drawer and decided to play dress up on her own. Look how creative she is. I guess she really likes all of the pink shirts--hahah.

This is what I really saw when I walked in. I wasn't sure what she was doing.

Presley doesn't like Santa

2008-12-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

We took Presley to see Santa and she cried and screamed so bad I felt sad for her. She was scared to death of him.

Presley made the NICE list

2008-12-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

Santa confirmed Presley made the nice list. She will be getting presents after all. See link below for video. Enjoy:) (click link and wait for video to pop up)

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/23903-benjcloud/

Funny video of P-lady

2008-12-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning Ben gave her the phone to play with while I was brushing her hair. She acted like she was really talking to someone. The funniest part is when she turns to walk away like she can't hear what is being said to her. Enjoy:)

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

2008-11-28T16:35:00.001-08:00

This year seemed really funny to me. Its just not the same being in Hawaii over a major holiday (when you normally have your family to share it with). But this year a few of the pharmacy married students got together and split the Thanksgiving menu up. I actually made the turkey and gravy. I have NEVER cooked a turkey before but it turned out sooo good - I was really glad. (I forgot to get a photo of it:( ..) SAD.. But we had a good time and all of the food turned out really good.

I also made my first pumpkin roll and it turned out sooo yummy. Ben and I have been eating it everyday and loving it:)

Confessions of a 14 month old

2008-11-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

(Just had to show how cute she is getting, plus I LOVE being able to do new things with her hair--ps.. I cut her bangs too. )
_________________________________________________

Today was a holiday day, so Ben had to stay home and study (the library was closed). So Presley and I tried to stay out of the house as much as we could. I think she got tired of me dragging her to different beach parks and taking long scenic drives, that by the time we got home she talked to dad (in her own language) for nearly an hour. Or maybe she was so excited about our outing that she was trying to tell dad all about it. I was trying to watch the Biggest Loser and I could hear her just jabbering away so I quickly grabbed the camera and filmed it. She was really serious and trying so hard to describe her story in detail to dad. Enjoy:)

The first time I went in the room

The second time I went in- (about 20 min later-she was still talking away)

Bens weekend study break:)

2008-11-03T23:01:00.001-08:00

Ben finally had a weekend off from studying (that means he could start studying on Monday and have enough time-- yea!!!) I haven't spent a Saturday with Ben in nearly 6 weeks. Because it has been a really rough semester for him, plus I have been so sick that we decided we needed a little fun in our lives. So we drove to the other side of the island and spent 2 days and 1 night at the Waikaloa Hilton (because we are now local we get Kamaaina rate (sp?)--for locals, it was nearly 75$ off!!!) We had a great time, got to relax, get away from rainy Hilo, spend some time in a normal air conditioned room and eat really good food. P-lady had a blast, she got to swim and build sand castles. It ended too soon. I will just have to savor the memories for a LONG time:)

Presley's First Halloween as (Annie)

2008-10-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

Because Presley is soooo in LOVE with the movie "Annie" I decided to make her an Annie dress for Halloween. We had so much fun putting curlers and orange spray in her hair. P-lady however didn't like the curlers and screamed when I painted freckles on her. But once she was dressed up she was toooooo CUTE!

Getting Ready:

Trick-or- Treating with dad:

Stealing a glow stick at someones house (she liked this better then the candy:)

P-lady and Mom at Pizza Hut afterwards with friends:

Scariest thing I have EVER seen- "Happy Halloween to me!!"

2008-10-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I went out to put a load of clothes in the washer and was greeted by a LARGE chunk of dead grass, (however we don't have grass, only pavement). So I took a closer look and realized it was a HUGE tan spider! The biggest spider I have EVER seen in my life. I am by no means exaggerating when I say it was as big as my entire hand!!!! I immediately killed it with the first thing I could find, then found Ben to get rid of it. He tried to tell me it was a "banana spider" but I thought he made that up because we still had tons of bananas in our garage. Well, it turns out he was right, they call them "Cane-banana spiders"! (Too bad I didn't get a real photo of this scary thing, but I am extremely glad I killed it, and will never again climb around in banana trees for bananas EVER again!)

(this looks exactly like the one I found, only you can't really comprehend the size of this thing until you see them in person!)

Apparently they are very dangerous (if I have the right name), this is what it said about them on line... " A bite from the banana spider is painful and neurotoxic. The victim of a bite will experience sweating and an irregular heartbeat. The bite from a banana spider can result in death and antivenin does exist, so seeking treatment as soon as possible is imperative. "

My Great Husband- on my birthday

2008-10-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm usually not the sappy, mooshy type, but I had to post how great my husband is. As most of you know he is bogged down with studying everyday. (This semester in particular is supposed to be the hardest of all the 4 years) -so he has literally studied at the library from opening to closing, then for a few hours more when he gets home EVERY DAY. However, yesterday was my birthday and he still managed to make me feel special. I picked him up after a super long test and he took me to dinner and got me cake and watched an old horror movie with me. He has another test in a few days but despite how stressed he may have been and needed to study he still took the night off to be with me. I on the other hand probably wasn't the most fun to be around. I got completely sick feeling (thanks to this pregnancy) and threw up most of the night. But Ben still stuck with me. I LOVE YOU Ben, thanks so much for all of the hard work you put forth for our family!

ps.. The brown sweatshirt he is wearing in that photo is what we have named "his study shirt" I bought it for him on one of our first Christmas together over 6 years ago and I truly loath this shirt (I have tried to secretly throw it away at times). He wears it everyday because the library is cold. So this is the only thing I have seen him in for weeks and I am beginning to think I wont see him in anything else until Christmas break!!! hahaha:)

Presley's first pony tail!

2008-10-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have been dieing to put a pony tail in P-lady's hair. It has gotten sooo long, it was just a matter of keeping her still. I had to bribe her with the hairspray bottle to keep her from screaming. She seems so grown up to me.

Ben finally jumped the fence

2008-10-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ben finally jumped the fence this weekend and cut down bananas. It was way harder then it looked. These trees are so big and the banana bundles are really heavy. I actually had to climb the fence and get on his shoulders to get them down!!! So much for being sneaky, I'm sure the whole neighborhood saw us:) But I am really excited to make banana bread -- yummy.

Slideshow for Grandma and Grandpa Cloud

2008-09-29T14:10:00.001-07:00

Presley received a big b-day present full of clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Cloud. They wanted to see her in the outfits because they wont get to see her in them in real life. It was hard to make P-lady change clothes over and over but it turned out cute! Enjoy:)

I've Been tagged

2008-09-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Linds tagged me, so here goes. I am supposed to list 6 quirks about myself.

1) I have to brush my teeth as soon as I wake up.

2) I hate humidity, makes my hair wavy and my face sweat:(

3) I hate clutter ( I throw all junk away) Ben has lost several items that way

4) I don't like to grocery shop, I want to get in and out as fast as I can, I hate all of those dumb shoppers wondering around slowly in the store (you are in my way!).

5) I hate to take Ben shopping with me. He has way different taste in clothes and always tries to get my to buy things I don't like.

6) I hate wrinkles. Why do we have to get old??(I curse the small lines on my face daily)

(ok Tiff, Amy, Mel and Brandi-- you are tagged (your turn))

The Day After - "Let them eat cake"

2008-09-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

This was too funny not to post. I tried to give Presley lunch the day after her birthday and she spotted the cake on the counter and started crying and wouldn't eat. So I let her out of her chair and she ran over to the counter where the cake was and started screaming and reaching for it. I quickly grabbed my camera and luckily caught part of it. Too Cute (she takes after her dads sweet tooth!!!)

Presleys 1st Birthday Party

2008-09-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

The day started off fun for Presley, she got several birthday calls, I made her eggs for breakfast and Ben gave her a ride in the laundry basket (one of her favorite things to do!) I took her to McDonald's for french fries with a friend and her baby girl in the afternoon. We came home and she watched Annie then got all dressed up in her birthday outfit that Ben bought her. I made Mexican food and invited a few of our friends over to celebrate (mom you would have been proud of my enchiladas, you taught me well). We had cake and ice cream, Presley ate her entire mini cake!!!! Opened all of her great presents (thanks to many of you:)), played for a few hours and finally went to bed an hour and a half past her bed time! I thought she was going to have a hard time sleeping because of all the sugar, but I guess her belly was good, she had a great night sleep and even slept in a little bit (hurray P-Lady)!!!

Presley is 1 today!!

2008-09-19T10:53:00.001-07:00

I can't believe its been 1 year already. Time seems to go so fast. I feel so lucky that I have this beautiful, perfect, special girl in my life. I can't imagine my life without her, I love her so much. Happy Birthday Presley Love Cloud.

My new hair

2008-09-13T13:13:00.001-07:00

Surprise, I cut my hair again. Too bad it doesn't look like the photo I took to the hair dresser, but its growing on me just the same:)

Dancing Queen

2008-09-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Grandparents, this is for you because we are so far away and you are missing the cute stages P-lady is going through. Presley not only has started to really grasp walking, she recently started dancing without holding onto anything, she's a little shaky but she is doing so well. She loves the "Doodle Bops" on TV and was dancing to their singing. So cute. Enjoy!

Kayaking

2008-09-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

We finally got our paddles in and took the kayak out for a spin. It was alot of fun. I was a little scared at first because we had to take turns going alone while one stayed behind and took care of P-lady. But it was the best feeling to be so free out on the water, plus it was a great arm workout. I can't wait to get back out. If only we could figure out an easier way to lift it on our car. I had to climb all over it wile Ben held it up. Our neighbors all came outside and watched like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. Glad we could put a show on for the neighborhood!

I will tear anything up that is in reach of my little hands

2008-09-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

I stepped out of the room for a second and Presley had terrorized my fake house plant. I should have been mad but she was so darn cute and so involved in her plans that she didn't notice me. Gotta love her!

We Got Annie!

2008-09-02T02:03:00.000-07:00

We just had to post Presley's favorite past time. She is in LOVE with the movie Annie and she cant seem to get close enough to the TV when I let her watch the movie (as you can see in the photo). (Who would have thought that an 11 month old could pay attention to a movie like this??)

Labor Day

2008-09-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

For Labor day we hung out at home most of the day. Then later that afternoon we met some of our friends at a park to BBQ (one of Ben's favorite things to do). Presley really enjoyed herself. She loves to run around and hang on everyone. She is certainly not shy. She tried so hard to walk everywhere. I guess it wont be too long until she has walking mastered and then I will be in real trouble (chasing her everywhere)!!!

OMG we really drank this!!!

2008-08-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted everyone to know we survived our first shot of home-grown, home-juiced wheatgrass. It wasn't that bad really!! I haven't convinced myself to do it everyday but so far 2 days down and I really can feel the energy boost. Ben and I take it right before we go walking-jogging and we both feel full of energy, so it must be doing something good..

Ben finally has something to say

2008-08-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

Ben's been wanting a kayak for EVER and he finally found a used one at a reasonable price. He can't wait to get this out on the ocean (too bad it didn't come with paddles) so he has to wait. Not only will I rarely see him this semester because of studying, but now he has another hobby that I can bet he will spend most of his free time doing. Oh well, I guess you only get the opportunity to live in Hawaii once so you might as well do it right!

Bag it up

2008-08-22T01:31:00.000-07:00

Because I recently left Corporate America to be a stay at home mom I am learning to add creative hobbies to my days. Partly so I don't go mad, but also because I have learned to focus these new found skills to my benefit. For example, I want a new beach bag, humm I'll just make one. Who says sewing is for old ladies?

Drink this?

2008-08-22T01:01:00.000-07:00

Lately I have started trying new things and forcing Ben to do them with me. I was looking online trying to find a natural supplement to cure wrinkles and found a link to foods that heal, including skin. So I am now growing my own wheat grass, cooking barley and sweetening my yogurt with Brazillian acai berries. You might as well wrap me up and put me in a Koshi box because I have stepped into the relm of granola. Apparently they are all supposed to do amazing things for your body, I'll let you know how it works for me. I still have about 3 more days of growth before I put this grass in my mouth.

Bananas anyone?

2008-08-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about living in Hawaii is the free fruit that grows everywhere. Every morning I look out my kitchen window and am greeted by a field of banana trees. We can literally pick these any time we want (with a little hop over the fence, but who's looking -right??;)

Meet the one and only Miss P-Love Cloud

2008-08-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Presley just turned 11 months old and has started the count down to her 1 year old birthday! She cruises everywhere and gets into EVERYTHING and took her very first walking step Aug 2oth. Here is a list of the things Miss P-Love Loves to do:
· Dance while holding onto the the TV stand watching the movie Annie
· Shakes her head back and forth like she is trotting while crawling really fast
· Turning the TV on and off over and Over and OVER
· Splashing water at the beach and sneaking sand into her mouth when I turn my head
· Shout the word Yucka over and Over and OVER
· Trying to walk while falling down repeatedly