I'm pretty sure she can fit in my suitcase

So, as I am nearing the end of my Hawaii stay, I am looking back at all the things that I am going to miss. And while I will miss the nice weather, the ocean, my friends, my job and all, the one thing that is going to break my heart to leave is this little girl:

Madeline, or Madoo Lou, is the cutest little girl ever! If I don't work and I happen to sleep in, she will come and pound on my door and yell "Nat" until I open it and see her smiley face. 

Anytime she eats anything lately, she wants it cut in half so she can share it with her favorite Aunt Nat. 

She likes me to hold her hand and walk up and down the sidewalk in the back yard

She likes to cuddle with me and watch movies

She likes me to play bubbles, playdough, color, or kitchen with her

She likes me to play horsey with her, or march around like elephants or be puppies. 

She likes me to chase her around saying "RAAAR"

She likes me to hide and pop out and scare her.

She likes me to tickle her

She likes me to help her with baby

She like me to help her boing up the stairs

She likes me to come sit in her play house and color or eat or just sit there

Here are mor of the reasons why I love this  little girl:

She's an artist:

PHotographer

 

a Painter

  

 and a sculptor

  

She loves animals... every single one of them:

  

  

  

 these next two make me laugh

  

  

  

She's not afraid to get dirty:

  

  

She loves trees... she likes to hug them:

  

She loves ice cream, and knows she can always get it from her aunt Nat

  

When watching something like Madagascar or CArs, she is in the zone:

 

She loves shoes. Especially my shoes:

 

 

  

She's not afraid to show her feelings:

  

 She wants to be a puppy:

  

  

She makes funny faces:

  

  

  

  

  

  

She does funny things:

  

  

  

  

and she is just plain cute!!

  

 .

  

  

Oh I am going to miss my little Lou Madoo!! Do you think Missy will notice if I sneaked her into my suitcase?

In NeEd oF MoTivaTioN

So I've been thinking. Well, wondering really. What motivates people to do the things they do? I thought about this after I wasn't being motivated to run. Beginning to run is really not fun and not having someone to run with to push me makes it very very hard to motivate myself. What motivations do all you runners use to keep yourself going?

Just one of those craptastic days

Do you ever have days where everything seems to go wrong, or you just seem to get a lot of bad news on that day and it all just sends you over the top. I think today is one of those days and I will be very glad when it is all over!!! Work was hard, unusually hard. The autistic girl that I teach has her bad days, but they are usually concentrated to an hour in the afternoon. Not the case today. Within the first hour of the day, I got bit and head butted and that set the tone for how the rest of the day went. I walked out of work thinking I'm gonna call my mom cause today was crappy. So I did and I found out that my Grandpa is back in the hospital. Crappy news + crappy day = water faucet on my face. Then I drove home and noone was here, and then I tried to call some people just to talk and no one was answering, then I found out some more crappy news about a friend of mine and needless to say today was just a crappfully crapful day. Sorry I am using crap a lot, but it's just one of those days.

Soap on a stick

My sister and I took Madeline to a park at the top of Round Top Drive. It's a really nice little grassy area overlooking the city. We broke out the bubbles and she went nuts. I snapped a few pictures and I really liked how this one turned out. I am extremely amazed at what soap on a stick can do for fun and entertainment!!

Goodbye my friend...

So, I have this set of scriptures. I have had these scriptures for years. I used them in seminary, institute and on my mission, and the 3 1/2 years since I've been home from my mission. They have the old maps in them, you know, the green ones that were in scriptures forever ago.  I have used and used and used these scriptures. I've been meaning to buy a new set for a long time now, but I've had this particular set for so long that it's hard for me to just exchange them for some new ones.  But, about a month ago, I finally broke down and ordered some new ones. I'm running out of writing space in my old ones, and they are falling apart. It's sad, I know I may sound pathetic, but these scriptures are like my spiritual journal. I've written so many things in there and I will probably continue to use them until I get the new ones broken in. I always say that in the event of a fire if there was 1 thing that I would save, it would be these scriptures. And now I must move on to some new ones.  :(

 

 the old ones

 

the new ones

and that's what happens when a man is in charge

The Elders Quorum decided to host a beach BBQ activity.  So a whole bunch of us showed up at the beach ready for some fun. We had a ginormous beach mat that we layed out and everyone sat on it.  It was a little chilly so we mainly just sat on the beach and wathced all the crazy surfers.  Meanwhile, the Elders Quorum presidency was working on getting the BBQ down.
First problem: "We don't have any matches"
Second Problem: "We don't have a spatula"
Third Problem: "We aren't the Relief Society"

They assured us that everything was fine and the hotdog feast would be done shortly. I gazed over and them scratching their heads and thought that I had better go see if they needed help.

When I arrived, Chris was trying to pry open a giant can of chili with a screw driver. So, I asked where the can opener was and the reply was "we forgot one" So I took John's hammer and the screw driver and showed them how to open a can back woods style.  Then I asked about the hot dogs... they didn't have anything to turn them with, not even a fork, or anything to take them off of the grill... so I again used my back woods knowledge and showed them that a screwdriver works for more than just screwing things in.  I then asked how they were going to cook the giant Costco size can of chili. They said they were just going to put it on the grill and let the fire cook it. Needless to say we had cold chili on our hotdogs. I had a good long laugh. I love our Elders Quorum!

Here are some pictures of the blessed event:

Whale of a Tail

Since it is whale season here in Hawaii, Missy, Madeline and I drove out by Sandy Beach to see if we might by chance see some whales. And we did!! It was really cool! We could see them spouting out water like crazy, every once in a while we saw their tail or fin come out of the water and as I was looking at one whale, I heard a bunch of Japanese tourists shouting so I looked in their direction just in time to see the big splash that a jumping whale had made. It was a good adventure. Here are a couple picts I got:

Spouting whale

Whale tail and a fin too

One of those days

I had one of "those" days. So I decided to do something that would make me laugh:

and here is one from a few months ago when my mom was visiting:

(Can I just say that I really love my mom)

 

Well, that was unexpected

Well, many of you know how much I LOVE it here in Hawaii. I have a great job,  I love my friends, I love living with Missy and Madeline, and I love my branch. It's just a really great place for me and I was starting to think that I could stay here forever.
Then, about 2 weeks ago, when the new year started to creep up on me, I started to think about the future. I thought to myself, "Self, Jimmy will be coming back in August, what will you do then?" So I started to think about it and figured I would have a lot of time to think about it until one day I started to realize that  I should find out if this is where I am suppose to be.
So I began to pray. I prayed about staying, the answer was NO
I prayed about staying until Jimmy got home, the answer was NO
I prayed about staying until June when the school year ended and I could finish up with my client and, you guessed it! the answer was NO
So I prayed about going home after Missy's baby was born and DING DING DING, the answer was YES!
I didn't get this answer until I was sitting in my car at the airport at 11:30 pm, waiting for Teisha to arrive. And when it came I knew that was what I was suppose to do. And then I just kept asking, are you sure? I love it here... that's so soon, can't I stay longer?? Well, to cut to the chase, I'm coming home.
I'm on the lookout for jobs and an apartment and a coat. Oh I will miss living in Paradise. But I know Heavenly Father needs me in Utah now, so UTAH HERE I COME!