More Summer Fun!

I know, I know here we go again. Another update from the Brubaker clan who can never keep up(namely the mom) :). For Father's Day this year Dave wanted to go camping. So a camping we went. And I think this picture captured the essence of the fun we had. Don't those faces look like pure joy!? I love it. I think Kalei had just pitched the ball square between Kalani's eyes.

The name of the game this trip was total relaxation, good food and lots family fun!!
See I told you relaxation was in the plan. Hence the reason for all the pictures with kids in hammock. I think I got to use them once because there were always children in them. :)

We had fun playing horseshoes. Kawika beat his poor mom in this game!!

The girls had fun picking flowers.

We went and had a marshmallow war! It was great fun!

This was Kalei's face after she got me. She looks like she's enjoying getting her mom a little too much! :)

We had a fabulous time just getting away and playing!

Family Home Evening

So I just have to document this. Last night Kaili and Kalei taught Family Home Evening. As they began to prepare I asked if I could help and was told "No, we can do it on our own." So I went in the kitchen to finish up dinner and soon heard some arguing coming from the computer. I went to check it out and Kalei was crying. I told the kids they needed to move away from the computer but Kalei said "But I'm doing Family Home Evening." I looked on the screen and she had opened up Microsoft word and was typing up her lesson plan. It looked something like this:

fldvhjlkarenjtaolk;uhalksdtnaldgkjsadlfkgjarlkjadfl;gjadflktajlrgkadlfafthywdnvbs,,jhrtlkhflakjgl
akjfdglka;ghjalkfjnlksafjlkadjflgkafjglajflsfjhalfjgoihjdlfhjlakdfjeloiyruodafihjaly

You get the idea. :) I couldn't help but laugh. Then I said "Kalei, why don't you let Kaili tell you what letters to type." Kaili helped her type a few words and just before FHE she said "Mom we need to print it out!" So I did.
We sat down on the couch for FHE and the girls welcomed us and the opening hymn and prayer were taken care of. Then the girls had us help them with a little puzzle in the Friend. The letters spelled TEMPLE. Okay, so tonight they are going to teach us about temples. Then we sat down and Kaili asked us to read a word she had written so big that it had to be on 2 pages. It read SAB one page and then on the back it read BATH. Okay so now we're learning about the Sabbath day(which is actually what she originally told me they were going to teach about). So I prompted Kaili to ask how we can keep the Sabbath day holy. So we began to discuss the things we should and shouldn't do, and why we need to make Sunday special(with a lot of prodding from me). After our discussion Kalei said "Mom, you talked a lot tonight without raising your hand!" Ooops! ;) Then they invited us to come to the table and draw pictures. I said "What are we supposed to draw?" "Oh anything you want." was the reply. "Well how bout we draw pictures of things we can do on the Sabbath?" "Okay" Then Kaili said "I'm going to read you a couple of stories while you draw." I can't recall what they were about but I don't think they were about keeping the Sabbath day holy. :)
It was a cute lesson and the girls loved being in charge. What a blessing Family Home Evening is!

Halloween

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!! Halloween was a little different this year, at first I was a little worried but it turned out great. Our ward did not have the traditional Trunk or treat but we were encouraged be good neighbors. I was a little disappointed at first because I enjoyed the social part of being able to hang out with friends while my kids enjoyed running around with their friends. But like I said it turned out to be fun. Okay and here is a lame side note-I forgot to take a picture of Kawika before he ran off with his friends. Slacker mom! Here is Kalani-I think he makes a handsome pirate!

Kaili was a Southern Belle(thanks Mindy). She loved being dressed and was one cute little Southern Belle!

Kalei was a ballerina kitty. This girl changed her mind so many times it was driving my crazy! But I must say she is one cute kitty!

So in place of the Trunk or Treat we decided to decorate our yard and we brought the fire pit out in the front yard. We let people makes smores and have hot chocolate and handed out candy. It was a lot of fun. I took the girls around to a few neighbors houses while Dave stayed to pass out candy. After a couple of streets they were worn out :) That was fine with me! :) And the boys went Trick or Treating with their friend Kyle and spend the night going back and forth between each others houses.

Dave stirring our brew of root beer.

Are we rednecks or fobs? Maybe a little bit of both

Red necks and fobs are one in the same. For those of you who don't know, fob stands for fresh off the boat. Basically, it's a Polynesian red neck. I think it was in the beginning of June Dave took the boys and a friend out to Saguaro Lake in our little 14 ft aluminum fishing boat along with the surfboard and towed the kids around the lake! They had so much fun! So later that month he took the rest of the family out to the lake. It took quite a bit to convince me to go. Some say it was pride or it could be the fact that I don't like being a fob/redneck on purpose. Okay, okay it was pride.

Anyway we took our little boat out with all 6 of us and a long 9 ft surfboard. So we putt...putt...putt our way out to the other side of the lake. Here is Kaili with our orange flag that we have to raise every time someone falls in the water. Kalani was the first one to go. He was pretty nervous to try and stand, but he did a great job.

Kalei looking cute as always

Unfortunately after Kalani had his ride on the board the motor started acting up. So that ended the towing session :( So we dropped the anchor and everyone jumped in.

We had some ducks come by and Kalani decided it would be fun to swim with them.

Is the water cold!!??

Kalani striking a pose-he's one buff dude :)

Kawika trying to stay up

What is that you say? Why weren't you and Kalei in any of the pictures of everyone swimming. Well that would be for a couple of reasons. First, Kalei is a smart girl-she got in for a whole 2 minutes and realized that the water is just WAY too cold(she must have her mom's blood) to enjoy. Second, I don't swim in lakes, call me prissy-hey, I grew up in Hawaii-what do you expect! I must admit I have been in lake water a couple of times and that was more than enough for me. It is cold, stinky, stagnant water and when you walk in it mud squishes through your toes-yuck! All in all we had a great time -just as long as I don't have to get in the water!

A Day at the Lake

Back in May we decided to go to the lake one Saturday and had a blast! We went up north and the weather was absolutely perfect!! We went fishing and took along a picnic and just loved it.

In our family we have the "fishing hat". Each time we go fishing whoever catches the biggest or the most fish gets to wear the fishing hat till the next time we go fishing. Kalani won the fishing hat for this trip. He caught three. Every time he threw his line in he'd snag a fish in less than a minute. The fish were biting so much Dave spent the whole time re baiting hooks and never got a chance to get his pole in.

Kalei caught her first fish, which she was so excited about until we tried to get her to hold it for a picture! :)

Kawika caught a good one!

Kaili was brave enough to hold her catch! :)

The catches of the day!

Kaili has the right idea.

We went to the other side of the lake and had a picnic. While I was making lunch this is what Kawika found.

There are 2 bald eagles living at this lake and there were scientist there watching this nest. We watched one of them circle the lake and dive for a fish but it missed.

When we got home Dave had to run off to something so Kawika got the job of cleaning the fish. It was his first time can you tell how excited he was to do it. :)

We really did have a great time at the lake. We just need to not wait so long to do it again!!

Now it's time to catch up

Dave and I celebrated our 13th year of being married at the end of April! I am so blessed to have him. He continues to amaze me each day! He is my best friend and inspires me to be better. Last year with it being 12 years he gave me a bunch of things in dozens-it was really cute! This year he said he was frustrated because he could not figure out what to do for 13. The picture above is what he came up with. It was a bouquet of 13 roses with the 13th high above the others. He said that was because this year would be our best despite it being an unlucky number. :) So far so good!

Kaili cooked up a meal to help us celebrate. Complete with plates that said "Happy Anavirsre", a bell pepper and a pickle! She is so cute!

Mothers Day I finally joined the 21st century and got an Ipod-hence my "i-cake". It was a great day!!

We had fun with an impromptu slip and slide session after family home evening one night.

Kalani took 3rd place in the 3rd Grade Spelling Bee. Way to go dude!

Kawika took 2nd place in his class at the Science Fair. He was trying to find out whether a metal or wooden bat hit a baseball farther. Any boys dream-to have to play baseball as part of their homework. :) He did a great job!

The boys finished out the baseball year coming in 2nd place for their division. My boys loved it and made some great friends!

Back to school

I know, I know it's been forever. I don't know why-either I was to busy or when I had the time I just didn't feel like it(does anybody else ever feel like that?) The kids went back to school this week. They were all really excited, all of them were up at the crack of dawn and ready in no time. I was really excited to get back on a schedule. I just work better that way. We had a fun summer mixed with "Mom, I'm bored".

Kawika started Junior High this year! Yikes! I' m having a hard time with him growing up. I suppose all mothers do. I took him to the 7th grade kick off(an orientation) and tried to not be one of those moms that stayed and hovered over him. I told him I'd pick him up later and let him go in the auditorium and then I just had to go and peek in there to make sure he was okay. I know pitiful!! He is enjoying it and feeling oh so grown up-not too fast buddy! He reminded me the other day the he will be able to drive in 3 1/2 years!!!

Kalani started 4th grade and is now taking over the role of the big brother that takes care of Kaili. He was is excited to go back and loves being able to see his friends everyday.

Kaili is in 1st grade this year. It's been a little different now that she is gone at school all day. Kalei and I miss having lunch with her everyday and playing. Kalei especially miss her princess partner. :)

Kalei started Preschool and is enjoying learning new things and playing with her friends. She's growing up too fast.