Turkeys, Trees, and In Between

Thanks to Mom E., our roll assignment was not a disaster. Thanksgiving morning, we indulged in some physical activity and set about the major task of eating. I broke all my rules and cooked while Brady played football. In all fairness, though, he watched Zachary while I was gone for a good hour on a run. Zac was sound asleep while I rolled the dough, so it was a fair deal.

We ate at the Giles home, with several friends and their kiddos. They had the place pretty decked out.

Zachary, like his parents, loves all things carbohydrate.

Here's our spread. I still think of myself as too young to be cooking Thanksgiving without parents, but it turned out well. I wonder at what point I will consider myself old enough to cook a turkey. We'll see.

The kids were smart and got active right away. The rest of us vegged out, looked at ads, and fought sleepiness. I think we should have gone to the beach, but it was a good time chatting.

My pie is the one with a marijuana leaf inscribed on the top. Hard to see in this pic (look on the table behind the pie stand...pumpkin). With Brady's help, I graduated to homemade crust this year, and could not be prouder. No, the cool whip was not whipped cream, but I'm taking baby steps on my progression towards "cook."

We did hit a beautiful sunset at Poipu Beach before heading home.

Friday we went with the "Work before Play" motto my Dad drilled into me at young age. We got down and dirty, shampooing the carpets, moving all the furniture around, and otherwise obsessing about the cleanliness of our condo. Our place needed it:

Our carpets look fantastic! I can't figure out why people buy these things (shampooers, not brooms). It was only $16 to rent for 4 hours, and it was the best thing out there.

After a long day of working, we took off for the beach. The day was gorgeous, and we decided since we were surfing all day Saturday, we should boogie board. It was fun, but I was antsy to surf. Patience, patience...

Saturday morning, we woke up to pouring rain and gusting wind. Nice. I decided the "work before play" motto does not fly with me anymore. My new motto is "Sun=Beach, regardless of responsibilities." I am one step closer to local.

With jeans and sweatshirts on, we put the house into Christmas mode. We checked out our $19.99 tree from Target 7 years ago, and decided it was the LAST year we would use it. It looked so pitiful! Out of curiosity/boredom, we went to a few stores (i.e. the number of stores on the island), and wound up coming home with a brand new tree and decorations. Rain and wind are very dangerous in Kauai! Thanks to Macy's forgetting to take down their Black Friday deal, we came home with the tree at 75% off. We didn't even get up early and fight crowds. That's my kind of shopping.

We were so excited to see Zac's reaction to all the Christmas decor. As soon as he woke up, we brought him downstairs to see the tree. As soon as we turned the corner and he saw the lights, he just grinned and grinned. We walked him around the tree and showed him each ornament. It was such a precious moment for us.

Our first Christmas together, we decided to buy one ornament each that reminded us of the year, or had some kind of significance. We have a laborador for the year we got Terris, a shovel for the year Brady shoveled The Colony 100 times, an ice skate the year I took my ice skating class to keep my scholarship, a surfing Santa for last year, etc.

Last year, I bought another ornament, but didn't dare to put it up. We both were so anxious about the upcoming adoption, and hoping and praying things would work out this time. I saw this at Macy's and put it in our Christmas box. I completely forgot about it, but when I opened it up yesterday, I couldn't help but get caught up in a flood of memories. We are so grateful for our boy!!!

Edwards Family, est. 2001

In preparation for our Christmas cards, we decided to get some photos taken. We looked up photographers in Kauai without much luck, but we did talk a friend into doing them for us. We actually got kicked out of our favorite location--Brady's daily lunch spot under the palms--but not before getting a bunch of pictures.

There were some problems with lighting (overexposed) and our son not smiling/cooperating, but we came out of the experience with several pictures to treasure.



Brady's Favorite Family Shot:

Can't wait for a black frame around this one:This is overlooking our favorite beach (which is...?):

Zachary's Favorite Shot:

Karen's Favorite Family Shot:

Give us some feedback! By the way, we have already selected the Christmas card photo, so no criticism about Brady's favorite picture.

Another First

This is two weeks past my prediction date. Consider it a rookie mistake. Brady and I were both home to witness his first step while attempting to kick a minature soccer ball. (Once again, I apologize for my squeeky high voice on video.)

Sharing

A Couple of Firsts

Enough is enough...we keep waiting for visitors to do Kipu Falls, but we decided to stop postponing the event and take the plunge. Brady has done this jump many times, but for one reason or another, I haven't had the opportunity. For a year and a half, I've let my anxiety fester, and I was happy to get it over with on Friday night.

Really, it is only a 20 foot drop, but looking down it's still pretty intimidating. I know for a fact that I would never jump off of Shipwrecks (the drop from "Seven Days and Seven Nights").

There's a rope swing this direction. I thought the rope swing was actually fun. Overall, though, jumping off big rocks isn't my favorite Kauai activity.

I've been dying to go to Hanalei, and was especially excited to use my Christmas present--a new longboard. Yes, we are graduating from foam to a real board. We postponed scuba diving and planned an entire afternoon for our first run with the board, rain or shine with big or small waves. Unfortunately, it was almost entirely rain, the waves were choppy, and I got pretty tossed around. Finally, I gave up on the intense waves and went to the kiddie pool to work some "ankle slappers."

We think Hanalei is the prettiest spot on the island--that you do not have to hike to.
Zac had a ball playing in the rain and with Heidi, her mom, and Ty.

Maybe the "firsts" weren't our favorite experiences, but here's for good seconds.

A Day in the Life of...

Run, run, as fast as you can...you can definitely catch me...

...because I'm slower than last year.

November 1, 2008: Koloa Sugar Mill Race. Karen: 10 miler. Brady: 5K. Zachary: pre-6am wake-up.

I seriously went out planning to win this thing. Last year, I was able to take it for the girls (as you note from the picture above, this is not terribly impressive considering the numbers running...), and I fully intended to race for it again. There was a lady from San Diego that I ran with (read: labored to keep up with) for six miles, before I finally had to let her go. I ran my heart out, but only finished at a 1:15, or 7:30s. Boo. Lesson learned: you can't train at 8 min miles and run 7 min miles. The real kicker? The lady who beat me ran a slower time than my time last year. Boo.

Brady ran the 5K. He enjoyed it, but was hoping for something in the 18s. He ran a 20:15, which is two minutes off his best time. However, his best time happened to come after months of training for a half marathon with me years ago, and currently his workout regimen consists of two runs and basketball once a week. He's happy with the way things are, and I'm happy he's running with me every Monday night! Zac loves the jogger, too.

We ate breakfast, chased Zachary around (who chased this water container around), and had fun talking to people while we waited for awards.

Good things come to those who wait! We may not be terribly thrilled about our mug and metal, but we were ecstatic to win a free night at the Hilton! Not many people stayed after the awards for the door prizes, so the man went around and started handing them out. Brady yelled, "Over here...FOR THE BABY!" and suddenly we found ourselves with a difficult decision: $10 Kauai Athletic Pass, or a free night at the Hilton.

Afterwards, we did some cow-tipping.

"It should be a dress, or nothing..."

Happy Halloween! Dressing up is not our forte, but it was required for Will and Karen's party last weekend. They had their house decked out, and it was a fun night comparing get-ups, eating yummy fix-ins, and playing games. We really enjoyed their main party game--put the name of several people everyone should know, and basically do charades. Good times.

Will and Karen stole the show with their Ken and Barbie attire. Too bad most of these shots are not full-body! The two best parts of this outfit: Ken's hair and Barbie's clunker boots.

Here's her boots, and our miserable attempt at "Sweet Home Alabama":


Dave and Julie from the 50s:

Rusty and Mandy's Kenmore machines:
Mike and Holly as Burger King and Dairy Queen:

Dawn and Jeff as Cleopatra and Pharoah:

Nic and Heidi as the couple from "Juno":
The most original...Dale and Geneiveve as Exterminator and Pest:

Wendy and John as a Queen and Napolean Dynamite (love those boots):

...and if you didn't figure out we were Captain Jack and Elizabeth, it could be due to the fact that we look nothing like them in real life, eh? Will and Karen bailed us out by lending us former costumes, and we reused them at our ward halloween party Friday night. Karen actually made the parrot to go with the themed Pirate-outfits.

Zachary loved tromping around in his outfit, and later without his outfit and (heaven forbid) stripped down to his onesie. I have a zero-tolerance policy about the onesie-only look, but rules are made to be broken???


Hope you enjoyed Halloween. Bring on the holidays!!!