Festival of Holi

Sorry there are so many pictures, but today was the Festival of Holi (aka Festival of Colors) at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah and I am so excited to show everyone them because we had such a great time! This is my third time going and I was really excited that my brother, Ryan, was able to join me along with my friends, Becky and Kristin. We had dinner at the Temple, looked at the llamas and watch performers doing dance and telling stories. The real thrill of this festival, beside looking in the gift shop and going in the temple, is when Holi, the witch, gets engulfed in flames by the big fire and everyone throws powdered paint on one another. For the first few minutes, you can barely see in front of you because there is so much paint in the air and your eyes, but it eventually clears up. You walk away covered in paint! I don't know of any other festival where it is OK to throw paint on people and where people welcome it. During and after the paint is thrown, everyone sings and chants the mantras of the Hare Krishna.
After an exciting day of paint throwing, it is fun to hop in the shower and see the water turn different colors and the suds of your shampoo turn red. I think the best is when you blow your nose or clean your ears with a q-tip and low and behold, all you have is paint.
I think everyone should go to this. It is so much fun! I can't wait until next year!!

Na' Ka'ao

Since being in Utah is extremely hard in the winter, I remind Jim constantly about how nice and warm Hawaii is. Jim always just laughs it off. Ever since I left the little town of Laie, I have always wanted to go back. Well, since Jim can't bring me to Hawaii, he did the next best thing. He took me to the BYU Luau that was held in the Marriott Center at BYU. I was really excited because Jim and I never get to go on "dates" let alone one that involves dinner adn a live show. This years luau was themed "Na' Ka'ao" or "Legends of Love." Each island in Polynesia was represented telling their own legends about love through dance and song. We really enjoyed the show and the Samoan fire dancer was awesome!
Right before the show started I noticed a girl that I knew from BYU Hawaii. Jim said that I should go say hi, but I wasn't 100 % sure it was her. Then, I saw her brother and sister and then I new who it was, Liz Logan, my old bishop's daughter from Hawaii. After much encouragement from Jim, I wasn't sure if she would remember me, I went over and said hi. I was relieved when she did remember who I was. I was glad to hear that her Dad was doing great.
It was fun to relive a little bit from my past tonight and it really made me realize how much I miss being involved with the Polynesian culture. It also made me realize how much I miss my old roommates and all the fun things that we would do. Maybe one day Jim and I will make it back to Hawaii or any other Polynesian island. One thing is for sure, I think I want to be a dancer in next years luau.

Random Fun

Isaac did so many fun things this past week. Isaac and I went to Thanksgiving Point and he rode the ponies and loved looking at all the animals except the roosters. I thought it was funny, but he didn't like it when they crowed. He would start shaking and crying.
Later on in the week, our neighbors, The Slinker Family, invited us over to ride the go cart. Isaac thought it was pretty fun and cool until he saw the young teenagers riding their long boards. Isaac loves skateboards so naturally he gave up on the go cart so he can be pushed around on the skateboard. Who does that? You would think he would rather be on the go cart.
He also had friends over and played at the park this week since the weather has been nice. I am really enjoying it. I hope the weather continues to stay nice since we are all done with the coldness of winter.

Easter

After much anticipation, Easter has come and gone. I thought it was a wonderful Easter this year! The Easter Bunny came and left Jim and Isaac baskets full of toys and candy. Isaac was SO excited to see a couple of toys, but was even MORE excited when he saw m&m's and sixlets in his basket. Much to my surprise, Isaac found me a little bit later in the morning in the bathroom getting ready for church and he was covered in different colors from the candy. Of course he had a big smile on his face.
After Church, we had 7 people and 1 child come over for dinner. It was fun. We ate, chatted, ate and chatted some more. One of the highlights was when Lydia and I hid eggs all over the yard so the 4 big boys: Jim, Matt, Karl and Romulo could find them. They were worse than little kids by trying to peek out the blinds when we were hiding them and running all over the yard trying to find the most eggs. Needless to say, us girls: Kristin, Emma, Lydia, Debbie and myself were all entertained watching these "grown-up" men acting like 10 year olds. After the big kids hunt we put eggs on the lawn for Isaac and Addison. It was SO cute watching the both of them get eggs and find out that there was candy inside. Then they did yesterday at our Church's egg hunt. There they kind of just picked up a couple and then watched the other kids. I think the success of today's hunt was that it was just the two of them with a bunch of adults cheering them on.
I have to say that even though everyone who was at my house for Easter wasn't "blood family", it sure felt like a "family Easter," the ones that I am used too, to me.

Daddy's in Charge

So this is what happens when Daddy gives Isaac too much sugar and one too many cups of juice, he turns into a HUGE dare devil! I LOVE how his legs fling up after the second jump. There were no tears or moans involved. Isaac just kept going back for more.

Walking in Daddy's Shoes

Isaac has this obsession with our shoes. He carries them around the house, gives them to us at the most unexpected moments, tries to put them on our feet and his favorite, he likes to put them on his feet. He really enjoys wearing Jim's shoes. I thought it was cute that he put on Jim's slippers but was actually surprised that he was able to walk in them. I was joking to Jim that maybe Isaac will grow up to be a shoe salesman and Jim said that now all we need to do was to teach Isaac how to put his hand down the waist of his pants and he can be Al Bundy.

Like Father like Son

Isaac has been in Daddy mode the past few days and I have really enjoyed watching them interact together. He gets SO excited when Jim wakes up in the afternoon or when he gets home from school. Isaac wants only Daddy to read him stories and to chase him. Plus, he like to mimic whatever Daddy is doing. So when Isaac started to mimic Jim when he was drinking, I thought I would tape it.

Rex Lee Run

This morning Jim, Isaac and I ran the 5k portion of the Rex Lee Run. Jim wanted to run the 10k, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious. For those of you that don't know, it is a race raising money to help fund cancer research at BYU so many people run with cards on their back that says "in memory of" or "in honor of" meaning someone who has either lost the battle with caner or someone who is fighting or has won the battle with cancer.
Before the race started, I noticed a group of people wearing buttons on their shirt with a picture of a boy maybe 7 years old on it. I thought that was neat that they were obviously doing the race for him. Well, the real surprise came to me when low and behold, there was the boy in a big jogger stroller being pushed by family members who would switch off during the race. I felt an overwhelming amount of joy and love for that boy and his family. That is what this race is about.
I was surprised at how well Isaac did for his first race. He fell asleep right before the cannon went off and woke up as we were crossing the finish line. Considering that we put him in charge of holding our timing chips, I think he had it pretty easy for his first race.

Being sneaky and clever

Isaac is always looking for new ways to get to things that he knows are off limits. He really likes to try to get into my kitchen gadget drawer even though it has the child safety hooks on it and the drawer with the foil, plastic wrap and Ziploc bags. Well, today he figured out that if he opened the bottom drawer and takes everything out of it, he can open the kitchen gadget drawer, even the hook, and pull out fun things like the can opener, egg timer, thermometers and tongs. The funny thing is was that I was standing 5 feet away at the stove making cobbler and I had no idea that he did that; he was SO quiet!!! Then later on in the day, I was making a b-day card for my friend when I heard some noise in the kitchen and he was playing with my foil. I decided that if he was going to play with it, then I get to dress him up goofy. That made me laugh. Lesson learned: just give up and move the foil, plastic wrap and Ziploc bags out of the bottom drawer because kids will AWAYS find a way and never give up until they do.