Best Video Ever!!

So Dave has entered a competition for Hoopes Vision.
I've looked at their other video's and Dave's HAND DOWN is the best.
Unfortunately you have to be a Face Book member to vote for him.
Alas I'm not, and never will be (sorry Dave)!
But if you're a FB member just click HERE


This will take you to the page with all the video's.  Dave's is titled 'MY EYES' and is around a third of the way down the page on the right hand side.
I think you can click on the hand and vote.
It's only 30 sec, as you can see above and is just brilliant.
The music, message, text, advertising, man he's so talented.

So we want Dave's eyes to be fixed for free, and I think from this video he deserves it.
Hoopes Vision could just put this on TV and do nothing to it and it'd be an awesome add, they need to pay him to have it and keep paying him for more ad's I reckon.

Journal Entry Six

Did you have any traumatic experiences in your youth?

Click HERE to read mine.

Mormon button

So I've got a new button on the side of my blog.
It means a lot to me and I thought I'd let you know about it.
It'll take you directly to my profile which talks about my faith.
I answer a couple of questions and talk about some other things to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope you'll take a couple of minutes out of your day to click on the picture above and read away!!!





This button on the side of my blog will take you to the general website which has fascinating, good people who share their stories and faith.
I think you'll love it.

Usless

So last night we were saying our nightly prayers as a family and Masaru and Yuki were ATROCIOUS during the said prayer.
So I took away their night light.
I know pretty mean man, but they have to learn to be reverent.
Maybe they said a few prayers while they were in the dark!
Maybe they just cursed me.

Fast forward to 5:50am.

I'm getting dressed to go to the gym and sneak past the rooms and low and behold Yuki has her night light on.

GUESS WHO SNUCK IN AND PUT IT ON FOR HER?
Guess who DIDN'T SNEAK into the BOYS ROOM and put THEIR night light on?

GUESS WHO'S A SUCKA FOR YUKI?

I'll give you ONE GUESS.

Usless mate.
I'm that girls only hope.

Equality

So if you've been bored, or you're a good mate, or just an 'attention to details' kinda person you would've noticed my 'Shelfari Book shelf' on the side of my blog.
Every now and then a new book is added and then taken away, and then another added and so it goes.
There's been one book that's been there since August.

The 5000 Year Leap.

Now some of you might be thinking I'm NOT reading this and it's just up there for show, some of you don't know what I'm talking about and really don't care.
But just for the 'some' I AM actually reading it, a little every day with my scripture study and it's REALLY good.
It's just not a page turner like some books.

It's a book FULL of AWESOME information about how this country was started, the men, the principles, the government and what they wanted to achieve.


Just on a side note, so far from what I've read, I don't think the Founding Fathers would be too happy with this country and it's government at the moment.
If this book is right, which he quotes the forefathers and others so I'm assuming it is, then the government right now is a complete disaster zone.
But I whatever your thoughts on the government right now, that's fine, it's part of our freedoms and equal rights to think what we think and say what we wanna say, as long as it's not breaking the law.

So I just finished reading my favourite chapter so far..........CHAPTER 6 All men are created equal

I'd like to give you a couple of quotes.

Here's one.

The Founders distinguished between equal rights and other areas where equality is impossible.  They recognized that society should seek to provide equal opportunity but not expect equal results; provide equal freedom but not expect equal capacity; provide equal rights but not equal possessions; provide equal protection but not equal status; provide equal educational opportunities but not equal grades.

One more and that's it.

Nevertheless, there are some who insist that people do not have equal rights unless they have "equal things."  The Founding Fathers were well acquainted with the proposition and set forth their belief concerning it in the following...........
'The Proper Role of Government is to Protect Equal Rights, Not Provide Equal Things.'

It's just all very interesting to me.
The chapter also talked about minorities and 'crossing the culture gap'
It was facinating.  


Don't get me started on what they expected out of their leaders back then and what the leaders of now are like. 
Man they all must be cringing up there looking down on us.
I wonder where it all started to go wrong?
Maybe the book talks about that.
We'll see.


So just for the couple of people who might of thought that book was hanging out on my shelf doing nothing,  it's being read, just one page at a time.


 

Just wondering

So if you're on the phone or trying to sort crap out on the computer with appointments, how to get to a place etc etc or talking on skype do your kids go mental?
My kids go crazy once I'm preoccupied with something, like crazy!!
I found crackers on the floor, Masaru and Yuki start fighting, usually 2 if not all 3 are crying within 5 mins of me being 'out of action'
It drives me nuts.
I can be milling around, tidying the house, this is all fine, but the SECOND I'm talking to another person BOOM it's crazy town folks so look out.

Is this anyone else?
Do I have my kids on too much of a tight leash and when 'let go' they go nuts?
Are they attention starved and jeleous?
What's wrong?

Desperate Times...................

 Yep that's your local Albertsons plastic shopping bags on my husbands feet people.
It was raining this morning so he decided to make his biking shoes waterproof.
I wonder if it worked.

Here he is, ready to face any rain storm that mother nature has to offer up.
He LOVES to bike to school and back and has every single day of this school semester no matter what.
He says it's his only exercise and he really enjoys it.
He must if he's willing to put all this crap on.
Looks like both of us are dedicated to exercise lately.

Although I dunno if I'd show up to the gym with plastic bags over my feet.

He also goes mountain biking every Saturday and loves that too.
So if anyone in Boise knows of good places to mountain bike and they'd like to join him Saturday mornings give us a ring.

What a man!!
No wonder he's got such a great body!!

Oh sorry!!
Was that a little much?
I think it might've been a little much.
LOL

2010 FHE Nakaya Carving

Yuki's 'happy' carving

Masaru's 'scary with fangs' carving

Out on the doorstep for all to see

Dru and I didn't help the kids at all.

They carved it all by themselves and gutted them and everything.

Why's my nose growing?

It's now or never

So I'm feeling good.
Things are going well for me, physically.
I'm working out and LOVING it.
Man I just love it aye.  I swim, bike, do a step class, work on the machines do weights 3 times a week (the ones Chris told me to do) and I LOVE it.
I just feel awesome.
I don't know why sometimes I stop, knowing I feel fantastic when I'm doing it.
Pure laziness I guess, who knows.
I LOVE this gym and my bike.
I'm the 'smallest' I've been since I gave birth to Masaru.
When I left the hospital with him I was a certain weight.
I've never seen that weight since that weigh in for the last 5 years.
I'm basically there.
But here's the thing, Chris told me this is my bodies 'comfort' zone and it's gonna take some hard work to push through it and then create a new comfort zone for my body.

I desperately want to push through this.
He told me once I'm there I can 'let up' on my food a bit and not be as strict.
He told me the weight he says he wants me to be.
I almost fell over.
Can I really be that?
I'm 33 man.
He said yes, it just takes hard work.
So I'm doing my best, surprisingly I don't feel hungry, ever, go figure, I think with the combination of this book I read and Chris I might actually achieve this.
Can I really not be overweight anymore?
Can I do this?
It's been 5 long years of being overwieght.
But lately I've been feeling a change inside of me and I think, this time, it's gonna happen.

Hard work, that's all it takes.
I've done hard work before.
I'm doing hard work in other areas of my life.
Why not work hard for ME?
Why not work hard to be a healthier me for my kids and for Dru?
I'm a hard worker.
I can do this.
And the funny thing is I'm LOVING it.
I feel great.
With the combination of looking after me through exercise, eating right and spiritual daily feeding I'm feeling strong, grateful and blessed.

Chris doesn't take my crap either, which works well with me.
He tells me how it is, no fluff, no affectionate 'talks' about how I can do it, just straight up "Work hard, and you'll do it Melissa"
And that's exactly what I'm planning on doing.
Working hard to push through this.
If I can do this, what else could I do, since this is one of if not my toughest battles in my life?

Masaru on stage

So every year the primary aged kids to a presentation at church.
Each kid has a part to say.
If you remember, Masaru had three parts last year and after some painful 'helping' said only one of them in front of the congregation.
He's just too shy.
So this year when he got his part he'd memorized it that same day.
No problems.
That's not the problem with Masaru, the problem, as we all know, is saying it IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE AUDIENCE.

So I thought it'd go better since we'd be down in the crowd and he'd HAVE to do it on his own with his teacher.

Well things started to unravel.
First of all I got asked to sub in one of the childrens classes today.
THAT MEANS SITTING UP ON THE STAND.
Now once Masaru knew this he insisted that I bet there to help him.
Also his PROPER teacher WASN'T THERE TODAY, so he was on his own.
Two variables that changed things.
So with this in mind his part came up, I was hoping he'd MAYBE (yeah right) take some initiative and do it himself.
No such luck.  I never really thought it'd happen anyway.
So he looks back at me to help him.
So I go up there, (I'm the only parent that didn't belong there that helped their kid) and tried to help him.
He begins to say his part, then starts panicking loos back at me and get a mind blank (he gets this from his father) so I try to help him I'm whispering the words and he starts to derail.
He's backing up turning around and I ended up saying it.

I was so frustrated, but not surprized.
Poor Masaru.  Just like his father, public speaking horrifies him.
He goes blank, starts sweating (not really but I'm sure that'll come) and starts looking at the exits.

If only his teacher was there, maybe that would've helped.
Maybe if I was just in the crowd and he knew he was on his own, that might've helped.

We'll never know.

Maybe next year right bub?

We'll see.

Journal Entry Five

What are some fun things you did as a child?
What are some fun things you've done in adulthood?

Click HERE to read and see mine.

It's all about fun here with journalling folks, so stretch out those fingers and get typing/writing.

It'll be fun to read yours. 

Bevin's first

So this wonderful lady was baptized into the church on Saturday.
Bevin found her, taught her and was able to see her baptized.
This is the first one since he started his mission.
It's a huge event and a special one for all involved.

You're awesome Bevin I guess I should say Elder Wright.
Love you

Dad to the rescue

Today we were at a WIC appointment for Yuki and she had to get her finger pricked to see if her iron count was good.
It was.
But she turns to me and goes "I'm gonna tell Dad about this mum, he's not going to be happy"

She said the exact same thing with her 3 year old shots she got as well.
I told Dru to pretend he was mad but he goes "Aren't we trying to get her to like the doctor?"
I said "Yeah but you need to be her hero"

I wonder if Yuki expects Dru to go back and beat these people?
Only time will tell I guess.

Ugly

So today we went into Winco to buy 6 gallons of milk for the womens refuge centre.
Masaru was asking why we're buying milk and who was it for.
I kept trying to put it off.
He asked about 5 times over the course of the trip.
We met a lady from church at winco and she delivered it for us.
He then said he was just gonna ask that lady at church on Sunday because she must know and she's in primary and she'll tell him.

So I began to explain to him the reason why we have a women's refuge center and what it is and who goes there.

I think I saw a part of his innocence fly away with the look he gave me.

I then told him that we're very lucky to have Dad in our lives and that he treats us the way he does.
Masaru just looked at me with the wheels turning.

I think Masaru is so lucky/blessed to have a positive role model in his life with Dru.
Who treats me and them with respect and love, affection and kindness.

I feel for these women in this centre.
I hope they can get a head start here and be able to leave with more self esteem than before and a determination to be the best role model for their kids that they can be and already are being.

How lucky/blessed are we to have the men in our lives that we do.

Just saying.

My boy

 Didn't this pic turn out awesome of Masaru?
So handsome man.

 

Here's his team and coach.

We just had the end of soccer season party at our place an hour ago.

It was tons of fun.

Great families, great kids.  We're even getting together with some of the families to hang out.

Masaru did great in his last soccer game today.

2 goals.

He's so awesome.

He even got a trophy!!

He went and showed his trophy to the neighbours and wants to take it with us to costco, he'll probably sleep with it tonight as well as take it to church tomorrow!!

Love you bub.

Prince of Persia

We watched this last night and I really liked it.

So if you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it for sure.

Journal Entry Four

Write a valuable learning experience as a child.
Write one you've had as an adult.

Click HERE for my entry today.

Good luck my fellow journalers.

You're children will thank you one day.

And no doubt their children, and their childrens children................. well, you get the point.

Up at night

Takeshi was up for half the night last night crying.

It's one thing when they're a new born and you expect it and are prepped for it.
It's another thing when you've gotten used to a full nights sleep for almost a year now and then spend half the night up with a child.

I'm pretty sure it's teething, which comes with a stuffy nose, which means it's hard to suck on your binky to calm yourself down which means crying most of the night.

Dru did something to finally get him to sleep.
I'm not sure what it was.
Maybe I should ask him.

Anyway today I'm running on maybe 4 hours!
And I was going to get up at 6am and go to a step class.......................yeah right.
The alarm rang and I almost laughed.

Turns out though once I'm kinda woken I'm sorta up, so ended up going to the gym at 7am anyway.

Early night for me tonight.

Guess who's been grumpy all day today?
Poor Takeshi, I go between wanting to put him in his room and shut the door to feeling bad for him.
Crying 80% of the time gets old pretty fast.

OH MY GOODNESS

So I was just sitting at the computer, minding my own business, checking out my nephew when at the corner of my eye I saw something.
I thought nothing of it.
Then I turned and saw a MOUSE RUNNING AROUND IN MY HOUSE?

What the hell do I do?

Don't tell me to keep my house tidier either.
It's tidy and is swept, mopped and taken care of.
It's not a mess.
GROSS A MOUSE IN MY HOUSE.

Vest

Check out those gnarly teeth man.  Better start saving up for braces if his second set come in like this. 

 Mum made this vest for Masaru, years ago.
Takeshi is now old enough to wear it.
Pity July is so hot as it'd be the perfect vest for all those patriotic holidays.
Maybe I can create a Halloween costume around this?
Make him an American flag maybe?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
That's actually not a bad idea!!

Stubbies

First of all watch this video.

Done?
Good, cause you won't understand the rest of this post until you've watched this video.

 Here's Masaru's 'stubbies'.
He wears them all the time.
Dru hates them.
It wasn't until we lived in NZ, however that he understood.

 If you go home, you'll see men in stubbies everywhere.
My brothers, before their missions, wore stubbies all the time.
You see men thighs constantly back home, sometimes combined with gumboots as well.
Especially farmers.
It's just how it is.

 Masaru has an attraction to these shorts and wears them all the time.
I don't encourage it, he just does it.
It's his kiwi blood running through his veins.
And despite Dad trying to hide them, he finds them and wears them, even on cold days.
It was super cold the other day and Masaru comes out wearing them.
I had to tell him to put on some pants, and he reluctantly complied.

I love Masaru man.
If he's gonna play rugby, then he's gotta get used to wearing stubbies, right bub?
LOL


And here's an added bonus at the end.
I think this add is hilarious.
I've tried to explain it to people and they just stare at me and say 'I don't get it'
So here's the original add (thanks Evette)
It should explain it perfectly.
And if you STILL don't think it's funny, I guess it's a kiwi thing.

Layering

 

Masaru has been layering lately.

The reason?

Dru has been layering for his morning commutes to school.

And guess who wants to be just like their father?

This kid above here.

Now Dru doesn't where his cargo shorts with his jeans underneath.

But I guess Masaru's gotta work with what he's got.

He doesn't have bike shorts and long bike tights for warmth.

Dru said it looks a little silly but he's still wearing it right now as I'm typing this.

I'm glad he wants to be like his Dad, even it it means looking a little silly to try and achieve this.

If Masaru turns out like his father, I'll be as pleased as punch.

Is punch pleased with itself?

Where did we get that saying?

How can punch be pleased?

Booed

Yuki 'helping' with the boo treats

 So every yeah, without fail I might add, no matter where we're living, we get booed around Halloween.
Bountiful, Moscow and now Boise.
Being 'booed' means that you get treats left on your doorstep with a 'knock, knock' and no one's there.
It a nice thing but here's the catch.

Some more 'helping'  Does it taste good Yuki?

 You put this sign, above, on your door to say you've been booed and then you make 2 plates of treats and have 2 days to go 'boo' two others.
Then the game goes on for the month of October.
 I think it's a really cool thing to do but for some reason wasn't in the mood.
I was actually thinking of going out and just purchasing something from the store.
Lame!!

I remember as a kid we called it 'cookie bearing'
We'd make stuff at home, then go around and drop off the goods to houses and knock on the door then take off.
Dad was always driving the van and he'd leave the side door open and start driving down the street and we'd run as fast as we could so we wouldn't get caught and dive into the van saying 'Go Dad go' and he'd speed off.
It was awesome.

 So Yuki 'helped' me make these pumpkin muffins and we're gonna boo two people tonight.
Wish us luck.
I hope they taste good.
I haven't tried them yet.
I think after doing this post it's put me in a better mood to boo people.
It's fun and I just need to get into the Halloween spirit right?
Thanks to whoever booed us.
No matter where we lived, people always wanna boo us.
LOL
And we love it.

Yuki's prayer

We've been praying for 'Chris' to have an open heart to to gospel and the book of mormon etc.

So today in Yuki's prayer, amongst other things she goes

Please bless Jesus that he can have an open heart
And please bless Auntie Kristin that she can have an open heart

She means well but is slightly confused.
Maybe I need to have a little talk to her about 'Chris' and not 'Auntie Kristin' and how Jesus heart is very open and is doing alright.

Side note:  Check out today's journal entry below this post.

Journal Entry Three

What was your neighbourhood like growing up?

Click HERE to read mine.

This should be fun.
Good luck fellow journalers.
Thanks for joining in on the legacy!!

Takeshi

 

Takeshi will come up to me with random socks and shoes and want me to put them on.

So I do.

So at any given time he could have one sock on.

Or one sock and one shoe.

Or two socks and one shoe.

Or two different socks and two different shoes.

Then he likes to sit there and pull them off.

Only to come back and get me to put them on again.

He started to 'talk' as well.

I think I'm the only one that 'hears' the words.

But I'm going with it baby.

He says.............mum............dad................rubbish....................finish and occasionally bottle.

Like I said though, I can hear it, but no one else really can.

So there begs the question, if a tree falls down in the middle of a forest and no one hears it fall, is it a sound?

I'd like to think yes.

Doesn't get any cuter than this boy man.

I love him.

The exemplar

 

So this morning I was wiping down the benches in the kitchen and I turned around and saw this.

Takeshi had gotten into the drawer where the cloths were, helped himself and started trying to reach up and clean the benches with me, then decided the floors were easier.

So cute man.

 

So after praising him the other two thought they'd get in on the action and clean the floors too.

I had already mopped yesterday but it's the thought that counts right.

Then I got an idea, and told them to go clean the bathroom floors, yeah well, that lastest 2.4 seconds until Yuki had opened the lid to the toilet and Takeshi boldly threw in the towel, literally, threw it in the toilet.

That was the end of the 'helping hands' for the morning, I sent them off to play.

Animal sanctuary

So the kids let me know that they were making an animal sanctuary for all the hurt animals so they could get well, then be free again, just like Diego does.

Thanks Diego for making my kids care about animals.

And for setting my house up with random McDonald's toys in random 'sanctuary' places.

Australia

So I just watched this movie tonight and was hesitant in watching it cause everyone said it was SOOOO LOOOONG AND BOOOOOORING AND TOOK FOOOOREEEVER.
Well sorry everyone, you're all full of it.

This movie was FANTASTIC.
Just brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to end.
I'll be owning it when it's at a decent price.
Just loved it.
I don't know what everyone's problems are.
I'd recommend this to everyone.
Loved it.

From now on I'm not listening to anyone and am watching whatever the hell I want.
I don't know what I was thinking it had HUGH JACKMAN IN IT and 'crickey mate he's a beauty!!!'
Best looking man, hands down on this planet, after Dru ;)

Journal Entry Two

What were your talents growing up?
What are they now?

Click HERE to read mine.

Good luck guys, can't wait to read yours, and even if you don't blog it, there's the traditional pencil to paper and maybe even a private blog.
It doesn't matter how, just that you do.