Sea Turtles, Snorkeling and Raw Fish.....

We went to the beach today and had an amazing experience!!!! While we were just hanging around by the shoreline in shallow water, minding our own business, we had a visitor....Yep, a sea turtle (honu) came right up to us and just hung out with us. AMAZING!!! I didn't have my camera with me, so this isn't an ACTUAL picture of our new friend, but just so you get an idea. Kawehi and JAG couldn't believe it. I have to admit I was pretty amazed myself.

The kids also learned how to snorkel today. Allan has always loved snorkeling and is pretty good at it. The kids loved it.

TCIG went on a 2-day camping trip with the Young Men organization. He came home pretty sunburned and tired...however...he learned how to canoe/paddle, hangline fish, speared an EEL, caught, gutted and ate raw fish!!! I about fell off my chair when he told me this. This son of mine is my most "pickiest" eater. I couldn't believe he ate RAW FISH, and that isn't the only crazy thing...He loved it!!!

Our family, especially the kids, are having such wonderful experiences here on the island. I am grateful for this chance my kids have to learn new skills, new hobbies, new likes, new language etc. I am so excited for the future. ALOHA!!

My heart grows bigger......

These pictures are supposed to have been with the post below!!!

A thought.....

I was reading an article yesterday on the Columbine school tragedy. Can you believe it will be the 10 year anniversary of that horrific day? I remember just being sick listening to the news coverage of that horrible event. I have often thought of how totally desperate those 2 boys must have felt to commit such an awful crime. Why is there no tolerance in this world? I pray for all of us to just get a long. Anyway, in this article they interviewed one of the mothers who lost her sweet 17 yr old daughter. Through my tears I read this mother's comments and was in awe of how she was able to deal with the death of her daughter. What strength. I didn't have that much strength and courage to get through my daughter's death. I have been thinking a lot about the last sentence of the article, a qoute from this mother: "the hole in your heart will never get smaller. Never. So there is only one way to make it feel smaller. Grow your heart bigger every day." What a simple way to lessen pain, grow your heart bigger---service. Isn't that what Christ taught us, Serve one another. So, I have been thinking of ways I can grow my heart bigger. Laugh with my family. Love my family. Move to Hawaii to support my hubby (it is a sacrifice--I promise). Cook. Clean. Take a meal to someone. Visit teach. Read with your kiddos. Make a card for a friend. Smile. Enjoy life. Hope. Endure. Have faith. Do the best you can in whatever circumstance you are in. Remember the sun will rise tomorrow. Try to lighten someone's burdens. ETC. ETC. There are so many ways to grow your heart bigger. I absoulutely love this mom's advice. I know for a fact that serving others does help heal. I hope I can be an example to others, especially my kiddos, of how to grow my heart bigger. I will start by loving my family unconditionally (better). I will laugh more. I will enjoy the journey.

(ok, so I cannot figure out how to work this whole blog thing. I couldn't get the pictures I wanted to upload with this post.)

THE BEACH...part II

I couldn't get all the pictures over in one blog entry...so here is part II. CS, my 14 year old daughter wouldn't let me post any pictures of her in her bathing suit....so don't think I am ignoring her. I remember those days. So I will post one of her another day.

This is TCIG digging in the sand. Quickly becoming one of the kids' favorite things to do. The sand is really fine and not full of rocks or shells.
JAG and MONKEY BOY again, enjoying the sand. Aloha!!!

THE BEACH...

JAG at the beach, doing his favorite thing...building sandcastles...
JAG loving the water....it is pretty warm here in the water....

KAWEHI has discovered "Boogey Boarding" and totally LOVES it. She will not get out of the water!!! It is so fun to watch her "catch the wave." She is adapting wonderfully to the Hawaiian lifestyle. As I am posting, my sis-in-law has Kawehi at the beach. Auntie couldn't resist the eyes and dimples of Kawehi begging to go. Thanks, Auntie Alana.

Ok, so I thought I fixed this picture but it didn't carry over....Anyway, this is Kawehi in her new favorite outfit...the wet suit!!!

This is one gorgeous view of where we were sitting on the beach. It truly is beautiful here. This is Hapuna Beach. I wish you were all here with us. I really miss all of you on the mainland. Please keep in touch!!! Aloha.

WHAT THE HECK?????

Ok, I have had MAJOR "sticker" shock.........I cannot believe how much stuff costs here in Paradise........HELP!!!! We went to the store the other day and needed to get milk.....Ok, are you sitting down? It was on "sale" for $4.39...normally $8.35--AUGH!!! Can you believe it? I am used to $1.98 at Wal-Mart in Idaho. WHOA. Any one who knows me, knows that I cannot live without Diet Pepsi. So, I told Allan I had to have "my stash"--gotta have it. So, we found the 12 pack--on sale for $6.99 down from $9.99, then we kept looking and found a 36 pack for $9.99 normally $19.99!!! We got 2 36 packs. I have to have total will power and limit myself to one can a day. I don't know if I am up to that task....but need to try. Peanut butter (has to be Skippy) $7.00 for a small bottle. Oh, man my habits will have to change. Bread $4.69 a loaf. I knew it was more expensive here, but OH MY GOODNESS. How do people survive over here? Then my mother-in-law took us to COSTCO. Good, ol' Costco will be my saving grace.....their 36 pack of Diet Pepsi is a normal $9.99. I will SURVIVE. How sad is that...I measure my survival on the availability of my favorite drink. Some of you will understand where I am coming from. Diet pepsi is like the nectar of the Gods to me. Hee hee. I know, I am out of control. So, all of you on the mainland, enjoy your milk, your loaves of bread, your SKIPPY peanut butter, your diet pepsi and think of me---yearning for what you can get so cheap. I appreciate those things a whole lot more now. A.L.O.H.A.

On the Road Again......

That is the theme song of our life these last few weeks......After A LOT of love, support, work, endurance, tears, boxes, trips to the post office, trips to the storage unit, more tears, laughs, dinners and lunches with friends.....we FINALLY made it to the Big Island of....HAWAII!!!! Allan and I landed yesterday and we are still waiting for the time difference to catch up to our bodies and the jet lag to disappear. We were lovingly welcomed by our children and mother in law, sister in law and nieces and nephew. We left Seattle yesterday morning in the rain and HUGE snowflakes and landed here in the rain. We have logged so many miles between Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, the Pacific Ocean and Hawaiian Islands I feel like I am all traveled out. The kids are adapting well and love it here. Our new mantra is "it's in a box somewhere" as we are still waiting for MANY boxes to arrive via the wonderful post office. I will be so impressed if all 44 (yes, I said 44) boxes make it here.

To all of our friends in Star that we didn't get to say goodbye to....We are sorry!!! We wished we could have gotten to see you all before we left. There just wasn't enough hours in the day to get everything done we needed to. So please forgive us and just know that we love you!!! Please keep checking our blog for updates on our family. We love Star and all that it did for our family!! We cannot wait to come back!!!

To all of you who helped us pack, move, let us borrow your trailer or truck...THANK YOU. We cannot thank you enough for all that you did for us. We believe we have the greatest support system and loved ones. After we had been here for a few hours I got really sad and down. It hit me like a twinkie truck (my dad's favorite saying) that I was really gone from Star and my wonderful friends and loved ones....I REALLY miss you all.

Our camera and chords are "in a box somewhere" so as soon as I can I will post some updated pictures. Until then please keep in touch. Look at our blog. E-mail us--allanandkatie@msn.com, our cell phones are the same for now.....our new home # is 808-333-5677. It is 4 hours behind Idaho here in time. 3 hours behind California and Nevada and Arizona.

We love you all. Mahalo (thank you in Hawaiian) for everything you have all done for the Gilbert Ohana (family in Hawaiian)!!!!! A-L-O-H-A!!!

Did you think to pray?

I love the words to this hymn. My dad played it on the piano all the time and it was one of his favorites. As I get older the meaning of prayer and the realization and true testimony that our Father in Heaven not only hears our prayers..he answers them, gets stronger and stronger. After the experience we had this weekend I am truly convinced (AGAIN) that my Heavenly Father loves me and my family. We left on Friday, 3/6/09, to head to California to my brother Kurt's home. We had to get the kids to the Oakland airport to head out to Hawaii and my brother lives close by. So we were going to hang out with him and his family for a few days before we left for the islands. Well, all the way from Idaho to Cali we were having car trouble. Our brakes kept locking up. And of course it was all through the night. We were very nervous and didn't know what was happening. We would pull over and the car sit and cool down. Allan would release the cap to the brake fluid resovoir and it would seem to be ok. But it would do it every couple of hours. We noticed the rubber seal in the cap was totally breaking up and figured maybe a piece of the plastic fell into the brake fluid and was clogging the line. We had a prayer before we left (which is tradition) and although the trip took longer we were able to still push forward. We had to drive over Donner pass right outside of Reno on I-80. If anyone knows that pass you know how scary it is. It is 7500 feet up!!! This pass gets closed all the time because of snow and is very dangerous. We had to stop half way over this pass. The car didn't seem to recover this time and we were very scared. Allan offered another prayer. The whole time, I am praying, "Please Heavenly Father, let us get to my brother's house". Well, our prayers were answered and we made it--finally--after about 14-15 hours. We took the Yukon into the dealer down from brother's house on Monday. This is where my testimony of prayer REALLY comes to the surface......the mechanic was in total "awe" that we made it all the way from Idaho alive!!! He said our brakes could have totally gone out at any minute. He couldn't believe we made it. VERY SCARY to hear that. So....the short version of this story is: somehow transmission fluid was put into our brake line and it was totally "eating" away the entire brake system. We would have to replace the whole entire brake system to make sure it was ok. They couldn't tell how far the damage was done throughout the system. Total cost......$4700!!!! Can you believe it? I totally fell apart...We don't have the money to fix it, we don't have a credit card etc. NOT to mention the fact that we could have gone off the 7500 feet cliff at any given moment!!! We had our car serviced locally in Boise last week in preparation for the trip--oil change,, check fluids,etc. The mechanic in Cali says this type of damage happens rather quickly, so we feel it happened then--but we can't prove it. The place here totally denies doing anything with the brakes (of course) even though they did report everything looked ok. Anyway, we had to leave the car at my brother's, after we had it towed--the dealer wouldn't let us drive it off the lot, we had to rent a car to get home, my sweet sis-in-law got up to drive us to the airport at 4:30 in the A.M., and by the way, we had a small U-Haul trailer attached to us as well. The kids made it to Hawaii yesterday--and have already been to the beach, Allan and I made it home, SAFELY, last night. We are now ready to start the next phase of Operation move to Hawaii. Does Heavenly Father answer prayers? YES. Does He know you and your needs? YES. Does He love every one of his children and wants them to be safe? YES!!!! Of this I am certain. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that God lives. He blessed my family this weekend. He blesses us everyday. In a world of woes right now, please take time to thank your Heavenly Father for all the gifts you have been blessed with...even those that test your endurance. Did you think to pray? I am so glad we did!!!!

Happy Birthday......."MONTH"

We have been partying up a storm at our house the whole month of FEBRUARY!!! These picutres are kind of in the wrong order...but oh, well. The above picture is Allan being the "life of the party" and Kawehi's b'day party. We had the girls make candy lei's and daddy's actually turned out to be more of a crown.....He totally made all the girlies laugh.
Kawehi didn't want a cake, just cupcakes. So we just arranged them to be into a #7.

This is Kawehi wearing the b'day hat. It's tradtion!!! We all have to wear the hat on our b'day. We even made my friend Sami wear it when she visited us once close to her b'day. So be prepared...if you visit us around your b'day you, too, will have to wear the "HAT". (note: the candyland sign above Kawehi's head is a sign my dad made 10 years ago for a party we had for my oldest daughter CS. I couldn't ever get rid of it).

Allan looking like "It's my b'day and my wife gets me a food processor!!??" Haha. Allan loves kitchen gadgets and always ends up cooking. So, I thought--the perfect gift: a kitchen gadget that will make his "job" easier.

Allan, JAG and Monkey Boy celebrating...DAD. (Don't look at the mess in the background---we are in the middle of dejunking to move).

Allan, Me & Monkey Boy celebrating b'day #11!!

Kawehi, CS, Monkey Boy, TCIG and JAG--wishing happy wishes to Monkey Boy.

Monkey Boy, 11 years old.

We have had a busy month. But a fun month. 3 out of the 7 people in our family celebrate their special day in the month of FEBRUARY. I am grateful for these people in my life. My entire family means the world to me. I sometimes get a little sad on my kids b'day, I think of them getting older. I treasure the time I have with these wonderful human beings. They teach me so much everyday. I am grateful that I get to grow old with Allan, my best friend, my love. How blessed we are that our Father in Heaven loves us THAT much to give us....Families!!!

"Mommy, I had a beautiful dream last night".....

That is how my little Kawehi woke me up this morning. I was still enjoying the last few minutes I had before I had to pull my body out of bed. Allan was in the shower and little Miss Muffit woke up for some reason. She climbed in my bed and snuggled right up against me. "Mommy, do you want to hear about my dream?", she asked. I, of course, wanted to continue to sleep and pretend I didn't hear her....but there was something in her voice that made me really wake up. That little voice in my head that said, "Wake up and listen, something sweet is about to happen!". And it did. I laid there listening to my 7 yr old little angel tell me about her magical, sweet, beautiful dream. We built in and then lived in a house of flowers. Then she described the colors and the smells of all of these flowers and the grass. Our family built this house of flowers--together. She said we really worked hard and we all got along making this house (oh, good there is hope). She described every detail. I was basking in her descriptive words. My dad would have been totally mesmorized in her sweet description. I am so grateful for that little voice in my head that said--pay attention, dingdong!!! What an amazing way to start a Monday. My wish for Kawehi and all my kids is to have sweet beautiful dreams every night. Thank you for sharing. I would say to all of us when your children say, "Mommy do you want...?' The answer is always YES, because I promise you something sweet is about to happen.