12 Days Till Halloween!!!

I am so excited. I love love love Halloween!!! I love the decorations, scary stories, carving pumpkins, spooky emails, dressing up and trick-or-treating. I love that the weather is starting to change and the air just smells like Fall. One of my most favorite things to do around this time is going to pumpkin patches and finding that perfect pumpkin. The first time Ben ever made any "more than just a friend" contact with me was at a pumpkin patch. (We went in a haunted maze done by the boy scouts and I acted like I was terrified, so he held my hand through the whole maze. I was walking on clouds the rest of the night.) So it's all kind of romantic to me. So anywho, I just wanted to share a few of my favorite Halloween pictures from the past few years.
Hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Our "Little" Sons

I don't really know how it started but somehow, somewhere, sometime... it did.

Since the beginning of the year, Ben and I have acquired 4 new son's, T, Dalton, Bruce and Lewis.
Yes, we've been praying for children and yes, we are praying for multiples but I guess I wasn't specific enough in my prayers. Heavenly Father has quite a sense of humor. Sister Wright always told me that but I never really believed her. And my wonderful mother in law says when you pray for something you've got to be very specific. I guess that's where I made the mistake.

No they are not cute and cuddly like little babies but they sure do require a lot of attention and food. I make them breakfast every morning and take them to and from school and occasionally buy them dinner. Most of the time I'm playing mom to them. More then food they need someone to talk to and someone to encourage them and to love them. That's the part that's not always easy but it is very rewarding.



I feel I've learned a lot about parenting from these young men and maybe this is my practice before the real thing happens. Here are a few things I've learned:

1. How to feed 4 young men (weighing in at a total of 1180 lbs.) breakfast on $15 a week?

2. How to transport 6 full grown (and then some) adults to and from work and school in one vehicle?

3. How to send and receive text messages?

4. How to love unconditionally? (even if they don't know how to pick up after themselves)

5. How to aim air conditioner vents just right so I don't have to smell sweaty boys all the way home?

6. How to manage my time to make sure I'm taking care of my self and my husband too?

7. How to give love and attention evenly so that all the boys feel loved equally? (just recently learned how important this one is)

8. How to enjoy a football game even though I don't understand the sport at all? (I just cheer when everyone else does)

9. How to laugh and run while holding my breath, when one of them passes gas?

10. How to braid nappy, kinky, tangled hair?

I've also learned how nice it is to be needed and loved. Every night when we take the boys home they give me a hug and a kiss and tell me "Thank you Ben and Melonnie". I know these boys really appreciate us and that us being here is a big help to them both physically and mentally but I am really grateful for all that they've taught us too.



Thank you my "Little" Samoan Boys!

Fa'afetai tele lava!

August Birthdays

So in August I have at least 10 friends/family
members who have birthday's.
So here is a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to you all!

Happy Birthday Kimmie!
Happy Birthday Rosemary!
Happy Birthday Bruce!
Happy Birthday Jackie!
Happy Birthday Gemma!
Happy Birthday Everett!
Happy Birthday Sarah!
Happy Birthday Caroline!
Happy Birthday Brenda!
Happy Birthday Karen!

If I missed you please accept my apologies
and this Happy Birthday wish!

I have a funny birthday story.
So I used to decorate cakes for a bakery and one day this woman came in and asked me to write "Happy Birthday Michael" on a birthday cake for her and she went off shopping. Well when she came back she looked at the cake and said, "Is that how you spell Birfday?" I got so scared because I really thought I spelled it wrong so I looked at it and said, "B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y (pheww) Yeah it's spelled right." Then she said, "Oh, my bad! I fhought it was wifh an F! But I believe you Sweetie." I was so glad that she was embarrassed because she hurried off and I just started busting up.

I also have a delicious new frosting recipe that I made up that I'd like to share with anyone who wants it. I made a cake for my friend at work and normally I don't like frosting because it's too sweet.
So I just started throwing stuff together and came up with the following recipe.

1 package of cream cheese
1 container of Cool Whip
1 small box of pudding
Just soften the cream cheese and mix all
together till pudding dissolves.

I tried it one day with lemon pudding and then the next day with chocolate pudding.
It was really good and everyone at work really enjoyed it.

Welcome to the World Baby Everett

Today I got to meet my first little nephew. Baby Everett Jackson Haring born to my beautiful sister Caroline and her handsome hubby Aaron. Baby Everett was born on the 13th and weighed 8lbs and was 20 inches long. He is so dang cute and we really got to enjoy spending a few hours with him. Ben is such a proud uncle and excited to finally have a nephew!
Congrats Aaron and Carrie!
We Love You!

Baby Everett Jackson Haring

Welcome to the World Baby Gemma

My beautiful "sister from another mister" Sarah Armes had a new baby girl. This is Sarah's 4th little bugger and she was born on Friday, August 8th at 7lbs and 3oz and 20 inches long.
Congrat's Gee and Sarah!
We Love You!

Baby Gemma Armes

Washington Vacation Photos

Homesick

Has anyone ever heard of being homesick for a vacation spot?

Man, ever since we got home I just can't stop thinking of Washington. I've even dreamed about it several nights since we've been home. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect (at least to my standards). It was around 72 degrees each day and everyday we were there it drizzled. Everything is so green and flowers grow like crazy. The sky is actually blue! We didn't really do the things that I thought we would but I still had so much fun.

My family was great! My aunt and uncle let us stay in their room which was like our own private little honeymoon suite. We had home cooked breakfasts and dinners everyday. That was a lot of fun and sooooo yummie! We even got to pick fresh blueberries that my aunt made into a delicious Lemon and Blueberry Flan. I will post the recipe as soon as she sends it.

My grandpa is so cute! It's been almost 15 years since the last time I really got to see him or spend time with him. It was really great. He spent one night sharing slides with us from when he and my grandma were young adults and when my dad, aunt's and uncle were just kids. It was really neat to be able to share their history and their memories.

My little cousins are just the cutest girlies. It was really fun spending time with them and getting to know them better too. We realized that we have the exact same smile and noses. Even our laugh lines. They were awesome.

Ben got along perfectly with my family so that was really great too. My Dad, Uncle Jon and Ben have the same type of sense of humor so it was really entertaining to watch and listen to them joke around. Eric, Nana and I just pretty much laughed at them the whole time.

We pretty much went on hikes everyday and I just couldn't stop taking pictures of all the beautiful nature all around me. Everything is green green GREEN! Moss grows on everything in Washington. The song "Your a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" kept popping in my head everywhere we went. We also went on a cool ferry ride to two other islands. Again it was really great! I didn't realize how close we were to Canada. It was only like a 30 minute ferry ride to Victoria. It would have been cool to go but we didn't bring our passports. Next Time!

We also got to see a ton of wildlife. We saw a family of deer just hanging out in someones backyard. We saw dolphins swimming in the wild, a seal, an otter, a tree frog, a bullfrog tadpole, squirrels, a snake and banana slugs. I grossed everyone out when I picked one up! The slime on that thing was so strange. It wouldn't come off no matter how much I scrubbed. My uncle sprayed my hands down with Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner and even that didn't work. We finally had to use some stuff called Dissolve It.

I hope that if you are reading this that you will enjoy the pictures that I took and that sometime in your lifetime that you will have the opportunity to visit the beautiful state of Washington. As soon as Ben is finished with school, I hope that he will want to move up there because I know I sure do.

3 More Days To Vacation!!!

I'm so excited and anxious and I just can't wait! My Dad, Kayla (my other mom), Eric (my cousin) Ben and I are all going on a trip to Anacortes, Washington to see my grandpa! We are going to be there for 5 days and I'm so excited! I really need a vacation and I think this is going to be a really relaxing one. I'm so excited about flying. This will be Ben and mine's 1st trip on an airplane together since our honeymoon. I love flying! I've been looking up Anacortes online the past couple of days and it looks like such a charming place. It' has forests, lakes, 12 miles of coastline, antique shops, whale watching, bridges, hiking and organic farmers markets. Everything that I love! Ben and I already talked about collecting "Homes for Sale" magazines while we there. Has anyone been to Anacortes Island? If you have, please let me know of anything that we shouldn't miss.

The only part of this trip that I'm not looking forward to is leaving Peanut and Otis behind. We've decided to leave them at Ben's mom's house and I'm so nervous about them falling in the pool. Everyone please pray that they will be safe at Grandma's! On our last trip we boarded the pups at a kennel. When we picked them up, Otis was so skinny and loosing his hair. The owner of the kennel said that he wouldn't eat the whole time because he was so nervous. I'm hoping that they will be more comfortable at mom's since they've been there so much before. I just hope they stay warm at night and out of the pool. I know I'm totally psycho for worrying about this but these little guys are like our children.

Introducing the Newest Member of Our Growing Family - Maddison Ellie Baran - Born on the 4th of July!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday!
My dad is one of the greatest men I know. He raised my 2 sisters and I and my cousin Tony by himself and is now raising my 3 little cousins with his
wonderful wife Kayla.


Dad and The Boys and Papa and Nay-nay

My dad always made sure we had what we needed. I always felt that we were #1 in his life. He is always joking around and goofing off. Everyone who knows my dad will describe him as 1. Very Silly 2. Very Loving and 3. Very Accident Prone. I really love those qualities about him. I always wanted to marry someone just like my dad and I think I totally succeeded!

On Saturday we had a Birthday Party for him and many people came to celebrate.



It was a lot of fun and there was even a broken window by a stray bb. It was exciting but not as crazy as his 50th where we did a "Hawaii 5-O" pool party (complete w/Super-Soakers, a garden hose in the house, and jumping out of the 2nd story window into the swimming pool). Good times all attendees will never forget!


My Dad and His "Little" Sister - Dad and Aunt Virginia

Tonight we celebrated with a lovely dinner at CPK. Then we went to my dad's to watch him open some of his Birthday cards. He received over 70 cards all of people expressing their love for him and their fondest moments with my dad. What really impressed me was that the cards were from people of all ages.


Dad and the Boys and Dad and the Girls

The recurring complements were that he is always so funny, Christlike and loving. That's my Dad!

One of his gifts was a T-shirt from my little cousins that says "Old Guys Rule". I think that sums it all up very nicely.



Dad, they say that 60 is the new 40!
(even if you still act like the old 15)!

Dad, if all men were like you our world would be a SOOOOO much, better place.

Happy Birthday Daddy!



I love you soooooooo much!
Thank you for being you!

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

OMGosh!!!

When I heard about this, I just had to look it up!

Don't forget to stop sometime (or a couple of times) tomorrow 7/11/08 to get your free Slurpee!

One of Ben and my favorite stops is 7-11.

When it's hot we stop and get a Slurpee,

when it's cold we get a hot chocolate (with all the fix-ins)

and when were hungry (Ben's favorite)

Jalapeno Cheese Taquitos.

Enjoy!!!

The First Step in Recovery, is Admitting there's a Problem

I think I need help...

I am feeling really Asian right now.

Ben and I used our tax rebate money to buy me a new camera. I got it on June 4th and I really love it. I read the whole manual and I'm still learning and practicing with it.

Well, here's my problem...

I download all my pictures to Snapfish. I've already downloaded 16 albumns since I got the camera a month ago. So I was looking at this yesterday and was thinking, "Wow, That seems like a lot of pictures." So I decided to look and see how many pictures I actually took in the past 30 days. I could not believe it. I actually took 2,084 pictures in the past 30 days! It's hard to believe. I didn't believe it myself so I checked it out and I really did take 2,084 pictures in 30 days?

Can you imagine when Ben and I have our own children? How much worse can this problem get?

I fear the future.

I'm just glad that Ben talked me into getting the 4 gig memory card.

June 2008 Photos!

Does Anyone Know Where I Can Find June 2008? I Seemed to Have Misplace It.

I can’t believe that a whole month has already passed since the last time I posted. Where did June 2008 go? It was a busy month but I just can’t believe that it’s already over.

Let’s see where to start. Well Ben passed all his classes in spring with B’s straight across. He’ll be finished in December as long as he passes all his classes in the mean time he has the summer off. My cousin Eric graduated from high school, Ben got a Grand Slam at my dad's church softball game, my finals (I got an A!) our friend's wedding was canceled, birthday's, Peanut's new haircut, Father's Day, BBQ's, Disneyland, beach trips, museums, castles, waterfalls, babies, fireworks, a virus and 3 Samoan Boys!

I can't believe that all this happened in the matter of 30 days. I really felt that if I didn't document all of this I might soon come to forget what a busy month it was. Since I don't journal, this is what I believe to be the next best thing. I just hope that there really is some way to preserve all of these posts.

Our friends’ wedding was scheduled for June 13^th in St. George and then they were going to honeymoon out here in Southern California. Well I took a few days off work for the wedding and to spend some time with them while they were here in California but the wedding was canceled. Our poor friend still wanted to come out to California just get away, so we spent a few day’s with him to cheer him up. I hope it helped. Well while he was here we did a few fun things. We went to the Huntington Library, Ben took him to the beach, we had a BBQ at moms, we went to Disneyland and we drove up to Central California and went on a tour of Hearst Castle. My wonderful friend Jackie went up with us and on our way home we stopped in Solvang and then in Nojoqui Falls National Park. It was beautiful. Ben found this little stop a couple of years ago and we always make it on our way home from up north. It’s about a 30 minute (way easy) hike up to this beautiful little waterfall. It’s one of my favorite places in Southern California. On our way home from there we found this charming little Organic Produce stand. We always stop when we see these little produce stands because we love purchasing from local growers. Well we stopped at this one and there was nobody manning booth. The only thing around was a little ranch house down the street. Then we saw a sign and a big barrel. The sign said, “Self-Serve/Honor Stand, Please drop your money in the barrel. We are too busy growing more veggies to stand here and collect money. Please drop cash or a check in the barrel. No change available, just make it up next time.” We couldn't’t believe it! I never heard of such a thing. I was so pleased that we ended up buying 1 of everything and I only spent $13.50. They had some of the yummiest strawberries I’ve ever had.

The last weekend of June, Ben and I went to Point Dume State Beach. That was a wholelotta fun too. It’s a little private beach in Malibu with trails, tide pools and beautiful views. We hiked one of the trails and spent time on the beach just relaxing.

It’s only the first week of July and already I can tell it’s going to be busy. Ben got really sick this past weekend so this is our first 4^th of July that we didn’t spend together. He stayed home all weekend resting and I spent it with my family and my adopted Samoan boys. It was a lot of fun and the boys were excited because they’ve never seen fireworks so close.

Also on the 4^th my new baby niece was born. Madison E. Baran. She was scheduled to be born the 2^nd week of July but the doctor predicted that the baby was going to be a 11-12 pounder. They decided to induce on the 3^rd and try to keep her around 10 lbs. Well by the afternoon on the 4^th every time my sister tried to push the baby’s blood pressure went up. They decided to go in and do a cesarean section and they found that the umbilical cord was wrapped around baby Madison’s neck. Well they got her out and mother and child are fine. Madison turned out to only be 8lbs 9oz. She was a lot smaller then expected. I haven’t seen her yet but heard that she is a real gem! I wasn’t able to go see her since Ben was sick I maybe carrying the virus. My sister hasn’t taken any pictures yet. If it wasn’t for me my family wouldn’t have hardly any pictures of the kiddos. I asked my sister if she took pictures and she said, “No, I haven’t had time for that.” I will go see Madison on Friday and I will post some pictures then. We also found out this weekend that my other sister is expecting another girl! So far the score will be, girls-5 boys-0.

Okay July! After getting through June I feel like I can do anything! Here I come!

I'm so glad that I have a camera to capture all of these memories. I just can't preserve the same memories in writing alone. I do not have that wonderful gift of writing that my sister Sweet Caroline has. Maybe I'll pay her to write my posts from now on???

STAR WARS: The Jediism Educational Video

My cousin Eric makes these awsome short movies. If you want to check out more go to youtube and subscribe to ESFBros249.

Class of 2008

On Saturday June 7, 2008 my little cousin Eric Howard Jeong, graduated from Orange Lutheran High School. I can't believe it! I just cannot believe how fast time goes by and how quickly a little boy grew into a wonderful young man.

Eric's mother passed away when he was 3 and my family has been taking care of him ever since. So basically I got a new little brother when I was 13 and it definitely wasn't easy but now looking back, it was way worth it. I'm so glad that Eric is part of our family and I'm so grateful for the wonderful young man he has turned into.

Eric really is one of the neatest most tender hearted teenagers I know. Eric is so good at so many different things. He is going to be going to school to either become an Architect or a Fire Fighter. He loves making and building things. He is good at all different sports (football, basketball and tae kwon do). He played football (DB, WR) for OLHS and helped take his team to win the Championship! He loves making movies and is really good at it. He loves to dance and has some of the "sickest" dance moves I've ever seen. HA! He is great at woodworking and anything outdoorsy. His favorite movie is Rush Hour 2 and he loves Korean food (who doesn't).

One of my favorite memories of Eric is that he hated to wipe his bum after dropping the kids off at the pool. After doing his business he'd yell, "Kimmie Nuna, Brenda Nuna, Melonnie Nuna! WIPE MY BUTT!!!!" It was the funniest thing. But then it got to the point were he was too old for us to keep wiping him but he thought it was the grossest thing to wipe his own but. We would just leave him there yelling for us and he was so stubborn that he'd fall asleep on the pot with his underroos wrapped around his ankles. The poor child was tortured by us so much! I bet if he could, he'd still have us wipe his little bum!

Well Eric. I am so proud of you and so glad that you are my little brother! I'm also excited that you are going to be going to Mt. SAC and that I will be able to see you more often. You are an awesome guy and I know that you are going to succeed at all you try! Thanks for letting me be part of your life!

Finals Week!

So Ben is just finishing up his 3rd semester in Nursing school (finals are Monday!) and one more semester till he’s an R.N. I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard and the poor guy has had no life for the past 2 years. He just study, study, studies.

The nursing program doesn’t run during the summer and winter semesters and he usually is taking upper division classes during these times, but this summer he’s taking off school! We are both so excited! I’m so glad that he will be able to just give his brain a break. Though I don’t really know how much of a break it will be. I’ve already got a list of things I want him to do. Mom and Christian have also got “Honey Do” lists for Ben but I think I get first dibs. I’m hoping that he will be able to get the flooring and baseboards finished on our house, a new stackable washer/dryer installed (bigger job then it sounds, he has to move and re-weld the water pipes. Sounds dangerous? I thought so too. Mostly because he’s never done it before. But you’ve got to learn somewhere.), 3rd bedroom cleaned out and garage sell the items or goodwill them, a new pantry put in and hopefully a dishwasher and if there’s still time the outside of the house painted! It might just all be wishful thinking because he only has 2 months, but I think most of it might really actually happen. Oh by the way, Ben also wants to build a “Mega-Man-Shed” in the backyard.

This sounds like a butt load of chores but anyone who’s met Ben a second time, knows that he love’s DIY projects and that he’s really good at it (he’s also an obsessive compulsive pack rat, but that’s a whole other blog). I need to make a post of all the stuff that he’s done so far. He’s amazing! I always wanted to marry a handyman like my father. I saw that in Ben shortly after we started hanging out. He loves his power tools! He has just about every tool you could think of but they have to be Dewalt. The past few Christmas’ and Birthday’s he’s been stumped as far as a list goes. I tell him it’s because he already owns everything he could ever want. Some things he even has two of! (remember when I mentioned that he’s a pack rat?) But they have all come in handy. Whenever anyone in the family needs a "Mr. Fix It", they call Ben.

This is kind of off the subject that I was going for today, but it’s a really sweet story I’d like to share to show you how I knew, Ben was and is the “ONE” for me. That’s what blogs are for anyways right? To just kind of relax and let your brain sort of … fart! Just let it all out in no particular order right?

Okay, so anywho, here’s my story. Ben and I were just kind of hanging out. Not really dating, just friends. It was the summer before we got married. I actually had a boyfriend at the time but was drifting away from “said boyfriend” and spending more time with Ben. Well I came home from work one day shocked and surprised to see Ben’s truck in the front. As I walked up the path to the back house (where I was residing) I saw this HUGE empty cardboard box on the back lawn. My little French doors where wide open and there was music and the noise of power tools coming from the kitchen. I was really confused but shortly after talking with Ben, found out that he was trying to surprise me by installing a HUGE air conditioning unit just for me! It was a hot summer and I had no air conditioning or windows that opened. Ben couldn't stand the idea of me sitting at home roasting, without fresh air. So he put a HUGE hole in the wall and put in an air conditioning unit. It was so big and heavy that he had to build a stand to support it outside because he was afraid that the walls weren’t strong enough. He also had to hire a professional electrician to come out and install a new line. Yes he could have just gotten a small little window air conditioning unit that could cool my little 600 sqft back house but again, anyone who’s met Ben a second time, knows that he does everything BIG! His theory basically is, “If you’re going to go little, what’s the point?” So he ended up putting this AC unit that’s powerful enough to cool a 1200 sqft area into my little abode. It was awesome!

So I really don’t know how this post kind of ping ponged all over like it just did. My intentions in starting this post were to tell about the adventures that my husband has had so far in the nursing program. He has experienced some things that even veteran nurses who have been working at the hospital for 25 years still never have experienced. I really wanted to post them so the memories could stay fresh with us because they are well worth it. I also wanted to post them because they’re way-entertaining stories that we just have to share. But it looks like I’ve gotten way off the path with this post so far and I don’t want to make these post so long that they look intimidating. So, I’ll just post “Ben’s Adventures in Nursing” another time. In the meantime, I just love and appreciate my “Dewalt Man”!