blog confusion

The other day we helped Samantha set up her own blog. We used our email address for it. Unfortunately it seems to have changed something on our family blog. Now all of our postings, including comments we make on other people's blogs, are being recorded as "The Samantha Chronicles" instead of "Hanaike House". I need to get a blogging expert to help us fix this.

a message to our daughters

As the mother in "The Importance of Being Ernest" said to her daughter: "YOU ARE NOT ENGAGED UNTIL I TELL YOU YOU ARE ENGAGED!" (No, this is not a hint of anything, or in reference to anyone inparticular. But now that we have 2 daughters that are adults, living on their own in a very large dating pool, and 2 daughters to go, I just wanted them to know.)

College Fun

Last semester Hillary went to a dance at the Utah State Capitol. She sure is having alot of fun. (Funny how I never hear about her classes/grades though!)

A Dream Come True

What an amazing coincidence, that the day after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, is the inaguration of our first black president. I love it. Years ago, when I was dropping Julia and Hillary off at their elementary school, I sat in the car and watched them play. I couldn't help but think about that famous "I have a dream" speech. The children were playing with each other in completely self-integrated groups: black, white, hispanic, etc. etc. all playing together. It was a great thing to watch, and I couldn't help but think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud. And I do think that he, and all the people that have lived and died for the civil rights movement, will feel pretty good tomorrow.

forgetful

Is it funny, ridiculous, or just plain pathetic that sometimes I forget that I have a job/employer, and that I am accountable to them for my time? Yes, it is only a 3 hour a day job; I jokingly say that I am not a "working" mom, but a stay at home mom who takes a 3 hour break everyday to go to a library (I'm an elementary school librarian). But when I almost forget that I have a job, it becomes a problem. Today I had doctor's appointments set up for Mariah, Samantha and Luke. I had my day planned out; I was thinking about what I needed to pack to keep Luke occupied while he was waiting during the other 2 appointments; I was thinking about whether there would be time for them to go to school after the appointments; and then, almost at the last minute, I realized that I needed to let my work know that I would not be in today. It would have been very embarrasing if I had just not shown up, with no phone call or anything. Hopefully, as time goes by, I will not be so forgetful.

banning together

We have a very small youth group at church, but they really ban together, support each other, and take care of each other. Not only do they see each other 6 days a week for church (seminary plus Sundays), but they even CHOOSE to hang out together otherwise. Its pretty great.

Our talented Bishop

A picture like this speaks a thousand words . . . but I'm going to add a few more anyway. Every bishop we have ever had has been amazing: hardworking, caring, selfless, etc. etc. But we will never forget Bishop Benning, who not only is all of the above, but very talented as well. He is a great volleyball player and has taken the time to coach the youth, which Mariah has really been happy about. And, as the picture shows, he can even keep up with the latest clapping games. So thank you Bishop Benning for all of your hard work and for sharing your talents with us.

equal camera time

It is fairly common for most big families to have lots of pictures of their oldest children and not so many of their younger children. This is actually not true for our family. We have just as much, and maybe even more, of the younger kids than we do of the older ones; especially since the older ones like to take pictures. For example, here are some pictures of Luke playing on a baseball team. Some of our best family memories of last year are of going to Luke's baseball games. He definately was known as the boy with all those sister's who were not just cheering, but screaming in the bleachers.

Anyway, I just hope that no matter what birth-order our children are in the family, they will all know that they are loved.

Frontier House

About 4 times a year I go to the public library and get one of my favorite dvd/videos (it comes in both) called Frontier House. It is a sort of reality show/documentary made by PBS in 2001. It is about 3 families that "travel back in time" to the year 1883, to be homesteaders/pioneers in Montana. First they go through training for about 2 weeks and then spend 4 more months living that way. They spent about 1 day traveling in covered wagons to get to their land. Then they had to build their log cabins and live like homesteaders from the time period, away from all civilization. My family thinks I'm crazy because I keep watching it (actually listening to it while I'm folding laundry, etc). But it helps me to challenge myself to live a better life. To work harder; to be less materialistic; to be less wasteful; to be happy for what I've got; and it helps me think of my ancestors that were pioneers, settling Idaho and Utah. Of course it also has your drama in watching the famlies get along, not get along, etc. I think about whether our family could handle doing this for 5 months - I would hope we would ban together and work hard together, but I have a feeling we would just kill each other. Anyway, I recommend this show to everyone. Even if you don't watch it as much as I do, it's definately worth checking out at least once. (Of course if you live near me you would have to try to get it in-between the times that I have it checked out.)

we needed a day like today

Have you ever had one of those Saturdays where you have no where that you need to go, and nothing that you need to do . . .except clean the house, and by some miracle, you are in the mood to clean? Well, after months of fun stuff to do every Saturday, it was actually nice to have stay-at-home day. Even though I am sad about the holidays being over, a day like today, of getting things a little bit clean and organized, is helping me to move on. Samantha and Luke woke up asking what we were going to do. When I said "clean" they were both mad and said "that's boring". They ended up helping pretty well and even had time to go bike riding with Reggie before it got dark. And the perfect ending to a day like today is laying around watching a family movie. So I guess I can officially let the holidays go and look forward to the rest of this new year after a day like today.

We don't have one . . . . or do we(wii)?!

Luke always has a great perspective on life. A few months ago Luke expressed how he wished we had the Wii. We told him, as gently as we could, that we would not be getting the Wii anytime soon. He then got a big smile on his face and said "actually, we do have one. We have a Wii at Auntie Kathy's house, and one at Uncle Matt's house, and one at our house when the Paredes family visits in the summer". We laughed. We're really grateful that so many people are willing to share the Wii with Luke. And so, even though we didn't get the Wii for Christmas, we are really excited that the Porter's did! That makes one more place for Luke to go to get his Wii fix. He's been over there several times already to play it with Andrew, and he's feeling pretty lucky. So thank you to good family and good friends who are always willing to share.

gone again

What's that old saying, something about wanting your children to have roots and wings? I hate saying goodbye and having them gone, but I'm excited for them to be on their own, in a great environment, having wonderful experiences. I guess that's how my parents felt. Last night Luke said he didn't want them to go; being the youngest of 6 children in my family, I know how he feels. I used to cry everytime my brothers and sisters left. But today Luke reminded me that we will see them in 3 and a half months, and that's not too long. So I guess I'll try to be as mature as Luke is about it.