Much Ado

We have been busy having too much fun lately! A few weeks ago we went to the Valley of the Temples and walked through the Byodo-In temple there. The grounds were so pretty and it was a good chance to talk to the girls about other religions and what other people believe. We loved feeding the fish in the Koi ponds and watching them jump up to catch the food before the swans could get it. Seeing Budda all big in his glory made me think of Stephen and I wanted to light an incense stick for him and make an offering on his behalf. Unfortunately the matches were all gone. Sorry Steve.
Halloween was a blast too! The girls and I had a home school Halloween party with friends where we made marshmallow ghosts, spider web pizza, Oreo bats, Halloween masks, and bobbed for apples. Since we all have such big mouths, I had to time everyone to see who could do it the fastest. I was thinking Lilly would win but I think her loose tooth slowed her down. Haley got hers in 9 seconds- pretty good! Of course I had to show them who was boss and got mine in 7 seconds. That night we had homemade chili (tradition), and bread sticks and then went to our stake center for trunk or treat. We took 20 lbs of candy with us and ended up taking home 27 lbs!!!! (Yes, we weighed it). My favorite part of the trunk or treat was in the beginning after they told the kids what to do. They started up some music and the first song was Metallica's Neverland ( I think that's what its called). I laughed for five minutes. I'm pretty sure I've never heard Metallica played at the church. We ended the night with doughnuts and cider- also a tradition. It was a great Halloween.
Last weekend, Justin and I got to go to Kauai on a Best Vinyl trip. Justin was excited about the house that we were going to stay at. It was a multimillion dollar house with a 50 ft. water slide and a huge projector screen and an arcade. When I got there, the first thing I noticed was all the fruit trees. There was orange, lime, lemon, pumelo, manelo, avocado, macadamia nut, mango, grapefruit, etc. It was awesome. The first thing I did was go pick fruit and try it. The pumelo I picked was twice the size, at least, of a grapefruit! Andy and I made fresh guacamole for lunch that day-YUM!
Kauai was SO pretty- much prettier than Oahu. Before I got there, Justin went on an 8 mile hike with everyone to see a waterfall and played football on the beach. The day I was there, we went on a breathtaking hike to a cave with a hidden beach inside that housed some sea turtles. Justin had a water volleyball tournament that day too- haole's against locals- guess who won? The white boys!!! We also went and played in some huge waves at a gorgeous beach where Justin got to try out his surfing skills. I can definately see why they call Kauai the garden island. We're going back for sure!
We are now trying to talk ourselves into the fact that the holidays are approaching even though its 85 degrees. It just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving is a week away. We're planning on inviting some of Justin's co-workers over, that don't have family here, to join us. I wonder if we'll have to eat poi on our turkey?