Hawaiian Mystery Dinner "Missing at Mount Mauna Loa"

During Spring Break we tried out my latest Mystery Dinner Game (I decided I didn't want it to be a murder - maybe I'm feeling more sensitive with 10 1/2 weeks left of this pregnancy). It is set on the Big Island of Hawaii. We had a first dinner with the Cottam's on Wednesday. We didn't get everyone's picture taken. We were glad to have Grandma Beth, Aunt Karla and Uncle Clint there, as well as my cousin and his family Richard and Wendy Paxman and their son Gavin.
In this picture Kade was a gambler named Chance Del Oro, Karla was a store manager, Carrie Cash, and Grandma Beth was a Hotel Maid, Wanda Tipa.
I was a Geologist for the Volcano National Park (a job I would love in real life) named Roxy Erupto, and the girlies were Hawaiian helpers. They love dressing up and wearing the lays. We had a little hula and a limbo competition as part of our mystery dinner.
This was our chocolate volcano cake. I used dry ice to make is smoke. Our pet fish "Blink" is in the background and a crab made out of balloons.
We had fun decorating the house with pictures of Hawaii and erupting volcanoes. We also had some sea creatures from balloons.
I love dishes, so this was our place setting. The umbrellas in the drinks were fun to have.
The Cheesman family came for our mystery dinner on Saturday. Cortney's face tatoo was awesome! Cortney was a Fire Dancer from the Polynesian Cultural Center named Cole Flamming, and Ashley was Aqua Diva, a snorkeling instructor. (Ashley came in second place in our limbo contest, even with a hurt back.)
Creta was a Hotel Maid, Wanda Tipa, and Brian was a homeless surfer dude, Rip Tide.
Pete was a deep sea pearl diver and photographer for National Geographic named Hunter Hypoxic (in real life he moonlights as an octopus tamer). Brittany was the ABC Store Manager, Carrie Cash.
Hillary was the Volcano Geologist, Roxy Erupto. Kyler was a gambler and avid Green Sea Turtle Watcher, Chance Del Oro. You can see he has his binoculars to spy on his Foxy Roxy. (Hillary won the extra clue by winning the limbo contest (even at 4 months pregnant) and then won the Mystery Dinner Game.)
Kade was our bartender, Mo Drinks. I was the hostess, Twinkie.
Thanks to everyone for coming, we had a great time and we hope you did too!

Spring Break Fun!

After Kade and Clint ran the 10K we celebrated at Pirate Island Pizza. Grandma Beth is so nice to treat us! The girls love the arcade and so do the adults.
We had really yummy pizza - I definitely recommend their Hawaiian and Alfredo Mushroom (it has spinach in it).
The girls loved playing pirate and were happy to "cheese" it with their fun hats. Kiera really loves using straws and getting to play with the ice when all the water is gone.
Oops, we got a mouth full of food with that smiley shot. Kya is still cute, even with food in her mouth.
Kari would gladly do the pirate thing full time if she was asked to.
For Christmas we were given a Dixie Direct Book and in it was a two night stay in Mesquite so we vacationed in Mesquite for part of Spring Break. Kade and I had the first night to ourselves while Grandma and Grandpa Cheesman had the girls for a sleep over. We enjoyed the peace and time alone together. The second day we ran and got the girls and they came to have fun with us. We were going to take the girls bowling, but they wanted to stay in the room and try out the beds.
It was St. Patrick's Day and the girls look very cute in their Irish Headbands. They had lots of fun and so did we!


Later in the week the Campbells rented out Jumping Jacks and invited us to come (Emie Campbell is Kari's friend from Preschool). We went and had a great time playing and meeting new people. We also enjoyed some yummy treats - we love chocolate! Thanks Campbells!

Kade and Clint's 10K

For Kade's birthday Clint gave Kade and entry into a 10K. This was Kade's first 10K and he trained for about 2 weeks for it. This is Clint and Kade at the finish line.
Here is Clint passing some people on the way to the finish line.
Here is Kade almost to the finish line. He hurt his knee about 4 1/2 miles into the race, but he is doing better now.

Horray for Dad and Uncle Clint! We were there to cheer as they both finished.

Happy 30th Birthday KADE!!!

For Kade's 30th birthday he wanted a hot dog cake. We've been watching some taped episodes of "Ace of Cakes" (compliments of Karla) and so I told Kade I'd try doing his cake with fondant and a hot dog is what he picked. Kade is one "HOT DOG!"
The fondant was pretty tricky to make, but thanks again to Karla for giving me many tips. I used gumdrops rolled out to make the relish and onions. I used left over yellow fondant as strips of cheese over left over cake to make nachos.
We had family over for Kade's birthday to eat hot dogs and nachos, which are his favorite. We enjoyed the cake and had vanilla ice cream and homemade hot fudge.

Here are some pictures of family that came to help us celebrate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANDSOME KADE!!!

Girls night out!

Karinya (Kari)
Kyandra (Kya)
Kierana (Kiera)

We went on an adventure and we all got our hair cut! The girls got theirs cut and styled, I got mine cut short, and Aunt Karla got her long beautiful red hair cut into layers and added blond highlights. We all look wonderful!
After we were finished being beautified we went to Aunt Karla's house and made a back drop of my black table cloth. We put a little color on the girl's faces and took some fun pictures. We gave daddy the pictures for his birthday. They turned out great and it was a fun adventure for us.

These last two photos are very cute of the girls when Aunt Karla and Grandma Beth were tending while dad took mom out on a birthday date. We have lots of fun on our date and the girls had such a great time being pampered. They even got their nails painted and if you notice their hair has purple and red streaks in it (they wash out).

My new perspective of my sweet girls!

I have had some big changes in my perspective and feelings lately, about my daughters in particular. I have always thought, "Wow, I have three daughters and that is a lot!". I am very grateful to have them, but maybe not as grateful as I should have been. Last Sunday there was a baby girl blessed in our ward and it hit me right in the face that I will never have another baby girl. I was surprised at how sad I was about this. I looked at my three rowdy, but darling daughters and saw them in a whole new light. The time for them to be babies has passed and I don't want anymore time to be missed by being too busy or tired. They are growing quickly and right now I am still a cool mom to them so I need to take advantage of all the precious moments and fun times I can with them. I want so desperately for them to be happy and have great lives. I want to be a big part of that and always be there to be cheering for them on the sideline or off stage. I want to enjoy all that there is to enjoy with them and although it definitely is not easy to be a parent, my attitude is different and I value them even more than I did. I have three little diamonds that are so completely different from each other in their strengths and personalities. I have to handle each one differently, yet always showing lots of love for them. I no longer think "Wow, I have three daughters and that is a lot!" Now, I think "I only have three daughters so I better enjoy them."
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this change in perspective. I feel more love for them and I feel less quick to criticize them. I know this will help me to be a better mom for them. We are going to go on a girl's date this weekend and it may be a bit chaotic, but we will have a great time!

I'm 30? - I still feel 20.

This is the birthday cake my mom made for me. It is chocolate cake, which I love and don't have much self-control for, so she included twinkies on the side for those that don't care for chocolate cake. I had a great birthday and I appreciate all those that helped make my day special.