Jenna singing Happy Bday

JESSE GRADUATED!!! 2008...

It ALL started when Jesse convinced his parents that he was
SMART enough to GED out of high school at 16?!?!
The letter came in the mail YESTERDAY,
stating that not ONLY did he pass the test,
BUT he received a MERIT of RECOGNITION for such a high score!
WOW! That really made his MOM proud of him!
and she said "PRAISE the LORD" over and over the rest of that day!!!
After the picture taking we hurried "island style" over to Taco Bell to celebrate over lunch and discuss IF Jesse wanted to go to the June 3rd graduation ceremony or not. We were SURE they would ask him to speak at the graduation IF he told them he would be attending... Jesse thinks he is NOT going??!!
Michael reminded Jesse that table manners were still important EVEN IF you are a "college student" so we made it through the rest of the meal...
Jesse is going over to the Jr. College tomorrow to sign up for at least 12 credit hrs. for fall semester!
IF you are looking for Jesse anywhere on the island, he just started a new job at Subway making sandwiches. Jax worked there the summer she beached and hung out on Oahu and Jesse just started training this week. SO, it would be a Subway shirt he will be wearing OR this hat which is his FAVORITE at this time!????
YEAH! He is a BIG boy NOW!!! Jenna is SO excited for him!
We ALL are!! GREAT JOB, JESSE!!! Happy and productive future!!!!
Jesse went to a Stake dinner/dance tonight and celebrated with other kids, the end of the school year.
This has been a good year for him!

Jenna goes BLONDE!!!

Pre-blonde Jenna.
Enjoying another GOOD book at the Marriott beach,
still not blonde...
Starting to get the blonde highlights!
Looking at pictures with Kates at the Jungle Patch.
SEE! Lots of blonde!
Dressed up to go out for Sat. night sunset and dinner! BLONDE, cute!!
Jenna seems to be a blonde to me!!

Jesse IN action!

This was a good picture of Jesse,
taken for the printed violin program for May 31.
He has been playing with a group of 8 kids and doing quite well.
This is the other picture that will go in the program.
Notice the NICE violin position!
This one is at the Stennett's "playing" games. ALL the boys
had just gotten haircuts so they were SMILING with the new LOOK!
Getting ready to go to the temple Sat. 5:15am flight into Honolulu.
18 youth and leaders went this last Sat. Jesse said it was GREAT!
This is "pre" haircut at the Stennett "petting" zoo.
NOPE! Not Jesse, this is Jenna giving Aaron his haircut down in the Jungle Patch.
The boys actually wanted their haircut so they would be appropriate for the temple!!!
That's progress!

...Happy Mother's Day to ALL!

I KNEW this was going to be a GREAT Mother's Day, 'cuz
Jesse LEARNED to make his OWN toast today!!
He moved up in the kitchen from peeling his OWN orange to the toast dept.!
This COULD represent that "my nest" will some day have NO baby chicks needing feeding by the Mama bird!!!
N-N-O-O-O! I don't mind "cooking" meals for any of my kids, I just want to know Jesse will someday be a missionary and FEED himself!!!
LOTS of presents and cards!!
This day of "Mother" celebration is ALMOST better than Christmas in this manner...?
Less hype and MORE attention to the MOM!
Let's see... Can you tell the "THEME" of this year?
I got a beach chair, sun hat, beach towel, beach bag with slippers on it, swim
trunks AND the coolest board shorts from JENNA!
(I think she thinks she will borrow those!?!?!)
I DO admit to shopping for myself...
BUT I did take Jesse along to "help" him pick out the "correct" items!!
AND Michael DID go to Costco with me for the beach chair!!!
I think any successful Mother's Day is worth $100 in presents!!!
Small amount of annual payment for a 24/7/52 job! LOVE being a mom!!!
Then we ALL went to a concert this evening!
I sang and they listened and had good concert manners and NO complaints!
It was my Mother's Day wish!
Kauai Chorale is the group I sing with and is was a good concert about songs of LOVE!
Church was good this morning too!
The primary children sang and then the men/boys all sang Love at Home
and handed out long stem roses to moms and potential moms... Very sweet!
Happy Mothers Day!
And thank you to my wonderful, talented and lovely children for helping me be a HAPPY mom AND gramma!
I love you guys and never cease to be entertained by you ALL!
Thanks for making mine and Dad Michael's lives VERY fun and enjoyable!!!
LOVE, your MOM!

The NEW addition to the family!

Michael's new car... and our apt.
Jesse and Michael going out on a first ride in the new CRV!
Taking it to the beach for the Aaronic Priesthood "over nighter"
The gang in the morning at the campout.
RELAXING and enjoying the park, before driving back for
a job fair, violin practice and the south shore beach.

Life at the Beach on Sat.

Our USUAL position on the beach on Sat. afternoons.
Friends who work with Michael at the job site join us most Sats. We get lunch, sun and good visiting.
Jerry under HIS tree at the beach...
Life IS good!
Jenna and Kristine catching rays of sun.
Jerry swimming in the OPEN ocean, wave!!!

Oops, this car doesn't run on a track!...

Jesse was driving us to the Marriott the other morning and
ROLLED into a van at the stop light at the airport...
We did stop and take a picture to prove NO damage...
BUT the dude WORKS at the Marriott and recognized us when we were there with Jerry
and told us the bumper was pushed IN on the left side a little bit!!?
How could it have pushed in on the left with us bumping
them at 3-5mph SQUARELY in the middle? His RIGHT side had been punched in... and I think he just wanted to get the WHOLE bumper fixed on Jesse's OOPS! Jesse is a VERY careful driver, we just BOTH looked at a random car on the side of the road that morning and Jesse rolled into the guy in front of him...
The Lihue Ward youth are trying to raise $ for EFY this summer and they are holding car washes early Sat. mornings. This one was a good $ maker.
Maybe some of the kids will become good car washers
after a couple more Sats. They are taking donations too.....
This ward/stake is VERY ambitious!!
They are asking the youth to pay $150 of the EFY fee and airfare and the ward/stake is paying the rest!!?
Talk about helping the youth over here!!! Also they are paying for the youth to fly over to Honolulu and
go to the temple this May 17... Paid airfare and transportation and food for the day trip. Good experience!!

Meanwhile, back at the farm...

The WHOLE field trip gang on the large main lawn of the plantation.
The kids sitting on the porch of one of the many houses/offices on the working plantation. This Grove Farm owned over 1/2 of the island at one time... They produced the sugar cane and figured out how to get the water down the volcano mountain to irrigate the fields for the sugar.
Now we are at church, after the 3 hrs. and still smiling!
Lucas relaxing and showing his new haircut while at church.
Jerry and Kristine back at the farm.
In front of the plantation home.

Grove Farm Field Trip

Uncle Jerry and Kristine came to visit!!!

Well, we did LOTS of things for the 10 days they visited!
Here's Jerry showing one of the MAIN activities! Eating, getting ready to eat and planning eating! Shaved ice!!
TWO options of being in the sun!
Utah "white" Jerry and
weekday tanner "brown" Jenna! Yeah, that's a subway sandwich in her hand, LUNCH!!
The gang eating ONE shaved ice. There was ice cream in that shaved ice too! Yummy!
A bon voyage trip tradition... hula pie from Dukes with the gang!
Thanks Uncle Jerry for the treat!
Come back soon, we LOVED eating with you on this vacation!
FIRST bite and the fork broke!! Didn't really slow down that Utah ICE CREAM eatin' fellow much! I just traded forks with him and I used a spoon and got even the last scoop of hula pie!!!