Flat Stanley

Our nephew, Kai Uda, had a project for his class to do, which was to send Flat Stanley somewhere for an "adventure". He sent Flat Stanley to Hawaii! Yay! We were happy to have Flat Stanley visit with us for a little bit and show him some of the sights. While I was working at the Hickam Air Force Base, Flat Stanley went with Evan and Dad Stubbs onto Base to see all of the historical sights it offered because of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, on Dec 7th 1941. Flat Stanley enjoyed that learning experience. Then Evs and I took Flat Stanley to the beach to see what the waves were like and we buried him in the sand for fun. Then we took him to see more historical sights, the King Kamehameha Statue and the Iolani Palace.

Thank you Kai for sending Flat Stanley to spend some time with us, we hope he had a great trip!

Only in a Hawaii Walmart...

Would there be a Gecko running around instead of a mouse.

Valentines Day 2010

The last week or so, I been asking Evs,"Will you be my Valentine?" and his response was always," I dont know, we'll see.." So to start off today, my hunny woke up, turned to me and said," Will you be my Valentine?" I smiled of course and said," Yes!" We were able to have a great morning by team teaching in Sunday School at church. We came home, I got the salsa and chips ready and Evs picked a "special" movie, Enchanted. I always love that cute movie and I loved spending time with my sweet husband. I was in charge of dinner and Evs was in charge of dessert. I made some chicken with a Balsamic Garlic oil baste, a side of broccoli, and chicken rice. It was nice to be together at our little table enjoy us a special meal and watch us some Amazing Race!

DIN-DIN

Evs working hard on his V-day dessert.

Dessert in the process...

The finished product..mmm..mmm..good! It seriously turned out so amazing. I am so proud of my hunny for trying a new recipe and being such a great cook!

Happy Valentines Day! I know that we dont just have ONE day in the entire year that we have the chance to show our love to those we love, we should always extend our love to those around us. I am glad that this day didn't feel much different than any other day with my sweetie, but we just made it a lil bit extra special, since it was a "holiday" and all. I love you Evs!

Gung Hei Fat Choy!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Saturday fun!

Ev and and I had a great Saturday. I worked in the morning and then we went to the Kaiser Permanente Sports, Health & Fitness Expo walked around and looked at all of the booths that represented some form of your health whether it be foot reflexology, your spine/posture, your Aura, massage therapy, what you eat, and exercise/fitness testing and more. We went to one booth where you actually take fake food and make a plate of food and they tell you if you have all your food groups and whether its a good plate. I suppose as Exercise Science majors we would know what is good to eat so of course we did a great job plating our food.

After the Expo Evs, Mom Stubbs and I headed to meet Aunty Chicky, Demi, and Grandma for a Valentines dinner. We had good food and great conversation. Its always fun to be close to family.

We headed to Milano Freezer for some delish gelato.

I really enjoyed the day! There is nothing more that I love or that I would rather do than spend time with my cute hunny.Happy pre-Valentines Day!

Sometimes I feel..

well..SELFISH. Today I woke up with the sun peering through my window with a slight breeze. I go out and about today and the sun is shining and the temperature is 81 degrees. The beach looks amazing! Water is a little chilly, but heck you get used to it after a few minutes. I do feel SELFISH to be living in this beautiful place.

Meanwhile, Washington DC is having a blizzard. The temperature is 25 degrees and you are not advised to drive on the roads because they are so icy. Its a terrible way to live. Why would people subject themselves to living in such a COLD place? I mean honestly..beats me. I will enjoy my sun as much as I can savor these last few months and then envy my family that gets to continue living here without us.

TOP TWO REASONS I WANT MY OWN WASHER N' DRYER:

1. So that my clothes dont smell like someone elses stank!

2. So that I dont end up with random vegetables in my clothes that some kiddo hid in their pants because they didn't want to eat them..(particularly peas and carrots--no thank you)

The Spirit speaks

I prayed and gave thanks for the things I am most grateful for in my life at this time. I didnt ask for anything, I simply thanked Heavenly Father for blessing me so immensely. I then said Amen in His Name, Jesus Christ. I laid down and felt good ready for bed. Then this thought came to my mind. "Exercise and Autism" I didnt know what it meant..it was pretty random, but I tried to go back to sleep and I couldnt sleep, hence why I am up writing this now. I opened up the computer and searched "exercise with autism" and came across great results.

One of the most under-utilized yet effective treatments for autistic individuals is exercise. Obviously, exercise is important for everyone especially for those with autism. Several research studies have shown that vigorous or strenuous exercise is often associated with decreases in stereotypic (self-stimulatory) behaviors, hyperactivity, aggression, self-injury, and destructiveness.

Now knowing that I didnt get into grad school like I had planned, I have been seeking for direction. I just really didnt know what I was suppose to be doing now. I felt like I know I got my degree for a reason and went on listing and researching all the options that I had with my degree, Exercise Science. My job is working with children with autism and I just really love it! To see one of my kiddos read or one of my kiddos speak a sentence on his own that he didnt mimic is precious to me! I love it! I cant say that getting hangers, nerf guns, train blocks chucked at my head and getting socked is my favorite part, but it is indeed part of the job and when those kiddos are happy to see me I will be even more grateful for my job! Its neat, nothing that I have ever done before. So I am not sure at this point what direction my career/education path is headed, but I can tell you that I am willing to listen to when the Spirit speaks and know that its something I need to hear.

That Husband of Mine...

He never ceases to amaze me. Before he left for class this morning at 7:30 am, he covered me with another blanket. I felt this extra warmth. WHY? because he is the sweetest person in my life and saw that the wind chill was really getting to me and apparently I looked cold and honestly I was cold. I was wearing a sweater and flannel bottoms too. Its been pretty chilly lately, for Hawaii I might add, I might just die if I lived anywhere else besides Hawaii right now and that place was colder than 60 degrees. I love my sweet husband of mine! Thanks babe!

What is our character made up of?

We need to be a whole person not just a part time person.

There are those that:

MAKE THINGS HAPPEN

There are those that:

LET THINGS HAPPEN

And there are those that say,

"HEY, WHAT HAPPENED?"

It is only by DOING that we learn.

notes from a talk in church.

Tru Wuv

The talks/lesson in church today were about marriage. Now in a singles ward, everyone would have rolled their eyes, started to look around, giggling, and trying to feel "inspired" as to who their "tru wuv" in the room could be..or the awkward feeling of sitting next to a guy friend and hoping that he wasnt thinking that you were the "one,the tru wuv". But in a boring married ward, theirs no worries about any of those feelings, the talks were directed on how we can work on strengthening our marriage to become One with God. I find that being married a WHOLE YEAR(holla), I am certainly no expert at being married, but I am grateful for the things that have helped Evan and me on our amazing adventure (refer to Year One blog post).

Heres a few additional Secrets to a Happy Marriage that we learned about today that could be helpful when applied:

1. Praying each day for the strength of your marriage (i love the word strength, its not often we pray particularily for the "strength" of our marriage, but more so other things.)

2. Find unique ways to express love at unexpected moments. (random ways that cost no money.)

3. Setting goals together and then presenting them to Heavenly Father for His approval.

4. Recognize that when emotions are high and logic is low--postpone making big decisions.

We are a COVENANT COUPLE, not just a married couple.(thanks for the words of wisdom Uncle Georges Bonnett)

Yahoo!

He got it! Evs got an interview for Grad school! We are super excited. He is going t fly out to California most likely March 2nd and his interview is March 3rd. We are praying hard and going into the interview knowing that whatever the outcome is, its what is meant to be! I am so excited and proud of my hubby. He has worked hard and working to finish the semester strong. We can only hope for the best!! Love that man of mine to pieces! Good Luck Evy!

Hau`oli la hanau!! AkA HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It was a wonderful birthday! I enjoyed all the phone calls, songs, text messages and emails. I am grateful to have such great people in my life! I am officially a Quarter of a Century!! the BIG 25! the benefits really just one: I can rent a car without an underage fee! Evy woke up randomly through the early morning and would roll over and say, "its your birthday or happy birthday". He made me some breakfast and it was yummy. One of my favorites breakfasts he makes. He makes a center in the bread and then cooks the egg over easy in the center.. love it. I went to work most of the day and tried to trick my kiddos to sing Happy Birthday to me even though they didn't understand it was my birthday, but it didn't work too well because they didn't "chose" it from their choice board. But I came home late and my hunny told me we were gonna have my favorite pizza, pineapple and mushroom, for din din. But then the pizza wasnt there when I got home and I was like can't we just go pick it up? And he said no its being delivered..anyways long story short we start to walk out to the car like we are going to pick up the pizza and we walk into our friends Dana and Chris's house and everyones like"SURPRISE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" my friends had a little get together for me and I am so thankful for them. I am spoiled to have such great friends. They bought me pizza and Becky made me a strawberry cake! It was yum. Thanks friends! I cant believe I am 25, not like thats way old, but older than 24! I had a great birthday and I felt very special on my day! I am thankful for my wonderful husband who loves to celebrate me!

Miss Rubi herself wishing me a happy birthday!

Friends sharing in my celebration!

Tanza and Mike Tupola and Dana Bradshaw

Rebecca and Tyler Waldron

Chris Bradshaw

Then our buddies came back to our house and played us some Apples to Apples. We had a great Night! Thanks friends!

**In memory of President Gordon B. Hinckley, a true prophet of God. I remember him this day the 27th of January being 3 years since his passing. I know he is so happy in heaven being with his wife and continuing on in the Lord's great work**

The Days..

This post is dedicated to my feelings about today's day::

There have been a day(s) in life when I...

-didn't play my best soccer game

-didn't study as hard for a test like I should have

-wasn't the kindest to my family

-wasn't the most honest

-wasn't the best example

-wasn't the most considerate person

-tailgated cars for going to extremely slow

-wasn't crowned sophomore princess in high school

-didn't speak kind words

-didn't always listen

-blamed others

-overreacted for nothing

-broke the law and talked on the phone/texted while driving

-..didn't get accepted to Grad School (the trigger for this very post)

There are a lot of things in my life that I didn't always do right or things I wish I could have forced to happen, but lets be for reals, no ones life is perfect and we play the cards we are dealt. But regardless of what I didn't do or the fact that I didn't get accepted to Grad school like I hoped I would, I know that I have made many decisions in my life and have been blessed with many opportunities that have led me to where I am today and I wouldn't have it any other way. What can I say, I feel very blessed.

There have been a day(s) in my life when I...

-was crowned the first "white girl" homecoming queen in over 10 years at Perris High School

-graduated High school

-chose to attend Cal State Hayward where I made priceless friendships

-played college soccer and rocked it

-chose to transfer to BYU-Hawaii from which I chose to serve a mission

-lived in paradise

-met my eternal companion and best friend, Evan Thomas Quon Wai Sung Stubbs

-graduated from college

-was sealed in the San Diego temple forever to my hubby

-applied for grad school

-was nice to my family

-allowed trials to mold me

-followed the Spirit

-prayed hard for strength and guidance

-remembered to put others needs ahead of my own

-made some awesome meals

-proved to myself that hard work and dedication is rewarding

-searched the scriptures for help and peace

-laughed at myself and my own blonde jokes

-loved others unconditionally

I have learned that regardless of what we do or don't do in this life what matters in the end is that we recognize that when one door closes another opens. That our progression in this life is not going to stop because we fail, we will however not learn and grow if we never failed or were rejected. Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Twelve Apostles said it best,

"Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come” (Hebrews 9:11) Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever. Look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future."

I am not sure why I was not accepted to Grad School, I was bummed, and it was hard to hear that I wasn't. I can only speculate why the Lord felt that this wasn't what I was suppose to do, but heaven knows I wont get anywhere going about it that way. I have my head held high knowing I did what I felt I needed to do. I do know that what Elder Holland said is true. I need to Look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.

Saturday was a very Special Day!

My husband is so amazing! He took me out for a surprise Saturday in celebration of my upcoming birthday since I have to work most of the day and he has school and work. He surprised me in the morning with a 75 minute massage at Aveda. I love this place. Its all about being GREEN and everything is so relaxing and peaceful there, the music, the smell..yum yum. I had the best masseuse and it felt so so good, it truly is addicting. One of my favorite parts of Aveda is their sauna and rainforest shower head (weird right?? but Evy knows I love the shower head). I think I took the longest taking a shower because I did not want to get out of the shower. I hope one day to have one of those shower heads in my shower. After my massage, Evy took me to "our" restaurant Tanaka of Tokyo (similar to a Beni Hana, but much better). Afterwards we just walked around a bit and then headed back to the car. Where Ev had surprise numero 2 waiting. He bought me a necklace that had a pendant on it that says, "I love you" all over it. Such a sweetie. The necklace was kinda suppose to be V-day gift but he knew he couldn't wait that long to give it to me nor could he hide it from me. I love it so much!!

We went to Mom and Dad Stubbs house and visited Grandma Quon for a little bit. Then we made a quick run to Costco before it closed and then just hung out. We went to din din with Mom and Dad and enjoyed our time with them. On the way back to their place we were gathering up our stuff and went to try and leave and were unable to because the SWAT team was coming in and police were everywhere. I guess that a guy threatened to kill himself and anyone that tried to come near him and he barricaded himself in his house.. So we ended up spending the night and waking up early to drive back for church. It was weird to be woken up by random footsteps and then to look up at the window in the room and see SWAT guys shadows crusing by with all their gear on..I guess after 12 hours the guy surrendered. Crazyness..It was a nice day and night and I love my husband so much for being such an amazing best friend and companion. I love him so much and he treats me with so much adoration and kindness, even when I am annoying him. Thanks hunny bunny for an amazing pre-birthday celebration!

Fun in da Sun in January!

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day, 18 January 2010, we went to Waikiki for the afternoon with friends (Becky, Tyler, Autumn, Cody, and Dana, oh and Chris was there in spirit, but had to work). It was nice and warm and sunny just the way I like it. There were a ton of tourists everywhere and some didnt get the memo that the string bikini/speedo beach is the one a few miles down the road. Yikes! We enjoyed laughs, sun, and rest. Our friends went surfing on what waves there were and we rented SUP. I love Stand up Paddling. And since there were small waves, I caught my very first way on the SUP. It was so awesome! The Japanese tourists in the water around me were and I quote,"ohhhhing..wooowwwing..insert something in their language here" I felt pretty excited that I got an exciting reaction from them, I felt like such a rockstar! haha..even more excited that I didnt run over one of them with my board because they just stood their like many do..haha. If we were going to be here longer, I would totally coerce my amazing husband into letting me get one for "exercise purposes" of course (not sure if he'd fall for it though..)

After our wonderful beach time in January, we headed to a restaurant called MAC 24-7. Our friends Becky and Tyler and Autumn and Cody, saw man vs food on the travel channel trying to eat pancakes at this restaurant. These pancakes total about 4 lbs and bigger than Evans entire hand and there are three of them! Yikes! We ordered 2 orders of pancakes and between the 7 of us we took leftovers home. It was unbelievable how big these pancakes really were. We are so grateful and blesses to have such great friends to to be around and hang with and people we are really going to miss. They are so good to us and we just love their friendship! All in all a super fun day!

Gas...and not the kind that makes stinky

I heard on the news tonite about the increase in gas prices. So I thought I would make a note about it for my posterity. Hawaii is one of the most expensive states for gasoline with a statewide average of $3.41 for unleaded 87. I remember when it was $.99 cents..geesh. But we still buy gas because we gotta make cash. I cant complain too much though, because everyday I drive to work along the coastal (Makai side) and I often want to stop and just jump in the beautiful clear water. I love it! So I suppose the point is that some things are worth the sacrifice and there are some things that we just cannot avoid.

Gotta Spare?

Fun night. busy night..Went to work, Evan went to school. Then work again for me, School for Evan, then work for Evan, then laundry for Evan, then I came home from work, then we watched our two favorite Cannon keiki, then I left to put them to bed at their own house.Evan went to a study group. Then Evan came to pick me up after watching the kiddos and on the way home we started to hear this weird sound coming from the car..much like a flat tire or something stuck..we drove into our parking lot and I got out. I whipped out my "Princess and the Frog" flashlight (THANKS MUMS) and proceeded to check each tire as Ev went super slow as the tires made their rounds. I was excited to find what was causing the noise, but reluctant at the same time because that meant I would have a flat tire by morning. Evan and I decided to change the tire tonite, 10:30 pm, and to our surprise our spare tire rim is spray painted yellow of all colors..haha..mission accomplished..we are rolling in style thats for sure!! I Love my husband for working as a team with me and getting the tire changed quickly. I again did my job, which is "oh holder of the flashlight". My dad always gave me that job when I helped him do stuff and I think I have gotten alot of practice, which is why I am so good at it! (I like to think anyways) Good day! Very thankful and very blessed!

P.S. I accidently used Evs toothbrush this morning...hehe

Blessed... I feel so blessed!

Mom, Dad, and Us meet Avatar in 3D

A Saturday with the fambam! I am so grateful to live close enough to my in-laws to get to see them just about every week. Whether we sit and watch TV, play with Mom's garden, visit Grandma Quon, its always just time well spent. After a long day of work Evs and I met up with Mom and Dad Stubbs. They got started waiting in the long line. We finally beat the crowd and got tickets to see Avatar in 3D. Tickets here were selling out so fast every weekend. I will admit that we followed the crowd and really wanted to see it because the movie got such good reviews and people we know saw it and said it was way good. Ev and I did not want to see it based on the trailers we saw, but we decided to make it a date and since Dad wanted to see it we all went. It was a very good movie. Watching it in 3D was the best to see it, I felt like a weirdo though trying to catch the falling things or trying to touch things that seemed so close, I suppose the people sitting around me thought the same thing about me. After the movie we hit up the usual, Zippy's, and had us some good grinds.

AVATAR in 3D

We are styling in our 3D glasses. Dad looks like a Blues brotha!

Winter is catching up..

Burr...burr.. I am so glad that we have flannel bottoms and blankets because its been starting to get a bit chilly around these parts. The fact that I have been able to go to the beach and sun bathe in December and January has been amazing. I never thought I would really see winter this year, but we have hit some record lows in the evenings..ready for this a whole 58 degrees I know, that is pretty sickening right?? But it was a little bit nice to get a chance to bundle up in a little sweater and blanket today..Oh Hawaii how I love you!

the sweetest thang

A couple days ago I was on my way home from work and called Ev. We were deciding what to make for din din and I said lets have pancakes..(I love Binner aka breakfast for dinner, but its not Ev's fav meal) So then I added we could also have eggs and spam too. He agreed and was going to start it. So I get home and I wonder why nothing was made yet. Well, he shows me some weird stuff that was inside our pancake mix, it looked like wood shavings in random spots...I didnt think pancake mix went bad, I think we had the bag for about a year...but needless to say were were grossed out and threw away the bag. So Evan whipped up some amazing food anyways and we didnt starve. Well this morning he had a 7:30 am class and he comes home, comes into the bedroom and says can you turn on the song Banana Pancakes (by Jack Johnson). So I turn it on and then he says okay come see. So I go into the kitchen and he bought a new box of pancake mix and two bananas. He mixed it up and made Banana Pancakes. It was the sweetest thang! I love that guy..

I had a busy week with my new job and its been such a good experience. I really enjoy it. I had an experience this week that got me thinking. One of my kiddos with autism is 4 years old. We went for a walk to the park with his Mom so that we could practice his safety behavior and social interaction. He was playing well and having fun. A little haole boi came to the park and started playing. Me and my kiddo were playing and then my kiddo saw the little boi playing and went over to him to join him on this little animal bouncer. Well the little boi was like,"No, get off, I dont want you to play with me." But my kiddo didnt understand so I had to intervene and have him ask to play, but the little boi still said,"No!" Such a rude little boi. Then my kiddo saw the a toy on the ground that the little boi brought and thought it was cool so he started looking at it. Well the little boi was like,"Dont touch! thats mine!" I cant believe how unkind this little boi was to my kiddo. The little boi's sister came with her little car toy and my kiddo thought it was so cool. He tried to push the little girl and she was getting mad. So I stepped in and tried to get the kiddos to play tag together. The little boi started pushing his sister and running in a circle on the playground, well my kiddo thought it was so fun and he was laughing and having such a good time however the little boi was yelling at him telling him to leave them alone and go away and that they didnt want to play with him...etc. We tried so hard to get the kids to play, but they were so rude. It made me so sad. So sad for my kiddo. My heart went out to him and his Mom, who deals with this type of situation alot. Even though my kiddo probably wont remember how mean the kids at the park were to him, I will. I know that when we have my our own kids, we will teach them and educate them to be nice to all kids no matter what color they are, no matter what they look, and no matter what..I know I understand and respect that principle because my Mom always taught us to accept all people no matter if they were different, handicapped, of a different race, no matter who they were. I truly appreciate my Mom for teaching me such an important principle.

It is 11:24 pm on Saturday evening in Laie, Hawaii. We are winding down from a long day and all of a sudden we hear "Cacadoodle-do!" Honestly, is there really a rooster crowing at 11:24 pm??Seriously..It did it a few times and then had another buddy of his join in on the "Cacadoodling". Evan and I decided that the rooster must have come from Newfoundland, Canada because it is 5:54 am there, these roosters are having some real issues with their biological clocks. Go figure a Canadian rooster roaming these parts..All I gotta say is we be keeping the country country..for reals!