Hawaii '09

This past week, Duane and I finally got away on a much needed vacation to Maui, Hawaii. We flew out on Wednesday, February 11th and stayed until Saturday. What a great vacation! I think this one will go down as one of our best vacations. It may not have been the longest, but it was the most needed. We met my cousin, Lorisa and her husband, Dave, at the airport in Hawaii. They had been there since Saturday enjoying the time to themselves before we crashed at their hotel.

Here is a picture of our view from the hotel. So Beautiful!


This is the beach out side our hotel, Wailea Beach.


As soon as we got off the plane, we headed to a local beach and did some boogie boarding.


The next day we did some more boogie boarding...


And the next day we got up early and hoped on a boat to do some snorkeling & whale watching.








On saturday, we walked on some "interesting" beaches (Big Beach & Little Beach), and later some MORE boogie boarding.







Here are some other beautiful sights we took pictures of while in Hawaii...




Hawaii is my favorite place to visit, but, unfortunately, it comes along with the worst flight. For some reason, the flights leaving Hawaii fly during the night, and I can not for the life of me sleep sitting up, so that flight is always hard on me. I ended up coming home and taking a nap for 6 hours then went to bed a couple hours later. But it was well worth it, and we enjoyed every minute. Thanks to Lorisa and Dave for inviting us.

Exercise, Eat right, Die anyway...

So far, the diet and exercise is going great. Well, I should say the exercise is going great. I’m usually better at working out then sticking to a diet. But, I’ve made a goal to work out 8 times a week and my first week I completed 7. I’ve had many people ask me what I do and how I can fit in all those workouts in one week. Well, it takes some creativity, support and a lot of patience from my family. I say creativity because on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I lift weights downstairs with Kaman. It’s kind of hard to stay focused when you have your 2 year old climbing on you, driving his cars into your foot (while trying to stay in a very painful lunge), and having a marble or toy fly past your head. Needless to say, I enjoy my workouts at the gym more. But I love the Cathe Friedrick (cathe.com) workout tapes so I’m trying to work through them at home.

For those of you that want to know what workouts I do, here’s my routine….

Monday – Spin class (9:00am)
Tuesday – Upper body w/ weights/abs (10:00am)
Run/Walk 4 miles (anytime I can find before dinner)
Wednesday – Kickboxing class/abs (9:00am)
Thursday – Lower body w/ weights (10:00am)
Run/walk 4 miles (anytime)
Friday – Boot camp class/abs (9:30am)
Saturday – Kickboxing class/abs (10:30am)

The workouts are fun for me, but it’s the eating that I struggle with.

If anyone has suggestions on what foods worked for them, I would love to hear it. I’m far from a nutritionist and I hate spending a lot of time on cooking, so it has to be something fast or something I can make ahead and then heat up fast.

What works for you?

What are your new years resolutions?

Each new year we have a tradition in our family that has carried over from when I was a child, making and checking off our new years resolutions. What my family has done since I was little, and what we now do, is write some goals we would like to accomplish that year and then we write a goal or two for what we think our family members should work on. Growing up I remember some of the goals my siblings wrote for me were not very nice and something I wasn't even going to consider working on. But it was interesting to see what each family member thought we should work on. We also write down the weight of each person, the height and the age. Last year some of the goals Danielle had for herself was to keep her room clean, wake up earlier for school, listen in class more and practice soccer more each day. Ashley's goals included, working on A,B,C's, learn to read, help Danielle clean their room and try not to whine. Some of the goals we had for Kaman were to scribble more but not on the walls (Ashley's suggestion), play with me (Danielle's suggestion), learn more words (Mom's suggestion). I had a few goals for myself as well, wash dishes after every meal, finish laundry in one day, and have a mommy/daughter day set aside. Duane's goals included, go to bed earlier, read more, and learn something new. For the most part we did a good job this last year. We'll have to see how we do for 2009.

One of my top goals this year is to lose those last 10-15 pounds. I've made a goal to work out 6 days a week, & I'm hoping some of those days to squeeze in a second workout. I've lost weight before and know I can do it. But the first step for me is mentally preparing myself. As soon as I know I can do it then it will happen. Then I focus on the exercise and as soon as I am in my routine I work on the eating part. Eating, for me, is the hardest because I am a picky eater and I love to eat what I want. It takes a lot of focus at first, but then I just get into the groove and it works. It's always that first month that takes the most work, but sticking to it is how I reach my goal.

One of my favorite quotes that helps me get mentally charged is...

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't!
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in the state of mind!

If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself
Before you'll ever win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the person who thinks he can!


I honestly believe that if I know I can accomplish something, and I truly believe it, it will happen.

We need a new home....

Don't worry, we, the Howell family, are not in need of a new home, but my used furniture is. And I know this is tacky, but I'm going to use my blog as advertising for some furniture I am selling. I'm just thinking of all of you out there that read my blog and need used, but well taken care of, furniture. I'm nice like that. :)

Anyway, we are selling them on www.ksl.com.

Click on the name to go to the page.

Black Entertainment Center $450 OBO SOLD!!



3-piece Entertainment Center $250 OBO


Light Wood Baby Crib $100 & Jungle Safari baby bedding $100



If you are interested, we can deliver, too. Leave a comment, e-mail me or Duane or call Duane's cell or home phone.

The Howell's Christmas 2008

This Christmas we did the usual traditions with a few new ones. As we always do we celebrated with the Thompson family at our house on Christmas Eve. I decided to put a little program together for us all to enjoy and I had all the grand kids over the age of 2 perform a talent for us. Kaman sang his ABC's, well, we sang it for him, but he can say them by himself, I think he had a little stage fright. Kayla (Mindy & Trevor's 2 year old daughter) sang a song, Alex (Mindy and Trevor's son) sang a song as well, Ashley sang her school song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", and then Danielle told some jokes and read a story for everyone. Then my mom read another story and we played the video presentations I have on my early posts. On Christmas day we wolk up around 8am, opened presents, then headed over to my parents house for breakfast. After opening the gifts we headed over to Duane's parents home to have lunch. The kids FINALLY were able to play with their new toys at around 7:30pm when we got home. They were all tuckered out, but we had a great Christmas and they loved everything they got.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas...

The girls frosting sugar cookies while Kaman eats them as fast as he can.


Danielle reading, "Santa's First Flight", at our Christmas Eve party.


The kids opening their p.j.'s on Christmas Eve.


We've left the cookies out, wrote Santa a note and are ready for bed.


Kaman on Christmas Day.


Duane has always wanted a SLR camera.


Some of Danielle's presents.


Ashley wanted moon sand for Christmas...Mom did not!


The Thompson's on Christmas morning.


Opening gifts at the Thompson's house Christmas morning.


Kaman wearing his "Bob the Builder" tool belt and hat.


Kaman bulldozing the wrapping paper.


This is what the kids played with after opening all their gifts. :)


Danielle getting Duane back for shooting her with the bb gun.


Danielle playing on the keyboard we got for Christmas.


Kaman playing with his choo choo train on Christmas.

Danielle gets her own room!

Danielle has been bugging us for...ummmm...let's see, the past 4 years to have her own room! Ever since we moved into our home in Cedar Hills she has had to share a room with Ashley. And even though she LOVES her younger sister very much, she wanted her privacy. Well, this year, since Kaman was now old enough for his own 'big boy bed', we decided it was time. We had our old queen size bed stored downstairs so we brought that upstairs for Danielle. We took Kaman out of his room and put him in with Ashley. This resulted in everyone having a new place to sleep, which in return, caused everyone to be too excited to sleep. Needless to say, Danielle is a happy camper and because of it we might even get a few extra jobs out of her complain free. That sounds pretty good to me. Kaman on the other hand wasn't as excited as I thought he would be. He doesn't like change. But, after about an hour, he finally fell asleep. I was suprised I didn't get a tap on the shoulder in the middle of the night, but we did find him asleep on the floor this morning. I even tried to put him down for a nap today - didn't work. I'm afraid that means I may have eliminated his nap times. Oh, no!

Here are the kids helping Duane take down Kaman's crib and putting up Danielle's new bed.



Kaman's not too excited about this change.

Check out that HUGE smile!

Girls school Christmas program 2008

Last Thursday, Danielle and Ashley had their Christmas school program. They love performing their songs every Christmas and LOVE driving me crazy practicing them around the house. I always know when they start learning their Christmas songs at school because they come home singing them ALL day long. Their school usually has the same grades sing the same songs, so they get really excited each year older they get because they FINALLY get to sing the song they've heard the older kids sing. My favorite, and Danielle's, is the 6th grade song, "Holiday Lights". They give each person in the 6th grade their own flash light fixed with colored paper over the lights. Before the song begins they turn off all the lights in the lunch room and incorporate the flash lights in their song. It is really cool! Danielle is very anxious to get to 6th grade for this reason only, well, I'm sure there are more reasons but this is on the top of the list.

Here are some parts of the two girls singing in the Christmas program. Notice Danielle is having a hard time singing because she is smiling so big. Ashley is just glad to be on camera.