Philip and Jaime Connor

Well, unlike all you people who live in cold places, we got to spend Christmas Eve at the beach. It was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the mid 70's and although the water was a bit cold, we had plenty of sun and loads of fun. Caleb spent most of his time playing in the sand and Nathan spent most of his time in the waves. Joslyn divided her time equally between her brothers. It was so much fun to see the kids playing and having a great time. Phil and I also enjoyed ourselves and soaked up some rays. I stayed out of the water for the most part, but Phil ventured in to play with the kids. It was a little strange not to be playing in the snow on Christmas Eve, but it was a good time. And after we were done, the kids wanted snow cones instead of hot chocolate. Hey! Playing in the sand. Caleb Joslyn Nathan Daddy and Caleb watching the waves. I'm carrying two babies! Get ready, here comes another one!

These pictures were taken some months ago when Phil was underway and he received his dolphins. When someone gets their dolphins it means that they are fully qualified on the submarine. You can see them pinned on the left side of his uniform. It is a significant milestone in the life of a submariner. Congratulations Phil! We are so proud of all the hard work you do everyday and for the sacrifices you make for our family. We love you very much!

These are the last pictures taken by my poor camera before it was dropped and broken. They were taken the day before when Caleb was climbing on the chair in the computer room and just being cute. I thought I would post them as a memorial to a good camera that served us faithfully for five long years. The good news is that we purchased a new camera yesterday so that we can continue to document the antics of our children (and sometimes ourselves) for posterity. Enjoy!

Today at school Joslyn got an award for showing compassion in class. Every month each teacher picks one child who has exhibited the character trait of that particular month. I was so proud of my little girl. She is a sweetheart and I'm happy to know that she got acknowledged for being compassionate. What a great trait to have. I got to eat lunch with her at a special table and then see her go up on stage and recieve her award in front of all the other kids. Congratulation Joslyn! I love you! I wanted to post a photo of her, but I dropped my camera on my way out the door and broke it. Now I'll have to take Phil and go get a new one.

We had our Ward Christmas party yesterday. It was a lot of fun and the food was yummy. We had a fun program and then sang Christmas carols. One of the carols we sang was the Twelve Days of Christmas Hawaiian style, which was pretty funny. It went like this: On the one day of Christmas my TuTu (grandma) gave to me, one mynah bird in one papaya tree. On the two day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, two coconuts On the three day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, three dried squid On the four day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, four flower leis On the five day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, five big fat pigs On the six day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, six hula lessons On the seven day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, seven shrimps a swimming On the eight day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, eight ukuleles On the nine day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, nine pounds of poi On the ten day of Christmas my TuTu gave to me, ten cans of soda On the eleven day of Christmas my TuTu gave

Joslyn has had an eventful time this week. One of the most exciting things that happened to her was that she lost her first tooth. This made her so excited! She feels as though it is the beginning of the passage into being a big kid.

1. Where did you meet your husband? His Mother set us up. 2. How long did you date? We dated for a month and were engaged for two, and most of it was long distance. 3. How long have you been married? Almost 9 years. 4. What does he do that surprises you? Phil is very funny. He makes me laugh all the time, which is a surprise to most people because he seems so serious. 5. What is your favorite feature of his? Wow, where do I start? I love his eyes and, this may sound silly, but I love his hands. 6. What is his best quality? He has so many, but I think his honesty is his best one. 7. Does he have a nick name for you? Lady. 8. What is his favorite food? Leftovers. 9. What is his favorite sport? Soccer 10. When and where was your first kiss? It happened after Christmas in 1999 when he came all the way up to Utah to see me. We were in my apartment and I was so nervous! 11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We are very outdoorsy people and we like to hike and backpack. 12. Do

We just got back from our December Primary activity. We had breakfast, made Christmas crafts, and practiced our songs we are singing in sacrament meeting. After everything was over, my kids were running around like a pack of hyenas. I told them several times to settle down and to be quiet while I gathered my things, but I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. When we went out to the car I expressed my displeasure with the way they were behaving and they promised to do better. On the way home we stopped at Payless to get some new Sunday shoes for the two older kids. After they had found the shoes they wanted they again started chasing each other around and being noisy and annoying again. Again, I repeatedly asked them to stop and again I was ignored. When we got to the car I told them that they had behaved very badly and they were again contrite. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but it can get very frustrating when you feel like the invisible woman.

Well, my husband is gone again and it has me thinking about families. I think that the Lord was terribly clever when he created families with a Mom and a Dad because it really works best that way. When Phil is here, I am so much calmer and sweeter and less stressed. We each have our strengths and we play off each other well. We have each other's backs and life is so much easier, not to mention calmer and more sane when we are working together as a team to raise our family. When he is gone, my stress levels go way up. I have less patience, I raise my voice so much more, I am not as happy or I'm afraid, as nice as I am when he is here. It is hard and I am working on it, especially since I will be a single parent for more than half of 2009. Clearly, I can do better, but I am so looking forward to the time when he gets to be around all the time and I don't have to go it alone.

A couple of nights ago I sent Nathan upstairs to find a book to read for his reading log. I was busy doing something else so it took a little while to realize that he should have come back down stairs already. I marched upstairs to see what exactly was occupying my easily distracted child. I found him in his sister's room reading her a bedtime story. This in and of itself is pretty sweet, but when I saw what he was reading her, my heart swelled with love for my thoughtful son and his sweet sister. Before Phil left for his deployment almost two years ago, he had purchased some books for the kids and made recordings of him reading them so that the kids could look at the books and listen to their Daddy read to them while he was gone. One of the books he got was Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. The story is about a father hare and his child telling each other how much they loved each other. The last page of the book has the father telling his sleeping child "I

It's quiet, too quiet. I felt panic as I raced down the stairs wondering what in the world he had gotten into this time. I rounded the corner and skidded to a stop, for what did my eyes behold? It's nice to know that silence can still be peaceful sometimes.

Nathan began taking piano lessons about three months ago. He is doing so well and his teacher says that he is very musical (I think he gets it from me). On Saturday he had his first recital. He was playing a simplified piece by Tchaikovsky called Marche Slave and he did such a great job. He was able to do both the top hand and the bottom hand which is very hard and we were so proud. He got a little flustered in the middle of his piece. I think he lost his place, but he pulled it together and there was no freaking out involved. He just took a minute and with the encouragement of his teacher was able to find his spot and finish the song. He also played Away in a Manger . It is great to see him doing so well and learning such a useful and beautiful talent.

My little Joslyn is turning five this month. Due to scheduling conflicts with Phil, we decided to have her party on the 6th even though her birthday isn't until the 15th. I told Phil that he had to be there because I was not going to handle all those little girls by myself. It was a good thing he was there too because he was a rock and handled the girls like a pro averting all kinds of catastrophes. He definitely saved my sanity. You know you have found a great man when you see him helping twelve little girls tie ribons and sprinkle glitter on their magic wands. I am a lucky woman (also because the Florida/Alabama game was already over). Joslyn had a fantastic time and was so happy to have had her "girl" party. It was her first birthday party with friends and she was over the moon at all the attention she was recieving. All the girls had fun. We played "fairy tag" which is just freeze tag except to unfreeze people you have to sprinkle fairy dust on the

Well, one thing I can say for Caleb is that he certainly keeps things interesting around here. The other day he reached up onto the counter and pulled down my bitter cocoa. It smelled good so he decided to try it. The result was not what he had hoped. I was alerted to the problem by the ACK! ACK! I heard coming from the kitchen and I found this on the floor . . .

Last night Phil was changing Caleb's diaper before bed. He needed some desitin because Caleb has a diaper rash, so I ran upstairs and got it for him. After Caleb had his new diaper and had thrown away the dirty one, Phil went upstairs to work on a computer project while I was sorting through my Christmas stuff. Neither one of us was paying much attention to Caleb and he was being quiet so things seemed OK. I should have known that a quiet child can sometimes mean trouble. It seems that Phil forgot to put the desitin up out of the way and this was the result. . .

Last night I put up my Christmas tree. I did it after the kids went to bed although I have saved some stuff for them to do when they get home from school. I mostly wanted the larger deed to be done so that it would make things easier on me in the long run. It is a fake tree. Before I came to Hawaii I heard that real trees were really expensive here, so I thought it might be best to go with the fake one for a few years (20 according to Phil). One of the first things Joslyn wanted to do this morning was to go and see the tree, so I sent Phil down to turn on the lights. It is still dark when the kids get up so the lights were twinkling merrily in the darkness when they came down the stairs. The oldest two expressed their delight at the tree and are excited for the chance to add some candy canes and stuff to it this afternoon, but the most gratifying response came from Caleb. He took one look at the tree and said "Cool". He kept saying it every time he looked at the tree

So, since we have had the privilege of Phil's company so much these past few months, we have been able to get so much done. One of the things we have been meaning to do is to get the kids to ride their bikes without training wheels. It was high time that happened, especially for Nathan, only it was something that I was finding hard to do by myself, mostly because of time constraints. However, with Phil around, the task was taken off my shoulders and it finally got done. We started with just Nathan and then decided to make Joslyn loose hers as well. It ended up being a great thing because they challenged each other and ended up riding together a lot faster than they would have all by themselves. Here are some fun pictures Phil and I were able to capture. Caleb also joined in the fun by chasing the kids as they rode. He had a great time and was happy to be included with the big kids.

Since the election is now over I have been amazed by the reaction of the gay community towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In Hawaii, we don't hear anything about it, but I have been keeping up on the subject through the internet and have been deeply saddened by the intolerance I have seen. Since I have a blog, I decided that I would write about my feelings and share a few of the articles that I think have shown this fiasco in the correct light. The first is called "The Right to Win". The web address is http://article.nationalreview. com/?q= M2E1ODgyMDczMDA3NzkzY2E4YTNhNj gzMjk2NmEyOTY= . I think that this man has hit the nail on the head when he talks about people in the United States and their belief that winning is a right and if they loose then they are being discriminated against. Another article that I thought very good is found at http://meridianmagazine.com/ ideas/081110hate.html . Anyway, I just wanted to share.

We had a great Halloween. We decided to forgo the trunk or treat at the church and go trick or treating around the neighborhood. As we were beginning to get ready to go, Joslyn ran up to me in a panic. She had worn her witch costume to school and then had left it in her backpack on the bus. Of course at that hour it was much too late to anything about it, but luckily she has dress-up stuff and I told her to get her red Belle dress and her gold crown. She ran and put it on and then I did her hair, fastened the crown and put on some princess makeup and she was ready to go. Nathan put on his Indiana Jones costume and I gave him some stubble with some Halloween makeup I had purchased for that purpose. Caleb was a skeleton, but only wore his mask long enough to try to scare us and then took it off and refused to wear it again. Everybody looked great. Phil stayed home to hand out candy and I took the kids around the neighborhood. This was Caleb's first year trick or treating an

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had such a good time and the kids really enjoyed all the villages and the IMAX movie. We got season passes because the military/resident pass for a year ended up costing the same amount as going once at the regular price. There were a few things we didn't get to do because it started to rain on us, but we will be able to go back and finish whenever we want. The kids got the chance to go up on stage at the Tongan Village and play the drums. They also got to throw spears, get fake tattoos, play some traditional games and learn lots of cool stuff. When we left, Joslyn said "Mom, we should go back to that fun place soon." Yes, we should. Feeding the ducks. Playing traditional games. Making paper. Playing the drums. Spear throwing. Hail the mighty hunter!

Well, after some problems with a broken ultrasound machine, we finally got to see our baby and found out that we are expecting another boy. The news was a big surprise. We all thought it was a girl and Joslyn was particularly disappointed that she will not be getting a baby sister. When I broke the news to her she cried, but I told her that the baby could still sleep in her room and that made her feel better. Our only problem now is that of a name. We had our girl name all picked out but since we are having a boy we have to come up with something else. So far there has been no agreement on what that name should be. Good thing we have a while to decide.

We also went swimming this week and the kids had so much fun. Phil was throwing Nathan into the air, much to his delight and Joslyn made friends with nearly all the kids in the pool. Caleb was hesitant and clingy when we first got into the water, but he soon loosened up and was having a great time kicking his legs and going after his Dad. We got home and I made some spaghetti. The kids were all ready for bed because they were exhausted, but Caleb didn't even make it all the way through dinner.