Article on getting others to read your blog I found

RISMEDIA, November 20, 2010—By Stephanie Andre - Having great content is, of course, the number one reason why people will read your blog. However, there are a number of things that will turn visitors off and have them looking elsewhere for real estate advice. Here are seven tips for creating and designing your blog:

1. Are your colors easy on the eyes?

People are not going to stick around to read a blog that strains their eyes. Pick some easy-to-read colors, like dark gray or black text on a white or off-white background. If that is too plain, at least use dark colored text on a very light background.

You can always dress up the look by putting more color in your heading and sidebar, or add some images.

2. Is your font easy to read?

Take a good look at your font. It may be cool, but is it easy to read? Many Web designers will tell you that the best fonts for the Web are Verdana, Georgia and Lucida Grande.

3. Can people figure out your navigation?

How many times have you visited a website, only to leave because, after the front page, you couldn't figure out how to find more content.

You might think your blog is easy to navigate, but you are used to it. Ask a friend to see if they can figure it out. You might be surprised. (Especially if that friend is not very Web savvy.)

4. Does it look like spam, with ads plastered everywhere?

You should see more content than ads!

5. Do the links stand out?

On some blogs, the links are only subtly different from the rest of the text. If I have to squint to figure out if it is a link, people are not going to read it.

6. Do your pages take a long time to load?

Check your actual page load time. People will not stick around long if navigation is slow. Try to get your page to load more quickly. Maybe you have too many widgets or your images are too large. Adding width and height attributes to images makes them load faster, too.

7. Does your page look funny in other browsers?

If you have Internet Explorer already, download Firefox and test there, too. If you always use Firefox, test in Explorer. Those should be the minimum you test, but test more if you can.

Also, change your screen resolution (can be done in your Control Panel in Windows) to see how your site looks in different resolutions.

Beautiful Hawaii, Laie PCC show with family

End to my first week and its been a good week.

Its Friday and although Friday hasn't quite had the same meaning for years I still use to wait for Fridays with anticipation because for the past 3 years it meant that I would be flying home.  Ahhh how great it is to be home.  Soooo happy.  I've cleaned places that haven't seen the light of day in years.  I've organized, straighten up and dusted things that I had totally neglected for far too long.  I've made dinner every night, taken a short lunch break each day to make myself a sandwich and have accomplished all my task set for the week for the business as well.  All my files are completed, all of last years clients returns have been printed out and organized.  Flyer's completed and ready for distribution.  Website worked on daily.  Things are all moving in the right direction.  December will be a busy month. 

The website continues to be a work in progress.  But I'm making good progress.  Roberts site is gaining in the search engines.  I've set up a blog, a twitter account and am looking for a newsletter to insert.  After all why recreate the wheel :).  I really would like to purchase a  new desk top within the next few weeks.  We've spent quite a bit of money this week.  That's one thing that is really hard for Robert.  He doesn't seem to have a good grasp on budgeting and has no problem running out to buy anything and everything.  I came up with the idea that during Tax season we should have RP Tax shirts that we wear when we are working with the different companies that he wants to work within.  Of course he wants to run out right now and buy them.  Unfortunately this is not a good idea. He on the other hand thinks well why not.  Well because on the list of things that need to be purchased that is low on the priority list.  This will be the largest source of contention for us.  Grrrr.

911 operator how can we help you?

Yes there has  been an accident in front of my house.  A black Range Rover has crashed into the city lamp post 10 feet in front of my house.  No it appears as a single car accident.  Yes I can see the driver.  But I think he's trying to drive away but he can't cause his car appears totaled.

Couple of minutes later a single police car pulls up and he looks in the car, the driver has left the scene.  We look down the street and there is a man walking down the street.  The officer jumps back into his car with his lights flashing and takes off after the man.  They get him.  3 other police cars pull up.  One walks over to me and asks are you the one that called it in.  Yes I am.  Did you see the accident?  Nope just heard it and woke up.  I walked up to the car and did see that there was only one person in the car.  It was a white male. But that's all I could tell you.

Get into the Groove, You've got to move

I think that was a Madonna song lyric.  I always did like Madonna.  OK so I've made a couple of commitments to myself. 

1. Although I may work from my home I will get up everyday and act as though I am going into the office.  I will get dressed, make my bed, comb my hair and brush my teeth.
2.  I will take my med's (diabetic junk) daily and not forget just because I am home being lazy.
3.  The TV will not go on before 4PM if at all during day light hours
4.  I will incorporate some sort of exercise program into my routine. 

OK there I've written it down.  So let it be written so let it be done.  (I think that's from either Ben Hur or the Ten Commandments movie) 

I woke up at 5 this morning as usual went straight to my computer and began working on the company website.  Lots of work to do there.  Robert started the site and I'm taking over so it will be a work in progress for some time.  After 2 hours of working on the site I had to walk away for a bit because I became frustrated with the slowness of Roberts computer so I let it sit for a minute and took a shower and got ready for the day. 

I'm back working online.  I am determined today to get all of the client filing done today and to work on the client data base.  Ahhh to be busy.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

Pictures

Greatgrandfather Frederick Kenison

Grandmother Jane Kenison Barber with My mother Vilma Barber Siaosi and her sister Catherine

Christmas list

My Neiman Marcus Christmas book has been sitting here for weeks and I've finally had the time to go through it and pick out the things I like so here it is amoung other goodies to add to my list this year.

I love this dress - $500 (which by the way is a GREAT DEAL)

Tory Burch bag $465 Black with gold accents

Brownie mix on sale

I love this time of the year.  Lots of baking and cooking going on.  I will be the first to admit though if there is something I can buy already mixed, put together or packaged I will buy it.  So here is the deal.  This week at Albertson;'s  brownies mix is on sale for 49 cents if you buy 10.  Thats a great deal since they are usually a dollar something.  And on top of that canned frosting is on sale for 99 cents which believe me this very rarely happens but the catch is you have to buy 10.  For me thats no problem cause I will go through that in no time.  So as you can imagine i'm heading over to Albertsons.  Nothing like brownies with chocolate frosting spread over it.  Makes a great treat.  If you buy one of those little silver pans in the baking sections that come with a lid its a great treat to take to a friend or work.

Faithful Mortgage Payments and Their Effect on the Economy

I read this article today in one of my Real Estate updates I follow and thought it said much for so many people....

Faithful Mortgage Payments and Their Effect on the Economy



[1]RISMEDIA, November 5, 2010—(MCT)—For almost two years, home foreclosures have swept the nation, spreading misery among once-buoyant families, spattering lenders with red ink and undermining efforts to restart the economy. But a bigger problem may turn out to be the millions of Americans who are still faithfully paying their mortgages, but on houses worth far less than before the bubble burst. It’s not that these homeowners will stop making their payments. It’s just the opposite—that they will keep doing it.

How could that be a source of future trouble? Because, with home prices stagnant in much of the country, payments on mortgages that are underwater could absorb billions of dollars that might be used for other forms of consumer spending—a drag on family finances, the housing market and the overall economy. And the drag could persist for years.

Of the estimated 15 million homeowners underwater, about 7.8 million owed at least 25% more than their properties were worth in the first quarter of this year, according to Moody’s Analytics’ calculations of Equifax credit records and government data.

More than four million borrowers, including 672,000 in California, 424,000 in Florida and 121,000 in Illinois—three of the biggest real estate markets—were underwater more than 50%. Their average negative equity: a whopping $107,000.

Many of these homeowners are paying much higher interest rates than the latest national average of 4.25%. They still have jobs and can afford to make the payments.

But they can’t refinance because they owe too much. That home equity line of credit isn’t going to happen. Even ordinary loans may be impossible to get. And selling the home at a huge loss is out of the question.

Nor can most underwater borrowers take advantage of the Treasury Department’s loan modification program, which generally requires a job loss or another kind of hardship. In other words, they’re stuck.

Heather Hines and her husband reflect this new reality. They owe $415,000 on a Santa Rosa, Calif., town house they bought in 2004 for $430,000. When the county appraised the three-bedroom home a few weeks ago, it was worth $246,000—even less than a year earlier.

The couple had planned to move to a larger home after their two grade-school children became teenagers, but now that looks impossible. Their house needs a new roof, but they’ve put off replacing it for more than a year.

“It’s hard to think of making that investment when you’re hundreds of thousands of dollars underwater,” said Hines, a city planner who, like her husband, is employed and has an advanced university degree. “It just feels hopeless. What are we supposed to do? It feels like we’re never going to see any equity in our home.”

Theoretically, the Hines family could walk away—stop making the mortgage payments that consume a big part of their income. But defaulting would ruin their credit and have other negative consequences. So, she said, they’ll keep paying and hoping for the best.

Unhappily for the rest of the country, that’s not the end of the problem: The Hineses’ financial bind will ripple throughout their community and the larger economy.  The real estate market depends on such homeowners being able to sell and move up; without them the trade-up market can’t grow.  Meantime, the Hineses will keep delaying that new roof, depriving a local roofer of business. They’re unlikely to redecorate or upgrade the kitchen either, as millions of families were doing before the recession—more potential losses for local businesses, not to mention the car dealers, clothing and consumer electronics stores and manufacturers of the products that the Hineses won’t buy.

Weighed down by the huge debt on their house, they will also be a lot more cautious about how they use credit cards. Big family getaways in the summer? Forget it, Hines said.  Multiply such sentiments by millions across the country and that translates into lackluster private spending, which accounts for 70% of the American economy.  “Families have not yet boosted their spending above the levels preceding the severe cuts they made during the recession,” William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a speech last month. “This frugality stands in stark contrast to the first year of recovery from previous deep recessions,” Dudley said.

In prior downturns, the housing industry and consumer spending powered the economy back to strength. Home building not only created construction and finance jobs, but also fueled manufacturing of glass and lumber, furniture and appliances, and a host of other goods and services. 

In normal times, the U.S. should be putting up about 1.7 million new houses annually, but this year it’s running at about 600,000, economist David Crowe of the National Home Builders Association said. He thinks it will be three years before home building returns to its potential.

Rather than going out on their own or starting families, young Americans are doubling up with friends and relatives, saving more and paying down debts. Older Americans are staying in their jobs longer, hoping that the single biggest asset for most of them—their homes—will recover in value.

But nobody expects a return of rapid real estate appreciation any time soon. If home prices were to rise at an annual rate of 3%, not an unlikely scenario, it would take the Hineses about 11 years to get to a point where their mortgage balance was even with their property value.

Refinancing the Hineses’ 6.5% interest loan could be a big help, saving them almost $600 a month. But lenders won’t even consider them.  And unless borrowers fall behind on their mortgage payments or face a high risk of defaulting, there’s little chance that lenders, even with federal incentives, would reduce their principal or lower their interest rates.  “They feel completely left out,” said Fred Arnold, past president of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals, referring to many underwater borrowers.  “If you stop payments, you have a much better chance of getting a modification,” Arnold said.  He contends that the federal government should set aside funds to help more borrowers refinance: “It would put immediate money into the economy.” But that’s not in the cards, especially with budget deficits weighing on Washington and the American public.  Eventually, economists suggested, a lack of options will push more underwater borrowers to walk away from their mortgages. But in the meantime, the stress on families, the housing market and the whole economy will continue.  Mike Saint-Just doesn’t see a lot of room to maneuver. In 2007, he put down $125,000 on a $230,000 one-bedroom condominium near Palm Springs, Calif. County tax authorities say it is now worth $87,000.  After tapping a home equity line of credit, Saint-Just owes $143,000—about two-thirds more than the value of his home.  Saint-Just draws a federal pension, enough to stay current on his loan but not much more. When he asked his lender about getting a new loan with lower rates, he said he was told he was too far underwater.  The loan officer “did say I could go into foreclosure and hope, maybe, they might do something. And they might not, in which case my credit would be ruined and I’d be out the door of the unit,” he said.

So Saint-Just keeps making his monthly payments and cutting back on nearly everything else. “It means dropping grocery stores and going to Wal-Mart, the 99 Cents store for food and generic items,” he said. With the winter coming, he’s preparing to dress warmly to save on heating. That may get Saint-Just through the cold weather, but it may leave the overall economy to shiver.

(c) 2010, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.



you know I love purple



Isn't this just the cutes idea

Tax Season is coming.....

So Roberts Tax business is really taking off.  He's been hard at work promoting it and putting it together.  Because of his had work and marketing he's had a couple of offers to partner with an Investor or two.  He's decided to go at it alone and see how things go.  He's looking forward to a great year in 2011.  I'm excited for him and also looking forward to working with him.  We have very different style and work ethic's but overall with his enthusiasm and my ability to run a successful business we should be able to accomplish our financial goals.  Our biggest goal is to allow me to stay home and work from home.  This would mean expanding the business quite a bit.  I'm working on his P&L from last year and setting up his accounting systems.  We've just acquired a 800 number today.  My projects today are to order the car magnets and complete the marketing pieces. 

He is expanding to Alaska this year and so we're looking at a mobile office.  My idea :)  I think it makes sense.  Rentals on a large motor home during off season in Alaska are reasonable (no different then a hotel room) and we would be able to relocate as business requires for a week or two at a time.  Currently he is servicing clients in Utah, California and Hawaii.  We will add Alaska this next year. 

We're upgrading our hardware (buying another computer) and just purchased quickbooks so that he will be able to take credit cards and debit cards as well.  Much to do.  Much to do  Oh if you would like to visit his website  http://www.rptaxservice.com/.  Don't forget to referr a friend!

Starting a new business

Well Here you go. As most of you know I've had this idea of owning a florist since I was in grade school. I've always liked flowers and the way they make you feel. They bring a smile to most people and the smell is such a reminder of good things. Often you can smell a flower close your eyes and remember a really great memory. So anyways I've been toying with the idea of flower lei's for quite some time and really kinda had my first order last year thanks to my sister we were able to get an order from the local high school. This year I've decided to kick things up a notch and market in advance to the local schools as a fundraiser. Here is my first flyer. Let me know what you think. I've got a really great source in Hawaii and things kinda just fell into place. I guess you can say it happened from years and I do means years of my sister and I flying back and forth to Hawaii to hand carry lei's back for our kids graduations. Utterly hundreds of leis. Dayna's highschool graduation every single graduating student had a lei. Then there was Rianne's wedding and you might remember every single guest received a lei again all flown in from Hawaii.

I took a flowering arranging class in high school through our ROP department and I guess you can say there began my interest in flowers which then lead to party planning. When I was first married and starting my family money was always tight and I was always looking for ways to make extra money so one year I hit my parents up during the holiday season and somehow was able to score a job making the center pieces for several big events which actually gave me my Christmas money.

OK off I go to my real job :)

Planning another party.....with one week notice

Ok leave it to my sister to throw a party with one week notice. Gotta love her I can do it attitude. But well truth be told I have so many party ideas that what the heck it could be 2 hours notice and we could still do it...LOL

Ok so here goes for ideas. It is a Grandmother Baby Shower - yes you got it right. I actually had to look it up because I had never heard of such a thing but apparently this is a new trend with so many parents returning to work (due to bad economy they state) many grandparents are baby sitting and actually raising their kids kids so there a growing set of grandmothers throwing their own "Grandmother Baby Shower" in order to have all the basics at their house as well. I guess it makes sense?? I'm just going with it as it just another reason to have a party.

So the theme: Its October so why not go with the whole fall look and feel of things. I'm big on using the season as a theme. Decorations are abundant and usually can be found on sale some where. I am thinking for our favors: you guessed it Candy Apples, (for those of you following my blogg you will recall last year we made candly apples for the primary party at church and they were such a hit we made them again for the youth) for the decor, fall leaves and small decorative pumkins. Since this is at a resturant (not my choice) but easy clean up and minimal decorations we don't have to go crazy with everything. For the center of the table along with the fall leaves and think we can use the small pails and fill those with fall candy like candy corn and those cute little pumkin candies.

Along with those pails I thought these litte lanterns would look nice on the table just for a decorative piece to mix things up and add just a bit. I will have to think about what we want the card to say that is attached to the candy apples but I think Jenn is better with that kind of stuff I of course will make the cards but she is good with the wording.


I'm going to run over to the local party store in Newport they always have really nice decorations for more intimate parties. Everything there is so expensive but they have great ideas. Here is a picture of the lantern which is made of the same metal the little buckets. Oh I will have to remember to go to World Market and pickup those cute little scoopers they have for the buckets so people wont have to dig into each bucket for candy.

Oh I should mention that my sister is throwing this party for one of her best friends. That is a good thing to mention since most of you are reading this wondering if my sister is throwing her own Grandmother shower well no she is not it is for Sina.

Robert and I taken last weekend

One event down and one more to go. Roberts mothers memorial party went well. Plenty of food, decorations look great and LOTs and LOTs of people. I think his dad was quite happy that things went well. Robert did a great job MCing he shamelessly plugged his business. LOL

We're going to Utah next weekend for Dicky's sister in laws wedding. Really though its just an excuse for us to go and check on the house and hopefully arrange to get the tree's trimmed there before the winter weather sets in.

I have just about 2 months until Thanksgiving. I think though most of the ground work has been laid so we're in pretty good shape. I'll have to start storing a few things here and there and we'll be good to go. Water, paper products and such. All good.

Alright that's it for now.... :)

Ok so I finally found center pieces that didn't brake my bank. sheesh planning this party and the Thanksgiving dinner within a month of each other and holding a full time job, (out of town mind you) has been a bit of a challenge. Hopefully all of my planning and running around will pay off and we will have a GREAT event. Ok so the item you see there is a photo holder. Its cute when you see it up close. I'm going to put red flowers into and and photos of Roberts mother along with personal notes - I haven't decieded if I will ask that the guest take the time to fill out the notes and give it to the famly or if I will just take the time to create really cute note cards in the colors and theme of the party. I guess it will really depend on my time.

Aunt Lucy and Ann will arrive from England this Sunday. I'm really looking forward to this. They were oh so kind to Dayna and Ashlee during their visit to England. I'm looking forward to spending time with Ann and having her keen eye to help with the details to the party and in decorating. We have similar taste and so it will be fun to have the help. I will have to make time this weekend to pick up a few gift for them. Aunt Lucy is always appreciative of a box of See's candy so i'll make sure I zip on over there before they arrive.

Oh my gosh it just dawned on me I can have Ann help me bake the 250 cupcakes I plan on having at the party. OH I'm really excited to have the help. Yahooooo.....LOL

Tailgate Parties

Ok so yesterday I had 4 employees (all guys) that requested to leave early yesterday. I didn't think anything about it until this morning. All of the guys gave various reasons for leaving early only for me to find out today that all left for the 49er Football game last night.

Now is the interesting part..... the game started at 5 and they all left around 11AM. REALLY??? what the heck do you really think that it warrants leaving work early. I mean honestly how would you feel if I walked into my boss's office and said "hey um I need to leave early Thursday morning because Bloomingdale's is having a sale that starts at 8PM but I need to get in line. I mean really???

I'm really wondering about the mental state of these men. If my husband told me he was leaving work early to go sit in a parking lot of a football stadium I would really have a hard time with that and would tell him so. I mean come on.

yes i know there is an error -

Hopefully the company I ordered the banner from received my email and will fix it. If not i'll have to use a black marker or something. Ohhh how do these things happen to me...LOL

Moving right along......

Table clothes I will be using - I like them :)

This is the lattic that I will be using to hang the pictures on i may drape material for accent not sure? I'll play with it once I have it up

My cupcake stand. The black ribbon is inter-changeable for any occasion. I have several different colors but will be using the black

My cupcake cups cute don't ya think :)

Party Planning and having a full time job is really pushing my limits...LOL. Anyways. OK ordered the pannels. I'm asking that Roberts sisters email me their favorite photo's of their mother to which I will blow up to 16x20 and hang them on the pannels and place these around the room. Did I mention I'm having cupcakes for sweets at the party.... too much??? oh I don't know but ya know what Robert likes it to I'm going with it. The image above is my cupcake stand I will be using and i found black and white poka dot cup cake holders so it will be fun.

WOW its September....

Where has the time gone? Things are too hectic right now. We just celebrated Dayna's 22 birthday wow can you believe my baby is 22 years old? I'm so very proud of her and you may have read she just returned home from a summer in Europe traveling around by backpack and train, ferry and or boat. She had an amazing time. She has now started Law School in San Diego. We're so proud of her and excited to see her go through her next adventure in life.

I'm preparing for our BIG KENISON THANKSGIVING dinner. My sister is completely stressing me out about this in the fact that we operate in two very different styles. I am a folder and calendar task list kind of person (carried at all times) and she is a hey it got done didn't it kind of planner. Although I am always amazed she does accomplish the task just not the pace I would like to see. Oh well end results are good....... right???

Ok so we're debating back and forth on the location of the dinner. This is Jen's project and i need to quit bugging her about it but I need to have the location stated on the invites. I created an event on facebook and at this point it seems to be the best source for getting the information out. I've also created a newsletter/update information sheet and plan to have another one go out this week as soon as Jen can get back to me with her assignment. I will then email and facebook everyone with the next update.

Decorations have been assigned out to Danielle which will take a load off of me however I will have to drive her with this as well. Her budget is $500 or so and so we will see what she comes up with. Does that sound reasonable? Not really sure but I am sure we have to reevaluate as we get closer. Lucky for me I have tons of Thanksgiving decorations I use for my home so I will incorporate some of this into the decor of the dinner. I've also asked Danielle to pay attention to pumpkins this year as they are a cheaper type of decor to have around the room.

I have begun scanning photos for the slide show. I'm trying to give myself enough time to complete this and be able to burn copies for the group. Unfortunately I think my brother has most of my moms photo albums. Actually not sure where they might all be. I only had a few and I mean a very few.

On top of all this I am also doing the decorations for Roberts dads party he is having. It is a memorial party for his mothers one year anniversary of her death. I've created a banner for the event and have been looking at center pieces and room decor. Its pretty tough since what would be considered too much of a party and less of a memorial however I am taking my lead from his dad who has hired a band for dancing and a cater for food so apparently this is a PARTY...lol. My sister and I were laughing with him the other night and told him it was his coming out party which he got a big kick out of. So anyways we will see. I've ordered a few things to see how they will look so we will see. Above you can see the center pieces I am considering. The runners are the ones i will be using. Is white and black odd for a memorial party? Oh well thats what i'm planning so we will see. I'm thinking of throwing in an accent color but that will depend on what i can find.

Tiave family wedding in Hawaii

Just returned home from a weekend in Hawaii attending a family wedding. Oh what a great time we had. Jennifer and her husband Dave were also there and we just had a great relaxing time. The wedding happen to be our favorite hotel that we usually stay at while visiting the island. The Ihilani Resort. Robert and I have been staying there with the kids for the past 10+ years and have always enjoyed it. Its on the leeward side of the island just past Kapolei. Its a JW Marriott Resort which are always my favorites.

We had the wedding Saturday night with over 750 guest. Reports are that this was the largest wedding to be held at this hotel. I can't even begin to imagine the cost. It was great to see family and to meet cousins we had never met before. Auntie Colleen was there with her grand daughter. I hadn't seen Auntie Collen in years. She was so sweet and apologized for not making it to moms funeral. She's been battling a series of illnesses and we were told she was going back into the hospital for yet another surgery on Monday. She was very disappointments that we would not be staying longer and could meet up with Shirley and her other kids living there on the island.

During the day Robert and I spent all our afternoons soaking up the sun laying around in the lagoon. It was so relaxing and great to be in the sun just doing nothing but enjoying the company. No hustle no bustle. Robert and Dave always had our food schedule ready for us. We ate local food daily and we wouldn't have had it any other way. Robert was just thrilled to have an eating partner and Dave filled the bill perfectly. LOL

This is a photo of our Thanksgiving last year. It was a much smaller group but it was our first. If you can believe it that's only three families. My girls aren't even there.

Karol Barber Riches put this together and did a great job. We played volleyball, bingo and musical chairs. There was so much food. She really out did herself. Great day.

Pictures of Thanksgiving past. My mom was still with us so as you can see by the photo my brother and his family were there. Since my mother has passed we have not spent another holiday with my brother and his family. Quite sad but it is what it is. Some day we hope they will join us but until then we will keep inviting them. In this picture we are playing our traditional Bingo game. Robert's family joined us this year as you can see his mother in the photo as well. She is no longer with us as well. We are coming up on the year anniversary for Roberts mothers death. His dad is planning a party at our ward to celebrate. I'm really not sure what that is all about but I guess its a Thank you party to the ward for their contribution to her funeral. I didn't realize you do these things but apparently they are done so it should be interesting. I don't think any of Roberts brothers and sisters are coming out for it. Actually that's not true I believe Lisa and her husband will be here but Dicky and Ruby will not. They are all planning on going to Samoa for the celebration there will she will receive her headstone.

thanksgiving.....

Found these cute jars - I think we can make these with very little effort. hmm ok I can start on these early in the month that will work??

I have asked Jen and Rianne to start working on the genelogy forms to be sent with the next newsletter/reminder to the family so that way we can share all the information we've all collected over the years.

I've asked Danielle if she will be the designated photographer although Jenn thinks we should hire a professional and allow for professional family portraits, not sure about that but will investigate price and so forth.

Dayna is home

Yes she is home safe and sound. 63 days of her traveling Europe via backpack, living in hostels and just a single friend. Her only connection to her family has been email and facebook. Thank heavens for that. She has posted on her facebook that her travels have forever changed her. I haven't seen any pictures yet but hope she will share when I get home this weekend.

Looking forward to our little vacation this next weekend end. Going to Hawaii for a wedding in the family. So looking forward to sleeping in, laying on a beach and generally just relaxing. Ahhh I can practically smell the flowers and hear the ocean..... ahhhh :)

Just received my first shipment of Bony Acai. Taste pretty good, not bad but I think I would prefer it with lots and lots of crushed ice. But over all definately a good drink :0)

Also in my shipment were 2 Anderson Silva T-shirts for my sales team. Cool stuff since he is fighting this weekend here in Oakland and a couple of the guys are going to the fight.

Friday will be a fun day for the sales team - thanks Bony Team!

Hawaii here we come

Ok looks like we're going to Hawaii for a family wedding and vacation. Gosh I really need one. Haven't been anywhere since March. Robert and I went to Vegas and Hawaii all in a week but its been work work work since then and I'm ready so off we go. I think we are leaving on the 26th or 27th of this month. Updates to come :)

Dayna will be home for Europe, but wil be starting school soon so not sure if she will be going. Jenn and her family will be going so should be a fun trip. Looking forward to relaxing on the beach and seeing the new show at PCC.

Thanksgiving planning

Ok so this is really pretty and we already have the vases for this so hmm this would actually be easy and quite inexpensive as far as a center piece. I really do like the whole branch thing from the other photo but this might be easyier. It was also suggest to make things fun we have each family decorate their own table and have a contest for it. That would kind of fun but difficult for those that travel a distance. Something to think about.

August

Reports are all over the news for the past 2 days that we've had the coldest July since 1971 or earlier. So much for global warming. What a load of crap!

A favorite child....

Today I was told that it is very apparent that I have a favorite and will give my favorite nearly everything and far less for my other child who apparently is favored by her father. I of course totally disagreed but then realized there was an ounce of truth to all this. A very small ounce I repeat.

How did this happen? Is it really possible to favor one over the other. I mean I am closer to one then the other but I don't think I favor one over the other..... I don't know I have to really think about this. Hmm

Let the planning begin.....

So Thanksgiving is 4 months away. I can't believe it. Before you know it, it will be here. Why am I talking about Thanksgiving in July? Well here is the deal, this year Jenn and I are in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner and hosting it here in OC. So in my usual planning style I am already looking at decorations, menu planning and of course location. I've asked Jennifer if she would ask about her church building so that we can play volley ball, basket ball and of course bingo.

Oh ok so here is the center pieces i'm thinking of having... what do you think? I think they should be pretty simple but....

Too much? Well with the browns and pumkins and things i think it should look really nice :)

I am thinking round tables as they are easier but nice long tables would be really nice as well that way??? so many things to think about.

Family History

Below is from a document I found in my grandmothers (Jane Kenison Barber) paper work:

David Kenison, my great grand father was born in Denmark, there were three brother each decided to go to different parts of the world. So as the identify their decendants my great great grand father decided to stay with the orginal way of spelling Kenison with one N. The other said he would spell his with two N's in the middle and the third spelt his name Keniston.

My great great grand father David Kenison settled in Canada then to Nova Scotia where he was engaged in ship building like his father before him. There he married, one of his children David worked with his father for while, when his mother dies he left home and his father married again.

So David my grand father too to the sea and finally worked his way up to be a captain of a sailing vessal. He sailed to South America then he sailed to the Pacific Ocean. That is where he first saw Samoa of course he couldn't stay there as the ship did not belong to him. Then he sailed to New Zealand and it was there his ship was wrecked off the coast near the Bay of Islands. He stayed there for some time. There he married an Army Captains daughter her name was Ann Elizabeth Cribb. Their first child was born there this was David Jr the 3rd.

When hewas two years old Captain Kenison decided to go to Samoa to live. They arrive in Samoa in 1866. He started a cotten mill and did very well until big flood came and washed the mill away together with all of his savings. Which he kept in a trunk at the mill. So he was left penniless.

Next he built himself a boat, so he could go freighting around the islands for copra. He was successful in this venture. My great grand mother died in November 1987 and was buried in Saniatu, Upolu Samoa. It was about 1899 that great grandfather brough his family to Salt Lake City Utah. he was there a couple of years and he met and married Fiau'u Fanene the from this marriage he had one daughter Leah Kenison she was born on the 4th of July 1905

Grandfather Kenison went back to Samoa about 1914 he lived at Fusi Upolu until his death in April 1919. he was buried at Sauniatu near his first wife.

(This part was hand written on the document)

My father stayed back in Am Samoa until my mother died but he sent my older sisters to school in Utah Carrie, Maggie, Florence and Maria. In 1897 he had 11 boys and one girl

July 3rd, Moms birthday

Yes today is my mothers birthday. I'm waiting for Robert to wake up then we will visit my mothers grave. I've thought about this all week. I know her grave is just a place of memorial as her body and spirit have long gone. I have debated back and forth if I should actually go to her graveside or if I should honor her in another way but I've decided for me this is what I want to do. I know my brother hasn't been to her graveside since we buried mom but I know in his own way he honors our mother. So that's what made me think about this. Not that I'm judging anyone but more of should I be doing something different.

Every time I go the Forest Lawn in Cypress where mom is buried I see so many families gathered to what appears as a BBQ picnic type event. They have blankets spread out, food and seem to be sitting there in groups of 10 or more. Then I remember when my mom was driving she would pack all the grand kids in her car and take them to visit my grandmothers grave and she would sit there for quite some time with the kids cleaning up the graveside and weeding around it.

I think that's part of the reason I go back for just about every holiday. So my mothers grave doesn't sit there unforgotten. Its sad when you go by and you see the graves with no flowers, no tending to. Its as if they were buried there and forgotten. So I go back nearly every holiday and that is my way of honoring my mothers memory. That and the fact that a week doesn't go buy that I don't miss my mother. I often wish I had her to talk to. I use to call her quite often just to talk or to tell her something that happened or ask a cooking question.

I know she would be so proud of my girls and their lives and how they've become such beautiful young women. Dayna is traveling through Europe right now and I could just about hear my mother praying daily for Dayna to return home safely. I can hear her asking me "are you sure its safe" only for me to remind her that she let my brother go to Europe and do the same thing at the same age. Of course she would tell me that's different he's a boy but none the less we would have this conversation.... funny how I can hear it all in my mind.

Robert and I often have momma battles. As we drive along in the car and say "well my momma..." its a fun game we like to play with each other. One day he said "well my momma is a saint" and I replied "well if your momma is a saint that would make my momma a God". And so the game as gone on from there each insisting that their momma was better then the other. Our resent battle of the mommas he insisted that his momma baked cookies for all the little kids in the village. Oh just not any cookies but the "BEST" cookies... OK really i don't think his mother ever made a cookie in her whole life but like I said its a game we play and laugh at each other about the things we say.

In the end we both know how much we both miss our mothers and know that their memories live on in us.

6 months where has it gone???

WOW has it really been six months since I've been on here and blogged? How can that be. Well lots going on but too much to back to talk about so I'll skip right over that to whats going on now.

OK lets see Dayna, well Dayna is is Europe for the next several months. She and a friend left last Monday night and will not return until August. I will be sitting on pins and needles until then but I know that is an awesome experience for her and look forward to all the great stories she will tell when she gets home.

When she gets home within days she will start Law school in San Diego. It will be a rough 3 years so she thought this would be her last big trip until after Law School so off she went.

Danielle, well Danielle moved home last December. Robert is thrilled to have her home as she often cooks dinner for the two of them and generally is around for him to chat with since I am gone during the week. I love having the girls home and there is just never enough time spent with them.

Robert, well this week Robert is in Utah working on the house there. Dayna has moved out of the house and so good ole Robert has gone up to pack her house up and move all of her things down to California. Unfortunately for us her stuff will sit in our garage for the summer. Robert has found a couple of girls that will rent out the house and so he is working on getting the house ready for the new renters. I'm quite proud of him as he took care of all the paper work and worked on the house all by himself. This was a new experience for him and he did well. :)

As for me I'm still working in San Jose and commuting each week from home. Staying in a hotel weekly has still remained the norm for me. I'm still the Young Women's 1st counselor in our ward. Jennifer and I have started a sort of tradition this year and have breakfast every Saturday morning together. I really look forward to it. Both our husbands come with us and its a way for us to catch up on the kids and what we're doing as well as just gab about anything that comes to mind.

Ok so I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping up on this blog so that I can better remember things. So I'll be back....

January is almost over

January is almost over can you believe it. I can't believe its 2010. Where was i 10 years ago? Where was I 20 years ago? I am going back to the doctors on Monday. I had a mamogram done a couple of weeks ago and they found something they want to look at again. I'm hoping its nothing but I guess you can never be too sure. Breast cancer dosn't run in my family on my moms side but i'm not sure about my dads family.

I am happy to report that I've been able to bring my sugar count down by nearly half of what it use to be. The doctor has put me on Metphormin, actos and oh something else and the combination of the three seem to work. That and I am actually taking my pills regularly and quit regular soda and have actually made it to the diet soda side. I've also through controlling my sugar level have reduced my thirst. I was drinking and peeing like there was no tomorrow but that seems to have all cleared up now. LOL funny how that works I knew all that but painfully suffered along not willing to give up my soda. Oh the things we do to our bodies.

Ok so giving up soda allowed me to loose 15 pounds. I thought it would be more but oh well happy with that the problem now is that the medication is allowing me to put back the weight. I gained 5 lbs over the past 30 days. These are actual numbers per my doctor visits. My doctor wasn't worried about it although my last visit he said "you need to loose 20 lbs" and so I was a bit confused but i think he realized that the pills would put weight on first and then I had to start working out to loose the weight once I leveled out my sugar count and such. At least that makes sense to me.

Oh well Robert is in Hawaii for the weekend. Its Tax season so he's working with his clients there. Interesting I think he has more clients in Hawaii then here in Cali. We're going Back in a couple of weeks. I'm just tagging along for the trip. I haven't had much time to read and so I plan on just sitting around reading.

Gotta get going now - I'm starving.