my lens.

it's months (8 to be exact) since i dusted off my big camera & took some quality shots. such a shame.to be honest, i completely forgot about it. that is, until coop & i were discussing his talents & dreams when he caught me off guard by asking me what my talents & my dreams are. ummm, total blank. it's been years since i thought about myself long enough to consider such things. i told him my biggest dream was to be a good mommy, but to a sensible 7 year old like coop that wasn't a good enough answer. he wants solid factual quantifiable answers. so after a few minutes of racking my brain i remembered that one of my long forgotten goals was to master my dslr. and there you have it! the reason for my new constant accessory. i' try to bring my camera along anytime i think i may have a few moments of down time. i still have a long long road ahead of me if i'm ever going to attain my lofty goal but there's no better place to start than the bottom, am i right? for now i'm just trying to keep off auto mode & figure out the overwhelmingly tricky settings. 

honestly, few things make me happier than pictures of my boys. i wish i could just truman show their entire lives. some days are sunshine & rainbows & others are just plain rough but when i look back at our photos  every smile, every tantrum, every tear, every moment seems down right perfect. i need to take more pictures. i don't want to miss any of it. so i hereby solemnly swear to capture it all (okay, maybe not all of it but definitely more.)

(waiting for cooper's baseball game to start with mylo, tj, & todd.)

(a typical lazy sunday afternoon at the beach with my men. soccer, football, sand castles, beach combing, & bbq.)

(scavenger hunt at ali'i kula lavender field & picking flowers at kula strawberry farm with our maui ohana. tj insisted on the biggest plant he could find, cooper got his favorite flower, a sunflower, & mylo simply wanted one small stemless blossom.)

christmas 2014

the holidays came & went in a bit of a blur this year. and i'll be honest, i was absolutely horrible at visually documenting all of it. i totally neglected to take any pictures on halloween or thanksgiving. and although, i did remember to take my camera out on Christmas i did not remember to actually use it. so i have a handful of low quality iphone 4 pictures & that is it. pathetic, i know. so i'll do my best to put in to words what i forgot to put on film. 

i opted to keep christmas low key this year. mostly, due to the fact that my energy was totally burned out after our trip to california, tj's birthday, school projects, & being a temporarily single mom while todd crammed for finals. tj & mylo didn't seem to mind one bit. coop, on the other hand, was constantly reminding me of all the forgotten festivities. i did make sure to fulfill his every holiday wish & squeeze in our annual traditions. we made gingerbread houses, scoped out the local christmas lights, watched santa paddle in on a double-hull canoe, visited the lahaina banyan tree in all its lit up wonder, devoured plenty frozen hot chocolate, wrote letters to & made cookies for santa, tracked santa on his trek to maui (which, did you know hawai'i is his last stop according to norad. personally, i think the guy in red gets a little exhausted from all the holiday hustle & bustle ends on hawai'i so he can stick around for a little rest & relaxation. we searched for him around island but we decided he was most likely on moloka'i to avoid all the paparazzi.), grilled christmas dinner on the beach, made sandmen & sand angels, & we baked, a lot, this year we added toffee & peppermint bark to our holiday treat list. every year we do an advent calendar. i've switched it up, sometimes, the boys open little doors to retrieve pieces of chocolate, sometimes they get a new book each day of december, one year they opened little bags with treats & toys. this year, as christmas approached, i noticed there was a little too me-me-me & not enough awareness of others. so our advent calendar involved reading a story about Jesus each day & checking off a list. and for the 12 days of Christmas we did a 12 days of service. this was definitely the most time consuming of our holiday activities & the most rewarding.  early in the month coop & i made a list of 12 acts of service we would do for others as Christmas approached. some days the boys were not at all in to it & i was literally dragging them along. other times they were thoughtfully involved & so happy to serve. i don't know how effective this was for the boys but it was definitely the approach i needed to get my heart in the right place. this is a permanent addition to our Christmas traditions.

i guess all my attempts to keep them grounded through Christmas were totally foiled when i went a little overboard on the presents (due to my lack of planning & delayed shipping times). but i did remind them, multiple times, that they were spoiled this year & they shouldn't expect that many gifts ever again. this was the first year that all three of my boys were really in to Christmas. and i mean really. every thing was new to mylo. it was like he had never seen any of it & every thing was the coolest thing he had every seen. like Christmas lights. he couldn't get enough. and he was obsessed with santa. in fact, mylo has decided that he wants to be santa when he grows up. we made countless visits to the mall to spy the fat guy. but, despite all his amazement, mylo would not come in to contact with his hero. he regressed in to his shy shell every time santa looked his way. i kept most of their presents wrapped at the top of my closet until Christmas morning because i doubted mylo's self-control. but as packages for the boys started rolling in i opted to test putting a few presents under the tree. total mistake. twice i caught mylo curled up under a blanket right in front of the tree quietly opening presents. trouble-maker, i tell you. mylo & tj were very pleased with the constant flow of fresh goodies. they got very good at sneaking sweets whenever my back was turned. tj was really in to the elf on the shelf. he was the first one to spot hoku each morning. and this was the first year he picked out & paid for gifts for his brothers. he was very excited to share in the gift giving. cooper loves it all. from putting up the christmas tree to taking it down he is completely in to the all Christmas has to offer. although, like every seven year old, opening presents is the highlight of his holidays. he's been gift giving for years but every year his favorite gift to give is mine. he always makes me something full of love & thought that just makes my heart melt. this year it was a hand drawn calendar that hangs proudly above my desk.

i feel so blessed to have these boys in my life. every day i am grateful to our Lord & Heavenly Father for trusting me with such sweet spirits. being their mother is the second most incredible gift i have ever been given (first, being the atonement). and i strive every day to fulfill my responsibility to lead, guide, comfort, love, nurture, nourish, strengthen, & cherish my beautiful sons. i am also so tremendously grateful for my dear friends & family. like the beautiful & extremely talented alta bills that sketched our family picture featured on the front of our Christmas cards this year. mahalo to you, all. i hope this holiday season was full of happiness, peace, & aloha.

california 2014

we booked some spontaneous (is spontaneous still applicable when most everything we do is last minute?) flights & took off to california last month. the trip was just too good to pass up. the nflpa takes pretty good care of their retired players. they payed for todd's flight, our hotel, rental car, & room service, all on the condition that todd do some work outs, visit a dietician, & get treatment (aka massages) not far from where he's from. and the timing was impeccable. my parents, my sister, & her family already had their plans booked to be in san diego at the exact same time. basically, it was a win all around.

the boys loved it. we tried to keep the trip a secret but coop is just too smart. he was on to us from the get go. when we finally spilt the beans he was not too surprised, but still very excited. tj was confused about the whole thing. it took about a week of being on california before he finally realized it wasn't just another hawaiian island. the flight over was easy peasy. mylo slept in my arms most of the way & the older two were happily occupied by handheld technology. 

other than a day trip to anaheim we spent the first week & a half in carlsbad. you should have seen the boys faces when we pulled up to our hotel & legoland was next door. i doubt they have ever been that excited before. we picked up season passes & spent just about every day bouncing between the hotel pools & the park. ti's favorites were the dragon ride, & building & racing cars. coop loved the dragon ride, & the incredible designs in miniland. mylo loved the lost kingdom ride, & the boat ride. they were all completely ecstatic to come face-to-face with snow. they've asked about the freezing phenomena for months, years even & couldn't wait to experience it for themselves. i opted to sit that part out since the high 60's weather was enough cold for me. i am still amazed with how well my boys  handled the southern california winter. i was so worried but obviously their skin is much thicker than mine.  

 staying in a hotel is probably my favorite part of vacationing. no cooking or cleaning? throw in a couple of pools & other amenities & i am so there. i may have to fight my germophob fears a little when watching my toddler roll around the hallway floor or sit bare bum in the hotel room chair. but what does it kill 'em makes 'em stronger, right?

i won't lie, i was a little shocked with how beautiful the california beaches were. i mean, don't get me wrong, they've got nothin on maui. like, not even close. but they were gorgeous in a totally different admire-from-a-distance kind of way. (heaven knows, i wasn't about to get hypothermia by jumping in that frigid water.) the boys were so excited when we showed up to the beach. they were literally mad when i told them i didn't bring their swim shorts-well, until they stuck their toes in & realized just how cold the water was. then they were more than happy to keep to the sand.

other than binging on mexican food & in-n-out, the highlight of our trip was family. we spent the last week bunking up with todd's grandparents, my parents, & a couple nieces & nephews. the boys were surrounded by so much love, they could barely handle it. cooper spent most the week touring the city with grama, papa, & jameson getting spoiled every step of the way. tj & mylo were obsessed with   kam, rylie, "auntie kam's mom," & uncle scott. they made some lasting memories that the boys still refer back to on the daily (like never, & which hand). my favorite part was getting a little quality time with my niece & nephews that made the journey to see us. i was beyond excited to watch my nephew, kam, play in a soccer tournament. he is such an amazing athlete & so much fun to watch. 

we had the unique experience of spending thanksgiving with my family & todd's family all together. which means, my dad's mashed potatoes, my mom's rolls, nana's creamed corn, nana's stuffing, & a couple julian's pies. it was everything our hearts & stomachs could wish for. we also got to celebrate nana's 82nd birthday with the lady we all so love & admire. 

it was real california. but this island girl is happy to be home. 

watkins 2014.

every year we take family photos. some years we have a photographer. some years we don't. this year i couldn't get todd to agree to a pre-specified time & date for the photos so it became a last minute, do-it-ourselves thing. basically, one sunday afternoon i asked, "when are we going to take our pictures?" todd said, "how about now?" & thirty minutes later we were pulling up to the maui tropical plantation ready to go. thanks to our rebel, tripod, & my very basic photoshop skills we were able to pull off these treasures. 10 points to anyone who can figure out which picture ti's head was edited in to the frame. the location was perfect. just a few miles from our hale & the kids were in heaven feeding the ducks while todd went through a lot of trial & error on the camera settings. this place has a special spot in our hearts. since it's nearby we often stop by for fresh fruits, they are my go to for papaya & mango. we also love to wonder the grounds, feeding ducks, & checking out what's growing. this is also where the little boys & i were for playgroup when a random photographer started taking pictures & asking questions, & one week later our photo showed up on the front page of the maui news. also, this is the home of the infamous "mean duck," mighty my's archenemy. 

Godzilla

meet, godzilla watkins. our first, semi-legit (aka non-fish) pet. isn't he rad? he was wondering around todd's campus when a coworker stumbled across him. todd quickly laid claim & dubbed this handsome little devil a member of our team. he spent the rest of the day wondering around todd's office. those two definitely formed a bond in those few hours that cannot be replaced. weeks later zilla still prefers todd to the rest of us. the boys were super stoked when daddy surprised them with their very own jackson chameleon. i mean, really, who wouldn't be excited about this little guy?! zilla was a little fussy the first week or so. he wasn't a huge fan of the whole cage thing. in fact he rammed the door a few times attempting to escape. he refused to eat anything but rolly-pollies, which aren't exactly easy to come by. but after warming up he is now happy to munch on any critter we offer. he does insist on alive bugs. so every day when we walk to school, or around the neighborhood, or visit the park we catch bugs to bring home to zilla. 

the boys love feeding him. it is awesome. he has this craaaaazy long tongue. so you hold the bug a few inches out. after he notices it he shoots his tongue & grabs the bug. the whole process takes about .5 seconds. it's crazy. the bug is there & the next instant it's gone. 

we are all big zilla fans. well, everyone but mylo. mylo has been known to bully godzilla from time to time. lucky for him, he has two other big brothers that quickly come to the rescue. of all our pets (godzilla the jackson chameleon & our fish, spike, rocky, flash, swimmer 1, & swimmer 2) he is definitely our fave. one day, our boys will get a dog & find out what a real pet is like. 

mele kalikimaka 2013

and this is exactly why you do not put off blogging. i've totally forgotten everything that happened over christmas. and isn't that the pointing of blogging, to remember those itty bitty precious details? and to make matters worst, i'm finding a total lack of holiday pictures as i'm scrolling through our archive. total mom fail. i'll give a record my best effort.

this holiday season went by faster than probably any other i've experienced. it started early when my cousins visited for thanksgiving (such an amazing week. i keep trying to convice them to relocate permanently), then we went straight into t.j.'s birthday, followed immediately by my mother-in-law visiting (finally! so good to have her around), & before we knew it christmas had come & gone. i tried to cram as much holiday festivities in as i could but i just didn't seem to have enough time or energy for every thing. we enjoyed holiday parties & play dates,  crafting, decorating, & baking, gingerbread houses, presents, snow men made out of sand, & a book advent calendar. it was hard keeping up with everything but so so worth it. cooper is very in to holidays, celebrations, & traditions. every time i tried to let something slide he was right there begging to bring it back i.e. homemade cinnamon rolls for christmas eve breakfast-i so wasnt't up for that but who can turn down his cherubic face? we are so grateful for the family we were able to see during the holidays & the dear friends who helped fill the void.

this was the first christmas eve were cooper was too overwhelmed with excitement to fall asleep & eagerly up before the sun. his brothers weren't quite sure what to expect but the quickly copied his enthusiasm. christmas day was absolutely perfect. normally i bulk up on presents. this year i went with the mantra, less is more. and it totally was. i limited the presents to seven quality gifts for the bigger boys & five for mylo. i put so much time & thought in to each gift. i wanted it to be something the would really enjoy & that wouldn't break before the week was up. they loved everything they got. cooper's favorite gifts were an ipod touch & a giant amythest from grama & papa. tj loves his car duplo set. mylo cannot get enough of his new basketball hoop & golf set. i planned to stop by the beach early in the afternoon so we could get back in time for our christmas dinner. but the boys were having too much fun to break it up. i decided to let them play with their toys until all day, move our christmas dinner to a late lunch, & stop by the beach for a sunset, instead. it was absolutely perfect. 

family fotos 2013

sometimes i wonder why i still blog. i mean, really, who has the time? not me. yet, somehow i manage to squeeze blogging in to the few free seconds i manage to find. these are pictures from our latest family photo session with the amazing, & oh so talented, ian nitta. we wanted these pictures to have meaning beyond their beauty. and ian certainly captured that. we went to one of our favorite  family beaches. just looking at this spot brings my heart so much joy. we have so many happy memories of sunday afternoons swimming, exploring, & playing on this strip of sand. and you notice those mountains in the background, see the one on the left, that's where we live. the highest row of houses furthest to the right, that's us. in fact, we look out on this this water from our lanai. and do you spy that little town at the base of the mountain, that's our little town. lastly, did you catch on to the fact that mylo is being held through most the shoot. that's because we took these pictures 4 days after his cast came off & he wasn't back on his feet. so you see, that's why i blog. so i can jot down a few memories to go with our pictures. so i can remember the things i never want to forget. also, making an anual family photo book is a high priority on my to do list & blogging makes the task a little less strenuous.

mele kalikimaka

hawaii: again

our life on the island has yet to slow down. hence, the sporadic blogging. after yet another full day i am running out of mental energy so i will keep the typing to a minimum & let the pictures do most of the talking. so prepare for the photo overload. in the last few weeks we have swam, snorkeled, bougie boarded, fished,  hunted for crabs, & played in the sand on countless beaches all over the island. we have explored dragon's teeth, hiked iao valley, visited some historical churches & the sugar museum, attended the maui county fair & parade, & even rode a submarine. we celebrated white sunday at a local samoan church, toured the maui ocean center plenty, made many stops by the library & our pool, & have had plenty play dates. we have enjoyed a lot of shave ice & barbeques on the beach. in homeschool we've studied boats, sharks, waves, turtles, & sugar cane. and the amazing thing, despite all of our activities we have barely scratched the surface of all that maui has to offer. i love this place.