Iolani Palace and the State Capitol

Hailey went on a field trip today to the Iolani Palace and the State Capitol. I learned so much! This historic landmark is the ONLY Royal building on U.S. soil. There were 5 kings before the king's sister became queen, and then it was overthrown. ( that is the very, very short version) It is over 125 years old and a lot of history is behind it. At first it was the Capitol building, but when more rooms were needed for the Senate and such, they expanded to across the street. The Capitol building itself symbolizes the ocean and volcanoes erupting making the 8 Hawaiian Islands. We got to see the Senate room, the House of representatives, and even got to go to the Governor's office to take pictures. It was pretty informative...unfortunately, by days' end I had a HUGE headache from all the kids. Who knew 4th graders were so obnoxious?!?!? Here are some photos of our big adventure.

This was my group of four that I was in charge of: Hailey, Mckenna, Olivia, and Ryan

This is a picture of the front of Iolani Palace..

This is the side view...The gold painting represents the palace when it had REAL gold window coverings...
This was the House of Representatives, it has 51 board members. The ball on top is the symbol of the sun, and the floor is red again representing the sun and the sky during daylight.

This is the Senate board room. It has 25 board members. The blue carpeting is for the ocean and the ball at the top symbolizes the moon. The tapestry on the wall is to symbolize when the islands were formed, and how when the moon is high, what reflections come from the water.

This is the front of the State Capitol. You can't tell, but it is really neat how and why the artcitecture is the way it is.

This is in the Governor's press office. We have seen her multiple times on T.V. especially for her involvement during Furlough Fridays. The symbol in the back is the Hawaii State Seal. This is Hailey's class who went this time, almost 3/4 of her class went on Tuesday.

Week of Chaos

This week is again full of hustle and bustle, and HOPEFULLY some answers to things we have so fervently prayed about. Josh has another ENT apt., (We will find out if he needs surgery this week) Hailey is getting her eyes dilated for a possible early detection of a growth, and I got a new calling in church that has my stomach in knots! I can't say what it is quite yet because it has not been announced, but I am being released from my previous calling of R.S. teacher that I absolutely LOVED!!!
With all the emotion and anticipation running high around here, it is no wonder we have attached the nickname "chaos" to our little family.
Please keep us in your prayers and we will or course keep you posted with the latest!!

Hailey's Day to Shine..

On Thursday Hailey was in the "Student of the Month" assembly. Only 8 children per grade per class per year are chosen, and my Hailey was one of them! She has been striving for this since we moved here, and I am pleased to say she got it! Here are some pictures from her triumphant day. David walked the twins down to the school, so Hailey was pleasantly surprised to see them. It unfortunately rained ALL DAY LONG so David was not soo pleased to walk in it, but overall we are proud of our BIG girl=-)

David's Promotion

David got promoted today from 2LT to 1LT in the Army. (I know for some reason, it is reversed from 2nd to 1st instead of the other way around). It was really a nice ceremony, they had all different departments from the hospital getting all kinds of awards and certificates. They also had deployed soldiers and re-deploying soldiers there to be recognized and acknowledged. The sweetest thing that happened was this woman named "Eaby" who is 79 years old, has worked for the military as a civilian for over 30 years. She is from the Philippines, and she absolutely adores David! They speak back and forth to each other every shift in Tagalog, and recently she has started to request him on every shift. It is really cute! She came to the ceremony and brought these la is for him, and as David was inducing us, she automatically started speaking Tagalog to me, and as David was interpreting for her, she stopped and said "Your wife don't speak it??" It made me laugh out loud...I guess you just had to be there. But it does make you wonder..if David is sooooo great and wonderful at work, what makes him not be that way at home?? Hmmmmmm...

Afterwards we were able to treat ourselves to a nice "kid free" dinner at Chili's thanks to the in-laws and my mom. I am very proud of my hubby and what he has accomplished..it just goes to show you, they really "can" do whatever they put their minds too. Overall it was a great and memorable experience!

This is his Commander Major Smawley who overseas his department in "Med-Surg".

Josh, Me and Everything In-Between...

So, here is an update on the latest. Josh went to the ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) because as many of you know, he has had a runny nose consistently since Thanksgiving! My poor little dude is sick of his nose running and I don't blame him! We have gone through two bottles of Dimetapp, and a cycle of Zyrtek (his doctor thought it might be allergies) only to learn it is not what we thought. He has a deformed Eustachian tube in his right ear, and when he is congested it makes him hear like Charlie Brown heard his teacher. Since we do not know the extent of how much he can or can't hear ( he ALSO has a sinus unfection, so they tried to test the pressure in his ears, but to no avail because it hurt him too much putting things in his ears, so hopefully next time) they are going to do an Audiology exam for three consecutive months to figure that out. His tonsils are also slightly enlarged and they are positive that indicates his adenoids as well. Since we have not "maxed out all of our options" as the doctor puts it, they want us to try four different medications first, then on February 24th, we will go back in and see if it has worked. If not, surgery is definitely the next alternative. I am not a big fan of my little guy on medication for a month, but if it helps with his continual runny nose then so be it. As for me, I go to the Allergist tomorrow for a 21 point test..(whatever that means) and then hopefully (fingers crossed) we can find out for sure what caused that disastrous outbreak of hives I had.
On a good note, David gets promoted on Wednesday, so I will definitely have pictures to post, and hopefully so more good news about the family and such. Have a great week everyone!