a "stop and smell the roses" kinda girl

So Ady loves the fact that we live in Hawaii and there are so many beautiful flowers! We usually walk by a plumeria tree on the way to the grocery store. Ady knows exactly where it is, and everytime we go by it she expects her dad to pick a flower for her to smell and then put above her ear. She even leans her head to the side and points right where she wants it. (it has to be on her right ear cause she is single, married girls wear the flower on the left) We think it's pretty cute when she does that. We walked to the temple(which has sadly closed for renovations for 18 months) grounds last sunday, and they have a lot of flowers, in fact they have hibiscus that edge all the way around the front walk way to the street. Ady decided as we were leaving that she needed to stop and smell each flower including the ones further in. She was going way out of the way to get to each and every flower no matter how much flower bed she walked on or how many branches she needed to move. Let's just say it was a looooong walk that didn't get too far. Even so it was so funny and we were really enjoying watching Ady smell the flowers. (actually the funnier part is that hibiscus don't smell, and Ady's smelling technique sometimes involves blowing out her nose and not sniffing in)
The last pictures are of Ady being a trickster on her bike. She was standing on the wheels and then jumping into the seat, then standing on the seat, then with no hands etc, etc. She sure does keep us entertained.
Also the Business Plan Competition is under way, and Adam has made it into the final round! To make it to the final round you had to be in the top 15. We were told that there were more than 80 entries. Each of the 15 finalists won $1000 cash. Yay. If he makes it to the top 5 the prize gets bigger. We'll see how it goes. He has to give a presentation next Wed to a panel of 8 judges. I am sure he will do great! I am very proud of him. He has spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into it.
As for me the only somewhat exciting thing is that I ran a 5k run/walk put on by BYUH for faculty and staff the other morning. I thought I did well and finished the race jogging the entire time. As I got to the finish there was no line, no time, no nothing. If I'd have known they weren't going to time it, I would have timed it myself. Really, who doesn't time a 5k??? I guess that is what laid back "Hawaiian style" fun Run/Walks are like in Laie. Oh well, I did get some fruit and a free orange T-shirt! Great.

Business Plan Competition

So for those of you who haven't talked to me or heard from me in a while, and may have noticed that Kasey has been doing all of the blogging, there is a reason. That is because I have been so busy and stressed that I haven't done much of anything besides school, work and work on my business plan. There is a competition in two weeks with a 15,000 dollar prize for first place. The competition is broken into sections a written plan and a presentation. In order to make it into the semi-finals and be able to present you have to have a good plan written. The deadline for submission of the written plan was today. Hence I have been very busy doing research and writing. Today is the first time in a couple of months that I'm not on the phone, or writing an email, or typing data into a spreadsheet, or trying to phrase an idea or theory so that someone who has no idea how the tourism industry in Minnesota works can understand what I am trying to do. Feels kinda nice to be done.
For those of you who don't know, we want to operate a family friendly outdoor recreation resort in Northern Minnesota. Since we are planning on buying a resort when we leave here I decided to write a plan and enter it in order to try and cover some of the cost of research and such. Hopefully I win enough money to pay for a trip to Minnesota to inspect a couple of properties and pay for a full feasibility analysis and audit of books for a resort or two. I have been busy putting a presentation together to pitch to possible investors/partners and am trying to raise a million dollars in capital. So we thought that this would be a good opportunity to help us prepare. I know, I know. A million dollars is a lot of money. Every time I say that people's eyes about jump out of their sockets. Now that I know how people will react I enjoy watching the eyes bug out. This is the logo that Kasey's mom made for us. We wanted something that sorta captured the essence of what we are trying to create. So if any of you know someone with a bunch of money who is looking for a good investment opportunity please let me know.

Sneaky Ady!

Ya know when kids are young enough to think they are being very smart by tricking thier parents, but it's really obvious what they are really doing?...well lately we've been letting Ady keep her binkis(one for her mouth and one to hold) while she uses the potty in the morning. Well the other day after using the potty, Adam put Ady up to the table for breakfast and then told her to give him the binki while he was making breakfast for her. She put one binki between her legs under the table and then proceeded to give him the other binki. So Adam pretended to walk away behind her, just in time to see her smile and pull out the other binki and put it in her mouth. And she thought she was so smart!

gifting fun

So, I got this from a friend. The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year.  When and what will be a surprise.  There's a small catch...You knew there wouldn't be didn't you?  Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me your in.  Fun, huh?  Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.  Let's see who looks at my blog!

more happenings

Yesterday Ady had a Dr. Appointment.  She didn't like it at all.  She cried everytime anyone tried to do anything, but despite all the crying and tantrums we did get her measurements and here they are:

Height: 2'11"  

Weight: 26 lbs

Head Circ: 19"

The Dr says she she is in the 96% for her height and 60% for the weight.  I guess that gives us hope that maybe she'll get lucky and get her Grandpa Haddocks tall genes, cause that is the only place that they could come from.   In all it was a very healthy visit.  We just get to make a couple adjustments:  feed Ady less juice(he said a half cup/day is enough) and brush her teeth more.  Oh ya, and Ady has decided that she only needs a nap every few days now.  Her parents don't agree, so if anyone has any ideas on getting kids to continue what used to be great nap habits....pleaase let us know!

   

Waves and a lil Utah State Aggies

A couple weekends ago the waves were going pretty good.  We took a trip around the north shore.  

Last weekend we went with Leslie and Brandon up to the Lighthouse on the east side of the island before the Utah State Basketball game.    Adyson pretty much walked the whole way up and she still didn't want to be carried!  We were hoping to see some whales, but only saw a turtle.  The lighthouse is a nice sight too.  That night the Aggies played in Honolulu vs. University of Hawaii.  We got some tickets for free again since Tai Wesley's mom is Adam's Advisor at BYUH.  This year was better though because they won!  Adyson even still fit into her Aggie Shirt!