Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, what are we thankful for??? We're thankful that we're going to the Big Island for 4 days! It is going to be so amazing. I can't wait to see some of these things. We fly out early Thursday morning and will be back late Sunday night. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Twilight Delight

So we went to see Twilight last night and I LOVED it! I've heard some mixed reviews and heard that people didn't like the acting or how they changed things from the book. I thought the acting was fine. In the book there is a lot of stuff going on in Bella's head but that is hard to portray on screen. I thought she did a good job. I also think they had good chemistry together as a couple. As for the things they changed, sometimes it's necessary in order to make a movie. I don't think they left out anything important. I wanna know your opinion even if you disagree with me.

I'm going again tonight with a bunch of girl friends and I'm so excited! It's so much fun when everyone you're with is just as excited as you. Last night people were clapping as the characters were shown for the first time. Ha ha! All the girls were gaga over Jacob and Edward. Do you like when people in the theater really get into a movie? I think it makes it more fun except when their noise covers up the dialogue! Anyway, I was pleased with the movie and had an enjoyable time watching it with the fellow Twilight fans. By the way, Rob liked the movie too so maybe you can drag your husband along.

I found this recipe for vampire cookies on the internet. I've never made anything for a movie before so I felt cheesy, but it was fun. They tasted like my Grandma Bischoff's raisin filled cookies only I put strawberry jam inside.

Fall Ball

This is really overdue but on Oct. 24 we went with several friends to BYUH's Fall Ball. Rob surprised me when he bought the tickets then asked me to go. We haven't gone to a formal dance in 4 years so it was a lot of fun to get dressed up! Darlene helped me find the perfect dress and it was only $10!!

The ball was at the Ko'olau Ballrooms in Kaneohe. As we walked in, they gave each guy a sword and the girls a rose. We started with a delicious buffet dinner. Then we went on a carriage ride that was too short, but still a fun experience.



We spent the rest of the time dancing the night away. It was so much fun! I haven't seen Rob dance that much, ever. Thank you Rob!

*Tango*

Elizabeth, me, Kat, Katelyn

Dave and Sara

Asa and Darlene

Katelyn (haha) and Brandon

Jamie and Ryan

Kaitlin and Mike

Happy Birthday Rob!

Birthday Boy

Wednesday November 5 was Rob's birthday. It was a pretty important birthday since he reached a new decade. That's right, our age difference is now even more noticeable. (We're 6 yrs and 2 months apart.) We celebrated throughout the week by eating a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie from Ted's Bakery, opening gifts and cards from family and friends, eating at California Pizza Kitchen with Mike and Angie on Friday, getting free Cold Stone ice cream, and Saturday night I surprised him with a party. We had a BBQ and s'mores with our friends. Most the girls just talked while the guys played football. All in all I hope Rob had a wonderful birthday week. Thanks everyone for the cards, gifts, calls, and texts. I love you Rob!

Pics from the party

Darlene & Asa

Lindsay & Cameron

James & Elizabeth

Ashlyn & Scott

Jenny & Steve

Kava, Joe, & baby Mana

Jamie

Brandon & Katelyn

Halloween is for Babies

For Halloween I borrowed this costume from Darlene and went to work as a pirate. It was fun to dress up with all the little kids. At the end of the day, the school sat around the courtyard and each grade walked by in a parade. Everyone had such cute costumes!

Waiting for the parade to start.

Can you see where my student gets his good looks? His Brazilian mom.

So Rob and I decided to go out of our shells a little with our costumes... This is the first time we've dressed up together. When we spotted this costume at the store early in Oct. we were very excited, but as Halloween got closer, I was getting a little nervous. But it turned out to be really funny and I'm glad Rob talked me into it.



We went to 2 Halloween parties and both were a lot of fun. Both the Rondo's and Jamie did a great job decorating their houses. Everyone had awesome costumes. I forgot how much fun Halloween can be when you dress up!

Cameron & Lindsay, Jenny & Steve

Dave & Sara (Grease)


Erin & Aaron (Juno), Asa & Darlene

Jamie


Katelyn & Brandon, "Ice, Ice, Baby" (just not the same in a diaper)

Dave and Rob (being a wah baby)

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Haunted Lagoon

Monday for Family Home Evening we went with our friends Brandon & Katelyn and Darlene to the Polynesian Cultural Center's Haunted Lagoon. This is the first year they've done it and I don't think they expected such a good turn out. We got there at 7:30 and didn't get on the canoe until 9.

But it worked out because we were in line with Walter Tonga from our ward and he got our imaginations going by telling us all kinds of local ghost stories. Creepy! His young girls were brave and wanted to sit on the sides and back row during the ride. They can scream very loudly and a few times the oldest ended up on Darlene's lap which was funny.

We were all impressed with how good the ride was. There were several surprise moments and other things that were just creepy to look at. It's $8 but if you have a kama'aina card it's free! You will get a little wet during the ride. We're gonna go to the Haunted Hayride at Gunstock Ranch this week too. Their theme is "We're not clowning around." I'm already scared!

This video is from the PCC website. It's just a little sneak peak.

Digital TV

So you know how all the TVs are switching to digital signal in February? I found this video showing what this change is going to mean for some of the elderly people. Please, if you live by some older relatives, go help them! This video is funny but I feel bad for her. I can just imagine my grandparents doing the same thing...

Meningitis: inflammation of the meninges

Most of our family and Hawaii friends have already heard about this but for those who haven't, this is what we've been doing for the past few days.

It started last Tuesday night as I was walking to the temple. My neck felt really stiff, like someone was pulling down on the skin on the back of my head. I tried to stretch it out and forget about it. Later that evening, I started to get the chills which then led to a fever. I had the fever through most of the night. It finally broke by morning, which is when I realized my throat was sore.

Wednesday, my friend Darlene took me to the dr where she confirmed that the white spots on my huge tonsils were in fact strep throat. I had just had strep throat in September.

Thursday I woke up with a headache. The kind when you turn your head, or stand up too fast, or bend over it throbs. I've been getting migraines in Hawaii so I didn't think too much of it. My sore throat was gone but my tonsils were still swollen.

Thursday night at 1 am, my headache and stomach woke me up, so I ran to kneel before the porcelain throne. After paying my respects, I fell asleep for about an hour and 1/2. I woke up again feeling so bad and this time I asked Rob for a blessing. I felt bad waking him up but it was just what I needed. After following the blessing's counsel to drink lots of water, I hugged the commode and refilled the toilet with water. I was able to sleep this time from 4-10:30.
Friday I woke up and still had a headache. Rob came home from campus and said he felt we needed to go to the hospital in case I was dehydrated. I was gonna fight it b/c I really didn't feel too bad, just a headache, but I gave in since he was trying to take care of me.

I've never been to the hospital for myself. I rarely even go to the dr so this was new for me. We got there at 1:30 and by 2 they called me back. The nurse that was checking me in had a paper on her desk that listed several symptoms, and as I read them I realized that I had all those. Rob uncovered the paper and it was for meningitis. I thought that was too serious to be anything I could have.

The dr came to see me around 2:15 and told me I might have meningitis so they would give me an IV and then a lumbar puncture or spinal tap. "The whole thing should take about 2 hours." He then explained the 2 kinds: viral and bacterial. The 2nd is the killer.

This was my first IV and it wasn't very comfortable, but they gave me stuff that got rid of my headache. Around 2:45 they took me to one of the only completely closed rooms in the ER, (with no TV btw). Rob had to wear a mask and wash his hands every time he came or left the room. I tried to sleep while Rob watched The Office on our ipod.
They finally came in at 5 to do the spinal tap. I had been trying for almost 3 hrs to not think about what would happen during this procedure. All I could picture were large needles jamming into hip bones (like the movie Pearl Harbor), extracting yellow fluids, etc. Needless to say I tried not to dwell on it.
So the dr had me sit on the side of the bed and lean over a table. He found a spot in my spine that looked good and started with the numbing shot. "This will feel like a bee sting for about 10-20 seconds." Which is true. The nurse reminded me to breathe and focus on my breath. This did help keep me calm. Then the doctor told me he was gonna put in the other needle. It was so numb I couldn't feel the needle go in but I could feel pressure like someone was pushing on my organs from the back. He filled up 4 viles of my spinal fluid and before I knew it the bandaid was on. It probably took about 5 minutes total.

I then had to lay flat for an hour to reduce the chance of a headache. I fell asleep again and woke up every hour until about 7:30. The results were supposed to be ready at 6 so Rob went out to find the nurse. He came back in with the news: I have viral meningitis. Now my body, which had been freezing for the past 6 hours, requiring Rob to round up 5 blankets from the nurses and tuck me in like a mummy, suddenly heated up and I started sweating. I think this was from the seriousness of what we had just found out. They were debating on admitting me to the hospital that night. I prayed that they wouldn't because I was so uncomfortable there.

Rob left to go call the family and the dr came in to explain some things. Luckily, he said I seemed healthy enough and my headache was mild so they released me. If any symptoms were to return though I was to come back immediately.

So finally at 8pm I got to leave the hospital and talk to all my family members that had been worrying about me. I realized then what kind of scary situation they had been going through for the past few hours, expecting the results in an hour but not getting them for 2 1/2. I also realized how serious the outcome of the test could have been. 50% of those with bacterial meningitis die, and 25% are brain damaged.

There was also a huge concern from people in our ward. I truly felt loved from so many people. This situation helped me realize how great our friends are. I was able to get another priesthood blessing from our friends as soon as I got home, which promised a quick and complete recovery. I was truly blessed this weekend! By Saturday I hardly had a headache and only had stiffness in my back and neck. I have slowly been getting better everyday.

Saturday the school health center heard about what I had and quarantined us to our apartment. She wanted us to post signs on our doors and windows saying we were infected.
Monday my dr told me we are not contagious and it's very rare for someone to catch meningitis (which is what we had originally thought). So Rob called the health center and she said, "Oh yeah, that's what our dr said too. I just forgot to call you on Sunday."

So now Rob is back in school and I'm trying to take it easy. I won't go back to work until the 20th. For v.m. there is no treatment so you just have to let it run its course. I expect to be feeling better by next Monday.

Thank you to everyone who called, texted, offered help, and brought us food. We really appreciate it! We love all of you and thank you for your prayers. I know that is what especially helped me.