Gladly saying goodbye to 2006

This year hasn't been the greatest for me...my grandmother died in March... a few months ago my step dad had a heart attack....we had that crazy earthquake that freaked us all out and reminded us that we do in fact live on a volcano with no way to quickly get off and run to saftey (everyone here wondered if Haleakala was finally waking up when that one hit)...and now my mom and step dad just moved to the mainland after living here for 15 years.

That last one was the hardest blow and very unexpected. I still feel like I'm having a really bad dream and I'm going to wake up any minute and things will go back to normal. The whole family is here because of them...and now they are gone. Dad's work wasn't going so well and he really needs to be on insurance because of his heart...plus there is some non-evasive treatment my mom is hoping to get for him over on the mainland.

It all happened so fast too, us kids (me, my brother and my sister all live here with our little families) were taken totally by suprise when they told us they had to leave. and they were gone in under 2 weeks! We are a very close family and have all taken it pretty hard...it just seems wrong :( We've worked so hard to all stay here together.


Mom and Koa

Travel is difficult as it is expensive to live here and flying the whole family to the mainland doesnt' happen very often. We know we will be sending for mom as much as possible. Dad is like me..he hates to fly. My sister doesnt' think he will come much. But that's not even the point...sure it's pretty here and we have nice weather..but there really isn't much to do here...family is all we had..it's the main focus of our lives..I hate to sum up the rest of me and my mothers time together in a handful of visits. She is my best friend..I would talk to her everyday..see her multiple times a week, go out to lunch once a week and do our grocery shopping together. When my kid is sick..she has always been right there. I miss her so much already :(


My mom is so cute here..but it's a horrible picture of me...I was crying and had no makeup on...it was a horrible day saying goodbye to my momma.


Mom and my sister Kim


Mom and my brother Jason


Cameron and his grandma


Heres my dad and Kana....I hope he can get the care he needs over there. It's sad thinking that something could happen to him and we might never see him again...plus my sister and I aren't there to help.


mom, kim and I...early in the morning the day they left.

In an attempt to keep us in touch..I went right out and bought a webcam for myself and my parents..my sister already has one built in to her computer. Her's seems to have a clearer picture..but I did mess with some settings and got the color to work a little better. Her's a snap shot from it of me and my husband..but before I worked on the color. It's pretty washed out...but it will be better then just phonecalls



Sorry to make such a downer post...I'll try to post some pretty jewelry tomorrow..I got some amazing crab fire agate..it's so beautiful and different..very fun to work with! I need to keep beading so I can make money to send for my mom! I wasn't feeling very creative but forced myself to bead last night and it felt really good! Will post those pics tomrrow.