Maui '09

I love to travel. I really do. Mike and I usually go on one trip alone each year (something big or even just a weekend) and then we have a family vacation of some kind. Our alone trip this year was not so "alone" -- we went with 10 friends to Maui. Oh baby....

We stayed in some condos in Kihei, which were right on the water. The view almost seemed like a fake backdrop. We could even see whales spouting water in the distance (more on them later). We shared a condo with Rob & Meggan, which was perfect considering that Mike & Rob are BFF's. Meggan and I would sit back and laugh at how they would finish each other's sentences and argue like a married couple themselves.

Most of our days went something like this:
* 3:30am -- Wake up; try to convince my body/mind that it wasn't on Utah time anymore.
* 6:00 Give up trying to sleep and go for a walk/run or sit on the balcony and read a book.
* 9:00 -- Head out to a beach for sun, snorkeling and body surfing.
* 10:30 -- Head to another beach for more of the same.
* 12:00 -- Get a shaved ice with ice cream on the bottom and cream poured on top (major addiction!). Try unsuccessfully to get the secret cream recipe from the shaved ice girl. Did, however, take pictures of the ice machine, which Brian might buy on eBay. Score!
* 12:30 -- Make lunch, shower and continually clean sand out of our toes and ears.
* 2:30 -- Head out for more adventures .... shopping, sight-seeing, exploring the island, whale watching, hiking ....
* 7:00 -- Dinner somewhere ... we ate at some amazing restaurants and also cooked in. I am a huge fan of good seafood so I was in absolutely heaven. Mahi mahi, ono, ahi tuna, opakapaka, shrimp, lobster, fish tacos, sushi ... you name it. I became something of a "foodie," as the Knowltons would say. Even these pancakes were killer with papaya, mango, pineapple and bananas ....*10:00 -- Pass out from exhaustion (earlier in the week from jetlag) or stay up and play cards, talk, sit in the hot tub, whatever.

I mentioned the whales. 10,000 humpback whales migrate from Alaska to Hawaii from Dec. 15th-April 15th to have their babies and mate. So there was some amazing whale watching to be had while we were there. We went on a large catamaran to get closer up. The law prohibits anyone from getting closer than 100 feet to the whales, but often the whales would swim even closer to us when the boat was stopped. Can't help that. In fact, a couple of whales surfaced right off the side of the boat. The captain said they were underneath us for quite awhile. It was a very, very cool experience.We snorkeled a few times, which is not something I've done a lot of. I went snorkeling once in Hawaii on a high school trip and was pretty freaked out by the myriad of fish swimming all around me. The snorkeling this time was a little different - not near as many fish, for one - and I really enjoyed it. We saw sea turtles, trumpet fish, angel fish, eels, a small octopus, and lots of others who shall remain nameless since I'm not a fish expert. I didn't get freaked out too much as long as I was close to another snorkeler. Just ask Becca ... she said that every time she turned around, there I was. :)We went hiking through a bamboo forest, which is an other-worldly experience. The bamboo trees shot up about 30 feet over our heads. We hiked up to the 2nd waterfall and some in our group were daring enough to go for a swim. I wasn't dying to hike back out cold and wet so I opted to just watch.All of the guys woke up bright and early (as in like 2:15am) to go deep sea fishing one morning. The first fish they caught happened even before sunrise. They caught 8 yellow-fin tuna and almost had a 300 lb. marlin but he got away. Mike's not a fisherman, by any means, but even he enjoyed the chance to deep sea fish in Hawaii. Needless to say, we had an amazing dinner that night.We shopped plenty of the typical open-stall markets that are everywhere in Hawaii. I loved the shopping in Lahaina the best, though. Everything from inexpensive touristy things to Coach, Kate Spade and Chanel. I really didn't buy that much, but just being able to browse in each store without chasing kids around felt like a real treat.

Other memories: playing Name That Tune in the car with Rob's iPod, good times flying stand-by :), beach crashing at nice resorts, a large drunk woman named Jeff, Clan of the Tortuga, laying out next to Fabio, old men "taking their dogs for a walk," playing football in the waves, pina coladas, seeing Steph's mischievious side, toe rings, fried mushrooms, "Hold on tight, spidermonkey", HI shirts, taking a shower on the beach fully clothed, banana spiders, Iao canyon, an awesome church meeting, collecting free Hilo Hattie necklaces for the kids....

Such a great trip. Coming home on the red-eye and readjusting to the time change was the least pleasant part of the trip, but I can't complain. The kids did great, apparently, thanks to the many helpers I had. It seriously takes a village to let mom and dad go on vacation, so thank you to everyone who helped!

Anyone up for Maui 2011?

Speechless

Today is my 37th birthday. I'm sure I'll be writing the date 3/26/72 all day. Happens every year. You know those people who want to pretend it isn't their birthday, get all bothered when people acknowledge it and insist they don't want to celebrate in any way? That is totally NOT me. I love celebrating in any way, shape or form: in Hawaii with 10 friends (awesome pre-birthday celebration), at lunch today with girlfriends, with the kids and Mike later for dinner at Tepanyaki (love that place) .... I just love celebrating!

I've mentioned before that Mike is the ultimate gift giver. He really is. He listens to things I say and finds the perfect thing that always manages to make my jaw drop. Here is my gift this morning:

Speechless, gob-smacked, totally shocked .... just a few words to describe my reaction. These are the pair of Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals that I saw in the Oprah store. Oprah's Manolo Blahnik's. Oprah's. My cute husband read my blog about them and called the Oprah store to buy them for me.

He melts me.

Should I be alarmed?

Just found this in the girls' dollhouse....

Don't be jealous, but ....

.....this is the view off of our condo deck. Here in Maui. But don't be jealous.

Say what?

Elle has been studying us -- each member of the family -- and she has started using our phrases in her everyday speech. So I started asking her "What does Paige say? What does mommy say?" Here are her answers:

What does Paige say? "What the heck?!"
What does Haley say? "Oh my dosh!" (gosh, for those of you non-Utahns)
What does mommy say? "Holy cow!"
What does daddy say? She used to respond "Go Utes!" but she's changed it recently to "Dude!"

Mike begs to differ, but a 2 year old just calls it as she sees it. Sorry, honey .... I mean, dude. :)

Status updates Facebook-style

Misty Farley Mayfield is enjoying an ice-cold Diet Coke from a fountain ... none of that 'can' stuff.

Misty Farley Mayfield has lovely painted flowers on her toes, all in preparation for the beach next week. Maybe pretty toes will take the attention away from my not-so-pretty swimsuit body.

Misty Farley Mayfield doesn't feel like making dinner so is killing time on the computer instead.

Misty Farley Mayfield didn't realize how many friends I was missing until Facebook. It's a mini-reunion every day.

Misty Farley Mayfield wishes some decisions weren't so hard to make.

Misty Farley Mayfield knows it isn't a good thing that my 2 yr. old is asking for "Kai Coke."

Misty Farley Mayfield can't wait to meet my new niece and nephew this summer. I need to secure my spot as their favorite aunt.

Misty Farley Mayfield has no desire to scuba dive, even though all of my friends think I should certify. Do they not realize that Jaws lives in the great deep? No desire, my friends.

Misty Farley Mayfield is loving the song Paralyzer by Finger Eleven.

Misty Farley Mayfield can't wait to take the kids to Montana to see Nana & Papa! It has been far too long.

Misty Farley Mayfield just heard her cute hubby walk in from work. I love that man.

Misty Farley Mayfield thinks it's funny that Facebook makes us talk in 3rd person.

Girls' trip

Just got back from a girls' trip to Chicago. My 2 sisters, Kelly and Erin, and my mom and I spent 4 days there. We've never taken a trip together like that and it was so great. Our husbands and friends all held the respective forts down at home and we just played.

OPRAH
The trip came about because Kelly scored 2 tickets to the Oprah show. Her husband, Zach, has a graphic design company and somehow they started doing work for Steadman Graham - Oprah's significant other. Steadman gave Kelly 2 tickets to the show and assured her that we could probably get 2 standby tickets from our hotel concierge. Worth a shot, right? So even though I wasn't guaranteed a ticket, I absolutely had to go try. I kept telling myself that even if I didn't get into the show, it would still be a fun girls' trip with my family. But who was I kidding? This is Oprah, people. I would have been seriously bummed.

Erin & Kelly went to the Thursday afternoon taping and saw Dr. Oz talking about extreme longevity (using stem cells and your own DNA to grow new organs should you need them). They were told to watch the website to see when the show would be aired. Mom and I got 2 standby tickets from our hotel concierge for the Friday morning taping and were told we had a 95% chance of getting in.

We arrived at Harpo Studios bright and early and took our place at the back of the standby line (there were only 9 of us). All of the other lucky ticket holders filed right past us and even looked pityingly at us standby people. Whatever! We were at the studio and our hopes were high. Eventually, someone came out and announced there were 8 places for standby ... and mom and I were #8 and #9. So I sent mom packing in a taxi back to the hotel and I went to the show!! OK, just kidding. I like Oprah but I'm not that cold. We were told that we'd be put 1st and 2nd in the standby line for the afternoon taping, but to hang around just in case. Everyone else was taken inside -- we could hear the cheering and laughing coming from inside the studio and mom and I just sat outside and listened. Finally, about 10 minutes before taping began, they came out and said, "You're in! Come quickly!" We were in. :)

Friday shows are live with several hosts ... we saw Gayle King, Mark Consuelos (Kelly Rippa's husband), Ali Wentworth (George Stephanopolous' wife), Tyler Perry and Oprah. They talked about Oprah's new puppy, about Tyler giving Oprah and Gayle new Bentley's for Christmas, about Tyler's new movie ... and during each commercial break they'd turn to the audience and say, "We couldn't say this on the air but ..." and fill in something else from the story. It was surreal and so great. We even got a free giveaway ... not a Bentley, sadly, but a Snuggie. You know, the blanket with sleeves. Hey, I got a free giveaway from Oprah so don't mock.

See? Absolute last in line. After the show, we went across the street to the Oprah store and spent way too much money on Oprah stuff. They had t-shirts and clothing but also had African art and things the girls from Oprah's Academy had made. One section of the store was Oprah's Closet, where you could buy designer clothes and shoes that she has worn on the show. Apparently, Oprah and I both wear a size 10 shoe so I was tempted to buy a pair of Manolo Blahnik heels for a mere $175 but I refrained.

XANADU
Definitely the second highlight of the trip for me was going to see Xanadu the Musical. The movie came out in 1980 and we girls saw it 5 or 6 times. It was a campy roller-skating show but we loved the music and thought Olivia Newton-John was so pretty. The Musical mocks the movie mercilessly so we were cry-laughing the entire time. (Plenty of other theater-goers, though, had perplexed looks on their faces and it was obvious were not familiar with the movie. Their loss.) It was a valley-girl, disco, neon, shorty shorts, rainbow shirt mecca. They were even selling ribbon barrettes in the lobby. We girls actually made ribbon barrettes as kids and had them in every color. Memories!

The rest of the trip was spent shopping, eating and sightseeing. We spent a fair amount of time shopping the Magnificent Mile, hunted high and low for gifts for our kids, had rich hot chocolate at Ghiradelli's, reverted to childhood at the American Girl store, walked the length of Navy Pier, went to the top of the Hancock Tower, rode the 'L' (I kept looking for doctors from the tv show E.R. who must have been working close by but no such luck), drove around Millenium Park in the rain, silently cursed having to spend so much $$ on taxis, went to an art museum, shopped, shopped and shopped some more. Check out this bathroom at the American Girl store. They even had doll holders in each stall. I was surprised there weren't mini toilets for the dolls.The doll hair salon. Seriously.Checking in with the hubbies and kids back home.Just because we were on vacation didn't mean we wanted to disconnect from the world entirely - hello!That is ice, not waves. Solid icy waves.We haven't all shared a bathroom since we were teenagers so it was a step back in time, in a way. We giggled at night in bed, shared food, shared jewelry, talked and talked and talked, watched a movie and just enjoyed being together. Such a great trip, you girls. Let's do it again soon.

I am not THAT person!

I consider myself a fairly organized, on-top-of-things type of person. But something happened when I had my 4th child. I have started forgetting things, mostly appointments like doctor's visits, dental check-ups, visiting teaching appointments, kids' lessons, etc. I bought a Blackberry, thinking that the calendar function would help me remember my schedule better but it only served to deepen my addiction to e-mail, Facebook and blogging.

My latest faux-pas was missing my dental check-up last Friday morning. Nevermind that the office called to remind me the day before and even sent me a text as an additional reminder. The appointment was for 7:30am so I had arranged for Mike to be home in the morning so I could go. It was on my mind the entire day before.

But something happened the night before. I went to a late movie with my sister and a friend (no - that was NOT the problem!) and then forgot to set the alarm for the next morning. So in spite of all those reminders, I totally forgot my dental appointment. Didn't even remember that I had forgotten it until the office called at 8am to help me reschedule. What is my deal? What is wrong with my head? I am not that person -- the one who is constantly forgetting important things! Except, apparently now I am.

We rescheduled and I had my check-up this morning. I actually remembered to go this time and took a large plate of freshly baked cookies as a peace offering. By the time I left, the office staff was encouraging me to miss my next appointment so I'd feel obligated to bring cookies again.

They've apparently forgiven me but I can't forgive myself. I pride myself on being dependable and responsible -- I cannot/will not become that person. But until I get my head back together, please forgive me if I forget something that somehow affects you.

One thing's for sure ... no more kids for me. They've apparently stolen all of my extra brain cells. And heaven knows that I can't afford to lose any more at this point.