The Big Island of Hawaii

Aaron had a fun time planing a surprise vacation for me. He told me where we were going as we looked at the departure list at the airport and he made me guess where we were going. We ended up going to the Big Island of Hawaii. More details and pictures to come.

The Hakes vs. Bob: Ohhhh Boy!

Sunday Night Smackdown in Norco, Horsetown USA! Father's Day Dinner was at the brand-spankin' new Bob's Big Boy in town. Aaron's 22-year old sister (Amanda) wanted to order Mac & Cheese off the kids menu, and by the reaction of our waitress, the manager, and the owner, you would have thought that we were trying to buy Moonshine for a 3rd grader on a Sunday in Alabama. The restaraunt was perfectly willing to let Amanda "see" the kids menu, but she was prohibited from ordering any items from it, per corporate policy. Dead. Serious.

Not wanting to eat the large adult portions, Amanda declined to order anything if she couldn't have a kids meal, at which point Aaron, Laura, Aaron's mother and father (Margaret and Daniel), and Amanda proceeded to make a scene that was surely heard five tables away in every direction for about 15 minutes.

Despite the fact that every restaraunt any of us has ever eaten at has gladly allowed us to dine from the children's menu, this franchise owner was sticking to corproate policy like a federal bureaucrat on steroids -- even if it cost them the $4 that we would have spent on Mac & Cheese and who-knows-how-much money that we wouldn't be spending there at any point in the future after this hainous incident. I guess Bob is withstanding the recession just fine! New customers? Who needs 'em?!

Daniel asked for the address and phone number of Bob's headquarters (even though Bob was just seen walking around visiting tables five minutes prior, pictured above). Daniel, who is proud to have haggled over $0.18 with Amanda's landlord in Arizona - and won (only outdone by Laura's father who once spent an hour on the phone with Sprint/Nextel over a one penny discrepancy in his wireless bill), went in to action to demand justice for his hungry daughter - and rightfully so!

The owner then lectured us on the virtues of "honesty" and relentlessly recited that only kids 10 and under could order from the kids menu, which is written in corporate policy, and also in ancient Scripture. The penalty for serving Mac & Cheese to an adult would result in being "written up", which apparently is the equivalent of being cast into Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell. The ordeal ended with the owner refusing to serve Amanda, then coming back out to say that she would "buy" Mac & Cheese for her since she "didn't want the little baby to go hungry" because she has kids of her own, and "understands" - which resulted in us being charged for the Mac & Cheese anyway. To their credit, they didn't charge us for our drinks.

The manager pretended to be nice the rest of the evening, during which time Laura proceeded to lecture her on how unhealthy the restaurant's food is.

Amanda enjoyed her Mac & Cheese and all of us seemed quite satisfied with the quality of our food. Between the nutritional value of the meal and our customer service experience, we all left with higher blood pressure than we came in with.

Next time, maybe we'll try to substitute onion rings for french fries in a rematch!

Happy Father's Day!

San Diego and the Zoo

This Friday Aaron had a meeting in San Diego, so we decided to make a weekend out of it. Well he never actually made it to the meeting, he called in to the meeting while we drove down to San Diego.

That night we went to PETCO park to see the San Diego Padres play. We went with Aaron's collegues, the ones we was suppose to attend a meeting with. It was a fun game. I do think they need a rule on how many fouls you can hit without getting out, Cabrera hit way too many foul balls in one batting up. I love PETCO park because they have a sand box to play in during the game if you are not a baseball fan and get bored easily. It was also free hot dogs and a drink night, which was great, dinner and a baseball game all for the low low price of 12 dollars.

On Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo to see what the monkys were up to. We love the monkeys they are always up to something silly. This time it was the game of tag between the monkeys and the otters that was the real show.The Flamingo's were nesting with their eggs.
Otters laying on their raft when the monkey's come to rock the boat.
Baby monkey with his mother.
Monkey and the otters at play.Otter wants to play with the monkey.The new Elephant habitat.
Aaron's favorite stop at the zoo is the meerkats they are always up to something no good. Hence the one on guard.

Beautiful peacock blocking traffic.
We rode the sky buckets. I was a little frightened but I did it and the view from the buckets was amazing. What a fun weekend in San Diego.

Utah Trip

First stop, visiting Krista in Hurricane, Utah. Krista was one of the missionaries that taught Aaron in Washington, D.C. It was fun to visit with her and her son Adam. It took us a while to find her phone number, but with my dad's investigator side we finally got a hold of her, and was able to see her on our way up to Utah.

Next stop we went and surprised my old roommate Sarah. I didn't have her phone number just her address. So we just rang the doorbell. She was so surprise. It was nice to see her again. We got to visit with Sarah, her husband Richard and their daughter aka Lucy:). I took these pictures from Sarah's blog. I hope you don't mind Sarah.

Alexis Lucile Clarke and me. She was so cute, thanks for letting me get my baby fix.

Next stop, Aunt Becky's house. What would a trip to Aunt Becky's with out a game of rage, and catch phrase (Jason's choice). Always lots of fun. Thanks for letting us join you.
And then we had to make a trip to BYU to see the old sites. This is the building where I took all my sewing classes. It was falling about when I was taking classes, so it good to see them taking it down, but kinda sad.
New building from my days at BYU.
This is where I lived Freshman year. And no we did not camp on this field. There used to be a seven story building we called S Hall. So many memories, sad to see that the bulldoze those buildings and made another patch of grass. Just what we needed more grass.
Grandma Lois and Laura. It was so good to see grandma it has been so long.
Tried after a game of volleyball.
Building sand castles. On the edge of a very intense volleyball game.
Aunt Lynnette out together a Memorial Day picnic at Xactware. There was a volley ball court where everyone got to play one fun game of volleyball, there was a playground for the little ones, and a picnic tables for a yummy lunch provide by the blue lemon.
What a serious game.
The beatuful drive through the canyon of Arizona.
What a great trip, hopefully we will go back soon.

Food Storage Made Easy

Join the fun this fall!
What is the Seven Day Challenge?

The Seven Day Challenge is going to be a mock disaster that lasts 7 Days in which the bloggers at http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net will be initiating an emergency “fire drill”. Participants will have a chance to test their level of preparedness in a simulated emergency environment. Each day during the Seven Day Challenge participants will receive an email informing them which of their utilities and/or food they will have access to. At the conclusion of the Seven Day Challenge participants will have means to share, discuss, and give feedback on how they could have been “better” prepared.


How to sign up?
You can sign-up online at the Seven Day Challenge page on FoodStorageMadeEasy.NET.


What’s in it for me?

· Opportunity to win a WonderMill Hand Mill for joining and by telling friends

· Participant prizes for completing the challenge

· Tons of learning

· Peace of mind from being prepared


How will I be prepared in time?

Follow the blog http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net and through-out the summer as they will be doing a summer crash course helping you get ready. You can also sign up for FREE CHECKLISTS that get emailed to you every 2 weeks with “to do” items, and “to purchase” lists!



P.S. When signing up, make sure you give credit to the friend that passed this along to you by entering his/her name in the referrer field J. Doing so will give you AND them an entry for the Wonder Junior Deluxe Giveaway!

Fashion Show

So, I have recently changed jobs. I started working at the Art Institute of Inland Empire. I teach students clothing construction, draping and pattern making. We are coming to a close of my first quarter. My students created their own designs and got some of them in to a fashion show that the school put on to promote the program.

Copy and paste this link to read an article in the local newspaper. It was really exciting and fun. I get to work with mom too, what a plus.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_indigofashion09.40b80eb.html

Corona Rotary Baseball Game

All done the game has been won, now it is time to eat. Aaron played on is rotary's baseball team. The played at the big league dreams fields in chino hills. It was fun. They even had a pictures of fans that filled the seats, behind the field. Really cute for a little kind, and a group of grown men.
The winning team Corona Rotary with a ending score of 10-9.
The other team Circle City Rotary, waving good job.
Aaron even has his name on his angels jersey. Of course he is number one.
Aaron really enjoyed playing in this battle of the rotaries baseball game.