It’s always SO fun to come back to this beautiful little homestead of Jonah and Aja’s in Maui! There’s nothing like being crushed into their wonderful world for a few days!
On the way home from the airport, Jonah told us about his latest grand adventure. Every so often the state decides to cull (thin out) an enormous herd of wild cows out in the mountains of Maui. They shoot several of the cows and then hook them up to a helicopter with long straps and bring them out for the use of those who have signed up to get them. Through a friend who happens to be a certified retired butcher, Jonah ended up in the middle of that little episode and helped a this friend to clean, cut up and grind an enormous amount of meat from four cows, two 5-600 pounds and two that were 12-1400 pounds. They quartered, cut and ground, and packaged 400 pounds of meat into three pound bags and gave it away at the ward Christmas party. In addition, Jo and Aja now have about 200 pounds of every cut of beef imaginable in their huge freezer. Jonah, of course is tanning one of the hides for a beautiful cow-skin rug! All I can say is WOW!
There were some creative changes at the homestead this year. Jonah had finished the cute chicken houses….
The papaya tree had grown like a week!
The new backyard tub/shower was in full working order….
The house was decked for Christmas with these darling stockings sent by Luvy (the other grandmother) to replace the ones they lost in the fire.
Their cute Christmas tree, cut by invitation from their neighbors’ yard is below.
We love the new painting in the entry too. That Aja’s creativity never ceases to amaze us! This is painted on a piece of plain plywood. The design, textures and colors are wonderful!
This little cherub had probably changed the most since we saw her last summer.
This time we got to meet a new pet that Jonah had just found in their tree in the back yard. A beautiful chameleon which had already turned green from the green on his shirt. The kids fell in love and were delighted to let him crawl all over them and hold the little critter, even Po! Oh man, the other grandkid lizard-lovers would love this little guy! After a few minutes of show and tell, he went back to his family.
Some things were the same… orange and tangerine trees laden with citrus that we enjoyed every morning for breakfast and fresh eggs from their fun back yard as well as luscious fruit dropped off by good friends.
Another thing that never changes is Elsie’s devotion to artwork and creativity.
At dinner Jonah, made the most delicious beef (fresh from the mountains just a couple of days earlier) curry with green papaya from the yard and homemade (of course) naan. Elsie entertained us with her creative use of her naan:
Every morning we attend scripture study at 7 a.m. with the two school kids and their dedicated dad!
And walked the kids to their cute school about 6 blocks away where they eat breakfast before hitting the classrooms. At least half the studentbody eats breakfast at school. Camden has 19 kids in his class! How would that be Josh (who has 30 in his class)?
Shortly after, we dropped the kids off hit the North Beach where we soaked in the sun which was such a welcome delight after leaving the freezing cold and heavy inversion in SLC! We made it back just in time to see Ana’s horses riding lessons and meet her teacher (and the horses of course).
The stables….
And Ana with her horse for the day, Millie…
So fun to watch her do some little jumps on her English saddle!
Downtown Makawao is such a fun place. It’s so great to be able to walk there admidst beautiful scenery in about 6 minutes!
The town has bountiful boutiques and amazing art galleries and it is easy walking distance to the library, the Post Office, the tennis courts, the elementary school, the horse paddocks and most importantly, the thrift store where we bought a cute baby basinet, a teddy bear and one other thing I can’t remember for $1!
It’s just an all around GREAT DEAL! This fabulous family is living a magical life in the slow lane and loving it! How great it is for us to be able take a peek every once in a while and be delighted by their lovely lifestyle!
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