Joshua turns 12!

Where has time gone!  Joshua turned 12 years old this month.  We asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he said, just spend time with the family.  Gosh, I love this kid!  He had a great breakfast and had his candybar poster waiting for him when he woke up.  Then that afternoon I surprised him and checked him out of school and took him to lunch, Sushi, one of our favorites!  That night we went to Olive Garden, and then came home and opened presents, had cake and ice cream and watched a movie.  Nothing fancy, but he had a smile on his face the whole time!

NOW, the worst part is that I took all these pictures and Nathan had to use my camera for a school project and deleted them all!  Can you hear me now....I was LIVID!  So this is all I have from my phone.....so sad!

Scout camp out

Joshua has had the best 11 year old scout leaders ever!  He is so sad to have to leave them behind.  They did a big hike/campout right before he turned 12.  Josh was so excited.  He had spent a couple of weeks working on a chicken cage....yes, they carried 3 live chickens up the mountain and ate them for dinner.  What can you say, we live in Alaska, they are boys and scouts!

Hawaii

Our family went to Hawaii this year for Spring Break.  It was the trip of a lifetime!  We stayed on the North Shore, of Oahu.  Grandpa and Grandma Swenson and Aunt Jessica, Uncle Cory and Kaylee and Ashley met us there.  We had SO much fun!

This was the view from the beach house we rented.  We were right on the beach and we loved listening to the waves crash, especially at night!

Most of our time was spent at the beach, soaking up the sun, boogie boarding and of course snorkeling (our new favorite hobby).

We had cute toes to show off!

Ko'olina Resort:

Getting ready to snorkel with the dolphins...although we never saw any!

Waikiki Beach (went for one day and spent 15 minutes there...way to crowded and busy)!

We also saw some tropical animals.

What vacation isn't complete without yummy food.....

Our family went out for shushi the first night because the others hadn't arrived yet, and we knew they wouldn't want to join us.  It was so fun, we got to sit on the floor!

We also had to try out the famous burgers at Kua"aina Burger Place and the shrimp at Ruby's shrimp truck.  Jessica was really grossed out buy the eyes and didn't enjoy hers, but they were yummy!

And of course Matsumoto's famous Shaved Ice.  Note to self...order with ice cream, shaved ice and condensed milk...but skip the beans (yuck!)

Hawaii is a beautiful!

We spent some time at Pearl Harbor, which was actually very spiritual!

We explored the Submarine and USS Missouri, and couldn't help but pose for pictures!

The Polynesian Culture Center was quite the experience, luau and show!

The Laie Hawaii Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Jared and Josh even tried some fishing from the sea wall behind the house, but didn't have any luck, and actually spent most of their time trying to get the line unstuck!

The last day we had to kill time, so the boys spent some time at the car show in Downtown Honolulu.

Beautiful Sky

Catch up.....

We celebrated Valentine's Day a few days early...busy schedules.

Josh has been busy working on lots of projects:

A CHICKEN COOP: to carry live chickens up the mountain for his scout campout (I'll leave the rest to your imagination!)

SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT:  Brown Fruit

Building a bridge out of toothpicks for school.

On his way to Eagle...he earned his Star.

Church Volleyball

Nathan finished up his Basketball Season.  He got the award for Most Improved.  It was so fun watching him this year.  We are proud!

Fairbanks

Our family along with 3 others, The Keller's, Oldham's and Teeples, decided to make the long 7 hour drive to Fairbanks over Christmas break.  The road was icy, the views were amazing, and the temperature COLD!

It was so fun hanging out and visiting with our friends!

We visited the North Pole, but Santa was on vacation!  We also saw some really big ice sculptures!

We did some sledding

Joshua got buried in the snow!

I got to spend some quality time with all my boys!

We ate at a great diner that was featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives!

We spent some time at Chena Hot Springs.  It is amazing how you can be sitting in hot (110 degrees) water and your hair is frozen stiff!  The water felt amazing!  We also celebrated Brian and Jared's birthdays here...at midnight!

But the highlight of the trip was the Northern Lights.....breathtaking!