Utah Bound

We headed up to the motherland the week of Thanksgiving to spend it with my brothers family and my parents who were visitng for a few weeks. The kids love going to Utah, they love doing the same things, love the change of weather and feel very comfortable there.


As much as I love California I do wish we had a little more of the changing colors of the leaves, more falling of the leaves and definitely more piles of leaves for the kids to play in - it entertained them for ever!


Never a trip to Provo goes by without a visit to the Wilkinson center on campus to eat at the Cougareat and play a round of bowling at the game center. Its just tradition - and so cheap!


We went for a little cold outdoor picnic to Hobble Creek - it was beautiful, and cold, we went on a nice walk, and froze, the kids had snowfights and we froze.


This is Chads little slice of heaven - Hobble Creek golf course - his favorite. He even admitted to me that sometimes when he is trying to fall asleep he pictures each hole on the course - I am so mean I laughed, but really I thought it was so cute!


Thanksgiving morning we took it all the way back to where it started with Chad and I almost 20 years ago. We all decided to hike the Y. Chad and I met for the 1st time July 4 1990, when our student ward hiked the Y to watch the fireworks (and yes there were fireworks!)

I loved it - a great workout, a great view, great memories, and the kids thought it was so cool, it is huge up there, almost the size of a football field!




The kids now have the ice skating bug, and once again everything is so much cheaper in Provo, so we spent many hours gliding on the ice. I don't think the kids would have ever said that they were done, they had so much fun. Luke was beyond hilarious, I think he fell about 132 times, he would get right back up keep going and fall again, all with a big smile on his face - that boy, too cute for words I tell you!




We hit a BYU basketball game at the Marriott center - and got to meet Cosmo!

We also got to go to the huge rival football game BYU vs Utah - it was crazy - oh and cold!

Unfortunately we all were not sitting together, and it was my Dads first American football game ever (so he was a little confused) but it was so GREAT! BYU won in overtime, I wish Chad had the camera cause he and Trent stormed the field and got to high five a ton of players, I didn't think my Dad could take that - didn't want to push it!

After the game we hopped straight in the car and drove all the way home through the night to avoid the holiday traffic on the Sunday. My husband is a stud and drove the whole way, I was so happy the next day when I heard about so many people taking forever to get home, and we missed it all!

Family Pictures

Every year I say we are going to take some good family pictures, every year we seem to not. This time I was determined. I made the appointment with a good friend and then started stressing. Why do I stress over what to wear? It really is pathetic - what color scheme, not too matchy matchy, informal or formal, where to take them, how to mix patterns and colors, how to not spend much money - I hate it! The day arrived and it just so happened to be an extremely hot day - 105 to be exact - yeah just the temperature you want to be in outside trying to not look sweaty or miserable.


I have to say that I love the pictures of my kids - they are all so cute, I don't know how I couldn't. These are not my favorites of each kid, but they are the only ones I can get on here for some reason.



I wasn't overly excited about any of the family pictures for purely selfish reasons - I admit it I am totally vain o.k! I didn't like my hair, and was bugged at my outfit, but whatever - dumb I know! Anyways again I couldn't get my favorite picture on here so here is our Christmas card with it, maybe if you use a microscope you may be able to see it!


Once again the only family picture I can actually get on here. I am hoping that in a few years I will look back and love even the family pictures, and think oh I didn't look too bad, why was I complaining? I am so incredibly happy to have these pictures of my children - I adore them! Thankyou Alisha, you are the best! Next year I promise we will try again and I promise I will do my hair better and plan a better day weather wise!

Halloween 09

We arrived home on Halloween to a crazy busy, jam packed full day - welcome home to us! We started off with a dance fundraiser, scout merit badge day, 2 soccer games and then moved on to the festivities - our pumpkin carving!

Luke and I were quite proud of our pumpkin - we worked hard on it



Trent had a really hard time choosing a costume this year. I was bugging him forever to decide, and he did not like any of my ideas. He was going to be the Jonas Brothers with some friends but luckily that changed on the night and we came up with Frankenstein -ish type outfit! Thanks Brad for the makeup job!

Abby knew from very early on in the year that she wanted to be a punk rocker - she looked great and played the part well - she had the looks and poses down quite well!

Abby and Maddyn trick or treat together every year. They are such cute, good friends

Even though Jack and Luke have been matching for the last 2 or 3 years they both decided they wanted to be Dracula without telling the other one. It was pretty cute. So beware they are very spooky and they may even suck your blooooood if you are not careful!

Hayley did a very minimal costume - a football player, and still went out with her friends for trick or treating. So really when is it time to stop? I think we may be very close!

The annual family Halloween picture
One of my favorite costumes of the year was Chelsea aka Kate Gosselin (Jon and Kate plus 8) She was so funny and pulled it off perfectly. We had a party at Club Fifield after trick or treating, while all the kids had a party at our home. There was a complete sugar high going on, and with about 20 kids at once it was craziness!

Luke with his stash of which he was quite proud. Luke gets the smallest haul by far, times that by 4 and thats a whole lot of candy in our house. It is a little of a free for all for a few days and then somehow it mysteriously disappears!

Kapono and melekeleikimaka BRUDDA

We headed to the north shore because we heard there was a swell a brewin. It was going off! It was so fun - we sat right in the middle of backdoor and pipeline with a perfect view of the huge waves, plenty of surfers and a bunch of photographers. It was so cool to see. It was completely entertaining and once again we had to make ourselves leave and move onto the next fun thing.

We were determined to hike us to a waterfall. This wasn't quite the rigorous hike that we imagined but it was still completely scenic. We went through Waimea Canyon to the waterfall and of course jumped right in and frolicked underneath. It felt so good!



After our hike - well pretty much a relaxing walk, we headed to lunch at Sharks Cove followed by some more snorkeling. Just take me to a different place to snorkel every day and I be happy!



The day would not have been complete without a stop at Matsomotos. I had heard about it and oh yes it lived up to its reputation - mmm mmm good. Never before this trip had I tried the shaved ice with ice cream - who would have thought this would be so delicious and delectable and oh so addicting. From the day we discovered it, we had one of these babies every single day and sometimes twice!

We had so much fun in the pool and slide and hot tubs. This was a hot tub with a hot water waterfall - NICE!

There was a tunnel, with water falling through some holes, that was just so fun to play in! We were acting a little childish because it was so gosh darn fun.

We would do little obstacle courses around the pools. My favorite was running down to the lagoon and swimming all the way out to the rocks. I love night swimming!

Aloha - I will miss you!

As always all good things must come to an end, and as much fun as I was having I was definitely ready to see my children. Such a great trip full of family time, fun, relaxation, adventure, beautiful places, laughing and time with my hubby - loved it! I am one lucky woman!

Aloha and Maholo

Chads parent own some time shares on both Kauai and Oahu - we have been to Kauai before but this year we were invited (without kids) to the one on Oahu. As excited as I was I thought that there was no way that this island or resort could compete with the ones on Kauai - well boy was I wrong. Our trip was with Chads mom (his poor dad had to stay behind for work - thanks anyway), his aunt and uncle, his sister and Brad and Chelsea. We had such a wonderful mix of relaxation at the resort, exploring the island, hiking, eating and doing what I enjoy most - snorkeling!

Our second day we decided to do a tour of pearl harbor. Once we got there and realized how expensive it was we changed our minds and just did what was free. Then we were ready for some hiking. We hiked Diamond Head which is an actual volcanic crater.

The views at the top were great - with great views of the city of Honolulu and Waikiki.

Just relaxing by one of the 4 man made lagoons in front of the resort. The snorkeling was actually pretty good. The first day we found a family of 3 sea turtles - it was so fun to swim with them

This was one of Chad and my favorite parts of the trip. We went for a walk and were exploring, when we came upon this area - we named it the blue lagoon. It was a little slice of heaven - so beautiful, so relaxing and so many fish. We even had our own little sea turtle hanging out with us, I got to follow it for a long time - this made me very happy!


AAAH seriously does it not look like paradise - I miss it already

All the red faced girls ready for a night out in Waikiki. Our goal was to find Puka Dogs - a restaurant that had been recommmended to us.

What should we find while we are lost downtown - Leonards, the famous donut shop that Susan (Chads aunt had been searching for and dreaming about for years. This was a very happy moment let me tell you. Hot malasadas - yes they were quite enjoyable!

After an entertaining walk through downtown we finally found the restaurant - oh my gosh, I cant explain how gross this place was. We were all disgusted and wondered why we didnt realize this earlier due to its name - Puka Dogs - it definately lives up to it - BLAH!

The next morning we decided to drive to other side of the island and snorkel at the world famous Hanuema Bay. I was so excited - did I mention I love to snorkel? When we finally got there, we were met with a sign informing us that the bay just so happened to be closed on Tuesdays - what the? Seriously unbelievable! I was determined not to let this be a down on my day. We decided to go exploring - did I mention that I love to explore too? We found some of the coolest places and most unbelievable sights I have ever seen.


I mean seriously I was a complete broken record - it was look over there oh my gosh look at that - they were the most beautiful places I had seen - on both sides of the road. I was completely blown away by the beauty of this place that I had know idea about. (I thought Oahu was just the touristy island)


This place right here is like in my dreams - the only thing that could maybe improve it were dolphins. There were plenty of sea turtles, the water was crystal clear and warm, plenty of fish, it was beyond picturesque. I could have just stayed there forever, I was in complete heaven - I would totally have my kids come stay too - then it would be perfection! It was quite hard for me to move from this place even though all of our bellies were more than rumbling - if I had it my way I would have stayed until the sun went down!

We drove past the temple in laiie and had to check it out. Even though we felt completely underdressed the missionaries assured us that people came looking like us all the time and to walk around the grounds. It was beautiful. The Hawaii temple is one of the ones I grew up seeing pictures of all the time, it is so different from the others and I was so glad we got to check it out - next time we will be more prepared and go in!

AAAh the perfect way to end the day. Watching the sunset over Waimea Bay. As the sun set - we swam, played silly games, and couldnt believe how lucky we were to be there!