Our Christmas Week

So our Christmas week was filled with ups and downs. Downs because we were sick off and on all week, but we still managed to have some fun. We went ice skating at the Ice Palace here and for a few hours it felt like winter. Then we went up to the North Shore and built a sandman. I was determined this year I was going to make one. It turned out ok. A little bit harder to make than I anticipated. We went to the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve and Dylan experienced his first soft pretzel. He loved it. (see above pic) We had a really fun Christmas Eve party with a few friends and were fortunate to have a special guest come, SANTA. Christmas Day we were all sick but it turned out to be such a great day. We stayed in our PJ's all day and every toy got played with. We watched a couple of movies, ate lots of junk food (even though we didn't feel good) and had lots of new electronics to figure out. We were all feeling better the next day and decided we needed to get a beach day in. So we took the kids down to Hickham for the afternoon. It was so relaxing and just what we needed. I hope everyone had a great day as well. We missed our families, thanks for calling it was fun to share our day with you on the phone.
At Hickham Beach Deven wanted Dylan to learn a few surfing skills early. He loved how the water bounced him around and around.
Gracie got an art easel for Christmas. She loves to make pictures and draw so Santa thought she would enjoy this gift. So far she has loved it.
Dylan and his train. This has been a big hit for both Gracie and Dylan. He didn't quite know what to think about Christmas. He loved the wrapping paper, the boxes and even all the toys. So much to put in his mouth and play with.
The two kiddos after opening Santa presents. We started a tradition where we open Santa presents then make breakfast while they play those toys for a while then after we eat we finish opening the rest. It made for a really fun morning and all the toys got played with.
Our special guest at the Christmas Party. It was so nice of him to drop in.
He had a special gift for each of the kids. Gracie was so excited. I think this picture says it all.
I have always wanted to build a sandman. So for a "FHE" one night we headed up to the North Shore to try our luck. It was harder than I anticipated, but still fun. So here is Mr. Sandman.
Deven and Gracie at the Ice Palace getting ready to get on the ring. They had so much fun. Dylan and I just watched and enjoyed bundling up in jackets and letting our noses get cold. It felt so much like Christmas and then we left and walked outside and the sun was blazing and we were roasting.
Deven and I both have December Birthdays. So we got and Ice Cream cake for Deven's. We let Dylan try it and he loved it. I am sure you can tell by the face.
Happy Birthday Deven we just had a small celebration with family. But we did get to go on a birthday date the day before thanks to Amanda who took our kids for the day. We went up to the North Shore and enjoyed the shrimp trucks, sharks cove, and a giant smoothie. It was so relaxing.
Gracie was begging us to sleep under the tree. So on her last day of school we let her. She was so excited and actually slept quite well. We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and love to see and hear how every ones day went. We hope everyone has a Happy New Year as well.

Merry Christmas

Well another year has gone by. Once again I had Shirece put together our family Christmas Card. She is always so creative and I love that she can do this. I am slacking a little bit more and more each year as I realize how many friends we have made and how many Christmas cards I should send out. But then I also realize how much I love the blog for this reason. So many of our goods friends read this so I am going to take this time to say Merry Christmas to everyone. I didn't do a Christmas Letter this year but I must say it has been a good year. This is our second Christmas in Hawaii and it is still a little hard to accept that we won't be having a white Christmas, none the less Deven does not have to work it and that makes it great. In fact Deven has the whole next week off. What will we do.... ha ha. I am so excited to have him around. We have been very blessed this year. Deven is doing well in his residency. He has developed a passion for surfing and this has become one of his favorite past times. I am glad he has this as an outlet. We love going to the beach as a family even if it is just to watch Deven surf.
Gracie started school this year and loves every minute of it. She is already reading and writing sentences. She loves to ride the bus and spend time with her friends at the park, beach, or school. She has become such a great big sister and can get Dylan to laugh so loud. She can also get him to spit out his food and then both of them laugh. It is so funny how much he loves her as well.
The birth of Dylan has been one of our greatest blessings this year. He has brought so much joy into our home. He is such a happy guy and just loves attention from anyone. He gets so excited when we go to pick Gracie up from the bus I have to hold on to him tight or else he would jump right out of my arms. He is a mama's boy and I will admit I love it!!! He love to be outside and is so content whenever we go for walks, to the park, or even the beach.
We really do miss our families this time of year but are excited to have this week with Deven we plan on wearing ourselves out and doing as much as we can. We are also so grateful to our friends here who fill in as family for us. So to everyone Merry Christmas!!!!!

Tis The Season

Well winter has arrived here on the island. I know that most of you are covered in Snow by now, but it is cold for us here. I have to close the windows at night and I get to wear a sweat shirt when I take Gracie to the bus in the morning. We are loving it!!! Also the waves are here on the North Shore. The past few days they got up to 50 ft. We had to take a drive up there and watch them. Traffic was crazy because everyone was trying to view them, but I decided it would be worth the wait, I started to panic when my gas light came on and we were stuck in the middle of traffic with no where to turn around I had no choice but to keep inching along but we finally made it. I wish Deven could have come with us, but he had to work. He are some of the photos. I thought the waves were amazing. These are taken by Sharks Cove on the North Shore.


Every year Tripler has a tree lighting ceremony and program. This year it was pouring rain, but Gracie just wanted to see Santa and that part was great.
We of course got to decorate the tree and once again Gracie found herself dressing up Dylan. She found reindeer antlers and thought it was funny to put them on him. He thought it was pretty funny too, especially when we showed him what he looked like in the mirror.
Well it is the season of good food and lets just say Dylan found his love for "real mashed potatoes" He ate so many, but he slept really good that night.
We got to spend some good times watching Deven surf.
And last but not least we decided we have quite the beach girl. She dug herself a hole to "relax in" and then we thought it was funny when we turned around and she was sitting like this drinking her juice. As Gracie would say "I am going to have a nice relaxing day at the beach"
But really this time of year is nice here but we get homesick for family. Some have been asking if we will be coming home for the holidays, but we can't. Sometimes we miss being with family. Gracie really misses the snow and pretends that the rain is snow. We are learning to enjoy "Sunny Christmas Days" but I still have a hard time this time of year being so far away. So we are sharing a little bit of our Christmas season with you. One of these days we are going to go build a sandman since we won't be having a white Christmas.

The kids Pictures

So my goal was to take pictures every couple of months of Dylan. I love to capture their first year. Well I obviously fell behind. There is not a kiddie Kandids here so Deven and I decided to take our own pictures. I also wanted some new pictures for the wall. I still don't have one of Dylan hanging up yet. I want a new family one as well, but we need to find someone to take those so we can make sure Dylan is looking at the camera. But I think these ones turned out pretty good. Gracie had a ton of fun. It was her idea to get a flower and she picked most of her poses. We just love her. Dylan was actually quite happy that day as well. So here are pictures of Dylan at 7mths and Gracie at 5 1/2 yrs.

Daddy Daughter Ball and Dylan hits 20 pounds

Gracie had been waiting for this day for over a month. Her school sent home a paper saying there was a daddy daughter ball. She asked Deven if he would go with her and of course he said yes. Then of course there was "so much preparation." We had to find the perfect dress, after all this was "A BAll" She wanted to curl her hair and couldn't wait to put her dress on. I think they both look wonderful. We decided to make this whole day her day so we let her pick what to do in the morning. She picked Ko'Olina Beach. So we agreed. We went early so we could get parking. Gracie tried snorkeling, and was practicing her swimming. It was a great day.
Gracie all ready for the ball
Gracie thought we should take some pictures of just daddy as well. What can I say a "Natural GQ" I think he is pretty handsome.
They are ready. So I sent them on there way. Dylan and I were going to have a mommy son outing as well. I was going to take him shopping. Good thing he is still little. I don't think he will fight me on this one.
So our little guy just isn't so little anymore. I had his WCC this past week and at 7 mths he weighed in at 20 lbs. and is just over 27 inches long. This puts him in the 75%. Deven and I can't help but call him our "little BIG BUDA" He is so chunky and we love it. This is him passed out after a tough day at the beach.
Today was a day of discovery for him. We let him play in the sand. He would pick it up and just look at it and then he would rub his feet in it. He played for a long time.
Taking a break from the water
Our little "BIG BUDA" We love the chunk!!!! He really is a happy baby, but a mamma's boy. We always get comments on how happy he is, but he doesn't like to be left with other people. He keeps a close eye on me. He has to make sure I am paying attention to him at all times. He always wants me to talk to him and doesn't like it when I leave the room.

A Week of Dress Up

Well this will be a bit of a random blog. We have been keeping busy. We seem to cram so much into our weekends which usually makes them crazy... but at the same time we have been having a lot of fun. The other morning I was putting clothes away upstairs and asked Gracie to watch Dylan. When I came down stairs I found him all dressed up and Gracie was showing him what he looked like in her mirror. He didn't seem to mind in fact he loves it when Gracie plays with him. He gets so excited when we go to the bus to pick her up. He kicks his feet and smiles and laughs as she walks off the bus. He loves it when she comes up to him and says hi. She can get him to laugh so hard. I had left this crown on the table. Deven and I went to a couples only Halloween party. (meaning we all ditched the kids) I went as a "drama queen" and Deven went as a caveman. I didn't take my camera so I will try to get copies. But it was tons of fun. The next day we spent Halloween afternoon at Hickham Beach. We rented paddle boards and let Gracie play with her friends all afternoon. It was such a relaxing afternoon and the perfect beach day. I took my camera but left it in the car and was too lazy to go get it out. It was too bad because I missed a lot of great photo opps. Halloween night we did a little bit of neighborhood trick or treating and then headed over to the church for the ward trunk or treat. Of course the kids came out loaded with candy. Gracie wanted to be a witch this year so we decided it would be fun to let Dylan be a black cat. I thought they both looked pretty darn cute.
Gracie dressing up her little brother.
Our "little witch and black cat" getting ready to go trick or treating. Gracie was so excited.

Another one of our new favorite things to do is to go to the beach and have smores. Deven and I bought a fire bowl and have had so much fun with it. We head up to the beach in the evening we usually get some take out and then watch the sun set. We then get the fire bowl going and enjoy some yummy smores. This night we also enjoyed some "spooky" Halloween stories. Some of the "boys" and even some of the kids went for a little night swim. I am still a little spooked about that part, but may be one of these times I will get brave.

A Nice Way to End a Week

We decided to go and meet Deven down at Tripler after work on Friday. We knew there would be traffic on the way home so we thought it might be fun to head to Hickham Beach and watch the sun set. Plus Deven was dying to try Dylan out in his new float ring "it use to be Gracie's we found it when we were cleaning out our garage." So we got some dinner, picked up Deven and drove over to the beach. It was perfect hardly anyone was there, the water was calm, and amazingly pretty warm. If you know me I don't like to get in the water after the sun has gone down because I get too cold. But I decided even I could handle it. Dylan did really well. We weren't sure if he loved it but he didn't cry he just floated and took it all in. He didn't like the feel of the sand on his feet. Every time his feet would touch the sand he would pull them up and grunt. We thought it was funny so we kept letting his feet touch. Gracie worked on her swimming and Deven and I found a turtle there to chase for a while. It was such a nice way to end the usual crazy weeks. Of course I made Deven take me to target after since we were down by one. He loves me so he reluctantly agreed.
Dylan not quite sure what to think.
Gracie swimming.
We love the sunsets here and can never get enough of them. We snuggled in our towels and waited till it got completely dark. Deven was messing around with the camera trying to capture the sun set. On a little "Dylan Note" He is growing up way to fast. He got his first tooth in. He is so proud of it he can't stop playing with it with his tongue. The other bottom one is coming so here's to another week of crazy nights. Poor little guy.

Gracie's Award

I posted these pictures in a different order than I wanted to but it will still work. This past week at school Gracie got nominated for the Good Citizen Award for the month of September. We were so proud of her. Each kindergarten class nominates a 1 boy and 1 girl each month. They have a cute little assembly for them and then they present them with an award and a tag they can put on their back pack. Gracie was so excited. Also if you look close at her pictures you might notice she has something sparkling in her ears. That is right Gracie got her ears pierced. I just want everyone to know it was her idea. Deven and I have always told her whenever she wanted to she could get them pierced. Well she was scared to do it so we didn't think it would happen until she was at least in middle school. But Saturday morning out of the blue she asked if she could get them pierced. Of course I said do you really want to and she said yes. I said well I don't know if we can do it today, but may be next week after your assembly. But she kept begging. Deven was going surfing with a friend but I didn't feel like the beach that day so I was going to take the kids to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I thought about it and decided I would make it Gracie's day and we would go get her ears pierced first. She was so nervous and I told her she didn't have to do it, but she said she wanted to. Then she asked if it was ok if she cried. I said yes, but I said Gracie we can wait you don't have to. She was so brave she cried some nervous tears but did it. She can't stop looking in the mirror and she wants to wear her hair up everyday so her earrings will show. I asked her what made her change her mind. I have a feeling the age of doing what your friends do is starting. She said another girl in her class had her ears pierced so she wanted to do it. Just a quick Dylan update, that is of course why I posted a picture of him. At five months he weighed in at 17lbs 14 oz. and was 27 " long. He is in the 88% for weight and the 94% for height. He truly is our chunky monkey.
Gracie receiving her award.


Gracie with a new little sparkle in her ears. Way to go Gracie.

A Little Vacation

Some how these past few weeks have felt CRAZY!!! I thought I would have so much time once Gracie started school, but I realize how fast the days are going by. Deven has been busy busy busy as usual. It was fun to have Labor Day Off with him. We headed over to Bellows Beach for some boogie boarding. It was a lot of fun. I got stung by a Man of War (jelly fish). It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but my leg burned for about 1/2 hour. That night we had dinner with some friends in the ward. It was fun to hang out with the Broach's. This past weekend was a whirlwind. As usual we had way to much going on, but it was all worth it. On Friday night we went to the North Shore with some friends. I guess you could say it was kind of a goodbye night for our neighbor and good friends the Prestcotts. I can't believe the time has come for them to go. The crazy thing is they will hopefully be back here before we move. It was so nice to order Tia food, watch the sun set, let the kids roast marshmallows, and then hunt for crabs. (Of course Gracie was freaking out, she isn't a big fan of crabs). The next morning we had a primary activity day. This is one we put a lot of time into. We sent all the kids on missions. It turned out really nice. After that the kids and I headed up to Turtle Bay to meet Deven. He had a radiology retreat up there and it gave us the opportunity to go spend the night. I know we live in paradise, but for that night it was wonderful. Our hotel room over looked the ocean. We swam in the pool, spent time on the beach. Enjoyed a nice dinner down on the beach, they set a table up for us on the sand. We got to put the kids to bed and then Deven and I stayed up way to late out on the balcony talking and enjoying the sound of the ocean. It was a much needed get away. Now it is back to reality and as Monday came and went I would give anything for just one more relaxing day. Oh well, life is still great.
This is our view from our balcony.
Gracie was having way to much fun out there. She was begging to stay another night, but all good things must come to an end.
Down at the beach on Turtle Bay
Deven and Dylan just a chillin (LOL).
Me and the kids getting ready to head down to dinner.
Up on the North Shore, roasting marshmallows.
The boys passed out, temporarily that is. Poor Deven he gets so tired he can fall asleep anywhere.
The boys again enjoying the sun set.
Hey what can I say, we start them early at our house.
Gracie and some of the kids playing in the waves.
This was out at Bellows beach, Gracie is getting quite good on the boogie board.