The Cox Family

A time of endings... some endings are harder than others!

2011-09-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Our good friends, the Rees's moved away. We knew it was coming for a while, but we didn't want to accept it. They were the kind of friends that are hard to replace. I still remember my first day at church and Amanda introduced herself to me. I found out she was teaching preschool the next year and the rest is history!!!! Our little girls also became really good friends. I guess you could even say, Brooklyn was her first BFF... as they called each other. We had so many memories with them. We went down and had dinner with them the night they flew out. I don't know what was harder saying goodbye or seeing how hard it was for Gracie to say goodbye. She cried the entire way home. Thank goodness for life long friends!!!!
Another ending....is Gracie finished first grade. I still find it hard to believe that she is in second grade already. But this is her on her last day of first grade!!!

But what would the last day of school be, without a pool party with friends. We wanted to start the summer off right, even if we would be in Utah for most of it, we had to live it up why we could!!!!

Our 2011 Easter...I am so far behind!

2011-09-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

So I know Easter was several months ago, but I am trying to catch up on the blog...slowly! This past Easter, Deven was in Washington D.C., but the kids and I managed to still have some fun. We had Easter dinner with our good friends the Rees's and Vancour's and of course before dinner the kids got to have an egg hunt. They had a good time and got lots of fun treats!!!

The Easter bunny still found us this year, in fact, he left a little surprise for the kiddos. He sent them on a treasure hunt and there was a special egg at the end.

We enjoyed a neighborhood Easter egg hunt as well. The kids got to go to the park with some neighborhood friends and find some eggs. So much good candy!!!! We loved Easter!

Ward Temple Trip and Beach Day

2011-07-17T22:48:00.001-07:00

Our ward put together a temple trip, where we could drop off the kids at the beach and then attend a session at the temple. This was really nice since Deven was away. Also they had just re-opened the temple so it was nice to actually get to go to a session. They had games for the kids to play and of course they fed them. After the session we had a ward potluck and then I let the kids play with their friends at the beach for a while.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN

2011-07-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Dylan turned two on April 11, 2011. We combined birthday parties for the kids this year since Deven was in Washington D.C. during April, but Gracie and I had to still do a little something for him. He loves sports of all kinds, so we figured we would do a little baseball party. We just had cupcakes and of course then we ended up playing ball with him the rest of the night. We had fun, even if it was just the 3 of us!!!

Spring Break Part II...Getting home

2011-07-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

I did it again. I loaded the pictures in reverse. Oh well, I think it will still make sense. I picked up a van we had rented early Monday morning and then I picked up Amanda and her kids in SLC. We were off on a long drive down a desolate HWY to California. We had so much fun and the kids did really well all things considered. We drove all day and got to Reno about 5 that evening. The kids had been really good and we decided to stop at Chucky Cheese and let them run around for a bit. We were only about 3 hours away. We got back in the car, it had been snowing on and off on the road but nothing to bad. When we got to the pass from Reno to California they said the road was closed and we could not go through. We had no choice, we had to turn back and get a hotel room in Reno. We found out later had we not stopped at Chucky Cheese we would have got stuck in a terrible snow storm and still been forced to turn around at the top of the summit. When we woke up the next morning we found out there was a flight back to Hawaii that night, we just had to get through the pass. We kept checking on the road conditions and they said chains were required to get through. I am so glad I was with Amanda we decided we would just have to purchase some chains...and a few diet cokes, and go for it. It was crazy. When we got to the top we couldn't believe how much snow there was. We made it safely to the other side. We managed to get to Travis, return our rental car, and now wait to see if we would be going home. I guess you don't always get lucky. We didn't get on. At first Amanda and I were disappointed and we shed a few tears. But luckily we had booked a hotel on base just in case so we got a shuttle to take us there for the night and come up with plan B. People were so kind and we learned so much. We went to see when the next available flight was going to be and it wasn't until Saturday. We only had the hotel for one more night. We were tired and decided it was best to just purchase 1 way tickets home out of Sacramento. (Thanks MOM!!!) Even though we didn't get back on a space A flight. I had a great trip, with a great friend. We made so many memories and I will never forget it!!!!
Since we ended up spending and extra day in California, we decided to take the kids to the Jelly Belly Factory, and then of course we had to check out the outlet malls there.

The kids all wanted to sample flavors such as bugars...gross I know.

Tour Time!!!
This is all the snow at the top of the summit. You could barely see the road signs!!!

When we were in Reno, the kids decided they could fly across the beds. They entertained themselves all morning.

Here we go. Amanda and I decided we can do anything with a good friend and a diet coke.

Spring Break and Lee's Wedding

2011-07-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have not blogged in a while. Life got crazy and now I am trying to catch up. I just realized all my pictures are in reverse, but I think it will make sense. Spring Break 2011. It was my brothers wedding and I really wanted to go to the mainland for it. Deven was in Washington D.C. and so I was really looking forward to the trip. But I decided, due to the cost of airline tickets, I was going to try to take a space A flight. I had talked to several people who had done space A before, and my friend Amanda said she would brave the adventure with me. We got lucky, there happened to be a flight directly into SLC. This is rare but perfect for us. WE GOT ON!!!! We were so excited. Who is crazy enough to take their kid by themselves on such an unknown adventure. Well Amanda and I. We flew on a refueling plane and the whole way over they refueled fighter planes in the air. The crew was really awesome and let us go down in the window and watch them refuel the planes. The seats were nothing spectacular, but the kids were able to lay down on them and sleep most of the way. When we landed in SLC there was snow on the ground. I think the kids were most excited about this. We got to spend some time with Nana and grandpa as well. Gracie, Nana, and I got to go to Disney on Ice and do a little shopping at the Gateway. We had so much fun. Then it was on to Gunnison to help get ready for Lee and Lindsey's wedding. I am so glad we got to come in. I got to spend time with my mom and sisters, and Gracie and Dylan really enjoyed the cousins. The wedding day was windy and cold, but we still got to take some great pictures outside the Manti temple. Unfortunately all good things must end and so the kids and I spent our last night in a hotel room close to the rental car place. Because part two of our adventure was going to start. Amanda and I were going to drive 10 hours to Travis AFB just outside of Fairfield CA to try and get a space A flight home.
The kids outside of the Manti Temple, even though it was cold and windy, the grounds were still beautiful.

I got to help throw a bridal shower for our new "sister-in-law" Lindsey, My sister Shirece had a great idea and we threw a "fire shower" It turned out to be hilarious. We did a candy bar and of course I turned my head for a minute and Dylan helped himself.

Gracie and Nana at Disney on Ice!!!

This was our plane, nothing fancy, but it was a great adventure.

Ready or not guys... we did it, we got on a flight...our first Space A experience. WE ARE GOING TO SLC UTAH!!!!
re-fueling the fighter jets in the air.
We made it. We were waiting for Grandpa Cox to pick us up, but the kids didn't mind they had so much fun in the snow!!!!

The Birthday Party

2011-04-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my two beautiful children. Rain or not the birthday party was a ton of fun. This year we combined the two kids birthdays and just had one big party. Deven is going to be gone when Dylan actually turns two so we thought it would be fun to just celebrate together and then he wouldn't have to miss the party. We have made such good friends here and it was fun to get together with them and share a fun day at the beach. Even though it was a rainy day, no one seemed to care and everyone still had fun. This was the last day before Deven flew to Washington DC for a couple of months so it was a much needed relaxing afternoon for our family.
Gracie has wanted a bounce house for her birthday since we moved here. We have been stalling but decided this would be the year. She was so excited and they all had so much fun!!!
Dylan (yes he is in his pajama shirt, he wouldn't take it off and I didn't feel like a fight) but he loved just hanging out with everyone.
This face says it all. NAUGHTY... we love Dylan but he is just that our little stinker.
I have come to accept the fact that when you have a mother who loves diet coke, you are bound to have children who follow after. I don't always let him have it, but hey it was his birthday party. You know it's bad when you go through McDonalds drive through and Dylan says "I want coke" I am working on it LOL.
Rain or not the kids still had fun playing at the beach. I guess you are going to get wet one way or the other.
bounce house fun!!!!

Nothing like food, friends, and fun... and it will always be a great day! Thank you everyone who made this day so great for our kids.

This is the morning Gracie actually turned 7. It was a great day for her treats to her class and even more treats to her hula class. Her favorite dinner of orange chicken. She had a great day! Happy Birthday Princess. I hate to admit that she is growing up. I am afraid the days of dressing up in princess clothes are almost over. I am not sure how I feel about the days of Justin Beiber LOL. She can be found in her room with her music blaring and her dancing and singing to him. But she is turning in a to great older sister and she does things all the time to make us so proud of her. We love you Gracie!!!
Gracie was nominated for the character trait of the month. HONESTY We were very proud of her, during her lunch they brought them up on the stage and gave them a certificate and of course ice cream afterwards. I got to go and have lunch with her. She was so excited and so was I. We love you Gracie.

Some catching up to do

2011-03-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am really behind on my blog. I am hoping to catch up over the next few days. It feels like life has been extra crazy lately, but hey it just makes it more exciting. A few weeks ago Deven and I participated in the Swamp run. We went to savers the night before to find some clothes we could ruin. The outfits were only half the fun. It was fun to get muddy and do something different. The run was held on the Marine base and it was a little over 5 miles of mud and rain.
This is how we started to look. Believe it or not, this was only about 1 mile into the run. Needless to say it was muddy.
Towards the end of the run we got to get into the ocean and clean up a bit before they made us go through a few more mud piles to finish. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we can do it again next year. Deven has been able to participate in this every year since we moved here, so we hope to keep it up.
I was also able to participate in another race again. I did the Great Aloha run again this year. But for some reason this time it was a lot more fun. I am sure it helped that I shared it with great friends. Thanks for the great morning girls. It is so much more fun to wake up early when you are surrounded by good company.
Me and the family in the stadium watching others finish.
Tricia and I have got to participate in a few running events together. We trained for the marathon together and have helped each other get stronger. We finished this 8.15 mile run with a new PR for us. We did it in 1 hour 10 minutes. We were excited.
Gracie waiting for me to finish.

The Simple Life....

2011-01-18T05:38:00.001-08:00

It seemed like last year was crazy and busy. It felt like family time was squeezed in and we always had somewhere to be or something to do. Well this year I decided it is time to go back to the simple things. We have been trying to spend more time as a family and enjoy this beautiful island we get to live on. It helps that we have church in the morning now and I have come to love Sundays again. We get to go do something as a family. One day we hiked Kolei Kolei, it was a short little hike that everyone could enjoy, and the view was beautiful at the the top.

The beach again. It had been so long since our family spent a Saturday at the beach and just relaxed and enjoyed. So this past Saturday we went with some friends and enjoyed the warm winter weather.
I got brave and tried paddle boarding. I have done it before, but I like to be out with somebody. This time I went out by myself... of course I didn't go clear out there... but progress for me.... I am scared of sharks LOL.
Dylan taking it all in.
Some of the kids making sand angels. Dylan trying to join.
And of course just going for a walk as a family. I have missed this. When church was in the afternoon. It felt like the day was over and there was no time to really do much. So I love morning church. I love that we can all have a nap and still have time to enjoy the evening. The kids out for a bike ride. So with the new year I want to spend more time with my family enjoying each other and all the beautiful things around us!!!!

Ending 2010 and Bring on 2011

2011-01-18T05:12:00.001-08:00

Well another year has come and gone, but we have so much to look forward to in 2011. We decided to send 2010 out with a party. Now since Deven and I have been married and had kids it seems our new years end earlier and earlier, but this year we decided to get together with some friends and enjoy it. Some of our really good friends the Rees's will be moving here shortly and we wanted to make it memorable. We got the community center on base and decided to have a disco party, in which costumes were not required, but highly recommended. Gracie and I went to savers and tried to find something to wear. Gracie picked out this dress. I was so wrapped up in the party I forgot to take pictures of us ringing in the New Year, but this is Gracie afterwards... when we were cleaning up. She was a trooper and made sure she made it till midnight. She thought she was so big.
The Cox family... we did it, we made it!!! We were tired the next day, but yes even Dylan stayed up despite our best efforts to get him to sleep. And poor Deven put in a full days work. I found him some great pants to wear, but he ended up coming straight from the hospital... poor guy.
The girls... showing off our disco attire.
Of course a pinata for the kids. Amanda found this great disco ball pinata and they had so much fun breaking it open.
We set up different stations were you could play rock band or X-box kinect. We had a great dance off with it. Everyone tried it, we had a lot of fun laughing at each other and our "great" dance moves.
Deven and Dylan enjoying the night. CHEERS!!!
Dylan was obessed with the drums. We had so much fun playing games with friends and in the end we had a dance off with everyone, it was fun to feel young and carefree for the night. Thanks everyone for a great new years!!
My friend emailed me the pictures she took of Dylan ice skating. I had to post them because they were so cute. He didn't last long but he has to try everything we do these days.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-26T00:12:00.001-08:00

We had nothing short of a nice Christmas. We feel very blessed this year! I wish we could have seen family and that would have made the day perfect, but since we couldn't we will share our day with you. Merry Christmas from two very happy children!!! Santa must have found them.
So all Dylan seems to care about these days, are balls, trains, and cars. So Christmas was a big hit for him. He got a trike from Santa and sissy gave him this basketball hoop. They played forever with it.

Gracie got a CD player for Christmas and the two of them spent the afternoon jamming out to Justin Beiber. (I keep asking myself when did she get so big... )
Each of the kids got a new little sleeping bag. These were a big hit. They both thought they were so cool.

Um yes, Gracie just opened her Justin Beiber CD. I think her face says it all. But if I have to hear "Baby, baby, baby Ahhh. all day long... we might be getting ear phones.
Our Christmas Eve was quite eventful as well. We ended the night with caroling with some friends around the neighborhood. It was fun for all of us to get top off some Christmas spirit.
"Santa and his two little reindeer" delivered a Christmas dinner to Deven's co-workers who had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
And of course we took the kids ice skating that afternoon. It is as close to the cold as we come these days. But they had fun. Dylan even tried it. I need to get the picture from a friend but I will post it soon. He did pretty well for about 5 min and then he was done. Oh well.... good memories.

Christmas came early for Me and Deven

2010-12-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

So it has been a long time since Deven and I have taken a trip together (just him and I). We made some really good friends here and we have been switching babysitting with them for a while now. We finally decided that may be we should take turns watching each others kids so we could each have a little couples get a way. They will be moving soon (that makes us sad as it it, but I won't think about that right now). So we thought it was the perfect time to switch kids. It was a great idea and it worked out well. Deven's time off of work just so happened to fall right between our birthdays so we thought it was the perfect way to celebrate and we decided to go to Kauai. It was an amazing and a much needed trip for both of us. The pictures are out of order but I will do my best to explain them. This picture is from the North Shore. One afternoon after our Kayaking trip we drove all the way to the end of the North Shore and found this beautiful beach. We just relaxed, took a nap, watched the sun set, and watched some great surfers. It was so nice to actually relax at a beach.

Our last morning there, we took a drive up to see Waimea Canyon. It was beautiful. Kauai is an amazing island.

This is the beach were we stayed. It was such a beautiful morning and we went for a long walk along the beach that morning we passed may be one person the whole time. This reminded me how lucky we are to have these experiences. I think I had forgotten as we had been so busy with LIFE.
There was a coconut tree outside of our cottage and of course Deven was determined to get a coconut out of it. He decided he was going to climb up and knock one out. After several tries he finally decided that if he wrapped a towel around it he had more traction and he could get up the tree. After all of his work he got a coconut, managed to get the outer shell off and we had really yummy coconut for the morning.

This is a view from our deck.
This was our favorite experience. We went on a kayaking trip up the Wailua River to see the Sacred Falls. We were really lucky. It had been raining really hard but ended up being a perfectly sunny day that day and because of all the rain the waterfall was amazing.

This is my most favorite picture. I just thought the waterfall looked so amazing as we got closer to it.
Just some scenery from a long the way.
We got to hike through mud and cross several small streams and this one pretty good sized stream but it was fun!

Deven and I kayaking up the river.

This was the sunset outside of our cottage.
(so I mentioned earlier these pictures are really out of order, but oh well). This is from the first day we got there. It was a rainy day but we made it and we were just so excited to be on a trip.
We ate at this place our first night. I know Deven has his eyes closed but I thought the rainbow was so beautiful.
Every trip needs a little mishap or else our trips wouldn't be complete. They gave us a free upgrade at the rental agency. They let us pick a convertible (probably because it had been so rainy). But we thought it was nice of them. Except we get about half way to our cottage and we stopped in a little town along the way. We turned the car off and of course we go to leave and it won't start... dead battery. There was no one to jump us so we called the rental place and they said they could get someone out to us in 2 1/2 hours.... WHAT!!! well we had no choice and we actually enjoyed ourselves wandering around a little town with not much in it, but it made for a great memory.
If I look excited, it's because I am. I had no children for 2 1/2 days. WOW!!! I was ready to get back to them at the end, but I am not going to lie, I loved the break! Happy Birthday to Deven and I. It was a really great present.

Where has the month gone?

2010-12-19T21:28:00.001-08:00

Well it is hard to believe this month is almost over and Christmas is almost here. I guess if I had to sum up this month I would have to say CRAZY FUN! This is from our ward party last night. It was fun seeing as it was our only Christmas Party this year... so far. Do you think Gracie thinks she is getting a lot for Christmas. Judging by her face she thinks she has been "good all year"
Dylan he just knows he's been naughty. He didn't even want to try.
Dylan just wants to be like his big sister. She has been doing some hula performances and got to wear tinsel in her hair. Dylan wanted something on his head as well. I think he makes a pretty handsome reindeer.
Santa was at the hula performance. Gracie has had a couple of opportunities to perform at Mililani Town Center this holiday season. The cool part was it was by Santa and he always seemed to come over and say hi.

Well I finally did it. I ran my first Marathon. This is Trish, me, and Kaylani as we spent the night before down at Waikiki. We didn't want to have to drive down super early the next morning so we thought it would be a good idea for the husbands to take the kids and we could "get some sleep" or not we had race day anxiety, but it was still fun.
This is probably my only walk on the "red carpet" but hey I'll take it. This is me and Dylan picking up my running packet.
I am almost done. I didn't even hear Deven yelling my name. I had my music turned up so loud. I just saw the finish line and I wanted to cross it.
So close, yet so far away. I could see the finish line for at least a half mile before I crossed. In a way that is just mean but it was worth it.
Yes I look a little zoned. Ok a lot zoned but may be its just because of all the "GU" Thanks Trish and Kaylani for the experience. I wouldn't have done it without the push.
More Hula performing for Gracie and Dylan just trying to stay out of the sun. He stole Deven's hat.

Dylan and Gracie at the Wahiawa Christmas Parade. It was fun for the kids.
Putting up the tree. We put it up the day after Thanksgiving. I get a little bit excited and it was a rainy day so the perfect thing to do. We all had fun decorating it. Ok, well Dylan had fun undecorating it.

Daddy Daughter Ball

2010-11-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Well it was that time of year again for the Daddy Daughter Ball. Gracie was so excited since last year and couldn't wait for it again. She gave Deven the invitation about 6 weeks ago and has been counting down ever since. So here they are off to the BALL!!!
This is the group. This year Deven and Gracie went with our neighbors and friends. Then they met up with a couple of other "daddy daughter" pairs from the ward at the ball. The girls danced their little hearts out!

Gracie and Alia the finished product.
All of the preparation to get ready. The girls wanted to get all "dolled" up. So we got together before the ball to get them all ready. They had a lot of fun getting all dressed up.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T23:25:00.001-07:00

The family getting ready to go out for a little trick or treating. We had a lot of fun this year. It felt like Halloween lasted for the whole weekend. We started off with a party at a friends house on Friday night, then Saturday was the tri-ward trunk or treat, and of course we decided to let the kids go around the neighborhood on Sunday to cap off all of the festivities. We had a lot of fun and the kids got a lot of candy!!! Guess we better make sure they brush their teeth good... LOL... but they had so much fun and that is what matters.

Gracie and all of her posing. She was really getting this cheer leading thing down.
Dylan was just being Dylan. I was amazed at how fast he caught on to trick or treating. Every time we pulled out his costume he would run for his bucket, he knew what was coming... smart kid.
We painted pumpkins with the kids on Sunday morning. The week before ended up being a crazy yucky week, Deven was hardly home and it seemed we had a lot activities going on. We have painted pumpkins every year and Gracie was looking forward to it this year as well. Dylan started off painting his pumpkin and doing a great job I might add, but somewhere along the way he figured out how to paint himself as well. This is what he looked like in the end.
The before picture. I should have posted these pictures in reverse... oh well...
Gracie getting ready to start
This is me and some of my really good girlfriends at the Halloween party. I didn't know what to dress up as so I decided to be Deven and put on his surfing attire. Well he thought I was making fun of him so he put on a ton of running gear trying to make fun of me. He was pretty good at it and loved playing it up!!!

Heading to the tri-ward trunk or treat. Happy Halloween everyone!

Spring Break and so Much More...

2010-10-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has been going on lately and I got behind on the posts. So this will combine several weeks of activities. But first the temple is finally finished. Just a few months after we moved here the temple was closed for some major renovations. We got to go just a few times before they closed it. 18 months later it will be re-opening. We got to take our kids through the open house. It was such a neat experience and so fun to take the family through, especially Gracie and show her the bride room and the ceiling rooms. She thought it was pretty neat.
The kids outside the temple, waiting for our time to go through. We caught Gracie picking the flowers.

Before the open house Gracie had a hula performance at the Dole Pineapple Plantation for Keiki Days. She did a great job as always and enjoyed a few of the festivities.
Gracie really wanted her "BFF" to come and watch her. Thanks Amanda for letting her come, it made Gracie's day.
Gracie before the performance.
We got the chance to go to the pumpkin patch with Gracie's girl scout group. That was a lot of fun. It was hot and dusty, but the kids got to go on a hay ride, and pick a pumpkin. They also go to learn about pumpkins. They thought it was really neat.

Gracie had another hula performance at Wahiawa General Hospital. It was community event and once again she loved performing.
We got to meet Deven down in Waikiki over spring break. He was giving a lecture at a P.A. convention so we went down to support him and he had a little time in between, we decided to take the kids to the Aquarium.
They got to touch starfish, and sea urchents. We had to keep Dylan from splashing in the water.

My friends Tricia, Kaylani, and I our training for our first marathon. Tric and I got the chance to run a marathon readiness race over in Kailua. It was a 25K and we finished right at the beach. We took some pictures and then jumped in the ocean to cool off. It was a good experience for us.

We of course went to the beach over spring break. I feel like we haven't been in a long time. The kids loved it!

We got to have a mini Halloween Party... kind of sorta... I was watching my friends kids and Gracie had wanted to have a Halloween Party, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to let them have some fun. We decorated cookies and made Halloween cards. The kids had fun and so did I.

This is our new little stinker. He may look innocent here, but his personality is starting to really come out and he "naughty" We love him though. This is after he just spit all of his watermelon on the ground. He would put it in his mouth and then spit it on the floor. He thought he was so funny. I was trying to capture his smile right after he did it. He knew he was being a stinker and he would look at Gracie and I and laugh.... What do we do with Dylan?

Hula Recital

2010-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Gracie had her first Hula Recital on Sunday Sept 19, 2010. She did such a great job. She loved it. They had a "backstage" where she got to change costumes in a dressing room. We were not allowed backstage so she was on her own for the costume changes. (The teacher had a couple of moms assigned to each group of course). She did such a great job and loved performing on a big stage. It made her feel so good to get to have a dressing room. She kept talking about how much fun it was. We are so proud of you Gracie!!!
Gracie and her wonderful teacher Kanani.

Lanai Vacation...Sept 2010

2010-09-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well it was time for another radiology retreat and this year it was held in Lanai. Of course we were going to tag a long it was a great excuse to see another island and spend some time as a family. Here we are at the airport of course bright and early Friday morning. The kids were excited.
WHAT!!! You want me to fly in that little airplane across the ocean. I am not going to lie I was a little nervous. But it was actually a nice little ride just a short 30 min plane ride and we arrived in Lanai.
This it the little airport in Lanai. It was about as big as a small grocery store.
We took a shuttle to our hotel. We were staying at the Four Season Resort The Lodge at Koele. We were greeted with hot towels and fresh pineapple juice. They even had a cup with a lid on it ready for Dylan. We were feeling pretty special LOL. There was a statue of Buda and the kids wanted to pick the money up off of it. We had to tell them they couldn't so we let them put a penny on it and "rub" his belly for good luck.
We took a shuttle ride to the other Four Seasons at Manele Bay. We didn't realize we were staying up in the mountains so we took the shuttle to the other hotel and that was were the beach was. The waves were a bit big for the kids to get in but it was still fun to sit under the umbrellas and play in the sand while they served us ice cold water. This is the home to spinner dolphins but we didn't get to see any. Deven did some snorkeling and it was a nice afternoon.
Gracie being funny and trying on dad's snorkel stuff.
We found this park in Lanai City. This is where the shuttle picked us up and dropped us off in town. The trees were so big and the kids had so much fun running around and trying to hide from Deven. Dylan was really getting into it. He thought he was so big.
This is a picture of the gardens at our hotel. They were so beautiful and relaxing. It was fun to be up in the mountains and have a change of scenery. Deven and I decided this would be a great "No KID" vacation. We loved having them with us but would love to go back by ourselves. The island is set up to be just that relaxing, but not a lot for the kids to do.
This is a picture of the stable at the hotel. the kids got to go meet the horses. Gracie was too afraid to go on a pony ride but it was still fun. We don't see many horses on Oahu.
Gracie got to go to the Keike adventures on Saturday. We dropped her off and the hotel taught them how to make leis. She got to feed fish and they made volcanoes down on the beach. She made a lot of friends and thought this was a pretty neat thing.
So Lanai City is so small this is how their street signs are labeled. Deven and I thought it was pretty funny.
We walked back to our hotel one night from the town. It was so relaxing. The people in the town were so friendly. They kept picking flowers from their yards and giving them to us as we walked by.
Arriving back to the hotel

The kids thought it was pretty neat that each of them were given a bath robe. They would wear them to the pool. Ok so may be Gracie thought it was pretty cool. Dylan didn't quite know what to think...
Dylan found the sun stick and put it on. At least he knew how to use it.

Just some pictures as we walked around the gardens.
Shipwreck Beach. We rented a jeep on our last day since most places you can only get to with 4 wheel drive. We took it to shipwreck beach. It is an old WW II ship that got stuck on the reef and it has been there ever since. The Island in the background here is Maui.

The water was so clear we saw this turtle swim right up to us.
The Garden of the Gods. This area was formed by the wind through the years and it is quite sacred to the island. It was pretty cool to see something different.
Photograph complimentary of Gracie
From up on top of here you could see the Island of Molokai.
This beach was another beach you could only get to with the jeep. No one was there it was so beautiful. But we were advised not to get in because of strong currents. It was really windy but so beautiful.

The Island in the background is Molokai.

It was a fun break, but fun to be home as well. Dylan doesn't sleep well on vacation and so by the end we were all sleep deprived and tired. But thanks Deven for letting us tag along on your retreat.

More Hula

2010-08-30T01:54:00.001-07:00

Gracie has really enjoyed taking hula this past year and they had another performance at Mililani Town Center this past weekend. She did great!!! We love to watch her perform. She has come to love to perform and I just love that she is having FUN!!!

Well Sunday night when Deven was on call, we decided to enjoy some chocolate Popsicles. Dylan wanted his own so I thought why not. He looked like he was painted brown. He was such a sticky mess but he sure enjoyed his Popsicle.

Wisdom of a first grader

2010-08-14T01:05:00.001-07:00

Through the eyes of Gracie. So we were running errands tonight and got talking to Gracie about jobs and how we get money. I have to work for so many things. You want me to earn my ule ule's, a watch, and a dog. I think you guys should just buy it for me because I already have to many jobs. I have to go to school and learn that is my job. I said really Gracie, well do you know I have more jobs than you. I have to cook for you, do your laundry, and clean up after you. And Gracie said, " well then I have infinity jobs." Deven asked, "oh really, how much is infinity?" Gracie said, " only Jesus knows." As the night goes on Gracie was being funny. Deven asked her why she didn't finish her drink? She said "what, you want me to drink... I don't drink beer because I believe in Jesus." Deven and I just roll our eyes... Literally. What do you do with a child like this. We just laugh and blame it on others... like the grandparents.

First day of First Grade

2010-08-04T23:51:00.001-07:00

Well the summer flew by, sometimes I feel like we didn't even have a vacation. Gracie started first grade on Monday and of course she is loving it. Her teacher is Mrs. Kamanishi. She loves her. She says she is really funny. Of course she thinks she is so big so taking pictures at the bus stop on the first day ... well you will have to catch me while I am walking to the bus I am to old to pose for pictures I have to get to school. Gracie has grown up so much. She loves to learn but her favorite subject is of course recess. She has turned into our little social butterfly. Here's to a great year in first grade. We love you!!!
My other one has turned into TROUBLE. I am not sure if it is the age or if it is because he is a boy but he is full of mischief 100% of the time. I am just asking for 10 minutes a day when you are not destroying something or taking things out of the cupboards or off the shelf. He has started to do a few signs and say a few words. He signs bird, milk, and ball. He loves to chase the birds, he runs after them doing the sign and saying brd brd brd. His first word was a toss up between cracker or thank you. He loves to bring me things and say thank you. He loves to put things in the toilets, rip the toilet paper into tiny pieces and put it in the bathtub. He has learned how to turn the dishwasher on and off and he know how to open it. So there are so many times I go to unload the dishes only to find out they are wet because Dylan has started and then stopped the dishwasher several times that morning. He copies so much of what Gracie does. He squeezes his nose and goes around saying beep beep. He screams the same way Gracie does. He follows her around and I keep telling her to teach him good things not naughty things. We love you Dylan you are a handful but so much fun.

2010-07-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

While we were home we were able to get family pictures taken. Thanks to a great family friend, Heather Telford. She took some amazing pictures these are my favorites. Now I just have to decide which ones I want to get to hang on the wall.

The Rest of our Summer Vacation

2010-07-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the Lake Powell pictures. Deven's family practically grew up on this lake so Deven was so excited to go back with his family. Dylan was enjoying himself as well. There were so many buttons for him to push and he just wanted to drive the big boat.
We decided to hike to Rainbow Bridge. Dylan got a great ride. He loved it.

Rainbow Bridge
Dylan loved the water and this is him enjoying his first tube ride with Daddy. He is trying to wave.
Gracie and Dylan out for a boat ride
Deven skiing one morning. Deven says and I quote "Wow he is amazing"
I am trying to keep up with Deven. Ha Ha I will just stick with the knee board.
Deven air chairing. He has been riding this since he was 16. He thinks he still has it!!!

Gracie just enjoying the ride
Dylan enjoyed the ride way too much.

So Deven talked me into skiing. I am not very good, but at least I got up and that is pretty good for me.
Gracie helping Grandpa drive the house boat.
Dylan driving the ski boat
For our 8th year anniversary we went to the Inn on the Hill. It was in downtown Salt Lake. It was so fun to ditch the kids for a night and go to dinner and shopping at the Gateway. I had way to much fun.
We got to do a session in the Salt Lake Temple this was our first time going through that temple... and Deven went in like this. He just told them he was from hawaii and they let him right in. (actually he didn't bring any church clothes on this trip... they had compassion for him)
The Utah Arts Festival. Gracie had a lot of fun.
A visit with a dear friend and Cousin. We grew up together it is so fun to get together and catch up.
Gracie and her cousin Sarah. They had so much fun together and Sharon made them these adorable matching dresses.
We got to enjoy the Ute Stampede with my brother and sisters, this was the opening they had the flag dropped from the sky.
We got to spend a little time in the mountains doing a little hiking with my Aunt LuAnn and Shirece. The kids loved it. It was so beautiful and it was nice to get out of the heat and enjoy some cooler weather.
Thanks everyone for a fun summer vacation. It is was so fun to come home and spend it with family. We already miss everyone and hope we can come back soon!!!

Summer Fun on the Mainland

2010-07-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

(Waiting for the concert to start... my mom stayed home with Dylan)

We have been having a good time here on the mainland. I sent our main camera home with Deven because I wasn't sure how I was going to carry it all home. So I don't have all the pictures I will have to post our Lake Powell Adventure when I get home. Thanks to Lisa for taking these pictures for me. We had a rough start but finally made it home. We took a red eye flight home but had some "electrical problems" right when we were suppose to take off. We ended up being delayed 2 1/2 hours on the runway before we finally took off. Because of that we missed our connecting flight into Phoenix and had to wait another 2 1/2 hours until we could get another flight to SLC. But we made it. What a long trip. We spent the first week down at Lake Powell with the Cox's ( I will post pictures later). Then Deven and I were able to ditch the kids and go to SLC for our Anniversary. We stayed at a The Inn on the Hill (thanks to a recommendation from a a friend.) We loved it. We went to dinner shopping at the Gateway and even did a session at the SLC Temple. It was a great break. Deven had to fly back way to soon and then I headed to Gunnison to see the Sorensen's. It was time to celebrate the 4th and all of my family came in. You have to love small town celebrations. We had so much fun!! We went to a "Neil Diamond Impersonator" concert on Friday. Only in small towns but it was so fun. We danced and acted like we had never grown up. It was so much fun to be with the sisters. They had fireworks after and then of course the parade and park the next day. Nothing beats a small town parade and all the candy. After we went to my Grandmas for a hug BBQ. The kids had fun playing in the water and I enjoyed visiting with all my family.
Afterwards we wanted to get our picture taken with him and of course we had to buy a CD... my Brother in law Rick is a die hard Neil Diamond fan so we thought he might appreciate his impersonator.
Waiting for the parade to start on Saturday. Gracie painted her own shirt thanks to my sister Sharon and her creative ideas to let the kids make their own 4th of july shirts. Gracie loved it!!!
Gracie going down the slide. I loved this picture!!
Of course the train ride is a must we have done it every year we go to the Gunnison Celebration.
What would a carnival be without Cotton Candy.
My dad and Dylan at the parade drinking his chocolate milk. This is what is great about living in a farming community they pass out chocolate milk at the parade. Dylan enjoyed some as well.
Dylan playing in the "kiddy pool" at Grandmas he loved to splash and get wet.
Gracie and Sarah had a blast on her slip and slide. There is so much more to post but I just had to post a little bit.

Summer Time Fun!!!

2010-06-12T19:23:00.001-07:00

I can't complain we have had quite an eventful summer. We have managed to keep ourselves quite busy. We do not have air conditioning (hopefully that will all change by the time I get back from the mainland) so I have to get out of the house in the heat of the day. We have gone to the zoo, the beach, the mall, and of course the water park. But on days like today when all of her friends came over to play we created our own water park and let the kids splash around in the pool. We are excited to head to the mainland in just a couple of days. So much to still do to get ready, but it will be so nice to have some peace and family time. Deven has been gone almost every night since June started so he is ready for a break. Plus he has not been off the island for two years now. I think he is going to be shocked when he gets back to the mainland.
Dylan enjoying his time outside. He is trying so hard to climb up the slide, he thinks that is as much fun as sliding down the slide.
All of the kids in the pool (well most of them) They blew up float rings and had a great time.
Nothing like a nice relaxing day at the pool
This is one of the last things we get to do with her friends Adam and Breanna. They are moving to Washington State here in a couple of weeks. They have been our neighbors for the past couple of years and were the first friends Gracie made here. The above group took Gracie in when we moved here and they became instant friends. It is going to be hard for her see some of them move away. I thought it would be fun to have all the kids come over...I mean Deven had to work all day... (while the parents got a little date). The kids had fun and that is what matters.
Of course there is the splash park we did this for mothers group this week. It was a lot of fun as well. If there is water the kids love it.
Gracie being a JR Zoo Keeper at the Zoo.
And of course the beach. On Memorial Day we got together with some friends and had a BBQ and fire pit. We love nice quiet evenings on the beach and this was no exception. The night was GREAT!!!
Deven grilling up some food.
We even got to see some turtles on the beach and Deven and the guys went out snorkeling with them. They were everywhere. We saw their heads popping up in water all night. It was a lot of fun. I still get excited when we see turtles here.
The kids playing in the sand.

The School Year Has Gone By Way to Fast

2010-05-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

Well Gracie did it, she finished her first year of school!!! It is official, summer is here!!! I can't believe how fast this school year went by or how much Gracie has grown. She has learned so much this past year. She taught us about economics (what a buyer and a seller is), she taught us about gravity, and how the earth rotates and moves around the sun. She is reading books and writing sentences. She has turned into a social butterfly and has developed a love of learning and school. She had a great teacher, Mrs. Scott, and she made many great friends (some of which will be leaving in a couple of weeks). This is the downfall of army life. She was sad to say goodbye to her classroom A-3 and her teacher. But she is sure she will stop in and say hi to her next year. Anyways she is looking forward to first grade and has already told us " it is going to be a little bit harder we are going to have to do more reading and writing". But we are looking forward to a fun summer. I have to admit it is nice not having to get up at 6:30 every morning to get her on the bus at 7. We have already had a great summer and are looking forward to our trip to the mainland in a couple of weeks.
Gracie on her FIRST day of school. The above picture is of her on her LAST day. She has grown so much.
We got to spend an evening at the beach with daddy we had dinner and went for and evening swim. It was so nice to stay out a little later cause there was no school.
Of course I thought we could kick off the summer by washing our car. Well the kids had a different idea. They of course were so much help they got a good washing too.
We bought a summer pass to the water park here. We had so much fun. Gracie wore herself out and fell asleep at 6:30. I think we will be making many trips there this summer LOL!!!

Dylan is 1

2010-04-12T01:56:00.001-07:00

Well I am not sure if I loved this day or if it made me sad. This year went by way to fast. It seems like just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. It has been such a joy to watch him grow up. He was such a sweet baby. He is still my sweet little boy but it is fun to see his personality come out... and I think I am in for a treat. Dylan is a crawling tornado. He can pull things apart faster than I can put things back together. He has already discovered toilets and yes he loves to splash in them. He screams like a velosaraptor when he wants something. I have been trying to teach him signs for months now. He just laughs and at me and then screams again, and then he smiles. He has no desire for now to even try. He loves dirt, and rocks, remote controls, and any gadget he can find. (Deven's I-pod touch, or our cell phones.) He is such a boy. He love to get dirty and loves to throw his food on the floor, especially if he doesn't like something. He has already figured out how to tease Gracie. She gets mad and he keeps doing it. He will chase her around she screams and he laughs. He pesters her in shopping carts. If he is in the front and she is in the back he turns around and touches her until she gets mad and of course he laughs. He wants whatever she has and he will stop at nothing to get it, Gracie get so frustrated and is constantly shutting him out of her room. He just pounds at the door and screams for her to let him back in. We just love him so much. My days have become busy chasing him around but I love it!!! Happy Birthday Dylan! We love you!

He loved to have Happy Birthday sung to him. He just smiled the whole time.
He didn't know what to do with the candle. He just wanted to grab it so Gracie helped him out.
He held nothing back when he got his cupcake. He ate it and squished it.
We gave him a bath after the cake and I had to just hold him and squeeze him as much as I could. I can't believe he is already one.

You know she's growing up when....

2010-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well it's official Gracie lost her first tooth. She was so excited it fell out at school while she was eating lunch. She got to go to the health room where they gave her this little pink treasure chest to put it in. She has been asking for years when she was going to lose her first tooth I kept telling her when she got bigger... well she did get bigger and it happened. But there are other ways I can tell she is growing up, lets see... she asked me the other day if she could get fake nails. (I don't have fake nails so she has noticed those on others). Her favorite TV show is " i Carly" not cartoons. And she wanted to use her birthday money to go shopping for clothes (not toys). Deven and I took her shopping on Saturday to the mall. She kept saying how much fun it was and picked out so many clothes to try on. After she had paid for some clothes she had her bag in her hands and she walking out of the door with Deven holding his hand, she said really loud "I just love shopping this is so much fun." I was lagging behind a bit with Dylan in the stroller I got side tracked. There were two ladies by the front door who just started laughing. I heard them say, "did you hear that little girl? She was holding her dad's hand as they were walking out of the door and she said I love shopping." I couldn't help but smile. I have to admit I am excited to have someone to go shopping with.... Deven on the other hand, he is a little bit nervous LOL!

The Best Week Ever!!!

2010-03-22T23:55:00.001-07:00

After much anticipation Matt and Lisa finally came. It was such a great week. This week reminded us of how lucky we are to live in Hawaii and of how much we love family. Now if there were just some way to combine it all. None the less we had a jammed pack week full of fun. (I did two different posts because this is my scrapbook as well and I wanted to capture all of are memories the best I could) We started off with snorkeling at Sharks Cove, Matsumotos, and the shrimp trucks. We then spent that evening down in Honolulu. The next day we headed to White Plains for some surfing. Matt was really nervous about sharks and we weren't sure if he would get in the water. Well it turns out we couldn't get him out of the water. He was a natural at surfing and he became addicted. That night we hiked the light house and saw whales. Tuesday we started off early with a hike to the top of Diamond Head. From there we headed over to Bellows Beach for some boogie boarding and we topped off the evening with a couples date on a dinner cruise down at Waikiki. Wednesday we of course did the swap meet and the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We got to enjoy another couples date that night at Haleiwa Joes on the North Shore. Thursday we got up early and drove over to the other side of the Island to Kaneohe. We rented a boat over there and took it out to a giant sandbar in the bay. It was cloudy and a bit chilly but so beautiful and so much fun. We had the sandbar all to ourselves and it was amazing. After that we went and checked into our beach Cottage in Kaneohe. This was such a great evening. We had a private beach and we enjoyed snorkeling, some book reading, BBQ steaks on our lanai and of course we ended with a fire pit that evening and smores. From there we headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center, but we first stopped at the temple in Laie. We enjoyed a Luau at the PCC and the night show. Saturday was there last day but we kept going. We did Pearl Harbor in the morning and then went back for Matt and Deven to surf one more time. That night Gracie had her first hula performance at Mililani Town Center. She was so excited to have Matt and Lisa come watch. We were so proud of her she is a natural. Of course all good things must end and it did. They flew out late that night. But it was a week I will always remember. We had such a great time. We laughed and laughed and then laughed some more. It was great to have Lisa here when we found out my mom was in the hospital we were able to cry together and it was comforting to have each other when we didn't know what was going on. She ended up having surgery on Monday and has a had a rocky recovery. But I was able to talk to her tonight and they think she will be able to go home tomorrow. This is when it is hard to be so far away. But I love you mom and wish I could be there!!!
The shrimp trucks in Halewia. The boys loved it and snuck up there one more time on Saturday before they flew home.
Of course what is the North Shore without shaved ice. YUMMY!!!

Our night down in Honolulu.
Matt and Deven getting ready to start there surfing adventure. These two boys are "two peas in a pod" They are both wild and crazy, but that makes for fun adventures.
Matt and Lisa on the Light house hike. We love this picture.
Dylan and I hiking up.
Our Diamond Head adventure.
Bellows beach. It really says Aloha. But I know Matt was making fun of us because are "A" and "l" blend together and he kept saying "Where's Noha."
Dylan with his cracker and sand face.
Enjoying our "non alcoholic" Mai tai on our dinner cruise.
Deven and I enjoying the sunset on top of the boat. Down below is all 4 of us enjoying the evening.

Haleiwa Joe's. This is one of our favorite places to eat. The boys got brave this time and ordered a special where they got the whole fish on there plate. It looks a little crazy, but it was really good. We all tried it, probably the best fish I have ever had.

The four of us at dinner.

Best Week Ever Part 2

2010-03-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

Deven and Matt after their snorkel adventure in Kaneohe Bay
Paddle boarding out in the bay
We rented a boat and took it out to a giant sandbar in Kaneohe Bay. It was a bit cloudy but so much fun.
docked on the sandbar
Gracie paddle boarding
Dylan found his love of Cheetos
Sunset from our beach cottage

Dinner on our lanai overlooking the bay
fire pitting on the beach
It wouldn't be the same without shrimp trucks on the North Shore
Laie Temple
Deven and Matt getting ready to throw their spears at the Polynesian Cultural Center
The Luau
Enjoying a yummy mango smoothie before the luau
Dylan eating a sand strawberry at White Plains Beach
Matt and Deven addicted to surfing
Our beautiful Hawaiian Princess before her first hula performance

Gracie performing at Mililani Town Center

2010-03-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Gracie!!! What can I say, except time goes by way to fast. Gracie turned 6 years old on March 2nd. She of course was counting down to this day since Christmas. I just can't believe how fast she has grown up. Since she has started school this year she has changed so much. The way she looks, the way she talks, her confidence has increased. For so many years she wouldn't do anything without me holding her hand and never wanted me to leave her alone anywhere. Now she doesn't want me to go anywhere, she wants to be so independent. Truthfully I have a hard time with it. I think part of it is just realizing how quickly she is growing up. But we love you Gracie. You are such a great big sister. You are so helpful and you have such a great whit about you. You really keep us on our toes. You bring so much laughter do our lives. It has been so fun to watch you grow up and see how much you are changing. Dylan just loves you!!! He chases you around till you tease him and chase him back. He loves to take you to the bus in the morning but gets so excited when we go to pick you up after school. You can always get him to laugh and he loves to copy you. You have been such a big help to me this year. Happy Birthday I hope you had a great day!!!
Her birthday was on a Tuesday so I thought we would start the day with a "pancake" cake. Since that is what she requested for her birthday breakfast.
Deven was already at work, but Dylan and I sang to her before school and let her blow out her candle.
She wanted a new bike since she outgrew her other one, but mom messed up and got one that was way to big. I didn't know it made that much difference, but it did. She was a little disappointed when she tried to get on it and her feet didn't touch the ground. So I promised her as soon as she got home from school, we would take that one back and she could pick out one that fit. She was ok with that. It was going to be a fun day at school as well. I got to bring cupcakes in for her class and she got to wear a birthday crown. Of course she loved that.
We had her birthday party on Saturday. We decided to have it at Burger King this year. It just seemed like it would be the least stressful for me. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The kids played, ate, and ran their little hearts out. I love it because I didn't have to clean anything or worry about anything getting broke. They could run and play all they wanted.
This year I decided I wanted to try something new. I had never made candy succors before and so I thought that would be fun to try. It was a lot of fun and I thought they turned out cute.
Gracie with her birthday cake. As you can see she just wanted everything to be pink and purple. I threw in some green since there would be boys there.
Gracie after all the craziness. We love you so much and are glad you had a great birthday!!!

New Yard

2010-02-21T11:51:00.001-08:00

Well this was not exactly how we wanted to spend our weekend, but it had to be done. We live in an association and they have been after us for along time to fix our yard. When we moved in the yard was dying and we tried everything we could to keep it alive but ground cover and weeds kept coming up and pretty soon there were more weeds than lawn. We were told by the association we had to fix it. We had no choice but to put a new yard in. Deven and I thought really hard about what to do and decided we didn't want to deal with grass so we decided on a rock garden. Deven had to take a couple of days off work so we could put it in. We worked on it all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. In fact, we put the last rocks down as it was getting to dark to see but we did it. Not exactly the way we wanted to use some of Deven's days off, but we had no choice. Anyways, we think it turned out better than we thought. We really weren't sure what we were doing, we had the image in our mind, but we were just making it up as we went along. So I don't like to brag but this is one time we are proud of all our hard work. Dylan was such a trooper and sat in his pack and play for almost 2 days straight but he was so good for us. Gracie helped us lay down rock and would get the water for us, when we needed it. Thanks to Audra for letting her come and play when she lost her attention span so we could get things done and thanks for sending over Bobby we enjoyed having his slave labor for the afternoon. Now we have to clean out the cars as they are covered in dirt and rocks from all of the hauling we had to do. So that will be my project tomorrow as well as the garage. We have red dirt here and it can make quite a mess. Lucky ME!!!

FUN HOLIDAY WEEKEND

2010-02-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

We had a rough week last week but managed to have a great weekend. We had a flu bug that we just passed around. Good thing is was only a 24 hour bug, but we couldn't all get it at once we took turns all week long being sick. Gracie started it off, passed it to Deven, who gave it to Gracie, and of course I was the last one and ended up with it on Friday. But Saturday came and we were ready to get out of the house. We had a great weekend. We started to put our yard in, had a great valentines day, I got to participate in the Great Aloha Run, and we even got in some beach time. So here are a few pictures of it all. At the top is the me finishing the race. There were close to 20,000 participants. So the top picture is just after I crossed the finish line. The race started at the Great Aloha Tower in Honolulu and ended at the stadium.
My biggest fans. Gracie was so excited to come cheer me on. Her kindergarten teacher was also running it and she told her she was going to be there to cheer her on as well. She was really disappointed that we didn't see Mrs. Scott.
I was finally able to get some new pictures of Dylan. He is now 10 months old. He is such a happy, sweet boy. At his last appointment he weighed 23lbs. He is my chunky monkey. We just love it. He is so squeezable.

We asked Gracie what she thought about Valentines and she said it was a time to exchange lots of treats and cards. So we thought it would be fun to decorate her door with and get her lots of treats.
We did well. She was so excited. Dylan didn't quite know what was going on. But we still decorated his door and made him a giant cookie as well. He just wanted to smash it, but it was still fun.
We decided to do something different on Valentines and go have breakfast on the beach. The kids were up at 6 am so we made some yummy breakfast and headed out to watch the sun rise. The kids just had fun playing in the sand and we enjoyed a relaxing morning.
We went down to Waikiki beach on Saturday and of course had to get our favorite melon pops at the store across the street. Dylan loved them. He sat there grunting until he could get a lick.
Gracie just loved to tease him with her Popsicle. Poor little guy he just wanted some licks. We will finish putting our yard in this week. Deven worked so hard on it Monday afternoon. After he was all sweaty we decided he needed a break and headed up to sharks cove for some snorkeling and ended with a fire pit and smores. I of course always forget my camera, but it was a great way to end the long weekend.

Book Time

2010-02-02T00:52:00.000-08:00

I just had to write about the new thing we started at our house. I have so many books I want to read but just never feel like I have the time to sit and read. So I decided this year we were going to have book time at our house. Every day after Gracie finishes her homework she picks the room and we take our books and some toys for Dylan and get ready to read. I set a timer for 30 minutes and during that time Gracie has to read books or work in some of her activity books. The first time we tried it Gracie didn't think it was so neat but now it has become my most favorite time of day. Dylan plays and tries to get my book, but Gracie usually reads at least one book to him and then makes sure he has several books to look at as well. I forgot how much I love to read and it has been such a great time for all of us. Gracie even asks everyday when will it be book time. So sorry no pictures, but I just wanted to share one of my most favorite times of my day!

Family Times

2010-01-14T15:29:00.001-08:00

We decided we needed to branch out a bit in our activities and take advantage of some of the hikes here on the island. We decided to try the light house hike. We didn't see any, but a lot of times you can see whales on it this time of year. We had a lot of fun. It was so good to spend time as a family. Here is Deven, Dylan, and Gracie resting in the shade after we made it to the top.
A view of the lighthouse. It was such a beautiful day.
Dylan and I at the top over looking Bellows beach.
The view around the island from the top. This reminds me of just how small the island really is, when you can see so far around it. But on the flip side of that it also reminds me of how beautiful it is.
Deven, Gracie and I taking a rest on the way up. Dylan is asleep in the stroller.
We decided to go have dinner at the beach one night. It was really fun. We let the kids play in the sand and watched the sunset. I love the sunsets here.
Dylan loves to play in the sand. When we go to the beach we give him a shovel and he is entertained for hours. I am not kidding. He loves to touch the sand with his hands and feet. His favorite thing to do is to dig holes. He will just sit and dig away. Gracie wanted in on the fun so she came over to help him.
He is just so proud of himself. He is getting so big and changing so fast. He has started to move around on his butt. He can't crawl but he can move across the floor by twisting back and forth. He is so proud of himself. The other night Gracie and I were cooking dinner and I walked around the corner to check on him. He just started to laugh. He had scooted himself clear across the floor and had everything pulled out of my diaper bag.

Lisa and Matt are coming to visit in March. I can hardly wait. They officially booked their plane tickets so it is a done deal. I am so excited to have them come. We are searching out fun and exciting places to take them. I am so ready for some visitors!!!!!

Our Christmas Week

2009-12-27T19:27:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-19T00:43:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-01T15:53:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-07T22:32:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-02T23:17:00.001-08:00

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

2009-10-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-15T01:02:00.001-07:00

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.

Kids, kids, kids....

2009-08-31T01:17:00.001-07:00

Well there is nothing too exciting to report lately. I just can't believe how busy I feel. I thought I would have so much time once Gracie started school, but the days just seem to fly by. I just thought I would post a quick update on our life. Gracie has always had quite the imagination, but lately we can't seem to tell what is the truth and what is a "story." She says she just loves to trick people but she can be quite convincing. We found a 6" long centipede in the house the other day, it freaked me out, of course I saved it to show Gracie, I thought she would like to see it. Well she decided she was going to tell all of her school friends she got bit by it. She found an old mosquito bite on her leg and was telling everyone she got bit. Well she even told her friend Cordon's mom that she got bit by it. Chantell was convinced. She said "wow Gracie, that must have really hurt." Gracie looked right at her and without hesitation said "yeah it did". I found this all out as I was talking to Chantell the next day. I said no she never got bit by a centipede. She tells me all sorts of stories about things that happen at school. She even told her Aunt Shirece that she was shopping at Costco on Sunday and that I couldn't talk to her because I was checking out. I finally have to say to her well can you show me who that is cause I should probably talk to them. At first she will say "well you don't know them, or they don't live by us." I have to keep pushing it and then she will finally say. OK mom I just made that up it didn't happen. Deven and I decided it was time for the story of the boy who cried wolf. Did it help, I guess we will see this week huh. Gracie has also learned to throw away whatever she doesn't eat in her lunch at school before she comes home. I always like to look in her lunch box to see what she was eating and not eating before she started to eat all the treats at home. Well she got smart and decided she was just going to throw away whatever she didn't eat so she didn't have to tell me what she ate or didn't. I swear we are going to have to put a GPS tracker on this one. We love you Gracie, you keep life interesting.

Dylan is just getting so big. Look at those chunky cheeks. You should see his thighs. If you remember Gracie as a baby he has caught up. He is just as chunky. He is a pretty happy little guy. He loves lots and lots of attention. I even put him in a front pack when I am cleaning so I can get a few things done sometimes. He hates to be left alone. He would love to be talked to and held all day long if he could. Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I get nothing done, but how can I resist those big chubby cheeks and that smile. Gracie is turning into such a big helper. Last Friday there was no school and Gracie woke up early as usual. Dylan was up as well, but was just going back to sleep. I lay ed him down in his bouncer and asked Gracie if she would keep an eye on him while he slept. I told her she could watch a cartoon and to just come wake me up when he woke back up. About 1/2 hour later I heard him downstairs and I just lay ed in bed listening. I kept thinking for sure Gracie would be up to get me, she is usually there with the first peep he makes. So I finally decided I had better get up and head downstairs. When I got down there Gracie was bouncing him and trying to keep him quiet. I couldn't believe it. I said thank you Gracie that is so nice of you to try to keep him quiet so I could sleep. She got a really big smile on her face, but it was the mischievous smile. I looked over at the table and Gracie had gotten into the pudding. She hadn't had time to clean up the mess and so she was trying to keep him quiet until she could throw away the evidence and wipe off the table. Hey I guess you take what you can get right. I got a nice morning nap.

Gracie Starts School !!!

2009-08-07T16:09:00.001-07:00

Well it's official, Gracie has started school. After a long anticipated summer and even a long week of orientation her first official day started today. This means she got to ride the bus for the first time. Of course I was the embarrassing mom taking as many pictures as I could. Gracie was OK with it because her friends mom's were there as well taking pictures. We woke up early so she could catch the bus at 6:50 a.m. (early I know). But it was easy to wake up this morning she was so excited. She goes to Wheeler Elementary. They have to wear t-shirt uniforms Monday through Thursday and then Friday is Aloha Friday so they can wear whatever they want. Gracie had a half day on Wednesday and she had a ton of fun, but they didn't get to ride the bus. I was so excited for her, I know she is ready for school and she will do well.
Gracie getting on the bus for the first time.
Gracie sitting by one of her friends on the bus. (Yes I asked if I could take a picture, the bus driver let me)
The bus drops them off at school about 7;15, but they can not go into their classrooms until 7:50. Here all the schools have doors that open to the outside, there are no halls like I was use to. So they offer them breakfast before school starts. We decided this was a good thing it gives her something to do while waiting for school to start. Plus we don't have to worry about eating before school. So yes on the first day I followed the bus to school just to make sure she knew what to do when she got off the bus, and to help her figure out where to go and get breakfast. I am glad I went. They said there would be people there to help, but there was not enough help for all the kids that were there.
Now it's time for school to start so it's off to her classroom, where Mrs. Scott is her teacher. I won't see her again until 2:30 p.m. It is a long day for the kids, but I think she will enjoy it.
This is Gracie on her half day of school. That is one of her many "fancy" Wheeler Elementary" T-shirts. At least it makes picking out clothes easy.

Gracie with her lunch box. She has decided to take a lunch some days and some days eat at school. We look ahead and see what she will and what she won't eat so we know when to send a lunch and when she can eat there.

Growing Up

2009-07-27T00:53:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been thinking about how fast these kids are growing up. I was packing up all of Dylan's 0-3 mth clothes and couldn't help feeling a bit sentimental (I hope thats the right word). Dylan and Gracie are both changing so much. We had some fun this past week getting Gracie ready for school. This included a dental visit. We were so excited no cavities. But we also found out she has already gotten one of her 6 year molars in. The dentist said she should be losing her bottom teeth with in the next 4-6 months. Gracie was so excited to hear that. She has been asking me for a long time when she was going to lose a tooth, now we know. After all that excitement we headed over to the mall to do a little school shopping. Of course I let Gracie pick out her own clothes. If I didn't she would never wear them. She was making me laugh as she tried things on and had a very strong opinion of what she liked and didn't like. We ended the trip with a pretzel and a drink. Dylan on the other hand just wants to be involved in everything. He loves laying next to Gracie at night time and he likes to hear the bedtime stories as well. He loves lots of attention. He laughed for the first time this weekend. It was such a cute squeel. It made all of us laugh. Dylan is 3 1/2 months old. He is quite smiley and for the most part a very good little baby. He loves to be held and talked to, but more than ever he loves to talk back. He tells us all kinds of stories. He loves to held facing forward so he can take everything in. He also loves being outside and going on walks. He loves his stuffed toys for some reason he likes to snuggle them and chew on them when he is falling a sleep. He even grunts if you try to take them away sometimes. We decided to stop on the way home from church today and take a few pictures. After all they grow up way to fast.

Dylan 3 1/2 mths old.

SMILE

2009-07-19T19:07:00.001-07:00

Well another crazy week has come and gone. Deven is still as busy as ever, but that is ok we just look forward to the weekends. Gracie and I are managing to stay busy ourselves. We bought a big blow up pool for the backyard. It took us 3 hours to blow it up with a bike pump. I wanted to give up but Gracie said "no mom we can't quit, we have to keep going." Bless her heart she kept right on pumping. The sad part is by the time we got it pumped up it was 5:00 and she didn't last very long cause it was starting to rain and she got cold. So the next day we were going to get in it earlier. Only to discover it needed more air. I was not about to re pump it with a bike pump, so I convinced her wait until we could go to the store and buy a more efficient pump. Hopefully we can get some pictures this next week of a working pool. We love the weekends and try to cram way too much in. We got up early on Saturday and headed to he beach, both Deven and I enjoyed a little surfing. I am going to get a picure one of these times. Gracie had a birthday party that afternoon and then Deven and I managed to get a date. We left Gracie at a friends house and we headed up to Haleiwa Joes. Our friends gave us a gift card for our birthdays and Christmas but we had not had a chance to use it yet. The food was so great and the atmosphere was wonderful. The restaurant overlooks the ocean on the North shore. We enjoyed a nice quiet, relaxing evening. Our little Dylan is becoming quite a smiler. Gracie is really good at getting him smile. She almost got him to laugh once. I dread the beginning of anther long week, but we have a lot to do. We are busy getting Gracie ready for school. She starts testing and orientation the last week of July. Her first full day of school is August 4th.
Dylan came with us on our date. So this is Deven and Dylan as we were outside waiting for our table.
Gracie got Dylan to smile. She was being so silly. It made my night. This had been a particularly a long day and I was about to loose it when Gracie had Dylan smiling and laughing instead of crying.
This is Dylan's favorite toy. Despite all of my efforts, I was determined to have a baby that took a Binky. Well he has no desire for one. He would rather suck on his hand or blanket, but just recently discovered this toy and he loves to suck on it's nose. I love how he snuggles it and just chews away at.

Weekend Fun

2009-07-12T02:23:00.001-07:00

Can I just say what a week. Deven has started radiology so that was suppose to mean great hours and less stress... right... WRONG!!! I don't know who is more exhausted this week. He has been leaving at 4:30 every morning and getting home around 7:30. Did I mention he has to find time to study on his own on top of this. He has tests and quizzes every week. (I thought we were done with school). This past week Gracie was sick and Dylan had to get immunizations. That left me with two adorable but needy kids. So we had to hunker down and didn't get to leave the house much. So the weekend came, Deven got up early to get his studying all done and then he was going to finish fixing our leaky bathroom faucet. Why is it that every home repair always takes longer than anticipated. Well 5 hours later and about 10 trips to City Mill and Walmart I have a working faucet again. It was late but we all needed to get out of the house. We went and got some dinner and headed to North Shore for some beach fun. We all enjoyed it!!! On a positive note my little guy is not so little anymore. At 3 mths he weighs 13lbs 13 oz. and is 25 inches long. He is in the 75% for height and about the 50th% for weight. We are just loving him and love watching his personality start to come out.
Gracie had to take her baby to beach as well. She had it in the water with a diaper until the diaper got water logged and we had to get rid of it. She has become such a great big sister it is fun to see her interact with Dylan more and more.
Deven is sure he is going to raise a boy who loves the beach. So far he is doing a good job. We made him a sand chair and he seemed to like it.
Deven and kids in the water.

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We took advantage of the festivities on Schofield Base this year. They had a carnival and booths set up. We let Gracie ride some rides and play some games. We of course had to have shaved ice to cool us off in the hot sun, but it was a fun day for the whole family. Deven was lucky enough to get Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off so we had a fun weekend. On Friday morning we had our neighbor come over and watch the kids while Deven and I went on a date. He took me surfing. I survived no shark bites to report (anyone who knows me knows that was my biggest fear). I promised him I would try and to be honest I had a ton of fun. It was a great date. He came out with me and for the first little while he would push me when the wave would come so I could catch them, but by the end he made me paddle by myself. It was quite the workout, but a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures cause there was no one to take any, but I am sure we will go again. Deven had to spend part of the weekend fixing a leaky bathroom faucet, but we still managed to go to the beach with friends and of course what is the 4th without a BBQ.
Gracie waiting for the fireworks to start. It actually got chilly at night. It was a refreshing change. It is always fun to put on jackets or cuddle in blankets.
Dylan and I waiting for the fireworks. We weren't sure how he would handle all the noise, but he just wanted to take it all in. He was awake and alert for most of it.
Gracie and I sharing a shaved ice at the festivities. Shaved ice is quite a tradition in our family. We get them quite often. (May be cause it is always hot here)
Dylan was a trooper but he passed out during the carnival.
Gracie on the rides.
Happy 4th of July. We always feel a sense of patriotism around the 4th. It is hard not to being part of the military. We enjoyed the base celebration and the tributes to the soldiers out there.
Deven had lots of time to spend with the kids this weekend and both of them loved it. Gracie and Dylan loved to get bounced on daddy's knee. Gracie thought it was so funny because it was making Dylan make funny noises. The laughter was contagious.
Gracie is becoming such a great big sister. Dylan was crying Thursday morning so Gracie went and got him a toy that made noise. She turned it on and gave it to him. It calmed him down and the toy kept him occupied for the next little while.
I just had to throw this picture in here. Dylan has started to love bath time. He loves to kick in the water and he is always so happy and cuddly when he gets out. He started to smile at 2 months, but we just can't get enough of that grin.
On a side note. Deven finished up his intern year. They made a big deal out of it, he had a graduation ceremony and everything. We were in Utah when it happend, but someone else took pictures and hopefully they will email them to us so we can post them. Deven is now officially in radiology. He is now a R2. We are so proud of him and excited for him.

A Great Vacation

2009-06-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

I guess all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we head back to Hawaii. We have spent the past 5 weeks with family and friends. We have had tons of fun, and we miss Deven a lot but find it hard to believe how fast this trip went. Dylan has gotten so big and I am sure Deven will not even recognize him. We did so many fun things while we were here, some of the pictures are out of order but I am not sure how to fix it so I will just explain as we go. We visited Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen in Gunnison. Sharon, her family in Perry and Shirece in St George. We took a trip down to Arizona to see Lisa and most of the family came down there too. We had fun in the pool and of course shopping. We got to see Nana and Grandpa, Deena, and Derek in Provo and spend time with them. We also got to see old friends and cousins. Gracie has had so much fun with everyone and I have enjoyed all the help and even got to sleep in till 10a.m. a couple of times. (something I have not done in years). We just wanted to share some of the highlights of our trip. There are so many pictures I didn't have room to post them all. Camping out in Grandpa Sorensen's backyard with Shirece and all the Fairbourn cousins. Gracie and Sarah thought this was so cool and they were going to stay in the tent all day long... or so they thought.

Gracie, Nana, Dylan, and I went to Veteran's Memorial Pool in Provo. Gracie has been asking to go here since we arrived. We almost didn't get her to leave.

Gracie, Sarah, and Brittney (under the blankets) waking up after spending the night in the tent.

Of course shopping at the Gateway. We told the kids if they were really good, they could play in the splash pad afterwards. They got soaked, but had a great time.

Gracie and Sarah got to go to build a bear for Sarah's birthday. They picked matching puppy dogs. (I hope her dog is good for us on the way home)

We went hiking in Zions. We met up with the Fairbourns and spent a day hiking in Zions. This is Gracie and Shirece coming back down from the emerald pools. I wasn't planning on doing a lot of hiking so you have to love Gracies thrown together outfit. Luckily Sharon had given Gracie high shcool musical shoes and we borrowed some socks from Sarah and she was ready to go.

Dylan was trooper as well. I didn't have the warmest clothes for him but we managed. This is Dylan and I at weeping rock.

Dylan and I outside of the cabin we stayed in.

I ran into an old friend at Lisa's graduation. It was so fun to Marcie and her family again. Lael, her husband, graduated at the same time as Lisa. She had a baby about the same time we did so it was fun to see the kido's and do some quick catching up.

Nothing like spending time with sisters. We were just waiting for Lisa to make her way into the auditorium.

Nana, took Gracie to Liberty park. It is a little theme park on the way to Salt Lake. Gracie had fun riding in the cars, jumping in jumpy castles, and riding on trains.

Gracie and I in the water boat. Gracie was never quite sure of this one and couldn't wait to get off. Thanks to everyone for a great vacation. We will miss everyone and can't wait till we get to come back again.

Fun on the Mainland

2009-06-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well we have spent the last couple of days at Lisa's and she let me use her computer to update our stay here. Deven is missing us so I told him I would try to post some pictures. Gracie has been having a great time in the pool. She wakes up in the morning and would stay out there all day long if we would let her. This is from Lisa's graduation party. The kids had so much fun in the pool.
Dylan and I spent most of the time observing from the edge of the pool There was so much going on Dylan was so alert the whole party. He didn't want to miss anything.

We went to the science museum with all the cousins. This was a mock airplane. It was fun to go inside. It felt like you were really flying and then it taught you about how airplanes work.
Gracie and the cousins in a tug of war at the science museum. They all had so much fun there was so much to learn and see.
Well Lisa did it!!! She graduated. It seems like just yesterday Deven and I convinced her to move to Arizona and attend Midwestern. Who knew at the time she would get married and make AZ her home. It was so fun to come back and see the campus and how much it has changed in just one year. Graduation was awesome and Lisa way to go.
Dylan fell asleep during the ceremony. What a trooper.
After graduation. The weather was so nice for AZ at this time of year. It wasn't too hot. I ran into and old friend Marcie after graduation. I got pictures with my camera, but I am using Lisa's computer and her pictures so hopefully I can post some other pictures later when I get home. It was so fun to see old friends. It brought back so many memories.
More fun in the pool.
Opening presents. We celebrated 4 birthdays while we were down there. Sharon's, Sarah's, Lisa's and Joe's (Shirece's boyfriend) but Sharon was nice enough to get Gracie a gift as well. She got high school musical shoes. She was pretty excited.
Also Sharon and Lisa made me this awesome quilt for Dylan. I hope you can see how cute it is. It was a fun week.

My Mom Came and I am Going to the Mainland

2009-05-23T20:43:00.001-07:00

Well it has been a crazy couple of weeks. My mom got here on Mothers Day and it was really nice to have her since Deven was in Texas doing some training that week. We had tons of fun so as promised to all the sisters here are some of our adventures. We are now getting ready to head to the airport because I am flying home with my mom for a few weeks to visit the rest of my family. I am excited it has been a year since we have been home so I might not be able to post for a while, I will do my best. But I will still check in from time to time to see what everyone is up to. This is my mom, Gracie, Dylan and I at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We enjoyed the villages, dinner and of course the show.
Gracie learned how to weave as we went throughout the villages. She also found herself a crown and felt like a princess.
Grandma and Gracie on the boat ride through the villages.
Dylan and I got to spend lots of time in the shade, so here he is kicking around for a bit.
My mom and Gracie took a submarine ride down at Waikiki they saw a shipwreck, airplane wreck and sting rays.
We took Grandma to the Temple and saw an art show that was on exhibit.
We took a trip to the North Shore and of course had to get a famous shaved ice.
We took Grandma to our favorite beach 3 Tables, Grandmas was not planning on getting very wet so she didn't wear her suit. Gracie had other ideas and before you knew it she had Grandmas out there boogie boarding. Gracie was great teacher.
My mom enjoying the water at 3 table. It was fun to have you come mom and we are exited to travel home with you for more adventures. We are on our way to the airport so we will report when we can

We Blessed Dylan

2009-05-08T16:43:00.001-07:00

We blessed Dylan on Sunday May 3, 2009. He was only 3 weeks old and it was hard to find an outfit to fit him, but we wanted to bless him while we had some family here. Here we are after church. It was a little bit different than Gracie's, because we only had Deven's mom here, but it was still really nice.
Gracie, Nana, and Dylan
Well Nana finally left and today is my first day all by myself. So how am I doing. Well I got out of the shower before noon, so I feel pretty proud of myself. We spent a lot of time at the beach while Nana was here. Deven had to show off his surfing skills and we taught Nana how to play one of Gracie's favorite games. Her and Deven call it "beach slapped"
Here is how it works, you sit at the edge of the ocean and wait for the waves to come. They pull you all over and you try to stay on the sand and not get swept out into the ocean. This game is guaranteed to get sand in places you don't want it.
Gracie and Nana getting swept out.

Of course Deven has to play as well. We had a lot of fun with Nana. Thank you for all your help I am sure you will need a couple of weeks to recoup. I forgot how much work a baby is.

Fun with Nana and baby

2009-04-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Well it is hard to believe our little guy is 2 weeks old. It has been a fun two weeks and in some ways it feels like he has been with us forever. We have been getting out more and even took Dylan on his first hike up to Wiamea Valley Falls. He did great, and we had to try out his new sun hat, of course it was way to big but it kept him protected.

Deven and his mom swimming out to the waterfall. It was a fun waterfall to hike to. It was a short walk and then you could go swimming. The water was freezing and Gracie only lasted a little bit, but they said it was refreshing to get in. Dylan and I found a shade tree and enjoyed the scenery.
We made it the water fall was just around the bend.
Gracie and Nana after enjoying an afternoon down at Waikiki Beach.
Dylan and Nana enjoying the shade down at the beach. We had to take Nana down to Waikiki because if you come to Hawaii you have to have the experience. It turned out to be a beautiful day and everyone was able to enjoy some sun and some shade. Dylan just enjoyed the shade of course.
Deven, Gracie and Nana swimming at the beach. Waikiki is nice just because it has a built in breaker so it is great for kids it keeps the big waves out. Gracie practiced her swimming and played in the sand.
We took Nana to the international Market down in Waikiki. It is a lot like the swap meet but fun to look at the shops and of course we had to take a trolley ride and get some pineapple ice cream at the end.
Deven, Dylan, and Gracie on the trolley ride.
Our little munchkin. He is so snugly and I am afraid growing up way to fast. We are loving him.
Sure it takes us twice as long to get out of the house, and we are tired, but Nana has been a big help so I have been able to get a little extra sleep and Gracie is really enjoying all the attention Nana gives her.

He Came

2009-04-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

We welcomed Dylan Dell Cox into our family on Saturday April 11, at 10:38 a.m. He was 7lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. He came a little sooner than we anticipated. We were scheduled for a repeat C-section on the 15th, but Saturday morning I woke up not feeling well and was having contractions. I thought I was in labor but was not sure, Deven and I decided we should just head down to the hospital and find out what we needed to do. Devens parents were here on vacation and they were suppose to go dive in the shark cage that morning so when they arrived we told them change of plans we are going to the hospital and they were left with Gracie (thank goodness we had family here). When we got to the hospital it wasn't the contractions that made them want to take the baby early, but my blood pressure was in the critical range. They said I could stay in the hospital and be monitored for 24 hours or they could just take the baby right then. Deven and I talked it over with the doctors and each other and decided that if I was going to have to stay at the hospital then we might as well just have the baby, it was just a few days earlier than planned. The doctors thought that was smart since my blood pressure was so high. So it all happened so fast, they got us ready for surgery and with in a couple of hours we were heading in for the c-section and at 10:38 a.m. Dylan was born. He is perfectly healthy and so far such a good and snugly baby. I only had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours so I am home and feeling great. We are just enjoying the new little guy.

He is so content and reminds us so much of Gracie, he just has more hair than she had.
Gracie is a adjusting to being a big sister. She has been taking care of her animals and dolls. She is not sure when he cries and covers her ears. If he cries for a long time she goes and shuts herself in her room. I keep telling her she will get use to it. She is so worried about him she keeps bringing him toys and makes sure he is always content.

Our little snuggle bug. We are just enjoying him and we just can't believe he is real and here. We were glad to have Nana and Grandpa here, but it did interrupt their vacation. I will post some pictures from that real soon. We tried to make sure they still had a good time. Deven still took them diving in the shark cage we will be posting pictures soon.

Getting Ready For Baby

2009-04-05T12:48:00.001-07:00

Well we are ready for baby. My friends just threw the most amazing shower for us. The food was great and it was so fun to spend an evening with friends. They made stuffed mushrooms, shrimp salad, wontons, just to give you an idea. Deven was so upset that he wasn't invited and I didn't think to bring him any home. He loves Chantell's stuffed mushrooms. I just wanted to say thank you for a great shower. Me, Chantell, Audra, Heidi, Sara S. Some of our great friends who came to help us celebrate.
Opening presents. We are so grateful for everything. I have decied to buy things as needed this time around. With Gracie we went crazy and bought so much stuff that never got used so we are going about this one totally different. But we now have diapers wipes and the basic essentials so we can get started.

Sara L, Kiona (and baby), and Amanda who came to celebrate with us.
Baby room is almost done. I am posting what is d0ne so far because next week is going to get crazy. Deven and I have been busy trying to give his room some personality. We tried painting the border. Which ended up being more of a pain than we thought, but we are glad we did it. We are doing his room with boats. Deven wants him to love the water like he does.

The crib is ready we just need baby. We are scheduled to have him on the 15th if he doesn't come before then. At one point I couldn't wait to get him here, but my doctor doesn't get back until the 13th and after seeing other doctors the past couple of months Deven and I both agree it is worth waiting for him to get back. We both trust him and I don't want just some random on -call night float to do the surgery. Deven's family will get here on Tuesday and then we know Gracie will be taken care of so I think we are ready.

Gracie turned 5 and we got TARGET!

2009-03-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened. We have a Target. A group of girls from the ward decided we had to go to Target on the opening day. We planned to go in the evening when husbands could be home so we could go kid free. Of course it was a mad house, there was no parking. I think the whole island police department was there just for traffic control. We had been looking for parking for about 20 minutes when we found a high school parking lot open. There were tons of cars parked in it so we thought well it must all be target shoppers. We pulled our cars in and parked and headed to target. It was a little bit longer walk than we had anticipated. We could see target and didn't want to have to go clear around the block to get in. We decided we could all climb the fence and take the short cut. Yes even I did 9 mths pregnant. We were a little worried about where we parked so we thought at 9 p.m. we would go out and check and make sure they weren't going to lock the gates at the school. Well of course we lost track of time and everybody ended up meeting back out front at 10 p.m. A couple of girls went to go get the cars while the rest of us waited with our new purchases in front of the store. When they got back to the school there were only 2 cars left in the parking lot and the gate was closed and locked. Of course it was our cars. We talked to security and they told us to call the Police department. They of course were no help. We tired calling the school and they of course were no help. We were so worried now that the cars would be towed, plus how were we going to get home. Luckily someone had a friend in the area who lived in Mililani and she agreed to stop in and pick us up. We had to squish in but we made it home by midnight. So the next morning Audra and I had to get up at 5:30 am to hitch a ride with Deven down to pick up the cars before they got towed. He dropped us off on the way to work. Luckily the gate was open and the cars were still there. All of this for target. I must have really missed it.
Gracie turned 5. We had been planning a water party at the park for a couple of weeks before her big day. It had been a rainy week and I was starting to panic, but I thought no it will work out. Deven, Gracie and I spent the night before filling up 300 water balloons. We had bought tons of bubble stuff and squirt guns. We were just as excited as Gracie. Well of course the next day it rained, and it rained, and it rained. It showed now signs of letting up. By 1 p.m. I was in a panic and called my sister Sharon who is the party queen. She gave me some new game ideas and Gracie and I headed to the store for a plan B party. I think the kids still had fun. We had to move the party to the house. Not to mention we still have 300 water balloons in my garage. Here is Gracie blowing out her candles.
She thinks blowing out candles is the coolest thing. Can you tell she is excited... Gracie and all her friends.
Gracie opening presents.
And we went for the carnival theme. We played fish pond, ring toss, bean bag throw, and musical chairs. Thanks Sharon for the ideas.
Gracied turned 5 on Monday but we didn't have her party until Tuesday. So on Monday night we made her favorite dinner (which is "white pasta" ) and let her open her presents from us. She got a princess scooter. She now says "come on mom lets go scooterin". Happy Birthday Gracie we love you!!!!

Our Trip

2009-02-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

So we finally did it. We went on a trip. I have been feeling a little stir crazy lately and after Deven's last rotation he was feeling a little nutty too. So we decided a trip to the Big Island was just what we needed. Deven only had 3 days off but we decided to go for it so we did. I tried to post way to many pictures cause I was so excited to have gone somewhere and I was having a really hard time getting everything to work so there are actually 2 posts to this entry and just do the best you can with the pictures and wording. I was getting way to frustrated and decided this was going to have to work. I will start at the beginning and hopefully you can follow. This is us at the airport waiting for our flight, we left at 4:30 a.m. we wanted to make sure we would have 3 full days on the island. Gracie was just as excited as we were.
After we landed we got our rental car and head around the coast. The big island is so unique in the sense that it has over 13 climates. We headed up to Waimea. It was so beautiful. Deven and I thought it reminded us a little of Ireland lots of green rolling hills, but mostly we loved the fact that it was cold.
Yes, there is snow on Hawaii. We had to take a picture to show everyone. The Big Island can get snow on its peaks. We couldn't drive up to it, you had to have 4 wheel drive, but we loved looking at if from a distance. After spending the morning in Waimea we drove to Waipio Lookout. This was a great view of the coast line with black sand beaches. We then continued around the Island. I will try to explain our trip in this part and the next blog entry holds most of the pictures.
We headed around the island heading toward Hilo. A long the way we stopped at some amazing waterfalls. It was fun to do some hiking. We learned that Hilo is the rainiest city in the United States even more rainy than Seattle. So we were not surprised at how many waterfalls there were and how lush the vegetation was. From there we headed up to Volcano State Park, as that is where were staying. We rented a little cabin up there. We ended up being 4000 ft in elevation. A friend had told us it would be cold but we were not prepared. It was cold and our light weight jackets didn't do the trick. Gracie and I were being babies so we had to buy hoodies for our hiking the next day. We spend the whole day Thursday hiking and looking at volcano's. It was a nice change from our everyday life. We hiked all morning across the craters were there were still active steam vents. We also got to hike through lava tubes Gracie thought these caves were so cool. That night we drove down to the coast were the active lava still flows into the ocean. This was cool as we got there just before sun down. As the sun goes down the steam cloud turns pink and red. It reminded us of fire works. We stayed for a while and then hiked back to our car after dark. The next day we had to head back to Kona to go on a whale watching adventure. It was really cool as we saw whales and dolphins, but I got sea sick. and so I had to spend most of the trip sitting. Deven and Gracie loved it. Gracie thought the whales and Dolphins were so cool. She was even the first to spot some of the whatles. Are tour guide was impressed. After our whale adventure we had just enough time spend some time in down town Kona. We enjoyed dinner and of course a shaved ice. By the end of the day Gracie finally passed out. She slept all the way home. We had a lot of fun and I think it was just what we both needed. So the next post contains some pictures and once again sorry for the messy post. I hope you can make some sense out of it.

2009-02-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

Akaka Falls. This waterfall was 442 ft high. It was really cool. The picture right across is of Deven and Gracie at Waipio lookout. It was cool to see the cliffs and the black sand.

Our family at Akaka Falls and then we headed to Black sands beach. Deven got to snorkel with turtles but Gracie and I enjoyed the black sand and the turtles on the beach. It was pretty cool. Deven said snorkeling was pretty crazy to look down and see black at the bottom of the ocean.

We roated marshmallows back at our cabin. We were actually cold the elevation at Volcano state park was 4000 ft. It was so fun to light a fire and roast marshmallows. The next day we hiked. It was so fun. We hiked 5 miles around the rim of the crater and then down through the middle. Gracie did awesome. It was so cold. We were not prepared Gracie and I had to buy hoodies just so we didn't freeze. The next day we headed back to Kona and went on a whale watching adventure. I ended up getting sea sick but Gracie and Deven loved it. I never get sea sick... go figure. We ended our trip in downtown Kona were we looked in the shops had dinner and of course a shaved ice. As you can see by the end Gracie finally passed out. She fell asleep while we were waiting for our plane. It was so nice to have a break from everyday life and get away even if it was to another island.