Merry Christmas Everyone!

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

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?

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

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.