Going Away BBQ

Earlier this week our friends the Egbert's hosted a going away BBQ for us for our close friends. It was such a fun night and we're so grateful for our friends here. Our ward here is a wide mix of people but there are a lot of older, established people here. So the young couples have really stuck together and gotten quite close. The hardest part about moving is leaving our friends. Here are a few pictures of the night:

Ten, 365, Seven & 5

It's all about numbers here:

Ten: The number of states in the U.S. I have lived in (once we add AZ). I have lived in Michigan, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Minnesota (mission), Wisconsin (mission), Virginia, Connecticut, Washington, Arizona. Pretty impressive.

365: Days ago we were completely packed and ready to move from CT to WA. How do I remember? Because we watched the Lost season finale in our hotel room in downtown Hartford the night before we flew out. It was the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend. Crazy!!!

Seven: Days until our packers are here. Overwhelmed. Packers here next Wednesday, they load our truck on Thursday and we fly out on Friday afternoon.

5: Yesterday the new Maroon 5 CD was released!! I loooooooove Maroon 5!! I downloaded it from iTunes first thing yesterday morning. We've been rocking out for the last two days. Love it!

And yes, I am living in a certain state of denial. I have so many things to do and yet I sit here and blog. Mindy and I were talking yesterday (she is moving into her brand new house next weekend - yay!) about how there is so much to do but no motivation to do it. Bad. Must get on my to do list today.

Pink Cast, Women's Conference and Quote Contest!

Well, here she is! Miss Makenna in her pink cast. She got it put on this afternoon and she was a total trooper and charmed the entire doctor's office. We actually opted to get a WATERPROOF cast put on - how awesome is that?! It's about $40 extra that we will have to pay out of pocket but I'm convinced it will be totally worth it. It is completely waterproof meaning that she can swim and take baths and play in the sink. She is so much happier now that water is not off limits.

My mom and sisters wanted to see the decorations I did for Women's Conference. I'm really, really happy with how they turned out! The quote on the board was the quote for the entire conference. I painted boards the three colors you see here (purple, pink and turquoise) and then I did the vinyl lettering in white. At first I thought the boards were way too bright but they looked fab in the big cultural hall on the tables. My friend Debbie planted and watered all the wheat grass and had 75 pots all over her house for 10 days. We received rave reviews! We also set up a Belen display in the cultural hall. It is a tradition from Spain where instead of setting up a nativity during the Christmas season, they have pieces of art that represent all the different period's of Christ's life. Ours turned out SO awesome and really brought the spirit to the day. I completely have to give credit to my mom -- she lent us all the fabric for the tables from her extensive collection (saving us a couple hundred dollars) and gave me the idea for the Belen display. Thanks mom!! And I also need to say thanks to Al, who measured and cut all the wood and painstakingly helped me paint and repaint and cut, etc. etc. I'm grateful that he's always willing to help me with my harebrained ideas. Thanks babe!

Finally, I won a quote contest on Lisa Bearnson's Blog! If you are not a scrapper, you will not know that Lisa Bearnson is one of the pioneers in the scrapbook industry. She started the first and most popular/influential scrapbooking magazines in the industry. She sent a call out a couple weeks ago for people to submit their favorite quotes. So I submitted my most recent favorite quote: "Today's trials are Tomorrow's Testimony." Isn't that the most awesome quote? I love it so much that I am planning to put it on a wall in our new house. Anyway, mine is one of the 25 quotes that she picked (from over 400). I really wish I could remember where I orginally heard the quote, as I would love to give due credit. Not that winning the contest is what is important here, I just wanted to share my quote :). There are some really awesome quotes on there, many that I will be adding to my personal quote collection. (I have a little book that I've been filling with inspirational quotes since I was a teenager). Check it out.

What a day!

This week has been CRAZY with all the moving stuff (10 zillion and one phone calls) and having a ton to do to get ready for our Stake Women's Conference this weekend. I was put on the committee long before we knew we were moving and the timing hasn't been great.

Anyway, today was the big set up day at the stake center. I have been in charge of the decorations and it has been a very big job. So I was there with the kids getting all the table centerpieces set up, ironing table cloths, etc. etc. The kids were so great and just played around in the gym. Right before we were going to go home for naps and lunch, the kids were playing on the chairs in the foyer. Makenna fell off one of the chairs and would not stop crying. I took her home and put her down for a nap. When she woke up she immediately started to cry again and kept saying "Oww" and holding her arm.

I had to be back at the church to finish up some displays that I was in charge of. So off we went with sad Makenna. My friend who has been working on this project with me is a Pediatric Nurse and she looked at Makenna's arm and did some exercises with her and thought it looked ok. A few minutes later she tripped and fell in the gym and immediately grabbed her arm and started to cry again.

Al came and took her to the doctor late this afternoon to have her checked. Sure enough, our poor sweet babe broke her arm in TWO places!!! We can hardly believe it. No one at the doctor's office could believe it either because she was acting so normal. She has a splint on for the weekend and we will take her in to the orthopedist on Monday to have her permanent cast put on. She will be in the cast for at least a month and it will be up to her armpit at a 90 degree angle. Logistically, this is pretty much a nightmare from the moving standpoint. We will have to find a pediatrician and an orthopedist immediately when we move. And it also means that there will be no time in the pool for at least the first two weeks we are there (what else is there to do??) Anyway, we are of course glad that she is doing ok. She got some sympathy ice cream tonight at DQ and she really hammed it up for everyone there. Seriously, what a day!

Take me out to the ballgame

Last night we watched the Seattle Mariners stomp the Los Angeles Angels 11-3 at Safeco field. The weather could not have been more perfect and we all had a great time. I love going to pro baseball games. There is just something about being there that makes it so fun. Not so much fun to watch on tv, but being there is an entirely different story. We were surprised by how much Makenna loved it. She danced and clapped and generally had a great time. Carter leaned over to me at one point and told me he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up.

"I've been waiting and waiting...

...to move to Arizona."

I've heard this countless number of times from Carter lately. Today he came out of quiet time with his new suitcase and said, "Mom, I just have one thing to tell you. I'm ready to go to Arizona. I am completely packed." I asked him what he had packed in his suitcase. He replied, "A lot of shorts, two toys, my pirate hat, my swords and all of my Valentines from preschool."

There you have it folks. If only life were that simple.

Aaaaahhhhh...Childhood!!

We are having glorious weather here today. A little water, dirt and sunshine and this is what you get:

I swore I would not be a mom who stresses about my kids getting dirty. So here is the proof. They made mud pies for a good two hours this afternoon. You should have seen the pile of dirt at the bottom of the tub when they were finished with their bath! Gotta love summer time fun!

House Pictures

Ok, lots of people have been bugging us for pictures. So here are a few. The kitchen: This is actually the model home kitchen but it is the same cabinets, appliances and layout of our kitchen. The granite we picked out is slightly darker than this. And our floors are a travertine tile in the Versailles pattern (different sizes of tile). Our island is also slightly larger than this with an overhang so we can use it as a bar as well. Family room from the kitchen. Sorry, this is a really dark picture. Since the entrance to the yard is through the family room we've decided to take the tile all the way through into the family room and get rid of all the carpet.
Upstairs bonus room:
To get a little perspective on the size of the bonus room upstairs, this is the model home bonus room. It is gigantic. There is also an office area around the corner from the entertainment area. And if you're really interested, this is our floor plan.

Sorry the pictures of our actual house aren't very good. The power was turned off so it was hard to get good light.

We have a house!!!!!!!

Al and I have been in Phoenix house hunting since Wednesday. And yesterday we finally bought a house. We are SO THRILLED with what we got. It is a brand new spec home that an investor backed out of at the last minute so the builder was stuck with it. We have been so busy meeting with flooring, landscaping, counter and patio people. The investor (original buyer) put in really bottom of the line, hideous things in the house so we are ripping out all the flooring and the counters and putting in our own stuff. We close on June 28 and then will move in couple weeks after that when we have all the work done.

Pictures to follow!

We are staying at a fabulous resort and have not even had one second to enjoy the pools yet. We head home tomorrow afternoon after we attend our new ward in the morning. We are really missing our kids but are grateful that we did not bring them with us as crazy as it has been the last few days!

P.S. If I hear, "but it's a dry heat!" one more time, I'm going to have to hurt someone. It's been 105 every day we've been here so far!!!

Mothering 7....

is lots and lots and lots of work. And I have it "easy" with all the meals being pre-prepared and my sister's kids having rides with friends to all of their different activities. Yes, this week I am playing mommy to my two and my sister's 5 kiddos while they are cruising the Caribbean. Just the shear amount of schedule coordination is overwhelming. 3 school aged kids, 2 preschoolers and 2 babies - dance classes, Activity days, track, Scouts, Preschool, piano lessons, homework, piano practicing. Plus doing hair of 5 (particular) little girls, coordinating outfits, finding shoes and jackets. Ushering out snacks, mass making PB&J, lots of diaper changes and constant, constant messes to clean up. My biggest fear is actually having to drive my sister's enormous Suburban somewhere.

Oh what fun!

So far my only miss was this morning when I forgot to feed one of the babies her breakfast. She woke up about an hour later than the other kids who had already eaten. Then we were at the park and I couldn't figure out why she was furiously gobbling down snacks. I seriously felt so bad and came home to feed her right away!

Cross your fingers that everyone survives (them and me). Until Sunday then...

31-40

I have been a slacker posting my layouts. Here's what I've done in the past month. Not a ton but still keeping up with my goal.

1. Mystic Seaport (um, yes, I know I am fat in these pictures. Keep in mind, M was only 2 months old here). I still need to add journaling to this one but need more red paper.

2. Trip to Denver 2006 - just finishing up these photos of all the fun things the kids did while we were in Denver last summer

3. October Fun

4. Family - looking for the perfect family related quote for this one. If you know of one, let me know. This is us on Thanksgiving Day.

5. Hilton Head, SC 2005 - a bunch of random shots from our awesome beach vacation6. Bath Queen - just a cute one of M at 4 1/2 months old bathing in our kitchen sink. I could eat her up. A total scraplift from the fabulous Lou over at Life as Lou!

7. Coaxed smiles - all about how M went through a major no smiling/melting down phase last fall whenever I pulled out my camera (now she's a huge fan of cheesing it up for the camera)

8. New PJs - one of my fav pics of C.

9. Yum Yum - LO about M's obsession with Gum (she calls it Yum yum)

10. Flamig Farms - LO of C and his friends during a playgroup trip to the farm in Avon, CT

Super slowly getting there. I think I'm on track to finish 2005-2006 by the end of the year!! I'm totally dying to dig into my 2007 pictures!! I've also decided to try my hand at the new Digital Scrapbooking rage by doing the Hawaii trip digitally. That way I can still scrap while we live in corporate housing without having to haul all my supplies with me.

Leaving Seattle

Al and I have compiled a list of all the things we want to do before we leave here. Seattle is such a great city and we're having a hard time squeezing it all in. On Saturday we took the kids to the Ballard Locks and botanical gardens and walked around the very cool neighborhood. I know it sounds like a weird thing to do but it was really fascinating watching the boats go from Lake Washington down into the Sound. We ended up randomly running into some friends from our ward while we were there. It was a really fun afternoon. On the way home we stopped at the famous Seattle eating establishment, Dick's Drive In and had their tasty burgers, fries and shakes. You'll just have to bear with us while we have lots of touristy posts for the next month or so. Here are some pictures from the Locks:

Thank you Allen....

for the 6 best years of my life!! I love you sweetie. Happy Anniversary!!

Sometimes it's hard being the big brother.

Carter is so sad tonight. Makenna chewed off the face of his beloved Superman action figure. I have no idea when she did it or how none of us managed to realize what she was doing. But alas, Superman now has no facial features. Carter has cried and cried all night. Then he perked right up and said, "Now he can sleep with one eye open, like a pirate." (A line from the adorable book How I Became a Pirate) Superman does in fact still have one lone eye intact.

And yes, that is a real life tear on his cheek. Poor Guy!

Bear Poop

Last year for her 1st birthday, our wonderful neighbor Dan gave Makenna an enormous Winnie the Pooh bear. A couple days ago when I was changing her diaper she kept pointing to him and calling him bear poop! She gets so excited when she sees him and screams, "Bear POOP!!" (And yes, the Pooh is STILL almost as big as she is.)

At long last.

I finally got some pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits. You can tell how incredibly thrilled they were to be posing for pictures. Actually, both kids were sick yesterday and only stayed for the first hour of church. So all things considered, these aren't too bad.

I also wanted to post this cute picture of Carter and Al at the Sonics game a couple weeks ago (these were the tickets I won for placing first in the bracket). I decided to let Carter go to the game with Al so he could experience it.

Whew!!

It's been a whirlwind of a week. On Wednesday, my friend and former mission companion Lizzy came for a visit and she stayed through today. We've had so much fun together. We've shopped, scrapbooked, eaten at lots of yummy places and seen lots of Seattle sites. We went on a ferry ride across the sound, went to the top of the Space Needle and she took Carter to the Aquarium today while I stayed home with sick Makenna. We also went to Eugene, OR to visit our Mission President's wife, Sister Martin. It was wonderful to see her and catch up for a few hours. It's amazing how you just feel so comfortable around some friends, no matter how much time has passed since you last saw them. We've really had a great time together.

Here we are at the top of the Space Needle overlooking the sound.

Now it's back to real life and getting ready to move.

It's official.... again.

We are moving to Phoenix. Soon. Al's new job will either start on June 4 or 18, but most likely on the 4th. Crazy. And exciting. But mostly just feeling crazy right now. We are heading down the 2nd week of May to look for a house.

We've known that he had a job offer for a few weeks now but it has taken awhile to iron out all the details. Al is very excited about his new job - it is exactly what he wants to be doing. He will be very busy, working a lot more hours than he does at his current job. I am mostly just excited to finally be settled and have my own house again!

We'll keep you posted!!

So much for global warming!

Said my mother to me yesterday. I can see why. She is kind of bitter about the seriously crazy winter weather that is still plaguing Colorado and apparently, much of the country.

Spring is really the never ending season in Seattle. Remember way back in January when I rejoiced at the first glimpses of spring in my yard? Buds on trees, things sprouting in my yard? I'd like to see some real sunshine and warmth right about now. Guess I'll be holding out until July or so when it finally warms up around here. And remember, I use the term "warms up" pretty loosely. 80 degrees is a full on heat wave around here.

Have you noticed yet that I am seriously OBSESSED with the weather (And I 100% credit my mom for this obsession)?!? Allen totally makes fun of me for it. He finally downloaded a handy dandy weather bug for my desk top and I probably check it at least 10 times a day. I used to plan my morning and evening around catching the weather on the news but with my weather bug, those days are long gone. I love it.

Ok, a couple other things here. First, I am still sick. Makenna mostly seems to be better. I really can't complain as this is literally the first time all winter/spring that any of us have been sick. We've had a gloriously healthy winter up until now.

Second, I totally have to share 2 household tips that I learned and used this week (and you know they must be good for me to share them on the blog.)

Tip #1: For scratched DVDs, rub peanut butter all over the DVD with a coffee filter. Then buff clean with a 2nd coffee filter. I know it is bizarre and I was a total skeptic but I now have good-as-new Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (the most watched DVDs in our house). Way cheaper than replacing DVDs, for sure.

Tip #2: Perhaps everyone else in the world already knows this because it REALLY is pretty obvious. But someone just told me to use a sticky lint brush on my fabric lampshade. Brilliant. My shades look brand spankin' new.

That is all. The glamour continues.

(PS - Was LOST not fabulous last night? We had to rewind and watch the previews for the next few weeks a few times to try to catch all the little hints. If you do not watch this show, you really should. It is not too late. Rent the DVDs, you won't regret it!!)

Grandma Frost, Esquire!!

A big, huge congrats to Al's Mom for passing the Idaho State Bar!!! Whoop Whoop!! She has worked really long and hard for this and we are really proud of her!

Good job Mom/Grandma!!

Because No One believes me

Sometimes I try to explain the Seattle housing market to people who have never lived here. I don't think people believe me when I try to tell them how insanely overpriced things are here. So here's an excellent illustration:

My friend who lives 1 street over from us just sold her house this week. It was on the market for less than a week. It is 900 square feet and the final selling price was $410,000. Yes, you are reading that right. The house has never had a square inch remodeled since it was built in the mid 1950s.

Do you believe me now?

Easter Weekend.

Here are a few pictures of the kids over the weekend. I had such great plans for pre-church Easter outfit pictures. But, by the time I went to bed on Saturday night, I was feeling really lousy. Since both Makenna and I are sick, we only went to Sacrament meeting yesterday and barely made it for that. Alas, no pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits. Which means that I will have the task of redressing them up sometime this week to stage some pictures.

Here are some pics of the kids at the egg hunt with some friends from the ward on Saturday morning. The weather forecast called for another warm, sunny day but it was rainy and cold all day. I obviously dressed them before looking at the forecast.

Here are the kids with their baskets on Sunday afternoon. The Easter bunny didn't visit our house until after church this year. I just didn't want to deal with the hassle of doing them before church. Carter got the last batch of Cars die cast cars (I think we have them all now), a shooting glider, some craft supplies and lots of treats.

Makenna got a snap n style doll and outfits (mom's of little girls these are so cute, affordable and perfect for pre-Polly Pocket aged little girls), new sunglasses, dress up jewlery, craft supplies and treats.

DivaliciousFinally, the kids dying Easter eggs last night. Carter was pretty into it this year but Makenna was just into cracking the eggs and generally making a mess. Despite being sick, we still had a fun Easter weekend!

(PS - the coconut bread turned out wonderfully! I totally have to give Al credit for his hard work on it)

His version of 12 seconds...

It is Easter Eve. I have just finished putting the kids' Easter baskets together and I am horrified at the amount of stuff they are getting. I've gone overboard, yet again. I'm sure you're all shocked. Heh. Plus add in the fact that I have an entire grocery bag of leftover candy. It didn't start out too bad - I only bought a couple bags but add in the egg hunt treats and the Easter package from my mom and it's way over the top. But, I'll just do what I always do - let the kids gorge for one day and then send the rest off to work with Al on Monday morning. His coworkers love me for it.

Anyway, the reason I am even blogging tonight is because Al is in the process of giving me amazing (heh) blogging material. Today we got groceries and he decided we needed to buy a coconut (a little post vacation blues anyone?). So tonight he gets the brilliant idea that we should make this coconut bread that we tried at the PCC and got the recipe for. Admittedly, the bread was delish but I never, ever thought we would make it. One of the demonstrations we watched at the PCC was of a guy de-meating a coconut (I'm am positive there is an official name for this process but I am clueless). The guy had the coconut cracked open, drained and the meat scraped out in a matter of about 12 seconds.

So, Al's version of the 12 second process has gone on for the better part of an hour. He got the coconut cracked open in record time. But then I realized he was on the back porch throwing pieces of coconut around trying to get them to break into smaller pieces. It eventually worked leaving coconut shards everywhere. Lovely. Now he is painstakingly chopping the coconut into tiny pieces so he can add them to the bread.

What do you wanna bet that this is the only time we make this recipe?

Happy

77 degrees and rising = happy

3 Day Weekend for Al = happy (but dang, this year is flying by)

Girls Night Out tonight = happy

Long Leisure Target run this a.m. = happy

Movie (Meet the Robinsons) and early dinner at yum-o Cosi with the kids today = happy

Caught up with an old friend this week = happy

Got great news about some of the young women I worked with while in the Hartford ward = happy, happy

Talked to a Realtor in Phoenix yesterday = happy

Found out some great news about a friend of mine = happy

Our neighbor's dog Trixie spends all day in our yard = happy (the best way to "have" a dog, if you ask me)

Easter festivities all weekend = happy

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Heaven Days 4-8

Warning - massively long post ahead.

Day 4 - Thursday

Today we saw what I think was the prettiest sight in Hawaii. The Blue Pool. Getting to the pools was actually pretty amusing. We literally drove through the jungle for several miles to get to where you walk to the pool. When we got there, there was a roadblock with a sign that the pool did not exist and that it would be trespassing if we passed the sign. Mindy was insistent that it was not private land so we ignored the sign and went anyway. And I'm SO glad that we did. At first I couldn't imagine what the appeal was - we had to drive through rough terrain to get there and then had to hike across a rocky beach in flip flops to get to the pool. But it was totally worth it. The blue pool is a freshwater waterfall/pool right on the edge of the ocean. Amazing. Once again, we couldn't resist swimming in the COLD waterfall. It was really quite stunning.

On the way back to Hana we went to Wainapanapa State Park which has a black sand beach, caves that lead from the beach to the ocean and blowholes where the ocean shoots up into the volcanic rock. We packed a lunch and wanted to play in the water but the waves were pretty big and rough so we didn't get a chance to swim. As we were walking back to the car, Al and I discovered some caves that led down to the ocean. The beauties of Hawaii never cease to amaze us. On the way home Mindy and I stopped in at a roadside stand and bought chocolate covered bananas. yum! It is so interesting that all along the road in Hana, locals set up stands and sell lots of yummy food.

Day 5 - Friday

This day started bright and early with a decision to walk down to the coconut groves that is on the shore just below the house. Al and I attempted to walk down to the ocean on our first morning in Hawaii but after navigating through the cow pasture and rough terrain in our flip flops we decided to turn around and try again with better shoes. As we were getting ready to leave we just all happened to be on the deck and noticed a humpback whale breaching right in front of us. It was amazing!!!! We knew it was migration season but also know of people who look and look to see the whales and are never so lucky. We all just stood their awed as the whale breached about 8 times. Mindy was furiously taking pictures with her camera. It was so awesome.

The walk to the grove was a bit treacherous. Mindy had never been down there but knew that other members of her family that went there often. We knew there had to be some kind of path to get us down there but Al plowed us right through the jungle. It was gross stepping over massive cowpies and navigating through spider webs. Once we got there, it was really great. There were great blowholes and lots of pools filled with crabs and tropical fish. As we started to head back up to the house, we realized that there was in fact a very well defined path back to the house. On the way home Al knocked a coconut out of a tree and wanted to bring it home to eat it. He used a machete to hack away the outer husk and actually successfully got to the coconut. He tried the juice and said it was nasty and then tried to choke down some of the coconut. I don't think it was ripe enough so it wasn't very good. I think it was mostly the novelty of doing it and and an excuse to play with a really big knife.

Late in the morning Charles and Mindy dropped us off at Hana Bay where we met up with our kayak/snorkel guide. Al found this guy before we went to Hawaii and we were thrilled to have someone take us out while we were in Hana. Neither of us had ever been sea kayaking or snorkeling before but we LOVED it. It took me awhile to get the hang of paddling the kayak but it was awesome. We kayaked out to a reef in the middle of the bay and then we just dropped over the side of the kayak to snorkel. We were surprised at how easy we took to the snorkeling (not that it is hard) and loved swimming around looking at the beautiful tropical fish. I will have to post pictures from that part of the trip later, after we get our underwater camera developed. We went out with one other couple who have traveled and snorkeled extensively and they said that after Fiji, Hana was the best snorkeling they had ever done. We had an awesome first experience.

On the way home we wanted to stop off at a roadside stand run by one of the members of the Hana branch. Unfortunately by the time we got there he was sold out of most of his food. Al got the Salmon and I must say it was really delicious and well prepared. We were bummed to miss out since he only does food 1 time per week. But the family was extremely gracious and performed some traditional island music for us. It was delightful to watch them perform together and people traveling on the road were slowing down to listen. We felt so lucky to have gotten a private performance.

In the late afternoon we headed to the red sand beach. The beach is unique in many ways. First, it is hidden in this cove that is difficult to get to. You have to hike a pretty high, shear cliff to get there (always scary for a heights scared person like me). The beach isn't really a "beach" in the traditional sense. The beach is made of tiny rocks that kill when you walk on them. And of course, the most unusual aspect of the beach is that it is clothing optional for some people. I guess the relative privacy of the beach makes people uninhibited. Understandably, we didn't take too many pictures on that beach. The water is very calm in the cove so Al, Charles and Mindy decided to swim. I was still pretty wiped out from the other activities of the day so I decided to relax on the beach. The guys were climbing around on some rocks and the next thing I knew, Mindy was waving frantically at me and yelling for me to bring Charles his shoes. He had sliced his foot open on a rock while climbing around. We still had to hike back to the car and his foot was bleeding pretty bad so I sacrificed my tshirt and Al ripped it up and tied it around Charles' foot (really, it was no sacrifice, it was a sick, grubby tshirt that I have had for years that Al has been bugging me to chuck). We made our way to the cute little Hana Clinic (where Mindy had already been that day to have her stitch in her hand removed) where Charles received several stitches. It was a tiny clinic but was in all honesty one of the most quickly handled medical emergencies I have ever seen. Poor Charles was stuck in socks and shoes for the rest of the trip.

Day 6 - Saturday

We had a much more laid back day today. We chilled at home for awhile and then headed in to town to have lunch at the Hana Restaurant. Afterwards we hit Hamoa Beach (the best play beach in Hana). I have to say that when Al goes to the beach there is really no lounging and relaxing for him. He is all about the waves, all the time. He was a maniac on this trip with hours of body surfing. I think he LOVED the waves in Hawaii after having a few low key beach trips in the past few years. This is him body surfing at Hamoa. And he did this for several hours this day. Mindy, Charles and I hung out on the beach, trying to get a little bit more tan on our last beach day. Mindy and I finally swam out to a more quiet part of the beach and swam around for awhile. I read lots of magazines and finished a couple books I had been working on. It was a great relaxing day.

Day 7 - Sunday

Today was our last day in Hana. We were all so sad to be saying goodbye to our long planned and anticipated trip in Hawaii. We spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry to get the house ready for the next guests. Some time in the morning Charles was online and announced that there had been an earthquake in the Solomon Islands (about 3000 miles away from Hawaii). Charles immediately started to check websites for Tsunami information. We found out that there was a Tsunami advisory for Hawaii and I immediately freaked out. I had visions of leaving my children parentless. It was horrible. Of course, my freak out was short lived as the advisory was called off within the hour. But it was scary for awhile. We took a break from packing and cleaning to go into Hana to have lunch. Here are Al and I on the balcony of the house right before we drove to the airport. (And yes, I know my top looks like a maternity top, but I assure you that it is not).

This is my favorite view between the house and the town of Hana. Again, the pictures just do it no justice but it was really gorgeous and I loved that we passed it a couple times a day. We made it to the airport with no issue and said goodbye to Perschons. We feel so fortunate to have such great friends! Love you guys! Al and I took a quick flight back over to Oahu and then had a nightmare trying to get transportation to our hotel in Waikiki. It's a long story and I'll just sum it up by saying that we were both pretty grumpy when we finally got there.

Day 8 - Monday

We got up bright and early to get ready to head to Laie for the day to see the temple and go to the PCC. We got our first look at Waikiki and I honestly feel sorry for people who only have Waikiki as their Hawaii experience. Al summed it up nicely when he commented that people paid a lot of money for plane tickets to go to what is just like Southern California. But, I think a lot of people love the hustle bustle of the city but I'm glad we had a much different experience. Anyway, we picked up our rental car and drove through the interior of Oahu to Laie. Once out of the city it was really beautiful. The waves and beaches on the north shore were amazing. We first stopped by the temple and were just awestruck by how beautiful it was.

We had a little tour of the visitor's center by one of the sweet sister missionaries and walked around the grounds. We were really sad that we weren't able to do a session but the temple was close on Monday, of course.

We also drove up to BYU Hawaii but didn't have time to really get out and look around. We finally got to the PCC and started our tour of the facility. It was awesome. Definitely something everyone should do at least once in a lifetime. We had purchased a tour package that included a guided tour and we had a great tour guide who was a freshman and BYU-H. He did a really great job and had a fun personality. We were able to meet a lot of other people in our group and made some funny connections (another couple from Seattle and a family from a remote area in CO where Al served part of his mission). We really loved seeing all the different villages, seeing the canoe pageant (each of the 7 islands have a canoe and native music/dancers - amazing) and the night show was incredible. Here are Al and I during our canoe ride.

The thing that impressed me the most about the PCC and Hawaii in general is how dedicated the Polynesian people are to each other and to their cultures. It made me a little jealous of how they are so steeped in the traditions of their forefathers that are centuries old. It was really impressive and I felt a longing to stay and learn more about them. Our only complaint of the PCC was the food at the luau. We definitely thought it was overpriced for what we got. But overall, we had an excellent experience.

We left Laie and drove straight to the airport. We had an uneventful but long flight back to Seattle on the red eye.

Overall, we just had the best time. I'm sure you can tell for how much I've raved in my posts. Also, I have tons more pictures (all thanks to Mindy) that I need to download off of Al's laptop. I will add more pictures to this post later so check back!!

Overheard

Tonight the kids were in our bedroom and Al and I overheard C ask M:

"Makenna, is your name 'oh, my poor little poopsies'?"

Oh my gosh, we were full on busting a gut. It's a line from The Little Mermaid - the part when Ursula's two creepy pet eels get killed by Eric. Sooooo hilarious.

For awhile, Carter really loved Little Mermaid, (it has since been replaced by Peter Pan) and he walked around all the time talking about "the human." I kept telling him that the human's name is Eric but he still calls him "the human."

"Mom, can I have a red sash and white shirt like the human?"

He cracks us up.

(PS - I just have to post my proud moment - I got FIRST in one of the brackets we were participating in. That's right, me, who couldn't care less about college basketball and am always having my arm twisted to participate in the brackets. We even won tickets to a Sonics game! Ok, and to make it fair, I placed dead last in another bracket and about 5th in our third bracket. Don't even ask me why I don't just use the same bracket all the time. I have no explanation. Go Florida!!)

Hale

Hale is Hawaiian for home. We are home. Happy and exhausted from the flights and the full day of travel. So happy to be reunited with our kiddos who were beyond thrilled to see us (the feeling was mutual). I'm hoping to post the rest of the details from the trip sometime this week.

Must get groceries, get through my Enrichment night on Thursday and then maybe I can take time to sort through my hundreds of pictures and post.

In the meantime, check out Mindy's blog for an excellent recap of the trip. Thanks again to the Perschon's for inviting us on this wonderful trip. We had the best time EVER and have fallen head over heels for Hawaii!