Our Hawaii trip

Aaahhh...... just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back. Mike and I just got home from celebrating our 10 year anniversary on Maui. It was amazing!!!! 8 days, 7 nights on a beautiful island in an exceptional hotel without kids and nothing to do but relax. Oh... and eat..... A LOT.
This is on Ka'anapali beach where our resort was. Our last full day there we rented a cabana right on the beach and boardwalk and stayed there from 8:30 in the morning till 5:00 at night. Delightful.

Of course we had to do a Luau. So we went to one at the Old Lahaina center. It was fun and there was even a couple at our table from Provo, Utah.

The northwest coast of Maui

Mike's rental car for the week. The convertible was well worth the extra money- we only drove with the top up one night when it got too cold.

Here we are on our way to Molikini crater to go snorkeling. It was by far the highlight of our trip. I couldn't believe how many fish we saw and the visibility was close to 200 feet. On our way out we saw a lot of whales and on the boat ride back we saw a ton of sea turtles. Too bad we didn't get any pictures with our goofy snorkel gear on.

We spent an entire afternoon in one of these and watched the sunset. I want one of these in my backyard. Although the view wouldn't be anything to look at.

Our beautiful hotel grounds. It looked like paradise.

One day we spent driving the Road to Hana. We stopped at a ton of beaches and hiked a whole bunch of waterfalls. It was fun but took an entire day with all of our stops. Here is a hidden red sand beach we found.

A popular black sand beach.

Mike and I inside a lava tube

Our hotel was great. Right on the beach with other resorts and had a great view and pool.

We would stay there again and even bring the kids there since it was very family friendly.

Step into Manhood

I can't believe we have reached this new milestone in our family. Mike took Tyler to the store last weekend to get a cup. And I'm not talking about the one you drink out of. Tyler's little league started this week and it's required. I was so grateful for Mike so he could take Tyler to pick one out and explain it to him. The funny thing was that Makenzie wanted to know all about it too since everyone was talking about it. Tyler just turned to her and said, "Makenize, it's like a helmet for your wee-wee".

Baseball mitt- $30, Baseball bat - $25, Cup and briefs to go with it- $20, Ty's first step into manhood........... Priceless.

Austin portraits

I was feeling guilty the other day. Guilty that Austin has only had one professional picture taken in his life and that was back when he was 4 months old. He's 14 months now. I remember with Tyler how I diligently took him to the mall every 3 months to have his picture taken - 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months... you get the idea. I didn't do quite as well with Makenzie but she still had newborn, 6 month and one year old pictures taken. I had to return something to the mall last week so I spontaneously decided to take Austin to Picture People. I almost laughed when they asked how many wardrobe changes I had for him. Instead I politely replied, "zero". To get Austin to sit or stand in one place for the picture was impossible. I chased him around trying to get him in a pose and was sweating by the time the session was over.... which only lasted 15 minutes. The photographer kept asking if I wanted to use a different prop or background for more pictures. I looked at her like she was crazy. I'm really impressed that even one picture turned out.

Countdown to Hawaii

Mike and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary this year. I can't even believe that. We always told ourselves that we would go somewhere great for our 10 year anniversary but I'm not sure I ever really allowed myself to believe it. You never know if things are going to work out with pregnancies, nursing babies, kids, jobs, etc. But it looks like we are really going to make it happen and have made plans to go to Hawaii in March!!! I can't wait. Mike and I haven't been on a vacation without kids for years. I am seriously looking forward to just laying by the pool and beach and doing absolutely nothing..... all day long. In preparation, we have already started our "Hawaii diet" and exercise routine. Mike's been jogging and punching the bag like I've never seen before. Let the countdown begin!

December Fun

This December has been busy,busy, busy. Especially the last two weeks. The time I've spent baking alone would probably add up to a good solid 36 hours. But we've been able to do some really fun things together as a family too which I love around the Christmas season. This year I decided to take Makenzie to the nutcracker ballet in San Francisco. I've never been and neither had she so it was exciting for both of us. She LOVED it!!! She kept looking over me and smiling and of course, had to comment about every single outfit, especially the dresses and tutus. What a great mommy/daughter date.

We also went up to the Oakland temple to view the lights and visit the Visitors Center. We missed the snow and lights we would have seen at SLC but lights on palm trees are pretty cool too.

And of course, no christmas would be complete without a visit from Santa. Thankfully a good friend had a Christmas party at her houe that Santa came to which saved me a dreaded trip to the mall. Austin and Makenzie were both a little wary of the big man in red.

Yesterday we went down with some friends to San Jose Christmas in the Park. It was fun to walk around and see all the trees and decorations. Tyler even got lucky and saw some random Star Wars Storm Trooper walking around (maybe from the Tech museum close by??) and got his picture with them.

Our Christmas Tree

We cut our tree down again this year. We decided we wanted a bigger tree-- you know.... get our money's worth since it was one price any size. Tyler and makenzie were so excited-- they remembered how much fun it was last year. Last year the day we cut down our tree was the same night that Austin was born so it has good memories for all of us and we want to make it a Christmas tradition.

Mike found this beauty--- Perfectly shaped, just the right size......

or so we thought. Somehow we significantly misjudged the height of our ceilings
and the height of the tree. We got home, brought it inside and tried to put it up and couldn't get it past a 45 degree angle. We had to cut almost 2 feet off!!! Now it fits but it is so wide in girth that when you sit on our couch you can't see the TV. And forget about seeing the clock on the wall behind it. Mike keeps trying to convince me that it is "majestic" and "regal". The tree is so big and tall that the star on top looks microscopic. Next year we'll have to reign it in a bit but for now we are going to enjoy our gigantic "majestic" christmas tree.

Thanksgiving in Utah

This year we decided (somewhat last minute) to drive out to Utah for Thanksgiving and spend a week visiting with our families. It was so much fun to see everyone and catch up and we were even able to celebrate Austin's first birthday with Mike's siblings and their families. I can't believe this guy is already one year old. It has really flown by. He is so close to walking and I'm dreading it because then he will truly be into everything.

Tyler and Austin are best buds. Austin's face just lights up when he sees Tyler and Tyler is so good at making him laugh and smile.

Everyone singing happy birthday to Austin

Aunt Kimber and Austin. Thanks again Kimber for putting us up and for being my Black Friday shopping partner....... even with no sleep.

All 17 cousins

I took a pictures of all the girls and then asked the guys if I could get a picture of all of them and of course, they couldn't do it without being silly. Look at these goobers :)

Luckily, our timing of coming out to Utah happened to coincide with my new nephew's baby blessing. It was so neat to see him get blessed by my brother Jon. This is the only picture I got from the day though--- baby andrew was sleeping.

Ty and Kenzie got to spend a lot of time with Sadie and Cooper, two of their cousins. The first night we stayed at their house, the four of them were up until midnight. Tyler was too cranky to get in this picture-- that's what having a lot of fun, staying up too late, and no naps does.

The kids went bowling and golfing with Grandpa-- it's tradition!

Mike and I still can't understand how Wendell managed to win in the last frame.
Unbelievable.

Tyler at the aerospace museum

For Thanksgiving we went out to Toelle and stayed with Mike's grandparents. I'm salivating just looking at these pictures again. YUM!! So much good food. Funny story: Our last night at Oma and Opa's house, Opa decides to make a fire downstairs in the basement fireplace to keep our kids warm. So the kids are down there watching a movie while Opa gets to work and 10 minutes later, Mike goes down to check on the kids and finds a cloud of smoke hovering through the entire basement. Not just a little smoke -- a CLOUD of thick smoke. So we start opening some windows and my Mike and Mike Shelley start trying to waft some of the air through one of them and five minutes later Opa tells them they aren't going to do any good with that window because there is a cover over it outside. Ha!

It ended up being colder in the room than warmer since we had to open all the windows and doors for a good 30 minutes to air everything out. Mike and I also had to wash every single item of clothing that was out since it all smelled like campfire when we got home. So funny!! Maybe someone needs to take the matches away?? :)

I couldn't get either of them to look at the camera... sheesh!

Wendell with the two youngest grandkids.. Sam didn't want to share him though.

4 generation picture