Sometimes it pays to not do yard work

At the beginning of spring, we found out we were expecting baby #4.  All my plans (not that they were grand) of gardening were thrown out the window.  I didn't even have enough time to get to my winter clean-up stage before sickness set in.  So, I decided, we'll just do what we need to to keep up the bare minimum, i.e. Jeff will mow the lawn.  :)

Let me tell you, for once, ignoring the yard has paid off!  Off my patio I have these 3 giant planters that I like to put the wave petunias in. They fill out nicely.  The only problem with petunias is they are annuals, causing me to shell out money each spring (wave petunias are a little more pricey than your regular variety).  Well, well, well.  2 out of the 3 containers are now blossoming with wave petunias that we neither bought nor planted this year!  That's right.  Due to my lack of diligent care for my flowers, they went to seed and I now have two containers full of beautiful, sweet smelling petunias.  For free. Ha!

One other gardening tip-wait til July to purchase your flowers.  What once was $6 or more per pot, you can now by for $2/pot.  Thus filling the 3rd pot.  :)

Glam

For as long as she's been able to put a braclet on by herself, Sophie has been my glam girl.  She loves bracelets, necklaces, makeup, having her hair done (and she must have a bow or flower of her choosing  everytime), shoes, purses and anything else accessory-ish and girly.  She proudly flaunts her jewels and fancy accessories anywhere she can get away with it.  She also loves to make jewelry with her Grandma and insists on wearing it to church.  She is rocking the 3-year-old fashion world.  And I love it.  :)

Hawaii

was great.  I'm so glad I got to go.  I think I can make it until spring now. ;)  Really, we had a great time.  Here's a quick recap of what we did:

Friday:
Departure late morning!

Walked around Waikiki
Ate dinner at Planet Hollywood
Went to bed kind of early (at least by whatever time zone is Hawaii)

Saturday:

Got up early

Hiked Diamond Head.  Beautiful.  I'll have you know Jeff did this on one granola bar and did not complain of hunger once.  I was in shock.  (happy shock, babe.  Happy shock.)

Came back and ate breakfast
Went to Aloha Stadium for swap meet.  Missed the exit.  (Thanks "Mandy" our beloved TomTom.) Eventually got there. 
Spent too much $$ (according to Jeff).  Ate an enormous pork sandwich there.

Visited the Battleship Missouri at Pearl Harbor.  Was in awe.

Sunday (My favorite Day)
View from our room

Sailed to Arizona Memorial. 

Went to church.  Loved the ward we went to.

Picniced at the Punchbowl cemetery.  (My favorite place we visited.  Beautiful)

Stopped at the Pali Lookout on our way to the north shore

Went to a Buddhist Temple

Went to the Lai'e Temple (where we acutally met Mark Eubank, funny enough, who is the visitor's center director)

Monday
My first day alone.
Read on the beach for an hour or so.
Took a nap
Had lunch on the beach
Read some more

Tuesday
Ate lunch at Seasider Cafe (BYU-Hawaii)
Polynesian Cultural Center all day with my aunt (wished the kids were with me for that)

Wednesday
Alone again. 
Read and watched TV
Dole Plantation

Matsumoto's shaved ice

Shrimp shack for dinner

Thursday

Waiemea Falls.  Got dumped on.  Wish I had worn my swimsuit.

Played in the ocean. 

Attempted snorkling.

Friday

Did not sleep well on plane.

Came home.

Happy reunion with kiddos.

The Rest of the Olympic Penisula

Hang in there. Just two more picture posts (including this one), and then 14 days of vacation will have been documented. ;)


The day we left Forks was the day we got a real tasted of typical Forks weather. It didn't stop us though. Jeff wanted to stop at Lake Crescent. I'm so glad he did. It was soooo beautiful. While there we hiked to Marymere falls. Half way up to the falls it started raining. By the time we got to the falls it was pouring. We didn't care too much. :)

Marymere falls:

One of the cool bridges we had to cross on our hike:

Jeff at Lake Crescent. We are so coming back here.

We also went to Port Angeles. Most of the things we were looking to do were closed for the season. We walked around some piers for a little bit. We found some jelly fish and sea stars in the ocean. (I thought that was pretty cool).

The kids had fun looking at ships from the pier:

Here's our sea stars we found:

After that, it was off to Sequim where we were staying the night. Jeff had read about this state park where you could walk out to an island. If it were just a bit shorter than an 11-mile hike round trip, we probably would've tried. We did have fun hiking down to the beach, playing on the drift wood and even skipping stones in the ocean.

Jeff: Throwing McKay in the ocean.

Sophie's reaction to Jeff throwing McKay in the ocean. (We never got tired of this and laughed every time. Parents of the year? In the bag!)

A Beautiful Day

I am having a beautiful day and wanted to share something beautiful with you. I only wish they were real. (Can't you just imagine how wonderful this bouquet would smell?!)

I was thinking yesterday that if I have to put up with cold and snow and wind, at least I'm in Utah. The sun comes out in January here. Lots. Lucky me! I also cleaned my master bathroom yesterday. It's not big, but it hadn't been deep cleaned in a long time. It took me all morning, but it's done and sparkles. Even Jeff noticed. The best part (ok-besides now I'm not scared to take a shower anymore) is that the whole time I was able to keep the window wide opened and never got cold. Today, more window are being opened. Fresh air will be coming indoors. :)

Monday I cleaned my own room. Not as bad as i thought it'd be. Last night we helped the kids clean their rooms. I woke up to a clean main floor. Those flowers are almost as beautiful as that feeling.

Today, it's time to tackle the basement. Dust, vacuum, windex (the TV). It's all gettin done. In fact, it's all done. Except the playroom. That's next on the list.

Wonder what brought on this sudden burst of cleaning? (Because, let's face it. Keeping a neat and tidy house is just not my forte. It's ok. ) It's my vacuum. My old $60 Eureka from Shopko died. I was insistent on getting a bissell. That was the brand of our first vacuum which lived with us in all four of our homes. It was a good friend of mine. Sniff...Ahem.. Anway. We searched out different brands (trying to be opened minded) and price ranges (wanted something good that would last a while) and got our beautiful new (shiny red) Bissell. It cleans my floors wonderfully. When those are done, I am so happy I decide to move on to dusting or making beds or...You get the point.

Life is good. Have a great day. Glad you're my friends!!