Sunshine

makes all the difference.  It even makes folding laundry seem more appealing. 

See? It was my brilliant 4-yr-old who placed all the baskets in front of the sunniest window in the house.  I guess she knew that would be about the only thing that could entice mom to fold all that laundry. ;)

This is the life

I think I could get used to 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.

Aloha!

I'm looking forward to a little bit of this today.  The bags are packed.  Grandma is coming.  I'm outta here!!

Just in case...

I don't have your current address, here's your card. Merry Christmas!!

The Hoh Rain Forest and Rialto Beach

Ok. We didn't do these things on the same day, but right now I'm going to try and group like things. (nature things v. twilight things)

On our way into Forks/La Push we stopped at the rain forest. McKay was very disappointed it wasn't raining in the rain forest, but he survived. ;) It was gorgeous and surprisingly different from what we'd been seeing. There was a lot more moss covered things than we'd seen and the trees were less straight-more gnarly.

Rialto beach was awesome. It was more pebbles than sand, but we enjoyed watching the big waves come in and collecting pretty rocks. Sophie was still terrified anytime someone was going to "throw" someone into the ocean. I guess we're mean, but it was pretty funny.

The Oregon Coast

If you haven't been here for a few days, keep scrolling. I'm working on getting trip pictures posted.

We hit 3 towns along the Oregon coast-Coos Bay, Newport and Astoria. We did more hiking-some in the "Prehistoric Gardens" too expensive, but still fun for the kids to see life size replicas of dinosaurs. There were more lighthouses, beaches, time at the docks to visit sea lions, an aquarium, and a maritime museum. The Oregon part of our trip kept us hopping, but we loved it.

Prehistoric Gardens-look closely there is some dinosaur in the dark background.

View of Sunset Bay (Coos Bay area)

The older kids loved playing in the waves. Sophie preferred to stick to building sand castles.

We almost paid $11 per adult and $9 per child to go check out some sea lion caves, but then a lighthouse volunteer told us to visit the docks for free in historic Newport and we'd see tons of them up close. It pays to to talk to people.

We also ended up with a free ticket to the wax museum in Newport, so we went. Some things were more like the originals than others.....

Checking out ship stuff at the maritime museum in Astoria
We hit one beach that day and look what we found! Could it be One-eyed Willies ship?

Easter

I was just checking out a friends Easter post when I realized I hadn't posted my own Easter pics. Easter was a quiet affair. The Bunny brought baskets to the kids while we were in St. George and they participated in the trailer park's annual candy grab. They looked adorable in their new Easter threads and all of the kids were excited to have new church clothes.

Then we got these with the cousins. Here are some sweet, angelic little spring chicks:

And then there's this:

Escaped!

Last week my friend Anisa invited my kids and I to go to St. George with her for the weekend. Two moms and 6 kids piled in a minivan and hit the open road. For how squished in everyone is, the kids were a-MAZ-ing. Both ways. While in the land of 365 days of sun, it was mostly cloudy. Sniff. At least it was warmer than here. And-I got to break in some new flip-flops, an activity that warms my heart. Happy sigh.

Adventures in Utah's Dixie included-shopping (of course), Vernon-Worthen park (my fav), a trip to the SHAC (for non-Dixie people that's the Sand Hallow Aquatic Center. Long name amazing results...um...I mean fun), visiting old friends, making new friends, the St. George Area Parade of Homes (wish we could've spent more time here), touring the temple grounds in St. George rain.

Can't wait to go back!

Little Miss sass workin it:

My lovable little man-walked right up to the missionaries and asked why Angel Moroni wasn't on top of the temple. First thing he and Lyndsi noticed!

Little Cheese:

Our happy little fam (minus dad):

The Weekend

Lyndsi's birthday is tomorrow, but we had a bunch of her little friends over on Friday to help her celebrate. It was a good, old-fashioned birthday party, complete with balloons and streamers. Games we played were charades, telephone, several different balloon relay games, and duck, duck, goose. We also did "heavy, heavy hang over" when it was time for presents. The girls had never heard of it and LOVED it! We had little heart shaped cakes and strawberry ice cream and then the girls each got a Hannah Montana goodie bag to take home filled with all kinds of fun little treasures.

Can I tell you this was the least stressful party I have ever done? That may have something to do with the fact that there was no theme to carefully plan everything around. :) I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't love it, but they all seemed to have lots of fun. My friend that works in primary with me told me Lyndsi told her all about it as she walked Lyndsi down to the drinking fountain. So, if the birthday girl loved it, that's all that matters.

I promise I'll post a few pictures soon.

Saturday we had some cousins come over who missed the party. The kids loved that and quite frankly mom and dad did too. It was nice to visit with them for a little while as the kids played. After they left, my two little ones spent the entire afternoon outside "helping" dad and playing. I got all my cans out to my new rotating shelf. I also was able to get started on some things I'm making for Lyndsi's birthday (which I am SO excited about). Later on we surprised the kids and took them out for dinner. (Gotta love Denny's "kids eat free" nights!)

It was such a productive and peaceful and relaxing day all rolled into one. I hope you guys all had a great weekend!

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!!

Snow much fun!

I have been CRAVING sunshine and warm temps. I don't think it's been any secret. This morning McKay begged me to get the snow stuff out, and since I've been in and out of the attic all day putting Christmas away, I decided now was as good of time as any. I am always amazed at how pleasant playing outside in winter can be when properly bundled. :) Last year I bought my first pair of snow boots since I was a kid and my parents found Jeff and I some really great snow pants on clearance last year. Can I tell you, I love to be out in the snow now?

The kids love it, too. Even Sophie. Despite everyone having the proper snow gear, we've still never purchased sleds. That's ok. The kids and I make our own fun with Jeff's old snow shovel and a little hill in our backyard. A metal shovel makes an awesome sled by the way. :) I'm so proud of my kids for wanting to play out in the snow. I don't remember loving it the whole time growing up. After snow time, we trekked around to the front of the house to draw on the driveway with chalk. It was so sunny and actually quite warm (with a realfeel temp of 42). The driveway was just calling to us! We now have a lovely, heartwarming mural of our house, lots of sunshine (they all had to draw their own), a few flowers, a bunch of hearts and even a swimming pool. Jeff's got the afternoon tomorrow and I sense a repeat day.

If you've got sunshine where you live, can I offer a suggestion? GO OUTSIDE! It will do wonders for your spirit and happiness levels. :D

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a great one with lots of fun and surprises.

There was lots of excitement at our house as we had prepared not only for Santa to come but Grandma and Grandpa to spend Christmas Eve with us. I think this is the first time we've ever had grandparents at our house for Christmas. The kids loved it.

Favorite gifts:

Dad-Numb3rs (tv show) season 3 highlight CD

Mom-Guitar

Lyndsi-Doll clothes or her HSM3 soundtrack

McKay-Legos

Sophie-My Little Ponies (the little ones-thanks for introducing us to the obsession-you know who you are:) )

I'm excited to have Lyndsi home from school for another week and hopefully we can do some fun things with the kids.

Doesn't this picture capture the joys of kids at Christmas? Love it!

Now that Christmas is over though, bring on the sunshine and warm weather!!!