The Best

Summers are long and exhausting for Micah and I. The kids and I play hard while he is stuck in the office working hard. This is a sweet ending to the day. Everyday.

*Taj wears nose strips and sleeps in his own room now because of his snoring. He can't breath in Utah.

Princess Festival

Eden got her hair and nails done. Livi noticed the nails right when we got hom.

Her fancy face painting. And ring pop paintng :)

It wasn't fun for me, but I love an excuse to be one on one with my kids. She was so sweet. I love my little princess.

Summer Bunnies

 We got bunnies. Three of them named Chester, Rex, and Rosetta (originally Eden). They are super fun. And stinky. The kids run out to make sure they have food and water everyday. Eden loves to hold Rosetta while the other two hop around and send Taj and I running after them.

This summer we also got Spike, a Horned Lizard. Some kids were going to have to set him free after their Dad brought him home from St. George. We agreed to take him because we were on our way to St. George a week later. We had to feed him live crickets. He was so gross and amazing all at the same time. The kids loved him, especially Taj who would hold him (I refused). We would find him burrowed under his sand, which surprised me.
When we got to St. George we kept him for a day, then found a great big dessert area for him. Taj got him out of the cage and we said our goodbyes. T set him down and he didn't move. We were starting to say how sweet that was and that he didn't want to leave us, then Spike pooped and ran off as fast as he could. Classic.
It's been a fun summer of animals.

Birthday Bash

 The birthday celebration came and went. And now I am older. I really wouldn't do much, but the kids love a good party. They got together with Nana and after a shopping spree at the local party store I had a really fun/silly/memorable birthday.

There were 2 pinata's, party blowers, leis, party poppers, leap frog games, pez, cake, and more. I'm so old I can't remember what else there was :)

I was totally spoiled. I'm lucky to have such a fun and sweet family.

May Day 2012

May Day is kind of a big deal here. The schools statewide have elaborite celebrations where usually the student learn dances from cultures around the world and perform them. I have fond memories of May Day from when I was little and loved watching Taj participate in it this year.

Taj's grade represented China and killed it! I was super emotional watching him and all his friends. It was obvious all the time and love that went into these little peoples performance, and from the music, to costumes, to props, it was amazing.

Taj did a great job. He wasn't nervous at all. He showed us bits he was learning every night for weeks and was super into it.

The video wouldn't upload... I'll keep working on that one. It was incredible though. I am already looking forward to next year when Eden will be in it too.

Random Pictures and their Stories

Livi found a new hiding spot. Thanks Costco for the hours of fun. Cute girl is becoming so much fun all the time.

Micah painted this for the kids. It makes me happy every time I see it. The song reminds me of my Dad for some reason. That adds to the sweetness of it for me.

Our beaches got dosed with driftwood this year, and where I found a mess, Micah found inspiration. It looks awesome against the blue of the wall.

Eden got worked by a really bad strain of the flu. I've never seen any of my kids like this. She fell asleep all day long and was burning up. Poor baby.

Can you make out the scorpion? Yikes. The kids said the lolipops were good, but stopped licking as soon as it got close to the scorpion. Yuck.

Easter Fun

Easter is a favorite of mine, for all the reasons you can imagine. It gets more meaningful to me each year as I miss my Dad more and more, and grow more grateful for the eternity with my growing family I've been promised. This picture is one of the Dads at the Laie cemetary where we had the final Easter egg hunt. In the rain. Pouring rain. The kids didn't mind. Livi insisted on carrying her really really full basket all the way home.

The traditional Turtle Bay Easter party was a hit, as usual. The activities were fun, the kids were sweet and excited, and the hunt did not discapoint. We realized that it would have been smart to get the kids smaller baskets. Olivia was a natural at finding eggs and loved the game. Some of the older kids were so sweet- too sweet- and gave here some of their eggs, and even lifted her up to reach some of the harder ones. We live among some amazing and generous people.

Our family Easter tradition is to have the kids find their basket on Easter morning. This year the rabbit left hints. Livi was very confused why she couldn't find hers and we finally had to just get hers out of the diaper bin to calm her down. We had hunts with empty eggs for a month. Might have to incorperate some kind of hunt for Edens birthday party... she loooves a good hunt.

We Love Where We Live

These pictures are from Spring Break. Yeah, I've been an amazing blogger lately. It had been super rainy and stormy and the ocean had been brown for days, then this day came. We had fun at "Sand Dunes" and "Queens Pond". We love where we live and love our friends too.
*Eden is sad that Taj dumped the fish out of the bucket. He was the boy in a group of girls and had to do something to bug the girls.

She is curious about everything at the beach. She loved looking this crispy exo skeleton over and pulling it apart.

Shell hunter club. They were finding beautiful mini shells. Tiny. Perfect. Shells.

Is there such thing as Too Much Cake?

3 Cakes and 17 candles. Happy Birthday Devon!

Photo's From Lately

 These are pictures of Taj after surfing with Dad. We encourage the kids to go out often, but it usually only works with a little incentive, like junk food. My kids are such junkies. I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They always end up having a really good time, but for some reason it takes a minute to talk them into it. They smile so big that I can see it from shore.

 Eden in her favorite swimsuit. She loves that it shows her tummy. She has a cute one, but I still think it's funny to love showing her tummy.

 Not a bad self photo. I love any picture of me with the kids... even if nobody will ever see them because of how I look. Livi is changing so much all the time. I feel the need to constantly capture these fleeting moments.

 Taj loves anything volcano. We got this kit for him on Kauai. He couldn't barely wait to build it. He would have slept with the kit if we would have let him. I love seeing my kids excited and interested.

They learned how to Hula Hoop from the best. Our 6 year old neighbor can take off and put back on his shirt while hula hooping. Way harder than I remembered. The kids worked hard and figured it out. I was cracking up at the tips they were giving each other, "you stick your butt out and in like this."

First Fun Run, and Not the Last

Rain tried to stop us. So did the early wake up call on a Saturday, but we did the Kahuku Elementary Fun Run. It was Taj's first fun run and he loved everything about it. He hopped right out of bed and once we got there he didn't stop moving. He and Amaya were racing around doing warm ups and jumping over horse poop. On the trail I had to keep him focused, especially when there were horses hanging out on our trail. At the end we ran through a ribboned finish line where some nice people cheered and made him feel super good. We left with a gift bag, water bottles, t shirts, and food. Eden wants in on it next year. Taj says he wants to do this every Saturday. I'm always so grateful to find good things the kids can be a part of. This community has blessed us so much. We love our school.