Hawaii Here We Come!

This trip was pretty epic. It was a huge success filled with tons of adventures, perfectly beautiful Hawaiian days, gorgeous views, happiest happy kids, tons of laughter and so much quality time with my parents and babies. Dreamy. We all loved it and look back on our pictures often to remember such delicious times. Pure family fun!

We left on a Thursday morning and thankfully, thankfully had a direct flight from SLC to Honolulu. It landed around 4:00 pm Hawaiian time (7:00 pm at home) which gave us some daylight to find our hotel and settle in before just needing to crash. Our stay at Ko'Olina began on Saturday but we stretched the trip a few days longer and opted for 2 nights right in Waikiki to do all the things we wanted to over on that side of the island. While that place is crazy busy and always so packed with people, it's still a fun piece of Honolulu and hey, walking to McD's just 2 blocks away for breakfast at 5:30 am makes for a great story :)

 Our well-packed car just before unloading at the airport. Getting 6 of us to Hawaii was no small feat!

  

Our arrangement on the plane. These kiddos were just the best little travelers ever! Especially the 3 older ones. I packed a lot of fun things for them to use/do/watch/play and they entertained themselves so well. Luke had a 45 minute nap and woke up with a start which he was not happy about. He lost it for about 15 minutes at that point so I took him to the back near the bathrooms and we worked out his mood. He may have kicked the seat in front of him about 1000 times too but other than that he did really well.

Band-aids are always a big hit. Best entertainment for $1!

And then we were finally there! Our hotel was right on the beach and our room had this fantastic view of Diamond Head. We were all thrilled and relieved to be there. We popped on our swimsuits and went to the pool, of course :)

The sun set at about 6:00 pm each night so while it technically was pretty late for my kids at home, it was not quite bedtime in HI. They were all too happy to be swimming and playing, and pushing them  to stay up worked so we could get some actual sleep in the morning. It was 5:30 am when we were wide awake the next day but at least it wasn't 4:00 am!

Waikiki Beach at 6:00 am (after McDonald's breakfast. Did I mention we went in our PJs?)

 

 Then it was off to this glorious spot: Hanauma Bay

It had been 10 years since I'd been there and I remember I didn't really love it (but I was pregnant with Bentley and truly just wanted to lay out on the beach). But oh my goodness it's so beautiful! Look at that perfectly clear water. I'm so happy we ventured over for our beginning snorkelers to explore in this mild and lovely spot. The beach is pretty perfect for the kids too with a very low grade and no waves due to all the reefs. We had an awesome morning there before it got very crowded.

 

 

 Luke and the mermaid had a grand time in that perfect water

This is the best beach trick and always very cute :)

 

As we were driving back to the city we stopped for some early lunch and ice cream as we were all in shock with the 80 degree heat! It felt amazing of course but we wanted to cool off a little. As soon as we were back in the car Luke fell asleep. I knew if we kept driving back to the hotel he'd just wake up once we were back and that would be the nap for the day. We switched up plans and headed over to the Manoa Falls trailhead to just keep playing while we were out and about. This was a new hike for us but my parents had done it before and knew it would be perfect for the kids.

Sweet baby just got carried along for the first little bit while he finished off his nap. Then Joseph and I took turns carrying him on our shoulders which was definitely a sweaty workout—but so good for us!

 

  

The whole hike was gorgeous! Such a tropical switch from the beach and just totally green and lush and rich. We loved this cool tree right at the beginning of the hike.

  

  

We also passed a big bamboo forest right before the waterfall. It's so fun to explore and discover these things we never see at home with my kids.

 

In the early evening we walked over to a favorite spot for an early dinner: Duke's. Actually I just really love their hula pie but the whole ambiance is cool and a great spot on Waikiki beach—especially for sunset.

 

 

 

  After dinner we walked past ladies making the most heavenly smelling leis and next thing I knew my cute dad had bought one for my mom and me—so sweet! 

 We explored the city a bit before heading back to the hotel. My family of 6 shared one big room which had 2 twin beds and 2 queen size beds. We fit really well but there wasn't a closed off spot for the baby—no big deal for our short stay but that evening I sent the bigs to the pool with Joseph while I got Luke to sleep in the pak-n-play. When they came back we quietly got ready for bed and all went to sleep at the same time. It helped immensely that we were worn out from a full day of, most importantly, sunshine! as well as swimming and hiking and exploring...what a day!

Ringing in the New Year

Low key New Year's Eve for us again this year but we broke out 2 huge bins of games and played tons of them with our kids until about 9:00 pm. They were loving all of it and it was fun for us to see how they are getting old enough for things like Catchphrase and A to Z. Livs is still pretty little but she's such a giggler and loves join in—she made us laugh a lot that night. Good times as a family!

Earlier in the week Tye and Stace were still in town for Christmas break so we convinced them to come out to Herriman for sledding and Cafe Rio. It was Luke's first time sledding and he was game but after 3 or 4 runs he didn't like it anymore. Such a tough, funny guy though :)

 

 

As far as goals go this year I am feeling very overwhelmed and pulled in a hundred directions with my busy, beautiful family and demanding church callings for me and my hubby. I am opting for the more subtle approach of appreciating good things in every, single day and trying to plan ahead just a little at a time for things like date nights and temple visits and good, long bike rides, but I don't want to beat myself up for not getting to everything I set my sights on. I read an article about resolutions in December that opted for 30 questions to ask yourself rather than feeling the need to make a list of goals. I really like the list and found a few that truly spoke to me. I like looking back on these and reminding myself to focus on the things that bring me peace and joy (#26, #28 and #29):

2014 Goals

These are too fun to make and have become such a great tradition for the first FHE of the new year. Here's to 2014!

 

Our December

Besides adventing (is that a word?) we still had plenty going on during December. It's such a crazy, busy time but I love everything about it.

 Caroline's jazz class with Miss Laura. How does my daughter suddenly looks 12 in these pictures?!

 The littles made good use of the Santa hats for playtime

Temple Square with the youth. So beautiful, so freezing and so dang busy there that night. But it's always good to be in such a lovely and holy place with these crazy, cool teenagers.

 

Another teenager we adore: Tausha who stopped by with Christmas gifts for the kids. She is such a sweetheart. My kids are so lucky to have the best babysitters ever! 

  

Beautiful/fierce icicles on the west side of our house. They reminded me of lyrics from Frozen: "beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold. Ice has a power can't be controlled..." Frozen songs are played around here on a regular (nearly non-stop) basis. I know every word by now...time for new music!

 The gorgeous sleeping girl. This was after she had barfed 9 times in just a few hours. Poor, sweet thing. The next day I caught her bug and threw-up just once (thank goodness) but felt awful all day.

 Olivia's ballet presentation

Several pics from our girls night at Ballet West's Nutcracker. It is too much fun for these darlings to bring their dolls along with them.

My little sis and her kiddos were in town for a quick December visit so we planned our night out while she was here. So fun for Livs to have Sadie there with her (those girls were so cute and curious about the whole thing and were very good even though they wanted to chat and giggle about so many fun things like Clara and the party brat and the scary mice :)

 

 

Blurry pics but they capture Luke's first time out playing in the snow with the big kids. Since then he's been out a few more times but he won't leave gloves on and pulls them off first chance he gets so he doesn't last very long. Funny little dude sure enjoys jumping around and playing with the kids though, and it's surprising how long he does last with his bare hands!

 Delicious shot of tiny Abby in town from MN

Love the sun on a snowy winter day, even when it's low in the sky and fighting to warm things up. Took this shot after a lovely afternoon run while I was stretching on the back steps. It's been awesome to have my 4th grader babysit for me every so often while I exercise or run to the grocery store.

 Rubberband bracelets overtook most of our Christmas break :)

Saw these guys in our neighborhood on our way to Livs' ballet class one morning 

(not unusual around here up the foothills but still pretty)

 

Cares' ballet presentation. 

Miss Marcia taught them a little piece of the party scene from the Nutcracker.

  

Sibling gifts! My pics are bad and I hardly took any but these kiddos make me so proud when they give gifts to each other. They earn the money themselves (except Luke :) and really take it seriously to babysit, rake leaves, pull weeds, shovel snow and do any odd job starting in the summer to save up for Christmas. And then they browse Amazon and the American Girl website to choose out just want they want for their sibling. Caroline gave Luke an Elmo backpack and water bottle, Livs gave Bean a Star Wars Lego ship, Bentley gave Cares a mini AG doll (Felicity per Cares' request) and Luke gave Livs Hello Kitty legos. Happiness all around!