Willis and Krista's Birthday Party

So I am officially the worst blogger in the world! I think my problem is that I get behind and then feel like I have to catch up on everything relevant that has happened. I've worked through this and now when I do have free time to blog, I will only post the latest thing that has happened. We'll see how that goes.

Over the weekend we got together at Clint's Grandma's house to celebrate Willis and Krista's Birthdays.

Willis brought his bunnies so I thought it would be cute to get a picture of Soph with them. I had tried taking her to the mall to get a picture with the Easter Bunny but she was not pleased. It turned out exactly like the Santa experience only with no pictures. I was hoping for a better result with this. What was I thinking!

Besides putting her own Birthday party together, Krista also planned an Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids. I love how excited the boys are. They are so cute!

Clint's cute grandma. I had to post this picture because I don't know how Clint managed to capture both dogs looking at the camara.

Visiting Santa

Our friends, Matt and Megan, called us because they were taking their little boy to RC Willey to visit Santa. I know what you're thinking, who goes to RC Willey to see Santa. But it was actually the perfect place to go. There was no line, it was free, and we got to take our own pictures.

We knew that Soph would not be pleased with us because she won't even sit on her grandparents laps, let alone a strange man with a beard. But we figured it would be worth torturing her. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

My Grandma

One of the main reasons I have not blogged for so long is because my sweet Grandma passed away and I knew I would not be able to put into words how much she meant to me. She had been suffering with dementia for a few years so it was almost a blessing for her to go. She was such an amazing woman and I am so lucky to have known her.

Soph's First Birthday

So it has been two months since Sophia turned one and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. I have no idea where the time has gone! We had our families over for a little party to celebrate.

The night did not really go as planned. For starters, Sophia is not at all social and does not have any desire to interact with anyone. She was not a very good hostess. But neither was her mother. The food I was making took longer than I had anticipated so I felt like I spent the whole party in the kitchen. I bought a little cake for Soph to tear into but apparently she does not like cake and is not a fan of getting dirty. So she just stared at it and spit out the small piece I tried to feed her. Then to top it all off, our camara was broken so the pictures we took were on our iPhones and they were not great. So I don't even had anything to show for it. At least I can use the excuse that it was my first time throwing a party for my child. Hopefully there will be improvement in the years to come!

Here are the few pictures I do have. They are mostly just pictures of Sophia with some of the presents she received.

The birthday girl in her new chair.

Soph and her cousins playing with her new kitchen.

Still playing with her kitchen long after her guests had left.

My sister, Jen, has become quite the knitter. She made these cute leg warmers and hat for Soph.

Halloween

I always look forward to Halloween even though I never dress and up and have not, up to this point, had kids to dress up. So you can imagine how excited I was for this year. I do not have one ounce of creativity in my body so not much planning went into Soph's costume. Here's how it went: I went to Costco, saw a cute cow costume, and voila!

Every year Brittany has everyone over to go trick-or-treating together and for her yummy cheese soup and homemade rolls. We had a great time, as always!

Clint and I have NEVER dressed up for Halloween. So you can imagine my surprise when he came downstairs as Wolverine!

Anytime there is a picture of someone holding Soph without her crying I have to include it. It is a rare event!

Krista and Willis

Cooper in his costume.

Parker as The Joker

Payton as a Utah Football Player

The group shot before heading out into the rain.

While the kids were gone we, of course, had to watch the Utah game.

The next day (which was actually Halloween) we went over to Clint's grandma's for dinner. Either Grandma bought WAY too much candy or she had absolutely no trick-or-treaters! Soph had a great time playing with all of it. If only she knew what she could really do with it.

We had such a great weekend. I can't wait until next Halloween!

Birthday Weekend

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 30th birthday. I had been dreading this for quite some time now, but it definitely has not been as bad as I thought it would be. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel any different from 29.

We started out the day by going to breakfast with our friends, Matt and Kara. Then we relaxed at home for a while before going to the Utah football game. It was pouring rain. We were wet and cold but we managed to stay for almost the whole game.

Poor little Parker was wet and freezing but he didn't complain once. What a little trooper.

Meanwhile, Soph was warm and happy back at Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Patty's.

After the game Clint's family surprised me with pizza and cake.

The next day my mom had us over for dinner to continue the birthday celebration.

Sophia with my brother, Steve. She is finally starting to allow other people to hold her. At least until she realizes that it isn't her mom or dad.

My delicious cake from Leslie's Bakery.

Now that I am over the shock of being 30, I can't wait for all the things this new decade will bring.

Hawaii

(WARNING! This will be a very long post)

Once we made it to Hawaii all my stress magically disappeared. I forgot how beautiful it is there.

We were very limited as to what we could do because we had two children under the age of 2 with us. We didn't think they would be too thrilled with helicoptor rides or 4 hour boat tours. Plus, we had to revolve every day around their nap times. But it was great because we did get to relax A LOT.

What we did do a lot of, however, is eat. You won't see it in any of the pictures but we had some delicious food.

Day 1:

We got there pretty late (Utah time) so we just ate and went to bed.


Day 2:

We woke up and went to the store, ate, napped, and then went to the pool. We stayed at a timeshare resort so you never know what you are going to get. But the pool was actually pretty nice! I didn't go in with very high expectations so I was very impressed.






Day 3:

The day of driving! We started out the morning driving to the beach where South Pacific was filmed. I am not sure what the name of it is so we will call it the South Pacific Beach. The waves were huge and no one was really there so we just took a few pictures and left.




We wanted to see a lot of things that were all on the opposite side of the island from where we were staying. So we thought it would be a good idea to cram all of it into one day. It was not a good idea. We spent at least 4 hours in the car. The kids made it very clear to us that they were not very happy with us. But we saw some amazing places.

We first went to the a lighthouse but it was not open so we could not get very close. So once again we just took some pictures and headed on our way.




Next, we wanted to go see a waterfall that we had heard had a great lookout area. On our drive up to it we were turned away by a police officer who informed us that they were "performing operations" so it was closed to the public. So we turned around and headed for the next destination, Waimea Canyon Lookout.

We drove up a very long and narrow road to what looked like a scene from Southern Utah. It was ridiculous, but still beautiful.

I may be smiling but I was not very happy to be posing for this picture. I hate heights and this was way out of my comfort zone.

We didn't stay here very long because by this point the kids were almost at their limit and we still had one more place that we really wanted to go. The Na Pali Coast Lookout, which was about 20 minutes further up the canyon. It is a view of the Na Pali Coast which is only accessible from a boat. And since we couldn't take a boat tour, we decided that this would be the next best thing. Clint had read about it online and apparently they have filmed quite a few movie scenes there, including Jurassic Park, King Kong and Raiders of the Lost Ark.


After driving all the way up there with 2 crying kids in the car, this is what we saw. We were very disappointed. But after a few minutes it started opening up to one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.

The pictures really do not do it justice.

We then decided it was time to make the long journey home. We were not looking forward to it because the kids were hungry, tired and grumpy. This next picture sums it all up.

Day 4:

The next morning we decided that we should probably spend some time swimming at the beach. We drove down the street to the St. Regis Hotel, which is where I will be staying next time I go to Kauai.

As Soph's Grandpa would say, "What starts in fun.......

Ends in tears." Apparently someone is not a huge fan of the sand.

Sophia spend most of the morning asleep

It wouldn't be a vacation for Clint if he didn't get to go golfing. And apparently Kauai has one of the top ten golf courses in the world. So Clint and Steve spent the afternoon golfing at Princeville Golf Course.

Meanwhile, Liv and I relaxed with the kids.

Day 5:

Liv really wanted to go paddle boarding but the waves were really high. So we went down to a beach in Hanalei where they have a river connected to the ocean where you can paddle board and kayak.



Day 6:

This was the only day we really got rained on so we didn't do a whole lot. We went to a beach that has a little cove so it is great for little kids but it was also good for snorkeling. Unfortunately, we didn't really do much of anything because of the rain. We drove around sightseeing and then ended up at Hanalei Bay. It was one of my favorite places on the island. It was beautiful so we stuck around to watch the sunset.








Day 7:

It was our second to last day so we decided we should get some more beach time in. We went back down to the beach at Hanalei because we had another day of our paddle board rental. Luckily, the waves weren't as high so we were able to take the paddle board out into the ocean. And when I say we, I mean everyone but me.

Liv paddle boarding

Still not a fan of the sand. She really is my child.

Clint paddle boarding

Day 8:

We had to check out of our hotel at 11 am and our flight home wasn't until 8:30 that night. So we had to figure out what to do with our last day. We didn't want to go to the beach and get all sandy so we decided to do some more driving. We went up to the waterfall that we tried to go to on day 3. We had learned that the reason it was really closed was because a man from Seattle had drowned while swimming at the falls.


Next, we drove to a plantation that Liv heard about. We knew it would be a hit with Soren because they had a train. He loved it! It was actually a really cute place.

Soph and Soren on the train.

I thought this would make a cute photo. I forgot that Soph hates grass as much as she hates sand.

We had such an amazing time. It reminded us that we need to take vacations more often!