Aloha

Eight years ago Ryan and I made plans to travel to Hawaii with some friends. Unfortunately the trip took a back seat to what would consume us for nearly the next decade of our lives... Ryan's education. We promised ourselves when he completed his training we would take that trip. Amazingly, that time has finally come and we were able to fulfill that dream, though we did not invision doing it with our four children, my parents, and my six siblings and their families. Clearly, it was quite a celebration!

As it turns out, my family happened to plan a reunion in Hawaii this year and we were able to tag along. Our last beach trip being just last April, we felt completely prepared for the sand castles and forts, the wave jumping, the boggy and body boarding, the surfing and the jelly fish. Wait... not the jelly fish.

It seems the jelly fish loved the beach as much as we did and unfortunately Braden was their target. So we quickly became experts in treating jelly fish stings. Many of you may be thinking of "that Friends' episode" and yes that apparently will work, though we cannot comment on it from experience. Don't try bathing the area in fresh water. This may feel good initially, but it spreads the toxin and leads to a dire of complaints, i.e., "I want to die," "I never want to go to the beach again," "I want to go home right now." On the positive side, after Braden was stung on two separate occasions we gained sufficient knowledge to become the first aid house on the beach, lending assistance to other unfortunate vacationers.

One of the true highlights for Ryan and Braden was surf lessons. After a two hour lesson, they became pretty adept surfers. Braden particularly had a great time and continued to ask over and over throughout the trip when he could go again. Though I am sure they were as awesome as they say, I am only taking their word for it as I missed the whole thing. It seems the pineapple plantation was much too interesting and consumed the entire afternoon. Thankfully a few pictures were taken and Ryan came home with a souvenir to prove his manhood, a foot torn up by coral.

As it usually turns out, some of the unscheduled moments were the most memorable. Of our trip to Waikiki, it will not be the beach, aquarium, Pearl Harbor, or International Market Place that the kids will remember. No, what they will remember is a giant tree with hundreds of vines just begging for the inner Tarzan to be released. Many succumbed, but Braden and Ryan did it in style, ascending the tree and swinging down from its branches. As they prepared for their first swing, my sister leaned over and told me she came prepared with the location of the children's hospital. I leaned back and told her we'd have to make due with an anesthesiologist because we didn't have insurance for another week.

Thankfully Ryan's education was not put to the test on our little Tarzan, but his work on jelly fish stings and an out-of-joint elbow was well worth the years and money we put into his training.

The trip all in all was a wonderful one. It started off a bit rocky with Hadley throwing up once in the car on the ride to the Phoenix airport and then again on the shuttle bus (you should have seen how fast the woman next to us moved), and ended a bit the same with thankfully just one episode on the way to the Honolulu... But the middle part was all we had hoped for eight years ago.

Congratulations Ryan!

Happy Birthday Girls

It's hard to believe that it has been two years since the birth of our miracle twins. From the beginning I thought the first year was going to be the hardest, but we proudly sailed right on through it. The second year humbled us quite a bit and left us wondering... what were we thinking? We really hope it can't get any worse.
Perhaps the terrible twos times two will prove
itself to be just that, but today we throw all caution
into the Hawaiian wind as we celebrate Hadley and Chloe turning two. The girls are celebrating their birthdays in style in Hawaii with my parents, and my six siblings and their families. As it is Sunday, there is a limit to the entertainment we can provide them, but visiting the Hawaii temple, playing on its grass, and dipping into its fountains will be quite memorable for all of us.

Tonight we had a party unlike any we've had in a long time, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins surrounding us. We sang, ate cake, and opened presents and truly felt blessed to be together. The girls are obsessed with everything baby, so it was fitting that they each received a baby doll with a stroller at home to match.
Clearly surviving a year of two gifted climbers, creative and resourceful artists, opportunistic sprinters, unrelenting hair pullers, jubilant water lovers, and incessant nudes deserves more than one night of celebration. Thankfully there is plenty of rich, chocolaty cake left over to get us through a few more nights. Maybe next year we'll only need a cake of the yellow variety. We can only hope!

Baby Dan's Wedding

This week, we traveled up to Utah for the wedding of my youngest brother Daniel. Having not flown for a year, Braden and Emmry were beside themselves with excitement. They had a wonderful time hiking, playing with cousins, dancing at the reception, and gourging on candy in the groom's room. By the end of the reception there was an all out party, with pajamaed kids line dancing with the adults. Ryan and I felt that we must truly be on the brink of middle age when the Electric Slide was not on the program.

The wedding itself was wonderful. Ryan and I felt extremely blessed to be together in the temple with all my siblings, their spouses and my parents. Though we cannot fully comprehend the blessings the Lord promises us when we are sealed in the temple, Thursday felt like a little glimpse of heaven.

So what could possibly spoil a trip back home for a wedding? Not the flight with both babies crying, "Mama," the squabling kids, or toothpaste smeared into Grammy's new rug. No, at this point we take all that in stride. Perhaps it was finding the freezer had been left open upon our return home.

First Week of School

Braden and Emme started school this week. Emmry missed the kindergarten deadline by a few weeks, so though she is already beginning to read and write, she is attending preschool again this year. She was a bit disappointed, but I on the other hand would not have survived a day without her and am therefore quite happy with the situation. Who else would I have to run and tell me that the babies are using the squirt bottle to drink water from the toilet?

Braden is not overly excited about school starting. He is thrilled to be finally meeting other kids, but he'd like it to begin and end in the same week. The one thing he is extremely excited about is band. Fourth graders have the opportunity to join either the band or orchestra. The instructor paraded himself through the classes to help drum up interest. It must have worked because Braden begged to join. His instrument of choice? It wouldn't be the flute or clarinet... something small and easy to carry back and forth from school. No, Braden wants to play the baritone. The baritone is a small tuba that is actually not so very small. In its case it must weigh at least 15 lbs. which kind of spoils my plan of having Braden ride his bike to school.

The babies and I are in another year of the School of Hard Knocks. They must think it entirely unfair because every time we drop Braden off at school they continuously and in unison chant, "Buba, Buba." When we're driving in the car during the day they continue to chant his name thinking that maybe we're going to pick him up. He has become quite the elusive favorite.

Things have begun to quiet down here a bit as we are beginning to settle into a routine. Of coarse, we wouldn't want life to get too mundane, so we've planned a trip to Utah and another to Hawaii within the first two weeks of school. That should help keep life exciting.

Purses

Today the babies brought me one of Emmry's purses that I noticed right away had a large wet mark on the outside and wanted me to look inside. It must be innate for little girls to carry around purses and fill them full of whatever they can find, because every little girl seems to do it. The babies love to swing their purses over their shoulders and say to me, "Bye, bye. Bye, bye" as if they are going out for the afternoon. Unfortunately I never know what I will find inside their purses and after the poop filled purse incident, I've been a bit leery. So it was a bit of apprehension that I opened Emmry's lavender purse that the babies handed me. At first glance, I thought I saw exactly what I feared. The contents were brown and mushy. "Oh, girls...." (I find myself saying that a lot lately). Upon further inspection though, to my relief, I found that my brown, mushy surprise was only an old banana. I can't tell you how happy I was to find a who-knows-how-many-day-old smashed up banana squished up in that purse. Perspective is everything.