Aloha.....

We have been planning our trip to Hawaii since January, and it did not disappoint.

 Troy surprised me and told me the night before we left that he had upgraded to 1st class, so we boarded the plane and turned left.  Do you know what happens when you turn left as you enter a plane?  They have seats that actually fit your legs and they give you a hot towel and treats and cute little bottles of water.  It was a great way to start.

 Do you notice that my husbands legs are stretched out, I really should have taken a picture of the plane ride to L.A. then this would be much more impressive.

 You can see his excitement and I promise that he was not on the phone the whole time.

 Our first night was actually not great, we got into Honolulu and all I can say is WOW!?! and not a good wow.  Troy said that he would rather drive in New York City than Honolulu, and just so you know he was in a moving van when he drove New York.  So many people and one way streets that run all over.  We got a pretty good nights rest and then woke up early and ran on the beach, that was a gorgeous way to start the day.

We drove a convertable for the week, the whole time thinking about J.T. and how much he would have loved it.

 We spent the morning at the Flea Market and Pearl Harbor

Then we were off to the North Shore but not before we stopped at this fairly frightening place to eat, which was actually fantastic.  Great sushi, I tried the spicy tuna.  We decided a thumbs up blog would be great, we could travel around the country, try new foods and then post our opinion, sounds good to me.

The famed Matsumoto shaved ice, I have to say I am a fan.  Which actually means a lot considering I do not like snow cones.  But for some reason ice cream on the bottom and sweetened condensed milk on top, oh, my, I'll come visit you anytime.

Then we arrived at the resort which now holds a very special place in my heart.  We drove up, dropped the car with the valet and went in, no doors needed which I thought added a nice tropical touch.

This is the scene that greeted me when we walked into the room, be still me heart....I could not have asked or dreamt of a more perfect view.

Our Sunday drive consisted of driving past Laie to a fabulous place for breakfast and then stopping by the temple.  We went to church and then walked the temple grounds.

 I totally forgot to take a picture of the food, but It looked so darn good when we got it that we dug right in, french toast with macadamia sauce, words can not describe.

After we got back we spent 50 minutes of pure heaven in this cute cabana being pampered.

We ate at Ola's, right on the beach, literally sand on our feet, that had to be my favorite day.

 Monday morning we set out on a hike, we bought a guide book and picked one.  It was beautiful, warm, sunny, and we were well rewarded when we reached the end.  It was the very tip of the island, huge rocks and the waves crashing.

 A message someone left with the coral from the beach.  My sentiments exactly.

After hiking we had to stop and eat at the famed Giovanni's Shrimp truck, Troy's fingers are a testament to how good it tasted.

 The truck is a little sketchy but seriously so worth it.

 I love this picture of Troy, there aren't a lot of times in his life that he looks this relaxed, but we spent the evening in our room watching the sunset from the balcony and soaking it all in.

 Simply, beautiful! Our view from our room, I don't think it can get better than this.

Olas was so good we ate there again for lunch.

 Our room.....I miss you....sigh.

We tried oysters for the first time, I liked them, Troy not so much.

Honestly so much of our trip revolved around the food, some might say it was a waste but for Troy and I there are not a lot of things better than trying new things and eating beautifully prepared works of art.  This photo almost didn't make it, you can see a bite gone, then I resisted long enough to take a picture, isn't it gorgeous?

DREAM come true for my cute husband.  I don't think there could have been a better way to end our trip than a helicopter tour of the island, door off even, gorgeous views and a priceless memory.

My Sweet Ballerina

I have LOVED watching my sweet little girl this year find a love that makes her smile.  She is developing a talent that I hope helps her become more confident and helps her to recognize how amazing she is.  I hope this helps her work hard and set goals.  She has loved going to ballet every week.  She has made friends and grown in so many different ways.  This year they did Alice in Wonderland for their recital and she was a Queen's Attendant.  She was beautiful in every way, and I felt as if my heart was on the stage with her.  I was smiling with tears in my eyes and look forward to next year.

My favorite part of the whole evening was after the performance Cambelle came off stage and J.T. wrapped his arms around her and told her how good she did and then Sara hugged her.  There is not very many things sweeter than watching your kids love each other and support each other.  (we will not mention the many times that doesn't happen, let's just relish the times they do)

Sue

Our local museum, small as it may be, does a great job.  Their main exhibit is always a traveling exhibit.  They have done this for about 10 years and the very first exhibit was "Sue".  We took our darling babies to that one and it became a tradition to try and make it there about once or twice a year.  Well this year they brought Sue back.  It was a lot of fun to hear my now big kids say, "She isn't as big as I remember."   I thought the dinosaur was huge I can't imagine what it looked like to a 3 and a 5 year old.

Cambelle started the expression thing,  I had to laugh.  I see drama and acting in her future.

Do you see the weird nick and bulge in her rib?  They found another T-Rex's tooth fossilized in her rib, cool huh?  Those are the kind of things you learn when you make friends with the museum volunteers.

Easter

Easter weather where we live is always unpredictable.  There has only been a handful of memories made outside, most of our Easter egg hunts have been inside, so I wanted to try something a little different this year.  While the kids were cleaning downstairs, (I know how to get something done, candy as an incentive always seems to work :)  I set up a string maze of sorts. They each chose a color and followed the string with eggs along the way until they reached the end.  I loved hearing them talk to themselves as they followed the string, very indicative of their age, "this is stupid", my 13 year old, "this is crazy", my 11 year old, and a very enthusiastic "this is so fun", my 8 year old.  This may be a tradition that sticks, who knows.  But it was fun trying something a little different this year.

And it begins....

 

This is how Troy participated in the egg hunt, pretty comfortable  huh?

Yep, it was all worth it!

The smile says it all.

We spent Sunday morning watching The Lamb of God and remembering the real reason we celebrate Easter.  It was really a wonderful holiday.

Cambelle's baptism

It amazes me how quickly my children are growing and reaching milestones that at one time seemed oh so far away.  January 7th our cute sweet Cambelle was baptized.  She of course was thrilled and excited, I on the other hand was a little weepy and nostalgic.  This is my baby and she is growing up so fast, faster than I believe I agreed to.  Yet as I watched this beautiful young lady enter into the water with her dads hand guiding her I couldn't help think how wonderful it all was that each of our children have had the privilege to make covenants with our Father in Heaven, and  this is really just the beginning and there are so many things ahead.  As much as I long for the days of four year old conversations, kisses after nap time and cuddling all three of my kids at the same time, (Sara and J.T. on either side and Cambelle on my lap)  I love watching them grow and have these new opportunities.  

Are these two girls just the cutest?