PINEWOOD DERBY

This was the second pinewood derby Dallin has been in. When we heard when the pinewood derby was, we decided to take the car to Omaha with us on our vacation and see if Uncle Tommy could help get the car to win. Well....as you can see, it worked!! Dallin won first in every single race and therefore took first in the pinewood derby this year:) He was one proud fella!!

Happy 10th Birthday Dallin!

I can't believe my first boy has turned 10! We are so proud of you, Dallin for all you have accomplished in just a short 10 years:) You are so special to us. We hope you feel how special you are on this your 10th birthday.

Nathan's 7th Birthday

I am doing a little back-blogging if you cannot tell:) I am only a month or so behind!! So for Nathan's birthday, we had a Science Party. This kid sure loves SCIENCE! So we donned our "lab coats" and safety goggles and did some experiments. And we made a lab flask cake with trick candles!! The kids had a blast! It was definitely a hit! The other pictures are of our family party with Nathan's snickerdoodle cake. Another big hit:)

Olympics Par-tay

For some reason, I always seem to plan my parties around food:) Go figure!! Well, I had seen these in a magazine and thought they were just so cute, so we decided to have our friends, The Greenlaw's, over for an Olympic party. Our kids LOVE to watch the Olympics! And it is so much fun to see them rooting for the Americans:) Go Apollo!! Anyways, they didn't much watch that night....too much fun to be had with friends. But it was a fun night and we think we will have to remember this one when the summer olympics come around!! Can you tell I am really into food?? I didn't even take any other pictures!!!

My Knight in Shining Armor

Dallin tried out for the school play this year and made it! He was so excited! He put in a lot of hours of work into it and we could tell! The finished product was great! He was the knight in the play "Quest for Quasi". We are so proud of his courage in trying out and in getting up there on stage and giving his best efforts. He even made up a fake accent to add to the part:) Yay Dallin!! We are so proud of you!!

Valentine's Day

So this is what we do for the kids for Valentine's day. I found this idea in a Family Fun magazine years ago when the kids were little and have done it ever since. They totally expect it now:) It is such an easy and meaningful way to show and tell the kids how much we love them. We put little sayings that are meaningful to each of them and tape them to ribbon and hang them outside their doors. Then we heart attack their doors and put hearts and kisses all over the floor. When they wake up, they are sure to know that we love them!!





I found this older picture of Amanda standing in front of her door after she was "heart attacked".

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HAWAII

WE MADE IT!! Some of you may not know this, but I got accepted to BYU-Hawaii back when I was making the decision of where to go to college. It was a tough choice, but I went to Utah instead...vowing that I would make it to Hawaii someday. When Mike and I got married, I told him this and he was totally on board! We planned it for our 10 year anniversary. But when that came and went, we started looking at each other and thinking, when are we going to go?? Well, just when it had been a while since we had had a "vacation", and Mike had racked up quite a few miles, we decided that this was our chance. We feel very blessed that we had this opportunity. So here is a glimpse of the bliss we felt in Hawaii!

This is the view from our hotel room. Not too shabby!
I got leied:)




The first full day, we spent at Pearl Harbor. It was such a neat day. The Memorial over the USS Arizona was a solemn and humbling experience. I couldn't stop thinking about the movie "Pearl Harbor" that made it so real to me. We were so glad we could pay homage to the people who died serving us and our country.


Hanauma Bay--this was some of the best snorkeling around. (or so they told us:)




This is the view from Diamond Head. Just a small hike for such an amazing view!


The Hawaii temple was closed while we were there. They are gutting and remodeling the whole thing, so it won't be open til late next summer. But we did get to tour the visitors center and take some pics. We met "Brother" Eubank from Utah otherwise known as "Mark Eubank--the weather guy". He works there. We were ok that the temple was closed--that just means we have to go back!!


I took these pictures for you-mom! Nothing better than cruising around Oahu with the top down in a red stang!




Polynesian Cultural Center. By far, the most fun day we had.

You CAN'T pick your friend's nose, Mike!



This was actually a funny story. When we checked into the hotel, the bell boy asked us where we were from. When we said Fresno, he asked if we were here for the game, in which our reply was..."what game?" He then informed us that Fresno State was coming to play against Hawaii that Saturday. What a coincidence!! So sure! We were indeed there for the game:) We spanked them. And we got rained out! But it was still fun!



more pictures


Mike being daring! That is actually him jumping!


Truly a memorable trip. We are ready to go back!!