Hawaii!

This past weekend, Jon and I took a little vacation to Hawaii.  Yep, Hawaii.  Normally we are the type of people to never buy toys, go on big vacations or even buy furniture for our home(beyond the essentials).  Jon nicely says I'm responsible with money but I just say I'm cheap. :)  Whether we have an excess or not, I just don't spend money easily.  However, after 4 years of being under stress and making huge life changes, we felt like it was time to just take a step back.  We needed a re-group for our mental health.  And I must say, Hawaii was a great place to take a re-group.  I must admit, I didn't think I would miss the boys as much as I did but it was still a really great vacation.

We drove to Vegas to fly out(not sure why I thought that drive would be shorter...) so we considered that as just part of the adventure.

Once we got to Vegas, we were starving and decided to try out Guy Fieri's restaurant.  And since it was super late and we had to be at the airport super early, we decided to be super classy and slept in our car at a Wal-Mart right next to the airport.  We were not missing that early flight!  But man, cars are not comfy to sleep in. :)

 From the window, flying into Hawaii

 We survived the flight!

 First day there, it was already afternoon so we just walked along the beach, ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant and called it an early night because our bodies were still on our regular time zone and it felt like 10:30 to us...not to mention we hardly slept in the car the previous night.

 The second day, we were up and ready to go by 3:30 the next morning! haha  The 3 hour change really threw us for some reason.  But we were also excited because we had a catamaran ride planned and some snorkeling/diving with sea turtles.  

 Waiting for the catamaran

 Our ride.  Hands down, snorkeling in Hawaii was our favorite thing.  And riding out to the ocean and swimming with sea turtles was a once in a life time opportunity.  The fish were awesome, the turtles were fascinating and it felt good to be out in the fresh air after so much travel.  I remember being underwater, fascinated with all the school of fish and seeing the turtles swimming around and thinking, "This!  This is why I was excited to come here!  I get why people love Hawaii!"  Obviously there are more reasons why people go to Hawaii but Jon and I really enjoyed this part of the trip.

On the way back for lunch, we ran into a Hawaiian who let us hold his birds.  I liked it. 

 As great as the catamaran ride was, I was struggling with motion sickness the whole time.  I get motion sick in cars, the flight nearly made me lose everything I'd eaten in the last 24 hours and by the time we headed back on the catamaran, I couldn't even move my head without wanting to throw up.  Our first stop after that ride was to get some dramamine. :)  Soo, the third day we were there, we had thought about going parasailing but I knew I needed one day to have my feet on solid ground.  So we hiked Diamond Head!  Beautiful hike, beautiful weather and a lot of time to just chat.  It was great.

 On the way back, we found these trees close to the beach and they looked pretty crazy.

We had headed out pretty early for the hike(again, the time change) so we were back and ready to sun bathe on the beach by 11:00.  While on the beach, we noticed there were a ton of fish, practically right up to the shore.  A local was looking at the fish by us and he told us that he'd never seen the fish that close.  So, of course, we ran to a local shop and bought our own snorkeling gear.  Man, snorkeling is addicting and I'm sure scuba diving is as well.

 That night we decided to shower and put on more than our bathing suits and head out for a nice dinner.  There was a festival in the street so there was a lot to see, including a crazy cirque du soleil performer, and we enjoyed walking around and just taking it all in.

The next day, we had a little bit of time but then headed back on our plane to reality and, most importantly, our boys.  Again, we had a long flight and a long drive so it took us two days to make it back and by that time, I was more than ready to give our boys a big hug.  Even though I was ready to come back and see the little ones, just looking at these pictures brings back a lot of good memories.  Mainly, I just feel really blessed that we can take opportunities like this once in awhile.  What a beautiful world we live in.

  

January

A lot happened in January so even though we're partway through February already(what!?), there are a few things I want to get documented.  First thing we did in January was head to Salt Lake.  We wanted to go visit Uncle Derek after New Years and go see the lights at Temple Square.  And really, we are getting to the point where any excuse to travel is a good one for us.

The boys are actually pretty good about shopping.  They're still crazy, but they actually seem to enjoy the process.  Aiden likes to try everything on...

 But Patrick turns into your own little personal shopper.  He's really great at boosting the self-esteem as well by saying things like, "Wow mommy!  That looks great on you!"

 Uncle Derek took the boys to Build-A-Bear and, of course, our boys picked out My Little Ponies.  A lot of internal battles going on there...

Of course, winter here means we have to go sledding.  Honestly, it is Patrick's paradise.  Aiden gets cold more easily but he still loved it.

I've mentioned before that coloring is a big deal at our house

And sometimes the little one wets his pants when we're not home so he goes home in over sized t-shirts.

Since we go stir crazy at home, the library has become an outlet once in awhile.  It's been great for reading time and little arts and crafts

And lastly, a couple weeks ago we found out that Jon's grandpa passed away.  We kept trying to plan a time to go see him because we knew his health was getting worse so we felt really bad that we never made it in time.  His funeral definitely opened my eyes on the importance of just loving life.  He was a lot like my own grandpa and he was a big presence who influenced a lot of people.  And his jokes, while sometimes crude, had everyone laughing at the funeral as they reminisced about him.

 His casket is the exact casket that my dad has.  I have to admit, that part threw me a little when I first saw it.

 So many little kids to chase around!  The boys were in heaven

 Aiden adores his cousin Ada, so it was sweet when she let him lay next to her.  She was such a good help through it all

 The girl cousins are few and far between.  We need more...!

I think that sums up everything we've been up to.  Jon and I also made a last minute decision that a trip out of town was much needed to re-group and figure out some major life questions(some big things might be happening this year!) so we booked a trip to Hawaii!  We leave next week and I'm so excited for that, I can barely concentrate this week to get everything done that I need to.  Traveling is incredibly high on my priority list but in the past few years, other things have always taken precedence.  If I had to choose one passion in life(aside from the obvious things), it would be traveling.   So yeah, saying we're excited is an understatement. :)