Mother's Day

We haven't had a whole lot going on since we got home from Hawaii. The most excitement comes from Josie. She is at such a fun age right now! The hard part is that she's into EVERYTHING. The fun part is that I can tell she understands a lot of the things I say, and she's really picking up on the sign language stuff. She can now say milk, please, cracker and more. Her signs for cracker and more look a lot alike and kind of look like her clap, but there are subtle differences. She also plays peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. Its so adorable! I love being a mom!!!

One of Josie's favorite toys are shoes of any kind. Here she is trying out Dad's shoes.

I've put off buying a gate because we don't have any stairs in the house and I usually just make barricades with things like her car seat or toy basket. Well, I think I might have to buy a gate...

Random funny picture of the week: Sad Cheese! It was like that when we opened the package. It must have known its destiny was to be eaten...

Friday evening and Saturday morning were filled up with my mother's day present. I have been bugging Justin for a long time about putting new edging in on our planters, since some of the planters didn't have anything and the others had rotting wood. So I got new edging! Hurray! For those of you who didn't see the planters before, they look 100 times better.

Back yard

Front yard

We had to dig almost 1 foot of grass out of each of these planters. It was lots of work! The next step is to pull out the dying/dead trees...

Justin had to give a talk in church on Mother's day. They gave him the topic of "Finding Joy in Life" and asked him to tie it in to mother's day. He did an excellent job!

After church, we headed down to the in-laws to celebrate mother's day down there. It was one of the few times that EVERYONE was there. It was loads of fun! Sorry, the pictures aren't in order.

Josie riding the rocking horse

Playing with Tucker

Mimi opening all her presents, with the help of most of her grandkids.
I just thought this was funny.. both kids have something shoved in their mouths.
Playing with Kate

I hope that all of you wonderful mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's day! And I just want you all to know.. I have the best mom in the world!! I wish we could have spend Mother's day with her too, but thank goodness for technology! If I couldn't call and talk to my mom any time I want, there's no way I'd be living in Utah. I love you mom!

Cutest Thing EVER

What a big girl...

So, last night Justin and I were playing with Josie, and she kept walking back and forth between us (with help, of course), when all of a sudden she took a step and a half all by herself! I couldn't believe it! She's been thinking about walking for a couple of months now, and for the past month she has insisted on only holding on with 1 hand while she walks. So I should have known it was coming, but man, she's getting too big!!

Hawaii Part 4: The Wedding, Etc.

Continuing the saga, on Friday morning, we had the girls time where we all went and got pedicures and some got manicures. Here's one shot:

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. We had dinner at the beach house that Sam's family was renting. (Sam = Groom). Sam's brother is a chef and he made the dinner that night. It was AMAZING. For appetizers, we had a thing that was shrimp, cream cheese, and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon (I think that was everything in it) then fried. YUM. He also made coconut shrimp. SUPER YUM. Dinner was some super tasty ribs, chicken, salad and veggies. Then dessert was bread pudding with ice cream. I ate way too much, but man, it was GOOD.

Here are some shots of the ocean from the balcony of their beach house. The little dot in the water is a surfer on his way out to catch some waves.

Uncle Greg was missing his little boy Noah, who couldn't come. So he had some quality time with Josie. While she was still cautious of most of the other men in the family, she loved Uncle Greg.Me and my sisters on the balcony. L-R: Kelley, Andrea (bride), Kimberly, and Me.

WEDDING DAY!!

On Saturday morning we went to the swap meet again to get stuff for the wedding guests who were staying up on the North Shore and didn't have any time to go get souvenirs for themselves. We seriously had a list... By the time we got home from that, we didn't have enough time to go to the beach. I was sad about that, since we only got to go twice the whole trip, but that's ok. We headed up North Shore around 4-ish and hung out until sunset around 6, when the wedding began. It was a really nice ceremony and the setting we beautiful. Congratulations Andrea and Sam!!

Our family picture: All of the wedding guests got a lei--the women got purple orchid and the men had kukui nut with shells.

Kimberly waiting to get started.

Josie hanging out with Uncle Greg again. He won her over for good by giving her his lei.

My brother David and his wife Tori.

Finally! Here we go! Shawna, Andrea's best friend and maid of honor, walking out with my nephew Nathan and niece, Naylia.

Andrea and Dad

Getting into positions for the ceremony.

Beautiful bride!

Engaged couple...

Married couple!

A look at the ocean after the ceremony.

We tried to get a good picture of all the grandchildren who were there. Not so easy with 2 babies, a 2 year old and a 10 year old boy. This is the best of the 20 we took. Not bad!

Josie's cute little piggies.

Andrea with all her sisters and sisters-in-law. L-R: Liz (Sam's Sister), Tori (David's wife), Kelley, Andrea, Kimberly, Trisha (Dan's wife) and me.

Sisters with Sam.

Josie hanging out with Dad.

First dance.

The wedding was great and we moved on to dinner after we took some pictures. We had Kalua pig, teryaki chicken, rice, sushi, and some other stuff. There was also fresh fruit around. It was a beautiful wedding and a great after-party.

On Sunday, we went to church in Kailua to see some old friends and then drove right up to North Shore for a farewell brunch. More good food and too much eating. The rest of Sunday was spent hanging out and playing games with family and eventually packing.

Our flight home left at 7am Monday morning. Josie did such an amazing job on the airplanes! We had one lay over each way and luckily had a window on each flight. Josie really enjoyed the windows. We did meet a weird lady in LA who kept making comments to us about how we didn't have enough kids to enter Utah and that since Josie was 9 months old it was time for us to have another... And there was a minor blow-out just before landing in LA that left Josie without pants. But, other than that, the trip home was pretty uneventful. We made it home safe and sound. Its really nice to be in our own house again and in our own bed, but we sure miss Hawaii...

Hawaii Part 3: Tuesday-Thursday

I told you I had a lot of pictures. Here are some more from Josie's first Hawaiian adventure. Tuesday was a rainy day, so we didn't really do much. We drove up to North Shore to check out the beach house that Andrea and Sam were renting for the wedding.

A view of the ocean from the balcony.

Wednesday started out with me getting the stomach flu. Yuck. I felt much better by the afternoon. Anyways, we picked Kelley up from the airport Wednesday morning and went to the beach again. It was gorgeous!!

Wednesday night was the first of the many wedding events. We had a family barbecue so that our family and Sam's (the groom) family could get to know each other a little bit. We have a family friend who is the GM of the water park, so we got to have the party there. It was closed that day, so we had the park to ourselves. The only attractions that were on were the flow-rider and the hot tub. The flow rider is an artificial wave on a trampoline-like surface. Here are some pictures and videos. It was lots of fun!

Kelley and Greg colliding on the flow-rider.

Kim and Josie watching.

The GM showing everyone how its done. It looks MUCH easier than it is on the surfboard.

Kelley trying out the surfing.

My mom showing everyone how its done. This is her first time ever trying it. For those of you who don't know her, she's a daredevil. It's great!

Thursday was our 4th anniversary (hurray!) and we celebrated by going to the Dole Plantation and getting Dole Whips. Best thing ever--Pineapple soft serve ice cream in a waffle cone. YUM!

Kelley enjoying her Dole Whip.

Josie at the Dole Plantation.

As we were driving in to the plantation, we saw some Japanese tourists in this exact spot, doing this exact pose. One of our favorite past times from High School is making fun of the tourists. We couldn't resist!

It was another rainy day with flash flood warnings and everything. Luckily, it cleared up somewhat in the evening because the event for that night was the friends catamaran cruise in Waikiki. Basically, there were no parents and no babies--siblings and friends only. It was great!

Kimberly, Me and Kelley on the catamaran.

Dan and Trisha just before taking off--Waikiki in the background.

The sails..

Me and Trisha at the front of the boat.

I was a little nervous about climbing onto the netting. It didn't look very secure. But its a great picture! :)

Another catamaran cruising out with Diamond Head in the background.

This was our 4th trip to Hawaii together and yet the first time that we stopped to take a picture with Duke. We walked right past him on our way back to the car, so I decided to stop.

Stay tuned for the next edition.. The wedding!!