Devin

Devin is Student of the Month!! I am so proud if him! He got to have a pancake breakfast with the principle. This is what his award said about why he received this award: "Devin has been good citizen and leader in our classroom this moth by following our top two school rules, Work Hard and Be Kind. Devin had dramatically improved his reading and language skills. He always tries his best! Devin's kindness has also helped him win many friends and admirers.

Devin's class had a Mother's Day Tea Party. It was so much fun listening to the songs they sang for us and hearing what they all wrote about the mother's. One of my favorite things was that Devin said I am 6 feet tall and weight 106 pounds :)

Sydney's New Bed

After we got home from Hawaii we went out and bought a big girl bed for Sydney. We wanted to give her enough time to get used to the bed before the baby came along and turns her world upside down. I was really nervous about how it would go. I was not ready for it but knew it needed to be done as soon as possible. The first night she woke up several times during the night crying, confused. But after that she has been AWESOME! All we do is tuck her in as say nigh night and she goes to sleep. Even for her naps! I have been so happy about it! My baby girl is getting bigger! Maybe we can survive baby number 4 :)

Ward Service Project

We had a ward service project the Saturday before we left for Hawaii. We painted over graffiti. It is the kids favorite project! They LOVE it and have so much fun. I was amazed at how much got done. We brought popsicles for a treat after the hard work. It was a good day :)

Day 6 & 7 in Hawaii

Friday, day6: 

We started our day at the Dole Plantation. We took the Garden tour and a train ride. It was very pretty and fun to learn a little more about pineapples. Silly as it may be I thought they grew on trees but I was wrong :)

For lunch we ate at the Kahuku Grill, run by the same people who run Seven Brother's Burgers. 

After lunch we headed to the Valley of the Temples. It is basically a cemetery but towards the back there is the Byodo-In Temple, which is a non-practicing Buddhist temple. It really was very beautiful. while we were there someone was having their wedding ceremony. They have a little gift shop where you can buy food to feed the Koi fish and birds. It was cool feeding the birds because they would come and eat right out of your hands. 

We then headed back over to our favorite beach, Kailua Beach, to relax and swim for the rest of the day. Then we ended the night at California Kitchen for dinner since it was walking distance from our hotel. 

Saturday, day 7:

For breakfast we decided to have a nice breakfast buffet at Duke’s which I rally enjoyed. Afterwards we packed up and checked out of our hotel. Sad that our time in Hawaii is coming to an end. Before we had to catch our flight we tried to pack in a few more sights. We drove over to the Punchbowl National Memorial which has a great view of Waikiki and then drove to Round Top Drive which also had gorgeous views. We then wanted to make sure we had enough time to get our flight so we headed towards the airport to fly home for six hours. We got home at midnight and picked up our sleeping children at Nana and Grandpa Roskelley's. I was excited to see my beautiful sleeping children.

Day 5 in Hawaii

Thursday, Day 5: 


It was a fun filled day over on the North Short. We first made our way over to the Hawaii Temple and walked to grounds and visitors center. We also stopped but BYU-Hawaii since it located right next to the Polynesian Cultural Center. For lunch we ate at a local burger place called Seven Bros. It's a great place with great customer service. I really loved the environment. We stopped by Pounders beach to kill some time before we the PPC opened up.

 
The Polynesian Cultural Center opened up at noon and there was lots to do. We started with a river raft ride. From there we went to each village and tried to hit each little "show" they had. Time went by super fast that we didn't have enough time to visit every village they had (although we visited most). They have different activities at each village which we enjoyed. Our favorite village we visited I would have to say was Tonga, the show was hilarious (the Japanese audience member they had come up was too funny!)



 They have this river dance parade, where each village comes out on a boat with dancers and dance the typical dance from their culture. It was cool, it started to pour on us during the parade but the dancers kept going. There was one boat where the person who was steering lost his balance, due to the vigorous dance, and fell into the river.







 We went to the Luau dinner that they have at the PPC. We received lei as we came in. It is a buffet with food typical for a luau (ever a whole roasted pig). The food as very good and they perform a show during dinner. They asked if anyone there was here to celebrate their anniversary for the month of April to come up. I made Jake come up :) we, along with the others had to dance on stage to a nice slow song in  front of everyone.
 After dinner we killed some time at the gift shops before the night show began and ended up spending way to much ;) The "Hā: Breath of Life" evening show was really good. It was so late by the time we were done and still had a good drive back ahead of us. We really enjoyed our day, it was one of our favorites.

Day 3 & 4 in Hawaii

Tuesday, Day 3:

We drove over to the North Shore, drove along the coast and did some beach hopping, checking out what they had to offer. Our first beach stop Waimea Bay and then over to Laniakea Beach. After some beach time we headed over to Cholos, a local mexican restaurant for lunch. We had to make sure we had some Hawaiian ice while we are in Hawaii so we stopped at Matsumotos Shaved Ice, which way yummy.

After lunch we went to Waimea Valley. It was very pretty and an easy walk to the waterfall (Jake was still worried about me). The water was cold and I didn't want to swim next to the waterfall with my big belly. So I just went and put me feet in :) I was excited to see the Peacock showing off for us.
We later had some more beach time at Turtle Bay. Which ended up being on of our favorite beaches. I was loving all the beach time :) enjoying the relaxation and my good book.

We stopped off the side of the road to check out a fruit market. They had a little pet pig which too a liking to me, I think it really was the baby it was liking :)

For dinner we grabbed some food to go from Ted’s Bakery and made our way to Sunset Beach to eat our dinner.

Our timing was perfect, and we were able to watch a beautiful sunset together. We crashed by the time we made it back to our room.

Wednesday, Day 4: 

We had an early start again and headed over to Ihop for breakfast. We were excited to go to Hanauma Bay and snorkel. Hanauma Bay is really very pretty. It is cool that is was created by an old blown out volcano that over time became a huge reef and a natural preserve for sea life. Snorkeling wore me out, I got a nice little battle wound from coral. :) It was a lot of fun but I couldn't last as long as my hubby so he explored more while I took a nap on the beach.

Lunch was at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers which I tried really hard not to eat too much since I knew we were going to have a really nice dinner. Afterwards we drove to see some sites such as Halona Blow Hole and Makapu’u Lookout. We also did some beach hopping again; Sandy Beach Park, Makapu’u Beach, Laniakea Beach, and Kailua Beach. Our favorite being Kailua beach, its' sand was so soft and fine and a great place to relax and swim. It also great for different water activities you would want to do.

After our adventures for the day we got cleaned up to go eat at a nice restaurant for our 10 year anniversary. We went to eat a Duke's which is just off Waikiki beach. We had a great view of the ocean. It was a great way to end the night. I have loved being married to my best friend, someone who excepts me, the bad and the good!

Day 1 & 2 in Hawaii

Sunday, Day 1:

We flew out Sunday morning at 9am. 6 1/2 hours later we arrived at the Honolulu Airport and grabbed our rental car. Once we finally found our way to hotel from the crazy streets we checked into our room. We decided to walk around the area to see what was around. We ate lunch at the mall and then headed towards Waikiki beach. We went to stocked up on water and some snacks at Walmart for the week. We went to Big City Diner for dinner, had some chilly dogs, the food was ok. We were TIRED by the time we went to bed, considering the 3 hour time difference.

Monday, Day 2: 

We had an early start, since Vegas was 3 hours, we woke up at 6:30 (9:30 Vegas time). We had breakfast at ihop since it was just across the street from our room. Afterwards we decided to head over to Pearl Harbor. We were going to spend the day at the beach but it was looking cloudy and a high chance of rain (which it did). We went to see the USS Bowfin Submarine and USS Missouri Battleship (where World War II was ended).

Afterwards we headed to grab some lunch and then made our way to the Waikiki Aquarium. It was fun to see all the many different types of fish. It would have been so fun to show the boys the sharks, jelly fish, eels, etc. We saw some huge and cool trees where there roots grew down from the branches. Super crazy but awesome!

 We drove to Diamond Head which is a cool crater of an old extinct volcano. There is a hike but we didn't go since we weren't sure how difficult it would be. We drove down to the scenic look out. We also drove down some neighborhood  till be could find an entree to the beach. We found some sort of sea slug, which looked very cool, but don't quote me on that since I am not very knowledgeable in that area.

We went and had dinner at Bucca de Beppo. Yes, I know, not very Hawaiian but it was right next to the theaters where we finally saw Captain America and then called it a night.

Random happenings

Carter got on the A/B Honor Roll! His teacher Ms. Casey is great.

Carter's car in the pinewood derby did great! He got 4th place, missed 3rd by less then a 100th of a second. The kids had such a great time watching all the cars race!

Devin started soccer with a bunch of his buddies from school and is loving it. His coach, George, is GREAT! It is so much fun watching the games and Devin does a really good job at playing.

Carter just started Martial arts. He is loving it! He is so excited for his classes. I am hoping it will help him to learn disciple and focus. I am so excited about how much he is loving it. Devin is jealous and wanted to be doing it to. Maybe this summer we will put both boys in. :)

My crazy little princess is getting so big! She definitely runs the roost. I have been working on her new room (which use to be the office). Getting things ready for when the baby come. But first starting with the princess room :) It was a lot of fun painting and making it all girly. We just now need to get a bed and start training her to sleep like a big girl! Aahhhh! :)

Devin's 7th Birthday

Devin is now SEVEN! Devin wanted cookies instead of cake for his birthday :) Crazy boy. Saturday was crazy day with Devin's soccer game, a small party (with Chase, Gavin, and Carter), and a baptism. Sunday we had Devin's favorite dinner (stake and mashed potatoes) at Nana and Grandpa Roskelley's house. Devin's favorite toy was his scooter from Grandpa Curtis, he has played with it non-stop.

Thanksgiving

We did a nice big Thanksgiving dinner at the Roskelley's. It was nice to have JJ and Nicole there and get a chance to see baby Simon. I was a little bummed that I had a cold because I wasn't able to hold him. As alway, I tend to get carried away with cooking and eating dinner :)
Holidays are alway crazy but it is still great to take the time to spend it with family.

Carter's 9th Birthday

Carter's birthday always seems to come too quickly. It is unreal to me that he is now 9 years old. We just had a simple birthday party with the family on Sunday. Saturday we took him, Devin and his buddy Chase to Jump it Up and pizza so he could celebrate his day. Carter's favorite gift was all his legos :)

Christmas

Partying it up at the Ward Christmas Party. 

Our FHE Graham cracker houses. I tried new glue and frosting which has worked so much better. Next year I will try to make gingerbread cookies. I am determined to perfecting the process :)

Has the kids take some pictures at the temple for a very belated Christmas card.

It seems like Christmas came and went so quickly. We were sad that Grandpa Curtis wasn't able to join us for Christmas, since he was taking care of Uncle Mark. The boys had fun with all their new toys and spending some time with the Roskelley's. It was fun to see Sydney's first real Christmas. All in all it was great.