Pleasant Grove

 We moved to Pleasant Grove and we love it so far.  It is so quiet and our floor-plan is so different.  It leads itself to all of us hanging around each other.

Lily's playgroup

This year, Lily has been in a playgroup for a couple hours before preschool once a week.  It just happens to be all girls who are adorable.  When we host, the first time we had a tea party for lunch so that is what they wanted the rest of the year.  Basically, just little foods to eat with a toothpick and talk fancy.  I took tons of pictures and couldn't get one where they all looked perfect.

 We got out the old jewelry from Aunt Maxine and they had a great time dressing up. 

Such sweet friends this year.  Lily, Halle, Abby, Claire, Suri, and Mia.  All of them go to preschool together except Claire and Suri who are in kindergarten. 

Maui

We have always wanted to go to Hawaii and decided to celebrate our 15 year anniversary.  (just 5 months late since I hate January and wanted to go then)   We flew to LA and then directly to Maui.  It was stormy on the North side of the island.  I loved this tree.

 We found a 'volkswagon Thing' Just like what Taylor used to drive in high school when we dated.  Only his was army yellow and a bit rougher- but totally awesome.

The next day we drove up to Haleakala crater after church because it had been so stormy but it seemed the clouds had parted.  The altitude climb was beautiful. 

 This was our car for the week.  We put the top down several times each day. 

The crater really was beautiful even though we missed the sunrise.  It was freezing cold.

 Loved these plants that only grow on Maui and are endangered.  There was a $5000 fine for touching or injuring the plant.  Just knowing the threat was almost too much temptation for me.

Driving back down the mountain was beautiful but Taylor felt really sick.  It passed after an hour at sea level so we think it was altitude sickness.  We drove over to the other side of the island and  checked into the Marriott on Ka'anapali beach which exceeded any and all expectations.  The sun was shining and it was warm.  We got to watch the sunset in a hammock.  Heaven!!

The next day, we rented a shaded couchet to read in all day in the shade.  It was wonderful.

Then we got cleaned up and went to a Luau.  Everyone should go to one in their life. 

 It was neat to see the pig unearthed from the ground.  Such a touristy moment but I embraced it.  the food was good.  The fire dancers after dark were definitely the highlight.

We took a morning boat trip out to the Molikini crater to snorkel.  This is our only photo in our wet suits as we were busy in the water or eating.  We chased a sea turtle which was amazing!

Almost everyday, we drove into Lahaina for a shaved ice over a scoop of icecream and ate it under the Banyan tree.  I loved the coconut ice cream and Taylor got vanilla.

With our blue guidebook in hand, we found all kinds of great places to stop as we drove North.  We loved this little old church on our way to find 'the best banana bread on the planet'.

It cost $6 a loaf or something but it really was amazing! We ate the entire loaf before arriving back at our resort!  Here is Julia herself.

Loved some beach time everyday!

 We took one day to drive the road to Hana.  It was beautiful and amazing.  I can't believe there are this many waterfalls on one island. 

 The guidebook took us down this beautiful road that looked like a fairy land and dropped us out here.  It was breathtaking and we had the little penninisula to ourselves.

 Black sand beach.  It rained on us so we hid in the little cave and then the sun came out.

There was a lot of rain this week so we weren't able to swim in the Seven Sacred Pools but they were still beautiful.  We did the long hike up to the waterfall and bamboo forest.   

 This hike was longer than we planned but so beautiful and other-worldly.

 Some pictures of the resort.  They can't do justice.  It was amazing with all the plants, birds, streams of water and walkways.  It was dreamy.

 On our last day, we had to check out of our room but our flight wasn't until the evening so we had a couples massage and foot scrub at the spa.  It was fantastic!  Then we sat on the beach and enjoyed all the last sunshine under this palm tree.  I can't wait to go back as it was paradise.  Maui is IT!

 

 

Christmas season

This Christmas season was long and a lot of fun!  We went downtown a few times to see the Grand America hotel windows and the Church History museum.  Look at those happy faces.  We also saw the lights and stayed overnight downtown.

You can tell they are thrilled to be at the museum.  Here is Sophie practicing for a conference talk. 

We keep meaning to get a new Christmas tree but I love how all the ornaments mean something or were gifts so we made it last another year until we move to the new house. 

 

Taylor told me he wanted a white ipad mini for Christmas but I didn't realize he was serious until he brought it up to remind me just 2 weeks before Christmas when there wasn't the particular one to be found.  We went to multiple Apple stores and I made phone calls and was on a wait-list online and finally the stars aligned and I happened to be close to the mall when a black one came available so I at least got that one in the nick of time:) The kids love the apple store.

St Lucia Day was our best yet but I don't have pictures.  We had the our parents, the Hammonds, and the Wintertons join us.  It was fabulous.  That was the day Eddie the Elf came back and was in funny places each morning before Christmas.  Here is a photo of one of his wild parties he had with the Barbies.  Everyone had a good laugh but I think Eddie was mischievous. 

 

We went to the Forgotten Carols with James and Andrea and kids and SalliJune and her littles and attempted a cousin picture on the stairs.

 We had the Anderson family party at "This is the Place Park" which was a lot of fun for everyone.  Here are the kids with Santa.  (Lily wouldn't go up)

We even did the nativity.  Lighting was low so most pictures didn't turn out:(

We got together with the Burnses for a party and of course Cathy is still the favorite aunt.  I wish the picture was better.

We had a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve with Dan and Marcia and our good friend Craig.  We came up with our own gifts to the savior and wrote one thing down that we could do to be a better person and taped it onto a sky lantern.  Then we lit it and sent it off in the snowstorm.  I will never forget how beautiful it was lifting up to the sky until we couldn't see it anymore.  Such a fun and great Christmas season.

 

Carissa is 13

Happy Birthday! So grateful to have Carissa in our family.  She is so much fun to be with and says such funny things. I am amazed at how many friends she has at school.  She had a big birthday party with pizza and some games and then they watched "The Fugitive".  She has taken to the viola like a champ and this was a performance she did for parents. 

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the Andersons.  I didn't take one picture as I was busy cooking but it was a lot of fun.  We set up a table for the adults in the living room and put the teenagers in the library and the kids in the kitchen. We had Macia and Dan, Mark and Elizabeth with their kids and James and Andrea with their kids.  It was such a fun day.  I have no pictures from it but here are some funny pictures Carissa and Sophie took of themselves if they were 150 pounds heavier.  So even if Thanksgiving is yummy... don't eat too much:)

Some of their cousins were able to sleep over which was fun to go shopping on Black Friday as the girls had never been.  We stood in line at target as it wound up and down the parking lot.  We need to take more pictures. 

Lily watches too many shows on the computer

I let her watch some Sesame street videos on the computer and came down to find her like this.  So sweet.  She was sound asleep but didn't go to the trouble to move off the chair.