Our Little Musicians

In early December, the girls had their Christmas piano recital.  It was extra special because it was Ailee's first public piano performance!!

Here she is, all ready to perform!

We were so proud of her, and how brave she was!

Maryn did a pretty stellar job, too!

I'm so proud of these girls and their hard work!

Birthday Mash Up

Here it is, the end of the year, and I'm trying to get caught up on so many things.  So, to start off, I thought I should work a little on this sad, sad blog I call my family history.

The girls all had birthdays this year!  Surprise!!

First, we had Maryn in June.  This year was a special year for her…she turned 8.

We partied it up with some (ok, a whole bunch!!) of her friends one evening, so I couldn't bring myself to do another big party with cake and ice cream and the whole shebang.  So, while Grandma and Grandpa Roundy were in town, we went to our favorite place to get treats, Orange Leaf, and had our "party" there.

She was pretty excited to get an iPod touch!

What makes turning 8 such a special occasion in our church, is that at eight years old, you get to be baptized. Here she is, in the pretty white dress Grandma Corey made for her:

It's an important decision, and I was so happy to see Maryn take that step in her life.

We are so proud of her!!

How could we pass up a silly picture??

Maryn was baptized by her dad, and then afterwards confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Maryn and her best friend (who is often mistaken as her twin/sister/or even Maryn), Emma.

Moving on to the next kid…

Ailee turned 5 this year, and since five is an exciting age, we had to have a party!!  Luckily it was a swimming party at our friend's pool with lots of good food, princess cupcakes and fun friends.

Since she's the birthday girl, we let her get away with being messy…silly girl!

At home, we had nice, quiet party with ice cream cake and presents.

A very happy 5 year old!

Opening presents:

In November, Cora turned 3.

Maryn was sweet enough to make her a crown to wear….what a little princess!!

I was finally out of the first trimester of pregnancy and was feeling well enough by November to work up the motivation to take birthday pictures (Sorry Maryn and Ailee! You can blame your little brother in years to come!)

These two were my favorites:

We had a small, quiet (kinda) party with our friends, the Romneys for Cora.  It made her super happy to have her buddy, Tyler there!

Opening presents:

(that's Tyler on the left…a surprising combination, but those two are pretty good friends and just love each other!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO MY GIRLS!!

Halloween 2013

Ah, that time of year when we get to dress/act however we want, call it a costume, and it's all socially acceptable.

Halloween is great!

This year, Kade and I were invited to a few Halloween parties, so I had to incorporate a 6 month preggo belly in to a costume for us.  Here are our fabulous results:

I think I have some mad Tattoo Artistry skills!

The girls thought Kade looked "silly" but were pretty excited about my pretty hair and dress.  Yikes!

On Halloween Day, Ailee brought home her homework, and I found this work of art on the back of one of the pages.

I feel that she has been well trained. I'm so proud of her!

During our trip to Hawaii in April, we picked up some Hula outfits for the girls.  They (thankfully!!!) were happy about being Hula Girls this Halloween.  Three little dancers ready to score some candy:

Showing off the pumpkins they made:

The tiniest Hula Dancer:

Ailee is always excited to be able to wear a "bra."  

It's not often that you see a red headed Hawaiian!

 The girls had a great time and loved Trick-r-Treating.  I, on the other hand, have my glucose testing scheduled for tomorrow, so I'm doing my best to stay away from the candy.  It's not easy!!

Happy Halloween!  I'm off to eat another cheese stick. Boooo!

April Flowers

Back in April, we took our traditional (ok...this is only the second year, but I'm sure it will happen every year from now on!) pictures in the blue bonnets. 

I don't think you could ask for a better backdrop for such pretty little girls!

My three favorites:

 

I'm glad all three were cooperative

 Well, at least for a little bit...

I found a camera tripod at a yard sale, so I had to jump into one of these, just to try it out...

Pretty bluebonnets

 Cora's face in this picture makes me laugh!

This girl is such a show off:

And a ham:

I feel so blessed to me a mom to these little girls.  Each one is so different...in personality and looks.  I couldn't imagine life without them!!

Belated Birthday Post

It's just a month late, but Happy Birthday to Kade, who turned 37 this year!!  (can you tell that I was running short on candles and had to get creative??)

Everyone pitches in to blow out the candles!

Kickin' it Hawaiian Style

Hawaii.  Yes.  Kade and I got to go to Hawaii.  Just the two of us (thanks to our dear, dear friends, the Romneys).

We got to wake up to this view every morning.

Sigh.

Lucky for us, we had built in tour guides, the Owen Family.  They picked us up and took us around the island.  That day was wet and stormy, but still beautiful and fun!!  They took us to the beach where Lost was filmed...pretty cool, huh?  Sadly, because of the weather, we couldn't see the outline of the mountains seen in so many of the Lost scenes.

I was informed by our fabulous tour guide that this was Sawyer's tree in Lost.

Ben and Kade playing in the sand.  Boys will be boys.

As we walked down the beach, we noticed a seal swimming in the water.  We followed it until it came up on the beach.  Turns out it was a Monk Seal (an endangered species)...

...and it decided to take a nap right next to his buddy the Sea Turtle.

It was like a double rainbow....

...but better, and without needing to be on drugs.

How do you make yourself feel less guilty about ditching your kids and dumping them on your friends for a week??  You hit the gift shop...many times.

I think XXXXXXXXXXL is a bit too big for Kade

Kade and I went out one day to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Leis and a waterfall.  It is Hawaii!!

We took a morning to hike up Diamond Head.  There were some pretty nice views of the ocean!

And some pretty nice views of some hot and sweaty Roundys.

Panoramic view of the ocean

Panoramic view of the crater

One morning I was all alone while Kade was off to a meeting.  I couldn't bear the thought of rotting in the hotel while there was an amazing island to explore.  So, I rented a car and headed out for an adventure.

I found the Blow Hole.  Pretty cool when a good wave hit it!!

Now this is the life.  Just me, some sand, and a beautiful view on Sandy Beach.

And when in Hawaii, you are guaranteed to see plenty of rainbows!

We spent a fun-filled evening with the Owens and the Browns.  First, we headed up to Pali Point....

...where it was very windy.

We girls had to keep our hair from going crazy

Then we headed off to Haleiwa Joes for some romancing in the gazebo and some delicious food.

We girls needed some Gal Pal time so we ditched the guys one day to have our own kind of fun.

First stop was to Chinaman's Hat to try it on for size:

Just the three of us

Next, it was off to Lanikai Beach to enjoy the sunshine and the lack of children bugging us for food and entertainment.

Julie, me and Krystal

Someone snuck a picture of me as I was wading through the water.  Seriously, it was beautiful!

Lunch was breakfast.  French toast with Mac Nut sauce.  Mmmmmm.

After delicious food, we stopped to take a car-ride tour of Pearl Harbor.

We saw some pretty tropical fish

And some beautiful flowers

While sitting on the beach at Hickam, Julie and I spotted a submarine coming in to the harbor.  Not something you see everyday.

We hiked up to Manoa Falls with the Browns.  Lucky for us, we ran into some acquaintances just leaving who suggested buying water shoes.  Glad we did...'cause it was m-u-d-d-y!

Posing under the Banyan trees

A view of the falls along the trail.

Manoa Falls

Now this is a rain forest!!

This picture does little to show just how muddy we were.  I was getting mud out of my toe nails for weeks.

Saying goodbye to our sweet little Fiat.  He was zippy and got us around the island!

A storming rolling in from the ocean on the North Shore

And what better way to end our trip to Hawaii than with a little Thai food experience.