HAWAII.....

WOW!! We had such an amazing trip! We spent nine days in a condo in Oaho with our good friends Brad and Elizabeth. The weather was amazing and it was a great break from the cold Utah winter. It was kind of a rude awakening stepping off the plane at 6:30 in the morning into 26 degree weather. At least I had my kids to come home too so it made it worth it. I think we did just about everything you can do in Hawaii...we were busy the whole nine days.
Some of the things that we did are:
Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
Polynesian Cultural Center
Cliff Jumping
Pearl Harbor
Flea Market
Surfing/Body Boarding
Laying on the Beach
Lots and lots of eating
Hiking/waterfall jumping
Trips to the beautiful North Shore
Visiting BYU Hawaii
Laie Temple
Whale Watching on a Catamaran

Oahu is just so beautiful. I just couldn't get enough of it. It was so diverse too. From jungly mountains to hot sandy beaches. We had a great time. We had great company, good food, lots of laughs, lots of adventures, and lots of good times. I could not have asked for a better vacation. Thanks, babe, for the amazing trip!!

Brotherly Love...

So, probably one of the craziest, most stressful times of my life was the first couple of months after Austin was born. Don't get me wrong, we were thrilled to have a new little boy join our family, but the circumstances were a little rough for me. Taylor was only 21 months old, and he was a tornado child. By that I mean he would walk through a room and by the time he left the room it was basically destroyed. He was just a very busy little boy and extremely curious. Austin, as a newborn, was EXTREMELY fussy. He seemed to cry pretty much all day. And if I was lucky enough to get him to sleep I couldn't put him in his bed because he would wake up instantly. So I basically had to chase a 21 month old around the house all day while holding either a screaming baby or a sleeping baby who I was trying desperately not to wake up. Beyond that, my wonderful hubby was working long hours and Saturdays, going to Graduate school, and serving as Young Men's President. Needless to say, life was a little hectic and exhausting. At times I felt like life would never be "normal" again. Now, although I wouldn't call life "normal", I have come to appreciate and LOVE that my boys are so close in age. As hard as it was I would NEVER change it!! They have a built in best friend. Not to say things are perfect...they definitely do their share of fighting, but they also have so much fun together. The other day I was doing dishes, and I walked out to the living room to see what the boys were up to. What I found was a "fort" that they had built. The fort consisted of blankets laying all over the couch with a big one draped across their heads;) I asked them what they were doing. They peeked their heads out and responded that Taylor was just reading a book to Austin. It just kind of melted my heart to see the two of them cuddled up in their fort reading books together. I love my cute boys!