Hawaii, Part 2

Our third day was truly amazing. Our whole family decided to go on an adventure and find a beach that was at the road's end on our side of the island. And I am so thankful we took the trip! Look at this amazing beach!!

 Polihali Beach was an extremely special and amazing sight. 15 miles of white sands and gorgeous waves. And pretty much all to ourselves. I honestly felt like we were on a movie set or something. There was one other native family a ways away, and other then that, our family had this beautiful beach all to ourselves. The day was really hot, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but we did soak in the sun, play in the sand and surf, and admired the view for as long as possible. I also got some amazing pictures of the kiddos on the beach, which I think turned out fabulous!

Miss E wasn't quite sure what to make of the sand at first. And though she loves the water, I think the waves freaked her out a little bit. But, as long as she stuck with Mommy she was fine and having lots of fun. Dylan especially loved it. He pretended he was riding the waves and would go as far out as Mommy and Daddy would let him. Lucas on the other hand was content to stay on the beach. :) We stayed and had some lunch with everyone and then reluctantly left to give the kiddos naps.

 The next day we all decided to drive around the island to the north side and see some sights. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and it gave us a chance to get acquainted with the island itself, which isn't terribly huge. Once we got to the north side, we visited Kilauea Lighthouse, which is the northern most point of the United States. There were a whole bunch of Nei Nei birds, even brand new baby ones. And whales right off of the coast. What a gorgeous day!

 After the lighthouse we all drove over to see Hanalei Bay and go to lunch together. What a beautiful place that is! Gorgeous water, beautiful surroundings, really fun environment. 

Then on the way home my little family decided to stop by a little beach we read about in the best of Kauai. Beautiful little Anini Beach. We were so thankful we stopped because again, we were just about the only ones there!! There was a little alcove area that was very calm and the boys were able to play pretty much by themselves. There were also beautiful lava rocks all over the place with little pools of water and marine life. Swam in the ocean, played in the sand, even played tag. All of the kids loved it there....we spent way too much time and then everyone was exhausted! :)

Hawaii, Part1

HAWAII!!!!!!!!

All of us had been looking forward to this vacation for months and months!! And we were all completely excited when the day finally came to leave for the beautiful island of Kauai!

Our family actually left on the morning of Christmas, which was a little hectic, but also worked out very well. We did our own little family Christmas that morning, packed everything up in the car, and left for the airport. :) The kids were beyond excited to ride on the airplane and get to the sunny islands of Hawaii. And Teage and I were really excited because not only were we getting to go to Hawaii, but we also got to ride first class on the way there! Woohoo!! And let me tell you, it was beyond amazing. I think we are spoiled forever! :)

The boys were amazing on the plane, but Emery had a really hard time unfortunately. I was so thankful to be in first class considering she was a wiggle worm the whole time! She was just completely overtired and would not sleep for more then about a half hour during the whole flight. She was cranky and off of her schedule, it wasn't a pretty picture. :) I was so thankful for the boys though, they were fan-tas-tic!

Once we got there, we got our rental car and began driving to our "Hawaii home" for the week. We were admiring the beautiful scenery and all of a sudden Lucas shouts out "Dude....I am in KAUAI!!! I am Kauian!!" Hilarious!! All of us were a little tired and cranky, but we were all so thankful to be there and trying to just take it all in. Our house in Hawaii was perfect for all of our family. Grammy and my siblings were in the main house, and my little family had a cottage house on the same property, with a pool in the middle. FABULOUS! The cottage was great for our family, it had a little kitchen, a few bedrooms, and even a washer and dryer, which was extremely helpful! And of course it was in Kauai (what could be better???)!!!!

We are here!!! Our awesome hammock right outside our door!

On our first full day my little family went on a walk down the street (right next to the ocean!) and explored some of our surroundings. The house was right across from the ocean, and just down the street was some sand and a gorgeous view! The boys threw some rocks, and Teage and I just stood in the sunshine for as long as the kids would let us! :)

After walking back to the house the whole family decided to go together up to Waimea Canyon in the center of the island. What an amazing view it was! We were able to not only go to the main look-out point, but also the one further up that was a lot less crowded and had an amazing view of the ocean as well. The higher viewpoint was also one of wettest spots on earth, though it was not raining while we were there. The view was absolutely amazing! On one side you could see a huge cliff down to the ocean, and on the other a dense rain forest, completely green. It was gorgeous and we all loved it.

On the way down the mountain we stopped at a little local restaurant and had some lunch, then went home and played together in our pool while Emery took a nap. That night we just rested and all watched a movie together, had dinner at the big house and went to sleep! :) What a great day!

Missing the Sun

More from our Hawaii trip to come soon, but I had to share this adorable photo. On one of the first days we were in Kauai, we went to an amazingly beautiful beach where we were pretty much the only people for miles. I took a million pictures that day, and this is one of my very favorites. Teage was like a little kid, running for the water. And he was so excited to have his children to play with him!

Baby It's Cold Outside

This is how our home has looked the past few weeks with our below freezing temperatures. It has been difficult because we have not been able to spend any time outdoors, and driving has been a bit dicey. But, the ice is truly beautiful! These are just a few pictures that I took the other day after Lucas mentioned to me that there was a frozen spiderweb in our yard. Isn't it gorgeous?? 

 The past few days have also brought some amazing fog that likes to sit for days on end. :) We have had virtually no wind, and this thick layer of fog settled in around our home and the surrounding areas for days. We literally could not see five feet in front of us while driving at times, especially at night. Then after it lifted on our hill, it settled down in the valley like a thick white blanket, but honestly beautiful! I tried to get a picture to do it justice and it was certainly difficult, so this is the best I could do!

Thankfulness Tree

Over the Thanksgiving holiday our family decided to draw a "Thankfulness Tree". The boys cut out traces of their hands for the "leaves" and all of us wrote down some people, events, things, that we were thankful for and taped them up on our tree. The boys had so much fun doing it, it really was a blast. And it got all of us thinking about some of the amazing blessings in our lives, which is always a great thing to remember! We loved the tree so much that we left it up on the wall all through Christmas as well, to remind us about how grateful and blessed we truly are. Some of my favorite leaves were:

Dylan: "Being calendar leader" and "Our new house"

Lucas: "Kindergarten, Mrs West class" and "Jesus"

Emery: "Bath bath" and "Muah Muah" (Mama)

Trapped

This past week had been extremely cold for us....cold enough to snow though there has not been any precipitation. The temp as been around 30 degrees, if not colder at times, and every morning we have a nice thick layer of ice on the roads. Since we haven't been going out much, we have had to invent some new fun things to do inside. The most recent activity that I found on pinterest....a spiderman maze up the stairs. I decided to try it, and I am so thankful I did. The boys absolutely LOVED it!!! They wanted to keep the thing up for days, even though it made it really difficult for me to get up the stairs with Emery. :) They were trying to find the best ways around the web, to see how fast they could go up and down the stairs, and if they could do it without touching one of the strings. It was pretty fun actually. I loved watching them have so much fun!

There are some days where I feel like life is SO incredibly complicated. 

This is one of those days....

Capturing the Moment

I have been trying extremely hard lately to cherish each and every moment possible with my kiddos. I know how fleeting those are and how fast they will go by. And I don't want to forget, or waste that time being upset or tired. I want my kids to know how much I adore them, always. So I have been better about writing down sweet or silly moments, taking more pictures, and just being plain happier and more patient when it comes to the day to day.

Here are a few cute things that were said by the kiddos this week:

D and L have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr this week at school, and are very interested in his life, which I love. We have talked about him at home, and about what he was trying to accomplish, what his dream was. And the other day when we were saying our nightly prayers, Lucas says:

"And thank you that we have equality at our school." They are really getting it!!!!

Dylan has been using such grown up vocabulary lately, even some slang. Hilarious! I hear things like "That is completely ridiculous" or "Totally did it Mom" or "What are you thinking?". So funny to listen to that kid sometimes!

Miss Emery has started trying to sing with me at night time before she goes to sleep. We love the song "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" from church lately, and she will always say "Teach Me" at the right times along with me. She also picks out some other words from the song and sings them with me as well, it really is adorable. And she looks so proud of herself when she does it right! :)

The other adorable thing she is doing right now is starting to say her own prayers. They go something like this:

She bows her head and folds her arms, then says "Mmmmmm....ha..hmmmm....am...fiiiiifff...rrrryyy.....hmmmmmmm........amamamam.......AMEN!"

I absolutely love it, it is the cutest thing ever!!!

Best Buddies

Our great family friends, the Waggoners, moved (unhappily for us!) down to Texas a few months ago. Since Texas is quite a long way away :), we haven't been able to see them in a long time. But thankfully for us, they came up to visit over Christmas break! YEAH! Though we only had about a day together, it was like no time had passed at all. All the kids started running around having a ton of fun together the minute they came in the door. Karine and I started chatting like maniacs the minute the kids ran off. And Teage and Corey started doing silly man things the minute they could as well. :) We loved having some time with our best buddies!!!! Love you guys!

And....root beer floats with our besties is always a ton of fun! :)

Christmas, Part 3

 On Christmas morning we had a few hours before we had to rush off to the airport, so we were able to open stockings with the kiddos and just rest and enjoy the morning together. It was only a few hours, but I felt like they were really special. The boys are at such a fun age, where they get super excited about Santa, holidays, and everything in between. They were thrilled about Santa visiting our house, and especially since he remembered some of the presents they really wanted! :) The other thing they were thrilled about was their brand new Mariner PJ's! Which made me super happy, because I made them from scratch!!! Yep, Erin has started sewing, something I have wanted to learn for a long time! :) My talented stepmom Lisa came over for the past I don't even know how many weeks to help me learn. And with her help, I made Mariner PJ's for the boys and Teage, and purple PJ's for myself and Emery. The second picture is our whole family in our new PJ's! YEAH!!!

 Happy Christmas morning!!! :)

Then a few hours later we jetted onto a plane to HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a crazy flight with an 18 month old (yikes!), we arrived into the beautiful Kauai for the rest of our Christmas break! More on that to come, but we absolutely LOVED it!!!

Christmas, Part 2

 Christmas Part 2 was spent with the Parkinson and Pfeifer side of the family. On Christmas Eve we were able to go over to Grammy's house for some wrapping paper flying present opening time, including an extra visit from Santa (which the boys were super excited about)!! The kids were all dressed up and we were in the Christmas mode! They always have so much fun with all of their aunts and uncles as well!

 We then went over to Grandma and Grandpa Pfeifer's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Since the kiddos have been born, and a few new people added to the family :), we are now a big group! I loved the whole row of stockings on the fireplace, it was adorable! 

We had a fabulous dinner that Grandma slaved all day to make for us, then opened presents, listened to music, and just chatted for a while before going home and packing up for the next day. We were so thankful for all of the gifts and love that we felt from everyone. We are very blessed to have so many fabulous family members!

Christmas Part 1

We had a very exciting and adventurous Christmas this year! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family that live close, and we were able to see many of them during the holiday season, for which we were so thankful! :) It is always wonderful to have many loved ones around, especially ones that adore our children and enjoy spending time with them!

Our first celebration was with Tutu and Dale at our house. We had yummy dinner, opened fun presents, and just hung out laughing and talking. It wasn't anything huge, but we had a blast! We had so much fun, just being able to be relaxed at home and celebrate Christmas with some of our favorite people! It has been a blast having Tutu live with us also, we have loved it!

Then the weekend before Christmas, we were able to have a big party over at our house with the Christensen side of the family, as well as my brother Christopher who came up from Oregon. Teage's grandmother just moved up to Washington from Nevada, and we were so grateful to have her here with us. We ate a ton of food and laughed and played with the kids. The boys beat everyone at chess, and then we opened presents and had way more sugar then was good for us! :) Overall, a ton of fun with the extended Christensen clan!