Christmas In July

Well, it's Christmas, but not really in July. Try December. But being as how we are going back to Hawaii soon to be there when Cassidy has her baby, and we spent Christmas there, I thought I should get on the ball and do a post about Christmas before we go back.

Christmas in Hawaii is really fun. We love the beaches, and being on the beach on Christmas day is just cool. Lexi graduated from BYU in December, so as soon as she was finished in Provo, she flew out to Hawaii and was there a week or so before we got there. This little guy is getting so big, and has such a cute little personality. He is delightful.

One of the first things we did was go on this hike to Makapu'u Point. We've done this hike before, but it's a nice hike that is pretty easy and stroller friendly, so we decided to do it again. Plus it has a beautiful view of the ocean and a little red roofed light house when you get to the top.

A few more pictures of the hike: (when you see our hair, just keep in mind that it was VERY windy)

We went to the beach, even though it was kind of cold. Lexi was the only one brave enough to take Truman swimming.

We went to Pearl Harbor again.

It is such a sacred place, and there is a special feeling there. This wall with all the names of men whose lives were taken makes me so sad.

Truman was pretty good, except when we tried to watch a movie about Pearl Habor. He kept squirming and trying to get off his Mom's lap to run around. She wouldn't let him, and finally he yelled, "put this naughty boy down!" We couldn't help but laugh!

After going to the beach one day, we searched for the Black Pearl ship from Pirates of the Caribbean. We finally located it in an obscure ship yard in dry dock. We felt kind of bad, and knew that Captain Jack Sparrow would definitely not approve.

We went to Germaine's Luau and had lots of fun. Jeff even won the drawing they hyped up like crazy.

Here he is with his major award: a flower lei, a hat, and a drink bottle.

No trip to Hawaii would be complete without lunch at the Shrimp Shack and.......

shave ice at Matsumoto's.

For our traditional Christmas Eve day hike, we hiked the old Poly Highway. It is so lush and beautiful! Cassidy was not feeling well, so she stayed home. She was in the early stages of pregnancy and suffering from morning sickness, and also got a bad cold to boot. I felt so bad for her and tried to help her out as much as possible.

Tru was full of vim and vigor, so thank goodness we had him on a leash. He was on a dead run the whole time. And for some reason he kept yelling "faster reindeer, faster!" as he was running. It was pretty cute. (although Lexi got a work out!)

Truman pretended he could actually see something in the binoculars.

The hike was kind of cold, but the views were breathtaking.

For Christmas Eve we did the traditional breaking of the Santa pinata. Truman is all ready with his cardboard saber!

After we took turns, the pinata finally broke and Truman was in hog heaven with the candy!

Christmas morning we got up early to see what Santa brought before we headed off to church. Lexi was happy to get a ukelele. She wants to learn how to play one.

Truman LOVED his train set. He wanted us to play with him, but not actually touch any part of the train set, which was a little hard to do................

Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner, we decided to have a BBQ on the beach at Waikiki.

Lexi asked James to teach her to surf, so here they are trying to catch a wave.

The surfers

Cass was still feeling pretty sick, so she took it easy most of the day.

It was a very lovely Christmas Day for all (except poor Cassidy, who got sicker by the moment)

The next day we went to see the blow hole and went snorkling at Hanama Bay

The blow hole it pretty cool to see. It's hard to catch it just right with the camera though. This is a pretty good shot.

Hanama Bay is really beautiful and a great place to snorkle.

Jeff all set to snorkle!

Truman had a blast running amok on the beach. It was a very fun day.

We had a wonderful time in Hawaii, even though it was a little colder than we expected. James and Cass were so good to let us invade their small apartment, especially with Cassidy not feeling well. She was a trooper, but it was a little rough for her. The snorkling was our last day before we flew home. But then we had some fun times at our house, so stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Give Thanks

Yeah, it's the end of June and I'm blogging about Thanksgiving........Lame! I would just skip it, but in case I ever want to make this blog into a book, I would't want any gaps. So my goal is to keep it really short. Just pick out a few fav pics, and git er done. The thing I am afraid of is that they are ALL my fav pics. I love the one below. This is some of the grandkids patiently waiting for dinner and watching Isaac hang a spoon from his nose like Bampa taught him.

We had Hillari's family, Jake's family, Lexi, and the Noto family for dinner, which was served buffet style because we had to set up two tables.

Lexi, Megan and Ashley had to sit at the kid table. But they ARE still kids aren't they? In fact they actually enjoyed the kid table.

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

We set up an outdoor movie in the back yard and bundled up in every quilt and blanket that I own (and a few sleeping bags as well!) and watched the movie Elf. For the first time in my life, I wasn't the one complaining about being cold. I was actually quite comfortable. And in case you think I was hogging all the blankets, I wasn't! We don't have any pictures of the actual movie watching because we were all snuggled in our blankets and no one wanted to get out to take pics.

The next morning before Jake and Liz and their boys had to leave, we had fun making gingerbread houses. Tons of thanks to Hill and Keith for making all the gingerbread pieces and supplying most of the candy. We always have so much fun making these together.

We didn't think to take this finished picture until after Jake and Liz had left, so that's why they're missing.

Then Bampa got the Christmas tree ready so the grandkids could help decorate it.

I think Finley had the most fun. She stood on my little step stool and placed every ornament she could get her hands on in the same spot right in front of the stool.

It was a lovely time with the family that could be here. We always miss the ones who can't, and I dream of one day when they will all live close enough to be together on Thanksgiving. I will end the post with one last picture of Bampa with three of the grandkids clamboring all over him. He is such a good grandpa!!