The MK Crew

March Mainland Trip

2011-03-31T20:48:00.001-10:00

And we're here! After our not-so-restful red-eye flight from Honolulu to Salt Lake City, Alan, Lynette and boys met us at the airport during our layover before our flight connected us to Idaho Falls. They brought us breakfast-THANK YOU GIFFORDS!-bagels, yogurt, and smoothies. (They didn't tell us it had spinach until after we drank it.) Such an awesome way to start our trip!

What kid doesn't like playing on the escalator?!

Cute Jakey!

We began our trip at the Burtons to give us a chance to adjust to the time change. Jill made her famous Mickey Mouse pancakes for us.

We love the Meek Family!

(My socks are mismatched on purpose-I am a fan of fun socks, but the only time I put socks on now is when I am exercising. And unfortunately even that hasn't happened much lately. So I enjoy wearing socks when we are back on the mainland.)

Bob was amazing Brynlee with his "magic" trick making his pen disappear and re-appear. Looks like someone is ready to be a Grandpa! It was so fun listening to them both laugh together! It kept her entertained for quite awhile.

Brynlee tring to see if she could make it disappear.

Making St Patrick's Day cookies with Jill
We, unfortunately, spent the beginning of our trip sick. Whitney and half of Melinda's family got Influenza B so we were quarantined to the Burton's basement so we didn't share germs. It was killing us that we were so close but didn't get to be together. Luckily everyone was mostly better before the baptism.

Silly Faces!

Dinner with Brian and Kalene

Mike and Brian met in Honduras and were roommates at Ricks the semester before Mike and I started dating. It was fun re-connecting with them.

All the kids-Sterling is seriously out-numbered when we add our four girls to their three! It is so fun to watch kids pick up where they left off. They had a lot of fun together!

Somehow I didn't get a picture of Aunt Judie, but we were so happy to get to have the Jensens at the baptism to share in Kenna and Bekah's special day!

Grandma and Kait hanging out watching the fun. After the baptism, we joined the Johanson party at their hotel pool.

Bailee's family couldn't make it to the baptism, but we asked if we could borrow her for the weekend, so she got to come up from UT. It was so fun having her-she is such a doll! Even though they don't get to even talk much they are still such good friends. This is a friendship that will last forever!

Morgan and Jessica

I had the hardest time getting a picture of these four! They wouldn't all hold still at the same time!

Silly kids!

All the Johanson girl cousins-Bryn wouldn't smile for anything. I think she was a little overwhelmed with all the festivities from the baptism.

Mike and all his sibs

Driving to UT to give Bailee back to her family. SO glad she could spend the weekend with us! These three laughed and talked the whole way.

Well-almost the whole way. Kenna crashed about 10 mins away from Bailee's house.

Bryn and Aunt Stef

Beautiful Wasatch Front

Jimmy is learning to play the trombone-just like Uncle Mike and his brothers, so he put on a little concert for us.

Then it was Mike's turn-he hasn't played a trombone since high school. :) We were all impressed!

Goodbyes are never fun! :( After the baptism we moved the party (minus Jonathan and family) to Jenna's house. It was nice to have a little more time that wasn't quite so crazy.

After our party at Jenna's we moved to Lynette's.

One day Uncle Alan instigated a "war" that was SO fun! We put the play tents up as the dividing line and used all soft toys as ammo. Adults vs the kids. I LOVE making fun memories like these! There was lots of laughter all around. We also tried again to have a Phase 10 re-match, but Alan must be too afraid to lose to me. The first game started when I went to Kansas in 2008 when Jake was born. (Jakey was on my team.) But we never finished the game. The next time was at our family reunion in Oregon and when Alan started to lose Jake conveniently "needed" him. Apparently Jake is still on my team. :) Another game began at their house this trip but we only made it half-way through the game. I'm pretty sure he is mostly just scared! :)

Kaitlyn and Aunt Nette just chilling

Sisters' Date

Em, Lynette, Me and Jess-letting our hair romantically blow in the wind.

These sisters adopted us when we moved to MT-we had so much fun with them in HS and continue to create awesome memories with them. LOVE THESE GIRLS!

We went bowling and laughed SO MUCH! From hassling the poor guy trying to do his job to Jess struggling to get on the board to our left-handed round, we had a blast!

On our way back up to Idaho, we stopped to spend some time with Jas and his kids. (Katy was working.) I didn't get any pics of all the kids, only Sienna and Bryn. They were so cute together!

SNOW!
What is this white stuff?!

This trip was a little tricky, we had to buy pants and shoes and jackets. Luckily we had cousins to borrow some stuff from to supplement the things we bought. I have to admit I do miss the crisp air and sleeping under a blanket! We know it is cool in Hawaii when we turn off the ceiling fan at night!

Back at Melinda's we had a girl party and french tipped/stickered everyone's toes.

Cute kids! We miss living 2.1 miles away!!!

The birthday girls-we made rolly pancakes for them to have since Bekah hadn't had hers yet.

Kait and Aunt Melinda

The day before we left it snowed a few inches overnight. When Bryn woke up and looked outside she was amazed that it was "all white!" They loved getting to play in the snow before we left for home.

YUM! Can't enjoy the snow without tasting it!

Caloway and Kait

Maren (a friend from our old neighborhood) came to play with the girls-once again it was so fun to see them not even skip a beat even though they haven't seen each other for awhile.

Mike and Dale BBQ-ing with snow patches on the ground. It's never to early to BBQ! Awhile ago we were BBQ-ing in Hawaii and the girls commented that the only thing missing was the Desmonds. It was so great to live so close and get to spend so much time with them! Maybe again someday.

Cousin sleepover the night before we left for home.

Trips are never long enough and filled with WAY too many goodbyes! But lots of great memories too!

Kenna's Baptism

2011-03-19T14:02:00.001-10:00

I had the idea to make the announcement like a news headline, but that is all I can take credit for. Mike did all the rest. Such a talented hubby I have!

Kenna's Big Day

It's only right for Kenna to share her big day with her twin cousin, Rebekah.

All of our aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents were able to come for the baptism! What a wonderful day!

Our family

So proud of Kenna!

Us and our grandmas
Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of just Kenna and Bekah. :(
They looked beautiful and sang a duet right after they were baptized. Such a special day!

This is my second white dress made by Grandma. Both SO beautiful! Thank you, Grandma!

When we got back to Hawaii, I took Kenna for a photo shoot to the temple and the beach. Kenna and I had so much fun! So beautiful and so silly! I had intended on doing this with Whitney after we came back from her baptism and realized that I didn't ever do it. :( Sorry Dub!

"I love to see the temple! I'm going there some day!"

These two crack me up because I didn't even say anything funny-she was just posing and laughing and nothing in particular so I could take the picture. (All her own idea.) When I looked through the pictures I was glad, because they really did turn out cute and shows her personality. She is such a happy, fun girl!

It was almost too dark by the time we got to the beach-but we still got a few.

We tried at our hand at the popular jumping shots :)

March

2011-03-10T21:58:00.012-10:00

Chillin' with Daddy

First french braids

Kaitlyn loves hanging out on her play mat.

Consulting with Dr. Brett in Utah.

Kenna was hiding and chasing with Brynlee and hid around a corner. As Bryn came running down the hall, Kenna miscalculated how fast she was and jumped out to scare her just as Brynlee got there resulting in a forehead/lip collision. It was a pretty deep gash and naturally it happened at 5:05 PM so a doctor visit was an hour away. We called our friend who's a pediatric dentist (the coolest pedi doc in the world!) to get his opinion and were trying to explain it over the phone. Then Mike thought to use Skype to let him examine her lip. After looking at it, he suggested we wait until morning and then take her in. By morning, I couldn't really pull it apart anymore, so we just let it heal. Brett figured if it had already healed that much she would be fine. Thanks, Dr. Brett! Kenna was pretty mad because it happened only a few days before her birthday and she really didn't want a fat lip on her birthday. Funny girl!

Daddy and Bryn

I didn't get any pictures of Kenna's birthday because Mike was gone somewhere so I was on my own. We had had the girls over for breakfast-yummy rolly pancakes. Kenna wanted to have a beach party, but it got rained out so instead they watched Mermaidia. While they watched the movie I painted, stickered and french tipped everyone's toes. See why I didn't get any pictures?! I thought I had taken one of all their toes, but I guess not. The cupcakes turned out pretty cute!

Happy Birthday, Kenna!

Kenna's birthday was Sunday and we had the sister missionaries over for dinner.

Friends from Ephrata, Jay and Trina, back for another visit. We went to Angels for shave ice-YUMMY!

When we were in Idaho last July, Mike invited McKay Christensen, his boss from Melaleuca, to be a devotional speaker at BYU–Hawaii. He and his wife came and spoke two days before we left for a three-week trip to the mainland. Perfect timing and his devotional was great! Watch or read his devotional (a wonderful and moving message titled "Seeing Through Spiritual Eyes") at devotional.byuh.edu.

I'm not sure who put who to sleep :) He sure LOVES his little girls! And is an AMAZING Daddy! It takes a special man to be able to handle all girls!

Brynny still loves to hold Kaitlyn and Kait is usually pretty tolerant of all the love she gets from her big sister. It is getting a little more tricky as she is getting more mobile. I'm so excited to see their relationship continue to grow as I have had the pleasure of watching Whitney and Makenna. I always tell my girls that their sisters are their most important friends. I so enjoy watching them play and laugh together. Mom Pay Days!

February

2011-02-28T11:44:00.014-10:00

Bryn falls asleep in the funniest ways during quiet time-I guess Thomas just wasn't exciting enough to keep her awake.

Whitney LOVES being the biggest sister!

Aaron and Janell came to Oahu and stayed with us for a night. We love having family visit! It was so fun to catch up with them!

Cutest laundry I've ever seen!

Kaitlyn loves this little snug. She especially likes falling asleep with it on her face.

Happy Valentines' Day! (Almost) This was what we wore to church on Sunday. Notice the hearts in their hair.

I wish I had taken a pic of Mike wearing his pink tie with them! So much pink at our house!
It started to rain and Bryn wasn't too excited to hold still for a picture. This was the best I could get.

We tried again inside without much more success.

Savannah and Auntie Mibi came over for pink heart-shaped pancakes again this year. It was so fun to have them.

Valentine Hair

First Annual "Red Dinner"
Mike's family tradition is to have a red dinner on V-day. This was my first time adopting this tradition-it was fun!

Fun with hair-Whitney and Kenna have outgrown wanting the cute-sie hair styles (but I'm glad they still let me do more grown-up hairdos). Bryn finally has enough hair to do play with hers. So fun! (Though I am not sure how much she loves it yet. :) )

The next day I only had to add a little hairspray and a third little piggie. SO CUTE! I love doing hair!

When Kait wakes up, Bryn likes to climb into the crib with her.

Brynlee looks HUGE next to Kaitlyn!

Maui

2011-02-27T21:16:00.002-10:00

My dad scheduled a seminar in Maui so we thought it would be fun to meet them there and explore the island together over Presidents' Weekend. Mike loves cars and mini-vans aren't considered "cars" so we try to rent something fun when we are on trips. This time it was a gorgeous blue Mazda CX7. :) He enjoyed it.

Cruisin' with Daddy!
Kaitlyn got to tag along-our friends Janelle and Mike watched the older girls. I knew Janelle could handle the other three, but she's "not exactly lactating right now" so Kait had to come. :)

We stayed in a beautiful condo community in Lahaina. This was the view from the tennis courts (minus Grandma and Kait). I haven't played a lot of tennis-but this was by far the most gorgeous view from a tennis court I've ever seen! There were some pretty incredible trees in Maui! I was amazed at how many different kinds of vegetation were here that I've never seen on Oahu.

Sunday after church dinner in our condo-spaghetti and meatballs-YUM!
The chapel in Lahaina is across the street from the ocean. The chapel was really full so we were in the gym overflow. The chapel and cultural hall ran perpendicular to each other and we were in the wings so we couldn't see the speakers, but we could look right out the door and see the ocean and the neighboring island of Lanai. Just gorgeous!

Spiral Staircase going up to the loft where Mike, Kaitlyn and I stayed.

Looking down from the loft

Mom and Dad decided to drive up Haleakala Sunday. Mike and I stayed to hang out at the condo. I wasn't sure how Kait would tolerate the drive and she started fevering anyway, so it's a good thing we didn't go. It was nice to have a relaxing Sunday afternoon with Mike.

We had watched a funny video on how people are becoming less amused by amazing things earlier that day. Then as the sun was setting Mike expressed his disappointment that the sunset wasn't very colorful. I laughed and reminded him that we WERE together with our beautiful daughter, literally a stone's toss away from the OCEAN in MAUI!!!! We both laughed! I LOVE laughing with my sweetheart!

Two of my favorite people!

Monday we went on a snorkeling/turtle/whale watching excursion.

Mom has an amazing camera, but you really didn't even need to have a zoom because the whales were that close! We saw SO many! The whole weekend we couldn't drive along the coast without seeing spouts all over. We saw a mother and her baby playing and stopped to watch them. The baby was jumping and playing-it was so cool!

Dad took a few pictures of us from the boat, but this was the only one that turned out. It is very indicative of how snorkeling was for me. I spent most of the time choking! It turns out I can't breathe underwater!

Mom rented an underwater camera-some of her pictures were really amazing!

I didn't swim this close to a turtle but Mom did. I was amazed how fast the turtles could swim with seemingly little effort.

It was so wonderful to spend this time with my parents!

Happy Kait

Missing a few girls! :)

The ocean side pool.

Mom stayed with Kaitlyn so we could go play tennis and they were just hanging out when we got back.

On our last day, we headed on the road to Hana and stopped at the first hike, Twin Falls. This was the first falls of several on the hike. There are more than two so I am not sure how it got that name.
I had intended on Kait wearing this outfit on our excursion day since I knew we would be out in the sun on the boat, but she was asleep when we left and I forgot to pack it. Luckily I had a spare in the diaper bag. But even luckier was that she could wear it today. Dad and I were exploring up a river bed and I had Kaitlyn in the wrap when I slipped and fell. Kait's head smacked a rock. It bruised almost immediately but only barely broke the skin. I was SO grateful I had forgotten the outfit the day before so she could wear it and have the hat on to protect her head. I wonder how often things like this happen that we never even know what we are saved from.

We had to wade through ankle deep water to get to the falls at the top of the hike. No one wanted to go except me, but I talked Mike into it. It was beautiful!

Behind the waterfall-so romantic!

The girls performing for Mike and Janelle. Hopefully they will still want kids after this experience.

We took Grandpa up to the lookout above the temple.

Snuggling with Grandma
As we finished our hike in Maui, Mom fell and broke her pinky and got scuffed up. Instead of getting on a plane, we pushed our flight back and went to the ER to get mom fixed up. We are so grateful her injuries weren't more serious! And since she had to lay low and relax for the rest of their stay, she and Kait got to spend lots of time snuggling.

January

2011-01-31T11:41:00.006-10:00

This years' sandman-complete with hair and a mustache. :)

Every once in awhile I guess I should be in the picture too.

Nursing our babies together. We have some neck pillows for our flights to the mainland and Brynlee has made one of them "her boppy." Whenever I nurse Kait, she has to go get her baby and boppy too. Such a good little mommy!

Suddenly Brynlee has so much hair! This was our first day making "curlies" in her hair. I wanted to show her curls but also her face. So pretty!

She enjoyed making faces at herself in the mirror-it was so funny to watch! I couldn't stop taking pictures! (Or decide which ones not to put in)

Silly girl!

I finally found a happy place for my plant! It has struggled since we brought it here. I finally put it out on the porch and it is so happy! The only downsides. I don't go on the porch much so I don't get to see it very often and since I don't see it, it is much more difficult to remember to water it. :)

My neighbor, Mibi, took this picture of Kait. I love her little smile! And chubby cheeks and legs and arms!

The Kimballs came over for family night so I dressed Kait in her "Wild about Daddy" outfit they gave her. Thank you!

Meeting Elder Bednar (again)
Elder and Sister Bednar came for a devotional on January 20. His devotional was great! He talked about how just having a testimony is not going to be enough to fight the temptations and challenges that we will face in the world today and in the future. He requested that his talk not be recorded or reprinted because he prepared it only for those who were there at that meeting. It was wonderful to be with an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Elder Bednar was the president of Ricks College when Mike and I were students there. We love him! One Family Home Evening night Elder and Sister Bednar did a question/answer session for our ward. It was great-they have such a neat spirit! Mike and I had only been dating for about a month and after it was over we were waiting around trying to decide what to do. Sister Bednar came up to us and told us that she had been watching us throughout the evening and said she enjoyed watching how we had interacted with each other. She also commented on what a "cute couple" we were.
Mike had to opportunity to share this memory with them both and then we got to meet them. The campus photographer happened to right there and snapped this picture of them talking to us. They are exactly how I remember them at school and I loved seeing Elder Bednar engaged with Kaitlyn as Sister Bednar and I visited for a minute. They have a granddaughter who was born only a few days apart from Kait and she guessed exactly how old she was. If only Bryn didn't have such a goofy look on her face-this would be a perfect picture!

Gorgeous Kaitlyn

Two beautiful girls!

Since I don't have a triple stroller, and we needed to go faster than their little legs were carrying them, we improvised. Though I am pretty sure Bryn is heavier than Sage so I should have put her on the bottom!

My cousin Devin and his wife and three girls lived in Honolulu for the month of January and we enjoyed getting together a few times playing at the beach and having them over to our house. So great to have family here!

Like Mother Like Daughters

2010-12-30T14:37:00.001-10:00

This is the longest my hair has ever been! It reached my belt.

I had been wanting to cut my hair for awhile but hadn't gotten around to it. Well-I finally got around to it and chopped 17 inches!

Ever since we moved here, Kristen and I have often been confused for the other one. And having similar names doesn't help. We had to take this picture together before I cut my hair.

Not a great picture, but this was the only one I have (taken from my phone) that I am in the picture. I had been talking about chopping my hair for awhile, and finally did it without telling anyone. When I got home and had fixed my hair, I sent Mike a text asking him if he needed to come home for a kiss. He rarely comes home for lunch, but I didn't want to wait for him to come home at 5:30 to show him. Maybe he figured he'd be in trouble if he said he didn't need a kiss-so he came. He scooped up Brynlee and kissed and played with her. He gave me a kiss and we talked for five minutes or more without him noticing. Now, I can see that if I had only trimmed my hair-but 17 inches?! I started looking at him like he had missed something and finally held his face in my hands. Then he noticed, "Your hair!" He likes it short and his favorite is when I flip it out. Unfortunately, it doesn't work great here because of the humidity. It is typically wavy/not flipped by the end of the day. If anyone knows any tricks/products to solve that send them my way.

Because I chopped my hair, both of the girls wanted to also.

Long Hair Whitney

Long Hair Kenna

She's a little dramatic! Whitney cut off ten inches.

This was Kenna's first real cut since she grew hair (at two)! I had only ever trimmed it. She cut twelve inches.

Not long anymore!

They love having their hair short-but we all miss our long hair. Good thing it will grow back!

December

2010-12-30T13:48:00.001-10:00

Kait's "I'm the Little Sister" shirt. I suppose it should say "littlest" sister. :)

Our first trip to the beach as a family of six.

LOVE her chubby cheeks! (And arm rolls!) Newborns are ok, but I really love when babies start to respond! What a sweet smile!

I love how she tucked BOTH babies in her arms before she fell asleep. Moving to a big bed has been a little challenging. Mostly getting her to stay in her bed, especially at quiet time. After I read to her, she gets to look at books in her bed until she falls asleep, but for awhile I had to set up camp outside her room to make sure she stayed there.

Her bow cracks me up-we decided she looks like a flapper from the 1920's.

The best part of making cookies-cleaning out the bowl!

Auntie Dolly

Us with Uncle Devin and Auntie Dolly after Devin graduated. (These are our friends who watched the girls while we were on choir tour in Asia.) They are moving to Utah now that they are both done with school. We will miss them and Mike will miss having Devin on his team at work.

Brynlee meets a "Fat Boy"

Daddy "watching" the little girls. (If you can't tell Bryn is watching something on his phone that is on his leg.) Mike keeps asking me when Whitney and Kenna will stop being "the girls" since that applies to them all now. Maybe when Bryn starts protesting that she isn't usually included in that label.

New Years' Eve tennis. I think this will become a new tradition to go play tennis on campus on New Years' Eve or New Years' Day.

None of the fireworks pictures really turned out-but here are the girls getting ready to light their sparklers. I couldn't really fix Bryn's red-eye, it doesn't look great either way.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T13:48:00.001-10:00

Brynlee liked Santa much better this year. :) When he walked in to the ward party she excitedly said, "He has whiskers!"

Yearly New Years' Eve Nativity puppet show

New Christmas Jammies
A few weeks before Christmas I had the girls shopping with me and we found Whitney and Kenna's jammies on clearance. They tried them on and loved them! But I told them I had decided that we probably wouldn't get them. They took the news much better than I thought they would. Then I sent them to take Bryn to the bathroom while I checked out. They asked me what I had done with the jammies and I told them that since I didn't have time to go back to the clothes section to put them back (which was true) I just gave them to the cashier-which was also true. I just paid for them instead of having her put them back. :) A little detail I left out. They were surprised and excited to open them on Christmas Eve when they were the jammies they had wanted.

The stockings were hung on the pictures with care. :)

Loving their new umbrellas

We love Auntie Mibi!

Bryn's new bike

Kaitlyn's new bow from Aunt Jenna.

Daddy and Bryn working on one of this year's Christmas puzzles.

This year for the Jones family service project, we were in charge and decided to assemble packages for the missionaries serving in each of our home wards. Everyone, including the kids, wrote testimonies in Books of Mormon for the missionaries to share with investigators. There were several other little things like 100 Grand candy bars to share with someone so they could remind them of their worth, etc. We also included nail polish for our sisters. The sisters in our ward were Sister Nishigaki from Japan and Sister Magno from the Philippines. We had them over for Christmas dinner and found out that they didn't have any other Christmas presents to open. Even though it was small, it was fun to have a gift for them.

Christmas dress photo shoot.
Bryn had a cold so we only went to Sacrament Meeting so we didn't spread it to all the kids in the Nursery. I didn't ever get pictures of the older two in their Christmas dresses because they were still at church for the photo session. Oops!

Bryn is so expressive! Such a silly girl!

Bryn LOVES her little sister and Kait loves her too!

It's Christmas Time Again

2010-11-26T16:38:00.001-10:00

We LOVE Christmas time!
The day after Thanksgiving we set up our tree. Though it doesn't feel like Christmastime, we do our best to make it look like Christmas-inside at least.

Last year we set up and decorated the tree during Bryn's nap. She was so excited to be able to help put on the decorations!

The four cutest decorations!

Keeping with Tradition

2010-11-25T14:32:00.007-10:00

We had Thanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday again with our good friends, the Kimballs. And once again, didn't take any pictures! :( At least this year we took our camera. Maybe next year we will get some pictures. Baby steps.

This years' hike was to Manoa Falls. It was beautiful! We've had quite a bit of rain so it was pretty muddy, but we still had fun. One section of the hike is through a bamboo forest that was pretty cool. We didn't stop for any pictures because we were trying to catch up to the rest of the group. I don't know that I would drive the hour to get there just for the hike, but if we were already on that side it would be worth doing again. Kait slept the whole time. I was a little nervous about Brynlee, being newly potty trained. We still have some accidents especially when she is distracted. She went before we left home, but refused at the beginning of the hike. If anyone knows how to "force" a child to go-please impart of your wisdom. I guess I was glad I had the baby and so Mike got to carry her. But luckily, we made it up and back dry-mostly lucky for Mike! :)

I suppose you could call this a "gaggle" of girls (and Kait is even missing). We went with our friends that have 5 girls! Adam and Mike feel a little outnumbered when we get together!

Temple Dedication

2010-11-21T13:25:00.007-10:00

We had the opportunity to attend the dedication of our Laie Hawaii Temple. We were blessed with the privilege of being in the Celestial Room for the dedication session. Since Whitney is nine, she got to come with us. It was neat to be able to be in the presence of our prophet. There were only a handful of children in the room and President Monson said, "I see in this room some future missionaries, (then looking straight at Whitney) and temple marriages." One thing he said was that every child should have a picture of a temple in their room. We have a temple picture in our home, but not in their room. So we will fix that.

Kenna was bummed that she missed it by three and a half months. I took her to the Cultural Celebration the night before, instead. It was wonderful! My favorite part was at the end when 1,000+ youth filled the gym floor and a fabric replica of the temple rose out of the floor. They all turned toward the temple and sang, "I Love to See the Temple." Then they turned back to face the audience and sang "Army of Helman." That is a powerful sight!

Four Beautiful Girls in front of our beautiful temple!

Whitney-9YRS

Makenna-7 1/2YRS

Brynlee-2YRS

This was the best we could do-she wouldn't hold still for a good picture.

Kenna snapped this picture as we were walking away from the temple.

Kait Highlights

2010-11-20T19:28:00.005-10:00

Sorry Kenna and Whitney-you don't get your own highlights posts. :)

Nov 3-Kenna liked it that Kait was holding her finger so she wanted a picture. Only after I put them on the computer did I notice how tan Kenna looks next to her.

Brynlee loves holding Kait and will sit there for 15+ minutes sometimes. And so far Kait doesn't seem to mind much. Kait-2mo

Kait first started grinning at 5 weeks-she is almost 2 mo (Nov 20) and it is easier to catch them on camera now.

Aunt Stef wanted to secure her "favorite Aunt status" from the beginning with this "My Aunt is my BFF" outfit.

Kait is so lucky to have three amazing big sisters! Whitney and Kenna have been so helpful! I am one lucky mom!

They like me to take pics when they are pretending to be asleep. They LOVE snuggling our newest little princess!

Sweet Sleeping Angel

Kait's personal Jacuzzi-though she is quickly running out of room! Check out her rolls! Chubby is BEST!

Brynlee Highlights

2010-11-20T19:21:00.004-10:00

These pictures are from October and November

Check out those cheeks! On both of them! Brynlee LOVES her baby sister! I hope they are best friends just like Whitney and Kenna!

(Oct 26 Kait 1 mo, Bryn 2 yrs)

Future Picasso

I introduced Brynlee to watercolors-it was a hit. :)

This is serious business!

Making "whikers" in the tub

Bryn loves to be my helper with Kait.

Sometime I am going to do a "random sleep" post. My girls sleep in the strangest positions! She likes being big in her big girl bed.

Kenna and Whitney went to work making Bryn "beautiful." That is lip gloss on her eyes-silly girls. She came out saying-"I look like Medusa!"

"I help my Mom make cookies!"

It isn't good enough to be next to me-she always wants to be on the "counter."

It's a BEAUTIFUL morning!

2010-11-18T12:22:00.002-10:00

What an amazing world we live in! How can the day go wrong with a start like this?! This is the view Kenna, Whitney, Bryn and I enjoyed from our driveway.

BRRRR!

2010-11-05T13:18:00.003-10:00

We love those cooler (though my girls would say COLD) days when I can get away with making soup. Tonight's choice: yummy Creamy Chicken Noodle! (Can't pass up using our snowman dishes.)

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T08:15:00.006-10:00

Whitney-Mermaid, Kaitlyn-Pumpkin, Brynlee and Laramie-Princesses, Kenna-Gypsy

Not a great picture, but it was the best one. Halloween is a big deal here-my friend bought 1,000 pieces of candy and ran out! You have to stand in line at houses to get candy so we only trick-or-treated one street.

Another Grandma (and Grandpa) THANK YOU!

2010-10-25T17:07:00.005-10:00

Grandma Jones came a week and a half after Kaitlyn was born and stayed for almost three weeks. She was such a blessing! It was a HUGE help!

They got lots of snuggle time-I love this picture!

Grandma being silly and making Brynlee erupt in laughter!

Grandpa meeting Kaitlyn. He joined the party for Grandma's last week. (Don't worry - we were not driving for this picture!)

Beautiful Kaitlyn Mykell

What's in a name? It took us a while to come up with another perfect girl name and one that was seven letters was even more tricky! When Whitney and Kenna were learning to spell their names I realized that they both had seven letters and Mike and I did too so we decided to stick with that theme when we chose Brynlee's name. We couldn't break the trend this time! I tell you what-there are some serious treasures when it come to seven-letter girl names! YIKES! Though Kait was born at noon, she didn't officially get her name until 7:30 the next morning because we just couldn't decide. We finally settled on Kaitlyn-spelled Kai for "the ocean or sea" in Hawaiian and Lyn for her Aunt Stef. Since we don't (and probably will never) have a son to name after Mike, we chose Mykell. We took a poll Thursday night to see what the girls thought between Kaitlyn and Shalyce. I was the only one who wanted Shalyce and after calling her Kaitlyn for only a short time, I knew we had chosen the right name for her.

Grandma made Kaitlyn's beautiful blessing dress. I had a dream about the dress and it being in Hawaiian print material. Believe it or not, that isn't too easy to find in Montana so I went searching here. The first time I was kind of discouraged because I couldn't find anything. Next I tried the Swap Meet-still nothing. Back to the fabric store and I found this-they only had six yards so I bought it all knowing I would use it for something. Grandma also made all of the rest of us (except Mike...) skirts to match Kait's dress. She took pictures with her camera that I will have to post later. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with Grandma and Kait in her dress. We were grateful to be able to bless her when my parents were here and to have Grandpa stand in the circle. Mike's cousin Craig and his family, were here on vacation so we were lucky to have them be a part of it, too.

The temple open house started two days before Grandma and Grandpa left so we got to take them through the temple. (We went one more time before the dedication-this picture is from our second time) Grandma got Bryn this dress for her birthday and made a pattern for the older two. While she was here she made Whitney and Kenna's dresses. THANK YOU! They love the dresses!

A few weeks after my parents left, I got out my sewing machine for some mending projects and Bryn said, "Are you sewing like Grandma?" Mom was patient to let Bryn sit on her lap-and for a two year old, she did a pretty good job being still and not touching things. I didn't get my camera out near enough, but am glad I got this shot.

2 1/2 weeks

I think my favorite part of having Mom here (besides all the yummy food, cleaning, letting me nap at least once a day, etc.) was watching her play and laugh with my girls. Whitney and Kenna were on fall break for Grandma's first week here so they got to hang out. Grandma came up with all kinds of fun games to play. One of their favorites was the "secrets" game. Grandma would whisper something for Bryn to do (i.e. "Go tickle Kenna's foot"). Then she would say, "Go!" Kenna and Whitney were good to play along and let Brynlee be the center of this game. It made them all laugh.

"My Grandpa is #1"

It was so great having Grandpa come too! He went on walks with Bryn, to ACE to get things to fix things here that we hadn't gotten around to (like a towel rack, cupboard door, girls bikes, stroller), and so much more. For weeks, Bryn made comments about the things Grandpa had fixed. Dad is always busy doing projects and helping others. Thank you, Dad!

They got their share of snuggle time, too. :)

We didn't get to take them snorkeling when they came in January, so I wanted to make sure it happened this time. And as a bonus, they got to swim with turtles!

It is amazing how big and old Brynlee suddenly was/is once we brought Kaitlyn home! These four girls have this Daddy wrapped around their fingers!

Time to say goodbye. :( I was teary for two days in anticipation of them leaving. Mike and the older two girls took them to the airport and I stayed home with Kait and Bryn. Brynlee wasn't really sure what to do with me crying. She kept asking me why I was sad - she's a very observant little girl. We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa again in February! (We're meeting them at the airport in Honolulu and going to Maui for a few days together.)

Thank you for everything!

Sunday Photo Shoot

2010-10-03T23:25:00.001-10:00

Our first attempt, of many to come, photographing our four beautiful princesses.

As you can see it was very bright outside.

(Kaitlyn is a week and a half old.)

I took Kait in to eat and Mike took some more pics of the older three. We LOVE being the parents of GIRLS! What a privilege to have these precious daughters!

We can't wait to have the temple open again-the girls have been really looking forward to the open house!

Happy Birthday Brynlee!

2010-10-03T13:17:00.001-10:00

Brynlee is so much fun! Every day she has me laughing! She is recently potty trained, sleeping in a big girl bed with no binki, and now shares a room with her big sisters. About six weeks before Kaitlyn was born, she decided she wanted to wear panties so I figured we would try it. She has done great! Definitely not without accidents, but we are getting close! Just in time to buy diapers for Kait! Then week we brought Kaitlyn home Bryn climbed out of her crib so I figured it was time to graduate to a big bed, which meant no more binki. And I intended for the only change to be adding a new sister. She has done really well with it all.

Some Brynlee Facts:

She is still very attached to her snug (little blanket).

Loves books and has many books mostly memorized including Pinkalicious-it is adorable!

Wants to do anything and everything her big sisters do including polly pockets, ponies, barbies and even practicing the piano.

LOVES her new baby sister and the new role of BIG sister.

Making the traditional birthday "rolly pancakes" with Daddy for breakfast. I never let my older girls sit on the counter to help me cook. I'm getting softer with her and Kaitlyn will probably be worse so I guess we better stop. She does love to help in the kitchen whether it is cooking or washing the dishes, unloading the dishwasher, and setting the table.

Kisses for Daddy!

Showing me that she's 2!

YUM! You can't really go wrong when you get to have powdered sugar for breakfast!

She didn't want any to go to waste! Funny Girl!

We had her birthday cake a week late because I didn't get around to making the Minnie Mouse to go on the cake. I had good intentions, but my newborn kept winning out over the cake. And this may be the only fun cake she gets! Next year I have a feeling I will be birthday-ed out. She will be the third in three and a half weeks!

I wasn't really up for a party since Kait was only 2 weeks old, but we invited Sage and the Kimballs to eat cake with us. It will be fun to watch these two growing up together.

Big Helper

2010-10-01T22:36:00.008-10:00

Brynlee LOVES to help me with Kaitlyn. She thinks it is especially fun when I let her sit on the changing table to help me.

1 week old-I have used this blanket as a measuring device starting with Whitney. I thought I had a one week picture of Brynlee on it, but I guess not.

Instead this is an almost 2 year picture! :)
It was amazing how big and old Brynlee suddenly seemed once we had Kaitlyn!

Thank you, Grandma!

2010-09-28T16:05:00.003-10:00

Grandma Johanson came out to help with the new baby. We took a gamble hoping that she would be born sometime in the window that Grandma was here and she barely made it. She came Friday before our due date and left Saturday after Kaitlyn came. Kaitlyn was born Thursday, home from the hospital Friday, and we took Grandma to the airport Saturday. I was beginning to worry that Grandma was going to miss her - but it worked out perfect. We got to give Grandma a little bit of a Hawaiian vacation before putting her to work. It was wonderful being able to leave the girls with her and not worry at all! Thank you, Grandma!

Kenna had to have a checkup on her arm so she got to come and pick up Grandma.

Sunday visiting the Temple and Visitors' Center

Morning beach time with Grandma while the older girls were at school.

Since Kaitlyn hadn't come yet, we planned a picnic on the North Shore to watch the sunset. The surf was pretty good so we got to watch some surfers as we ate before the sunset. Taco Salad with Haupia Pie for dessert. YUMMY!

Snuggling Grandma before we had to say goodbye. Such a sweet picture. Kait was chubby from the start!

Thank you so much for coming to spend time with us and for all you did to help! We love you!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2010-09-27T21:20:00.002-10:00

Sorry this video is so dark. Mike is going to play with it to see if he can lighten it up at all. Turn your speakers up-it's adorable! This was the first time she sang it un-aided. It melted my heart! She is already a good big sister and is so gentle and sweet with Kaitlyn! It will be fun to watch them grow and become buddies like Whitney and Kenna.

Settling In

2010-09-27T13:33:00.001-10:00

Sept 27 4 days old
We let the girls snuggle Brynlee at bedtime occasionally when she was first born. They remembered and wanted to try with Kaitlyn. So fun! We love our girls!

Welcome Kaitlyn Mykell

2010-09-26T18:27:00.016-10:00

Our sweet Kaitlyn Mykell was born Sept 23 at 12:05 weighing 7 lbs 15 oz and measuring 20 inches long. I had been a little nervous that she was actually going to be a boy. Bryn has said consistently for the past five months that the baby's name was "blue" and she kept saying it was a little brother. I couldn't convince her that it was a sister, so I was a little nervous we'd be bringing home a boy in pink! But instead we were blessed with another little princess.

The night before we went into labor-Mike was playing with Bryn and hid the volleyball in his shirt, so we had to take a picture. I'd say I carry better than he does.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday. She was going to be the doctor on at the hospital on Thursday so she said that if I wanted to meet her at the hospital at 7 a.m., she would break my water. I really wanted to have her before Mike's mom left, but wasn't sure I wanted to go about it that way. After my appointment I came home and walked two miles with Bryn in the stroller in hopes to help things along. I contracted while I walked, but once I stopped, the contractions stopped too. :(

Then at 3 a.m. I got up for the nightly bathroom run and just getting up gave me a hard contraction-harder than I had had so far. I had ten or twelve more contractions over the next 2 hours as I was in and out of sleep. But they were strong enough to wake me up. At 5 I got up and finished getting packed for the hospital and I continued contracting. My girls haven't been getting up until 6:45 when I have to wake them up for school, but they must have sensed their little sister coming. Bryn was up at 5:30, Kenna at 6 and Whitney at 6:10. We were able to say family prayer and make sure Grandma was all set (of course she was - she's a natural!) before we headed off to the hospital.

I was grateful we made it to the hospital and didn't have a car birth. We actually ended up having plenty of time. But I was glad we didn't wait any longer because I felt every single bump when I was contracting. Luckily they were still spread out anywhere from 4-10 mins apart. They have birthing tubs at this hospital and it was amazing how much it helped me relax! Mike was awesome, as usual! I was kind of excited to deliver at this hospital because they have a midwife and doctor there 24-7 so I was hoping to be able to have a little more midwife labor support. But they had so many moms come in that day, that we only saw the midwife once or twice.

My cute sister, Lynette, sent me this princess crown so I could feel beautiful while I was in labor. I was really in labor-this was between contractions.

At 11:45 I had the doctor check me and I was an 8, but my water was still intact. I was anxious to be done and she recommended that we maybe break my water then. Not excited about the prospect of turning the intensity up, I was excited to get to the end faster. After breaking my water my contractions came hard and faster-WHOA! Now I was seriously ready to be done! Even though I was only an 8, she asked me to push a little and see what happened. She was coming! :) So she and Mike scrubbed in and four or five pushes later she was here!

Mike was once again the first one to hold our little angel. It is a neat thing to watch him deliver our girls. He is such an amazing Daddy, from the very beginning!

No-I didn't wear the crown all through labor-but I had to put it on when all the work was done!

The binki looks so big!

Sweet Kaitlyn

Not everyone can say they recovered in a room with this view!

Yes that is a cast. Kenna fell out of our plumeria tree two weeks before Kaitlyn was born. She cried a lot and then wouldn't play. She is pretty tough when it comes to getting hurt so I figured it was something more than just a bump. Sure enough, it was broken! She had to come for a checkup on Friday so my friend, Teresa, brought her in to the hospital. We checked out of the sixth floor and went right to the third floor to change her cast. She was so excited to meet Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn's first car trip.

Driving home by way of H3-a beautiful rainbow

Meeting Whitney

Brynlee is so gentle and hasn't even been jealous. She LOVES being a big sister!

Checking to make sure she has all of her fingers.

Meeting Grandma Johanson. She came on Friday before Kaitlyn was born and we were just hoping that she'd be born before she left on the next Saturday. Kaitlyn came at the perfect time. We were able to do some fun things with Grandma before she was born but still had her help while we were at the hospital! Thank you, Grandma for all your help! It was so great to not worry about anything!

Due Tomorrow!

2010-09-21T12:58:00.007-10:00

I decided that maybe our baby hasn't made her debut because she's waiting for me to post the end of the pregnancy (and to find a name!). Or maybe she wants to be like Whitney and be among the small percentage of babies actually born on their due dates. So I will make a little post to encourage her to be born! We are technically due tomorrow (September 22nd). Last week I was a 3+ and 50% effaced so we will see where I am tomorrow at my appointment. I am hoping I am ready enough that the doctor will break my water since we live an hour from the hospital and I am not excited about the prospect of delivering in the car. Although Mike HAS delivered our other three, he'd rather do it in the hospital! And Grandma is only here until Saturday. :)

June 27th 32 weeks
There is increasingly less room on my lap and Bryn doesn't love sitting on it for bedtime and naptime. But she started insisting on snuggling with the baby like this for songs. My shirt had to be up so she could feel and kiss my tummy and then would carefully lay her snug on it and snuggle. I couldn't resist having Mike take this picture-so sweet! (I wish you could really tell that I was pregnant.)

Aug 7, 34 weeks.
This happened quite often when I was putting her down for naps. I didn't even know Mike took this picture until I downloaded the pictures onto the computer.

Aug 15, 34 weeks

Sept 19 Not quite 40 weeks! Almost there-hopefully my last tummy picture!

5,400 Pictures Later....

2010-09-05T22:54:00.002-10:00

We finally made it through all the thousands of pictures from our Tour to Asia - and are half way done posting. Because I was taking pictures for the choir, I had a lot to sort through. Our Taiwan portion of the tour is posted below. I hope you'll be able to catch a glimpse of the amazing experience it was. Enjoy!

Touching Hearts

2010-08-29T21:17:00.002-10:00

I've seen this video up the last several times I have gone onto lds.org. Mike and I watched it tonight and were touched. What an amazing calling, privilege and responsibility we have as parents of these wonderful children! It is a great reminder of how we can improve our relationships with our kids and help influence their lives for good.
Parenting: Touching the Hearts of Our Youth

Choir Tour-Taiwan

2010-05-16T17:22:00.027-10:00

Our trip to Taiwan began at 4AM after having a two hour "nap". We didn't get to bed until 2AM trying to get everything ready and packed and making sure the girls were all settled and taken care of. It was really hard for me to leave them-especially Bryn. I hadn't ever even left her over night and she is quite the mama's girl! Note to self: sleep a full night before traveling half-way around the world! Beginning from when we got up at 4, we didn't go to sleep in a bed for 26 hours! It was a LONG day! Sleeping on a plane is not one of my abilities, so I was pretty tired. We first flew nine hours to Japan and had about an hour layover. Just long enough to get off the plane, stretch and get back on. I was not feeling so hot, I think due to the lack of sleep. I felt very nauseous as we were coming in to Tokyo and was sure I was going to lose one (or all) of the three meals they served us, but luckily I didn't. I got through security and to the gate as quick as I could and laid down on the ever so comfy airport chairs. I must have fallen asleep for a few minutes, because I felt much better.

Our next leg was four hours to Taipei, Taiwan. This time we had a four-hour layover. It was a blessing that we had four hours because we needed two and a half of it to get one of the students admitted into the country. He is from Fiji and for some reason traveling with a visa from Fiji causes some serious issues.

The last leg to Kaohsiung was about two hours and rather uneventful. Because of the time change, we left Saturday morning and got in on Sunday evening. Any other week, it wouldn't have really mattered which day we missed. But not only did I have to be away from my kids on Mothers' Day-we skipped the day all together! It was erased!

The team that helped Denzil get into Taiwan. Alice and Ming are from Hong Kong and fluent in Mandarin. They were awesome! I can't even imagine what we would have done without them!

Mike and Jeff Chang.
Jeff was our contact in Taiwan who did the leg work and arrangements for our schedule for the week we were in Taiwan. Even though we didn't fly in until after 10PM Taiwan time, there was a greeting party of 20 or so people who were there with banners and lei to give to each member of the choir. It was a fun way to begin our trip.

Monday we visited a commercial high school and did a short performance. The school sold inexpensive tickets to the performance to raise money for families affected by a typhoon that hit last summer. It was neat to be able to be a part of it. I enjoyed seeing the high school kids get so excited to meet the choir members. You would have thought that we were famous!

Monday night, we had the opportunity to go into the homes of members of one of the Kaohsiung stakes to attend Family Home Evening with them. It was such a neat experience to see how the Gospel is the same around the world, no matter what language was spoken. We went with the Young family. Their daughter and her friends all spoke English, but the parents didn't so they had to translate for us. What a humble and loving family.

Back at the hotel, we waited in the lobby to talk to some of the students to hear about their experiences. I didn't hear one negative comment. It was neat to hear how many of them really connected with the families they went with and felt like they were sent to a particular family for a purpose.

We went to Cishan Elementary School (south of Kaohsiung) to talk to and play with the children there. They were SO cute! And it was sweet to see the college students with the kids. Some of these kids were left orphans from a typhoon in 2009. I was touched to see that even though many had lost much, they were still happy.

Sone (SO-nay) quickly became one of our favorite students. Everywhere we went he was doing something fun with whoever we were visiting. From playing rock/paper/scissors competitively, to flying the kids around like airplanes, to just sitting with a child. Here he is teaching the kids sounds that animals make. It was so fun to watch him!

I wanted to show our kids how lucky they are to have toilets! Almost everywhere we went there were squatters. There were usually regular toilets as well. I wasn't ever brave enough to try one. I don't bend/balance so well these days! :)

Sun Yat-Sen University
This is in Kaohsiung. The campus was set on a hill overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful! One of their choirs did an exchange with our choir. They taught us a song and then we taught them Aloha 'Oe.

This girl noticed the Nikon camera I was shooting with and struck up a conversation. She is a photographer in the making, taking classes at this university.

Taichung City Government Building - one of the places I went as the official tour photographer to document the BYU-Hawaii delegation visits to key dignitaries in the countries we visited. Here we visited with the Mayor of Taichung.

Scooters were EVERYWHERE! I couldn't believe how many there were! There was a parking lot like this about every other block and I'm pretty sure there were more scooters on the road than cars. It was crazy!

Feng Chia Night Market

Me, the McCarreys (another chaperone couple), and our two guides. One of them took us to smell 'stinky tofu'-she had us stand and just "enjoy" the smell of it. I think she forgot that I was pregnant-not so pleasant. I'm not sure I would have liked it NOT pregnant. The smells were a little too much for me. From exhaust to lots of different foods to sewer smells, it wasn't very long before I was ready to go back to the hotel.

Three of the choir girls trying the stinky tofu that our guide bought. The smell was enough for me-I didn't need to try it!

Karenna (my cousin's daughter) didn't really seem to mind it.

The view from our hotel room in Taichung. Mike would have loved to play tennis on these clay courts! But since we didn't even find much time to sleep-tennis wasn't really an option. Someday I will take him to play on a clay court. :)

We had a lot of authentic food while on our trip. Some was delicious and others I could have done without. :) The food was usually pre-ordered so most of the time I wasn't even sure what we were eating! It was a good experience though. President Wheelwright made the observation that it was good for all of us to learn what some of our foreign students go through when they come to school at BYU-Hawaii and don't have anything familiar to eat. At least we knew it would only be for a few weeks.

This meal was...how do I put it... memorable? When they brought it out and the fish was looking at me, I excused myself and went with Mike to get some "supplemental food" for us and the choir kids at Burger King. I wasn't very adventurous when it came to trying new foods. Mostly because I never knew what I was eating and if it was safe in my "condition".

Outside the Taipei Temple. It looks a lot like the Boise temple. But it is right in the middle of several big buildings. If you didn't know where it was, you probably wouldn't find it. Unlike many other temples that you can see from miles away. I had to attend a meeting with President and Sister Wheelwright so I didn't have time for a session, but was still able to serve in the temple for a little while. I wish I would have asked if I could participate in Mandarin.

A marvelous stake in Taipei fed us after our temple trip. It was BLESSED to see familiar foods! The fruit in Taiwan is AMAZING! Jeff told us it was because many countries export their best foods and save the leftovers for their own country, but in Taiwan they keep the best and export the rest. It was SO yummy!

Taipei Temple at night.

Elder Paul and Sister Jill Johnson joined us on Friday of our Taiwan stay to help be chaperones. He is the Church Educational System Commissioner for the Church and a member of the first quorum of the Seventy. He is also a photographer as a hobby and uses a Nikon so I was able to learn a TON from him. We instantly fell in love with both of them! We are blessed to be able to rub shoulders with so many amazing people in this job!

Nice Hat! :)

Michelle is a BYU–Hawaii alumnus and helped us so much! She joined us for all of our time in Taiwan and was such a HUGE help! Anytime there was a problem or we needed to find something, we turned to her. She always knew the answer or translated for us so we could figure it out. She was also super fun! It was so great to have her with us!

Playing with the camera on some pretty flowers in one of the many beautiful flower beds.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial
The statue inside this building almost looks like an Asian Lincoln Memorial. We got to see the changing of the guards-similar to that of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.

This is a performance hall on the same campus as the memorial. The grounds were beautiful!

I was amazed at the detail on the underside of the roof.

I chose a few of my favorite concert shots that I took. I borrowed a camera from BYU–Hawaii and was the official tour photographer. I had a hard time with the lighting and learning how to play with all the settings, but I learned a lot!

Here a group of choir members pose with President and Sister Hoer of the Taichung Taiwan Mission. He is a strong supporter of BYU-Hawaii and helped pave the way for a great and productive visit to this part of the country.

Sunday night the choir held a musical fireside at the Stake Center in Taipei. We had listened to the choir sing in three major performances and several small ones all week. They have a beautiful sound and it made me miss being a part of a great choir. But there was something different about hearing them sing about the Savior. The Sunday evening fireside was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong! We met this man at Coldstone (yes, blessed Coldstone - in Taipei!!!) the night before and invited him to attend the fireside. He did come and we were able to visit with him and share a little of the Gospel and testimony with him. Here he's posed with Mikey, Janelle, Katie, and Christian.

Volleyball

2010-05-08T16:03:00.005-10:00

We signed the girls up to play volleyball this year even though we were going to miss 4 of their 7 games. (Mike and I were in Asia for the last three Saturdays of the season.) I was sad that it was the last games we missed because they started getting the hang of the game. By the last game both Kenna and Whitney were getting their serves in and going for the ball when it came near them. They were so excited! They enjoyed playing and I love it that they are learning how to play. I have been trying to encourage volleyball since they were very young. Last year we bought season tickets to the BYU-Hawaii sports events and were pretty faithful fans for volleyball (and basketball). They really enjoyed watching the games, learning the rules and getting to know the players. I would love to have them continue to play. We bought a volleyball and practiced in the yard together. Hopefully there will be many more years of that! :)

Their coach was great and very patient with them. Kenna and Whitney were the only ones on the team that hadn't ever played. It was fun to watch them learn and improve.

Kenna's all smiles!

Whitney's all business!

Mike snapped this picture of me and I had to post it. Nothing like the mom who thinks she is coach from the stands (while ignoring my toddler attempting her stunts on the bleachers)!

Laptop

2010-05-06T19:29:00.001-10:00

Sorry there are so many pictures. I couldn't decide which ones I liked best-she is just too cute! Like I said before, Brynlee tries to be just like her big sisters and LOVES to play with anything they like. And they are pretty tolerant to let her.

Brynlee's Haka

2010-05-05T21:00:00.004-10:00

For the boys part of the 1st grade dance they learned the Haka, a traditional dance form of the Māori of New Zealand. Because Makenna was there during practices, she learned a lot of it, too, and then shared with her sisters. Bryn was a quick learner! Our Samoan/Haole friend Devin is capturing this special memory.

May Day

2010-05-05T16:50:00.006-10:00

It's May Day time again. The kids (and parents) all work so hard! During the preparation this year I was thinking that I wouldn't be sad if May Day didn't happen every year. Between the lost learning time for the kids and the time I put into making costumes, I wondered if it was even worth it. Then the performance came and I remembered why we do it! I was proud of both the girls! They did a great job!

The May Day Court.
The 6th grade class chooses a King and Queen and Princesses to represent each of the Hawaiian Islands. (Somewhat like a Homecoming Court.) It is a pretty big deal.

1st grade represented New Zealand.
Kenna was so excited to learn to dance with the poi balls. It is amazing how well it all comes together! (Kenna is in the front row, second from the left.)

She also got to be part of the group to do the sticks and she was excited about that, too.

2nd grade chose Arabia.
Whitney is in the back row in pink-about the center of the picture-smiling away! She smiled almost the whole time!

She LOVES her Jasmine costume!

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

2010-05-01T16:04:00.004-10:00

We LOVE the rain storms here! And yes, I sometimes even let the girls go play in the rain and splash in the puddles. Even though it is totally messy, they love it and that is what being a kid is about, right?! We would have all gone out, but Bryn needed a nap. I did get to snap a few pictures though. Next time I'll go play too!

This picture turned out blurry-but I thought Kenna's expression was funny.

The end of our driveway collects the best puddle!

Big Sister

2010-04-22T22:26:00.004-10:00

Not much makes a mother happier than to see her children helping each other. I came out to this sight this morning. Kenna (and Whitney, too) are such great big sisters! They are so patient with Brynlee and are so good to play with her! I'm sure it helps that she is cute and so much fun to play with. :) Brynlee just adores them!

Practicing

2010-04-21T21:18:00.006-10:00

Bryn is getting some good practice! (All un-encouraged) Bryn has been fascinated with babies (dolls and real ones) since she was six months old. She'll be a good big sister.

"Wooo! Stinky baby! Lay down and change your buns."

"These things are tricky...."

"Hold still, baby. The paparazzi is here and I've got to give 'em a few of my best looks. Don't move. Does this diaper make me look fat?"

"Ok, I'm back. Now, where did that diaper go?"

"There you go. Remember, the big people give you treats and act all crazy if you go potty on the toilet - so you can decide when you want that. I like the convenience of just going whenever and wherever I feel like it."

PINK PINK PINK!

2010-04-20T17:26:00.004-10:00

This isn't actually our baby's ultrasound picture, but it pretty much looks like this. (I'm too lazy to scan our real one!) And, we are staying PINK! Kenna and Whitney were both rooting for another girl, and they got their wish. And honestly, it will be easier (at least short term) to have a girl. We are already equipped with all pink! :) We are so excited to welcome a new little angel into our family. What a blessing these daughters are!

Many people wondered if this was our boy because this pregnancy has been different than the rest. I have been more tired and felt crummy more. With my other three, whenever I started to feel nauseous, I just had to eat something and then I was fine. This time around, if I get nauseous, I stay feeling sick for the rest of the day. I keep trying to eat different things in hopes that I will feel better, but instead I think I am going to just gain a lot more weight this time around. I guess that would be worth it if it helped, but it doesn't!

Plugged In!

2010-04-17T20:18:00.003-10:00

I fell asleep on the couch after church and came in to my room to find my family like this! The girls each have a laptop (one for Christmas and the other a birthday). They love to play with them and be just like Dad! Even Bryn joined in the fun!

Don't tell Bryn that hers is only a book! :)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T20:23:00.005-10:00

We had a fun Easter! I am learning to enjoy decorating eggs more now that the girls are older and it isn't such a mess. :) Bryn didn't even know what she was missing! And I think we will keep it that way maybe for another year.

Cousin Visit

2010-03-23T13:49:00.003-10:00

Alain and Brian came to Hawaii with Brian's family on vacation so we met them for dinner in Honolulu. It was so fun to catch up with them! We laughed and talked (and made them miss their kids.) They are so great and we were glad to be able to take the time to spend the evening with them.

Prego together again. :) Alain's third son is 6 months older than Bryn. We don't have any pictures together probably because I didn't even announce I was prego until her baby was born. This time she is due two or three months before us. So fun!

Kelsey and Prom

2010-03-19T12:13:00.004-10:00

Kelsey went to Prom this year and I offered to help with her hair. I had fun looking through all the fancy hairdos trying to find one for her. I wanted to do a trial run before so I would know she didn't hate what we came up with. This was our first attempt. She is such a beautiful and fun girl! I hope my girls turn out as kind and funny and sweet and fun as Kelsey!

She decided to keep it half down for Prom and she looked beautiful! Teresa and a few other moms had the girls all get ready together-it was so much fun! They had snacks and did nails and make-up together. It was fun to be a part of it all. I am taking notes for when my girls go to dances. I imagine it will be here before we know it!

Everyone goes up to the temple to take pictures before they head out for the big night. The Whitney, Kenna and I had fun seeing all the "princess dresses." I was amazed to see how many limos there were! I never went to Prom in a limo! I think it will become a tradition to go see all the dresses and hairdos for Prom.

Spring Break

2010-03-19T09:38:00.004-10:00

Some brave moms took on the job of having a drama club over spring break. They had kids help them write the script to Peter Pan-changed to Peter Pani Popo before spring break started. It was fun and I was amazed after only a few hours a day that the kids were ready to perform on Friday. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!

To be honest, I wasn't very excited about spending our whole Spring Break at the school. What I love about Spring Break is being able to hang out with my kids and decide daily what we want to do and enjoy not really having a schedule. But they had fun and I guess that is what counts. I enjoyed helping with the costumes and getting to know some other moms too. It was a different Spring Break, but different isn't bad, right?!

The girls were mermaids and did a cute dance to "Under the Sea"

Teresa was the costume queen-she is AMAZING! She did such a great job on the costumes! They really made it all come together.

So TIRED!

2010-03-14T14:00:00.003-10:00

I think they must have been reading our favorite, most exciting scripture story. Mike usually takes an evening nap while putting the girls to sleep, but they don't usually all fall asleep in the hallway. I came out to find this scene when I had finished putting Bryn to bed and had to take this picture. They are so blessed to have such a great Daddy!

Picture Day Hair

2010-03-09T20:11:00.001-10:00

Kenna wanted straight with a simple hair headband and Whitney wanted curly. It worked out since school starts at 8. :) I didn't end up buying the pictures, because I didn't like them, so I will have to do my own.

Happy Birthday, Kenna!

2010-03-06T12:46:00.012-10:00

Kenna requested breakfast in bed, so we obliged. I let her eat two "rolly pancakes" in bed and then she joined the rest of the family at the table. It's all about being the PRINCESS on your birthday, right?!

Kenna and Bekah really wanted to have matching parties since they couldn't be together and so Melinda and I sat with them to go through some cake websites. Their first idea was to make a cake that they were both mermaids on the beach with dolphins jumping. Nice idea-but not sure how to execute that one. Plan 2 a Littlest Pet Shop Cake, that would have been a lot of work but very cute. The thing that turned me off to that was the amount of preparation was going to have to go into the games. New plan-Melinda and I sat down without the girls and came up with a way to make them want something much more simple-it's all about the presentation. We found a really cute purse cake and told them they could have a dress-up party and they went for it! YAY!

The parties were both the same day, Bekah's just a few hours before Kenna's. Melinda sent me a text early that morning saying the cake wasn't exactly working out. The frosting was sliding off and then it fell over. She did a great job of salvaging it and making it very cute! And I appreciated the heads up so I could guard against those things. Our cake stayed upright, but we had issues with candy falling off. Hawaii humidity doesn't lend well to having the frosting set up, but we made it work.

I was reminded again how much help Melinda was at all the parties we did together! We decorated cookies shaped like purses and the girls loved it! There was a runway, the girls took turns walking down and posing and we did nails and make-up. It tricky to keep up with all the girls and prepare for the next activity on my own and then Brynlee was another complicating factor. But we survived and the girls had fun!

I must admit, I don't love this page-but in order to not have 15 pictures posted individually and to get her birthday posted so we can move on, this is what I came up with. This is the very reason I don't scrapbook!

Bekah and her cake in Idaho-someday we will do parties together again!

Mommy's Helper

2010-03-03T10:14:00.003-10:00

I introduced Brynlee to licking the beaters-she was a fan!

Taco Soup and Snowman Dishes

2010-02-28T17:59:00.003-10:00

I thought I had left these dishes in Idaho-since snowmen don't exist here, but when we unpacked they somehow had made it into a box. It was a cool, windy day so I decided we needed a nice "winter meal" of taco soup and we should use our snowman dishes. Notice though, that even on our "winter" day we still have short sleeves and the girls are wearing capris. We enjoyed eating on our snowmen dishes and remembering Idaho winter days and storms. We do miss eating soups and casseroles and other cold weather food.

Familiar Faces

2010-02-28T16:42:00.005-10:00

Friday night I got a phone call from a family from our ward in Ephrata. It's probably been 10 years or more since I talked to them. They were here for a family vacation and wanted to say Hi. We met them at the temple and visited for awhile. It was fun to catch up and find out where all of their kids are. Even though it has been so long, it was so great to see familiar faces! (Sorry the picture is so dark-too lazy to fix it.)

Tsunami Warning

2010-02-26T22:08:00.006-10:00

Knock, knock, knock!!!
When you hear that sound at 3:30 AM you know there is something wrong!

Our neighbor came to warn us that there had been an earthquake in Chile and we were supposed to evacuate in preparation for the potential tsunami. We don't have TV at home and didn't want to take the time to find out more details on the internet so we began packing. From the urgency that our neighbor had (maybe it was too early in the morning to interpret correctly) we thought it was a "get out now" warning.

So, we pulled out our 72 kits (which we learned were very inadequate) and packed food, clothes, toys, and books for the kids for who knew how long. I was impressed by our ability to get all packed into the van by 4 AM. Unfortunately, we tore our children from their beds that early. We headed to Mike's office to get a few things he would need as far as BYU was concerned. Being the comms guy for the university, he had responsibilities for keeping the campus and parents updated.

Our original plan was to evacuate up to Temple Hill after getting the things he needs from his office, but figured we'd be just as safe and considerably more comfortable to just stay put in the air conditioned office. When we got there and turned on the news, we found out that the initial wave was not estimated to reach us until 11:19. The alarm didn't sound until 6 AM, which I figured would have happened at 3:30 or 4 if it had really been that urgent. But in the name of safety and "just in case"-we left in the dark. :) It made for a VERY long day for my kids! (And me, too!) Bryn doesn't sleep so well if she isn't in her crib, so naps were a little challenging, but we made it work. I even got to take a little nap with her.

Waking them up in the early morning scared them. It made for a good teaching moment that if we follow the prophet's counsel to be prepared, then we don't need to be afraid. Even if our house was destroyed, we had food and clothes and each other and it would all be ok. It was funny the things they were worried about-like their toys-that we left in our house.

At the end of the day (or I guess middle of the day) the warning was called off with only a little bit of water movement on the big island of Hawaii. I think my kids watched more TV hanging out in Mike's office than they have all year! It was a good dry run and we were grateful that we didn't see any real excitement.

The Music Man

2010-02-26T16:36:00.002-10:00

BYU-Hawaii put on The Music Man so Whitney, Kenna, and I had a Girls' Night Out. Bryn got to have a Daddy date at home. :) We had a lot of fun and though the plot was over their heads, they loved the music and dancing. It was fun to see our cousin Karenna in it, too. Grandpa Jones was in this play when he was younger, so we called him on the way. He told us which part he played so we could watch for it. I"m excited for many more years of GIRLS' NIGHTS! I do love my girls!

The Chef Is In!

2010-02-21T16:06:00.006-10:00

Often on Sunday Mike takes over making dinner and gets creative. I don't really like to try things that I don't know we will like-but he is a little more adventurous. This was a recipe he found for Parmesan Chicken that turned out SO YUMMY! I married a good man!

Valentine Surprise!

2010-02-14T15:55:00.002-10:00

We sent the girls on this fun scavenger hunt to find out their Valentine Surprise.

The final clue sent them to Bryn's crib where it said that Bryn sleeps there now, but not for too much longer! They didn't get it. So Mike told them to look at my tummy. Unfortunately, because I have been more sick than I have been with my other three and am showing earlier, it has been harder to keep a secret! They tried to lift up my shirt to find another clue! But then they got it! We are so excited! (Due date Sept 22)

The morning after taking the pregnancy test I left this note for Mike on the mirror.

Valentines' Day Hair

2010-02-14T14:31:00.004-10:00

I wish I could take credit for coming up with these hairdos, but I can't. I have 2 blogs that I get a lot of ideas from. I am really not a creative person, but I can copy with the best of them! Hair was fixed and ready for church at 8! I LOVE doing my girls hair! And so far-they like to too. (Most days.) Sad will be the day, when they are ready for me to give it up! But I'll enjoy it while I can!

Surprise Trip

2010-02-13T14:39:00.003-10:00

Our neighbor friend, Savannah, got to come for a surprise visit to see her dad for a week and Kenna and Whitney LOVED it! It went by too fast though!

We had to say goodbye before my girls got their hair fixed-it's a little scary!

We had Savannah over for a Valentine Breakfast-pink heart-shaped pancakes and another pancake in the shape of their letter and pink milk. Yummy!

Beautiful Girls

2010-02-08T14:16:00.005-10:00

Maybe I've ruined my girls by wanting to take pictures of them so often and having them pose, but we were walking home from school and they saw these statue things and said, "Hey Mom, "We could all sit on one of these and you could take our picture! Whitney can sit on the biggest one and then Kenna and then Bryn on the smallest. That would be cute!" I love my girls!

Twin Day

2010-02-07T23:09:00.005-10:00

During Spirit Week, we had a twin day. It worked out well that my girls like to match and the "twin" they chose was a little smaller than them. They both even insisted that there hair was fixed the same with the same bow/flower. These are two of their best friends.

Whitney and Keili

Tia and Makenna

Toot My Own Horn

2010-01-27T23:07:00.006-10:00

My girls get to come home for lunch everyday and I love it. (Though, there is an occasional day they fight or whine and I wonder why I don't have them stay at school.) Sometimes I try to get a little creative with their lunches-this one was a hit!

Singin' in the Rain

2010-01-27T16:16:00.004-10:00

Bryn and I try to walk Mike to work most days. This day we got caught in the rain. Storms often come on pretty fast here. I was about 5 houses from my house when it started and could see that it was going to come down hard so I started running. Even in that short time, we were pretty wet! (But still smiling!) As we got to the covered porch I looked at Bryn. She was covering her face with her hands and though we were under cover, she didn't want to take them off! Since we were already wet, I figured it wouldn't hurt to play in the rain. After it let up a little and wasn't pouring anymore, we went to dance and play and sing in the rain and puddles. She LOVED splashing in them. I love it that we can play in the rain in shorts!

I thought this picture turned out cool.

Grandma and Grandpa Jones

2010-01-24T16:15:00.007-10:00

My parents came to visit! It was so great to have them here! And made it easier to be away through the Christmas Season knowing they would be coming in just a few weeks. We had a wonderful time with them! The time passed all too quickly-as it always does!

For Christmas Grandma got them dolls and made them two matching dresses (girls and dolls). My girls LOVE them and insisted on wearing them to the airport to pick them up. We spent a lot of time in the water-Grandma couldn't get enough of the waves! The first morning they were here we went for a sunrise on the beach. Grandpa, Grandma and the girls had a lot of fun playing freeze tag with the waves. I love watching them play together!

Here are some of our favorite pictures! Thanks so much for coming!!!!!

Bryn's Tricks

2010-01-05T15:54:00.002-10:00

15 months old- Bryn has been my earliest talker. Maybe because she wants to do everything her big sisters are doing! Baby toys don't interest her-but give her a pony/polly pocket or anything of the girls' and she's a happy camper! These are some of her tricks-she's a cutie! I think we'll keep her!

Silly Girls!

2010-01-04T15:17:00.006-10:00

Bryn was napping and I was working on the computer while the girls were playing dress-up (with two of my skirts) and house mixed into one! They came out of their room like this! I had to laugh and take a picture. It is fun to think they might get to be pregnant together someday - a day a LONG time from now!

Hawaii Knows How to PARTY!

2010-01-01T14:35:00.006-10:00

We were going to let the girls stay up late, but not until midnight. Around 11, we went outside to let them do some sparklers before heading to bed.

For some reason we didn't get a good picture of Kenna and her sparkler.

The girls with Uncle Lee and Aunty Mibi. (Our next door neighbors.)
They wanted to go say hi to our neighbors before going inside to bed. We let them-on the condition that we would go right to bed, but the neighbors took the girls' side and convinced us to let them stay up to ring in the new year. And it was worth staying up for! (Brynlee had already crashed. I was amazed she slept through all the noise. She is a pretty light sleeper.)

Lee wrapped his firecrackers around a ladder. It was so crazy smokey the whole evening! We couldn't hardly see the houses across the street.

Since it gets dark here around 7, the fireworks started early and continued pretty constant until about 1 a.m., minus a half an hour or so around 9 when it began to pour.
It was a pretty amazing sight! And SO loud! I can't even imagine how many thousands of dollars were spent on lighting up the sky! (And making lots of noise!) Some people blocked off their roads in the morning for their dinner and party that night. A few people were surprised that we hadn't ever seen anything like it for New Years. "Do they not do fireworks in Idaho for New Years?" Not so much! Not many people love fireworks enough to want to light them off in negative temperatures! But we enjoyed them in shorts in Hawaii! The video doesn't really even show how noisy and fun it was.

Last Sunset 2009

2009-12-30T21:51:00.002-10:00

We get beautiful sunsets over the mountains. Goodbye 2009!

Rescued Again!

2009-12-29T15:02:00.005-10:00

I had just finished making dinner and we sat down to eat and heard a loud pop . . . pop . . . pop outside, followed by losing power. After further investigation, the power line outside our house was on fire. Kind of exciting! Luckily, dinner was done cooking and we got to eat by candlelight-very romantic! (Actually, we didn't have any candles, so we settled for a flashlight.) Well, I hadn't gotten to the laundry yet, intending to do it as soon as we finished dinner. But those plans were foiled by our power outage. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except Mike needed this load done for work the next day. I would have just gone the old-fashioned route and washed them all by hand, except that the sewer pump is run by electricity so if you use too much water-it backs up into the yard. (Not so pleasant.) And I wasn't sure how long we would be without power. So Kimballs to the rescue AGAIN! I ran over to their house and Teresa and I played card games while we waited for the laundry to finish. THANK YOU!

The garage opener is also run by power, and is kind of a pain to re-set so I decided to take the bike instead.

Mike found it comical watching me try to ride away balancing the laundry basket on the handlebars. It looks easier than it really was! :) I had visions of dumping the basket of clean clothes on my way home. Luckily we made it-and everything was still clean! I guess I shouldn't wait to do laundry until we are out of clothes, eh?!

Science Exhibit

2009-12-27T21:32:00.005-10:00

Can you find the "tiny and very hungry caterpillar"?
(Hint: it is on the left of the leaf just below the hole.)
We captured a few and measured them almost every day. The smallest one was 4mm when we started. It was truly amazing how much they would eat and how quickly they grew!

This picture was a little too much for Mike (there are at least 8 caterpillars crawling on her). He thinks caterpillars are gross so I guess it's a good thing I stay home with the girls. (At least for this science project.)

These are medium size caterpillars.

I thought I had a better picture of this stage-sorry. After about two weeks, the caterpillar turns kind of greenish and starts looking for a place to attach. Then in hangs in a J shape for about 24hrs before shedding its skin and going into its chrysalis. A process we've witnessed a few times. It is truly amazing to watch! And happens all in about 3 minutes.

Educating the neighbor kids.

The day before the chrysalis hatches, it turns clear so you can see the wings. My camera doesn't really do close-ups. I was trying to be able to see the wings, but the camera didn't really cooperate. Then just a few hours before it hatches it looks very black.

We happened to catch this one at the exact right time. We knew it was going to be soon and would check it every 15 mins or so and caught it just in time. If you look closely, you can see the chrysalis has cracked open on the right side.

Sorry about the sideways video-I don't know how to change it and don't want to take the time to figure it out.

3-4 minutes after hatching- the girls thought it was just going to be a small butterfly. :)

6-7 minutes after hatching (this was a different one, but I for some reason didn't get the other one at this phase as the wings are pulling down, getting more straight and drying.)

It's a BOY!
We learned (thank you, google!) that boy butterflies have two dots on the lower wings and the girl ones don't. My girls enjoy knowing this fact and like to classify any butterfly that holds still long enough to tell.

Rescue Mission Successful!
This chrysalis got knocked off the wall and we were worried it wouldn't survive. After a little bit of research, I made my best attempt to rescue it by tying it back up and it worked. The girls were so excited the morning we saw that it had hatched.

It has been fun to see the girls' excitement watching the butterflies. (And I must admit-I enjoy it too. So fascinating!) In many of these pictures, they are still in their jammies because they would go outside to check the night's happenings as soon as they got up.

Bryn calls the caterpillars "calolo" and butterflies "buh-lie". Whenever we talk about either one she holds out her hands and says "hold doh". But then she never actually wants to hold it when we try. Silly girl!

Cute Kenna and a GIRL butterfly

Not the Same Without You!

2009-12-27T19:37:00.010-10:00

I know it isn't Christmas anymore (and hasn't been for awhile!) but Mike made this video before Christmas and I wanted to put it on here when it really was Christmas. That didn't happen, but it's better late than never! It made me cry-we miss you all! Even now that it isn't Christmas anymore!

PS-I tried to figure out how to make the video fit right in the blog window, but after spending too much time getting no where, my solution is to have you click on the video and it will take you to watch it on youtube. If anyone knows how to fix it, I'd love the input!

To the Beach!

2009-12-26T10:56:00.007-10:00

We didn't get our wish of going to the beach on Christmas Day (I know everyone feels bad for us), but settled for the day after Christmas. It was a bit windy, but we'll take it!

Whitney and Kenna LOVE their little sister!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:55:00.007-10:00

Christmas was definitely different this year. In the ten Christmases we've been married, we've only ever spent this and one other at home and though it was fun, it seemed somewhat lonely (to me) without all the fun/craziness/chaos of cousins and family. I do love the magic and excitement that accompanies children and Christmas!

But we got to start a few new traditions of our own this year. One of which comes from Mike's family. Instead of putting names on the presents, we numbered them. When it was time to open them, all the presents were put in the middle and the kids took turns choosing a present. If it was theirs, Mom or Dad would say, "Ding ding ding" and they got to open the present. But if they guessed wrong, the answer was, "Dooooot!" and it was the next child's turn to guess. We had a lot of fun with it.

We didn't go to the beach on Christmas Eve, even though it was absolutely GORGEOUS and perfect beach weather in hopes we could go on Christmas Day. (And washing all the sand out two days in a row is entirely too much work!) But then it rained all day so we didn't go. :( But it gave us the chance to just stay home and enjoy each other. The past few years we have gotten a new game for Christmas. This years' pick was Life. After we opened presents and skyped with Grandma Johanson and Grandma and Grandpa Jones and let them watch us open our presents from them, we got Brynlee down for a nap and played our new game. Mike and I decided to be daring and skip college, we learned that was a big mistake! Kenna was a doctor raking in the money, until she lost her job and became a mechanic. In the end, Whitney smoked us all. Most of you know that I am not overly patient when it comes to long games, but we had a lot of fun laughing and talking as we played. So maybe it was a good thing that we had to skip out on the beach!

A Little Too Last Minute

2009-12-24T20:46:00.002-10:00

So, this isn't Brynlee's first Christmas, but I never got around to making a stocking for her last year. I am embarrassed to say that Kenna still doesn't have her name on her stocking! The sewing machine was out all Christmas Season in hopes that I would make Bryn's stocking, but it didn't happen until Christmas Eve night about 10 o'clock. It's a good thing Santa didn't come early! So now I have two stockings without names, but at least Santa had something to fill.

Dear Santa . . .

2009-12-24T19:52:00.005-10:00

New jammies on Christmas Eve (but they were sweating in them!) For some reason cold weather jammies are still sold here (ones with feet and everything) and warm weather ones are no where to be found in the winter. So we had to improvise and make them warm weather jammies. I ended up cutting the sleeves off because they were too hot.

We set out the carrots for the reindeer and pumpkin bars and milk for Santa and Brynlee thought she needed a drink. "Santa won't mind if I borrow just a little of his milk!" It was too cute to not take a picture.

Nativity Puppet Show

2009-12-24T17:54:00.004-10:00

Aunt Melinda made these awesome puppets of the nativity for us for Christmas a few years ago and it has become a tradition to act out the story as we read from Luke 2. Sometimes the girls get a little silly, but has been a lot of fun every year. Thank you, Aunt Melinda!

Christmas Eve Dinner

2009-12-24T16:20:00.005-10:00

This family was from our Idaho Falls ward. They were here visiting for Christmas so we invited them over for dinner. Teresa does her Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners the night before so there isn't so much work on the day itself and I thought we would give it a try. I think this will be an adopted tradition. I did enjoy having Christmas Day to eat leftovers and just relax. And it was fun to catch up with old friends. Jeni was Kenna's nursery leader when Kenna was not such a fan of nursery. Thanks for sharing a special day with us!

T is for Tired!

2009-12-24T15:56:00.002-10:00

I'm not sure who was putting who to sleep. After our visitors' center trip Mike took his turn for nap time. I went in to check on them and found it very fitting that they stopped on the "T is for Tired" page.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T10:40:00.004-10:00

Christmas Eve was gorgeous and sunny (and even hot)! But since we wanted to go to the beach on Christmas Day, we decided to do some other things instead. (MISTAKE) We went up to the visitors' center and saw the Christmas Tree display. Every stake on the island decorated a tree and they were beautiful!

"Jesus" was among the first few words that Brynlee learned. It is very sweet-she almost whispers His name. When she saw this Christus, she pointed up and said "Jesus!" She was very fascinated with it. I love it that she knows Him! And probably remembers Him better than we do!

She just so stinkin' cute! And I just love her piggie tails!

Our stake's tree.

On our way home we stopped by the Kimballs to say hi. Teresa loves to cook and loves aprons. She was baking away sporting her Santa apron! So cute!

Christmas Dresses

2009-12-20T09:20:00.002-10:00

In a perfect world I would have made matching dresses, but that didn't happen. Plan 2, make matching skirts. Plan 3, BUY matching dresses at the swap meet. They love them! Our little Hawaiian Princesses!

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

2009-12-19T20:32:00.007-10:00

I forgot to post our pictures of meeting Santa and since it isn't Christmas on here yet, I'm still safe, right?

The first time Bryn met Santa she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

(Santas are tan 'round these parts!)

"I guess he's not so bad if Whitney and Kenna are here."

Then Santa came to our ward Christmas party.

Brynlee was sure how she felt about it this time - "Get me outta here!"

Count Your Many Blessings!

2009-12-19T20:23:00.006-10:00

We were due for a town trip and I debated taking it on Monday alone with just Bryn. In the end, we decided to all go on Saturday instead for which I am VERY grateful! Two miles from Costco we got a flat tire going 60 mph on the highway. We were able to move safely off the road, and changed the tire. Unfortunately, our spare was flat before we got there, but we limped along and were able to get there. As soon as we were off the road, I started counting my blessings that I wasn't alone with Bryn. After Mike got the tire changed, we said a prayer of gratitude that we were safe and that we had come that day instead of Monday.

I would have been ok. A prerequisite to getting my drivers' license was I had to be able to change a tire. But I was so grateful I didn't have to do it with Bryn screaming in her carseat. I was ever so grateful that I my awesome husband was with me and I hadn't been alone. We were truly inspired to go on Saturday.

Kimball Kids to the Rescue

2009-12-16T20:19:00.005-10:00

An entire semi truck container of ripe Dole bananas were being handed out free, so I got a whole box of bananas that were ready to be eaten. Teresa told me they had quite the assembly line preparing their bananas for freezing. The next day I sent her a text saying that I should have had more kids. :) Five minutes later, four Kimball kids were at my door ready to help peel bananas. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Oh What Do you Do in the WINTERtime

2009-12-14T21:45:00.008-10:00

Oh what do you do in the WINTERtime when all the world is GREEN?

Do you find a nice nook to read a good book,

Or go to the beach all day?

If that's NOT what you do, you should try winter OUR way!

This is a completely un-posed picture. I was mopping and asked the girls to go outside so they weren't in the way and I could move things around. They wanted to take books outside, which isn't typically allowed, but I let them and found them like this. How could I not take a picture?! I love it that they love to read!

Christmas Trains

2009-12-13T15:32:00.004-10:00

Can't have Christmas without Christmas trains! We introduced the Kimballs to this fun family tradition.

They've been different every year and equally awesome! I love this tradition!

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-07T20:39:00.006-10:00

Don't be fooled-I didn't make the gingerbread. I actually bought a pre-made kit from Costco. The girls had a blast decorating them and I did a great job letting them and not being perfectionistic about it. So all in all, it was a success! :)

Cute girls and cute houses!

Architects ages 9-4 did a pretty good job!

Costumes and Candles

2009-12-06T15:46:00.004-10:00

I made Whitney's Christmas Program gown, and the girls have had fun playing with the scrap materials. Sometimes I think they think Brynlee is a doll and can play dress-up with her. :) But she's usually a good sport about it.

This was our countdown to Christmas candle, and Bryn has recently discovered how to blow out candles. It doesn't show her being successful on the video, but she did actually get it. We had to re-light it to get it on film. Isn't she the cutest thing EVER?!

Sandman

2009-12-04T21:24:00.009-10:00

Since we can't be playing in snow, we might as well be playing in the SAND, right?! But we do miss playing in the snow and would LOVE to see some pictures of your snowmen. I'll even post them if you'll send them to me. :)

It was Whitney's idea to add the grass lei.

It definitely doesn't pack as well as snow does. :)

My friend has an adorable picture of her kids similar to this, and I thought I would try to re-create it. But I didn't remember very well how they were set up and the angle so they didn't really turn out the way I wanted them to. But they are still cute.

Laughing at Daddy being silly! They LOVE their Daddy!

We were at the beach another day, and another family had the same idea. Only their sandman was MUCH bigger than ours. We got some good tips for next time. :)

BYUH Lighting

2009-12-01T22:08:00.002-10:00

The girls' school put on a program at BYU-Hawaii for their Christmas lighting ceremony. It was very cute! We video-taped them with our video camera so we could take pictures with this camera.

Whitney was one of the dancers for 2nd grade. She was adorable and did a great job making big movements and facial expressions without any coaching. She's a natural! They did "Jammin' in our Jammies."

1st graders did "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause." And they were adorable!

Bryn's Introduction to Christmas

2009-11-27T14:48:00.002-10:00

We set up the tree while Bryn was napping so that she wasn't in the way and also so that she didn't think it was OK to touch all the ornaments. Her reaction was cute and was pretty good the whole season not touching the tree too much. She liked to touch it softly and then would say, "Ow!" because it was "pokey".

Christmas Has Found Us!

2009-11-26T21:51:00.005-10:00

There is something about cool, fall weather and the cold that signifies the coming of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We skipped out on those triggers so it felt very odd to be setting up our tree. But we did our best to make it feel like Christmas. When we moved here, we had to reduce our household to 6,000lbs to ship across the Pacific, but the Christmas tree was a necessity. If it isn't going to feel like Christmas-it needs to LOOK like Christmas. At least inside.

The first picture Mike took, I was still in my jammies. But I insisted that he take another after I ran and changed. I can't let everyone think I never get dressed!

I love Christmas books and we have a growing collection of them. we set up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and ended the day reading The Polar Express in front of the tree.

Dancing Girls

2009-11-26T13:23:00.002-10:00

Our friends' girls are in a Tahitian Dance class and they were showing us their dance. It turned into a free-for-all dance that even Bryn joined into. It cracked me up!