Christmas Eve

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

Thanksgiving in Shorts!

Thanks to the Kimballs for organizing a fun and super yummy Thanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday night. It was delicious and fabulous company! No pictures though. :(

This has been a year of firsts for our family, including wearing shorts on Thanksgiving Day. To help us not miss family, we decided to try some new traditions and I think this is one that will stick. We had a great time hiking the Ha'aula Loop Trail. Other than me getting attacked by a dog, fun was had by all.

The whole clan. It was a first Thanksgiving in Hawaii for our friends too, so we decided to spend the day together. They have five adorable girls and ours have fun with them. Mike and Adam felt a little outnumbered!

You cross a stream a few times on the hike. This picture was taken shortly before Kenna crossed, missed the rock and landed right in the stream. Oops!

There were so many patches of different kinds of trees all in the two-hour hike. It was amazing and beautiful!

These needles turn white-ish when they fall so the girls thought it looked kind of like snow. That's the closest we'll get to snow here, I guess!

At the top of the loop. Bryn protested the wrap so Daddy ended up carrying her for the whole hike.

I was hoping it would open up so we could see the whole ocean, but it never did. This was the best I got. There were too many trees. It was still beautiful though. On one side of the hike, there were a lot of green trees and in the middle was one tree with orange blossoms. It made me think of how we were all made different to complement each other and don't need to try to be like everyone or anyone else. The trick is to be able to see and appreciate everyone else's blossoms (and our own too)!

Pumpkin Pies

Teresa started a girls club and for November's cooking club, she taught the girls how to make pumpkin pies. They each got to make their own pie, fluting the edges and everything! I was highly impressed! Whitney and Kenna were so proud of their pies! And they were delicious! (We had already eaten Kenna's when I remembered we wanted to take a picture.)
Thanks, Aunty Teresa!

Eating in Style

What a goofball! Is anyone wondering if she's my only child? Looking at the past few posts, I think Whitney and Kenna might be feeling like I like her best!

Surrogate Mom

This is my adorable friend, Kelsey (Teresa's daughter). Teresa took a last-minute mainland trip that happened to fall on the weekend of Kelsey's first girls' choice dance. I had the privilege of playing mom (aunt) for her getting ready for the dance. We talked and laughed and I helped fix her hair. I loved it and was honored that she would ask. I had a great time! It took me back to some fun dances I went to in high school and visions of the future helping my girls get ready for dances. I hope I can be a good mom for teenage girls and be good friends with them. Kelsey and Teresa have a great relationship. I continue to watch moms with their girls, taking notes, in hopes that I will have that kind of relationship with my girls as they get older.

Backyard Jungle

Our backyard has needed some attention for awhile. There is a little bit of grass, but right now it's mostly weeds. We keep weed eating, planning to spray for the weeds, but then don't and it becomes a jungle again. But this time, we're really going to do it!

I'd call it a success! We used some weed killer and it's done a pretty good job. Now we just need to let the grass fill in. We would plant seed, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get the chance to grow before the chickens got to it!