Dance Performance

We decided to put Addy in a little dance/gymnastics class this year.  She is constantly dancing around and doing tricks so of course she loves it!  They had their first little performance at a basketball game in Sugar City.  She was so excited and did such a good job.  They dance to the song 'No more monkey's jumping on the bed'  so their costumes are little monkeys.  Pretty fitting for her personality.  She'd been practicing lots but I wasn't sure how she would do in front of lots of people.  Turns out she is a natural performer.  Too bad the phone wasn't actually recording like we thought it was so we have no evidence of her awesomeness.  Hopefully next time we can capture it.

Scone Sunday

We have truly been blessed with some amazingly good friends!  Every stake conference we get together for what is now called 'Scone Sunday'.  We fry up over a hundred scones and then spend the afternoon eating them.  Many times we have some pretty good laughs and this was no exception.  

Ward Christmas Party

This year for our ward party they'd planned a Night in Bethlehem.  It was so much work but it turned out to be really neat. They asked everyone to dress up so I snapped a quick picture on our way out the door of my two favorite people!

Getting Prepared

This year Mitch decided it was time for us to get a little more prepared.  So he went out and bought lots of food storage.  The only place in our house big enough for it to all fit is our closet. He got quite a work out hauling all those boxes up the stairs.  They were just a little too heavy for me to carry in my pregnancy state.

Letter to Santa

This year I thought it would be fun to write a letter to Santa.  Originally I was just going to have Addy draw a picture to mail.  Then I found some printable letters online and I just thought I would help/write the letter.  Turns out this girl can write all on her own.  I would write the word on a different piece of paper and then she would copy it down on the letter.  I was amazed and so proud of my grown up girl!

This year Addy asked Santa for a barbie, book, necklace and jewelry box.

The candy bum!

This little gal can seriously crack me up.  One afternoon I let her pick out a couple treats and a few minutes later she comes over so excited because her candy has a bum! "It has a what?" was my response.  "A bum" and then she turned it around so I could see and I cracked up.  It did indeed have a little bum.

(and yes we were still eating Halloween candy in December and yes we may still be in our jammies in the middle of the afternoon!)

Tithing

Someone was a little excited for tithing settlement this year!  Addy was old enough this year to understand a little bit more about why were going in to meet with the bishop.  We explained a little bit about tithing and it didn't take long before she was pulling out her bank so we could count her money.  Then we helped her fill out a tithing slip and she couldn't wait to give it to the bishop.  If only we could all be that excited!

Hawaii (part 2)

Wednesday morning we woke up to rain and lots of it but we had to finish our loop around the island.  Thankfully we'd packed our umbrellas so we set out for the farmers market in Hilo. On the way we saw a sign for the macadamia nut factory tour so we decided to check it out.  It wasn't anything too exciting but we did get to sample lots of chocolate covered nuts and buy a few too.  

Sadly, I have no pictures at the market but that is where we bought pretty much all of our souvenirs. Then we started our tour of the waterfalls. This was Rainbow Falls.  

It was so tropical and green on this side of the island.  I couldn't stop saying how beautiful everything was.

Then we found the biggest tree ever!

We tried to swing from the vines but dang it just hurt your hands.

We came across a gorgeous scenic road on our way to the next waterfall.  I'm so glad we choose to take it and I really wish the pictures turned out better.

Akaka Falls which is the islands most popular waterfall and for good reason.

We then headed up north to the Waipio Valley lookout.  Our original plan was to drive down and hike over to another waterfall but it was getting late and we were tired so we opted to just enjoy the view and those pictures are on the phone.

Thursday we decided to relax a bit and spent the day at the most beautiful beach.  I can't remember what it was called but the water was so blue and the sand was so fine and white. It was heaven to me!

In the evening we went down to the pier for dinner and to wander through some of the shops.  Mitch made many friends on our trip but this was one of our favorites!

Friday we drove back up north so our friends could zip-line and we went to the Pololu valley overlook.  Once again we were planning on hiking down to the ocean below but it started raining which made the trail too slick. So we just drove over to another beach and huddled under a pavilion and watched some crazy buggy boarders ride some huge waves. 

Later that night we went snorkeling with the manta rays.  It was ridiculously scary and I almost puked over the edge of the boat but it was also totally worth it.  They have to hold onto this circular thing that shines lights down into the water which attracts food for the manta rays.  When they come up to eat it is amazing at how close they get and every time I would scream into my snorkel and Jake would start laughing.  Such a crazy experience.

Saturday we headed down to the Last Refuge. On the way we stopped at a place called Geo's and Mitch got a dessert crepe for breakfast!

Later that afternoon we'd heard about a great beach but to get there you had to drive over all the lava rocks.  Good thing we had our trusty jeep.

I could seriously be a beach bum!

That night we went back down to the pier for a fancy dinner at the Fish Hopper.  It was so yummy.

The next morning we had to check out of our condo so after we were mostly packed, we headed down to rocky beach one last time.

Then stopped at a local farmers market for a few last minute things.

Then spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach.

We cleaned all the sand off us as best we could at the restroom and then headed to the airport for our flight home!

I still can't believe that we actually took this trip.  It feels like a dream sometimes and whenever I need a happy memory this is what I think of.  It was so wonderful to take some time away from our every day life and responsibilities.