Summer Games

This year the girls decided to let out their inner athlete and run in the Summer Games in June! We took the month or so before to hit the high school track to practice their running and try to gear up for the big day.

Getting ready to strut their stuff at the SUU Coliseum:

Ahhh, it takes me back to my high school running days.  All those hours spent at the track....

....Oh wait, that was Jacob.

Okay, so the running definitely didn't come from their mother, but I was SO excited for them!  They both ran the 100 and the 400, or 1/4 track length and a full lap.  The 100 went great- they both did AMAZING!  I think I was more nervous than they were!  There was only supposed to be about 35-40 minutes between the two races, but by the time their next race came around it had been almost 2 hours.  Needless to say they were hot and tired.  All of us were.  But they gave it one last hoorah and had another awesome race.  I was so darn proud of them!  They ran their little hearts out and both squashed their practice times by quite a bit.

Here is Allie getting a little prep from Coach Dad before the 400:

All things considered, these two were great little sports:

Allie's crew after the 100.  She is on the left:

Kenna's crew.  Just look for the smallest little lady 2nd from the right.  Don't be deceived by her size- she whooped a few of those girls!

They are still undecided on doing this another year.  I think the long gap between the races was a bit deflating.  But maybe they'll give it another shot.  So proud of you ladies!!

Catch Up

School starts in less than one week.  ONE WEEK.

I have a myriad of emotions about this.

• Emotion #1:  Oh ya, bring it on!  We are ready for a structured routine again! 

• Emotion #2:  Ah crap.  Another unorganized summer down for the record books where I didn't do near the educational activities with the kids I had so awesomely thought about in my supermom mind. 

 

• Emotion #3:  Shoot- am I ready for homework and packing lunches and parent teacher conferences and......

• Emotion #4:  Wait a minute, what?  Am I really complaining?  Didn't I just say I was ready for the routine?

• Emotion #5:  I have issues.

So if school starts next week, that means the summer is basically over.   Which means I have nearly an entire summer to blog about because it took me nearly an entire summer to blog about my Hawaii trip.

So what really have you been up to the past few months, you ask?  Was there a 4th of July?  Trip to Logan?  Family reunion?  Pioneer Day?  Random days at the park?  Camp trips?  TY AND LEXI'S  BIRTHDAYS for crying out loud?!!  Yep, it's all in pictures yet to be posted on the bloggity blog.

• Emotion #6:  Qwitcherbellyakin and just get on with it already!

Let's back up to the end of May when Lexi Lou had her 2nd birthday.  So here's the dealio with birthdays for very small children:  they could care less.  So pretty much since I have 3 others who care greatly about their birthdays and LOVE to be the center of attention for their big day, I decided to be a bit, oh how shall we put it....lax about this one.  Don't you worry- we absolutely love and adore our little Lou Lou.  She is such a sweet little stinker and pretty much makes us melt.  But we'll just give her loves everyday and forget about the hooplah for one day over a cute little lady who could care less.  Do I sound like I am trying to justify?  Perhaps tame a creeping feeling of guilt?  Na.  Hey at least I got one picture of the day.  That's better than none, right?  AND at least I spent a little time making her a cute cake.  Mostly because the older kids cared enough that she have a cute cake.

Still wondering when my baby grew up enough to be 2!?  TWO!

Here are a few more quickies of the summer.  We've been....

Camping:

Four wheeling:

Just a sidenote:  if there aren't four wheelers in heaven, Ty won't go.


Rodeoing:

They sure ran their hearts out to get some money off the wild calf, but to no avail.  In the fiasco of it all, we managed to lose Ty for about 3 minutes.  Thankfully a good Samaritan hoisted our crying child out of the arena and he was safely returned.  It was Jacob's fault.  I would NEVER lose a child.  Ever. 



Swimming:

 Whose crazy children are on all fours with their mouths on the filthy ground?  Geez, some parents I tell ya.  They should be called in.  Once again-  Jacob.  I would never....

I have a feeling there soon may be a new author on this blog.  I'm about to be ousted.

Sprinkler Systeming:

 Three words for you:  

worth

every

penny

 
Don't you worry, there is plenty left.  Let's just say this is Documentation of Summer 2014 Intermission....

Hawaii, The End.

So how do you feel about me taking nearly 3 months to get our Hawaii trip blogged?  Well, I'm getting tired of it, personally, so it needs to be done and done.

Without further ado, I give you our last full day in Hawaii:

PEARL HARBOR

I'm trying to figure out how to explain the whole Pearl Harbor experience.  The whole thing seems so unreal to me.  To be there, standing, in the exact spot that saw such horrific devastation is almost overwhelming.  It was so difficult to try and picture it all.  Although December 7, 1941, "a date that will live in infamy" was years ago and there are so very few left who were actually present on that day, the grounds are still held in great reverence.  

A few pics-

This is outside the Visitor Center:

We got our tickets for the USS Arizona Memorial, but had about an hour and a half to wait for our turn so we toured around the grounds for a while.  Looking at the different artifacts and such:

This is the USS Bowfin submarine, but I am too cheap to spend an extra 12 smacks a person to go inside, thank you very much:

Here is the anchor for the USS Arizona:

And to show you the size of it, here is Jacob next to it:

This is inside one of the Visitor Center buildings:

This is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that I really loved:

"Dear Lord/ Lest I continue/ My complacent way/ Help me to remember

Somehow out there/ A man died for me today./ As long as there be war

I then must/ Ask and answer/ Am I worth dying for?"

The tour out to the Arizona Memorial starts in a small movie theater where we saw a clip about the attack on Pearl Harbor.  We then loaded on this boat to head out to the memorial:

This picture shows an aerial view of the memorial.  The top horizontal part of the ship was removed, but the main part of the ship remains under water exactly where it sank, in relatively shallow water.  

They are very particular that visitors remember to be extremely respectful and reverent while out at the memorial.  After all, it is the burial place of over 1,000 men.

The ship still leaks oil.  The day before the attack, it was fueled to the max with nearly 1.5 million gallons of fuel.  There is an estimated 500,000 gallons of oil left.  I was flabbergasted to hear that.

Being at Pearl Harbor was really amazing.  And humbling.  So grateful to have been able to go.

After Pearl Harbor, we stopped in one last time at the swap meet at Aloha Stadium to make sure we were covered in the souvenir department.  After that we checked into our hotel for our very last night in Hawaii.  It was right next door to the gargantuan Ala Moana Shopping Center, so we headed over there for dinner and to shop around.



Here are a few more shots of downtown Honolulu that simply reinforced our decision to NOT stay in Honolulu the majority of our trip!

   
The next morning started bright and early as we headed to the airport to drop off our rental and hop our plane back to the mainland.

Jacob and I keep saying that it all just seems like a dream now!  Memories to treasure, for sure.

And there you have it.  Hawaii is DONE.

But certainly not forgotten.

Something to Remember

Just a quick insert that I will love to remember someday:

This afternoon I asked Ty to take his shoes out of the bathroom.  He didn't want to be bothered with the extra time so he told me he would leave them there because I could wear them when I grow little.  Oh how I love it!

There are times and events in my life I want to freeze frame.  I want to be able to take moments and seal them up forever.  When my kids are going to college, I want to dig into my vault and sit on the couch again while my sweet little innocent 4 year old boy snuggles up to me.  Or pull out the time when a smiley little 2 year old runs up to me to give me a big kiss, and then watch her sweet little happy body run off to go down the slide again.  Step back in time to watch little girls in their own world of pretend.  

This past weekend I finally got to meet my newest little nephew.  He's 4 1/2 months old now, but I so loved being able to give him snuggles and kisses.  There are moments I would love to pull out the times I sat rocking and snuggling my own little ones when they were teeny tiny newborns.  Those times are beyond priceless.  Granted, my kids are still so little, but my goodness they change quickly. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE watching my children grow and progress and I really don't want to go back.  But to have that brief moment, and to feel that amazing feeling again would be so incredible.  I try to enjoy every moment and want to remember as much as I possibly can.  I want to take all these memories and use them as stepping stones.  One on top of another to create one amazing lifetime.  Perhaps this is why we are told so often in the scriptures to remember.  Not just forgetting what we should be doing and losing our perspective, but to remember all the wonderful we have done and have been part of and to keep adding onto it.  Use it all as a force for continual growth and progress.  For sure as a mother, it's those things that keep me going.  Those joyful moments that make the not-so-joyful moments all worth it.

And that's just my little insert for the day.
                                              
Oh, and just for the record, no- I'm NOT baby hungry.   

PCC

I LOVED the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Hence, I have a ton of pictures.  But lets be serious, Hawaii needs to be done and over with and I haven't done a Pearl Harbor post yet.  I will try to make this quick.

Here was the rundown for the afternoon.  We checked in where we were put with a group who became our "family" for the day as we toured around and such.  We then toured around the 5 different islands that make up the Polynesian triangle.  Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, and Aotoera (or New Zealand).  By the end of the day, Jacob had more than had his fill of saying "Aloha."

After all our tours, we went in for our luau dinner.  Yum.  Then after dinner we had about 45 minutes on our own to finish up touring around and getting ready for the evening show.

And that my friends is the rundown.  So now here are some pics.


Hey, Jacob, is that you?!  Oh wait, you wore a shirt today.  Nope, not you.

A brief synopsis of how to get a coconut.  Easy peasy:

When in New Zealand, do as the locals do and get a tattoo:

I was a little disappointed it didn't have my name inside a heart.


During the tour, they have a little river show that highlights the 5 different cultures.  Loved it.

My favorite part of the afternoon was called the "drum show" that was done at either the Samoa or Tonga stop (memory fails).  The man who was the star of the show was absolutely hilarious.  They also called 3 men up from the audience to be part of the show who were really good sports.  I haven't laughed that hard for a long time!  Everyone who worked there was so fun and incredibly witty- they kept us laughing and engaged the whole time.  You can't help but fall in love with the island culture.

   
The grounds were absolutely breathtaking!

The luau dinner- bring on the pork!

Hey, Brittney, is that you?!  Oh wait, nope, you wore shorts today.  Stunning resemblance.

During the luau they called up a few different groups of people who were celebrating birthdays, etc. while there.  When they called up everyone celebrating anniversaries, I was so excited and had to literally DRAG Jacob up on the stage.  That very day was our 10th anniversary!  YAY!  Poor sucker even had to dance with me while we were up there!  I LOVED it!  Jacob endured. 

After dinner we hit the evening show.  Jacob didn't like it as much as I did, but it was still a great way to end the day.  This is when we were getting ready for the show to start- they were pretty tight about no photos during the show, but here is a shot at the auditorium where they do the show:

These two were our tour guides during the day.  They were so wonderful.  Ben and Meme (Maymay).  My absolute favorite part of the PCC is how it is actually run.  I bet the majority of people who go through have no idea it is run by the Church.  The majority of people who work there are students attending BYU-Hawaii who come from the actual islands.  They do a work study deal where they work there to help pay off their college education.  Then they return home to their islands to help continue to educate the people back home.  Meme was from Samoa.  (Or Tonga, dangit, I forgot).  There are many other cultures there, like Ben who is from Asia, who also get to help out.  I loved it. 

A long day, and we were definitely tired when we got home, but a perfect anniversary!

Anniversary Part 1

We decided our actual anniversary day would be the day we would go to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We didn't start the PCC until noon, so we took the morning to stop in at the Kualoa Ranch.  The ranch has been raising cattle on the island since before WWII.  It has a bunch of acreage along the benches on the southeast side of Oahu.  They still raise cattle, but also have become a fairly big tourist stop that offers horseback riding and a few different tours.  Their land has been used for a bunch of different movie sets, so we took the movie site tour.

Getting ready to load:

  We are actual movie stars.  They really should have paid us to come:

This tree stump was used in Jurassic Park.  Roar.

And a bunch more movies were filmed here yada yada but all the pictures look similar.

After the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the government seized a good chunk of the ranch's land for military stuff.  Among a bunch of random stuff, they built this huge bunker straight into the mountainside.  It was flanked with 2 huge guns that could shoot out an insane distance (which I have forgotten, of course).  They were never actually used.  Have no fear Hollywood fans, it was finally used many years later when it became the famous "hatch" from the TV series Lost.

And that's Kualoa in a big nutshell.

This is a random picture I have to add.  We passed this tattoo shop every day, and every day we passed this mannequin that was put out.  We affectionately called her, "Tatty Patty."  I really should have gotten a picture with my new ink friend.  But I would hate to make her look bad.

After this we headed over to spend the afternoon and evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center!  I was so excited for this.  I have loads of pictures.  So I'll gear up and hopefully finish this Hawaii trip soon....

More Hawaii

Monday was our day to hit the beach.

For memories sake: 

 Nothing like spending Cinco De Mayo in Hawaii!

 First water stop was at Shark's Cove to do some snorkeling.  My first ever time snorkeling!  Here is a shot at the cove from up on the bank:

 I admit, at first glance I wasn't quite so sure of this place.  The water was really shallow and I didn't think there was anything to see.  That was until I actually got under.  It was SO FUN!  It took me a bit to get used to breathing through my mouth with my head under water.  I'm glad I was somewhat alone, it must have been pretty funny watching me hyperventilate while I got used to it!  Jacob and I both got a good laugh at each other trying to get used to the snorkel gear and fins.  But pretty soon we got the hang of it and found out there was a bunch of great fish to look at.  Granted, it wasn't a coral reef teeming with a bunch of tropical fish, but I still loved it.

After a few hours here, we decided to head up to the popular surf town of Haleiwa to check things out:

 

A stop in Halweia is not complete without this:

A snow cone from Matsumoto's!  And oh my it was de-lish.  Check this baby out:

 Complete with vanilla ice cream on the bottom and condensed milk on top.  I might be drooling now.

After lunch we headed to Waimea Bay.  Not sure if it was the time of year or what, but the waves were HUGE!  The best part was just sitting on the beach and watching people get crushed out in the waves.  Congrats to the random Hawaii tourists who got on this blog:

Take note of the lady in the green bikini in the left of this next picture.  She gets credit for the BEST beachside entertainment of the day.

 While playing out in the waves her bikini top came undone.  She tried her best to keep it up, but every time she tried to stand up to get out of the water, she got stuck in the thick sand and the waves crashed her down again.  We all got the giggles watching her- including her!  It didn't help that her bottoms got full of sand and water so she could hardly get up.  Her husband/boyfriend had to come to the rescue to get her out of the water without exposing everything!  What a good sport.  Yet another reason you should avoid bikinis.

I tiptoed out a bit, but didn't get too adventurous in those waves.  We decided to just kick back and enjoy the view.  And get burnt:

 Pretty much Jacob has two colors: white and red.

After Waimea Bay we decided to stop in at Turtle Bay to try snorkeling one more time.  The water was a bit deeper and little more rough in this area so we didn't stay in the water too long.  We found some lounge chairs to lay in for a while then decided to head back and call it a day.  And maybe stop at the store for some aloe.  With lidocaine.