Monday, November 7, 2011

Happy Halloween 2011


Pumpkin patches, playing in the leaves, carving pumpkins, dressing up and getting lots of candy. That pretty much sums up our kids' vision of Halloween time.

Getting ready to pick out our pumpkins

Hay bale maze where we all played tag

Giant pumpkins at the pumpkin patch

Azure LOVED the inside of the pumpkins and helped everyone empty and refill them the whole time. McCoy on the other hand would not even touch the inside, thanks to an Annoying Orange video of carving pumpkins.

Beth: flower, Chad: manta ray, Boston: Bowser from Mario Bros, Kayden: humuhumunukunukuapu'a'a, McCoy: Oogie Boogie, Azure: Elmo

Playing in the leaves with our friends, the Lewis family

Trick or Treating at a house turned into the Haunted Bridge

The CANDY
McCoy was Woody the Saturday before Halloween when we went to a few events and then he wanted to be a skeleton for trick or treating.

It was a perfect Halloween and Azure is still calling anything scary "the RAR".

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hawaii - need I say more?

We were lucky enough to spend a week in Hawaii in October with our oldest son, Kayden and Beth's parents. Chad's parents came to Utah to spend the week with the 3 youngest boys and Aunt Cara came from Arizona to help out as well. It was a fun week for all! Here are some of our highlights from the big island of Hawaii!

SNORKEL and BEACH
As soon as we set foot in Hawaii, Kayden was asking when he could go swimming. Our first stop was to get snorkel gear and then we headed to our hotel and the lagoon there for his first try at ocean snorkeling (he'd been practicing in the swimming pool all summer). This is the view from our room where Chad and Dad were reading and sleeping and Kayden was snorkeling.


He was a champ from the beginning and we all couldn't stay out of the water from that point on. We swam with MANY turtles and beautiful fish.

The best snorkeling in our opinion (although it was really good all along Kona area) was near the Place of Refuge, called Two Step. Below is the from the Place of Refuge and then Kayden swimming with his first of many turtles.

MANTA RAY
We wanted to take one chartered boat trip and we let Kayden choose from a few different trips. He chose to snorkel at night in this bay where giant manta ray gather to eat plankton. This was a trip I will never forget!! They came belly to belly with us and were so graceful. The picture below is the ray going to belly to belly with Kayden and Chad is on the left and my mom on the right.

Because it is the newest island (thus the live volcano), there are so many types of beaches: green sand, black sand, mixed black and white, white, etc. Here's Chad at the black sand beach.

LUAU
We went to our resort's luau one night and all loved the dancing show and the food. Here's Kayden when they took out the pig.


TEMPLE
We were able to go to church on Sunday at a ward that met right next to the Kona temple. Then on Tuesday, Chad and I did a session at the temple in the morning and had breakfast together.


VOLCANO
We spent a day at the volcano. We were able to go to the lava tube and then hike across a flat bed of lava from the 50's for 4 miles. We saw the crater active with gas all day and then stayed until it was dark, so we could see the glow of the crater at night. Remarkable place!!!








HILO SIDE
We went to the Hilo side of the island for a day where there are lush rain forests and gorgeous cliffs and waterfalls.



KAYAK
On Friday, we rented a kayak and Chad, Kayden and I took it to Captain Cook Monument and snorkeled there. It was so fun to be out in the ocean and is so peaceful and clear there to snorkel.

This is a picture of the sign at the place where we rented kayaks. The nicest man owns the property and rents out kayaks, but some crazies try to come and take his business. The sign was a fun joke on the trip.


GOODBYE
We went to numerous beaches, wandered around Kona quite a bit, drove everywhere on the island, but gave you just a snapshot of our adventures. We also slept wonderfully and the weather was PERFECT!!

This is Chad and Kayden saying goodbye to Hawaii (for now anyway) and boarding our plane home from Kona. Amazing vacation!!


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Layton Marathon 2011

Chad ran the Layton Marathon on October 8th with 3 of his siblings: Brendon, Breanna and Amberlyn.

Brendon finished first of the 4 of them and 10 minutes after him came Chad. Breanna finished next and then Amberyln. Even though he didn't have an official number, Amberlyn's husband Nathan was with her for the last 7+ miles.

The boys and I traveled around to each running, cheering them on and getting to see each of them a few times along the route and then at the finish. It was a proud moment for them!!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Just being kids

Kayden is on the swim team now and practices are 2 hours long. There have been a few times where we have just decided to spend that time playing at the park near the pool. Life isn't all about the big events and trips and since that's what I've been blogging about most of the time, here are some fun moments at the park.

the 3 youngest

my cute Boston

Azure - love it!!

McCoy at an art/sculpture area downtown when visiting daddy for lunch

Kayden during practices at his first meet. I did not get good pictures of the actual competitions, but he really enjoyed himself and loves swimming.

State Fair Yee Haw

We made our annual trip to the fair. We worked out deals and prizes this year to where we all were able to get in free and only had to pay for 1 of the 4 wristbands. Tradition of course is also going to the all-you-can-eat ice cream for only $3 a person! The kids may be throwing up after (not this year thankfully), but we sure did have a kickin' time!

Dreaming of actually growing pumpkins, let alone big ones

Is Kayden really this big? He still enjoys himself!

Azure and McCoy riding the tractors

Boston caught a fish! (this is a favorite every year)

All-you-can-eat ice cream and toppings and ice cream bars

One of the many rides we ventured to. This one they all did together.