We went to Hawaii! Day 1

 

 

For our 10 year anniversary we celebrated with a week in Hawaii!

To say it was awesome is an understatement.

This trip will be tough to top.

We started planning way in advance for it.

Like 8 months in advance.

It was so far in the future that it was kind of tucked back in my mind.

When the week before we left actually came it didn't seem real!

I was a mad woman trying to get all the laundry done, clean the house, back our bags.

And of course 2 days before we left Lindi came down with a fever.

I was kind of freaking out because of her last episode with a high fever

and a trip to the ER and no answers.

I took her to the doctor to find out that it was an ear infection.

I silently shouted hooray that that's all it was and I didn't have to play

the guessing game on her sickness.

Sad, I know.

But the next day rolled around and she seemed way worse.

She had a super sad voice and cry that sounded all broken up and scratchy.

A super runny noise and cough...plus her fever was still there.

Just to make sure and calm my fears I took her back into twilight hours.

Our flight was at 8am the next morning and I still had a ton to do.

The doctor reassured me she would be fine.

She had a cold virus on top of her ear infection and it would just take time.

 

I was never worried about our kids care while we were gone.

Marcie, my mom, Casey's mom and sister were all lined out to watch them.

 Sunday morning rolled around and we left bright and early for the airport.

I was trying sooo hard to leave my guilt and worry behind.

This was the longest we have ever left home without our children.

And with a super sick baby, I was dying!!

But of course once we got on the plane I was getting really excited!

 

These pictures were cracking us up!

We are not the best at selfies!

Casey hates getting his pictures taken.

Trying to get him to smile.

 

Awe, a little better:)

We flew on Hawaiian Air which is the way to go!

It is the only airline that still offers complementary meals.

We were served breakfast.

And that was our first taste of aloha for a whole week.

Love me some Hawaiian food!



Getting ready to land on Oahu!!

 

 We arrived at 11:30 am.

We gained lots of time because Hawaii is 3 hours behind AZ time.

We picked up our rental for the week.

It was a cute car. A Chrysler 200.

Makes me wish I could have a small car to zip around in.

 

 We then drove into Waikiki to our hotel.

Deciding on where to stay was hard!

I really wanted to stay on the North Shore.

I love it there and it feels more like paradise.

But the only hotel on the North Shore is Turtle Bay and it is $$$

I looked into renting a beach house/condo but I didn't

 want to end up in a sketchy place, either.

Waikiki is crowded but well known and a popular place to stay.

Plus I figured there would be lots of places to eat,

 get late night ice cream or whatever.

So I started looking up places to stay and that was a hard decision, too!

Finally after reading lots of reviews, asking around I decided on the Outrigger Reef!

There are 7 hotels that are beach front in Waikiki and ours

 was the last one on the west end.

When we pulled up I knew it was a great place!

 

Past the pool you keep walking and this is the entrance to the beach.

To the left is really fun, yummy restaurant called the Shore Bird.

Marcie had told me about this place when she went on her honeymoon.

I had it on our check list of places to eat and low and behold it was

apart of our hotel and I didn't even know it!

 

We were starving so we decided to go in and eat.

It was awesome dining beach side with no windows and the breeze blowing in.

I wish the picture wasn't so glared.

We then walked around the shopping strip of Waikiki for a bit.

It kind of reminded me of Vegas..

Lot's of shopping and LOTS of Asians!!

Holy cow, I didn't know China was that close to Hawaii.

We had to start the trip with some coconut, macadamia nut chocolates.

These things are GOOD!

When you buy 3 bags you get a free gift.

That carrying bag. Ha!

And we ate those 3 bags, GONE!

I wish we had ABC stores in AZ!

And this is us walking and exploring our surroundings.

 

 

We were bushed because of traveling all day and the time change

 so we called it quits and went to bed at 8!

But gear up for LOTS more pictures.

I might have to take this one day at a time.

 

 

 



Easter

 

 

 

 

Usually I walk right past the egg decorating kits. 

Young kids with lot's of  tip-able bowls full of dye, no thank you!

But this year I decided to give it a try.

I figured it would be a fun thing to do during the last

Sunday general conference session.

And when I saw these fake eggs so I wouldn't have to hard boil my

own it was a done deal.

Seriously, they look real!

 

The kit came with a billion dye tablets.

I used 4 then hurried and chucked the rest

before the boys caught wind.

 

It turned out pretty fun.

And you can see how serious egg decorating can be!

 

 

My mom, dad, and brother were in the Easter pageant this year.

We have gone to the pageant for the past 3 years, but only because we would

get a call from my mom saying that she had extra seats saved and wondered

if we wanted them. This year it was my turn to go down to the temple at 4:30 to
save the seats. It was actually quite relaxing and the time flew before 8pm when it
started. I brought a book to read under my umbrella and enjoyed chatting with the lady
in front of me for a bit. We got 7th row in the middle section!!

For April break I met my sis-n-law down at the mall for some shopping.

You might think we are crazy to do that with 4 boys and 2 baby

 girls in strollers...which we were.

JC Penney had a sale that was hard to resist. $10 off $25!

Half way through our shopping my mother in law showed up.

She said she could hear us all the way down the aisle:/

She volunteered to take the boys upstairs for some Panda Express

so we could finish up without getting kicked out of the store.

On the way out I snapped their picture with the Easter bunny.

It was good enough for them.

Later that afternoon we had our big Easter egg hunt with Casey's family!

 

I went a little crazy on their baskets this year.

I was prepared and shopped early, which was my problem!

I kept seeing things I couldn't resist later on

 so their baskets kept getting stuffed bigger and bigger!

Next year  I'll make sure to just make one quick trip to Target Saturday night.

Our Sunday Easter pics kind of failed.

I wanted to do a family picture outside the church but of course we

were late.  Afterwards I got hung up in the halls talking and

 Casey already had the kids loaded in the car by the time I was done.

I'm thinking that was his plan out of pictures ,hmm.

Lindi was hungry and tired so this was the best I got.

 



She cracked me up in this dress.

It was hard for her to crawl in so she did the Mogli crawl.

I wish I would have put a cotton ball tail on her rear:)

 



We had Easter din din at my parents house.

Sweet pork tacos.

We like to be rebellious.

My mom hid some eggs out front for the kids to find.

Then she said she hid a few eggs in the backyard for the adults.

One egg per person. Casey and I were included as one.

We had a fun little surprise with $ inside of them.

Meaning in the range of $5, which was still sweet!

Then Casey got the idea it would be

 funny to take a picture with us holding hundred dollar bills

and send it to a sibling that was not there that night which usually is.

Hahaha, we had her going for awhile!

 



 



St. Patty's, Spring Break, April Fools and more!

 

Casey threw a huge elders quorum party.

It was the week before St. Patrick's day so he themed it around the color green,

seeing how that would be the cheapest, easiest way to decorate.

Are you feeling LUCKY? We played bunco:)

 

 

 Casey is a good party planner.

He pays great attention to detail and wants to make sure everybody will have a good time.

Before bunco we had an AMAZING dinner!

One of his counselor's is a manager over many Chipotle's so he helped

cater that for food plus mini chimi's from Nando's.

So we stuffed our faces then headed over to the bunco tables.

Each table had a bunch of goodies to munch on while playing.

Minus the loser table. They got nothing and had to sit on the little kid chairs.

The winning table got the plush, soft chairs.

 



The YW babysat to help earn money for girls camp.

I went to check on them half way through and I couldn't stop laughing.

It was a mad house! There were toys everywhere and kids running wild.



For the actual holiday I don't do much. No green pancakes or scavenger hunt for the pot of gold.

We did have lucky charms only on default that we have that in our pantry year round:/

I had to snap a picture of my sweet little leprechauns that I love so much!

 



 

Spring break wasn't too exciting. I did try to plan one fun thing to do everyday.

Since our neighborhood pool is heated we swam almost everyday.

We went mini golfing one night.

We went to the zoo on Lindi's birthday, I already posted about that.

And I'm sure there was a park day thrown in there as well.

 



I have to post this because it captures every meal or snack perfectly at our house.

Lindi is a hard core foodie. If she see's or hears of food, she makes sure she is in on the action.

I had already fed her lunch and Rusty wanted a smoothie so of course she screamed and cried until Rusty shared sips with her. The boys have figured out how to keep her quiet real fast... share their food with her!

 My April Fools joke on Casey, hehehehehe.

He will most likely kill me for posting this!

 This got me rolling as well.

We were running late to church.

8 o'clock church blows.

I asked Casey to get Lindi dressed.

And so he did: 

 We went to visit my dad at his work on his birthday!

It's a long story but I have never been to his office before.

My mom brought a bunch of Sprinkles cupcakes to share with his employee's and it was fun to

see who he works with and all that is entailed in his job.

 The One Direction song "The Story Of My Life" runs through my head
 as I think back a few weeks ago.
 Lindi stuck on my hip or crying at my feet while trying to get things done.
TEETHING. IS. THE. WORST.
 I think we are over it.
And she has 4 brand new teeth on top to show for it.

I have a new favorite restaurant.

The China King.

My better half doesn't like Chinese food so
 after the women's broadcast I kinda subtly hinted we should eat some.

 We walked in to a red satin, whole goose roasting in the glass window restaurant
and knew this would be an authentic experience.
 The food was amaz-balls.
 And getting photo bombed by the china king himself made it even better! 

 

Somebody upgraded to a front facing car seat!

I ran in the 5K Rock N Run race.

It was sponsoring the Special Olympics and was honoring my cousin CJ who passed away last month. My mom was there to do the 1 mile fun run.

 And I'll end with the cutest piggies ever.

All of her hair barely fits. Barely.
And I think it ages her instantly.