Christmas 2007

Going to Church on the 23rd

New PJ's

Well its almost over and so far its been a great success. No one even complained that we had a significantly smaller Christmas this year due to a new basement and entertainment system. I definitely think smaller is better. I don't have to find homes for as much stuff this year. We are planning to leave early (yes early) in the morning. We based our decision to go on Friday on the weather forecast from Weds. Now they are predicting the snow is coming Friday (of course). We probably should have just come today, but thought we could use one more day at home to accomplish nothing (you just don't get to have those very often). We are so excited to come and celebrate with you. We love you and see you soon.!

Preparing Santa cookies on Christmas Eve

On a snowy white Christmas eve spreading out our Reindeer food.

Pajamas and snow boots.

Mia is Now 3!!

Mia has now turned free according to her. When she opened her gifts, she found an Ariel costume complete with red hair. Mom made her another dress and I'm sure that she'll be the hit again today!

Preston on the Piano

Preston did an amazing job yesterday at his Christmas recital.

Adin's Stitches

Right before church today, Adin crashed into the banister and gashed his head open. Dad stitched him up. We used his blanket to papoose him and got 'er done. Adin loved every minute of it.

Mia's New Dress

Grandma made Mia a new dress. She loves it. She really loves the matching purse. She loaded it with her "lips" (lip gloss) and her notebook and she was off to church. She received a lot of compliments!

Back to Bethleham

Boy, 4 months of work and finally it is almost over. Almost because mom still has items to put away and we still have the scenery in the garage and will eventually have to do something with it. Nevertheless, we were glad to have everyone except the Richards in attendance. I think it was a good party, I was just too tired to really enjoy the whole evert. Dan was excellent as the Roman and the kids look good in cloth.

We had over 500 people sign the census. What a crowd in the city of David.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Fred!

We got to celebrate Grandpa's birthday early (on Wednesday) since today we'll be journeying to the Middle East. We love you, Fred, and are so grateful for all you do for us!!!

(Ethan's not really unhappy-- he was just staging a "scrooge" face, he told me afterward.)

Happy Birthday

Good morning and happy birthday to the big cheese, head honcho, best Dad and Grandpa, ever. We love you and hope you have a fantastic birthday...at the ward party!

Love and Kisses from Utah.

Sock Hop Photos

I was organizing photos and found this great shot of the Daddy-daughter sock hop we had in our ward this summer. Aren't girls great...Everyone needs one.

It's a Girl (we think)

Derek has now done 2 ultrasounds and we have yet to see any "boy parts", so he's calling our little 22 week-old a girl. (My "official" ultrasound will be done by someone else in January, so we can confirm it.)
Nori was with us when we met Derek at the office after hours last week, and I wonder if she was surprised at our lack of enthusiasm-- I think I still don't believe it yet, and I also feel a little more apprehensive about having a girl than a boy since I feel like I know what I'm doing with boys (eventhough they get out of hand :) ). Nevertheless, we are thrilled at the prospect of evening out the hormone levels in our house!

Last Day in Paradise

You've almost made it through my entire travelog! Sorry to have taken up so much space on the blog, but I was really enjoying myself, and once I started, of course I had to finish. I have come to learn that buying souvenirs like straw hats or silly jewelry that I will never wear again doesn't ever capture the memories that we hope to preserve from vacations, so I've resorted to taking LOTS of pictures. :)
Day 8, North Shore, O'ahu
After we disembarked the Pride of America on Saturday morning in Honolulu, we drove up to the North Shore to go to the temple in Laie and then hang out at Pipeline beach watching the surfers.

Derek couldn't resist the huge, crashing waves as we watched the surfers, so he finally went for a swim. It was like watching a kid play, totally amused by himself. :) I didn't have any energy left and battling those waves looked to exhausting to me, so I watched from the shore while I collected seashells for the boys.

We ended the day back at the Tai-Hooks home for dinner with them and Russell's family.

The trip was a perfect, revitalizing break for both of us.

We decided that the cruise is by far the most economical way to see so many of the Hawaiian Islands.

If (when) we ever go back, it's hard to say which island we would choose-- Maui was our favorite beach-bumming island, Kauai was great for hiking and adventure, and O'ahu offers a great variety. All of them are beautiful-- I don't think you could really go wrong. The big island (Hawaii) was fine, but I wouldn't necessarily choose to go back. Unless my choice was between Saginaw, Michigan, and the Big Island (as Derek just put the question to me), I guess the Big Island would be okay. :)

Thanks to four awesome grandparents for watching our boys-- I think they had so much fun that they didn't have time to miss us!

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific and a secluded beach

Day 7, Kauai

On our last day of the cruise, we journeyed northwest to Waimea Canyon State Park, which is described as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Once again, it was fascinating to explore such a drastic change in landscapes, from the lush rainforest of the Na'pali Coast that we experienced the day before to the dry desert of Waimea (although not quite as dry as the real Grand Canyon.)

Before we had to return to the ship by 2 pm, we spent our last hours on Kauai driving through Poipu, the resort area on the south side of the island. We read in Fromer's about Mahaulepu Beach, which was described as "the best-looking unspoiled beach in Kauai and possibly in the whole state. Its 2 miles of reddish-gold, grainy sand line the southeastern shore at the foot of 1,500 foot high Haupu Ridge...almost untouched from modern life, Mahaulepu is a great escape from the real world." The best part of this little adventure was that we had to take a bumpy dirt road to get there, so Derek really felt like he was getting the "Jeep experience".

Mahaulepu Beach

The highlight of this beach was the walk we took along the shore, to where we came to the orange plastic fence (you can see it in the back ground.) We discovered that the fence was there temporarily to protect a baby Hawaiian Monk Seal which had been born a month before. It was amazing to observe the seal, basking in the sun just 30 yards away from us. Of course I had left my camera in the car :(

A tiny crab that I was amused by on the beach
I took this photo for my Dad as our ship departed the harbor in Kauai, to convince him that next time they go to Hawaii, he's got to go to Kauai, if only to play this Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Our ship journeyed to the North Shore so we could get a great view of the Na'pali coast before heading back to O'ahu, where we would disembark the next morning.

Na'pali Sunset

Hiking through the rainforest

Day 6, Kauai
On our first morning in Kauai, we drove about an hour from the ship to the Na Pali coast. I didn't know until I began my research for the trip how massive this rain forest is and that the only way to explore it is by foot or by helicopter. The first 2-mile stretch of the trail along the coast is designated for day hikers, and if they want to hike an additional 2-miles inland to a waterfall, they can without a park pass. Beyond that, you have to be outfitted for camping. I didn't believe the travel book that described this first segment of the hike as being strenuous and to expect each mile to take 1-2 hours. I figured we take 2-3 hours to do the 8-mile round trip hike to the waterfall and back and then we'd be on our way. Fortunately, we paid some attention to the warning in the book and packed a Subway lunch and enough water, and wore comfortable shoes. We ended up spending 6 hours on the trail, but it was a great adventure and so beautiful that even the slippery, muddy, rocky, steep trails didn't bother us.

A view of the coast (the ocean is on the left side)

The colors of the foliage and water were fantastic! Even the dirt was a distinct red-- my stained socks prove it!
It took us 1 1/2 hours to hike 2 miles to Hanakapiai Beach, where many of the day hikers have lunch and then turn back. A hand-carved sigm warned of swimming on this north shore of Kauai due to the strong undertow that had killed 83 hikers. The pool in front of me was a mixture of the salt water coming in from the ocean and fresh water running down from the waterfalls.

Derek is barely visible in the middle of the picture, at our picnic spot We decided to continue along the trail, inland to the waterfall .

We only saw a half dozen other hikers during this segment of the hike.

It was great! We felt like we were adventurers in the rain forest.

After another 1 1/2 hours of hiking, our destination was finally in sight!

Hanakapiai Falls

The falls were breathtaking...

...and so was the water! We both swam in the cold, freshwater pool, and Derek even convinced me to swim under the falls with him, even though it freaked me out to swim across the pool of unknown depth. He admitted after the fact that that kind of thing freaks him out, too, he just doesn't think about it. Something I never knew about him before!

I read that the falls are about 410 feet high (from where we could see), and then they continue to tier upward for a total of 1600 feet! Amazing!

What made this even better was that there were only 2 other hikers there.

And now, for the journey back! Once we had reached our majestic destination, it was hard to turn back and face the three hour trek back.

We collapsed once we finally reached Kee Beach at the trail head, 6 hours after we had set out on our little adventure. It was awesome! We were so physically spent that we felt like we couldn't have possibly done any more to really experience Kauai.

We were asleep by 8:45 that night.