Jon & Amy's Family

Better late than never....

2011-05-06T14:06:00.001-07:00

Webster Family Activites

Finally got around to getting the Easter festivities on: so we will start by doing the Webster side (these are for you Stef) Each year my mom and Stef put together an Easter egg scavenger hunt. The kids each have their own clues and search all over the yard and house. So here's Jake starting with his first clue...

Bailee reading her clue, she has started loving wearing baseball hats, so the only hats that we have that fit kids are Curtis's baseball ones-hence the White Sox, it really should be Yankees but we are working on that

Kenadee getting some help from Erin...

These two when they are together are inseparable, she likes to boss around and he loves to take it. Wish he would listen to me as well as he listens to his cousin. Maybe I should take advice from her

Curtis and Great-grandma working together

We also celebrated all the April birthdays, so that includes our little Jake, he just loves to get presents

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

each year our neighborhood puts together an egg hunt and you don't have to participate if you don't want to, those that do sign up and then we get a map of the homes that wanted to participate, the kids love it!

Kenadee finding her some eggs, because we always need more candy lying around the house

My handsome little man...who isn't so little anymore

Jake on the prowl...

Family Egg Dying Time

Kenadee working on her master piece..

two little goof balls....

and no matter what we tried he did not want to wake up to decorate eggs, he fell asleep at 6pm so I let him sleep until we were ready, woke him up and put him at the counter and he kept falling over, so finally he got down from the counter and walked to the couch and went to bed for the night

The finished product...

Easter Morning

Here's what the easter bunny brought the kids, here is the boys pile

and here is the girls pile

We had some eggs stuffed over from the neighborhood egg hunt that we left out and lo and behold the easter bunny hid them, so the kids on their way to find what the easter bunny hid

Jake getting all excited that he was able to find more eggs and more candy

Bailee in her easter dress

Curtis in his....what a handsome devil

Jake can't hold still long enough to look at the camera, so we just go with the flow

Kenadee looking all adorable in her clothes

Wight Family Easter Sunday

We went on another egg hunt, and yep you guessed it....more eggs and more candy. After the hunt we ate dinner and then the kids all went out and played games.

Jon helping Jake being the monkey in the middle

While we were there we also celebrated Jake's birthday, you could say that his birthday goes all month long-lucky kid!!

That's the end of our easter celebrations, we had some great fun and are grateful for everything that we have, and are grateful for the true meaning of Easter.

My baby is 4.....

2011-04-14T12:36:00.001-07:00

Everyone keeps asking me if I am sad that my last is now 4, and at first it was kind of weird, but not sad, more excited to be moving forward. That is until I came across his pictures of his birth and now I can't believe that my little 3 lb 7 oz baby is 4. It really seems like a blink of the eye and 4 years have just disappeared. Here is where he started, born 8 weeks premature, he only stayed in here for 2 days because he was getting to hot. Good sign for such a small baby, NEVER on oxygen, he was always able to breathe on his own, another good sign! So now all we had to wait for was for him to learn how to suck and eat!

He loved binkies from the beginning, even though it was bigger than his face.

His little hand curled around my finger, I am still in awe that this was MY baby...

Jake was always trying to put his hands in his mouth, but he ended up never sucking his fingers, we were lucky there. So after 2 1/2 weeks we were able to bring him home...a whole 4 lbs 4 ozs of him. He has been a fighter from the day that he was born and still to this day gives us a run for our money...but we wouldn't trade him for the world!!

He went from that little baby to my curly haired, adventurous, fun loving little man.

Since he was born during spring break that means more than likely we will be camping, we got a trailer his first summer and have had one ever since, so his birthdays have been while we are camping. SO this is his birthday:

He loves video games, so we went with a leapster (a little learning while having fun), action figures and being outside. He got some firemen and police action figures to go along with his.....

Firehouse that turns into a backpack so he can take it where ever he goes!!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

We love you very much...

Since his b-day fell on Saturday this year and we left Wednesday we did his cake when we got home. He is such a simple kid that all he asked for was chocolate cake with green frosting!! I think I hit the nail on the head with this one.

Getting ready to blow out his candles....

huffin and puffin with all of his might....

Enjoying the fruits of his labors!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Spring Breakin.....MOAB style

2011-04-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

We decided to head to Moab for spring break, hoping for warmer weather-well we didn't find any warmer weather but we still had a great time!

We headed down with my dad, my Uncle Leon, my sister's family and the Drapers (friends of the family-grew up with them)

Bailee's hanging out trying to keep her lunch from blowing away and in the background is my Uncle Leon (dad's brother). We like to pack up our lunches and some snacks and head out and explore with the rangers, jeeps and four wheelers, we love it!!

The boys (Curtis, Hunter & Mason) all found a great place to eat their lunch, and sitting on the rock actually kept you warm!

the 3 musketeers-Bailee, Sage & Kenadee-I am so glad that I live by my sister that our kids could be able to play with each other and to form the bonds that they have with each other. They decided after lunch to hike up the mountain...

Friday was soooooo COLD that we decided that we didn't want to go out riding in that weather so we drove into Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. SO here is a portion of our group and we were bundled up as much as we could. Here at Dead Horse Point the wind was blowing SO hard it felt like it was going to carry you off the point.

My girls playing games around the fire, at least they were getting along. It is always hit and miss with them.

If you can't tell that is Kenadee all bundled up, and when I say bundled this is what I mean: long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, mittens, hat, fleece jacket & rain jacket. Good thing I planned for bad weather!!

This is all my kids and my sisters kids: left to right-Hunter, Curtis, Bailee, Sage & Kenadee

in the front-Jake, Paxton & Jade and believe it or not, all of these kids get along so well!!

Loving it

How Jake eats a marshmellow, not sure if any got in his mouth!

3 musketeers again, usually if you find one you find them all, and usually coming up with some crazy game!

On the way home, I had to put this picture in because that is part of his birthday present that he got while we were camping. He is our spring break baby, and so when I was asking him what he wanted for his birthday all he kept telling me was to be in the mountains!! Don't know how long that will last, he did ask to go on another zip line like he did for his 3rd birthday, but none around...maybe next year!!

Thanks for all the wonderful memories everyone, we had a great time!!

Boys WILL BE boys...and you gotta love 'em

2011-04-14T11:42:00.001-07:00

Well this is how he looked right after, but it all started the night before we were to head to Moab for spring break. My boys were downstairs playing and you could hear them wrestling and so to be honest, I tune it out, well all of a sudden I hear a blood curdling scream and run down the stairs and hear Curtis say he's bleeding (at this point still not to worried the boys are ALWAYS getting bloody noses) so then I come around the corner and he is holding his head and there is blood everywhere. So I run to the bathroom-throwing the girls out of the way in the process and grab some toilet paper and rush back to Curtis. So this picture is the end product so scroll and down and see the beginning.

He thought that he looked pretty cool with the head wrap and the camo pj's. He ended up wearing this all week to keep all the dirt and sand out of his wound.

The doctor decided to just do staples and so here we are right after the staples got put in his head. This isn't what hurt, the numbing shot is what really had Curtis hurting, but once it was numb the dr put in the staples and Curtis asked when he was going to start and they were already done-thank heavens!!

Picture quality is not that great, this is at Wee Care and so I am just taking these with my phone. This is the before the dr. came in to have a look, so I took some photos for Curtis to be able to see what it looked like since he couldn't see it.

GROSS-but I actually kept my cool, mom mode kicked in and I handled it (thank goodness for mom mode, because I HATE stuff like this)

All in all Curtis was quite the trooper, and he loved showing off his staples to everyone!!

Scenery to DIE for....really

2011-03-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

Queens Bath

Probably one of the most beautiful and amazing places that I have seen. I have to say that these pictures are NOT FROM ME but from a friend who just happened to be in Kauai the same time we were and I asked for his permission to copy these (I didn't take my camera down to Queens bath when we were there so I didn't have any pictures of this place) plus he has an amazing high tech camera (professional) that takes way better pictures so here ya go!!

In calm seas which we didn't have since it is winter you can swim in this hole and just be right next to the ocean. You can imagine in rough and high seas that the waves would come crashing right down on you. Mind you this is lava rock...need I say more?

This place is truly amazing, and when we were there some locals boys were putting on quite the dare devil act. I will try and explain, but I am sure I won't be able to do it justice. Now on the left hand side of the picture it is a good ways down to the water and they (boys) would jump off head first straight into the water, and then swim across to where the larger waterfall is coming off the rock and stand on a ledge that is there. Now on the right you see a couple of different levels, well they would stand with boogie boards on the top level (right side of pic) and wait for a huge wave to come barrelling in and it would come to the top of the shelf and they would jump out and ride the wave down all the levels. Usually they would disappear we thinking they are dying and then the force of the water would shoot them to the top. Truly amazing, we sat and watched for probably 30-45 minutes. I think the boys like all the "tourists" watching them. I just wish I had taken my camera to record video-oh well I will always remember it.

More of queens bath, just beautiful!

I already posted this from MY camera but when I saw Matt's (guys who's pictures these are) I had to have a copy, I love lighthouses and the way the clouds are in this is just beautiful.

Jon and I didn't go on the helicopter ride well because to be honest 1-it costs way to much for me & 2-I always get sick in little helicopters/planes, so there again couldn't justify paying for it when I know I get sick!

This is a view from the helicopter that both my parents and Matt and his wife went on, and again I just loved this picture. We went along this coast in a boat, but from the air is just breathtaking. This is the Na Pali Coast

Thank you Matt for the amazing pictures!!

Another Hawaiian Adventure....

2011-03-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well as many of you know we got another chance to go to the beautiful island of Hawaii. This last summer we lived on Oahu while Jon was finishing up the temple in Laie. In November we got to go back just the 2 of us for the dedication of the temple for a few days, then we were invited by my parents to go to Kauai the end of February, so we took it

(without kids I might add)

So here is the start of our latest adventure, side note, I have never been to Kauai!!

On Sunday we went to church and then drove around and saw some sights. This is called Wailua Falls, you don't have to hike just drive right up to it. It was beautiful and amazingly enough it is a 173 foot drop to the bottom. We stayed at the top!!

Here is a better view from the top....

We also went to another waterfall (this island has tons of waterfalls) that we could drive to so this one is called Opaeka'a Falls. It was so dirty and you can tell if you look close at the falls, it had been raining a ton-raining like I have NEVER seen it rain before!!

Mom & Dad

Jon and I-see I am in some pictures :-)

We went out on a zodiak raft to go whale watching-AWESOME-highly recommend it, anyway as we were heading out a huge pod of dolphins came over to the boat and starting swimming by us. We saw about 60-70 dolphins, it was soooo cool. I have never been that close to a dolphin in its natural habitat. I got to go to the front of the boat with my dad and lean over the edge, it was quite the experience

more dolphins....

This one was right out in front of the boat, can you tell that I just LOVE dolphins?!?

The captain actually had a guy on the boat with us that took pictures, so as much as I would like to claim these pictures as mine, I cannot. Ever time I would try and take a picture it would make me sick to my stomach as the waves got bigger and bigger, so we bought their disc of pictures which was the way to go. So in the front and working our way back in my dad, Jon, ME and my mom!!

One of the many waterfalls on the Na Pali Coast that you can only see from boat or helicopter.

The Na Pali Coast line, it was absolutely beautiful!!!

the guy standing up front with the camera is our Captain-Capt. Chris of Na Pali Riders. Here is a better view of the kind of boat that we were on. You could get up close and personal with the dolphins and whales, as you will see in later pictures.

Here is a momma whale and her baby that were practically swimming right next to the boat.

We would spot the puff from the whales blow hole and then head in that direction and then just stop the boat and wait for the action and boy did we see the action on this one. What HUGE and beautiful creatures they are.

Same whale jumping, just so you know that is the fin and the head out of the water (when I first saw this one it looked like it was jumping with it's mouth open, not the case)

the splash as they come down-huge!!

Captain Chris-great boat captain, and he loves what he does for a living, he still after soooo many years of taking people out still is fascinated by these creatures.

That lump in my jacket is my camera-that is how I would try and keep it dry when I wasn't trying (key word there) to use it

A female laying on her back with both pectoral fins out of the water, we were told that the female will lay on her back and slap the water with her fins to attract the males to her. The whales come to Hawaii for one purpose and one purpose only-to mate!! Not a bad place...

Male diving, when we would see this you know that they are going deep and take quite awhile to come back to the surface-this is how the males "show off" for the females

Mom & Dad at Pu'u o Kila Lookout-or as most people know it as "Hawaii's Grand Canyon"

One of the many beautiful hawaiian sunsets, this one happens to be at Spouting Horn, which I kept referring to it as Sprouting Horn-hehee

Still at Spouting Horn and there was this amazing hole in the lava rock and the waves would come under the lava rock and fill up this hole and then it gets sucked right back out, not exactly a place that you would swim in, but awesome to watch!

Spouting horn and a blowhole that it the wave was right would shoot water clear up into the air. Must say this is quite a beautiful shot, must of just got lucky

We went and bought Jon a boogie board, because frankly it was cheaper to buy one and have it in the car all the time, than to rent one. I am not sure if he caught this wave just right or if it curled on top of him, but the picture is cool.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE lighthouses and yet I have never been to one up close, well now I can say that I have. This is the Ninini Lighthouse and we drove right up to the front door. This was also a great place to sit and watch the whales-which we did for a little while but then it started to rain really good so we left!

Another boating adventure completely different from our last adventure. This boat had an awesome bathroom on board and we could eat and drink (diet coke for me) all we wanted and we had a BBQ lunch on board. So here is me and then my mom & dad sitting just on the other side

Me standing at the bottom of the stairs to go up to the steering wheel-amazing views from up here!

We also had the opportunity to actually use the sails, which again I have NEVER done. This trip has been a lot of firsts for me.

Thanks mom and dad for a great vacation and adventure we loved it!!!

Our new addition....

2011-03-10T17:11:00.001-08:00

Meet the newest member of our family.....Indy

our 6 week old yellow lab

and he has already been loved beyond measure!!

Jake and Bailee quite excited about a puppy. Bailee has been asking for one for quite some time, but I just wasn't sure about another dog. But I am a softy when it comes to puppies and lets be honest babies and since I can't have anymore of the last I guess we will settle for a puppy!

Kenadee can't get enough of just petting him

INDY

already as much a part of the family of Buster (our 11 year old yellow lab)

We love you Indy and are glad you are a part of our family!!

My BUG is 10!!!!

2011-02-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well my little girl is not so little anymore-she is officially 10 years old today. Where oh where have the years gone??? And am I really that old to have a ten year old?!? Sometimes I think-ya and other times I think-I am not old enough to be the adult, but we don't tell her that part. Well my goal is instead of trying to catch up from everything that I have missed, I am just going to try and post when an event happens (and with my new computer it is sooooo much better, and easier) but anyway on to the CELEBRATIONS!!!

Bailee decided that for her friend party that she wanted to go to BUILD A BEAR WORKSHOP which we have never been to so I said alright. So because school was out Monday we decided that would be a great time to go. She got to invite only 6 friends plus her sister. Which in my opinion was the perfect number of girls. So here we are getting ready to stuff our animals, I gave them a price limit and then the girls could choose where they wanted to spend their money!

Bailee chose a bunny, we ranged from bears to bunnies & dogs.

Showing off her stuffed bunny!!

Running low on stuffing so we got to fill the machine!! That was pretty cool :-)

Getting ready to catch our hearts and give them some love. Got to kiss the heart and put them inside our animals!!

Each choosing a plaid heart, solid red heart or a heart that said "I love you"

Once it's stuffed and heart inside then you seal up the back and get to "wash and fluff" before picking out an outfit

Bailee picked out an outfit, a little wig and a cell phone for her bunny

Left to right: Mindy, Kaitlyn, Emma, Jocelyn, Hailey, Kenadee & Bailee

our group & what a great group of girls!!

Bailee's finished bunny in her cute little outfit!

Then after Build a Bear we headed back to our house to open presents, I am only posting one of the presents but she got some great stuff!

Singing and getting ready to chow down on cupcake and cake!!

The girls all had a cupcake and Bailee got the cake in the middle, then after she had a few bites she let the other girls help her devour the cake

Before:

After!

Morning of her BIRTHDAY-today!! That's why her hair isn't done, rule have clothes on ready for school before breakfast. Bailee had her whole day's menu picked out: breakfast-french toast, lunch: Subway (today at school was the birthday table, so I joined her for lunch) & dinner: hamburgers with cheesecake for dessert.

I made her wait to open presents until after dinner when her dad was home. So here she is before:

Halfway thru-capris and two shirts

A remote control helicopter, she has been asking for a puppy for her birthday so this is what she got instead. She has wanted one since Curtis got one for his birthday while we were in Hawaii-so she at least got something that she wanted!

Singing and blowing out candles before getting to enjoy the not so great looking-falling apart cheesecake. I have serious problems with making cheesecake, it just doesn't work for me, but it still tasted great!! So that is the birthday celebrations-Happy Birthday Bailee bug we love you very much and are so happy that you are a part of our family!!! LOVE YA

Our LAST and final AdvENtUReS!!!...wk 7

2010-08-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

August 15th-21st

warning: this is LONG (but it is our last week)

I can't believe that this is our last and final week. The weather didn't really cooperate with us that well, but we still ventured out and had us a great time. We even had the chance to go into Haleiwa with Jon for work and while we were there we stopped and got us an amazing shave ice. The kids (3 older ones) and I even got to go to the night show AGAIN over at the PCC. It even seemed better the 2nd time, because the guy from Samoa (the one who cracked open the coconut and made milk) did firedancing. Let me tell you he is good. I was so glad that he happened to be firedancing that night so that we could see him. If you haven't gone to the PCC it really is worth the trip.

This is one of our favorite beaches, because every time that we have gone we have pretty much the entire beach to ourselves, and I'm not just talking about a little beach but it is maybe 1-2 miles long and great sand and waves. It is called the KOKOLOLIO STATE PARK. I have loved watching the kids get more adventures in the waves. I can't believe that we have been able to have this adventure as a family, I just hope that they will always remember this. The other great thing about this beach is that it is only 3 minutes from our house (by car). Jake just jumping up AGAIN after getting rolled over by the waves. It just doesn't seem to affect him, he falls over and over and just gets right back up and goes at it again. He seems to really love it, and I love to watch him. I am really going to miss that part of Hawaii.
Sometimes the waves would get so big at the breaking point that they would go over the kids heads and they would jump and try not to get pounded by the water. Believe me when I say that you get POUNDED. I was out with the kids swimming just past the breaking point where you can just ride the waves WITHOUT getting pounded and we were headed back into the beach and I wasn't watching the waves and a HUGE one came in and totally took me out. All I remember is just rolling in the water not knowing which end was up. Thank heavens that the kids had tubes around their waist and just rode the wave in, I wasn't so lucky.

Crazy little water bugs! When we go to this beach just plan on spending about 4 hours just hanging out in the water and sand. I can't believe how fast the time flies when we are at the beach. I could really spend the whole day just sittin in a chair watching the kids, if only they didn't have to eat!
The kids get so sandy when they just play in the waves right where they are breaking so if I get in with the kids I go beyond where the sand is. If you look at the water notice the brown water (LOTS & LOTS of sand) just beyond is the blue water and that is where I swim.
Is it bad that I could just take picture after picture of this crazy curly haired little man? He does some of the funniest things, when he is in a good mood. Catch him without food or sleep and watch out! But we still love him, and the other kids just love to TAKE care of him (when he lets them)

The kids would jump out of the water and plop right down in the sand and start building all sorts of things. Their favorite was pretending that they were cooking and making pies and muffins and cakes. Favorite is soup...you can just imagine lots of sand and water, but it kept them happy and busy. What more could I ask for?!?

Who knows what game these two had come up with-just as I was figuring out what they were playing, they would change it up on me. I pretty much stayed out of it, unless I needed to test their cooking.

This time at the beach Kenadee didn't go in the water at all, she spent 4 hours just playing out in the sand. She did make some amazing cakes, with decorations and everything. I see a great chef coming out in her...so far as long as it involves sand!!

Here she is making one of her creations!

Jake trying to make a cake and carry it somewhere!! He was just a grunting trying to carry it, what a muscle man!

Her creation is done and doesn't it look great?!?

The waves were getting a little big and so Curtis and Bailee would lift Jake up and help him jump over the waves. They had a great time just a giggling and all.

Celebrating over something!

Still playing in the sand, I don't know how she kept herself busy the whole time, but she did!

Same beach-KOKOLOLIO-different day and this time Kenadee decided that she wanted to swim. Again we spent hours here playing. This is the day that I actually got pounded in the waves, I just told it earlier.

Can you surf on a boogie board??? Well Curtis is sure giving it his best shot, but the minute that the waves would hit him it would knock him off his board. He sure loved it though!! I sure caught that wave just right, it is starting to curl over, it kind of gives you a glimpse of the size of the waves.

You would think that I would have enough of them playing in the water, but I don't, each day they get a little more adventurous and get better with handling the tug and pull of the water. It is amazing how you can learn to handle the waves.

Bailee didn't seem to care where the sand was while she was busy playing. The sand never really seemed to bother her in the least either. She figured out just the right type of sand that you need to build just the right sand castle, too wet won't come out of the bucket, too dry and it just falls over the minute you take the bucket off.

Two cuties just taken a stroll along the beach. All of the kids (Bailee, Kenadee & Curtis) were so good with helping keep on eye on Jake. The biggest problem was actually fighting over who Jake's favorite was. He could really get them going!

We were finally brave enough-thanks to my mom-to stop at one of the many shrimp shacks on the side of the road to try the shrimp. About 10 minutes from where we were living are tons of shrimp ponds and when they say fresh they really mean fresh. Take it out of the pond and cook it. While my mom was there she was the one that wanted to stop and try the shrimp so on our way to Sunset beach (with mom) we stopped and picked up a plate of butter garlic shrimp. I have to say it was really good, the girls even liked it. The only thing is that we had to peel the shrimp, but it was really good. So anyway we (me and the kids) stopped again and this time we tried the coconut shrimp-it just seemed fitting-well it was good, but the butter garlic was better.

So here they all are giving it a try-I even got the boys to try it. They said it was OKAY! At least I got them to try it.

SHARKS COVE

A couple of days before we were leaving we had our daddy come home from work early (4:30pm) and take us to Sharks Cove. If you have never heard of this you really should. It is awesome, better than Haunauma Bay-fish wise about the same but FREE and you are completely protected from any waves. It is beautiful at the same time. You are in a cove (hence the name) and you have reefs all over and in some places it is deep and others you can touch which was nice for the kids. So we would snorkel and then let them rest. They didn't have anything to float with, they just had to swim. These 3 little ya-hoos got tired of snorkeling and so I took them back to the beach so that Jon and Bailee could keep snorkeling.

Beginning of the sunset. So this is part of the view of Sharks Cove. That hill looking thing is the back of the cove so the waves crash against that and it keeps the waters still in the cove. You can be standing in the water and just look down and see fish swimming around you. I loved it, and so did the kids.

Jon and Bailee snorkeling, and a better view of the wall of rock.

A little inlet that when the tide started to come in you could watch the water rush in, still no waves though! You can swim all around these rocks, it was great.

Coming up to adjust their masks and spouts-is that right?!?

Eating cheese-its and playing in the sand-sounds like a great combination doesn't it?!? Then rinsing his hand off in the bucket.

Kenadee just being a tease-what a cute group of kids.

We can be friends!!

More and more snorkeling.....

Just another pretty shot of the sun starting to go down.

Hanging out in the water, they were dancing at one point together. We got there around 5pm and we pretty much had this place to ourselves. Which is what I wanted it just makes it easier to keep an eye on all the kids. Morning and afternoon at this place you can't even find a place to park or put your stuff. This is a very popular place to learn how to scuba dive. That is the next thing that the kids want to learn how do to!! Sound like a great idea to me.

You just won't find a pretty place anywhere if you ask me!

I think that is Jon and Bailee right there in the middle of the water. If not it still is a pretty picture.

This for sure is Jon and Bailee coming out of the water, it started to get to dark to see the fish. So they got out, it really is the only way to get Bailee out of the water.

This is my favorite picture of the sunset! It is shimmering off the water and then the rocks, I just love it.

Trying to get the kids and the sunset all in the same picture seems to be a challenge for me (or my camera) can't decide which. Now I have proof that they really do like each other, even if sometimes they say that they don't!

I like this one too! The colors are just amazing. You really just have to keep shooting once it gets to this point or before you know it is is done and gone.

My little muscle men! Even in the matching swimming suits.

Another shot of the sunset! I just can't get enough of these.

You can't see them very well but the kids were all standing there just watching the sun go down. You have to look really close to see their outlines.

What little cheese balls!!! But they are MY cheese balls and I love them to death.

Jon told them to each do a pose and this is what we got!

It was our last morning there and I was getting up early to get ready to head to the Aloha stadium to go to the swap meet and I walked outside and this is the view that greeted me. I just love that you can see the rays of the sun trying to peek thru. It was a stormy day that day, but the sun was givin it its best shot.

I was just standing in our front yard, man am I ever going to miss mornings like this.

Before we left for the airport we decided to take the kids to the visitors center and have a look around. Since this is as close to the temple grounds that we could get. We could go into the parking lot of where Jon was working, but weren't allowed out of the car. So this is as far as we could actually walk.

The great sister missionaries came up to us, and offered to take our picture, so it is a rare occasion when we are all in a picture together and this is really the ONLY ONE so enjoy.

Well that is it for our summer! We are on our way home and heading back into the real world with school and all that that involves. I can't believe that it has gone by this fast. It was one of those great experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life. Just our little family all alone together in a small house and only each other to rely on. I am forever grateful for the chance that we have had to do this together as a family. I am forever grateful that I know that my little family is TOGETHER FOREVER!! I love all of them very much!! Thanks for such a great time together-love ya lots!!

Trains, planes and submarines....week 6

2010-08-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

WEEK 6-AUG 8th-13th

On my mom's last day we decided to head into the city and go to Pearl Harbor and tour around down by Honolulu area. We went to our sacrament meeting and then went to our place and had lunch and then headed out. We drove for about 45min-1hr and then we get there and we missed the last boat. So we walked around and looked at the submarine (didn't go on because that costs money) looked at all the names of the soldiers lost at sea, looked at the missiles. We even watched the night before Pearl Harbor so that the kids could get some kind of a glimpse of what it would have been like, so needless to say they were a little disappointed. In the middle of all the sites is this huge map and so Jon came up with one of his great games. He had the kids stand back and he would pick a place on the map and see who could find it first. They played this game for about a 1/2 hour. People would just watch them play, and one guy even helped Curtis find a city before the girls (he said he could never win because he was at a disadvantage-which he was, he can't read) We couldn't even go thru the visitors center because right now it is closed and going thru renovation.
Kenadee trying to get a lead over Bailee. I sat in the shade just watching and if Jake wandered off me going to find him. The kids and Jon (I might add) had a great time, me to sitting in the shade. Again very hot, but it is Hawaii, so I can't complain.
PUNCHBOWL CEMETARY

This is a very interesting place. It is beautiful, and quite moving. I will give a little history about this place: Since 1949 it has been used as a cemetary for those in the military who sacrified their lives in the Pacific. It is built inside the Puowaina Crater and between the entrance and the large statue that you can see are the graves of over 45,000 men and women. It really is a moving place, there are row after row of headstones. In addition to these graves you will find over 28,000 names carved into the walls. If you look to the left you can see some of the walls that these names are carved into. The trees are all shaped into wreaths, and the large trees up top on each side of the statue are shaped into a large heart (5 trees). It is 112 1/2 acres. The 45,000 that are buried are known and recovered. The 28,778 ,were NOT recovered but were identified, are either MIA or lost or buried at sea. When you see the names carved into the stones and you see how many stones there are it is really humbling to think that they sacrified their lives for us. These are men and women from WWII-Korean-Vietnam wars.

Jake having to get his pose in before we could climb the steps to the top.

This picture doesn't do this statue justice it is HUGE, and below it is a quote from Abraham Lincoln that he wrote to the mother of five sons lost in the Civil War. It reads: "The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom." It just seems so fitting to be put at this sacred place.

This is the view from the top of the stairs, so if you look straight down towards the flag pole, you can't see them but there are row after row of graves. There are tons, 45,000 to be exact. One of those things that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't be able to picture it.

There is a road that you can follow and go up above the cemetary to a look out point. Before heading up we stopped at the bathroom, and Jake decided he needed to take a little break so he layed down on the grass to rest. What a cute little stinker!

Up top from the Punchbowl lookout. That mountain range that you can see is Diamond Head. I don't have the desire to climb that with four kids straight up hill with a bunch of steps. Maybe we can come back when they are older and do that.

View from the other side of the lookout-looking out over Waikiki. It was so beautiful!!

This is the view looking down into the crater at the cemetary. That white building that you see to the left is the top of the Punchbowl Cemetary and then it steps down each level and that is where the walls are with the 28,000+ names are carved into stone. Another beautiful spot!!

This is the amazing view from one of the lookouts on the Tantalus Loop. This 10-mile-long road wiggles and winds up the mountains through a pretty forest above Honolulu to the 1,610ft level. The drive is beautiful and amazing. We stopped at this lookout for a brief intervention with Bailee (she was having a melt down) I was glad that we stopped so that I could take this picture.

We were on our way back down the loop and came upon the Pu'u Ualaka'a State Park. You drive to the end and get out and walk about a hundred yards to this lookout point. It was pretty crowded and a guy was smoking right out at the end so we didn't hang around to long, but before we left we got this picture of the kids and Diamond Head in the back (that blue is actually the ocean and then the white is the clouds that were in the sky) Does it get any better than this?

I got a quick shot of the other side of the lookout before I couldn't handle the smoke from the guy smoking up a storm, I just love this shot, it shows the absolute beauty of Hawaii.

This kid will do anything for a picture, so he grabbed my sunglasses and started posing with them. Good thing he is such a cutie, that is sometimes all that saves him! We really do love this kid tons and tons!

The kids and I decided to take a drive to the DOLE PLANTATION. The kids liked the train ride, we were told it was two miles and well it probably was-1 mile out and then 1 mile back on the same track. It gave a lot of good information about the pineapple but I am not sure it was worth the $8 for adults and $6 for kids. Good thing that the kids liked it. If they were any older, it probably wouldn't have gone as well. This is them getting on the train.

The girls sitting in front of the boys and I. They hate it when people ask them if they are twins, but man they really good be.

I gave the camera to Bailee and she did pretty good, but this is why I am not in ANY pictures, it took a long time for her to get this shot.

Well how about a few fun facts about the Pineapple: they take 35 months to grow, only two pineapples grow on 1 plant, it takes 1 man (who knows what he's doing) to plant BY HAND 10,000 plants which is a 1/2 an acre of land. Keep in mind that they plant hundreds of acres of land-mind boggling that it is all done by hand, if you put fresh pineapple in a marinade it tenderizes the meat, and if you eat pineapple right after your meal it helps to digest the protein in your system easier. Anyways after planting by hand the pineapples are then, when they are ready, are picked by hand by men that have to wear heavy duty clothes so that they don't get scratched and cut up while walking down the rows to pick the pineapples. They are then placed on this machine that then they go thru them and check them and then place then in boxes to be shipped out. Now I know why pineapples are soooo expensive, yet they are so good. We have definetly eaten our fair share of them here. We can cut up one whole pineapple and can have it gone in 1/2 hour. We eat a lot!!!

Here is a closer shot of the conveyor belt that they put the pineapples on.

The grounds are beautiful and they have lots of different varieties of pineapples planted. We liked these ones because they are red, and the leaves are really pokie and sharp.

You can't leave the Pineapple Plantation without having their pineapple whip. I gave in and got the kids these souvenoir cups that had the pineapple whip and pineapple juice in them. I REALLY liked it, but it didn't go over very well with the kids. We ended up throwing a lot of it away, I didn't want them to ride home in the car with juice and ice cream. It didn't seem like a very good idea and I was right-just walking to throw the ice cream away Curtis spilled it all over himself. Good decision on my part, at least it wasn't in the car.

So here is each of the kids with their treat-

Well another week down and maybe only 1 more to go. Going to check on seeing about changing our tickets and if it is to much then we will come home. Although I am not ready to come back to reality, but I guess sooner than later we are going to have to. I am just so grateful that we were able to have this chance. The kids have had to learn to keep themselves busy without the Wii and friends. They have had to learn that they can have a great time with each other, I have loved to watch them come up with different games to play or ideas to keep them busy and happy. I have also learned that we don't need a lot to be happy, we have actually survived in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house and are still alive. It is not the stuff that we have that makes us happy but the people that are in our lives to share what we do have with each other. I am very grateful for my husband and kids and wouldn't trade the world for them.

Hold onto your hats....round 2 of week 5

2010-08-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Started out the week of Aug 1st-7th with new haircuts, the girls hair was getting out of control with all the swimming and the goggles tangling up there hair, so we went to the little haircut store here (that is the actual name of the store) and got their haircut. Bailee's picture didn't turn out so good, so we only get Kenadee's picture. I absolutely love the new look, and it does so much better in the water-we don't have all the screaming when it comes to combing out their hair. Now if you will remember the story about the two lizards that we lost in our house when we first arrived you will appreciate this. It all started when the power went off for over an hour and so to let in the breeze we pulled open all the shutters so that we could open the windows and this is what we found. Let's just say that he didn't have all the spunk that a normal lizard has, I actually felt sorry for the poor little thing, so we took him outside and put him on the grass and instead of bolting for a hiding spot he just sat there. We had to keep touching his belly to get him to get up and move into the bushes. So hopefully he survived!
Now if anyone out there knows what this next picture is of-we would be happy to know. We (the kids & I) were hanging out at "our" beach-I call it that because usually we are the only ones on it-anyways we found 4 of these things on the beach. There are really small about the size of a quarter and slimy looking and every now and again it would curl in upon itself. I don't know how to go about finding out what it is.

My mom got in Wednesday night and so first thing the next morning she wanted to go and see "our" beach. I just sat back and let her wander the beach with the kids. They were so excited that somebody actually came and visited us, it was a nice change.
This is called the Laie Point and it is beautiful. It is right across the street from the grocery store up to a dead end. A lot of people go to this place to check out the sights, we can see "our" little beach from this point. Just hanging out and lettin the time pass until we can go to the PCC.

Another shot from the point. The waves crashing up and hitting the rocks was beautiful, there were a lot of people out fishing off the point.

See I am...in a picture. I am not used to seeing me in pictures, I am always the one behind the camera (which in truth is actually the way I like it)

I wish I could tell you which country this was, but I can't, there are all amazing so it doesn't really matter. They are both playing the "conc" shells. I don't know if I spelled that right, but this is what they would blow before a big event to let me know it was getting started, and then they would beat a huge log and scream "GO TO CHURCH" How would you like that every Sunday morning?!?

Here we are at another country and we are getting the kids passports signed-which is a great ploy on the PCC's end. You get these passports stamped at each country and if you get at least 4 you take it to the gift shop for a free souvenir. Now it sounds all great and gets the kids excited, but guess where you have to go to get your free souvenir-if you guessed pass all of the shops until the very back of a kids store then you are right. Smart!!! Anyway, that is my ramble for this post-the kids are also getting "tattoos" put on their arms.

Here's each of the kids showing off their tattoos, they thought that this was great. Here is Curtis showing his awesome tattoo off...

Kenadee showing hers off...

Jake-can't even hold still enough to get his picture taken-yet he always wants to see the picture when I am done taking his.

Bailee showing hers off...

Another country and they invited all the kids that wanted to, to come up front and dance with them. They put the girls on one side and the boys on another. It was fun to watch the kids try and learn the different dances. So here is a picture of the girls learning to dance...

And if you look really close (both of my boys have red shirts on) you can see the boys learning the dance. Jake didn't stay up there the whole time, but Curtis did. He even looked like he was having a good time. Sorry the picture isn't that good, the sun was coming right thru the windows.

Time for the Canoe Pageant: This is my first time actually getting to wander around and see all the different countries and the canoe pageant. Just for future reference, get a spot in the shade or have it at your back but bring an umbrella with you. It was sooooo HOT we actually started to melt. We had some really great seats, although we were in the sun, it was at our backs but it was still HOT. We sat on the side of the river where they would introduce each of the canoes and play the music. Perfect placement to see everything.

Here is AOTEAROA ( New Zealand)

SAMOA

The Samoan canoe paddler actually fell off his canoe. I don't know if he did it on purpose, it didn't look like it, but he fell. It was actually quite funny!

FIJI

HAWAII

TONGA

NOW this is my favorite. The way that these ladies can dance is amazing and pictures don't do it justice. These are the ladies that can really SHAKE those hips. This is TAHITI

The kids giving it swing at trying the swinging balls. I don't know what these are actually called, all I know is that there look easy to do but they aren't. I remember as a little girl my Grandma & Grandpa Webster having a couple of pairs of these in their basement for us grandkids to play with, I never could get my hands to come together and keep the balls moving without it getting all tackled up. Jake was actually asleep at this point or you can probably guess he would be in the middle of throwing balls around.

I remember that this was in the Samoan country and they had these games that would test the strength and agility of the upcoming warriors for their country. They would watch how quick you were, or if you could remember the order of things that they would ask you. It was really fun to watch the kids.

We sat and watched the kids for a really long time, because it was in the shade and it was SOOOOOO HOT. Jake was asleep and so we could sit and enjoy without trying to keep him happy. He gets really ornery when he gets tired and nothing can keep him happy. You gotta love him though!! This game you would hold a stick and let go and move to the right or left and grab that stick before it fell to the ground. They (the kids) would do pretty good and then the guy would throw them for a loop and tell them to go the other direction.

Another shot of this game, it was hilarious to watch the kids try and get the stick before it would fall over.

What an angel. Notice I am saying this when he is passed out in the stroller. I sure hope that he remembers some of this summer.

Another one of our favorites to watch was the guy that would climb to the top of the coconut tree, he was so fast and before you knew it he was at the top.

This country did a kids show after they did the show about the country. During the kids show they again invited the kids-that wanted to-come up on the stage and learn another dance. I was glad that my kids wanted to go up, they are each holding half of a coconut in each hand. They would dance with these coconuts. The pictures don't really do this dance justice. It was hilarious to watch the kids.

The guy teaching them is also the guy that would climb the coconut tree. He would pose on the tree and let me tell you he was ripped, the guy announcing the show said you could look like him and the program was called the "COCONUT 90X" and that would be funny if you know P90X. Jon actually has the program, so I got a kick out of it.

More dancing!!! Curtis was the funniest to watch he was really giving it his all. The girls have better rhythem and were picking it up easier. They don't get their rhythem from me...

I don't even need to say anything but he (guy teaching) should have been on NEW MOON he would definetly have fit in.

I love to watch these kids, it just makes my day to watch them having these experiences at their age.

Here is the picture that I was talking about him staying on the coconut tree and posing, you should have heard all the women screaming, and no.. I was not one of them (only because my mom and my kids were sitting right next to me)

This little man was amazing-he is 9 years old and he is already learning to be a fire dancer. I can see now why the firedancers are sooooo good, they start at such a young age.

This guy was hilarious, my mom thinks that he is the same guy that was here when she came ten years ago. He was always making jokes and you could tell that he just loved doing what he was doing. Here he is showing how they used to make fire...it can really happen.

This to me is amazing, he is actually going to crack this coconut open with just a rock and his hand. If I didn't actually see it I would think that it couldn't happen.

Hitting at just the right spot!!

and there you go, he has two halves of the coconut. This is something that I learned I always thought that when you opened a coconut it was the coconut milk, but I was wrong. It is actually coconut juice, and then to get the milk you have to get the meat (the white stuff) in the coconut out and squeeze it. I have pictures so keep going...

He has this wooden bench with a saw on the end, and he sits on it and rubs the coconut over and over it and the white "meat" comes out. If you look erally close you can see the white flakes falling.

Then he takes the hair off the coconut and he put the "meat" the white stuff into it and then he just squeezes it together. Again if I hadn't seen if for myself I wouldn't have believed that it could actually happen. I have actually gotten quite fond of coconut milk. Instead of milk in smoothies we have been using frozen fruit, pineapple juice and coconut milk and let me just tell you it is amazing. It is my new favorite thing, sure hope I can find it back home. I even used coconut milk in our mac and cheese tonight because we ran out of milk. I didn't tell the kids until they already were eating it and telling me how good it was, then I told them. What we mom's do...Anyways back to him making coconut milk, look and all the white stuff running down is coconut milk. AMAZING!!!

This picture was supposed to be in front of the one above it, I don't know why my pictures are getting out of order, but this is when he has the "meat" in the coconut shell and getting ready to squeeze it.

This guy really put on a good show, if you haven't seen him, you really should make a trip and go watch him. He really made it interesting to watch. He did the kids show also and then we stayed for the bigger show about the country. I just wish I could remember which country. Oh well it was all good. More coming up in the following couple of weeks. Who knows when exactly why we are coming home, sometimes I don't want to come home, and then other times I actually miss back home and all our friends and family. We love you all and we really do miss you!!!!

So much to do-in such a short time....week 5 AGAIN

2010-08-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

Now it gets into my pictures from my camera-and I took a lot more than my mother! So these pictures are starting at the Polynesian Culture Center THURSDAY night at the night show and go thru Saturday night. We packed a lot into 3 days so be forewarned this is going to be a long post and that is why it is being broken up into two parts. This is part 1 so enjoy.

The PCC has had the same show for years, since the beginning, but don't quote me on that. This last year they changed the night show and at first it was quite the controversy until people saw it, and well lets just say that it is awesome, and this is how it starts: They have 2 huge screens hanging up and it plays bits and pieces of a movie and then goes into the live action.

The show is called HA-Breath of Life, the story is about a family and they have to leave their home and end up having a baby and the story follows this little boy as he grows up and goes to different islands and learns their ways.
They do such an amazing job, the kids really got into it, and that is saying a lot.

This is the "baby" at the beginning that has grown up to be a man and how he has to prove himself.

More wonderful dancing and performing, I just couldn't get enough, and I don't have to. Let me explain, if you can prove that you are living here, residents can get a season pass for $25 and that gets you-free parking, admission cost, and we can go see the night show anytime we want as long as their are tickets available. Great price, to an amazing place.

I took so many pictures of the night show but this is a great way for all of us to remember. I took even more of these amazing firedancers. I could actually watch a whole show of just them. The kids thought that this was the best part also.

In this show they had a lot more fire dancers than last time. It is trully amazing to watch what they can do with fire sticks.

The wedding of the young man, and the girl that he has been trying to impress.

Don't know how they got out of order but the fire dancers were supposed to be all together. This is amazing, really I just can't say enough about it.

More and more!!!!!

and you thought that I was done, but I had to show all six of them doing their thing!!

We had to take grandma to the beach and show her how great our little beach is, and how great the kids have gotten in the water. I love this picture, it was so great to have my mom here for a few days.

Now these are the greatest things ever, we have gone a couple of times to get one. Have you heard of Matsumoto's?!? Apparently anybody whos everybody has heard of these. Well the line at Matsumotos is HUGE and a couple of doors down is a place called AOKI'S and it is exactly the same. Now not only is the shave ice amazing, but their little secret is that they put ice cream in the bottle. The flavors are even more amazing, I could have one of these everyday, but it is about a half hour drive away, so we don't go very often.

On the way, is this beach that the sea turtles love to visit. So on our way back home we saw that the turtles were on the beach so we pulled over and got ourselves a picture of the big turtle. There are sea conservationists on the beach to protect these amazing creatures. So they rope off around them so that you can't get to close to them.

SEA LIFE PARK

Which is a VERY small version of Sea World, but the kids enjoyed it. As you are walking in they have this aquarium here that you walk around and it has tons of fish, sharks (little ones) and sting rays. The kids loved to watch everything.

DOLPHINS-as a kid I had this dream of growing up and being a dolphin trainer, well we all know how well that has worked out and yet again as I was sitting there watching the dolphins I had that same wish. I could move to Hawaii and do this, I really am going to miss this place.

More dolphin tricks! Took a ton of pictures of these beautiful creatures.

Just a few more pictures of the dolphins. Notice in the background...yep that is the ocean. You sit in this stadium, and as you watch the show you get an amazing view of the ocean. View-good show-and a great breeze.

The trainer is surfing on the dolphin!

Beautiful, beautiful-love these animals, one day I will get to swim with these amazing animals.

We kind of had a bad seat, we were right behind this pole, and so I couldn't always get the best shot of the dolphins jumping.

What a bunch of cheese balls, but I had to get them and the ocean behind them. How many kids do you know that get to have this great of a summer. This is an experience that we will never forget. Well maybe Jake, it will be one of those things that as the kids are talking about it or looking at the pictures that he will see himself but probably not remember to much of it.

This dolphin was in a different take and it was closed down, but the trainers still had the dolphins perform it and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to watch. Just couldn't get very good pictures because of all the construction stuff and poles in the way. Still great to watch.

Last show of the day-the SEA LIONS-now if you are talking about a short show this would be it. We sat and saved our seats, in the shade, longer than the whole show took to put in on. It was only 10 minutes, but it was still a good show. The kids again were laughing and loving it.

This SEA LION was pretending to be on Mission Impossible so it was pretending to be sneaking around.

This sea lion was pretending to be a ballerina!

Just doing her turns, as a pretty ballerina.

SUNSET BEACH-again

We love to go to this beach and play around, and watch the amazing sunsets!

Jon playing some crazy game, with the kids. He always comes up with the greatest games, and the kids just absolutely love to be playing with him,and that he actually will take the time to come and play with us every now and again.

Another beautiful shot!!

Just a different shot with a different setting. I can't decide which one I like better. So I put both!

Pictures are getting out of order, this sea lion is saluting goodbye!

Well stay tuned, for the rest of the week coming up, whenever I get a chance with Jon's computer. Remember I only get this when he is actually home. Which this week hasn't been before 8pm. The big wigs have been here and he has been working a little over time, that is why he is so great at his job, and we love him for it. Well gotta run, I am falling asleep sittin here.

and the FUN keeps rollin' in for another week...wk 5

2010-08-09T23:37:00.001-07:00

Well here we are again another week, and only 2 more to go. I really can't believe that it has gone by so fast. We get home in 2 weeks and then the kids have to go to school. This has been the greatest summer that we have ever had or will probably ever have. It has been quite the experience, and one that I wouldn't miss for the world. This is just going to be a sample of this week, these pictures are from my mom's camera, who came to visit us this week. We loved having her here and we really kept her hoppin'. So here it goes:

This is Jake's way of applying sunscreen by the time that he was finished his little face was completely white, and we had to rub it in to get the rest of his face.

We were heading to the PCC (Polynesian Culture Center) so before if opened we (me and the kids) took my mom to Laie Point and it was beautiful. See the rock with the hole in the middle of it? It was created by mother nature on April Fools Day in 1946 when a tsunami literally punched a hole through the island. If you catch the weather and waves right it crashed right thru the middle. On the day that we were there the waves weren't crashing that high. I am going to keep trying.One of the many totem statues in the PCC. Obviously that is not me in the picture that is my mom.

This was my first time to actually tour the PCC. Last year when I came with Jon we did the luau and then the night show, we didn't have time to walk around. We got to make our own fish with a fishing pole, we kind of struggled so the helpful workers at the PCC helped us out. The kids loved these and played with them forever.

I had pretty good luck at making one, but it took me so long that the young ladies helped me because the kids were so impatient. There I am in a picture, I really am here, just behind the camera most of the time.

Playing a musical bamboo rod in one of the countries. The kids actually got to get up on stage and dance with them teaching. It was fun to watch the kids get into the action. Look another picture of me, this is an all time record for me.

Bailee being brave and trying poi or taro I can't remember which one, I am leaning toward poi though. It wasn't very bad, but it didn't have a very good taste, not really a taste at all. It was kind of pasty for me.

I even get in the water and swim, one of Jake's favorite things is to hold onto my hands and jump when a big wave comes. We don't get huge waves, but that is okay with me, when I am swimming with 4 little kids. it was fun to watch my mom swimming with my kids. I don't think that see could believe how good my kids have gotten at handling the waves.

I had to put this one on there, Jake's little suit comes down sometimes when he jumps and my mom caught the moment just right. Yes that is his white little moon showing up. The kids have gotten so dark, but how do you not when you hang out in the sun and water for hours each day?!?

The kids get so sandy and at first before we had a hose we would have to go thru the house and get in the shower to wash off and then all the sand would be...you guessed it, in the house and in the shower. So we got a hose and now I make the kids wash off outside. I even make them take off their suits and wash off then run into the house. It is amazing how much sand is on them and the places that it ends up. Good thing that we have a hose. Good thing that Jake's head is down, or else that would not have been a good picture!

A great family picture of the WIGHT'S at the Sea Life Park. It is a very small version of Sea World, and I mean VERY small. The kids had a great time, there was a dolphin show (only one and VERY short), and a, again, a VERY short sea lion show. Both very good, we were going to swim with the dolphins but you needed one adult for each kid under the age of 9 and I was the only adult that wanted to swim with the dolphins, so it didn't happen. I was bummed, but how do you pick only one child to go swimming with?!? You don't, that is why we didn't get to swim with them.

Trying to keep Jake entertained, so my mom asked him how long he could keep the cup on his head, not for very long, but it was fun to watch him try. This kid has to much energy, but if you can get him to sit still for just a few minutes he's gone.

Well that is week 5 in a nut shell. I took over 1000 pictures so I am still going thru them and will then post again of the pictures that I took. I took some that my mom didn't like of the shows at the PCC and the Sea Life Park. So I will get those on here as soon as I can, I just have to wait for a computer and I only get that when Jon get's home at night. Just a run down of what we did this week with my mom so that I will remember: Mom flew in Wednesday night and we picked her up and brought here to our house then we were all exhausted so we went to bed. Thursday we spent the day at PCC (me, my mom and the kids) during the day and then Jon joined us for the night show. Friday we went to the beach, Haliewa and then Sunset beach to play and watch the sunset, Saturday we went to the Sea Life Park and saw some more sights, then Sunday we went to church and headed towards Pearl Harbor before my mom flew out, we got there to late for the last boat out to the USS Arizona but still saw the movie and went on a drive and saw some great sights, they were all free-we even took all our own food so we wouldn't have to stop and get anything, then we dropped my mom off at the airport that night for her flight and we headed back home. That is our week in a nut shell.

Lazy days of SuMMeR!! week 4

2010-08-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well this week's post is going to be the shortest because honestly, we have been VERY VERY lazy this week. We didn't leave the house except to go to our own little beach. Our only big excitement was that Curtis's birthday present from Grandma Webster finally showed up. He was so very excited, it is all that he could talk about since he knew that Grandma was sending it in the mail. I've even been so lazy that I didn't even take the camera with me to the beach so I have no pictures of the kids at the beach this week.He wouldn't even slow down enough for me to take pictures so I was just snapping away, that is why the pictures are not the best. He loved that it came in a large box and then still a wrapped present in the box.
He doesn't have his shirt on because we were on our way out the door to go to our beach when the mailman came. Thanks Grandma for the great present, he LOVES it and so do the rest of the kids.

I was doing the dishes-by hand-I have to add and was looking out the window and there was Jake just hanging out relaxin' in the lounge chair. So I grabbed my camera and took a shot thru the window (hence the grainy look, it is shot thru the screen). I just thought it was cute, because he doesn't slow down very often, so I had to get proof.

Our nightly rictual: Getting the kids to slow down and start getting ready for bed. We pull out the bed, and pick ourselves a movie. The best $30 we've spent, there was no DVD player so we went to Sams and bought us one. I don't know how our parents survived without DVD players. It makes for a great 1 1/2 hour break from all the noise.

LAIE DAYS

Last weekend was the HUIKILAU for Laie Days and this weekend was the little carnival, with live entertainment and blowups and one ride. The kids thought it was great and we thought it was great because it was completely free. The kids (keiki in hawaiian) could do anything they wanted for free! What a great party, I do have to say that hawaiians know how to throw a great party!

(you can't really tell by this picture but it is a shark coming out of a wave and snapping his jaw around a boat)

Each of the kids coming down the slide:

CURTIS

JAKE

BAILEE

KENADEE

I have never seen quite the inflatable as this one. It was so cool, it had lots of different things to "tackle" inside. They (workers) would let 4-6 kids in at a time and give them about 3 minutes of play time inside. It was fun to watch the kids running around doing the different things inside. This one had the longest lines so we only did this once. You can see the kids in the bottom left corner.

Here was a climbing wall that was also free, I never could justify paying the price to let the kids try one so this was great that they got the chance to try it. Only Bailee and Curtis wanted to try it. Jon took the other 2 to another ride.

Curtis getting all hooked up to tackle the wall. It was able to take 3 different kids up so the line didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Bailee's turn to get all hooked up! This party was in the Foodland parking lot (local grocery store just down the street from our house) It was paced!

Curtis trying to get to the top of the wall, with Bailee catching up to him. Both of the kids liked it but said that it was harder than it looks than standing at the bottom.

This is where Jon and the other two went to while we were waiting in line over at the climbing wall. These little cars also spinned while it went around in a circle. Not my kind of ride, I can't stand the tea cups and this looked to much like that. They (workers) wouldn't let it spin because Jake was to small so they just went around and around. Jake and Kenadee really liked it. Later they (Jon and the 3 older kids) went on it again and spun around like crazy. Jake wanted to go back to the inflatables so I wasn't able to see them spin themselves into oblivion.

I could never get Kenadee to face me so I was only able to get her back side of her head.

These two little ya-hoos waiting to go on this ride. I don't know how they rode this so many times. Jon took the other two kids and went wandering around while we waited in line for their turn.

Not a very good shot but you can tell that they are having a great time trying to spin it around. They said it was kind of hard because it was going so fast in a circle that they had a hard time trying to get theirs to spin.

Bailee was laughing so hard, by the time she came to me I wasn't able to get a better close up picture of them.

This is what Jake & I stood in line for. He has such great balance, maybe it's his low center of gravity, but this kid amazes me. Some kids in there with him were trying to tell all the others to quite jumping because they couldn't keep their feet under them and then their is Jake running circles around them and laughing the whole time.

Our last trip down the slides. Nothing can stop this kid, he wasn't very happy about having to leave to go home to eat dinner.

Kenadee and Curtis waiting for their turn to go thru the maze to get to the slide. Laie days was great they had some great entertainment and inflatables, and again all FREE!!! It doesn't get any better than that.

Well like I said this is it for this week. This is what happens when you get lazy in Hawaii and you have a beach out your front door. We had some great times at the beach and have had quite the run in with jelly fish at our beach. Actually they are called Portuguese man of war. They are a relative of the bigger jelly fish but they still stink, just ask Bailee. We have taken care of (yes killed, well thrown into the bushes) about 90 this week. They are about the size of a dime to a quarter. They look like little clear balloons with blue ribbon on the bottom and then a blue tail. Some tails are long and some are short, now we know what to look for and it hasn't been to bad. Well next's weeks adventures are going to be great. Grandma Webster is coming to visit us on WEDNESDAY and we are so very excited to be having a visitor.

More adventures than we know what to do with....week 3

2010-07-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well I can't believe that we have been here for 3 weeks already. WARNING: this is a VERY long post. We had 3 adventures PLUS the beach. You are all probably wondering why I haven't been in any pics-well lets just say that I am the photographer in the fam and then when it is just me and the kids well-you can probably guess why I am not in any pics. I hope you enjoy, because I enjoy being able to enjoy this experience and be able to put the pictures up to help me remember one week to the next. Dates of these pictures range from Saturday July 17th-Saturday July 24th

Waihe'e Falls Hike

This is a 1 1/2 mile hike to a 30ft waterfall. Pretty easy but a lot of up hill, in the rain and mud.

Here is a great little swimming hole that we came across on the way to the waterfall. We came back and swam here, those pictures are coming later.
If you look really closely you can see 2 different waterfalls.

Snack break, we took a lot of snacks and water and good thing we did. The humidity and walking uphill sure make you thirsty and hunger.

This isn't a very good picture because at this point it started to really rain but I had to show this cool tree. Lots of different shoots would grow straight out of the ground and go straight up, and they were strong enough that the kids could swing on the branches.

We finally made it to our destination. It was such a beautiful waterfall. It didn't have a big pool at the bottom but you could still go and stand underneath. The water was FREEZING!

Curtis enjoying a cool and refreshing shower and he needed it-he says-he was so hot and sweaty from the hike

Sorry about the wet spots, but it was raining! It was so beautiful, well worth the hike and all the mud.

HANG LOOSE!!

Jake trying to figure out how to do a hang loose sign. Does he remind you of anyone we know?!? The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree in this family.

The kids really seemed to enjoy the waterfall. They were glad that they had their daddy to come with them on this adventure. We were the only ones at the waterfall for awhile and then another family showed up so we started to head back down.

Here are the pics of the kids swimming in the swimming hole. Just right behind them it really drops off. Bailee went over there and went under and still didn't get to touch the bottom. I know it's not really saying much but still.

The water was so cold that Jon and I didn't want to get in. Jake got in and then it was to cold so he got back out. This is the picture that if you look behind them that is where it is deep.

Getting close to dusk, Jon took my camera-without me knowing-and was taking pictures. This is from our little beach I just thought that it was a pretty picture so I put it on here.

Now the other direction

I am actually in a picture. I was wondering where everyone disappeared at and found them down by the beach. It is quite relaxing to just go and sit on the rocks and watch the ocean.

The kids decided that they wanted to go to a different beach so that they could play in the sand. This hole was next to us so Jake decided that was his little play area.

The waves here are bigger than our beach, but not so big that the kids don't like to play in them. It is a really nice beach and not crowded at all. The place is perfect for us.

Bailee and Curtis love to go out and jump the waves. The one thing that the kids don't like about the beach is all the sand that ends up in their suits when they are done. We do back at our place have a hose so we wash off really well before going into the house. It saves our plumbing and we don't have to shower after going to the beach every time.

I wonder why they get so sandy? Not a question around here, they love this! We actually stayed at this beach for 3 1/2 hours while they played.

My little sandy piranha-as he is know to a lot of people. He loves to pose for the camera and then see his pictures after.

Bailee completely covered her whole body with sand and she looked so dark with it all over her body. People pay a fortune for this kind of exfoliation, and we get it for free every day!

Bailee catching a wave with Curtis's boogie board

HUKILAU

Here is the story of the Hukilau-I didn't know this before going to one so I thought that I would share it hear so that I wouldn't forget and then you can learn.

When the saints first came to Laie they had a chapel and it accidentally burnt down in 1940 but because of the restrictions caused by WWII they were unable to start rebuilding until 1948. The local church members decided to start a hukilau as a fundraising activity for the new chapel. A HUKILAU is an ancient Hawaiian fishing method in which a large net is laid in the ocean with lengthy ropes extending to the beach tied to each end. Long leaves or LAU in hawaiian which are tied along the length of the ropes, flutter in the water and help scare the fish into the net as the community pulls (huki in hawaiian) the ropes gradually bringing the net to shore. The 1st hukilau was a huge success that it inspired Jack Owens to write the Hukilau Song. The hukilaus continued for 20 years till the government wanted to tax the saints. To raise money they would have crafts to buy, a luau and music.

So this first picture is the men putting the net into the boat to take it out.

This is our neighbor Harlan rowing the net out into the ocean.

The guy in the white shirt is holding the end of the net and then the boat is heading out and dropping the net.

If you look close you can see the net dropping into the water.

This is the other end and this is the rope with the leaves tied on to scare the fish and you start pulling and heading toward the starting guy while slowing pulling the net toward shore.

The guy on the left in the black shirt is our bishop here, and then the guy in the grey shirt is Brent Stauffer the painter on the temple and our next door neighbor. His wife will come with me and the kids a lot to the beach.

Jon and the kids pulling in the net

Another picture of them helping!

You have to look really close towards the water to see the net in the water. It takes a lot of people to pull it into the shore.

Just waiting to be told when to start pulling again.

Here is the end pole that the net is attached to and then it also helps to keep it in the boat without all spilling out at once.

Now if you see the net closet to us that is one side of the net, then you look to the group of people behind and that is the other end of the net. So you pull and start coming together to get the net in.

These are all the snorklers that stay out in the water and help so that the net doesn't get stuck on any of the rocks or other stuff in the ocean.

You can't see any fish but this is our catch. We didn't get a whole lot but enough for me if you were to ask. Bailee is in the pink shirt, Kenadee in the yellow, and then Curtis is on the left in the gray striped shirt.

One of the fish that got caught. Poor little sucker, suffer a slow and painful death.

Bailee and the fish!

Jake and the fish!

Kenadee and the Fish!

Curtis and the Fish!

I was surpised that they all held it. You can probably guess which one I am thinking of, but they didn't even squirm or anything. I probably wouldn't have held it, not my kind of thing.

End of the HUKILAU-it was a very neat experience.

SUNSET BEACH-with our daddy

we get him out every now and again!

I had to put this on, it is probably one of my favorite-so far. He was resting, you know he swims so hard.

He has this coloring book of beach stuff and it has a little boy on the front that is buried in sand and he keeps asking to be buried so this was the perfect beach for that. He loved every minute of it, it says a lot that he would actually hold still long enough to get buried.

All sandy and showing his muscles to ya. He wanted me to keep burying him over and over, but I convinced him other wise, and distracted him.

Isn't the scenery great?!? What a tough little man!

I just thought that this was a cool shot, that is Curtis standing there and then Jon and the girls behind him in the water.

Curtis and his birthday present, he picked this out all by himself and we have had a great time with it. We probably don't ride it like we should but we are having a great time.

Jon is holding the board while the kids climb on and then when the waves comes he lets go and they try and surf. They don't last very long, but they get a thrill with it.

Another cool shot. Sunset beach is the world famous beach for surfing, but the two times that we have been there the waves have been non-existent, but it is a great place for the kids to play and to watch the......yep SUNSET!

Kenadee wanted a try at surfing, the minute Jon let go of the board she fell, but you could hear them laughing clear up on shore. Plus it is a great shot with the sun, I think. Not a Ricky awesome, but good for me.

Jake is dancing with the waves. He sure gets worn out which is good for us at night. He usually falls asleep around 8-8:30 and that is after asking us if he can go to sleep. TO bad he hasn't learned how to sleep past 6:30 in the moring.

The setting of the sun. We got to the beach around 6pm so that we could play for a little while before the sunset, it is definetely worth waiting around for.

It is even better of a shot when you have Jon and the 3 older kids down in the water. Here are a couple of pictures of the sun setting.

I really like this one.

Tried to get all the kids to the beach before the sunset but it different happen very well. We will have to go back again and try it again.

Last picture-Hope all is well back home. We love and miss all of you. Visitors are welcomed! Hint, Hint-he he just let us know ahead of time!

Stay tuned for more adventures next week!

The FUN keeps comin'-week 2

2010-07-16T23:37:00.000-07:00

Well another week has come and gone-almost. I am posting early just in case at the WEBSTER FAMILY REUNION my parents take the computer to show my grandparents. SO here we go! Well first of all it has been a great start to a great week. We went to our first week of church and it was pretty much the same, although at times it was a little hard to understand the speakers-but they (husband and wife) did a great job, and no grandma & grandpa I haven't found the Byrd family yet! The kids all went to their primary classes which compared to our ward is EXTREMELY small. They have one class of every age and that is it. The kids seemed to enjoy primary a lot. Curtis was even asked to give the prayer this coming Sunday in Primary.

Well this picture was from Sunday morning, this is our beach and the tide has been way low this week, which has been nice because then we actually have more of a beach and the kids have really enjoyed that.

All of the kids were so excited for more of a beach this week so that we didn't have to go and find another beach with sand, so that they could play~they love it, I love it (at the beach) it is another story coming home with it in every little crevice of their bodies! This was taken Sunday morning before church so that is why they are not in their swimming suits.Every night when Jon gets home from work the kids immediatly attack him and get him to play soccer with them. Not exactly his favorite sport, but they are all enjoying themselves and actually getting ready for this fall when the three older ones will play!

More SOCCER! When it gets dark they go out into the yard-which is all fenced in-they have been playing GHOST IN THE GRAVEYARD. Jake is a hoot to listen to out there getting scared to death.

Jake getting the hang of kicking the ball, at first all he wanted to do was throw it-wonder where he got that idea from?!?

MONDAY morning when the kids went to check where the water was at they came running back saying that it was low and that we had to get our there. So that is what we did-it is kind of nice not having anywhere that we need to be or run to. So when we got out there they wanted to go and stand of the reef.

WE had to be really careful because there were still spots that were wet and slippery, but it was cool to go out there, and yes we all did it!

You can tell in the next picture how shallow the water really is, because it isn't that deep on Jake and we all know how "tall" he is. Wish that we had water shoes, come of the rocks are really sharp to step on.

Walking back to the beach! The water feels so nice! And yes for all the grandparents-we are going thru sunscreen like it is candy-and yet sometimes we still get a little red.

It has been nice that we have such a great beach so that the kids can learn how to snorkel without all the big waves. They have actually gotten really good at that they even found a home of some great looking fish right here at our own little beach. The girls don't like the big goggles, so thank heavens we brought our smaller Cherry Hill goggles with us. They seem to like those ones better.

I thought that I would get away from all the Hill Air Force base planes, but no! Now we have these helicopters flying over us all day long. I think that they are apache helicopters but I am not entirely sure, I will have to ask my uncle about that. They are pretty amazing to watch when they fly in groups!

He does not seem to be bothered with the sand on him from head (literally) to toe and everywhere in between. I love to watch these kids get to experience something new and exciting like this.

Especially this one-that first day in the water he wasn't to sure about the waves and the salt. This week he has come out of his little shell and sometimes thinks that he is bigger than he really is. Don't worry we all keep a close eye on this one.

My little snorkerlers! Kenadee tried the big goggles but then went to here little ones and they will stay face down in the water forever just swimming back and force and trying to find shells and other crazy knick-knacks.

Jake and I had a contest to see who could bury there feet the deepest. He kept thinking that he was winning-what a cheese ball. But ya gotta love him!

Well one of my babies had a birthday here! and the tragic news about that is that there is NO DICK'S MARKET BAKERY!! So I took Curtis to the grocery store and this is the cake that he picked out. It was actually quite good. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate PUDDING on top. We all seemed to enjoy it, I didn't/couldn't bring myself to buy a 1/2 gallon of ice cream for $5 to go with it. I just couldn't do it!

Here he is getting ready to blow out his candles, these are the only pictures that I have of his birthday because we gave him his present before we left and the pics are on the computer at home. And then here-he got a boogie board, water ping pong and a legos Toy Story 3. The water toys and the legos were from Mary Stauffer (who heard it was his birthday and bought it to us) her husband is here as the painter also working on the temple and they live just 3 doors down. I haven't gotten pictures with those yet! At home he has a brand new bike, tennis racket with balls and some action figures that he did bring with him. We kind of spoiled him because he was supposed to get a friend party and then we moved here. His next big thing is he is still waiting for a gift from my parents to show up in the mail!

We ended up going to the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium, which I thought was pretty nifty but the kids didn't really enjoy it and it was hot, so we didn't stay for very long. I am going to have to go on a Saturday when I can go without the kids. Anyway on our way home we stopped at this great place called the Valley of the Temples-I will summarize it short (because I am getting sleepy) anyway it was built in 1968 to welcome the first Japanese settlers to the islands. It is a replica of a builiding in Japan. It was beautiful, it had a big pond in front and then the amazing mountainside behind it. Absolutely gorgeous.

You could ring the bell before going into the temple and the kids thought that was great. It was an amazing sound.

They all got to ring the bell! There was a beautiful stream on the property that had HUGE koi fish in it.

Once you got inside you could light an incense candle. That lady with us is Mary (painters wife)

VERY large Buddha! It is said to be on of the largest.

The same stream went around the entire property. You could buy fish food for only $1 so needless to say I think we spent $5 on fish food. But the kids loved it because the fish would fight like crazy to get the food. Reminded me of Lake Powell fish at the marine over the ice cream! Except these fish were nicer looking than the carp at Powell.

Jake and Curtis sharing another bag of fish food!

A separte pond with a huge from spitting water into it. I liked this so I got them to sit on it to take a picture.

Another angle of the Temple from the back side. Another tid bit of info on this temple. It was constructed entirely WITHOUT the use of nails.

Fish food also worked great with the birds. Kenadee was also feeding the birds but I wasn't able to get a picture of her feeding the birds because I was down the path trying to keep Jake from falling into the stream with all the fish.

All three trying to feed the birds, and I only say trying because every time that they would get close Jake (surprise, surprise) would scare them away.

She had like five eating out of her hand. She would run out of food and they would back away and she would pour some more into her hand and the birds would come right back. Highlight of the day for these two girls of mine!

The bridge and Bailee coming out of the Temple.

Curtis didn't really want to pose with the statue but I am not huge on taking pictures without somebody that I know if it. So I made him-he he

On our way out there was this little statue sitting off the side of the path with money in it, so me and Mary told the kids that people were making wishes and leaving the money there. Well all we had was a nickel so we told them that it was worth 5 wishes so that each of them could make one wish and then put the money on the statue. It seemed to work, because they went for it. Here they are trying to decide what wish to wish for.

Leaving the money on the statue.

Here is some of our swap meet find. Shirts I found it kind of funny that they all woke up in one of there new shirts and every single one of them picked a yellow shirt. I personally probally wouldn't have picked these shirts out for them, but they were with me and picked out their own shirts. Also the toy that they have that I had to bribe them with to be could, so at the end they all did really well they could pick something that I would buy for them. The girls chose a battery powered dog and the boys (again not what I would have chosen) very loud toy guns. Which is good on one aspect they run around the yard trying to get each other. Outside+running=two very tired boys at the end of the day.

Jake dog sitting for the girls. They (the dogs) move and so Jake was havin a hard time keeping them both on the little table and not walking off the edge. So he has them by there heads!

Well that is all for now-enjoy the next week and we will see where our adventures take us this next week. We love and miss all of you! Especially the kids friends (and cousins) Talk to you all soon!!

LOVE YA!!!!

HAWAII-week 1

2010-07-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Hawaii anyone?!?

Reader beware, this is going to be a long post, just because while we are living in Hawaii while me and the kids are home we have no computer and by the time Jon gets here I just don't have the energy to pull the computer out and blog. So I have decided that I will post pictures on a weekly basis. That way I can keep a record of what was happening around here and then my camera won't get to full of pictures. So anyway here it goes!!

We flew out of Salt Lake City airport on July 4th at 3pm. We didn't get to Hawaii until 3:30am (Utah time) so in Hawaii it was 11:30pm. That was by the time we drove an hour to our house. Needless to say we were all exhausted as you can probably tell. This is us waiting for Jon to go and pick up the rental car and come back to the airport and pick us up. Bailee and Kenadee fell asleep outside on a bench waiting.

Curtis didn't last very long either. He got his blanket and fell right to sleep waiting for his dad. This is all of our stuff. I had no idea how much stuff it would take to move for 2 months. And I am wishing that I had packed more-like spices and more boxed food. I can't believe how much the food over here cost.
Here is the inside of our house, this is obviously the kitchen, the only thing missing is a dishwasher, which is a pain in the butt, but we are making it work. I went to Sams and bought a lot of paper products which helps with my sanity. The kitchen is really nice, and it really has a beachy feel to it with the distressed cream cabinets and stainless steel appliances and the granite coutertops. The floor throughout the whole house is large tiles, which feel really good on those hot days after coming back from the beach. Here is the family room/childrens bedroom. The couch folds out to a bed so each night two of the kids get to sleep out here. They actually seem to enjoy it-go figure! Here is looking down the hall. The door that you see straight ahead is the bathroom and then to the right is Jon & I's room and then to the left is the other 2 kids bedroom. One of the two bedrooms which are exactly alike just that Jon & I's has a TV in it. This is the boys dresser and then the girls are out in the hall in a large armoire. You can't see the cupboards but it is the half wall that you see when looking down the hall. This is the bathroom, not huge but we are making it work. The shower is really nice it is all tile with river rock bottom. Which at first took some getting used to but now I really like it! This is the view from out front door. That house that you see is another rental property, and it is really nice and it has it's own private entrance to the ocean. I will share a story about that later. Here is Jake standing in our front door. From where I am standing there is a wooden fence that fences in the entire two properties. Which is really nice because if the kids are out there playing they can't get out to the road. If you know where the PCC is (Polynesian Culture Center) we are directly across the street. So if you are in the neighborhood stop by and say hello!!! If you follow the path to the right that is our garage and laundry room-it is outside (to get to) but at least it is all on the same level!!! Now you will probably start seeing a lot of pictures with the kids and lizards, because we have already caught four, but this is our first one so we had to get a picture. They were so excited to actually catch one! Now I am showing you these two lizards because we caught them together one night and I had the kids come inside the house so that I could get a picture and well one bit Kenadee and she dropped him-yes in the house and then Bailee dropped hers-yes again in the house so right now we still have two lizards living in our house with us, and just tonight I say one in MY bedroom. I don't know how I feel about that?!? This beach is just down the rode from us so one day we decided to go and check it out. It is called POUNDERS BEACH and let me tell you why. The waves are really big. This is one of those beaches that people go to to boogie board. We don't have boogies boards so we just play in the waves. The kids after we got home decided that the waves were to big and to dirty (with sand) that they don't want to go back to that one anymore. I think we carried half of the beach home with us in our swimming suits!!

Curtis loved that there was a ton of sand to play in!

Jake loves to run towards them and then when the wave is coming back towards him tries to run away. He has been so much fun to watch-he is also getting a little bit more daring about going out into the waves. He doesn't like it when the waves crash in his face so he has decided that he likes to wear a tube around his middle to just float on the waves. The boys getting ready to play in a big wave. I really thought that the salt water would bother them, but it doesn't seem to faze them in the least. They always surprise me. The little girl to the right, was just a girl on vacation that the girls made friends with while we were playing on the beach. I don't think we even got her name, but they had a good time together.

All of the kids are so good to help with Jake, I think he just got taken out with a wave and Kenadee was right there to help him get back up. As you can tell he doesn't seem to mind.

This is our down time when we are not hanging out at the beach. I am just glad that the girls let him use theirs, or else we could have real problems on our hands. Now here is my story about the private entrance to the beach right out our back door. There are some stairs that lead down, but this beach isn't your typical beach, there isn't a whole lot of sand and where these stairs come down it comes down right into the water. So we are going down and the waves are coming up onto the stairs, not really waves but water running over the bottom stair. So the three older kids go down and get in the water and Jake starts to kind of freak out and wants me to carry him. So I pick him up and have the bag of all of our beach items-thank heavens I didn't take my camera this day or else there wouldn't be any pictures of our entire stay. Anyway I have my left foot on the 2nd to last stair and go to step with my right foot on the bottom stair and yep you got it, I fall and I fall hard onto the bottom two stairs, still with Jake and the bag in my arms and land with bag and Jake on top of me in the water. It hurt like the dickens- and this is the bruise that I have to show for it. This is the only one that I can show you because well the other large one is on my hiney-but yes this happened the very first day of going down to the beach. It is pretty embarassing putting on the swimming suit and walking around with a ginormous bruise on my leg. Oh well, I don't know anybody yet! This is the beach out our front door. We found a safer way to get to it that you don't have to go directly into the water you can get on the sand first. This is a look of me standing in the water and taking a shot of the little beach that we have. You have to keep everything on the rocks so that when the waves come up it doesn't carry your stuff away. Jake was done swimming at this point and said he was cold so that is why he is wrapped up in a towel!

Our days are typically we wake up eat breakfast head to our little beach and swim for 2-3 hours, come home for lunch and a nap (if I can get Jake to cooperate) then either go to a different beach (that we have to drive to) or just head out our front door and spend another 2-4 hours swimming and playing. Then go back home for dinner and hanging out at home waiting for our dad to get home from work. Then it starts all over the next day! I know rough life but somebody's got to do it RIGHT?!?!I am sitting on the rock next to Jake taking these pictures. The day that I took my camera down to our little beach the waves were crazy big. I loved watching it crash against the rocks and had to get some pictures.

I am standing at the top of our little beach looking down, so hopefully you can get the full picture of our little beach. We met the family that was here for the week from Southern California and the kids made friends with their son & daughter named Trevor and Emma.

I had to get a picture of Jake's hair, his hair has been sooooo curly and it stays really curly even with all the salt water in it. I can't say the same thing for mine, that is why I took a picture so I could remember what his hair looked like. I absolutely love his hair!!

Kenadee and Jake done swimming for the moment and are just watching Bailee swimming. She swam for a straight 4 hours this day. That night she slept for 12 1/2 hours. Not only are they sleeping better (except for Jake) they are eating a ton of food. They eat so well here, I am not sure that is a good thing considering how much food is!

After a long day of playing and working- Jon is getting up and leaving the house to get to the temple by 4:30-5am (Hawaii time) and then working till between 6:30 (earliest) to 8pm, and working a half day on Saturday. He comes home just exhausted but still has time to play with the kids. He is so great I don't know how he is doing it.

Well today we hung around the house and Jon got off at 12:30pm today and we ate lunch together as a family and then drove to Kaneohe to take Curtis and the kids to see TOY STORY 3 for Curtis's birthday. It was a great show and we really enjoyed it. Well that is all for our first week in Hawaii more to come next week. I will let you know how our first experience with church goes tomorrow!! Aloha everyone and enjoy this next week, because I know we will!!!

Our own little Yard sale (online)

2010-05-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

I will have to post later about Bailee's 9th birthday and Jake's 3rd birthday, but right now I thought that I would just let you all know about our own version of a yard sale. I have for some reason had the bug to start getting rid of some things so I thought I would post them here and on KSL and see if anybody was interested. I have books, lots of books, shelf, storage, chairs so far. I am sure as I go from room to room I will find more stuff. Hopefully I can sell enough to convince Jon that we could go for a new kitchen table, to go with the new kitchen we are getting done soon. Anyway enjoy looking and if you happen to want anything just let me know!!

DiAper FREE!!!!

2010-02-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well you already know that this boy is quite the independent little man. As you all know we were in the throws of the dreaded yet exciting POTTY TRAINING. Just have to say who said that bribery was a bad thing?!? Jake was doing great going #1 on the potty, he loved to run to the potty and go and they wave goodbye while he flushed it away, now #2 was a much harder problem for him. A couple of days ago I was being a mean mom and wouldn't let him wear a diaper anymore, and I could tell that he had to go #2 so after trying all day to get him to go I finally caved and put him in a diaper (reasoning better not get him to plugged up from holding it, that would just cause greater problems) so I have him in a diaper and tell him to just go in his diaper and then we would try again tomorrow. This is where his little independent streak comes in-I am telling him to go in his diaper and what does he do, runs and puts underwear on and then goes into the bathroom takes off the underwear and proceeds to go #2 in the potty. Now this is also where the bribery comes into play-I told him once he goes in the potty that we would go and buy him a BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! So at 7pm he decided to go and immediatly wants to go to the store to get Buzz, I did stand my ground and we went right after we dropped the girls off at school. So now I am proud to announce that we are officially done with diapers. It has been just short of 9 FULL YEARS of diapers at our house, and I can honestly say I am not sad to see that part of my life go!!

Congratulations little man!! You did IT!!

Our independent little stinker!!!!

2010-02-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

Don't let that sweet little innocent smile trick ya-this little man is quite the independent little stinker. I have been trying to potty train, but honestly haven't been that strict about it being he is the baby of the family. Anyway I have been trying to get him to go on the potty but doesn't want to & wants a diaper back on. So VERY early this morning at 4:15am I hear the toilet flush upstairs (not a good sign since we have a bathroom downstairs by all the kids rooms) so I wake up and see the light on in the bathroom, so I go in and guess who I find-yep a little naked man who decided that he needed to go to the bathroom!! Very excited that maybe he is grasping the whole idea of going on the toilet, but not to excited that he decided he wanted to start at 4:15 in the morning. Good news though, he actually woke up with a dry diaper and wanted to go again this morning!! HOPEFULLY by the end of the week we can be diaper free, here's hopin'. I guess I should be happy that he wasn't going thru the cupboards this morning and sneeking into food, but that is a whole other story!

Latest going's on in our cRaZY life!!

2010-01-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dance Recital

Bailee & Kenadee

I put them in the same place just for my sanity reasons. That way dress rehearsals are easier and dance recitals, but they both enjoy their classes and there favorite part about dance which those that know me they don't get this from me, is being on stage performing. They LOVE it!!

Kenadee was a little bubble bee, she got her antennas at the recital that night.
Here are some shots of her dancing (these pictures are really from the dress rehearsal) at the recital I took video, but same dance so there you go.

She is our little dancer, she has done it now for 3 years and loves it.

Bailee is in a Jazz class, she did that one because of a friend of hers that wanted her in her class.

Final Pose for Bailee, the great thing about Bailee is because she is soooo short she is always in the front, so I can always get a better picture of her.

More Dancin'

Kenadee Braces

I took her in for an evaluation and the ortho decided that she needed to do braces on her top teeth because of the way that they were starting to move backwards and going to be causing her jaw problems in the future. So we decided to do braces to pull them forward. She was so brave getting them put on, after she said that it didn't hurt at all.

What a CutIE!!!

BEAR LAKE

Our favorite place to go with our family, now when I say our family that includes my entire family. We play games, Rock Band this year (thanks to Stef & Rich), eat, swim, eat, and more swimming. Now that the kids are getting older and easier to watch in the pool we spend hours at the pool. Thank heavens for an indoor pool.

These two are the best of friends. I don't know what we would do if we didn't have Hunter to play with Curtis. They get along so well!! Cousins are great, reminds me of growing up with my cousins and swimming in my grandparents pool.

Now for the girls! Even the girls get along, the one on the left is my adorable niece Jade who is Jakes age. We have a bunch of water bugs, we had to beg and bribe to get them to get out of the pool sometimes. The good thing about them swimming so much is that we didn't have a whole lot of fighting when it was time for bed, unless you were my 2 year old, but that is another story!!!!

Bailee was such a great helper with the younger ones in the pool! If they would drift to far she would go out and get them or dive for the toys that they would drop.

Here are the CRAZY girls. My sister and I have decided that we would rather have the boys than the girls because they are soooo animated and loud. Still we are very grateful that they get along so well.

Curtis off in his own little world playing some game with a diving torpedo, and he wasn't afraid to dive down after it.

Speaking of crazy this one is purely crazy, I think that he forgets that he is only 2 and can't swim. He has learned that he can't go in the big pool or the hot tub without his tube around him. He has really learned how to get around in that tube this year. The only pool he could go in without his tube was the kiddy pool which is only 2 feet deep. Crazy but cute, good thing he is cute!!

Thanks Mom & Dad for taking us again to Bear Lake, greatest trip ever. Love to spend time with my siblings and their families playing games, being crazy and just eating as much as we can. Thanks everyone for such a great trip this year!!!!

Little of this & a little of that!

2010-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS DAY

Yep, I am always behind in posting, 2010 I am hoping to be better! Anyway this is going to be another long post, not because I have so much wisdom to bestow upon you but because well let's face it 4 kids + Pictures of said kids= long post.
This post is starting with most recent and working its way back, which really is just Christmas day and Christmas Eve. This is Jon's parents opening new 4 wheeler goggles to go riding which we were kind enough to get them some, but weren't thinking at the time and didn't get us any.

Boy Grandkids in new PJ'S from Grandma & Grandpa
Girl Grandkids in their new PJ'S also from Grandma & Grandpa
Jake is really into praying right now and believe me, he needs it. Anyway this is him before opening a present.

All the kids on the Wight side waiting as patiently as they can to be able to open their presents.

CHRISTMAS DAY

(OUR HOUSE)
This is what Santa brought Curtis, as you can see he was quite thrilled!

Jake got his own remote control train, which for some reason he has a very hard time leaving it put together. Once he is done he LOVES to take it apart.

This is what Santa brought the girls, this is all that they talked about, so way to go Santa! I think, I am not so sure about all the electronic things that they are wanting now adays.

Before the children all descend upon it. We had a great year!!

Santa's gift for the family, the kids are so excited for the snow to melt so that they can get out and play.

The AFTERMATH!!

CHRISTMAS EVE

(at Grandma Teeples House)

You are all probably wondering what in the world, and it never really dawned on me until Jon came into the family that it is a little weird. Let me explain, well long story short we don't have a lot of spiritual stuff on this side so because my grandma knows that the reason for the season is Jesus she made this paper cake with 11 candles (one for each grandkid) and while we are singing Happy Birthday to Jesus each grandkid lights a candle. This used to be the only spiritual part of Christmas that we would get over there, until my mom got enough costumes for the younger kids to now act out the nativity. So here our my 4 kids, my sisters 3, my brothers 1, and my cousins 2 kids acting it out. They sure are cute!

The little shephard, acting more like one of his sheep.

We also have another tradition that we have been doing since my first Christmas. This is one of my favorite traditions. Each year my aunt comes up with an ornament that we make and put our picture on the ornament so needless to say we have hundreds of ornaments for my grandma's tree that are all homemade. The best part is going back and looking at all our pictures over the years. This year since the family is getting so big we made one ornament per family so Curtis was so excited to make it for us this year!

CHRISTMAS EVE

(at Websters)

Presents and more presents!

My girls with their stuffed dogs and carrying case. They love these!

Little boy that loves cars!

As you can see we acted it out twice on this Christmas eve. First at my parents then that night at my grandmas.

Jake and Jade as the wisemen!

Our little heavenly angels-Kenadee and Sage

I love this picture Bailee and Curtis as Mary and Joseph. The best is the look on Curtis's face I don't think he is quite sure about this!

BURNINGHAM CHRISTMAS PARTY

Meetin the BIG GUY

SANTA

Bailee above, Kenadee below

This is Jake's first time at meeting the big guy, he wasn't so sure when he showed up, so Jon had to wait in line with him and then after watching the other kids I guess he thought that he was safe.

Curtis

Hope you all had a great Christmas, I know we did and am sad to see it go so soon. On to another great year!!

DeCEmBer FUn!!!

2009-12-22T11:43:00.000-08:00

Oh the fun we have at Christmas time, beware this post is....well to be honest LONG!!! I haven't posted what we have been up to and since it is snowing and the kids are being amazing, I thought that I would catch up on the happenings of the WiGHts. So I hope you all enjoy, because for me this is a way for me to remember what has happened more recently. EnJoY!

Teeples Annual Gingerbread House and Cookie Night

(for all of you that are confused with the name, this is my mom's side of the family)

Grandma Teeples decorating herself a gingerbread house (really a bird house but it worked the same)

All of the kids with their finished ProJeCTs!

From Left to Right: Eliza, Gracie, Jake, Kenadee, Sage, Jade, Curtis, Cory, Hunter & Bailee

those not old enough to participate are: Cohen, Paxton & Denny

Girls frosting themselves a cookie. Isn't it eat one frost one eat one? Isn't that how it works?!?
Jake is working really hard on his cookie, and every time that grandma tried to help he would push her hands away! Independent little stinker, but CUTE as a button!!
Both Grandma's going to town frosting all of the wonderful cookies made by yours truly-for those of you confused by that it's ME!!
Part of the gangJake concentrating really hard on where to put all the great candy. Maybe I should always give him a project to do, he sat STILL for a really long time.

Kenadee working on her masterpiece

Curtis and his masterpiece

Bailee working on her masterpiece, as the kids have gotten older the longer they are now taking on their gingerbread houses. It is fun to see the thought that goes into completing a gingerbread house.

WeBSteR FaMiLY ChrIStMaS ParTy!!

My dad getting into his story about the Christmas on Sesame Street. Way cute story for the kids, if I remember I will get the words from my dad and post it. It has turned into a tradition for him to tell all of us kids (yes even us big ones) the story.

Some of the gang, this is only half of the room.

We play the game of reading a story with a lot of LEFT's and RIGHT's in it with a white elephant present. For clarifying it is when you sit in a circle and everyone is holding a present and then one person reads the story and everytime you hear either LEFT or RIGHT you pass the present that direction. Anyway we had the kids play and then the adults, anyway long story short the present that Sage got was a beta fish!

If you look really close you can see it's tail!

The kids thought that was AWeSoME!!

More of the GANG!!

Grandpa Webster reading the story, he was funny he would REALLY emphasis the LEFT & RIGHT's

CurTIs lost 3 TeeTh

(yes all at the same TIME)

He was soooo excited for his dad to pull them out all at the same time, so now he is asking for his four front teeth!!

If you look close you can still see blood, I don't do well with the whole pulling of teeth.

What a CUTE toothless kid!

JaKE had the FLU!!

He was sooo funny with being sick, I was taking all the older kids to school and he was whining and as I got to the preschool to drop Curtis off Jake starting throwing up everywhere. Now those that know me really well know that I DO NOT deal well with throw up-smell, sound anything I start gagging myself. So anyway this is happening all in my car, not good for me. So long story short everytime he felt like he was going to throw up he would run into the bathroom and lay-yes lay on the toilet. I had the cleanest toilet ever, every time he would do this and then finish (only once actually throwing up) I would wipe down the toilet with a CLorOX wIPe!! Greatest things ever. So on the 100TH time of running to the bathroom I had to take his picture. It was cute to me!!

Gotta love this kid!!

CuRTis PResCHOol PRogRam

Curtis in his reindeer hat singing his songs. This was my kind of program it was just at the end of class, the last 1/2 hour and the kids all just sang songs. It was cute and fast, and with a 2 year old the faster the better!!

More songs!

This is before he lost all his front teeth, what an adorable smile!! While the kids were singing a very special visitor came by to hear the kids sing their songs.

Here's the special visitor, as the kids were singing he walked down the line and shook each of their hands. I have that on video-tried to post that, but I am not computer savvy.

SNOW FUN!!
(last few pictures, thanks for sticking around)

Some of the neighbors came by to play with the kids and this is their little friend that they made, he sure is cute. Although after the kids were done, the dog stole his nose!!!

Jake was out playing with them in the snow and he started to fall asleep, so by the time that Jon carried him into the house he was asleep. So asleep that he didn't even realize that we took off all of his snow clothes.

So CUTE!!!

My big helper, takes three times as long but he enjoyed trying to help.

Curtis is actually quite good at shoveling snow, I guess we'll keep him around a bit longer.

Buster (the dog) doesn't stray to far from the kids when they are outside, he is such a great dog. Curtis is also a great big brother, making sure that Jake stays out of the street for some reason Jake thinks that it is a great idea to do snow angels in the street. Not on of his better ideas, thank heavens for older brothers!

Favorite thing to do outside-EAT snow!! We all did it-some of us might actually still do it! You know who you are!!

Hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LiGhtS aRe aGLow!!

2009-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

For Family Home Evening we decided to go check out the lights at the Layton City Park. We have done the hayride thru the park but the kids like to walk it and get to see all the lights up close so that is what we did! And about froze in the process!!

This is what Christmas is all about, I loved this so I had to take a picture of this in between cars driving thru. I am still amazed at my camera, this shot is clear across the field and two roads (love this zoom)!!
All the kidlets!! Jake would never hold still long enough for us to get a shot of all of them looking at the camera, so we go with what we got.

Some of the creations of lights, if you haven't been it really is worth going to see, and it doesn't take that long. There are a lot of cool things to see!!

These two really look a lot alike, you can definetly tell who he belongs to!! This is his favorite place to ride-then when he is done he hits your head to lift him down!

Cheese balls these three!! I love that at the moment these two were getting along. Depends on the day, but that goes without saying about girls in general!!

One colorful Peacock!! I enjoy this just as much as the kids do. After we headed home and had hot chocolate out of my WONDERFUL hot chocolate maker-how did I ever live without this before??? or better question-WHy didn't I think of IT??? I could be a millionaire-oh well!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope that your holiday is filled with warmth and laughter, and that it doesn't get to hectic with the rush of going here and there!

Neighborhood Harvest Party!!

2009-10-29T09:12:00.001-07:00

DANCING ANYONE?

My three kids really got into the dancing. It was so great to watch them, even Curtis did it for a little bit. Brandee Francis (neighbor) was teaching this dance to anyone that wanted to join in. Those of us who don't have the knack for dancing just sat and watched in envy to those who do, hence the picture taking!! The neighborhood (ward) put on a great party, we had a chili cookoff, homemade rootbeer, breadsticks, and yummy donuts (don't worry I didn't eat one, I was good), and lots of games with prizes for the kids (who as you can see got to wear there halloween costumes) All in all it was a great party!!

Our great primary president got into it and taught us a dance as well, she's even pregnant and still has rythem-I can't even walk in a straight line if I wanted to.

More of the kids dancing. Curtis has a lot of movement going on-not sure if that is what is supposed to be happening but at least he is having a great time!!

Now this was probably the greatest thing ever. You make paper-yes that's right-paper rockets and then you put them over the white tube looking things, then the kids push a button (that is what Kenadee is doing) and they go flying, and when I say flying it shoots up into the air as tall as a tree and then the rockets float back down. This was Jake's favorite place to hang out, he wanted to keep flying his rocket over and over. (it's attached to a compressor)

My own Jack Sparrow! Complete with all the makeup and the hair! He loves it!!

My little giraffe finally figured out how to get those lips to blow. They are about as big as his face. What a cute little giraffe, and he actually loves to wear his costume, he is always bringing it to me to put it on him!

PADME! With glasses!!

As you can see they all loved these lips that whistled when you blow, couldn't pass up on the great picture opportunity. Even Pricess Fairies love to hear it whistle!

Jake not really understanding the concept of waiting in line for the games, so Jon has got a hand on him so that we don't have a runaway giraffe, or a butting giraffe. Hate to upset all the other creatures at the party! There were some great costumes at the party.

We're fallin' for Birthdays!!

2009-10-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Happy 7th Birthday KeNaDEe!!

I can't believe that my little girl is 7 years old already! Where oh where does the time go? She was excited that her birthday fell on a school day so that she could say all day long that "Today is my BIrthDay!!" Whoever came across her path she would tell them, in case they were wondering or forgot. We went to dinner and then she got to FINALLY open her presents, then she got to pick the movie that we watched as a family-some of you are going to be shocked but she chose TRANSFORMERS 2, yep not some girly show but a real action packed adventure! Of course all the other kids were thrilled and they all loved it!!

Here she is with her cake and blowing out the candles, and yes we saved the cake and ice cream for when we were with Jon's family! Can't have to much of that lying around the house now can we?!?

Hannah Montana Cake
She was so excited for this gift, Jon's parents gave her some new pj's with a nice soft & cozy pink robe. She is in pajama heaven!!

Waiting to open presents at Grandma's house!

She is my girly girl, she loves anything that has to do with make-up or toe/nail polish. So that is exactly what she got and you can see how excited she is by it!

Yes I know what you are all thinking-you said that you would never get one of these-and yes I did say that, but I didn't know what else to get. She loves it, it makes her happy so I guess what I said earlier-well I was wrong, it's not as bad as I thought it was going be.

Here's the lip gloss and nail polish that she got to go with her pedicure set that she wanted sooooo badly.

Happy birthday my love, we love you very much!!

More pics of grandpa's funeral

2009-10-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here are more pictures of grandpa's funeral, it was a very neat service as far as funerals go. I hope that you are able to see the pictures, I wanted to post them all seperatly but for some reason (could be operator error) it would only let four go at a time so i decided to just do it this way so that there wasn't four different posts about the same thing.

Grandpa's Funeral

2009-10-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

We love you Grandpa! You left an amazing posterity, and you will be greatly missed. We will miss your smile, laughter, hugs and especially your great sense of humor. You truly loved people the way that I can only imagine that Christ loved those that he came in contact with. You were a great example of a person who had Christ-like values, and I can only hope to be able to live up to be the kind of person that you were. We love you and are grateful for the lessons that you taught us, and we will be together forever someday!!

Gettin' Jiggy with it!!

2009-10-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

I tried to post this but couldn't figure out how to-not computer savvy-anyway if you want to see the movie that was made it is at the very bottom of my blog. If you want take a gander go for it, it is pretty dang cute. My family sure knows how to shake it!!

LAGOON FAMILY FUN!!

2009-08-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Jon's company took us to Lagoon for the day. They provided the entrance fee and also dinner that night. So we packed us a lunch and headed to Lagoon at about 10:30am and didn't end up getting home until 11pm. The kids had a great time, as you can tell.

Jake wasn't sure about any of the rides, he never cried, but you could never tell if he was having a good time or not. He must of enjoyed it because the minute you would get off the ride he would point to the ride and say "GO" so that's a good sign. He didn't like that he couldn't go on all the rides, but then again neither could my other kids. We aren't the tallest people ya know. So Jon would have to take turns on the ones where they weren't big enough to ride by themselves. It was a great time, even better that we didn't have to pay a dime!

More of Hawaii!!

2009-08-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

I just realized that the pictures look really small so if you want to see them bigger just click on the pictures (the fire dancer pictures are awesome if you click to enlarge.) For some reason, and most likely it was operator error, but this wouldn't post with the others. I had to put this on though, because the temple is really the reason that Jon goes all the time. He is remodeling the entire temple. So if you are wondering why the outside is not as white as it should be is well because it's not. It is getting redone. This was a great trip. That first picture was the view from my room on the balcony. That is the beach that I spent most of my time at. Loved it!

Hawaii here we come!!

2009-08-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

Jon works in Hawaii once a month for 4-5 days, so this time I actually got to go with him. We left the kids home with my counsin and her friend and left. Jon had to work all week so I hung out at the beach for 5-6 hours everyday just reading, snorkeling, swimming or sleeping. It was great. Would have been better to get to hang out with Jon, but I knew he would have to work the whole time. So Friday he took me to the Polynesian Culture Center. We weren't able to get to really walk around much because we didn't get there until 4pm and the Luau was at 5pm and then we got to see the night show. So here is a couple of the pictures from the Luau.

Here some pictures of the night show. I couldn't post them all so I just did a few so that you could see how awesome it was.

This was probably my favorite part of the entire show. Don't get me wrong the whole
show was amazing, but this was my favorite of the evening!!

Cabin fun and more parties!!

2009-08-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

BEAR RIVER LODGE

WITH

THE WIGHT'S

JULY 10-13

We as a family own the two bedroom upstairs of the first cabin and then the 2 bedroom upstairs and 1 bedroom downstairs of the second cabin. So every summer instead of our camping trips we now all get together up at the cabins to enjoy one another's company. What a grand old time!!

What an activity! The boys have discovered a cool new game to play. They get plastic spoons and then put little rocks on the spoon and then they flick the spoon to see how far they can throw the rocks. It kept them busy for hours it seemed. We just had to make a few ground rules that they couldn't hit the cabins or each other, or other people.
All of the four wheelers, we looked like a little army. We are all getting ready to go for a ride. I guess not all of us we had two new babies this year at the cabin. My sister-in law Katie and My sister-in law Kristin. So they stayed with their babies. I can honestly say I am glad it is not me anymore!

randma doing what she does best. Hanging out with a small portion of the grandkids. They were all watching the big boys (dads) play horseshoes. I think if I am not mistaken that Jon and Jason won 2 games and Drew and Tyler won 1, but I could be wrong.

SCAVENGER HUNT

Here we all are waiting for everyone to get together to start our first ever scavenger hunt. So hang on everyone and letsssssss goooooooo!!

This is the start of our scavenger hunt that Jon's sisters put together for the kids to do. It was fun watching their faces to try and figure out where they were going to be sent next.

Once we got the clue the kids had to do some sort of activity to be able to get the next clue. This is just a sampling of the pictures that I have just for the scavenger hunt. ENJOY!

Bailee got to read the next clue to tell us where to go. We had to ride the four wheelers to get to a lot of the places. We did places like the river, pool, garbage cans (not the most pleasant), pond, the wading area and the bridge to cross the river. It was a lot of fun!

This is what the prize at the end of the hunt was, grandma's big surprise box of goodies. The kids got to each pick two things from the box. This might have taken longer than the actual scavenger hunt. TOO MANY CHOICES!!

SWIMMING POOL
My little water bug just a swimmin with his daddy. What cuties they are!! The cabins just got a pool so all the kids thought that was great. It actually gave us something else to do. My opinion it needs to be a little warmer!

Hailey, Abby, Cole and Kenadee hanging out in the hot tub. The pool was only about 82 degrees so you had to keep moving to stay warm. So when the kids got cold they would go and sit in the hot tub.

This is Jon throwing Logan out of the water. The kids would stand on Jon's shoulders and he would go under water and then shoot up and send the rider flying!! Good thing that I have my new camera so that I could capture these great shots!!

Good dive Logan.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

5 Years Old

This was Curtis's actual birthday. We seem to always be with Jon's family at the cabin over his birthday. He hasn't liked that at he's gotten older so that is why we did a big friend party for him before we left. Once we did the friend party he wanted to celebrate his birthday again at the cabin. So pretty much this kid will probably end up getting two parties for his birthday!!

He saw this underwater wakeboard when we were shopping for his cousins birthday and he wanted one. So Jon and I got this for him he was so excited to try it in the pool. Too bad that it was Sunday! He had to wait till he got home.

He loves to open presents!! That is all he talked about since the moment he woke up!

Let the CELEBRATIONS begin!!

2009-07-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

Curtis' 5th birthday party

with friends

This is what Curtis was looking forward to the most. He was so excited about his presents he got some great stuff. Jake thought that he would try on the goggles, although he couldn't figure out how to put them on right.
Hunter and Curtis with there Optimus Prime masks on. What a great party!!

Curtis with all of his friends. From left to right: Matthew, Cooper, Curtis, Hunter, Brayden and Hudson. Moyes came for a little bit and then had to head to swim lessons.

The boys all enjoying their cake and ice cream. I don't think that they really ate that much of there cake, but at least they had a good time.

Curtis wanted to have a TRANSFORMERS birthday party. So we ordered a cake from Dick's Market. I always love there cakes.

Curtis and Jake gettin' ready to go down the waterslide!

I ordered this for Curtis's 5th birthday party. It had a waterslide and a bounce house with a basketball basket in it. Curtis's friends had a great time, and so did Bailee, I just think that Curtis was to interested in his presents to really enjoy it.

4th of July

Oakley Rodeo

We tried to go camping and the rodeo last year but unfortunatley on our way thru Morgan our truck completely shut down. We ended up renting a car to make it to the rodeo but we had to leave the trailer and our four wheelers at the dealership. So the kids were really excited that the truck didn't break down this trip. They always have such a great time with there cousins. If you would like to see some other pictures from this trip and others that we have taken with my sister and parents-check out there blogs-Ricky & Michelle and Dave & Kelly

This is what happens when you give 2 year olds paint. It was cute to watch, thank heavens that it was washable paint. The kids have a great time and it keeps them quite entertained for a long time.

I have never seen Jake so quite enthralled. I haven't seen him sit still for this long. Quite the concentration going on!

This is my niece Jade, her and Jake have started playing really good lately. At our campsite there was this little swing that the kids found. So Jade and Jake decided that they wanted to paint the entire swing. I don't think that anybody could sit on the swing, it had so many layers of paint on it.

This is the Oakley Rodeo that we went to.

These are pictures of from my new camera that I got for my birthday. I absolutely love this camera it does such a great job. Anyway enough about the camera. The Oakley Rodeo is such a great rodeo, great action and such a quick moving rodeo. After the rodeo was a nice firework display!

This picture should have been at the first. This is what happened when the cowboys opened the chute and after a couple of seconds then the horse started bucking. Look at the pictures above.

Here we are waiting for the rodeo to start. I like this rodeo because it has assigned seating. So you don't have to get there way early to find a seat. This is my parents with the grandkids.

I will post more adventures later. This is only the first half of the month of July. I can't believe that we have been so busy. The month is almost over already, where has the summer gone!!