Feb.- Weeks 2/3- Hawaii (Thursday and Friday)

Monday and Tuesday we did the usual: finish planning and then hosted preschool for Ben (letter Ss), made the kids' Valentines to pass out, laundry, then packed, cleaned, and finished getting ready to leave.  

Wednesday morning we got Kenna off to school, finished packing and cleaning, then dropped the kids off at Aunt Swa's house.  Then we were off to Hawaii!!  Dan's dad's business is working on building a hotel there and since he often has work meetings to attend there, so he's been rotating through each of his kids and letting us tag along.  It was OUR TURN!!  

On the flight there, we enjoyed movies!  One of the favorites was St. Vincent with Bill Murray.  Dan's dad bought me this beautiful lei when we landed!  I will never forget the amazing aroma that thing put off!  They also have some of the coolest trees!  This one is at the airport.  

We got our rental van, then headed to our hotel in Ko Olina.  We checked out our rooms (so amazing!!) then headed out for dinner at a restaurant called Monkey Pod.  I decided to be adventurous and order some FISH!  I don't usually like it if it has a real strong fish taste, but this one was very mild and so delicious!  We tried watching a movie but then crashed pretty hard into bed and pretty early for Hawaii time, it being three hours behind Utah.  

Thursday morning, we woke up to these views and enjoyed a nice 3 mile walk.  Dan's dad already had some work meetings.  

Just doing some exploring.  

We ate breakfast at the resort at an outdoor restaurant called Longboards.  Then we changed and headed to the beach to chill for a couple hours.  

The weather was cloudy off and on and in the high 70s, which made it a little too cold for my liking for a swim.  But it was relaxing to just lay on the beach and talk with Dan and his mom.  

Once Dan's dad was done with his meetings, we grabbed a quick salad/sandwich lunch from a little store, ate them on our room patio, then headed out to go WHALE WATCHING!  The crew of the boat was very friendly and funny! I was feeling pretty good about not feeling motion sick, since I'm super prone,  until...the boat slowed down to our watching "destination."  The water was super choppy!  I was drinking some juice and had to quickly pass it off to Dan's mom then rush to the side of the boat.  I threw up my lunch, then thought I'd maybe feel a little better.  One of the crew members tried putting some lavender oil behind my ears and gave me some ice to chew on and press to the roof of my mouth.  But it was all in vain!  I was SOOOO sick!!  I threw up again, this time my juice, and then continued to throw-up/dry heave over and over and over and over...  For about two hours.  :(  I'm pretty sure being pregnant only compounded the motion sickness.

The smiling picture below was taken before I felt sick.  Being motion sick isn't like a stomach virus where you throw up and then maybe feel better for 30 mins or so.  It was CONSTANT nausea!  There were also about 7-8 other people who were sick too.  On the plus side, in between episodes, I did get to see two whales crest the water.  So, not a total waste.  ;)  

After the boat ride, they crew told me to walk around a bit to help me feel some stability.  

We got back to our hotel and skyped the kids.  These were their faces while we told them about me being sick on the boat.  

We all showered and got cleaned up then went to eat at an Italian restaurant.  It was delicious but my stomach was clearly not ready for a huge meal.  After dinner, we went back to our hotel rooms and played some card games.  I took a hot bath and went to bed.  

Friday morning, we went on another 3 mile walk, this time climbing some rocks and made it to another little beach where we saw some turtles poking their heads out of the water.  We ate breakfast at Longboards restaurant again then got ready for the day.  Dan's dad had work meetings ALL day so we took off for some sight seeing.  It was rainy off and on all day; so cool to see the rain turn from heavy, to light, to sunny and back to heavy...all within a few minutes!

First, we headed to the Dole Plantation.  They have EVERYTHING pineapple! 

We of course inhaled some most refreshing Dole Whip!  We also bought some other souvenirs.  Below, you also see the fields and fields of pineapple plants.  

Next, we drove to a beach to watch the surfers!  So cool!!  It was pretty windy so the waves only got more and more choppy as the day went on.  But I'm glad we got to see some earlier in the day.  

We also hiked to Waimea Falls.  Not a strenuous hike at all, but being 18 weeks pregnant, my hips were starting to feel all this walking!  It lightly sprinkled (locals call it "liquid sunshine") on us off and on.  We thoroughly enjoyed the scenery...especially these huge canopy trees!

Beautiful falls! 

We had lunch at a local place called Ted's Bakery where we ate this amazing garlic shrimp plate.  

We met back up with Dan's dad after his meetings and we had dinner at a restaurant.  Then we stopped by an ice cream/smoothie place and got this crazy dessert called snow ice.  It's like ice cream, but almost like it's been shredded.  It's super light and fluffy and SO good!  We played more cards and called it a night.  

Also, after trying to see more surfers, we drove home by way of the temple to take a few pictures since we knew the next day we planned to be there would be pretty rainy, and it was.  

Feb.- Week 1- Mailbox Update

Sunday, Feb. 1, during Fast and Testimony meeting at church, McKenna turned to me and said, "Should I... you know?"  I asked if she wanted to go up and we talked through what she would say.  She wanted me to whisper in her ear, even though it was "her" words.  She said she was thankful for her family, her scriptures, and that Jesus died for us.  Since I was already up there, I shared my testimony next.  I'm grateful for her example!  

That evening, we watched the Super Bowl at Dan's parent's house.  

I got a free phone upgrade this week and got a blue iPhone 5C.  It's nice to have it work so much faster than my old 4!

The rest of the week was pretty normal in getting ready to host preschool the following week and getting ready for an upcoming trip to Hawaii!  Stay tuned!  

Anna playing dress-up.  

Ben insisted I take a picture of him as a Ninja Turtle, even though I have 20 of these pictures form Halloween. ;)  And this is a drawing he made for dad.  It's a fish!  I love it when their drawings become something other than blobs.  It's fun to see their perception. 

I know Dan and I are like 5 years behind the times, but since Christmas break we started getting into the show Walking Dead.  We have watched almost 4 seasons since January.  We have taken little breaks here and there to catch up on life.  I'd by lying if I said that during those breaks we kind of go through withdrawals.  So we made some Lego guys to help ease our pain.  

I give you Lego Daryl, Rick, Glen, and random Walker.  :)  

We helped clean the church Saturday morning.  Then, our awesome Home Teachers came over to help repair our destroyed mailbox.  They brought a "new to us" mailbox they had laying around and tools to dig out the old one.  Our next door neighbor saw them working on it, and came over with the wood and some other tools we needed.  Between all these awesome men, Dan included, we had a new, sturdy, mailbox in 45 minutes withOUT a single trip to the hardware store!  The "funnest" part for them was breaking up the old concrete slab with a sledge hammer (pictured right after it was done on the bottom left).  

We also had Stake Conference this weekend where I sang in the choir and we enjoyed the uplifting messages about the purposes of family (and Ward) councils and how to improve them, and how to fortify our families in general.  Such great counsel!

Basement Construction (Sept-Nov 2014)

Back up!  In September we had our basement remodeled.  We only moved one wall, and the rest was updating and replacing things.  The walls got retextured, new dry wall ceilings, new lighting, new trim, new windows, new doors, and new carpet.  

Before

Before

 During

 After

 Bedroom 1 before

 Before

 During

 After

 Here's the wall that we bumped out to create a new bedroom.  (Technically if we ever had to resell the house, we could not list either of the basement bedrooms as "bedrooms."  One has no window and one has no closet.)  We basically just moved this wall out to meet the other wall.  

Before

 During- old wall knocked down

 During- new framing in

 Looking out from inside the new bedroom

 After

 Bedroom 2- Before (it was really just a small storage room)

The after shot of bedroom 2 looks very similar to Bedroom 1- same color walls, trim, and carpet.  

Bathroom Before

 Before 

 After- new doors make such a HUGE difference in brightening things up! 

We also installed new brushed nickel hardware and they put fresh lacquer on the vanity cupboards.  

We had a little hiccup with the new windows.  Our friend Cesar who was doing the remodel, and has done lots of work for us in the past, had one of his friends supply the windows.  Well, this friend had to leave the country due to a family emergency and we never heard back from him!  So Cesar had to re-order new windows and we waited an additional month for them to be installed.  Thankfully, we didn't have to pay any extra money.

 We were very pleased with the outcome and love spending time down there!  Now, we can move the older kids downstairs in preparation for baby #4.  :)  

Jan- Week 3 & 4- Ribbon Cutting, NFBDP, Mailbox

Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, McKenna had a fun play date with her cousins Whitney and Katie since they were all off school!  

Tuesday (and Thursday), I hosted and taught Ben's preschool.  I taught about the letter "Pp" but didn't take any pictures.  The best part was how funny the boys thought the tongue twister "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" was. :)  

Wednesday, after picking up McKenna, we went to Library Story Time and McKenna got to be a helper.  They read books that were all about being sick.  So she got to pretend she was a patient with a sick tummy and the "doctor" kept pulling weird things out.  :) 

Thursday night, we had a lovely family dinner with my siblings and mom at my siblings' apartment.  

Friday, we went to Brigham City to support Dan's brother, the new General Manager, at the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony for the new hotel, a Hampton Inn.  

Other family members who came to support and the actual ribbon cutting! 

Then we headed up to Mantua for a relaxing afternoon of napping and watching Star Wars.  

We ate dinner with Dan's parents and three of his siblings at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Brigham City.  We arranged to do a babysitter swap with Dan's sister and we each got to do a session in the Brigham City Temple.  So beautiful!  After the temple, we played Farkle with the family who were staying overnight.  

Whenever Anna saw Ellie crawling, she had to too.  :)  

Saturday morning it was our turn to babysit.  We just kinda hung out, watched movies, and played games.  Then Gma and Gpa took the big girls on their morning walk.  You could tell they were pretty cold, but they loved going with them and "earning" a trip to the candy store afterwards.  

Once Dan's sister got back, we fed the kids lunch then headed back to Brigham City to meet up with Dan's brother's family for some bowling!  

Everyone had lots of fun!  I know the scores are hard to see, but McKenna won for the kids, and Jake won for the grown ups.  Yes, I came in last place. :) 

Monday, the 26th, was the Nelson Family Birthday party celebrating the January Birthdays.  Ben's getting pretty good at blowing out the candles.  :) 

Benny wanted me to take a picture of a piece of cheese he made look like a "saw."  Ok, bud. :)  

Also, two funny things he's said recently: As he was running back and forth from my room to the family room getting Duplo blocks to build a tower, he said all huffing and puffing out of breath, "Thanks for the yummy breakfast mom!  Now I have all this energy!"  And then after watching the snail racing movie Turbo, he said, "That movie was so funny it cracked the brains right out of me."  

Wednesday, we went out for one last restaurant dinner with my mom and siblings before she went back to Chile.  She chose Red Lobster and then we went to Cold Stone for ice cream afterwards.  A very delicious night, indeed!!

Just a cute little rock collector. :) 

McKenna playing school.  She definitely loves to be the teacher.  And I love that they (sometimes) let Anna play too. :)  

Saturday night, my sister babysat while we had a fun family meeting and dinner with Dan's parents and siblings.  We walked home and were sitting on the couch talking to my sister when within 20 mins of being home, we heard a loud crunch sound outside.  Dan went to check things out and saw that our mailbox had been pushed/bent/twisted down to the ground, and then run over!!  Dang hooligans!  I mean, we definitely could use a new mailbox, but we were hoping someone would take it out in a snowstorm, tell us, and then help pay for a new one. :)  Oh well!  Dan did his best to bend it back upright, and unflatten the mailbox pancake until we have time to buy and instal a new one.  We also kind of hope the metal did some damage to the vandal's car or tires.  And come to find out at church the next day, that 3 other mailboxes on our street had been vandalized as well.