Hawaii

The last time I flew anywhere was 12 years ago when Carson was just 18 months old and we took a trip to South Carolina.  The last trip Tony and I took without any kids was for our 6th Anniversary when Carson and Alaina were just little, and that was just a long weekend.  So to say that I was excited would be an understatement!  We planned this trip to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary a few months before the job change so all of our flights were out of Seattle.  When we tried to change our flights to fly out of Boise instead we learned it would be cheaper to just buy an additional flight out of Boise to catch our flight out of Seattle.  So we left from Boise, flew to Reno, flew to Seattle, flew to San Francisco, then flew to Honolulu.  After lay overs and "trying" to sleep in airports and on the plans we finally landed in Hawaii. Thankfully we didn't have any delays!   

Getting ready to fly out.

Where we "slept" while in the Seattle Airport.

Our view from the plane as we came into land!  Beautiful!

The first day in Hawaii was just checking out the Island, the beach and our Condo.  That night we crashed and it was wonderful to get a whole night of uninterrupted sleep!  No kids in my bed and no alarm to wake us up for work or getting kids ready for school.

Peace and Quiet!

Our ride for the week.  A free upgrade from the compact car we had reserved.  I did notice a lot of white Jeeps while driving around.  It must have been the go to vehicle for all the rental car places.

Of course we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center!  It was so neat!  Our guide was actually from Mongolia.  We did some fun activities, went to a Luau, and saw an awesome show!  We even went a second day to catch all the things we missed.

 

There were rain showers off and on the whole time we were there.  But it was never cold and it never lasted for very long. So we didn't really mind.

We hiked Diamond's Head and it was beautiful!  One of the only sunny days we had and had a great view of the Island.

Visiting the Honolulu Temple and Snorkeling at Sharks Cove.  Snorkeling was so much fun!  It made Tony a little nervous at first but once we got the hang of it we really loved exploring and seeing all the tropical fish.

 

Tony said that the one thing he wanted to do was drink out of a coconut on the Beach.  We made sure it happened so his Hawaii experience would be complete.

 

Visited Pearl Harbor Memorial.  A pretty humbling experience.  A bit surprised that the visitors weren't more respectful when we went out to see the Arizona.  Regardless it made me thankful for the sacrifice of those men.

The whole week was busy!  We packed in a lot of activities but loved spending so much time together.  We are already planning to go back in a few years.  We missed our kids and were ready to be back with them.  Our flights back were just as crazy and bouncing from one city or state to another.  But we'd do it all again in a heart beat!  Loved Hawaii and being together!

Moving and Stuff

It's kind of hard to wrap up everything that has happened with our family over the last 6 months.  Two days before Christmas we moved our family to Idaho.  The weeks leading up to the move were busy and stressful but we made it work.  Tony started his new job in Idaho just after Thanksgiving.  The kids and I stayed in Washington and got everything ready for the move.  Those few weeks were filled with Holiday concerts, parties, and getting everything packed for the move.  I look back on that time of handling it all on my own and think that even though it was difficult at times we made it through pretty well.  We had lots of help from friends and neighbors that made it all bearable.  We managed to make the trek across the mountain pass amidst snow and pulling trailers safely and without incident.  In which I'm grateful for.  We moved 95% of our things into Tony's parents' garage and storage under their house.  Just keeping out the bare necessities until we move into our own house. 

Christmas was different from years past.  Just because of our circumstances it made it difficult to do all the family traditions.  For Christmas each of the kids got a compound bow of their own.  Except Lincoln of course, he got a Nerf Bow.  I got a Bow a few weeks later and we as a family have really enjoyed our new family activity.  Tony and Carson are hoping to go hunting with theirs while the rest of us enjoy target shooting at this point.  We went to a 3D archery shoot in April which was a lot of fun!  Tony, his Dad, and Brothers are going to another one in Utah that they're all looking forward to.

The kids have been doing well in school and Lincoln has had a learning experience of his own.  Learning to share with 2 and 4 year old cousins when your used to being alone with Mom all day has been interesting.  In February he turned 3 and with it came the tantrums and a hitting phase that we try to work through each day.  Lincoln has recently become obsessed with Trains which is good because there are a lot of them in our area.  He gets so excited just when we cross the train tracks.  When we actually see a train chugging down the tracks he gets so excited!  It's pretty cute!

Charlie has loved living close to his cousins!  About 6 weeks ago he had a back injury that gave us a bit of a scare.  He was playing outside on a tree swing and landed on his upper back and neck.  After a visit to the Chiropractor and some x-rays we were told he had a mild fracture.  We opted to have some laser treatments to speed up the healing process and taking it easy for a few weeks.  The taking it easy part was hard for an active 6 year old.  Toward the end Charlie asked me, "Mom, can I please run and jump?"  Poor kid!  But he seems to be back to his normal self and we are so grateful that he wasn't injured more.

Alaina finished another season of soccer with the local club.  She did well but has decided that she's ready to try something else.  She's played for the last 4 years.  We don't know yet what the something else will be.  She wants to try dance but expense and her age make me a little apprehensive about trying that.  So we'll see what we come up with.

Carson joined the band and really enjoyed playing under the director at his new middle school.  Tony and I were pleasantly surprised at how good the band was when we attended Carson's last concert.  His band attended a local festival and they got the highest score on all three of their pieces!  Carson has also recently joined a local Robotics team.  He seems to really be enjoying it and excited to be involved in Robotics again.  Carson has also been working hard in scouts and will be awarded his Life Rank Advancement this week.  He should be able to earn his Eagle before the LDS Church/BSA split in 2020.

Tony and I celebrated our 15th anniversary by going to Hawaii in March.  We planned the trip before the new job offer.  So with some last minute finagling we made it all work.  The flights were long and we were exhausted by the time we got to Hawaii.  We visited the island of Ohau and loved it!  We will definitely go back someday! I'll have to do another post just about Hawaii to fill you in on all our fun!

Tony has really been loving his job.  He's learning a lot and really enjoys the people he works with.  He'll be going to Mexico in few weeks to install his first big project.  He's doing great and we are really excited for him!

We have haven been patiently and not so patiently watching to progress of our home in Middleton.  The actual construction of the house got started a little later than planned, but now progress is being made every week.  We're hoping to be closing/moving into our home the last week of June.  Every week we visit the house and love imagining what it'll look like when it's all finished. 

Our moved back to our home state of Idaho has been greeted with joy and trial.  But we still believe this where Heavenly Father wants us at this time.  Looking forward to the future and the things to come.