We decorated our Christmas tree

 For FHE a couple of weeks ago, we decorated our tree, after a GREAT lesson on Christ's birth by Mr Ethan!

We had a fun time!

 Merry Christmas!

Love, Ethan, Emma, and Jackson

(Mike and Karen too)

Family pictures 2013

We had our family pictures taken a few weeks ago.

I LOVE them and was very anxious to get some up on our walls.

That's DONE!

Here are a few of my very favorites.

(If you want to see them all, and they are all FABULOUS, let me know.)

We need to get this on a BIG canvas, I just have to figure out where to put it or where to put the pictures it will replace!

Wednesday...the last day!

Our last day in Hawaii was a long one! We checked out of our hotel and left for the day, our flight home wasn't until 9:00 pm so we had all day!

We decided to go check out Iolani Palace, where the Hawaiian Kings and Queens used to live. The only palace where kings and queens ruled that is on American soil. Sadly, I have no pictures from there because you can't take flashed pictures inside the palace. But if you google "Iolani Palace," you will see everything we saw and the colors are more vibrant than in the palace, for real.

There are some huge trees that Mike wanted a picture in front of, so here he is!

 After Iolani Palace, we went to lunch and a movie. The movie theater wasn't too far from the palace so we headed there to park and there was a Costco across the parking lot and that sounded yummy for lunch so as lame as it sounds, we went to Costco for lunch!

We saw "Captain Phillips" and it a great movie.

After the movie, we headed to the airport to return our rental car, check in, and get something for dinner. I was exhausted by the end of the day and all I wanted to do was sleep.

Our last picture in Hawaii...this trip!

I don't sleep well on planes so I took a Tylenol pm. I remember the fight attendants coming around with drinks and that's all. I didn't feel like I slept well at all, but when I woke up, I checked the status on how far out we were, and we were just over an hour from SLC. That means I got a good 3-4 hours of sleep. Well, not "good" but I slept. We landed at 6:40 am and I was glad to be home.  I missed my kids and was very anxious to see them. Mike got home, showered, dressed, and was off to work. I hung out and did load after load after load of laundry. Looking at all my laundry, I knew that that was the reason I do a small load every day so I don't have a TON to do all at once. It was overwhelming and made me cry...almost...maybe it was the sleep deprivation!

Hawaii, you were good to us! Thanks for the memories and thank you Mike for the awesome trip to celebrate a WONDERFUL 10 years together. Someday, Hawaii, we will return.

And a HUGE thanks to my parents for taking great care of our kids while we were gone!

Tuesday

Tuesday we headed off to the Waimea Valley and Waimea Falls!

On the way we passed "Queen Emma Street," we'd passed it before so I knew it was coming so I got my camera ready.

 I figured my Emma would get a kick out of it, after all, she does want to be a princess!

Waimea Valley is so pretty. I'm sure you've seen it in movies. "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Journey 2," "Chimpmunks, Chipwrecked," "Lilo and Stitch," just to name a few and the movies I've seen and heard of.

Lily pads

 This tree is called a Cannon Ball Fruit Tree. The fruit is not good for you but the flower is pretty

 I forget what kind of bird this is but they are endangered, there are like 500 left in existence, and we saw many of them.

 Can't go to Hawaii and not put a flower in your hair!

 This is a replica of the huts the natives lived in

 Mike's turn

 The hike to the falls isn't really a hike. It's a paved road, not hard at all. It's 3/4 a mile and if you go straight there, it'll take ya 30 minutes. We wandered off the path and explored so it took us at least an hour to get there, but when we did, it was AMAZING!

 The pool at the base of the falls you can swim in. You have to wear a life jacket cause there is a sudden 30 foot drop. The water is brisk but felt really good after a walk in the sun.

We made a deal with a family that we'd take their picture if they'd take ours!

 Just a pretty flower we found on the walk back from the falls.

 On our way back, we stopped at another beach on the North Shore. This one was not for swimming, the waves were crazy and the rocks were jagged, but oh so pretty.

 Funny story, Mike was exploring on the rocks and found some crabs running around. He asked me for the camera to take some pictures, but instead, a wave crashed up on the rocks and got him soaked!

 This just reminds me of a postcard

 We passed Queen Emma Street again too!  This time from a different way.



Monday

Monday we went on a submarine ride! It was cool and Mike was super stoked about it, I was excited too.

This is the boat that took us out to the sub

 And there is the sub

 Gotta get a shot of Diamond Head from the sub

 The sub time that worked for us happened to be the Japanese tour so we got to wear cool head phones so we would understand everything

 Made me NOT want to take a trip to a country where I don't understand the language.

 Cool fish outside my porthole

 This is a sunken plane

 And a sunken ship

 A sea turtle on the sunken ship

 After the sub ride, we went shopping a little, then it was off to Lanikai Beach, again. We couldn't get enough of that beach!

 I didn't take very many pictures that are interesting to anyone but me. We just relaxed and enjoyed the sun, sea, and quiet.

This is a shot of the clouds moving in.