Christmas in Hawaii

it was so special to be able to go to church on Christmas morning.  we let the girls see what was in their stockings, and what santa had brought them, but we made them wait until after church to open the rest.  luckily, last year we had church at 8!

 izzy was excited about Christmas, but mae this year totally got it.  she was so pumped about everything Christmas related that we did.  it truly made this holiday so magical for us.

of course Christmas cookies were made.  carrying on the traditions I grew up with.  way too many cookies for sure.  but, we had a lot of fun making them, and taking them to our friends.

mae loved making a plate of cookies for santa, and chose each cookie carefully.  while everyone wasn't looking, izzy took a bite out of each cookie on the plate...lucky santa.

our tree was a little bare this year, I definitely didn't trust izzy with more than half of the ornaments that we own.  whenever we saw her touching the tree we would say 'hands off' and she would stick her hands up in the air. 

we didn't put any presents under the tree until Christmas eve, again I didn't trust izzy.  most of the stuff we ordered, and was piled up in our bedroom in boxes.  so one night before Christmas cody and I wrapped everything and put everything in the back of our closet.  the next morning mae started crying when she came in our room "did santa take all the presents away?" so, I had to show her that I had wrapped them and hidden them from izzy.

santa and so many people that love us were very good to us this year!  codys parents got ukuleles for the girls and cody.  and they have loved those. the girls got a play kitchen from my parents, which, has been so fun to watch and listen to them playing with.  santa brought mae a big girl bike...shes pretty much already too big for it, but shes figured it out pretty quickly and loves it.

 cody got the NES classic game system.  that was the crowning gift this year I think.  so fun to watch him play it.  it brings back tons of memories, and it really is like watching a kid play, he gets so excited and into it.  surprisingly mae has totally gotten into it.  she asks her dad everyday sometimes multiple times a day to play.  I think we need to get another controller.

I cant wait to introduce her to super Nintendo and the Wii when we're home over the summer! although, I'm a little worried we have a future gamer on our hands here.

one of my last favorite memories from this Christmas was our sweet neighbors doing elf on the shelf for our girls.  they absolutely LOVED finding elf every morning.  it was so much fun and so special for them.  we are so grateful for sweet friends that we have made since we've been here.  and it's so nice to have someone in the same boat as you.

christmas

what a different Christmas this was for us!  but, it was a wonderful one.  we had lots of fun activities that we did throughout the month that got the girls very excited about Christmas.

BYUH had a tree lighting ceremony and some fun crafts and things that we went to, and even more fun that our neighbors were there as well!  the girls loved meeting and getting pictures with Anna and Elsa (what they have to do with Christmas is beyond me).

I decided this year to attempt gingerbread houses.  I have avoided because it is so messy.  but, we invited our friends over to make them with us.  I don't even want to know how much candy was consumed making these, but the girls had a blast.

 we went into town to see the Honolulu city lights.  it was lots of fun, my favorite was all the different Christmas trees, each was decorated differently.  we all loved the harry potter tree, but we didn't get a picture of it!

 mae's favorite was santa and mrs clause.  they were ginormous.  the whole time cody and I kept asking each other 'where do they store this stuff?' 

 we tried multiple times to get the girls to sit on santa's lap, but they were having none of that.  wherever we saw him, they steered clear of him.  but, we were at the PCC one evening with our friends, and Cameron got them to sit with santa. (I think Cameron has magic powers or something). 

 we took a canoe ride around the lagoon, and watched the Nativity story performed.  I think this was my favorite thing we did.  It was so incredibly beautiful.  and our other neighbor was the angel!  the girls were SO excited to see him. 

we've had some rainy gloomy days here, but whenever the sun is out, we've tried to make it to the beach!  the girls saw their friends making snow angles, and improvised with sand angels instead.

Our first visitors

we finally had our first visitors here in Hawaii.  I guess not finally, we've only been here like 3 and a half months.  we were so excited when erich and mattie told us they were going to come spend thanksgiving with us. 
it couldn't have come at a better time. I needed to see some family and have something like this to look forward to.

mae and izzy were stoked to see chloe. the absolutely adored her.  they were seriously all up in her grill the whole time she was here.  i'm close with my cousins, some of my favorite memories growing up include them.  and I want that for my kids. 

we took them to see some sights, sharks cove on the north shore is pretty cool. 

mae is so good at taking care of and watching out for others, she loved being able to hold chloe and help with her. 

ah, this little fireball is adorable.  we are so grateful to have had time with her!

we also went to hike diamond head.  it was a really awesome hike.  mae's closed toed shoes don't fit anymore (I'm pretty sure she hasn't put them on since we've been here) so the poor girl had to hike in her flip flops and she killed it.  no complaining the whole way, and at the end there were some crazy stairs.  at one point she told the rest of us "put your back into it".  that's my girl

I carried nugget number two on my back.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  she's not really into sitting still, or being held.  but, she did great.  she was happy the whole time.

it was so beautiful at the top.  i'm so grateful we're able to do things like this as a family.  and i'm so grateful for this little ohana of mine.

when we tried to find someone to take this picture, there was only one older Asian couple there. we motioned for them to take our picture, and the man got up and wiped his sweat off, and took our picture...we weren't sure how it was going to turn out.  but, it turned out pretty dang good! we might not speak the same language, but, we all know how to take a picture on a smart phone.

mae wanted to take chloe to one of her favorite beaches - alligator pond.  we had some windy, cloudy weather while they were visiting, but we still made sure we went to the beach. 

my sweet girl.  she has grown so much these past three months.  she is so much more outgoing and confident in herself.  she is more willing to try new and different things.  I might still be homesick, and missing my friends and family, but, seeing her grow and have these experiences helps.

this little lady reminds me of mae when she was about to walk.  doesn't want to walk, but take right off and run.  she has the brightest smile.  and surprisingly loved cody.  not all babies do.

this nugget.  I have a lot more gray hairs because of this one.  she loves the water and has no fear. 

this little one, I am so glad I had the chance to spend this time with her and her parents.  it's hard not to smile when she does. 

aunt mattie got the girls matching jammies.

i'm so grateful that mattie and erich came to visit us.  we love them so much, and get along so well with them.  it's been so fun to experience everything with them, college, graduation, engagements, weddings, babies, moves.  they're wonderful, and we had such a great time with them while they were here.

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year with two little girls.  we had a lot of fun leading up to that day.  we made lots of crafts...

mae is my little crafty lady,  she loves stuff like this.

the daddy pumpkin had to have glasses like mae's daddy.

we're lucky to have lots of people who love us, and send us packages even when we are on the other side of the world.  cody's aunt sent the girls a super fun Halloween package, and they were more than thrilled to open it!

holidays mean an excuse to make sugar cookies. mae loves to decorate them, it was one of her favorite things to do with gram, so I will gladly carry on the tradition.  we made SO many cookies.  mae even got tired of decorating them, that's how many we made.

we had a good time at our ward Halloween party and trunk or treat.  izzy was a little nervous about the people in masks, but didn't let that stop her. mae got a cute mermaid dress up from my aunt, and decided that's what she wanted to wear for Halloween. and izzy of course rocked the clown costume that I myself donned over 25 years ago.

we love our neighbors, and are lucky that they love us too!  these girls are so great with mae and izzy, and my girls follow them around everywhere,

checking out the loot...

Halloween was a couple days after our ward party, so mae and izzy got to trick or treat twice this year.  we had a costume change the day of Halloween.  mae decided she wanted to be a ballerina that wore a "maskes". luckily I brought her ballet stuff with us when we came to Hawaii. 

at first izzy didn't really get the whole trick or treat thing, but she caught on real quick once she realized she could get candy just by saying "ticky tee".  she loved it.  both of these girls did.

beach days

you would think living in Hawaii, i would go to the beach every day.  but, life gets in the way.  we try to get there once or twice a week depending on what we have going on.  the past few weekends we have enjoyed some beach days with cody. 

it's a lot of fun when cody gets to come to the beach with us.  and, easier for me!  but, we have enjoyed having the chance to go to the beach often.

i think this picture is a perfect depiction of my girls.  mae, is holding back and staying close to someone she knows.  and izzy just taking off barreling through.  even if you look at the way izzy walks, she just charges.  and that is exactly how her personality is as well.  no fear, head first.

the amount of sand that kids accumulate is insane.  it is literally everywhere when we go to the beach.  and i continue to find it for a few days afterwards in their ears and hair.

this is another good picture that shows how each of my girls are.  mae sitting daintily, and nicely playing with the sand.  izzy soaking wet, with fists full of sand, throwing it.  i hope that mae will be able to reel izzy in a little throughout life, and that izzy will be able to bring out the adventurer in mae. 

as i watch these two together, my testimony of eternal families grows. sometimes (rarely), but sometimes the way they interact makes me certain that they knew each other before we got here.   i'm grateful for those sweet moments that are few and far between. 


even though football is on at weird times here, we still find time to watch it!  this is how they were watching the other day. 

"Fall"

apparently it's fall, but I wouldn't know.  it's starting to cool off a bit, but it still gets pretty roasty.

we finally FINALLY closed on our house.  we got an offer in the beginning of September, and the buyer kept making changes on their loan, so we finalized everything a few weeks ago.  cody and I thought we would be so happy and relieved, which we were. but, we were also sad.  lots of wonderful memories in that house, I loved it.  but, on to making new memories.

to celebrate we went to dinner.  we found the rainbow drive-in in Honolulu, and it was delish.  the girls loved it because there were cheeseburgers (well, hamburgers with cheese, if you say cheeseburger mae won't want it).

my cousin Sydney got married right before mae's birthday.  we had been planning on being there when she first told us she was engaged, but with the move, it wasn't possible anymore.  I was so sad, and wished to badly that I could have been there with her on her special day!! mae was supposed to wear this adorable dress, so when she got it in the mail she was so excited to be able to wear it to church,  and has since then asked every sunday if she can wear it.

this girl has an amazing imagination.  I love to sit and listen to her play in her own little world.  but, I have to say, I absolutely love when she plays 'workout'.  she's using the little people as weights. and if I do say so myself, her squat game is on point!

still adjusting to life here.  somedays i'll feel like I've totally got this, and i'm finally in my groove here, and then something will knock me back a little bit.  but, i don't think I've ever seen cody so excited and happy about what he's doing, and  i love that. 

i miss my parents more than i thought i would, but, i read their emails and hear the stories of their missionaries, and i am reassured that this is where they need to be.  they are amazing, and those missionaries love them so much already,  but how could you not?

the hawaii happs

my girls continue to amaze me.  they have grown and adapted so much these past two months.  it has been a roller coaster ride, but as I sit here reflecting on the past few weeks, they have slipped right into life here faster than I thought they would. 

one thing I love about kids is they are so accepting.  we have met people from all over the world here, and have been immersed in so many different cultures.  and my kids have been so accepting of everyone and everything.  dance class in Hawaii has dances from Maori, Tahiti, and Hawaii.  and mae has loved learning every one of them.  i'm so grateful that they have this opportunity to interact with kids from so many cultures. 

the park situation here is definitely not what we were used to in Texas or Virginia.  but, we have found a few cute little playgrounds to play on.  these two fight like crazy, but sometimes I catch moments like this.  I hope that they grow up with a great relationship.  i'm so grateful to be so close to my brothers.

whenever I work out at home, mae or izzy always join in.  last week I caught the girls and daddy doing some push ups together.  monkey see monkey do.  sometimes I really dislike working out while they are awake, but I think that its good for them to see me taking care of myself, and trying to better myself. that I do this because I love my body and am grateful for all its done.

our fridge has been having troubles.  luckily, byu had a spare for us to use until someone can come out to look at ours (i was told they only make trips up to us once a month for repairs).  this happened a couple weeks ago, and we thought it was fixed, but it started again.  so we have two full size refrigerators in our tiny house.  the first time nothing went bad.  but this time, it was over the weekend so we had to throw some stuff out.  and we made a trip into town to get a mini fridge to get us through the weekend. 

i am totally regretting that i didn't buy this hot dog costume for izzy when we were at target.  every time i look at it i laugh. 

this girl has been hell on wheels lately. tantrums, biting, hitting, kicking.  all the good stuff.  she is a strong willed, determined toddler.  and i'm sure one day i will be grateful for those qualities in her. but, its hard sometimes.

 i find myself getting so frustrated with her, often, and sometimes not even wanting to be around her.  I've struggled with feeling like a bad mom because of it.  today we went for a walk on the beach and she reached up and said "mama, hand", and i realized how important i am to this girl.  i realized how incredibly blessed i am that i get to be her mama.  that heavenly father blessed me with this strong, determined, crazy kid for a reason. 

my realization doesn't make this whole mom thing any less difficult.  but, its moments like those, that give me the strength to keep going.  i'm grateful that heavenly father blessed me with that sweet moment this morning.