Hawaii

In June we made a quick decision to go to Hawaii in August. We wanted to make sure that we made it out there while my sister and her crew were there. We couldn't think of a better way to end the summer, especially a nice vacation before the busy school year would start. We were very nervous about Aliyah flying on the plane--we would be on a plane for a total of 7 hours with a 2 hour layover in between on the way there. She was AWESOME. She cried once for less than 5 minutes. It was my other baby that I had to worry about! Our flight to Seattle was great. We talked with the man sitting next to us and ended up giving him a Book of Mormon--such a great guy. Toward the end of that flight I started feeling woozy and then Dave did to. Ended up that we had food poisoning...by something I made! (when my little neighbor found out she asked me why I tried to poison Dave.) I didn't get it as bad as Dave. He threw up 14 times on the long flight from Seattle to Hawaii. I threw up twice. We decided that we were glad that we got it at the beginning of the trip as opposed to later. We (and mostly Dave) were pretty miserable. We hope to break this trend of being sick while on vacation soon.

Feeling mostly better the next day we knew we had to enjoy our time while we could! Our first beach: Waimea.  It was beautiful!  I didn't know the ocean water was so clear and blue.  We enjoyed the day by snorkeling (I pretended to) and relaxing.

 


We visited the turtles...


and had shave ice...





The next day we went to the temple.  My sister and bro-in-law watched Aliyah while we did a session then we watch their girls while they did a session.  They recently remodeled the temple and it is beautiful.  I loved driving up to it from the "highway."

Dave and Aliyah taking a nap, with the temple in the background.

the cousins...

And a stop at the Dole Plantation for a Dole Whip...wow, probably my favorite thing.  I like it much more than the shave ice.

You can see where Aliyah gets her good looks from...

The next day we went to Waikiki beach.  My sister was the best and watched Aliyah for us so a.) we could relax and b.) to keep her out of the sun--for this very good reason:

                                  

(please note the sunburn line from her binki and her famous bitter beer face...it was so bad that there were a number of Asian tourists who came up, pointed at her and laughed out loud.  So sad...)

The boys went surfing while I layed out and read.  It was beautiful, crowded, but beautiful.

They did a great job.  Dave even got up a couple of times--not bad for his first time ever!

Saturday we went to a beach on the east side of the island.  It is a military beach so a little less crowded and my favorite beach on Oahu.  Seriously the sand was like powdered sugar as Annie calls it.

Here's Aliyah's cousin loving the sand...

And this is the first time that Aliyah had EVER rolled from her back to her belly.  We documented it!  Sure she's 7 1/2 months old, but she finally did it.  

(Please note the tent we made her to keep her better guarded from the sun!)

Dave and I headed out to ride the waves...on the boogie boards

Such a fun day.  Then my sister and bro-in-law watched Aliyah for us so we could have a night out in Hawaii.  It was wonderful!

Sunday we went to church and celebrated Aliyah's cousins first birthday!

Monday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had to stop by the Dole Plantation and get us another Dole Whip.

The Tongan and Samoan shows made us laugh to tears.  So great.

Waiting for our Luau meal.  The leis were fresh flowers and smelled heavenly.

(See the scabs on Aliyah's face.  She got blisters from her sun burn and then would rub her face with her cloth when she went to sleep--thus scabs.  We are terrible parents!)

Tuesday we went to Pearl Harbor.  We loved it.  There was great feeling of peace.  Dave and I had our eyes opened to a part of WWII that we were not as familiar with.  We learned a lot.

My sister and bro-in-law live about a 5 minute walk from the beach.  We went down to see the sunset.

On our last day we went random sight seeing.  We went to the replica of a Japanese Buddhist temple.  The surrounding area was gorgeous.  We love the "cliffs" of Hawaii.

Then did a little hike to Moana Falls.



We LOVED our sweet little vacation.  We were well taken care of.  And the girls had a good time too...as you can see:

Other summer...

Aliyah is a little top heavy (specifically in the cheeks...) She's been a bit "behind" in doing some of the developmental things like rolling and sitting up, etc. So we got Aliyah a bumbo to help "train" her. She loves it; we attribute it to helping her sit quicker than she probably would have.


This is pre-rolling all the way over--this distance covered (from her head on the burp cloth to the picture) is from rolling side to side!

(please note scrumptious thigh)

We were able to go boating with Dave's cousin and her little family. Dave got to try the ski chair (I don't know the correct term) and Aliyah got to try out her new life jacket (definitely wasn't her favorite!)


(note: the redness on her face is from the red canopy over head! We try to be good parents in keeping our child safe, but in another post you'll see we are far from perfect...)

After a walk/run...


And some swimming of course. She LOVED the water and was much better getting in the "cooler" pool than I was!



We went to the Parade of Homes in Salt Lake.


and got to meet Carl at the "UP" house (which we actually really liked)


And then this is my favorite. Aliyah LOVES, LOVES Dave. She get so excited to see him when he comes home. There is nothing sweeter...

June

June was a busy month. It started out with Dave's brother graduating from High School and the celebrations surrounding that. We love him--he is a really good kid.


The next morning we drove to Washington to visit my brother and his family. We were a little nervous about the 13 hour drive with Aliyah, but she did a FANTASTIC job. She only had a little crying session once! While in the Washington we...

went to a podunk logging festival....


Seattle...

We went to the Music Project museum (something like that)
Dave as an Avatar

and the boys in a band...you can see my nephew behind the drums--he was LOVING it, as were the grown men!


the coast...






had family pictures taken...



visited Mount St. Helens...


and saw Big Foot (Dave really wanted to get a picture taken with him because growing up at his house they had watched Harry and the Hendersons. When I told Dave I had never seen that movie we made sure to put it on our netflix queue. It was pretty good.)

and of course got sick (Dave and I have a tendency to get sick while we are on vacation; lame!)

We had birthdays...this is Dave's favorite dessert (and mine): nutella bars (thank you sister!)


And this is how we would try to keep Aliyah in her swaddle...fortunately she grew out of needing a swaddle on her own pretty quickly.

May

As in the month of...

Apparently we didn't do too many interesting things during April...well we did we just didn't take any pictures, so on to MAY!

I had my first official Mother's Day...I was expecting last year, but it's not the same. I LOVE my job. I never thought that being a mom could be SO wonderful. Definitely a gift from heaven...pure joy!


(do you like the drool on the front of her dress...hers not mine)

Someone in our neighborhood started a treat service...kind of like the Halloween Ghost that leaves a treat on your doorstep...


except this wasn't a ghost...

pretty impressive, huh? And one of the funniest things to open your door to!

Aliyah was 5 months in May. I posted pictures that my sister Annie and I had taken earlier but here are two more because Aliyah is so darn cute:




And this had to be documented...Aliyah had some good hair when she was born, and it never fell out. So she had the bald spot (like most babies get), but Aliyah had a comb-over and that comb-over would often get big ol' knots in it. Then to top it off look a little lower and you can see Aliyah's "rats tail." It's not a perfect one, but it is clearly there. (I'm just jealous because I always wanted a rats tail for the pure sake of humor--I almost got one cut after my mission, but my parents called the hairstylist and told her not to let me! I would have had it only for a week...Could you imagine!?)


Next up, summer...and we were busy!!!

Baby Blessing

Yes this wonderful event took place 6 months ago, yes my baby is almost 9 months old now, and yes I am now just blogging about it.

It was an incredible day that started with Aliyah sleeping 7 hours straight! We almost weren't ready on time because we had forgotten that it was daylight savings, but the preparations from the dress to the food and most importantly spiritually came together. It was wonderful to have our family together to help celebrate Aliyah.

My mom and I teamed up on the dress...and by teamed up I mean she made it all and I added the flower embellishments




Us with Dave's parents


with my parents


The men who were a part of blessing Aliyah...how we love each of them!


It was an incredible day.


(slowly but surely)