Montana

I was very lucky to be able to attend one of my best friends' wedding in Montana on June 5th. Spencer was attending Youth Conference in Kona while I was there, so we helped my Mom come and watch the kids for the day and a half we would both be gone. Denise and I met while we were room-mates right after High Schoo, right before Spencer and I got marriedl. I am so fortunate to have her in my life because we have an amazing friendship and I don't know what I would do without her. We call each other 'sister' because there truly is no other word to describe our friendship.

Right after I flew in I was also able to visit with Shanna, my step-sister, who I hadn't seen in about 6 years. It was amazing getting to talk with her again in person after all that time and catch up. I am so grateful for it. The trip was a whirlwind, with almost no time to do anything besides attend the wedding, but I am happy I was able to be there for Denise's special day. I don't have many pictures of her and Shawn together, but he is amazing and treats her the way she deserves. I am so happy for her.

Me and Shanna in Wolf Creek

Denise and the Matrons of Honor

Old School friends/bridesmaids

I got to give the toast, which just means I made myself and Denise cry

Denise and Tyse

I thought it was cute how the little girls stood and watched them dancing.

Philly trip

How to condense this amazing trip! I had the awesome opportunity to go to Philadelphia for 10 days to help care for my sister-in-law's children after she had her 4th c-section at the end of April. I cannot even begin to express how much I was helped on this trip, which I know sounds weird since I went there to help. I feel so much closer to Jeff, Janell, their beautiful kids, and I am so grateful that they let me come to serve them. Janell is a fantastic mother and even with all the chaos and the hard times, she was amazing and made me want to be more like her. I came back a better person because of this trip and I can never thank them enough (THANK YOU!!!)

I was able to see Ethan at a t-ball game, we went to the Philadelphia Zoo, watched the kids dance around, cut some hair, (which I especially love to do since Jeff was living with us when I first went to hair school and he was one of my first guinea pigs) and snuggle a yummy, adorable baby boy. I am thankful for having this amazing family in our lives. Love ya Gregerson Gang!!

Mr. E's game

Cutting Hay-bay's hair

Naked popsicle fun on a very hot day

Jeff and the gorgeous Baby Chase

Dancing around to some awesome tunes

At the Zoo

We're missing Brookie because she was sleeping. She reminded me so much of Mad!

Easter

Wow! I am so behind. I didn't even realize I hadn't posted about Easter. Silly me. Well, first I have to say how much I love this holiday. I love knowing that my Savior died to save me, but even more than that, I am so grateful to know He lives!!! It is such a gift and blessing in my life to have this knowledge and I thank Heavenly Father daily for it. Getting to hear General Conference that day was extra special; hearing the words of the latter day prophet while celebrating the Savior's resurrection was amazing.

On the secular side of the holiday, it was different, as I am sure all holidays will be while we are apart from our families. Having spent every holiday of my life with them and just now being away these last few months is a hard thing some days. We are supposed to be here, though and I am so grateful that we are. It is such an amazing gift for our family. We are so blessed with great friends and had them over to celebrate the holiday. I don't have a lot of great pictures, but here are the few I did take.

Mad and Baby Shay

North Shore trip

Since it would be at least a grand to fly the 5 of us to even another island, we decided to take a little trip to the North Shore of Kauai and see what is here around us. It's about an hour from our house, but staying somewhere else and relaxing made it feel like a real vacation. We played in the awesome pools at the hotel, even when it was a little chilly and raining. We went to the beach, as usual. We drove as far as you can on the highway and thought about trying a new beach, but they seemed too rough or hard to get to, so we went back to Hanalei, one of our favorites.

We did walk along the beach at Lumaha`i, but there was no way I was letting anyone near that water. It's nicknamed "Lumadie" because it is one of the top 2 most dangerous beaches on Kauai. It was cool to see though because it's where the scene in 'South Pacific' was filmed with her washing "that man right out of her hair". It is extremely beautiful. We also explored the Dry Cave, but not the 2 Wet Caves yet. We'll get around to that someday. There are so many things to do and to explore. We have barely touched the surface. I can't wait to see more!

Surfing

Warning: there are a million pictures of me, from the back. Sorry!

There will be more pictures of our trip, but while we were up on the North Shore (Princeville), I decided to take a surfing lesson. I have tried stand-up paddle boarding which is awesome, but I had really been dying to try surfing. There is a company right by our favorite place at Hanalei and I kept seeing a bunch of people out in the water. It was a pretty calm day, just enough surf to be perfect to learn on. I broke down and got the lesson and it was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done! I cannot wait until I get another chance to get out and practice. Luckily the bay closest to us tends to have great beginner waves.

Pretty much all the pictures Spencer took of me were from the back, so obviously not the most attractive pictures. But, I work out, I am strong and I got up on the first try, and pretty much never had a hard time after. The board was really big, which helps, but the teacher said I should start practicing with a smaller board, because he thought I could do it. Now the searching on Craigslist for the right board begins...

Paddling out

Talking about how to watch the water and see what it is doing

Starting to paddle before the wave

Getting up

I wish I had some pictures of me standing up more, but I am glad Spencer took the pictures so I have something to document this awesome learning experience.

A few thoughts on Hawaii-updated

There are always things running through my mind about Hawaii; things I love and things that really drive me crazy. I wanted to share a few while I am thinking about it.

Slippers: that's what we call flip-flops. I love it!
Radio birthday calls: every morning on the main radio station people call in and say happy birthday to friends and family. They spend a lot of time doing this and I think it's really cute.
School Zone speed limits: The speed limit is 15 miles per hour, which is fine, but it's not very clear where the speed limit covers exactly. Sometimes there are signs that just say the speed limit is 15 mph, (like all the time?), but other ones say it is when school is in from 7-3, and others say 'where children are present'. There is also not a clear end to the zone, unless it's the next posted sign which is a half mile after the last crosswalk. I am always so paranoid that I will drive too fast, but I don't want people to hate me for going 15 when I don't have to. Annoying!
Turning lanes: For some reason, it seems like the Kaua`ians aren't too fond of turning lanes. So even though there are only 60,000 or so people that live here, there are a lot of traffic issues. The main highway is only 2 lanes so if you need to turn left, people behind you have to wait forever. So stressful!
Keiki: (pronounced kay-key) I know I mentioned this before, but I still have to share. This means little child and I just think it is so cute sounding. We call Mad our little Keiki all the time.
Kama`aina rates: this is a discounted price for people that live on the island. Some things are only slightly discounted, but others, like golf, can be really cheap. Spencer still needs to go get his driver's license so he can get out and golf. His brother, Jeff, bugs him all the time about it. :)We're really grateful we don't have to pay full tourist rates very often.
Aunties and Uncles: This is one of my very favorites. Basically any adult woman is an auntie and adult man is an uncle to pretty much anyone else. The kids will call me Auntie Erin or even kids I don't know will call me auntie to get my attention. Spence and I have been lazy about having our children call their aunts/uncles with the title first, like Uncle Dave, but it's definitely something we will do now. Except friends, ward members, neighbors will all be aunties and uncles too! Love, love, love it!

That's all I can think of right now. I'll post again when I come up with some more.

Star Wars fans

Aidan is in love with Star Wars, all of them (except episode 3 which he has only seen through the Lego Star Wars video game because I think it's too dark). At Disneyland he was picked to do the Jedi Training (which will be posted as soon as I find it!) and while we were there he got a double sided light saber light like Darth Maul's. He loves to play with Madelyn. It's always cute, but she was making all these faces while she was fighting him while using the extra big light saber. It was hilarious, especially since she will only wear dresses but was making all these mean faces. I mean, she really will only wear a dress, and occasionally a skirt. She wakes up in the morning and says "I wanna wear a pretty dress", but in a grumpy, angry sort of voice. So funny!

So Tired!

 We came back from camping and everyone took their showers. After a little time, we noticed Aidan was missing. We looked all over and finally found him; behind the door, wrapped in a towel, sleeping! Poor little man was so tired!

Shirley Temple

Madelyn has amazing curls and I took some pictures while they were still perfect. She tends to mess them up! I remember my mom wrapping my hair around the pink styrofoam curlers and she would call me Shirley Temple the next day. I have my own little Shirley, but all she needs is a little leave-in conditioner and it's perfect.

Camping at Polihale

We had the opportunity to go camping with some friends to Polihale. If anyone knows Kauai, it is the farthest you can go to the west before the Na Pali coast. We literally went to the end. It was beautiful. The kids didn't get to play in the water because there is no reef protecting the area and it has very dangerous currents most of the time. It was insanely windy the first day, but we found a spot somewhat sheltered and made the best of it. The next day the weather was perfect. We will definitely go again! The picture at the bottom with the island is Ni`ihau. The island is private; you can only go there if you are invited by someone who lives there.