Aidan's Baptism

Aidan was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on March 3rd, 2012. It was a very special day for all of us. My parents were here to be with Aidan on his important day. We were also very blessed to have so many of our dear friends here attend and support us. The program here is short and sweet. Our Bishop actually only wants one talk, instead of the usual two. Aidan had the choice of who he wanted to have speak, and he picked me, even though I strongly encouraged him to pick someone else. I don't speak well publicly anyway, but it gets much worse when I am very emotional. For a minute there, I was afraid that I was going to have to have Spencer take over for me, but I was able to calm down enough to finish the talk. It was a very beautiful opportunity for me to share with my sweet boy my thoughts and feelings on baptism, the Holy Ghost and his new membership in the Gospel. We are so very proud of this sweet young man and his choice to be baptized. We love having him in our family and he brings us immense joy. We love you Aidan!

Aidan's 8th Birthday

My poor Aidan. He has somehow ended up not having very big parties compared to the other kids for the last few years. I swear it's not a middle child thing. Last year I just wasn't up to it right after having Lucy. This year, eight, was going to have to be huge! Aidan is in love with Harry Potter, so we were going to go all out. My parents were here in town for his baptism, and my Mom is also a huge Harry Potter fan (who isn't, really?). She's thrown huge HP parties before, so I was very grateful for the help. 


We made wands for the boys, which they got to pick when they arrived. We had a sorting hat and sorted the boys into their houses. They got felt ties with their house colors. We had a huge assortment of treats, including cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, owl snacks, chocolate wands, and acid pops. We also had the absolutely necessary drink, butterbeer! The kids seemed to have a blast, especially running around and casting spells at each other. Aidan thanked me over and over for the party, so I think he felt loved and important, and that's exactly what we wanted for this special day. 

My Dad as Lucius Malfoy

Lucy was in LOVE with the Butterbeer. 

She was practically trying to climb into that cup!

An Obsession

I got my new camera in August, and I had been having fun with it, trying to figure everything out. I have been trying to use it in Manual mode since November, and I was gradually learning a little at a time. But ever since I was able to take the wedding photos for Jack and Zuly, I have been obsessed. I'm reading every bit of information I can find on it. I could read photography forums all day long if the kids would let me. If I'm not doing that, all I want to do is be out shooting something, trying new things that I have read about.

I am having such a blast, and really loving some of the pictures I have taken, that I'm sure I will just have random posts of pictures of my pretty babies. I am so excited to have found such a fun, interesting hobby. It's fun to be stretching and growing and learning again. I missed that, although I hadn't even realized until now.

I know the format of some of these is the same, but the layout was free and I don't want to spend the money yet on fancier ones right now. All I need now is to get Sienna to be willing to just go out and let me take a bunch of pictures of her too!

Lucy's 1st Birthday

I said that I wasn't going to make a big deal about Lucy's 1st birthday, unlike most people here in Hawaii. But as the day got closer and closer, I changed my mind. It was going to be my last 1st birthday to celebrate for one of my own babies. I decided to do a cupcake theme, with a cake like a huge cupcake, 3 kinds of cupcakes and even a little cupcake that I sewed onto a shirt for her. We had most of our friends here to celebrate with us. It was a great day and because I had been planning for a month, I wasn't even stressed out. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly.

Her cake was pink velvet with cream cheese frosting, the three cupcakes were: carrot with cream cheese, chocolate with chocolate, and lemonade with real strawberry frosting. We also made bite sized brownies, coconut macaroons, and my favorite soft chocolate chip cookies. For the drink we put a bunch of mixed frozen berries and sliced limes in Gingerale. I also made a darling pink petticoat for her to wear, before she dug in to the cupcakes, of course. She went for chocolate first (definitely my daughter!), but loved the lemonade too.

We just had so much fun celebrating Lucy's first year and the many more to come. Our children have all brought such joy to our lives and are such a blessing. We love our little family!

Honolulu Day Trip

Spencer and I decided to make a short notice trip to Honolulu for an early birthday present for me. It was a little bit of a crazy day, but still fun overall. Honolulu is crazy! There is so much traffic everywhere and we definitely aren't used to that level any more. My phone's gps works, but it drains my battery quickly so we needed to buy a car charger. It didn't work in the plug, so my phone died. We were randomly driving around and trying to get where we wanted to be. We finally made it to Pearl Harbor, but unfortunately made it too late to see the USS Arizona. It was still fun to have a little get-away, even with little Lucy. Next time we try something like that, we will definitely better prepared.

Kalalau Lookout

The Kalalau Lookout is at the very end of the canyon road up to Waimea Canyon. We tried to go up there once when we first moved to Kauai, but if there is any fog or low clouds you can't see anything, so we didn't see much when we attempted it then. The skies were clear when we went up this time with my parents and we were able to see everything.

 It truly is breathtaking. It is also freezing cold. Seriously, cold. We didn't bring any sweaters, not thinking about how much cooler it is up in the mountains. That's living in Hawaii for you; you forget that it even gets cold in places other than overly air-conditioned stores. The sights were definitely worth the chill.

We learned that Mad is deathly afraid of heights on this trip. Poor girl!