Catching December

Where has December gone? If any of you have seen him/her please tell them I would like a re run. I haven't even been able to sit by the fire and listen to Chestnuts popping! So where has the time gone.......

It all began with Luke helping me put up the tree! We fought over whose tree would get those green balls. Luke was determined they were for his.

Preschool had an ornament workshop. Sadly my camera died and this was the only picture I got! They made....I made some really cute ornaments. Luke and Colton were too excited to see each other to worry about stringing together a Christmas wreath!

Made our favorite Gingerbread Train. I think they were a year old from Target. We tried eating the candy and discovered it was only for decoration! The frosting or should I say clay, held pretty good considering!

Those bubble gums on the roof disappeared over the next couple of days. It wasn't from Luke either! Nothing is better than jaw breaking gum balls!

Playing in the only snow storm of the month! My little snow angel!

I couldn't leave Cole in the house so I had to improvise!

When Luke saw Cole, he too wanted to be in a laundry basket! Cole wasn't having that hat either!

The beloved Christmas cards! As you can see below these aren't the pics that made the cut! It was 5 minutes of pure....fill in the blank if you know what I'm talking about!

Those little rascals!

Luke's preschool Christmas program! ADORABLE! I think the cutest thing is the whole world is watching a preschool sing Christmas songs! The kids were so cute. Luke's preschool teacher was supposed to change the students into their Christmas outfits but forgot! At least Luke's shirt was green!

Colton and Lukey!

Luke's wonderful preschool teacher Miss Amber!

Luke's buddy TJ!

Round 2 Christmas Pictures

WHY? Why does it have to be so difficult?!
Brad's work party! Love those guys! It was a fun night!! There were too many stories told that night that should have been left to the imagination. My fault for sure!!

New Christmas tradition. My sister in law Tonya gave me this idea to! I wrapped 24 Christmas books up and each night he gets to open one and we read it together. It has been really fun and Luke loves opening the books!

Surprise...it's Jingle Bells!

Other than Luke getting the stomach flu and having to take him to get his elbow xrayed from jumping from the office chair to the couch the same day, December has been a lot of fun!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Weston

Greg and Rachel so kindly took Cole for the week while we were gone. Poor Rachel was 38 weeks pregnant and of course went into labor 2 days before we were supposed to come home!! Despite other family members asking to come and take Cole, (thank you jon and ton) Rachel would not let him go. Thank you so much for taking such good care of my baby! It was so good to see those fat, firm cheeks and meet my handsome new nephew Weston! He is ADORABLE! I wanted to show him off!

Cole misses you Rach!

Greg sleeping having been up all night with teething Cole....plus Cole didn't sleep well while Rach was gone! Thanks Greggy!

The End!

We had about 2 hours in the morning before check out to hit the beach and pool one last time:(

Goodbye beach and goodbye ocean.

Goodbye gorgeous plantation!

Since we were kicked out of our hotel at 10am and our flight was at 12am we decided to head to the city and see Pearl Harbor. It was a very somber tour but I'm glad we got to experience it.

Unreal to see the USS Arizona.

Those who lost their lives that day.

All good things must come to an end. Here we are back at the airport waiting to go home to 20 degree weather. It was an amazing trip and I'm once again so grateful for my parents for taking our family.

Day 6

Day 6 we started out a little different! We decided to go out for breakfast! We went to a Waffle house that looked like a bit of a dive........but don't judge a book by it's cover....look at all that good food! It was so YUMMY!

After stuffing ourselves till we were ill we headed off to the beach for one last full day of Hawaii:(

I love this guy!

I love Luke's hands in this pic. He has some tactile issues going on here!

Watering the castle!

Snow cone shack! The best place ever! Brad, Luke and I ran up a nice little tab on the room with this bad boy! Luke waiting.....

Luke receiving! He doesn't waste any time!

I just wanted Cole to know that I thought about him almost every second.

Luke loved jumping off this rock! He would say, "to infinity and beyond," raise his arms and jump into the water!

Water fight!

Luke found a fishy friend! She was adorable and very sassy! Luke loved her!

They were good buddies all afternoon!

My beautiful mother! I think the world of you!

Luke yawning...or growling after a rough day of beach and pool! Life is rough for this 3 year old!

My sweet, sweet dad! Always a ball full of joy!

I love this picture of my dad strolling in the kiddy pool Cooling off!

One more day left...sob sob sigh

5th Day

Dolphin and Snorkel Cruise! Brad's dream day finally had arrived!

Watching for Dophins....well some of us were!! Those hotties on the top right were catching some rays! A lot of alcohol was circulating on that boat. Is it okay to snorkel and be drunk? Never tried!

Running into a sea turtle!

Finding a HUGE pod of dolphins. I guess they sleep in the morning so there is not a lot of acitivty but coming up for air. I did see one of them slip in a flip or two!! It was an amazing sight to see!

Brad was upset we had to wear life vests because that was going to ruin his under water diving technique! He made sure it was deflated and was giving lessons to other snorkelers. He is a professional!



I had more fun watching and taking pictures of Brad then I did snorkeling!

Picture of our Catamaran!

Finding a star fish! It was crazy how it formed to my hand!

I wasn't the only one who found a surprise!

Brad saw this shell and it appeared to be nothing inside of it!

We took it home and gave it to Luke who kept it attached to his ear for the next couple of days to hear the "ocean." He even slept with it by his ear. Right before we were going home to Utah there was a HORRID stench in our room. My mother searched hi and low and discovered that are empty shell wasn't so empty! Something had died in it and it was NASTY! Poor Luke was sleeping with a shell and a dead creature for a couple of days!

The tour guide making Brad and I get in the Hawaii spirit! It was a really fun day and so nice to have my parents watch Luke while we went! Thank you mom and dad!

Returning home for lunch on the beach!

Luke getting excited for some Mac and Cheese!

Getting ready for their Burgers!

The best sandwich I've ever had!! The bigger the better right! Delish!

4th day - Are you bored yet?!

Luke loved running away from the water, up to touch our toes, do a cart wheel and then run back to the water! He would do it for hours!

Our daily snow cone! 2 bucks...you can't go wrong!

Luke's "must haves" each day!

Watering the plants!

All gone!

The Luau

The sunset!

The food!

Yummy!

The dancers!

This poor guy from the crowd got called up to hula!

The fire dancers! Amazing!

Luke was a little frightened after watching them stick out their tongues and yell during the show!

3rd Day

Monday was pretty much the same as Saturday! Beach in the morning followed by pool in the afternoon!

Check out that rainbow! GORGEOUS!

Trying again to make small castles since we weren't real good at the big ones!

Basking in the sun, reading with a pina coloda....what more could I ask for?!

Playing with tubes in the water! Luke wasn't real sure if he liked it or not! He is trying with all his might to get out of his and onto safe shores!

Taking a snack break!

Body surfing!

Look at those two covering up!

Brad..........missing work!

This pool was FREEZING, but apparently when you're 3 temperature doesn't matter!

He loved these stairs!

Luke had his own water camera and he loved it! Here's a couple pics he took while it was raining in the hot tub!

I was impressed! He got most of our faces in!