My Baby Turned 2!!

 Tristan turned 2 last week.  We celebrated with a very low key party, including a few presents and cupcakes.   

 This boy loves balls and trains.  So, we got him a little soccer goal, which he really enjoys, and some balls.  Aunt Whit got him a Thomas Train, and Percy too.  He was in heaven. 

 He was a little apprehensive about the hot firey candles at first, but, he eventually blew them out.

 Here's my wonderful attempt at making baseball cupcakes.  They turned out alright.  Not fancy, by any means, and you can tell which ones the kids helped me do.  But, Trist knew they were balls, and that's all that matters.

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by for awhile to say hi, and bring a few gifts.  Grandma also knows his love for balls, and brought him a golf set.  I'm sorry to say the golf clubs have now turned into swords, and they spend most of their time on top of the fridge in "time out."

He is by far my spunkiest, most energetic, craziest child.  But, I'm thankful every day for him.  He keeps me runnin', and tries to drive me insane, but, I'm still here.  Happy Birthday Baby Boy.  We love you oh so much!!

Fun 4th

We really enjoy our 4th of July tradition of going to Jer & Mo's house. Last year, with the rain, it was a little dreary, but, this year, the weather was absolutely perfect. It was such a fun day. We had an extra family with us this year, which made it that more crazy, but, we always like new friends to play with!

Here's the boys, after a little sprinkler action.  Oh, how I love them!  They're best buds.

Ya gotta have Pop-Its!  Always a hit.  That's actually all we bought this year.  Sparklers, and Pop-Its.  Jeremy and Jess went all out, and made quite a show for us.

Whitney had fun decorating the banana bars all festive.

Playing Red Light, Green Light.

Trist was glued to Jake the whole day, when he wasn't busy playing with the boys.

Trist did not enjoy the sparklers.  Maybe next year.

I love this one of the girls watching the fireworks.  It must have been a really good one! 

The fireworks at the park didn't start until dark, which was after 10:00.  The kids were pretty wiped out.  Rohnie dozed in and out on Grandpa's lap the whole time.

I was surprised Tristan stayed awake, and so calm.  He wouldn't let us plug his ears or anything.  The glowstick helped.

It's always fun to have Jessi and Aarom with us!  And, they are such a cute couple. . .

I think Bubber liked the fireworks.

Just to prove that I was actually there.  Man, I look way old next to my sister. When did that happen?

Hawaii Trip Part Deuce

So, one day the boys decided it was a good idea to go golfing.  With 2 ladies who have only gone once or twice in their whole lives, without a golf cart -to save money-, in 80+ degree heat, and mega humidity, AND uphill most of the way hiking.  It was a blast!!!!

 Notice Jake's shirt?  Yah, it was hot, and hard work.  He looked good doing it though.

 Me, on the other hand, just tried.  Good thing we had Clark there, who really is a great golfer, and we played a sramble.  Otherwise, we would have been there all day.

 Do not tell me that my form is impeccable.  I know that it is.  I might be a prodigy.

 This was our nice body boarding beach.  I loved it because I could always touch bottom.  The guys, not so much, because they would get slammed into the bottom of the ocean.  They would always come out with bumps and bruises.  We loved this one too, because there were tons of big sea turtles.  And, they would ride the waves right along with you.  A couple times we could have reached out, and touched them.  Too bad none of the pictures I took of them every worked out.  My friend, Lisa, got some good ones though.

 On our last day, we decided to fork over the dough, and do one excursion, so we wouldn't feel like we missed out.  We took a float tube tour, down a river.  You just put on these helmets, sit, on a tuve, and float away.  We spent about 70% of the time in dark tunnels.  Thus, the headlamps.  It was pretty cool.  We ate lunch up there too, and then came back.  Maybe not worth the $100 per person price tag, but, whatever. . .

 We took an open air truck up there on really bumpy roads. 

 This area behind us is supposed to be one the rainiest ones in the world.  It was so pretty and green.  And, it did rain on us a lot.  I thought I would work on my tan.  Instead, it mainly rained, and, we were in tunnels all the time.

 The two female guides on the tour, were both members.  One went to BYU-Hawaii, and the other went to SVU.  It was so fun chatting with them, and learning about LDS life in Hawaii.  They were really nice, and fun.

This Hawaiian guy was so nice. . .  He let us pose with him and his puppy.

Here we are in front of the truck.  It did wonders for my hair. 

Hawaii Trip, part 1

Oh, beautiful, sunny Hawaii!!  It really was a dream vacation.  When we flew into the Lihue airport on Thursday afternoon, it was raining.  Really hard. . . And, it wasn't stoppping.  We were NOT impressed.  However, like everyone told us, it blew off, and by the next day all that we saw was sunshine and loveliness.  After our 6 hour flight, we were starving, so we ran to get something to eat, and then hit the beach.  The water is so so so warm there.  It was my first real experience with salt water.  Jake didn't really believe me, after all the times I had told him during our 11 year marriage, that I am not a good swimmer, and am afraid of water.  When I screamed really loud after the first wave crashed over me, he started to believe, and got a little embarassed.  It just took me awhile to get acclimated, that's all. I learned that salt water really tastes like salt.  It is not fun when you swallow a lot of it, (which I always tend to do when I attempt to swim), and it burns your eyes like crazy.

 

 My handsome hubby, holding his body board.  Besides laying out, and reading, this was our main activity on the beach.

 Our friends, Clark and Lisa went on the trip with us.  The story goes:  Jake and Clark went to Maui together before we were married 11 years ago.  We were married within weeks of each other, and we always said that we would go back to Hawaii for our 10 year Anniversaries.  Well, let's make it 11. . .

 You just have to have some scenery pictures.  I know they're boring, but, I always had the camera, and there's only so much  pictures you can take of your husband, and friends.  The sand is so soft, and you just melt into it. 

 Here's Lisa posing for the camera.

 The boys headed out to the waves with their boards.

 Jake coming in after some excitement.

 Just relaxing and drying off.

We were so happy to be in the sun.  I just drank it all in, and worked on my tan.

We Survived the Survivor Mud Run

The day of Tay's Recital, Jake and I participated in a "Survivor Mud Run."  It was a 5K (3.3 miles), with 13 grueling, or so-called grueling obstacles, in the mud thrown in.  We had signed up to do it with a few of our friends.  We did get really really muddy, and my knee is still healing from a nasty fall I took into the rocks, but, it was a lot of fun.  We really had to hurry through the course to get back in time for Tay's Recital.  It was a rainy, rainy, dreary day.  Which made it that much messier.  Welcome to the great Northwest!

 Me, and my good friend, and running buddy, Shell.  She roped almost her whole entire family into doing it with her.  I love her a lot, and her family is awesome!!!

 I went over to Shell's house and braided her hair the night before the race, and Whit did mine thar morning.  We were french braid twins.  It didn't really help the mud from getting imbedded into my scalp though.

 Here's the whole group.  Mainly Shell's family.

 Here we are almost to the finish line.  Very muddy, and yucky.  I just wanted to be done at this point. 

The Mud Men.  Way macho.