2014/02/25 Tuesday: What Happened Here?

Looks like she drank the blood of a leprechaun.  I think it was actually a ring pop.

2014/02/24 Monday: You Want Glasses Until You Need Them

She loves trying on glasses at the store.  Hopefully she can have a few more years before she actually needs them.

2014/02/23 Sunday: Today in Gigi Fashion

Today Gigi chose a sparkly green dress that's slightly too big, purple pants, and (not pictured) ruby red heels.

2014/02/22 Saturday: More Henry

2014/02/21 Friday: Emo Henry

This is about half-way through Henry's haircut at Mandi's.  The finished cut was less extreme.

2014/02/20 Thursday: Gnocchi Night

An Italian sister missionary taught us how to make gnocchi like her mom makes.  Delicious!

2014/02/19 Wednesday: Having Hawaii Withdrawals

2014/02/18 Tuesday: Almost Forgot a Picture

2014/02/17 Monday: Everything is Awesome

Today was a super fun family day!  Nick had his biweekly days off from his trauma rotation, so we packed the fun in.  Coincidentally, it was everyone's family fun day since it's a holiday.

Nick started the day off by taking the kids sledding at the park at the end of our block.  After many, many times up and down the hill, they came home and made pancakes.  

We then went to the Chicago auto show.  They didn't have Power Wheels for the kids to drive this year, and because we were there on the last day/holiday, it was quite crowded.

The kids loved climbing in and out of the cars and pretending to drive them.

We then grabbed a couple of Happy Meals, and spent more than an hour getting home on the freeway in blizzard conditions, but the kids napped so it wasn't exactly wasted time.  I dropped Nick off at Costco, went to our house to tend to the dog, and then returned to get Nick and his purchases.  (Yes, we live that close to Costco now.)  We went next door, woke up our sleeping kids and took them inside the mall to see The Lego Movie.  At first Henry didn't want to go in the theater because it was already dark, but we carried him in, and within about 30 seconds he was engrossed in the movie.  Everyone enjoyed it.  We finished off the day with the mall train ride and ice cream.  We were all tired at the end, but it was a spectacular day. 

2014/02/16 Sunday: Sad Gigi

Gigi doesn't want to stay in nursery, even though they have awesome toys and friends, and even snacks.

2014/02/15 Saturday: His Serious Fun Face

We had a fun family dinner at the Junction Diner, where your meal is delivered by model train.  You can tell from Henry's face that he's having a great time.  (I'm not joking.  This is how he looks when he's having a really good time.)

2014/02/14 Friday: My Funny Valentines

Henry got stuck in Gigi's Halloween Costume.

Earlier in the day we had a great Valentines party with Playgroup.  I then went to get a replacement driver's license, but it was up for renewal this year so they let me do that too.  The DMV is always interesting.  My new picture is so washed out, I think any albino could use it for ID.

2014/02/13 Thursday: Play Place

It's too cold to play outside, so we went to play at McDonald's.  The kids got fun Valentine's Day cards in the mail from Jo Ellen.

2014/02/12 Wednesday: Henry's Fake Smile

2014/02/11 Tuesday: Hello Happiness

We picked this present out for Miss C a very long time ago.  It was instantly clear she was thrilled with the Hello, Kitty airplane set.  Then all the kids had fun playing with it together.

2014/02/10 Monday: It's Really That Cold

Gigi is fully dressed, then covered with snow pants, coat, hood, and gloves.  This was to keep her warm enough for the short car ride to school, and was in no way overdoing it.  It is really, really, really cold.

2014/02/09 Sunday: Gingerbread "Operation"

Henry is using training chopsticks to pry candy off the gingerbread house so they can eat the candy.  This method was pretty terrible.

2014/02/08 Saturday: Why Do We Even Have Toys?

Gigi and a friend found cardboard boxes are great entertainment.

2014/02/07 Friday: Homeward Bound

I have the best parents ever.  My dad dropped us off at the airport, helped me skycap my bags, then hugged us goodbye.  I then went inside to get the dog's ticket at the regular ticket counter.  After that, I realized I left my phone in the car, so I used a payphone to call him, and he drove all the way from his house AGAIN to bring it inside to me, while an accomplice (I don't know if it was Liz or my mom) kept the car running at the curb.  So, we made the flight, I had my phone, the two kids, the dog, and all of our stuff.  We had a plane change in Denver, and then everyone took a nap on the second flight.

2014/02/06 Thursday: Drive By Visits

With our short time here and so much to do, we had to have drive-by visits with people.  We went to Provo and went out to lunch with Nick's mom and brother.  We then headed North a couple of freeway exits to have a short visit with my friend Hillary and her girls.  Then we stopped by Nick's sister Samantha's place for a while, before making our way back to Bountiful.  I then left the kids with my mom and went to see "Forever Plaid" with Jo Ellen.  And then I had to stay up really late packing my bags for our early flight out in the morning.

2014/02/05 Wednesday: Recovery from Vacation

We are basically having a long layover in Utah- we're just here for less than a couple days, basically to pick up Caesar who stayed with my brother (and is apparently not going to be invited back.)

I did have time to get an eye exam with my favorite eye doctor, Robert Keller of Keller Vision Clinic.  I am now going to order glasses for myself online, as I have already done for Nick and Sam.

We had dinner over at my friend Jessica's house, and Henry loves to play with her little girl.  The two of them are closing Gigi into the rubbermaid box, which we immediately put a stop to, and gave a lecture on suffocation.  Also, it's really, really, cold, and there's ice everywhere.

2014/02/04 Tuesday: Miracle of Human Flight

After packing frantically and staying up late to finish, we had to get up in the middle of the night to make it to the airport to catch our new flight.  It was difficult moving our mountain of stuff through the airport, and that's after we gave away the leftover food and household consumables to church friends.

This flight was incredibly nice compared to the year before, because I wasn't having a gallbladder attack, because I no longer have a gallbladder.  (I recommend the surgery to all my friends.)

We did have several hours to kill in the LAX airport, which explains why I let my kids run around with an abandoned luggage cart.  It was quite late in the mountain west when we arrived at SLC and had to once again maneuver our mountain of stuff.

2014/02/03 Monday: Last Day in Paradise

I had brought these outfits specifically to take the kids' pictures on the beach in them.  Of course, I waited until the last possible minute to do it, and it was raining.

In the morning we went to Kualoa ranch.  Katie and I stayed back at the visitors center while everyone else went on a wild Jeep ride.  As we lounged, we got a courtesy call letting us know our flight tomorrow would be something like 16 hours late.  We called the airline back and managed to all get  put on a different early morning flight to Los Angeles (instead of San Francisco) and then a different airline entirely from there to Salt Lake.

We went bowling at the university campus.  The lanes were terrible, but cheap.  We weren't even interested enough to play the full game, mostly because we had to get back to the house and pack.  My mom and dad were in one minivan, and Kate and the kids and I were in the other.  We pulled in the driveway just moments after my parents, so imagine our surprise when a slender Asian woman also got out of their van.  We were totally confused.  As it turns out, in the time it took us to wrestle the two children and their ice cream cones into the car, my parents met this woman, befriended her, and convinced her to get into their car.  She did mention that she had seen my dad around campus a couple times before, since we've been making about daily visits to the printing center and had lunch at their farmers market a couple of times.  Since we were leaving in the morning, my parents wanted to give away the bicycles he had bought through an Army surplus auction for us to ride around on.  This woman and her husband were the lucky recipients.

So yes, we're nice, but maybe she's a little too trusting.

2014/02/02 Sunday: Valley of the Gods, Again

Everyone but me is wearing their special Hawaiian Sunday best.  As I've been teaching Henry's primary class this month, seeing him next to his cohort of wilder boys reminds me to appreciate his relatively calmer nature.

At church today, Henry had his picture taken with San Diego Charger's player, Manti Te'o.

We went back to the Valley of the Gods, since not everyone had the chance to go yesterday.

My dad helped the kids ring the bell, and of course Henry wants to ring it but not listen to the loud noise.

2014/02/01 Saturday: Temple of the Valley of the Gods

We visited a beautiful Buddhist temple, located within a large cemetery complex.  You can buy bird food that doves then eat out of your hand, which make you feel just like Snow White.

2014/01/31 Friday: Go Seasiders!

We went to the BYU Hawaii men's basketball game.  It's always more fun when they win, so it was a good night.  The only regret we have is that we ate Taco Bell for dinner.

2014/01/30 Thursday: Cousin Fun

These three are having lots of fun and never hold still.

2014/01/29 Wednesday: Waimea Falls

The group went to Waimea Falls, despite the fact the falls are closed.  They're doing things above the falls to stabilize the rock, and don't want anyone being crushed by boulders while they work.  The people who work and volunteer there were very, very nice.

2014/01/28 Tuesday: Fresh Banans

The property caretaker gave us these delicious tiny bananas that grew just outside the house.

We had Fiji Curry for dinner, which was delicious, but oh the heartburn!

2014/01/27 Monday: Back to the PCC

We went back to the PCC (they allow you a second visit within a few days), and despite some rain, had a great time.  The kids loved the canoe ride, fishing, traditional hawaiin games, and the tropical ice cream dessert.  Sam and Megan stayed for the luau and show, but we took Jimmer home with us.

2014/01/26 Sunday: Gigi is Not Reverent

Gigi is up to shenanigans while everyone else has their eyes closed during the evening prayer.

2014/01/25 Saturday: Dishes It Out, Can't Take It

Henry loves to splash and spray others, but isn't willing to take any of the water himself.

2014/01/24 Friday: Disney Hawaii Resort

We drove over the the Disney Hawaii resort, Aulani, to check it out.  The artificial bay is nice to have calmer waves, but the artificial sand is less awesome.  I actually got in the water today.  I believe the nachos were reviewed as "meh."  We did get to look in their tropical fish tank, and even had  chance to wave at Mickey as we left.