Saratoga Springs Temple!

We went to the Saratoga Springs temple today with Brooke to do Sealings. It was so nice to take a break from the world and have some time in the temple! She also showed us her new digs in Lehi, which is very close by to the temple! It was a fun day today!

Birthday Suprise!

So last night, Bill told me he had a surprise for me tomorrow and to be ready by 9:45! He KNOWS how much I HATE surprises and I worried what it could be. I tried to get it out of him, but he would NOT budge!!! So this morning I was ready. We got into the car and he pulled around to the front of the hotel and said, "Ok, we're here!" and I'm like, "What??!!" And then I look over and see Sherri (Gunnell) Rogers and Stephenie (Green) Cooper in the lobby of the hotel with the biggest grins on their faces. Bill had gotten in contact with Sherri to surprise me today and we got to spend the entire day together! It was so much fun! First we went to a really nice spa in Pleasant Grove to get pedicures and then we drove up to Sundance for lunch at The Foundry restaurant. We visited the entire time in both places and then they had to close the restaurant, so we went outside and visited for a few more HOURS! Then we got some pictures when we realized the sun was going down. Then we drove back down to Provo and decided to go to the stadium and get a picture with the cougar out in front of the stadium. We found some picnic benches and talked for quite a while longer. We migrated back to the hotel and talked in the car in the front entry area for another couple of HOURS!!! We were having such a fun time catching up and talking about everything from trials we are experiencing to our gospel perspectives and testimonies to how we feel about being moms, etc. We mentioned how our relationship is like Alma and the sons of Mosiah when they met after their missions and were still brethren in the Lord. We expressed gratitude for the fact that we were still such good friends, but more importantly still active in the church and strong in the gospel! We decided we need to meet somewhere for a weekend and just visit and catch up each year. We want to make sure Jill (Johnson) Hymas is invited-- Steph was cute-- she even wanted to make T-shirts! And I'm like YES!! I see women posting all the time about girls' weekends-- AND THEY GET T-SHIRTS!! Today we laughed together, we cried together and we so enjoyed just picking up where we left off like no time had passed! (We figured it had been over 10 years since the last time we were all together! We vowed to not let it go so long next time and to make sure we included Jill next time. (She lives in CA.) It was such a fun day-- I didn't get into the hotel room until 12:30-- Bill was fast asleep. I couldn't fall asleep because I just couldn't stop smiling and even laughing about all the fun we had today! What good friends I have to just take off for the day to spend it with me!!!

Birthday Breakfast Brunch with Brooke!

It's been fun to be up here with Brooke! We had a nice dinner together last night after we checked in to our hotel. She invited us over this morning for a yummy breakfast she made for us-- omelets and pancakes! It was SO GOOD!! After, we played some fun games. She had to leave for an overnight with friends at a cabin so Bill and I spent the rest of my birthday shopping. We went to the BYU bookstore first. I found the cutest nativity scene on clearance at the bookstore, so I nabbed it! I've been looking for one that the grandkids can handle and touch and this one will be perfect! Then we went for ice cream at the Creamery and then we ended up at the Mall where we walked around and I found the cutest red dress-- can't wait to wear it! We ended the evening at Chubby's for dinner. It was pretty good food! It was a fun day!

Pioneer Day Celebrations in Kanosh!

It's been so fun to be here with DeGraffenrieds in Kanosh for the 24th. We ran the 5k this morning and I was actually the first in my age group, but I didn't register, so it didn't count-- but it wasn't a big deal. Later we went to the big BBQ lunch in the park and then to the dance with the live band tonight. Brooke and her friends came for that and had such a fun time country swinging and line dancing. The band was pretty good! It was fun to sit and watch them. It's hard to see, but Luke is dancing with Brooke and teaching them all how to do the lifts. He's a really good dancer and an excellent teacher! He's about to leave on his mission for Mexico here in a few days! It's been a fun day!

Update on the Backyard...

Our back porch and landscaping/lighting the morning before we left for Utah... and progress on the acrylic on the sport court. It is all finished with the pickleball and basketball lines painted and the pickle ball net installed. We are getting closer to completion!

Cute Boys!

Logan is 4 months old today! This little guy-- he has just been the cutest, cuddliest, most lovable boy! I love his little tongue in these pictures! Pure JOY!!! Melt my heart!!! Luke came over while we were up in Utah to swim and Megan wanted to show me that he was wearing his new shirt I got him in Hawaii... this little guy also has my heart! What a sweet boy! Megan and Todd make cute kids and they are doing such a great job raising them! I'm one proud grandma!

Early Birthday Surprise!

Bill surprised me with a nice family Sunday dinner and cake and ice cream after. (Megan brought the cake.) It was a really stormy day and many of our shingles came off of our roof!! It also made this horrible banging sound as the shingles bounced on top of our roof-- we have a lot that just blew off! We have to call the company tomorrow. THEN, Bill forgot about some almonds in the oven that were roasting and the oven caught on fire blowing flames and smoke/soot ALL OVER and behind the stove backsplash. I cleaned it up as best I could, once we got the fire out, but there is a pretty good amount of staining on the stove from it. It caused quite a stir waking up Logan who was napping in the music room when the smoke detector went off. (It went off AFTER we got the fire out!) What a completely crazy day!! But because of the storm, it was so cool and nice outside this evening with a breeze. We went out there and just sat and visited while Lukey Bear played with his golf club and balls. It felt so nice! What a day! My birthday isn't until Friday, but I got quite a bit of bang for my buck today-- no more birthday celebrations needed!

 

Logan's First Haircut!

This little chub got his first haircut today... no more little fine bird feathers! What a cutie pie!!

Cutie Lukey!

Here's the latest from Luke...
Text from Megan: Luke- "Bye bye mama I going to work to pick awberries (strawberries) at Papa's house!" Melt this Nana's heart!  I love imaginative play!!!

The Poly Polley Boys...

Here's our 2 little Hawaiian poly boys showing off their cute threads from Maui! We sure missed Luke while we were gone and he was VERY HAPPY to see mom and dad yesterday when they flew in! Everyone safely made it to their destinations-- Bill, me, McKenzie and Katelyn to Peoria, Megan and Todd to Las Vegas and Brooke to Provo. Megan and Todd should be headed back this way tomorrow. It will be fun to see Luke after so long! We sure had fun!

Maui Day 6-- La Perouse, Molokini & Turtle Town Rafting and Edward Jones Farewell Dinner...

This was our last day in Maui! We fly back to the mainland early tomorrow morning! It has been so fun to be here on this beautiful island!! We had a rafting adventure this morning-- which is the understatement of the century!! Our 3 hour tour got cancelled and we were "upgraded" to the 5 hour tour. Megan and Todd decided to stay back as they couldn't leave Logan for that long... so it was just Bill, me, Brooke and Katelyn on this one. We were all holding on for dear life! Katelyn never gets seasick, but she was over the edge throwing up halfway through the tour. The water was super wavy with pretty big swells that we just zipped right over the top of-- Ugh! As soon as we stopped for a bit she was fine. I think I was rocking for several days after this trip!!! We did get to see some really cool things and the guides were really cute as they talked about it all. We went down to La Perouse first and saw all the volcanic rock and caves that Haleakala formed thousands of years ago. They showed us around for a while down there and I was ready to go after about an hour of it... but we stayed for quite a bit longer than that! Then they took us to another place where we snorkeled and I saw a BUNCH of fish, but the water was really rough-- but it was still fun. Then we headed over to the very small crescent shaped island of Molokini where we dropped anchor to snorkel. The girls enjoyed it, but my mask wasn't working very well at this point, so I gave up trying to fix it and just came in. Plus, it got really rough here too. There was some amazing snorkeling here though with lots of other boats there as well. The water was such a deep, royal electric blue here! We learned that Molokini was used by the US military for target practice all the way up to 1994! They set lots of missiles and bombs over to this place and you can still see all the holes in the rocks they formed. Now it's just a sanctuary for a lot of birds-- red tailed boobies were everywhere! We weren't even allowed to climb up onto it. After that we went to an area called Turtle Town where the girls snorkeled again... here's where a lot of turtles hang out-- hence the name. Again, I opted not to go in, but the girls saw a lot of turtles and they aren't shy! They just swim right up to you!! They are so cute!! They are used to people as boats come through here daily for snorkeling. After that we headed back to the harbor. The trip back was slower and a lot less bouncy as the waves were calmer this time-- thank goodness! It was nice to set foot onto terra firme when we got back. I was feeling pretty icky for the rest of the day! That's probably the last time I ever take a boat ride like that again! It really whipped us around!!! Megan, Todd, McKenzie and Logan came to get us and we poked around Kihea for the afternoon again-- visiting that open air mall for the 2nd time so we could check out last minute souvenirs. We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit and got cleaned up. Tonight we went to the Edward Jones Farewell dinner and the food was amazing. They had pina coladas for the first little bit, but they weren't that great. The food was really good though-- they had this passion fruit dressing on the salad that was SOO GOOD!! The entertainment was really nice and the atmosphere was beautiful as we watched the setting sun for the last time here! They had a really cool "Aloha" sign set up so we got lots of pictures in front of that. Logan fell asleep on Bill-- he's tuckered out after all this partying we've done! It's hard to believe that today was our last day here! We've had so much fun and seen so many beautiful things! I really don't want to go home and wish we had just one more day to poke around this beautiful place...BUT all good things must come to an end. I may have to come back to Maui sometime-- I feel like there is still so much to explore here! Arizona, and your heat... here we come! Mahalo Maui for being so much fun! And Aloha until the next time! Maui no ka oi... Maui you're the BEST!