Joan's Funeral

Joan's Funeral was the beginning of February.  I decided that since the girls came with me just a month or so before, and since Bryan was on call I would just make the trip by myself.  I am so glad that I did because I was able to really enjoy the funeral and spend some quality time in conversation that I wouldn't have otherwise.  I only stayed one night but was so glad to hear Joan's beautiful service, see the many friends that came to support her and to spent time with my Uncle George.  The service was perfect and exactly what Joan would have liked.  It was such a pleasure to speak to her many friends that loved and respected her.  I particularly enjoyed Father Larry's kind words and the beautiful music that was sung throughout the service.  

After the funeral we went to the graveside service as a family.  My parents, Jody, Adam, Camille, Eric, Aimei, Carli and Chuck came with some of their children.  It was nice to have everyone together.

 Here is George carrying the urn.

 It was freezing.  I didn't expect that in California but I almost needed a warmer coat.  My mom is actually wearing one of Joan's old jackets.  George was so generous and allowed us to take some of Joan's things.  She had such wonderful taste and we felt so privileged to have some things to remember her by.  She did not live by excess, but what she had was quality.  I wish I could be more like that.

 Father Larry had to guide us through the appropriate words to say, as we are not Catholic, but he was very patient with us.  I thought he did such a wonderful job and was such a support to George.

 George placed the urn.

 I love this picture.  Two brothers.  It is so interesting because my dad looks exactly like my Grandpa Sylvester and George looks exactly like Grandma Florence.  They don't necessarily look like brothers but once you hear them talk for a while you can DEFINITELY tell they are brothers.

After this, George had a wonderful reception at the church and later that evening we had pizza with one of his friends.  It was a wonderful day to remember Joan and the person she was.  I really loved spending time with George, reminiscing about old times and eating some of his homemade muffins.  Thank you George for making it such a wonderful day.

Random Going On's

I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures after Hawaii, even though I do feel like we have been busy.  Busy with uneventful things I suppose.  Bryan did manage to pile two girls on top of his shoulders.  Audrey's squished expression makes me laugh every time I look at this picture.

 Audrey has dance once a week for an hour and there is an Arctic Circle right by her dance studio.  We often head over there for an ice cream and let the girls play on the indoor playground (probably WAY too often.)  It is fun for the kids though and a good way to pass the hour while we wait for Audrey.  The raspberry sundaes are to DIE for.

 These girls wanted me to tickle their bellies when they were home one day.  They have become such good friends since Audrey is home a couple days a week because of her kindergarten schedule.  Lily's best days are the days Audrey is home.  My hand looks so tan in this picture.  I feel like that tan is already gone.

 I took the girls to the pet store and let them look at the one dog that was there.  There were a few birds and bunnies and such that they were pretty excited about too.

 I also let them ride the rides while we were there.  I actually had two quarters in my wallet which pretty much makes me the best mom ever.

 Lily found a box and found it a perfect spot to read her books.  She'll turn each page and make up words.  It's as cute as can be.

 This child has a serious binky addiction.  We tried to see how many she could get in her mouth.  I thought five was pretty dang impressive.  A problem I tell you.

 Sweet sisters.

 One morning before school I took a picture and sent it to Bryan.  he usually takes them to school but this morning he had surgery or something.  I remember it because the girls and I had a conversation about what boys they like at school.  This is one of the first times I remember the girls talking to me about boys that they actually LIKE like.  It was disturbing.  I'm not ready for that.  Bryan is DEFINITELY not ready for that.  Julia had some boy named Jan Carlo give her a nice water bottle for Valentines Day.  Stupid boys.

Hawaii

Now that Bryan finally has a well paying job and our kids are at a good age we decided it was time to make a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, just the two of us.  We haven't really done anything like this before other than a quick trip to Florida a few years ago, so it was such a great getaway.  It was so nice to get away from the stress of life for a while and to just relax.  I kid you not, we slept ten hours every single night we were there.  I think we are both sleep deprived.

This was the view we woke up to every morning.  So beautiful.  We watched lots of people golf and lots of different birds and wild turkeys.  I loved seeing the ocean beyond.  It was amazing.

 Every single day we went to this beach.  It's called Hapuna and it is my happy place.  My parents brought me here when I was fourteen and it has been "my place" ever since.  It is a perfect beach.  I think I convinced Bryan of the same thing while we were there.  We would spend up to four hours here each day just wearing ourselves out.  The days were filled with boogie boarding and whale watching.  I couldn't believe how close the whales were.  Perfection.

 I mean seriously?  It really is paradise.

 I think one of the greatest highlights for Bryan was this fancy car.  We decided to upgrade while we were there and actually did a lot of driving so I'm glad we did.  There was something about driving to the beach each morning with the top down and good music playing.

 We LOVE love to boogie board.  We loved it so much we actually wore our boards out.  The waves started pretty mellow and so it was easy catching.  They got a little crazy there at the end.  Those days we braved it as much as we could but also spent a lot of time watching the professionals do their thing.  They are crazy I tell you!

 We did quite a bit of snorkeling as well.  I cut myself of some coral or lava rock and had to take a picture.  My girls get super concerned every time they see this picture.

 The beach we snorkeled on was really cool.  There were lots of trees and lava rock.  The water was crystal clear as well.  I could sit at this beach for hours.  Especially because there was a little shade!  I don't know if it's a sign of me getting older but I'm kind of over the sun.  I slathered a whole lot of spf 50 while we were there.

 We made some jaunts around the island to some very beautiful places.  This was Polulu lookout.  It is spectacular.  The hike down and up is pretty intense but well worth it.

 This is the view from the bottom.  It was a little foggy from some earlier rain but it made it even more beautiful.

 I think this is the prettiest parking spot in the world.  It was also a little scary.  I mean you drive just a few feet further and down you go.

 More beach.

 We walked along the beach in Waikaloa at some of the resorts.

 This is when the waves were HUGE.  I don't think this photo even does it justice.  Bryan wiped out more than once.  He was far braver than I was.

 This is Waipio Valley lookout.  It was another gorgeous view.

 Those waves!  SO big.

 One night we sat and listened to a performance in a little shopping center and had some gelato.

 We made another trip to Akaka Falls.  It was so rainy this day but we braved it and hiked to the falls anyways.  There's something that isn't too bothersome about a tropical rain.

 Bryan didn't want to ask anyone to take our picture so this was the best "selfie" we could do.

 These are a little out of order, but these are more photos of Polulu Lookout.

 When we went to church we attended the ward in Waimei.  It is a farming community near Parker Ranch and it was so green and pretty.

 After church we headed to Akaka falls and on the way stopped at Tex, a famous spot for malasadas.  Malasadas are filled donuts they make fresh and they are DElish.  The view from the restaurant was so pretty.

 We stuffed our faces with way too much while we were there.

 And here's some more pictures of Akaka falls.

 Bryan really should be a waterfall model, don't you think?

 Here is our last day on the beach, or so we thought.

 Turns out we got all ready for our red eye, eye masks and ear plugs in hand, and as we were getting on the plane the flight was cancelled.  The plane was broken.  After many hours trying to reschedule and finally getting shipped to a hotel we were pretty annoyed and tired.  We were to wait twenty four hours before catching another flight home.  This was pretty stressful since Bryan had work to get back to, we had babysitters anxious to get home and we were getting pretty anxious to see our children.  I tried to get us on an earlier flight which only resulted in us sitting in the airport for ten hours and getting on the flight we were initially rescheduled to take.  Looking back I wish we would have just relaxed and enjoyed one more day in Hawaii on a beautiful resort but when you are prepared to go home it's difficult to relax.  Thankfully we had to learn some lessons in patience and we did make it home safely.  It was a pretty annoying way to end a perfect trip though!

We got to stay in the Hilton resort which was a gorgeous resort.

 We saw lots of dolphins which the girls would have loved.

 We also saw some sea turtles.

What a perfect trip!  I'm just so glad we took the time to go.  It is so great to be reminded at how much you enjoy one another and it is so great to be reminded at how much you love your children.  Win win all around!