Maui Trip 2010

Warning!! Major picture overload. Between my mother's camera and our camera, we had hundreds of pictures from our Maui trip, so we tried to pick the best ones, and since we also use this blog as a family journal of sorts, we are posting a bunch. So beware! You are allowed to scroll through these as quickly as you'd like. I won't be offended. Heck, I won't even know! Okay, let's get started. We took my parents to Maui for one week. They used to take my family when I was little, and we went 4 or 5 times. We haven't been back for about 16 years, so Jonathan and I were thrilled that we were able to take my parents back with us. Here we are when we landed at the airport.

Showing off our swimsuit cover-ups

Trying on awesome sunglasses at Boss Frogs, where we rented our snorkel gear from a WAY corny salesman/minister with a WAY creepy laugh.

Sitting on the first beach we went to, Wilea Beach.

The condo pool

My beautiful parents!

Sunset in Lahaina

This is the oldest Banyan tree in the U.S. It came over to Maui from India in the 1800s and was only 8 feet tall. The branches grow out and back down into the ground making more roots. It's pretty amazing.

This next picture needs explanation. When we vacationed in Maui when I was little, we always took a picture next to this sailor statue and made the funny face, so I had to do it again. Someday I'll find that picture of me at 9 years old next to this guy and I'll post it. It was so fun to see the same statue from so long ago.

Taking a break as we walked along the beach behind the Kaanapali resorts.

The view over Honolua Bay, a wonderful little snorkel spot.

We had a blast snorkeling (underwater photos to come, so don't fall asleep yet!) Even though you're not supposed to feed the fish, my mother doesn't listen to any of that. We packed frozen peas and bread to lure the fish in. But it worked too well and they swarmed us and followed us all over. I finally made Jonathan swim to the shore and dump the food because I was afraid of them nipping at us.

Funny guy.

We had to walk through a little forest to get down to Honolua Bay and Jonathan had fun posing as Tarzan.

Tarzan or George of the Jungle, hmm I'm not really sure.

Watching the sunset from the Kamaole beach across the street from the condo.

Waiting for the sunset.

Cool shot, huh? Yea, I took that picture. Go me.

A gecko outside the condo.

One of the highlights of the trip: Ziplining! So much fun. We rode down 8 different ziplines in the mountains of Maui.

Getting ready to snorkel on yet another beach, Ahihi Beach.

This was the condo we stayed in. My parents are waving from the bottom middle patio.

This is Iao Needle, a state park nestled at the bottom of the mountains. We used to come here when I was little and swim in the freezing cold river. No swimming this time though.

After Iao Needle, we went up north to Hookipa Beach watch the windsurfers. It was really fun but extremely windy, and we got a little tired of sand blowing in our faces so we didn't stay too long.

On the way home Jonathan got out and stole a stalk of sugarcane. He chewed on it to see if it was sweet. It wasn't.

So then my mom made a gorgeous headband from it. She's a beauty, isn't she?

Enjoying our strawberry daquiris on the patio.

Another highlight of the trip, the helicopter ride. It really was extremely beautiful, although I did almost go for my "comfort bag" a few times. Why they named it a comfort bag I will never know. For heaven's sakes, it's an airsick bag! There's no comfort in that!

The tallest waterfall in Hawaii.

The island of Molokai, right next to Maui.

Molokai has one of the largest coral reefs.

Snorkeling, once again, about 6 o'clock in the morning on our last day.

Okay, now for the real fun part: underwater pictures! Pretty self-explanatory.

Jonathan getting swarmed because he kept feeding the fish!

My mom and dad

We snorkeling on 5 different beaches and never saw any turtles, so we were getting kind of bummed. But we finally found a beach where there were 3 HUGE turtles feeding off of a huge rock just about 20 feet off the shore. It was so amazing! In this picture you can see a second turled very lightly in the background.

Stuff That's Happened Lately

Sometimes I like to dress Dean and Dawson in matching outfits. I hated it when my mother did that to me and my twin, and now I'm doing it to my kids. Hmm... Here they are before church with their new squishy balls from the Target Dollar aisle.

Jonathan mowing our yard for the first time! We bought a mower from a friend, and that didn't work. Then my sister Shelby loaned us hers and that one didn't work either. We finally borrowed one from a neighbor and got it done!

Dawson is the BIGGEST daddy's boy ever. He'll be grumpy all day for me, and as soon as Jonathan gets home from work, he's all smiles. He absolutely loves to snuggle with Jonathan on the couch and watch tv (which he never does with me), and we loved this picture because he's holding Jonathan's hand. So sweet!

I posted a few Spring Fair pictures a while ago, but my sister Brittany took Dean and his cousins back after we went. She got the greatest pictures! Here is Dean with Evelyn and Britton.

I love their funny faces. The goat in the background just adds awesome-ness to this picture.

I think this may be my favorite picture of all time. Seeing Dean happy makes me so happy.

Another picture of the rugrats.

Here is a video of Dawson jabbering to my mom. He doesn't talk much and can only say a handful of words, but when my mom came over the other day he carried on quite the conversation with her about his bouncy ball and how I took it away from him because he had put it in his mouth. Enjoy!

Ta-Da!! The finished product

Here is our beautiful home. We love the way it turned out. I have always wanted a yellow house ever since I was little, so it's really fun to have one now. And I have to give a shout-out to my man Jason who painted it.  He did a fabulous job and worked like crazy. Thank you Jason! Here is a link to his website in case any of you are in need of a paint job or pretty much anything else. He does everything, so check him out: jnpainting.com

 We also finished Dean's room (finally!). My brother-in-law Brian helped Jonathan put up the red trim around the room, and to decorate I put up pictures of Dean at 6 mos, 2 years, and 3 years.

 I also wanted to decorate with cars but didn't want to make his entire room "Cars," so I found these cute posters on discountpostersale.com

 This weekend was the Spring Fair. It is a 3-day mini version of the Puyallup Fair. It was beautiful on Thursday evening so we took the kids down and saw Bixby's Rainforest Encounter (pretty dumb) and saw a few rainforest animals. Good thing it was free.

 Dean loved it though.

 BIG fish that kids could play in. Dean wouldn't, of course.

 But he DID actually go into the petting zoo and after a little while of watching me pet all the animals he finally went up and pet a few! I was so proud of him. He loved the baby turkeys that the scary man is holding.

I'm Thankful For...

*primary songs to keep my kids company while they're locked in the car (and I'm locked out)
*my friend Becca for letting me use her van to get Jonathan's keys at his office
*the fact that Jonathan's office is only 4 minutes away so I can get said keys and get myself into the car
*McDonald's crispy chicken sandwich for making me feel all better about the situation

don't worry, between Jonathan and me, we've only locked the kids in the car twice. that's not bad, right?

It was just an accident mommy!

I feel like I've entered a new level of parenting now that we've finally had the "pour the entire gallon of milk out on the table" incident. I just kept telling myself that this happens in every household across the nation as I was sopping it up. I was kind of hoping I could use the "don't cry over spilled milk" saying, but Dean really wasn't that broken up about it. I came downstairs to find him standing by the table trying to keep any more milk from spilling on the floor, saying "it was just an accident." Which, I suppose, is so true. I guess that's what I get for leaving my children to go upstairs and get dressed. How silly of me.

The House and Haircuts

Hey this is Jonathan here.  Caprice has really been dragging her feet on this blog thing, so I am taking matters into my own hands!  Since we moved into our home it seems like there are ENDLESS projects to complete.  Our latest one was completing our formal living room.  We lucked out with some awesome furniture from some friends in the ward.  It's nice to finally have something to sit on!  Shelby made us some beautiful curtains to complete the room. 

Our front entryway was barren and plain so we spiced it up with some decor.  The candles my sister JaNae made for us have been resurrected! 

The new rug is also in the front entryway.

Dean recently found his long lost doggy backpack and now wears it around everywhere he goes...including to bed.

Yesterday we cut both the boys' hair.  Once in a while when it gets really long we like to just buzz it.  I made the mistake of thinking a "#1" attachment would be fine.  As you can see we cut Dawson's first and he looks like he is a cancer patient or from a concentration camp.  Poor thing!  Dad's mistake.

We cut Dean's second and went with the #2 attachment!  Don't mind the hairy leg and towel in the background...it's Caprice.

The other big news is we are getting our house painted.  Since we live in a covenant community you have to get your new color approved by the board.  Kind of dumb!  We are hoping to get a pastel yellow with brick red accents and white trim approved.  In the meantime our painter has not been wasting time.  We came home yesterday to a ghostly white primed house.  I wish I could say it looks celestial, but it doesn't! 

I took some fun pictures around the house of some cool plants that have come up and blossomed in our yard. 

Yep, that is bamboo.

Here's the skinheads playing in the backyard.

We bought this flowering viny plant for the backyard.

Hanging out and enjoying a sunny day (that is rare here in Washington)!