O'ahu - Day 5

Another day of sun, sand and surf. Cole broke out the diving rings that Grandma and Grandpa gave him and Reagan and Cole met some friends to dive with. We swam and played to our hearts' content. Then, we headed back inside for a break. Steve had some work to do, so, Reagan, Cole and I walked to Subway to pick up a late lunch. There was a little hula show going on in the shopping center, so, we watched for a while. After we returned to the room, we watched a movie and called it a night.

O'ahu - Day 4

Another early morning (Reagan and Cole are sleeping in until 5am now!). We headed to the pool and swam. Yesterday, we picked up a pink float tube for Reagan so they each have their own now. Again, we hit the pool, the beach, the hot tub. After lunch, we headed upstairs for a rest and a shower. That didn't really matter because when we left the room again, all we wanted to do was hit the beach (even in our clothes). So, we all played on the beach - Reagan and Cole searched for seashells and drew pictures in the sand while Steve and I watched them. So fun!



We ended up needing another shower, but that was fine with me. We are on vacation! Whatever we feel like doing on any given day is great! We had dinner and hit the sack a bit later, but still quite early. Our bodies are adjusting slowly :)

O'ahu - Day 3

Today we traveled part way around the island. Steve's brother and his family are here as well. Their daughter Ashley is a student at BYU - Hawaii and their family came here for Thanksgiving to visit. They are staying in Ko'Olina. We headed out to meet them at the church by their resort. After church, we went back to their resort for lunch, swimming and beach fun. Reagan and Cole LOVED playing with their cousins. They were so patient with them and indulged their every wish.

 

We had snow cones and the kids played in the bay while Steve and his brother talked (and talked, and talked, etc.). They would break for a while and play with the kids and then back to their discussion :) After we played for hours, we all went to dinner and then went our separate ways. They are leaving tomorrow and so are getting ready to depart and Ashley is heading back to school after her Thanksgiving break.



We plan to head up to Laie to see Ashley later in our trip, but for now, we'll head back to our hotel after a second day of fun and sun and a great time with our cousins!



 

O'ahu - Day 2

Our first full day here started early - I mean 4:30 early!!! It was 7:30 at home and Reagan and Cole's bodies were rearin' to go. We figured we would go with it. I got up and headed to the fitness center. Steve showered and got ready and then got the kids dressed and ready and they headed for the beach. It was still dark! They didn't care - they had a great time. They played in the sand while the sun came up. By the time I was back from working out, showered and ready to join them, they had been out there for hours. They were covered in sand, so, we bathed them and headed out for breakfast. As soon as we were back from breakfast, Reagan and Cole changed into new, dry, swimsuits and we hit the pool. It was great. Sitting there, soaking up the sun and enjoying the view of the ocean. Ahhhhh!



Reagan and Cole hit the big slide, the little slide, the shallow end, the deep end and both hot tubs. We brought diving rings with us as well as a floating tube and a raft. At one point, both Reagan and Cole were crammed into that little kids' tube - the were laughing and couldn't move anywhere with all of their arms and legs flailing trying to get them moving somewhere. I had to snap a pic.



Once we had our fill of pool time, we returned to our room, showered and cleaned up again and headed out for dinner. Again tonight, we hit the sack pretty early (after all, we were up at 4:30!!!!). I'm so glad we are here - it is truly paradise. We love it!

O'ahu - Day 1

So usually it is freezing cold the day after Thanksgiving and we are so excited to leave town to go to the islands. Well, this year ..... not so much. It has been record setting warm here, so, it isn't like we NEED to get out of town, but who's going to refuse a trip to Hawaii? Not us - we're off!

Once again (are we boring?) we headed to O'ahu to stay at the Sheraton Waikiki. O'ahu is really easy - more flights (no red eye), we can walk to any store we want to hit, our hotel is right on the beach and we don't even need a car (unless we want one).


As is our MO, we flew all day and got in at around 5. Just like last year, we dropped our bags in our room and headed right for the beach (who cares that we have pants on, who cares that it is dark, who cares that no one else is out here - not us!!!). Just like last year, we were coming back into the hotel when we ran into Santa Clause - again!!! In the lobby of the hotel, there was a huge sand sculpture of Santa with his "Naughty" and "Nice" lists. Reagan and Cole were looking for their names on the lists and couldn't find them. As we were walking, I was explaining that maybe Santa hadn't made up his mind yet which list they were on. Then, we rounded a corner and there was Santa! They each told him what they were wanting for Christmas and they each made their case for being on the nice list. He listened intently, agreed and gave them each a candy cane. Score!!!! I assured Reagan and Cole that Santa came to Hawaii to check on them and to make sure that they were being "nice".


Even though it was only 8:00, at home it was 11:00, so our bodies were telling us it was time for bed. We hit the sack, excited for tomorrow's sun, sand and surf!
 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This year, for Thanksgiving, we went to my parents' house. All but one of our sibs was there, plus, we had some guests, so, we were a decent size group (nothing like the 150 we have when we are with the Petersen Clan, but a group nonetheless). We had a great time - the weather was fabulous. We sat outside and talked, we ate, we played football, and we opened Christmas gifts (my Mom insists on giving everyone their gifts at Thanksgiving in case she doesn't see them before Christmas).



It was nice to get caught up and great to give thanks as a family. It was also nice that Mom hosted, so, we didn't have a lot to do - just bring some pies and brownies. That is great because tomorrow, we head out of town. Hawaii here we come!!!!



Note - I'm laughing as I look at the pictures because Steve and I were spray tanned the morning of Thanksgiving (that was the latest we could do it before our trip. It's always so dark right after they spray you and until you shower. Yep - we haven't left on our trip yet, but we already look tan - yeah! We might look out of place for Thanksgiving, but we will fit right in once we get to Hawaii!!!

Thanksgiving Feasts

At Reagan and Cole's school, they have a Thanksgiving Feast on the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break. Cole's preschool class has a buffet of various items (bananas, olives, celery, pickles, carrots, apples, etc.) and each child is assigned to bring one item. It isn't for parents, but I snuck in to take some pics and to check Cole out a bit early so that he could join us for Reagan's first grade feast. This one is in the big gym and parents are invited. They have turkey, potatoes, gravy, rolls, etc. - the whole "feast". Not sure how I forgot to take a pic of Reagan, Cole and Steve at the Feast, but somehow I did. However, I did manage to get a pic of Reagan with her teacher.

An Early Thanksgiving

Steve girls are headed to their Mom's house in St. George this year, but we wanted to celebrate with them for Thanksgiving as well, so, we held our own Thanksgiving on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. April wasn't able to make it, so, it was the Norris clan, Shanny and us. We had turkey, stuffing, all the fixin's and we had a great time just being together. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. Our family is one of our biggest blessings. We are so glad that the girls are local, that we can see them often and that the kids can play together - they LOVE to be together!



So, we'll miss the girls on the actual holiday, but we are glad that we could celebrate Thanksgiving with them before they left town.
 

Let It Snow ... Let It Snow ... Let It Snow

We've had a bit of snow here and a bit of snow there, but this week, we were hit hard! It piled up in the yard and on the driveway and on the deck and on the house and .... well, you get the picture.



Reagan and Cole HAD to go out and "help" Daddy shovel the walks. They all got into a big snowball fight and then Cole grabbed his little sled and Steve was privileged enough to drag Reagan and Cole all around the driveway, the circle and part of the yard. Uggh! Mom was content to stay in the garage and take pics :)

New Belts!!!

Reagan and Cole continue to learn and develop at Karate. I think Cole loves it more than Reagan, but they both enjoy it and look forward to going. Their kicks are getting higher, their punches and blocks are getting stronger and their "Ayyaa!" yells are getting serious :)  They are getting stronger and more confident and I love it!



We went through another set of tip tests to get our 2 black tips and 1 red tip - then we had our Belt Test. Reagan and Cole both did great! They showed their forms well and their self-defense techniques.



I am especially proud of them because most other karate students attend twice a week. As I said with gymnastics - I just can only handle so much. So, we opt to only attend once a week. That means Reagan and Cole have to work harder and practice more than the other students. I video the moves and we try to practice at home. They are working hard and learning lots. Ayyyyyyyyaaaa!!
 

Gettin' Better

Reagan is doing better and better at gymnastics. She is enjoying it and I really like the place she is training at. She rotates from bar to floor to beam to vault. She is so tall and thin that I think her build really suits gymnastics. She is liking it too. There are some families that are crazy into this - coming multiple times a week. That's not us - we just like our little one hour class each week. I get that she might not advance as fast as other gymnasts, but that's ok for me. We are trying a new activity and fitting it into our already busy life. This works .... for now. Check her out:

Go Utes!!!!!

You'll remember from my post in May about our fundraising auction for the YM/YW, that we bid for - and won - tickets to the Utah game. Well, the time for the game finally arrived. We only had 2 tickets, so, Steve and Cole went for their Father/Son Fun day! The seats were on the third row - Awesome!!!! Cole made sure to wear red and Steve reports that he was more interested in the mascots than he was in the game. Steve and Cole sat by the people who donated the tickets - so, they had friends to chat with. Apparently, though, Cole made friends with every child in the vicinity. Steve said he buddied up to some boys who were much older than him. Cole went around with them and yelled to the cheerleaders and the mascots. He was especially thrilled when the mascot came up into the stands and cheered with the crowd!



The Utes won 49-6 which made it even more exciting. Reagan and I had a fun time while they were gone - we went shopping! I've been trying to get Cole and Reagan to like the Cougars, but this experience may have put Cole over the edge - he's a Utah Man now!!!!
 

Halloween Decor

I mentioned in the post about our fall decor that last year after Halloween, I hit Tai Pan and scored!!!! Well, it was so sad to bring it home, wrap it up and pack it away. I was Super!!!! excited for this Halloween. My sis Amber - amazing decorator that she is - helped me set everything up. I had some ideas, but she had visions. She seriously just knows when something will fit somewhere or look great. My thanks go out to her for helping me.



I loved it - it just made me happy to walk around our house and look at all these cute decorations. I must say I really got into the purple color this year. Usually we are orange and black - yada yada yada. For some reason, the purple really popped for me this year and we really used it a lot. Maybe my favorite items were those black Christmas trees. They were so stinkin' cheap. I looked at them all year, wrapped up in cellophane in the garage and I was So excited to pull them out and decorate them.



One of Cole's friends came over and when her mom walked in, she said "Wow - I can see I need to step up our Halloween decorations at home!" We laughed and I told her how cheap everything was after the season last year. She (and I) vowed to shop after the season this year.


Another friend of ours decorates her house even more than us, but she is into the spooky and scary decor - mummies, caskets, ghouls, etc. I just can't get into that at this point. Maybe when Reagan and Cole are older, we will. But for now, here's a look at our not-so-spooky Halloween decor :)