Never enough pictures of HAWAII!

In love, in Hawaii, in sandals on Waikiki.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. The first night we were so tired. There was a 5 hour time difference and we were both ready to hit the hay, but Mike had to take a dip in the ocean before he could rest. I told him I'd cheer him on from the balcony. He ran out the door in his swimsuit and I brushed my teeth and went to open the sliding glass door to the balcony. It was locked and stuck. I tugged and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. I gave up and went to bed. Mike came back a while later, dripping with salt water and a huge grin on his face to find me snoozing in our soft King size bed. Sorry I missed your swan dive, Mike! Our beautiful home away from home, the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Oh, how I miss you and your room service.

We hit 2 different shave ice stands. Aoki's and Matsumoto's. Both were delicious. Aoki's served sweet beans in the bottom of the cone topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then shaved ice and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. The beans were like sweet black beans. Kinda weird, but we had to try it. Matsumoto's was the better of the two. We decided you could live off shaved ice if you had to....and we saw many homeless people in Honolulu that were probably doing just that.

If eating Shaved Ice is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Delectable, as was the first.

Check out our sweet ride!! We toured the island in this beautiful blue convertible Mustang. Prrr. We were IN. Or, at least we felt like we were in....
This is a picture of one of our beautiful Latter-Day Saint temples in Hawaii. It was a warm, overcast day. It was 5pm when we pulled into the temple parking lot. We stopped and talked with the missionaries at the Visitor's Center and toured the grounds. It was lovely. I'm so glad we made the stop, even if we didn't get to do a temple session. We felt the holy spirit and it was peaceful and gentle.
Mike soaking up nature at the Lyon Arboretum near the University of Hawaii.

Mike's favorite plant on our hike.

My favorite flower on the preserve.

Are you wondering if something small and furry was taking this picture??! Mike's tripod was so handy! (Yes, that is a big map in Mike's hand. The arboretum was huge! I loved Hawaii, but I wasn't so keen on staying there, drinking rain water & eating slugs for the rest of my life! Are we still on the trail?? Are you sure??)

This tree had the craziest trunk!This was called Inspiration Point. Is this place for real??!?!!?!
Putting these pictures together, I can't believe I was really there!

The rest of the story..............................

Mike co-authored some research at Mayo and submitted it to a conference in Honolulu. We were thrilled when it was accepted! We farmed the kids out (Ryan & Lindsay took Quinn for 7 nights! Bless you! Our Delta flight had a lay-over in SLC where we tossed Max & Mae to their grandparents) and flew to Oahu to find out what the spirit of Aloha was all about. It was a great week.

My favorite part of Hawaii was my hotel. Serious! We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was so beautiful and big and expensive. I loved it!

Our last day in Hawaii we toured a nature preserve close by the University of Hawaii. The scenery was amazing. Downtown Honolulu was not the flowering paradise that I had imagined, so a hike in these botanical gardens was the perfect way to end our trip.

Mike presented his poster at a 3 hour session on Sunday. There were 700 posters on display. Mike went to part of the conference everyday, so it ended up being some work, some play. What??? Not all play??!! :)



Mike packed up Mayo's posters after the session and we walked the 4 blocks to our Hawaiian Village. We made that walk several times during our trip.

Nice weather. It could have been a little warmer, but I shouldn't complain about a few clouds and 80 degrees! We drove the whole island on the one day Mike had off. We visited the temple and the visitor's center. We ate a white shrimp truck and savored our shaved ice treats (my fav had a scoop of ice cream in the bottom and sweetened condensed milk drizzled over the shaved ice...MMmmmm). We stopped at a small surfing town and walked the streets, imagining what it would be like to live there year round. We snorkeled at Hanuma Bay at 7am (Mike's teeth chattered for hours). We walked along Waikiki Beach at sunset. I loved Aloha Stadium where I bought 10 pairs of my favorite Hawaii sandals and a few strands of Kukoi nut necklaces (I should have bought tons more necklaces! I hate it when you get home from vacation and you think, dang it, why didn't I buy more of that??!?!). I slept in until 9am. I didn't push a double stroller for 5 whole days. I ate famous do-nuts and fresh fruit every morning while tropical birds flew overhead. It was...paradise.

A BIG thank you to all those who helped to make this trip a reality for me and Mike! We will love you forever!!!!!

5 nights, 6 days.

We went to paradise. And now we're back.

Look at Us!

OooooooOoo, Big KiD Car SEAts!

Bu-bye infant seats (we are almost 13 months and 21 and 23 pounds after all!!)!

Rub-a-Dub-dub.....Three little kids in a tub!

Warning: Do not try this at home. Three little people in the tub can only happen when there are multiple adults around to grab slippery bodies from the water, while making sure the other little bodies stay upright. Tricky. Very tricky, indeed.
The night this photo was taken, I needed a break from motherhood. Mike put the kids in the tub while I turned up the radio and cleaned the kitchen w/o any little hands grabbing my legs or little voices calling for me. I thought they'd last maybe 10 minutes, all three of them, in the tub. After 1/2 an hour, I went to check on them! Mike had the kids blowing into water pipes making amazing music, Mike, himself, was blowing bubbles while beating on an H2O drum and all were attempting the puzzle-shape animals you see in the background (some were just chewing on the shapes, but all were involved). In the end, fun for the kids & Daddy, relief for the Ma and a clean kitchen. A well spent evening.

Sittin' Pretty

I HAD to post something new so that every time anyone visited the blog they weren't assaulted with that gigantic picture of me pregnant with the twins. What was I thinking, posting that for all the world to see?? Shudder.

Easter afternoon.
First it went like this.....

(Mae totally steals the show in this pic)

Then like this.....

Add Quinn and a few tears......

Exit Mae, boys are getting rowdy....

Max triumphs!

We have 9am church, so these pictures were taken at about 1pm when everyone was done for the day and ready to nap. We enjoyed Easter dinner (after the much-needed naps) with some friends, Leo & Victoria. Leo is a peds resident with Mike. I had a great time visiting and relaxing with them and their 2 girls. Holidays don't feel like holidays unless you get together with family or friends.
The Easter bunny finally made it to our house Monday afternoon during Quinn's nap. I'm glad he decided to come because I was having a hard time staying away from those starburst jelly beans! We didn't dye eggs this year, which meant one very sad thing----no deviled eggs! Quinn is so expressive and excitable, he loved hunting for his Easter basket and finding the plastic eggs hidden around the house.

For the Twins

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAX & MAE!!!

So massive. So large. So unreal, but really real.
3 days before delivery.

I told my OB/GYN that I wanted keep them in my belly as long as possible. The first pregnancy to last 12 months and counting!!! :) I knew my life was going to change drastically once they were born, so hey, let's not rush it. He let me go to 38 weeks and said it was time for a c-section. Here I am, 2 days before meeting my babes.


Pregnancy Sympathy Day. Even my dad carried a balloon under his kitchen apron for a while. Toting a balloon around would be a piece of cake after lugging my 60-pound belly about the house for 9 months (OK, it didn't weigh 60-pounds for 9 months.....)
Hello Babies!!! This was my last day in the Logan Regional Hospital after my painful c-section. The twins were 4 days old. At birth, Max weighed a whopping 7 lbs, 7 oz. and Mae tipped the scales at 7 lbs, 1 oz. I heard nurses outside my hospital door whisper-shouting "These are the 7 lb. twins!" before entering my room. Good job, children, for getting so big and healthy before arriving. I really appreciate that.

Let's go home! I was living with my parents in Logan for the majority of my pregnancy (for bed rest reasons) so when we left the hospital to go "home" we went to Gran & Pa's. It was emotional for me to leave the hospital...I'd spent so much time there during my pregnancy, I couldn't believe it was over.

One week old. Snoozin'. I'm pretty sure I was snoozin' too...who took this picture??

The ONLY picture I took on their blessing day (well, I took one other, but they were screaming and bright red). The twins were almost 1 month old, but I was no where near being OK with my situation. Things were really challenging. Taking pictures was at the bottom of my list of things to do.

Here they are at 7 months. They're happy babies. It's nice. It's really nice.

I didn't take a picture of them today. Why? I should have. I guess that's something that comes with having more than one child. I forgot. Happy birthday, little ones. You are my treasures, and I love you dearly.

Oh, and P.S.----Thanks for getting easier as you get older. Those first 5 months were somethin' else. :) We can smile about it now. :)

For the wearin 'o' the green...........

I tried to capture the kids on St. Paddy's Day. Sort of successful..........

Mae kept crawling away. Max was happy watching my slapstick. Quinn gave me his 'camera smile' before grabbing a toy car and vrooming away. I've learned, ya gotta be quick with this bunch.....

Who is this Cheese?? LOVE it when he smiles with his nose.

Mike was on call St. Patrick's Night, so the kids and I met him in the hospital cafeteria for dinner. I enjoy a fish sandwich from time to time. Warm from the hot lights.....crusty from being prepared 2 days ago and served tonight......flaky from being stored in the freezer for many, many days. It was raining, so I wanted to park close. I found an opening in a 30 minute spot and snagged it. Unloading the children from our clown car (aka Toyota Echo) took a large portion of my half hour, so we had to rush. Mike was decked out in blue scrubs. Not an ounce of green on him. I was most disappointed (in high school, I used to dress green from toe to head, sparkling green shamrock garland, wrapped into a circle, perched atop my hair). This night, I wore a necklace of dyed green seashells and a loud green shirt. A nurse sitting close to our table caught my attention with her green blazer, green shell, green pants (all slightly different greens) and green stud earrings. I HAD to wish her a Happy St. Patrick's Day on my way out. She screamed it.
Hope you all had a merry green day full of pinches and corned beef.