Happy Halloween!

We hope you all have a wonderful Halloween, full of mostly treats!

Don't worry; there are costume pictures coming, but I won't be taking them until this evening before the festivities begin... Happy Halloween!

Some birthday pictures...

So, I'm really late with Drew's, but I finally got caught up on all my photo editing and I finished Drew and Bryn's birthday shoots. Head over to my photography blog if you want to see more!

Aloha!

Yes, I've been very slow in getting these on here, but I wanted to edit the pictures from our trip to Hawaii and I've had several things I had to edit first. But they're finally done and I'm so excited to share! Brent and I had so much fun! Plus, this was our first real trip somewhere together, so it was the perfect present to ourselves for our 9th anniversary.

We stayed in downtown Waikiki, and as you can see from our balcony view, we were just a few buildings away from the beach. It was sweet...

The other great thing about our hotel? It was surrounded by the International Market Place. We went there almost every day, whether to do some souvenir shopping, for dinner or even to see one of Honolulu's prestigious hula schools perform (it was awesome, by the way). So fun to wander and brouse, try different foods and even some Dole whip. Yesssss....

Even though Brent was busy with clinic time several of the days I was there, we still got to go do all the things you're supposed to do when you go to Hawaii. The experience I thought was the most interesting was Pearl Harbor. It was incredible! We didn't bother with going to the Arizona memorial (we couldn't, actually, because Brent had to be in dress uniform for that), but we visited the USS Missouri battleship.

I am enamored with WWII history, so it was really incredible to be in the place that brought the United States into that war, and to be able to see where it ended in the Pacific. This battleship was truly impressive in all it could do and all that it had done...

This was the marker on the deck where Gen. MacArthur and several others signed with Japanese dignitaries to make their surrender official at the end of the war. It was humbling to stand there and listen as our tour guide repeated some of MacArthur's speech that day. We also saw a submarine come into the harbor, and the sailors were all standing on top of the sub, saluting the Missouri as they came in. Pretty cool...

We also made the trip up to Laie to the Polynesian Culture Center. I have to say overall, that was one thing I could have skipped. It was cool to see the little villages...

And I did get to take the hula lesson I really wanted to take (although I was kind of disappointed -- it was very touristy and I wanted to learn something about traditional hula).

We enjoyed the buffet, although I wasn't really impressed with that either. It was, however, so much fun to see Brent try to immitate the tikis. Hehe...

It was worth the drive, though, to see the temple. (Plus the drive was spectacular along the way.) The temple was wonderful to see, even though we didn't have time to go inside.

We also made it up to the North Shore to do some snorkeling. We went to a little place called Shark's Cove (just to the left of the trees in this picture). It was a tide pool area big enough to swim in but sheltered from the waves. We saw so many neat tropical fish. We had lunch at this spectacular place called the Hula Cafe in Hale'iwa, and then it was so crowded on the tiny roads up by the North Shore, we decided to head back to our hotel.

The North Shore was pretty spectacular. I'd love to come back in the winter and see some awesome surfing...

Brent was so wonderful: He made reservations to this really fancy restaurant close to our hotel called Top of Waikiki. It was at the top of a big business building, and the restaurant actually rotates around in there, so you get to see the entire area in an hour. So we had this extremely fancy dinner to celebrate our ninth anniversary.

The view was spectacular (we went right around sunset, awesome), and we had sooooo much fun, but apparently I'm not really a fancy dinner kind of girl (unless maybe it's French food, I guess). The food was not good, at all, and I was really disappointed with their tiny menu. Brent really liked the appetizer, and I got a wonderful fondu for dessert, but our entrees -- well, I thought Brent's swordfish was decent, but my chicken stuff was disgusting. Oh well, it was still lots of fun!

We also got to go to the swapmeet at the Aloha Stadium, which was so fun! We went body surfing at Waikiki Beach, I got to go shopping at the Ala Moana Shopping Center and we spent plenty of time walking around, enjoying the local cuisine and scenery. I got all the jewelry I was hoping for, as well as a Hawaiian dress, and Brent got a ukelele -- a real one, not a toy -- and he's getting really good at playing it.

I have to say I was expecting it to be more picturesque, but I'm still pretty happy looking back at my pictures. I absolutely loved these little flowers that we saw growing everywhere, and there were lots of other beautiful flowers and plants. The mountains in the middle of the island were awesome, and the beaches were fabulous, especially along the east side of the island.

It was short, but for our first trip away from the kids, it was the perfect length. I'll definitely take more time for the next trip, and I'd like to see some of the other islands. It was so much fun!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Well, more like some of my favorite people. We had such a blast visiting family, but some of my "family" I didn't get to see enough of, and we're reserving time for you at Christmas!!

Drew was ridiculously kid-time starved, and he was so excited to go see his friend. They fought a little, like little boys do, but when he found out we weren't going back to the condo to hang out with S some more, he was really upset.

Isn't this one of the most handsome kids you've ever seen?

They went and played on a little treehouse/tower thing, watched a movie, read books and had so much fun. Don't worry, Aunt Erin, I'll have edited pics for you soon! :) And by soon, I probably mean after Halloween...

Can't wait to see you again!

Too short but completely worth it...

Ok, no judging, these aren't edited yet, but I wanted to share...

We were able to flit out to my grandma's house in Duchesne; it was only for a few short days, and I wish we could have stayed longer, but I guess that's what happens when you're trying to cram everyone you want to see into about two weeks. Completely worth it, though. We had so much fun, especially Drew. He'd apparently been kid-deprived because he was so upset to leave his cousins. He asked to go back to great-grandma's house for days...

Sorry, I don't have any other pics from the week; I didn't even pick up my camera because we were just enjoying talking to each other, or the kids were playing together in the yard or with the toys I remember playing with at Grandma's. But I couldn't let this opportunity go by -- we had four generations of girls together for the first time. Thanks for all the good food and the good company -- we miss you guys!

There's no place like Grandma's...

It feels like forever since we'd been back to Utah -- because we stayed home for Christmas last year (didn't want that rather new baby to get sick), it had been a year since I'd been home home. Brent got to come to Utah for maybe 48 hours, so it's been even longer for him. It was really nice to come home for a nice, long visit, even if Brent had to go off on his school/military duties again.

And can I just say that I have the best dad -- ever? He flew out here to drive two days with his crazy grandkids so I wouldn't have to do it by myself, and I couldn't appreciate it more! We did ok, though, and made good time both days so we all arrived in one piece, more or less. :) At least he got to see a ball game while he was here!

I got to spend some fun, relaxing time with my brother and sister and their significant others, hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Cady and actually got to go outside (which was a refreshing change after leaving Oklahoma's 105+ degree weather).

The first weekend I was there, I had to see my hometown's newest addition: the temple. It's beautiful! It's kind of a combination of Salt Lake City and St. George.

We spent lots of time blowing bubbles or getting wet or just letting my parents enjoy their grandkids...

This little blue-eyed baby had everyone wrapped around her finger. She's pretty charming. She and Grandpa became best buds, and with his help, she learned to walk on our trip.

'Course, Drew got in plenty of Grandpa time, too! He's still asking when he can go to Grandma's house. Too bad it's so far...

Both kids loved the piano.

My little musicians. :) We got to do lots, but I actually took a break from having my camera glued to my shoulder, so these are what I've got. We also went to Willard Bay, went up to Logan a couple of times to see Tyler and Lindsey and get some cheese from Gosner's (yeah for squeeky cheese), spent time at the park and had lots of barbecues on the deck.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog...

Whew! What an awesome month we've had, and we've started things off at home with a big week: Not only did Brent start school (ah-hem, his LAST year of school), so did Drew...

Despite his rather silly attempt at a smile outside the school after I picked him up from his first day, I think he really loves it. I had a harder time dropping him off than he did going. I can't believe my little baby Drew is big enough for school!

I think he was the most excited about his backpack. And hey, it's red. He was so excited when we bought it that he wore his "packpack" around the house for hours.

Another big thing this week -- Bryn turned one! Another I-can't-believe-my-baby's-that-big moment. Wow...

My little bebe had fun opening her presents. She got some new books and her first dollie with real hair (a Princess Presto). She also got a new big chair...

It was fun to unwrap something bigger than she is.

She loves her bigger, and I'm sure more comfortable, seat. We did a little birthday cake for her in Cedar City, so we went out for ice cream on her birthday.

Crazy week trying to get caught up with everything, plus I had my first newborn session this morning. Big, long, exhausting week....

Yes, I've got lots of pics I want to share from my trip, and they're coming. I'm afraid I'll have to leave you with an IOU. I have lots of photo editing and more taking to do. I just need some rest after this go-from-one-thing-to-another month!