Breanne's Luau Birthday Party

Since we had only been home from Hawaii for 4 days, we decided to do a Hawaiian Luau for Breanne's 4th Birthday Party. She loved it! And it was nice because we were able to bring some 'authentic Hawaiian' things home to help us celebrate!

Quite the greed fest! It looked worse than Christmas (that was only 2 months ago).

Breanne's traditional cupcake cake. Complete with a 'shake your hips-Hawaiian girl' and fresh Hawaiian flowers!

Happy Birthday Breanne!--- I can't believe my baby girl is 4 years old!

We played pin the coconut on the coconut tree.. Breanne was frustrated because she wanted to win, but could not see where to put the coconut! Obviously she missed the whole point of the game! Everyone else liked it though!

All of Breanne's favorite friends eating Hawaiian haystacks at her party.

Breanne and her very own hula girl!

We can't forget Kyler... He too was all decked out it his new Hawaiian shirt ready to party with his big sister!

Darren's nature shots

Darren took alot of nature shots in Hawaii with our new nifty camera. Here are a few of his favorites:

This was taken on our hotel room balcony on the west side of Oahu.

The camera has the ability to take seven shots in a row for action situations. Here is a whale tail he was able to get.

This was a pond at the Dole Pineapple plantation. In it, they have a botanical garden full of awesome flowers and stuff. This is cool because the water seems to blur.

This lilly pad was far away and so the shot was taken with a bigger lens.

What a pretty place. This is the Byodo-in temple located on the east side of Oahu.

Darren's favorite flower.

More Fun in the Sun!

Cute family in Beautiful Hawaii!

This is us at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Breanne thought this girl was pretty and wanted us to take a picture with her.

Watching the village parade on the water.

Breanne and Kyler swimming in the pool. Breanne wishes we could spend our whole trip in the pool. Kyler just wishes he could watch his Baby Einstein movies in his swing.

This is one of our favorite places to visit in Oahu the Chinese Byodo-in Temple. As you can see Breanne wasn't up to having her picture taken. This beautiful temple is nestled in the mountains of Northeast side of the island. Breanne's favorite part was feeding the fish and birds.
We also visited the Waikiki Aquarium.. It as way worth the trip into town. There were tons of beautiful fish tanks, shark and sea lion exhibits, and areas for touch sea life.

This picture is for Grams and Poppie who wanted to see Ky Ky's leggies in shorts!! What a cute little chunkin! The friends we are with have a 22 month old and Kyler is a 1/2 lb. heavier than her!

Day 2 in Paradise

What a fun day! When we were home we ran into a website about a teddy bear museum and thought it would be fun to check out... Boy were we glad we did! What a great place. 15000 square feet of bears dressed up in different scenes that move and dance to depict different things. At the end there is a little concert put on by Elvis Bear. Breanne loved it!

Yup... life size ones as well! Teddy Bear World is the rage in Korea (i guess) and this is the first museum in the states. It has been open for 3 months here in Hawaii.

Breanne posing for a picture in the beautiful gardens at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. My little girl that used to have beautiful curly hair is back! It is fun to see her little ringlets magically appear again in this humid weather.

Flowers as big as my head! Beautiful day... 78 degrees with a slight breeze.

Are these 2 of the cutest kids or what?! We are riding the Pineapple Express Train at the Dole Plantation.Breanne wanted to know if we were gonna see any animals. I guess she got confused with the train at Hogle Zoo! Sweet girl.

Daddy bought us both a lei to wear today! Hangin' loose in Hawaii!

We also went to the North Shore today to check out turtle beach. This was like a scene from a movie! Beautiful palm trees, blue sky, white capped waves and every once in a while a cute turtle head would pop out of the shallow water near the shore. I thought Bre would love this since we have been talking about seeing turtles for months. But when she saw the the beach all she wanted to do was play in the sand. Kyler absolutely loves being outside!

We hope you are enjoying being apart of our wonderful trip from cyber world! Stay tuned for day 3.....

Aloha!

ALOHA!!

Aloha from Oahu!! The kids were great on the airplane ride! When we first got on the plane and it was taxing out to the run way, Breanne asked,"So when are the wings gonna start to flap?" The minute we stepped of the plane a grandma came up to Breanne and gave her this lei. She was going back home, and we were just coming! Ma halo!

Our firs day activities where lots of fun! Because we there is a 4 hour difference from Utah our kids were out by like 8 o'clock (nice right.. the time the are Suppose to be in bed at home but Never happens!) But that also means they were up at 6 to start their day! First stop... Pearl Harbor! Lots of fun! The man tried to get the missiles in the background.... I guess he thought those were more important than our baby! and look... he was even looking at the camera... Good Boy!

Yes folks... this is REAL!! And tons more where this one came from! Tell me this isn't the most beautiful place on earth! (not to mention the smells!)

This is Breanne's favorite place to be... the pools. Our condo has 4 pools and 7 hot tubs (all of which have different things like tunnels, waterfalls, slides or sandy beaches) Last time we came Darren and I didn't even go swimming and now we've been here 1 full day and have been twice! "this is a kid trip.... this is a kid trip... this is a kid trip" That's what we remind ourselves constantly!

And don't forget Kyler! He is loving the beautiful weather. He looks so different in short sleeve shirts and shorts! His little fat roles are much more visible! Today at Pearl Harbor he was the main attraction! As is everywhere you go, there were tons of Asians and they just couldn't get enough of him.. they were talking to him touching him.... Heck even taking pictures of him! I don't know what they were saying but I imagine it was something like this, 'look at the cute little fat white baby!'

halloween

Breanne started out the Halloween season with a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Mommy had to work that day so Grams went with here.














Breanne's school class all dressed up in their costumes.














Our cute little pumpkin!














What would Halloween be without a bubbly pot of witches brew root beer.














Breanne loved this potato head witch pumpkin.














Witch Breanne and Princess ghost Brooke trick or treating














Breanne and Kyler trick in their cute costumes.

What's goin on?

Here is an update of our latest goin's on:

Darren went on a hike to Lake Blanch with his dad and brother. It was about a 7 mile hike with a rise of about 2500 feet. Darren was exhausted and sore to say the least.































"Nana J" came out for Kyler's blessing. We had such a great time with her, wrapping up last minute details for the post-blessing family gathering.

Kyler was blessed on October 10th by his daddy. What a handsome boy!