February 17-21 update

 

Our first really big snow storm this season. Sara took a picture from the back seat of my white knuckles as we were driving home from taking middle school carpool. I am so grateful for my Suburban- especially on snowy days like this!

Sara received a Swig gift card from her tutoring session with my sister. She couldn't wait to use it. I'm not a soda fan but my sister told me about the Strawberry breeze so I gave it a try. Delicious! Water, strawberry puree, coconut. It was delightful. FYI- I got the big one because I knew I would need to share when I got home :)

We watched a children's broadcast called Friend to Friend on Saturday. It was so fun for Sara to participate. She is such a sweet girl. Check out this darling drawing she did during the broadcast.

Poster making has begun for Ben's SBO campaign! We've also started to brainstorm video ideas. Pretty exciting!

This week in our Come Follow Me lesson, we are learning about how the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Sara made jars for each family member so we could write notes to each other expressing our love and gratitude to one another.

Todd's brothers family came to dinner on Sunday and brought their new 8 week old puppy Jet. It was so fun to see cousins and their newest family member.

Kitchen love

I made heart shaped pancakes for Valentines breakfast. You can probably tell that my griddle is well loved.

Mary and I made a heart shaped cake for my mom's birthday celebration. Mary was voted most likely to be a chef in this years yearbook and I completely agree. The girl is a natural in the kitchen and I love to work with her! We made up a strawberry puree for the center of the cake and it turned out really tasty.

Mary recently made breakfast calzones for us on her day off of school.

My mom with her beautiful cake we made. Happy Birthday Mom!

Our Ben's most recent activities

Ben is an amazing kid and really busy right now. Last night we discussed what classes he will take his Senior year. It's a big deal to make sure he gets the right credits for scholarships, graduation cords, college credits, etc. I can't believe he is going to be a Senior next year. In addition, he is starting his campaign for student government next year. Yikes! I still think I get more nervous than he does.

Ben's buddies bought him a "Madrigram." That means that the madrigals came to sing to him during class. He looks pretty embarrassed to me! I'm so glad his teacher took a video and picture.

Ben went to sweethearts with Afton and had a great time. Here are the guys in the group.

The girls and I helped Ben ask Mel to Prom yesterday.

This morning Ben conducted his first school assembly as VP of Assemblies. He has been able to do a couple of video assemblies but this was the first assembly with some audience members there in person. Most of the school watched on TV but it was fun to have some people there in person. Way to go on a great assembly Ben! A lot of work goes into assemblies and Ben handled it so well!

Blood donation, creative photography, Valentines box, etc...

One thing of note this week for which I don't have a picture- I donated blood! It's true! I've been known to faint around needles and last time I tried to donate blood 7 years ago I left without donating because they couldn't find a good vein. However, Ben's National Honor Society was short on volunteers for their blood drive and I thought it was time for me to give it another try. Here's the thing- donating blood doesn't hurt that bad- honestly I've stubbed my toe with more pain than donating blood. However, once I felt the blood start to leave my body, I started to become light headed. I didn't pass out but they pulled out the ice packs for me, turned the fan on me, and wouldn't let me leave until my blood pressure and pulse returned to normal. I am grateful I was able to donate enough blood to help a baby at Shriners hospital. I was informed that my veins are small and the flow of blood is slow. I had a terrible headache that evening and I was a bit tired the next day, but I think I'll try again someday. I am grateful for my healthy body and I want to help others when possible. Ben's blood donation was a piece of cake. My baby bag of blood took about 2 hours from start to finish (including finding a vein and getting my vitals back to normal). Ben filled 2 full bags, enough to help several adults in about 20 minutes. He also felt fine afterwards. Thankfully he doesn't take after his mom with small veins.

Our ward Primary has started having a zoom call once a month for a few minutes. It is so fun to see how happy Sara is to have her Sunday zoom call just like the rest of us.

When reviewing pictures from this week I noticed several of Luke's creative photography. Enjoy!

Luke made this paper car in his Exploring Tech class. Nice work Luke!

Sara made this lovely box to collect her Valentines for her class party. She also made me the cute little flower pot at her class party. What a sweetheart!

Ben attended Sweethearts with Afton. Technically there aren't any school dances this year but the kids still have activities during the day, dinner and fun at someones house in small groups. I'm so grateful they can have fun together.

Our visit to Oahu part 2

 It was sad to say good-bye to Aulani and my parents but we were excited that our trip would continue for a few more days on the North Shore.

One of our first stops was the temple. We love to see the temple.

We loved playing games with the front and sliding door open so we could feel the nice ocean breeze.

We were at Laniakea Beach when this guy came out of the water to take a nap on the sand. Incredible!

We loved our beautiful walk to Waimea Falls. Due to heavy rains the day before and a fast rushing waterfall, we were unable to swim at the falls, but the walk was still worth it.

I took the majority of these flower pictures on our walk to Waimea Falls.

Best meal of the trip belongs to Seven Brothers. Seriously delicious!

Favorite beach to play on this trip belongs to Pounders Beach. The waves on the other side of the island were way too big.

Favorite shave ice belongs to Matsumoto's. In fact, we went 2 days in a row! My favorite? Ice cream on the bottom, 3 flavors (Pina Colada, Passion fruit and Mango), with Sweetened Condensed Milk on top. Yep! Pretty much amazing.

We ordered the small size by the way.

There was a high surf warning while we were on the North Shore. We couldn't believe the waves! It was incredible to watch and listen to.

Sunset at the beach watching the waves.

Sunrise walk to the beach with 2 of my guys. Love it!

Sadly our time on the North Shore came to an end. We stopped at the Punch Bowl on our way to the airport. The overlook to Honolulu is beautiful.

We are so grateful for the time we spent together in Hawaii.

Watching our last Hawaiian sunset for this trip from the airport.

Back to homework!

Our visit to Oahu

601 pictures taken (that's after I deleted some) over 9 days

199 pictures used in our Hawaii book that I made about our trip

56 videos taken (not counting the go-pro videos)

38 pictures of Hawaiian flowers

The reason I give you these numbers is so you can see why this post is so intimidating. Which pictures will best highlight our trip? I just need to remind myself that this post is just a highlight. For more information on the trip please see our Oahu 2021 book or scroll through the pictures on our computer.

This was our first time in the new Salt Lake City airport. It is beautiful!

After we boarded our plane, our flight was delayed for 2 hours due to a mechanical issue. The pilot invited our kids to view the cockpit. It made the wait so much fun!

It is so exciting to catch the first glimpse of sunny beautiful Hawaii from the air!

Aulani is a special place for us. It is relaxing, beautiful and fun for everyone. Todd and I have been to all 4 main islands and we love them all, but Aulani is a favorite spot for sure (especially when we travel with the kids).

Due to COVID, Aulani didn't offer the refillable soda mugs but I think they offered something even better (especially because I'm not a soda fan)- refillable popcorn! We took our popcorn buckets to Ulu Cafe and they gave us bags of popcorn to fill our buckets. Hooray! I loved it!

The water slides at Aulani are a lot of fun. I like the tube slide the best. I think the other slide without a tube is too dark but our kids love it.

Renting paddle boards was great! It was definitely a highlight for me.

Snorkeling was great too.

The guys enjoyed golfing at Ko-Olina golf club.

The girls had fun shopping across the street from Aulani. Sara found Cathy (her new fanny pack).

Our family at Aulani on our way to Pearl Harbor.

Our visit to Pearl Harbor was touching. It is a somber place and a beautiful tribute to those that lost their lives on that horrific day.

We enjoyed having my parents with us on this trip.

Luke is inquisitive, intelligent and very interested in history. He didn't want to leave Pearl Harbor. If we didn't need food that day, He would've very much liked to stay to read every marker (and to be honest I could too).

Our family in the Aulani lobby.

Sunset at the beach.

 I love sunrise walks in Hawaii.

Michael called on his p-day. Ben took him down the water slide (and saved his phone). We also walked him down to the beach and up to the 16th floor to see the view. Michael is such a good sport about us being on vacation while he is serving his mission. He is happy where he is and happy that we get to travel. It still made my mom heart happy to have him "with" us for a short time on the call.

Enjoying the lazy river.

Our family getting ready to snorkel in Rainbow Reef.

Too fast it was time to say good-bye to Aulani and my parents had to go home. Stay tuned for part two of our vacation when we stayed on the North Shore for a few days.