Tenth Anniversary Dream Vacation

Aloha! We had so much fun going to the beautiful island of Maui with Chris' brother Jake and his wife Emily.

I was so nervous to go for ten days and leave my babies, but a fabulous young couple that goes to our church stayed with them at our home. The kids were well taken care of and happy every time we called. That helped me enjoy the aloha spirit even more. Seriously...I don't know if I've ever felt so relaxed in my life.

Maui is beautiful and a place where the summer is truly endless. We spent ample time relaxing, but we also had some serious fun. I saw whales pretty much every time I gazed out at the ocean...they were everywhere. That was one of my favorite things about this trip.

I experienced black sand beaches, waterfalls, the road to Hana (A.M.A.Z.I.N.G), Annie's shaved ice (five-ish times:) pools, two massages, green squishy foliage, bamboo forests, towel boys hitting on Emily and I by inviting us to a party (the guys were golfing and that should teach 'em to leave us poolside and man-less), shopping, Mexican trains, Super Bowl at Outback, going to the gym with my hubby almost every day, bbq-ing, rice with coconut rum (the alcohol boiled out), Dear John (movie), fabulous restaurants, sushi, giant, fresh avocados, mangos and of course pineapple.

I loved spending some much needed time with Chris and what a way to celebrate our tenth anniversary! I love him more today than ever...and I would've never guessed that was possible.

Jake and Em, what can I say...MAHALO and you guys are the best! Miss and love you and I can't wait until we go to Kauai! :)

I missed my kids terribly, but now I feel so rested and content that I feel I'm a much better mommy and wife!

ALOHA!

DONE WITH 2009! FINALLY!

I set aside this whole evening to finally finish up my families' 2009 events.

My New Year's resolution for blogging:

1. I will learn to enjoy it!
2. It will not be a monkey on my back.
3. I won't care if nobody comments. I have this weird issue that if nobody posts a comment that it means I     really suck as a blogger! It's for my posterity anyway, so why do I care if I don't get instant gratification for my efforts! :)
4. I will keep reminding myself that this is for my posterity!
5. I will get 2010 posted before 2011.

We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck and I bid you all a good-night. This much blogging in one night can't be good for a body or a mind. I’m exhausted!

P.S. Please be forgiving of the typos and grammatical errors in the last six posts. I now have a new respect for my husband that works into the wee hours of the morning reading, writing and disecting huge documents. I love you babe!

Christmas and Hayes' 9th Birthday

We had a wonderful Christmas this year in our new house. That's right...we bought a house. HOORAY! It's so crazy to think that last year we were planning Hayes' baptism and we had no idea where in San Diego we wanted to live. So much can happen in a year.

We had a quiet Christmas at home and we didn't even get out of our pajamas all day. We celebrated Hayes' birthday that night by opening more presents and eating snowman cupcakes.

One of my favorite memories of Hayes' birthday was when he was turned three years old, we started the tradition of opening Christmas presents in the morning and then opening his birthday presents in the evening. By the time we got to the birthday festivities that night Hayes' looked exhausted and said in a weary, little voice, "no more presents". That's the first and last time he said that!!! He's since learned that having a birthday on Christmas day means endless presents and goodies...and now he’s perfectly okay with that!

The kids and I drove to Utah the day after Christmas and Chris flew out on New Years Eve day. We had a great time visiting Great-Grandma Cook (almost 96 years old), a big New Years Eve bash at Jake and Em's, I got to go to lunch with my girlfriends at Zupas, we stayed at both grandparents homes...and of course, opened more presents.  

I threw a few pics in of Hayes' very first Pinewood Derby. He and his dad worked really hard on his car and he was really happy because he took fourth place. Not too bad for his first year!

Gramma and Grampa Shoff's Visit

Gramma and Grampa Shoff came for a visit in October. We went to the BYU-SDSU football game. BYU won--WOOT WOOT! It was so much fun because Aunt Jenna and Uncle Jared drove out for the game too. A highlight for my boys was to give the team high-fives after the game, especially Max Hall.

We also went to Disneyland with them. Grampa Shoff was able to talk me into going on Tower of Terror and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! Thank you Carl...I'm now just as addicted as you are! :)

MY BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

The only thing I wanted for my birthday this year was to go to Disneyland with my sweetheart and my friends. It's so fun to see Disneyland through my kids' eyes, but I really wanted to go and experience it for myself. I didn't get to go as a kids and this was a really special birthday for me!

Thanks to the Afualos and the Sadleirs for joining us and making it so special...I really felt like a princess!

The School Year Begins

We had such a great summer in Utah and Hawaii that the kids were a little reluctant to start school this year....well, everyone except Caroline. This is her first year of preschool and she couldn't wait to go to school with her big brother Scotty.

Hayes' is in fourth grade and he has a few friends in his class. Tyler is in first grade and he has the same teacher as last year. They moved her up to teach first grade and she told us that she could request three kids from her class the previous year and she chose Ty as one of them. That's something a parent LOVES to hear. :) He was so excited!

Scott and Caroline are at the same preschool, but in different classes. Scott goes three days a week and Caroline two days. It was so funny when we were walking into class the first day, Caroline wasn't one bit sad and said "Good-by mom, it's time for me to go to school". Scott doesn't love school, but he loves his teacher Miss Caroline, so he put on his brave face and went into his classroom.

My 5k that was a 10k

Okay...so I don't really know if I ran a 10k, but I'll get to that in a minute. My very first race was at Disneyland and I can't think of a better place to have this experience. Also, where else could you feel comfortable enough to run with mouse ears?!? I have to give the credit to Rachel because it was her idea and it wasn't only a race, but it was a girl's night away at the most magical place on earth!

Rachel, Erika and I drove up the night before the race and got our packets and numbers. Of course, we had to enjoy our time away from our kids and we had so much fun riding the rides and “carbing up” at Rainforest Cafe, but we turned in pretty early that night because the race was early the next morning.

We got up, got dressed, put on our mouse ears and we were out the door. Unfortunately for me, as we were just about to the starting line, I realized I'd left my number back in our hotel room. I said good-bye to my friends not knowing if I'd be able to find them again because of the thousands of people there and I started running back to the hotel room to retrieve my number. I swear it was about three miles round trip, but I hurried so fast that I was able to find them and we were able to start the race together. Needless to say, I felt like I'd already ran my 5k and now I had to start another. Oh well, I made it, we ran the race and we had so much fun running through the streets of Disneyland and California Adventure.   

Scotty's 4th Birthday

We went to Disneyland and celebrated Scott's fourth birthday. He was treated like a little prince! We went on his favorite rides, ate giant cupcakes, went to Rainforest Cafe where Scotty got his very own volcano lava cake (that he eventually, but regrettfully decided to share with us because he couldn't eat it all) and we had such a great time. Scotty always keeps us laughing with his funny thoughts and huge imagination. There is something about this little boy that makes you want to grab him and give him a great big squishy hug.

Our friend Kaitlyn was home from college and Scotty was so excited she could join us. We had a great time celebrating with Scott! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT TUCKER SHOFF! 

Hawaii Trip 2009

In August of 2009 we took a much needed family vacation to visit Uncle Mark and Aunt Debbie on the island of Oahu. We've been to Utah countless times and gone to many family reunions, but this was a first big family vacation for us. We left Caroline home with Grandma Mary Ann, Aunt Emily and Uncle Jake, Aunt Michelle and Grandma Duck and even though she didn't get to go to Hawaii, she had so much fun with all of those who were so kind to watch over her while we were away.

While in Hawaii we saw some amazing things! We went on the submarine Atlantis that took us 145 ft. under water. We saw turtles, beautiful tropical fish, sting ray, eels and even a shark. The shark swam directly towards the sub...FREAKY, but Ty was in shark heaven!

We went to beautiful Waimea State Park, visited every beach we could on the North Shore, the kids caught a crab and wanted to bring him home as a pet, we ate shaved ice (Scotty's favorite thing!), we stuffed ourselves with dole whip at the Dole pineabpple plantation, went to the PCC (our kids LOVED Samoa!), we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki...twice, went to the temple, LOVED going to church with Mark and Debbie and just overall had an incredible time!

One highlight was when Uncle Mark took Hayes and I snorkeling at shark's cove. I was so proud of Hayes because we were in some pretty deep water and Hayes was scared, but so excited that he swam right with us. He came within a foot of a sea turtle and seeing the look on his face was priceless....he was in awe and his eyes were as big as his goggles. VERY COOL!

We really loved staying with Uncle Mark and Aunt Debbie. They were gracious hosts and our boys fell head over heals in love with them and their sweet dog Buddy. Their home is AMAZING and we can't wait to go back and visit...we made memories that we will cherish forever!