Weekly Review - June 20 - 26

Sunday, June 20 - Paul was sitting and watching Mythbusters after church with Gabby. He turned and told me that he thought Gabby was asleep so I came over and sure enough she was catching her Sunday afternoon nap.

Monday, June 21 - Gabby discovered the joy of sliding down the stairs in a laundry basket. We quickly put a stop to that for safety concerns so Kaylee went and found a sleeping bag and was trying to slide down the stairs on that...didn't work out to well for her. She got frustrated and gave up (even after I showed her how it's done.)

Tuesday, June 22 - Kaylee and Gabby absolutely love their new puppy Falkor. Sometimes they love him a bit too much, but they are very sweet with him. They like to take care of him.

Wednesday, June 23 - While getting things ready to move and cleaning out the kitchen we found a very yummy surprise. We found a package of Grasshopper Chocolate mint cookies. Gabby thinks they would make great glasses, or eye masks, or something...

Thursday, June 24 - Moving Day (day 1) - The movers came bright and early to pack up our house. The movers were so fast packing, and these movers were excellent, and friendly. By the time they left for the day the only area they had left to pack was the kitchen and the beds. Falkor (our puppy) had a bit of a hard time finding a nice quiet place to sleep where he wasn't under the movers feet.

Friday, June 25 - Moving Day (day 2) - Kaylee and Gabby had fun checking out the piles of boxes in the garage. The movers were done packing and loading by 3:00.

Saturday, June 26 - Moving Day (day 3) - Since the movers were done packing and loading our house was completely empty. We spent the whole day cleaning. Gabby and Falkor found a nice empty kitchen cabinet to hide out in.

Still Moving!

I still have an Internet connection even though it was supposed to be shut off yesterday. So, I figured I would post a few more moving pics before I call the Internet company to see why my Internet isn't disconnected yet. The movers packed my house up in record time. It never ceases to amaze me how fast the movers can load up boxes, and then load up the truck. They loaded most of the house, as well as most of the truck yesterday. All they have left to do today is pack up the kitchen, and finish loading up the truck...Oh, and they were nice enough to leave our beds set up too, so they still have to pack those up. Here's a few more pics that I got yesterday and this morning. The pictures in the garage are this morning. Gabby said that all the boxes piled up were her castle.

Our house is empty, and everything echos (which the kids love, and my head doesn't). Just a few more days and we are gone. Everything feels so much more real now that our stuff is all packed and headed out the door.

Flashback Friday

In May 2001 my family went to California to go to my cousin's wedding. While we were there we went to Disneyland. The cast at Disneyland went around the park selecting people to be in the parade. We were asked if we wanted to be a part of the daily parade, and of course we agreed. They took us behind the scenes and taught us a dance to do as we walked down the street, and we got tutus to wear for our costume. This included my brother (and a few other guys) wearing tutus. It was tons of fun! So, in this picture is me, my brother, and few other random people in the Disneyland Parade.

Moving Day!

What?!? You didn't know we were moving already? Don't worry if you are feeling out of the loop. About a week ago we had absolutely no idea we were moving either. The Navy has decided to process Paul out with an honorable discharge due to his sleep apnea (which is a submarine disqualifier). He was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2008 and they did a major surgery to fix the problem...but then after all that it didn't help and he still has sleep apnea and they didn't figure it out until over a year afer his oiginal surgery...lame? YES! They told us last Wednesday that we would be getting out and that our last day would be June 24th. They changed it slightly so our last day is now June 30th. So, my birthday present this year is heading back to Utah on my b-day(with no idea what our future holds in store). Paul has been in the Navy for 9 years and is incredibly nervous since that is what he has been doing for so long. He plans to go back to school to get a degree is forestry. He has been in submarines for long enough in tight crammed space, now he is ready for some wide open space.

Today the movers are packing up all our stuff (and man can they pack fast and efficiently.) Today is the last day we will have internet until we get back to Utah next week so I'm hurrying to do one more post before I lose my internet connection. (Check back tomorrow because I will still be posting my Flashback Friday post). We have been watching all of our stuff being put back into boxes and I am so grateful with the amount of tme they gave us that I don't have to pack us up too. I am very grateful for the movers that have saved me that much more of my sanity.

Waimea Bay

Yesterday we wanted to go to a beach that we hadn't been to before. We have passed Waimea Bay so many times when we have gone up to the North Shore but either we were already headed somewhere, or that beach was so crowded we would just decide to go to a different beach. We finally made it Waimea Bay and it was a really nice, and fun beach. The only problem was the occasional random rain shower that lasted a few minutes, and then it would be nice and sunny again.

Kaylee has really, really gotten into body boarding lately. She is getting really good at it too. She can now catch a wave without help from her dad. Paul, and Gabby had fun playing in the ocean while Kaylee was body boarding.

As with any beach the kids also love to dig in the sand...and get themselves covered in sand. They were covered from head to toe (and everywhere in between) with sand.

I'm sure you are all wondering what makes this beach any different from any of the other beaches we have gone to here. Well, other than the fact that it's a bay so it's nice and calm, there is also a HUGE rock that you can jump off of. So, you can tell someone to literally go jump off a cliff, and they really can. Paul headed down the beach to jump off the rock "ONE time" is what he said. As he came limping back I asked how many times he really jumped and he said he jumped 3 times and the only thing that stopped him from going again was the way he landed when he jumped the third time. The pictures I got are pretty fuzzy because I was down the beach a ways with the kids. In the first picture Paul is just splashing into the water from his first jump. The second picture is some random people jumping, and the third picture is Paul a little ways down on the rock getting ready to do a flip off the rock into a dive. Paul said it's probably about a 65 foot jump from the top of the rock to the water.

On our way home we stopped at the mall and MAJORLY scored at Gymboree on Winter clothes. If you want winter clothes at a fantastic price Hawaii is definately the place to go shopping! While we were there Kaylee found See's Candy to spend her money on some chocolates, and Gabby found Pretzel Time and got a big soft pretzel.

Weekly Review - June 13-19

Sunday, June 13 - Our little dog Falkor has made friends with another dog from around the house. They are the same color, about the same size, and the other dog doesn't mind when Falkor bites his nose and carries him around the house.

Monday, June 14 - We got a surprise package in the mail today from my amazing (and very thoughtful) friend Nicola! She is seriously the best! I was so surprised, and my kids were SOOO excited. We were just getting ready to walk to the library and the mailman brought us a huge box. We opened up the box and found that she had made Kaylee and Gabby each a wall hanging in their favorite colors that say "I am a Daughter of God." My kids figured with the long ribbons they could wear them as a necklace. To make it even better the outfits they were wearing even matched the wall hangings. She also sent me some fun surprises for my b-day. Thanks Nic!

Tuesday, June 15 - The package from Nicola continues to be a huge hit. The girls found the bubble wrap that Nic used to wrap the wall hangings in. I love the hours of entertainment bubble wrap provides! They had so much fun!

Wednesday, June 16 - Oh how I wish this picture were real! I could really use a break like this every once in a while. This however was a "pretend" nap that lasted about 7 minutes before they were fully rested and energized for more playing.

Thursday, June 17 - My friend Nicole offered to take some pictures of my girls for Father's Day. She is so amazingly sweet and an excellent photographer. She got some cute pictures of my crazy kiddos. Check out her photography blog - Nicole Reich Photography. She takes pictures in Hawaii (but is from Utah, so now my Utah friends know what to look forward to)

Friday, June 16 - On Wednesday Nicole's little girl turned one! They invited us to join them for cake, ice cream, and a movie over at our neigborhood clubhouse. While we were there Zach (Nicole's husband) and Paul were teaching Kaylee how to play pool. It was so cute, and funny. I ended up babysitting for another of my friends so I didn't get to see mch of Kaylee playing before I was running off after kids.

Saturday, June 17 - After running a few errands, and getting some things done for the morning we headed up to the North Shore and went to Waimea Bay. We have passed this beach several times but it is always so incredibly busy we have never stopped to play. It was still super busy (especially with tourist season) but we found a place to park and went to enjoy a nice sunny (and occasionally rainy) day at the beach. I love family time at the beach.

Kaylee and Gabby's Father's Day Pictures

This week my friend Nicole asked if I had anything special planned for Father's day, and if I wanted her to take some pictures of the girls to give him. She is very talented photographer, and has an amazing photography blog - Here. She took at whole bunch of absolutely amazing pictures. I tried to narrow it down so I wouldn't post all 70 of the pictures that she took. So, here are just a few of my favorites (although I loved them all).

Gabriella -

Kaylee -

Kaylee and Gabby together -