Sunshiny Days!

A rundown of the last few weeks. Finally, it stopped snowing here (hope I didn't just jinx myself). And lovely flowers popped out in the sun at work.

The roommates at a BYU baseball game. Though not officially a roommate, Matt is like our 4th. He belongs to Karen.

Our RAH choir performed at a retirement community.

We visited the Thanksgiving Point animal farm a couple of weeks ago where we fed goats, chickens, horses, and saw a bunch of other animals too.

We took a tour at the Krishna temple this last Saturday. They let us handle the llamas. One of them stepped on part of my foot but it didn't hurt so that was good.

This is the same place where this happened a couple of months before to welcome in spring.... Holi Fest or Festival of Colors.

A few days ago, I did a very simple cake decorating class. I let them choose from 3 patterns: a sailboat, a flower, and a bear.

The cakes turned out pretty good and very creative. This picture is especially for Jason and Heather. It's haupia pie! I made it from scratch and it turned out fantastically! Of course, I never got to try Ted's so I'm not sure how close it is in taste but it was sure delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe!

Snow... *sigh*

Remember when it was spring? I don't. Remember how it snowed all day on April 15 and then all night as well? I do. Eight inches. EIGHT. That's not supposed to happen in April (actually it's expected. It always snows during finals week at byu.)

I think the April "showers" just killed the May flowers.

Last Day in Paradise...

Whoops! Thought I forgot about posting about our very last day did ya? Well nope, I just got a little lazy :) But here we go, our very last day in Hawaii. It was another lovely day... well lovely enough. It wasn't super hot or anything, but there was sun and blue sky out! We started by going to the Pali lookout. Great view! Every time I saw this -uhh, the dragon's back? - when we drove by, all I could ever think of was the Jurrasic Park theme song. Hahaha.

And there's the beach we're about to go to.

Of course Flat Alix got her picture taken as well.

And as we were leaving, Jason and Ashlyn went to chase the chickens that were just hanging out in the parking lot.

Then we drove out to Lanikai beach. That's one good looking beach with a real nice family hanging enjoying themselves there. Oh wait, that's us! Doesn't that sand look fantastic? It was.

There was a man who set up his fishing post right in front of us for a while. I'm not sure he ever caught anything. Not that I notcied anyway.

For the first while we just sat on the beach and enjoyed the surroundings and all the beauty of this very relaxing beach.

Even Flat Alix got some sun... with baby doll.

This is the view to the right of us.

And here's the view to the left of us.

J and Ash braved the water. While it was a nice day out, the water was still pretty cool but Ashlyn doesn't care, she just wants to play!

After they came out, Ashlyn got warm, while I decided to test out the water myself.... but only on my feet. Brrrr, it was a little chilly. I was happy to just relax out of the water.

Heather found a nice sturdy stick and started writing different things in the sand and taking pictures of her words before they got washed away by the water.

Just chillin here.

Later on, we decided to play horseshoes. So Jason got it all set up.

Dad and Jason played first. Look at the concentration.

Nice throw!

Then Heather and I played. I guess we could've all played together... but Heather and I weren't really able to throw as far as the boys.

And here's me! I must be a really stiff thrower. All the pictures of me throwing look exactly like this one...

Jason and dad played again while Jax graced us with his presence since he was hungry. What a cute little guy!
On the way home, we decided to stop at Waikiki beach. You can't just go to Hawaii and not even see the beach. By the time we got there, it was pretty chilly out... mostly because of the wind. Flat Alix with this surfer dude... statue.
It's a pretty beach, with lots of people around and crowded with shoppers too across the street.

We went out on to this pier where on one side you can see the view where J and Ash are sitting (above), and here is the view of the other side. You can see the clouds are starting to move in again!

Dad and me. Our final holiday picture together. Boo hoo.

Actually, this is our last picture. In the airport in Portland a couple of days later before we parted to our separate gates. What a great Hawaii trip! I'm ready to go back again!!!!!!

Beach Day... Finally!

Thursday brought the warm sun! Hooray! We quickly got ourselves together and out the door. Jason figured out where the best sun would be that day and we headed off to Ko'Olina Resort. Although it wasn't all sun all day long, it was still warm and the sun made several appearances and broke through the clouds. More bliss! Too bad the water wasn't as warm! We still took a dip and did some fun things.... like burying Ashlyn... although we had to do that real quick because she doesn't stay still for very long! We also buried Jason.
Here's where Jaxon was most of the day. Protected from the sun in his own little shade.
Jason and Ashlyn braved the water first with rides on the boogie board. That didn't last a whole long time, especially after Jason was running pulling the board behind him with Ashlyn hanging on it, kicking loads of sand into her face. Oops.

Then I took a turn and played in the water with her too.
That lasted a few minutes before she got super cold. I don't blame her, the water was pretty chilly. You do get used to it after a bit but still!
Then Heather and I got on the snorkeling gear and headed towards the rocks for my first ever snorkeling adventure.

It was a little suffocating at first and weird to get used to breathing and stuff. I also found that I was very disoriented under water (I mean, I have a hard enough time when I'm on land!), and I felt like my vision was completely distorted in the goggles. When Heather suggested we swim across the lagoon, I agreed but stuck really close to her or I probably would've got lost... But I still liked it in the end and we did see some fishies.

Like these little guys.
After we were through with snorkeling, we were cold so we jumped into a nearby hot tub.
While we were out snorkeling, Ashlyn had to put up with the men. But she made good use of their time. She had Jason "paint" her fingers...
...and got dad to take her around the Lagoon and back into the water to play more.
Later, dad even tried snorkeling... minus the flippers and the swimming part. I just took him to a shallow place where we could see some fish but he could keep his feet on the ground.

Heather also made friends with the birds and fed them baked Lays. So it shouldn't hurt the bird because they're healthier, right?

Ahhh, the joys of the lovely beach (which from this picture you can totally tell was man made!)We spent a good part of the day at the beach and fully enjoyed the outdoors. We only came back semi burned but it probably would've been a lot worse if we didn't put on our trusty sunscreen!

Coming up is our last day in Hawaii. How sad, I know (but right now I'm kinda glad because these posts are getting real time consuming!) But it was a last day filled with many activities... just like the rest of our trip!