Aloha!

Hello, from Hawaii!! My mom and I came to Hawaii to visit my sister and her family for a week or so. We are having the best time. The kids were so happy to see each other and are having so much fun catching up. The weather is really nice, in the high 80's and low 90's, and a little humid, but very nice. We have only been here for a few days and have done lots of fun things and seen some beautiful places. Javan said he and his mom wanted to see some pictures so I am going to post lots. It will kind of be travel log style (also to help me remember everything we have done). So enjoy.

But first, Ryan is one month old. In their scrapbooks I always take a picture of them on their one month birthday, in their diaper and dressed, in the same place on the couch, so I can see how they have grown. So I will post them on here too. Here he is, one month old. He weighs 10 lbs 15 oz and is 21 1/2 inches long.



Friday, Oct. 3
When we arrived Amber and her family "lei'd" us, as customary. (I don't know how to spell that.) We just hung out and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Hawaii is 4 hours behind our time so it was a pretty long day.


Saturday, Oct. 4
First we visited the Laie Temple. We walked around the grounds and toured the visitors center. It is a very pretty temple and the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. This is all of us at the temple.


In the visitors center the kids all sat down and listened to the Savior teach them. I love this picture.


Next, we went to Shark's Cove. It is an area that has a lot of lava rock that lots of fish like to hang out in and it is pretty shallow so you can wade out in the water and see all the fish. It was really neat. We saw lots of fish, some crabs, and other sorts of sea life. I didn't really get any pictures of the cove I guess. But here is Ethan running away from the camera. (He is already sick of me taking pictures of him. Oh great, we're not even half way through our trip.)


I asked Ally to let me take her picture for daddy and she laid down in the sand and said "how 'bout like this mom." So there ya go, I guess she's a swimsuit model.


As we were driving along the coast headed to the North Shore we saw a big group of people all gathered around on the beach. I guess this is a place where turtles come up a lot to sun on the beach so we stopped to see the turtle. He was just trying to get warm in the sun and was just laying still so Ethan and Ally were asking if it was dead. They thought it was neat that it was so big though.


Next we went to the North Shore. This is the place they have a lot of surfing competitions in the winter because the waves get really huge. I was nice on this day because the water was pretty calm and the kids could swim without getting pummeled by the waves. Ethan tried out the boogie board, but only for a minute until he got knocked off it by a wave.


Ryan has been a sweaty little fat man while we have been here. He has a heat rash on his face but has been a good boy. Here he was relaxing on grandma's lap and cooling off in his diaper.


Playing in the sand on the North Shore.


A "must do" on the North Shore is getting shaved ice. Ethan got a small, it doesn't look as big in the picture as it was in real life, it was the size of his head, it was huge. He ate the whole thing too. Yum, yum, it really hit the spot after a long day at the beach.


Sunday, Oct. 5
Amber wanted me to try and take some family pictures for them while we were here so we went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens to do it. I hope there are some that turned out okay.
Here are Ethan and Ally in some kind of tree.


Here we are at the gardens.


It was so beautiful at the gardens. There were so many crazy kinds of plants and flowers. This is just one of the views.


Grandma and all the kids taking a rest on the bench.


Ryan, worn out, and resting from a long day (and from the kids).


Monday, Oct. 6
We visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Oh man, the fresh pineapple is delectable. I could probably eat a whole one myself.


We took a train ride and tour of the plantation.


Tuesday, Oct. 7
We stopped to view the Halona Blow Hole. The waves weren't really big today so it wasn't blowing out very big but the view was beautiful.


All the kids at the blow hole.


After the blow hole we went to Kailua beach to swim and play in the sand. Ally and Havyn burying themselves in the sand.


I made a sand turtle! (My dad would be so proud.)


Ahhhh, doesn't this look relaxing. Ryan thought so.


Amber, Ally, and Havyn catching some waves.


Ethan and Cole having a water fight.


Family photo (minus the daddy) at the beach.

Camping

Well we took Ryan on his first camping trip last weekend. He loved it. We went out with Javan's family on the Monticello side of the Blue Mountains. The leaves are starting to change colors and it is so beautiful up there. It rained quite a bit on Saturday so we spent the afternoon in the camp trailer watching movies and getting cabin fever. It was also the muzzle loader hunting season and so the mountain was packed with hunters but we still had a wonderful time.

Ally and Ryan enjoying camping.


Kamron and Ally coloring in the dirt.


Me and Ryan. I told Javan that if I died and he wanted some pictures to remember me by all he was going to have were the ones I made him take of my pregnant belly. So he kindly took this picture of Ryan and I.


Kamron, Ashlynn, and Ally waiting for someone to take them on a 4-wheeler ride.


Carter, Max and Ethan


Ethan loving on baby Will.


Aaron, Javan, and Scott heading out on a ride. This was hilarious. I told the guys before they could leave on their ride they had to come and pose for a picture. They all pulled up very nicely in front of Bayley and I and actually posed. We even made them get in the same positions, and they actually did it.


Here's a shot of the mountain with some of the beautiful fall colors. There were some really pretty red leaves too, but not in this picture. I quite proud of this picture though.


Ethan has learned how to ride a bike without training wheels but his is a little too tall so he likes to ride Ally's. Him and Maddax took the training wheels off Ally's bike all by themselves. One of these days I'll post some video of him riding.


All the kids out camping. Ashlynn, Reed, Carter, Ally, Ethan, Ryan, Max, Will, and Kamron.

The most horrible thing imaginable

Holy crap! Check out this link.

http://www.truveo.com/Girls-Hand-Severed-In-Jump-Rope-Accident/id/3183602481

It's time to have a safety lesson with our kids.

3 Babies

Everyone is always asking me who the baby looks like. I am so bad at this. I can never tell. He looks like himself. Anway, here are some pictures of all 3 of my kids at just a few days old, for comparison.

Ally Ryan Ethan

Keep in mind that Ally was 2 lbs smaller than Ryan when she was born. She plumped up very quickly though.

Cookout

It has been nice being home but besides taking the kids so school or going to the grocery store I really haven't been out of the house. So Javan suggested we go on a cookout. Javan and Armondo (Javan's brother, Aaron, we have to call him Armondo because it gets too confusing with two Erin's (Aaron's) around.) went riding their motorcycles all afternoon and when they got back said they were too tired to go on a cookout. Oh no, you did not just say that. Crystal and I had spent a few hours making salads and getting stuff ready, not to mention the whole stir-crazy in the house thing, and that the cookout was Javan's idea. So yes, we went on a cookout.

But I settled for the good old Walter C. Lyman park. I haven't been there for years. This is a park that we used to frequent as kids, for ward parties and the like but it's kind of run down and somewhat forgettable these days I guess. It did bring back a lot of memories though, too bad the witches hat is gone. (I am going on and on about this park, it's less that a mile from my house, it's just a lot cooler when you're a kid I guess.)

Ashlynn, Ally, and Ethan on the merry-go-round. They loved it. And surprisingly wanted Javan and Armondo to push them fast on it. Ethan was very brave.


Ryan loved the cookout, as you can tell. There was a tree nearby that was swarming with bees, I'm not kidding, the whole tree looked like it was moving. And after watching a documentary on killer African bees, Ryan got to spend the rest of the cookout in the truck. Especially after we started cooking, they really started to come around. Javan took care of them with his torch though, the smell of their friends burning must have scared them away cause they didn't bother us after that.


Ethan, Ally, and Ashlynn eating their delicious dinner. Remember being a kid and just getting filthy dirty, with not a care in the world and loving every minute of it. Those were the days.


Javan and Armondo tried to see how fast they could make the merry-go-round spin. It was going pretty dang fast. I couldn't get a picture that didn't come out blurry. (Speaking of being a kid again.)


Ethan on the swinging teeter-totter.


Javan helping Ally climb on the "jungle". I don't know why she was calling it that.

Random Pictures

My sister Amber is feeling sad that she hasn't seen Ryan and wants lots of pictures so I am just posting some random pictures.

Holy cow! Look how chubby he is getting. You can almost watch him getting fatter. I can believe it though, I feel like that's all I do all day long. (Amber, he's going to be huge by the time you see him.)


It's been so nice to be able to have a nap during the day. Javan came home from work and caught Ryan and I catching some zzzz's.


I guess it was nap day, here is Ally and Ryan napping. Can you guess where he gets his cheeks. (If you really want to know where he gets his cheeks from I'll post of picture of me as a child, Javan loves to show them to people, he thinks they're hilarious.)


This picture didn't quite turn out how I had it pictured in my mind, but little toes are cute.