Logan's Birthday.....

Logan turns 6 this week so last weekend we had some birthday festivities. This year was the FIRST EVER year we let Logan have a friend birthday party. He is obsessed with Angry Birds lately so he chose this as his theme. He was soooo excited I thought he was going to explode into tiny, squirming particles of pure anticipation! We rented a bouncy house, played a life size Angry Birds game and pounded on a pig piñata. It was blistering hot but crazy fun! 

Playing the life size Angry Birds game.

The next day we had the family over for cake and ice cream. 

This is Jesse's "I'm only tolerating this once so you better
get it right the first time" look. 

Logan is growing up so fast! Here's are a few fun facts about him"

• He finished Kindergarten this year so next year he'll be in school ALL DAY LONG. I'm sure how to feel about this! :-{
• He's a smart little bugger. The other day, completely out of nowhere, he says to me, "Hey mom, how did the first human get born? You know, the VERY FIRST person?" I should mention that we are not religious and don't go to church so he hasn't been exposed to stories like Adam and Eve and such. I thought that was a pretty deep question for a 6-year-old.
• He's still such a picky eater that I really don't know what he's going to eat for school lunch next year. 
• He's starting to show a real talent for art. He draws really well... not surprising when you realize he has Luke's and my dad's genes. 
• He's definitely starting to come out of his shell. He's still pretty shy and hesitant when it comes to new things but overall I'm really proud of the progress he's made. 

Easter Fun.....

We generally kick off the Easter Festivities around these parts with Baby Animal Days. This year was no exception. Izzy really enjoyed herself this year. She has limitless energy and loved running around and petting the animals. This girlie is not afraid of anything!! Logan is a bit more reserved. He still won't pet any of the animals but he likes to stand back and observe. To each his own!! 

 Next on the agenda is dying eggs. Izzy was old enough to participate this year. She preferred to chuck the eggs into the cups rather than place them carefully. It made for some close calls!

The Easter Bunny got her this stroller. She LOVES running around pushing it. 

Later that Sunday, we went to my mom's for an easter egg hunt. Izzy and Jackson participated for about a minute and then they just wanted to play. Logan had tons of fun and we came home with a crap load of candy! 

Jackson and Izzy are made from the same cloth... always busy! Here they are getting along and actually sitting still. As you can see, we bribed them with food. :-)

Logan and his Uncle Jesse. 

This has nothing to do with anything but I feel compelled to point out that my kids have an Uncle Jesse and an Uncle Ben. If you lived through the 90's you'll see why this is humorous to me.

Seattle.....

This year for my birthday Luke and I decided to take a quick weekend trip to Seattle. We both LOVE the Pacific Northwest and we'd never been to Seattle. I really enjoyed the city. There were all these random sculptures and murals on buildings.. super fun. 

Two of my favorites. I love the popsicle. There was absolutely no reason for a popsicle sculpture in this particular spot... totally random. 

 We also went on a Savor Seattle tour. It's a tour where a guide leads you around downtown Seattle and you get to sample gourmet foods for a bunch of different yummy restaurants. It was the highlight of our trip, I highly recommend it if you're ever in Seattle. Below are a few of the highlights.....

We started at The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company. Luke and I got there early so we decided to have a pre-tour snack! Mine is a Boston Creme Pie and Luke's is the triple chocolate, put you in a sugar coma, that I could only take one bite of! When the tour started we sampled a Tomato Soup Spice cupcake and a Pancake and Bacon cupcake (bottom). Sound gross?? It's totally not. They were soooo good!

Orange Drop Martini with a sugared rim. Delicioso!! 

Seafood Risotto

My handsome hubby sampling Pho.

That's our guide in the background. He was too funny... very entertaining. 

Aaaaaaaaand here we are at the gum wall. Don't get too close... super gross!!!

Downtown Seattle at night from the top of the Space Needle.

The second day we drove up to Mt. Rainer. It was stormy and shrouded in clouds so we didn't get to see its majesty, but it was super pretty driving around in the park.

It was raining in the valley but when we got higher up it changed to snow. I thought this snow line on the forest was interesting.

Our Hawaiian Adventure.....

 Our family recently got the chance to go back to Oahu. Luke had to go for 2 weeks in November. 

I thought, "Two weeks without my husband??? I'd rather not experience that. Why don't the kids and I come for the last week and have some fun?!?" 

These thoughts were immediately followed by, "Two kids (one on my lap) on a 7 hr plane ride... alone. I'd rather not experience that either!!" 

BUT, I remembered my mom has always wanted to go to Hawaii. Soooo, we invited my parents to come along and BAM... I got some help on the plane and they got a trip to Hawaii. Everyone Wins! :-)

I figure I'll post this in the Day by Day fashion. I'm warning you now... there are TONS of pictures. Seriously. Get a drink and a snack. Go to the bathroom. Maybe grab a cozy blanket. Here we go:

Day 1

We rented a beach house that turned out to be a bit of a hassle. For starters, when we got there it wasn't quite as advertised on VRBO. Whether it was deliberate or not, it was misrepresented. We were under the impression we were renting a 3 bedroom house. It turns out it was the lower level of a house and the "master bedroom" was a curtained off portion of the main living space. Plus, we quickly discovered there was the construction of a house going on next door and the owners were building a hot tub right outside one of the bedroom windows. This posed a problem for our Izzy who MUST have a nap. We discussed it and decided not to be complainers and to stay put. After all, we were in paradise.

Morning on the beach

Our first day we went to Pearl Harbor. What an amazing place. 

The next three pictures are out at the Arizona Memorial. It was such a solemn place. I felt quite emotional when I was there. It was so moving to look into the water and seeing the wreckage and trying not to imagine what the soldiers last moments would have been like. What a price these men paid for our country. 

Logan on the Bowfin, a submarine you can tour.

As day 1 came to and end, we retired to our rental house only to discover there had been a water leak. The owner had spent the better part of the day cleaning up a large water leak in the back portion of the house. My mom jeans got ruined but nothing else. We were lucky no one left anything of value on the floor. 

We also discovered they had another water leak before we arrived that ruined the washer/dryer in the unit. Yup, we were done. We decided to move to a hotel in Waikiki Beach the next day. Luckily the owners understood. It seems to me like they started renting out the unit before everything was really ready. 

Day 2

We retured to Pearl Harbor to tour the battleship Missouri. We ended up missing the last bus over the day before. 

Luke was such a trooper. He carried Izzy around in the baby carrier for hours in the heat and humidity. He's such an awesome father.

After the tour... tired and sweaty.

The rest of the day was consumed with getting to Waikiki and settling into our hotel rooms.

Day 3

The first part of the morning everyone went swimming in the hotel pool while I stayed with Izzy so she could nap. The afternoon was spent exploring the island.....

 This is what would happen every single time we would get in the car. I think we might have worn our children out!

Day 4

Most of this day was spent swimming, building sand castles, and snorkeling. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want it to get ruined or stolen. Plus, I don't want pictures of myself in a swimsuit plastered all over the internet. :-)

Day 5

In the morning Logan and I went with my parents to the temple while Luke stayed behind so Izzy could nap.

Then they met up with us at Waimea Valley where we hiked up to Waimea Falls.

 Tired and (slightly) ornery from the walk up. 

Day 6

Day 6 was another beach day and then trying to organize  and pack all of our crap for the trip home.

Day 7

Our flight didn't leave until 10 pm and we had to check out at 10am so we just spent the day exploring!!

Congratulations, you've made it to the end!! Aloha!!