Brynlee's 4th Birthday

What a whirlwind of a week! Brynlee's birthday was the day after we got home from Hawaii. We spent the day shopping and getting ready for her party. We met Josh's family at Jungle Jim's and had a blast. The kids loved all the rides and Brynlee had a fun time. Thanks everyone for coming! And Happy Birthday Brynlee!!!

It's A...

We brought a bunch of clothes and stuff back for the kids from Hawaii. They were SO excited to get their "surprises." We also decided it was finally time to tell them what gender of baby we were having. We found out 3 weeks ago but haven't told anyone. 

 I brought out a tiny little dress that matched all the girls and showed it to them. Brayden dropped to the floor and cried. He was embarrassed so he went and hid behind the couch and sobbed. Poor guy. We all wanted another boy, especially Brayden.

 Brayden finally calmed down enough for a picture.

Hawaii - Day 8

We had to check out of our hotel by 11, but our flight wasn't until 9pm so we had a lot of time to kill. We headed to Walmart and got a few gifts for the kids, then headed back to the big Swap Meet. Unfortunately, there was going to be a football game at the stadium that night, so that meant the Swap Meet was cancelled. Since we were close to Pearl Harbor we decided to stop by and walk around for a little bit. We've both been before so we didn't plan a day on this trip to spend here. 

We drove around aimlessly for a while then decided to just head to the airport. We dropped our car off and checked in at the airport. We found a little cafe there to eat at and just relaxed until our flight was ready to board. The flight was awful...just how we expected a red eye to be. Couldn't sleep at all. My contractions had started while we were in Hawaii, and on the flight they were more frequent and more intense so I couldn't get comfortable. We finally made it home at 7:30am, ran home to get ready and grab the kids, then made it to Aaron's homecoming at 9am. What a night/morning! We spend the rest of the day relaxing with the kids and trying to take a nap. Such a great vacation!!! Thanks Josh for working so hard so we could go!

Hawaii - Day 7

This was the most perfect day of our trip. We loved every minute of it. After a quick breakfast we headed out to the North Shore for our Shark dive. Yep...Josh and I swam in a shark cage. It was amazing! We hopped on a boat and went about 3 miles offshore. We snorkeled in the shark cage while it floated on top of the ocean. Of course it was the first day the big swells came in, so the water was pretty rough. We all got a little sick, but it was well worth it. We got to spend about 20 minutes in the cage. We bought the video that they took of us and it was so fun to watch. Our waterproof camera took some pretty good pictures. We even saw a Barracuda fish. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

After we were done we headed over to the Waimea Valley to hike to the Waimea waterfall. It was about a 30 minute walk to get there, and it was beautiful. It's what you would picture a tropical rain forest to look like. We loved walking slow and just spending that time together. Once we got to the waterfall we went swimming and relaxed a bit. It was sprinkling while we were swimming, which made it that much more amazing.

 After we left Waimea we headed down the North shore and found a beach to stop and watch the waves at. The whole drive to the North Shore in the morning we couldn't stop watching the waves since it was the first big swell of the season. The waves were enormous. We couldn't believe people were venturing out into them just to get tossed around pretty violently. I tried to convince Josh to get it, but he wouldn't do it without me and being pregnant I wasn't comfortable getting beat up like that. So we set out our towels and watched.

 The lifeguards were pretty vocal about all the warnings. They kept coming on the speaker reminding people you couldn't get in if you didn't have fins, and kids couldn't get close. At one point they mentioned a series of big swells were on their way, and we just thought...how much bigger can they get??? Well...we should have listened. Before we knew it a couple of huge waves crashed in and came up the shore about 30 feet farther then they were reaching just minutes before. We got soaked. Our phones, camera, towels...everything. We were SO lucky that our phones kept working and I was able to get all the sand out of my camera. I happened to snap a photo right when the water was getting us.

 We continued watching for a few minutes until it started raining. The rainbow was beautiful and we just stood in the rain taking it all in.

 We stopped at the Dole Plantation on the way home for a dole whip, but unfortunately they were closed. Oh well. Next time :)

Once we got home we quickly showered and headed out for dinner. We decided to eat at the hotel's buffet. Josh had been wanting to eat there all week. Of course it was seafood night :( and I for some reason was slightly nauseous so I didn't eat that much. What a great day! We finished it off by watching another movie!

Hawaii - Day 6

Today was the day we planned to relax and not go out on any excursions. We spent the morning laying around then walked over to Duke's Lane where they had a mini swap meet to get a few more gifts. We stopped by a mexican restaurant for lunch, which was really good, then headed to the hotel to watch the BYU game. Such a disappointment. After the game we walked along the beach down to PF Changs for dinner. It was a very chill day, but so nice to just spend time together without the stress of work and kids.