A Kauaiian Paradise

Justin and I escaped to paradise for 7 nights and 8 days to be exact. 

The island of Kauai.  

It was wonderful. Quiet. No stress. No worries. No work and all play. And believe me, since we didn't have our kids, we played hard. :) My parents have a timeshare there so we stayed with my family. We had a great time being together but also made a great trip out of it as a couple. Thanks so much to all our family & friends who watched our littles while we played in paradise!

I took over 700 pictures so I'm going to have to break up our trip into a few posts. I just have to say traveling with just myself and my husband was sheer bliss. When you are only packing for 2 people you can really travel light! It was nice to be able to watch a movie or flip through a magazine and truly not be interupted. Dont get me wrong, I love my children SO much, but this was a greatly needed break! (Justin & I hadn't been on our own for nearly 3 years! Trust me, it was time!)

The minute we got our rental car and started driving around the island, I HAD to bust out the camera for some scenic shots! These are all on the fly (literally out the car window) so they might not be the best but it's all so gorgeous I couldn't help myself!

The ocean water is so BLUE! Love it!

I love the palm trees in Hawaii. They are humungous!

More palm trees blowing in the wind!

This was our view outside our timeshare.

And in Kauai, there are roosters and chickens running wild everywhere. Everytime we went anywhere, we were greeted by tons of them. This one kept walking up to me as if he wanted me to take his picture, or maybe he thought I wanted to give him food. Sorry dude.

Our first night together as a family we went to a fabulous restuarant called Kintaro. They cook everything right there in front of you. I have to say, this was the BEST steak I have ever tasted in all my 31 years. (This pic was wth my camera phone so not the best quality but wanted to remember the place nonetheless!)

The next day was Sunday so we all went to church then afterwards went sight-seeing. Our first stop was Waimea canyon. This is a stop overlooking the canyon. I love being with my siblings. I'm the oldest of 5 kids (we missed you Kelli!) so it's fun to act like goofy with them. It makes me feel young again. (Not that I'm old, which I'm not, maybe it's just being the "oldest" that makes me say that!) L-R: me, Kristin, Kenna & Matthew

Me & my hunny:

Here's the whole fam damily minus my sister Kelli & our kids of course! L-R: my Mom Karen, Tim & Kristin & their daughter Corinne, Justin, Kenna, me, Matthew & my Dad Mike.

Beautiful Waimea Canyon:

Justin, always the thrill seeker:

If you've been to Hawaii you know that the weather changes within minutes. It will be sunny one second and then rainy the next and this was the story the entire week we were there. But, I'll get to that later. Up at the top of Waimea lookout it was rainy, windy and pretty cold. Kristin & her hubby Tim brought their little girl Corinne on the trip and I had to grab a shot of her. She's all wrapped up in her Dad's rain jacket. She was a great little traveler yet wasn't very happy at this moment:

More of Waimea Canyon:

And now's the point in this post where I'd like to play "Where's Justin?" See if you can find him! He went on his own little escapade when I had my back turned. Hey, since I didn't have my children with me, I guess he thought it would be fun for me to play hide & seek with him. Love this man!

Of course we had to do the kissing pose! Did I mention we had no kids??

I love this picture of our faces because we were trying to get a little bit of us with the canyon in the background. Guess that didn't work so well because all you see is us, oh and the random guy in the background!

Our next destination was a place called Spouting Horn. It's on the South side of the island. I had to snap a few pics during our car ride over there. I just love the trees in Kauai. Everything is so lush and green. This tree was completely covered with vines! Love it!

We also got to travel through the tunnel of trees. I loved driving through this. Yes, I am standing in the middle of the road to take the picture. What?

On to Spouting Horn. This is a quick site see place. We came, we saw, we went to the next place. When the tide comes in, it blows this whistle sound and a huge burst of water comes bursting through this tiny hole in the ground. Here's some action shots:

We couldn't go down to the rocks because it was all fenced off. Something about not wanting people to die when the huge burst of water came crashing up and into the sky? 

Next came Wailua falls. This is a gorgeous overlook of two huge waterfalls. This drains into Wailua river, which we kayaked down during our trip which I will post about later. Justin went playing with my BIL Tim so I hung out with my little bro and tried to get a few pretty shots. The sun was starting to get low so it wasn't the best light hence not the best pictures. But, we had fun anyway!

As we were laughing we saw a man sitting on the edge of the waterfall. Whoa! So, I bust out the old telephoto lens to see if we can see what he is doing way up there! Can you spot him?

Getting warmer...

Ah ha! There he is! I found out later, this is where Justin & Tim went...trying to find how this guy got there. Boys. Thank goodness they were unsuccessful. Did you see the massive drop off in the earlier pictures?

More to come...

Breezy is 2!!!!

Today my sweet little girl is 2 years old. We are so blessed to have her in our family. This little one turned our life upside down and then back up again with what she has been through. What can I say about this little girl...well, it's going to be a long post...so get comfortable!

She has been pure sugar and spice! She is the sweetest little girl who will give hugs and kisses so openly yet will be a firey personality the next second and turn into a little rascal. Take, for instance, the first few pictures. She found a piece of chalk and wrote all over my chairs and dinner table. When I asked her who did this, this is the face I got. She seems to be saying "Who me?" 

Then, this morning, I came into the kitchen to find this: 

Yes, she does push her own chair over to the fridge and helps herself. She is definitely a girl who knows what she wants! Ooopps! Busted! 

Her favorite things right now are her baby dolls and her blanket. She has to sleep with her blankie, "bankie" as she says it, nuzzled next to her face and also has to have at least 2 babies with her in her bed. I think we have accumulated 20+ babies all over our house, probably more if I actually counted.

When she gets up in the morning, she’ll always want her babies & blanket to come downstairs with her. She’ll say “babies”  in a high voice. We already know she’ll be a great mommy. She carries her babies all over the house, puts them to bed, covers them with blankets, takes them for walks in her stroller. She’s even protective over them. If one of her brothers is caught playing with her babies, she immediately screams in a high pitched voice and says “noooo!” It’s too funny that this all just comes so naturally to her. I love these personality traits! 

She loves school buses.  Caleb rides the short bus to school and it comes to pick him up each morning at our house.  Everytime she gets the chance to see the bus up close, she seriously screams with delight and runs as fast as her legs will carry her to the bus. She’s even beaten Caleb to the bus a few times. She knows its something that Caleb enjoys so she gets excited with him.

She loves to point out birds when we are driving in the car. When she sees one, she will squeal and say “Beeee” over and over. She is developing more speech lately and tries to mimick the words we say. She calls horses “neighs” and cows “moos.” She definitely has been saying a lot more words these days and her doctors have told me that she’s making great progress with her developmental milestones.

She loves to count the steps when we go up or down the stairs. Well, she thinks she’s counting. I’ll say “one” and she’ll say “two,” I’ll say three, she’ll say “two” and so on. She thinks every other number is “two” or maybe that’s just her favorite number, who knows?

She’s definitely a little rascal. She climbs on anything she can find…dressers, tables, counters, the rooftops of playhouses (yes, the roof!) She tries to keep up with her big brothers and can easily put them in their place. She rules the roost at times. She has a very fiery personality.

I love her laugh. It is infectious. She is a sweetheart. She is extremely strong willed (as we all have seen with her defeat of cancer! Yea!) She’s determined when she wants something. I know that may sound silly to say about her when she’s only 2 years old, but I can see it even now. She has big plans, this one.

She is very cautious of strangers and it might just be the age but she can give people the “stink eye” if they look at her the wrong way. There was one time we were in Wal-Mart and an older man came up and complimented me on how cute she was. Breezy got embarrassed and gave him the stink eye look…he then said “watch out for that one!”

Breezy has a special bond with Caleb. They get along so well. Of course there are times they fight over toys & such but they really do play well together. They laugh with each other and wrestle and play little games that only they know about. As a mom, I love seeing this about my kids. I’ve always known Bree and Caleb had a special bond with one another.  Don’t get me wrong, Gunner and Bree also have a special bond but it’s more of a “I tease you because I love you” bond. They play well together also and Gunner is such a good big brother to Bree. He helps her when she needs some special attention and I’ve even caught him kissing her owies. Gunner has a very compassionate heart. He’s a good boy. And it shows when he loves on his baby sister.

We celebrated Bree's birthday a little early this year. We had a fun family party with lunch, cake, presents and our balloon wishes. Here's a few pictures from her party:

The cake! Isn't it super cute? Compliments of Sam's Club!

Blowing out her candles

(These next few pictures were taken after the party, but made sense to put them here so here you go!) Bree really enjoyed her cake. After everyone left she went back in for more. So we took her shirt off and let her go to town. 

She didn't want to use the fork...obviously!

My purple faced princess!

Opening presents. The "awe" expression over a Barbie! She's such a girly girl!

Bree received this Belle dress from her GaGa & PaPa Smith. She was in love with it at first sight! She was moving around too fast for me so this was the best picture I got!  

Grandpa Cook and Justin getting the balloons ready for their trip to heaven! I love Justin's smile!

Sending wishes for Bree up to Heaven!

Last year we started the whole "balloon wishes" tradition for her first birthday and I remember how badly I wished for Breezy to have a healthy life. I'm sure everyone that attended her party was wishing the same thing. Fast forward a year ahead and our wishes came true. She is SO healthy now. There is not a day that goes by that we don't drop to our knees and thank Heavenly Father for making her healthy again. 

Here's a cute video of Breezy (filmed later that day) letting her own balloon go. She's so stinkin cute! 

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet girl. We LOVE LOVE LOVE you!   

my Caleb

I feel like I haven't said enough about my first born lately. He really is such a sweet boy. Since I'm his mama, I wanted to sing some of his latest praises. :) In school he's been learning to read using sight words. So far, he can recognize several words like "I" "and" "car" "see" "cat" "dog" and a few others that his teacher hasn't sent home yet. If I ask him to find a specific word in a choice of 3 words, he will pick the right one. Of course, he is motivated by M&Ms so that helps coax him into working. Whatever works, right?!

Tonight Caleb and I danced in the kitchen to a few of our favorite songs. He's about as tall as my waistline so he leaned his head on my tummy and we rocked back and forth to the music.
It was a moment that I want to remember forever. 

Very sweet. 

A Caleb & Mom moment. 

Sometimes with my other kids, I'm running back and forth catering to their needs when Caleb is so patient to wait for what he wants.  He will often just point to what he wants so sometimes I dont catch on right away. He definitely teaches me patience and teaches me to be a happier Mom. He responds so well to me when I take a more gentle and happy approach. Who knew, right? He's a good boy that brings happiness to everyone around him. 

Here's a cute video of one of Caleb's favorite things in the world...riding the bus!
Click here!
I love you sweet Caleb!

Valentines

I'm going backwards in time. Yes, Valentines was over 3 weeks ago but I HAD to post these pictures of Breezy and brag on my sweet hubby. 

Our Valentines Day was fun. We spent it with good friends, played fun games and ate yummy food. Justin and I told each other we weren't going to get each other gifts since we'd rather spend money on stuff this summer with the trips we're planning. But, he broke the rules and brought home these beautiful roses and a HUGE heart balloon. He is so sweet. I don't know how I landed this man! 

Every time he brings me roses, he will always get Bree a different colored rose and tell her how special she is to him. He wants her to "stand out in the crowd." I love that he does this because it means so much to me that he makes a big effort to do things that show her how much he loves her. And boy does he love his little girl! It's the small and simple things that matter!

Bree loved her pink rose! She loved smelling it. She carried it around with her until it was drooping. 

So sweet. 

Thanks babe for making this a wonderful Valentines day for your girls! We love you!

Don't freak out

This past week was one of injury for our kiddos. We usually always have the normal bumps and bruises that come with little ones. A fall there, a scraped knee there, but this time there were a few doosies. (Does anyone say that word anymore?)

To the grandparents reading this...it's nothing serious, but made for some good pictures!

First up is Miss Bree. Or should I say...Miss Daredevil. This little girl is one crazy, naughty little thing. She loves to get into anything and everything. She also can be found climbing on tables, counters, etc. She broke one of my chairs a few weeks ago by tipping it just a little too far! Stinker! Well, last week after a trip to Costco, I was loading up the truck with groceries and she was playing inside the cab. When I went to open the door, out flies my little monkey! It happened so fast, but I did manage to catch her leg on the way down so she didn't land on the road! Poor baby hit her cheekbone on the door and she got a nice shiner.

For those that have followed her story about her cancer, you'll remember that this is what her eyes looked like when she was diagnosed. (Only it was in both eyes) It was a weird, yet good feeling to know that this was just a fall, and NOT cancer coming back. Even still, it's hard to see her with a black eye again!

Next is Mr. G. This boy is always playing swords, bad guys and always enjoys a good wrestling match. Well his latest match with Caleb ended in a fat lip. It was twice as swollen then what shows in the picture. He had a pretty good cut underneath too. He was tough about it and even asked me if it was a "cool" owiee. What do you think?

news on Breezy

At Bree's latest check-up with her oncologists they told us that everything is looking fabulous. Typically, it would have been this month that she would have needed another MRI & bonescan. So far she has had no sign of cancer cells in blood work or urine samples so they told us that we can wait until June to have further scans. She will now be on a new schedule of seeing her doctors every 2 months for check-ups and every 6 months for scans. Yipppeeee! I was so excited, I wanted to spread the news! Yeaaaa for Breezy!!