Birthday Party!

Today was Garrett's 2nd birthday. Yesterday afternoon I baked a simple 9x13 chocolate cake. I figure he's still young enough that I get to choose the kind of cake...:) He'll eat anything, but I felt bad because I know Richard prefers vanilla...but he did branch out and actually ate some of it!! After church we busted out the balloons, gift #1. He loves balloons. They were blue and green (and spongebob) to accentuate our 'ocean' theme. After his nap we opened presents; some books from my parents, a big garbage truck from me and Ben, and a nerf dart gun from Richard. The boys were enthralled with the garbage truck, which is accompanied by our dump truck that my Dad gave Richard several years ago. They both make truck noises and 'do things'. Very fun. Then we had tacos for dinner, I decorated the cake with chocolate frosting, blue icing and sugar candy ocean creatures. Different kind of birthday cake than I've ever made. It was so fun and so easy. We each had a piece (me quite a bit later beacuse I couldn't hold tacos and cake in the same hour) and then watched baby Garrett home movies. It was such a nice simple celebration, and everyone had a good time.

More Hawaii

On Saturday in Hawaii we went to the Dole Pinapple Plantation. We went on a train ride around the fields, had fresh pineapple, pineapple frozen yogurt and walked through the amazing gift shop. Ben and Richard also went through the maze. It was made like a corn maze, but of course, with pinapple plants. It was a hot, but fun day.

On Sunday went attended church in Honolulu at the Mormon Tabernacle. It was a huge white tabernacle with an open courtyard and fabulous plants and flowers, including plumeria. Those are my favorite. :) We took a scenic route through Waikiki on the way from the church.

On Monday we had lunch with my uncle who lives in Honolulu and I've only met him two other times in my life. Then we dropped Richard off with Grandma at the Honolulu Zoo while the rest of us (Gary, Garrett, Ben, and I) went to the International Market. It's like Pike Place Market in Seattle with tons of little stands and shops selling souveniers, clothing, and other paraphernalia.

This is the boys sitting at the base of the lagoon at Wiamea Falls. It was a pretty hike complete with ancient (some reconstructed) archelogical sites. Interesting. Garrett was placed in a cave by Grandpa. :)

Perhaps one of the most fun things we did was the Luau and Dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is right down the street from the LDS Temple and BYU-Hawaii. During the dinner they asked if anyone was celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary, and since our 7th anniversary was last week we went up with several other people and got to be recognized. We also got a few pictures of the temple and lot's of the PCC. It was a fun and late night. Both boys stayed awake (to our dismay) during the show and slept in the car on the way back to the hotel; it was about 11pm when we got back. My camera is now dead, so I can't upload anymore pictures at the moment. :) Pooh, I'll try again later!

We're in Hawaii!

This is the trip to Hawaii...it started by leaving Provo on Wednesday around 2pm and making it Boise at a cheap hotel...won't stay there again. Just kind of yucky. Got up around 6:30am, because that's when the boys woke up and on the road again to Seattle to stay with Ben's parents. This is one of the many rest stops we visited on our way to Seattle. The boys did surpisingly well and we even survived the 8:30am 6 hour flight to Hawaii, and here we are! Ben's parents are with us and treating us to their resort time share for a week.

The boys share a fold out couch bed in our room ...it's like a 2 room hotel room with a kitchen and living room in the middle. Gary and Margot have their own room and bathroom.

The 3 hour time change has had a bit of an impact on the boys...they were up at about 3:15am. Grandpa took them to the beach around 6 and then we all went around 9. The boys really didn't want to go in the water, just wanted to play in the sand , digging and making paths to big holes they made. We finally got Richard in the water after about an hour, sitting in our laps and letting the waves wash up on us. I swam out nearly to the border a few times. It's a manmade lagoon and absolutely beautiful. Warm and clear and everything I imagined Hawaii to be...even though it's manmade. :) We had fun burying Ben and Garrett climbed up on him when the waves got closer. That was funny.

Snacktime!

I realized I don't have many pictures of the boys recently. This was taken at my sister's house in Las Vegas. Good Sunday afternoon snack, wouldn't you say?

The Titanic

This picture is about a year old, but it still plays a big part in our lives...:)

Richard loves the Titanic. We have watched every movie, documentary, and every book that our public library has about the Titanic. Ben recently recorded The Titanic (you know, the one with Kate Winslet and Leonardo de Caprio) from DVR and Richard constantly asks to watch it. It's great from TV because there is nothing you have to fast forward though...:) I used to have to watch it with him so I could get through certain parts that aren't meant for 4 year old's eyes or ears. I don't like watching it because it always makes me cry...He loves the sinking part the best as you can see from the picture. This is an egg carton that Ben covered with construction paper and is complete with 4 funnels (the last one is fake of course) and they come out as the ship sinks. It's quite fascinating, you should read about the Titanic! "The Titanic is sinking!" is a very familiar phrase around our house.