Foster's Botanical Garden

I love my kids!

Battleship Missouri

It was not easy with our double stroller but we did it!

Paternity Leave

After Brandon finished ALS, he was able to take his Paternity Leave.  Since Maci was already 6 weeks old, we were able to do some sight seeing and family fun.

First Stop-The Zoo

She slept the whole time and it was HOT!

Zoo Keeper #1

Zoo Keeper #2

The Monkey

It's a Giraffe!

Burger's at Teddy's = sooooooo good!

Airman Leadership School

When we first found out that Brandon had to start Airman Leadership School two days after my due date I wasn’t thrilled.  I was counting on his 9 days of paternity leave.  I finally came around because I knew that we really didn’t have a choice and it would look bad for Brandon to postpone it.  For some reason we were under the impression that ALS was pretty easy.  We were wrong.  Brandon was working longer hours than we were used to and when he was home, he was studying.

All the hard work paid off.  At Brandon’s graduation he got the Academic Achievement Award and Distinguished Graduate Award.  I am so proud of him!  I also loved that the graduation was a semi-formal dinner and I got to get all dressed up.

I love the shoes but my feet were KILLING me!

I am grateful for ALS because we got to know the Larsen's better.

The head table

Jacob's Birthday

When did this happen?   How is Jacob 6 years old already?  I know every parent says this but it is so true, “They grow up so fast!”  We took Jacob and one of his friends to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday.  I hate Chuck E Cheese but the kids absolutely love it.  I don’t have a problem with the games but the food is awful!  The important thing is, Jacob had a blast.

I love that Jacob did a fist pump for blowing out all the candles.

Jacob’s Top Ten

1.       Lego Star War’s game with Daddy-anytime Jacob has a choice of what to do with his free time, he wants to play this game with Brandon
2.       Gymnastics-he goes once a week to an all boys tumbling class and looks forward to it every week.
3.       Dessert-every night after dinner he asks for dessert.  He is happy even if it is one starburst.
4.       The beach-He LOVES the beach and the water.  He just got a mask and snorkel and loves looking at all the fish.
5.       Legos-He wants every present to be a lego present.  I am so tired of stepping on legos!
6.       Castles, Knights and Dragons-he got a lego castle for Christmas and since then he is hooked.
7.             Family movie night-We all pile into Mommy and Daddy’s bed on Friday nights, eat popcorn and watch a movie.
8.       Making a Space ship in his bed-he drags extra pillows and blankets into his bed to build a “spaceship” to sleep in.
9.             Riding his scooter-He is getting better at riding his scooter and always loves the chance to practice
10.       Primary-If we miss church one week , he wakes up on Monday and says, “but we didn’t go to church!”

Tsunami Warning

On March 10^th, following a 7.9 magnitude Earthquake off the coast of Japan, the tsunami sirens ring here in Hawaii.  That was a very scary moment.  It was about 10:30PM when the sirens started going off and they went off every hour until 3:00AM.  We had no idea what to do at this point because we had only been here for a few months and had never had to worry about a tsunami.  I’ll admit that during the first hour I had to talk myself out of panicking.   Once we learned more about the tsunami’s size and our evacuation zones I was much better.  Thankfully we did not have to evacuate and the tsunami did very little to the island.  Our prayers go out to everyone in Japan.

More Visitors

Dad and June got here the day before Jacob’s birthday and stayed for 5 days.  Jacob thought it was so cool that Papa and Nanie were here for his birthday.  It was really nice to have two extra set of eyes at Chuck E Cheese because it is a mad house. 

One of the days they were here we spent the whole day at the beach.   All of the kids were in Heaven except Maci.  I swear she was going through a growth spurt or something because all she wanted to do was eat.  So I basically sat in the shade most of the day feeding Maci and watching everyone play.  I had a great time!

We were able to bless Maci while Dad and June were here and it was really nice to have family here for such an important event.   

I love this picture!

I don't think you could get more people on a paddle boat if you tried!

Peyton plays with his ears when he is tired.  Papa wanted to play too.

This is Jacob's heaven.

I don't think Papa is even moving but Zoe thinks she is super strong.

Peyton's turn on the boogie board.

This is the sign of a very good day.  We hadn't even gotten out of the parking lot yet.