Day 3, Wednesday: Drive to Hilo from Kona

The first part of our trip was on the Big Island of Hawai'i. We stayed 2 nights in Kona and 2 nights in Hilo.

The drive to Hilo from Kona is amazing. The sights everywhere are gorgeous. Wednesday afternoon we hiked up the Pololu Valley.

I love how the people in caution signs always have these weird stick legs and arms :)Then we took another short hike to Akaka Falls.

2 years!

Oh, what a splendid day. If I could relive any day over again I would want to live Sat. May 20, 2006 again. It was such a perfect day. My greatest dream came true. And the soundtrack to our day was perfect with the words, "I could not ask for more". I really couldn't have.

These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive

These are the moments I'll remember all my life

I found all I've waited for and I could not ask for more

Looking in your eyes, seeing all I need

Everything you are is everything to me

These are the moments I know heaven must exist

These are the moments I know all I need is this

I have all I've waited for and I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more than this time together

I could not ask for more than this time with you

Every prayer has been answered every dream I have's come true

And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be

Here with you here with me

Here in the temple of our God to be sealed for time and eternity, knowing that even death can not separate us. Knowing that if we are faithful to our covenants to each other and to the Lord, He will grant us that promised blessing of being husband and wife still in the next life, with Azure and the rest of our future kidlets.

We celebrated by doing sealings in the Kona Temple, absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
And then body surfing and hanging out on the beach, looking at the sights of this island paradise, and then having a romantic dinner on the beach at sunset. Pretty much a GREAT day!

More pics to come...

Fixin' to move

I figure I better start talking like a Southerner now to get me ready for Georgia...

This week is flooded with nostalgic feelings for us. We have done a lot of growing up here in Provo and are sad to go. We're sad to leave lots of friends behind.
But, we are excited about what new adventures await us in the south and excited to make new friends.
This week is also stressful as we're packing up everything. The word pack and stress has always been synonymous for me. Any packing tips?

I am a HUGE fan of to-do lists. Especially seasonal ones. Every summer we make a "summer to-do list" which mainly consists of fun summer activities. It's almost just as fun to cross things off the list to see how much we've done :) We made a "Things to do before we move " list which again is filled with activities, places to eat, things/people to see. We won't be able to do everything we listed but we've done a lot. One of our activities was a bonfire. You know how we love our bonfires!
Also to ensure I saw friends I deemed different days of the week to see different friends. Wednesday started out with having lunch with Ruth, which ended up on all different days of the week and included two more of our freshman roommates which was lots of fun to see them. I think we did that 3 or 4 times.

Thursdays have been my "Thursdays with Sandi" day. Sandi was my roommate sophomore year and I was thrilled to find out she was moving back to UT and that our babies would be 3 months apart. So, almost every Thursday since January we've had a playdate. Azure and Gabe have so much fun together.

Maybe they'll date in college :)

We also got to see our good friends Jared and Maren and their darling daughter Eva. Her and Azure had fun "sharing" toys.

Even though we're a bit stressed about packing up, we are beyond excited to know that next week we'll be celebrating our 2 yr anniversary on the beautiful island of Hawaii, alone! Just the two of us! Nothing beats a stressful week of packing followed by the ultimate vacation :)

Spring-time Photo Shoot

Last Saturday our kind friend Jonathan took LOTS of pictures of us. Here are some of our favorites:

Daddy being daddy :)

Packing on the Pounds

Enjoy it while it lasts Azure. I can guarantee no one will be excited about you gaining weight at any other time in your life (expect maybe when you're pregnant).

I am excited to report that Azure now weighs 16.5 lbs. She's gained a pound and a half in a month in a half! This is good, because it has usually taken her 3 months to gain 1 pound.

Maybe it's all those peas we feed her.

For the past 3 or 4 wks now she has been fascinated by pointing at things. I think it's because I point at pictures and ask her, "Who's that?"

We love our little Azure Marie :)

Things to see: The Copper Mine

Who knew this was here so close to us?

Not us, until just a few months ago. So we decided we'd take a trip before we left the great state of UT. We watched a documentary and learned lots of interesting facts about copper and this here mine.

Azure and daddy in front of one of the tires for the dump trucks they use to haul dirt/rock out of the mine.

Enjoying the exhibit with our good friends.

Azure is very good about sharing her "cheerios" with others, let's hope this continues...

Ooooooohhhhhhhh, an azurite stone from the mine.

Bye-bye Swing

I knew this day would come. I just wished it hadn't so soon. I mean, I'm grateful I had this long. I know some people say good bye to their swings around 6 months. We have been blessed to use it for 10 months.
Wednesday morning Azure woke up somewhat early, 7am. She wouldn't go back to sleep in her crib so I put her in her swing. She usually plays in there and then falls back asleep. So, I went back to bed. Charles was up getting ready for work. 10 mins later he's calling my name holding Azure above my head and she's holding a bag of fish hooks.
"What?"
"She was climbing up the stairs with this in her hands."
"What?!?"
Apparently little Miss Azure wiggled her way out of the moving swing, "jumped/fell" out, crawled out of her room, picked up a random bag of fish hooks from the storage closet (that was open), and climbed up the stairs!
Thankfully Charles was still here and got her in time before she really got into trouble b/c I was asleep!
So, now we will save our swing for the next child. Having her sleep until 10am almost every morning sure was good. I will miss you sweet swing! Oh, and don't worry- she was not harmed in any of this and apparently wasn't phased at all about "falling" out of the swing since the moment she landed she was up and crawling out the door!

I'm an escape artist with 4 teeth!