Welcome to the War Zone!

Hawaiians take their New Year's Eve very serious! We have been here for fourNew Year's so far and had no idea how crazy it was since fireworks aren't allowed where we live, until last year when we were staying in Kailua! It seriously sounded like a warn zone!!
Make sure your sound is on to get the full effect!

Happy New Year's Everybody!!

The 12 Days of Christmas Hawaiian Style

The top twelve of a Hawaiian Christmas:

1. Santa wears slippers instead of boots

2. Christmas parties are with Friends who have become your family!

3.You buy your Christmas tree in your swimsuit since you came straight from the beach!

4. You eat dinner outside at Christmas parties and you are barefoot!
5. You still get to dress-up all Christmassy!

6. There is snow here, you just have to go to the waterpark to find it! How many of us have played in the snow in our swimsuits? We have now!

7. You get to go to your favorite annual Christmas Concert at the Mormon Tabernacle downtown! So so so GREAT!

8. Hanging lights is easy and WARM!!

9.Instead of staying inside on Christmas day you get to go surfing!

10. Instead of getting stuck and sliding on snow you get stuck and slide in mud on Christmas day on your way to go camping!

11. Even though you know it is warm outside it stills surprises you when you walk out of your Christmas decorated house and into the heat!!

12. And Finally: Although it is weird for us to have a warm Christmas, it is actually how the real first Christmas was. Sand, Palm Trees, Warmth and that is what this season is all about!
We are truly grateful for the Birth of our Saviour and all that he has given us! May we continue to spread Christmas love and peace throughout the year!
Merry Christmas!

Party Time!!

How you celebrate a November Birthday in Utah!!

You get to be surrounded by family, cousins and good friends!

Everyone wears sweaters , pants , shoes while you get sung Happy Birthday .You get to have both Mommy and Daddy there!

You get to eat yummy cake with lots of sugar!!Uummm Uummm Good!! I think we have a sugar lover! Then you get to get all dressed up in layers and layers of clothes to go see the Christmas lights and temple square!!

The Utah Cake:



I have become obbessed with cake lately, while I was pregnant I started watching cake shows and so I have been excited to make Kai's cakes for her. They are nothing to fancy but they were fun to make. For the family party Jared and I decided that we will always have the rest of the family decorate the cake with things that they love about the person and for the friend party it will be a more fun cake!
The things on this cake included:
Water girl
Bite
Klingon
Mellow Yellow
Toy Hider
Mr. Burns
Squirt
Everything when Dad is gone
Sweet Cry
Eat
Tags
Boobs(Jared put that on because Kai LOVES to nurse)


How you celebrate a November Birthday in Hawaii:

For starters you team up with your buddy Brinley
and have a Pool party together!

And then you get to go swimming!
Even in the cold pool water!

With lots of fun friends who mostly played in the Hot Tub
and wore swimsuits and barefeet!

Then you get to eat lots of yummy cake again!!
Kailie is crying because I pushed the cake away while we sang, she didn't like that and maybe because she was sad her Daddy wasn't there!Taking time just enjoying the cake!

After Kailie had been eating her cake forever and very neatly I decided to just help her out a little bit!

Don't Worry!!

She loved it!!

We were all commenting how this will probably be her only birthday pool party since it is November, actually December after all!

The Hawaii Cakes:

Kailie's very neat area that she ate!


I had a really fun time making the decorations for these cakes. My good friend Cameo taught me how to make these using Royal Icing. It was fun and definitely something that I am still learning and working at but maybe by the time Kailie graduates High School I will have mastered it.
The theme was ocean animals just in case you hadn't figured that out. Very fitting for a girl who's name is ocean and who loves water!

The Eddie went and so did the people!!

The Eddie Aikua surf contest was on yesterday and it was awesome!! Beautiful sunny day, clean glassy waves, an epic day according to the experts like Kelly Slater who placed but didn't win!
We left about 7:45 and thought for sure we would be stuck in traffic but we actually did not hit any at all, of course we had to park 2 miles away and walk but we were definitely moving faster than the cars!! All morning the news was reporting how backed up it was and all the crowds. It was crazy the news reported tens of thousands of people!

The whole group out there went for this wave except for the guy on the right but I think he made it safely over!

It was so awesome to see this amazing contest, I wish Jared could have been there with us!
My friend Andrea and I were talking while watching this and saying how we definitely cannot call ourselves surfers because our little 1- 3 ft waves just don't cut it but I am okay with that. In this picture the surfer is dropping in, definitely the exciting, dangerous and for me scary part of surfing. I don't even like to drop down a few feet because the few times I have I usually flip forward over my board and then I fall in the ocean which is not my favorite place so I try to avoid falling in the water!! I just stick to my white water and enjoy that!

All these pictures are courteous of my friend Andrea who took some great shots while I was tending to my baby who is little sickly so not so fun for her!

Thanks Andrea for coming with me again, it was fun to see!!

Eddie Would Go!!

This is not Eddie!! Just some crazy surfer from today! The water wasn't really that blue. I was standing next to a guy in a blue shirt and somehow the color came into the photograph!

If you have spent any time out here in the islands then you have probably seen bumper stickers, signs, t-shirts, etc... that say Eddie would go! Eddie was a huge big wave surfer out here and I always assumed that this saying referred to him surfing the big waves but my kind husband informed me of the real story behind the saying! Apparently Eddie was on the Hawaii kayak team that was kayaking from Hawaii to another polynesian island such as Fiji, Tahaiti, I can't remember which one but on the way they came into trouble and Eddie left the group to go and see if he could find help and was never seen again. His team was rescued but the sacrifice of Eddie was not forgotten!(a good sized wave)

The reason I thought this saying meant Eddie would surf the big waves is because there is a surf contest out here called the Eddie Aikau and it is on one the biggest waves in the world. The contest only happens ever couple years because the waves have to hit a certain height! Jared and I have been dying to see this contest and finally it might happen tomorrow!

They thought it would go today so we (me and some friends, Jared of course is gone right now) headed up the north shore this morning bright and early along with everyone else that lives on this island.The Crowds and this is just the small section!

Kailie spent her time chasing puppies just like her mom!and climbing everything just like her dad!

The contest was a no go but the waves were awesome and the surfers were crazy!!

This was the biggest set we saw! IT was HUGE!! There are two waves in this picture! They don't look that big but then you see This!!

Those guys are 6 feet or so and that wave is BIG, BIG, BIG!! It was awesome!!

One lonely surfer surrounded by thousands of people!

This is Sharks Cove one of our favorite snorkel spots! Definitely don't think anyone was snorkeling there today!!

I hope it goes tomorrow because after all these were just wossey little waves that anyone could ride no problem!! It looks overcast and rainy but actually it was just the sea spray from all the huge waves!

By the way today is also the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack which is something we should always remember!!