This & That

It's so hard to come home from Hawaii. We were all jet-lagged and sad to not be there anymore. While we were working on all the laundry on Friday, Tessa and I watched Soul Surfer. She wanted to learn about Bethany Hamilton's story, and it was so fun to see places in Kauai that we had just been. I cry in that movie, and when Tessa saw that she came and cuddled up to me. We watched the rest of the movie that way and I love love loved it!

Luckily we had a lot of fun things going on at home to help ease us back into normal life. Paul and Tessa went to a Daddy Daughter Date for activity days. They played games and had lunch, and they had a great time together.

Rockwell got right back to work with his lawns. He's working hard on learning how to use the trimmer this summer, and is really getting the hang of it. He has 6 lawns that he mows weekly, and also one more lawn that he just trims every other week. He's a great worker!

Paul and I went to the Garth Brooks concert with the Loosli's and Carr's. Man that was a good concert!!

We got there early and ate dinner at the stadium. The show started late because of the wind, so we had a lot of time to hang out. Garth put on such a fun show! I love so many of his songs. He was on stage for 3 hours! It was so exciting when his wife Tricia Yearwood came out too! It was like a free bonus concert because I love so many of her songs too!

It was such a fun night, and one of the best concerts I've been to.

Sunday was Father's Day. We love celebrating Paul and what an amazing father and husband he is! We couldn't love him any more! 

Rockwell got to go rappelling with the Deacons. They hiked to Battle Creek Falls, and then rappelled down the waterfall. He said he was nervous the first couple times he went, and then he loved it the rest of the times.

Katie, Audrey, and I took Al to dinner for her birthday. We did a little shopping afterward, and the sky was gorgeous when we came out of the store!

Tessa got to dog-sit Sadie and loved taking her for a walk to the park. I sat in the shade with Sadie while Tessa and Damon played on the playground for a while. She really is such a cute dog!

I got to take Rockwell to the Mount Timpanogos Temple to do baptisms for the dead. I was a witness while he was getting baptized, and it was so cool to be there with him.

The kids were so excited to play with Hallee and Wyatt again. They missed them while we were gone!

We drove up to Taylorsville so Paul could help Grandpa Ham install leaf guards on their rain gutters, and also drop our van off for Gary & Julie to use while they were in town. Tessa, Damon and I stopped in at Cabella's on the way so I could buy a new CamelBak. They love to see the animals there, and Tessa was especially excited to see a wolf. She loves wolves right now!

Kauai Day 10

 The last time Matt & Lori went to Kauai they rented bikes and rode on the trail that goes right along the ocean. I've wanted to do that ever since I heard about it. They wanted to do it again too, so we all rented bikes for Wednesday late morning. They had a helicopter ride booked early that morning too, and ended up getting to the bikes a little late. The check-in process was pretty intense and we weren't able to wait to get our bikes until they got there, so we headed out without them. That was for the best though, because although I thought the kids would love riding bikes, turns out they did not! They always want to go on long bike rides at home, so I pictured this being a fun activity that we would all enjoy. Tessa and Damon didn't like the bikes they got, and it was hot. There were moments of happiness, but also a lot of complaining. 

We stopped at this lookout and watched a few turtles swimming around. We saw so many turtles this trip!

Tessa and Damon were both ready to be finished, so Paul said he would start riding back to town with them. 

Rockwell said he wanted to keep riding, so he and I headed up further for a while. I quite enjoyed the bike ride, so I was glad that Rockwell wanted to keep going.

We caught back up with Paul, Tessa, and Damon, and Matt and Lori actually caught up with us for the last little bit of the ride too. We were all hot, sweaty, and ready for a JoJo's!! We drove to the Coconut Market and enjoyed our shave ice in the shade!

I love that Tessa would use parking strips to get a quick beam practice in. :)

We let the kids choose what they wanted to do for the last afternoon of the trip. They all wanted to go to the pool, so that's what we did. Matt & Lori came too and we all had fun going down the waterslides. :) Matt brought his GoPro, and Damon had so much fun using that! All these pictures are compliments of Damon. Haha!

Here's Tessa and Lori waiting out the rain in the waterfall cave that was in the lazy river. :)

We said goodbye to Matt & Lori, glad that we were going to see them a couple weeks later. That always makes goodbyes not quite so sad. After the pool we walked over to Wailua Shave Ice. The reality that we were leaving in the morning was sinking in, and we wanted to soak in every minute of Hawaiian bliss, so we got our second shave ice of the day. :) It was a really good decision!!

We were so sad to go to bed because it meant we were leaving when we woke up. We had such an amazing time in Kauai! It truly is our happy place. I feel so blessed that we have been able to go to Hawaii three times now. These trips are our family's favorite times together, and favorite memories we make. 

Mahalo for now Kauai! We hope to see you again soon!