The cutest!

My wonderful, crazy mother did it again. Every year she takes the three cousins in to get a professional picture made. I think this years turned out the cutest! Here is just one. Thank you mom - I love them.

more Maui

This is the veiw from the backyard of the house - it's no wonder we spent a lot of time there.
Dave and Noah wading into the river in an area of rainforest.
Looking out over the black sand beach at a state park near Hana.

We spent one day on the big island, Hawaii, touring the volcanoes. The volcanic gas coming up from behind grandma, grandpa and Noah is from the vent hole created from an explosion of lava this past March.

Noah body surfing at the beach in Ka'anapoli

This is where the actual lava is flowing out of Mount Maouna Loa and landing in the sea. The hot lava hitting the cool water creates a geyser of rock, gas, steam and ash.

We did several other wonderful things in Hawaii, but have no record of them. As you know, I claim to be a scrapbooker but am not good at taking pictures - go figure. Well, my camera battery ran out of power about mid-way through our vacation and I had not had the forsight to pack it's charger. What a great scrapbook this vacation is going to make!

Anyway, we went snorkeling with fish and giant sea turtles, ate lots of wonderful tropical fruit - even picked our own pineapple on the plantation, went to a amazing aquarium, of course did some shopping, rode a speed boat that went 60 mph and lots of other activities. I did not want to leave paradise but was a little tired of eating fish and had to get home for the start of school. Although I do not have pictures, I will never forget the absolutely incredible place that Hawaii is.

12 days of paradise

We were all recently treated to a wonderful vacation on Maui, Hawaii for almost two weeks. My parents, Dave's parents, Dave, Noah and I all stayed in a gorgeous house in Lanai. Here are pictures of some the activities we enjoyed while there.

On our way












Pop made us pina coladas almost daily.



















We swam, played badmitton, hung out in the hot tub, louged in the hammock, soaked in the sun, and made smores in the fire pit all overlooking the ocean in the back yard of the house.

Dave, Noah and Grandma went parasailing. They rose 800 feet into the air!

Time for Two

In July, my mother was wonderful enough to take Noah for a few days so that Dave and I could go somewhere alone together. No dogs, children or church. Unbelieveable! We decided to go to Sedona, AZ because we had heard so much about what a gorgeous place it is and its not too far - about 4 hours from Tucson. It was fabulous. We spent the time wandering around the rocks and taking in the scenery, lounging in bed in front of the tv (a real treat because we don't have a tv in the bedroom), and getting pampered with a massage. We even got to have a great Indian meal, something we do not get to do here in Tucson, especially with Noah. He is very sour on Indian food because we dragged him to Inda Oven in Logan at least twice a week. Even two years later, he still cringes at the mention of it. Dave and I savored every bite and gorged ourselves on it in Sedona. The time together was much needed, we should definitely do it again in another few years! We always say we need to do it more often, but life takes over and we don't make it to happen. Many, many thanks to my mom for forcing the issue. Parents do know best. I would highly recommend this as a destination for anyone in the area. We will be back for sure, maybe with Noah this time.

Here is some local wildlife

Up, Up and Away!

I had misplaced some pictures and just found them. Among them were these pictures of Noah and dave in a ballooning adventure this past May. They had gotten invited to help "chase" the balloons that go out every Saturday. This meant helping them get into the air and getting them put away after landing. So they got up before the crack of dawn one weekend and wnet to help. As luck would have it, someone who was going to ride did not show, so after quickly signing their lives away (leave it to a dad to allow this for his child), they got to go for a flight. Noah said he was amazed how quiet it was up in the sky. What an awesome experience! Now I wish I had agreed to go help. I am up for any exciting thrill, but the early morning scared me out of it. I guess the early birds do get the worm.

Here is Noah standing inside of the hot air balloon.