​In anticipation of our upcoming Germany trip, Mike and I realized that we needed new passports since ours expire in May of this year. We decided to pay a little extra to have ours expedited. I was amazed when they showed up less than 3 weeks later. 

​Madeline just loves to play in the snow. It doesn’t matter if it is freezing outside, she is always up for building a snowman. Luckily Abby also loves to play out in the snow. Those two have become quite the pair and I love that Abby is always willing to put on her snow gear to go outside and play with Madeline and build cute little snowmen. 

​Peter and Emma signed up to participate in our Stake’s Best of Youth. Since Emma is now 14 years old this was her first time being able to go and her very first church dance. Both of them had a good time.

There are many ad posters at the hospital at UC Health but there is one that Mike has seen many times. It is of a girl in yoga clothes doing a handstand. When he got on the plane to head to Hawaii, this same girl just so happened to be sitting next to him. He immediately recognized her. When they got to Hawaii, she did a handstand at the airport for him just to be funny. What are the odds that he would meet the girl from the ad he had seen so many times at Memorial hospital?

​This was Madeline’s second time at the dentist, and she did great. She was so excited to get her teeth checked. I sat in the chair with her again this time and she let the dental hygienist and the dentist count all of her teeth and clean her teeth. She was really excited by her new toothbrush and her fun little toy. The kids just love Dr. Patterson.

​Grandma Anne is so fun and always sends the kids something fun for Valentine’s Day. This year she put red and pink M&M’s in a heart shaped cake mold and then took a $5 and folded it into an arrow. She added some other fun candy as well. The kids loved their cute gifts. 

​The girls shower and sink were not draining very well so Mike decided to unclog all the pipes by unscrewing them and trying to get all the junk out. He did that to most of our bathroom sinks.  For the shower we poured liquid plumber down the drain but when we realized that the shower was still backing up, I decided to grab the drain snake to see what was clogging the shower drain. To my disgust, I pulled out a super long hair clog. It almost made me throw up. Grouse. 

​Our cross fit class usually starts with the first half of the class being warm and working through the motions to remember proper form. When it comes to the main set, things move at a really fast pace. We usually do sets in a certain period of time or a certain number of reps or sets and then record our time. It is a common occurrence to keep track of our reps or weights with chalk. There is no way I could remember everything without using chalk. 

​Peter went to swim practice one day straight from his Jazz Festival. Since he was dressed up in his suit his teammates from swim thought it would be funny to do a pretend photoshoot with his swim cap on in the locker room. The funny thing is that it actually looked like a photo from a senior photoshoot. 

​Mike and I learned about smoothie bowls when we were in Hawaii. It took me a few times, but I finally found the perfect combination of fruit in my smoothie and what fruit I liked best on top. I added unsweetened coconut and my homemade granola on the top. It was perfect!

I love running when the sun is rising. Caryn and I ran to Bear Creek Park with the Striders but instead of doing hill repeats on BFNH (Big Freakin Nasty Hill) we decided to do the tempo loop. It was so fun to just do a fun run together and enjoy the sunrise.

​I love how goofy Mike can be with Madeline. It is so much fun to watch her excitement when she plays with her dad.

​Sometimes, you just have to get out of the house. After asking the kids where they wanted to go, we decided (based on Madeline’s recommendation) to go to the zoo. We piled in the car and headed south, stopping at Panera bread for sandwiches, soup, and of course cookies. After eating lunch, we headed to the zoo, only to encounter a long line of cars headed up the mountain. It turned out, lucky for us, that the zoo was having a special rate and so it was very crowded. One of the advantages of going in the afternoon (other than it being warm) is that most families had already started heading out, so there was plenty of zoo for us to explore without lots of people. We started out by feeding the giraffes, which is always a highlight. Madeline was a bit scared to feed the adult giraffes, but she fed the baby giraffe...even though its about 6 feet taller than her. After the giraffes, we headed to the monkey house, but Madeline wasn’t having any of that because of the smell. We then went to the reptile house where Madeline was very excited by a king snake that was crawling around outside. She pulled up a little chair and just watched it slither around. She wasn’t scared at all. Then we went for a ride on the carrousel. Madeline spent the rest of the day asking if we could go back to the carrousel, so it clearly was a hit, even with the other kids. We saw a grizzly bear, snow leopard, tiger, lion, and cheetah. All the animals were out and about. One of the best things we did was feed the parrots and budgies. The kids got little popsicle sticks covered with seeds and then they fed that to the birds. We spent about 30 minutes trying to get the birds to sit on our hands or arms while we fed them. It was a lot of fun. We saw an alligator and got to pet a wallaby. In all, it was a pretty incredible day at the zoo and a fun day with the family.

We got up early and headed up to Grand Targhee Ski Resort to go skiing today. It only took 70 minutes to get there and there was no traffic whatsoever. The drive was also pretty spectacular, and we were in awe seeing the amazing Tetons. When we got there, I walked in and got my rental boots and demo skis and we headed to get our lift tickets. With the military discount they were only $45 a person. What a steal! We grabbed some snacks and water and shoved them into Andrew’s ski pack and headed up the Dreamcatcher lift so that we could head down the runs under the Blackfoot lift. One of the guys at the ski rental place mentioned that there were some great runs over that way. Well, that guy was so wrong. Maybe on a powder day those runs are great, but they were mostly icy when we went down them. We canned skiing on this side of the mountain and headed back over to Dreamcatcher and then skied down the other side of the resort until we made our way over to the Sacajawea lift. This side of the mountain was definitely where the adventure was to be had. There were a few runs that were powderier than others and overall, we had a great time skiing down the Snowdancer run and the Medicine Bowl run. With a little more powder, we would've skied down some of the black tree runs but there just wasn't enough snow for me to feel comfortable doing that, so we skied mostly blue runs. After eating lunch at the bottom, I swapped out my LINE demo skis for some VOLKL skis. I did not like the LINE skis at all. They were much too light for me. I had way more fun skiing after lunch on a better pair of skis. We skied pretty much until the lifts were almost closed. Then it was back in the car for a pretty easy drive back to Rexburg. I dropped Andrew off back at his apartment and then headed back to the hotel to shower and rest. We met up later at Da Pineapple Grill for some pretty tasty Hawaiian food. 

​Mike and I decided last minute that it would be a nice thing for me to fly out and visit Andrew at college for a few days. I flew into SLC and rented an SUV and drove the 3 ½ hours to Rexburg. I got in @ 6:00pm and checked into my hotel. Then I stopped by Andrew’s apartment and picked him up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had shaved but his hair was oh so long. It was probably the longest and most unruly hair I had ever seen on him. I guess he wouldn't be a college student if he weren't a little disheveled. I took him to Idaho Falls so that we could enjoy a nice meal at the Copper Rill. Our dinner was outstanding. We were so full that we didn’t even get dessert which is crazy because we both love dessert. 

​Spending everyday with Madeline never gets old. She is the light of all of our lives, and she keeps us thoroughly entertained. We learned some new hairstyles this month. She loves it when I do high pigtail buns with ribbons. We always do her hair that way when she goes to her ballet and tap class. We even do high ponytail braids and she loves that too. But it is not uncommon for her to just want her hair down and crazy. Every time she wakes up from a nap her hair is pretty wild. I try to put it up in a simple ponytail but most often she will pull it out. Her wild hair definitely fits her wild and fun personality. Even though she likes it wild, Madeline loves to pretend to do her hair with her own pretend hairdryer. She will often bring her make-up bag in my bathroom and do her make-up and hair when I am getting ready in the morning. 
 
Madeline loves running errands with me. She always goes with me when I go to get my nails done. She is the most popular little kid at the salon. They all know her by name now and Lin and Kim love to give her hugs. Jimmy always tries to sneak in little treats for her. After I get my nails done, we sometimes venture over to Athleta. It is always a fun store for me to shop in and on one particular adventure, Madeline decided it would be fun to copy all of the manikins. She was pretty spot on with all the yoga poses that each manikin was doing. It made me chuckle. 
 
This month Madeline discovered the love of popping packing bubbles. Every time a new package would arrive, she would ask to pop all of the bubbles. She would start by popping them with her fingers and would eventually arrive at stomping on the rest. I love watching the world through Madeline’s eyes. She is just so happy all the time.  

I first went to Hawaii when I was a little kid with my dad. We stopped over on our way to live in China when my dad was stationed in Beijing. Maybe subconsciously I joined the Army so I could go back there every once in a while. Coming from Colorado, Hawaii is one of the great places to be. I love the beaches, the warm air, the ocean breeze, the clear water teaming with fish, turtles, and memories. My reserve duty was fairly rigorous at Tripler Army Medical Center, but I did have weekends to go out and explore. The plane ride to Hawaii was pretty funny. I got on the plane and the guy next to me was SUPER nervous about flying. His wife looked vaguely familiar and it turned out she was one of the cancer survivors highlighted at one of the hospitals I work at. Every time you get in the elevator, her poster doing a handstand was right there. We had a good flight chatting and talking and they shared some organic veggies with me. When we got to Hawaii, she even did a handstand. It was a pretty fun memory in the end. Now, whenever I'm in the hospital and I see that picture on the elevator, I chuckle a little.  

Since I was there for most of the time without my family, I did a little more exploring than I usually do when I am there. It turns out, Hawaii has its own incline (Koko head) that Brian Chen told me about. Cardio wise, it was much easier than the Incline in Colorado, but a little more dangerous since there are some big drops and big spaces. The views from the top were sick. I did a hike up to the lighthouse at Makapu'u point which was gorgeous and a lot of fun. I hiked along some of the beaches as well. On the weekend, I went up to Laie to the temple which was great. It’s such an incredibly beautiful place and I always feel the Spirit when I am there. The people I was with in the temple were from all around the world and spoke a vast array of languages. It was really cool. I even got to spend some time at Hanauma Bay just swimming around, exploring the reef, and spying on the fish. That is a pretty amazing place. I went out to the Ko'alina and watched the sun set a few times.  It was just so peaceful and wonderful. Even though I spent most of my time seeing patients and doing Army stuff, the evenings and weekends were amazing and rekindled my love for the Pacific Islands, their beauty, and serenity.

​written by Mike

​We got up early and got all of our swim gear together and headed on over to Hanauma Bay for a fun day of snorkeling. We wanted to get there before the parking lot filled up. We made it by 8am and although we found a parking spot without any problems, the weather was iffy. It was raining, cloudy, and much too cool to sit by the water. So, we waited it out in our car for about 40 minutes. Then we headed into the park and found the most perfect spot on the grassy area behind the sandy beach where we strung up our hammock. By this point the sun was out and it was warm enough to get in the water. We grabbed our snorkels and headed out to explore the entire bay. Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was incredible. We saw lots of interesting fish. It was such an incredible experience to snorkel across this entire bay. At some points the reef was incredibly shallow. We had to make like a board and float right on top of it. I was worried that I would get scratched on my belly but that never happened. At one point we saw an entire school of fish feasting on the reef. There were probably over a hundred fish in the group. We just followed them until they swam away. It was pretty neat. After about an hour of snorkeling I was starting to get cold, so we got out and warmed up in the sun and just laid in the hammock and snacked on fruit and nuts. We spent a good couple of hours just relaxing in the hammock and talking. Then Mike headed to grab us some lunch. By the time we were done eating, we were ready to get back in the water for one more round of snorkeling. It was really hard to leave the bay and head back to the hotel. I just didn’t want this day to end. Since I had a red eye flight back to Colorado, we had a little bit of time to eat one more dinner together and grab some treats to bring back home for the kids. We decided to eat at the Tonkatsu place just one more time. We got really lucky and grabbed the very last table at the restaurant. It was just as good as the first time and would have to last us until the next time we would be in Japan in the fall. It was hard to leave Hawaii and Mike, but I was super grateful I got to spend a glorious 4 ½ days soaking in the sun and spending quality time with my best friend.  

​This morning we actually slept in which was awesome. Then we put on our running clothes and headed out on quite a morning run. We ran all the way down Kalakaua Ave. until we came to Monsarrat Ave. and then turned toward Diamond Head. It was about 3 miles until we reached the entrance to Diamond Head State Park. Once at the bottom Mike was kind enough to let me run on ahead. I ran up until I got to the paid entrance gate. We both went in together and then once at the actual trail, we took off on a run up to the top. Since it wasn’t super early in the morning the regular crowds were out and about on the trail. It was fairly easy to continue running up the trail, having to stop here and there, to get around people. Once I reached the set of stairs, I waited for Mike who I knew wasn’t too far behind. For a brief moment I decided to just head up the stairs, then turned around because I thought I had better wait to ascend the last section together with Mike. Turns out that as I was heading down to wait for Mike, he was heading up. Neither one of us saw the other as we were so focused on our footing. I waited for another 5 minutes at the landing at the bottom of the stairs for Mike and then decided that I had better head up. It truly was crazy that we had missed seeing each other in passing. The views from up on top were ridiculous. As we were starting to head back down and small rain shower fell on us. It actually felt really good. We stayed together on the descent and were able to run most of the way down. We ran together all the way back to Kalakaua Ave where we stopped at Lanikai Smoothie for some amazing smoothie bowls. It was a smoothie on the bottom with a layer of granola and topped off with freshly cut up fruit. It was the perfect recovery meal. We walked over to the beach to eat our smoothie bowls and then walked back to our hotel along the beach. We got back and relaxed for a while before getting showered and ready to head to church. In typical Hawaiian fashion, someone must have been a little too relaxed and didn’t update the meeting house times on LDS tools because when we showed up at 1:00pm for church, no one was there.  Oh well…at least we tried. We hurried back to the hotel, quickly grabbed a sandwich and headed over to our sales presentation. It was more of the same as the Marriott presentation. We definitely were not interested in what we think is a total scam. However, we listened, got our free 25,000 Hilton points and headed on out to Ko’Olina for a nice evening of watching the sunset and dinner at Mina’s Fish House. The sunset was magnificent. We stood up on the rocks behind the Four Seasons and just watched as the sun went down. It was absolutely the perfect sunset. There were plenty of people out doing the same, even a recently married couple getting their photos taken. While we waited for our dinner reservation, we continued the walk down to the Marriott resorts and by the time we got back to the Four Seasons they were ready to sit us for dinner. Dinner started out a little rocky with a super casual and not very attentive waiter.  However, the food was pretty amazing and the views unparalleled. It was a beauty evening of eating dinner right next to the water and a great way to end our fun day.

​We got up early today and put on our swimsuits, grabbed our snorkeling gear and provisions for the day and headed out for a day on the east shore. With a quick stop at the airport, and to my surprise, we parked Mike’s government rental car at the airport and picked up a black mustang convertible for the remainder of my time in Hawaii. That was such a fantastic surprise. We drove on the Pali Highway towards Kailua. We stopped briefly at the Nu-uanu Pali Lookout and marveled at the beauty from where we were. It wasn’t much further from the lookout to the Kailua Beach Park where we found a parking spot before the lot filled up for the day. We got out and walked along the beach and then headed on the private roads to Lanikai Beach to see what it was like. Wow…Lanikai Beach was pretty spectacular. We spent some time walking on that beach before heading back to where the car was and then on over to Kailua rental center. We rented a double kayak, bought a cute double hammock, new swim goggles for me, and some Chums to keep our sunglasses secure while on the kayak.  We watched the safety video about kayaking in the area then loaded up our kayak on the wheeled dolly and headed back over to Kailua Beach. We loaded up our drybag with all of our food and extra clothing, secured our snorkeling gear in the kayak and then headed out into the ocean. It was fairly windy as we headed out to Popoia Island first. It took some time for us to find our groove paddling together but we made it safely to the island without too much trouble. We docked our kayak on the small sandy bank and got out to walk around the small bird sanctuary island. The view from the island was pretty remarkable. After spending a short time exploring this island we hopped back into the kayak and headed straight for Lanikai Beach. The original plan was to head on over to Moku Nui Island, but the winds were so strong that we decided to just hang out at Lanikai instead of kayaking against the wind for another hour. It was still fairly early in the morning and the beach wasn’t at all crowded - partially because it is not as accessible as Kailua Beach. It is a good 15 min walk from the Kailua Beach parking lot. After docking our kayak on the beach, we got on our snorkeling gear and headed out into the crystal-clear blue water and had fun seeing all the different kinds of fish swimming around the shallow reefs. It was pretty incredible to snorkel at Lanikai. We spent most of the day snorkeling and laying out in the warm sun. I can’t remember the last time I got to lay out in the sun without kids. I was really careful to put on sunscreen frequently so I wouldn’t burn. It was hard to want to leave the beach but eventually we headed back into the kayak and paddled back to where we started. It took no time at all to get back since the wind was in our favor. We returned the kayak, grabbed some ice-cream, and laid in our hammock for a while before driving back to Waikiki. We drove back via the Kalanianaole Hwy stopping at the Makapu’u Point State Wayside overlook to see the beauty of where we spent the day. It was a remarkable view from where we stood, and I just felt grateful that I got to spend the day with Mike. After showering and getting ready back at our hotel, we headed out again to eat dinner. We decided to stand in line to eat at Marukame Udon Tempura Musubi. Apparently, this famous Udon shop, always has a really long line out front. The good news was that the line moved rather quickly. We met some really nice people in line and that helped the time to pass quickly. The Udon was really tasty and definitely authentic. It seems crazy to be in Hawaii but feel so close to Japan. 

DAY 1

​​When Mike told me that he might be able to do his reserve duty at Tripler in Hawaii, I got right on trying to find someone to watch the kids so I could join him over the holiday weekend. In asking around, my awesome friend Dionne volunteered to come and stay with the kids with her son Lucas. I already knew Dionne was amazing, but I did not expect such a nice gesture. I got a direct flight from Denver to Honolulu on Thursday morning and got to Hawaii in the early afternoon. I grabbed an Uber and headed to our hotel where I met Mike after he was finished with work. When I got there, they had put is in the wrong hotel. After a rather long phone conversation with Hilton Grand Vacations, we got everything sorted out. We ended up staying at the Grand Islander at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort right on Waikiki. This was their newest tower and the feel was modern yet classy. In the mix up with the room, we ended up upgrading to a one-bedroom suite where we had our own kitchen area and lots of room to spread out. We wasted no time and headed right out to go for a walk on the beach. It was glorious to be somewhere so warm and peaceful. We walked all the way down the beach past the Hale Koa and then we headed towards the shopping strip and to the International Market Place which is a fairly new outdoor mall area with shops and restaurants. Mike had made a reservation for us to eat dinner at the Eating House which is one of Roy Yamaguchi’s restaurants. The food was outstanding, and it felt surreal to be eating outside. After an amazing dinner of steak and potatoes for me and scallops for Mike, we were too tired to wait the 25 minutes for some of their amazing desserts, so we grabbed the check and headed to the Japanese grocery store to buy our favorite Japanese ice-cream sandwich and devoured it on our walk back to our hotel. With the 3-hour time change, I was out like a light the moment my head hit the pillow.
 

​Instead of a big party with friends this year Emma decided it would be more fun to invite one friend to do something big. I took Emma and her friend Natalie up to Denver to go indoor skydiving at iFly. Both the girls were anxious but in a good way. After their instruction class they got suited up and were ready to fly. They each got 2 different flights, both one-minute long each, and the last one included a high flight with the instructor. They were all smiles the entire time. I was surprised at how quickly they picked up the correct form. Both of them had some moments where they were flying by themselves without the instructor holding onto them. 
 
Afterwards, we headed over to the Park Meadows Mall for some shopping before eating dinner. The girls went to a variety of stores but spent a good deal of time on the outdoor mall area taking photos in the various chairs and enjoying the sunset. We all ate dinner at the White Chocolate Grill, and it was delicious. We all shared the egg rolls and then the girls had hamburgers, I had their famous veggie burger, and we all shared the white chocolate brownie and the French white chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Emma was so happy with her fun filled day up in Denver with her good friend Natalie.