April and May have been whirlwind months for us.
I have captured some of the main events such as Easter, Milestones, and of course our Hawaii Trip.
But there has been many more special moments that I wanted to make sure I didn't forget about.
So in a "not" very short nutshell here goes.
APRIL
Green Beans and Giggles
Talmage was six months old at the beginning of April and he started eating baby food. I guess I am not a very nice mom because I make my babies start with what I consider the grossest thing first. I figure I should get them use to the gross stuff first and then they will be good eaters...(Disclaimer: I am not a professional and this is only my opinion. I have not checked with Dr. Oz on the subject). So I gave him green beans first after rice cereal. I like green beans alright...but of course lathered in butter and boiled with bacon. If I had to eat baby pureed bean...I think I would rather die. But Talmage was a champ! He has taken to baby food really well and pretty much accepted everything.
Here is a cute moment we caught on tape.
(Just follow the link).
(Just follow the link).
Art and Soup
We have a fun tradition of going to local event called Art and Soup with some of my nursing school friends Erin and Liza. It is hosted by Community Nursing Services a home health company that Liza works for (I worked PRN for them for a few years). Tyson looks forward to this evening every year. He actually loves looking at Art and he really loves all the different soups and goodies we get to sample. We seriously get so full and it is such a fun night. There are fun exotic soups like cold watermelon ginger to sample and yummy goodies like flour-less chocolate cake (to die for)! We get to see some local art and we have fun pretending we are rich enough to buy it. This year we took Talmy with us. He was so good. He attracted lots of attention due to his overwhelming cuteness and when he got tired, he just took a little snooze. He wins the award for the world's best baby.
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Conference Weekend
Tyson started the weekend off with his mission reunion. This year he went to the traditional Indian food dinner and reunion stag because I had to stay home with the kiddos. My mother had just watched the kids while we went to Art and Soup and we didn't want to ask Tyson's parents since they would have the kids for our upcoming Hawaii Trip. We also didn't want to spend the money to ask a teenie bopper because we wanted moolah for our trip. No worries...he had fun without me..probably more fun because he didn't get pestered to actually leave when it was over.
Saturday night after the men were done with the priesthood session, we had ice cream at Papa's house. He had gotten stuck in the tub earlier that morning but seemed to be feeling better. Just a little bit earlier around Easter he had been hospitalized initially because they thought he had pneumonia. He ended up being diagnosed with cancer. It was throughout his digestive tract and probably had metastasized to his lungs. The prognosis wasn't good but we were unsure of how long he had. He was happy that night but there was some somberness. He told me funny things like how he told his nurse that if he was younger he would marry her because she took such good care of him. But then with more seriousness, he stated that he was ready and would go when the Lord was good and ready for him. He seemed content with his life. At that point, he was having difficulty eating but wasn't experiencing any pain. It was so great to listen to him as he relayed some memories of his youth. It was a great night.
On conference Sunday we gathered at Tyson's parents house for their traditional breakfast. Now with 4 grandkids and two of those being babies...it is a little harder to hear conference. It is always nice to get together and even nicer to enjoy hearing the words of the Prophet and Apostles. I can't wait for the day that my littles will be able to partake in the wonderful messages that are given. Also when Tyson and I aren't so sleep deprived, then we might be able to stay awake through more than a few talks.
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The Greatest Generation
In the middle of the night after conference Sunday, Tyson's grandpa started to have severe pain and had to be taken to the hospital. We visited him that day but he was pretty sedated from the pain medication. When we went to leave, I bent leaned over to give him hug and kiss and said "Granpa we are leaving now," and he roused just a little to sort of say "oh" and pucker a little for his kiss. A tender mercy. On the next day, Wednesday April 10th in the early morning hours he passed away peacefully. We knew that time was coming but we were a little surprised by how quickly after his diagnosis it came. He was a wonderful man and Tyson and I felt fortunate we were able to spend time with him over the weekend. He was just a few days shy of his 93rd birthday and until this hospitalization had lived at home and was pretty much of sound mind and body. His spring flowers were coming in beautifully and Tyson and I spent lots of time that week reflecting on memories of grandpa. All but one of my grandparents had died before I was born and that grandmother died when I was 3. I have a few vague memories of her but was not old enough to remember much. So I felt fortunate to marry a man with all his grandparents living. They became my PseudoGranparents. I called them grandma and grandpa and treasured the relationships we built. And likewise they welcomed me in and treated me like one of there own. We took meals and left overs over and tried to visit often. I loved hearing grandpa talk about his time in the military and his many life experiences as a business owner. I was always impressed with their impeccable memories of the names of the many neighbors they had. Tyson expressed it well when he said his grandpa was part of what Tom Brokaw referred to as the "Greatest Generation". His grandpa was not short on integrity, honesty, hard work, generosity and humor. You could count on grandpa to say "I have seen better heads on cabbages," when he sees your newborn babe for the first time. In his mid eighties, he raked up 8 or 10 bags of leaves from our 1st new home and planted 18 tomato plants along with other varieties of veggies. He was amazing. It was a somber moment seeing him so subdued in the hospital because he had been anything but subdued just a few short weeks before that. I am so glad he didn't suffer long and that he is now reunited with his equally wonderful wife.
My Little Black Rain Cloud and Tender Mercies
Okay so I don't want this part of my post to sound like a pity party because it is not. Everyone endures times where it feels like nothing goes the right way and like you have your own personal rain cloud following you everywhere. Well I had one of these rain clouds and it followed me for about two weeks. It even followed me to Hawaii {frowny face}. But fortunately these trying times are usually accompanied by small tender mercies that make them bearable and thanks heavens that was true in my instance.
It started off with the passing of Tyson's grandpa. It was an emotional time that turned stressful when we realized that his funeral would have to be on the very Saturday Tyson was scheduled to leave for Hawaii. We tried to think of different options to make it so Tyson could attend the funeral but the airline wanted us to pay an exorbitant amount of money to change the ticket (probably the same amount if not a little more than the price of the original ticket). So Tyson was stressed about leaving and I was stressed by having to go through that emotional and long day by myself with the kids. We were lucky to see and spend some time with grandpa that last week and Tyson was able to go to the viewing the night before he left which helped ease his guilt over missing the funeral. We were lucky to see and spend time with grandpa in the last week and we wouldn't have traded it for anything, but it also meant I didn't start my neurotic pre-trip planning and packing as early as I would have. This meant the Friday after the viewing, I took a very late trip to Walmart to get some last minute essential and Tyson was giving the kids a late night bath before packing. During that bath, he accidentally let the kids rag go down the drain which in turn clogged the drain. That was bad luck event #1. I didn't leave for Hawaii until Tuesday so I was going to be stuck without a working tub while trying to care for the kiddos and get us all packed and squared away for when I left, not to mention how costly it was going to be to have a plumber come. In my frustration I told Tyson that might have to cancel out any fun activity we wanted to do in Hawaii. I didn't mean it, but finances stress me out sometimes. I was getting left with a very messy house and I couldn't pack until I did the mounds of laundry. I felt very overwhelmed. Tender Mercy # 1-The plumber only ended up costing $85 dollars and my father in law met him at our house while we were gone so it was taken care of when we got back.
To top it off I had two kids (C and T) that had been on and off sick and never seemed to get all the way better. I took Talmage to the doctor on Friday before the viewing and they suctioned him out, but said he would just have to see his sickness through. Then Monday morning when both kids still didn't seem any better, I decided to take them to the doctor and insist that they needed something before I left them for a week to go to Hawaii. My wonderful mother in law was still willing to take them despite all that she had been through with her father passing and I didn't want her to have the worlds whiniest and grumpiest sick children. As we got ready to go to the doctor, I noticed Claire had big hives on her torso which quickly spread to her neck and face. Great...we hadn't even started an antibiotic and she as already having hives. That was bad luck event #2. I felt pretty awful about leaving them and told Tyson on the phone that this just might be a sign that I wasn't meant to go. He pleaded with me to get on the plane and to not worry, everything would be fine. Tender Mercy #2-Tyson had given us all blessings before he left and he said he knew we would be fine..and we were.
I managed to make it to my flight without any problems other than the fact that I had pulled a all nighter the night before to get everything squared away. I literally mopped my kitchen floor and sewed a button on a shirt at like 4 in the morning. But I made it. I had a 5 hour layover in San Fransisco and thought it would be really awesome to take a taxi or shuttle to the pier and do a little sight seeing. That would make up for the fact that I wouldn't be getting into Kona until 8:30 in the evening. But then something went wrong. I had only packed a carry on since Tyson took some of my stuff in the bag he checked when he went. The plane to SF was small so they made me check it at the door of the plane to stow somewhere else. I totally forgot about the bag when exiting the plane until after I had already left the terminal and gone out to try and find a taxi. Luckily it was still at the gate I had come in through but I had to go through security again to get into the terminal and it was long and slow. By the time I got through security and to the terminal to get my bag I only had around 3 hours left and since the trip to the pier was round 30 to 40 minutes away, I didn't dare chance missing my flight. Instead I found some WiFi and proceeded to work for the next 3 hours until my flight left. Unlucky event #3. Bummer. Tender Mercy #3-My bag was not lost and I completely caught up on work so I could enjoy the vacation a little more.
I made it to Hawaii without any other incidents and we enjoyed a good full night of sleep without being woken up by a crying baby, a 3 year old that needs to pee or a 5 year old that had a bad dream (They never coordinate for it to happen in the same night btw...this is the only time they are good at taking turns). We decided to hit the beach first thing. Upon getting to the beach, we headed straight out to the crystal clear warm water to boogie board. After a couple of waves, Tyson reached down and discovered he still had the rental car keys in his pocket. He immediately ran to the beach and set them out to dry, but we didn't think it would be as much of a problem as it was. At the end of the day when we went back to our car, it wouldn't electronically unlock the car. When we unlocked it manually and then tried to start it, it locked up and set the security alarm off. The car would not start and even after one of our MacGyver type trip-mates tried to swap out batteries we had no luck. Our only option was to have our trip-mates take us back to the airport to switch out keys and then go back to the beach to get the car. Bad luck event #4. Thus nobody got to shower before getting to dinner and I felt bad that our bad luck had inconvenienced others. Tender Mercy #4-We had great trip-mates who were more than willing to help and the fact that the replacement key was one of the cheaper ones. It was only the $100 replacement key and not the $300 one...phew! Also our American Express might reimburse us for this since we used it to pay for the rental initially.
On second to last day of the trip, we hiked down to Captain Cooks Bay to snorkel. The hike was a lot longer and harder than we had anticipated. What we thought was a 1 mile little jaunt to the beach was a 4 mile round trip full on hike. It had a lot of loose rock and was hard to feel like you had a solid footing while hiking. I loved the snorkeling but dreaded the hike back up and it was a beast. When we were done, we rewarded ourselves with a ice cream cone and headed to the condo to clean up. When we got to the condo I realized I couldn't find my phone. I last remembered seeing it when I opened the backpack on the hike back up from Captain Cook's to get some sunscreen. I couldn't believe I wouldn't have noticed that it fell out, but we hurried back to the trail head to see if it was around where we had parked. No luck (literally)! Bad luck event #5. Tyson, the ever selfless person that he is, decided to make the hike again. He knew how upset and worried I was about losing my phone (my lifeline) and he also knew we couldn't afford to just buy another one. Can I just say I love that man. He loaded my water into the backpack and took off. I sat in the car and read and just about the time I was starting to worry that Tyson wasn't back, his phone (which he had left with me) rang. It said "Alyson Bringhurst" as the contact calling. Halleluiah!! A tourist had found it on the trail and turned it in at the desk at their hotel. They didn't speak English so they asked someone there to figure out whose phone it was. Tender Mercy #5-Honest wonderful person who found my phone.
So right after getting the news that phone was found we hurried to get in the car. As I was trying to walk around the front of the car that was on a slight incline, I slipped on some loose gravel and heard cracking noises. I thought I had broken my ankle or sprained it really bad. I was in so much pain. Tyson helped me to the car and we noticed my ankle was already swollen and purple. We also noticed that my two was completely skinned on one side and caked with dirt and blood. We went back to the condo and tried to clean my wounds but I couldn't inflict that kind of pain on myself. So the next day, we ended up having to go to the ER where it took 5 hours to get an x-ray of my ankle and to get my toe cleaned. Bad Luck Event #6. It put a damper on our last day in Hawaii because I couldn't go in the sand or water to keep the wound clean. We tried to make the most of what I could do...hobble slowly around and get souvenirs for our kids. Tender Mercy #6- My ankle was just sprained and not broken. My toe healed with the help of some antibiotics and there was wonderful numbing medicine so I didn't have to feel the pain of it being clean. And last but certainly not least, the hospital was In Network for our insurance and the care I got there didn't cost us a dime. On a funny note and could be Bad Luck Event #7: When we left the ER and were driving away, I couldn't find my phone. We raced back to the ER where Tyson found my phone still lying on the ER bed I was in. Tender Mercy #7- They hadn't put the bedding in the laundry yet!
After we got home from Hawaii, I the last bad luck events #8 was when I accidentally hit my husband's aunts car while trying to park in front of her along a curb. I broke out in tears because I was so distraught by all the events that had happened and by how much I thought all these things were going to cost us. Tender Mercy #8 is the fact that car insurance is wonderful. My care had very little damage and Tyson's Aunt got hers fixed with no problem. Also my premium didn't go up! Ironically the same day I received the check from our insurance to pay for our car repair, I received a $50 cash back bonus for being a good driver and being accident free for so long (this was my first accident). Funny huh?
Well in case you tuned out for that long post, that is okay. I just wanted to remember that time, not because I want to relive a pity party but because I want to remember that trying times are real and they are hard and they suck...but if you look, you can always find the good.
God is good!
However, I was sure happy to see that two week period come to and end!
Hawaii
Since I already blogged about it, this is all I will say...Hawaii is a dream come true!!
Here are my cute Hula Girls Having fun in their souvenirs.
Kindergarten Program
Ava really felt proud of her Kindergarten Program for the incoming kindergarteners. She beamed with pride as she sang because she felt so "big". BTW her shirt says Class of 2025...Yikes! I will be so old.
A Blessings From Heaven
Some dear friends that we love so much finally got the call they had been picked to become adoptive parents. I wept with happiness at the news. They have been part of our prayers and are the most deserving and best people. We love them and we sure love the little lady that is now part of their family. She is simply adorable.
May
A Well Deserved Nap
Apparently we had so much fun in April that we had to start May out with a well deserved nap. One of us even did it while standing.
Mother's Day
For Mother's Day I got to take a French Macaron class at Orson Gygi's. It was so fun and I hope I can replicate them at home. The homemade ones are definitely more yummy than the store bought ones.
The instructor was impressed because my cooking partner and I have had the best turn out with the chocolate ones.
On Mother's Day my wonderful husband made a special dinner for his mother and I. We got fillet Mignon, twice baked potatoes and tapioca pudding. It was so good. He spoils me all the time!
Ava filled out this cute questionaire and church and it made my day...plus we giggled a little over some of the answers. Apparently I am a little bit of a nag! :)
We have a fun tradition of going to local event called Art and Soup with some of my nursing school friends Erin and Liza. It is hosted by Community Nursing Services a home health company that Liza works for (I worked PRN for them for a few years). Tyson looks forward to this evening every year. He actually loves looking at Art and he really loves all the different soups and goodies we get to sample. We seriously get so full and it is such a fun night. There are fun exotic soups like cold watermelon ginger to sample and yummy goodies like flour-less chocolate cake (to die for)! We get to see some local art and we have fun pretending we are rich enough to buy it. This year we took Talmy with us. He was so good. He attracted lots of attention due to his overwhelming cuteness and when he got tired, he just took a little snooze. He wins the award for the world's best baby.
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Conference Weekend
Tyson started the weekend off with his mission reunion. This year he went to the traditional Indian food dinner and reunion stag because I had to stay home with the kiddos. My mother had just watched the kids while we went to Art and Soup and we didn't want to ask Tyson's parents since they would have the kids for our upcoming Hawaii Trip. We also didn't want to spend the money to ask a teenie bopper because we wanted moolah for our trip. No worries...he had fun without me..probably more fun because he didn't get pestered to actually leave when it was over.
Saturday night after the men were done with the priesthood session, we had ice cream at Papa's house. He had gotten stuck in the tub earlier that morning but seemed to be feeling better. Just a little bit earlier around Easter he had been hospitalized initially because they thought he had pneumonia. He ended up being diagnosed with cancer. It was throughout his digestive tract and probably had metastasized to his lungs. The prognosis wasn't good but we were unsure of how long he had. He was happy that night but there was some somberness. He told me funny things like how he told his nurse that if he was younger he would marry her because she took such good care of him. But then with more seriousness, he stated that he was ready and would go when the Lord was good and ready for him. He seemed content with his life. At that point, he was having difficulty eating but wasn't experiencing any pain. It was so great to listen to him as he relayed some memories of his youth. It was a great night.
On conference Sunday we gathered at Tyson's parents house for their traditional breakfast. Now with 4 grandkids and two of those being babies...it is a little harder to hear conference. It is always nice to get together and even nicer to enjoy hearing the words of the Prophet and Apostles. I can't wait for the day that my littles will be able to partake in the wonderful messages that are given. Also when Tyson and I aren't so sleep deprived, then we might be able to stay awake through more than a few talks.
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The Greatest Generation
In the middle of the night after conference Sunday, Tyson's grandpa started to have severe pain and had to be taken to the hospital. We visited him that day but he was pretty sedated from the pain medication. When we went to leave, I bent leaned over to give him hug and kiss and said "Granpa we are leaving now," and he roused just a little to sort of say "oh" and pucker a little for his kiss. A tender mercy. On the next day, Wednesday April 10th in the early morning hours he passed away peacefully. We knew that time was coming but we were a little surprised by how quickly after his diagnosis it came. He was a wonderful man and Tyson and I felt fortunate we were able to spend time with him over the weekend. He was just a few days shy of his 93rd birthday and until this hospitalization had lived at home and was pretty much of sound mind and body. His spring flowers were coming in beautifully and Tyson and I spent lots of time that week reflecting on memories of grandpa. All but one of my grandparents had died before I was born and that grandmother died when I was 3. I have a few vague memories of her but was not old enough to remember much. So I felt fortunate to marry a man with all his grandparents living. They became my PseudoGranparents. I called them grandma and grandpa and treasured the relationships we built. And likewise they welcomed me in and treated me like one of there own. We took meals and left overs over and tried to visit often. I loved hearing grandpa talk about his time in the military and his many life experiences as a business owner. I was always impressed with their impeccable memories of the names of the many neighbors they had. Tyson expressed it well when he said his grandpa was part of what Tom Brokaw referred to as the "Greatest Generation". His grandpa was not short on integrity, honesty, hard work, generosity and humor. You could count on grandpa to say "I have seen better heads on cabbages," when he sees your newborn babe for the first time. In his mid eighties, he raked up 8 or 10 bags of leaves from our 1st new home and planted 18 tomato plants along with other varieties of veggies. He was amazing. It was a somber moment seeing him so subdued in the hospital because he had been anything but subdued just a few short weeks before that. I am so glad he didn't suffer long and that he is now reunited with his equally wonderful wife.
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| Papa and Nana |
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| Maggie coming in for her last visit. |
Okay so I don't want this part of my post to sound like a pity party because it is not. Everyone endures times where it feels like nothing goes the right way and like you have your own personal rain cloud following you everywhere. Well I had one of these rain clouds and it followed me for about two weeks. It even followed me to Hawaii {frowny face}. But fortunately these trying times are usually accompanied by small tender mercies that make them bearable and thanks heavens that was true in my instance.
It started off with the passing of Tyson's grandpa. It was an emotional time that turned stressful when we realized that his funeral would have to be on the very Saturday Tyson was scheduled to leave for Hawaii. We tried to think of different options to make it so Tyson could attend the funeral but the airline wanted us to pay an exorbitant amount of money to change the ticket (probably the same amount if not a little more than the price of the original ticket). So Tyson was stressed about leaving and I was stressed by having to go through that emotional and long day by myself with the kids. We were lucky to see and spend some time with grandpa that last week and Tyson was able to go to the viewing the night before he left which helped ease his guilt over missing the funeral. We were lucky to see and spend time with grandpa in the last week and we wouldn't have traded it for anything, but it also meant I didn't start my neurotic pre-trip planning and packing as early as I would have. This meant the Friday after the viewing, I took a very late trip to Walmart to get some last minute essential and Tyson was giving the kids a late night bath before packing. During that bath, he accidentally let the kids rag go down the drain which in turn clogged the drain. That was bad luck event #1. I didn't leave for Hawaii until Tuesday so I was going to be stuck without a working tub while trying to care for the kiddos and get us all packed and squared away for when I left, not to mention how costly it was going to be to have a plumber come. In my frustration I told Tyson that might have to cancel out any fun activity we wanted to do in Hawaii. I didn't mean it, but finances stress me out sometimes. I was getting left with a very messy house and I couldn't pack until I did the mounds of laundry. I felt very overwhelmed. Tender Mercy # 1-The plumber only ended up costing $85 dollars and my father in law met him at our house while we were gone so it was taken care of when we got back.
To top it off I had two kids (C and T) that had been on and off sick and never seemed to get all the way better. I took Talmage to the doctor on Friday before the viewing and they suctioned him out, but said he would just have to see his sickness through. Then Monday morning when both kids still didn't seem any better, I decided to take them to the doctor and insist that they needed something before I left them for a week to go to Hawaii. My wonderful mother in law was still willing to take them despite all that she had been through with her father passing and I didn't want her to have the worlds whiniest and grumpiest sick children. As we got ready to go to the doctor, I noticed Claire had big hives on her torso which quickly spread to her neck and face. Great...we hadn't even started an antibiotic and she as already having hives. That was bad luck event #2. I felt pretty awful about leaving them and told Tyson on the phone that this just might be a sign that I wasn't meant to go. He pleaded with me to get on the plane and to not worry, everything would be fine. Tender Mercy #2-Tyson had given us all blessings before he left and he said he knew we would be fine..and we were.
I managed to make it to my flight without any problems other than the fact that I had pulled a all nighter the night before to get everything squared away. I literally mopped my kitchen floor and sewed a button on a shirt at like 4 in the morning. But I made it. I had a 5 hour layover in San Fransisco and thought it would be really awesome to take a taxi or shuttle to the pier and do a little sight seeing. That would make up for the fact that I wouldn't be getting into Kona until 8:30 in the evening. But then something went wrong. I had only packed a carry on since Tyson took some of my stuff in the bag he checked when he went. The plane to SF was small so they made me check it at the door of the plane to stow somewhere else. I totally forgot about the bag when exiting the plane until after I had already left the terminal and gone out to try and find a taxi. Luckily it was still at the gate I had come in through but I had to go through security again to get into the terminal and it was long and slow. By the time I got through security and to the terminal to get my bag I only had around 3 hours left and since the trip to the pier was round 30 to 40 minutes away, I didn't dare chance missing my flight. Instead I found some WiFi and proceeded to work for the next 3 hours until my flight left. Unlucky event #3. Bummer. Tender Mercy #3-My bag was not lost and I completely caught up on work so I could enjoy the vacation a little more.
I made it to Hawaii without any other incidents and we enjoyed a good full night of sleep without being woken up by a crying baby, a 3 year old that needs to pee or a 5 year old that had a bad dream (They never coordinate for it to happen in the same night btw...this is the only time they are good at taking turns). We decided to hit the beach first thing. Upon getting to the beach, we headed straight out to the crystal clear warm water to boogie board. After a couple of waves, Tyson reached down and discovered he still had the rental car keys in his pocket. He immediately ran to the beach and set them out to dry, but we didn't think it would be as much of a problem as it was. At the end of the day when we went back to our car, it wouldn't electronically unlock the car. When we unlocked it manually and then tried to start it, it locked up and set the security alarm off. The car would not start and even after one of our MacGyver type trip-mates tried to swap out batteries we had no luck. Our only option was to have our trip-mates take us back to the airport to switch out keys and then go back to the beach to get the car. Bad luck event #4. Thus nobody got to shower before getting to dinner and I felt bad that our bad luck had inconvenienced others. Tender Mercy #4-We had great trip-mates who were more than willing to help and the fact that the replacement key was one of the cheaper ones. It was only the $100 replacement key and not the $300 one...phew! Also our American Express might reimburse us for this since we used it to pay for the rental initially.
On second to last day of the trip, we hiked down to Captain Cooks Bay to snorkel. The hike was a lot longer and harder than we had anticipated. What we thought was a 1 mile little jaunt to the beach was a 4 mile round trip full on hike. It had a lot of loose rock and was hard to feel like you had a solid footing while hiking. I loved the snorkeling but dreaded the hike back up and it was a beast. When we were done, we rewarded ourselves with a ice cream cone and headed to the condo to clean up. When we got to the condo I realized I couldn't find my phone. I last remembered seeing it when I opened the backpack on the hike back up from Captain Cook's to get some sunscreen. I couldn't believe I wouldn't have noticed that it fell out, but we hurried back to the trail head to see if it was around where we had parked. No luck (literally)! Bad luck event #5. Tyson, the ever selfless person that he is, decided to make the hike again. He knew how upset and worried I was about losing my phone (my lifeline) and he also knew we couldn't afford to just buy another one. Can I just say I love that man. He loaded my water into the backpack and took off. I sat in the car and read and just about the time I was starting to worry that Tyson wasn't back, his phone (which he had left with me) rang. It said "Alyson Bringhurst" as the contact calling. Halleluiah!! A tourist had found it on the trail and turned it in at the desk at their hotel. They didn't speak English so they asked someone there to figure out whose phone it was. Tender Mercy #5-Honest wonderful person who found my phone.
So right after getting the news that phone was found we hurried to get in the car. As I was trying to walk around the front of the car that was on a slight incline, I slipped on some loose gravel and heard cracking noises. I thought I had broken my ankle or sprained it really bad. I was in so much pain. Tyson helped me to the car and we noticed my ankle was already swollen and purple. We also noticed that my two was completely skinned on one side and caked with dirt and blood. We went back to the condo and tried to clean my wounds but I couldn't inflict that kind of pain on myself. So the next day, we ended up having to go to the ER where it took 5 hours to get an x-ray of my ankle and to get my toe cleaned. Bad Luck Event #6. It put a damper on our last day in Hawaii because I couldn't go in the sand or water to keep the wound clean. We tried to make the most of what I could do...hobble slowly around and get souvenirs for our kids. Tender Mercy #6- My ankle was just sprained and not broken. My toe healed with the help of some antibiotics and there was wonderful numbing medicine so I didn't have to feel the pain of it being clean. And last but certainly not least, the hospital was In Network for our insurance and the care I got there didn't cost us a dime. On a funny note and could be Bad Luck Event #7: When we left the ER and were driving away, I couldn't find my phone. We raced back to the ER where Tyson found my phone still lying on the ER bed I was in. Tender Mercy #7- They hadn't put the bedding in the laundry yet!
After we got home from Hawaii, I the last bad luck events #8 was when I accidentally hit my husband's aunts car while trying to park in front of her along a curb. I broke out in tears because I was so distraught by all the events that had happened and by how much I thought all these things were going to cost us. Tender Mercy #8 is the fact that car insurance is wonderful. My care had very little damage and Tyson's Aunt got hers fixed with no problem. Also my premium didn't go up! Ironically the same day I received the check from our insurance to pay for our car repair, I received a $50 cash back bonus for being a good driver and being accident free for so long (this was my first accident). Funny huh?
Well in case you tuned out for that long post, that is okay. I just wanted to remember that time, not because I want to relive a pity party but because I want to remember that trying times are real and they are hard and they suck...but if you look, you can always find the good.
God is good!
However, I was sure happy to see that two week period come to and end!
Hawaii
Since I already blogged about it, this is all I will say...Hawaii is a dream come true!!
Here are my cute Hula Girls Having fun in their souvenirs.
Kindergarten Program
Ava really felt proud of her Kindergarten Program for the incoming kindergarteners. She beamed with pride as she sang because she felt so "big". BTW her shirt says Class of 2025...Yikes! I will be so old.
A Blessings From Heaven
Some dear friends that we love so much finally got the call they had been picked to become adoptive parents. I wept with happiness at the news. They have been part of our prayers and are the most deserving and best people. We love them and we sure love the little lady that is now part of their family. She is simply adorable.
A Well Deserved Nap
Apparently we had so much fun in April that we had to start May out with a well deserved nap. One of us even did it while standing.
Mother's Day
For Mother's Day I got to take a French Macaron class at Orson Gygi's. It was so fun and I hope I can replicate them at home. The homemade ones are definitely more yummy than the store bought ones.
The instructor was impressed because my cooking partner and I have had the best turn out with the chocolate ones.
On Mother's Day my wonderful husband made a special dinner for his mother and I. We got fillet Mignon, twice baked potatoes and tapioca pudding. It was so good. He spoils me all the time!
Ava filled out this cute questionaire and church and it made my day...plus we giggled a little over some of the answers. Apparently I am a little bit of a nag! :)
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| I love this little/big girl! |
Birthday Fun
Ava got to go to a fun birthday for Taryn where she got to get dressed in Sunday Best. She felt so grown up and had so much fun.
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| Too Cute! |
Higher and Higher
We started our season of swinging. Claire is learning to pump herself on the swing and loves to showcase her abilities. My 3 cheeky kiddos swinging together.
We had a fun afternoon at This Is The Place Heritage Park with some friends. I was surprised when Claire just marched up and asked to go for a ride on the horse. The minute it started going she started to cry some, but quickly calmed when RaNae told her she would be fine. They got to pet some chicks and the mini train ride is always a highlight.
Breakfast in Bed
Two cuties are always trying to surprise us with breakfast in bed. It is a common Saturday and Sunday occurrence. Here is our yummy dry Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheezits, and a Apricot.
Dance Rehearsals-Janet Gray
The girls had two nights of dress rehearsals at Kingsbury Hall. It was fun to watch and they felt so professional. Look how great they are at striking a pose.
(Lola and her eye pulling crack me up)
Ava was in heaven because she got to wear make-up. She now asks to wear it almost everyday!
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| Look at those eyes! Dreamy! |
The Dance Recital Nights were so fun. Kingsbury Hall was a great venue and our seats were great. Ava did her ballet dance one night and her jazz dance the second night. After the second night we got something to eat with Ava and Lola's family. It was so fun and the girls were giddy and excited the whole weekend.
The teachers change them right after so we didn't get pictures in their costumes and we weren't allowed to record the performance. We are still debating on ordering the $60 DVD the studio is selling. The studio is very professional but the girls did a great job.
Last Day of Kindergarten
I can't believe Kindergarten is over. My baby is going to be in full time school next year. I could shed a tear (sometimes I think it is from sadness and sometimes I think it is from joy).
It was a wonderful year and I wish I had a picture of Ava with her teacher Mrs. Hashimoto.
First Day v.s. Last Day of Kindergarten
The Crew of the First Day of School
The Crew on the Last Day of School
I love my little/big girl! (Did I say that already?)
After we picked Ava up from her last bus ride as a Kindergartener, we went to Fat Cats for some pizza and bowling and fun!
Let the Summer Begin!!!
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