20 and 21 months...slacker

I know I am way behind. I blame the holidays, traveling and the two kids that suck the energy out of me. Hanalei is still growing and learning like crazy. She pretty much talks faster than I can keep up with. She still is signing which helps me interpret some of her unclear words. She loves the signing videos and requests them multiple times during the day.

Because of the signing videos she has shown interest in learning colors, numbers, and letters. She has somewhat mastered her basic colors and is now really soaking up numbers. I bought foam numbers for the bath and we practice every night. It is hillarious. She will sometimes skip a number then repeat the same number 4x. Every now and then she surprises me with a perfect count to ten, then she cheers for her self. Saying "job" for good job! Don't you just want to squeeze her!

As I was putting away dishes one day I discovered this little friend in our blender

Hanalei was in heaven

This was a rare find at the tide pools. I have never seen a sand doller in Hawaii. Infact Breanne picked it up thinking it was a rock. Pretty awesome.

We drove down to the zoo for a day of animals. Jonny and Hanalei were making all the noises for all the animals. They even made up noises for the giraffe. It sounded a lot like a lion. When we got there it was closed because a big water pipe broke. So we went to the aquarium.

It is no fun getting sick especially in your eye.

SHe had to get drops in her eyes every three hours for a week. Poor her and poor me.

A few pics I missed from the trip.

She had a lot of fun with her daddy, even in the coldy snow.

doesn't Rusty look handsome?!

Hanalei thought cutting cookies was fun, but Grandma's M&M dispenser was ever better.

The biggest change for Hanalei was getting rid of her baby crib and getting a big girl bed.

She always wants to help.

This needed a little tweaking...perfect!

Now for the real important work, putting together the toddler bed, and ripping this foam in to teeny tiny pieces.

The First night she took her time falling asleep. She didn't cry, but she was too excited to sleep. The next day for her nap I was really nervous. She cried and cried. I set a time limit for when I would go get her. 20 min later this is what I found. Success! Woo Hoo!

One of Hanalei's favorite words is silly. And one of her favorite people is daddy. Silly Daddy!

We sure do LOVE this Girl!

Coldy Utah

Everytime we go to Utah in the winter, we hope for a froze lake. We know going in early December our chances for ice were thin. Pun intended. But to our excitement we were lucky to have ice good enough for a few days of ice hockey. A real Christmas miracle.

Before the ice was sketchy, Hanalei and parker had some fun on the ice.

Hanalei is going to give those boys a run for their money.

The best way to get around on the ice, the Katie express.

After the ice party Parker was Caught purple handed, or gloved!

We got some sledding in.

Kendra always up for an adventure.

She plowe into a few bush at the bottom of this hill.

Hanalei went a few times but wasn't really in to it. I think she was ready for a nap. It was hard to know when she was ready, we had been in too many time zones by this point.

Parker was gung ho

The boots, gloves and hat lasted a few minutes.

Even though she hated the winter ware we were glad troy and katie found some for us.

We started this game with great conditions. But by evening it was getting pretty slushy in spots.

I went after the puck and started to sink. It was so scary. I naturally dropped to all fours and still was sinking. I then was on my "baby" belly, grabbed the puck and scooted back to safer ice. What a rush.

This snowman represents kendra,

who is always afraid that someone is going to fall in the lake.

Can you say, Calvin and Hobbes?
Rusty thought it would be funny to put these on the road for Mike when He got home from work. He got around them. Some neighbor kids nocked em down.

We went to Crown Burger and stuffed our faces full of yummy food

Then off to Temple Square to see the lights

It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, so we went up to the Christus Statue

Hanalei loved it. She keept pointing out the stars, the moon, and the sun. She was excited to show everyone Jesus.

It was a great trip. We had lots of fun playing. By the end of this trip we were pretty exhausted from raquetball, hockey, Snowboarding (i didn't go), sledding and just staying up late playing games. We will be rested in about one year, when the ice is frozen again.

Thanksgiving in Cali

Today I was catching up with my friend Breanne. She asked what we did in California and as I recalled some of the things we did, I realized we went to the duck park quite a bit.

We went with Aubrey Grandma and Aunt Sallie

You might notice in these pictures Hanalei feeds herself just as much as she feeds the ducks.

Aubrey threw her snack cup into the pond.

Grandma enjoyed feeding the ducks more than the girls, we had to ration the bread.

Due to complications in our flight, on our way back from Utah we had another day in Cali. Grandpa skipped rotary to have a picnic with us. It was a gorgeous day.

We found a nice shady spot under a tree.

Hanalei is totally starting to pose for pictures. I think its hillarious.

Feeding ducks perched on a tree is safer.

We did tons of other fun things while in California. Rusty played full contact golf with my dad and brothers. Followed by laser tag and of course turkey football. Some of the guys went to a car show, while the girls and kids went to the zoo. Mostly we visited with family, played games, and took a huge family photo. The most exciting thing we did was clean up throw up. It was a real barf-o-rama at Grandma's house. One by one kids and adults fell victim.I avoided it, thank goodness, but Hanalei and Rusty weren't so lucky. Despite the loads and loads of puke laundry that needed to be done, we had a blast. Good food and great family that I love! Much to be grateful for.

Washing the Car

Living on the North Shore, or by any ocean is the best, I love it. But with a new car Rusty is constantly washing it to keep the salt water from destroying it. Hanalei loves to help.

I love this zoner look

Dad will show you how

She had a near melt down when dad took the towel, so she got her own rag

Now we can really get down to business

The Zoo

I have been wanting to take Hanalei to the zoo for months but I wanted Rusty to go too. We finally made it happen. It was such a fun day.

A Rare Family Photo

She is truly stunning, even with all the dirt on her legs

Jonny and Breanne came with us. Marilyn, I mean Hanalei loves Jonny

I wonder what she is thinking about in this moment

One of the higlights seeing this very large picture of a Gecko (Mo'o)

As if we don't see enough of them in our apt.

The cutest monkey at the zoo

She loved every spot we visited. I should have taken more pictures as always. It was fun to see her say and sign many of the animals we saw.

They had a ton of tortoises at various spots around the zoo. We happened to see some maiting. The male was making some crazy noises that scared Hanalei half to death. Jonny was excited to learn what a turtle says.

19 Months

I am SO big now!

And look at all my Hair!

Things I'm doing now:

*Saying Prayers...(melts mommy and daddy's heart)

*Coloring like crazy, not just on paper

*Requesting to use the potty but no potty yet

*Talking a bunch some of my new favorite words are

ahcock - Peacock

lello - yellow

frucl - Freckle

buder - brother (signs and points to my tummy)

Ah Man!

These Koi Fish were Crazy Revolting

Some for the Peacock Some for Me

Daddy is brave, those peacocks can be scary

Things I love:

*Feeding chickens, peacocks, fish, and sometimes kitty

*Books

*Helping mom do everything (laundry, cooking, cleaning, even peeing...sigh)

*When Daddy comes home

*Hiding under pillows and blankets

*Playing with the cd case (and ripping the slots in the process)

*Going on walks bikes and mopeds

*Skyping with my family (so FUN!)

*Swimming and digging at the beach

Favorite Foods (She asks for them by name):

Noodles

Toast

Apples

Peaches

Carrots

Crackers in all varieties

Cheese

Chicken

Candy

Cereal

Dip (ranch dressing, she'll eat just about anything if she can "dip dip")

Juice & Milk