Abigail

Abigail and Isaac's combined birthday cake. Princess for Abby and dinosaur for Isaac.

Well, February 8th was Abigail's 7th birthday. We celebrated a little early while my parents were visiting over Super Bowl weekend. Then we all got sick with colds and such which just took forever to go away. So, here is a very belated birthday post about the birthday girl.

decorating cookies

Our Abigail is now 7. Wow! Time really does fly. She is a great helper to Mommy, and so looking forward to baby coming. She can do laundry, take out the trash and recycling, vacuum, put away clean clothes, and clean up her room. Usually without complaint. :)

Mommy and Abigail at a wedding.

She has some amazing abilities. Such as: tripping over nothing, getting food on her in hard to reach places, messing up her hair in 3 seconds flat, not being able to see things right under her nose, and making hilarious faces. Just to name a few. Some of those she inherited from her Auntie Becca. ;)



She does very well in Math and Science. Things will just click for her and she's got it. Even if she wiggles in her seat during the whole lesson! :) Her memorization is quite good, too. She memorizes her verses for church pretty quick.


She is such a lovable, fun loving little girl with a feisty spirit! We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for her this year.

9 Years Ago Today

Nine years ago today Daniel and I made a commitment to each other for as long as we both should live, and we plan to keep it. This was/is a serious decision for us that we didn't enter in lightly. We knew once we had committed we meant forever. We completely surrounded this decision with prayer knowing that we could only do this, if God was a real part of our marriage.


We have never regretted our decision. In fact we are often reminded of God's amazing blessings to us. He knew so much better than me, who would be best as my husband. I am forever grateful!


I just love to be with Daniel. Whether it's on some great adventure or just watching a movie together. He's my first choice. :)


So, a big thanks goes out to God for making the past 9 years so tremendous. We've had our highs and lows, we're far from perfect, but that makes us love each other even more. We're real, honest, broken people doing the best we can together.


Also, I've not posted yet about my second born's 7th birthday on the eighth of Feb. We were all pretty sick at that time, but it is still coming. Stay posted.......

Isaac

Well, today my little boy turns 5! Five is a bit of a milestone in our family because that is when you are allowed to have GUM. Let me tell you, this boy has been waiting for 5! :)



I remember being so surprised when he was born. We decided not to find out what we were having. I already had 2 girls, I was raised with 2 sisters, and my sis-in-law had 4 girls at the time, so I was convinced that I would only have girls. So, when he was born and Daniel leaned over and said to me, "Isaac's here." I could hardly believe it! I was so shocked. A boy? Thank You Lord! He knows the desires of our heart.



Isaac has been such a blessing. He is an amazing boy. I love to see the natural boy things come out. He loves bugs/animals just like his Daddy. Any type of ball, car, truck, dinosaur, gun, or tool and he is thrilled! He also has a real sweet, kind personality. He has a natural caring for others, which just touches our hearts. He was born with manners. We didn't have to teach him to say "please" or "thank you" he just did it on his own.


Here are some more pictures of "the boy" from the last year or so.

Day 5 & 6 - Kealakekua Bay, Marriott Waikoloa Beach, Kona Airport

Day 5:

So, we have already gone to the green sand beach, a white sand beach, and we wanted to be sure to go to a black sand beach. We looked in our travel book and there was one just off the road a bit on the way to our next snorkel spot. So, we detoured there. It ended up being a bit further "off the road" than we realized, but no worries. :)

On the way there.

The lava is quite interesting.

Our feet in the sand

white coral on black sand - nice contrast

You can see the texture of the sand - not real comfortable actually.

We took our pictures then went on to Kealakekua Bay right next to The Place of Refuge for some snorkeling. "The concept of the place of refuge is interesting. In ancient Hawaiian culture, certain areas were designated as places of refuge and no blood could be shed in its confines. If you had broken a law or were escaping from a war enemy and you could get (swim) to the place of refuge, you were protected and given a second chance."

Place of refuge - from a distance

Kealakekua Bay Beach

A Fisherman

Snorkeling time

Here are a bunch of fish and turtle pictures. This isn't all of them, though it may seem that way. :) It's just so hard to pick! You will see that depending on where we were snorkeling, our visibility varied.

We also saw an eel, which was actually kind of creepy. It reminded me of a snake. eeww

Then we saw the Place of Refuge a little closer.

Then we noticed, right there was a little beach with jet black sand. We didn't need to stop on our way here after all, because we were snorkeling right by some of the blackest sand we had ever seen!

Check out how black it is.

Some kids playing in a shallow area.

We were resting after snorkeling and waiting for Brian and Brenda and Daniel liked me looking all bedraggled, so he told me to pose. You know husbands, they think you look great just rolled out of bed and feeling sick! (Well, at least mine does. ;)

Just after snorkeling (I actually like the picture better than I thought I would. :)

Beautiful plumeria - they smell so delicious!

On our way back to the hotel.

I figure I'm in Hawaii, so I should have a flower in my hair, right?

We had heard that Kona Joe's was a great place to go, so decided to stop on our way back. We ended up getting there like 10 minutes after it closed. :(

Some beautiful flowers at Kona Joe's.

close up

coffee rows

coffee close up

We pulled off the road to see another wonderful Hawaiian sunset.

The end of another amazing day in Hawaii.

Day 6:

We were leaving in the afternoon to fly to Oahu for a couple more days. So, since we hadn't actually snorkeled at the beach right at our hotel, we decided to snorkel in the morning, then pack up and head to the airport.

Marriott beach

Can you see the fish? Daniel actually pointed it out to me, but our underwater communication can use some improvement, and I missed it. :( At least he got a picture of it.

I believe it's a flounder.

some cool coral

We saw a couple turtles, which was really cool. Well, this one was pretty friendly. I just stood still and waited to see what direction it was going. No lie, it came straight towards me, so I reached out and just lightly touched it's shell. Well, actually just the algae on his shell. He needed a bath. :)

Ok, sea cucumbers are kind of gross looking as it is, but I actually saw this one move. ick!

We had fun snorkeling and now we are on the way to the airport.

There are such beautiful, colorful flowers along the roads there.

I would say a statue in the airport, but the airport is mostly outdoors. :)

Getting ready to fly to Oahu. We got asked if we were on our honeymoon. Well, if almost 9 years of marriage and 4 kids count, then YEAH! :)