November & December

Everybody came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. Grandma & Grandpa Barney, Darren & Tricia and their family all came out from Utah. It was a blast as always.

We found out that we are pregnant with our 4th child. I was sick before I even found out with this one. Thursday December 8,2011 Last Sunday we left for Samoa. We took an early morning flight to chicagoband from Chicago to Honolulu. We left the girls with my mom and dad. I miss them like crazy! We made it to Honolulu early Sunday afternoon. We rented a car and went and checked in at the timeshare. It's pretty nice. Only a few blocks away from waikiki beach. We walked down to the international market place, shopped for a while and ate dinner. We went to bed early. The next morning we went to the outrigger and had breal fast out on the balcony. The best banana macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup. We drove throught the mountains of Honolulu looking at houses. We went to the main street on the beach and bought sunglasses and walked around. Then we went to the airport. We miraculously made it on our flight to American Samoa. We were the last two seats on a full flight. I think I was the only white girl on a plane full of Samoans. Interesting flight. There was some crazy turbulence that was throwing the plane around and everybody was screaming. That was one of the first times I've been scared on a plane. Plus I'm pregnant and sick. We made it to American Samoa late that night and got a hotel room. The next morning we walked around town. This place is beautiful. Fruit trees everywhere. We caught a flight at 10:30 am to western Samoa. A little twin otter. It was fun. the ocean is beautiful here. Rob and Sally met us at the airport. The church has a little compound where they have the temple, church and houses for the teachers, etc. we went to the temple. It is soooo beautiful. The grounds are like a tropical oasis. The inside is so clean and pretty.we had to wear the headsets to listen to the session in english. The Samoan language is crazy. I wish I could understand what they were saying. We went to a little flea market and bought some stuff for the girls, my mom, Tasha, and Naomi. Then we ate at a little restaurant on the beach. This time change is killing me. I passed out the second my head hit the pillow. The next morning we took a tour of western Samoa. We saw a little village in the mountains called sauniatu. When Samoans first started joining the Mormon church they were persecuted so they all moved up to their own little village where they could be part of the church freely. DWhen David o McKay was president he came out and dedicated a church. They now have a little compound up there with a church, school, and a whole bunch of houses. They have a big farm and some beautiful waterfalls. We met some of the people up there. They invited us in and made us some cocoa Samoa. It was NASTY! Well it smelled nasty so I didn't drink any, but Dusky drank all of his so they wouldn't feel bad. Then we had a picnic. After that we drove over to the other side of the island and saw the house that Dace and Laurie used to live in. They turned the old school into a nice resort on the beau. I was so pretty. Then we went over to the blow holes. We stood up on this 40 ft high cliff and dusky said " I really want to jump in." I told him to do it and about 3 seconds later I saw a shark swimming right under us. It was crazy! It was probably 6 ft long. We decided NOT to go swimming there. That night we went to Aggie Grays and had dinner and a Samoan show. The little hula girls pulled dusky up on stage and made him dance with them. He was a good sport but he hated every second of it.The next day we caught the ferry over to savai'i. We went to the market there. We bought flip flops and dresses for the girls. Then we went to rob and Sally's house. It's in a village called vaiola. Kind of up in the mountains. It's a little cooler up there, which is a good thing because they don't have air conditioner. We went to a beach for the next two days and rented a folly. I laid in the sun, read a book, went snorkeling. It is sooooo beautiful here. The only thing I don't like is the food.It's Saturday now and we took the ferry back to western Samoa. It was the worst boat ride ever. I spent the entire time in the bathroom throwing up. We spent another day over in Apia and then caught all of our many flights home.

It was an awesome trip. It was so fun to see Rob & Sally. I really missed the girls like crazy though.

The Temple in Apia

DUsky wanted to jump off of this, and then I looked down and saw a 6 foot shark. Glad he didn't do that.

They pulled Dusky up on stage and made him dance with a lovely little Samoan lady.

And you know Dusky, he loved every minute of it.

The Boat ride to Savaii

When we got home we went down to Callaway Gardens and saw the light show.

Christmas Morning....

We got the girls a doll house. Grandpa Barney made it and we decorated it. They love it. They haven't left their room for a week. Kaia wakes me up at like 6:00 am to ask if she can play with her doll house.

We ended 2012 with a little party at our house. We tried to put all of the kids to bed (which didn't work very well) and we played games with Zach, Tasha, Jesse, Carrie, Max & Dorie

October 2011

The girls started soccer at the first of October. THis is their first time playing. They let Sienna move up an age group so they could be on the same team. They love the girls on their team and their coach is AWESOME! He calls them Joe and Shmoe. So that has become their new names. They answer to those names better than their own. Its really funny watching 5 year olds play soccer. They make it in the wrong goal more than they make it in the right one and they get so excited. They are not very aggressive. i know, it's suprising. They don't want to steal the ball from anyone. We need to work on that

If it looks like they are all standing around waiting for someone else to kick the ball thats because they are.Eja is their biggest fanDUsky and Tanner flew the 172 back to Utah. We had it out here for a few months.

It was a long flight but they had a blast.

Then we went to the deer hunt. You didn't think we would miss that did you?

I love being up in the mountains in Utah. It is so beautiful

When we got home we had Kaia's 5th Birthday. I can't believe she is 5. She is so grown up. She is in her last year of pre-school before she heads off to kindergarten and she loves it. She is doing really well reading. She can sound out almost any word. She would sit at her desk and write all day long if she could.

Cute hat Kyden.Everybody enjoyed the cake....

For Halloween Eja was a bumble bee, Kaia was a fairy Princess, and Sienna wanted to be Jessie from Toy STory (Big Suprise!) I tried like crazy to talk her out of that one since she was the same thing last year, but she was not having it. We just took the golf cart and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was fun.