Happy New Year

Happy New Year Beckstrand-style:

- a bottle of sparkling cider in hand up to mouth

- crazy, weird pyramid

- singing

- singing with hand actions

- laughing so hard it hurts

Happy New Year!  Bring on 2012.

2011 was so good to us.

Go UTES!

After 'Christmas morning', we drove to Grandma Marchant's house to watch the Utah Utes win yet another bowl game!  This was shaping up to be a great day.  

The only damper on the day was that Ethan and Sydney would NOT go to sleep in their portable cribs at Grandma's house.  They sat talking, and then crying, and then talking...for almost 2 hours!  When they finally fell asleep and took a 2 hour nap, we were late for the New Years party at Grandma Beckstrand's house.  Ugh.

'Christmas morning' on New Years Eve

Santa Claus has been to our house, just a little late.  As I did some last minute shopping, we wished the cashiers 'Merry Christmas' and had fun explaining that we're a little late.  After being able to shop the after Christmas sales for presents, it was tempting to do this every year!

Grandma Marchant came and joined us for the festivities.

They opened punch balls (I purchased in Hawaii and saved for a last resort for the airport in Los Angeles).

Panda licorice bars a.k.a. candy in this house.

Goldfish in their stocking.  It was one of the biggest hits of the morning.

Snow gloves from the Illinois Marchant family--thank you!

Grandma gave them a school bus that sings "The Wheels on the Bus".  Love.

It was a great morning!

The train set is also a big hit!  We have such great neighbors who give us things their kids don't play with anymore--Thanks Lewis family.  We are re-locating our family prayers from the living room.  They are too distracted by their new toys and start running around and playing before we say "amen".

Final preparations

You must be kidding.  Doug opened the passenger door of our minivan Christmas Day and the door handle broke.  We had already sold it to our landlady and were bummed to have a repair just before we left the island.  With the shops closed Monday, we made an appointment as soon as possible for the repair.  We ended up taking it Wednesday morning--the day we were leaving the island.  This dampened our plans for a fun final day.  He took the kids so I could get more cleaning done.

As soon as he got home, we put the kids down for a nap while I washed the car.  We were shocked when we heard crying and talking from their room after only 1 hour.  This could be a disaster for our plane ride.  I put Ethan and Sydney to work cleaning with baby wipes so I could still be productive while Doug took many items to neighbors, his office, and the University married housing department.

We arrived at the airport with too many bags and were so grateful that Amanda Kunz met us and played with Ethan and Sydney in her minivan so we could check our bags without them running around.

Amanda then took us to her house for about 1/2 hour so the kids could play together and we could get them ready for bed.  We got a little treat--President Obama was vacationing on Oahu and Air Force One was in their back yard.  It was difficult to see from their house, so I caught a little glimpse of it on camera from their road.  It is HUGE.

Ethan and Max had a great time on his tractor as Ethan got a 'free ride' around the house.  He was squealing with excitement.

We hopped on the plane for our 10 pm departure and thankfully, Ethan and Sydney fell fast asleep within 1 hour.  The excitement of being on an airplane had to wear off enough for them to settle down.  They were so excited.  We arrived in Los Angeles and were greeted with a fantastic sunrise with clouds hovering over the ocean.  Photos just don't do it justice.

After a little fussing, Ethan and Sydney were pretty well behaved in the airport.  After all, it was 4 am our time.  Everything went smoothly until Doug had to take a quick jaunt back to our previous airplane (a shuttle-ride away) to retrieve his wallet that he'd left on the flight.  With boarding finished, I faced the decision of whether or not to leave Doug and get on the plane in hopes that he would make it in time.  I thought to myself, "if we miss this flight, we'll be scrambling for another all while trying to keep 2 kids happy...if Doug stays, he will have his wallet and can get home by himself much easier."  I made the call to board with he 2 kids in tow and thankfully, Doug ran up behind me right before I stepped on board the half-full airplane.

We arrived in Salt Lake around 9:15 am and were glad it wasn't too chilly outside.  We had been greeted with warmer-than-normal temperatures.  That was a nice gift.  I walked in the doors of our apartment and couldn't believe how clean and white everything is!  We took a mid-day nap and just feel so grateful to be home!

The jump

Doug was asked to take a photo of himself with his supervisor, Eric Orr.  He could take one fairly boring one and another that was fun in some way.  Eric's idea was for both of them to jump of Laie Point.  Just 2 hours before we were to leave for the airport, we dashed to his house and I attempted to catch a glimpse of them on camera in mid-air.  It proved to be quite difficult so they ended up jumping twice so I could get a good shot.

And a video to prove it.

Laundry

Our landlady, Wally, gave us Christmas gifts yesterday.  We were a tad bit overwhelmed by how large they were with us needing to pack everything into 4 suitcases, so we let E&S play with them as much as possible before we left them behind.  Sydney kept asking to 'cuddle with the bears'.  

While Doug folded laundry and were were about to get them dressed for the day, they each grabbed some pajama pants and asked for help putting them on their heads.  I think Ethan's was a little tight.

Hawaiian sunrise

I kept telling myself that we would live in this house for 4 months, so I never went outside to watch the sunrise.  This morning I heard Ethan waking up at 6:28 am and it was just before sunrise--so I ran outside (in my shirt I wore yesterday and Doug's gym shorts...all our clothes are in the kid's room).

It was an amazing moment when the sun FINALLY peaked through the clouds after watching for an hour.  I was joined by Doug and the kids around 7 am and the sun finally rose around 7:30.  It was worth the wait.

Parasail

Doug and I went into Waikiki this morning and went parasailing.  It was pretty fantastic, even if I was nauseous.  We had forgotten we had to be there early, so although we were going to be there at 9 am (after a 50 minute drive) we had to 'bust a move' to get there just a few minutes before 9 am.  I was car sick when I hopped immediately from the car to the boat.  I took lots of deep breaths and held on really tight to the boat and survived.  It was a great view of the city from the water and it was a great way to begin our 'goodbyes' to the island.

Afterward, we ran a few errands.  We had to stop at Walmart for a magic eraser to see if we could get the crayon off the wall.  We have a few artists on our hands.  The crayons have now been thrown away.  Ugh.

We then went to electric beach with Eric's kayak in tow.  This beach is across the street from an electric plant and there is a large pipe that runs underneath the ocean floor until it ends and releases very warm water into the ocean.  This made for excellent snorkeling.  Not only was the water warm to swimming, but the fish LOVE the warm water as well.  We saw 2 turtles and a lot of fish all congregating around the top and end of the pipe.  The currents are pretty strong, so the kayak definitely came in handy.  It was just a little tricky hopping in and out without tipping it!

Excited to go back to the mainland

Living in Hawaii vs vacationing here are very different.  I have now done both.  I know many reasons I am excited to go 'home' to Utah and wanted to document them so that I can remember these when I get home in a few days and it's winter without a beach in my backyard.  For posterity sake and to remember my experience here...

My bed (sleeping on a futon for 4 months is LONG)

All my clothes (jacket for church--it can be freezing in there)

More than 1 tea towel

A potato peeler (using dull knives for far too long)

Family and friends

Bathroom

Not having to dust every minute (windows are just slats of glass that are like shutters)

Shower door that stays closed (E&S love to open it and say "hi")

Our vacuum

Pantry

All my health food and spices

Vitamix blender

No cockroaches!

Can keep things out on the counter without fear of bug and roach infestation

Wet rags don't have cockroaches in them

Nothing rusted

No cat pee smells when I vacuum

A mop

Clean floors to walk in

Cheaper food and produce!

No moldy shower floor in 1 week

Rubber scraper (tried to buy one at a second-hand store, no luck)

Stores are close (Costco is 5 min away, not 1 hour)

Space for stuff

Nightstand

Doug not crawling over Heather to get out of bed

Printer

Parting is such sweet sorrow, yet such bliss!

Mele Kalikimaka

We have played this song many times today. We woke up and went to church at 8 am for Doug and I to sing in the ward choir.  We came home after a one hour meeting and fixed an extra special breakfast to eat on the porch.  

We opened a present from Grandma and Grandpa Beckstrand.

We built a snowman in the sand with some some green foliage for arms, rocks and shells for the face.

Doug showed them how to destroy the sand-snowman afterward.

Then we had to go inside to warm up from the very windy day.  Sydney had her rain jacket on as well as a blanket around her legs.  She was a happy girl.

Surprise!

I love watching these two kids interact.  Here Ethan is making Sydney laugh on Christmas day.  I will hear this laughter going on while they are in their cribs nearly every day.

Christmas Eve morning

Doug took Ethan and Sydney for a morning jog while I did a bit of yoga by the beach.  It was the perfect Christmas Eve morning.  Too bad it only lasted for 20 minutes until I got rained out...bummer.

Final Friday

We had the Kunz family join us for a day of fun today.  Ethan and Sydney were so excited to see Max and Andrew.  They were also excited to take photos. I helped them take pictures of each other and asked them to "show me your happy face" in preparation for the family photos we've been trying to take all week.  I've scheduled the photos 3 times and the first two times it rained us out and we cancelled.  Today proved that the third time truly is a charm.  

We met at the river south of our house and took turns kayaking together while the other couple watched the kids.  It turned out to be great and the kids had fun together.

Doug and Kevin took a few jumps off the rope swing into the filthy water while Amanda and I watched and cheered them on.

We went back to our house and Kevin and Amanda went to the temple while Doug and I got ready for our photo session.  The photographer showed up and he had to wake up Ethan and Sydney from their nap to get them ready.  Thanks to Amanda for getting their attention and handing out snacks, we were able to (hopefully) get a few good shots.

We ate a BBQ dinner and then headed to the PCC for our last Christmas canoe ride.  Our kids were more than a little tired and so slightly grumpy waiting in line for over an hour...but we made it and it was worth it!