Paradise

"Secret Beach"....near China mans hat, but Natalie really did drive down a road that was marked 'closed'....This beautiful little spot is used by the Kualoa Ranch for weddings, but since all Hawaiian Beaches are open to the public, we enjoyed this lovely spot as well.

Deep discussions.  This is the secret beach.  The water was as calm as pool water.  You can see China Mans hat in the distance.

The view from at the end of the Lighthouse Trail.  The beach on the left side is the one we went to after the hike for a nice swim.  

The lighthouse.

You can see the lighthouse on the edge of the mountain if you know where to look.  We loved this beach and the clear water and silky sand.

On Monday the kids missed school (again!) and we joined their parents at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu where they had had an overnight vacation.  We swam at the pools and then before we drove home we stopped for shaved ice at Vintage Shaved Ice.  Best yet.

Pounders Beach

Banyan Tree and yet another secret beach next to Turtle Bay.  We hiked to a point where there was a pillbox.

Kaena Point.  Drove 1 hour, and hiked one hour to the point for this great view!

We stopped to eat our picnic lunch at Kaena Point.  Hiked an hour back to our car.  It was a 2 1/2 mile hike each way from the car park.

The flowers and fauna are so unique.  And the birds were gorgeous.  

Hiking with Natalie is always an adventure.  Hiking to Hamama Falls

Hooray, we made it to the Falls

Tori had her Christmas Ballet recital.  She can strut her stuff.

Sleep over at Grammie and Pops....while Natalie and Noel go to the Eagles/Jack Johnson concert in Honolulu with friends.

Judd Trail Hike.  It was muddy, and we had to cross this small river.  Fun to be together.  The girls were troopers.

Island Vintage for shaved ice.  Way better than Matsumoto's.  Sorry guys, but it's true.  

Natalie took this photo....we were enroute to Honolulu and missed it.  Still, from her backyard, what a shot!

PCC for an afternoon with Elder Uchtdorf....well, he sat in front of us, that should count.  We also were able to hook up with Janelle and Verdonn Simmons for his 65th birthday.  We managed to surprise Verdonn, just showed up at their hotel room (Ritz-Carlton in Honolulu on the 20th floor).  It took Verdonn a solid 20 seconds to register who we were!  Had a fabulous time catching up after so many years.

The dancing at the Fuji village was very intense and very good.  We also did the night show, but I like the village a bit better because you get to be up close to the dancers.

All of us together making our Christmas wish.  Santa in Hawaii gets to wear his shorts and sandals. 
Thanks Natalie and Noel and girls for making our month in Hawaii awesome!

Hawaii is the place to Breathe

 We are lucky Natalie and Noel live in Hawaii.  Gives us a legitimate excuse to come for a month.  We are half-way through our time here.  It is impossible to savor it properly.  We get some tourist time (shaved ice, shrimp trucks, snorkeling and swimming) as well as local activity experiences (elementary assemblies, dance recital, church and temple, etc)

The beach behind their house, on the 'rock'

First day in Hawaii we get a tour of their beach

Natalie gave us leis to welcome us.  We attended an assembly at the school because Isa was awarded 'Super Citizen of the Month'.  

I love how the assembly is outside.  Every kid just brought their own chair from their classroom.  The school campus has more roosters/chickens than kids.  And the principal has to send home notes:  Please remind your child to wear shoes to school!  Even at church they only wear slippers (flip-flops) 

The botanical garden in Kaneohe

Bryn in her hip/hop dance recital

Beautiful hike with astounding views in Kailua.  We have done several hikes, and this one tops the list.

Outstanding Thanksgiving meal prepared by Natalie and Noel!

Christmas fireside at the temple visitor Center

Paradise Cove swimming with turtles

Kahana is now my favorite beach.  Firm sand and surrounded by mountains

Pop has an ardent admirer.

Kahana Beach.  Stunning location.

The waves were up to 45 feet.  We saw them surf on 30- feet waves.  Crazy guys.  Amazing to watch.

It's true.  This place is amazing!

Two Months Have Passed

It's conference week-end.  We are watching all the sessions with Suzanne.  She was with us in Rome for the April Conference.  No more HT/VT was announced, but ministering is now implemented.  Fun to be with her in SLC for this Oct session.  Two hour meeting block was just announced.  Everybody is happy!

Now a re-cap for the past two months.  Retirement has been super busy.  Re-entrance to the US, and returning from a full time mission has been a very busy transition.

Colie had lung surgery to remove a tumor.  Her recovery was brutal, dealing with antibiotic reactions and not being able to lift anything heavier than her toothbrush for 3 weeks!  This photo shows us bringing her home from the hospital, and her first desire was a hamburger from In & Out!  We brought her to Suzanne's for the first night for a quieter transition to her home with a baby and toddler.

Watching Cora and Juliette for 3 weeks was our opportunity while Colie recovered.  I think this smile from Cora is actually for Cindee so she will feel better after losing her dog Max.

Juliette prefers to be outside, so outside we would go!

One project we undertook was to clean up and paint our garage.  Tom felt this project could wait, but needing a clean place to work from was essential for my mental health.  So here is the BEFORE

And here is the AFTER

The painting of the garage was all made possible because of good friends.  None of us take for granted our good friends.  They help make our lives more livable.  The Waltons have just moved to Utah themselves, and are in the middle of painting their own house....but they donated a full Saturday to help us out.  Larry Green did the same.  We couldn't have been more grateful!

Our builders.  From Left:  Todd Green is the foreman, (then me), Mike Hewett the owner of King Construction, and Ryan.  To date there hasn't been much progress that you can see.  Supposedly the renovations are marked for Nov 1st to be completed.  It would take a miracle and much more man power and time dedication for that to come to pass.  My guess is completion after the first of the year.

Colie healed and we took off for BYU Education Week.  One of our favorite classes was with Lynne Wilson:  "When the Doors of Heaven Feel Closed"...She is an amazing woman.  Still dealing with cancer, going blind, her optimistic trust in Christ is powerful.  We didn't attend all day, everyday for 5 days, but the classes we attended were fabulous.  

Tom left for South Africa the last day of Education Week (Charlotte Walton attended the last day with me).  While he was away for a week, Suzanne and I took the opportunity to go to NM and visit Mom.  What a delightful time we had.  There was lots of cleaning, card playing, and visiting with Mom's friends.  

One day I collected her mail and she received her renewed Driver's License at age 95.  As her child, I wasn't so happy about it, but Mom was thrilled.  My feelings were similar to giving a 16 year old their first license!

Our next 'event' was being invited to be the 'support team' for Seth when he biked the LotoJa Bike race.  

Heidi and the kids surprised Seth by greeting him at one of the food drop zones.  Heidi and Seth had previously agreed on a different stop, but Heidi came to this one and it really was fun to see how happy that made Seth.

This is one happy Daddy.  He was so thrilled to see Heidi and the kids.  

I think Seth had already biked for more than 7 hours at this point.  

After the bike race we stayed a few days together in Driggs.  These boys stripped to their undies so they could swim in this gorgeous lake.

We also took the opportunity to take the chairlift up to the top of Targhee Ski Resort.  I rode the chairlift up with Jonah.  He hung on for dear life and I was loving it!  On the way down however, he was his usual active self.  That was much tougher but we made it down safely.

While up in the Idaho area we stopped for a few days to visit with Dan's family and Steve's. family.  We were fortunate to be there for Scarlet's 13th b.day and the beginning of her teenage years!  No photo of Lara or Zane but they were there.  Such a busy, active family.  But they carved out time to chat and talk and play together.

With Steve's family we got to eat Mexican food.  We also toured where Steve works and his office, and it was the first time we got to see his home.

Natalie came for a week.  We spend every spare minute in the mountains enjoying the Fall colors.  We hiked, we took the chairlift at the resorts, we had a girls get-away in Park City.  

And we took a day to go to Provo to do temple work, specifically sealings.  It was our first time to worship at the Provo City Center temple.  Gorgeous.

And just last night, we went to a BYU game with Steve, Felicia and Kent.  It was fun to experience the ambiance of a live football game.  It was not fun to have BYU stomped by Utah State.