Yesterday

Laie Lookout point, Waimanalo Bay and Kailua Beach. Waikiki and Pali lookout. Sorry to make you jealous but somebody has to do it! I would say there won't be any more pictures, but that would be a lie, because we fly to Kuaui tomorrow.

Too many pictures but I can't help myself

A Test

This is mostly for Natalie and Noel. A little quiz. Can you name that beach?? I tried to put in one little hint as to which beach we are at, but not too obvious. There are 3 different beaches represented. The last photo could be any beach, so it doesn't really count.
Anybody out there that are BYU-H alumni can participate! Or anyone who loves and knows the North Shore!

a few more shots

Had to include a picture of Steve's TINY dorm room. Natalie and Nicole know all about that! The one of Dad is from our walking path this morning...right along the beach. And I love the missionary shot. What a place to serve! Of course it would be a trial for me because of the ocean nearby and not being able to get in....

Bet 'cha you can guess where we are!

So how do you fit it all in? I mean you have to go to the beach, and then you have to go to the pool, and after that there is always the tennis courts begging for attention. And even if you manage to fit all that in, then you have to lounge on the patio and feel the tradewinds while you gaze over the golf course. There is fresh pineapple and mangoes and coconut to eat, and garlic butter shrimp from Giovani's shrimp truck. Now we must rush off to Sunset beach and Ted's bakery (Juri's suggestion).
Oh yes, are we here to put Steve into college. I almost forgot!!!

Birthdays

We leave this morning for Hawaii. So my last entry for Utah is a couple of pictures from the birthday celebrations for Brent Bluth (at their house) and for Steve (at IHOP). For Steve's birthday we took everyone to see a Utah Bee's game. We all said that we have never seen a team play more poorly than that game! Sadly, there was ONE hit from our team the entire game. Doesn't that sound more like a T-ball game than a minor league game? Errors, poor plays, and zero batting. Ugh. We sure didn't see a team that is ranked #1. Oh well. Oh, the girl in the baseball photo is Emily Simons, a good friend of Steve's from Brussels. She is headed to BYU Idaho and it was fun to hook up with her.
Finally, Seth and Heidi, I think it's a great picture of you two! Hope your Dr. appointment is a good one on Friday Heidi. It will be exciting to hear the heartbeat!

Alpine loop

I finally got a shot of Scarlet that I like. I only had to take a zillion!
We had a full day in the gorgeous Utah mountains. We drove the Alpine loop, ate lunch at the Dairy Keen, and then went to Sundance and rode the chairlift to take a hike in the mountains. It was beautiful. And even more beautiful was being together for the entire day! Now we are chillin' on the couch watching the amazing Olympics.

Backyard BBQ

Some shots of last night's BBQ. Poor Heidi wasn't feeling well enough to join us. Get well Heidi! I like the one of the MEN. And don't you love the one of Scarlet taking pictures with her camera? What a crack-up. Dan and Lara, you guys are great!

I'm proud of these

You all know how difficult it is to get a good shot of kids. Richard Grossen manages to get stunning shots of Rach and Tommy so I didn't work quite as hard. But here are the two I like the best of Daphne and Zane. Still need to try harder to get one of Scarlet. And I do like the one of Brauer too. Enjoy.

Trampoline at the Herway's

We are now in Utah! It's our first day, and most of it was in the backyard on the trampoline. What a great entertainer. It keeps everyone busy and active for hours on end. I should have had one. I was always too afraid of injury, but heck, I let my kids do football and skiing and hundreds of other more dangerous things. I was out of my mind. Oh well, don't make the same mistake next generation!
Can you believe how sweet Zaner is to Scarlet. He is a new man. Makes your heart melt. Daph is reading really well and plays the piano. Scarlet likes to tap dance and pretend she is a 'doggie'. Brauer still saved some newborn smell for me. He is tiny and perfect.
I need to get some pictures of Dan and Lara, huh? I will, I will. I'm just having fun in grammie heaven.

Almost as good as being there

Highlights of the wedding. LOVE Uncle Mike and Caitlin doing the twist! Enjoy, enjoy. Just wish we all could have gone. They were so grateful that any of us made it and spoiled us accordingly.
Thanks Mike, Debbie, Cathy, Michael, and especially Caitlin and Chris!

Caitlin & Chris Wedding

It was a picture perfect wedding. So who thinks that Caitlin looks like the movie star on "Italian Job"? I couldn't get my eyes off of her. She was beautiful!
I'll post the movie in a little bit...
But here are stills of everyone but Uncle Mike. I'll make up that deficiency with a magnificent footage of him and Caitlin doing the twist!

The Big Day 08/08/08

A few more pics for the birthday bash. The panthers stadium tour. Normally women can't get into the locker room, but we had our own private tour, so Mel and I were admitted! Then off to the NASCAR racetrack, and one loop on the actually track! (in a van going only 85mph, but still a thrill) To 5 guys for hamburgers (the In-and-Out of NC) Tonight we'll have a BBQ and the cake and ice cream. Thanks for calling everyone! Dad had a great birthday.
We are off to Caitlin's wedding bright and early in the morning.

08/08/08

Happy Birthday Tom!
We are here in Charlotte and having a blast. We have gone to a farmer's market and then downtown for live band music, they call it 'live at 5'. Oh and yes, we even fit in some yoga. We loved meeting baby Tommy. And Rach is a perfect hostess, singing to us and making sure we are thoroughly entertained. It's great to be here with Jake and Mel.

Steve says farewell to childhood

Ok, so maybe that's a bit melodramatic. But still, it was his last Sunday as a regular member of the Brussels International Ward. Friends dropped by to say good-bye (photo:Juri and Vaitiare). He finished his summer job. We went downtown for a last hurrah and of course to buy Leonidas! We have cleaned out his room.
Luckily we have our holiday with all of you before we take him to Hawaii. That will ease us into this 'not looked forward to' event.
What's great is that I have friends that are really worried about me. "How are you doing?" "We'll get you into some new hobbies" "We'll come over for lunch". Lots are offering their kids for me to take care of should I get too lonely. Ha! They know I've worked hard for this!!!
So we take off on Wednesday. See you all soon. Except for Natalie and Noel...sadly we have to wait until October for our visit.