Oahu is for me and you!!

A very last minute trip to Oahu, yahoo....kind of:)

Hawaii always sound nice I know, but Sunday night at work I got word of a airline friend needing to get her time share filled because she was unable to make it. She offered me the timeshare I just had to pay the cleaning fee.....so I couldn't sleep thinking about it all night and how I could make it work and Monday morning I decided just to do it, and then all the craziness began, checking loads, renting a car, finding out where this place was, digging all the kids summer clothes  back out, getting life jackets, snorkel gear, stuff to do on the plane, charging all the electronics to take on the plane, getting snacks for the plane.....ahhh so crazy!!

Our flight left Tuesday at noon, but we only had a ride to the airport about 930 so we got there early, I am not complaining I love being able to take time and not feel rushed. We got to our gate, waited, got our seat assignments and we were off to Honolulu!! the flight was super easy, the kids are perfect little travelers. Bauer was a little nervous where he was going to sit but was very relieved when he got to sit by mom the whole time. 

As our flight was descending, coming in was truly amazing more beautiful than I expected.

We made it to the car rental place and made it to the Condo on the North East side of the Island.

Tuesday night we played on the beach and just relaxed after a long day traveling.

Wednesday we drove up to the famous North Shore of Oahu, we visited the Waimea Valley, that was amazing as well they had every native plant to the Hawaiian Islands, even the ones that were extinct in certain parts of the island.

Beach time and just relaxing in the evening!!

Thursday morning we made it over to Pearl Harbor and that is where I took the most pics

The kids got a guided tour through the submarine Bowfin!

 Kessler asked me what this was.....ha ha

 The boys were in heaven

 A picture of the battleship Missouri and one of the boats traveling over to the USS Arizona memorial

 One of the many giant ships in the harbor

A steam powered torpedo!

 The Navy Museum was pretty awesome as well.

Battleship USS Missouri

Okay the Hawaiian Temple was probably one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen, and there are many pretty temples out there.

Pretty awesome trick or treating with shorts and flip flops on!!

As we walked down the streets we saw a pattern, the families handing out candy had tables and chairs, lights strung, loud music playing it was so awesome. As we wrapped up trick or treating I said to myself I couldn't wait to do this in Utah next year.....and then I remembered ...its cold there never mind!!

As we were walking back from trick or treating, it was a pretty amazing view. I could definitely handle living by the Temple!! 

We went to this amazing beach were I didn't take any pictures, but pulled this pic of google, it is called Shark Cove, minus the sharks. At least I didn't see any!! It was so amazing to snorkel here. It had all sorts of fish. Kessler's favorite fish was the puffer fish. I have to admit they are cute. There is a big area where the water spills over the old lava rock and so Ben and I snorkeled over to this deep spot and there was a huge bat ray, it's wings were so long longer than my reach and probably longer than Ben's reach. The ray seemed so calm and friendly if you will. Ben and I swam back and he took Kessler over there so he could see the ray.  They got so close the it Ben reached out and touched it. Kessler has become a really good little snorkeler. The least interested snorkeler is Bauer, he will go in once or twice but Alivia and Kessler will be in there all day. Cooper is the explorer. He will go snorkel for a min or two but wants to go look through the caves on the sides where the old lava meets the ocean.

We then went to a neighboring beach where they had big north shore waves on sunbathing on the beach was this turtle. We had been there for about an hour and I saw this huge group of people standing over on the east side of the beach. I soon realized there was a turtle on the beach, I hollered to Liv and we ran over there, she was so excited. At first the turtle looked dead but he was just very relaxed!!

Brutus was his name!!

So happy the mister could show up and hang with us for Halloween. Don't you love my Hawaiian crazy hair, my hair went totally frizzy while we were there, it was so humid!

We had this beach to ourselves almost everyday, we would see a few geriatrics now and then out doing some water exercises but other than that it was a beach all to our selves. I even took off my swim shorts, I had my swim bottoms on still:) It was so funny Kessler came up to me and said mom, why do you have your "swim underwear" on, you need to put your swimsuit on, I told him I had my swim suit on he was confused he doesn't see me get all crazy and wear a real swimsuit that often...

We didn't get the life jackets until Ben showed up, I took Kessler a little ways out snorkeling with out it before Ben got there, he did such a great job if he kept his face in the water but as soon as he lifted his head out of the water he had a hard time treading water. I was in a spot where I could touch, but he did get better and better. 

These two play so well together, they are so fun to watch!

Ben enjoyed the time we were there, he acts all flat and bored sometimes but he loves it deep down. He swam in the ocean a lot, enjoyed the relaxation and soaked up the sun. His skin always freshens back up fills up with moisture and it looks so good, and then within a day or two back in Utah it all dry and sad looking:)

Ben and I decided this is a new tradition is to take a W picture at our family vacays, I encourage any other family to do that too, it would be fun to see where the shadow W shows up.....or shadow H or S or M

The view from our condo was amaz....ing!!! it was breezy and nice, hear the waves crashing and watch the sunrise every morning. The same song always comes to mind "For the beauty of the earth"...

My little sand man!

This was pretty cool to get, we showed up to the local swap meet that we hear a lot about and it was a steal of a deal you could get 10 shirts for 20$ and hair things and many other things for 1$ 

 Some pics of the beach with the big waves, this was a day or so earlier than when we went to swim there.

And of course we made it to a Target it has been a tradition of ours to go visit a Target in basically city we go to.....maybe we should make a goal to see a Target in every state along with the other cool things we could go see. Well we lucked out and got the Halloween costumes at 50% off the boys have been wanting new costumes this year so bad but I told them I would not buy them till they were on sale, well I didn't have an excuse anymore when Alivia pointed out the were 50% off and then another 20% with our discount!!

They had a blast in the condo playing super heroes, they even wore them on the airplane a few passengers were smiling as they went by and said they were relieved that Cpt. America was on board, Cooper had his super man costume on and lots of people gave him a high five!

I wondered if TSA would give us any flack for the kids being in costume but they sent them through with no problems.

Some pics that I don't have right now are the ones we took at Waikiki beach, it really wasn't that important to me to go see it, but I am so glad we did. It is a very beautiful beach!! it has better people watching than the airport that is for sure!!! I will post those pics when I get them some of them are pretty funny. There was this one lady, she was so WEIRD, she would pull him bikini bottom half down her butt and just stand there, I was dying!! it was hysterical.....you should have seen my kids faces they started to giggle and were so funny (they tease about their Grandpa Mayfield sometimes shows a little crack during the summer doing yard work) so they think it is really funny!

So a pretty sweet year this year, we have been blessed!! we have so much to be thankful for, and the gift of travel is been such a blessing I will never take it for granted!! I know Heavenly Father knows how beautiful this Earth is and I appreciate that I get the opportunity to see some of it! Even if it is Lewiston, Idaho-- there is beauty in everything you just have to be willing to see it!

Where did all the bloggers go?

I got to hang with Addilyn the other day we were playing hair salon. She brought me this little chair that Alivia uses for her dolls. We had a good time!

Here is some surprise pics that I get when my kids are handling my phone. Love my hair Stacey!!!

And isn't this a beauty, the things you have to look forward too as your kids get older and run around with no shoes on. I don't really know how kids get planter warts but we have been putting oil on it for a month and it doesn't seem to work like it did on Alivia's foot. I talked to the pediatrician and they use beetle juice/oil for planter warts. I didn't know there was such a thing??

I was scrolling through my blog about a week ago and found myself with nothing to read other than the Provo, Utah....mom bloggers that Jeffery R. Holland referenced in his talk on Conference weekend, but she has 4 million followers so I can assume she feels a little more pressure to blog more frequently. Although I love reading her posts, she is so positive a midst all her trials.

I then came across this news article and agree with it completely, I love blogging and don't see my self stopping anytime soon. My kids love the blog books we have and look through them at least once a week. I recently published our last book 2010-2012 and I think I will give it to the family for Christmas. So excited to see it. But I so agree with some of the things people do and feel sometimes inadequate as a mom, but for the most part the feeling fades quickly and I know that I am doing what I can do right now. Things may change some day, I may stop blogging, delete Facebook, (tempted everyday) so I have cut way back and only will look at the pages/groups that I belong to.....long story just tired of people complaining and then doing nothing about it. I love instagram however, it is so much more fun and light hearted!!

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27375948&nid=1009&s_cid=rss-extlink

Weekend plans!!

Work, work and more work, excited to get to work with some good friends this weekend.

I got called out tonight for a trip, time and a half...yee-hoooo!! Got to start getting ready here in a bit!

Ben is working.......shocker! the weekend before Halloween...cray, cray!!

 Lots of fun things in the mean time.

The 2/4 kids have a Halloween party tonight, ward trunk or treat tomorrow night.

Church Sunday, and I don't teach...phew, so relaxing for the most part:)

Fun-tober

Here are some photos from Ben's remodel. He put this collage together to give to the team for working so hard during the remodel.

We haven't been up to much lately. Other than Alivia planning, making invitations, inviting about 15 people over for a Halloween party she forget to tell me about. Well when I found out we, I was hosting a halloween party on a night that I worked and hadn't planned on. We had to cancel the day of. Sorry to any parents/friends out there who were planning on this fun night. Hopefully we will plan something soon, it did sound fun to have all the kids over in their costumes.

I have been working like a mad women. I had about 50 hours in 10 days, doesn't sound like a lot but airline hours are different.

I am finally getting some answers to my stomach issues, I went to see an endocrinologist about some blood work, thyroid, progesterone, estrogen issues. I think we might be on the right track but can't completely rule out that I would get sick again. Like I have said before I am thankful to have an imperfect body that keeps me going day after day.

On that note, I have been doing some TRX classes, they are fun and challenging. At the time I didn't think my arms, shoulders, legs would be sore but they were. I am also doing my run/walk combo, I have gotten to be a pretty good runner and don't get tired like I used to, but I still like to switch it up by running, and walking on a incline. 

Our fall break (or UEA) was pretty boring, our original plan was to go to Lake Powell but I am glad we didn't do all the planning on that with the government shutdown and all. 

I am getting antsy for another trip sometime. I am thinking January if I can keep up this working schedule I should have some extra cash-0-la to hopefully plan a family vacay, some where sunny and warm is what I am thinking:)

The kids are in full swing of Christmas list, listing.

Alvia is the worst, she loves talking about everything she wants and it changes from minute to minute. Yesterday out shopping we drove past some miniature teacup Chihuahua's and guess what was on her list after that.

I am excited to announce that I go my hair "DONE". I haven't dyed it or highlighted it in a really long time, I have loved that ombre look for quite some time and did a mild version to that. I didn't want to go extreme since my hair is so dark, we had to bleach it to lighten it. I am loving it though I will add more next time.

Falling in Love

I know I am not the only one who loves Fall, but every year I think this is such a great time of year. The weather is perfect, I can start pulling out the kids sweaters and long sleeve shirts out. Pumpkin anything, bread, pancakes, waffles, I even had pumpkin hot chocolate the other day, it wasn't that great but still it's fall!
I am almost over my chest/head cold. I still have an annoying cough and if I talk to much I start to loose my voice.
I have a pretty sweet schedule for October, I got all the trips I normally like to do and some pretty great places to stay. I am working quite a bit, I am hoping to pay for Christmas mostly myself (from my checks anyway) so I am putting myself on call to pick up extra trips you get paid time and half, I have been called out on three so far. I had a really sick mom to be on my flight last night, it was sad to see her so miserable, she was traveling with her 1 year old and he wouldn't go to sleep, I jokingly said to her kids always fall asleep on descent, and he did and that is when she started feeling ill. She was so pale and having some really weird pain in her lower chest area. My crew was so amazing, (captain and first officer)they took such good care of her and even offered to give her a blessing. I hope she is doing better today, I thought about her all night last night.
Ben's remodel is almost done, this Thursday the construction crew hands the building back over basically, I think he is ready to move into the 4th quarter and not have a mess of a store to work in.

The kids were super excited to get the Halloween decorations out and decorated the front yard them selves not necessarily  how I would have done it, (and not to say I might move some things around)

I was taking some family photos for a friend of mine and the kids wanted to come with me, so we did a little mini shoot while we were waiting for them to get there.

 Little diva!

 Cooper opted to wear a hat, after his hair cut incident.

 Bauer posed himself, this cracked me up!!

 Kessler was not into the photo shoot!

 I took a pic of the dog mid yawn, the kids thought it was hilarious!

 Bauer wanted a pic with "his" dog

 Some action shots

And like many other people I loved conference I was able to watch all sessions and so many talks spoke to my heart. I have listened to a few again, they are so inspiring and motivating!

Sick-o's

The head cold bug has mad a mad dash through our house, and I think it may have come from Kessler. It then went to Kessler, Bauer, Cooper, Me (although I was downing "airborne" or the Target brand alternative every day a few times a day before hand.) I think it helped with me not too linger long. Although it has been around longer than I like. I thought my head was going to explode on my flight last night. It is such a weird sensation when your ears are relieving pressure but it squeals like a balloon inside your head.

So this week I have had the opportunity to have a different children home from school with me all day. I think they thought the previous child got to lay in bed all day and watch and unlimited supply of cartoons, drink chocolate milk, and just relax. They did get to relax, but no t.v, no video games only reading and or coloring. Alivia was pretty shocked when she tried to turn on the t.v today. Personally they weren't as "miserable" as they should have been and had a little too much energy for being sick:)

Having them home reminds me so much of how fast time goes by, how the clock never stops clicking as I sit here and can hear my watch, tick, tick, tick, tick. It never stops for joyous occasions or for complete heartaches, they time you need it to stop the most or want it to anyway. Even for time to slow down, ok maybe not when I am working out but for the special moments you want to seal in your heart.

So blessed to have these little sick-o's home with me, I love them so much and am so grateful that our bodies work they way they are supposed to. I have had a few set backs with my health, nothing serious by any means, but nothing that I have ever dealt with either. So learning new things all the time and not taking for granted one breath, one peaceful moment at home, the ability to walk/run, walk/run for miles and having it to do with someone who makes the time "go by fast" is a good thing!

Deal of the century, was a find that Ben got at Target some of our best deals have come from "non-located" items or items returned from on line purchases from people. I don't really know what non-located means other than it goes clearance and it is not out on the floor to be bought and so it finally gets found and it is really cheap. Ben has been wanting to buy the boys for years a basketball standard, and I never thought it was a good idea until now...ha ha 250$ basketball standard for 35$ Yeeee-hoooo!!

I took a pic of poor Ben's head trying to put the dang thing together...nice little reminder of how much he loves his boys!

 I am not a "selfie" kind of gal like some others I know, I always enjoy their "selfies" funny or pretty I like them all. We were on a break at work on Saturday (we had a service class to sit through) and we were being silly and taking really silly selfies, here is one of the "better" ones, I am not a good selfie taker....

 You know when he is sick, he will sleep anywhere and at the most random times. I loved this photo, he is right in the cats spot for her nap and so I loved that she was laying right next to him, what you can't hear is she was purring so loud, I think she loved her visitor.

weekend plans and random photos

 I love finding random photos, it is one of those things that make me happy. In this case it was finding an old memory card, that Alivia got a hold of. Looks like some of the photos are a bit older than others. Enjoy!

 Just in case you were wondering we have a PlayStation 3 :)

 I love volleyball, sad this doesn't get set up all the time, but it was long enough to get a picture of it I suppose.

 This one cracked me up! I am not sure what they are eating, but I thought it was awesome!

 Also if you were wondering what my neighbors house looked like.

 Incredible is still alive and kickin, hasn't ran away so much but has pee'd on my curtains.....SO a new dog kennel for him.

The boat parked in the vacant lot, rumor is it was taken over by a Realtor, does that mean grass in the near future? 

I have a feeling this is a shot of Ben fixing the sprinklers.....we have had a lot of broken sprinkler heads this year, some thanks to the lawn mower, who ever mows the lawn needs to be more careful dang it!

Weekend plans

*Ben is OFF!!! YEAH!! I see a honey do list in his future:)*

*Andrea is NOT off.....BOO!! I have a mandatory service class or as some other flight attendants are referring to it as "charm school". I am excited we were able to choose the day we went and so a bunch of us signed up together. It will be fun to hang out with my work friends.*

*Primary program, my favorite Sunday of the year.*

BYU vs. University of Utah foot ball game, I am sure we will watch it (if it is on) if not I have prepared a special dinner for rivalry night.

Hockey is on this weekend as well. (poor Canucks are 0/2)

I started a NHL fantasy league with the Whidden fam and I draft my players this weekend.....(I have no idea what I am doing)

Onto this post that I read a local website, I loved it so much I have definitely been caught up in some of this but in different ways than the writer expressed. But this is what stood out to me, inserted with my own thoughts.

 My kids wear mostly hand-me-down clothes,{not so much Alivia, but the boys for sure) and I’m working part-time not because it’s fun and exciting but because I need to help pay for soccer (choir) fees and our mortgage. I have long been feeding my kids too much sugar and not enough vegetables (true, true have you seen our soda wall) a problem I am working on but haven’t totally fixed. Our family nights sometimes end with little-boy fistfights. (or somebody getting sent to their room for being a total crazy person)

Here’s another thing: I love being a mom. (AMEN) It’s the best thing that ever happened to me, (AMEN, Hallelujah)and, to paraphrase a quote I keep seeing on Facebook, I don’t want to get so caught up with being a super mom that I forget to be a good one. I want less ironing and more fun, less obsessing about perfection and more recognizing joy. (AMEN< AMEN

That’s why when I see children at church with wet hair and mismatched shoes, I want to throw my arms around their mother and weep. (SO TRUE, although we are pretty good at getting ready for church around here,  but have had our moments)  A dear friend once said that she let her house get messy in order to help other people feel better about themselves that (i love friends like that)  I laughed about that for weeks.( I love laughing) But this friend does make me feel better about myself, and it has nothing to do with the state of her house. She is genuine and caring, positive and real. (I love people that are real, that love me because of me and are not trying to compete with me)

That’s all I’m asking of myself, and everyone else. Let’s be real. If you love to sew and can whip up children’s clothing cuter than anything at Nordstrom (or Gymboree, Old Navy, GAP just to name drop) that’s fantastic. Make a dress for me too. If you are a great cook, or just naturally gifted at elaborate little-girl hairdos, let those talents shine, shine, shine. I will love and applaud your efforts. (Please applaud my efforts too, I am not perfect I am just trying) But if some days the most you can manage is stringy hair and sweatpants at Walmart, (or Target) and you don’t even have enough left in the tank to reprimand your kid when he pees in the cart, that’s fantastic too. As with the Velveteen Rabbit, our imperfections make us loveable, make us real. (AMEN!!!!)

Besides, I promise to crop out your pee-pants kid and add a flattering filter before posting your picture to Instagram. Really, it’s the least I can do.

I want to add as well, I love facebook, instagram and twitter, there are many amazing posts, finds, and info that makes it worth it, but it can also be a very competitive world out there in the social media world. I find myself feeling like people hold back positive thoughts because they are acknowledging that something is awesome for someone else. So when you see me "like" your post or comment, it is a sincere cheer out loud  or in my heart for your happy news or cute pic of your family. It is not just an act because I can or I want you to "like" my status. I am sincerely happy for your situation. AMEN!!

"Don't be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. 'Accentuate the positive'. Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great strong purpose in your heart. Love life." -Gordon B. Hindkley