Lou

Little Livi Lou, or just Lou these days.

She is one spicy little chica, it is total payback for my saucy mouth when I was younger but as she gets older, the better heart to heart talks we have.

Some of our talks lately....

Her cousin, her age has to start wearing a bra:)

Why she has a hard time getting her homework done.

Why she can't fall asleep at night in a timely manner.

Why some friends don't get along with other friends and no matter what we try to be nice to everyone.

Having her feelings hurt because someone said she was ugly.

Having a very lengthy discussion about how to keep those thoughts from affecting they way you feel about yourself.

She asked me if someone said something rude about someone, should you go and tell them....another long conversation.

She is growing up, she knows right from wrong, she can tell when someone has a low self esteem and tries to make them feel better about themselves.

She has an awesome sense of humor!
An she loves Instagram!

Kessles (Ben's nick name for Kessler)

Today was a pretty lame day, I had a really hard time going to sleep last night and took 2 tylenol pm around 9ish. My mind wouldn't shut off for one I felt bad for saying no to crew support (SkyWest schedulers) for a stand up they were trying to cover desperately,  but I had a massive headache. 

But it worked out for the best I felt good this morning except for Tylenol pm hangover, I ended up taking a 3rd pill around midnight because I couldn't sleep.

ANYWAY, I got up got my YW stuff going, that was also keeping me awake last night thinking about as well, I just had to make a program but since we got this new computer I haven't organized any of my diggi scrap stuff so it took me a little longer than usual.

What I wanted to blog about today, is that Kessler came to me, Bauer's friend came over to play and Bauer and Kessler are kind of a combo pack these days, and Kessler was so EXCITED to go he came running in for me to help him put his shoes on, he doesn't know how to tie them yet, so he sat down and said "Mommy will you help me learn how to tie my shoes" ...."Yess Kessy of course"  he then said "will you help me everyday until I know how to do it" (in the sweetest voice ever) 

Since I am trying to recognize messages from God that are sent just for me, that was it. I was so happy in that exact moment to be a mom, and so honored that he wanted me to help him and it made me even more grateful to have these opportunities. I will be so sad when they are gone (as I am sitting on a beach in Hawaii, watching other peoples children play in the waves:)

But seriously, there is nothing I would rather do.

 I would never change any of it for anything, I would do it all over again, even at 36 years old, I would have 4 more if I could......blessed beyond words.

O Remember, Remember!

I LOVE this quote!! I especially love the part that says, "move at a pace that is comfortable for us" and "have the maturity to stop trying to prove something!"

So since I am few days behind I am moving at a pace that is comfortable for me. I will sum of some of my thoughts lately!

In YW a few weeks ago, we taught a lesson on this talk, I remember very clearly hearing this in conference a few years back and wondering how I can apply it to my life back then and re-reading the talk recently I felt very strongly to follow through with the way I felt back then as I did reading it again, so I thought I would start January 1st, 2014 but since for the month of November in the past I have tried to blog everyday about what I am grateful for, I think I am going to try and start
"to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness."

I am going to ask myself every time I blog for the next year,
"Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him."
I know I was shown God's kindness earlier this week, we lost the dog {again} and at first I was frustrated and thinking "why me? "what is wrong with THAT DOG! I quickly changed my thoughts and said a prayer in hopes that we would be able to figure this out being so far away. I wasn't very positive that my prayers would be heard and that it would be like last time 200$ later and "free"dog that has cost me more than those designer hybrid dogs!! I even thought I am done with this dog, we were sitting in a mall in Honolulu eating lunch and the kids asked about him, I told them that our neighbor couldn't find him, I hadn't mentioned anything not wanting to upset them, but I didn't want them to get home and not know what was going on.

Alivia's eyes welled up with tears and so did Bauer's, Kessler's lip started to quiver, Livi then let out this huge sigh trying not to cry. We talked about how much money it would be, and that would mean less of a Christmas. They all banned together saying they wanted their dog back, they wanted to find him, Christmas was important but so was the dog.

We made it home and made and as I was unloading some stuff from the suburban while the kids were at school and I saw the animal control officer start to drive down our street, I stopped him and asked him about any reports this last weekend. Well I was pretty sure that was him, so I drove down to the shelter and they walked me through like I have done before and there he was whimpering when he saw me. 

One of the blessings was is that I didn't get a ticket this time. The officer just dropped him off. I knew I was blessed for having the faith, even with a bad attitude to ask for help.

Another was the happiness and appreciation the kids showed having him back.

And lastly, it is always hard to come home from being gone to a not so clean house, well an amazing friend of mine came over and cleaned my house for me, It was such a blessing!! I am so thankful for the time and effort it took out of her busy life!! I am thankful for the kindness that I have been shown!!

As I take on this challenge I will go at a pace that is comfortable for me, I am looking forward to trying to see more of God's kindness in my life and writing down some of those experiences.  

If any of you would like to join me I would love it, I truly am uplifted an inspired from those I love, I would to hear your thoughts as well!!

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!