Preschool Graduation

Brynn was able to finish up her 2nd year of Ms. Jaimi's preschool just in time for our move. (Thank you to everyone for being so willing to squish the last day/graduation in for us!) We literally were rushing the packers out our door Thursday evening (May 14th) so that we could make it - we didn't think we had very much to pack for professionals, but geez they were slow! It was the cutest little program. Ms. Jaimi is so talented and is amazing with the kids. We are so grateful she has been willing to share her talents, that presence will be missed.

Class of 2009: Summer Thomas * Rhyan Smedley * Brynn Wilson * Christopher Moore * Trevor Owen * Sam Tipetts
Here they are gettin' down with the ABC song - I only wish I could have gotten a front view of Ms. Jaimi...she sure had some moves ;)

Ms. Jaimi taught them the Mexican Hat Dance. It worked out perfectly since there were 3 boys and 3 girls in their class. Brynn's dance partner was Sam Tipetts - she said she was so glad Sam was her partner because they danced so pretty together :) I would have to agree.

I guess you could consider this their Physical Education section. They were too silly...



This evening was also the last time Brynn got to see most of her friends. She handled all of her goodbye's very well and always did it with a happy smile and a hug. Because she was looking forward to this with optimism, and wasn't sad, it made it easy for me. What a strong little girl! I don't know if I could have handled seeing her heart ache.


(Brynn with Lauren Moore, Trevor, and Summer)

P.S. It is my current mission in life to figure out how to get Tyler potty trained so he can go to preschool this fall. I'm struggling, so if anyone has any hints for a little boy who can figure it out but doesn't want to stop playing to go sit on the potty PLEASE let me know. I tried the potty sticker chart, cool character underwears, and treat bribery that all worked wonders with Brynn; but he could are less about that stuff so I'm lost and confused.

Good News, Bad News

Actually, I prefer to always start with the bad news, ending on a good note is always happier. So here you have it:
Bad News: The time finally came to pack up the house and move from Arizona.
Good News: It is time to be moving on to a new phase in our lives and there is a lot of excitement that comes with that.
Bad News: We had to say goodbye to people we love - even though I'm not one who can say goodbye and so it was just implied.
Good News: We got to spend 4 wonderful years by PJ's mom and brothers and formed amazing friendships with people that have impacted our lives in a way that those relationships will always be there.


(and lots more people I don't have pictured 'cause I'm not on my computer at home)
Bad News: The drive out was L-O-N-G!...with one incident of Dylan exploding in his carseat and one scary hotel which unfortunately I didn't get pictures of. And yes, this is all we saw of daddy for 3 days straight...
Good News: The drive is over and we had happy kids who were so good the whole time! Yes, I got to look over at this darling thing nonstop...


Bad News: Our housing situation is such that all our stuff will be moved straight to storage for 4 weeks, which we hadn't planned for.
Good News: We were able to get a house in the new neighborhood on base that we wanted to live in...just have to wait for, and we get to spend that waiting time with my parents (who are now only 3 1/2 hours away from our new area! yea!).
Bad News: Even though the new home comes with many perks, the fenced yard is not large enough for our beloved "Pirate Ship", aka, swingset.
Good New: My parents will soon be the proud babysitters of a wonderful swingset because they have a large enough back yard.
Bad News: The weather here in the midwest is a beautiful 60 degrees...which most people would consider good news except to us this is pants and blanket weather and we are a slight bit chilly.
Good News: We will get over it and enjoy the non 100+ degree weather and become accustomed to it all too soon.
Bad News: We are missing our home and friends...
Good News: We get to make more...

Hawaii Vacation

Here we are, Thursday April 30th, upon arriving at the airport in Hawaii. We received our lei's (Thanks Mike and Amber - Megan's cousin!!!) and met up with our friends Megan and Jared Baker.

We stayed at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki. We had originally booked two rooms but when we got there we upgraded to a suite - and the whole reason behind that was so that we could have this wonderful space to hang out in and play games every night until the wee hours of the morning. OK, really Megan and I were dead by about 11pm every night but it was still fun. The boys told us if we could ever stay up until like 3am they would let us order room service ('cause that's what we had been looking forward to doing in Cancun) but no such luck.

On the way over to Hawaii, Megan had been reading her beloved Food Network magazine which happen to highlight the best burger from every state. Well, Hawaii's burger was called the Loco Moco and consisted of a bed of rice, topped with a burger, a fried egg, and then gravy with onions and mushrooms. I like all of those things, and since I was in Hawaii I figured I should try it out. That first night we went to dinner at Don Ho's, and sure enough, they had it. Not so yummy really. I couldn't get through it, but at least I lived it up while I had the chance.
Not to worry, there was lots of other good food to be found.

Friday we got up bright and early and headed off to Hanauma Bay to do a little snorkling.

I tried it out and could handle the equipment but it was the "huge" fish that freaked me out. So Megan and I were very content to stay on the beach while the boys had their fun.

And then we found the most secluded, beautiful beach I think I'll ever see (on Bellows Air Force Base). Here they all taught me how to boogie board.

Saturday we went to the Swap Meet...and ate...
Sunday we went to church , ate shoreside on base at the Wright Brothers Cafe (after we finally found it since the boys wouldn't stop and ask for directions) , toured Pearl Harbor , and hiked Diamond Head where I had my first panic attack (because my husband insisted on dangling off the side of the volcano).

Monday we visited the Temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Tuesday we visited the Dole Plantation where we had pineapple icecream for breakfast. Then it was girls vs. boyz in the worlds largest maze. The boys thought they would beat us bad. And despite our best efforts they did win. However, we only came out 8 minutes behind them - which isn't bad considering we were all in there for 45 minutes.

And it was Cinco de Mayo so we ate Mexican for lunch. Then went snorkling on the North Shore. And hit up a movie, Taken, at night.
PJ really wanted to hike to a waterfall so Wednesday we scoped out a good place to go and headed off. We were pretty sure we were in the right spot but when I saw the Hunting Area sign, and realized neither of our husbands were Eagle Scouts, I started to question our judgement...

Our usual seating arrangements in the car as we drove all over the island...

Thanks to all of our military discounts we saved a lot of money.

It was an amazing trip, with wonderful friends, and lasting memories. We were very sad to see it end.