Aloha

Let me explain: My grandparents own a condo in Maui & when we had the business, we bought everything on an air-mileage credit card, so we had a lot of points that needed to be used. So we headed off on December 31st for a nearly free trip to Maui. Tyler & I have been there once before for our 1st anniversary & we celebrated our 3rd there this year. The best part of the whole trip was Vander, of course. To babies, the world is such an incredible place filled with the most amazing stuff that adults constantly take for granted. Like sand and water- Van spent hours every day plowing through the sand, sifting it though his fingers, tasting it, throwing it, filling things up with it & finding things in it. The only thing better than sand was water. He would splash and laugh, kick and smile the whole time- no matter how cold it was. (Only the pool & waterfalls were actually chilly.) We got to see tons of whales & their babies jumping and splashing. We spent almost every day at a different beach, we went scuba diving for the first time, boogie boarded, hiked through bamboo forests to hidden waterfalls, snorkled and had a blast! By the end of the trip we were excited to get home & get back into the "real world", but it was a wonderful trip.

Tha Magic of Christmas

There is nothing like an awestruck baby to bring back that incredible feeling of magic in the air at Christmastime. I have to admit that over the years Christmas has fallen on my list of favorite holidays to almost the bottom. In my defense, I feel like it has been too commercialized & my family has been so blessed that finding something we need or even want is often a huge challenge. There was even a guy in our ward who spent all winter looking for a Nativity to put in his yard. He finally found one in Utah, but he was really disappointing that nobody sells them. This year was different because Van was captivated by every sound and sight of the season. It reminded of why I used to love it so much & I nearly forgot all the reasons why I have less than wonderful feelings about Christmas. He didn't understand anything that was happening, but he didn't care either. He knew there was something magic about Christmas and I had the most wonderful holiday this year because of him!