Happy Birthday Kendyl!

Our sweet girl got to celebrate her 9th birthday in Hawaii and it was also on Easter Sunday! When we first started planning our trip and realized her birthday was on Easter at the end of spring break she was VERY excited! Now all the kids want to celebrate their birthdays in Hawaii. In fact, every day Ryder tells me, "I want to go to Wahaii!" He gets the H and W reversed, it's so cute. :)

So when Steve and I flew over for the funeral a couple of weeks before, we loaded up the suitcases with Kendyl's birthday presents.


She was very happy to see her pile of presents Sunday morning.


She got clothes, games, toys, new scripture tote and LOTS of money.





A BIG thank you to everyone who helped her celebrate her birthday!


We went to church for Easter Sunday and enjoyed the wonderful spirit and talks. It was especially nice to sit with Steve and let him wrestle with the kids! :)


After church, we came home for Kendyl's favorite food for lunch--spaghetti! And cake and icecream!

Happy Birthday Kendyl!! We love you!!!!

Kendyl and Papa, her only living great-grandparent.


Kendyl, Brityn and Uncle Paul. He kept the kids entertained with games and movies on his phone and iPad all week.

Sawyer REALLY liked the birthday cake!

Ryder got Papa to blow bubbles for him.

More bubble blowing and popping.

Uncle Glenn, Brityn and Auntie Cheryl.

Auntie Ulu, Brityn and Ryder.

Auntie Carmen and Uncle Alvin.

A HUGE Mahalo nui loa to all of my family and friends for hanging out with us and cooking for us and making our trip so much fun! We love you guys!!!

Spring Break, day 10...

For our family, the Easter Bunny always comes on Saturday. The kids were a little worried that he wouldn't deliver to Hawaii, so they left him a note on where to find them.



They were very excited to find filled easter baskets and eggs all over the place.

Ryder was especially happy about all the candy!

Then we headed to Waimea for their easter egg hunt.

The kids were divided up into age groups. It lasted a whole 2 minutes before the kids cleared the field of eggs!

Kendyl and Brityn were pros and started gathering eggs quickly.

Ryder went a little slower because he only wanted "blue" eggs and refused to pick up any other color. :)

Sawyer was happy with his "one" special egg. :)

The egg hunt was sponsored by Big Save and they had helium balloons for all the kids which were a big hit. Ryder was especially happy with his "blue" balloon.

After the egg hunt we packed a lunch and drove out to Queen's Pond. Same bumpy cane road, only you have to remember to turn left at the monkey pod tree. There are no signs to this place and I only remember coming here as a kid to find that there wasn't enough water to swim.

This time there was plenty of water, but it was nice and calm with the sandbar keeping it just the right depth for the kids.

Ryder FINALLY enjoying the water!

Uncle Glenn was nice enough to pull him around on the boogie board.

Even Uncle Paul showed up...how come you didn't get in the water Uncle Paul?

It was a great place to swim and we all had a wonderful time.

Steve and the kids caught several fish and some bigger crabs this time.

Fun, fun, fun!

Spring Break, day 9...

On Friday morning we got up and colored easter eggs.

We didn't have our "blue jackets" to cover the kids clothes from spills, so we improvised with paper bags. :)

The kids thought it was funny, but they served their purpose and we didn't have any stained clothes. :)

Sawyer would have loved to put his hands in some easter egg dye, but not yet my little man. Maybe next year!

After the egg dyeing we packed up and headed back to Salt Pond.

The weather was perfect and Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Glenn met us there for the afternoon.

Ryder FINALLY made it into the water! It took us a whole week to convince him that there were no sharks in the water.

The girls loved the boogie boards.

Yeah!! I'm swimming in the ocean!!!

Friday night we went to the musical fireside at the church. Thanks to Uncle Kunane I got asked to play the piano for it! It was very nice though with all instrumental pieces that brought the spirit and got us ready for Easter.

Spring Break, day 8...

Wednesday night we had dinner with friends and family at Kekaha Beach and the kids loved it and wanted to come back the next day.


So we headed down the road to the beach across the street.

It is so hard to get a picture with everyone smiling and looking.

This is one of the better ones except Sawyer's eyes are closed.

Now there's a good picture!

This is the view from the house we stayed at.

It had a balcony all along the 2nd story with a perfect view of the ocean.

It is right on the corner across from the beach with amazing views of the ocean.