Summer Catch Up

 This was our first real outing with the twins.  We hiked up to Grotto Falls.  We all survived and had a good time.

Kate was a Jester in The Nutcracker for her dance recital.  Of course Blake had to get in on the action.  Kate is a very beautiful ballerina.

 

Kate also had a music recital and was able to play a short song on the keyboard.  She is learning so many things these days.

Here she is at Kindergarten graduation.

Here is Blake holding Bree and Kate holding Kenzie.  They are such good helpers (when they want to be).

Here the twins are about 2 months old.

Bree

                                           Kenzie                           Bree






We were able to do a few fun things this summer.  We spent a few days with Kevin's family up at Brighton.  The kids had a great time playing with cousins.  Here is Bree taking a nap.

 Here is Blake with cousins playing on the ski lifts.

 And here is Kenzie snoozing.

 A little boy's paradise.

 A very picturesque place.  It's too bad our camera is not very good.

The following week Kevin took Kate and Blake to Flaming Gorge with the Christensen family.  Here is Kate "cliff" jumping with her dad.  

They were there for three days and this is how Blake spent his time.  They made him get in the boat once because everyone was going out to the cliffs and he was very upset he had to leave his truck. 

We also made a trip up to Bear Lake with some of my family.  And again Blake drove his truck through the water with his cousin the whole time.  The water was very shallow for quite a way and they had a great time pushing the trucks through the water.

This picture is to show just how stubborn Blake can be.  Our neighborhood play group went to the Fire Station one day and for some reason Blake was not happy to be there.  So here is the group taking a picture with the truck and fireman Dave and Blake is pouting off to the side refusing to come stand in the picture.  He has been begging for months to go their but for some reason he would not cooperate.

This is how we spend a good portion of our days.  Trying to get babies to sleep.

Welcome Kenzie and Bree

Here are some pictures of our new arrivals.  (Though not so new now, they are nearly 8 weeks old.  I will try to get more recent pictures posted soon.)  Kenzie is 1 minute older weighing in at 5 lbs 12 oz and 18 inches long.  Bree was 5 lbs. 5 oz. and 17 inches long.

Kenzie is on the left in the green bow and Bree is on the right in a pink bow.

 

Both Kate and Blake have been very good helpers.  For a while Blake only wanted to hold Bree because he held her first.  But he'll hold Kenzie now too.

 Here Kate has Kenzie and Blake has Bree.

                              Kenzie                   Bree

Eventually the bows fell off and we have to now use other methods to quickly tell them apart.  We try to keep Bree in a pink blanket or the outfit with the most pink and Kenzie gets the purple or green blankets or the lighter pink outfits.  We can tell them apart but in the middle of the night it is nice to have another easy and quick way to distinguish.

Sorry these are out of order.  This is Bree and Kenzie is pictured below.

Kenzie on the left and Bree on the right.

Hawaii

Kevin and I went on a little trip to Hawaii this winter.  It was very nice to get out of the cold and relax a bit.  Though it wasn't really that cold here when we left.  I think it was 50 degrees the day we left and it was in the 20s the day we got back.  We had just found out a couple weeks before that we were having twins so it was very nice to get away for a while.  I am sure it will be a very long time before we get to do anything like this again. 

These first pictures were taken at Hanauma Bay near Waikiki.  We went snorkeling and had a great time.  We saw lots of fish and even swam with a sea turtle.

This is a picture of the coolest mountains we had ever seen but it was taken from a bus window on the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  So it didn't turn out very well.  Our tour guide said when they get their heavy rains there are natural waterfalls between each of the ridges.  That would be amazing to see.

 

This is Kevin playing a game at either the Tonga or Samoan village, we can't remember the name of the game.  But Kevin actually beat the guide.  Way to go!

 Of course we had to try the Poi.  I actually thought it was pretty good.

This canoe they actually use every year for one of the classes at BYU Hawaii.  They take it out on the ocean and make the students navigate only by the stars.   It is all hand made.  The Cultural Center was by far the most interesting thing we did on our trip.  

 We took a day trip up to then north side of the island and stopped at Waimea Falls.  It was a beautiful mile hike up to the falls through a botanical garden. 

 You were allowed to swim in the water at this water fall and this is Kevin swimming into the falls.  The lifeguards said "you're not allowed to swim into the falls, but you are in Hawaii, so . . ."  So Kevin got pretty close but didn't want to push his luck.  The water was pretty murky looking because they had pretty heavy rains the night before and there was a lot of run off.  Usually it's not so muddy looking.

These pictures were taken at the North Shore on Sunset Beach.  We happened to be there during the World Championship Surfing Competition.  Or so we were told.  The surfers were amazing as were the waves but it didn't seem like there was anyone there judging anything.  Just a lot of surfers and several spectators and professional photographers.  It was still pretty amazing to watch.

Here is the view of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head.  It was more of a hike than I thought it would be.  Lots of stairs.

And last but not least a picture outside of Hank's at the International Marketplace as seen on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives, one of our favorite shows to watch.  The hot dogs were pretty good too.