The Sweet Spot

Although Joseph is not fond of sleeping during the night, he sure loves his naps!

Back in the Groove

We are home.

I have done a good few loads of laundry.

The house has been decorated for Autumn (thanks my sis).

Rooms are tidied.

Children are excited to play with their "old" toys.

And we had a fabulous breakfast as per Hyrum's request.

I think we're gettin' the hang of this thing again.

Sardines

The littles and I headed home from the Acreage today. It was so great to spend almost a full week with my parents getting caught up, relaxing, enjoying fresh air, learning some canning techniques and just plain loving life. Here are some of the things we are going to miss including fresh eggs, fresh picked strawberries, limitless quad rides (going to the forest with Grampa), being in the kitchen with my mamma and listening to the children enjoy life.

 

 



Thankfully they slept pretty much the whole drive home for me. Two and a half hours can be a long time with grumpy children. At one point I glanced back at them in my rearview mirror and chuckled to myself. They were like little sardines smooshed together again in the backseat of our little old car. Camilla was most excited to get home because she said she forgot what our home looked like. The first thing she wanted to do was see her bed and make sure her teddies were okay. I suppose two weeks away from home can seem like an eternity to a four year old. Now I just hope we can all survive until Daddy gets home on Sunday!

Getting Along

Dear Mr. Stannix,

Just thought I'd quickly write and let you know how we are getting along.

Fall has quickly come and our days are brisk and cool.

The children don't mind though!

They have been busy helping in the garden and collecting eggs each day.

We started off our morning with a quad ride around the Acreage in the crisp air.

Hyrum practically spends his entire day sitting on that thing and

waiting for someone to take him on a ride.

Everything smelled delightful, but after a few rounds we were cold!

Now that the weather has changed I am looking forward to

making our children some new Fall hats.

 

 

In the late morning Hyrum helped Gramma with the carrots.

She heard him say, "I spray you Gramma" and before she could turn around he soaked her pants.

He's such a character.

Mom and I spent the afternoon canning.

We pickled some carrots and did up some jam the day before.

In the middle of canning I looked out the kitchen window and my heart melted.

Hyrum and Camilla were walking across the yard hand in hand.

Those little moments make all of the fighting from this morning just melt away.

 

 

It was so great to see these two getting along so well!

We miss you like crazy, and hope you're enjoying your time.

 

I Missed This

It's amazing how much you miss the simple pleasures of life when you are on vacation. It was such a nice break, especially on the sleep end of things, but I missed bathing my babies. Tonight I gushed over Joseph as he quietly played and splashed in the tub. When the water became cool I pulled the plug and snuggled him up in one of Gramma's white towels. He smelled so good and I couldn't get enough of kissing those chubby cheeks of his.

These pictures remind me of something that happened a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those funny moments in motherhood that I might want to remember and laugh about later. It all began when I heard Joseph cry in his crib just as I was getting ready for bed. I slowly pushed open his cracked door and picked him up only to discover he was pretty smelly. Everyone else was asleep, so I quietly opened the closet and grabbed a diaper. We crept down the stairs and into the bathroom to change him. Just as I got his bottom all cleaned up, I realized that I grabbed a swim diaper instead of a real diaper. Joe was still half asleep, eyes closed, humming to himself and blowing spit bubbles. I figured I could run up stairs and make the switch before he moved. I came downstairs to discover him sitting, grinning, in a puddle on the floor. Before I could grab him he crawled towards the door through it all. Yuck. I completely stripped him down and ran a quick bath in the sink to rinse him off. Then I had to dry him and go upstairs to find some new jammies. It was quite the ordeal for eleven at night. But still funny.

Goose Bay: Mike's Beginning's

Addie and I flew from Honolulu to Vancouver on the red eye and our eyes were red when we got into Edmonton!  With about two hours of sleep under our belts we headed out to the family reunion; which I am sure Addie will write about later.  It was nice to reunite with my mom's side of the family and see my Auntie Cathy who I lived with for a short period when I was in elementary school.  When I would come home from school every day for lunch I would hear the loud opera music playing and she would ask what I wanted for lunch, and without hesitation I would say grilled cheese and tomato soup.  Now almost every Sunday our family has grilled cheese and tomato soup!  Thank goodness for a loving wife who tolerates the tomato soup every Sunday, even when it's not her favourite. 

That evening Addie and I said our goodbye's for a week and my brother, Andrew, and I headed to the airport for our long journey to Goosebay, Newfoundland.  We flew from Edmonton to Toronto to St. Johns to Halifax to Goosebay, a total of 10 hours of flying, not including layovers.  Andrew and I were pretty tired and I took my first sleeping pill (melatonin), and it worked!!  That evening we BBQ'd steak and had a nice dinner with Dad and Melissa.  When I called it a night my head hit the pillow and I slept for 13 hours, I haven't slept that long since before my mission........that felt good!!

After brunch we headed out on the side by side (souped up golf cart completely closed in with a heater and wipers that has a winch and acts like a quad)

Dad took Andrew and I around Goosebay on the trails and showed us the following locations.

Dad took me to the place where I was born.......no I was not born in a field, where I am standing is where the hospital was on the military base.  The hospital was torn down 12 years ago.  Not many people can stand in a field and say that is where they were born!

It was neat to see the place where my Mom and Dad were married on June 15, 1985.  The church is located on the military base.  My Dad was in the air force and my Mom and Dad met on the base while my Dad was stationed here.

 

We then drove around the base to the runway for the airport where we landed.  My grandfather designed this airport, he was a civil engineer.  One of my favorite things to do is to watch planes land and take off (I don't like being in them though).  So we waited at the end of the runway for the next plane to land and it came right over our heads.  Andrew snapped a quick picture before it went over us!

We then headed over to where my Dad works.  He was trained in the military and works as a radar technician.  He is responsible for doing the maintenance work on military radar equipment.  He spends about 30% of his time in Goosebay at the central location where all the radar information from the satellite stations is sent.  In this station they are able to monitor the other stations all along the northern coast.  I asked him why there were so many radar stations north of Goosebay and he told me they were all built during the cold war because the shortest route for Russia to attack the states was over the north pole through eastern Canada.  It's neat driving around Goosebay and seeing all the bunkers which are covered with earth to hide ammunition from potential bombers.  This is a picture of one of the moitors which feeds live images of the satellite radar stations.  The station in the top left corner is the furthest north and it was snowing there! 

We finished off the day by going to a traditional Newfoundland restaurant, Mary Browns, and grabbed dinner.  It was a great day to learn more about the place where my life began.  I am grateful to be in the place I was born and learning more about my roots; it helps me understand better who I am and the culture I come from, and so far I am proud of the newfoundland culture!

Acreage Adventures

I finally made it to the Acreage late last night. All of the littles were in bed, so I anxiously waited to get my arms around them. Joseph woke up for his night time feeding just as I went down to bed. It felt SO GOOD to hold that chunkster in my arms again and he instantly cuddled in close. He was happy and good for Gramma and Grampa, but I think Gramma will enjoy getting a full nights sleep again! I fed him his bottle and snuggled him on my chest for a little while. It just felt so natural and good to have him back in my arms after a week. I couldn't kiss his chubby cheeks enough! Since Daddy is away in Goosebay I get to share the bed with Hyrum. A few minutes after I crawled into bed he scooched across and snuggled his tiny body into mine. It's so great to be home! In the morning I surprised the kids with their presents. Camilla wore her new dress to church and it looked darling! She also managed to con her brother into letting her play with his new Ukulele.

 

 

After church the littles changed to help Gramma with the chores. I couldn't get over Hyrum's "farmer John" look and his stance as he talked with the chickens. I missed that little man and his curly blonde locks so much!

 

 

Camilla and Hyrum helped Gramma collect the eggs. Just as we left the hen house we noticed the rooster was out. We got him back where he belonged and then noticed a whole bunch of chickens were up in the top garden. Hyrum was all over it and gladly helped coral them back to their pen.

I think we will be spending a few more days here before going home. It was so bittersweet driving away last night, looking at Mr. Stannix in my rear view mirror, but looking forward to seeing the children all at the same time. While he's away at his Dad's we are going to enjoy the Autumn air at the Acreage and help Gramma with some canning and gardening.

Stannix Reunion

 We got home from the airport today at 10:00am. Mike was flying out tonight to Goosebay so we ran around in a whirl for a few minutes unpacking and organizing and doing laundry. Then we both crashed and ended up waking up just when we were supposed to be at the Stannix reunion. We scrambled to get ready and then we were off! Mike's Aunt Cathy was down and wanted to see everyone before she went back East, so we gathered at Hawrelack Park for a little BBQ and visit. It was really great! Thanks for all the work everyone put in!

Mike's Aunts and Uncles

(minus Uncle Bill)

The Cousins

(Minus a few)

Hawaii: Diamond Head

Mike really wanted to do a hike before we left the island. Since we had a ton of time to kill today we decided  to hop on a bus and climb the Diamond Head Crater. Part way up a couple asked us to take a picture for them. They were driving up to the park and later asked if we wanted a ride. We decided to walk through the tunnel and up so that our entrance fee would be less. The funny part is that just as we were heading down, we passed them on their way up. The view from the top was spectacular, but the hike itself wasn't particularily impressive, it just made me miss our mountains at home. It was however pretty steep and included a few stair cases and a dark, narrow tunnel.

 

Waikiki from the top.

Awesome reefs and blue blue ocean.

 

Since we were heading to the airport before dinner we decided to eat early. We wanted to eat at the cheesecake factory the entire time we were there, and finally did. The place was busy, and huge! The food was great quality and super good! I ordered a pizza and Mike got this chicken avocado sandwich with yam fries. I ate one half of his sandwich and he helped me with the small pizza. I really love splitting meals and getting a taste of everything.

 

My favorite part was the million types of cheesecake they had on their menu. Mike ended up ordering vanilla bean and I got a raspberry white chocolate swirl. They were so sweet that it was almost impossible to finish them. I do think that cheesecake may be my favorite dessert.

Yumm-o!

Hawaii: Laie Temple

Today was our last full day in paradise and we wanted to see some sights and spend some time at the temple while we were here! We decided to rent a car and spend the day checking out the North Shore. We had taken the drive on Tuesday when we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, but wanted to go again just to see the breathtaking mountain ranges. So we left pretty early in the morning and took our time going to the temple just so we could stop along the way and take pictures.

 

 

We also made a stop to get pictures of Chinamans Hat. It was one of Mike's favorite things and he wanted to paddleboard out to it one day.

 

 

The rest of the drive we enjoyed watching the waves crash along the shoreline and gazing upon the green mountain ranges. They actually filmed Lost in one of these mountain valleys, and since it's Mikes favorite TV series we stopped to grab some pictures of that too.

 

 

 

I think next to our very own Rocky Mountains, this is one of our new favorite mountain ranges. They were seriously so pretty! After a quick breakfast we made it to the temple nice and early. I was glad to be able to attend a session there with my sweetheart. What a beautiful place!

 

 

 

We enjoyed a walk around the grounds after and then headed back to our awesome little rental car for our next adventure. We drove along the North shore scoping out beaches and spent the afternoon in the ocean at Waimea Bay.

 

 

Later in the afternoon we rented a stand up paddle board and ventured up a river which lets out into the ocean. The guy at the little shop we rented from told us that if we went up the river we would probably see some turtles. We decided to rent one board because it would be cheaper and more fun to double. I layed on the board and Mr. Stannix stood above me with his feet on either side and off we went. I think the guy was doubtful that we would be able to make it without falling off, but we're awesome like that. Half way up the river Mike spotted a turtle. I couldn't see it right away because of my angle to the water. It was the HUGEST turtle I have ever seen! When it swam beside us under the water it was the size of half our board and definitely the width if not more. We followed it around the river for quite some time. It's no wonder they like it there, the river is warm and more shallow. I couldn't see the bottom however and was a bit scared to fall off. Thankfully we rock at paddle boarding and didn't fall off once. I grabbed some pictures on our waterproof camera but will have to get it developed before I post any here. Our rental came with a free snowcone (or shaved ice) from the shop next door. It was super yummy! We enjoyed it on the sea wall overlooking the sailboats. Just as the sun started going down we rinsed off and changed for dinner. We caught the sunset on a quiet beach near the bay. It was beautiful! I love watching the sun sink into the ocean at days end, especially with my sweetheart!

 

 

 

 

When the sun had finished sinking into the ocean we made our way to Mililani for a late dinner with Elder Manoa. We ate at Zippy's and got a taste of some local food. I guess it's where all of the locals eat and one of the first places Elder Manoa went when he got off his mission. They are all over Hawaii and the place was busy. We ate and visited until it got super late. I again enjoyed some more mission stories. We said goodbye at the door, and visited some more outside. We then said goodbye and visited at the corner before heading to our cars and going our separate ways. It was a good way to spend our last evening on the Island. I'm pretty sure Mike wants a Honda Fit now to zip around the city. We fly home tomorrow night and I can't wait to hold, hug and smooch our kiddos!