Maui, Hawaii

Well, I have been waiting to put pics on here of our trip, because I took so many, I had to delete some to make more room on my card. I downloaded them to my brother-in law's computer and have had trouble getting them back on my own to make a slide show. Enough about my troubles! I am still missing a bunch in the slide show, but this will have to do. Hawaii was wonderful. Nelson and I went with Spencer (his brother)and his wife Trina, Jackie (Nelson's sister), and Benson (the youngest brother of the clan). We arrived on Wed night, after a full day of travel. We were all starving from the long trip. We flew out of Vegas, so we left our houses at 6am, drove to Vegas, then flew from there at 3pm...arrived in Hawaii at 7:30 there time...too dark to see anything :( On an educational note: if you ever fly to Hawaii....eat before and take lots of food on the flight. They don't even give you pretzels or nuts. Only drinks...then you can buy a box of snacks or a mini can of pringles....not very satisfying for a 6 hour flight!!! Apparently after 9pm the city of Kehei, Maui closes down. Well the restaurants anyways.(Nelson and I thought we were in Park city for a second!) The only thing to do there at night is go to clubs. (Or so we quickly found out!) So after a quick stop at the grocery store, we had sandwiches for dinner, and went to bed! Thursday we went and hung out at the beach. We attempted to body surf the waves...haha...and we hung out at the beach most of the day. That night we went on a dinner cruise in Lahaina. It was fun to sit on the top of a boat, be served, and watch the sunset. Oh, and everywhere you go in Maui includes unlimited drinks. We took advantage of that and drank a million and one Mai Tai's. (Virgin of course!) But they were yummy. It was very fun! The first couple of days it was hard for me to feel like I was suppose to be doing something. A little wierd feeling to overcome. I felt like I should have been seeing what my kids were doing...or where they were! So Friday morning, we got up, bought some boogie boards and rented some snorkeling geer and headed for a beach. The Boogie boards were fun....if you didn't get pummeled by the millions of waves, which I did...one too many times. After eating it a few times....I had to take a break. But catching the right ones...that was fun. You ride it all the way to the beach and it is fun, until you stop at the shore and all the sand in the water goes EVERYWHERE...and I mean..EVERYWHERE! We tried to snorkel...which...being the non-swimmer that I am..was difficult. Everyone else loved it, but it was a little terrifying to me. It wasn't the calm clear blue waters I pictured snorkeling in. It was the rough waves of the sandy ocean water, by a coral reef. It was not being able to see too far in front of yourself and feel in control of where I was....(again...I am not the best swimmer...probably why I was so nervous!) Besides, I stuck that thing in my mouth....not good for me...I had to try not to gag and breate at the same time! Well, it must be a sport that needs to be acquired. I would love to try it in a controlled environment. I know, I am a baby! Oh well! So after we had enough of the beach, sand, being thrown on the ocean floor by the waves...and even a little too much sun, we called it a day and went home. Of course we found an Ice Cream Parlor that had the best icecream (Coconut/Pineapple was my fav)...so we went there too....everyday we went there!!! :) (And can you believe I didn't gain any weight while on vacation....I can't!) Although I did still excericse most of the time I was there! :) Ok, if you are still with me on this novel...we are on to Saturday. Saturday we went to Lahaina again and went whale watching. Very fun actually. When you see one from 500 yards away, it is exciting and everyone on the boat "oohs and aahs!" Then when you see one from 100 yards away, all you can say is "Holy Crap!" It was fun...and a little unbelievable. After the whale watching, we were hungry, so we ate at Bubba Gumps! That was a fun place to eat. Sunday we planned to enjoy the sabbath out in nature. We went on a zipline tour (5 ziplines) and to the waterfalls to swim. :) The zipline tour was fun. There were 5 ziplines, each progresively longer and over a deeper crevice than the others. It was very fun, but of our entire group, including kids...I was the biggest baby. What can I say? But I did it and it was fun. :) We drove over the the Twin Falls Waterfalls and the first one was came to, we loved! We jumped off the rocks, and swang from vines like hoodlems! No one was beating their chest, well, actually, Spencer did at the top of the waterfall :), but we all did jumped off and swang on the vine...Even Trina. The water was freezing cold, but it was really fun. We went home after that and ate the best dinner we had while on the island. We cooked for ourselves! Steak, salad, cheesy potatoes, and strawberry/banana daquiris. :) It was delicious! Monday we to the Maui Tropical Plantation, took a tram around the platation, watch them shuck a coconut, ate even better coconut/pineapple ice cream, and then headed back to Lahaina for a submarine ride. The submarine ride was fun. We rode under the ocean and saw a lot of fish, and coral reefs. We even listened to the Titanic song at the lowest level of the ocean....150ft! Our guide was hilarious! After the sub, we went to a Luau, where were treated ourselves to be VIPs...again, all the drinks you can have....and we did....beautiful lei's (we had to buy of course), unlimited food, and a show of course. Trina and I even got on the stage and learned to hula! It was fun. Tuesday we decided to relax and enjoy our last day so we hung out at the beach, swam in the pool at our hotel and ate at the Outback. Then swam again at the hotel. We had so much fun and all spent way too much money. Nelson and I were the only ones who didn't buy a suitcase to bring home all we bought! (We brought one half empty when we came!) So after lots of sun, sand, icecream, fish, whales, mai tai's, hawain chocolates, swimming in the pool late at night and playing phase 10 before bed, we came home! It was really exciting and fun. We were happy to come home to warmer weather...at least until the snow came again! I came home 1/2 african american, and know I shall be pasty white again soon. But Bring on summmer we say! I also would like some more coconut/pineapple icecream....maybe I can make it!

(sorry the blurry pics are the best I can do for now....when I get my pics off Benson's computer, I will fix them!)

The Salt Lake Temple

On Tuesday, February 19th, my mom went to the Salt Lake Temple to take out her endowments and get sealed to her parents. I can't explain the joy I felt to see her recieve such a special gift in this life. She has come so far in the last 8 months to get to the temple. I am so proud of her for all she has done. I have prayed many nights, and so have the girls that this time would come. It was such a great day. She really enjoyed the temple and soaked it all up. I contemplated how odd it was that she went through that temple. I stood on Temple Square for countless days and hours looking at that temple (on my mission) and I never would have thought that some day my mom would be going through that temple. What a blessing. After we went through the temple, we ate lunch at The Garden, and then went up and visisted President Hinckley's grave site. It was a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday Mom! (Nana)

A little piece of Cuban....

So Cuban sandwiches are the best sandwiches. They are so yummy. Whenever I go to Miami, I always have to have one. Since I don't go that much, I make my sister bring them to us when she comes. Although they are not as great 24 hrs. later, but still we eat every crumb....you can imagine my happy state as I passed this sign for a Cuban Restaurant, which happily displays "Cuban Sandwiches!" This restaurant is located in the old space where the Lindon "Kid to Kid" was. I saw it a couple of weeks ago, so Nelson and I decided to go Monday. I drive up....and sorely disappointed....they have all the signs up and banners, but nothing in the store! It hasn't even been remodeled yet.....they were unloading the equipment....I was so sad, no cuban sandwiches. So I asked the "cuban" if I were to guess, when the store would open....he said, "hmm? Just a minute..in his cuban accent!" Obviously he didn't speak English, and I am not proficient enough in Spanish to speak it out loud. So I hear another man from inside the moving truck yell..."March 15th!" So that is the day! I should get a free cuban sandwich for the advertising. I hope it is as good as in Miami, but I won't be able to report until March 15th. By the way, in case anyone DIDN'T know, I am 1/2 Cuban! :)

"Once there was NOT a snowman!"

So the girls did all their chores this morning, so they could go outside and build a snowman with their dad. They got new snow clothes...rather "some" snow clothes because they didn't have any. They were excited to go out and as Mia says, "Build a Tow-man!" Everyone got all dressed up, went outside, and only discovered the snow was too hard! Not only was it at least 1 foot deep, it was so hard it couldn't be rolled into a ball...barely even a snow ball to throw. It was the warmest today it has been in a long time...40! Maybe that had something to do with it. The girls tried to play...we couldn't even do a snow angel. It was too hard to move, all we could do was an "imprint!" So Nelson decided to throw the girls around, because it was at least a soft landing! They thought it was funny...they would land bum down in the snow...and their legs and arms sticking up. Mia was a little too scared to even move out of her spot, but it was still fun.
In the end they had Nelson dig out the snow underneath their swings and they just swang. Oh well, I am sure there will be another snow storm in the coming week so they can try to build a "tow-man!"

Children of God....

Don't know where they learned to shake it like this, but it is hilarious nonetheless!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKuzNkXtY4

Try this link if you can't see the video!

It's Official! Happy Birthday Halle!

Well, we had a great party! Halle had lots of friends and family come over for her party! Thanks to all who came...Grandma & Grandpa Cluff, Kimball, Michelle, Brody, Jackie, Maddison, Bridger, Kolby, Katelyn (Nick & Cori too), Emilie, Katie, Camille, Griffin, Grace, Oliver, Alex, Olivia, Allie, Brighton, Cambree, Maile, Kalena, Aspen, Kamryn, & Jaycee. We played bingo, everyone got a prize! Then we had a contest to see who could throw the most pennies in a bowl! Congrats to Kamryn with 7/10, Bridger 6/10, Alex 5/10, Grace 6/10....give or take a few. :) He he. Then Halle opened her presents. She got some wonderful things! I can tell she is getting older, she wasn't even shy- not for one second. She just ate it all up and had a great time! Then we had cake and ice cream....Halle started to blow her candles out a little soon, it was cute. But then she finished them off after the song was over. She had so much fun! Now we are going to go to dinner...wherever she picks! I can't believe she is four...time flies. I think she has had a great day. Before her party, we took her shopping for clothes for her birthday, because she needs them so bad. She has definitiely felt special! And she is! Happy Birthday Halle Bug! What a blessing you have been to us for 4 great years!

Happy Birthday Halle Bug!

Well, here it is! The Official Cake! I only stayed up until 11pm this time....and I baked all the cakes today, instead of all week. A little less maintenance than Jayda's, but just as great I think! I will update tomorrow after her party. Technically it isn't her birthday for 45 more minutes....but then she wasn't born until 1pm...oh well. Enjoy!