Under the sea

 This day David, Chris, Nathan, Mia's husband John, Ben, and Hannah headed off early for a refresher dive off the shore of a nearby beach.  While we were exploring the reef life off the shore, all the non-divers headed to the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium to get a view of what we were experiencing in the wild.

The kids got to pet a star fish.

They snapped a picture of a trumpet fish which the divers saw a lot of that day.

Even Jane (with mom Rachel) enjoyed the trip.

All the kids loved seeing the shark tank and even cooler that there was a diver in the tank with them.  Apparently if you are a certified diver you can dive with the sharks, too.  Maybe next time.

 

 

 

 

After a nap we headed down to the town of Lahaina to check out the shops and get dinner.  Everyone wore their conference T-shirts.

Back row from left: Mia, John, Dorothy, Little John, Nathan, Rachel and Jane, Emma, Ben, Hannah, Kadence, Bryson, Austin. Front row: Edward, Ethan, David, Chris

We also included a family tree on the back of our shirts and each person put an "x" on the tree to designate "you are here".

We had dinner at a restaurant in town and got to watch a beautiful sunset.

 

Gibcon Maui

 For the past 20 years or so, David has been attending an Analytical Chemistry Conference called PittCon.  Yes it's nerd central.  So soon after we started having our biennial family vacation we started calling it Gibcon.  Yes, it's also nerd central.  

So every good conference has to start out with some good conference s.w.a.g. (stuff we all get). T-shirts and water bottles for everyone with the logo that our family graphic artist, Ben, created for us.

Then it's off to the beach.  Austin and Kadence had to have a pail and shovel for playing in the sand.

Ethan is really getting the hang of boogie boarding.

And this trip, Edward is finally old enough to do it, too.

Jane is sporting the latest in infant beach wear (with Dad Nathan).

Apparently 2 year olds can boogie board, too.  Austin proved that.  I was skeptical, but Dad put him on the boggie board, pushed him off into the waves, and away he went.  He is one determined little guy.

We made a quick stop at another beach for some snorkling.  You can see Bryson's fins in the picture below as he dives down for a closer look.

Just after the snorklers came in, some sea turtles were spotted right near shore.  Everyone in our group knew better than to touch a sea turtle, but just after the below picture was taken a turtle swept in on a wave and ran into Edward almost knocking him over.  Both turtle and boy were unharmed.

Then back to the house for some grilled chicken, pineapple, and peaches.  Yum! (Dorothy's step son John pictured)

 Dining on the Lanai

And after the kids were in bed, the adults made extreme s'mores with all different kinds of candy bars for the chocolate layer.  I have to admit, the mounds s'more (in honor of being in Hawaii) wasn't too bad, but I still prefer the peanut butter cup version.

More to come...

Happy "Birth"day Baby Jane

Nathan and Rachel have been patiently (mostly) awaiting the birth of their daughter and she graced us with her presence this afternoon.
5 lb 15 oz


All are doing well!

He is Risen

Easter morning!  A great time to reflect on our many blessings and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his atonement and resurrection.
And then to hunt for eggs.

 

 

 

 

It is a little sad that this is our last Easter (and last weekend) in this house.  We plan to move next weekend and it's a little sad to leave.  I can't believe we've been here 8 1/2 years.  I just have to keep reminding myself that we are going to create all kinds of new and wonderful memories at our new house.

And then it's time to get all dressed up for church.  The babies love the nursery at church and they have the best nursery leaders ever.  Seriously, the nursery leader is totally spectacular!

 

 

 

Happy Easter!

"Egg"stravaganza

It's that time of year again.  Gotta decorate the Easter eggs.  Ben, Emma, and Hannah joined us.

Ausitn and Kadence wanted to dip every egg in every color over and over.  I tried to get them to color the eggs with crayons or markers, but they just wanted to dip.

 Bryson was working on a top-secret egg scene.

 We ended up with a bunch of really great eggs including the traditional watermelon, jack 'o lantern, stripes, and rubberband masked ones.

Oh, and an egg mob that was shaking down the Easter Bunny.

 Bryson!  

Easter Egg Hunt

Most years we are able to go to an Easter egg hunt that a lady in our ward puts on.  Austin and Kadence had a great time collecting eggs with Hannah's help.

 Austin was making the ducks kiss.

And they got to pet the dog.

There has been an interesting development in Kadence's facial expressions - she can raise one eyebrow.  It's usually looks a little grotesque and really cute at the same time.

 Below is a cuter (and seldom seen) version of the eyebrow lift.

Then on to dying eggs...

I love babies in diapers

I know, I know, they're hardly babies anymore.  But I couldn't resist snapping a picture of them playing in the sink (a favorite past time).