Maui, HI

So as you know, Neils has the opportunity to earn a trip each year. This year it was to Hawaii. I had never been so it was a special treat for me. I was excited to not be prego or nursing for once (actually it's the first month in 6+ years that I haven't). So off we went just the two of us to a place they call paradise. I can see why. We stayed at the owner of Neils' company's hotel, The Mauiian. He recently remodeled the whole thing and let's just say it was a fabulous, quaint little place. It's only a two story place, which adds to the peacefulness of Hawaii. Everyone is so laid back and on a completely different schedule. When we first arrived, Neils always being in a hurry knew it was important to be the first in line at the car rental place. He went running with both pieces of our luggage around to the front. The nice Hawaiian lady at the check in location watch Neils in awe. When she asked him for his name, he whipped out his copy of the reservation with all the information and slammed it down on the counter. When she found his name the first thing she said, was "Sllllooooowwww down Neils." He smiled and took a deep breath and that was the beginning of our perfect trip. Well, it could have been a tad longer but other than that, perfect! The first day we slept in, that right there made the trip worth it. We took our time and eventually made it down to the beach we were on. For those of you who don't know, I am deathly afraid of water. The thought of drowning, or the thought of not having control is what scares me. Neils wanted to snorkel but knew I didn't want to. He has never let me live down the fact that he had to snorkel all by himself in the Bahamas. I agreed to give it a try, not sure if I could handle it or not. I told him I could probably do it if I had a floatation device to hold onto just in case I got tired. He came back with the gear and helped me figure out how to put it all on. The flippers were a challenge for me. I was already scared of the water but then to have those tripping me up as I was trying to get in, I kept having little panic attacks. I'm sure I was the best of entertainment as I was walking into the water. The water was about thigh high and as I took a couple steps forward it dropped off a bit to about chest height. I began to panic, waiving and breathing as if the ocean was about to swallow me up whole. Neils said I was quite the site. He figured at that point there was no way I would be able to breathe through the tube and swim out. But guess what, I did it. I eventually was able to calm down and as I took my time I got the hang of things. Thank goodness for the big yellow tube that held me up so I didn't have to worry so much and I could enjoy the fish and even the turtle we saw. It was great! We even went again a second time to an incredible little cove down the way. That was quite the accomplishment for me and I know Neils is proud I kept at it and did it. The rest of the time we laid by the pool, ate yummy food, shopped in Lahaina, at Whalers Village and went to the company Luau and awards ceremony. Here are some pictures. I found myself taking lots of pictures of just flowers and scenery which is not like me. I like people, but when you are in Hawaii it's all about the flowers and scenery. We saw two rainbows and when the sun sets and you see the shadows of the palm trees and the glow out on the ocean, you feel something you don't ever feel here in Utah. It's beauty and peaceful and what they call paradise!



Neils is a rubix cube master, he doesn't need a book to solve one. Neils saw this guys stacks of rubix's and asked if he could fix it. He was kind and Neils went to town. He later told us his secret, he found a type of cube that is much smoother and better quality than a rubix. Neils was able to whip it around and solve it in no time.


The first place we went to eat was BJ's for pizza. It was delicious and overlooked the ocean.


The view from our seat at BJ's.

And the live music was fabulous! He was really good!!!!

The view from our room.

Neils just outside the breakfast area.

Flowers around the hotel...




The view of the pool from our room...

One of the rainbows we saw...

Me and Neils at the Luau dinner and awards ceremony...

The dinner...

The sun was setting...


The Luau


The second rainbow we saw on the way to the airport to come home...

The sun was setting and it was hard to say goodbye...

Kindergarten is right around the corner...

On Thursday we played outside in backyard (AGAIN) and then I decided to reward the kids and take them over to Gardner Village. I gave them each a quarter to buy a piece of candy and a piece of bread to feed the ducks. They have been so great this week (I think it's been all the playing outside) that I wanted to do something to show them how much I appreciated it. It was quite overcast, and there was a some threat of rain, but the kids didn't seem to care. They were excited to go. So, off to Gardner Village we went. No one was there because it was starting to get chilly and the clouds were kinda dark, but the candy store was still open and the ducks were still out. That's all we needed!


On our way out I had Sky sit on a set of stairs so I could take a picture of her cute hair. Today, I took the... I don't know what it's called, hair crimper and curled her hair with it. It looked so cute. She's 5 1/2 and going to start Kindergarten in the fall. Kinda scary for me! In fact, Kindergarten registration was on Friday and the thought of going made me a little teary eyed.

Friday after we picked Sky up from Preschool we ran home ate lunch and then it was off to Kindergarten registration. Sky asked me, "Is Alex going to be there?" I had to break the news, "No, honey, Alex won't be there. She's not going to be at the same school as you next year." Devastation hit! She began to cry and told me she didn't want to go to school unless Alex and Trevor were going to be there. It made me sad. It made me question myself. I know it only gets harder from here. This is just the beginning.

The middle man..

He's stuck in the middle of two girls. He makes sure I'm completely aware of when he hasn't gotten enough attention. But when it's just the two of us he makes my heart melt. Today, we played tic-tac-toe and I being the nice mom, I made sure he won several times in a row. He soon noticed that I hadn't won any and the next game he put an "x" rather than his "o" in a spot to help me win. I love this kid!

I love this kid!!!

This is the first time I've actually ENJOYED a child at this stage. When Sky was this age, Jett was born and when Jett was this age, Brooke was born. I was always tied up nursing a baby and giving 99% of my attention to the newborn in my lap. It has been an absolute joy playing with her and watching her grow. How could I resist this beautiful face? I love her voice, the way she laughs, the tantrums she throws are even cute.

Easter Sunday, unfortunately it didn't go too smoothly...

These might have been the ONLY smiles all day! It wasn't the happiest Easter Sunday. It seemed we fought the kids all day, constantly begging for smiles rather than listening to them whine and cry over nothing. Uggghhh.... We went to church (but did I even hear a single thing that was said amongst the requests to go to the bathroom, get a drink, and the whines of who got to sit on my lap?). We came home and took a few pictures (these below) and hung out for a couple hours. Neils got Brooke down for a nap while I rushed to get some food made to take to Mom and Dads for dinner. Running late (of course) we managed to get to Mom and Dads. We realized when we got there we hadn't even taken time to eat lunch. It was late and I was starving. Neils and I inhaled one of the things I had just finished making, 7 layer bean dip. We had the annual Easter Egg Hunt with the grandkids which seemed to go okay. There were enough eggs that no got upset over not getting enough... THANK GOODNESS! Then, buffet style, we scooped up our dinner and sat down to eat. Our kids complained that there wasn't anything they liked and we had to beg them to take even a couple bites. Most of the problem was due to the fact that they had just eaten several pieces of candy out of their Easter eggs. Uggghhh... After the kids played and the adults chatted, we decided it was a good time to get everyone together to take a Smart family picture. I got out my tripod and lined everyone up (all 16 of us) and set the timer. It wasn't until later that I noticed that my son managed to put a nice smudge right on my lens and half of us in the picture are blurry and washed out. BUMMER! I thought I'd do some nice pictures of my sisters family and so I had them take a little drive down the street to do them. I thought I'd do some of her family and then set it so she could take some of mine. Well, hers turned out FABULOUS, but once again, my kids were not about to smile. They cried because dad told them they couldn't bring home a large weed/cattail. It was another awful 30 minutes of listening to them cry while I got pictures of my sister and her family. We tried, but I don't even know why. Seemed to be the question of the day... why are we even trying? Anyone ever have days like this? I wish I could have posted a nice, happy, spring day post, but unfortunately some days just don't go as planned.


Oh and of course, I must show you the SMUDGE- MARKED Smart family photo!

At least my sister got a gorgeous family picture!