The Trip of a Lifetime... days 1-3 Kauai's North Shore...

I really don't even know where to begin with this post. We seriously just had the trip of a lifetime and I don't ever want to forget it. It was so awesome to go back to our "home away from home", Princeville, Kauai. When we got there it felt like we had never left. We arrived there late friday night so we didn't do much but drive the hour drive up to the north shore. We stayed at the Plantation at Princeville, the beautiful condos that Travis wired when we lived there, Our whole reason for ever moving there in the first place. On Saturday we went for a run and went to our old condo where we lived, then to our favorite lookout spot on the whole island which happened to be in our back yard, the lookout of Bali Hai! we finished our run down at the princeville hotel and enjoyed an amazing breakfast buffet with an awesome view. then we went to one of our old favorites for lunch, Tropical Taco in Hanalei, then went to our favorite beach, Hanalei Bay, it was a beautiful day even with a few rain showers which isn't unusual for the north shore. we stayed there all day and enjoyed the amazing beauty that is there and we couldn't believe that we lived there for 2 awesome years! We headed into town for dinner at Scotty's and stopped to see a good friend from our branch. Sunday was awesome and was our whole reason for even stopping in Hawaii in the first place to attend the Hanalei Branch and be with our old friends again, it was awesome, although some things had changed and none of Trav's deacons were active in the church anymore, we still had an awesome time and totally enjoyed being with those wonderful people. We had a few invites for lunch and dinner, we headed over to Gma Koga's right after church for her famous chili pepper chicken and rice, it was awesome and so fun to visit with the Koga's. Then we went home for a nap and then to dinner at the Spencer's with them and the Colburn's, these were my really good friends and the ones that I spent most of my time with when we lived there. I love these people. I couldn't believe how all there kids had grown up. We enjoyed some yummy hawaiian food. Then we headed back to the condo to pack for the Philippines, although we loved Kauai, we knew it wasn't our reason for the trip so we were ready to get on to the Philippines!

 We had this amazing view of the mountains when we lived there. I couldn't believe how much I missed this beautiful place.

 These are the condo's Travis wired when we lived there. they turned out so awesome!

 Our old home! oh, how I loved this place!

 Our favorite lookout, this was our backyard...

 and these mountains is what we looked at from our condo..

 Our view from breakfast..

 The Bay...our favorite beach..

 Hanalei Branch..

 The Colburn's..this whole family entertains in a Luau together, Coppin (dad) is a fire knife dancer, Caridyn (mom) plays the drums while he dances, the 3 oldest girls, Kiara, Kenna and Kenani dance the Hula and the youngest girl Kiana plays the drums with her mom. These people are amazing, Coppin was the Branch president when we lived there, I really love this family and it was so good to see them..

 The Spencer Family...

 My 2 best friends when we lived there, ( just missing megan who doesn't live there anymore)

 A favorite lunch spot...Puka Dog, the best hot dog you will ever eat! a must stop if you ever plan on going to kauai, a little pricy but worth it oh and get the lemonade!

 Our other favorite lunch spot, Tropical Taco!...

Off to the Philippines...

Pumpkin Patch field trip...

Parley's preschool took a field trip to a pumpkin patch out in Syracuse, By far the best pumpkin patch i have ever been to. The kids loved it and loved all the extra activities they had there. Parley enjoys school so much and is doing so well.

 raising his hand waiting for the guy to come cut his pumpkin...

 His whole class..

 they had these huge slides and P loved them..



Soccer...

 Parley's soccer season ended a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to blog about it. I have so much to blog about, so we are playing catch up right now! Parley loved soccer this year and did so awesome, we were really proud of him and amazed as he averaged 2 goals a game, and blocked a lot more than that from the other team. He totally understood the game and was out there to win. we love our competetive little boy!

 and here are the loyal fans...

 Way to go champ!

We can't wait until spring for another soccer season!

Weekend at the Ranch..

We decided to head down to Fairview to the Salmon Ranch for conference weekend. Travis and his dad and brothers all went up to the cabin in Stanley for a guys weekend of dirt bike trails and fishing so a few of us girls headed to the Ranch, it was  a fun weekend . My kids love it down there and love being with their cousins. Thanks again to Granny for such a fun place to go. Conference weekend is always has been my favorite, I have so many memories of watching and listening to conference as a child, I remember driving to my soccer games on saturday mornings and sustaining the leaders as we listened in the car. I love how it brought my whole family together, I remember building forts and watching conference from them, What a blessing Conference has been to me in my life, I don't get as much out of it lately with my 3 young kids and that is why I am also so grateful that they print them for us and I can look forward to reading all the wonderful messages when my kids are all quietly in bed. The church really is awesome and they think of everything!

 this is what these ladies did all through conference, I thought it was funny and had to take a picture.