HITZ CLAN

My Kids

2012-02-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

It's been such a long time since I've posted a picture of my kids that I thought I ought to do it; in a short and tidy little post. So here they are: my kids. This picture is only two weeks old. Often, we like to walk around the temple on a Monday night as our FHE activity. Here's hoping I get to update a little more, a little sooner than later :)

Some day...

2012-01-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

Some day, I will begin to blog again. It isn't this day. But I'm still here. Often times running on a beautiful morning such as this! I began running more seriously six months ago and I just lost my second toe nail! I feel legit :) I have not forgotten you- please be patient with me... some day, I will catch up.

JULY Fourth!

2011-10-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

We've made it to July! The morning after we got home, you know where to find us! The BEACH OF COURSE! And we had a wonderful time!

On the 4th of July, we had a bike parade around the flag circle at BYU-H. The kids decorated their bikes and everyone brought snacks and treats and we had a grand time :)

And it got hot- fast!

Time for some grub, in the shade!

Then we trekked to the beach with our friends...

And celebrated the birth (and freedom) of our country!

Good times :)

Baby, taking a break :)

And cupcake fights!

Then we went to Turtle Bay to eat, play some more and see the fireworks :)

3 of the cutest girls ever! Gabriella, Brylie, & Lili

See those cute girls hugging one another :)

Uncle Miah playing with the kiddos :)

A great and crazy night for Tacos Vicente :)

Happy 4th! (3 months late!) Haha :)

Mainland Trip Part Ten: The Last Days

2011-10-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

On June 27th we spent a relaxing day back at the Hitz Home while Ryan went in to work. The kids and I played outside after being cooped up in the car ALL day the previous day on our drive back from Utah.

Family Friends, Jim & Carolyn were there visiting!

My & my baby :)

G'ma Ginger introduced the kids to a new activity :)

On June 28th we were a bit lazy...

and met our friends at Windsor Lake! (But we missed the beach!)

On June 29th we went to Denver to celebrate G'ma Ginger's birthday! We began by visiting the Butterfly Pavilion- it was awesome!

Everyone got a chance to hold a tarantula...

And then we saw...

the most AMAZING butterflies!

One landed on Hunter ;)

After that we went to the Aquarium in Denver where we saw lots of wonderful sea creatures!

Like the Green Moray Eel,

And a sea turtle,

and... a tiger?

And we got to touch sting rays... so soft!

Of course, we couldn't leave w/o our tatoos :)

That night I ran over to my parents house to look in the boxes of things I have there to see if I needed to bring back anything and I saw my wedding dress... it's tradition for me every anniversary for me to try it on and make sure it still fits. And since I couldn't this year (for my 10th anniversary) seeing as it was in Colorado, I did it this night. What do ya think?

Still fits after ten years! :)

June 30th was Ginger's birthday and we spent the morning having one last playdate with our good friends the Southams!

That night we had presents,

and cake- and said our goodbyes.

Because the next morning- for real this time- we flew home.

Mainland Trip Part Nine: UTAH

2011-10-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, June 21st, we were SUPPOSED to fly home from Colorado. IT. DIDN'T. HAPPEN.

We got checked into our flight (which surprising took a LONG time since we checked in at the curb and had First Class seats- Ryan had been upgraded.) Generally it takes about 5 minutes when checking in at the curb. But 20 minutes later we were finally on our way to security. We went through security and arrived at our gate only to find the sign reading that it was a flight (currently boarding) to Maui! MAUI? We didn't want to go to Maui- we wanted to go home- to Oahu! Anyhow, turn out that our flight had been delayed EIGHT hours. And all this happened in the 10 minutes it took to go from checking in, to security, to the gate? I don't think so. The dude that checked us in at the curb HAD to of known what was going on and couldn't tell us... anyhow, it was super annoying and we figured that with family only an hour up the road there was no way we were going to sit at the airport for 8 hours with 4 small children.

So after a few phone calls made by my savvy husband to the airline and their customer service department- for a mere $100 more we were able to extend our trip for another 10 days and stay through Ryan's mom's birthday which was June 30th!

Soooo we left the airport and went back to Ft. Collins. It was a LONG day w/o seemingly getting anywhere! We spent Wednesday, June 22nd unpacking and repacking b/c we decided at that point we would attend my family reunion in UTAH!

Thursday, June 23rd and all is quiet in the car with one on his D.S., one watching a DVD and one watching a movie on the iPad. Oh yes, and one sleeping baby. Can't all road trips be this quiet? It was heaven! For about an hour :)

Lunch in Rock Springs, WY where the kids could run around!

We got lucky and found a stray soccer ball- a Godsend!

"Yay!" We are out of the car!

Mmmmm

Getting on the road again for another few hours...

A quick stop at Little America for ice cream, courtesy of G'pa Steve :)

We're here!! We've arrived at Thanksgiving Point where we'd spend the night!

Da Girls

Da Crazies!

Pretty Gardens

Da Fam

Awww, my cuties!

On Friday, June 24th we went to Payson Lakes in Payson, UT to spend the day with my extended family. It was FUN! We went for canoe rides...

Loved on some furry pets...

Witnessed surprises...

Hugged our family...

Ate dinner with tons of cousins...

Ate DIRT...

And had an all around great time!

My sisters and I even put together a couple of quick numbers to sing at our Talent Show! And we even won a prize- woo hoo!

I LOVE singing with my sisters! Unfortunately, we were missing my sister Emily who had to take her crazed and over tired twins home to bed :(

Da Boys.

The Gathering (for the talent show)

Tio Brett, playing with Kolea

We only spent the one day at the Reunion but it was a great day and we had a blast. It was fun to bust out the binies and heavy sweatshirts too! My mom had no idea that we didn't end up going back to Hawaii... when we showed up, Hunter found her first and walked right up saying "hi Grandma!" My mom was in complete shock and came running to find me- in tears! She was SO excited we were there. It was a good moment. :)

Saturday, June 25th we hung out with our wonderful friends, Angie & Eliot. Ever so briefly!!

And we took the kids around SLC and to our favorite pizza/gelato place- YUM!

Sunday, June 26th we headed back to Colorado by way of Vernal, UT. And we snapped a quick pic of the small temple there.
Somehow, along the way we missed a turn. We still can't quite figure out how it happened- but we ended up here... this spot before getting to Grand Lake, CO which is way out of the way... well it just takes a LOT longer to get home. Anyhow, we knew we had an adventure ahead of us! The kids were TROOPERS!
We were leaving Grand Lake and entering RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) which we had to drive all the way through- over Trail Ridge Road- to get to the other side, in order to get home.
This is significant b/c the elevation of Trail Ridge Road is so HIGH that it is only open 2-3 months out of the year. Luckily, it was June, and OPEN!

MOOSE!!

See the wall of snow? And the deer standing on it up by those cars?

The same deer as we were driving by- so awesome!

G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!

Since we continued to ascend, we witnessed the LONGEST sunset ever! It was absolutely incredible!

Near the top of Trail Ridge Road: Elevation at it's highest point= 12,183 feet :)

Mainland Trip Part Eight: Birthday & Father's Day!

2011-09-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan's grandpa, G'pa Ben and his lovely wife, Diane came to Colorado to visit over his 75th birthday and what a celebration it was! Earlier that day we'd been to the water park in Denver (and of course left my camera in the car!) :( But that evening we ate at my favorite Mexican Restaurant in town, 3 Margaritas!

For once, I'm in a pic and not behind the camera :)

Singing Happy Birthday!

The next day we visited with our wonderful friends, Chad & Annie :)

June 19th was Father's Day of course! And with two sets of families around you better believe we celebrated with both! Just like we did in the past. Not always easy- but it's what you do so you can be with both families and it's worth it :)

Here my dad is receiving his favorite sodas, Jaritos & Henry Weinhart's rootbeer and cream soda. Lucky guy :)

Every G'pa has got to have a clown nose!! Courtesy of me :)

And everyone had to try it on :)

Cousin Josh

Cousin Zac

Gabriella

Kolea- too embarrassed to have a picture taken!

And we tried with River w/0 success. He was too busy with his newfound love: Corn on the cob.

Our second celebration at the Hitz home with Ella trying on G'pa Ben's nose :)

G'pa Steve

Great G'pa Ben :)

Mainland Trip Part Seven: Estes Park

2011-09-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, June 16th we went up to Estes Park to spend the day in the mountains. We always love going there as a family and exploring the little (easy) hiking trails in Rocky Mountain National Park. And we always top it off with a trip through the historic town and visit their candy shops :)

This was the highlight!

We went with Ryan's family- even his G'pa and step G'ma were in town!

I'm having a complete metal block about the name of this hike!

And this one! Both they were both gorgeous :)

They love their daddy!

Awww :)

Soooo picturesque!

Ryan and I ALWAYS go into this same shoe store every time we go to Estes Park. They have great shoes and normally we end up with a great bargain! Anyhow, this day they had some mustaches by the register that we could have (I noticed when I was buying some shoes!) And we had tons of fun- not to mention some good laughs...

Mmmm lovely!

Funny kid :)

We were getting ready to go swimming and look what we found in the car as we were loading up? Cali wanted to come along for the ride- she knew she was about to miss a good time!

Sorry Cali, maybe next time :)

Mainland Trip Part Six: Summer Days

2011-09-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

After saying our goodbyes to parts of my family, we began saying hello to parts of Ryan's family! There was never a dull moment and lots of laughs all around... although River doesn't look too happy here!

Please tell me my children aren't the only kids that do this...

River experienced his first Twizzler... oh the joys of summer!

Swimsuits and Trampolines. Yes, thank you!

And another Great G'pa! This time it's G'pa Ben :)

I don't know why I like this picture so much... maybe b/c Kolea looks like such a peanut in that big yard. Or maybe it's the contrast of the green grass against her yellow dress... I just like it.

Playing at another pool, 4 generations here! Great G'pa Ben, G'ma Ginger, Me, and my kids!

Koela was busy.

That night Gabriella became a beauty pageant contestant :)

Keep away boys! :)

Mainland Trip Part Fiver: The Park & Goodbyes

2011-09-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

Fossil Creek Park is my kids' favorite park- EVER. Just look at it! A big MAMMOTH in the middle? What kid wouldn't love it? On June 13th we met our friends to play :)

Crystle, pushing River

Gabriella and Megan enjoying some girl time! Megan and Hunter are the same age and have been "friends" since birth :)
Later we went to a different side of this same park with a water feature that the kids are able to play in... we didn't bring suits :) Oh well!

Hmmm, I'm not so sure they should be doing that!

Buuuuut, I let them.

While the other two sat and chilled... Kolea is starting to feel a little better!

On June 14th it was time to say goodbye to my two baby brothers :) Joseph was flying back to Cali and we weren't sure when we'd see him again...

Goodbye Joe! We love you!

(For those of you who don't know the story, Michael accidentally shot Joseph in the eye with a BB gun in a freak accident when they were 10 & 12 years old. So if you notice Joe's left eye- he has it, but is blind in it now. They weren't kidding when they said "You'll shoot your eye out!") Needless to say that's one of our family's favorite movies :)

Hello Kolea.

Next we went to say goodbye to Mike & Bekah- also, unsure of when we'd see them again!

Mainland Trip Part Four: The Wedding

2011-09-18T19:13:00.001-07:00

June 11th, Michael and Bekah were married in the Denver, CO temple! My children were patiently waiting outside while we were in for the ceremony. Remember my part one post where I said Kolea had a fever for like two weeks? Yeah, that's why she looks so awesome here... We don't really know what the problem ever was except that she was cutting all four of her 2 year molars at once :( Anyhow, she also had a VERY swollen lymph node that was up in her cheek! We were afraid there might be an abscess in her cheek so a friend (who is a dentist and had looked at her a couple of days earlier) phoned in an antibiotic for her. We picked it up in between the wedding luncheon and the reception... And now onto happier things!

The Oh So Happy Couple!

Gabriella was SOOO embarrassed when they kissed :)

My cute dad (in the middle) and two of his biker brothers :)

HA! This pic just makes me laugh! Cute cousins!

My parents TEN grandkids! Yay! Michael is holding Emily's twins, Tamara's two boys are by Gabriella and Lorayne's two boys are by Hunter :) You know who the rest belong to!

Our first attempt at getting a family photo...

Here is Lorayne, holding my Kolea since my arms and Ryan's arms were dead tired (we'd been holding her for a week and a half straight with her being sick!) My wonderful sisters helped me a lot that day with her! Anyhow, Lorayne is now our last hostess with the mostess- are you sick of hearing that now? I just have such wonderful sisters and they are great hostesses! We love throwing parties :)
Lorayne and Brett opened their home to the wedding party for the luncheon and it was marvelous! Simply mah-valous :)

My darling brother, Adam and his fun wife, Tammy!

The cutest little boy on earth! (Who just turned one yesterday- ah!!)

P.S. I made his bow tie!

I forgot to take many pics at the reception so this is about all I have! Daddy, daughter dance :) Gabriella was in heaven- she loves her daddy!

He was having a pretty good time too :)

(I did her hair- it was fun!)

The magnificent Uncle Creed! He turned my sick baby girl into one happy little thing! Who knows what they were even laughing at!?! But we didn't care- these were the first laughs we'd seen in over a week and a half! Yay!

We were able to get some decent family photos that afternoon in my parent's backyard- finally something worth framing :)

Congrats Mike and Bekah!

Mainland Trip Part Three: Wedding Prep

2011-09-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

I must say, this post takes us to days 9 and 10 in June and I feel like I'm making some headway! As for our days there- we are 1/3 of our way through our trip... but the biggest posts are yet to come, like Michael and Bekah's wedding! (Next post!)

On Thursday, June 9th Great G'pa Grant and Great G'ma Jeri flew in from California! It's been a long time since my kids have been able to play with them!

And they got worked over by G'pa!

It was fun :)

That night, our next hostess with the mostess, Camille threw a great shower for Bekah, shower #2! Here you see 3 of my 4 beautiful sisters! And my SIL, Tammy in the background talking to G'ma Jeri.

G'ma Jeri with my oldest sis, Lorayne- love them!

Here we played a game where we had to draw a picture of the bride in her wedding gown... on paper plates on our heads! It was pretty awesome :) Then Bekah judged who's picture was the best.

Hehehe- see my awesome pic? :)

My sisters, Camille & Emily with bride-to-be, Bekah! (And the lovely banana from our ring toss game!) Hahaha!

On Friday, June 10th I decided to make these cupcakes so that Michael would have some sort of a Groom's cake. Haha, it was kind of a joke...

Then I made a home made fondant... time consuming, but fun!

Joke or not- they tasted great!

Mainland Trip Part Two: Endowment & Storm

2011-09-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

I love the Denver Temple, probably b/c it was "my" temple for a number of years with living in Fort Collins, CO. On this particularly beautiful evening my soon to be, SIL, Bekah, was receiving her endowments.

My sis, Camille and her hubby, Ryan were there

Of course, my goofy brother, Michael and Bekah! And both sets of parents were there- with me!

That evening as Camille and I were driving back from the temple it began to pour. No, it began to dump- torrential rains. It was SO bad that we had to pull over. It. was. BAD. I don't know if I've even been in a rain storm quite like that... and then it began to hail. Oh the joy! Anyhow, she dropped me off at my in-law's around 11 pm and by 11:30 pm I received a phone call from my renters- who didn't know I was in town, thinking it was 4 hours earlier in Hawaii.
Anyhow, they began to tell me about this CRAZY storm that had just come through and how the basement was flooding!!! They were trying to figure out what to do... Turns out, I phoned my dad and got him out of bed at midnight to go over to my house (the pics you see) to help me clean up the mess (with my renters!) They had gone to Walmart to purchase a shop vac and I knew that my dad also had one. I thought that between both, we might be able to take care of the mess... All of this happened on Wednesday, June 8th (and 9th in the wee hours of the morning.) See all of that hail? Nuts-o!

This is hail that was piled up in the window well and the rail just came pouring through the seal.
That's my dad- good ol' dad holding the shop vac. We sucked up buckets and buckets full of water!!
Then we pulled the carpet back and sucked up some more on the pad! It was a crazy kind of night but everyone was great and we got it taken care of! I phoned a friend that has a carpet cleaning company (they also stretch carpets) and they were able to come and put the carpet back how it goes once everything dried :) And it only cost me $75. Whew! Time for bed!

Oh and did I mention that Ryan was on a business trip during this week to Detroit or some random place?

Mainland Trip Part One: Our Arrival & Utah!

2011-09-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

I figure these next many posts comprising the month of June should be broken up into "Parts" because there will be SO many! So here we go...

June first, we left Honolulu. June second, we arrived in Denver! We were exhausted and River slept less than 3 hours the whole time, but we arrived... and the whole time Kolea had an awful fever... remember that fever, it lasted for two and a half weeks! But we'll come back to that later...

Yay! He's smiling b/c he finally got to get down and crawl a bit!

Everyone is SO excited!

And silly!

And tired. But we managed to smile through it all! You like their colorful hairdos? That is from hair color sticks I found at Walmart. Every time I travel I bring brown paper sacks filled with little surprises or goodies that I give to the kids periodically. The LOVE it! It keeps them being good- b/c they don't want to lose the opportunity to get a new surprise and then whatever is IN the sack normally provides some form of cheap entertainment that lasts a while :)

That night (as tired as I was!) I went out with 3 of my ladies! L-R: Melissa, Crystle, and Tiina. No, that is not a typo, she is Finnish :) That's what you call Finlanders, right? :) Well, to clarify- her mom is. So Tiina is half. But doubly cool with two "i"s in her name. Anyhow... we had a super fun, much needed, long awaited ladies night in Old Town, Fort Collins. Miss you ladies!

June 3rd, I tried not to do anything! We were all trying to recover from JET LAG!!

June fourth, I took River and flew to Utah with my mom. The trip was two-fold. One, my grandma Wilkey (paternal grandma) has not been doing so hot lately. She's had a whole bunch of strokes and I was afraid I might not get to see her or visit with her again before she passed on, so I booked this short trip to Utah. And it coincided perfectly with my soon-to-be, sister-in-law's first bridal shower!

This is my sister, Tamara. She is the hostess with the mostess!

How lovely :)

My dearest mother!

My girl, Leslie who was also a comp from my mish! And she also happened to be the lovely lady that took the engagement photos for my bro and his fiancé.

Bride to be, Bekah!

My wonderful cousin, Becky! She was my closest friend growing up :)

Another wonderful cousin, Amanda- who lived a bit further away ;) but I love dearly!

My grandma, Muriel. Gotta love it! I wanted River to meet her as well. He's the 82 or 83 great grandchild for her! Come on cousins, any of you know for sure the order? I feel so out of the loop that there is no way I could figure it out! :)

And I'm happy to report that it's the middle of September and good ol' grandma is still hanging in there! But what would you expect from a woman that birthed 13 children, raised 14 and lived alone for nearly the last 30 years when her hubby was unexpectedly taken to heaven!?! Grandma, you are a trooper and we LOVE you!

Gabrilla's Super "C" & Other Random Activities...

2011-09-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

This would originally be a post broken into 3- but since I'm so many moons behind and playing catch up, this will have to suffice!

In May, the very LAST awards assembly at Laie Elementary, Gabriella was FINALLY receiving her Super "C" award. She'd waited ALL year long, and to make matters worse, Hunter was the Super C for his class in the very first assembly of the year. She watch him receive leis and fun things and had to wait for her turn... well it had arrived!

That is, after Hunter was awarded for completing a running program that took place during the year at lunchtime recess. This program is called Geckos on the Move and encourages the kids to run around the track (to help with fitness) during their lunch recess. If a student met the goal of running a total of TWENTY miles (yes, the have parents there who help tally each lap) then that student receives recognition and a T-shirt.

Well, my friend, Emily who you see in the picture awarding the students sent me this email:

"I just wanted to tell you about this before I forgot. Hunter has been a pro at running in the PTCO geckos on the move recess running program. But he wasn't quite at 20 miles, and

we promised the kids t-shirts if they ran 20 miles. So on the last day, Hunter asked how many laps he had to do. I checked, and he had 9 laps to do. That is a lot of laps to do in one

day. But he took off. By the 8th lap, he was dragging. And on the 9th lap, he actually started walking instead of running. I was worried that the whistle would blow and he wouldn't

finish. Some of the other kids were watching and they started yelling, "Go hunter!" We all picked it up, and you should have seen your tired boy perk up to all the cheering, and round

the final corner will full speed and full energy and 30 kids cheering him on. And he did it!"

Needless to say, I cried when I read that. It was tender. I love that the kids love and support one another at their school! It was wonderful! Congrats Hunter!

And here is my dear Gabriella. Excited much?? She was SO READY for this! And awaiting her candy leis! My kids are nuts about candy... can't imagine why?? (They are definitely my children.)

Gabriella with her award, poster and candy leis- she's a happy girl :)

A few days later, she and her best friend, Velzy decided to color themselves with markers! No, it was not washable... nice huh? But they certainly kept themselves busy for an afternoon!

They were "putting on make-up!" Can't you tell? :)

And now we have the infamous images of Kolea and her mysterious affinity for sleeping WHEREVER! This was around lunchtime, after a particularly long morning swimming at Alligator Pond, a favorite beach spot for little kids. She'd been in the shower for a little while and I noticed it was a little too quiet...

A close up of how I found her! I was seriously alarmed because she could literally drown in the little bit of water that pooled around her! But once I saw that it was a mere millimeter away from her lips, I grabbed the camera. :)

I must have disturbed her a little because shortly thereafter she turned her head to get more comfortable. This kid slays me! She is a piece of work. There is no peace in my day unless I know she is sleeping! Hopefully it won't be like that when she's a teenager- heaven help me!

These last couple of pictures take us to the end of the month of May, 2011 when we were cleaning up for the night and River discovered the dishwasher to be open...

This is his favorite toy!

May 5th 2011 = TEN years

2011-09-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

When Ryan proposed, and I said "yes!" I don't think I ever really knew what was in store for us. Naturally, I don't think anyone really does! But I was never able to really see past my own nose, let alone look ten years into the future and imagine that we'd make it to that anniversary and what we'd actually be doing at the time... Not that I ever doubted we'd make it to the anniversary, I just never really thought about it!

Well, on May 5, 2011 we made it. And it was pretty "unremarkable" as far as the world might see it. But for us- it was pretty dang wonderful.

We began the evening by going to get some sushi as an afternoon snack! This place is basically "fast food" sushi and we LoVe it! Especially since we didn't have the kids so we didn't have to share... they also love Ninja Sushi!

Our next stop was in town at Surf Garage. Aren't those boards pretty? Ryan wanted a new board for his anniversary gift and since it was "TEN YEARS" I agreed to it :) What did I get?? I'm still waiting to cash in on my last two years' worth of gifts which are Tahitian Pearls! I get to pick out earrings (last year's gift) and now either a bracelet or necklace to go with the earrings... but here it is the middle of September and it hasn't happened yet :( What's the deal Ry?

Good things come to those who wait, right? And they say that diamonds are a girl's best friend... maybe I'll hold out another year and I can roll all of it into some fatty Hearts On Fire diamond earrings... not like I'd ever have a place to wear them too... but you never know!
After Surf Garage, where Ryan picked up a sick board (no, I never say "sick" but in this instance it is appropriate!) we were really lame and went to the Ala Moana mall and walked around. The reason it was so relaxing and nice to do was the simple fact that the kids were home with a babysitter! We went into Bath and Body Works- which was exciting because it had just opened here! I was finally able to get some cute and yummy smelling soaps for my ridiculous number of four bathrooms :)
After a brief visit at the mall we finally went to dinner at our favorite spot, Ruth's Chris. It was wonderful, as always! And yes, that is escargot :) The funny thing is, it really just tastes like a mushroom in garlic and butter- then you sop up everything with the bread... oh my goodness I'm salivating, it's SO wonderful!
I know, cheesy right? I had to take a pic of dinner! I always get the petite fillet (this is the ONLY place I will order a steak.) There is minimal (if any) fat on it and it's SO incredibly tender! Also, their steaks come out on that plate, sizzling in butter because it just came from a 500 degree, broiling oven... all of that juice you see on the plate is butter. We don't worry about calories on a night like this!
They always give a complimentary dessert when it's your anniversary and this time we got these mini cupcakes which were super fun :)
Happy Anniversary to Us! Love you Ryan! You are the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me :) You were my great idea! Thanks for choosing me!

May Day

2011-09-09T02:58:00.000-07:00

As I'm going through my pictures it's no wonder I haven't posted anything for months! We had a LOT going on in a short amount of time and this can be overwhelming! Whew! But I will conquer this :) And you will get to see fun pictures!

Every May the schools put on a HUGE May Day program. I don't even know what May Day is or why it's celebrated! I guess I ought to look that up. But one thing I do know is: IT'S A BIG DEAL AROUND HERE! And it's a fun event to attend.

This was the best smile I got out of her! She's not a "performer." At least not outside the walls of her own home! :)

Hunter and his best friend, Jason before the program begins

The Royal Court- each of the colors represents a different island in the chain

The "Queen" doing her hula dance- it was BEAUTIFUL!

Gabriella is next to her friend, Lili. The Kindergarten represented Australia

The end of one dance :)

The First Grade represented China- do you see Hunter in the middle?

Aren't they cute?

I think this was 3rd Grade- and I'm not sure who they represented, but it was awesome!

And I think this is 4th Grade, representing England... with Robin Hood :)

Lai'e, Hawai'i Temple

2011-09-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite destinations as a family. We feel fortunate that it is only a 6 minute drive up the road. The kids ask to come here often and walk around the grounds. It is peaceful and uplifting- we love it! This picture looks like a postcard to me (I took it) except for our friends that happen to be in this photo! Let's give a shout out to the Moore family!

The kids love to sit and listen to the short presentation and count how many times they say the word "LoVe."

Such special children... :)

Ryan wants to walk ALL the way around so he's carrying the entire stroller up the steps to see the top of the fountains!

RIVER!

Kolea, our little bird

Gabriella = monkey

Hunter.

Yours truly ;) Hunter took this pic and was very proud of himself!

On a random note, the "boat" you see in the background is the infamous "Iosepa" which is a traditional Hawaiian sailing vessel that is taken out on open water only about once a year. It's a really neat program they have at BYU-H where only a certain number of students get to sail it. It's in the Hawaiian Studies program and they under-go extensive training; physical, mental, and spiritual to be able to be chosen for the journey which takes about a month to complete. It is launched from Hukilau Beach. So for one FHE in May we went to see it before they set sail!

Easter

2011-09-06T23:52:00.001-07:00

You thought I was kidding right? NOPE! I'm going back to where I left off. Reason is, this is like a journal for me! A picture journal. Unfortunately when I get this far behind I don't give as much detail as I normally would, but I still need to start back up from where I left off!

We celebrate the Easter Bunny part of Easter on the Saturday morning before. That way, on Easter morning we don't have any of the craziness with finding baskets and eggs and crazy sugar trauma outbursts! It all happens on Saturday! After ten years of celebrating this way, Ryan is STILL getting used to it! This is how my family did it growing up and it's something I hold on to. I LOVE it! :)

They are patiently waiting until I say they can come down... I had to get the camera ready!

A bit disheveled, but all are happy :)

Mmmm Easter bunny chocolatey goodness!

On Easter morning I was a bit of a freak trying to get some cute pictures of my kids. Why do I do this every year and stress myself out? When it just turns into a screaming match and my kids react like THIS!!!

Thank you, Kolea!

Ahhh that's a bit better- of course THEY (Hunter & Ella) are old enough to know better, and young enough (River) to not know any differently!

Well, that will have to do :)

3 months?

2011-07-31T22:47:00.001-07:00

No. I'm NoT 3 MoNtHs PrEgNaNt! (Alas, I think my days of such announcements are over)

BUT...

It has been three months since my last post! shocking?

Not really. We did spend a month of that time on the mainland on VACA! And since we've returned home we've been BUSY...

YUP, beaching it!

This is a picture that was taken of our family while at my brother's wedding reception that was held in my parent's backyard. Good times. :)

And our kids start back to school tomorrow- YUCK! We've been having too much fun and are not ready for them to go back.

So, we'll see how long it really takes me to catch up on three months worth of back blogging. Catch ya later :)

Tiny Tots

2011-04-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

There is a little preschool program called Tiny Tots in our neighborhood. I take Kolea when I can manage it and she LOVES it! Definitely better than sitting at home with mommy :)

River enjoys his time out and about at Tiny Tots as well :)

Kolea with her good friend Madilyn :)

A popular day at Tiny Tots with the "Hunt" on the horizon!

Look at all those kids! This is a free program and the days I've brought Kolea, normally there are no more than about 8-10 kids. This day we had 30!!

Ready and waiting for that Easter egg hunt! Things were moving a little too slowly for this 2 yr old.

But River seemed to be in good spirits! Look at his new teeth!

Finally! And they're off! See why it's not exactly a "hunt?" When they are just thrown out in the grass you don't exactly have to do much hunting for them :)

Success!

A morning well spent. The End.

Waimea Falls

2011-04-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

There is a place, an oh so BEAUTIFUL place called Waimea Falls...

Why haven't we been there before now? Probably b/c there is an entrance fee- let's be honest. And usually we stick to things that are FREE like the beach! But it was sooooo worth it.

These are botanical gardens along a paved path about a mile long. It's extremely easy to "hike" and I even brought my stroller. There are many plants and beautiful trees to look at along the way, but the real treasure is at the end of the hike at the waterfall.

I'm told that the falls change depending on the time of year and what the rains have been like. We came on a good day :) And as a side note, were you ever into the hit show, LOST? Well, remember when Kate found the guns in a large pond? Well folks, this is where it was filmed!

I'm really not THAT happy as I am FREEZING! I was going numb at this point :)

They even had activities like this "learn the hula" moment while we were there. But we were too busy playing in the ice cold water!

There is a short "class" for anyone that wants to swim in the falls and anyone under 12 MUST wear a life vest. So it makes sense why there is a bit of an entrance fee. It pays for things like this- and the cute lifeguards :)

First I took Hunter and Gabriella to the waterfall. The closer you get, the harder it is to get under it! It's SOOOO powerful! I never even FULLY went under it for fear of the pressure. But I went right up along the side of it.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

Then I dragged Kolea out there :)

We did a few fun things with my bro, Adam and his wife, Tami while they were here. One of which was walking around the temple. It was fun to have them here- on our turf :)
We like visitors ;)

FUN in Waikiki

2011-04-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while we take the kids to Waikiki for some family fun at the beach.

Swim Meet

2011-04-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Anyone that knows me, knows that I LOVE swimming. AND that I was a competitive swimmer in H.S. My freshman year I joined the team and quickly learned that I DIDN'T know how to swim!! I knew how NOT to drown, but actually SWIM? I needed to learn- and FAST!

Needless to say that by the end of the season I had gone from the world's worst swimmer to a fairly decent one on my JV swim team. AND I also received our "Most Improved Swimmer" award at our awards banquet at the end of the year... Good memories!

Anyhow, so of course I enrolled Hunter onto the swim team that started at BYU-H. The minimum age is 8, and he is only 7. But they let him on anyway. :) I guess I'm kind of pushy about some things...

So Hunter had his first ever swim meet!

"Swimmers take your marks!"

Notice his daddy as a timer? Ryan was also a swimmer!

And the crowd eagerly awaits...

And they are off! First race: Front Crawl

And the finish!

The adoring fans...

Here to cheer him on and support him...

We all came out! (Ryan's fam was here visiting!)

Next Race: Breaststroke! A personal favorite :)

LOVE IT!

He WON! The tired, and exited swimmer :)

Next up, the Backstroke. (I hate Back) and now so does Hunter...

It started out well enough, until his right arm began to pull harder than the left. Do you see the angle he's at? He's now perpendicular with the length of the pool. Not good! He should be following the lines on the bottom of the pool- be parallel with them and clearly he's not.

After MUCH whistling and yelling (on my part) trying to get his attention, Hunter finally stopped and looked at me. He was in the middle of the pool and now turned the opposite direction. He'd completely swam in a circle before I could get him to stop!!

He noticed what had happened and immediately teared up. He was embarrassed and tired. And he still needed to finish the race. It sounds so silly but I got choked up right along with him. I could FEEL his discouragement and I didn't want him to feel that kind of pain. And it was over something so simple. How will it be later in life???

I pulled myself together and told him "Hunter, you can do it! You are almost there." He said, "but it's SO hard!" I told him "I know, but you are strong and daddy is waiting at the finish line for you. You can do THIS!" And he trusted me.

He turned himself the right direction and finished the race. You can see his frustrations on his face :(

He did it! He made it!

He had the entire crowd cheering for him and daddy was there at the end to lift him out. All the other kids his age finished a few MINUTES before he ever got out of the water- and in a short race, that's a LONG time. But he FINISHED!

And got some love for a job well done!

The last race of the day was the Noodle Race! Hunter is on the end with the yellow noodle.

He's really happy b/c it's OVER!

Hunter wasn't ready to sign up for another 8 weeks of swim team. I think we'll wait until the fall when he's a little older. I put him back in swim lessons b/c he needs help on stroke improvement- and it's not so intense.

But we are SO proud that Hunter stuck with it and followed through. He was a trooper and set an example for all of us to finish the task at hand. When the going get tough- the tough finish the race!! And of course, can you see the spiritual parallel in this story? Life can be "Hard!" But we are "strong" and our Heavenly Father is waiting at the finish line, after this life. We just need to hang in there, have faith and trust in the Lord. We can find the strength within and FINISH THE RACE!

St. Patricks or Easter?

2011-04-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

I realize Easter is tomorrow- which is why this is happening TODAY! Once again, I am behind but I won't let another holiday go by before I've blogged about the last one :)

We spent St. Patrick's Day with some friends that live in TVA (Temple View Apartments) which comprises a large part of our ward. Anyhow, we did a luncheon where everything was GREEN!

Of course it was all very creative and lots of fun!

Three of my monkeys

And the fourth. River was 6 mo old this day :)

The kids even got to go on a Treasure Hunt and discovered a "Pot of Gold" at the end of the rainbow! Good times :)

Tsunami #2

2011-04-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

Another scare. Another evacuation. Another sleepless night. Another practice. Another grateful heart, or two, or three, or few hundred thousand...

We are very grateful that we received no damage on our side of the island. There were a couple of Hawaiian islands that received minimal damage, but we came away unscathed.

The TV is showing a live view of the water as it had retracted- those rocks and the coral you see are ALWAYS under water. So that is interesting to see how far back the ocean receded. And there is that idiot walking around. Wasn't it like the 9th wave that did all the damage in Japan? Something like that. Just goes to show you don't want to be THAT idiot caught in a later wave when the first few seem perfectly safe!

This is where we stayed for the night. We had this one room in a vacation rental up the road from us. There were two women and their niece staying there on holiday from Canada. Our friends live in the bottom portion of the house and these women offered for anyone to come stay if needed! It was very generous of them. Of course, they were a little freaked out by what was going on- so having my crazy kids run around all night was actually fun for them and they were able to relax :)
My kids didn't last long in this room. They were way too wired. But as you can see, Ryan took full advantage of the nice, comfy bed!
This is about 6:30 am after we were awake ALL night! We pulled our kids out of bed around 1:30 am to head up the road.

finally

Our dear friend, Bethany and her daughter, Eliza up bright and early! Thanks again Taylor and Bethany!
Of course we brought David and Danielle along (David is Ryan's bro.) They have been living practically on the beach so they HAD to leave as well.
Our car is the white SUV out there in the grass. And the ocean is about a quarter mile out from there. So we felt pretty safe :)
This is back at our home later that morning. Of course, I'm stuck being awake if River is awake. BUT once he was asleep for a nap- I passed out too!
Kolea is our poster child for this event. She was fresh out of the shower and obviously SO exhausted she fell right to sleep on our bathroom floor!!

It was another tiring yet educational event. We learn more each time. I've been into preparedness lately and I was actually glad to have another trial run. Although we are extremely fortunate that we had so many hours of preparation. It took us about 4-5 hours to do everything we wanted to do.

However, we need to be able to grab the essentials in a matter of minutes if needed. And that is another post for another day. If I were computer savvy I would post pictures from Japan's Tsunami. My pictures are equivalent to marshmallows, cupcakes, and cotton candy compared to the raw nature of what they went through and continue to suffer today. Please remember them in your prayers. Find ways to help and contribute to ease their suffering. And say a prayer of thanks that you are not suffering in the same capacity.

What did I lose that day? A few hours of "precious" sleep. What did they lose??? Everything. Including THOUSANDS and thousands of lives.

Are you prepared?

Happens Every Time

2011-04-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

I sit down to blog and River wakes up!

Of course.

This is my darling baby at 6 months old. He is in the 93% for weight- he's hefty!

Now he's nearly 7 months old and he's cutting his first tooth... not very "darling" as far as that goes. But he's still squishy and cuddly and mine. And that's all that really matters :)

In Other News...

2011-03-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

With a 7 year old boy around, these are the kinds of things that randomly get put up on our front door!

So if you come by and see one of these... don't read too much into it :)

Ballet

2011-03-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

I've always loved ballet. Little known fact about me, I even took it at BYU! I wasn't the most graceful girl and I definitely wasn't looking so hot in our uniform of pale pink tights with a black leotard (that "Freshman 15" didn't sit well on my frame) but I pretended that I was elegant and beautiful - don't laugh.

Of course, now that I have two beautiful daughters I can vicariously live through them and I put Gabriella into ballet. It's one of the cutest things EVER!

This is at the end of an 8 week session where they meet once a week for only 1/2 hour. The girls' presentation was more to show what they'd been working on during that time.

Look at her cute knobby knees- not knowing which directing they should be going! :)

Maybe I'm biased, but I think she's doing pretty well!

My little ballerina!

They were doing pirouettes

I put her in blue on purpose this day to stand out!

She followed directions very well- which is a comfort to this mother when she doesn't seem to do so well at home... :)

They would kick out their leg and then spin around- so cute!

Way to go Gabriella! I'm so proud of her, she did a phenomenal job and really worked hard! And she's just so darn cute in her little blue leotard :)

Castles at Night

2011-03-21T22:27:00.001-07:00

Remember when I said I had no time last month? This is an adventure we took on February 5th and I've been wanting to post it ever since!

We FINALLY did a "bonfire" at the beach. We've been wanting to do this since we moved here- but there are some strict laws about it... anyhow, it finally happened!

This is the extent of a "bonfire" on the beach :)

It was a little chilly and all the kids were SO excited. Did I stress that well enough? They took out their sweatshirts, their headlamps... and Hunter donned his Spiderman mask- to this day it still remains a mystery, but it was entertaining!

He is showing the two crabs that he caught

Like this!

Part of the crew enjoying the fire

The dark and quiet beach

Another view of the group- see Ryan checking on River? He was fast asleep :)

And they're off to go find more crabs!

Kolea and I stuck by the fire and she played with her glowstick

A fun time was had by all!

We did have a "security" dude drive RIGHT up to us in his truck asking if we had cars in the parking lot saying they would be locked in around midnight. He was a kind man. The beaches here close at sunset and there are people that have the job of driving around to the different parking lots and putting chains across the entrances and essentially "locking up" so that people don't loiter or spend the night. Anyhow, he could see that we were being respectful of the beach, we didn't have the fire in the sand, we weren't drinking or causing problems- and we had a bunch of tired little kids asleep in parents' laps! We weren't exactly a threat which I'm sure is why he was so kind to let us know when we need to get our cars out of there! He could've told us to get the crap out right then and there! But he let a chill a bit longer :)

There's just something about sitting on the beach in the dark, digging your toes into the cold sand to the smell of burning wood and toasted marshmallows. Good times for sure.

My favorite Things...

2011-03-21T00:34:00.000-07:00

My favorite things are actually people. Specifically, these people.

The Husband

The Baby

The Bigger Baby :)

The Princess

The Adventurer

"I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel- so bad!"

Name that tune if you can!

All these pictures were taken this weekend- and yes, there is a scorpion inside that sucker... And YES, Hunter ate the whole thing. :)

February?

2011-03-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

You wouldn't think there is anything very remarkable about the month of February. Valentine's Day is kind of a nice holiday in the middle of the month, but other than that, not much is happening. Right?

wrong.

Life is happening. Constantly. Especially in the Hitz home which is why I completely missed blogging the entire month! It's not that I didn't want to, it's that I had ZERO time to. All I know is that having four children has tested me to my limit! It's all about the children and keeping house; Running the errands, the endless loads of laundry--- nursing a baby (it takes up SO much time!) And the daily FBing which generally takes place on my iPhone while I nurse :) That's what it's come down to, multitasking. Generally I'd say I'm the world's WORST multitasker, except when it comes to running my home. Oh yes! This is my domain. Now if only I can motivate myself to do it more often...

Anyhow, I digress. I will share a brief Valentine activity we did. "We" as in my friends. The moms in my ward that needed something to do on the Friday afternoon before Vday. Ryan was working and I needed to get out of the house.

Aren't they so cute? I baked the fat ones and Michelle baked the skinny ones :)

And everyone had a ball decorating them!

Just a sampling of the toppings- YUM!

Sandra was kind enough to hold River for me while I snapped some photos...

...of all the adorable kiddos! Like her son, Morrison, Ellah,

Gabriella,

Hunter,

Laynie,

& Mason.

I think we moms had more fun than the kids :)

Ryan was a bit sad that we went ahead and made sugar cookies w/o him (it was originally his idea to do it with our kids.) On Sunday, Feb. 13th he stayed home from church b/c he was under the weather. Well, he didn't do as much resting as I'd expected b/c we came home to

THIS!

These cupcakes (and icing) were made from scratch!

And they were DIVINE.

F.H.E.

2011-01-31T22:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight we walked the 30 seconds it takes to get to our local beach for Family Home Evening.

Normally we stay home and do a lesson out of this great little book called "52 Weeks of Family Night" I'm new to this "adding a link thing" so instead of having it all fancified and saying "click here" with it being the link, just click on the dang link below! Anyway, it's a FAB book and we've used it for about two years with our kids!

DeseretBook.com - 52 Weeks of Family Night

So this is our beach in Hau'ula...

Isn't it beautiful? It's about 6pm and the tide is SUPER low!

We wanted to spend the evening enjoying God's creations as a family

Don't worry, we didn't leave River at home :)

These are the times we appreciate with our children

And they appreciate the outings as well

You know the story of The Giving Tree? This is the Swinging Tree...

I love these two blue eyed babes...

And they love one another. I'm thinking they will be best friends like another couple of cuties I know...

These two!

What's under that rock Hunter??

A tiny shrimp of course!!

Hunter is the fastest kid I know when it comes to catching anything that moves :) In fact that cut on his hand is from the other day at the beach when he was tearing the bark off an old tree stump in order to catch a green gecko. He caught it.

Well done, son! We teach our children that nature belongs in its own element so it can survive. Hence, we don't allow things like this to come home with us- it would just die, and who are we to give it a life sentence? So after admiring it, he returned it to its home :)

Goodnight beach. Until tomorrow when we see the glorious sun peek over the edge of your horizon. We feel so blessed to live here at this time when our children can experience and appreciate our beautiful world God created.

This is truly paradise.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky.

Whenever I feel the rain on my face, or the wind as it rushes by.

Whenever I touch a velvet rose, or walk by a lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world- Heavenly Father created for me.

FoUr MoNtHs

2011-01-30T00:34:00.001-08:00

This is how my baby is looking these days! He has a little tuft of dark hair at the back of his head from birth, it's so cute and silky soft!

His eyes change color depending on whether he's wearing grey or blue.

Kolea wanted to get in on the action and grabbed the old camera- haha!

So I couldn't help myself, capturing the two of them together. See how he looks at her?

He's totally giving her what she wants from this photo shoot! She is copying me all the way... Haha!

What's going on mom?

My two babies. That's what I call them.

Annnnd he's down for the count...

"Don't cry, Rib-buh" as Kolea comforts him :)

Satisfied, it's back to the camera

I can't believe how time is flying! It always does, doesn't it? Well I've been working hard at losing this baby weight. I'm only 6 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight which has me jumping for joy! After I had Kolea, I didn't get to that point until she was 9 months old! So I'm please with how things are going. Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's just melting away on its own. I've been really working at it! I'm hoping to be where I want to be (9 lbs lighter than I am now) by summer time.

Martin Luther King Day

2011-01-30T00:19:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you put...

A giant slip 'n slide with soapy suds...

And lots of friends...

A human carrying ball...

Sisters and smiles...

A jaunt to Alligator Pond...

With your buddy...

And an epic climb...

In an amazing tree, all together???

One pooped crew at the end of the day!

PS: that is a monk seal that was really beached there (sleeping) just down from Alligator Pond that day.

When it Rains it Pours

2011-01-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

During the week of January 9th we were under flood watches every day. This happens occasionally and it's not really a concern. However, on the 12th it became a concern. It had POURED all day long and by evening we had some water leaking into our garage.

Ryan and I had this concrete block at the back of the house and brought it out front to help direct the flow away from the garage. It helped. I wish I could've taken a pic at the end of our driveway where it was like a river flowing down the street! But the rain was too intense, and it wasn't worth doing that to my camera :)

I love how you can see the raindrops! It was really quite exciting!

Our yard was flooding. And amazingly enough- 24 hours later it was though nothing ever happened.

A Waikiki New Year

2011-01-29T22:59:00.000-08:00

Last year we went to Waikiki for the New Year since we'd only lived here for a couple of months and we didn't really have any friends to celebrate with or know what fun things there were to do around here! So to town we went and stayed at the Marriott where we had a blast!

It's now become our new tradition! Although this year we wanted to go a day early so we could spend more time and have it be relaxed instead of stressing about timing and trying to find parking and all those kinds of headaches. Anyhow, we went to the Marriott again and had two rooms this time- which was great for sleeping arrangements with FOUR children in tow!

We were on the 30th floor and this was the view from our room!

Zooming in you can see all of the surfers at Waikiki

'Sup dude?

Trying out the comfy beds as Ryan and I unpack a few things

And we're off to see the sights and have some fun!

Kolea insisted on walking. Half the time she had her play phone to her ear too :)

Yum!

I love this pic :)

CHEESE!

AND CHEESE! Haha, just kidding. I don't know why this scary looking thing was in front of this store. But it freaked us all out as we passed by!

I grabbed a cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. It was gone in about 9 seconds.

Where's my cheesecake?

These dudes are pretty entertaining street performers. Well they don't really "perform" as much as they just stand in silence...

But it's worth giving the guy a couple of bucks :)

This dude moves like a robot- it's pretty sweet!

As the sun sets on Waikiki on December 30th

Ryan took this one- you can see my silhouette as I'm looking down at River

This is only a few steps away at the Banyan Tree. It's amazing to me how different the light can be depending on what direction the camera is pointed in.

This one is a beaut! I'm thinking about framing it. And it's totally undoctored.

Gooooood Mornin' Waikiki!

Another Banyan tree on our way to the Aquarium

Wheeeee!

I'm posting a bunch of pictures from our adventure at the Aquarium for one reason... We see these animals a lot- in the wild. When we go snorkeling, many of these animals are what we get to see in the deep blue sea :) Anyhow, I wanted to share that with you!

Cute fish :)

This is an octopus. It's small, yes. I've seen this in the wild!

OK- I haven't seen these, but the jellyfish are my favorite exhibit!

They are so beautiful!

This is a jellyfish about the size of my 5 yr old's palm. I said to Ryan, don't you think this picture I took is amazing?" He replied, "what's amazing is that there is really a creature like that!" OK, he wins.

Ya see that long fish with the yellow on it? That is a trumpet fish, or pencil fish. We see those ALL the time. Along with that big piece of poo looking thing. It's a sea cucumber :)

This is a Grouper. It's HUGE! I remember scuba diving in Cozumel and almost running right into one that was the size of a large ottoman! It scared the crap out of me!

Gotta love the hermit crabs and sea stars...

Hands...

This is a monk seal. We also see these beached periodically. They are endangered (I think)

After the Aquarium we walked back to the hotel and happened upon this cute little bird along the way. Yes, it's wild.

But this crazy bird lady thinks she needs to domesticate him and take him...

We seriously stayed and watched forever. This crazy lady was almost more entertaining than her birds!

But we finally made it back to the hotel and River went "swimming" for the first time!

Later we went to Waikiki Beach and rented a surf board. That's Ryan in the middle of the picture bringing it in at the end of our "one hour sesh." We each took it out for a half hour. At least now we can both say we've surfed Waikiki! :)

After cleaning up back at the hotel we took the kids to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner!

We were all really excited to eat there- we love that place!!

Fun at the fountain where Hunter misjudged the spurts of water :)

No blur mid jump- this camera rocks!

My monkey!

He'll be working at the PCC soon enough climbing their coconut trees for the tourists! :)

Finally a smile!

We're getting a little tired here...

And even more tired here...

The kids went to bed and Ryan and I hung out waiting for the fireworks show at midnight. Funny thing though, we fell asleep. Ryan woke up with a start saying, "it must be getting close because I'm hearing a bunch of fireworks!"

Sure enough, it was 11:55 pm but TONS of fireworks were already going off. We went out on the balcony and it looked like this...

Everything was totally smokey! It was insane!

Hello 30 stories high! Please welcome, Vertigo!

Ta-da! Happy New Year!

I realize I'm writing this on January 29th, but c'mon. Humor me :)

Post Christmas, Pre New Years...

2011-01-29T22:38:00.000-08:00

So to begin, this first picture is a couple of days after Christmas... yes, yes, I know it's a mess. But ya see that big, black box? That held a new and fantastic camera. One that I actually asked for for my birthday (the only present I did get yesterday on my birthday was a $20 pair of skinny jeans from Forever 21- which was perfect!)

Anyhow, all of these photos are from my new camera and I LOVE IT!!!!

Good morning Sunshine!

Hunter is playing a new Wii game

Gabriella is exploiting the fact that I OCCASIONALLY allow her to stand while holding River

Kolea is sad it's raining so she can't go out and play :( But at least she has her new doll!

And a new doll for Ella

Typical Kolea, surrounded by toys she'd dumped out of a purse

Mr. Blue Eyes

Me likey this pic

I call Hunter the "Butterfly Whisperer" He catches them left and right and they just hang out on his arm or hand or wherever. And he LOVES them!

He received some "bug catching" gear for Christmas and recently caught TEN caterpillars that eventually made their cocoons right inside his bug nets and they all turned into beautiful butterflies! It was amazing to watch the process- and the kids were so enthralled by it all!

My little RoCk StAr

And my sweet boy

I was playing with the action setting on the camera and was exited these turned out!

Sweet air Ella!

Christmas Day

2011-01-11T13:57:00.001-08:00

I realized as I climbed into bed in the wee hours of Christmas morning that I hadn't reminded the kids to come into our bedroom before their excitement drove them downstairs. So I came up with this- which might I add was brilliant (if I do say so myself) b/c I could hear their loud whispering voices at SIX am talking (and plotting) about going downstairs to see what Santa brought them... and then they saw-

THIS!!

Of course, leave it to sneaky Hunter to figure out a way to get around things (or under in this case.) He's just so skinny dang it! Luckily, he also happens to be our most obedient child and he knows that things like this mean business. Also, he can read now and I was counting on that so he could inform Gabriella of why this gate and sign were preventing them (and extending the amount of time) from getting to presents! Haha! I love it when my plan comes together. :)
We didn't have to wait long for Kolea to wake up b/c Hunter and Gabriella were pretty loud in their excitement. We decided to go ahead with things before River woke up so we could focus on the older three for a bit. Merry Christmas!

Kolea had discovered Gabriella's doll house even before Gabriella did.

Good morning sweet pea! Hunter made me my necklace and wrapped it all by himself :)

Kolea is our little Rock Star!

River got a walker!

Hunter had been asking for BIG FOOT for months!!!

Ryan gave me this. It's pretty dope.

This was Ryan's favorite present! We've already played a number of times. It's a GREAT game!

After our morning festivities and Skyping with family we did what most families here do on Christmas... we hit the BEACH! We met up with our same friends that we had over on Christmas Eve. Lili is Gabriella's age. She was building a sand snowman!
This is most of the group! And you can see all of the kids except for River who was sleeping in the background in the car seat. What a fun bunch!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope it was wonderful for all of you!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd begin with the before and after tree shots, just because it's fun :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Now let's really begin! For Christmas Eve we decided to invite three families over to be each other's "family" as we were away from our loved ones this season. There were nine children in our home which I decided was PLENTY to do the nativity...

So a few of us dressed them up and attempted the (nearly) impossible-

since six of the children were 3 yrs and younger :)

Here are Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus...

and of course the angel... (while Ryan reads Luke 2 on his iPhone)

what a funny combination of past and present.

Then sprinkle in a few shepherds and wise men...

singing their praises, or laughing, or crying as some were...

and there you have it! The FOUR minute Nativity!

After that we decorated some cookies and visited some more... but then it was time for all to go home and do their own traditions in preparation for Santa to come visit.

Now it's just us, and the kids are getting excited to open their one gift from mommy & daddy. Bet ya can't guess what it is... :)

...and there you have it. Exciting isn't it? He sure was- the little ingrate!

Ahh aren't they cute? All ready for Santa!!

Ta- Da! Everyone dressed and ready!

My little charmer- and it's off to bed with them all!

Don't know why this is underlining now and I can't stop it! Anyhow, then Santa's little helpers came to help get things ready for Christmas morning. Which, by the way, was wonderful!!

Isn't everyone doing such a great job?

Ahhh all done! Time for bed :)

Silly Putty

2011-01-10T23:24:00.001-08:00

This is Christmas Eve...

This is a half hour before our friends (3 families from our ward) are to show up.

This is what happens,

When you do a headstand on the couch,

And there is silly putty in the way.

Never get in a fight with silly putty. It will win.

And this is after. Which also included a few tears from an angry and stressed out mama.

What can I say? I LOVE his longer hair!

This is the FIRST buzz cut Hunter has ever had.

Gabriella's 5th Birthday!

2011-01-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Gabriella!

I'm really good at posting lots of pictures. Not so great at witty commentary. So just enjoy the pictures with minimal comment. :)

I love how Gabriella looks adorable and Kolea is totally looking like an orphan! That girl cracks me up- she has a style ALL her own. :)

Make a wish!

Lots o' fun!

Lucky girl...

Game time! First the birthday girl!

Now Lili

Then Ivy with some help from sissy, Velzy

And a little assistance from our lovely assistant, tio David!

Take two for Gabriella! She actually cheated the first time around. It was quite funny- although she didn't find it very funny when everyone called her a "cheater." :) So she needed a re-do and swore she'd keep her eyes CLOSED.

A race to pop 3 balloons the fastest. Hunter won. :)

Ever play this one before? I recommend the kids being at least about 8 yrs old.

First you eat a soda cracker...

Then chew a piece of bubble gum! Whoever can blow a legitimate bubble first is the winner!

The Craft

2011-01-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who really know me- you know that I'm soooooo NOT crafty. But for Gabriella's birthday I was inspired to do something out of the ordinary.

I'm sure it's because I'm surrounded by some of the most talented and crafty women I've ever known on this little rock of an island- and EVERY birthday party my children go to, there seems to be some awesome craft! So yes, I was feeling the pressure. Well, I succumbed.

And this, my friends was the result...

The idea here was to make a crown for our "Pin The Crown on The Princess" game
The pictures are self-explanatory. :)
I was feeling pretty brilliant as I made up all of this stuff!
I made about 12 of these...
And then let the kids decorate them! Ta-da!
See, I can be crafty. ;)

Sugar & Spice...

2010-12-12T23:55:00.001-08:00

... and everything NiCe!

That's what little girls are made of!

Snips and Snails

and Puppy Dog Tails...

That's what little boys are made of!

These pictures were taken on the same day. Yesterday- Gabriella's 5th birthday!

Birthday pictures soon to follow. :)

WoRdS

2010-12-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Remember this cute kid?

He says some pretty funny and off the wall things every once in a while...

Yesterday on the drive to school the children were talking about where they were born. I told them they were all born in Colorado.

Hunter pipes up, "but not River. He was born in Hawaii...

... he's brown."

Hahahahahaha! So there you have it. Evidently, little River is now Polynesian b/c he was born here in Hawaii. If only it worked that way. Once a Haole (how-lee) always a Haole. In other words- if you be white. They ain't no changin the fact. You cain't be bon in Hawaii and call yo-self a Hawaiian. Nuf said.

Hunter said something else today.

Only this time it wasn't so funny.

He learned the "F" word.

"The queen mother of dirty words. The F, dash, dash, dash word..." as he says on A Christmas Story.

Hunter learned it from his friend, although he didn't know it was such a bad word.

Well, now he knows.

Kids!

SEVEN? WhAt??

2010-12-05T23:10:00.001-08:00

Hunter is SEVEN!

Today is his birthday. Seven years ago today I gave birth to my first child. And he was perfect in every way!

Hunter is a special spirit and always has been. He is super fun-loving! Also, caring and creative. He's smart and funny and competitive and silly and goofy and a friend to EVERYBODY!

Hunter is like his dad- very talkative and a friend to all. Everyone LOVES Hunter! Especially us!

Hunter likes to get on our computer and play with the Photo Booth and take random pics of himself. Here is crazy one!

This was taken on Dec. 1st. I gave him the mohawk earlier that day at his request. Did I mention he LOVES having his picture taken? He will pose for anyone, anytime! :)

Remember the part where I said he was "special" ?? Haha!

We celebrated Hunter's birthday yesterday on the 4th. I told him he could chose six friends to come over for cake and ice cream and then we'd take them all to see a movie. Five were able to come (although we are missing two in this pic!)
Hunter is the cutest thing ever and I want to cry just thinking about him. I love him dearly- as a mother would!! He was so excited to have us sing "Happy Birthday" to him!
He is hilarious too- he wanted a Red Velvet cake for his birthday!! What 7 yr old asks for that? But works for us :) We LOVED it!

First cake, second presents!!!!

What happened to Hunter? Where'd he go?? We're all looking for him...
Ahhh of course. There isn't enough room on the table. Must open presents!! That present is wrapped so cute! I love how they did his name on it and I'm glad I snapped a photo before it all got ripped to shreds!
A happy bunch and a fun time with the gifts. Soon after this we all piled in a couple of cars and went to see "Tangled!" I know, I know, a very girlie type movie. But they are SEVEN! And two of them had already seen it. :) They all LOVED it. Although, I did hear a couple of little snickers now and then... It was classic boy behavior and so much fun!

We're still missing one other little boy in this pic- he met us at the theater. Where I TOTALLY forgot to pull out my camera and take more pictures of the group! But I guess we were having too much fun. Hunter had a wonderful birthday chillin with his buddies: Jason, Jeron, Carson, Mahonri, and Tosi. They were all so cute!

Hunter you are SO wonderful and such a blessing to our family!

We think you are hilarious that you are SO competitive in everything you do and that you are a little "parent!" Typical first child! But we love it and wouldn't trade YOU for anything.

You are a good little boy who is growing so fast and you strive to do what's right... now if only we can get your sisters to that point. Ha!

You are smart and have a thirst for knowledge. I love that I don't have to bug you every day about doing your homework- you just do it. You help your sisters when they are in need. You are also the first to tell someone when they are doing something wrong. :) You LOVE being the BOSS!

We didn't even take any pictures today on your actual birthday! We were too busy playing with all of your presents. That's kind of the way to go... celebrate the day before or at least EARLY in the day so you can actually PLAY with your gifts on your birthday. It's handy.

Love you Hunter.

River's Blessing

2010-12-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

My little angel...

We have blessed all of our children at home. I can't really tell you the reasoning behind it. It just felt right for us. And River was no different.

Tia Lexie helped Gabriella get ready and straightened her hair for fun! She looked very pretty :)
We were fortunate to have Ryan's parents come for Thanksgiving this year so we chose to bless River while they were here. River was blessed on Friday, November 19, 2010. When he was just over two months old. G'ma Ginger is enjoying a quick cuddle before the blessing!
I wanted a picture of all four kids together on this special day- I do have a couple of crappy ones and then Kolea took off. She's quite the two year old these days!!

So while Hunter and Gabriella are the perfect picture-taking subjects...

... this is Kolea!

Can you tell he's beginning to get a bit sleepy? Yes, he cried through the blessing!
Some of the wonderful friends and family that had gathered for the occasion.
Most of our group. It was an evening that was kind of thrown together at the last minute. We had planned a different day, but due to the Temple rededication that also happened that same weekend we ended up with the blessing on a Friday night. It was fine, but we were sad to have forgotten a few friends in the craziness that we would've loved to have there.
A big thank you to all who came and made the evening a special one for the Hitz Family!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

2010-11-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Kolea loves her baby dolls. She cuddles, cradles, rocks, sings to and even kisses her baby dolls. No doubt she's seen me do this a time or two to her brother! Not to mention, experienced it herself (by me.) This is what we do with babies!

This is also what we do with babies...

She cracks me up! What a good little mommy!

Alligator Pond

2010-11-23T17:20:00.001-08:00

This is a fun little keiki (kid) beach near our house. There is some reef that looks like an alligator, hence the name. We took River and Kolea one morning. Ryan had never seen River's reaction to dipping his toes...

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER!

Poor baby. :) It really isn't that cold. I think it's more of the shock that he didn't know what was coming. Let's try this again...

TAKE TWO!

Aww So REFRESHING!

And about a half hour later...

It's so exhausting being at the beach! :)

Halloween Festivities- Better Late Than Never

2010-11-22T23:00:00.001-08:00

Those of you in Fort Collins know that each Halloween we have an annual Pumpkin Carving Party at our house. Last year, we moved to Hawaii on October 15th and unfortunately we didn't have any friends to invite over for a party! So this year we made up for it- BIG TIME!

See all of our yummy treats? I was so impressed that everyone went all out!

Here's another view- as well as some of the fun pumpkin carving happenings!

I'm not kidding- we meant business!

You go ladies! Carve those pumpkins!

Much of the men-folk babysitting. Good times!

Some of the fine ladies helping out in the kitchen. We were washing pumpkin seeds, preparing them for roasting...

I had the brilliant idea to use our salad spinner to spin off most of the water, to quicken the drying process. It was a great plan until I took my hand off the lid for ONLY a split second - and that's when it happened...

Pumpkin seeds FLEW out of the salad spinner going 95 miles an hour in a 360 degree radius. It was INSANE! And completely hilarious. I'd trashed the ENTIRE kitchen area with pumpkin seeds. Too bad we were all too busy laughing- and then cleaning up to think about taking a picture of it. :(

Thanks everyone for celebrating with us- we had a blast!

Hunter and Gabriella got dressed and ready for school on Friday, 10/29 to walk in their Halloween Parade. Hunter wanted to be a vampire. And I'm all about the costumes you put together. I think he looks great! Gabriella was my sweet angel and looked so pretty!

On Saturday, 10/30 we were lucky enough to live in a community where they wanted to celebrate Halloween a day early! We decided to slick back Hunter's hair this time and thought he looked much more the part. :) Gabriella is hilarious with her "no-teeth" smile.

Where is Kolea? She is being her ol' two year old self and not cooperating. She did not want to dress up or be in any picture. WHAT??

So here is our family of SIX! Kolea is wearing the dress I'd put her in that morning. Since she would put on her witch costume I found bunny ears and a tail in our Halloween bins and craftily put them on her! Hehehe- the sneaky things we parents do! So her little dress worked out to be a cute costume after all.

Ryan was a sport and dressed up as a Mexican "football" sports fan. I am obviously Pippy Longstocking (as if you couldn't tell by the hair.) Unfortunately we couldn't get things timed right with River for when he was awake and changing him- so he's in a boring ol' onesie. That's OK. We have many Halloweens to come!

See Kolea's cute little cotton-tail? She is adorable! When she's not acting like the devil that is... and I say that with as much love a mother can have for her darling little basket-case of a two year old! Ha!

Some fun costumes I wanted to showcase. Our friends, Axle and Jenny. They won our ward's costume contest AGAIN this year! Way to go guys!

The zebras are my bro-in-law and sis-in-law, David and Danielle. She has THE MOST BEAUTIFUL hair in the world. I covet (k, not covet- maybe envy) her hair. They used "hair glue" to try and make it stand up like a mane!! I forgot to ask them how long it took to wash out...

And my friend, Rachel. She was Glinda- the Good Witch of the North (?) I think it's the north... time to watch Wizard of OZ again. :)

Happy Halloween everyone! Or should I say, Thanksgiving??

I'm so out of it. We even blessed River the other day and I forgot to tell (or remind) my entire family. I think four kids have sufficiently killed enough of my brain cells and I should quite while I'm ahead...

I swear, any more kids and you might as well call me a vegetable.

Comparisons

2010-11-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

I love taking pictures of River laying on our Luv Sac (if you couldn't tell) b/c of the bright red cover. It makes everything look better :) Don't ask me why- I'm not a photographer by any means. Maybe just b/c the fact that it's a solid color background so I'm able to focus on the person in the photo- who knows??

Anyhow, this is my darling baby at 9 days old. Dressed and ready for his first day at church- well at least part of church. We left after Sacrament meeting. :)

I actually wish I'd had him in a onesie so you could see how "bird-like" my little guy's legs are here! He's so scrawny- well, was!

This is River as of yesterday, 8 weeks old. He's filled out a bit- the little chunk! And he's a bit more... aware :)

Just thought it'd be fun to see these two pictures side by side and see how they compared.

River

2010-11-12T22:31:00.001-08:00

I've been dying to do an update on River. Since my time seems SOOOOO short these days I decided to give you most of his pictures and a short synopsis on them. Kind of like a time line of events from the last eight weeks. You heard me- 8 weeks!

This is River today, Friday, November 12th at 8 weeks old!

So we start at the beginning. Saturday, Sept. 18th. Coming home from the hospital. Clearly I'm delusional and have my baby wrapped as though it's snowing outside... old habits die hard. It was in fact 85 degrees and sunny. A perfect Hawaiian afternoon.

Monday, 9-20: Saying goodbye to G'ma. We are all sad. :(

Friday, 9-24: Showing his "Zoolander face"

I LOVE little baby yawns! Aren't they so adorable when they scrunch up their little faces??

Saturday 9-25: A week old. Getting his first sponge bath.

And getting dressed after the bath. He LOVES the water! But then, all of my babies have been water babies :)

Wednesday, 9-29: River's first trip to the beach! We went to Alligator Pond.

Saturday, 10-2: River and the kids listening to General Conference.

Sunday, 10-3: Enjoying some bonding time with daddy after G'ma Ginger put him in a coma! :) Sorry G'ma we didn't have a good pic of you holding River during your trip... :(

Tuesday, 10-5: A quick trip to our favorite beach- Sunset!!

Same day, having a cuddle with tia Camille :)

Wednesday 10-6: 12 days old and another day at the beach! This time it's Shark's Cove. I dipped his feet in the ocean for the first time- and he screamed! Ha!

Friday, 10-8: Just chillin

Sunday, 10-17: One month old! He's all ready for church ;)

Saturday, 10-23: Hangin in the swing again! Mommy is so busy with the other children as well that often times River ends up here- a safe place until he can be held again...

Same day, we took a walk (2 minutes down the street) to our beach!

Saturday, 10-30: Hanging out in the car seat waiting to go trick-or-treating. No costume for him- he gets way to warm in just a onesie!

Saturday, 11-6: Sleeping at the beach again! This time we went to Turtle Bay and mommy got to swim for the first time postpartum. YAY!!

Today, Friday, 11-12: Eight weeks old and oh so cute!

River you are such a blessing in our lives- even though we feel like our world has been turned upside down! Mommy has gone off dairy and sugar for you. Yet, you still cry more than we think you ought to!! Of course, babies just cry. You've cried so much these last few day- who knows why?? But you've lost your voice! Is that even possible? Evidently. It sounds so cute, yet so sad all at the same time.

Well you definitely know how to get us wrapped around your little fingers- whenever you let out a little whimper we come running! We love you and are excited for the adventures that lay before you in life.

Lost Teeth & Super C

2010-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

The morning of November 4th, Hunter lost his front tooth. It had been loose for a while and it finally fell out. He was SO excited b/c to him it meant getting $1 from the tooth fairy!

THEN...

The afternoon of November the 4th, Hunter PULLED OUT his other top tooth! Eek!

It was a loose, but not to the degree of his first tooth that had "fallen" out that morning. He came to me all bloody and excited crying, "the tooth fairy will bring me TWO dollars now!" :)

And he said it didn't hurt.
So, um, yeah. The tooth fairy TOTALLY FORGOT to come that night and he was crushed. We felt so bad- but the tooth fairy made an appearance the next afternoon and Hunter had his payday!

* * * * * * *

This is what was going on at my house last night. That is Ryan's sister, Lexie and her roommate, Maria. They were making candy leis for Hunter. Hunter was nominated as a Super Citizen again! Some of you may remember a post last Spring when he was a Super C in Kindergarten. So instead of spending a fortune on pre-made candy leis, I decided we ought to use the left over Halloween candy that I'd put away a while ago!

This one is super cute!

Hunter is bringing in his chair for the assembly. That building in the background with the awesome mural is where Hunter's classroom is.

Here is Gabriella in her Kindergarten class patiently waiting for the assembly to begin. They have one each month and we always pray for no rain. Unfortunately it rained twice during this assembly. Gabriella had left her sweatshirt in the classroom so I ran out to give her mine. :) I figure she has to stay at school and I can go home and change if needed. So I'd much rather be the one in wet clothes for the time being...
Here are the Super Citizens of the First Grade at Lai'e Elementary!
After they are done announcing all the children in the same grade, family and friends are welcome to go up to their student and congratulate them by giving them gifts. It's tradition to always give a lei when someone is being recognized. And for kids- often they get candy leis!

Tia Lexie giving Hunter his first of four leis! When I hugged him he said, "I hope I get lots of candy!" I pulled his leis up to his face and said, "what do you think all of this is!?!" He laughed. I think he was so overwhelmed that he wasn't really paying attention! Sooo like Hunter. :)

Hunter's teachers love him! He is well behaved and a great student. He does as he's asked and is quite a social little guy! In fact at his recent PT Conference that was the only mark that wasn't a top mark for him. He's so social that it got him in trouble a couple of times. :)

Hunter is a wonderful big brother although he LOVES to tease. He's almost 7, so I'm pretty sure that comes with the territory. He is a typical first child and tried to parent everyone else and make them follow the rules! But above all he loves to play and have fun with friends!! We love you Hunter and thing you are the best Super Citizen ever!

At the end of the assembly they also recognized the top fund raisers for a recent walk-a-thon that the school put on. They raised money for their school in order to buy better computer equipment and those types of things. They raised over $8,000! And Hunter was among the top 10 students in the school who individually raised the most funds. Way to go dude!

Nighty Night

2010-11-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have tons to blog about between updating you on River and how big he's getting, as well as Halloween! But this is a short, simple blog. And it's what's been going on here.

Last night (Halloween) Kolea was playing in her baby pack 'n play. We told her it was bedtime and she climbed in, wanting to go to sleep in it.

Well, it didn't happen. But she was cute.

Then, this afternoon (Nov. 1) I put her to bed for nap time. After a little while I went to check on my sleeping babe.

What is wrong with this picture?

Where did my child go?

Found her.

She is everything a spunky two year old should be... and MORE.

River Christian Henry

2010-10-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, he is HeRe. He is BeAuTiFuL! And he is MiNe.

OK, I will give Ryan some credit too. :)

I know you just wanted to see a picture of him before I got to the boring stuff like how it all happened...

I was admitted to Castle Medical Center in Kailua, Hawaii on Friday, September 17th at 7:30 am to be induced. I was NOT very happy about this.

River was five days overdue at this point. He was chillin in his little cocoon. I was his incubator and he was getting bigger and bigger by the day. They told me to expect him to be between 8.5 and 9 lbs. I thought- no way. He's really not THAT big...

Here I was getting hooked up to the Pitocin.

My last pregnant picture. I'm HUGE! The reason I was so unhappy about being induced is because it makes for a "medical" birth. I had that with Hunter and was very sick all during and after his birth. Then I gave birth to both girls without ANY pain meds and it was a totally different experience. Difficult, yes. But well worth it!

Ryan demonstrating his thoughts on the childbirth process. Thanks babe. Love ya.

Ok- Are you ready for this story?

We arrived at the birth center at 7:30 am and I was not in a very happy mood. It's one thing when labor just happens and you're thrown right into it- it's clearly another when you are electing to go into that much pain. Knowing what's ahead of you and not knowing at the same time how severe it'll be b/c of the drugs (pitocin) involved. Anyhow, I was hooked up to pitocin and saline through an IV by 8:15 am. I came in already dialated to a 3 and 60% effaced- but had been that way for a couple of weeks. By 8:45 I began to feel the first contractions. They weren't very strong but they were more than I'd been feeling on my own. And that's how it went for the next TWO hours! It was SO boring. My mom was reading, Ryan was doing homework and I was just walking around with my little IV tree- totally bored to tears waiting for something more to happen.

My midwife came in and said at that rate I'd be having the baby on Sat, 9/18 b/c I wasn't even in labor yet. They were doing things very slowly and not wanting to be aggressive b/c of how I wanted it to be as natural as possible. Then she said they could up the pitocin every 15 min (which is normal) and get things really going but I could expect to dialate one centimeter an hour until delivery- 7 hours at least!! Or they could break my water and see if that would kick start things. I decided to go ahead with that. I was there. I was hooked up to the IV and I already felt defeated about having the kind of birth that I wanted.

At 10:50 am they broke my water. At 11:10 I had my first STRONG contraction. And that did it. I was in labor. I'd planned to walk around, do hydrotherapy, sit on the ball, etc. But I was thrown into it so hard and fast - (I was still hooked up to the pitocin) that all of those plans went out the window. I just wanted to relax as much as possible! At 11:45 am they checked me and I was dialated to a 6! I was progressing so they turned off the pitocin and unhooked all of the IV's from me- yay! At this point I began saying I wanted an epidural. I was still thinking I could be having these intense contractions for the next few hours. I had nothing to prove- and I didn't care! I wanted pain relief! But Ryan kept saying "I don't think that's what you really want." Then my mom asked if I could do another contraction, which I did- and this went on for a bit. The nurse checked me at 12:15 pm and said I was at an 8! I knew that it was too late for an epidural now but it didn't really matter b/c I also FINALLY realized that I was in the home stretch! The whole time I was wanting the epidural I was still thinking "one centimeter an hour until delivery" which of course had me totally freaked out b/c I could NOT do that! Anyhow, I set a goal to have this baby out before 1 pm. :) I focused on totally relaxing and allowing my body to do its thing! Pushing was a bit of a challenge b/c he was so big! But obviously everything was fine and he was born at 12:41 pm. So I was in labor- total- for just under two hours since they'd broken my water! I swear that has to be a new record. All the nurses and my midwife were in shock! It was kind of funny! They kept saying- "if we'd known that's all you needed, we would've done it in the beginning!" But of course, who can predict or even pretend to know the path childbirth will take? All I know is that I'm grateful that it happened so quickly and that I didn't end up getting the epidural- thanks to Ryan :) And for ME it's a big deal b/c it cuts my recovery time to a fraction of what it would be otherwise.

And here is the big boy in all his glory. If I hadn't seen the scale my self I wouldn't have believe I'd just pushed out a 9 lb baby!

My awesome nurse and midwife

Proud Grandma- a 10th time over!

Sweet baby, River! He still sleeps like that with his chin propped on his hands.

Brand, spankin newborns are probably my most favorite thing in the whole world.

Getting some daddy love.

When I originally began this post I'd planned for it to be more in depth. But in two days, it will have been 6 weeks since River's birth and that is pretty ridiculous that I haven't been able to post before now. However, I do have four children now. It is CRAZY HECTIC! There. I said it.

Now that you have the birth pics and story I can start doing updates! Yay!

BLOG? More like BlOb.

2010-10-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Obviously I've had a baby. Blogging? What's that? Blob? That's how I feel.

Birth story, pictures and updates soon to follow so stay tuned!

Kolea's Birthday

2010-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

So before I begin, I'm laughing b/c while I was writing the title for this post I was thinking of the last post I did- about Ryan's birthday... and the NEXT post I will do-- about our new baby's birthday! No, he has not been born yet. He's still cooking away. I have a week until my due date. But I just thought how funny it was that I will have 3 birthdays in a row to blog about for the REST OF MY LIFE! Now on with the show!

Here is my beautiful baby, Kolea at one day old.

And here she is at TWO! How did THAT happen!?!

Kolea's birthday was on Sunday, August 29th. Luckily we have church at noon so I was able to make cupcakes that morning. She's loving that cake batter! Yes, I allow my kids to lick out of the bowl- with raw eggs in the mix. I've done it all my life... I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's part of "kid passage." You HAVE to lick the bowl every chance you get!!
I am the Primary and Nursery song leader in my ward. Since we were only having family over in the evening to celebrate her birthday I decided to bring the party to nursery... After I let singing time for the nursery children I had them sing "Happy Birthday" to Kolea and I passed around these mini cupcakes! Kolea stuffed the entire thing in her mouth- it was hilarious!
Round #1: Ryan is lighting Kolea mini cake. And being VERY patient... she'd been waiting ALL day for this!
Half way through singing to her she blew out the candles!! It was hilarious! She (of course) didn't know that she ought to wait until the end of the song... So we had a good laugh!
Round #2: I asked Ry to light them again so I could try to get a pic of her actually "blowing" out the candles... this didn't go over too well with Kolea. Did I mention that she'd waited patiently ALL day?

She was out of PATIENCE! She's trying to blow out the one while Ryan is lighting the second!

We gave up and just let her blow out the second. It was really funny- but not worth the tears...

FINALLY!!

YUMMY!

All she did was lick the frosting off the cake- which is what I'd expected.

When she'd had her fill, we moved onto the presents... this was the look on her face when she saw her new (unwrapped and already put together) baby high chair and bed.

Ohhh what could it be??

"Bee-bee!"

And a diaper bad (with contents) to go with it all. She was in HEAVEN!

As was Gabriella. :)

Oh and the no shirt thing? I was busy getting dinner and putting the finishing touches on the birthday stuff... I'd asked Hunter to get clothes for Kolea and get her changed for me (out of her church dress) and this was as far as he got. Kolea refused to wear her shirt. Whatever- it's her birthday. She could be in her "birthday suit" for all I cared!

Happy Birthday Kolea! You are a light to our little family. We love you and are so grateful for you in our lives!!!