Hawaii

I've wanted to go to Hawaii for a LONG time and Benj finally gave in.  ;)  We haven't been on a trip or anything since before we had kids.  So it was nice to just be us and enjoy new things together.  We had such a great time.  My mom came down to stay with the girls for the week (thank you, thank you), so they didn't miss us much because they have such fun with Grandma.  We had more pictures and video on Benj's iphone, but we were snorkleing for about an hour before Benj realized he had left it in the leg pocket of his swimtrunks... :( 

We stayed on Oahu, in a resort right by the beach in Waikiki. We enjoyed several sights, watched some amazing sunsets, and ate some really good food! 

Pearl Harbor

It had been pouring rain the morning we visited Pearl Harbor.  But soon it cleared and the sun came out.  We took the ferry over to the memorial, visited the museums and learned a lot more history. 



U.S.S. Arizona Memorial



We ate dinner here, Top of Waikiki, a rotating restaurant. 
The food was DELICIOUS!

Benj rented a surf board while I laid on the beach.  :)

We went out on a boat for a dinner cruise one night.  The food was good and the entertainment was fun.

La'ie

We rented a car and drove about an hour up the island to La'ie to do a temple session and visit the Polynesian Cultural Center.  The temple has some of the most beautiful grounds!

Polynesian Cultural Center

This place is AMAZING. It was so fun "visiting" the different islands and watching the performances.  The above pic is from the canoe parade.

Enjoying my guava-coloda...mmmmmmm.

Time for the Luau... sooooo fun and such good food.

The pig!

Hanauma Bay

We came here specifically to snorkel.  There are tons of colorful fish and coral.  It was our first time snorkeling and it's pretty cool.

We went to the beach again on our last day.  Benj rented a stand-up paddle board. 

We had such a good trip and are already talking of going back... someday.  We would like to take the kids when they get a little older. 

After flying home all night with 2 layovers, we came home to our girls.  Reese wouldn't come to me AT ALL... she would go to Benj and my mom and dad, but would just glare at me.  It was so sad!!  She was pretty ticked I had left her for a week.  But later that night, she was finally warming up to me.  After spending this week catching up on things; laundry, bills, church stuff, I fell asleep one day and was late picking up kids from school, forgetting one crucial ingredient for our dinner when I had JUST been to the store that morning, and SLEEP,  I would do it all over again, totally worth it. 

Christmas Morning 2011

Yep, I suppose I will post about our Christmas... now that it's January.  The girls woke us up around 7am and they aren't allowed to go downstairs til we are all ready and either Benj or I are down there with the camera, ready to take pics. 

They were pretty surprised to come downstairs to this! 

Lexi's Santa loot... she is into horses right now and wanted a real one, but she had to settle for this one.

Ava's Santa gifts

Reesey's loot

Santa almost finished his cookies... and the reindeer did have a few carrots.  :)

Time to open presents!

What?!  Lexi and Ava picked out the same thing for each other.  :))

I love getting a picture of the big mess afterwards. 



Catch Up... {December}

Once again, this month just flew by!  We had a fun filled December!

We went to Benj's work Christmas party at Red Rock... Benj insisted on the bowtie.  I like it though!



We tried to make a gingerbread house... it would NOT stay up.  But the girls had fun eating the candy.  :)





Lexi had her first piano recital.  She played Rudolph, first on her own then a duet with her teacher.  She did so good!!  She's only been in lessons since October, but she loves it so far!



Benj and I celebrated our 11 yr. anniversary.  My brother volunteered to babysit so we could go on a date.  We went to dinner at Terra Rossa in Red Rock and then saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie (loved it!).   Bret brought cousin Abby to come play and this is how we found her when we got home, snuggling with Ava in her bed.  :)  So cute.





Did this fun activity with the girls while on Christmas break... Baked Tortilla Snowflakes



Benj really wanted to take the girls sledding up at Mt. Charleston.  He had bought a sled a long time ago.  So we headed up and I got one picture before our camera battery died.  We got more pics on Benj's phone though.  The girls lasted about 20 min before they were "COLD!"  Yep, we are pretty wussy living here in the desert.





Catch Up... {November}

Wow, I have really slacked off with the blogging.  We had an eventful November!  I got to go on a girls trip... where did we go?  Omaha, Nebraska!!
One of my bestie's, Apryl moved there this summer and we had never been to Nebraska... so we flew there to see where she lives.  Thanks to my honey for holding down the fort and playing Mr. Mom that weekend.  He even had to deal with a sick Reesey Piece.  :(  But everyone survived!  This is just a small schedule I left for him:

 Apryl, Ashley, Me

We had a great visit and I've come to better terms of Apryl moving away from me now that I've seen where she lives.  ;)

My parents came to Vegas for Thanksgiving.  Bret and Natalia hosted, and it was awesome.  My mom and I did Black Friday shopping at midnight, just to hit Target and get a few deals.  Then our family left Friday morning for Utah.  Benj's sister Debbie got married and his whole family was there.  It was wonderful to see everyone and spend time with them!  All the cousins had a blast playing together, my girls were in heaven.

Lexi and Ava got to carry Debbie's train on her dress

We got to meet up with my parents again in Salt Lake as they were making their way back up to MT.  We went to dinner and went to Temple Square to see the lights.  Benj and I hadn't been since we lived in Logan, so it was cool to show the girls and it was amazing just as I remembered. 

                                                                                                    

Reese turned 18 months on Thanksgiving day!  She is growing up so fast.

She is talking so much!  She surprises us every day with a new word she now knows or some 2 word phrases.  Her favorite:  "Want some!"

She is 20 lbs. even

loves Good Luck Charlie (seriously, she screams when she hears the theme music)

hates nursery at church

is still hooked on a binky (I'm dreading the day we take it away... soon)

has THE cutest toddler run ever

waves to everyone when we are out in public

I have enjoyed catching up on reading all your blogs!  Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!