A New Year

From our family to yours....

We hope you have a very wonderful 2008!

Christmas with the Sting Rays

Splash
Originally uploaded by kurlybutler

Ok, its really not as strange as it sounds. For Christmas this year we knew that Ryan was already going to get a lot of toys from other people, so Joseph and I decided to get him something different. We bought him a ticket for the Sting Ray Encounter at Sea Life Park. This way, not only would Ryan get an experience to remember, but we would also get a fun day out as a family.

We watched a sea lion show, a dolphin show and went to a hands on exhibit before Ryan did his encounter. He was sooooo excited to go! Once we got there at our reserved time, we found out that we were in luck. The other two people that were going to participate decided to go to an earlier encounter. That meant that Ryan got a one-on-one encounter with Molly the instructor. Not only that, but it was a very cloudy day which made the rays more friendly and active. Of course, once Ryan was actually there, he became a little apprehensive. Especially when the instructor told him that there were 2 white tip reef sharks in the water too. After spending some time in the water and watching Molly touch the rays, Ryan was able to relax some and touch the rays himself. He didn't even freak out when the sharks decided to swim a little closer! Click here to see all of the pictures.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. We missed you all very much!

We had a nice simple Christmas here in the land of Aloha. It all started on Sunday night when we made cookies for Santa. Hailey was very excited for him to come to "her" house. I think she was expecting to see him.

On Christmas Eve I cooked a big dinner for us and we all pigged out on turkey. After dinner Joseph and Ryan cleaned up the kitchen while Hailey, David and I brought all the presents out. I had been keeping them in a separate room with the door closed so that they would stay wrapped and in one piece. David had already proven that he couldn't resist wrapped presents! Once all the cleanup was complete we let the kids pick a present to open. Hailey and I put out the cookies, carrots and milk. Then it was time for bed. Santa can't come if you're not sleeping, you know.

Christmas morning came very quickly! The kids were up and ready to go around 6:00 am. The morning can pretty much be summed up by saying that excitement and chaos reigned in our living room. I think it is safe to say that everyone is happy with all they received! Click here to check out our pictures.

David's First Haircut

We finally went out and got David's fro chopped. It was getting quite unruly and long overdue.
All in all, he did much better than I thought he would. Most of the time he was all smiles and playing in the mirror. He only cried once when I had to hold his head down for the hairdresser to get the back of his neck. His hair was so long that we took off an inch all around!

Before:

Getting ready:

During:
After:
Look at my handsome young man now!

Anniversary Time

It's that time of year again when Joseph and I get to celebrate being happily married for another year. This year we kept it simple and had a quiet dinner at home. Ok, well it wasn't really quiet since we do have three children, but you get the idea. And of course we didn't get to spend the whole evening together because Joseph had to go back in to work. At least we were together!
After reflecting a bit we realized that we are now at 50-50 for being together on our anniversary. Next year he should be home too, so we'll actually be averaging more together time. Yeah!
Speaking of being together, this also means we get to actually celebrate Joseph's birthday next week, Christmas and New Years! It has definitely been a while since we were together for all of these events. I better stop now, though. I don't want to jinx us.