#259Kauai

About a year ago, we were in Arizona for spring break, and the topic of a 259 vacation came up again. Although this is something we had talked about for many years, this time things started to get serious. Back when the guys were in high school, McKane's dad had the foresight to buy the website 259.com (also law.com and scrapbook.com, which served them very well). Over the years, the 259 website was used for their music, and several different Chinese companies had approached the group about buying the domain from them.

As we were talking last year, it was decided that McKane should contact some of those who had shown interest in the past and see how much they could get for it. And so a bidding war began between interested Chinese parties (apparently, 3 digit number websites are in high demand there). When all was said and done, the website was sold for $50,000. Even after paying Charlie Davis a nice fee for keeping the website current, all seven members received $7,000!

That's when the travel talk really started. After bouncing some ideas around, we decided that we should rent a beach house in Kauai. And while we weren't sure if it would ever really happen, we got to planning. After a lot of back and forth, we found a place on Poipu and put down a deposit. Nine months seemed like such a long time to wait, but February finally came and we got ready.

First, though, we had to treat ourselves to frozen yogurt at Yogurtland on free yogurt day. The weather this winter has been so weird. Besides that big storm at Christmas, we had just had no snow, and it has been unseasonably warm. This day, Kyla was heading to tumbling, but she still didn't complain about the cold. So odd.

My parents were able to get here safely and all the final preparations were made. When we walked into our beach house, we all squealed. It was so much more than we even expected! We were right on the ocean, and the huge windows along the back of the house gave us an amazing view.

The pool and hot tub where we spent a lot of our time at the back of the house

Saturday morning we started things off right with a helicopter tour of the island. It was absolutely unbelievable. 

Jurassic Falls

Each group argued over who had the better tour guide. I think we did (look closely in the helicopter window).

Our first dinner was at the Hukilau Lanai, and we had some amazing seafood. The others in our group said the lobster bisque was great as well, but I didn't try it. The time change proved to be a struggle for me, as we often ate later in the evening, and I was so tired! It made it a little hard to enjoy the meals when I was trying not to fall asleep, but really, there was not much to complain about.

We tried to get a good group shot of all of us. The guys thought they were hilarious when they hid behind us on the first attempt. 

The whole group out on the pool deck. 

More to come...

Carter is Five

I love how easy five-year-olds are to please. They don't require fancy parties with lots of friends, or expect expensive gifts. They just want to be celebrated.

Carter had a few requests on his birthday this year. The first was breakfast in bed. I told him that if he wanted that, he would have to wait in bed and not get up early like he does every day. At first, he agreed. But when he woke up before 6:00 am, he changed his mind. Instead, he opted for crepes in the kitchen.

He was also extremely excited about the stack of five presents waiting for him. It was a little hard for him to patiently wait for all the family to gather around so he could tear through them, but he was happy as could be with everything.

He got to stop by Toys R Us for his birthday balloon and crown, and to spend his $3 gift card. He opted for this package of Airheads, which were devoured by Carter and McKay in about an hour.

His "party" consisted of a trip to Chuck e Cheese while the older kids were in school. He and McKay had the place pretty much to themselves.

We also finally got to bust out the pinata we brought back from Guatemala. We filled it with candy, hung it from the inside deck. And even though he only used a broom stick, Carter had the thing basically broken open in two swings. 

Carter is such a fun, happy boy. He loves Minecraft, computer games, superheroes, legos, playing with Bex, and McKay. He is a great eater, and loves peppers, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. He also loves sushi and chicken from Costco.  

He would wear basketball shorts or warm-up pants every day, if I let him. He also recently realized that Ms Karli (his preschool teacher) doesn't mind if he wears hats to school, and thinks that is fantastic. 

He is quite the little tattle tell, and is always reminding us when someone isn't doing what they are supposed to do. He is very good about doing his Rusty and Rosy computer program every day, even though it has gotten harder. His reading is coming along, and he is able to read small words very easily. He is also really getting into writing letters and drawing pictures. 

He is hilarious and I wish I had written down all the funny things he has said, because there would be enough to fill an entire post with them. Here are a few that I actually DID write down:

Jeff and Tyler were installing the double oven we got for the kitchen, and they needed to use a ladder for a few minutes. Carter found it unattended, and yelled, "McKay! Come quick! It's our chance to climb on dad's ladder!"

Damon has a friend named Brad that comes over occasionally, and Carter asked, "When is your friend, Bride, coming again?"

Carter was looking at a picture of Jesus during sacrament meeting, and told me, "this is the one where Jesus is wearing a trash can bag."

A song came on the radio, and Carter asked me to change it, because "I don't like woman songs."

Carter asked me for a snack, and I asked if he would like some toast. He answered, "that works for me."

After we got back from Hawaii, we showed the kids our music video to the song Sugar, and then we showed them the real music video, where Maroon Five crashes weddings. Carter asked me one day if he could watch "the other Sugar video. The one that is a little better than yours."

From the Carter dictionary-loaf of chicken (whole chicken), carmesan cheese, crunch toast (french toast), and hashews. 

He constantly keeps us entertained. And I love him more and more every day. Happy birthday Boomer!

January

The biggest thing we had to look forward to at home was the first college playoff. Ohio State had ended their season with big wins, and had made it into the playoff as the #4 team. No one thought we had a chance against Alabama, but we beat up on them. And it was exciting!

We also got a lot of snow while we were in St. George. Carter and McKay took advantage one day and went out to play in it. 

We also had a snow activity for Activity Days, and built a very nice snow "bear" at the church. 

Finally feeling mostly better (but still having lingering pain in my rib cage, presumably torn cartilage from all the coughing I had been doing), Kyla and I had a night out at a BYU basketball game.

And then came the national championship against Oregon. We made buckeyes, participate in the     O-H-I-O, and watched the Buckeyes win it all. It was so much fun!

Human Rights Day meant a day off, so we took the kids out to the desert for a real Trapnell tradition--roasting hot dogs over a fire and shooting guns. Allie would have nothing to do with the guns. She ran away crying every time we even talked about them. Kyla, though, thought it was great fun.

Carter loved it too.

McKay liked the idea of it, but once he actually had the gun in his hand, he wasn't so sure.

Damon is, of course, well practiced. He also brought along his bb gun for some extra practice. Check out his muddy shoes! The desert was more of a mud pit.

By the time we were ready to leave, Bex was not a black dog anymore. She was a brown, crusty thing.

Good thing we have a big bath tub for these four to clean up!

Life returned to normal. The kids love the new computer we got for Christmas, and each kid uses their 30 minutes/day differently. Carter usually tries to get McKay to share his minutes, and they end up playing together. 

McKay returned to his old ways, of sucking his thumb with his bunny

Since we missed Thanksgiving while we were in Guatemala, we decided it would be fun to do our own dinner with the Shurtz family for our birthday celebration (Carter, Tyler and Monique).

It worked out nice, because Carter was happy with this cake

We sang to the birthday folks and he got to blow out five candles. Lucky boy.

Christmas Break

We made it to St. George Christmas afternoon, even with the threat of a storm. The roads weren't bad at all, and we were so excited to spend a week with the Esplin family! Grandma Karen is always so accommodating to all the grandkids. They spent an afternoon making gingerbread m

We stayed at Tara's house, and the girls all tried to sleep together in Kenya and Jayda's room. When that didn't work out, the Alofipo girls went into their parents room and Allie and Kyla shared the bed. So sweet. 

We went to the Children's Museum and had a blast one day. Here are Carter and Jeff changing a tire in the automotive section.

McKay, Allie, and Kyla found an Olaf to pose with upstairs in the children's museum. 

The weather was so amazingly nice. We spent the afternoon in the park playing. This was a particularly fun game. Jeff and Wayne in an epic game of tag vs all the kids. It took quite a bit of doing for them to be able to catch all the kids!

Sadly, I spent most of Christmas break in bed. I started feeling sick right after we got there, but loaded up on ibuprofen and kept going. But Sunday, after we went to baby Bruin's baby blessing, I started feeling awful. I had chills, the shakes, and a burning in my lungs. Throughout the rest of Sunday, I just keep feeling worse and worse. A call to Ryan confirmed that I probably had the flu and needed to be quarantined. 

My mom and dad gave up their room for me and that's where I stayed the next two days. I felt completely awful. It hurt to breathe, but mostly it hurt to sneeze or cough. And my head ached all the way down to my teeth. Everyone was so sweet--Sam listened to my lungs (several members of my family were freaking out, thinking I had pneumonia), Heather rubbed oils all over me, Jeff and my dad gave me a blessing...but mostly I just had to suffer through it. My mom made me breakfast in bed. 

We stayed for the Esplin party, and although I was feeling better, I was probably only about 50% better and could have used a few more days in bed! We went to the party, though, and I tried to stay away from everyone as much as possible, but by the end of the party, I was feeling awful again. Any time I would try to go without ibuprofen, I would feel okay for a while, think I was fine, and then it would hit me, and I would realize that I was still pretty sick. Boo. The grandkids tried to pose for a group pic. 

We had to cancel our New Year's plans because I just wasn't feeling up to hosting. Bummer for everyone. Luckily, and miraculously, no one else got sick. 

Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at Greg and Noel's house this year.

The kids put on a Nativity for us, and it was all kinds of fun

Snapping selfies by the tree with Laurie

Allie heard some disturbing news about the PJ elf and was not too thrilled for a while. But after thinking about it, she decided not to let it ruin her Christmas.

Family photo by the tree

We drove around Springville to see the lights and we found a perfect photo op for Carter

The forecast for Christmas morning did not look promising for a drive to St George

Santa visited us, and brought the family a new computer!

The stockings were also good and stuffed

A nice layer of snow fell Christmas morning, the first real snowfall of the year

The only pic I took Christmas morning of the kids on the stairs, waiting to come down