The once a month blog entry (in three parts)...

Apparently I still stink at keeping up the family blog. I try. I swear I try. But it manages to get bumped down the priority list and *bam* another whole month has gone by with no updates. March was a busy busy month and I've got a load of pictures to show for it. So this will be a photo blog kind of update. And as I was prepping pics for this post it quickly became apparent that I was going to have to cover the month of activity in multiple posts. So I'll try to do one a day for three days and get caught up! So without further ado...


March - PART 1


Willy and I took a wonderful little trip up to Laie early in March to go to the LDS Temple with members of our ward (church congregation). It was a special day because one of the young men in our ward was getting ready to go on a mission and we were there to support him as he prepared to go. Also our ward had a special training meeting of sorts with the temple president while we were there and had the chance to learn from him and ask questions and it was just a really beautiful day. Willy took some beautiful before-sunrise pictures of the temple and then I took him to see a spot on the island that he hadn't seen yet - Laie Point. It was a really beautiful, spiritual day!

We had an amazingly huge amount of rain this winter. We had some great lightning storms, some incredible downpour rainstorms. Willy loved the lightning and woke me up one morning at about 5 a.m. because the most amazing lightning storm was taking place! It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. He got some awesome video of it! 

And the kids took advantage of the rain and mom's good mood and got to throw swimsuits on and go play in the rain one afternoon. I loved that Molly put on her lifejacket for safety!

I'm pretty sure Brady was doing the Chicken Dance
at this point...

Willy started his new job the second week of March. It was bittersweet, of course. Excellent to have him gainfully employed again, but sad to send him out the door in the morning and not have him with us at home for the day any more. He seems to be enjoying his job, although it's a little awkward knowing that it's most likely just a temporary gig. Hard to know how to approach making friends with co-workers if you're not going to be there very long, hard to plan on big future projects when you know you won't likely be there to see them through to completion, etc. But he seems to like the environment and he seems to like the work, and of course we're grateful for steady income again and the opportunity to stay at least a few more months so that the kids can finish the school year and enjoy that consistency before whatever big changes are in store come our way.

At the end of his first week back to work we were in need of a BIG family day. So Willy took us to a beautiful spot on the island that he had discovered when hiking with one of his friends. We hiked through a beautiful bamboo forest and visited the ruins of Kamehameha III's summer palace. SUPER cool place! Gorgeous ruins.

I'm in love with this pic of Molly. Way to bomb the
otherwise perfect shot, girl!! Way. To. Go.

How gorgeous is that?!

Bamboo sticks make great swords

Could have been a nearly perfect family photo! But the camera had something
going on with the mirror inside and the result as a very smudgy, cloudy shot. Boooo!

We took a whole bunch of pics and even passed the camera off to Brady
to get shots of Willy and I :)

Willy played with funky settings on his camera and managed to get some fun
shots of the kids and I (despite the smudge issue.)

Molly has mad cross-eyed skillz!

After the ruins, Willy led the way to a beautiful little waterfall.

 Our adventures from that day aren't even over yet, but goodness... this is a lot of pictures. I think I'll break that family fun day up and share the rest of the pics tomorrow. It's time to do some dishes and get ready for hula class. Happy Tuesday evening!