Hawaii part 1

Over a month later I'm finally getting around to starting my posts on Hawaii! Well, as you can imagine, it was such a wonderful trip. Has anyone ever gone to Hawaii and not had  an amazing time? My generous parents extended the invitation to all the kids and their spouses to join them for their week's timeshare on Kauai sans kids. Nearly all of us kids are not in ideal financial situations to say "hey, let's take a vacation to Hawaii" but since the offer was put on the table far in advance we all just made it happen, and it was oh so worth it.

Casey's saintly brother and SIL, Cody and Camille, took in the orphan Max while we were gnu and we will forever be indebted to them, more on Maxson's stay later. My parents also decided why not extend their week long vacation by a couple days since they were already spending all the time nd airfare going over there. Some of the couple joined in with this idea, including us. After we bought those plane tickets Casey signed up for a school dental trip down to Jamaica which happened to overlap our Hawaii trip! Our minds began spinning of how we'd make this work. It was decided that I would still go early with my parents and a couple of siblings, and Casey would leave his Jamaica trip a day early to get to Hawaii for the original week's time we'd be there, also getting there the same day as some of the other siblings.

So off we went to Hawaii!

Those first couple days there without Casey were fun but hard on me. I guess I just didn't quite realize how big pregnant I was. It slowed me down more than I wanted to admit, things were uncomfortable and hard to do, and Casey, my main support in life who I talk to about everything, just wasn't there, it was hard. I felt like a really inconvenient 3rd wheel on my family. Except at the same moment my parents made me feel completely otherwise and included me on everything and took care of all my needs in place of Casey, they were so sweet and I was so grateful for them.

We stayed on the North side of the island in a town called Princeville at the Hanalei Bay Resort. Our view every morning and evening:

Ha, rough life. Between us and the ocean was just a bunch of steep jungle. But the resort had a golf cart that took you anywhere you wanted to go, down to the beach, to your car, the pool, it was great. My pregnant body was ever so grateful for that convenience. 

Our first day, Thursday, was mainly just flying, shopping for food and checking into the hotel room. Because Casey cancelled his sear on the flight I somehow ended up with a middle seat all by myself. Through lots of awkward and desperate pleading with the people in the row in front of me (my mom and dad's row) and the one behind me (Kirk and Whitney's row), the kindest man ever on the aisle seat of Kirk and Whitney's row switched me for my middle seat. I was beyond grateful for this guy. I got up probably 10-12 times it seemed like during our 7 hour flight to stretch my back, legs, and belly. My back felt awful. Kirk spilt cranberry juice all over Whitney, literally a full cup, and her bum and pants were soaked for nearly 6 hours, poor girl. Kirk graciously let me borrow some head phones to watch a movie that was on, and I also worked on our 2014 photo album (got January out of the way!).

So after getting our luggage, renting cars, grocery shopping at Walmart and Costco we drove the hour north to our hotel to visit the dark beach right beneath our resort since the sun had gone down but we were all itching to get our feet in some sand and water!

Friday involved snorkeling and more snorkeling. It was the best. We first went to Ke'e beach and had a blast. I stayed close by and ventured out a little tin Kirk and Whitney while Mom, Dad, Scott, and Megan went much further battling a stronger current. It felt like it had been forever since snorkeling but oh man it's so easy to just do it and remember the feeling. The fish were in plentiful supply, just hundreds of them with so many beautiful colors, it was absolutely mesmerizing. After snorkeling we hung out on the beach for awhile, let the rain come and go and then come again hard and that's when we packed up to go to a different beach down the road in hopes of sunnier weather. By the way, there were chickens everywhere. That is literally the background noise of Kauai, roosters, chickens, and little chicks, constantly making noise for all to hear, ha.

The second beach I went out with my brothers and mom and snorkeled more. Not as many fish but still some col individual things. I think it's fun to snorkel in bigger groups because you have that many more eyes to notice really cool things and then share it with everyone else. The water was wonderful of course, temperature wise. Made snorkeling so enjoyable, also the water felt amazing on my back, hello weight of my belly lifted! After snorkeling at the second beach I hung out with parents in the shade, reading books, dozing off and just relaxing in the ocean breeze, it was great.

I think later that afternoon we walked around a couple shops and then shared a delicious snow cone with my parents. That night we were all pooped and went to bed way early from all the sun, snorkeling, traveling, and time change.

 I don't know why blogger has blocked out Kirk and Whitney's faces :(

 We bought this snorkel gear for our honeymoon to Cancun and finally got to use it again, ha!

 My mother and Scott (and in days later, Casey too) loved feeding the chicks, ha

 driving through jungle, always

Saturday we did more snorkeling, can't remember which beach, but then our car battery died :( The other siblings had left in their cars already and were doing their own things so my parents and I were stuck at the beach for a few hours for the tow truck to come. Not an awful place to be stranded though being right there by the ocean with breeze and tables to sit at.

Casey FINALLY flew in that afternoon and I could not have been happier. It was truly like I was reunited with the other half of my body and all felt right in the world again. I hate being away form that guy, I love him just so stinking much!

 these pictures are from the next day's activities, but I just wanted to show how excited I was to see this man of mine.

29 weeks pregnant with twins

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and definitely feel like I could be 38/40 weeks pregnant. Apparently MANY people I run into agree with me ha. You wouldn't believe how many comments in the last week I've gotten of the following:

When are you due?
Not until November 5th, but I'm having twins!
(Shock) Twins? Well yes I was guessing that.
You must be so uncomfortable/you look so uncomfortable.
I bet you are so ready to be done.
Two more boys, your hands are going to be so full!

Blah, I'm already done with those comments and I'm not even into the 30 week area yet, ha.

On the there hand, I do GREATLY appreciate those strangers that come up to me and say "You look so cute!" I want to squeeze those people as tight as I can with a beaming smile and tears in my eyes and say "thank you, thank you!" But instead I shyly say "Oh well thank you, you're so sweet, but I actually have a long ways to go since I'm having twins" (while I keep my distance mind you) and then if they're super spectacular people they'll say "You look so good for having twins." Those people are zeeee best!

At our doctor's appointment last week at 28 weeks we had a growth scan. The boys are doing spectacular. They weigh about 2#11oz and 2#9oz. Good job boys for staying the same size, that's muy importante with you two! My blood pressure was miraculously low (probably because I was lying down for my 30 min ultrasound and then they took it. I passed my glucose test with flying colors. It was just so great for Casey and I to see those boys wiggling all around, it felt like it had been so long since we had. It's crazy when they do ultrasounds you just see a bunch of circles at first (multiple elbows, hands, feet, heads, bellies, knees) it's just a jumbled mess. They were both head down at the 28 week appt. It was just such a great appointment. Every week I continue being pregnant I am just so grateful and overjoyed. Preterm labor signs are scary and I whole heartedly do not enjoy them…

But Friday I woke up with some strange symptoms I hadn't had before and a very sore belly in general. We went in later that day for a quick appointment just to make sure all was still alright. My doctor concluded I'm just getting bigger and heavier and stretching more, it's just kind of the way it is and it's ok, just take it easy when I could. Glad I had that reassurance. The boys were both breech 10 days after that last appointment ha

I was complaining to my doctor that I just feel tired and at a loss of energy a lot and wondering if I was missing a nutrient somewhere. She replied "Nope, your hemoglobin levels came back fantastic. You're just literally growing 2 full babies in there, that is a lot of work! Your body is just working really hard!" I appreciated her answer and at the same time wished there was a nutrient I was missing so that I could have a new burst of energy.

Speaking of nutrients, remember how much I love milk? Well I think my milk intake increases while I'm pregnant because I drink so much at every meal ha. These babies are gonna love milk in all forms!

I also had a dream the other night about the twins. The main part I remember was that they were EXCELLENT at nursing. Hoping that dream was a little insight to my future because that dream was so comforting.

My belly literally feels like a watermelon. The other day I had 2 watermelon in my grocery cart and a lady told me I looked as ripe as those watermelons, ha. Funny thing is when I was picking out those watermelons I thought "I think I am bigger than these…" Whenever Max sees me putting the lotion on my belly he takes some, lifts his shirt up and follows suit. I probably seem very lazy to my family and friends and Casey but I just can't do it all anymore. I am fully aware, grateful, and ok with my friends helping chase after Maxson when I cannot, they are the best.

Sitting down and getting up seems like so much effort.

I have been wearing a belly/back support and it's been making a WORLD of difference! My back is no longer in pain, just tired from all the weight, but the no more pain part is WONDERFUL!

Have I mentioned how I have the fan blow directly on my at night? No covers. And it feels great. Casey on the other hand is freezing under the covers, ha. My 2 personal heaters are working overtime. Sleeping is getting rather uncomfortable though...

It is fun to be pregnant, it's such a special feeling. So much movement inside your belly all the time, kicks, punches, bulges, arching backs, roundhouse kicks, hiccups, etc. Just lots and lots of moving. When I look at my profile in the mirror I'm just amazed at what my body is doing. It is stretching so much to accommodate these growing babies. Organs inside are moving out of the way to make space. My body is feeding these babies and helping them grow! What a miraculous gift I have been given as a woman from our Father in Heaven. I have been entrusted to grow and care for these 2 babies. The gift of creation is such a powerful one, I feel very inadequate once I truly begin thinking about it.

BTW there are apparently 2 humans the size of butternut squash inside me…these squash were huge...

Bahama Bucks and swimming in AZ

When we got back to Arizona, guess what we did? 

Swim!

Swim swim swim swim swim.

A bunch of these pictures are so similar but I love all of Maxson's expressions. He loved this little squirt gun and was oober proud of himself when he could finally fill the gun and squirt it himself.

 The second picture is Max doing itsy bitsy spider on the wall. (Look ma, no hands!)

 a. Look at that cute little bum

b. Maxson LOVED spraying Casey and I with the freezing cold hose. I think that was even better than the squirt gun.

 Another night we finally got to take Cody and Camille's family to Bahama Bucks, Casey was really excited, as was the rest of the crew!

 I love this little series of 3 pictures, Brielle taking the first sips of a smoothie and Jaden disappointed, haha.

 We LOVE our Bahama Bucks, that snow is just so dang smooth!

 We took a trip to IKEA (IKEA!!!!) to pick up  few little kid things (I wish it was furniture!). Well we got to try out our new groovy stroller! Let me tell you, it's gonna be pretty sweet with the twins and Maxson!

Park City

All these posts are apparently going to be blogged in reverse chronology.

We speedily drove up to Utah (in our new shnazzy van, oh the room inside!) to meet up with Casey's family after our time in Airzona. They happened to have a time share in Park City the week following our trip in Hawaii so we joined them for the latter end of it. When we first got there they happened to be in Springville working on cleaning up a lot they own. While Casey worked with them, that's when I took Max to the splash pad (that the idiot put in the do not play in the fountain water feature close by). We were allllll tired by the end of the day. But we were able to snap a quick 4 generation picture with Grandpa Hal (bonus: Maxson saw all 4 of his living grandfather figures within a 24 hour time frame 1. my dad in AZ 2. my Grandpa in St. George 3. Casey's dad in Utah 4. Casey's Grandpa in Utah. Pretty cool!)

We all went to In-N-Out for dinner but I don't know where that picture went...

 Derek was kind enough to be our baggage boy, ha.

Max was obsessed with Papa the whole trip. We all decided it was because he could actually say his name.

 One night we took a little stroll and trolley ride through some of the main street of Park City. Wow that town is so majestic. Quaint yet spectacular at the same time. I loved oohing and ahhing over the gorgeous mountains everywhere and the enormous but beautiful homes lining those mountains.

 Miss Karlee Jo

Grammy styled his hair this night and I kept looking at Max like "who are you?"

 We stopped into the incredibly popular Java Cow for some fresh ice cream. It sure was thick and yummy! Maxson thoroughly appreciated it begging everyone for their ice cream after he had finished off Casey's.

 A night of Settlers (6 player version!) We finally got to teach the parents how to play. I think they both loved it, hated it, understood it, and were totally lost at the same time. 

 Went swimming in the chilly pool with everyone. Then  everyone sat in the hot tub so I dangled my ankles in and Max sat on the very top step that was 2 inches deep; he wouldn't get in the regular pool after that (smart child).

 Maxson devoured the left over smoothie from one morning and had a mustache and large round circle on his face to prove it.

 This was also the first time that as I took pictures of him he was yelling at me "NO!" while putting a stop sign hand at me. So funny.

 We drove back to Wyoming at the end and hung out with everyone there for the evening. Max was in heaven with this tramp (and I think the big kids were too as seen from those smiles).

This is out of order, but one day in Park City we went to a very fun park!

We had such a fun time with the Cutlers in Park City. Love getting to experience new places and adventures with them. Thanks for letting us crash the party!

On a side note we went to Zupas for lunch in Park City and man oh man, that place is gooooood. This was my second time there and I had the same thing as last time: An Italian sandwich and the Lobster bisque soup, both were divine.