Ben's trip to Hawaii

I thought I'd share a few pictures from Ben's trip.

First, here's a basic map of the places he went, just so you can visualize it if you want to. This is the big island, which is where we will be moving.



Flying in.


Ben flew into Kona and then drove around the north side of the island over to Hilo where he spent the first few days of his stay in Hawaii.

This is at the park in Hilo.




He spent most of his time talking to chiropractors. One of the doctors was very nice and even invited Ben over for dinner. He kept pretty busy, but he did take the time to drive to the southern part of the island where the lava is flowing from the volcano out into the ocean. This is a picture of the steam rising out of the ocean from the lava.


Lava rock


After a few days in Hilo, Ben drove back around the island to Kona. He stopped and took a picture of this view on the way. You can see Maui rising up out of the ocean in the distance.


Some windmills on the drive back to Kona.


On the way back, he also stopped at Hapuna Beach which is pretty famous. Ben says it's been voted the best beach in the nation for several years in a row.


We originally thought we would be setting up a practice in or near Hilo, but Ben has been presented with a really great opportunity in Kona, so we may end up there instead. Because he was focusing on Hilo, he spent less time in Kona, but really liked the feel of the town. He visited the temple they have there in Kona.


Check out these crazy palm trees!!



Over all, it was a successful trip. Ben came home very tired. The time difference between St. Louis and Hawaii is 5 hours, so his sleep schedule was really messed up. We are feeling really good about our move out there in January, and we're excited to get the ball rolling!!

I got a haircut today!

Ben is home!!

We picked him up at the airport this afternoon. We're so happy to have him back! I'll share some of the pictures he took as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer.

"Don't pick the flowers."

While Ben was out of town, I tried to think of some fun things to do with the boys. We went swimming on Wednesday. Yesterday we went to the park and had a picnic for lunch. Then last night we made chocolate chip cookies. It's been fun to spend some quality time with my little boys.

While we were at the park yesterday afternoon, Evan walked right up to this sign. He informed me, "It says, 'Don't pick the flowers.'" :)

FYI...

...There are some more cute pictures of Evan on my photo blog. I didn't want to take up more room here, since I just barely posted pics of the kids. :)

Just the three of us

We got up at 4:00 this morning to take Ben to the airport. He's off to Hawaii for the week to get started on setting up his practice. We miss him already!

The boys and I went to Babler State Park tonight to take a little Sunday walk. I'm hoping to think of enough things to keep us busy (and burn off all the little boy energy) all week until Daddy gets back.

The Arch!

We went to the Arch today with our friends Meggan and Kate. There is a little museum with some neat stuff to look at. After we made it through the museum, we let the kids run around outside for a while. It was a gorgeous day!!





The kids weren't really interested in posing for a picture.


My little guys are definitely all boy! They had fun digging in the dirt with sticks. You can see that Kate (in the background) was not as thrilled with this pastime.

Pictures of Evan, as promised.

I took Evan out on Sunday evening and snapped some shots of him. I cannot get this kid to make eye contact and smile at the same time! Oh well. He's still cute. :)

Cutie Pie

I realized it's been a while since I've taken pictures of my kids (actual nice pictures as opposed to snapshots at the park). I know some of you are rolling your eyes, but it's been a while for ME. I've been having fun taking pictures of flowers and other things that don't run away.

So, today I decided to get some pictures of Asher. He was very cooperative and even said "Cheese" when I asked him to. I'll have to get some good ones of Evan next.

Done with classes!

Ben is officially done with classes! Forever! We went out to eat last night to celebrate his accomplishment. He has one more trimester of clinic before he will graduate in December. We're so proud of him!

A trip to the park

Asher wants to be JUST like Evan. He tries to do everything Evan does these days.

A day at the temple

I had the opportunity to spend most of the day at the temple yesterday. Ben and I went and did a session at noon and then we went back to help out with a primary activity in the evening. Well... Ben helped with the primary activity. I mostly took pictures. :)

Ben was in charge of telling about the history of the St. Louis Temple.


It was built in 1997, and one interesting bit of trivia: It took three times to get angel Moroni onto the top of it. The first time, the hook that connected it to the crane broke. The second time, they got it up there, but it got struck by lightening (they forgot to attach the lightening rod) and it turned black. They had to take it down, repaint it, and put it back up there.




And to top off the day, this was my view on the way home:

Silly Boys

Evan found his and Asher's winter hats in a drawer and he keeps insisting that they need to wear them even though it's sweltering outside. At least they look cute in them. :)

Oh, and it looks like Evan is clenching his teeth to try and rip Asher's head off, but really, he's giving Asher a hug and saying "Cheese".

Summer Fun

Ok, so I didn't completely neglect my family while I was reading last week (see previous post). I did manage to get the kids out for some fun.

We went to the pool by our house, which has a really fun section for little kids:









We also went to Daddy's school to ride bikes with some friends one morning. The weather has been really nice lately, so it's been easier to get outside (not quite as hot and humid!).

Where have I been??

I haven't posted in almost two weeks!! Why? I've been ignoring my household duties and all of my hobbies (including blogging) in favor of the Twilight Series.




These books were SOOO good! Like Harry Potter, I didn't want to read them just because everyone else was. But I finally gave in and started the first book last Tuesday. I finished the fourth one on Wednesday morning (I read four long books in only a week. That has to be some kind of personal record).

I totally recommend these, if you haven't already read them. Well, you men may not enjoy them as much. If these were a movie (which the first one will be in December. Yay!), they would totally be a chick flick. But for you ladies interested in a good read, these are great!

WARNING: You may find yourself spending all your time on the couch instead of attending to other responsibilites. :)

Polite little guy

Asher has started saying "Thank you" all the time now. The only thing is, he mostly says it when HE gives US something. :) When we ask him to say thank you, he waves at us instead:



In this clip, he actually says "thank you" when he gives his milk back to me. I think he even says "welcome":



He'll get it straight eventually! :)

5 Years!

As of Saturday, Ben and I have been married for 5 years! We are planning on taking a short family trip overnight somewhere (not sure where yet) to celebrate, so we didn't actually do anything really exciting on Saturday. We each gave a small gift to and then we had a yummy dinner of kabobs on the grill... complete with sparkling apple cider. :)

I'm so thankful for Ben! He's such a wonderful husband and a loving father to our little boys. Five years doesn't sound very long, but I'm excited for many more years ahead of us. :)