Avery's first "selfie"

     Corey found this one night getting Avery ready for bed.  The value of having a lot of kids is you have great perspective by the time you get to those babies & so we laughed and took a few pictures. 

Easter in Scipio

     Our annual trip to Scipio for the Easter Egg Hunt, shooting and Easterin'. 

 

 

 

TEENAGER!!!

 

     Happy 13th Birthday McKay!!!  You are the sweetest 13-year-old boy I know.  We're so lucky to have you and so thankful for your great example to your younger siblings.  McKay spent his birthday speaking at Tate's baptism and celebrating with family!!  We also went to Classic so he could celebrate with his best bud Brad.  Happy Birthday Mac! We love you!!

 

Tate is 8!

          Tate was excited to be baptized and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He was baptized on April 12th which just happens to be McKay's birthday.  Which makes it even more special that McKay agreed to speak at his baptism program.  He did a beautiful job and is such a great example to his siblings. 

 

    Tate is such a sweet boy.  April is a busy month in our family and he didn't mind sharing his special day with his brother and a few cousins.  After the baptism we had a fun celebration lunch for Tate, McKay, Ava and Kaihli.  My family & Stan & Blyth were there, I just didn't get the camera out until later and got the linger longers (we love these linger longers by the way!!).  We were so happy the Washington Larrabee's could be here too.  It was a special day!

 

 Ava 3  Tate 8  McKay 13  Kaihli 6

 Bunch-o-cousins: Keat, Avery, Aubrey, Breck, Gretel, Ady & Kai

  McKay & Conner

Keaton & Ethan



Last Day in Paradise

     

   

      We started our last day in Kauai with a run.  Tate had asked us to pick up a coconut from the beach for him.  Since we couldn't legally take it on the plane we found one and labeled it for him.  Then my cheesy husband did this and told me to post it on my blog which I refused....oh well. 

 

 

     These were flowers around our condo.  On the last day I went a little crazy taking pictures so we wouldn't forget anything.   The little shack is Banana Joes.  They had the best fruit smoothies made of bananas and pineapple, whipped to perfection.  The other pictures are of the amazing view driving around Kauai, do you see King Kong?

 

 

 

 

     Our last activity was to kayak the Wiamea River to Secret Falls.  This was the only thing we did with a guide.  It was fun and beautiful, definitely not secret though.  The guy posing is not mine, mine is the one swimming near the falls while I ate my lunch and took pictures.  After our last muddy Kauai hike we washed off at the beach and bummed around town picking out souvenirs for our kids whom we were ready to get home to.   Aloha Kauai.

 

 

 

Sleeping Giant

     We hit three or four farmers markets during our week in Hawaii and it was so much fun!  Because of our great location in the north shore we were a bit isolated from any of the really good restaurants so the farmers markets made our food fun!  This was a giant fruit that Corey had to get a picture of.  The red fruit has a pit surrounded by a gel-like fruit inside that tastes pretty good.  Mostly we enjoyed the mango, papaya, lemons and avocados....yum. 
     After the farmers market we did the hike called the Sleeping Giant.  It was steep with beautiful views of the island. 

     
     There are very high cliffs on top of this spot where Corey is taking himself very seriously.  I, on the other hand would not stop for a picture on such a precarious place. 

     It's a little hard to see on the last picture, but there was a cool arch at the top of this hike.  I'm afraid of heights, but I braved it for the view which was totally worth it of course. 
      There is a crossroads near the top of the hike and we took the wrong one.  Once we realized it we turned around and started hiking up.  We ran into a man named Martin.  He was a retired guy who visited the island yearly and had a lot of knowledge about the island and convinced us to take the west side down so we could see the Cook Pines groves.  One of the best things about this trip was that it was just us and we could go where we wanted when we wanted to.  So we took Martin up on his offer and hiked down with him.  He gave us the job of finding the trail markers and told us all about the island along with all of his favorite jokes.  The Pine groves were beautiful and Martin gave us a ride to our car at the end. 

 

     We made our way back to the North Shore stopping at a beach or two on the way so Corey could play in the water and I could read on the beach.  Ended the day with a sunset off Hanalei Bay.

NaPali Coast Hike

     The most-recommended hike was the NaPali Coast Hike.  We tried to do this one the first day there, but it was closed due to flooding.  This was a perfect day for this hike.  We started off bright and early which I was greatful for...it got hot.  These were all the warning signs at the beginning...you'd think we didn't value our lives. 
     This hike is two miles to the beach and then two more miles to the waterfall.  It's pretty steep with a consistant incline, but the views are amazing. 

The water was high at the beach so it was rocky, but there was moss covering the rocks which made it really beautiful.  The water wasn't safe to swim in but fun to watch the immpressive waves. 

 

 

     Two more miles and you get to this beautiful waterfall.   Don't be fooled....it's gigantic!  I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing, too tall. 

 

 

     There were a few pools along the way that we swam in.  The trick is finding the sunny pools.  This is Corey looking like a Utahan in winter.  The rest of the day we spent beach hopping, snorkeling and body boarding at Hanalei Bay.