Lil's New 'Do

We were in the middle of family prayer last Monday morning when we heard a SNNIPPP! I opened one eye to see Lillie with scissors in one hand and a handful of hair in the other. Grrr.... So, she got a haircut, losing about six inches. Thank goodness it wasn't worse than it was. She does look pretty dang cute with a bob.

So soon??

I always knew that the day would come where I would miss Southern California. Seeing these photos only confirm that fact.














But the thing that I miss most in SoCal are the people that we left. There were so many wonderful people in the ward and especially in our building.

Lillie was talking a lot today about her friends Taylor, Hallie and Hayley. Started to make me nostalgic.

hank's first year

Henry Turned One!

Way back on June 4th, my baby turned one year old! We were at the cabin and celebrated two days early so that our Iowa and Utah cousins could be there. We had a small little party which Henry didn't really seem to know what was going on, but two days later when we opened his present, he loved it. We got him this Fisher Price race track with little cars. I know he'll love it again when we get to MS.
What Henry is all about:
-Henry took his first steps at twelve months, it's funny because Eric was so sure that it was going to happen when he was at Officer's Training, but he actually did it before then... while we were both in Oregon. Oops. But, Eric did get to see a couple steps before he left. He has one stint a day where he walks between 6-10 steps, but is still a little wobbly. We've got three more weeks to perfect it before we see Daddy again.
-Hank's vocabulary at 12 mos included Mama, Dada, Baba, and Uh oh. Now he also says ball and kitty. And I hear him all the time repeating me and it sounds like real words. He jibber jabbers all the time too.
-Henry alternates between two naps and one a day. But they're usually a good amount of time though so I can't complain too much. I picked him up a doggy pillow pet the other day which he loves to snuggle up with.
-His nicknames include: Hank, Hankie Pankie, Hankster, Hen, Henzy (my mom calls him this, so I'll let it slide.)
-He hasn't had his 1 year check up yet, since we don't really have a permanent home yet or a doctor, but I think he's pretty average sized. He's majorly slowed down, still wearing clothing he wore six months ago.
-Henry is my little snuggle bug, he loves to be held by me, as much as he can. This is frustrating when I'm trying to get things done, but I've got a really strong right arm now and can do quite a lot left-handed.
-He has got 8 teeth! I think he's gotten better at this teething thing since he's done it nonstop for months. I don't even hardly notice them coming in.
-He loves animals, being outside, wrestling with his dad, and his big sister.
-He is really ticklish. I love it.

We sure love this little guy. Don't know how we ever lived without him. Hope this is your best year yet, Hank!

Miss This Guy

Eric's been gone for two and a half weeks. Not quite half way.







Lillie only misses Daddy a little bit, she's too distracted with cousins to care much. But Henry and I miss this guy tons. Can't wait til August 6th.

Kauai- Day Six

The last day. We stopped at the "Spouting Horn" before heading to the airport. It was actually pretty cool, but we lost pictures of this so I guess that just means that we'll have to visit again.
I was really anxious to get back to my kids at this point. It had been ten days since I'd seen them. I know they were in good hands, and it took about a week, but I had started to miss them badly.
We loved our time in Kauai. So grateful to Eric's Mom for watching the kids to make it possible. I hope we get to visit again someday.

Kauai- Day Five

We spent all of day five relaxing on the Barking Sands beach, right in front of our beach cottage. The views from this place were amazing. We were literally right on the beach and we loved hearing the waves all day and all night. So soothing. The cottages were located on the Navy base called Pacific Missile Range Facility or PMRF. And the housing was REALLY nice! If it hadn't have been so far away from everything else on the island, we would have stayed there the whole time. The base was such an awesome place, wish we could get stationed there, too bad we're in the wrong branch of the military. It was very secluded, which was perfect for us, we were the only ones on the beach most of the time. We boogie boarded, swam, and soaked in the sun ALL. DAY. LONG.
We did have a sunbathing monk seal hanging out on the beach with us all day though. He was so cute! Whenever the tide got higher and the waves would start to reach him, he would scoot his little body up the beach with an annoyed look on his face. I really wanted to sneak him into my suitcase and he could live in my bathtub.
If we're still in the military during our next visit to Kauai, we will definitely be staying a lot more time here, because we LOVED it.








The pictures of our cottage were on a camera that we lost. So crushed to lose the photos from our last day on the island. But are so glad that it was only one day's worth.

Kauai- Day Five

Thank goodness the next day was Sunday. We had been going nonstop for the first four days and so we were grateful for the day of rest. We went to church in Hanalei but were only able to go to sacrament meeting because we had to move out of our rental in Princeville that morning. After packing up, we got in our car for the two hour drive over to the PMRF down on Barking Sands. On our way to the Navy base, we took a detour up to see Waimea Canyon. We drove up this super narrow and windy road to the lookout points. I was getting carsick and so I was skeptical about this drive being worth it, but the canyon was really awesome. The views were gorgeous!

Kauai- Day Four

Kalalau Trail Day! This was what we were looking forward to the most in coming to Kauai. We had heard stories of the beauty of the trail, the Na Pali coastline and Hanakapai'i Falls, so couldn't wait to see them firsthand. The trail was a bit precarious at times, trekking through red mud and even scaling slippery boulders, but we made it. The main trail headed two miles down to Hanakapai'i Beach.
We came across some interesting people along this part of the trail. There was this zombie girl who looked homeless and wasn't carrying anything but a woven basket and did not make eye contact. Then there was this old man who was hiking bare foot. And then the group of campers that were openly smoking pot at the beach. Oh yeah and the clearly human fecal material sitting in the middle of the trail. But the scenery was top notch. :)
Anyway, once we were on the beach, we did our own little zen rock pile like all the others and Eric took a dip in the ocean. Such a beautiful beach, but I was anxious to get on our way so we continued another two miles up to the falls.
This trail was a branch off the main trail and was tricky in places like the last. We had to cross a river a few times and I ended up with wet socks more than once. There was a bamboo forest along the way and multiple areas with waterfalls. But finally, we had reached our destination. It was beautiful beyond words, I'll let the pictures do the talking...



The beautiful Na Pali coastline in the background.


Hanakapai'i Beach





My hair is doing crazy things because it was windy, okay??



Bamboo Forest