slc cousins part one

September was a blur, it feels like it always is...
Start of school
Sophie's birthday
My birthday 36 wow.
Our wedding anniversay...9 years! woot woot
My birthday and our anniversary were pretty low key, as we were in Kona for a work event for Toby, and then his brother and family came to visit. Yay for fun cousins! Toby's brother has three girls about the same ages as ours, and they have a very magical relationship with them. You can imagine their excitement....
My birthday present was a new camera! Toby spoiled me like crazy, (which was really quite trusting considering my track record with expensive equipment!) I have been having a blast learning about my new fun toy, and filters too! The girls are already sick of me...What???? Sophie, I have ten more years of mandatory picture taking! Lyla Rose, you are in for 15 more years, and Avery, thank you so much for always letting me take your picture! muah...you're my favorite! (5 year old, of course!)
Toby and I were going to go snorkeling for our anniversary, but the waves were too big. So, we watched all of the surfers. If you know anything about Hilo, you know that surfing is much more difficult here....so rocky. so It was awesome to see all of the surfers out at once.
We did end up swimming with the largest turtle I have ever seen. they usually swim away from people, but this guy just hung out by us. (no worries, we didn't touch him or anything. Just hanging out in the same section of ocean and all.) Then we had dinner by the ocean at the HYC...good times...
After too much tenderloin and gorgonzola butter, we decided to head home. We laughed when the clock said 7:30. Um,...sweet.
We were trying to think of fun places/things to do, and realized we just wanted to come home. Feels good when you love your home so much.
Toby's brother and fam came for a visit, and we had a blast. They forgot their camera, so I said I would take some extra pics for them. Turns out I took so many pictures of their family, and not so many of my own. Ooops.
Oh well....
the one's I did take I am loving....

Sophia, unaware of my camera




Lyla, poolside



I know, rough, right?

Claire, right after digging this guy out of the ocean



I loved how much the children loved experiencing the ocean, and Hawaii in general..
I think my children realized what a great state we live in, and how unique our surroundings are. Sophia in particular is still missing Utah.


Lyla perfecting her shaka!




All of the accolades to Avery for posing for pictures, and I realize, no pictures yet...





This is one of the few taken of me. (There was one of me helping to serve the kids food at dinner one night. I looked like a waitress. weird.)



We had such fun with our fun Salt Lake cousins!

More to come...

First Day of School

Yes, I am aware that the first quarter is complete. Including parent teacher conferences...
The girls are doing great in school, and loving it. (mostly)

One of my summer highlights was buying school clothes for 80% off on the mainland. Awesome! And then, we learned there were uniforms this year for school.
Oh well....




Sohpia moved to the main campus. Most of her classes are in Hales (huts/houses) that are lacking walls. She loves it!



Avery needed to bring a flowering plant. She loved picking it out...





I was a little worried that Lyla would have a hard time with her sisters in school,





As you can see, she did just fine.