Turtle

Today we were swimming in the ocean and this turtle swam up right on to the shore.

Some Sample Pictures

Lance is back to work in UT, but Kai and I are still enjoying the good life in HI. Here are a few sample pictures from our trip.

Happy Birthday Lance!

Happy Birthday Lance!

We hope that this is a great start to another exciting year of life for you. How nice to get to celebrate in such a fun place.

We love you very much!

He Did It!

Last night Lance was able to check his CA Bar results which said that his name appears on the pass list. YEAH! We are all very proud of him and so grateful that all of his hard work has paid off. The pass rate in CA is like 50% or something so it is quite an accomplishment. Last summer he took and passed the UT Bar and now this summer the CA Bar. I would like to request that next summer we find something else more fun to do. So why did he put himself through such torture twice? Here is how I have heard him answer people- For fun.....because my UT firm encouraged me to for their benefit.....because I've always thought I should after going to school in CA. So congratualtions Lance! We love you!

In other news........ we made it safe and sound to Kona and are already having a great time. Kai did great on the plane and was a trooper about it all. Today there was golfing, swimming, eating, playing with cousins, and shopping. Fun for all.

Getting Ready To Go

Tomorrow we leave for our big Thanksgiving trip to Kona, so Kai and I have been working on getting everything prepared. When I first brought a suitcase in to his room he promptly put in about 10 stuffed animals while I was in the other room grabbing something else. He is also very good at pulling things out about as fast as I can put them in. Here are a few other pictures of how helpful he can be.

Wheeler Farm

Today Kimberley and I took Kennedy and Kai to Wheeler Farm. We checked out the cows, horses, sheep, pigs, turkeys, geese etc. which the kids loved. This place was great because it was free, not crowded, not far from where we live, and easy to see all that you need to in a short time. To top it all off it was a beautiful morning. They are saying that some cold weather is on the way here so it was a great to be outside and soak it in. Thanks for the invite K & K!

Happy 1st Birthday B & H!

Happy 1st Birthday to my buddies Beckham and Hudson!

Hope you are having a great day and getting to enjoy all the perks of being 1. Congrats to your parents for making it though the first year-and with twins! I hope I get to play with you in person sometime soon. Maybe we'll have to meet up in Malibu sometime and see Jackson too. Have some cake for me!

Love, Kai

Raining Leaves

Party Day

Today was a super fun party day. This morning Kai got together with a bunch of his little buddies from the neighborhood for a Halloween party. There are about 6 other kids within 2 months of Kai's age which is neat. The party was super fun and the kids were so cute. They read stories, had games, decorated bags, and collected candy and other treats. The older kids were all in school so it was just the little ones which made it great for the ones Kai's age that are still a bit wobbly and taken back by chaos. I tried to take some pictures but it was nearly impossible to get more than 1 child to stay put in any picture. Kai kept his costume on and didn't seem bothered by it which was a happy surprise. I was especially shocked that he kept the hat/ears on. Needless to say we had a good long afternoon nap afterwards.

Lance's parents go out of town tomorrow morning so we went over to their house to show them the kids costumes and have dinner. Kennedy was a great bumble bee. After dinner the two of them had a fun time playing. Kennedy is so cute and does a great job taking care of Kai- after all she is 8 whole months older. She really is sweet with him and is going to be such a good big sister come late April.

Pumpkin Carving

Volleyball Game & Kir B'Day

Tonight we drove with Lance's parents down to Provo to watch Pepperdine vs BYU in Men's Volleyball. It was a pre-season match and thus not as super crowded as it can be at BYU Volleyball games. Pepperdine lost in 4 games but we still had a great time. It was fun getting to see some familiar Pep faces. Kai did well and had a lot of fun playing with a volleyball after the game when we were visiting with the Pepperdine people. He also got to sit in between grandma and grandpa on the ride home. See what happens when grandparents are in charge? He sure likes a super big gulp coke- well really just the end of some lemonade. It was a fun night despite the outcome of the game.

In other news- HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTEN! We hope you have had a wonderful day and got to enjoy a fun night out from the kids with Dave. We miss you guys and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving.

S-N-O-W

During Kai's mid day nap today I was running around the house like normal trying to get 5 million things done. Suddenly I looked out the window and did a double take. There were white flakes falling from the sky. Our first snow sighting of the year. The flakes continued on and off during the afternoon but melted before they hit the ground. Then, tonight when I went outside to put something in the car I was suprised to see that the ground had a slight white dusting. The weather people say it will get nice again before the snow is here to stay but I guess we are getting close. The CA girl in me still thinks this snow stuff is pretty cool. I may be the only person here thinking that in October though.

First Tie

It wasn't until around Kai's first birthday that we finally gave in and started having him regularly wear shoes. That was really only out of necessity since he was walking around everywhere. So today we tried something else new. Kai sported his first tie for Church. The super cute tie and shirt were a gift from his CA grandparents. We convinced him that it was ok to wear by having Lance do the same. I wondered if he would rip it off within the first 5 minutes but he was a trooper and didn't even touch it the whole time. You just never know with this kid.

Tuesday Deals

We ate at Rubios tonight for 1 dollar fish tacos. Almost as good a deal as Taco Tuesdays at Del Taco. I've noticed that many such fine establishments offer deals on Tuesdays - must be the slowest night of the week. I am hereby soliciting information regarding any good Tuesday restaurant deals you may know of.
Here's a start
Dukes - Fish Tacos on Tuesdays
Albertos - Free Horchata all day Tuesdays
That Sushi place on Zuma beach - some Tuesday deal
Sugarhouse Movie Theaters - 1 dollar and sometimes .50 movies on Tuesdays
Send in your suggestions and I will amend the list

One Wild and Crazy Guy

Working in the Yard

It is cool out today and seems to be hinting that Winter is approaching. In my opinion it is a great day to throw on a sweatshirt and work on some projects.

This morning we (well mostly Lance) did some work in our yard. As you can see Kai was a big help. At first he wasn't sure if he liked the leaves too much. He mostly just likes to follow Lance around and look busy. Every now and again he will stop to point out a bird "Bir" flying low.


He loves his big yellow outside truck that he can push all around. I was trying to convince him to put leaves in it this morning but he was more interested in having it crash in to things.

Football Game

Today we went to Provo for the BYU vs SDSU football game. Lance's parents let us use their fabulous season tickets. They were fabulous because they allowed us to park super close to the stadium and the seats were perfect. Perfect becasue 1) they had a great view of the game with the beautiful mountains in the background, and 2) there was an empty seat to our left and four empty seats followed by a small divider wall to our right. This created a great playpen area for Kai where he could stretch his little legs. We were nervous about how he would do now that he prefers to run around all the time, but he seemed to love all the people, the cheering, the band, and the playpen area. In Kai's short life he has been to a bunch of high school football games, the Poinsettia Bowl, and now his first regular season college game. I'm glad he likes it so much because I have a feeling there will be many more to come. Even now he loves running around the house with his mini footballs and will bring you one if you ask him. We ended up leaving the game early today because BYU was killing SDSU and Kai had been so good that we felt like it was a great time to call it a day. A fun time was had by all!

A Boy And His Pumpkin

Walking In Our Neighborhood

We've been going on lots of walks lately. The weather has been nice and I love watching the colors change. Here are some examples from our walks in our neighborhood this weekend.

In other news one of Kai's new favorite things is to read books in his rocking chair. It is especially fun because the chair used to be mine when I was little. Here he is giving us one of those "Mom, are you going to bother me while I'm reading?" looks.

General Conference

I had the cool opportunity to go to the Priesthood Session of LDS General Conference last night. I had the even cooler opportunity to enter the Conference Center via the underground tunnel from Temple Square that the VIPs use. (I wasn't a VIP, just a VIP groupie). As we were taking the long walk through the tunnel, we saw church leaders zipping by on golf carts. (Yamaha) We entered the Conference center from behind the rostrum and that's a good way to take in how massive the building is. It holds 21,000 people, but everyone has a good view and the acoustics are good. The meeting was powerful, as usual. This was the second time in two weeks that I attended a priesthood meeting at the conference center. Two weeks ago, we went to a regional conference meeting where President Faust and Elder Bednar held a question and answer session. (I didn't ask any questions). Anyway, good times.