Paradise Found!

Tuesday morning, Peyton and I woke up and hit the beach alone. Micah needed to sleep after not sleeping much the night before. We put on flip flops with pajamas and headed to the sand. It is difficult to describe the beauty and magic of spending quiet time together in a place like Kauai. Walking hand in hand next to the beach, listening to her sweet voice tell me all about the ocean, the birds, the sand, and the sunshine is something that I will forever hold dear to my heart.

After our walk, we had "sand therapy." The place that we are staying has a sand pit with a bunch of sand toys in the middle of a large grassy area. It took some serious convincing, but I was able to get Peyton to sit on the grass while we built a sand castle, put sand on our toes, dug in the sand, and held it in our hands. She actually didn't want to leave the sand to go wake up daddy, so I think we're making progress!

When Micah woke up, Peyton indicated that she wanted to go to the pool again. So, without hesitation, we loaded up and headed downstairs for a little R and R. We stayed by the pool most of the day soaking up the sun and splashing in the keiki pool.

At 3:30, Lois and I had a beachside Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage which was absolutely amazing! Lying under a palm tree with the Kauai breeze blowing, listening to the sound of the ocean was truely therapeutic. Much better than any massage I have had before, and hearing the waves break in real life not on a CD was awesome!

Peyton took a huge nap while we got pampered and then we headed to the North Shore for dinner. We ate at a little place called Lighthouse Bistro in Kiluaea. Contrary to the "Blue Book's" descriptions, we loved this place and would definately eat there again. My coconut crusted pork chops with mango reduction sauce were fabulous, Micah and Lois enjoyed the macadamia nut pesto, and Sonny loved his hazelnut baked chicken.

No photos for now, but I'll add some from Tuesday soon! We're headed out for some brunch at Eggberts now :)

Sunny skies, warm weather, and sandy toes

First I have to explain to all of you why I have not been blogging every day from Kauai as promised. The resort that we are staying at is robbing guests by charging $9.95 per DAY for internet access. We mostly don't need the internet since Micah and I both get email on our phones, so to pay an additional $70.00 just to blog is a bit steep. We move to a different location on Saturday night where internet is included in the price of your room so I will definately update more regularly then :)







OK, now that that's out of the way....here's our Kauai update! Monday was another perfect day! We hung at the pool during the morning hours, splashing in the Keiki pool and soaking up the sun. Then we headed to Poipu in the afternoon for Puka Dogs, the world's best hot dog, and Poipu Beach. A puka dog is really unlike any other hot dog, if it's even fair to call it a hot dog at all. They start with a polish or veggie dog, grill it, then stuff it into a blanket of squishy soft white bread bun, fill it with lilikoi mustard, a secret garlic lemon cream sauce, and add your choice of tropical relish. My favorite is coconut, but everyone else had mango. They also shake fresh squeezed lemonade for you that goes perfectly with the dog. Sooo yummy! After lunch we headed down to Poipu beach where we swam in the ocean and watched a sea turtle lounge on the beach. We had made reservations at Keioki's Paradise for dinner, but had to head back to Kapa'a early b/c Micah's mom wasn't feeling well. We went to Coconuts for dinner instead and loved our dinner. I had tempura ono that was covered in wasabi cream sauce served over a bed of ginger rice....talk about delicious! Micah loved it as well, but unfortunately, it didn't love him. He spent most of the night awake every 2 hours with his beloved allergic reaction to fish, that almost lead to a very early morning trip to the ER. Fortunately, he was able to calm his body down and catch up on rest Tuesday morning.

The photos are of: Peyton and I from the Lanai of our room; Peyton enjoying an otter pop by the pool, notice Pink Beary is with her every step of the way; and the view of the ocean from our Keiki pool.

Enjoy!!

Aloha from Kauai!

Yesterday was our first official day on the island and it was filled with lots of fun. We arrived on Saturday night at 6:55 p.m. which was 40 minutes earlier than we were scheduled to get here. I thought that this would be good b/c we would have lots of time to get our car, eat dinner, check in to our hotel, then go for a walk on the beach. However, I forgot about "island time." It took us 2 hours to get our luggage and rental car! Typically this is about a 30 minute process, but not on Kauai!!! By the time we left the airport, the only places open to eat were fast food restaurants. McDonald's seems to be our arriving night restaurant of choice. Every time we get here, we end up eating our first meal on the island at McDonalds...not exactly the tropical meal we hope for upon arrival. A quick trip to Walmart to get milk, snacks, diapers, etc. and we arrived at our hotel, which is amazing!

Sunday brought an early awakening at 6:45, as usual Peyton isn't adjusting to the time change when we travel. We went for a beach walk, and had breakfast at Eggberts (our favorite breakfast place on the island) and had the best eggs benedict in the universe! We were at the pool by 8:00, soaking up the sun and playing with Peyton in the kiddie pool. Unfortunately, Peyton still HATES the sand and wouldn't even walk on it with shoes on yesterday. Our beach walk turned into Micah hauling her on his shoulders through the sand. When he attempted to put her down she pulled her legs up like a stink bug and started to cry. We'll keep trying, but it looks like our dreams of sandcastles and running in the surf with her may be a little far fetched! We ate lunch at Scotties, a delicious BBQ place on the island w/ an amazing view. Then we went to Costco and ran around trying to find a camera lens for our new camera. We were unsuccessful, but it gave Peyton time to take a nice long car nap. Outside became pretty gloomy and windy with very dark skies so we headed back to our rooms to sit on the lanai and watch the storm. It never did rain, but Micah got some pretty awesome pictures of the dark sky and all the trees blowing around. For dinner we went to Wahoo, which we had never been to before. We loved it and will visit again before we head back to the mainland.

Today, we're headed to the pool now, then on to Poipu to visit the beach and Puka Dogs for lunch. Hopefully we'll have the same luck as our dear friends and get to snorkle with the sea turtles.

The photos are of: Peyton getting ready for the pool, before lunch at Scotties, the view from our table at lunch.

Aloha!!

All packed!

After a VERY LONG day, I think we're finally ready to go! I just have to check in on Jen to make sure that her bags are also packed and waiting by the front door. Dad will be here at 10:00 to get us, then we're headed over to get Sonny and Lois, and then after a quick loop around the neighborhood are coming to get you! I really don't think that it's entirely fair that you get to go back to Kauai so soon after just leaving! Make sure you're ready for 10 more fun days!!

Ohio photos

Sorry, sorry, sorry to all of my family who have been asking me for pictures from our trip in April. I literally just took them off of my camera! These are just a few of the pictures that I took: Peyton tackling her Aunt Maranda after Maranda kept trying to tickle her; Peyton eating the white bread that we were supposed to be feeding to the ducks at the park. She had never eaten squishy, soft, non-nutritional Wonder Bread before; playing with Woody, my Aunt and Uncle's newest family member; and with cousin Hailey showing off their tummies. Enjoy!!

Yucky Beach???

Kauai is coming! We leave in 4 days to go "home" as Micah and I have so lovingly started to refer to the magical island. We have been preping Peyton for the trip again, telling her that we will be going on a big airplane again, with Grammi and Gramps, and that we are going to the beach. She has overall been pretty receptive to the idea, and will often repeat "big airplane, beach Grammi," etc. However, yesterday as I was starting to pack some clothes she was unpacking them. I explained to her that the clothes needed to stay in the suitcase and went over the whole spiel again. "These are the clothes that we are taking on the big airplane with Grammi and Gramps to go to the beach." She stood there listening for a moment, then shook her head not, removed more clothes and said, "Yucky beach mommy."
What???? I'm beginning to wonder if there was a mix up at the hospital, as clearly these are not the words of my babe!

A note about my sis

For those of you who may not know, I am in the largest compound family in the universe! While I am sure there are those more complicated, here is our complex make up (see if you can follow along): I am the only child of my "real" mom and dad; then my step-dad and mom have two girls, Andrea and Cassie, my half sisters; my step-dad has a son from his previous marriage, John, my step-brother; and last but not least, my dad and step-mother have a daughter, Maranda, my half sister. With all of the halves, wholes, steps, and close friends that we consider family, talking about my family can by all accounts be very confusing to any listener! Since we were all little, we have never considered eachother less than "brother or sister" and have been close as can be at differing points in our lives. Obviously, I love each of them more than I could ever mention, and each of them is very special to me in their own unique way. When you have a family as large as ours, it seems that we have our moments of togetherness and our moments when are not as close as we have been or could be. Getting close to each of my siblings has been something that I will never be able to place value on.

Having said that, I have had the honor of getting to know my sister, Cassie the best over the past 2 years. She is amazing and I wouldn't be the person that I am without her. She is constantly busier than anyone in town, yet finds time to go out of her way to do nice things for others. She has dropped what she is doing on more than one occasion to come and watch Peyton on a whim, and does an incredible job. She is loving, supportive, caring, generous, and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. I thank the Lord for her every day and am saddened that she will be going far far away for school in August; but look forward to the summer that we will share with one another.

The photo is on the day of her senior prom in May (note we look absolutely NOTHING alike).

I know I usually post about current events and trips, etc. but I had to take a moment to appreciate a key person in our day to day lives :)

Over a month...seriously?

I honestly cannot believe it has really been over a month since I last updated our blog. If it is any reassurance to anyone, I only now caught up on everyone else's blogs as well. So, figuring that it won't be too much longer before Kelly holds my blog hostage as well, I better get to typing!!







In the past month....







Peyton and I made a very big SURPRISE visit to Ohio to see family. It was super fun to travel across the country unexpected. We arrived in Columbus on the 19th of April, then drove to my aunt and uncle's house (they were the only ones who knew we were arriving). We then surprised my dad, stepmom, grandma, and little sis at the restaurant that they own and operate. Which, I must say is kicking some serious booty in small town Chillicothe, Ohio! We have been home for almost a month now and can still taste the delicious smokehouse food we were spoiled with during our visit. We also saw a few other family members and are looking forward to spending time with the rest when we return in September for my brother's wedding.







Micah has made some exciting changes to Lifeline that have involved more employees, a less stressed daddy, new programs, new clients, more employee time off, and growth all around. The changes have been exciting and scary all at the same time, but God has blessed us with the reassurance that we have needed during this time of uncertainty.







Peyton, Peyton, Peyton....is growing up way too fast! She is regularly using 3-5 word sentences, repeating everything that she hears, calls me "Stevie" on occasion (which is way too much for me to deal with), asks to play with friends now, and continues to be the greatest blessing that I have ever ever received! Her favorite things to do are play outside, go to Costco (mostly b/c she gets a smoothie everytime), hang out with Auntie Cassie, and take care of "Pinkberry" her most favorite stuffed animal.







We go to Kauai in less than a month which is so fabulous I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am!! Hopefully the weather will be a bit better than it was in December. If I could just have 1 full day of sunshine this time around, we'll be in good shape.

The photo is of Auntie Cassie and Peyton playing "let's put the blocks on our head." Too cute!

:)

A weekend of beautiful weather!

This past weekend, in Medford we were blessed with blue skies and temperatures in the 80's. Today, it is back to rain and 50's, but for the first time we were blessed with a glimpse of summer. We dug out our flip flops and shorts and spent most of the weekend outdoors playing, BBQing, and doing yard work. The photos are of: Peyton playing with water buckets on Saturday; checking out the new bubble machine Sunday; chasing bubbles around the back patio; feeding Koda a scoop of water from her new water table.

A fun weekend at the coast

Although the weather forcast looked grim, over the weekend we took Peyton to the Oregon coast for the very first time. Micah and I have been there tons of times, but Peyton is a novice to what our beautiful coast brings. We were so lucky to stay at the Adobe resort in Yachats, thanks to a gift certificate from my dear mother and father in law. Our room was incredible! It was a huge second floor room that overlooked the ocean which Peyton was extatic about. She absolutely loved waking up each morning and greeting the ocean and then telling the beach goodnight before bed. On Saturday, we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which although was crowded was still lots of fun. Peyton loved "kissing" the fish in the tanks even though that meant she was really kissing the glass of the tank when the fish swam up to her. She also got to touch a starfish, the highlight of the day! We returned to our hotel and took our first walk on the beach which was pretty funny. All Peyton could talk about was the beach and when we asked her if she wanted to go for a walk, she said "yeah" with some of her greatest enthusiam. However, when we actually put our toes in the sand, my how the story changed. Every morsel of wet sand the crept to the top of her shoe almost brought her to tears. While yelling "oh no" and "yucky" she tried to brush every piece off her shoes. She didn't like walking in the sand; she didn't like picking up rocks or shells; she was skittish when the water crept forward; and there was NO WAY she was stepping on any of the sea foam that washed ashore. Micah and I ended up carrying her almost the entire time during our beach "walk." Once we were back in the grass, all was good again and she was happy as a clam talking about the beach again from afar. Sunday we visited the Sea Lion caves, which is the largest sea lion cave in the world, and thus produces the world's largest stinky smell. I think that Micah and Peyton enjoyed it but, couldn't take my sweatshirt off of my nose without gagging! The brochure says that it's a must see, but in all honesty, I could have passed on the whole thing. After that, we headed to Eugene for a stop at Trader Joe's and a disappointing trip to Abercrombie; then continued down the highway until we were home. All in all it was a great trip. I am looking forward to Peyton's next trip to the beach in June when we head back to Kauai!! The photos are of: Micah and Peyton on our way to the beach; me and Peyton on the beach, note her thrilled expression; Peyton on the beach mid "yucky"; Peyton at the sealion caves; the way that she spent most of her time in the car on the way to the coast; after she got all strapped in to the backpack for some strolling around town; touching a starfish; "kissing" a fish; and watching the ocean from our hotel room.

Happy Easter!!

I know this wish is slightly late...but I wanted to wish all of you a blessed Easter! We had a great Easter weekend. Yesterday, we colored eggs and played outside at my mom and dad's house; and today we went to church, then headed back to my mom and dad's for the remainder of the day. At church, Peyton's number was the very first number to come across the screen (which means that she is in dire need of being "rescued" from the nursery). When I got down the hallway, I found a VERY upset little girl. It took me nearly 15 minutes to calm her down after I picked her up, and 3 people (other than the toddler room volunteers) asked me if I was her mommy b/c she had been crying for me for a very long time. OUCH!! We finished church in the Oasis, watching the service on the t.v. screen with Peyton happy as a clam eating cheetos and coloring next to us. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I might make this a little easier on her, I would love to hear any and all of them!!

A few pictures of Peyton coloring Easter eggs and hunting for eggs at my mom and dad's house.

Body Butter Mayhem!

To say the least, my daughter is a girly girl. At only 17 months she loves putting pretty things in her hair, is crazy about carrying her purse around, loves to pick out clothes, enjoys a good manicure and pedicure, and absolutely HATES bugs (even the pretend ones that are used for counting or sorting...which, on a side note, was the funniest reason to make an exchange at Clas E. Professor. "No, nothing is actually wrong with the bugs, my daughter is just petrified of them and screams hysterically when I open the container, so I must exchange them for the farm animals instead"). In the past 8 months or so, one of her favorite activities has been to put lotion on. I have considered this a huge blessing b/c she will sit in the bathroom with me and rub small amounts of lotion ("show she" as she calls it) onto her hands and feet allowing me ample time to get ready. This past weekend, she discovered that if you dig your fingers into the lotion instead of gently taking some, you can do a lot more damage with body butter then ever imagined! Of course we were in a time crunch with no time for a bath. So, one new outfit and two very greasy pigtails later we skated across the slippery bathroom floor and made it out the door on time. Here are some pics for all to enjoy!!

I am a blog slacker!

Here I sit once again about to apologize for not blogging more in the past month! I honestly can't believe that almost another month has gone by since I have posted anything...where has the time gone? After reading my friends' blogs I realize that I am a total slacker. One of them blogged on vacation, from MEXICO and has updated hers several times since; one has several entries about everyday life and her children; I have read multiple updates from Uganda; and even the one deemed "the one who never blogs anything" has posted more than me in the past few weeks!!

So, once again I write a catch up blog. I promise I will try to be better about this!

What's new with us? Peyton is growing, and growing, and did I mention growing? I swear sometimes I think the child is 17 months going on 17 years. She pretends to talk on the phone while wearing only pink fuzzy slippers and a diaper, hand on hip, saying "no" and "uh huh"; she loves to put on make up; and if she had the motor skills to do so, would change her clothes 10 times per day. She has definately entered toddler hood full force, which has come with it's share of hilarious moments, and those that give me grey hair! Her favorite activity is still reading books (love that!!) and she loves to walk when ever and where ever she can; and will definately let you know by arching her back and attempting to fling herself to the ground if she is picked up against her will.

Micah is the same as last time I wrote. He is still very busy with work and is looking at bigger and better things to improve his business, which is exciting.

My sister came home for a long weekend over President's Day. She got engaged on Valentine's Day, so we had a great time being girls and working on the beginning stages of her wedding. We also got tatoos while she was in town. I have wanted the image that is on my left foot for a very long time, but never had the guts to actually do it. My tatoo is of a plumeria flower(the flower of Hawaii) with Peyton's name in Hawaiian above it (Peikonu). I think that unless you are Kelly or Shane reading this, you won't understand why I permanently inked my body with a language that isn't my own. But, they'll get it and for all the right reasons!

That's really all of our news, I will try to post more regularly!!

The photos are of: Peyton on the swing last week at my mom and dad's house; Peyton playing "rockstar" with her huge glasses and cell phone, I love it that she is in footed jammies with a bink in her mouth (going on 17); Peyton smelling her pretty flowers from daddy on Valentine's Day; and last but not least my new tatoo-there is still some peeling going on as you can see but it's very pretty :)

A catch up post...

It's been a while since I last blogged or posted any photos of Peyton so here is the "catch everyone up to date blog entry."

Exciting things that have happened in our lives since I last blogged:

-Peyton started walking (finally)!!! It was almost over night. She toddled around for a few weeks and still preferred crawling everywhere; but now is upright and full speed ahead! She is still rather wobbly, and I hear the word "woah" from her multiple times throughout the day as she tries to keep her balance. Overall, she is doing great and very proud of her new skills!

-I am a Million Dollar Body Coach. Encouraging people as they achieve their weight loss and fitness goals has been very exciting thus far; and is helping me along my voyage as well.

-Micah's business is CRAZY busy! We are very blessed by this, and hope that his success continues (and that he can take some time off in the near future). He is putting in around 60 hours Monday through Friday and then working weekends on top of it all to try to stay afloat.

-Peyton is working on potty training. I know it's early but she seems to be getting it (yipee). We aren't in full swing potty mode but she tells me periodically thoroughout the day "potty" and whenever she sits there, she goes! I must tell you that only having to change 1 poopy diaper in the past week has been AWESOME!! (Things that you never thought you would discuss prior to having children).

The pictures are all recent and are of: the worst case of bedhead that I have ever seen, perfect that it came on a Monday morning; Micah and Peyton's first blanket fort; playing in the snow last night; and our first snowman. ENJOY!!

God is great, God is good

It's been a little while since I have posted anything and sorry East Coast fam, this one doesn't have any pictures to accompany it. By God's dear grace, I have had the most perfect day today and telling you all about it seems most fitting.
It began by getting to sleep in until 9:30 with the most cuddly little girl curled up next to me in my spooning embrace. This wouldn't have been so magical had she not kept me up most of the night before whaling every 35-45 minutes; and had she not decided that she would wake at 7:30 today, but then cuddle up next to me and go back to sleep for 2 additional hours. It was fantastic. Then, I cleaned the house (my typical Thursday routine), and my dear child followed me into every room playing and talking, and "helping" in every way she knew how. We had a few errands to run and much to my surprise there was barely any traffic and things went off without a hitch. No fussy baby, no road rage, no running late, no make you wanna cringe cashiers-incredible. Tonight we had dinner with some very dear friends and all of our children. The theme was from a little Kauaian cafe' that we all love, and it was yummy (wasabi cream wraps followed by bananas foster, what's not to love)! Last but certainly not least, Peyton went to sleep without a hitch, and there are few things sweeter in this world than holding a sweet, snuggly little one in your arms while she rests (one of the greatest mommy moments in the world). Now, as I sit here typing I can't help but feeling like my day was such a blessed one. Yesterday was fine, but tough with an exhausted mommy and baby. Today, perfect. I can't help but think that God gives me challenges and blesses me with days like this to keep me reminded that He really is in total control of every day and every situation that arises. I wish you all a very blessed day!!