"Aloha"

Don and I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii October 3.  We stayed at the Waikiki Marriott resort and spa.  It was literally right on the beach.  It was such a relaxing vacation, we didn't do a lot of site seeing (unless it was a beach, haha).  We snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, and swam in the Waimea Falls.

  We also ate LOTS of yummy food, and a famous "MATSUMOTO'S" shave ice..It is sooooo good.

We went shopping at the international market every night and bought WAY TOO MUCH stuff.

Seriously, we had to ship one whole suitcase home,  full of souvenirs.

*Beautiful sunset on Waikiki Beach*

The view from our Hotel room.
26 floors up!

                                                                                 

Love these flowers, they are so cute!!

                                                                                   

*Hanauma Bay was so beautiful and so fun, we got so much sun this day....you don't realize how much you actually get, until it's too late.  Ouch.

                                                                             

For lunch one day we got this fresh coconut.
It was served with a straw to drink the milk and then you could scoop out the coconut.  It was not like any coconut I have ever had before, it was the consistency of Mozzerella cheese.

                                                                                     

Swimming in the falls.  It was so cold but it was fun.

                                                                                     

A view of Honolulu

                                                                                

For Don's Birthday we went to the Spaghetti Factory to celebrate.  We had so much fun, but we were glad to get home.  It was definitely a fabulous vacation.

                                                                                   

"Half a Century"

We were in Hawaii a.k.a Paradise on Don's Birthday, more on the vacation later though. While we were away the kids held down the fort and took care of things VERY WELL!!!
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We came home to a clean house, and a yummy meal (Thanks Ashlee). 

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And Ashlee being the sweet thoughtful girl that she is, made her dad a cake!!  It looked great and tasted yummy too.  What a fun surprise for him....  

It's hard turning "50", but cake makes it a little easier.

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She even included the dogs on the cake....so cute!

Jake enjoying his piece......

Casey even got in on the action.  After all he was the star of the cake.

"GOOD WORKS"

Ashlee has been working on her personal progress for Young Women's.  She has earned 3 ribbons so far, Faith, Virtue and Individual Worth.  

This is no small accomplishment either, she has worked really hard on them.

She has been working on her Good Works ribbon, for one of her experiences.... she chose to make meals for the family for 2 weeks.

 Honestly, my family has eaten really well and really healthy too, which all of us appreciate.  She found her own recipes, made a list of ingredients, shopped for the food, prepared it and cleaned up after!  

I have to admit, I could get used to having a cook!  Ha ha.

Thank you Ashlee, for making your family very happy......YOU will make someone a good wife someday.
I LOVE YOU girlie, and I am so proud of  you!

OCTOBER, already?

I LOVE Halloween decorations!! 

  I'll bet you couldn't tell.