Sunday on the Big Island

{I had planned on finishing my Hawaii posts before we left for our trip to California, but it didn't happen. Boo.}

The best part about being at a resort with cousins is that you get to do everything with them! Including eating meals together. This restaurant, Boat Landing Cantina, was the closest to our rooms and we ended up eating there several times.

Marc and Michelle

We went into Kona to go to church. The speakers were youth and leaders freshly returned from Trek. We also heard a really great Tongan a cappella choir.

(Rob & Lisa's kids were so jealous that we left after sacrament meeting. When traveling, we usually don't stay for all 3 hours of church. I hate to make my kids go to Primary and Young Men's classes where they don't know anyone, and I don't really enjoy it, either.)

Beautiful grounds!

After church, we wandered around the resort some more. I love the sea turtles!

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For dinner, we went to a delicious pizzeria, where we had Korean beef pizza, Kahlua pork pizza, Peking duck pizza, and plain cheese for the little ones.

Bob and Mim ended up coming to the same restaurant!

We watched the sun set while we ate. Al fresco dining at its finest.

Jessie's visit

I've let too much time elapse since Jessie's visit, and I have too much blogging to catch up on. I can't face multiple posts, so I've elected to post my favorite photos, all in one!

3 girls in a tub. Crowded chaos, shrieks of delight that can quickly become whines or protests: it's pretty much the way the whole 12 days went. As Grandma used to say when the children were babies, "Happy turned sad!" Things can turn on a dime.

We started out with all 3 girls sleeping in Eva's room. She was delighted. And then, she wasn't. She hurt Bella's feelings, and Bella wanted to sleep in my room. Suddenly, everyone was in agreement that Bella and Fiona should sleep in my room with me and Jessie.

I've learned not to be surprised by these turns of events (especially when Eva is involved). You just never know how it's going to go, so I'm getting better at going with the flow.

As previously reported, we braved the dinosaur museum during Spring break. Enough said.

I love Fiona's expression.

We went to a quilt shop in American Fork I had never been to before. Danger, danger! I wanted so many things. I'm sure I will be back.

Jessie talked Emily into cutting her hair! (She had had it cut shortly before her arrival, but wanted some changes.) I have never, ever cut anyone's hair, and was too terrified to oblige. It looks cute!

Jessie also cut Fiona's hair one morning. Fiona wasn't even particularly cooperative, and it turned out darling! It made me wonder if I could cut Lucas's hair. Marc put the kibosh on that idea.

We were able to sneak away to the temple one afternoon. We haven't been to the temple together other than Jessie's sealing! We did sealings, and it was a very sweet experience.

temple SP

We enjoyed a Creative Friday with Jill. It was quite the day of chaos, especially when my piano students turned up unexpectedly.

Jill brought little packs of m&ms for the girls, and Bella organized hers by color. I used to do that, too.

Jessie reading to all the girls.

Fiona appropriated the Snow White dress and was terribly distressed if anyone else tried to wear it. Jessie said that one of their friends calls Fiona a cartoon character, and the description is so very apt. Her expressions are varied and big.

Cute Bella on the slide. The weather was cool and rainy (or snowy) for much of the time they were here, so when it was nice, they played outside. Hallelujah.

Bella wanted to take Jack for a walk.

I thought the whole thing was doomed to failure, since he has never learned to properly heel and tends to pull horribly, but she would just sit down if she wanted him to stop. Worked like a charm!

Eva had to get in on that action.

Eva, reading to Fiona to cheer her up. She seemed to champion Fiona mainly when she and Bella were on the outs.

We got to see a lot of Emily while Jessie was here, since she had reading days for finals. She is so entertaining and such good company - we are always happy to have Emily around!

We played quite a few rounds of Bananagrams. Max loves it; Lucas hates it.

The plum trees bloomed! Always my favorite 2 weeks of the year.

Bella's treasures.

I love this picture of Fiona (not to be outdone, she had to have treasures as well).

Eva did, too, of course.

No visit to Utah is complete without a trip to the distribution center.

One day they spent the whole morning making a dinosaur museum in the family room.

Bella made everyone name tags, which consisted of names and eye color. (Except for Marc's, which simply said "happy customer.)

Later, Eva had to go to school, and the museum was closed, obviously.

Check out that static-y hair!!

Bella and Eva neglected to finish their yogurts, and my favorite cartoon character took over, two spoon-style!

Emily bought us all fountain drinks.

We did a decent amount of baking. One day, Jessie and Emily pulled out no less than 7 bags of coconut in various states of fulness. I endured much teasing about it. In my defense, I can only say that my lazy susan has been non-functional, so it was hard to see what I had and what I didn't. I guess I was making damn sure I had coconut on hand!

The girls enjoyed watching Lucas play video games in his room. One day, he told them he wanted a little alone time, so they migrated to the hall and took up a new position there.

(Incidentally, Lucas was very sweet with them. He was quite the peacemaker and broke up many arguments. He also played with them on multiple occasions. I love that guy.)

A collection of the friends Jessie has made for Eva over the last several years. (I love them all, but Fox is my favorite.)

We were hoping that, now that the girls are older, we wouldn't have so many sharing boot camp issues, that they would just go off and play and leave us in peace. Not so. But we're holding out hope for next time! It was definitely trying at times, but all worth it in the end.

I wish my sister didn't live so far away!

12 on the 12th | April

1. Marc made this beautiful stack of crêpes for a party with his study abroad prep class. I thought they looked all ruffly and lovely. (He says the fancy crêpe pan I finally found for him makes all the difference.)
2. Of course I was tempted to eat a crêpe for breakfast, but I stuck to my diet and had bacon and eggs instead.
3. Self-portrait with Jessie! I love that she was here on the 12th.
4. We decided to be fun moms and took the girls to the dinosaur museum. During spring break. Do we win some kind of award??
5. Bella and Eva (in their new matching shirts) examining a dino habitat.
6. A dinosaur stranded on an island.
7. I love this picture of Eva from behind.
8. Jessie and Bella working on an island in the sand/water table.
9. The girls posing in front of the giant prehistoric shark.
10. My lone daffodil in bloom. What's that about? I definitely planted at least a dozen.
11. Sleeping Beauty and Prince, Fiona's must-have toys. Somehow, they made it into the museum, and then stayed there. I ran back to pick them up from the lost & found.
12. One of the many things I admired at DownEast Clothing. Jessie wanted to go get some layering t-shirts. I wanted to buy this sweater for Eva. Or maybe make one like it sometime!
{Little Caesar's for dinner. Whew!}

anticipation

Some things are so exciting. Like waiting for company to arrive. And then their actual arrival!

Jessie, Bella and Fiona came into town this afternoon, and just in time for spring break, too.
(Jack was only slightly less excited than Eva. Or maybe equally excited.)


p.s. I'm off the ledge. We got a new toilet installed, the garbage disposal is fixed, and the furnace is now functioning again, which is a good thing since it snowed again.

the countdown is on

What do you do when you're so excited about your cousins' impending visit, you can hardly stand it??

You make a paper chain, of course.

Jessie, Bella, and Fiona arriving in... T- 10 days!

girls' week, part 2

We went on a field trip to Hobby Lobby. We bought fabric and materials for birthday gifts.

Bella discovered a whole aisle of boas and wasted no time trying them on.

Pretty much everything is more fun with Emily around. I never do stuff like this.

99 degrees. With a pretty high percentage of humidity as well. You can see why I so appreciated the rainy day...

Cooking is so much more fun with a buddy. Faster. Less lonely.

Jessie took us on a pilgrimage to Mary Jo's Cloth Store. I wish I had this store close to me. Although it would be quite dangerous.

This really doesn't do it justice, it is just enormous. (Or hunormous, as Eva likes to say.)

There are many, many aisles with these helpful signs. This was my favorite. I never did see any outhouse fabric, though.

We wandered the store for a long time, finally narrowing our selections. I left several fabrics behind that I now regret. (Why did I have to choose that moment to show restraint?)

Sheer happiness.

They also sell grits at Mary Jo's. Sadly, they were sold out when we were there.


We wanted to make skirts for the girls, but all we managed to get done was the washing, drying, and a little cutting. We should have started earlier on that.

Jessie, working on a last-minute handmade birthday gift for a party the girls were invited to. (Eva couldn't believe that someone she didn't even know invited her to the party!) Fiona was ever so helpful.

Eva's moods would swing wildly where Fiona was involved. One minute she was saying she didn't like her and the next she was chastising Bella and telling her that there were plenty of Legos for them all to play with. It literally could be a 180º turn within a minute or so. She sure likes to keep us guessing.

Emily made us this blueberry lime pound cake. Even those who professed not to like blueberries became believers.

On our last day, we took the girls to the neighborhood pool. Man, what I wouldn't give for a pool like this within walking distance to our house! Amazing. I managed to get fried, of course.

pool towels hanging to dry on the deck

Jessie wanted to take us to Cantina Fifteen Eleven, but we didn't have much in the way of childcare options, so I stayed home and Jess and Emily went to get take-out. It was delicious.

After dinner, Jessie and Emily dyed their hair the same color. (It was Emily's first foray into home hair coloring.) It cracked me up the way it looked like they were rinsing blood out.

Not to be outdone, I bought this hair relaxer. For black girls. Well, my hair is similar to theirs! I think. Anyway, I did a home straightener several years ago and had a lot of breakage, so I can't even believe I was considering doing this, but I was feeling desperate for a little cuteness. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I read the instructions and there was a strong warning against using the product on highlighted hair. Rats.

At the end of our last night, we realized that we hadn't taken any self-portraits. So we did what any self-respecting bloggers would do: took some indoor, end of the day shots with bad lighting. Documentation at all costs.

While taking the self-portraits, I explained that I can't take them with my big camera due to my T. Rex arms (as Jill calls them). Jessie did not know about this condition, so she insisted on comparing. So sad! I guess I really do have T. Rex arms...

Jessie snuggling with Smeagle (I show only his head here to spare you the ugly details).

Eva did wonderfully well during our return trip. Our connecting flight was delayed for awhile, however, and she was getting bored in the terminal, so she set up a dinosaur bed for herself, complete with leaf blanket. Why didn't I think of that?