Addy's 4th Birthday

On Addy's actual birthday, Saturday, Sept. 25th we started off by going on our long-awaited, much-anticipated trip to Build-A-Bear.  I was praying she wouldn't choose the hideous candy corn bear.

Phew, she chose the pink one...shocker!

Thanks to the extra coupons someone left behind, this lovely pink bear and her darling Tinkerbell outfit (which you can't see) only cost us $17 with tax.  Bargain!

Later that day we were in my bathroom and Addy noticed she could see in my bathroom mirror without a stool.  I told her that was because she was now 4 years old. 

Addy:  No Mom, I'm still 3.  I don't turn 4 until I blow out the candles on my cake.

Well, that didn't happen until Sunday. 

This party, however, almost didn't happen (yeah right!).  Earlier that day in church, I was out in my usual spot with London, the hallway, but Jonathan was in sacrament meeting having his patience tried by Addy.  He finally had had enough and walked out the door with her.  He put her in the car and threatened her that he was taking her home to call everyone to tell them not to come to her party.  As they were driving home, these were a couple of comments that came out of her mouth:

Addy:  No Dad!  This party is special to me.

Addy:  Dad!  You are acting crazy!  (This, however, would be normal behavior for Mom)

Luckily, she promised her life in the driveway and made it back to church and the party was restored.  Phew!  (We're working on the empty threats)

Addy decided back in August that she wanted to have a jack 'o lantern party. I thought for sure it would change into some sort of princess party, but she stuck to her guns and even told Grandma Cozy that she wanted a jack 'o lantern cake.

 See here and here and here for Addy's previous cake requests and creations by Gma Cozy.  Whatever these crazy grandkids can think up, Gma makes!

The pinata.  Jonny was saying his prayers that the video wouldn't end up on America's Funniest Videos.

London giving it a go.

CANDY!

Presents

Gma & Gpa Great

Gma Cozy and the cake (taken just before my Mom was translated)

Finally, she's four!

Classic.  Dietitian's daughter. 

Happy Birthday Addy! 

We love you!

Stats:

Height: 43 inches (97th percentile..still)

Weight:  37 lbs (60th percentile)

BMI:  14 (10th percentile)

(Just a random thought, wouldn't it be funny if we did these same stats as adults?)

Pigtails

Hawaii

Jonathan has worked for KPMG for the past 7 years as an IT auditor.  He got a great new job (after 4 months of about 16 interviews) with Goldman Sachs.  So, we cashed in all of the points and miles he had accrued during his work travels and headed to Hawaii after his last day with KPMG.  This was the first time we have taken a long vacation like this without kids, and let's just say it was, uh, heavenly.  We didn't waste a single moment.  Feel free to bail now as this will become a travel log.

Hiking Diamond Head Crater

Sunset sail on a gorgeous catamaran

Drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center

The PCC

Hawaii Temple

And again, at night.  This temple has been undergoing renovations for the past two years and it will be opening again this November.

Hiking to Manua Falls

Rented mopeds

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay and a quick stop at Wet 'n Wild

  We did see some awesome fish and a sea turtle, but I decided that snorkeling totally freaks me out.

Pearl Harbor

(After learning much more about this place and the attack, it makes a bit more sense why my Grandma Carlson gasped and let out a big "OH NO!" when I got my mission call to Japan)

Submarines, Battleships, Airplanes, oh my!

(They were filming a new movie called Battleship with Liam Nieson and Rhianna on the USS Missouri, so a large portion was closed off)

Byodo-in Temple

A replica of one in Japan that is 900 years old.  Was very Kyoto-esque.  Jonathan rang that bell SO LOUD that we both couldn't stop laughing.

And LOTS of beach and pool time! 

Some observations about Hawaii:

• 
  
  You can totally get cut off by someone and they will just throw a hang loose sign out their window and suddenly you think of them more as a friend than a big jerk who just cut you off
• 
  
  If I ever need to review my Japanese, just spend a week in Hawaii. I don't think I've ever eavesdropped on more conversations before in my life!
• 
  
  Their public transportation department thought long and hard before coming up with a name for their bus system:

Creative guys, very creative.

We took the red-eye home arrived Monday morning and Jonathan went straight to his new job.

You know, kind of like your first day of school picture.

(what wrinkles?)

We had a great time navigating the great island of Oahu.  Thank you to all those who watched my girls!  When I'm feeling a bit stressed or overwhelmed, I'll just head to my happy place:

here

or here

and just for the record

Timing

So, while this was going on in my backyard...

(photos courtesy of Landon Edwards)

Jonathan and I were pretending to be stressed out here...

And returned home early Monday morning to this...

(Herriman Beach is the reservoir on the left)



Listening to the radio on the drive home from the airport, I heard Jason Chaffetz, our Congressman, say that we had the best firemen in the entire world.  Entire world?  I admit, I snickered at the hyperbole, but after seeing these pictures of the hills in my backyard, I will retract my snickering and agree wholeheartedly.  I mean, seriously, look at these houses!  Thank you Herriman City, Unified Fire, and Unified Police for your efforts.  You are miracle workers!

Thank you to friends & family for your calls, texts, fb messages.  There we were sitting in the Honolulu Airport getting message after message asking if we were okay or if we needed a place to stay.  We feel so loved!  After hearing several neighbors' harrowing tales of evacuation in the middle of the night, I'm grateful to have missed the drama and merely had a sleepless night because it was the red eye flight.  Our hearts go out to those 3 families who completely lost their homes and I'm sure the many more with damages.

"Butt You"

Addy thinks the past tense of "beat" is "butt."  She uses it often because she is quite competitive and likes to beat people.  The most common use is when I open the garage and Jonathan's car isn't there and she will shout, 

"YES!  WE BUTT DAD!"  

Makes me laugh so hard that I don't correct her as often as I should.  The best is then when Jonathan does walk in the garage door and Addy runs to meet him and exclaims, 

"DAD...WE BUTT YOU!"

Tiffany Dance Co...Round 2

You'd never know from this picture, but Addy really was excited for her first day of her second year of dance.  Love the princess shoes. Love the scowl even more.  She gets that from her Dad.  I mean, for someone who hates to look at the camera when her picture is being taken, she sure knows how to give me the evil eye.  What did I do?

Football Season

My kind of girl!

Behind the Scenes: Carlson Family Pictures

Our summer seems to have been saturated with family pictures.  We did our own little family in June, Eberhardts at the beginning of August, and Carlsons at the end of August.  While pictures aren't my favorite thing, it does mean we get to see Dave & Linds who live in Oklahoma and Owen & Tara who live in China. 

Let's take a closer look at that cute face

...which seems to be a much cuter close-up than this one 

Final Product Coming Soon