Moorea Motu

11.03.09 - Day 2 of our vacation
We arrived in Tahiti (the main island), waited for 2 hours for our short flight to the island of Moorea and quickly became very aware of the ridiculous American dollar to Polynesian Franc conversion rate. It was horrible. In the airport, I bought a People magazine for what turned out to be $15 US dollars!!!!!! I was hoping it would be the best magazine that I have ever read... it wasn't. We were learning quickly.
After waiting 2 hours to get to Moorea, the flight only ended up being 10 minutes long. We wished we would have just swam :).

Our hotel was beautiful,

we had a gorgeous bungalow right on the beach with a fresh pineapple waiting for us and a week of bliss ahead of us.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing, exploring the resort, kayaking across way too much coral and getting stuck (we even saw a shark swimming right next to our kayak at one point), we went snorkeling and finished off the night with a nice dinner. Good start to an amazing trip!

Tahiti Trip

I am officially 30. A new decade, a new perspective and a new opportunity to milk a big birthday :). For Peter's 30th, I threw him a surprise party with many family and friends who came long distances for the occasion. Since that big party, he has been stewing ideas in his head for my big 30th. His idea was stinking amazing...

For the past 3 months, I have known that Peter was whisking me away on a trip. The only catch is that I had no idea in the world where. As the weeks passed, I would receive little hints... I need my passport, buy another swimsuit, etc. I finally found out our destination as we were leaving for the airport... TAHITI!!! Out of control.

There is so much to write, tell, share, and post that I have decided to break each day of our trip into it's own blog entry. I will start with the night that we caught our red eye to Tahiti...

11.02.09
My parents flew in from Seattle on the 31st of October and we had a fun Halloween weekend being together.

We took the weekend to prep and prepare them for their 8 days with our kids. They were incredible!!!
Peter and I put the kids to bed, kissed them goodbye and drove to LAX for a midnight flight from LAX to Tahiti. It surprisingly only took 8 hours and we were only 2 hours behind California time... what seemed like a world away really wasn't. We slept a little (I was too excited about all of the movies that I have never seen right in front of my face) and before we knew it, we were there!

Happy Halloween

We hope your Halloween is spooktacular!

Love,

Dallin (boxer), Claire (Giselle from Enchanted), Spencer (tiger)

Loud Lady

While watching So You Think You Can Dance...

Claire - "She needs to use her inside voice"
Mom - "yes, yes she does"

Utility Ultimatum

Funny thing happened...

We were sitting around as a family last FHE and decided to play "airplane" (you know, where the adult lies on the floor with their feet in the air, suspending a tiny human, hoping that tiny human with their stomach resting on our feet doesn't crash into anything). We are officially outnumbered now that all 3 of our kids want to play... time to learn the valuable lesson of taking turns.
Claire was not digging this lesson. I told her that she needed to wait until Spencer was done being the airplane, then she threw a mini-Claire tantrum (ie: stomping her feet, leaving the room but making sure you could still hear her frustration). We heard her in the kitchen saying "it's not fair... it's not fair.... it's not fair... it's not fair". Peter and I were dying laughing (trying to hold it in so she wouldn't hear us). Our silent laughter was coming out in the form of tears.
We then heard "stop laughing at me! it's not fair... stop laughing at me!... it's not fair." At this point we were all laughing and telling her that it was her turn for "airplane". She refused, stomped over to the dining room light switch and started flipping the lights on and off really fast.
She then proceed to punish us with what apparently is a horrible thing... wasting light. "I'm gonna waste the lights (flicker, flicker). I'm wasting the lights (flicker, flicker, flicker)." At this point, we were done. We were laughing so hard we could barely breathe. Claire eventually joined in the laughter and finished her "airplane" ride. Next time you're naughty though Claire, I'm going up into your bedroom and wasting your lights. :) Funny girl.

Pumpkin Patch '09

It's that time of year... falling leaves, football, crisp cool air, soup, and pumpkins!! There is a pumpkin patch that emerges every fall just down the street. My kids watch with anticipation as the fence goes up, the hay arrives, the rides are built, and the pumpkins are placed. Once the patch is open for business, all I hear when we hit the corner of Winchester is "Mom, can we go to the pumpkin patch today?!" My response is always "we'll see!" We finally gave in to their requests last night and had a wonderful time together and with some of our best neighbor friends!

Matthew and Dallin, Claire and Katelyn

the slide...

the swings...

the farm...

the "teacups" (and the almost-barf by Dallin)...

the kids...

the end...

Performing Princesses

After taking Dallin on a date a few weeks ago, Claire has been conjuring up in her mind where we would go on "our date". She made her final decision on Disneyland, until I saw that Disney Princesses on Ice was in town. We were both sold.

Claire counted down the days until our date. We woke up, put on her Tinkerbell costume, took the boys to our friend's house (thanks Duvalls) and drove to San Diego. From the moment we sat in our seats to the time we stood up to leave, Claire was enthralled.

It was pure heaven for my little 3 1/2 year old girl... ALL the Disney princesses, ice skating, music, dancing, beautiful costumes, pretty hair, cotton candy, etc.

Her very favorite moment was at the end of the show when each princess emerged from the castle with her prince in a wedding-type gown.

She would yell, "Mom! It's Belle!... Mom! It's Mulan!... Mom! It's Snow White!!! Mom was pleased to see her daughter so overjoyed... we had a super-fun girl day. I don't know how I became the luckiest girl, but I have the best dates in the world (Peter, Dallin, Claire... maybe Spencer and I will wait for the Wiggles to come to town :)).

Thanks Claire for being such a lovely date... it is heaven to have such a beautiful, sweet, happy girl.

Fall Fun

What a weekend! General Conference, having daddy home, cooking in the kitchen, playing, etc. The weather was fall-perfect. To end a great Sunday, we went over to the Jaeger's home for dinner, dessert and pumpkin-picking. There were so many yummy soups to try, rolls, appetizers served in hollowed-out pumpkins, and super-delicious desserts to top it all off.

We were all in our long sleeves (should have brought our jackets)... it finally felt like fall. I guess soup, pumpkins, friends and chilly weather can make one feel that way. The highlight was trekking down the Jaeger's backyard to their real pumpkin patch.

Each child was given a sticker with their name on it so that they could claim a pumpkin and then cut it from the vine.

Dallin found a beautiful orange one that just happened to have a ladybug on it (bonus!). Claire couldn't decide on a pumpkin and we eventually figured out that her indecisiveness was a result of her wanting to find a pumpkin with a ladybug on it too.

Sweet Pete scoured the patch for ladybugs, brought his collection over to a pumpkin, put the ladybugs on top and then called for Claire. She was thrilled.

Such a nice daddy... such a particular little girl :). I picked Spencer's pumpkin... just like I picked his outfit, his Halloween costume, and what he ate for dinner :).

Not a bad life to just sit back and let nice things happen to you! Dallin had a great time making new friends, playing Foosball, tackle football, and devouring the Zuppa Toscana soup I made for him. Claire lovingly took care of her ladybug (from her pumpkin), swung on a hammock with the Scott girls, "froze", and enjoyed her dessert. Spencer played and played with his daddy, trudged by himself through the dirt, loved each pumpkin, and refused to sit still. Peter enjoyed his time with friends and the kids while I pretended that I could actually eat all of the food (had my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday).

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! To make the fall festivities even better, each family in attendance was sent home with a HUGE pumpkin!! We have quite the pumpkin collection on our front porch now...

What a perfect way to kick off this fall/holiday season... there is a magic in the air that gets us giddy.

Happy Fall!