Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day!

We had not been able to visit Santa this year yet. Talk about waiting til the last second. Anyway we finally saw him after about an hour in line. I will never do this again! It was worth it! Afterward we could not get Gavin away from these cars at the mall, so we let him ride it a few times. Then we had our Christmas eve dinner at Olive Garden, thanks to Great Grandma Phyllis!

Christmas Sunday

This first picture is of Payton helping me on baking day! When she was a baby she helped me unwrap the hershey kisses for my cookies... and here she is helping me at 8!

 These pictures are right before church! My cute kiddos!

 Gavin loves his brother and sister!

ALA Christmas Music Concert

Payton and Owen both sang in the school Christmas concert! They did a great job!

Zoolights

We decided to do something different this year and take the kids to zoo lights at the Phoenix Zoo. It was really cool. The kids loved it. Gavin was amazed. We will definitely do this again!

Holiday Showcase

Payton was in a hip hop routine for the Tiny dancer holiday showcase! She performed 2 dances in all 4 shows! Here are the crazy superstars taking a lunch break!

Mesa Temple Lights

We made our annual trip to see the Mesa Temple Lights! The weather was amazing! I love AZ this time of year!

Kauai favorites!

We had an amazing trip... I wanted to list a few of our favorites!

Favorite snorkel spots:- Tunnels Beach

-Poipu Beach Park

Favorite Beach: Ke'e Beach, Tunnels Beach, and Secret Beach!

Favorite Food: Mermaids Cafe in Kapa'a, Tip Top Cafe

Some things that I loved: 

on the North Shore: I loved Hanalei, a fun town with a cool market and places to eat and shop.

We loved Poipu and Koloa on the south shore. The Koloa Fish market was amazing... especially their desserts!

On the west shore we stopped at Jo-Jo's Clubhouse for the best shaved ice on the island.. I think it really was! And here is where my favorite thing to eat on the island which is Aunty Lilikoi. They make anything with lilikoi, which is passion fruit and it is amazing!! We also loved the food at Ishihara market! 

We had a great time and would love to go back with our kids next time!

Day 6

On our last day we decided to take a catamaran up the Na Pali Coast. We were not sure if we were going to be able to do this because the seas are rough in the winter and if they are too rough they will not go all the way up the coast. Lucky for us it was a beautiful day!!

First we saw spinner dolphins!

 Then the Na Pali Coast!

 Sea Turtles!

 This is looking up at the Waimea Canyon that we had been at the top of looking down, the day before!

 We stopped, had lunch on the boat and snorkeled.

on the way back one of the highlights of the trip was getting to see a humpback whale!!