Oahu!

Most of you know that we recently went to Hawaii, and most of you probably know how long I have been wanting to go there.  So I thought it was pretty awesome when we had a fairly last minute opportunity to go courtesy of Aaron's work.

Little did I know how much it (Oahu anyway) was going to remind me of a place I have spent a lot of time...Taiwan!!  Any of you who have been to both agree with me?

Similarities:

Asians everywhere

Lots of delicious fresh fruit

Lots of fish and rice

Crowded on the westside, rural on the east

Tropical climate and plants

Anyway, you probably don't care, just had to share.  It was just so nice because it made me feel so easily connected to the spirit, such peace.  Or maybe that was my lack of children!

The first morning we got up and Aaron went surfing while I tried the stand up paddle but we didn't have the camera.  For about 20 minutes of being stuck in one place I thought I was going to get carried out to sea, but I said a prayer and was immediately directed how to get back (see what I mean about the spirit?) .

After his meeting we headed to Pearl Harbor but they weren't doing tours because of the high winds, so kept heading north to check things out.  Below is the North Shore.  Hard to believe how big the waves get in the winter because it was like a lake the day we went.

We stayed the next few nights on the windward side in Kailua.  The beach there by our house was GORGEOUS!!!

The next day after Aaron's meetings we headed up the east coast.  Here is the Chinaman's Hat island (more things sending my thoughts to Taiwan).

We hit up the temple, which had just been reopened from remodeling.  It was beautiful and the grounds amazing.  You notice our pictures are pretty cloudy...yes it rained a bit most days we were there...so much for escaping the Washington clouds!!!

After the temple we hit up the Polynesian Cultural Center for a luau and the night show.  I couldn't believe how good those fresh leis smelled!

Taiwan also has a native people and customs separate from the mainland Chinese who fled there during their revolution.  

We got to see them taking the pig out of the ground.  It was pretty good, but I have to say I loved all the taro stuff more (poi excluded), yes, more similarities to Taiwan and more good memories.  Are you sick of it yet?  Definitely never saw fire knife dancers in Taiwan though, which was so awesome.  I must admit to almost falling asleep in the night show until those guys came on.  Amazing.

The next day Aaron was actually in meetings all day, so I biked up to this little hike through the jungle to a viewpoint overlooking the bay.

This is where I went, though I didn't go all the way to the top.  The guy at the gate at the bottom told me they had two people fall last year, one of whom didn't make it.  Definitely enough to scare me off!  I did manage to see some wild pigs on the hike, though they were too fast for me to get a picture.

We had enough time that evening to do a little bit of boogie boarding at Mokopu'u, which was of course really beautiful (and yes, yet again cloudy).

We weren't the only ones who felt like hitting the beach...we were joined by a Hawaiian monk seal.  The lifeguard said she was pregnant and would come here to rest while swimming between the islands on her way back home.  

She slept the whole time we were there and missed my awesome skills.  There was a huge rip current there that would suck you out even just standing on the beach, so we took it easy but still had a good time.

The next morning we headed to Maui, so more on that to come soon!

Memorial Day Weekend

We have been very busy being out of town lately and are ready to hang out again.  So instead of doing two posts to catch up, I posted our Idaho trip pics to facebook so you Idaho folks could be tagged and see them right away.

Anyone else who is curious, we had a great time in Idaho for Aaron's brother's wedding!  He married a beautiful wonderful girl and we were so excited to be able to be a part of it, despite the long drive with two kids (who turned out to be pretty good!)

So in anticipation of all that road time, we decided to stay local for Memorial Day weekend.  We headed out with some friends to a state park that we had never been to for some hiking and some beach time.  

The two mile hike was just about all the little ones could take.  Luckily they found a little millipede to distract them for awhile because the nice scenery wasn't cutting it for them!

All they wanted to do was get in the water, but the beach was literally COVERED with shells.  It was a bit hazardous, but as always Adelyn showed her wounds proudly.  Just today she fell off her bike and skinned the same knee and couldn't wait to show her friends.

According to our Washington guidebook, this beach is supposed to be the warmest water in the Puget Sound, but it still felt pretty DANG cold to me!  Instead of swimming we entertained ourselves with the crazy  sea life we found.  

Barett was less impressed with the giant starfish conglomerate.

Then on the actual Memorial Day Aaron's mom and sister came down for dinner. We had been grilling up a storm before that, so I went atypical memorial day and introduced them to Hawaiian Haystacks.  I really should remember to eat those more often. Yum!

The little cousins (and soon to be cousin) had a great time playing dress up, swinging, and hearing stories from grandma.

I am amazed Barett is not eating the book in this picture.  Usually he is not such a fan of reading as Adelyn is but I think he is starting to grow up a bit.  Crazy he is almost 10 months already.  

Can't wait to post about our next adventure, but we will have to remember how to take pictures of something besides our kids!

Tour de Cure

After many previous emails and posts asking for support, I'm sure you all know about the bike ride that we were doing for Diabetes.  As it usually does, the months of preparation went by so fast, and the big day finally came last Saturday.  Miraculously, it was an absolutely perfectly gorgeous Saturday, which for May in Seattle is definitely not a guarantee.

We ended up with six people on our team, each with different reasons for riding, and each ended up with different adventures.  I was so proud of my sister Kathryn, who has had Type 1 Diabetes since she was 11, ride 15 miles on a hilly course on an old bike with only a week of riding a bike other than her indoor recumbant.  Plus she got lost out there!

Our good friend Rachel was great moral support.  Did I mention it was a gorgeous day?!  I had to stop to take a pic of the great scenery along the way.  

I was also really proud of my mom, who decided at the very (and I mean VERY) last minute to ride the 45-miler with me instead of the 25-miler she had intended.  She rocked it, especially those hills--1500 feet of elevation gain, including a level 4 and a level 5 climb.  Here we are crossing the finish line.

A couple hours, a salmon burger, some good sun tanning, and a conversation with Detlef Schrempf later, Aaron and Steve, our 100-milers finally crossed the finish line too!  They were almost the last ones to make it back...not due to their slowness but Aaron actually wrecked while they were out there!!  You will have to read his whole story on his blog.  It sounds like his grandma (who passed away from diabetic complications when he was 13) was definitely watching over him.

I was sad I couldn't do the 100 miles with him (I sprained my back and started having some circulation problems in my legs that made biking long distance very painful), but despite all of our setbacks, we had a great experience and are ready to do it again next year.  So if you are so inclined we would love for you to join us.  

A huge thank you to all of you who donated to the cause of diabetes, and to all of my family who took care of our kids during our long training rides and the main event.  It wouldn't have been possible or meant as much without you.

Off the Road Again

If you live around here, you know that we have been gone awhile. Typically, this is something that I love....taking off of regular life for awhile while someone else takes on my responsibilities at home (thanks YW leaders!!!) and getting out and exploring.

But I will say two weeks is too long to do that with two young kids and too much sickness.  I wouldn't have missed either of the events that we took off for though, and as Kelly has so eloquently been teaching us these days, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

I am being dramatic.  We had a great time, really.  The first occasion was Aaron's brother's wedding in Sacramento, CA.  Because Aaron's territory includes Oregon, he decided to book some meetings along the I-5 corridor and kill two birds with one stone.  

One such meeting was in Medford, so we stayed there the first night and thought we'd check out the temple.

Not too much later and we were at another temple for the main event.  Even though the time we were actually able to spend with Aaron's family (basically a day and a half because their work schedules aren't so flexible as Aaron's) was short compared to travel time, we had a great time visiting all hours of the night like usual. A big thanks to Craig and Janie for opening their home to us for that.

Not pictured was the chance we had to meet up with some of my old college roommates who live in Sacramento now, one of whom I hadn't seen since my own wedding! AND, meeting up briefly with Aaron's coworker down there, who we love and can't wait to go back down there for HER wedding next February.

We also fit in a lot of bike rides along the way and fell in love with a lot of the scenery.  Here is Mt. Shasta, only 250 ft shorter than Mt. Rainier.

One thing we thought funniest about the drive was the BOTH going down and coming back, the clouds seemed to literally loom at the border between California and Oregon.  We tried to capture it on camera...can you tell?  After spending only 4 days down there, we quickly saw why people love California so much....and we weren't even at the beach!!

We got home from our road trip last Tuesday evening, spend the night unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking, then headed out for the airport the next morning at 11.  Yes, we may be crazy, but like I said, we wouldn't have missed it.  This time we were headed to Utah for my cousin's wedding.

Both sealings we attended were really good, with advice that was really helpful that Aaron and I are working on now ourselves!  I wished I could have had a camera in the celestial room because I have never seen a bride beam as brightly as Lauren did.  Seriously.  

It was a beautiful day outside as well.  I don't post many pics of my mom I realized, so here she is with her (I'm sure you can guess...sister).  I love my aunts and wished I had taken one with all of them together.  Here's my grandparents who let us crash at their house whenever we are in the motherland.

The whole Taylor clan for their last wedding!  Guess the Barias have to step up our game.

The next day we decided to have our own Sunday School out communing with God through nature.  Hey, we have to soak up our Vitamin D while we can!

Barett had not been feeling too great, as I alluded to earlier.  After a 104 temperature we decided to take him in and discovered ear infection #3.  We brought him home and finally got him to sleep just shy of one in the morning when literally one minute later Adelyn started screaming, rolled over and barfed.  

They took turns waking up in the middle of the night, him trying to break his fever, and her trying to empty her stomach.  So the last day of our vacation was spent laying around my grandparents tending to the sickies...and somehow the next day he managed to look like this.  Can anyone resist this cuteness???

Anyway, we were glad to go, but glad to come home to our own beds, and glad we have a month before heading out for the next wedding!

Crawling!!

Yep, Barett's on the move!  We of course were pretty excited at first, but now it is just reminding me how much of a slacker I am at vacuuming and sweeping.  That kid is fast and grabby.  And strong.  He pulled Adelyn's kitchen down on himself a few times yesterday and the day before and he is working on ripping the curtain rod down in the family room (yeah, I put that one up by myself once while Aaron was out of town, which wasn't the best idea in the first place).

This is a video from a couple of weeks ago when he first figured things out.  Maybe he'll be burning off those rolls in no time.

Elephants and Cousins

Those who know me best would put it mildly to say I am not super into animals.  I can't really tell you why, but I want to blame it on my super-heightened sense of smell that is very closely tied to my gag-reflux I imagine.  I think many of them are beautiful and amazing creations...mostly to be admired at a distance where I can't smell them.

So when Aaron throws out his random what-if scenarios that if he had told me when we were dating that he wanted to go back to being a farmer would I still marry him, I say definitely not.  That's how I feel about the animal smell.  

Yet I have to say that I am willing to put that aside in temporary moments because my daughter (as most kids I think) LOVES animals.  So when we had some randomly and unbelievably sunny days a couple weeks ago, we decided to call up my sister-in-law and head to the zoo with the cousin and cousin-in-embryo.

The girls had a fabulous time, as did Barett whenever I took him out of his stroller to check things out.  He did not like me keeping him in there while walking between exhibits, but he's over 23 pounds and I just don't think I'd make it around the whole zoo!

A big thanks to Emileigh (and Krista before her and Krista's friend before her) who told us about this great deal that gets you into the Point Defiance and Woodland Park Zoos for free!!

And just as a bonus, because I couldn't resist, here is a little video of Adelyn's famous methods for showing her approval of the food she's eating.  Hope all you who live far away and haven't had the pleasure of hearing it first hand get a kick out of it.  I don't blame her though, those Panda Puffs ARE pretty awesome!

Six Months!!

I suppose the title of this update should read six months and two weeks since that's the accurate reality due to my slackerness, but oh well.  Just a few days before his six month birthday he started sitting up long enough on his own without falling for us to declare it official.  This is us trying to get a good picture of it but he was flapping his arms too much in excitement to get a good, non-blurry shot.

This one was the closest we got, but despite it's blurriness, you can still see plenty of his precious roundness.    At his checkup he weighed in at just over 22 pounds, 95th percentile.  To be honest, sometimes I am surprised that 5% of babies are still bigger than he is!!  Really it's no wonder I sprained my back.

At six months he has already had two ear infections and cut two teeth, something Adelyn didn't do for another five months after that.  Yet, he still hasn't slept through an entire night without waking up, something Adelyn did at 3 months.  The doctor said he was old enough and corpulent enough (exact word!) to let him cry it out, but the doctor hasn't been there to hear who desperate and piercing those nighttime shrieks are...this is what he sees:

Yes he is all in all a beautiful, happy, healthy baby who is already forming strong opinions about his world: loves carrots, applesauce, and peaches.  Hates rice cereal and green beans (can you blame him?).  He loves kisses from his big sister, playing the piano, dancing, meeting new people, watching cars drive by, splashing in water, and just exploring new things.  Love him!!