While we were gone

 Dennis's Blue and Gold banquet.

 And Dennis ran into a pole at recess and got a scar on his eye.

Trip to Hawaii - the big island

 after spending hours on the runway watching movies... I found my new favoritie movie- Ghostbusters and...

 Happy birthday Ryan, we got stuck in Seattle for a day.

It may be because I was pregnant or because I just loved the other Hawaiian Islands, but I was very underwhelmed by the big island. Everything was so spread out and took a lot of driving to see. Ryan was in conferences for half the day almost the whole time so I was stuck waiting for him in the lava fields with not much to look at or do. I am grateful that I got to see it but I don't think I need to go back when there is a whole world I still need to see.

One morning I went to Kona and saw the old church.

 I saw a lot of fish swimming around. That black cloud is a school of fish. Then I saw a big fish skip accross the top of the water from deeper and dive in to eat one. That was pretty cool. This was Kailua Bay.

that afternoon we drove north and got ice cream in Hawi. We also went to the Pololu Valley but I didn't even get out of the car for fear of Zika. I heard it was shut down for a couple of weeks because of it. It looked like Kawaii. I would have enjoyed it, had I been able to see it.

 Dinner at a japanese Restaurant. My ramen wasn't that great since it was made with spam. But the Tempura was amazing!

Another morning I checked out the farmers market in Waimea. I bought lemonade and the best goat cheese I had ever eaten. Super cute.

 Some mornings I just sat in the sun.

 Dolphins!

 Hieroglyphics.

 I walked around the hotels and found some paradise one morning.

 an eal.

 Yellow fish are everywhere!

 The fish get trapped in these lagoons and then the ancient hawaiians would have easy access to the fish.

 Most of the island looks like this. lava rock.

 In front of the hotel where Ryan had his conference.

 There were turtles everywhere!

 We drove around the island one day to get to the volcanos. The Hilo side was much for my style! I LOVED the lush green everywhere. It was refreshing.

 Some waterfalls.

 Our favorite part of the trip was snorkeling with the manta rays! So much fun and so cool. One of the best experiences of my life. They were about 11 feet wide.

We also went snorkeling at two step and we got a kayak and went to the cook monument to snorkel. That was super fun! but getting back into your kayak when pregnant is not an easy task. 

 The lava glow from the volcano.

 The temple.

 Our flight home.

January

Mommy- Daughter date to see Moana. We loved it. Not talking during the movie was a new concept for Zola and I had to remind her to whisper every time. She recapped the entire movie during our 20 minute drive home. Love my girl who is turning into a chatterbox. 

 We found out that this little baby is a BOY! Zola was very sad. She didn't think it was right because- Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Boy doesn't make sense.

 Zola is giving Andrew some dance lessons in our kitchen. She was teaching him how to tap his toe... but he was moving his whole leg.

 We love our snow mound!

 Another piano recital down! Dennis did great. He memorized 'Awesome' and improvised twice without skipping a beat.

 We will miss our piano teacher a lot! Dorothy Edstrom

 The baby bump at almost 21 weeks.

 Peace out to the last of the 80's wallpaper. I wish I did this so much sooner. It feels 10 times bigger already...

 I have some good helpers.

 Our winter trip to UTAH!! The airplane!

 Cheese! Andrew is still scared of flying. He hangs on to me for dear life during take off and landing and stays a little on edge during the entire flight.

 Luckily, we were able to take a nap.

 My big skiers!

 Zola said that she had a great time and it was so fun because they got to switch "teachers" (Dad and Papa)

 Dennis and Papa coming down the hill. It was a true blizzard. The visibility was a lot worse than this a lot of the day.

 Paige, Katrina and I went out for lunch. It was super fun and I'm sure we will do it again.

 Holland and Zola LOVE spending as much time together as they can. They play so similar that they are instant best friends.

 We went swimming!!

 Our kids were addicted to the slide. Again and again and again.

 They went skiing again with cousins this time. Here is Holland and Zola with their Dads.

 They had a blast!

 These two are best buds as well.

One of my Besties, Allison, is preggers and due a couple weeks before me. We are planning on having them the same day. lol

 The treetop museum in Ogden.

 Zola's birthday celebration! Us girls went to see Trolls! It was a super weird movie but it was fun anyways.

 Happy Birthday to Zola!

 Andrew was the most excited about the gifts. When Zola opened the remote control airplane, his hands went immediately in the air and exclaimed, "MINE!" I think he meant to say, "Hey, that's just like mine!" He is a sweet boy. Zola was nice to let him drive it a little since his was still in Minnesota.