Bump picture- 20 weeks!
Getting to feel the baby kick is the best part of pregnancy! It's been fun now that I have older kids this pregnancy, that they can enjoy and understand things so much better.
Ava's half birthday- she made herself brownies!
It was so hot, so our splash pad helped keep us cool after school.
Brent took the kids on a walk and they ended up at the beach at sunset time.
This is the beach that's closest to our house. One of the most common questions I get about living in Hawaii is how close we are to the beach. Answer: it's about a 5 minute walk. We walk to the end of our street, cross Kamehameha Highway, and then we're on the beach.
My 20 week ultrasound (or 21 week for me) was in Kailua, which is about 1 hour from our house. We scheduled it for a Wednesday afternoon when Brent could join me, and we picked up Audrey from preschool on the way. That morning I was trying not to get nervous and think about all the possible complications they could find in an ultrasound. I looked out the window and saw a beautiful rainbow which made me smile and remember who's in charge.
Everything was perfect at the ultrasound. I felt calm and enjoyed getting to see our baby up on a big screen.
We brought an ipad for Audrey and she mostly played on that and wasn't too interested in the ultrasound.
The baby's hand- it looks like he's doing the shaka!
Profile- it was hard to get a good one because this little guy kept his hands up by his face the entire time! He held pretty still during the ultrasound and the technician was able to measure everything she needed to. He was kicking all the way to the ultrasound but must have fallen asleep when we got there.
After the ultrasound we went on all of our errands since we were on that side of the island. Ava and Coen walked home from school and took care of themselves, with Ava making ramen for dinner etc. We didn't get home until bedtime since the errands take so long! We always have to get pizza while at Costco (except for me sadly, since I don't eat dairy).
We had a couple people over to dinner this week- The Christiansens on Monday and the Rappleyes on Thursday. It's nice to be able to have company over more easily now that we're in a bigger house!
School pictures! I took my own out front really quick before school.
Ava invited her friends over for a movie night to watch The Princess Bride. She told Coen he could be the butler, and he was very excited about this. He answered the door and gave popcorn refills. This is what a butler uniform looks like, in case you're wondering:
Audrey was jealous of the situation so she also got to be a butler for a few minutes before bed.
Before the movie the kids played games.
Ava's friends- the group calls themselves the Spectacular Six.
Audrey and our neighbor Claire play together almost every day for many hours.
We had heard of many people (literally almost all the families we know and interact with) having the stomach flu this week. I figured it was only a matter of time before it hit us. Audrey had it Sunday, then Ava and I had it Tuesday, and Coen had it Wednesday. It was not a fun week :(
Audrey couldn't go to school on Monday since she was still recovering, so she spent a lot of time coloring in this color by number coloring book.
On Tuesday she still couldn't go to school because I was sick and couldn't drive her.
By Thursday we were all feeling better and luckily Brent never got it, since it was his first full week of teaching.
Our coconut tree drops these huge palm leaves that we have to cut up and put in our green waste.
Saturday- family beach day. This is at Kokololio, which is a 5 minute drive from our house, across from Audrey's preschool.
Coen really likes to practice standing on our boogie boards with Brent's help. Maybe he'll transition to surfing one day?
Look how Coen's hair dried after the beach!
We had the Phams over to dinner- we always have fun with them!
Elder Groberg came for Tuesday's devotional. It was one of my very favorites since we have lived here. He talked about showing spontaneous kindness to people and shared a couple stories from his mission of when people served him, without having planned it out ahead of time. I was so impressed that at age 90 he could travel to Hawaii and stand and give a talk for so long. You could feel the love the Polynesian people have for him. After the closing prayer, some Tongan students stood up and impromptu began singing "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" in Tongan. Everyone in the audience stood up, and the singing was powerful! It made me cry!
More splash pad time, this time with a friend for Ava to help Ava be in a good mood.
Brent loves attending film forum on campus- a faculty member chooses the film, and everyone gathers to watch it and then discuss afterward.
Coen made a new friend, Ian. He lives on our street and is also in Coen's class.
Coen made a cute and funny book in my notepad on my iphone, and Ava helped him. He took pictures and wrote in the words above each picture. I should post his whole book since it cracked me up and was cute. But here's a couple highlights- from the book titled "What Penguin Likes To Do" - Penguin loves to eat.
There were many more pictures of Penguin posed with what he likes to do.
From the book titled "What Penguin Hates To Do"- Penguin hates falling.
As if we couldn't get enough sickness, Audrey woke up with pink eye!
So she stayed home from school again (2 different days), and played while I worked. She loves doing perler beads:
I got home from devotional and found BYU had sent someone to trim the bushes in our yard. This was supposed to be done before we moved in, but we are finding many of the maintenance and prep things are a bit slow and still happening in September and October. This beautiful house is now our home, lucky us.
A truck full of boys was coming around the neighborhood playing ice cream truck songs, and the boys were all passing out ice cream and popsicles for free. So nice! Brent said maybe it was a primary activity?
Sometimes the kids get the giggles during dinner:
On Wednesday Coen and I flew to Utah for my audit training. It was Coen's turn to go with me and he didn't seem overly excited at first (he's kind of a homebody like me), but boy did this kid get spoiled in Utah! Our flight was direct to SLC and was from about 7:45pm-2am our time.
My dad picked us up in the early morning, which was still the middle of the night for us. We enjoyed the sunrise, ate breakfast, and went back to bed for a few hours.
Audrey had a fieldtrip to a children's museum in Honolulu. She was excited to ride the bus!
Also while I was gone, Ava was a Super Citizen. Luckily the assembly was on Friday so Brent was able to be there.
Two of her good friends were also chosen as super citizens in their class.
A video of everyone singing the school song:
In Utah Coen and I went with my parents and Stephanie Finch to the Tooele temple open house.
Coen was excited to go in a temple! He has been in the Jordan River temple when he was abut 2, so he doesn't remember that. We had fun chatting with Stephanie afterward at her house and eating lunch.
Utah was so unusually warm for late September (like low 90s!). Coen had fun jumping in the sprinkler with his cousins.
Saturday morning I got to see my sisters- fun!!
We were laughing at my dad's faces- his drink was nasty!
Brent took Ava and Audrey to the water park for the first time. We bought season passes and they were excited to try it out! It's in Kapolei, so about 70 minutes from our house.
Coen and I next went to the Cowleys and had a little get together. They took Coen to the mall while I ran errands, then we hung out at home and ate dinner. Coen was excited to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy while we were in town.
We went to church with Brent's parents, and Coen went to the Primary were he went all summer. He was starting to be very clingy and nervous about me leaving him for a few days, so I was surprised he went to Primary alone.
After church we went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, and then it was time for me to drive up to Park City for my work retreat. We socialized the first evening and I saw lots of old work friends and met some new ones. I slept so well in my air conditioned hotel room! Here I am the first morning, ready for the day of meetings.
Meanwhile, Coen got to do lots of fun things with Grandma & Grandpa. He went to their neighbor's house and played in her arcade basement.
He got to go to his favorite place, McDonalds.
In the evening at my conference, we had a pinewood derby competition and played corn hole.
The next day, Coen got to go to a movie with his other Grandma & Grandpa. He chose Despicable Me 4, and was sooo excited about it.
Tuesday evening we had dinner in downtown Park City. Since it was so warm still, the leaves hadn't all changed, but it was still beautiful.
I'm in the back there, having dinner at a little cafe on Main Street.
Last day of my conference, my bump is showing! I'm 25 weeks here.
Our keynote speaker was named Mike Gabler, who won Survivor a couple years ago and is also a heart surgeon. I liked this quote he had: "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."- Gandhi.
Meanwhile, Coen got to go bowling with my mom. He got two strikes! (With bumpers up!)
Then Brent's parents took Coen to a pumpkin patch to enjoy some Fall things (although it was so warm!)
Not pictured, but Coen played in a corn play pit with Grandpa, and they both ended up with tons of corn everywhere in their clothes!
I drove home from Park City and that evening we went to my parent's ward party which was a Fall festival. Coen had fun playing games, getting his face painted, and eating treats.
The next morning our flight was really early. Lucky for us, it was direct. We had a bit of a delay taking off, so we were on the plane for about 7 hours. Hawaii is not close to Utah!
Landing in Hawaii- we live in such a beautiful place! Brent had a break in between classes and was able to pick us up.
It was lots of fun seeing our family, and my achy legs got a break from hurting since I was not in hot humid houses. I was so happy to be back home with the rest of my family though, despite the achy legs and back returning!
