Little Ava Big Texas: December 2024- A Visit from my Sisters for the Holidays

December was so full of fun things, that I had to split the month into two blog posts.

I was promoted to a partner at my work, effective November 1. I wrote this about it on facebook: I’m grateful to work for such a wonderful firm - my job has been a huge blessing in my life! When my boss asked me a few years ago if I’d like to be on track to be a partner, I said I would need to think about it, and that I wanted to be able to stay part-time. He assured me I could stay part-time and remote (the first partner to do so!) and that he knew I could do it.

As I talked about it with Brent and tried to wrap my brain around little old me being a partner, Brent said “why would you not want to keep progressing!? You can do it!”

I’m lucky to have people around me that support me and encourage me to stretch and grow.

Audrey wanted her hair curled one day before church. Look how beautiful it is! Too bad the humidity here doesn't let the curls stay for long.

My friend Brandy wanted to borrow our kids for a photography project. Her husband made her this box so she can make photos like this- cute!

The Finches came to Hawaii for their first time, and brought their oldest two boys. They drove up to Laie and went to church with us and then came to our house for dinner. It was so fun to see them!

That evening our stake had a Christmas music fireside. We ended up taking quite a few neighbor kids with us and had this whole row.

Baby moving!

We carpool to tumbling with Audrey's friend. When it's my day, I bring them back to my house for a few minutes and give them snack- always a grilled cheese. Here they are dancing to some music while I cook it. You can see they're two peas in a pod!

I scheduled the kids' flu shots on a Monday afternoon because Brent doesn't teach, and I wanted back up since we have three kids who are afraid of shots and make things very difficult. It turned out Brent had a meeting, so I had to take them on my own. All three kids were freaking out and crying and no one wanted to go first. I finally had them go oldest to youngest, and had to to help hold the older two and calm them with bribes of shave ice. After they were each done they wanted to leave the room because they didn't want to see anyone else get a shot. Once Coen left the room, I noticed that Audrey was hiding behind the exam table in the room. I tried coaxing her out with everything I could think of, but she wouldn't budge, and was screaming/crying. And with my 8 month pregnant belly, I couldn't get to where she was! I finally told the sweet nurse she was going to have to get Audrey out, which made a sobbing Audrey finally come out. It was not easy, but we finally got all three kids vaccinated, oof!

Playing on the trampoline with neighbors Oliver and Camilla.

34 week belly shot:

Audrey's note to Santa was so sweet. It says "Minie Mose purse plez."

When Brent was walking near our old street one evening he saw a woman feeding all the stray cats in the area. He told me that she was like a cat pied piper! He got talking with her and learned she comes every night and feeds and takes care of the strays, and also captures some to be spayed or neutered. A long story short, Brent came home and announced we would be feeding the strays for several weeks over Christmas while the cat pied piper went out of town. I had to get a picture- Brent, who is not an animal lover, taking care of these strays. This is so typical Brent. Always making friends with people wherever he goes, and then offering to help.

My sisters came to visit me for 5 days! It was the best! Cher came to visit me once in Oregon, but the three of us have never done any sort of a girls trip. They arrived in the evening in time for dinner. They were tired, so that evening was pretty low key. They went to bed while I went to a shaka steel concert at BYUH with Brent.

The next morning we got up and went to Shark's Cove. When we first arrived there was hardly anyone there! Even though all of our snorkel gear was kind of malfunctioning, we were super happy because we got lucky and got to swim with a sea turtle!

Laura and I are going to have babies three months apart. So we had to take advantage and get some bump pictures together!

After Shark's Cove, we stopped at Ted's Bakery where Laura was in complete heaven with her breakfast sandwich she had been craving.

Then I took them to my favorite beach, Kawela Bay. It was fun to be a tour guide and know the best places to take them now that I've lived here for a while. Everywhere we went we kept beating the crowds and getting good parking spots, etc. We were so happy!

Then off to tour BYUH with Brent:

That afternoon the Finches stopped by to return some things they had borrowed, so they got to see my sisters and it was a big happy reunion.

That evening was the kids' elementary school Christmas program at BYUH. Cher and Laura got to experience some of Laie culture!

Each grade did a song, and the 6th grade girls were angels for theirs.

The theme was the Grinch, and this crazy Grinch was running around causing chaos throughout the whole thing haha.

Walking back home after the program, we got to see the BYUH lights that had been recently turned on.

Then someone started doing fireworks! Very typical Laie- always fireworks to celebrate something.

Brent with his Pop Culture class. I'm pretty sure all his students love him, how could they not?

We went to a restaurant famous for their macadamia nut pancakes and ate at the beach across the street. This is all right next to Audrey's preschool. The sisters and I played while the kids were in school.

Three sisters walking along the beach. I remember I wasn't feeling very good this day with some contractions.

We went to the PCC and this was the first time I got to see the canoe parade they brought back after Covid!

At Fiji you can fish, and Ava really caught one! A worker helped Ava remove the fish and throw it back. I asked her how often people catch fish, and she said that was only her second one, so it's not very often people actually catch them.

We all took a boat ride together:

It was fun to be there at Christmas time. In the Hawaiian island they did some Christmas music hulas. Here's a video:

All of us showing off our temporary tattoos:

After the PCC we stopped really quick at the point and caught the end of the sunset.

That evening we enjoyed the night show at the PCC. Brent was at the temple, but I left the kids home watching a movie and it worked out great.

The next day it was rainy which was perfect since we had appointments to do initiatories in the temple. Luckily the rain cleared out that afternoon! We went on a walk and I showed my sisters the beach right by our house.

So fun to be all together! A lot of giggling and chatter throughout the week.

That evening was the Laie Christmas parade. It was another fun thing for my sisters to experience the culture of Laie! This is a little community parade where people decorate their cars or trailers with Christmas lights and the parade goes through most of the streets in the town, and people even throw candy. It culminated in a party at the elementary school with an impressive long firework show that nearly made Cher deaf, she told me. I skipped the party part and went home to put my swollen feet up.

Saturday was Brent's birthday! He was a good sport to go along with the tourist things I had planned for my sisters. First we went to Kualoa Ranch. We didn't do a tour, but just looked at the beautiful scenery (where many movies are filmed) and also the big gift shop. Here we are in front of a dinosaur cage from Jurassic Park.

We next went to the macadmia nut farm and then on to a Buddhist temple I had wanted to check out. It's called the Byodo-In Temple and is located in the Valley of the Temples. It is so picturesque!

First you ring the bell before you go in. Everyone took a turn, except for Audrey who took like five turns :)

Inside the temple is a buddha statue. Ava liked lighting the incense.

We bought food to feed the koi fish, but the birds also liked the food. We all took turns and let the birds land on us. This was super entertaining!

Even I did it!

We then went to Kailua Beach. We parked on the side with the parking lot but it wasn't quite as beautiful as the other side where we went last year. Cher & Laura still thought it was beautiful, but note to self, you need to go to Lanikai Beach. As we were leaving the beach, Coen started crying that he stepped on something that hurt him. I looked in the sand but couldn't see anything sharp. It just kept hurting and finally he pulled out a stinger. It was a bee! It was Coen's first time to be stung and we discovered that he's kind of allergic, as his foot swelled up for a few days. Brent drove to the pharmacy one night and bought some benadryl for the poor boy.

Since it was Brent's birthday, we had to of course let him get Panda Express.

Sunday was my sisters' last day in Hawaii. After church we went to Pearl Harbor. The date was December 8, so the day after Pearl Harbor Day. Here's Cher & Audrey on the boat, going across the harbor to the memorial.

It was Audrey's and Coen's first time to go across the harbor since last time we were there the boat was canceled due to wind. Ava had slept on the USS Missouri last year on a 5th grade fieldtrip, so she was very excited to go back. On the way, we had a talk with the kids about being respectful, and we explained to them what happened here. Audrey was very interested in everything, asking me lots of questions, and trying to see the people who had died in the boat under the water. Everything feels sadder once you are a mom, as I was thinking about all those boys who died.

I thought this was interesting- Roosevelt's speech. It shows the edits he made, and we can see that originally he was going to say December 7 1941 "a date which will live in world history" and changed it to "a date which will live in infamy."

Many countries and organizations send wreaths on December 7, and it was cool to be able to see them still the next day. This wreath by the girls came from Japan.

After Pearl Harbor we went to Costco. The kids are always freezing there and look for things to keep them warm!

Laura and I wore our matching dresses this day. At Costco I went to get a sample, and the man didn't want to give me one. When I asked for one he said, "You already got one." I said, "no- that was my sister, we do look alike!" Hahaha.

It was so fun for my sisters to come- we talked about what a perfect trip it turned out to be! We had gorgeous weather, not too many crowds, no one got sick, and so many fun Christmas activities that first week in December. I made Cher & Laura's Laie Checklist, and we got it all done! It says Go to visitor center/temple, Go to teh Point, Try musubi, PCC, Brent's campus tour, Shave ice, Christmas carnival, See a turtle, Shark's cove, Kawela Bay, and macadamia nut pancakes.

At Sam's Club- check out this video and giggle. She is such a nut sometimes.

I started to feel so achey and really feel 9 months pregnant. Here I am taking a break from work- so tired and achey.

Audrey's tumbling class had a little Christmas performance that Brent and I went to.

The week after Cher & Laura went home, it was so stormy here! We were so glad they came when they did.

Brent's aunt & uncle stopped in Oahu for a couple days from another island, and stayed with us. Brent took them to the PCC, and we had fun chatting one night.

I'm so grateful for technology that helps me feel connected to people even though I live on an island far away. I use Marco Polo a lot. This thread with Tara and Emily made me laugh so hard I cried. Emily was laughing so hard she was crying in this marco polo, and it was contagious.

Our ward Christmas party was cultural, with various presentations.

Cute Audrey with Santa!

The Primary sang Away in a Manger

The Relief Society sisters performed two hulas. I did it with them! I love learning the hula and want to learn more.

The second hula was a sitting hula and the men sang Silent Night in Hawaiian.

Audrey's speech teacher did an activity where she made cinnamon ornaments. Our house smelled delicious after this!

When Brent was working at the temple, the kids were being crazy. I decided we needed to get out of the house and we went to the visitor center since every night at 7pm they had a musical presentation. The visitor center was decorated with Christmas trees throughout: