Ahhhh, Hawaii....

What a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad McCain, for taking us on a fantastic trip. We loved being with you two and watching you play with Hayden. She finally got some one on one time! :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Since we had such a great time, that means I took a million pictures. I have decided to do mosaics out of each day and event that happened, so that way it is easy to read this beast of a post...hopefully.

This was our first plane experience with Hayden and boy, was it an experience. We probably should have started by going somewhere closer than half way across the ocean, but oh well, we made it and survived. Overall, Hayden did pretty well. She had her moments, but luckily we had very nice people around us to entertain her and a nice couple that even offered to hold her every once in a while when she was fussy. They saved our sanity! We love you, nice couple! The trip back was easy breezy, since it was a red eye, Hayden slept the whole time. Awesome.

Thanks to Mom and Dad McCain, we were hooked up in the nicest suite we have ever stayed in! We lived in luxury for a week and loved it.

The first day we were there we basically got the lay of the land. Carl and I went swimming while Hayden napped(at 9 in the morning, since we woke up at about 5:30 a.m everyday do to the time change). The pool was beautiful. We even got burned being out there for a short time that early. When Hayden woke up, Mom and Dad had a time share meeting to attend while Carl and I plus Hayden took off down to Kona to rent some snorkeling gear and walk around the beautiful town. Then it was back to the hotel for more swimming with the baby. Good times.

Next day: Off to the Hilton Lagoon for some fun in the sun and snorkeling. This place is amazing. We were swimming with fish, sea turtles and Manta rays! They had a dolphin lagoon too! Loved it! Hayden played with Gma and Gpa on the beach while we snorkeled. Beautiful!

The next day was a traveling day to see waterfalls and the Botanical Gardens over in Hilo, about 2 hours from our resort. First, a quick stop to try some malasadas, which our a famous, traditional treat in Hawaii. They are like donuts, and we all know how much I love donuts. Then off to the waterfalls. Wow, these waterfalls were breath taking. We saw Umauma Falls, Akaka Falls, Kahuna Falls, Onomea Falls and Rainbow Falls. It is said to be good luck to visit 3 waterfalls in one day, so I think we did alright. :) The Botanical Gardens had such amazing flowers and trees. It was so beautiful.

The next day, Gma decided that it would be mine and Carl's to do what we would like and she would watch Hayden. So we headed down the shoreline to Captain Cook Bay, a popular snorkeling beach that was supposed to be amazing, and AMAZING it was. Once we got there, people were asking us if we wanted to rent a kayak because all the good snorkeling was on the other side of the bay and the only way there was by kayak or hiking a few hours.
After thinking about it, we chose to kayak and I am so glad we did. The water was crystal clear and beautiful and when we got to the deep part it was super blue! About half way to the beach we heard some other kayakers yell out "whale!!" and sure enough we looked out to sea in time to see a whale breaking surface!!! A freaking whale, about 100 yards from us. It made its final dive and its tail came up and that was it, I knew it was the best day ever, and we hadn't even snorkeled yet. Needless to say, the snorkeling was absolutely beautiful. Crystal clear water with a million different fish. We took a break for a little bit and walked along the beach and guess what we saw? The whale was back!! We saw it again and it was marvelous. We decided we were done snorkeling, actually, the water was a little too cold for me, but I would have loved to do a little more, but anyway, we got back in the kayak and started back to the dock and about halfway there guess what we saw? About 7 spinner dolphins! They even jumped out of the water and did spins for us. They came as close as 10 feet from our kayak. So yes, pretty much the best day ever.

The next day was another traveling day to go up north. We saw a famous statue of Kamehameha, a King and Hawaiian hero, and drove to the end of the road that led to beautiful cliffs with waterfalls that fed into the ocean. We ate at a popular restaurant called Bamboo and made our way back down the shoreline to stop at a beach. Awesome. Gma and Gpa played in the sand while Carl, Hayden and I went swimming. It was lovely:) That evening, Gma, Hayden and I went to see some Hula girls do some hula dancing. It was really fun.

Our resort is surrounded by lava flats so on the road between the airport and our resort you see a lot of lava with graffiti, but it's a different kind of graffiti. People get white rocks to write their messages on the black lava. I think it is cool, so I took pictures.

Basically, it was an amazing trip and one I would do again in a heart beat. Again, thank you Mom and Dad for this experience. We love you and can't wait to see you again!

See ya, Snow!

Okay, I'm not going to lie. I do like the winter time. I love when there are snow storms and you have to cuddle up on the couch and wear socks so your feet don't freeze. So the fact that there is snow on the ground right now doesn't really bother me. However, I also like me a nice, beautiful, warm day where the sunshine makes you feel happy and want to be productive. So, for the next week we will be indulging in the latter and swimming with the fishies.

Hawaii, here we come!!!

Don't miss us too bad, Utah. We will be back and you can dump your snow on us even though it is supposed to be spring time. But who are we kidding, spring doesn't exist in Utah.

.....mmmmmmm......I hope I get a tan in Hawaii.

I Love My Life.

New and Improved

This may or may not be a big deal for some people, but Carl and I feel like we have finally fulfilled one of our dreams of having a matching bed set, and by bed set I mean matching comforter to sheets to euro shams and decorative pillows. This is big time! What do you think?


Bed Bath and Beyond had a killer deal that we just couldn't refuse, so we jumped on it. I really didn't think I would care that much right now about what my bed looks like. We were just using white sheets that I thought looked clean and crisp and then at night we just threw on a random blanket, but man! I feel like we are living in a 5 star hotel now! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it really is fun to have matching stuff. The room now feels complete!

And this little number goes out to my homie, Dewey. You should be so proud of your granddaughter. If you can't tell what is going on, that's Carl laying down with Hayden in front of him (see her head?) and they are watching Donald Duck! It's only the best Disney character ever. Thanks, Dad!

Look Who's Walkin'

It was a big day in the McCain household. Hayden started taking her first steps by herself. Hooray! What a big girl.


While she is growing up so fast, she still loves her baby things. For example:
We have her old car seat sitting in the guest room and numerous times she has gone in and climbed up by herself and hung out, reminiscing I'm sure, of the good old days.


She also likes to go to her swing, climb on up and swing herself into oblivion. It's really cute.



I don't want you to grow up either, little Hayden, but you sure are fun to watch when you learn new things.

Ten Random Things....Part II

This is Carl. Devin joked around about me writing a list of ten random things about her and so I decided I would let you in on some stuff I think that she has forgotten. She doesn't know that I am doing this so expect some stuff that may make her mad. Maybe it is a good thing that I have such a comfortable couch cause I may be sleeping on it for awhile.

So here we go.....

1. Devin hates to shop. She gets in the worst mood when she needs to go buy clothes for herself. If it wasn't for me, she would be in her gray sweat pants and lite pink sweat shirt all day long. It gets even worse if we go to buy clothes and she can't find anything. Sometimes it gets to the point where I have to go out and buy things for her because of how much she hates it.

2. Devin loves to drink water more than ANYTHING else. This is something I have just recently discovered. Every time we would go to a restaurant, Devin would order a water. At first I thought she was just trying to save money but as it turns out, she just really likes water. Think of any drink out there that you think is delicious and I can guarantee you that Devin would prefer water over it. Maybe you guys don't think this is weird but I found it kind of funny.

3. Devin loves to pick at food and loves food you can pick at. Things like nachos, pizza, and salads are perfect for Devin because she can pick at them for hours. Devin may tell you she is stuffed but if there is a plate with food you can pick at, she will continue to pick until you get up to leave. Now this could've been a completely new subject but I decided to keep them together. Devin also is very picky about certain foods. She'll eat nearly anything but if a certain meat even looks "kinda" weird she won't eat it. We play a game sometimes where I will look at Devin's plate with all the left over scraps and ask what is wrong with each piece. What is funny is that she always has very specific reasons for why she won't eat certain things (like, it has too much fat, it is too pink, it smells funny, etc.). I think it is kind of cute and it normally means more for me so I don't complain too much.

4. This will embarrass Devin but isn't this the point of me doing this? Devin has a secret desire to catch a couple "in the act" if you know what I mean. Whenever we are in Vegas she has mentioned a desire to walk up and down the halls and see if we can hear anyone "doin' it". She is quite innocent about it but I think if it were to ever happen, she would laugh about it for days. Not the normal kind of laugh either. The very girly, giggly laugh that affirms that she knows she has done something naughty. (Sorry JoAnn if that was too much for you)

5. Devin absolutely hates enclosed areas with no real escape. What I mean are places where if Devin needed to leave for some type of emergency, everyone would notice and look at her. For example, the endowment rooms in the temple are a big one and so are movie theaters. We normally sit on the ends of rows so Devin knows that she could leave if she had to in a hurry. I don't mind cause aisle seats give me more leg room. :-)

6. Food for Devin HAS to be sweet. The sweeter a food is the better. Sometimes I crave just a big greasy salty burger, but Devin would much rather have a chunk of pineapple or something sweet to dip that burger in. A good example of this is Devin loves to dip fried chicken in honey. It needs to be sweet for Devin. Devin doesn't even like fruit smoothies because they are not sweet enough for her. Every time she drinks a jamba juice or something like that it is almost like a huge disappointment because it isn't a milkshake.

7. This is absolute truth and Devin can't even try to deny it. She made the first move on me. We met on a sky diving trip which most of you know. During that trip we flirted a lot but I was an RM that was still kind of scared of girls (plus she was three years older than I was so I didn't think I had a chance). On the last night we were there we had a sleep over in one of the main rooms and I was laying next to Devin. We were holding hands and I wanted to kiss her but I didn't know how to because I hadn't done that in a long time. We were kind of spooning and suddenly she kissed my hand. As they say, the rest is history (plus, Devin had a boyfriend at the time that she went and visited and kissed the next day. I won't EVER let that go).

8. Devin is personally effected if she knows that someone is uncomfortable around her. Most of you won't notice this but I always do. Devin will always go above and beyond what is needed to make sure that everyone around her is happy. What a sweet heart huh?

9. This one may get me in trouble but oh well. Devin is terrible at back tickles. Sorry Dev, I love you to death but you know it is true. She has been better but sometimes I feel like I have to force myself on her to get anything. Then, if she does start tickling it doesn't last very long and somehow always ends up with me tickling her back. I don't know how that happens but it does nearly every time. She is getting better though and I hope this post doesn't eliminate those few tickles I do get all together.

10. Finally, Devin is great at standing on her hands. Seriously. Ask her to do it. She is not very shy about it and will most times do it on command. I always say that her hand stands is what won me over. When we were on that Sky diving trip, she won a hand stand contest by a mile. She'll even show off sometimes and show you how she can do the splits in the middle of her hand stand. Her hand stands even impressed my dad before we were ever married. My older sisters will tell you that when we were dating the only thing they ever heard from my dad about Devin was that she knew all the show tunes and that she could stand on her hands. Quite an impressive resume if you ask me.

Well that is my wife and is some of the many reasons that I truly love her. I could tell you about what an absolute sweet person she is or how EVERYONE likes Devin or how great of a mother she is or how I love when she is playing with Hayden but you guys already all know that. I am a lucky guy and I like to tell everyone that. Thanks Dev for being such an amazing person. You make my day better every time I see you!

10 Random Things...

I saw this post on a family friend's blog and I thought it would be fun to do. Basically it is 10 random things that you may or may not know about me. I'm hoping it entertains you more than bores you. We'll see I guess! Please feel free to do the same thing on your own blog!

1. I have a really bad habit of pulling on my hair. I have had to part my hair down the other side of my head to hide the whispies from pulling my hair out on the normal part. Weird, but I just...can't....stop!

2. I have a big scar from my nose to my lip(I'm sure you have all seen that) but I got it when I was 2 and was attacked by a cat, busting my lip completely open....and I still love cats!

3. I once locked myself inside of a refrigerator when I was really young. It wasn't turned on though, so I didn't get hurt in anyway.
**side note, my dad informed me that the fridge was on. Silly me.

4. I knew I was going to marry Carl the first day I met him. I'm serious.

5. When I found out I was pregnant with Hayden and showed Carl the pee stick, my first reaction was I started crying because I knew I wouldn't be able to do the kick boxing class I had just started. Nice, huh? Darn hormones. Carl just laughed at me.

6. I absolutely LOVE the sound of Hayden breathing when I hold her close to me.

7. I used to sing karaoke in my room by myself and record the song I was singing to listen and fix any mistakes I was making. I was hardcore about my singing. But nobody else seemed to be.

8. I am a fool for donuts. I need them in my life.

9. I've always had a hard time getting excited about things because I am afraid I will be let down in some way. Not sure why I feel like that. I'm trying to be better.

10. I am paranoid about smells. I smell things that aren't even there sometimes. I like nothing more than to have a house that smells good, but that's hard with a dog and a diaper pail in the mix. My top 3 favorite smells right now are(in no particular order) 1. Gardenia 2. Cilantro 3. Gain detergent.
If my house could smell like one of these three all the time I would be in heaven.

and one more for fun..

11. All growing up I wanted to be a meteorologist. My brothers and I would do fake newscasts and video them on our fancy camcorder of the 80's, and I was ALWAYS the weather girl. Growing up in Oklahoma, we had great storms and my mom and I would watch the weather channel all day long and go out and video storms. I still like to watch the weather channel. I didn't become a meteorologist, obviously, but I probably should have!

There you have it. I should probably have Carl do a list of things about me because I can never think of as many things by myself, plus it would be interesting to see what he says! haha

So today we took Hayden to the playground. It was fun. Here is proof.

Here we are in the tunnel of doom!

Hayden loved the slides!


peekaboo!

and of course, another shot of the two best friends together. Every time I put Ella in the box with Hayden, Hayden would put her arm around Ella. Yes, it made me happy.


Have a great day!