Welcome to our adventure in a week in paradise! :) I'll warn you there are LOTS of pictures... The view from our room. I wish the picture did it justice... Me ziplining. This was a lot of fun! Scary at first, then you get all warmed up and don't want to quit! Todd and Ruben were "disqualified" from being able to go. We took a pic of them with this lady who wouldn't bend the rules. It was a bummer, but they took some great pics and video of us all! :) The group photo. Everyone but Ann went... Joel and I in our styin' helmets and harnesses. Joel Ziplining:
Can you see the turtle? He kept poking his head up every once in a while. There were tons where we snorkeled right at the beach we were staying at (Wailea). Me and my sis-in-law Dena, before going out for the night. Joel and I overlooking Big Beach at Makenna. This beach is known for its big waves and, um, a smaller beach on the other side is known for its "clothing optional" motto... Joel boogie boarding at BIG beach, not the other one! :) This is the "adult" pool at our place. It looked so beautiful by the ocean. Just a beautiful Hawaiian flower. I took LOTS of pictures of the flowers, trees, etc. But I won't include them all on the blog! They are just so unique and pretty! Joel and I at our favorite restaurant in the world "Kimo's". The only picture I got of our entire group...First row: Bob and Ann (Joel's parents), Dena and Todd (Joel's oldest brother), Brent and Becky Darrington (friends of Tony and Tiff's), us, Tony and Mary (Joel's 2nd oldest brother), and Tiffanni and Ruben (Joel's oldest sister). We missed you Deb, Korbi, and Stacy! This is at our place as you walk down to the beach. The grounds of all the hotels are SO pretty!!! This is at the North shore, no that is not us. We just went to watch the professionals one day (the day we were SUPPOSE to fly out...details later) there were TONS of surfers and wind surfers. It really is pretty amazing to watch. These pics don't do the waves justice! I survived the road to Hana... So the entire group flew home on Friday afternoon except Joel and I. We had rented our own car, so we were excited to just spend the day together shopping and eating more GREAT food. We actually met up with some friends from our ward and went to dinner with them that night, then took them to the airport. Our flight was not suppose to leave until 11:30 p.m. When our friends got all checked in, they called us to say that our flight was delayed and we had better go check it out. Our flight had not even left LA yet, due to some mechanical problems, so we were going to be lucky to leave by 3:30 a.m. which would make us miss our connection in L.A. (and then have a 10 hour layover and not get to Rexburg until 2 am the next morning...) Long story short, we decided to take a "bonus" day and stay one more night (unfortunately there are very few hotels, only resorts, so we drove around until 2 a.m. finding somewhere to stay) The hotel we found was a dive, but atleast we got some sleep and a shower. We decided to drive to Hana because it was raining and there was nothing else to do. It is declared the windiest road in the world. It has over 600 curves in a 36 mile radius. You have to be a little insane to attempt it, Joel did it on a Harley with all the guys (while I went to the spa...)while we were there, and I have been once before ten years ago. So I sucked it up, tried to not get car sick, and even though it was raining we put the top of the car down to breathe in the fresh air, and I must say it was worth it. It is the most spectacular scenery (even though the water was not flowing so the waterfalls were not very big :() and the time spent together looking at the black sand beaches and hiking in a tropical rain forest will be forever imbedded in my memory as a wonderful day spend with my wonderful husband. We are so glad to be home and even more happy that we have such great extended family on both sides. We had a great time with the Ashton's that went, and I know my kids had a great time and were very well taken care of by my parents. Thanks everybody for everything! That was it,(in a nut shell) minus about 200 other pictures- as a disclaimer, we are now leaving to go to Denver on Wednesday and this post took me a long time to do, so I will promise I will catch up on all your blogs probably after Thanksgiving! Happy Turkey Day and everyone be safe in your travels!

This last week was full of events like Sadie witnessing her first baptism (3 in one day, actually) which she thought was SO neat. Cleaning up all our fall leaves (as you can see below, we have PLENTY to go around) and I taught dance all day Tuesday AND Thursday to make up for when we miss next week. I have been spending any spare moments getting Christmas gifts for my family bought for when we meet up in Denver in two weeks. We are leaving tomorrow for Maui, so we'll have lots to catch up on when we get back! You all have a great week- keep on keepin' on...







This is how we have to keep our little monkey away from the keyboard...

This is how Sadie has decided she can practice her "shots". Pretty cute basket if you ask me!

This is the real way to play, but unfortunately this is the only shot I got of her with the ball. Usually she's fluttering around like a little butterfly! :)


Yes, for those of you who don't live in or near Southeast Idaho, winter is on it's way. My girl's were SO excited, they just had to go out and play in it... This is what we woke up to Wednesday morning. I must say I LOVE waking up to beautiful snowy mornings. It's when you wake up to them in May that I don't like!

Keaton in his "First Halloween" shirt on loan from my favorite sister (she's my only sister:)) That shirt along with atleast 80% of his wardrobe -thanks sis!

My little brother Jake is staying with us while my parents visit my other siblings in Denver and Des Moines. He plays guitar ( well, he plays "hush little baby" on his guitar...a few years away from being the lead guitarist for Metallica like he aspires to be...) but I thought this was too cute not to capture. He had quite the audience and they were all rocking out! :)

If I were President... by Sadie Rose Ashton

"I would take and give people money and lower taxes and give candy and give most of my money to the poor. and give them nice hotels and food and lots and lots of love and lafter."

Sadie wrote this on election day in her class. I vote for Sadie!

Just a cute picture of a dad who loves his daughters...