We got to meet up with my cousin Lincoln, his wife ChrisAnn, and thier 2 kids who were in town for the BYU football game. (Too bad the Cougars couldn't pull off this win!)
The kids asked to have their picture taken in front of Santa's reindeer. I think they look so cute all bundled up & trying to keep their fingers warm. Now they're ready for the REAL cold weather at grandma's house this week.
He was so excited to bundle the kids up & take them to the park for some snow time!
Here they are all bundled up in multiple layers of clothes & socks.
My clever & resourceful husband found this inflatable tub/pool in our garage & put it to good use. They loved sledding! I guess Caitlyn wasn't too keen on walking in it, so Bill carried her the whole time, but it was truly an experience of a life time for them.
Then they built this huge snowman... but you can probably tell by the look on their faces that it was time to come home for a hot bath & some soup!
Here are a few Christmas crafts from our holiday season! The trees we made a few weeks ago are on the left and today we decorated some graham cracker houses we made this morning!
{Notice that they can't look at the camera because they are too interested in the snow outside!}
{It snowed for most of the day yesterday! There were scattered snow flurries when we woke up & by 8:30 the flakes were huge! It was a wet snow so it didn't stick overnight, but it sure did put make it feel more like Christmas!}
Luckily we had a cookie decorating day already scheduled with some of our friends! It really couldn't have been a more perfectly Christmasy day! Complete with the house filled with the smell of freshly baked gingerbread.
(Who knew 8 kids could fit in this tiny sand box?)
(Madisen hard at work painting her Christmas tree.)
*And what week would be complete without some mess, or incident with the little ones? The girls had been playing with some soap in their bathroom sink. Someone knocked on the door for Madisen, so I took her down to get her shoes on. Catitlyn was perfectly content, so I left her at the sink. When I returned, this is what I found on the counter & she was somehow sitting behind that bottle on the counter. Sigh. She had climbed up onto the counter, opened the medicine cabinet, taken out the Tylenol & was helping herself to a dose. (Thankfully I returned before she ingested any!) I asked, "What are you doing?" Her response was priceless, "Just a witt-oe bit of medcine, mom. Just a witt-oe bit." And yes, those are soap bubbles. I think there was soap in the cup before she added the Tylenol.
P.S. Many of you asked about Caitlyn's birthday cupcake. I did use a pan- it was a gift, but I've seen them at Michael's. They are made by Wilton. And if you live in Las Vegas I'm glad to share it with you ANYTIME!
We are getting Caitlyn a handle for the trike that she inherited from Madisen- but it hasn't arrived yet. So she opened a gift from Madisen and one from Grandma Carruth. She was so excited about the tissue paper that she almost didn't make it to the tea set! The first words out of Madisen's mouth were, "Can we share that tea set?"
That evening we celebrated Caitlyn's birthday with some friends, pizza and cake following the BYU/Utah game. It was a sad day for the Cougar fans, but we all found a smile for Caitlyn! I made a giant pink cupcake. She was so excited that it was for her birthday!
She kept wanting to grab the candles out of the cake. And boy did she LOVE the attention of everyone looking at her while singing to her! 
I love the delighted look on Caitlyn's face here. She had just blown out the candles & she was so proud of herself! It was a pretty low key celebration, but perfect for our 2 year old princess!
Here' s our hotel room- we thought it was sweet until we took a tour of the real time share units & then realized that we had been cheated! The room below is a converted hotel room and the other time share units were purpose built & they were BEAUTIFUL! No complaints, though, it was a great deal!
The first day we slept in a little & then drove up the coast to see the blow hole. There are only 7 or 8 in the world & this one was pretty amazing.
Bill enjoyed getting up close & feeling the ocean spray, but someone had to be the photographer!
A little further up we explored these natural pools, called the Ovaline Pools. They are similar to tide pools, but much deeper. One was 10 feet deep!
That evening was our first time to enjoy the Fish Tacos & Hula Pie at Leilani's. Hula Pie is a macadamia nut ice cream in an Oreo shell, with a chocolate sauce & macadamia nut coating and whipped cream to boot!
On Saturday morning we set out for the excursion of a life time! We drove the road to Hana. The actual 'road' was about 1 1/2 hours from our hotel, so we got an early start. The pictures don't hardly do justice to this tropical, windy road!
Our first stop on the road was in the 'Garden of Eden' & we were a bit disappointed at what we got for the price. But the views we did get were beautiful!
The stop below was one of our favorite, again the pictures don't do it justice. The first picture is us overlooking a small village nestled in the trees. And right behind that you see the rolling green hills. We truly were in awe!
There were many other waterfalls that we stopped at along the way- & we have pictures by all of them, but I won't bore you. 
Our next favorite stop of the day was this black sand beach. It was definitely a local hang out, with good reason. The sand was warm, there was a perfect break for boogie boards & body surfing, and it was gorgeous!
That concludes our 13 hour excursion of the road to Hana. We were too tired to enjoy our dinner that night, but managed to choke something down before stumbling off to bed. We truly rested on the Sabbath- it was peaceful & relaxing!
Bill & I had taken our wet suits anticipating cold water. Boy were we surprised at how warm it was! So, we didn't take the we suits on the snorkeling adventure & I ended up renting a top so I didn't get too cold. What a waste of packing space!
Once we stopped Bill was the first person in the water & of course he was the last one out. There were 120 people on board & Bill was sure not to miss one second of snorkeling.
That evening Bill & I attended a Luau. Neither of us have been to an authentic one, so that was a requirement for our trip.
We turned in early- at 9 p.m.- so we could be up at 2:15 to see the sunrise at the Haleakala Crater. Some of you asked if that's b/c we hiked & the answer is no. We had to drive 2 hours to the summit. It's also important to arrive about 1 hour before sunrise b/c the small parking lot fills up quickly. If you miss that parking lot, you have to park below and hike up in the pitch black and freezing cold. We timed it perfectly! There was an observation room where we waited for a long time before we decided to brave the elements & wait outside.
The picture doesn't do this justice, but you get an idea of how amazing it was!
After that it was back to the hotel where we enjoyed lounging on the beach & more snorkeling before packing up. Our last dinner in Maui was at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.
Believe it or not, there are parts of the island that we left unexplored. Someday we hope to return.....
Yesterday was the annual primary program in our ward. I can't believe that I have a child old enough to participate! Madisen stepped right up to the microphone, recited her part... without being prompted & without fingers in her mouth!... then marched back to her sear. It was such a proud & tender moment for me! At the beginning of the year, she wouldn't get up in the primary to recite a scripture, talk, or prayer, even with my help! I'm so pleased with how far her confidence has come! Her favorite part about primary is singing- she sings most of the words to all of the songs. I truly believe that music is a powerful teacher! 
{Dinner at Leilani's! We both LOVED the fish tacos & Hula Pie. In fact we had to go back a second time for both, it was that good!}
{The sunset from the beach in front of our hotel.}
{Sunrise at the Haleakala Crater- time 6:20 a.m. We woke up at 2:15 to be on time! And it was FREEZING cold! We had gone from sea level to 10,023 feet- it was truly breathtaking!}
{Big Beach: Park City meets Orange County! We were swimming in this clear, warm water staring up at rolling green hills. It was surreal!}
I am signing off for a whole week. We leave early tomorrow morning for Hawaii, and I can't wait! Our girls are in good hands with BOTH of their grandmas- I don't think they'll miss us one bit!
After dinner all we had to do was slip on the girls' dresses and we were ready for trick-or-treating. We snapped a few pictures in our front yard... and even managed to get one with Caitlyn smiling.
Part way through our route we found the train stop so the girls took a ride to rest their feet. A big thanks to the Hulet's for sharing their train with the whole neighborhood- we all LOVE it!
And then it was on to more trick-or-treating. Madisen really caught the spirit of running from house to house, knocking, getting the candy, thanking the people, and running to the next house. Caitlyn enjoyed being pushed in the stroller & wanted to get out at each house. She was not too shy to hold out her bucket & say 'Trick-er-Treat'! Followed by 'Thank You'! (Sadly we didn't get a great picture of the kids on the door step.)
