Aloha

After I got the kid's school schedules squared away, I took a quick trip to visit my sister Bridgette.

She happens to live in paradise with her husband, Corey, and Baby J.

Corey received a good job offer and can work while schooling at BYU Hawaii.

So, they moved out last spring.  

Their place (for the summer) sat right on the beach.

with this view from their balcony

and a little private beach cove 100 yards away

As great as paradise is--- 

I really came to hug and kiss on this yummy nephew of mine.

...and spend as much time as possible with this crew. My mom flew out with me 

but stayed for a couple weeks longer. 

It was so much fun.

The only thing missing was Corey.   He works long hours-- 6 days a week.

He didn't get home until about 10:00 every night.  

They are looking forward to school starting up and less work hours.

It was fun to watch my mom enjoy the beautiful surroundings and her grandbaby.  

She had a perma-grin the whole time.

My mom is just an easy, happy, content person.  

  She sees the silver lining in everything. We sometimes

give her a hard time about it--but I hope I can be more like that.  

I also wish I had inherited her long neck.  

I have the neck of a football line-backer

compared to her.

My sister Bridgette and I are almost 17 years apart.  

I left for college when she was 18 months old.
I remember her as a little ragamuffin wearing leotards with roller skates.

It has been so fun to become friends as she has grown up.
She is an anchored, content, and happy person.
She married an amazing guy.  Everyone loves Corey.

Motherhood becomes her

We made a couple of trips to the North Shore of Oahu to see the LDS Temple, BYU campus, Botanical Gardens, and the Polynesian Culture Center.  It met all my expectations and more. 

 I absolutely loved it all.

Bridgette scouted out some great food places for us to try.

I am a bit of a foodie....ok, more than a bit.

I love good food and there was a lot of it on this trip.

I hope this little jungle baby remembers something about his life in Hawaii.  

I hope he'll remember the smell of Hawaii....I noticed it right out of the airport.

They say that smells create the strongest memories.

About the time I took this picture of the lilly pads on steroids...I realized I had about 4% battery life left with no charger packed.  Arrghh!

I called every camera shop on the island and struck out.

 So for the rest of the trip, I did not use my camera so I could try and snap a few family pictures for Bridgette before I left.  It was killing me because there was so much I wanted to capture.

I'll never forget to pack that dang charger again.

 

There is nothing more beautiful than a happy family.  I am glad I had about 3% (2 minutes)

to take a few shots of them.