Hawaii Part 1

For our 10 year anniversary Patrick and I had talked about getting away. He asked his work if we could use their condo in Maui and we made it happen! Jenn and Brandon had been planning on taking a trip for a while, so we decided to make it a date! We really did a lot. I think we saw the whole island and a lot of different beaches. We had the best "Shave Ice" on the island, the best ice cream at Lappert's, and the World's best banana bread ( I think I've had better but it was really good!) all in the first few days there!

Patrick's Birthday was on the 18th, So we boarded a boat out to Lana'i. That has to be the highlight if the whole trip. Not only was it one of Hawaii's top ten beaches, it wasn't crowded, the snorkeling was great, there was an Eddie Bauer photo shoot going on, whales breaching not too far off, but there were dolphins!! We got to swim with about 30 dolphins, I think they were spinner dolphins but it was beautiful!

That night we went to Bubba Gumps for dinner, they had Patrick dance on the chair for his birthday... Thanks Jenn!

We took the Journey up to Hana. We saw lots of waterfalls and so much beauty!! We stopped at a darling little town called Ke'anae. It had really cool lava rocks and the waves splashed up practically on some back yards! We put our feet in a black sand beach and saw some lava tubes. The didn't even stop in Hana, we went straight to the Venus pools. It is a really fun place to cliff dive. Jenn wasn't feeling well and I promised my mother-in-law I wouldn't jump off any cliffs so it was just the boys. I think they enjoyed it.

10 Years Ago....

...Patrick and I got Married! I am so lucky to have such an amazing man! The past 10 years have flown by, it seems like yesterday; at the same time I can't remember what it was like to not be with him. No one makes me as happy or knows me as well as he does! I am so blessed to have have him. We have had many fun adventures together, and I can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring. I can honestly say I love Patrick more now than I ever knew I could. I am also so grateful for his whole family. They are such loving and fun people, I love being a Lowder!

We went to Hawaii for our Anniversary, but I haven't had a chance to go through all the pictures yet, I am working on it though! Tonight we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and are super full. GK was a bit of a pill so we didn't take any pictures or anything, we really hurried out of there. I guess it shows we have been married for 10 years.

Snow-Shoeing

On Saturday my friend Adrian invited me to go snow-shoing with her and her sister. We went up American Fork Canyon up to Tibble Fork and hiked up the road to Silver Lake. It was so beautiful and I can't believe I have never been before. My parents go all the time and always invite us but I've never been able to go.. But I am a huge fan nowe

Funny story.. Adrian said she had the shoes and I for some reason assumed that meant she had boots for me too. I don't know what I was thinking or why I didn't ask to make sure, but I wore slippers that I got for Christmas and it actually worked out great. Just shows my airheadedness.

The Mayan

Last Thursday Lyndsey and Adam went out of town for a few days and we got to take Benton and Dyllan to The Mayan for dinner. We had been eating cookies right before we left so we weren't very hungry and it was a good thing because the food wasn't very good but the entertainment was awesome. All the boys just loved watching the divers. It was fun to hang out with them!

New Years Day

We had a really fun New Years. We hired out our first babysitter, Patrick's niece came over and babysat GK while we went to Outback with Jenn & Brandon. The wait was really long so it was nice to not have to worry if GK was starving. After we went bowling and it was really fun. We need to do that more often for sure!

New Years Eve!

This New Years our friends Denise and Layne invited us over for some poker, some really yummy food, and a little rock band! We had a lot of fun. It was nice to get out but not be too far from home. Kelly & Steve were there and Shawna & Jack came too. Layne makes a mean daiquiri! We stayed as long as GK would let us. He probably would have stayed up all night but I wasn't willing to sacrifice the first day of the New Year to a really ornery little boy. So we went home at about 10:00.

As you can see GK had a lot of fun. Patrick still hasn't been feeling well, he had a cold and absolutely no voice; (he just went to insta-care and he has bronchitis) so I didn't give him too much grief for being asleep at 10:30.

So I stayed up and watched the Classic New Years Eve movie An Affair To Remember. Oh, I love that movie, but it brought me into the new year sobbing!

Sledding

A few days after Christmas we took GK sledding for the first time. The little park by our house really has some good hills that are just his size. He LoVeD it!! He had so much fun... Until he face-planted in the snow. The snow was crunchy not the soft powder. But I think we will have to take him again!