The Shed

The end of May, I wrote about laying a foundation as a family. The foundation for Sterling's shed. A little more work has been done. Its exciting to see the progress and Sterling's creativity as his vision comes to life.

Foundation and porch.

Framing

Walls and Sydney risking her life to help put up the roof.

Brick work.

Its always fun to see Sterling go to work on his projects. All the planning, counseling with Sal, power tools, Home Depot trips. But the best part is how he involves the children. A family that works together ... is awesome!

Summer Volleyball

Instead of open court at the gym, the high school coach has set up grass volleyball games at a local park. So most of the girls who plan on trying out for the high school team come play twice a week for practice. She is loving it. 

Some of the assistant coaches took pictures!

On this particular day, they were playing Queen of the Courts. When you win a game, you move up. Lose, you move down. On the last game, Syd and her partner made it to the top court and lost by one point.

Hawaii- day 4&5- Polynesian Cultural Center&Beach cruising

We started out day 4 at the Dole plantation with a delicious dole Whip ice cream. Mmmm, good!

Then we were off to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had sooo much fun! During this canoe ride in Tonga, we realized our guide knows our neighbors, the Sikas. So we posed for a picture and sent it to him. 

The canoe pageant was fun. I'm always amazed that the dancers can balance on those canoes.

Coconut tree climber in Samoa.

Pig for dinner at the Luau!

After dinner and before the show, we took the missionary shuttle to the Laie temple. 

And the show. It was so beautiful. The dancing, the story, the setting. All of it was just amazing! The perfect way to end the day!

We also found time to drive around, look at the ocean and sit on the beach. Nice and relaxing, just appreciating the beautiful world God gave us.

Day 5 was Sunday so we went to a three hour block on the north shore. It was so nice, even though I think I slept through most of it. I love that the church is the same where ever you go and always feels like family.

This was our cool ride for the few days we were on our own. Loved the power!

And as a fitting farewell, we were treated to this beautiful sunset! Good bye Hawaii! Until next time!

Hawaii- day 2&3- Hiking

Day 2 of our trip was filled with work for Sterling and books by the pool for me. Then we left for a tour of Oahu agriculture. We drove past many fields of pineapple, which was very nostalgic for Sterling. Pineapple wasn't the only thing we saw but was definitely recognizable. 

We ended up at the Kahuku Family Farm on the north shore. It was amazing. They have done such a wonderful job with their farming operation. They took us on a tractor ride through some of their fields. Then we had dinner at the little cafe they put on their property. If you are ever on Oahu, you need to go there!!! This is a picture of a banana field!

On day 3, as soon as meetings were over on Friday, we headed off to a few hikes. First stop was Manoa Falls. I felt like I was in the middle of Jurassic Park.

The hike was nice and cool and a little slippery. And the falls were amazing!

Then it was off to Diamond Head. 

We were taking public transportation and it got a little uncomfortable at times. There was one time we were waiting for a bus and there was a homeless guy talking to himself, very obviously mentally ill. A woman passed him and did something he didn't like, I'm not sure what. And he just went after her, yelling and followed her, almost chasing her into traffic. Sterling was on a church call at the time, but he said that if that guy had kept following her, he would have done something about it. It was scary!

Then, on the bus, there were guys talking about the best way terrorists could take over the U.S. It was so uncomfortable. I was happy when we finally got off the bus!!!!

But Diamond Head was great. Lots of climbing. And completely different from Manoa Falls. We went from rain forest jungle to desert in a matter of an hour on the bus. 

The view from the top of the crater was beautiful. Look at that water!

Waikiki in the background. That's where our hotel was.

And so began the work-free part of our vacation. Welcome to paradise!

Hawaii-day 1

I was lucky enough to tag along with Sterling on a Farm Bureau trip to HAWAII. We got to the hotel just in time for him to go to meetings, but our room wasn't ready yet, so I sat in the lobby and looked at the pool and ocean beyond it.

I also gorged my self on Maui Zowie pizza. The best I've ever had!

The view from the balcony, from both directions.

Ocean.

Mountains. The best of both worlds.

That first night we went to a starlight, rooftop Luau. It was sooo hot!

And I do mean HOT!

It was a long day of travel and work and play. About 20 hours worth. So we were more than ready to hit the sack at the end of this day!

Cinderella ballet

This is going backwards in time a little, but on the day of Jeremiah Johnson camp, the girls had a big ballet dress rehearsal for their performance of Cinderella for ballet. Because of Jeremiah Johnson we couldn't go to Camille's rehearsal, but Rachel's rehearsal was in the morning. So we were able to get her there. She was a clock. 

I was able to video Rachel's dance during the rehearsal. I wish I could have recorded Camille's too, but we had to skip rehearsal. Bummer.

Here's Rachel's dance though.

Here are the girls before the performance. Camille and cousin Emily were Spanish dancers. (The prince went to Spain looking for the beautiful lady he danced with at the ball.) And Rachel, the clock.

Grandma and Grandpa joined us.

Camille is loving ballet. That has to do a lot with her teacher, Miss Carrie, and the Royal Academy of Ballet method. This may be the last year for Rachel though. 

We were also treated to a beautiful sunset!