It never gets old

forever friends

My dear dear friend from college, Nate, visited us this weekend.  We studied music together at University of Colorado at Boulder and were roommates for a year.  He is an amazing pianist and we used to play together a lot, so the night he flew in Travis and I went and bought an electric piano so he and I could play together.   We had decided on a few pieces to learn before he got here so we could just put them together.  The night he got here we stayed up late into the night playing.  We played until we got tired and sore and relished every single moment of it!   We played Meditation from "Thais" in church (the song you're listening to) and later that day we played Czardas by Monti in a recital.  

The last time Nate visited us when in Albany when Veda was a couple months old.  He loved seeing the girls and they LOVED him.  
Travis took Nate on a hike overlooking the Napali Coast.   He lives in a metropolitan city so he wanted as much nature as he could get.  He got up every morning to watch the sunrise on the beach and watched it set every night as well.  He even managed to get me up to watch a sunrise with him!!  

Since I knew Nate was coming, I decided to schedule a Suzuki violin recital while he was here so he could accompany the kids.  It worked out perfect and he said it was one of the highlights of his life.  Here he is playing with Veda at our performance class.  
We squeezed more fun into 4 days then I thought was possible.   It was so good to reconnect with him and reminisce and build new memories all at the same time.   

Announcing...

Dr. Parker is now the new Medical Director of Emergency Medicine for 2 hospitals here on Kauai.  He is an amazing doctor, a natural leader and after months of them asking him to do the job, he decided to accept.  He has always been the guy that can do all things well.  He seems to have a good balance of work, family, and fun.  I hope the balance can continue!  I am super proud of him.  

Kissing Cousins

This is my adorable and lovable nephew Liam.  Eve is in LOVE with him.  When we are all together she follows him around, sits as close to him as she can, and doesn't hide her affection in any way.  He handles it all like the man he is.  He is so cute with her and doesn't act annoyed or bothered.  

The other day in the car Veda was asking how old me and Travis were when we got married.  Before I could answer, Eve piped up and said "When I marry Liam, I am going to have babies crawling all up me!"  

She gets so upset if any of us tell her she can't marry her cousin that now we just smile and nod.  :)  

New Year's trip home

Me and the girls flew to Las Vegas after Christmas to spend New Year's and a couple weeks with family.  We spent most of our time in Las Vegas.  But for New Year's we went up to my parent's cabin in Pine Valley, Utah.  They had more snow then I've ever seen there!  It was so much fun.  The kids had a blast playing in the snow.  This is the first time Eve has ever seen snow.  

Monique and her sister Hannah met us at the cabin.  It was SO good to see them!
Cousin Emma.  Her and Veda are BFFs.  They had sleep overs almost every night we were there.  They are so adorable together.  

Veda sledding down the driveway.  Notice the tractor behind her.  It was plowing our driveway and got STUCK there for days.  That's how much snow there was!  
Calvin and Pepper
My little Hawaiian snow bunnies.

Eve is in LOVE with her cousin Liam.  She would sit as close to him as she could while he had his treatments.  I think she knew that he couldn't escape her while he was hooked up to the vest.  (Liam has Cystic Fibrosis and has to do 2 hours of "treatments" a day.  Wearing this vest that vibrates his chest is part of the treatment.  He also has multiple breathing treatments, nebulizers, and medications he has to take each day.)  He handles all of it like a true hero.  We are ALL in love with him, come to think of it!  :)

We even got to see Grandma and Grandpa Parker who braved driving the snowy roads to Pine Valley to see us.  It was wonderful to have them join us at the cabin for some games and quality time.  I remember taking pictures of them, but it must have been with their cameras.  Duh!  Kaylee, you'll have to send copies of those to me.  :)  Love you guys.  Thanks for coming to see us!  

Our Merry Christmas

What a Christmas!  This was our first Christmas on our own.  It was so relaxing and felt nice to be at home and not traveling.  Here are the girls on Christmas morning... notice how dark it is outside!  They woke up at 5 am.  Ouch!   They were so much fun this year.  

Me with my shnazzy new MacBook.  I LOVE having my own computer.  No waiting in line to use it, or wondering why all my files on the desktop have been deleted.   Thanks honey!  

Travis gave the girls a Wii.  This is Travis and Veda boxing.  True meaningful family fun.  

                                                   I love a good Christmas mess!

The girls gave Travis Guitar Hero to go with the Wii.
We rocked out all day long... and into the wee hours of the night!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.  We were big losers this year and didn't send out cards, so a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, so we don't have any chance of a white Christmas. But inside our house is looking very Christmassy. Here are some of our favorite Christmassy things.

Advent calendars. My girls live each day to put on the magnet. They also have Trader Joe's chocolate advent calendars that they LOVE.

I made this paper-pieced wall hanging this year. It was so much fun and it is definitely one of my favorite decorations now.
I got the pattern from paperpanache.com

Can't take the credit for this idea. Last year my friend Chanel showed me how to make a baby Jesus doll. I made one for each of the girls. This year Travis and Veda made a manger.

Our Hawaiian Norfolk Pine Christmas tree. We made the mistake of telling Veda that since it was her year to choose the tree she could pick any one she wanted. We got home with a 14 foot tree!! I love the unique look of these trees. They showcase the ornaments so well.
When my sister Carey was here, she helped me design my mantel. We painted canvases different colors, then tied ribbon on them to make them look like gifts. It was such a fun project.
On the night of a Christmas concert I was playing in, Veda and Eve each got to go to a different Christmas party. Eve went to the ward party with our babysitter and Veda was Daddy's date to his office Christmas party. They each got dressed up pretty and felt SO special!

The shoes really make this outfit, don't you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!!