Tuesday Jan 13th 2010
The alarm went off at 3:45 a.m.! Do you know the last time my eyeballs saw 3:45? Yeah me neither. Who in the world booked a 6:00 a.m flight? Oh yeah Santa.
The flight seemed like it took days to get there. I guess I was to excited to get there. We had a stop in LA and it was so rainy and dark. I will never forget when our plane climbed up through the clouds in LA and popped out to the most beautiful bright sun. The clouds were all puffy and white. I wished my camera would have been within reach. With a big grin on my face I knew at that point this was going to be a great trip. And for the next 7 days the sun just kept on shining!
WELCOME TO HAWAII

Our first day was a little bit rough with the time difference and getting up at 3:45 in the morning didn't help. Everyone was so excited to be there but exhausted at the same time so we just spent some time walking around and getting to know Waikiki.

While we were there we did a lot of fun things.
We visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation were we took a short train ride around the plantation. Did you know pineapples grow on bushes? And then we did the World’s largest Maze. We only got lost a few times ;).

The Polynesian Cultural Center was really fun. We even got to see a guy climb the palm tree (that was on my kids list). The Luau was fun and the show at night was really good.
I fell in love with the North Shore. Next time I would like to stay over there. It was just so beautiful, the ocean waves were huge and everything just seemed so green. One of my favorite parts was the temple. We have so many temples here in Utah I hadn’t expected it to have such an impact on me but when we turned the corner and saw the glowing white temple and the beautiful grounds my heart melted. We went into the visitor’s center and watched a fun movie on the history of the area.


Pearl Harbor was really neat. I am glad we went. To be honest we (Ok maybe “we” being the kids and I ) were not sure we wanted to take half a day and go but we are all glad we did. It was a neat experience. As you can see from the picture we had a veteran on our tour with us. When we went into the part of the memorial that has all the names listed on the wall he stood up and saluted while tears ran down his checks.


We spent tons of time at the beach. We would go hang out until late afternoon and then walk across the street to our hotel, grab some lunch on the way and relax and swim in the pool. What a life. ;)The weather was great the whole trip.


My favorite time at the beach is sunset there is nothing quit like it.



These were some of the animals we saw at the Hilton (they are real small behind us). Check out the flamingos! I loved them and penguins in Hawaii? Do they like warm weather??

Our hotel was decorated in a fun beachy theme



Shower at the pool
I am not usually one to take scenic pictures. I always say who wants to look through a bunch of pictures of stuff that means nothing to them so I usually always try and stick someone in the picture. But with landscape like this I couldn't resist.



I have got to tell you my husband rocks! I am so thankful to be married to someone who supports my crazy dreams of traveling. I just came across a quote that said "True happiness is when your reality far exceedes your dreams" This trip was amazing and Mike has made another one of my dreams come true.

We truely had a great time. The kids were great and everyone got along so well. Ya know I have great kids. They were very well behaved and seem to really appreciate the fact that we were there. I hope it will be memories the will remember forever.



I told you I took tons of pictures. Oh don't worry I have a lot more where these came from. Our sunset "photo shoot" will have to make another post on another day ;)>

We just got home and I miss it already. We had a great time and I can't wait to tell you all about it, as promised I took lots of pictures.

Hawaii here we come. One more day and we are on our way. In my attempt to enjoy things I have really been thinking/talking a lot about our trip and am really excited.
We have big plans and should have a blast. We have had so many people tell us that we have to go to Pearl Harbor that we went out last night and rented the movie to catch me and the kids up on what happened. (sometimes I wonder if I actually attended high school but I guess I enjoyed it and that's what really matters ;))
I have got all of us about half packed and am starting the countdown. I am praying for warm weather. We have quit the inversion right now so anything will be better then this weather.
I am the only one in the family who has ever been to Hawaii. My best friend Kristen and I decided to go about 6 months after we graduated from high school for a late graduation trip. Looking back I can't believe she and I just packed up, took off and went on our own. Because of our early flight we even drove ourselves to the airport, parked the car, caught the shuttle and checked in. I guess our parents really trusted us. Which they should of, I had just meet Mike and she had a missionary so we really just kept to ourselves and toured around. We rented mopeds and scootered our way around the island. It is such a beautiful place I remember falling in love with it. I hope it is as good as I remember.
I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

“What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”

I can't believe it is 2010. It was just a few years ago that we were celebrating the year 2000. Do you remember the big Y2K scare? I will admit that I remember being a bit unsure about what was going to happen, I mean it did make a little sense that technology would have a hard time switching to 2000. And I will admit that I did beef up my "food storage" supply a little. I guess I got sucked into all the hype but, life went on without a hitch and here we are 10 years later. Man 10 years, what have I done in the past 10 years. Um,well,uh.....the only thing that comes to mind is I had my cute baby boy Teegan in 2002. We moved to our house in 2004 (or was it 2005?) I am going to think on that one.
So here is when the big question comes, what will the next 10 years bring. I have to admit it puts a BIG lump in my stomach just thinking about it. 10 years from now Whitney will be 23, Landon will be 20 and Teegan will be 17. I could be a Grandma!! SOB! My kids will be big with their own lives.
A few months ago while I was grumbling to myself about running my kids around I had a bit of an epiphany. What else should I be doing now? Nothing. This is my kids childhoods and before I know it they will be gone. This is part of being a mother and I want to be a good supportive mom so right now that means running them around. I need to cherish the time I have with my little ones. Whitney is almost 14, in 4 years she will be driving, dating and graduating from high school, my time is short. So, one of my goals for 2010. Enjoy the Journey! Instead of looking at all the soccer tournaments as a big expense. Enjoy the time we get to spend together as a family supporting what Whitney loves to do. Instead of complaing about how far indoor practice is I need to appreciate the time together in the car. My time is my kids right now. I am sure I will have plenty of my time in the future. Time flies and it feels like we never slow down to enjoy it.
So one of my goals for 2010, Enjoy the Journey.
The other day I heard a mom on the Today's show talking about exactly how I feel. Here is some of what she said:
I wasn’t depressed and I wasn’t having a midlife crisis, but I was suffering from midlife malaise — a recurrent sense of discontent and almost a feeling of disbelief.
“Is this really it?” I found myself wondering, and answering, “Yep, this is it.”

Though at times I felt dissatisfied, that something was missing, I also never forgot how fortunate I was. When I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often did, I’d walk from one room to another to gaze at my sleeping husband tangled in the sheets and my daughters surrounded by their stuffed animals, all safe. I had everything I could possibly want — yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had. I didn’t want to keep taking these days for granted. The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” I didn’t want to look back, at the end of my life or after some great catastrophe, and think, “How happy I used to be then, if only I’d realized it.”
I am thankful for Mike and I am thankful for my kids and I am ready to realize what a wonderful life I have!

Happy New Years

This year we spent New Years at my parents house with the Mills. We played a few games, watched a movie and wondered if midnight would ever come.


Here is hoping 2010 will be a great year!

Whitney has been begging Mike to take her snowboarding while they were on holiday break. He finally gave in (begrudgingly) and took them on New Years Eve. Landon and Teegan decided they wanted to give it a try so they tracked down boards and headed to the slopes. I wish I could have gone up and taken pictures but it is a bit to cold for me :). Mike took a few pictures with his cell phone.







It looks like they had a great time. I have to admit I have never been skiing/snowboarding. I know I have lived in Utah my whole life and never been, believe me I have heard it. I am not sure why I never went? My parents weren't skiers and my two older sisters didn't really enjoy their lessons so I guess by the time it came to me they gave up.
Mike on the other hand was quit the skier in his day :). He used to be a regular hitting the resorts every weekend and when they got bored they would explore the back country. He and his friends would go up and build jumps and do flips and such. Mike even pulled a triple back flip once (he says it is on video somewhere ;)). In fact, I think the first gift I ever gave him was skis. It was our first Christmas when we were dating and I got him some skis he had been looking at. I sent him on a scavenger hunt to find them and they ended up in our bath tub.
So what happened to his passion for skiing? He married me and I converted him to a beach bum.

Grandma Susan's birthday is December 25th and she loves it. It is always hard to fit in a party with all the Christmas celebrations going on. This year she was turning 60 so we had a big party the day after Christmas.

We even got a cute picture of the entire Maxfield clan. (You got to love camera's with timers:)). It was fun to all be together.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Mele Kalikimaka

This year Santa came to our house in shorts.

We had a great Christmas this year. The kids woke up and were so nice to let Mike and I sleep in a bit. Mike and I woke up and the house was so quiet (the kids were playing cards in Whitneys room) that we decided to sneek down and see what Santa brought. Boy were they surprised when Mike and I started screaming "Santa came!" "Look at all this stuff!" from down stairs. They came a runnin'.

We came down to find a whole bunch of presents and they were all numbered.


They took turns opening and by the time they got to present 3 we knew something crazy was going on. They each got pieces to a puzzle. When we put them together they made a picture of a beach. Then they started opening presents like beach towels, swim suits and flip flops. Whitney started thinking we were going somewhere she was just not sure where.





Then Teegan opened a coconut, Landon opened a pinapple and Whitney got a coconut bra. Could it be Hawaii? We didn't dare guess it sounded to go to be true.




When I took this picture Whit said "great, I am sure this will make the blog" :)

Their last present was another puzzle. When we got all the pieces together there was a note that said "if you have not figured it out by now, there is a present for each of you on the tree". We ran to the tree opened up our little presents and found a note inside.


It said HAWAII Jan 13-19 2010. We were so excited!

Then we opened a big box that was full of stuff for a luau party. Dad made breakfast while we got everything set up and we had a party.



Overall Christmas was great and we have so much to be thankful for. We spent the day with family. We had brunch at Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield's and then went to Gram and Pa's for dinner and more presents. The day was full but nice.








Let's just say we did not go without this year.



Mele Kalikimaka! See ya in Hawaii!