Hawaii Feb 2020

The John Murray family reunion this year was held in Oahu, Hawaii in celebration of my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  Matthew and I felt that it would be a special opportunity to take the kids with us and share some memories as a family.  We are so glad we took this opportunity since it was such a wonderful experience!  The rest of the Murrays arrived on Feb 10th, but we decided to maximize Matt's time off and go on the 8th.  Here is a summary of each day.

Feb 8th - Flying was still novel since the kids have only flown twice, first when we moved to California and second, when we went to Florida.  I think I am finally getting the hang of it myself. :)

Isn't the island beautiful?

After we landed, got our rental car, and grocery shopped we headed to our apartment (rental) and then hit the nearby beach.

On Sunday Feb 9th we watched the sunrise in the morning on the beach and then went to church at a local ward.

Then we explored the north side of the island.

The kids had such a grand time trying to protect their base from incoming waves.  

This unexpected visitor surprised Sterling by coming right up behind him unexpectedly.  I am sure the dog was bigger than he is and he was surely not expecting it. 

We did a little exploring on the hill behind the beach.  There was a light hike with beautiful views at the top.

This was such a beautiful day of enjoying the wonders of God's creations!  

On Monday, Feb 10th we checked out of our apartment and went to check out the Dole Plantation.

It was a rainy day, but we made the best of it.  

The Dole Whip floats (in pineapple juice) were out of this world!

The kids chose to spend their money to open an oyster of their choice and harvest a pearl.  It was a cool experience to see the beautiful pearls found in nature

 The boys got a black pearl.

 Sheri got a light pink pearl.

  

The rest of the Murray family flew in this day. and we spent time getting settled, returning/renting new vehicles, meeting at the airport, having a dinner at a local restaurant, grocery shopping, and checking into the new place.

Tuesday. Feb 11th we went to Pearl Harbor.  It was a beautiful memorial of all that happened there.

 I felt a powerful gratitude for those who sacrifice to serve our country.  I am SO grateful for the freedom I enjoy thanks to them!

I was especially touched by those who survived the attack, but were later buried with their comrades here at the memorial.  They are listed on the side.

Below is my favorite quote that we read.

Sharing snacks

After the Arizona Memorial I was able to view the memorial for all the members of the Navy who fought in submarines until the larger ships were again ready to play a large role.  There were so many that gave heroic service and the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.

Most of the rest of the group went to tour an actual submarine.  

We had a lovely picnic lunch with the family on a nearby hill.  It was pretty steep and so on the way down these awesome helpers assisted Mom down.  Just an everyday example of those who make our world a more wonderful place! 

 Ivan was such a good buddy to my kids on this trip!

In the evening we went to Turtle beach.  It was getting late in the day and so it was cooling off, but the kids, Emma, and Matt enjoyed playing in the water and snorkeling a bit.  Ivan provided a delicious dinner on the beach.  My kids had a ball with their cousins!

Wed, Feb 12th we went to the Waimea Botanical Gardens.  It was lush and beautiful!

One of the local Hawaiian women shared some of the traditional instruments and items made with natural items such as palm leaves.  She gave each of the kids a small gift before we left, a small ball that reminds them that they can do difficult things. 

We hit some local food trucks on the North Shore for lunch.  This was my favorite meal of the trip!

Then Jen took us to one of the best spots for shaved ice!

In the afternoon, a few us were able to hit the beach.  The waves were a bit strong, but it was fun to play in the waves close to shore and in the river that opened into the ocean.

Thursday, Feb 13th

We were able to attend the Laie temple in the morning.  This was a special opportunity for us to take Sheri for the first time to do baptisms.  It was a beautiful temple!  My parents and sisters were able to do an endowment session.  We also enjoyed the visitor's center.

In the afternoon we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center

Star fruit.

Here the kids were singing a song and using dancing with their hands as the narrator sang a story.

My parents were recognized for celebrating 50 years.  Ivan was able to present a gift from our family.  I was so happy to see my Mom and Dad sharing this wonderful trip together!

At the end of the night we enjoyed the "Ha, Breath of Life" show.  It was a show that highlighted the dances and traditions of many of the Polynesian Islands and was very well done!  It was high energy, and fun to see the different cultures!

 There was so much to see! We didn't get to do all that we wanted to and so decided to come back within the next few days.

Friday the 14th, Valentine's day began with a delicious and beautiful breakfast by Annie.

Then we went to another botanic gardens for a short hike since the one we hoped for was closed.  I was pretty thrilled with the gardens.  They were absolutely beautiful and I felt like I could stay there all day.

Then we headed to Hanauma Bay and one car picked up pizza for our lunch.
The bay was beautiful!

The kids saved up their money and we bought a "Go Pro" type camera.  It was so fun to get underwater pictures.

The wet suits were a great advantage!  The extra warmth really made them worth every penny!
I am so glad Matt gave me the idea to buy some before we left.

I have to give a special thanks to Sterling for helping me get the hang of snorkeling.  He was patient, kind and helpful.  I felt great love for him as I experienced his genuine caring for me.

It was a wonderful day!

Saturday, Feb 15th we got up early and drove to the west side of the island for a dolphin tour.  It was such a great experience!  The crew was very knowledgeable, helpful, and made sure that we got to see as much as possible.  We were able to see a mother humpback whale and her just born calf, sea turtles, lots of fishes, and of course dolphins!  It was the most incredible experience to have the dolphins and other sea life swimming in the ocean all around us and with us.

It really was such an awesome experience and we had an incredible time!

After the tour we enjoyed lunch at the cafe and then headed back to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Annie was picked to participate in the dance off and she won.  It was fun to see her on stage doing Tahitian dancing!

We loved to check out the wares for sale.  It is so neat to see what people can create from natural items.

I loved seeing my kids interacting together.  They have really become good friends even if they annoy each other at times.

Sunday, February 16th we attended a different local ward.  We also had a fun Family Home Evening about the Iron Rod.  The kids had a good time following the Iron Rod while trying to ignore the voices of "the world" and listening to the guiding voice of "the spirit."  We enjoyed the pie treat at the end. 

 It was great to be able to stay all in one location so that we could talk, cook and eat together, watch movies, play and share together.  Ivan did an incredible job planning this reunion and I am so grateful for all he did to help us create these awesome memories together.

Monday, Feb 17th everyone else headed to the airport fairly early.  Our family had a later flight and so we enjoyed the local beach and then checked out Waikiki beach but didn't have time to swim or enjoy it.  Maybe next time? :)  Also, we enjoyed Dole Whip one more time and got T-shirts for the kids.

I love my husband and my family so much!  I am so grateful that we could spend this time together and create all these wonderful memories!  Our families bring us our greatest joy and I feel so blessed to have my family!  I loved being together to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary and feel grateful for all of God's amazing creations!

February 2020

February was a marvelous month!  The highlight was our trip to Hawaii.  I will blog about that in my next post since there is so much to document in that trip.  This will be a short post about the remainder of the month.

During February we began to harvest all the lemons on our tree. They were large and beautiful!

Here are just a few pictured with a grapefruit from the store.

Our all girls activity for the month was "heart attacking" and leaving cookies for various women in the ward.  It was a lot of fun!

Also, I was the surprise recipient of one of the groups.  Here are some hearts that I brought inside.

Since we were going to be out of town for Valentine's day, Christian wanted to hand make all his valentines and bring them to school before we left.  Here are all his valentines.

Sheri also got to go to camp with her school mates the week before we left.  She had a fun time.

We left for Hawaii on Feb 8th and returned Feb 17th.  The kids only missed 3 days because of president's day and a few teacher's work days.

When we returned to California, the trees were in bloom.  The almond groves were white and beautiful.  This is a picture of a tree in my neighborhood.

This is our garden.  It has peas, lettuce, and Matt is also planting kale and chard. We also have some tomato and pepper plants from last summer. 

This is our cherry tree.  We are excited for fruit again this year!

On the 24th we got to attend Eve's "Pops" concert where they played lots of popular music. The music was fun to listen to!  Eve has some great friends in band many of whom are also from church.

 

We had an etiquette dinner with the older classes of YW and YW.  It was fun to put together and learn with the kids.

To wrap up this post I will include a few fun photos.

Here are a few drawings that Christian has created.

Here are the kids with our neighbor friend, Ronnie.

Christian finding a unique spot to read.

Finally, Here are a few videos that illustrate some of the progress the kids have made in gymnastics.

January 2020

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Day (after going to Monterrey for New Year's Eve) by getting together with friends to play ball games at the church.  We played line tag, kickball, and knock out with the Wooleys and the Days.  It was good to get some fun physical activity with friends.

For our anniversary on Jan 2nd, Matt and I went to dinner downtown with a gift card we had, and then we watched the Downton Abbey movie at home.  We had a lovely time!

Eve invited some friends over for games.  They had a great time!

The rest of the month was mostly routine, but here are a few highlights.

Sheri started the advanced class at gymnastics.  Here she is learning a back walk over on the low beam and the cart wheel on the high beam.

Here is a fun hair do for dance.  Sheri switched from jazz to ballet to accommodate gymnastics.

For our combined YW activity we made vision boards to help us with our new goals.  The girls set goals in 4 areas (spiritual, physical, intellectual, social) according to the new children/youth program of the church.   It is so fun to have Sheri in Young Womens!

We have also discussed our goals as a family to help support each other.  Christian also started attending activity days for boys.

Eve continues to play in the pep band for basketball games both at school and at the university.  Here she is with Allison getting ready for the game.

Sheri was able to begin riding horses at a friends's house nearby.  Once she gets more independent on saddling and so forth she will be able to go more often. 

The youth were able to go to a Super Saturday activity on the 11th.  It was themed 2020 vision and also talked about the new youth development program.  It is fun that Sterling gets to go to dances and Saturday night activities since he turns 14 this year.

For Martin Luther King Day I took the kids to Columbia which was originally a mining town.  We had a great time learning the history, exploring, sharing lunch at the Tea House, and panning for gold.

Old time bowling

This month I was able to chaperone Sheri's field trip to see Frozen at a middle school and Christian's field trip to see the Three little Pigs (a story mixed up with other stories) at the university.

Near the end of the month Sterling was able to perform in the SCMEA Honors Concert for middle schoolers.  The students auditioned in November and practiced in December/January.  I am grateful for opportunities like this that expose my kids to excellence in a large group setting!

It has been a great month!  We have enjoyed all our activities.  Sterling even auditioned for the Lion King musical and made the chorus.  He is excited to practice and perform with this youth community theater group later this spring. Happy 2020 everyone!