Herriman Days Parade!

We always look forward to Herriman Days.  This year it was a lot earlier than normal AND we've had cooler weather than normal, so the HEAT wasn't an issue.  It was perfect parade-day weather!

 The girls and I had a good spot!

 Kaeli and Violet

 

Sara and Rylie 

The Scouts started out the parade,
and we cheered and hollered for Sammy!

 There's our boy!

Summer-Time-Craft-Time

 

 Painting plaster magnets!

First Grade Opera!

Rylie's class worked really hard this year getting ready for their opera.  They studied Ancient Egypt this year so that's what it was all about.  The kids wrote the lyrics to the songs (someone else put them to music) and made the props.  And of course, the parents came up with the costumes.  It turned out so GOOD!  I was impressed.

 Rylie played two parts; an Egyptian Slave and a Mummy.  Since she wasn't going to have enough time to change she wore her mummy costume UNDER her slave costume. 

Here are some snap shots of her big night:

Congrats to Rylie!

She did a fabulous job!!!

G is for GRADUATE

Sara had her preschool graduation last week!

(She still has another year of preschool before kindergarten, but we like to celebrate the little things :-)

  

She was so excited to wear her "Hawaii Dress"

and have her toe nails & finger nails painted.

She is such a

CuTiE!

pRiMaRy RoCkS!

Sara brought this home from church and it made me laugh!

lucky SEVEN!

 Our sweet Rylie is SEVEN!

And we're so LUCKY to have her in our family!

She is such a good sister, and she's growing up so fast!

Rylie is smart and spunky and silly!

She has always been very strong-willed,

even from the start!

She knows exactly what she wants, 

and has such a strong sense of right and wrong.

Rylie has a very strong and amazing spirit!

She is destined for amazing things!

We love her to pieces!

Piggies

 

 gottta love 'em!

Introducing...

So I have been pondering this idea for quite awhile....  I love to do projects.  I love to do art.  I love to create.  BUT I rarely have had time to do these things as much as I want.  A few months ago as I jotted down my new year's resolutions, making time to do these things was at the top of the list.  I know that when I make time to create I am so much happier and feel so much more complete. Sooooo creating a blog where I can record my creations was a natural step, because it gives me accountability to make time for these projects and blogging is just one more creative outlet.  I will keep SMARKS as more of a family blog and the Eclectic Nut as my Artsy/DIY/Creations/Project (not sure exactly what it really is) blog.

Check it out and let me know what you think...for reals, I would love your feedback!

www.eclecticnut.blogspot.com

Hula Baby

 

 

Board & Batten

Look what I've been up to?
This weekend I put board & batten in our front room!

We bought primed mdf from Home Depot:
Header: (2) 5-1/2' x 6'
Verticals: (11) 1-1/2 x 8'

After a tutorial from da hubbs on how to use a chop saw and a nail gun, I went to work.

It took a full day, but it was totally do-able and FUN!
Here's how to do it:

1. MEASURE
Measure out the wall for the vertical boards, using painter's tape to mark it. Making sure that the boards won't cover any outlets or light switches. There are 10.5 inches between each vertical board. But I really only measured every 12" keeping in mind that the mark would line up to the left of each board. 12"-1.5"(width of board)=10.5". Then I marked where the header would go, using a level and pencil.


2. HEADER
Measure the header (I used two boards) and cut the edges at 45 degree angles where they join. Using liquid nails I glued the header in place, checking with the level to make sure it was all good. I used the T-support to hold it in place so I could nail it. (Holy cow mdf is heavy!) I used 1.25" finishing nails. Then with a pencil I marked on the bottom on the header the 12" increments for the vertical boards.


3. MEASURE & CUT VERTICALS
Line up each board to the marks on the header. Number each board on the back along with the length it needs to be cut to. Measure each board individually because the may need to be cut at different lengths. (I didn't want the vertical boards to hang over the existing base board, so I cut 45 degree angles leaving 0.25" blunt edge, so it didn't come to a point, at the bottom of each board. That sounds confusing so refer to the picture below).

When the bottom cuts are done, measure and mark each board according to their individual measurements and cut them to length.

4. GLUE & NAIL VERTICALS
Line up each vertical board to their place and make sure they'll fit. One at a time, glue the board with liquid nails, lining it up to the mark on the header and checking with a level. When it's good and level, nail it in place.

5. CAULK & PAINT
Fill in nail holes and joints with putty. Caulk around all the boards with paint-able caulk. Sand the putty places. Tape off the walls and paint. And then paint again...

TA-DA!


My decorations are still a work in progress.
As soon as my basement is finished the piano is moving downstairs and I hope to replace it with a cute chair and lamp.

Oh, and a hutch will replace my armoire...some day.
I search ksl classifieds weekly for "the one", to refinish just the way I want.

Family trip to KAUAI

Prepare for

PICTURE OVERLOAD!

DAY 1:
The kids (except for Violet) had never flown before so this trip was full of firsts! Aaron being super special or something like that :-) was able to get us into the sky club as we waited for our flight. We're talkin' big screen TVs, sofas, and FOOD. Nice. We boarded our plane and headed to LAX (where our flight was delayed...then delayed some more...) and we then we boarded another plane to Lihue, Kauai.

We arrived later than expected, and it got dark quickly (Hawaii doesn't do daylight savings). So as we drove to the north side of the island we didn't see much of it. Our condo was nice (thanks to Aaron's parents who let us use their time share). We stayed in Princeville in the Cliffs Club.

DAY 2:
We woke up to this view from our lanai. It was absolutely beautiful!

"A double rainbow! What does it mean???"

We explored Hanalei, which was only about 5 minutes from where we were staying. I decided it was my favorite little town of all. Here's a view above Hanalei Valley where they grow taro.

As we wandered, I endlessly snapped pictures. I love this little church.



Everyone was excited to hit the beach, so we did! We swam in Hanalei Bay. I think we were at Waikoko Beach, but they all blend together so it's hard to know for sure.



DAY 3:
We decided to hike the Kalalau Trail from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapia Beach. Kauai had received a lot of rain so the trail was muddy and slippery and there were waterfalls and streams across the trail that normally weren't there. But the views were amazing so the steep slippery trail was worth it.

Here are the kids toward the beginning of the hike overlooking Ke'e Beach:

And of course the pack lama and his wee little one:


Breathtaking views along the Na Pali coast line:

There are no roads along this part of the coast, so if you're going to see the Na Pali Coast you'll have to be in a boat, a plane, or hike it!

Here we're thinking our hike is almost over...overlooking Hanakapia Beach:

Little did we know that the little stream that we needed to cross had turned into a fast-flowing river! Aaron decided to take the older two across first. There were deep pockets in the river so the kids were in up to their arm pits. There was a rope to hold on to, which was necessary because a few times Sam's feet were floating down stream and the only thing that kept him there was his grip on the rope, and his dad's grip on him!


After crossing with Sam and Kaeli, Aaron came back across and scouted out the area for a better way to cross. He was able to cross by jumping from boulder to boulder back to Sam and Kaeli, but decided it too was too dangerous to cross with the littler girls and Violet. Sooooo we found our own little beach on our side of the river and ate lunch. It was a pretty spot, but the water was rough.


On our way back we decided it was good we didn't cross it, even if we had we wouldn't have let the kids into the water:

Our hike was up and down and up and down and...you get the idea. But the mountains of Kauai are like none other so the views were worth it!

There are tons of wild roosters and chickens all over the island. They freely roam wherever. In fact, that is what woke us each morning, but it wasn't obnoxious. I thought they were pretty neat. We saw them along roads, on beaches, parking lots, towns...they were everywhere!

After the hike we swam at Ke'e Beach!



DAY 4:

breakfast on the lanai.

We drove to the south side of the island and visited Koloa and Poipu. We also saw the Spouting Horn. It's pretty cool. Water bursts out of a lava tube 50 feet into the air each time the waves crash up against the rocks.

Here is the view toward Poipu:

We discovered that Poipu Beach was pretty, but small and crowded sooooo... we scouted out our own little beach which ended up being one of my favorites. We took a dirt road, and several turns and found what I think is Mahaulepu Beach right next to Shipwreck Beach. So we walked Shipwreck Beach...



and swam at Mahaulepu Beach. There were only a few other families there so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Violet and I found a nice shaddy spot to chill.

There was a lot of lava rock, but the waves and water were perfect. We just had to watch out for the rocks.


DAY 5:
We drove to Opaekaa Falls:

And then to Wailua Falls. Do they look familiar? They were featured in the series Fantasy Island. I've never seen that show, so...Ok.

After a lot of driving around, seeing sights, but mostly giving Violet a good nap in the van, we drove to Kealia Beach. Kealia has super big waves and a strong current. So the big kids loved it (aka, Aaron, Sam & Kaeli). There were times when we got tumbled around pretty good. In fact, Aaron lost his sun glasses in a wave and Sam lost his snorkeling goggles in a wave. Kaeli and I also did some somersaults.





This little girl has a crush on her daddy:

But he's just as smitten with her...too cute!


We love our beach baby. Poor thing was constantly smothered in SPF 70, forced to keep a hat on, and was in shade whenever we could find it...and if we couldn't find it she was in the stroller with an umbrella....

Sara made friends with a naked native. It's sweet how a child really doesn't care if you're dressed or not and no judgement is made.


DAY 6:
We visited the Kilauea Lighthouse. Everything around it serves as a nature reserve for thousands of birds.

Here is the view looking toward Anini Beach:

This little island was at the end of the peninsula, also a bird sanctuary:

Then we drove to the south side of the island again to see Hanapepe. This is the little town that "Lilo and Stitch" is based from. We decided the drive was a waste of time. Hanapepe wasn't very impressive. But we did go across their swinging bridge just for the heck of it.

We drove to Lihue and swam at Kalapaki Beach. Kalapaki has a lot of fancy hotels and resorts right on the shore. It wasn't too crowded and we had a lot of fun. This is where I finally figured out body surfing!





Our first day we ate at a regular ole restaurant and when the bill was over 100 bucks we decided we weren't going to do that again. So after that we searched for little "hole in the wall" places or bought our food off the street. And we loved everything and never spent over $50 for a meal of 7 after that. (We bought food from grocery stores for breakfast and lunch). My favorite place was called "Chicken In A Barrel" in Kapa'a. They had picnic tables set out next to their little trailer, and had metal barrels within a chain-link fence where they smoked all their meat. It was soooo good that we ate there twice.

Here we passed up the fancy-shmancy restaurants and found a fish-n-chips shack. The kids were excited to eat upstairs and the view was nice!


DAY 7:
OK, so this was one of the highlights (in my opinion) of our trip. I loved, loved, LOVED this hike. We drove clear over to the east side of the island and up Waimea Canyon. They call it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and you can see why.

Purdy, ain't it?

We had a plan to hike the Alakai Swamp Trail and I was really excited about it, but finding it was tricky. We drove to the visitor center to buy a map and I asked the ranger-lady there questions about it and she was really trying to discourage me from going. It was weird. But she insisted we needed 4 wheel drive and would not make it in a mini van. She really had no idea who she was talking to, and being in a mini van had never stopped us before :-)

So we hit the 4x4 road. It was pretty gnarly, and a bit slippery in places but we made it to our trail head. This is where we ate lunch before the hike. Nice view, huh?

The trail started off pretty nice. It was green, wide, and grassy. A long time ago they attempted to cut a road and failed. Sara was the leader and she runs more than she hikes so we kept up a good pace. We were worried about driving our crazy road back in the dark and if it rained it would be impossible to get out, so we were in a bit of a hurry.

Soon enough we discovered why it was called a swamp.

A boardwalk was built on the trail for about half the hike. I accidentally slipped off the boardwalk on the way back and I sunk in past my ankle. I was lucky to get my foot up with my boot still on!

Lots and lots of steps:



I loved the swamp/jungle feeling throughout the hike. The wettest place on earth is actually on this very island!


When we finally arrived at the Kilohana lookout we were disappointed to have fog blocking the view.

But we waited a little longer and sure enough it cleared up and we saw the most AMAZING view of a deep valley and the ocean. We could see Hanalei Bay and the cliffs where our condo was. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was truly breathtaking!

We ended up hiking 7.5 miles.


DAY 8:
We honestly needed a day that wasn't super crazy. So we did some laundry, let Violet take a nice long nap, while Aaron and the kiddos swam in the pool.

And yes, I had to get a picture of Violet in a hula outfit. And yes, I'll probably dress her up again, take some more pictures of my sweet hula baby.

We headed back to Hanalei Bay and walked the pier.


Sam and Kaeli even jumped off the end of the pier. And of course we swam some more....

The water here was really mellow and shallow...perfect for Violet. Sara was even able to wear her floaties!



I love this sillohuette of Aaron and the kids.

(L to R; Kaeli, Rylie, Aaron, Violet, Sara, Sam)

The mountains that surround Hanalei make it feel like paradise! Could it be more perfect!

DAY 9:
On our last day we spent the morning packing up and then hit Kealia Beach again, since everyone was craving the big waves. We got to the beach early enough to get a perfect parking spot on the beach and in the shade. Doesn't that look like a nice set-up for V?

Rylie and Sara loved playing in the sand when the waves were too rough or current too strong. They were able to go into the water with Aaron or I.

Aaron helped Sam-man become and sandman. Nice abs!


We showered up at the condo, finished packing and headed out! On our way to the airport we ate in Kapa'a. We flew out at 9pm to LAX and then onto SLC. Violet had it rough but eventually slept. On the last leg of the trip we were told that the flight was full and discovered that it wasn't. So Sam sat behind us (next to STRANGERS!) and Violet took his seat. She ended up falling asleep like this at the end of the flight:

We arrived in SLC at 9 am in our flip flops and shorts and it was SNOWING! I was ready to turn back around and head back to Hawaii!!! When we got home we slept for hours!

I already miss Kauai. I loved the sunshine and loved swimming in the ocean. It was great to have time to spend with my kids and amazing hubby with no other obligations, interruptions, or pressing schedules...it was paradise!