Hawaii!!

Hooray!!! We had an absolutely fabulous time in Hawaii the past 6 days. For the first three days, we were on Kaua'i. Then we headed over to Oahu to stay with my dad for the remainder of the trip. It was so fun! We hiked, kayaked, zip-lined, saw loads of sights, watched sea turtles, ate tons of really good food, and relaxed. Oh, and we came home sun-burned, mission accomplished.
Here are a few pictures to enjoy!
This is my dad and I, on the beach at Turtle Cove.

Steve and I, again in Turtle Cove. We saw a least 6 sea turtles.

Here we are at the top of Diamond Head in Honolulu. Wow, it was hot, humid and way too many stairs. I was crying like a baby until we passed an 81 year old man who was hiking up the hill like he was strolling in the mall. The view was beautiful, honestly it was worth the quivering knees and jello legs.

While we were on Kaua'i, we did an excursion to the Princeville Ranch. They took us kayaking, hiking and zip-lining. I think this was the highlight of the trip. Steve managed to stay upright in his canoe, and we both went across the zip-lines like we were old pros.

Me, on the zip-line.

The start of our hike. This mountain is usually covered in clouds. It's the wettest place on Earth, but we lucked out and had a beautiful dry day!

Funny quotes from the past month

I was suffering a wonderful bout of PMS, dealing with lots of people, doing way too much, and coming down with an awful cold (that's my defense), when Steve warned my dad "don't poke the bear" (for clarification- I'm the bear in this scenario). It wasn't funny then, but it is getting funnier as time goes on. I think I'll get that printed up nice and big, frame it and nail it to my bedroom door as a warning to my children. DON'T POKE THE BEAR (and the bear doesn't go away until 8:00 AM).

Steve and I were having dinner with a couple of friends, who are both recently divorced. They were comparing notes on how long they were married (15 years and 12 years). I looked at Steve and told him "well, I guess we better not get too comfortable". What I meant was, there is no such thing as a safe year in marriage, what he heard was "start packing". Now, when he's being a brat I look at him and repeat myself "don't get too comfortable".

Ayden acted up in school last week and earned himself some time in "skills" (the elementary equivalent of detention). He spent his recesses picking up trash. "Mom, it was fun!! I even found a cigarette". Hmm, do I have an aspiring trash truck driver on my hands? And, what are they doing over there at South Elementary with the cigarettes? Granted, if I had to deal with 600 children under the age of 10, I would probably be doing much worse than smoking!!

Jade and I were playing pretend. For those of you who are not familiar, this is a game where we act like different people and do various things together like shop, cook, eat, etc. Jade tells me "mom, you pretend to be nice, like my teacher". Yup, I really need a vacation.

A Decade, Really?

Tomorrow, October 9th, we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I remember not long ago thinking 10 years seemed like a REALLY long time. Now, I'm wondering what happened? How did we get here so FAST?? In honor of ten years, here is a list of 10 random things you may not know about Steve and Jayci.
1. We still use the majority of kitchen accessories we were gifted at our wedding.
2. I finally won the argument of whether or not to get a dog. Steve told me the other day, "good choice Jace, Ms. E's a great dog for our family". No, I'm not making that up, he really said it (and I needed to document it somewhere).
3. We love our kids more than we could have ever imagined. When we were first married, we did not want kids. A not so gentle urging from a power greater than us forced our hands and we are grateful every single day for the two little people who are sharing in this life with us.
4. We often want to strangle those same little people.
5. Especially today.
6. So far, we have met our goal each year of going on one big trip, just Steve and me. I can't tell you how much this strengthens our relationship. We have been to: Tahiti, Hawaii, The Bahamas, Jackson Hole, San Diego, San Francisco, Sedona Arizona, Portland Oregon, Springdale Utah and we leave again for Hawaii in 4 days.
7. A hobby we have found to love together is gardening. To my amazement, Steve loves to garden as much as I do!!
8. Steve and I are polar opposites in many, many ways. Most days this works very well, other days, well, not so much.
9. I can still count on just one hand the number of times we have been truly angry with each other.
10. The commitment we made to each other 10 years ago, is just as strong today as it was then, if not stronger. Neither of us could have imagined the challenge a successful marriage and family would be, and I'm still in awe that we have managed to get this far. 10 years is nothing, compared to what lies ahead of us. But, from the bottom of my heart, I have loved every minute of the last 3,650 days.