Bowling, horses, tinkerbell dance off and the princess

Sounds like the title of one exciting children's book, no? The Hymii's have had some fun adventures these past few weeks, here are some of them:

• Grace experienced bowling for the first time with her Friend Miss Star and what would bowling be without the occasional lipstick refresh (see bottom left pic for demonstration). I guess you have to have mad hops in the sport of bowling as well.
  
  
• Daddy and Grace made muffins one morning, daddy even let her dress him up with a pretty headband, what a sport!
  


• We have discovered princess's in our home which ups the already existing diva factor! The jewelery of choice happened to be earrings, when they are on we have to fling our head and hair just so. We are still working on our natural Princess smiles ~almost there.





• Oh and did we mention horses? Yes, Grace loves horses, apparently she told us so (direct quote) "I always loved horses mommy, I told you this for three days". Some friends of ours have two horses and a mule, we couldn't get Grace off them. Russ and I experienced a fun tantrum trying to pull her off which required us to exercise our newly found "love and logic" parenting skills, I think we passed.



• One pic that is our favorite and happens more regularly than not in our home is the shopping cart pile up of dolls. Maybe one day Grace will make a run for the Tijuana border with a small pickup truck packed with furniture, I suppose these are her practice years. In case some of you don't understand this comment, there are Hispanics that come to the states , pick up a ton of furniture and haul it down to the border to sell I presume. These trucks are packed to the hilt and are really impressive to see. Google it I am sure you won't be disappointed.
  


• Last but not least Grace loves classical music these days and what would classical music be without dressing up like Tinkerbell and having a dance off with mommy. Fortunately no demo pic of mommy but one from Miss Grace taking the appropriate final pose at the end of her beautiful dance.
  

Life Lessons

Well, we learned two important lessons this week:

Lesson #1: When you go on a short business trip and only take one change of clothes, be sure to check with your boss before packing to avoid this...

I can't tell you how many people asked if this was the "Ross, Dixon & Bell uniform" during the dinner we attended. On a more positive note, it does make your boss think that you really admire him and want to be like him in every way.

Lesson #2: Don't underestimate your kid's deductive reasoning powers. As we try to teach our little one about Heaven, we made a comment last night about living with Heavenly Father. Gracie raised both hands in the air and responded, "I want to live with Heavenly Father. I'm going to get hit by a car and live with Him!!" Freaky, right? Well, turns out that earlier that day, Tommi and Grace were out and about and Grace started to venture toward the road. Tommi had said something like, "Gracie, you need to hold Mommy's hand when we get near the road. I don't want you to get hit by a car. If you do, you can't live with Mommy & Daddy anymore--you have to go live with Heavenly Father."

Guess we need to be a bit more careful about how we phrase things, huh?

Hawaii

I finally was able to scratch Hawaii off of my life list of places to see!! Russ and I went minus the little one and we had so much fun! I came back freakishly tan and Russ with his Irish skin sought out the shade. Here is a list of a few things we experienced and or appreciated~

• Sleep~ (first thing on the list)! We were able to sleep in, no late night water or bathroom calls from the little miss. Ahhhhhh



• Road to Hana~If any of you have done this you will know what I mean when I say "AMAZING"! Please go experience this drive for yourself I promise you won't be disappointed. On this drive you can stop at numerous waterfalls and not one was disappointing. We were offered some "Maui Wowie" TWICE! We decided that this was either very common or we looked really uptight.



• Snorkeling with the Turtles~ Although they were sparse it was still really amazing to see them so closely.



• Learning to Surf~ We learned with the MTV "Living Lahina" cast. I loved this show when it was on because these guys are truly funny and super dumb! They were so awesome and easy to learn from. My back, shoulders and arms were on fire by day's end. I can see how this becomes an addiction for most, I will for sure be back in the ocean to learn more once it warms up!
  
  
• Car accident~ Yes we were rear-ended while we were there. Russ and I were at a dead stop and got hit by this poor lady who was going about 30. All I could say was "Holy hell" when it happened. This poor lady had the sadest story, she was there to spread her son's ashes who had commited suicide three months earlier. To make the story worse it was her only child. By the end of the ordeal I was in full blown water works and ready to pay for the damages to the cars myself. The blessing ... I have a new friend named Diana and I hope she comes to SD to visit me soon. Oh and did I mention we opted out on the rental insurance, gulp! Here is where you can call us idiots, luckily her insurance covered everything so we don't even have to worry, even if it didn't our our own car insurance would have but no thank you.



• Shave Ice or is it Shaved Ice ?~ My mind-boggling question on the trip was whether it is pronounced Shaved Ice or Shave Ice. Here in the "Main land" it is commonly called shaved ice not in Maui though every where we went we saw signs for shave ice. Things like that irritate me not sure why? Please clear this up for me someone ... anyone.
  

A shout out to Grammy for making this all possible by coming down to SD and watching the Misses despite the fact that she just had surgery a week prior to coming down. We truly appreciate you and love you!! Thanks for making it so comfortable leaving our little one for the first time!!!

Russ and I decided that Hawaii is a must every year, it was such a relaxing place to be!!

released ...

I was released from my calling yesterday. I have to be honest and say that a part of me was relieved ... at first, but as it sunk in I realized how much I am going to miss this calling in particular. I know that it was busy and required me to be there every Sunday and Wednesday. I know that it was super challenging and emotionally draining at times BUT it certainly was the funnest time I have had in a calling. The YW's president is one of the funnest, most giving people I have ever met I have found such a wonderful friendship in her!! The girls were nothing short of amazing, they are up against so much more than I ever was and in spite of that they are still very positive and a joy to be around!!

I will miss this calling for sure! I don't think we realize how blessed we are to be called to serve and help others! Magnify what you are called to do , sink yourself into it I promise you will learn so much about yourself and others!

Growing Up

It seems every time I turn around Grace has gotten bigger, she speaks in complete sentences for the most part, my assistance is no longer need at the potty and has been replaced with her announcement that she will be going and or has finished going. Grace can find the nursery on her own at church and doesn't need me to walk her in, I fear I embarrass her by walking there. Our newly found trick is her ability to get in and out of the jeep on her own oh and taking off her seat belt (gulp). I think really the only thing she needs me for physically is to get her "Milky". Don't get me wrong there are still moments of needing mom such as reading time, breakfast, lunch and dinner and the occasional quarter needed at the gum ball machine. I always laughed and shrugged off the comment from parents about how fast they grow up and to savor every moment and so here I find myself repeating the words to all of you. I have a kid not a baby, where does the time go?