Oh Wait, Is It Christmas?

I'm kind of a crazy about the holidays, as in I LOVE them, and I have so many traditions that me and my fun bunch of munchkins totally look forward to. Well this year, things are a little bit different.

We started off with a big Lundquist Thanksgiving party!



My sisters, parents and I have decided that Thanksgiving would be the best time for our family to have our yearly family get together. We had a long weekend to eat, giggle, wrestle and have our own little Thanksgiving/Christmas. We missed our sister Amy and her family though. Maybe next year we'll all be here.



Thanksgiving day Brans lost his first tooth and the other one was so wiggly. I feel a certain christmas song coming on :)



Now usually, as soon as the Thanksgiving festivities end Christmas makes its big debut. Not this year. Literally hours after our Thanksgiving company hopped on their planes or drove home, we hopped on our plane and flew to Hawaii!!!



Nope, not our usual winter wear. But we were happy to shed the coats for some bathing suits. A few months ago we decided to meet Bryan's parents in Hawaii, while they were there for an extra long layover between island transfers. Yes, Trudy and Steve are still missionaries in the Marshall Islands, but they happened to be leaving Kiribati and moving back to Majuro and had to go thru Hawaii. And what do you know, we happened to make it over than too :)



See, they hadn't seen this little lady since she was 2 weeks old. It was such a fun reunion.



Thanks to my friend Brian who used to live in Hawaii, we had a list of must-do things. Of course we hit the beach or pool everyday. We also got to see a day of surfing on Sunset beach during the Triple Crown tournaments...



Hiked to Waimea Falls,



Totally enjoyed the PCC, where the boys witnessed how to climb a palm tree, open a coconut, start a fire, cook a pig,



And how to fire dance, and do some war dancing.



My sweetheart was happy the entire trip "happened" to coincide with the BYU Hawaii football game.





The whole gang got to go and enjoy the Cougars smashing the Warriors.





We loved relaxing, eating out at great little places like Ted's Bakery, reading our magazines (thanks to Aunt Michelle) and seeing turtles while we snorkled.



Sunday we went to church (a Tongan ward, where we couldn't understand much but so actually so fun) and then went to the Hawaii Temple.



Elder Christensen and Ty. Love this pic because I have one that looks just like this, except Ty was about a 10 months old.


Bry and I did get a little one on one time. He taught me to golf and I totally enjoyed it!



Who wouldn't enjoy being with your best friend, playing a game and looking at this backdrop?!



We hiked a lot and had to eat lots of Angels shaved ice.



We ended our trip with some fun on the tennis courts,



And then a trip to the Dole Plantation and then dinner at my friend Haidee's house before hopping a plane back to the mainland.



We were all pretty tuckered. Actually we're still having a hard time getting back on Utah time. And an even harder time trying to get back in the Christmas spirit. We did get a tree, and I started to decorate, and then my sweet Uncle Jerry passed awas this week and Christmas things kinda came to a hault again. My parents flew back here to stay with us, along with my sister and her family. We visited with family, attended my Uncle's funeral, tried to take advantage of having family around again, and now everyone is gone again. And I have one week to make it feel like Christmas, do some shopping and smoosh in a few traditions. Wish me luck.