BIG Favor!

Our little girl Carlie really wants a playset for the yard. Today is her Birthday. A local radio station is having a contest and the winner gets a backyard playset. Please help her win it by following this link and voting for her!! She is CONTESTANT #32 in the age 5 and older group. Only one vote per computer ip address (1 vote per computer) and email will be allowed. Thanks!

http://www.971zht.com/pages/kiddieokee/vote-5-7.html

Look at Me, I'm Three!

Happy Birthday D-Man! You keep us on our toes and always make our life interesting. There is never a dull moment when Davis is around. He is such a fun, helpful and kind (most of the time) boy. We love you and are glad you are part of our family!

Firsts

Our little Joey's first birthday is fast approaching and his first year has flown by. We can't believe he is almost one! This past month has been the first of many things. Here are a couple that we have documented.

Joseph's first OREO cookie. He loved it, especially the mess!

His first winter. Mostly spent watching from the inside.

And last but not least, his first steps.

Growing Family

The Lambert family is growing. We have been blessed with 2 cute new baby cousins . Here is Jenny's little boy McKay.

And Heather's little girl Halle

Halle the Diva! Who has ever heard of a baby wearing a sleep mask?

We are glad Joseph has 2 little cousins to play with!

Future Model?

Here is our Carlie outside loving one of the first warmer days of the season. She has been cooped up inside for too long and has been counting down the days till spring. She was out riding her bike the other day and was screaming at the top of her lungs "IIIIII loooove it!" It has been nice to get outside and become more active.

Monster Truck

Davis went to the Monster Truck show for an early birthday present. He went with his dad, cousin Collin, Uncle Jason and some neighbor boys and their dads. He loved it! His favorite truck was "Backwards Bob".

Davis with dad, Justin and Andrew and Ricky and Hunter.

Davis with Dad, Jason and Collin.

Here is Davis oblivious to what is going on on the track. He is occupied with his treat he got during intermission.

Hawaii, Part II

Maui is absolutely beautiful! If you ever get the chance I would suggest visiting this island. The first few pictures below are of the drive we took to Hana. The road to Hana is long and winding, with over 600 curves and 54 bridges. It usually takes all day to make the drive to the little town and back. The scenery was gorgeous! One of the stops we wanted to make on the drive was to visit a black sand beach. Here is a picture below: One of the many scenic views on the drive.

The trees below are called Rainbow Trees. The colors get even brighter when they are wet.

The last stop on the drive is at the Seven Sacred Pools,which is basically what you make the long drive to see. We started our drive later on in the day than we had planned and by the time we made it to this point we only had enough time to pay to enter the park, take a couple pictures and get back on the road. We had to hurry so we weren't driving the winding road in the dark. It was worth the drive and we wished we could have spent more time here.

This picture below is of ONE tree! This is a Banyan tree and it grows laterially by dropping roots down from it's branches. It is the size of an entire city block. Amazing!

We spent a morning horseback riding on Maui. Rick on his horse Steven Segal and Monica on her horse Jet Li. Our ride included amazing views of the ocean as well as a chance to explore a tropical forest. Our guide was great and was able to show us many of the plants and trees Hawaii is known for.

The sunsets were beautiful! I know I use beautiful a lot but everything really was!

Lao Needle located in Lao Valley State Park

We also spent a day snorkeling and snuba diving. We bought our own underwater camera and the pictures didn't turn out so well. We should have paid the money and used the cameras they offered on the boat. Anyway, we took a boat ride out to Molekini Crater and Turtle Town and swam with the turtles and fish. It was a great experience, but I don't think we would do the snuba diving again. The snorkeling was much more relaxing.

We had a wonderful trip to Hawaii and we are saving to go again. It might take us another ten years but we are definitely going again.

Carlie's Winter Recital

Our little performer did a great job in her latest dance recital. It's fun to see her enjoy dance and especially enjoy being on stage. Here is a link to a video of her recital if you want to see her shine(Be sure to click on the "watch in high quality" link below the video.) In the video you can see she didn't want to leave the stage. She told us she wanted to stay and dance more. We were happy Grandpa Gord could spend the evening with us. He came and had dinner and a special ice cream treat before the recital.

Wishing We Were Here Again...

As most of you know, Rick and I spent a wonderful week in Hawaii last month to celebrate our BIG 10 year anniversary! Rick surprised me last Christmas with a trip of a lifetime. He had secretly been saving for a nice trip since we were first married. He told me I could pick anywhere I wanted to go and, of course, I picked Hawaii--I have always wanted to visit and I'm sure glad we were able to go, it definitely was paradise. Rick and I are not the best at taking pictures when it is just the two of us, so after we got home we realized we didn't get many pictures. We stayed for 2 days in Oahu at the Hyatt Regency which had a view of the ocean and Waikiki Beach. We did not take any pictures from our room, so the picture above will have to do. Oh well... Here are a few pictures we did manage to take of our stay in Oahu. Rick has posted more pictures in a post below if you really want to see more from our trip to Hawaii.

The first day we spent the morning attending a session at the Laie Hawaii temple on Oahu. The Temple is located very close to the Polynesian Cultural Center, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. We visited Hawaii during a very slow tourist season and it felt like we were the only ones at the PCC. We wandered around wondering why everyone said to visit, we were actually pretty bored for about an hour. After visiting a few of the cultural exhibits, tour groups started coming which made for a more enjoyable experience. The programs were very entertaining and had us laughing all afternoon. We also attended our one and only luau. Now I can say I've been to a luau, even if I didn't love the food or sharing a table with strangers. Rick thought the lady sitting next to us was a little tipsy (and alcohol is not permitted in the PCC)--she was kind of cuckoo!

These statues are replicas of ones seen on Easter Island, which is owned by Chile. Not in Rick's mission, but he did teach some people who were from there.

Our first glimpse of beautiful Hawaii on our drive out of Waikiki on our way to the Temple.

The second day was spent walking along Waikiki Beach and attending the Pearl Harbor visitors center. The picture above is proof that Rick would actually step foot on the beach. I think the only reason he even got that much of him in the water was because most of the beaches had a place for you to rinse the sand off your feet.

I have loved reading and learning about WWII and have always wanted to visit Pearl Harbor for myself. Being there in that peaceful setting I can only imagine the shock it must have been when they were attacked on December 7th, 1941. We actually visited Pearl Harbor on December 3rd, only a few days before the anniversary of the attack. We took a boat ride out to see the USS Arizona Memorial. It was a very reverent place. We learned that many survivors of the attack who have since died have even requested to be buried at sea with their fellow service men and women. The last picture shows the oil that is still leaking from the ship 67 years later. Pretty amazing!

View of the harbor.

Then we experienced the world's fastest and cheapest visit to The Cheesecake Factory (under 20 minutes and $20) We were nervous we would miss our flight, of course we were plenty early and sat at the airport for almost an hour (In case you don't know we both can be worry warts). We then headed off to beautiful Maui. More coming, hopefully before another month passes.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Carlie and Joseph were so excited to see Santa, Davis was just excited for his candy cane! We didn't do Christmas cards this year so, just pretend you got this picture in the mail. We had a great time at our ward Christmas party. It was fun to see Joseph smiling with Santa. We hope everyone is having a magical Christmas season!