Winter is here!

So we are now experiencing negative digits at night and the other day it was 13 degrees during the day! How are we faring? Well, I'd say alright! So far no major meltdowns haha. We took Isla sledding for her first time and she loved it!!! She looked riduculous and adorable all at the same time in her loud snowsuit and gear. I'll add a pic (click to enlarge and get the full effect) so you can judge for yourself! Daddy did all of the actual work sledding. He took her progressively higher and higher up the hill with each run. She cracked up every time and insisted on going again and again....There still isn't enough real snow at this time to get out and ski or snowboard yet. Apparently this is an odd year and there is usually more snow by now. I'm sure there will be no lack of snow soon:) We're looking forward to having our first white Christmas together EVER!

My mom came and visited us over Thanksgiving. We had a blast! We took her around to see wildlife, mountains, snow, etc. She about froze to death and had to wear her electric socks haha! I laugh, but am seriously considering buying some for myself:). We got to spend a lot of quality time and it was great to have her here.

Mrs. Isla is doing well! She is such the little comedian now! The other day she was rhyming and said, "You're a DOODOO!!!" I told her that wasn't a nice thing to say. Her response, "Yeah, but it's funny!" Then this AM I did her hair and she asked me if she looked like a rockstar! Where she comes up with this stuff i have no idea! Her new thing is that we are going to go on a airplane and she will pack snacks and toys in her backpack for me and daddy. She definetly keeps life interesting. After having my mom here and listening to her, it just really sticks out to me how different I was at that age. I was neat and hated to have dirt or food anywhere on me, I was mellow, compliant, low key. She is a dare devil and will climb, swing, or jump off anything she can, makes messes all over her face, hair, clothes without thought, and has her definite opinion on how things need to go. Although she can be a handful, I wouldn't want her any other way! She is such a unique amazing little person! I know....enough doting! haha

Anyways, I think that is about it!!! Hope you all are well!
Much love

The Burning Question......

Do we like Jackson Hole???? YES!!! We really love it here! The summer has been amazing! We have been hiking, hanging out at the river, camping, fishing,and riding bikes! Jackson is absolutely beautiful! The mountains are gorgeous and there are creeks that run all through Jackson. There are also AMAZING wildflowers everywhere. There is a bike path that runs all around and somewhat in the town. It has wood bridges over the creeks and goes out in the country too. We can ride for miles! Isla has her own trailer that she calls her "car" that we hook onto our bike. I've never really had the desire to live in the mountains, but I'm really enjoying it!

We moved into a condo that is 2 blocks from my work and in the same parking lot as a grocery store, our bank, and doctor! Isla's daycare is only like 1 mile away if that and the bike path runs right along our building. We really scored with location! I'm guessing I'll put like 10 miles a week on my car! Michael is enjoying his new job. I start work on Monday, and Isla started daycare a week ago. We are well on our way.

Now as far as being prepared for winter....we are not! haha We are driving 2 hours away to do some shopping for me for long sleeved shirts and close toed shoes for work. We've had to seriously revise our wardrobes. We are trading in our slippers and swimsuits for boots and snowsuits!!! The good news is most serious winter gear from last year has been on sale. I haven't worn boots in years and found a killer deal on an amazing pair! To say I'm nervous about winter would be an understatement! :) I freeze SO easily that I'm going to have to develop thicker blood to survive. Michael is so excited and is going to take up snowboarding.

Ms. Isla is doing so well! She amazes me every day! She is so active and VERBAL!!! I just love it! She's really been in to singing, waterplay, and climbing lately. She sings herself to sleep most nights. Her new catch phrase is, "Cuz why?" She will "Cuz why" you until you are blue in the face! So inquisitive. She is also catching EVERYTHING you say! I'll have no clue she's listening to me and later she will bring up some random minute detail of a conversation I was having. Her memory amazes me! She has been elated to have friends again and seems to enjoy her new daycare. I had NO CLUE that I would have such a hard time sending her to school again! I've so enjoyed having her with me all this time! All is well tho and I will adjust haha!

Our friends Christine and Drew have been out visiting and left today for the rest of their roadtrip:(. We had a blast while they were here! Today is my last day off....I kept the little monkey home from school and we went to the pool, read books, and will head off to the park in a bit. Well, that's it for now!! Much love to you all!!!

The big move.....to WYOMING....

So if you haven't heard...we are moving to Wyoming!!! Michael got a promotion thru the Four Seasons and we are off on a new adventure to Jackson Hole. I'm SO proud of him!!! He really is excelling in his career! We only found out about a month ago...so you can imagine how hectic life has been! The good news is that, altho busy, everything went off without a hitch! Michael and I make an amazing team, along with a lot of help from the Big Man upstairs, and got all of the details covered! It is about as drastic of a move as you can get...we are going from Maui, where no one has heaters, to Jackson Hole, where no one has A/C.
We just left Maui yesterday and are now in Hilo visiting with our family here before we leave on Friday to go to Jackson! It has been an extremely bitter sweet situation! We LOVE LOVE LOVE Maui....did i say we LOVE it? hahaha It has really suited our lifestyle well.... we, up to this point, are beach people! Maui has plenty of beaches and surf spots to spare. We have really established amazing connections with friends and work there. We will miss it SO MUCH!!!
With all of that said:), we are excited about our new opportunity and a chance at an entirely different life style, new people, jobs, etc. I've heard nothing but great things about Jackson from anyone that has lived or visited there... I personally think I'll dig the summers more...camping, hiking, possibly even fly fishing!!! we'll see! Michael got rid of three surfboards and is going to invest in a snowboard... Very interesting to see how it unfolds. I've never even considered living in the mountains, I may love it!!
So our first line of business when we get there is to purchase a new wardrobe for all three of us! I've been watching the weather and it still gets down into the 30's and 40's at night this time of year.....the highs are in the 50s and 60s mostly now. I really don't think our boardshorts and spaghetti strap shirts and dresses will cut it. I've never been one to shy away from a much needed shopping trip haha.
Isla is doing well! She speaks in full sentences now and can engage in a full conversation! She talks or more so SINGS all the time. The girl loves to sing and can memorize lengthy (for a two year old) songs like nothing! She now knows several songs in Hawaiian and one Hawaiian chant with motions and all! I'm really going to have to work to keep her supplied with music.
Recently she has developed a HUGE imagination. She was using her Tutu's (grandma) doilies and drink coasters to make sandwiches. She has also taking to wadding up her little blanket or any piece of cloth and pretending they are animals or babies. She will show you where the head, tail, etc are and will usually say they are either happy or sad. Not sure why...that's just what she does! She will take her little wadded friends around and show them things and tell you that you need to hold them. Pretty cute! She fell this morning and busted her lip and eye on the coffee table and she and her Tutu were scolding the coffee table saying, "Naughty coffee table." After she felt better the table apparently apologized, "He said he's sorry to my lip." She is great!
Jaggar is doing really well! He has grown out his hair a tad...the chicks dig it apparently:). He also made honor roll for three quarters and gets to go bowling this week with the school as a reward. He's gotten really into music and his ipod as of late and has passed me and his grandmother in height. We are so stoked to have him for a few days before we go. He is doing really well!
This is all for now!!! As always much love and aloha!!!!!!!!

Catch up!

So let me catch you all up. Christmas was GREAT! We went to the Big Island and spent most of our time in Hilo with our family there! It was such a nice visit. We enjoyed the chilly Hilo weather and even went to the zoo there. The time with family was great! The kids had a wonderful Christmas complete with an Elmo Live doll compliments of Tutu (Hawaiian for grandma) and Papa. Jaggar got a speaker dock for his new ipod and had us all rockin out and dancing. We also got to spend some quality time with our Kona friends. We have some very close friends there that we dearly miss so it was great to see them.

We had a bbq and a beach day in Kona.
Since Christmas we have moved! We moved out of the apartment we had been in for a year and a half. It was a long complicated story that I wont go into....but in the end we landed a AMAZING condo that has the ocean for the view out of our living room. From our front lanai we see a small two lane road and then the beach! We've been able to see whales breaching from our front porch! I even saw one while I was in the kitchen feeding Isla. Our new place has almost twice the square footage as our old place. If you never saw our old place...let me just tell you that we had the golf clubs and vacuum cleaner just sitting in our living room due to lack of space! Needless to say we are thrilled. God is good and has really blessed us!
Speaking of blessings....I'm an aunt again! Little Aidan Roel Conner was born on Feb. 21st! He looks beautiful in the pictures and I cannot wait to hold him! There was a big twist with his birth......For those of you that know my brother, you know he is an amazing person with a knack for being anything but typical. First he had twins....get this, Aidan was born ON the twins birthday!!! So all three of his children have the same birthday. Go figure! Congrats to Tyler and Vicki!

We are gearing up for Isla's 2nd birthday party! We are going to have it at the beach across the street. Much more convenient than loading the grill, shade tents, tables...etc in the truck to drive 20 minutes away and realize you have to make a trip back:) So we will wheel the grill across the street and have it there! She is so excited about her party! She likes to go thru the list of who is coming. I took her to the park last week and this 9 or 10 year old little boy was a few swings down from her. She said, "Hi Boy! I'm Isla, I one. I have birthday party I eat cake and blow out candles." I can't remember exactly what she said, but she pretty much invited him and asked me if it was okay... The kid was all confused like why is this baby talking to me. Not sure where she gets that outgoing personality haha. If you ask her how old she is she says "1" if you say how old will you be she says "2."

Michael is doing well! He got manager of the quarter at work! I'm sure he'll be horrified that I posted that haha. I'm really proud of him. He's really been wanting a stand up paddle board (I'll post pix later of it) and finally got one! Love that Craigslist! Isla has turned into a full on Daddy's girl. She just ADORES him! When he comes home she stops whatever she is doing and yells "Daddy Daddy!!!" and runs straight at him full speed! It's so sweet.

Hmmmmm what else. Working full time is going well...minus missing my time with Isla. I cut probably 10-13 inches off my hair (see pic). We may try to make it to San Antonio this summer....we'll see. Some of Isla's latest antics.... Her new favorite thing to say is " I breaked it!" She is breaking everything! AND she appears to delight in it! I would understand if she were a boy...boys (and most men) enjoy breaking things....but my pretty little girl? What do you do? She also has me make elmo and cookie monster over and over...I draw them, I make them with playdough, I make sculptures of them at the beach...etc. She usually smashes them (going along with the breaking above) and then asks me to make it over. It amazes me how children never tire of the same thing! She knows her shapes and colors well and we are now moving on to letters. She knows several of them now. She knows D and says D for Daddy and M for mommy. We have a cute little song that we sing that pairs letters with the sound they makes...although she really isn't there yet. Can you tell I'm an educator? haha She is now riding her scooter like a pro and got a set of trainer roller blades that she can do on the carpet..... the sidewalk needs MUCH assistants and I have bruises all over my ankles, thanks for those Mom! :)

That's it for now....I know.. a little long winded, but it had been awhile!
xo Much love and aloha!