Houses, houses, houses

I don't have any pictures to post today, but it's been a few weeks now, so I had better post something, right?!? We are moving forward with selling our Utah home and buying one down in Arizona. We went down last week to Arizona for our final push to find a house. We walked through seven houses, one that Cassi had been through before. We came down to three really good options, and decided on one to make an offer on. There were a lot of things going for this house.

1. The location is perfect. We will be in the same Jr. High and High School boundaries as Amy, and we're close enough to the Elementary School boundaries that we might be able to do a waiver.
2. The layout is very nice. It has 5 bedrooms, so there's one for me to work from home in, away from noise or commotion from the rest of the house. The girls can share a room downstairs, and have a playroom too. There's a separate family room and living room and dining room - all things I especially wanted as we looked for houses. The backyard is big enough, but not mammoth. Finally, it has a 3-car garage. I don't plan on getting a 3rd car for a long time (if ever!), so we will make good use of the extra storage space.
3. The house had a great feel. It's nice to find a house that has been taken care of, and this family has done that here. I enjoyed seeing the Family Proclamation displayed, as well as other family/church-centric decorations. We got to meet them a couple times as we saw the house during the week, and they just have to be good people.

We made an offer the day we decided on it, and it was accepted! I'm going to be careful about posting pictures of it after we've signed papers and have the keys in hand.

This past week has been busy packing here in UT. As we got ready for the drive back, Mom and Dad offered (and we accepted the offer) to let the girls stay in AZ with them this week until they come up to Utah for the 4th of July. We (and I really mean Cassi, since she's been home the most and has put in the most work on it) have packed a lot of boxes this week, as well as gotten really close to booking a company to move all this stuff down there. It looks like our house here will close somewhere around the 25th of July, and then we will close on our house in AZ around the 1st of August. It's been fun, and I get more excited each day to get down there and start our new adventure in the new house.

As far as progress, we have the inspection done, and soon will get the appraisal. Then we'll lock down the price. (If it appraises less than we offered, our realtor is going to work to get them to lower down to the appraisal.)

Well, it's late/early. Tonight (July 3rd) we get to bring the girls home. It's been really nice to have the extra freedom to pack and focus just on the house. but we're really excited to see them and have them back with us. It's amazing how you miss them when they're gone for just a few days. All the reports from Grandma and Grandpa are that they've been great, so we'll have to find some prize for them when they get home.

Vacation - Day 15 (June 14)

Today is traveling day. As all good things must come to an end, so must this vacation. We had a LONG way home, since check out is at 11 am, and our flight didn't leave until 9:50 pm. We did a pot-luck/clean-out-the-fridge breakfast and then loaded the cars up, took a few last pictures at the condos, and then left.


All the kids like the Sugar Cane Train, so we did that one last time. Scott and his kids set the record for most trips on the train this vacation with 6. Ryan was close behind at 5. Katelyn and Megan and I only hit it 3 times, but still that's not bad. With the "Frequent Rider" passes we got, we had to go twice to make it worth buying the tickets, so we did our jobs.




Katelyn gave us one last "Shaka" before we left the train yards and went for lunch.


Hawaiian tradition says that when you leave the Islands, you throw a flower (or lei) into the ocean. If it comes back, so will you. I don't know what the tradition says if it doesn't come back. The girls always enjoy participating (plus if we tried to take the leis home, they'd just die on the plane anyway). I think everyone's came back but Cassi's this time, so we're taking an average that we can come back someday too. :)


After the leis, we made one last voyage: Kihei. Grandpa Long has asked Grandma-ma almost every day if we were going to visit Kihei. They've stayed there on several of their trips to Maui. She didn't know we had any plans of doing it until today. So, for Grandpa, I took a couple trips as proof that we visited Kihei.



Also in Kihei, I saw this evacuation route sign. Ryan asked if it was the route in the case of a volcanic eruption. I think rather it was for a tidal wave, as the arrow points in the direction of the volcano!


Next we made our way from Kihei to Kahului, where the airport was. We still had a few hours before heading to the airport, so we went to the Queen Ka'Ahumanu Center (mall). We thought there would be a play area there for the kids. We were right - kind-of. There was a play area, but it was under construction. Oh well! We had lunch in the Queen's Market (food court) and then drove to the airport.



Here's to the end of the trip! We made it to the airport and kept everyone happy until the flight. I put on a movie (Meet the Robinsons) and we had not only our kids, but a lot of kids from other families come over and watch it. I think all the parents were okay with the little extra noise from my laptop considering how much less noise and movement there would have been otherwise.


Since our flight left so late (almost 2:00 am MDT), all the kids did great and slept almost the whole time. My seat was broken and wouldn't stay upright, so sorry to the little girl behind me . :)

(Obviously when we got home it was really June 15, but for me it all still felt like just one day, so I'm keeping it included in this posting.) We made it home, and to church (for the whole block) and then crashed a little at home. We tried to have bedtime be 5:30, but the kids only saw it as a nap. We finally got them down to bed and us to bed around midnight.

Well, we all had a wonderful vacation, and will hopefully remember it forever. Hawaii is a beautiful place, and the culture is just something I get excited about. We have to go back to the real world of kids, callings, work, finding a new house in Arizona, etc. But we sure hope to return someday, because really "no ka 'oi" (it's the best) .

Vacation - Day 14 (June 13)

How much pizza does it take to feed this family? Let me show you. We tried really hard to only buy enough groceries to last us while we were here, so that we aren't throwing away any food as we leave. I think we did a pretty good job this year, which is partly the reason for Pizza Hut tonight (not to mention that everyone likes pizza).


Despite being Friday the 13th, there wasn't anything scary about the nights activities here in paradise. Amy handed out the "Sandy Awards" for the sandcastle contest. The Starfish group (Megan, Joshua, and Blake) got "The Handy Helper Award - Super Starfish" for using the most tools - we had a sifter! The Turtle (Katelyn, Bryson, Benjamin, and Hyrum) got "Most Detailed - Totally Awesome Turtle." And The Whale (Nathan, Bradley, and Brock) group got the "Maui-Wowie Whale" award.


We also had the awards ceremony for the Scavenger Hunt. Cassi and I did the scoring. I'm happy to say we didn't fight about any of the scores, but we did have to sell each other on why each score was given. And it was close. The final score had a 2-way tie for 3rd place between my family and Scott and Amy's family, with 47 points (78 is the total possible, but noone was going to get it). Second place was a 3-way tie with 49 points between Ryan and Jennifer's family, Mom and Dad and Grandma-ma, and Chase and Kaley. You can probably figure out that the winner, then was Brett and Stephanie and Hyrum, with 50 points. It was very close. Cassi and I made a video to show everyone's pictures, the individual scores, and the final results. Everyone had a fun time with it. For prizes, Cassi and I got a can of Chocolate-covered Macadamia Nuts for each team for completing the challenge, and the winners got a souvenir wood picture frame (since the point of the hunt was to remember the trip).

Vacation - Day 13 (June 12)

Well we are certainly feeling that the end of the trip is nearing. Nevertheless, there is still fun to be had! Today was a pool/beach day, and for dinner we wandered over to Front Street in Lahaina. The Hard Rock Cafe is across the street from an awesome sunset view. We snapped a couple family pictures before and after dinner. The location where the HRC stands now was once a hospital here in Old Lahaina. If my Hawaiian history is correct, Lahaina was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. I think it was Kamehameha I who united all the islands under one rule and moved the capital to Honolulu (but that part needs some fact-checking).



Did I say the sunset view amazing or what?!


If you just look down from the rock wall (where we took our family pictures), you can usually spot some of these little black crabs on the black lava rocks.


Where would Katelyn be without her cousin Bryson? I just don't know. She wanted to take this picture with him while we were all together across from Hard Rock Cafe tonight. She loves all her cousins, of course, so a little later she took this picture with Benjamin.


From the same little spot (back behind the Crazy Shirts store there's a small porch that literally goes to the edge of the ocean), I snapped this picture of the dusk sky. I couldn't believe how awesome the torches and store-backs looked up against the night sky.

Vacation - Day 12 (June 11)

Amy and Scott were in charge of this trip's sandcastle contest. Each group drew out of a hat what their assigned task was. My group (all the littlest kids) made the starfish. Everyone did a great job, but I think it's clear that we won (even though Katelyn and Cassi helped make the turltle).



Megan mostly sat in this chair the whole time because she doesn't like to touch sand very much. She is getting better, but had some fun with Cassi here.


Katelyn kept trying to get some water in this pail, but if the wave was too big (for her), she went running away.


After lunch we had some pool time. We've been to the pool almost everyday, and didn't have any pictures yet, so we took some today.



Dinner wrapped up the day at Cheesburgers In Paradise. It's a nice little restaurant we go to whenever we come to Maui (I learned from the menu tonight that there is one in Las Vegas now - I may have to check it out). I always get the Island Style (teryaki cheesburger with a grilled Maui pineapple) and a pineapple smoothie. Because of our large group, we went for an early dinner, but that cut into Megan's nap time. So, she spent the first half of dinner asleep on my shoulder. Both girls ended up with a new pineapple piggy bank. Megan will be more excited to have one when we get home.

Vacation - Day 11 (June 10)

We got up early this morning for our scuba trip to Lanai. On our last trip to Maui, we tried to do a dive out at Lanai, but the weather prevented us from making it all the way there. The weather was better today, though it was still pretty choppy on the surface. Once we got about 15 feet under, it was pretty calm. The boat ride to Lanai was pretty good, but when we anchored down, it rocked enough that there were some who got hit with a little sea sickness.



Here are a couple pics of Lanai. First is Sweetheart Rocks. The story behind it is kind of a Romeo and Juliet story. The second pic is of the coastline.


Just before our second dive, we saw some dolphins! It was pretty cool. After this, we hurried up and got our gear on and swam with the dolphins for a few minutes. It was awesome to be in the water with them.


Diving, I usually suck through my air quicker than the others. Today, Chase was a little faster than me, so he went up first, shortly followed by me. I grabbed a pic of everyone else as they came up and back onto the boat.



Our guides have really nice underwater cameras, and we should get those pictures in a day or two that I'll post a few here.

Here's a shot of Lanai from the boat on our way back to Maui, and a shot of the dive stats, with some of the sealife we saw.


After scuba, we had lunch and then Katelyn wanted to boogie board. This was pretty fun. She pretty much held onto her board while I took her out and gave her a little shove as the wave came in. Megan and Cassi watched from the sand (and took some pictures).


Tonight was also the traditional spouse's trip to Mama's Fish House. None of my brothers and sisters like fish, but all of our spouses do. So when we come to Maui, they find one night to go out and have some nice fish. This place is about as nice of a fish place as there is on the island. The menu is printed each day with the locations of the catches. And it has a great view (so they tell me)!