Family fun in Hawaii

My first Hawaiian beach experience. The sand was more orangey-red and coarser than what I knew from CA beaches. I didn't have a swimming suit yet since I had just come from snowy winter-land in WA. I just played in the sand and the shallow surf. Codi played around with being photgrapher. She really enjoys doing that.
Codi and Kainoa took me to see the Hyatt one of my first days on Kauai. When we first walked in, there was a wedding party being photographed in this exact spot. We decided to take a picture or two here as well. Unfortunately my camera wasn't good enough to capture the stunning seascape background outside as well. We were pretty impressed with how luxurious everything was. WOW!
This was my first Sunday in Lihue. I have loved getting to know the people here so much. The ward has been awesome as well as all of the friends I have made in the Stake. It is also fun when the ward sings to you and gives you a lei when you attend as a visitor.
I wanted to play photography soon after I arrived in Hawaii, so my sister fixed up my hair and she readied herself and Napua--then we just had some fun.
Man, I love this baby's smile--so contagious!
Tressie and Napua on Liane's lanai
Codi and Napua chilling on the beach on my first trip to Kalapaki beach
It was so great--Napua used to fall asleep on me all the time like this. I loved having her so close and feeling so comfortable with me!
Codi, Kainoa, and Napua chilling while I play photography with the Hawaiian lanscapes and these unsuspecting subjects...oh, except that Kainoa was looking right at the camera, haha :)
Family pic. at Menehune Fishpond lookout
Napua and I, taking a nap together while Codi studied for a test. Napua is so much fun to hang out with. She is always such a good-natured baby.
Napua isn't too big on the pacifier, but every-once-in-awhile, I could get her to take it, this being one of those times. She was actually content enough to fall asleep with it in her mouth!!
Codi and I were trying to do a self-portrait or whatever, but it wasn't working out very well. Oops! I still kind of liked the shot anyway--it made us laugh :)
Codi and Kainoa hanging with baby at the Taumalolo's house.
Auntie Tressie gladly taking her turn with the little sweetheart
Picture time! I think this was Valentine's Day :)
I was admiring the yellow and white flowers--plumeria--growing on my friends tree one day at fhe. Not only are they pretty, but they smell divine. By the end of the night, two of my guy friends at fhe had picked one for me to take home. They actually last quite awhile even after being picked. I enjoyed their aroma for many days. I got the roses from another friend at fhe that same night. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty special by the end of the night, haha! Thanks guys :)
Codi and Kainoa takin' a break after boogie boarding at Kalapaki beach. This was the first time I had been able to go to the beach to swim when Kainoa was able to come too. It was fun.
Codi being a mermaid at the Ching Young Shopping Village in Hanalei. I made her go stand for a picture!
This is a cool shirt. I bought it at a store called Del Sol down by Kalapaki beach. When I'm inside, out of the sun, it looks like the above picture. Outside in the sun, it looks like the picture below. Cool, huh?! I got nail polish and headbands that do the same thing, but the pictures didn't turn out as well for those items.

Codi's b-day. We ate homemade pizza and apple dumplings while watching "Bedtime Stories." It was funny; she stuck the candle in her apple dumplings so that she could blow it out for her b-day wish. When she went to take it out afterward, she saw that the bottom of the candle had completely melted in the middle of her dessert because the dessert was fresh from the oven!! Haha! It was so funny. She had to throw away her first helping. Luckily there were plenty of extra helpings :)
Our Easter egg decorating fun. I had a good time and ended up working on my eggs for a lot longer than Codi and Kainoa did. I guess I just enjoyed having a little art project or something! My favorite one to do was the tie-dyed one on the bottom, second on the left. It was actually an accident that ended up turning out kind of neat.

Family pic. on Easter. How cute!
Cool dudes chillin' on Easter afternoon :)

Surfing lessons!

(Melissa, Mallory, Nick)
(Melissa, Tressie, Nick)
(Mallory, Nephi, Nick)
I went to a surfing lessons with some friends. Of course, I didn't actually try any surfing, but I had a great time playing photographer, watching my friends all learn to ride a wave all the way in, and playing in the ocean myself. The waves were awesome. Hanalei beach is the one on Kauai that reminds me the most of the California beaches that I have visited. I love it!! We also had a picnic afterward, courtesy of Mallory, as well as an awards ceremony. It was a lot of fun.

I also got a few videos of some successful attempts as well as some bloopers, haha :) My friends wanted me to post these, so if you aren't interested in watching all of the videos, go ahead and skip them! It's fine by me :)

Nick's blooper--sorry for laughing, dude. I couldn't help it :)

Mallory's blooper

Nick's full wave ride. Yeah! I sound like such a dork in this video, but it was the best one that I had of Nick's success, so I sacrificed a little pride and posted it anyway :)

Melissa's full wave ride. We were all pretty impressed. She made it up and rode the wave in all the way on her first try. Woo-hoo!

Mallory's full wave ride. Sorry I didn't get the whole thing. I think this is where my camera battery died :( Good job though!

Videos to go with Napua's Pics

Haha! Napua got this doll from a friend and she just loved it...at first.
By the end, I think she was like "I'm so over this, guys" :)

This was so funny. As Napua got older, she progressed from her sweet smiles and cooing to outright laughing. I tried so many times to capture her laugh on camera, but she would always stop before I could get it recorded. This time, she was laughing at Codi's dog impressions and I caught it. The family may be surprised to see that Codi has moved from her cat impressions to dog impressions...oh, wait for it; there at the end, the cat makes a surprise reappearance. Haha, just kiddin' Codi! Codi wasn't sure if she liked the idea of my posting this video, but she agreed so that you could all see Napua laughing.

Videos to go with pics posted on 3-19-09

I thought I would add a few videos that I made to go along with some of my pictures that are already posted. Some of the views just needed a little animation! They don't all fit on one post, so more will follow later.
1. Wailua Falls in action as well as some of the surrounding area. It was so much fun to go out and see some of the sights. Waterfalls are just so pretty :)

2. Spouting Horn in action.
3. Blue Ocean scene.

Napuaokalani from 1-1-09 thru 4-29-09

Aww, precious :)

Napua got a little sun on this day. I hadn't seen her for almost a week, and she seemed so different, taller and skinnier or more grown up somehow. I don't know what, but I had to get some pictures!


Napua lounging in her new bath robe from Macy's.

Cool girl in her sunglasses from her Easter basket.
Napua checking out her Easter basket that is as big as she is, haha!
Napua showing off her Easter dress with a huge smile for the camera :)
Napua's first experience in the high chair. It was a little too big for her, but she looked so cute in it. It was funny, she liked chewing on the tray even more than she liked eating her carrots, haha!

Napua enjoys going outside and Codi is good to indulge her in this. Above, they were going on a walk. Below, they were going on a safari in the back yard!

This picture is especially for Grandma! Awww! How cute :)
I have had such a fun time getting to know my little niece, Napua, while I've been living here in Hawaii. She is such a great baby. She hardly cries except if she's hungry. She is always willing to give her smiles freely. She has even gotten to the point where she will laugh if we do something that amuses her. I love her so much :) I went a little picture crazy, but am just posting some of my favorites. Below is a new Sunday dress that she just looked adorable in!

Above: It was so funny. This jacket was a little too big for Napua, but we put it on her anyway to keep her warm. As she would swing and sleep in her swing, the hood would slowly work its way over her eyes. It would wake her up every time. I got this picture before she started fussing. It just cracked me up so much :)
Below: Sometimes Napua just got these funny looks on her face. This was probably more from the bright light than anything. She would just give me looks like "oh great, here she goes again with the camera!"

Above: I loved this shot. She looked so cute in her green onesie with her toes all stretched out. Her toes are so much fun to play with...and she loves for them to be played with!
Above: Napua's naked-jay-bird picture. We were nice enough to let her keep her diaper on ;)

I loved the little curls that she started getting. I had to get a few pictures of them. As Codi was trying to get good "curl" pictures, Napua started laughing and smiling at her. Napua's laugh is super contagious as you can see by my huge smile below!!