The beginning of bonding brothers & sisters together in Kauai

We drove from Grants Pass to Portland on Friday night. Flew out of Portland on Saturday and got to Kauai about 10:30pm Kauai time. Lon story short, we were up for about 24hrs, we all feel like we're lil old people because we need our beauty rest. Anyways, we got some sleep. Brandon and I woke up way too early, so we went for a nice breezy, or so we thought it was going to be a nice breezy, walk. But it turned out to be a little hike. Anyways, we saw plenty of chickens and roosters and a beautiful beach. I didn't realize people got up so early to go swimming, snorkeling, surfing, etc; however, the water is gorgeous and warm and it's very warm all day long. To church we went. We got to church which was only about a 10minute drive from our hotel, but it ended up being Stake Conference in Lihue, so we had an hour drive. It's such a beautiful rive. I can't get over how different Kauai is from Oregon. It's so pretty in Oregon, but it's totally different here and just as gorgeous. Brandon keeps making fun of me because I can't get over the fact that it's so pretty here and the fact that there are chickens everywhere you go, sidewalks, parking lots, beaches, hiking trails, etc. Anyways, here are a few pictures from the beginning of our week long journey! We are having a blast!


This wasn't in Kauai yet, this was in Portland the day before... the 4 of us(Brandon, Rob, Kayleigh and I) were racing across the street and I was so focused on running across the street that I almost stepped on this nasty, dead fish :( EWWWWW!!!!!!


Chickens & Roosters are everywhere here



Beach after church. It's gorgeous!!!!!



Long stairway down to one of the beaches. Rob & Kayleigh are at the bottom (if you can see them)



Beach down by St. Regis













Frogs come out at night, they jump across the sidewalks and they are everywhere at night

What a HANDFUL!!!!

My sis-in-law decided to have a modeling shoot for her two GIRLY girls. I emphasize girly because... Well take a look for yourselves, they are gonna be a handful well before high school! That being said, these are my favorite girls in the world! I love them so much!!!! They are absolutely adorable!!!!

Rocking Out!!!!

Tonight we had dinner with Brandon's family. We decided to play a little Rock Band afterwards, I would say we could make a pretty great band in downtown New York! After rocking out for a little while ,we had a little dessert...I guess this is the result of a baked apple dessert..... (F.Y.I., she doesn't know that we are posting this, in fact she had NO IDEA that she was even being recorded as she was rocking out. )

We love you Mom!!!!

Private First Class Ferrell

This is our Tommy Boy graduating from Marines boot camp!!!! I guess he isn't our lil' Tommy Boy anymore.... He's a Marine... He's a man!!! We had a great trip down to San Diego to pick up our man! He had quite a few of his fans show up!

This first picture is right after he finished the 4 and a half mile Motivational Run and they had to song their little diddies the entire time too :) This was the first time we got to see him in over 13 weeks (more for me, I hadn't seen him since his high school graduation). We saw him right before the Motivational Run. He looks so great!
This is more of our stud!
He's not as short as he looks here, he was just standing next to really tall guys because Private First Class Ferrell was also "Squad Leader Ferrell." That's why he's in front, he's a leader!
He just looked so great! I couldn't take enough pics of my bro!
This is the first time we got to see him in uniform! He's marching onto the Parade Deck! ONLY MARINES ARE ALLOWED ON THE PARADE DECK!!!
How handsome!
My Marine and I on family day!
I just love him so much! (GIRLS....BACK OFF, He's mine)
PFC Ferrell escorting his Mom!
Private First Class Ferrell with his DI's
Marine!!!
Graduation Day!!!
What a handsome man!
Private First Class Ferrell with our cousin, Officer Kolb!!! It was 'cute' because everybody has to salute Officer's, including Tom's DI's, so Tom felt pretty special walking with Andrew and everybody having to drop their bags to salute Officer Kolb.
PFCFFC (Private First Class Ferrell's Fan Club)
Singing the Marine's song (I think they call it something else in the Marines)

General Conference Weekend!!!!

This first one...I don't know if you want to ask, but Deanne and Brandon had to use a broom in Mont's behind to try to massage something out!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAt the top of Banshee Hill!!!!
Brandon wishing he could still ride little bikes!
So this next one, Broc had been trying to feed this squirrel out of his hand for a long time and finally decided to lay the food in the sand next to him while he pretended to sleep and maybe the squirrel would come eventually!!!! I think it was a "you had to be there" moment.
Brandon and I watching conference!!!
Was a fun trip over all and we always enjoy spending time with our family!!! Especially because this is when Brandon is at his happiest!

Ashlyn's 3rd Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLYN!!!!!

My niece turned 3 years old on the 29th!!!! It was so fun to see her grow up so fast. I wish she would just slow down a little, I don't want her growing up yet! She had a a fun princess party and got completely spoiled!

Enumclaw

Brandon and I went up to Enumclaw, WA for my aunt and uncle's surprise 30th Wedding Anniversary! It was so much fun! My cousin, Stephannie and her hubby, Jay, did an amazing job setting this all up. They were completely surprised, it was so much fun! It was so good to see all of my family again! 

P.S.Thanks for letting us stay at your place Steph!!!! 

Broc, Kass & the Mile High City

We invited Brandon's little brother and sister to come spend a week with us in Colorado the last week we were there! We had a blast and are so happy they decided to come spend time with us! 

First they get off the plane and we were holding a sign for them to make sure they could find us! BTW, this was their first plane ride without any adults. We hear Broc decided to do a little girl scream for everybody on the plane when they were landing. 

Then there's us at Jump Street! It's a place with a hundred trampolines and you just JUMPJUMPJUMP!!! We bought 2 hours worth and were about dead after the first half hour. It wears you out.

Then we went to the aquarium! Brandon, Broc, & Kass all decided to pet the sting rays AHHHH, there was no way I would ever touch one of those. They said they were just kind of rubbery. But it was kind of cool to see. They had some amazing things in there, including a tiger..why they had a tiger at an aquarium is a mystery to me, but it was fun to see!
Then the zoo!!!! We took lots of pictures of all of the animals! But we decided to see how short we were compared to an average polar bear. The bear is 9 feet in this pic and look how tiny we are:)
Then to Elitch Gardens!!!! It's an amusement park in downtown Denver! We went with one of our friends, Lizzy!!! Oh how we miss that girl!!!! But it was so much fun. We went over to the water park and I was watching our stuff while they went on a couple slides. I decided to move to the shade but continued to watch our belongings. Well they all came back and apparently didn't see me sitting 5 feet away. So they decided to lay down by all of our stuff and pretend to sleep, acting like they've been there forever. Well this lady was sitting next to me and we were both just cracking up. Especially because Brandon kept sitting up looking around for me and asking where I went lol!!!! I guess it was a "you had to be there" moment! But it was so funny!
Anyways, we were so happy that they came to visit us! So much fun! My only advise...NEVER go to Denver on vacation!!!!