First day home with the kiddos.
The kids came and visited a couple of hours after he was born.
Baby and grandma Wright. The pictures of the first day were on Stan's phone. 
Stan had a fun and quick photo session with the kids in our living room. This is one of our favorites! We are so grateful for this little miracle in our lives. Now we all want time to stand still.
The kids enjoy playing on the shed. We don't have a treehouse so we let them. So far, nobody has fallen off. Brynn jumps off sometimes.
This was the only picture I got on Joel's first day of school. Today is his 2nd day. He is loving it. He and Brynn are at separate schools this year. Stan took Brynn to her school so I didn't get a picture of her. Macy and I are trying to adjust to the quiet house without Brynn and Joel around. I think she really likes it, other than being a little lonely.
Here is a lovely shot of me at 39 weeks. The last days or weeks, depending on what it is, seem so long! I have felt really well since the baby finally turned the right way, until today. I hope that is a sign that the end is soon!
Here's a cute shot of Macy. Last week she learned how to ride a two-wheeler. I told Stan to take pictures but I'm not sure where they are. She learned to ride in about five minutes and has been great ever since. She is confident and skilled. We are very impressed.
Stan is such a great dad! We had a campfire and roasted hotdogs in our backyard and Stan slept out with them. He was nice to understand that everyone would be happier the next day if I slept in my own bed, in the house. Notice Macy already asleep. She is so good to go to sleep when she's tired, which is anytime after 7, usually.
And here is the growing baby boy at 36 weeks. Currently he is breech and HUGE! I had an ultrasound yesterday and was sad to find out that he is already over 7 1/2 pounds. Bigger than Brynn at 5 days over due. Here comes another 10 pounder. I'm actually smaller than I was with Macy and people have asked me if I'm measuring small. I think I look big but I also have to carry it around night and day. I'm still hoping for a miracle, being that I don't have to carry all the way to my due date. We'll see what happens...
This is our latest family picture that my sister-in-law took at the Wright family reunion at the end of June.
We have been enjoying some beautiful summer weather, finally. I hope it lasts all month!
We got fried on our last day there at this great Waimae Beach. Stan was protecting his head. We both are still peeling from this day. It was the most relaxing day though.
Same beach. We had some good size waves to swim in.
Behind me is a tree that is near Waikiki Beach. The branches seem to grow down like vines and form roots. It was the craziest thing.
Same tree concept at the Pearl Harbor Memorial. This one looks like a fort. Good bye Hawaii! It was so much fun.
Cheesy picture of us that we took ourselves.
Food from the buffet at the luau included roasted pig, chicken, chicken long rice (clear noodle things), poi, salmon and some other fish, and the purple roll is a taro roll. That was my favorite item of the meal. It tastes like a regular bun, it's just made from taro, which turns purple when it is cooked.
A delicious pina colada smoothie served in this fresh pineapple
This is the plaque underneath the fire hydrant from the next picture. If you click on the picture you can probably read it. I'm impressed with the dedication of these early Saints who were willing to heed the "call to Zion"
Fiji has some interesting stories of practices that used to take place. This is a picture of the King's house. His is the big bed and the best wife slept on the floor next to him. The king's house had 4 doors. One was specifically for him and if anyone entered through that door, they were killed. Also, if the king died the best wife was also killed to go with him. When they built the king's house, the three best soldiers were buried alive underneath the home so they could protect it, or something like that. Being mediocre in this culture would have been advantageous if you wanted to live.
Making poi (poy) This tastes very plain but I mixed it with some meat at the luau and it was just great.
canoe ride, our canoe pusher was from Fiji and knew Ryan, Stan's brother, we wrote his name down
Beke, our tour guide. She was from Mongolia. We were happy to upgrade our tickets so she could guide us around and help us manage our time. She was great. We had a family in our group from Calgary and a couple from Colorado. They were all very friendly and fun to be with.
The flower looked like a bird, this one was mostly for the kids
Beautiful Sunset Beach
Everything is so green and there is foliage everywhere. I loved it
Not sure what Stan is holding.
We upgraded our Cavelier for this. It was a lot more fun and worth the extra money. Stan enjoyed it much more than I did but I'm not sure I would ever want to own one, so it was fun to rent and enjoy the breeze and the heat as we cruised around. (We saw several trees that had buoys in them, anyone know why?)
Fun to see different kinds of trees, all without a trace of snow!
This one, and many others, grew around the power lines.
These kinds of trees are everywhere in Hawaii.
Disregard the face and look at the beautiful grounds and Temple in Laie
That's better
The whole street from the ocean leads up to the grounds of the Temple on the hill. It's stunning.
Macy is our child that really likes to play with toys. She asked for several different things but was never really set on one thing in particular. When she opened this Barbie set she said: "I was wishing for this!" It was so cute.
The kids did a great job decorating the cupcakes. We had just returned home from Calgary so I was happy for the help.
There were five different antlers that we had to indentify. We got them all right! Do you know what this is?
Macy liked all the animals except the dark grey wolf. She's just cute next to anything.
A little bit about the building. 
And here they are after we visited one of the candy shops, in front of the museum. We stayed the night in Calgary at a favorite hotel that Stan stays at frequently for work and had a great time swimming. No pictures of the swimming. I seem to forget the work it takes to travel "alone" with the kids since Stan was busy, but I still think it was worth it to get away from our house for a couple of days.
Today I became Canadian, officially, sworn in, citizenship card in hand. It was an interesting experience. I have recently been thinking about my border crossing experiences. Each time, I have similar feelings. As I approach the U.S. I feel excitement and anticipation and sometimes wish I could just live in my "home," the country where I grew up. I feel like I'm home when I'm there. But each time I return to Canada, I feel relief and a sense of "home," for this is my home now. This last time I passed back into Canada, the border guard welcomed me back to Canada. It was comforting to me.
This winter has been long, cold, and dreary. I looked for a plane ticket to Houston, for fun, to go see my sister. The tickets were cheap! My mom and I went for a weekend in February and my dad watched the kids. I still sometimes can't believe he did it. He must really love me. The kids had fun and he survived the experience. My mom and I had fun with my sister. It was so much warmer than here at home. We enjoyed sunshine, quiet, a temple session, some yummy meals, and lots of good visiting time. We went to Galveston just to see it. It didn't look too devastated. I'm sure a lot of rebuilding has happened since Hurricane Ike in 2008. We had to go to the ocean because we were close. They have many of their houses built on stilts. Smart idea.
I LOVE these faces! Not just how excited they are but for what. They are so easy to please and it makes gift giving so fun. I hope we don't become too materialized that these excited faces only show for expensive or electronic gifts. I have to admit that sometimes Stan wonders if what I bought will suffice. Then he sees these faces and his confidence grows.... I guess I know my kids better than I think sometimes.
Brynn was baptized on a blizzardy night in early February. Thankfully the roads were fine the day before so the grandparents could travel here safely. It was a special time for us and for Brynn. We are proud of her for making this decision to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is a great example to her siblings and friends. She even made invitations for all of our neighbors and several friends.
