Gapinski Family: January 2014

This year we had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated Christmas morning at our own house and then got on a plane to head to Utah. We then spent 5 days in Utah visiting both the Armstrongs and the Gapinskis. Then we were off to Hawaii. We spent a week on the island of Oahu. (Curtis had scheduled 2 weeks off about 6 months ago so we could go to Uruguay and visit my parents. Then when they came home early, we still had 2 weeks so we thought- why not go to Hawaii!) It was such a wonderful vacation.

Starting off with Sunday before Christmas- in their new Christmas clothes!

Christmas morning in their matching jammies. Two years ago Brooke got an apple in her stocking and it was her favorite present. Spencer followed the tradition!

Playing with bubbles in the snow and opening presents with the Armstrongs.

We were excited to finally meet baby Harper!

Decorating cookies at Grandma's house and then sledding in the backyard.

This picture is one of my new favorite!

Temple Square with the Gapinski Family to see the lights!

We took the kids to The Treehouse in Ogden (thanks to Aunt Lacey) and enjoyed playing pretend!

We took tours of Jason and Ryan's work. Here we are going on a ride in the fire truck. Brooke got to sit in the front seat.

We got to Hawaii on Monday afternoon. We spent the first two days at the military hotel Hale Koa in Waikiki. My mom and Dad watched the kids so Curtis and I could go out on New Years Eve.

Spencer loved being in the water. You had to watch him closely because he would run and get in all on his own.

Brooke, on the other hand, was terrified of the waves. She was completely content playing in the sand all day.

We love to hang out on the beach!

Of course we had to keep up the tradition of doing a sand creature. This is Ollie the Octopus.

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and saw an amazing show!

After two days in busy Waikiki we went to Bellows Air Force Station. This was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. It was nice and quiet and we had a beautiful view out of our condo. Every morning we would eat breakfast on the porch and watch the sun come up! By the way, some of these photos came from Stacey's camera. She is one amazing photographer!

Then we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was the only time Brooke would get in the water because there were no waves. The snorkeling was like swimming through the movie "Finding Nemo". I only wish we would have brought an underwater camera.