February Wrap Up

Kids playing in the snow. 

To kick off the winter olympics we had a big olympic party (Lydia was staying at the Haderlies). The kids got olympic torches (ice cream cones filled with Cheetos), and then after they ate the Cheetos we filled the ice cream cones with red, white and blue ice cream. We had a great time. 

Caleb was showing off his awesome olympic moves. 

Lydia loves baking (she loves baking sweet treats) and was insistent on making something, so we worked together and she made a brownie treat with M&M's. 

Shantel and Lucy. 

The kids made a giant soft pile and Lucy took advantage of it to find a comfy spot. 

Soft pile 2.0. The kids would go back inside of it and put things in the bookshelf back there. 

Homeschool February

This month was a little simpler, which is one of the things that I love about these winter months - we can pull back and snuggle in. Read more books and just slow down. Granted, I took a whole week off to spend on a once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii- and because of the severe covid outbread we were staying inside significantly more. But we still managed to have a great homeschool month. The older girls have been continuing their Science/Utah History/Cooking rotation with me on T/TH with a PE rotation with Andrea Wardell on TH. The boys have been doing Science/PE with Brooke and Andrea with a Cooking rotation with me on TH. I love this little community of kids we have developed and am grateful for each one of them. 

Austin has been doing great with his homeschool. He loves Math and is working hard on his reading/writing. He also LOVES science, especially science experiments. We worked a lot on the science fair this month, but I'll write more about that in March. Austin is also doing a rec-league basketball team and I'm grateful for his great coach who makes it such a good experience for him. 

Lydia is also doing great and each day I'm so grateful to be able to spend this time with her and that she has the space to grow into such a kind, caring, funny girl. Having her three friends as part of a homeschool group has been such a highlight of this year. 



We did manage to get out on some field trips this year, even with all the other things going on. We went on a tour of the Heber Valley Dairy Farm, which was fun and SO interesting! (Basically, their entire milking process is done by robots and it was so cool.) Plus, we squeezed in a ride on the frontrunner train at the very very end of Free Fare February. The kids love watching the frontrunner drive by past our house and they love any change they get to ride it. It was a cold day, but we managed to ride the train to the North station in SLC, walk to the Planetarium for a couple of hours, take a trax train back to the Central station, and ride the train home without losing any of the 12 kids we had between us three adults. Ha.  The kids loved it. 

Valentine's Day

It's always lovely when other people celebrate "the day" that David and I officially connected, "the day" that started us on our path to where we are now. For my part, that used to be my least favorite day of the year (full of commercialism and forced attention - I once wrote a column in my high school newspaper about it, ha) is now one of my favorite days of the year, if only to remember how sweet David has ALWAYS been to me and also to remind me how lucky I am to have him by my side now. 

Although this year we didn't do much/anything by way of celebration (other than, you know, him letting me go to Hawaii with my mom and grandma for the week), I wanted to acknowledge that this marks our 14th Valentine's Day together - which means it's our GOLDEN Valentine's Day. And truly, this man is made of pure gold. The picture above was taken in while we were dating. I'm so grateful that one fateful Valentine's Day turned into that, which turned into THIS: 

These pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I wanted to include them anyway - on my sister's trip, David and I snuck away from the group for just a minute to check out the view of the store we were at. (You can see our house in the distance.) Melissa snapped the photos. One of the things I love about David is the little pockets of time we can sneak in to be together. Everything from a weekend away, to scooting right next to him on the church bench when a child gets distracted and moves away for a moment. The feeling of his arm around my shoulders pulling me close gives me the same loved feeling that a whole weekend away with him does - only in different sized doses. I love him and love to be with him. I'm so grateful we are sharing this life together. 

And now those two young people in the first picture, have produced a whole gaggle of children who ALSO love Valentine's Day. 

We keep things pretty simple at home usually, but a small box of chocolates and a few small items for a Valentine surprise in the morning - plus a homeschool valentine's party in the afternoon and I'd call the day a smashing success. 

Shantel's once-in-a-lifetime Hawaii Trip

There are just some things in life that are truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that come up. This is one of those for me and I'm SO grateful that I was able to be a part of this amazing trip. I'm grateful to my Grandma for providing the funding for this trip and for Jenna and David for making it happen on the home end. Sneaking away to Hawaii for 6 days with my mom, grandma, and aunt was amazing and already it feels like a dream!

Here's the backstory: My Grandma Knowles has always wanted to go to Hawaii. Her father, Albert Elvin, served his mission on the Hawaiian Islands from 1921-1924. He loved these islands and their people and always wanted to take his wife back to visit them with him. However, when he and my Great-grandmother, Zuriel Ruth Jette were married and were planning their honeymoon to Hawaii, they realized that the could not afford both the trip to Hawaii and furniture for their home. They decided to purchase a nice set of furniture instead and made plans to go together later. (It is my understanding, that part of that furniture set is the beautiful china hutch that I inherited when my grandmother sold her house and is now sitting beautifully in my family room.) They made plans to go back to Hawaii for their 25th wedding anniversary, but Albert tragically passed away only weeks before their anniversary date. My Great-Grandma never made it to Hawaii.

Grandma has always wanted to go see this place that her dad loved but never had the means or opportunity. When the subject was brought up my Grandma said "I just hope that Heavenly Father lets me pass by Hawaii after I die when I'm on my way to heaven." After selling her house and moving in with my mom, she has more accessible money than she's ever had before and so my mom said "Let's go!" My aunt, mom, and grandma started talking about taking a trip just the three of them and I was 100% supportive. I promised to help in whatever way I could.

Even with the excitement over the idea of finally being able to go to Hawaii, I think my mom and grandma were both a little nervous about the long plane ride and other logistics that go into a trip like this. I started helping with the planning to make sure that it would actually happen for them. My mom and I worked with a travel agent to book the flights and hotel (getting an amazing deal on a hotel property right on the ocean with a paved pathway that went up and down the beach) and I started planning the other activities/days- doing research, making reservations, figuring out logistics. As we worked to plan the trip, I think we all realized that it would be difficult for the three of them to go on this trip alone. So the idea was presented for me to be able to go along with them as a bag-girl, driver, logistics manager, and overall cheerleader! It was an absolute dream for me to be able to come with them and I hope that my presence made it easier, more smooth, and possible for them to enjoy the very most out of their trip. It was amazing!!!

We flew to Honolulu, Hawaii and spent the week exploring the island together. I can't possibly write out our whole experience or all the wonderful thoughts and feelings that I had, but I'm going to put some of my favorite pictures and write about some of the highlights for me. 

First, being able to go with my 88-year-old grandmother for both of our first trips to Hawaii was an absolute once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We had so much fun experiencing everything together. She got SO much attention everywhere we went, partially because she's 88 and darling, and partially because her enthusiasm for finally being in Hawaii was catching. 

The hotel that we stayed in had the most beautiful view of Diamond Head and Waikiki. 

We were upgraded to a suite on the other side of the building than we had booked and it was AMAZING. It made all the difference in our stay. I tried to keep my Utah-time-schedule and woke up early each morning to read my book while sitting on the balcony watching the sun rise over the island. The ocean waves and the cool air just before dawn - it was so peaceful and beautiful.  

We spent a good amount of time at the pool and the beach.

Hilton Hawaiian Village @ Waikiki - Rainbow Tower

Truly our hotel was a dream! 

We ate lots of great food (including a boatload of shrimp). Some favorites were the famous Dukes restaurant, Fumi's Shrimp food truck, Leonard's Malasadas (donuts), a cute ice cream shop by our hotel (Lappert's), Teddy's Bigger Burger, and Blue Water Shrimp and Seafood (where I had my first Ahi Tuna). 

We hit all the touristy sites: 

Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. We loved them all.  

My grandma was eight years old at the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

We spent hours and hours at the Laie Temple Visitors center talking to the missionaries and thinking about the role that Albert Elvin played in the early gathering of those faithful saints. Albert William Elvin served his mission from 1921-1924 so he was here EXACTLY 100 years ago.

It was so tender and incredibly special.

(The above picture was taken on Maui while serving his mission. Albert is in front.) 

As we were driving through Honolulu, we saw a beautiful mosaic of Jesus Christ on the side of a building and when we read the words "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" we haphazardly drove through the streets to get back to the building and were blessed enough to find a lovely man who was in charge of the mission home there who was willing to give us a tour. We loved making the connection to the beautiful Honolulu Tabernacle, which is also the mission home and another connection to my Great-Grandpa.  

My mom and I managed to get a time slot to go snorkling at Hanama Bay. My mom went snorkling here 20+ years ago when she and my dad came to Hawaii and it was a highlight of her life. I can't even describe how amazing and surreal it felt to be here with her snorkling together. We saw amazing fish and thoroughly enjoyed swimming around the coral reef together. This is probably my favorite memory from our entire trip and I never want to forget how it felt to be here with my mama. 

We ended at the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout before driving straight to the airport. 

What an amazing trip. 

Plus, a HUGE shoutout to Jenna who not only watched my kids while I was gone because David couldn't take the days off of work but who also POTTY TRAINED Lucy while I was gone! Lucy has been showing signs of being ready to potty train, but I am admittedly NOT good at potty training. Jenna worked her magic and by the time I came home, Lucy was 100% potty trained both day and night! As I was collecting some small gifts to bring home, I kept wondering "What do you purchase to say 'thank you for watching all of my kids for a week AND potty training my two year old?'" And seriously, is there anything that can adequately show that gratitude? I think not.