9 Months

Our little girl is 9 months old!  She is a busy little thing.  She loves to sniper crawl all around the house.  As soon as she sees something she wants, she's after it.  Once she gets there, she picks the item up, rolls over to her back, and inspects the object.  She's so curious!

Viv babbles all day long.  She was stuck on dadadada... But we're now hearing some mamamama.

She has 2 teeth and is working on a third.

She still will go to almost anyone.  She loves to be on her daddy's shoulders.  She holds on to his hair. 

She has a special friend that goes almost everywhere she does.  It's her friend in the mirror.  The two things that excite Viv the most is seeing her mommy in the morning as that means it's time to eat and seeing her "friend" in the mirror.  She waves to her friend and gets the biggest smile on her face.  Sometimes Viv is mopey when she wakes up from a nap.  If she sees that her "friend" has a sad face she starts to cry. When she knows she is close to a mirror she arches her back and cranes her neck to get a peek.  It's quite entertaining.

Surprise

No, we're not having a baby...Viv is perfectly fine for us at this point in our lives.  But I did manage to keep a secret.  For those of you who know me (and my dad) you know that we are horrible secret keepers.  he always gives my mom presents early and can't keep a secret.  I follow in his footsteps.  Yet, I started planning a surprise birthday weekend for Luke at the beginning of December.  I even enlisted the help of his boss.  I got his mother to help by getting most of the food and drink.  The grandmas fought for who got to watch Viv.  Charla won out because I knew to have the party at her house I would need an excuse to go there (like picking up Viv after our night away in Estes). 

I stole Luke away early Friday afternoon and took him to our favorite hotel in Estes. 

We saw the biggest elk I had ever seen.  It was dusk so the pic didn't turn out that well.  I would have loved to get close enough for the flash to work but he was too huge and scary.  Look at his rack!

I had fun things planned for Saturday to keep Luke busy until the surprise party. 
He was surprised!  I pulled it off with the help of family and friends.  It was a great afternoon!

Steff, Paige and I with our girls:

Grandpa and Viv

Erik, Bethany, and Viv

Luke, Andy, and the girls:

Pops and Viv:

Nana and Viv:

Luke and Charla:

Luke with his SCI friends:

Jonathan, Luke, and the kiddos:

Luke, Jake, and their girls:

Andy, Viv and I:

Viv went on a nap strike during all the excitement and was exhausted by the end:

Thanks to everyone who could make this day so fun for Luke.  He had a blast....other than the Broncos losing but we won't talk about that!

Christmas in Maui

We had an amazing trip to Maui over Christmas.  We went with my siblings, parents, and grandparents as well as Luke's siblings and parents.  You would think that would be a recipe for disaster, but we are blessed to have families that get along so well!  Jim (Luke's dad) and I took over 2000 pictures...Surprise, surprise.  I had to limit myself too a couple of pics a day in the post.  Warning, it's still long...

Our first day there we took a catamaran to Lanai (about an hour trip from Maui) and got to snorkel at a marine preserve - Manele Bay.

Loved seeing dolphins and whales along the way:

Manele Bay in Lanai:

View from a lookout point on Lanai:

On Christmas Eve we spent most of the day at a beach (we like to call it the old Maui Prince beach). 

Turtle sightings while snorkeling on Christmas Eve:

Sunset on Kamaole Beach before the Christmas Eve Service: 

Viv had the cutest curly hair over there!

Side Note: Viv got her first tooth today!

Christmas Morning:

Grandma Ruth, Charla, Jenna, Mom and I with our Maui aprons:

We snorkled from the Dumps to Ahihi on Christmas morning.  We saw several turtles and I saw my first Eagle Ray!

Zach, Andy, Luke and Paul then swam from Ahihi to Makena Beach.  I decided I didn't need to swim in the open ocean....Someone had to take care of Viv =-) 

We had to keep the tradition and spend Christmas Day at Makena Beach!  The boys (Luke, Erik, Paul, John) and I buried Jenna in the sand:

Papapa with Viv:

Nana and Grandma with Viv:

Grandpa and Pops with Viv:

December 26th we went to Haleakala for sunrise.  I had forgotten how cold and windy that is.  I think I don't ever need to experience it again.  But it was fun to do it with the Ringenbergs for their first time!

Jenna, Charla, Andy, and Mom wait for sunrise:

Zach and Andy:

Viv was a trooper!  I think we managed to keep her warm enough!

Dad was clearly enjoying himself!

On December 27th we went to Honolua Bay.  We say turtles, eels, and an octopus.

A friendly welcome from the locals:

We spent the afternoon at DT Flemings beach then the evening in Lahaina.  Zach had to leave to go back home but got a goodbye dinner at Bubba Gumps.

On December 28th - Andy and I went to Keawakapu Beach:

The Ringenbergs went to the Ioa Needle:

We spent the entire afternoon at Ulua Beach and stayed for sunset.  Viv loved the tide pools!!

On December 29th Chris, Julie, Bob and Ruth celebrated their anniversaries at Mama's Fish House.  Chris and Julie celebrated their 33 anniversary a day early.  Bob and Ruth celebrated 54 years on Dec. 28th. 

The Ringenbers (Jim, Charla, Luke, Erik, Paul, and John) went to Oahu to see the Iolani Palace, Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head.

Andy, Jenna, and I went to Makena Beach.

On December 30th we saw the amazing coral, fish, and turtles at Mile Marker 14.  We spent the afternoon at "Secret Beach."

Pops let Viv eat sand and she loved it.  We had a few sandy poops but she still seems okay =-) 

Luke and I went out for a date and got an amazing happy hour meal at the 5 Palms!  To die for!

We had a beach dinner while watching the sunset on New Years Eve: 

Family pics on the beach:

On January 1st we made the trek to Hana.  It was a little rainy, but not too bad.  Love the Rainbow Eucalyptus!

Ringenbergs on a waterfall hike:

Wai'anapanapa State Park in Hana:

 Our last day was incredible!  What a way to end the trip.  We stayed over night at Hana and woke up to see the sunrise at Venus Pools.  It was gorgeous!

The sky was clear (a rare occurrence in Hana) and we were able to hike to Waimoku Falls just about the 7 Sacred Pools.

 Dad showing how tough he was for making the 4 mike trek on his knees.  The poles are key!

The Infinity Pool on the was back to the 7 Sacred Pools:

 Family Pic at the 7 Sacred Pools:

 Luke and John cliff jump:

 Viv started her army crawl on the last day!

We had an incredible trip.  I've already calculated how long it will take for us to earn enough frequent flier miles to go back!