Birthdays, Birthdays!!

I've been thinking...which is often a good thing, but sometimes not.....but the point is that these last couple birthdays hit me really hard and made me THINK about some of the things that I want out of life. And I'm not talking about my birthdays, but the birthdays of our two eldest sons: Zadok turned 7 a couple weeks ago and Odin turned 5 this past Saturday. Whoa! They are old!
 It will be only 11 more years until Zadok's 18, and turning in his missionary papers to serve away from home for 2 years. It's going to happen in a blink of an eye! There are so many things I want to do with him and his brothers before they grow up; so many places I want to show them! I made a bucket list of hopeful family adventures, and here they are:

• Hiking the Grand Canyon from rim to rim
• Camping and boulder climbing in Joshua Tree National Park
• Camping and hiking in Zion's National Park
• Road-triping to historic church monuments in New York and Missouri
• Backpacking through some of the Pacific Crest Trail
• Building a summer shack on our Southern Utah land
• Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Goblin Valley.
• Boating on Lake Shasta and Lake Powell
• Hiking in Sequoia National Park to see the giant redwood trees
• Riding big roller-coasters at amusement parks
• Buying a house and planting our favorite fruit trees
• Owning my very own pet pig 
• Stargazing on warm summer nights out on the trampoline
• Backpacking through Coyote Gulch
• Building a tree house

That's all I could think of for now, but I'm sure there's more. A spark has ignited inside me, and I know Micah can feel it, too. There's an urgency to get on with life, to fulfill all our dreams with our family and children. Living in Hawaii again was a certainly a dream of mine to fulfill! It has been amazing, and wonderful in so many ways and I'm so glad we came here. I am on a healthy, happy path in life that I needed to get on for good. I've learned some things about myself and my family that couldn't have happened anywhere else. Hawaii has refreshed and recharged me and made me whole!

  Now I'm wondering....how the heck can we do everything we want WAY over here on this teeny-weeny island with no money to travel?

Happy Birthday to these two, amazing boys! They were not only born in the same month, 2 years and 2 weeks apart, but they are also the best of friends! 

p.s. I promise we'll get this figured out, kiddos, and all those adventures will be ours!