aloha

joey and i are one lucky couple. with some great friends living in maui and a dad who works for the airlines we were able to escape to maui for an awesome vacation!

our 1st day, we enjoyed the beach with candise (while jerm slept after working overnight) and boogie boarded a bit.

that night we grilled out on the beach....

and the boys (of course) hacked a bit (with a hacky sack that is).

the next morning we snorkeled in the chilly water....we saw 3 eels(ew!), this turtle, and a bunch of beautiful fish!

that afternoon, we went on a whale watching boat. and saw some spectacular breeches! don't know if you can see in the pictures very well, but this was just one of many whales we got to see.

our 3rd day, we drove the road to hana. a very scenic, very windy road. but it was so fun to get the "insiders" tour from jeremy and candise who showed us some amazing things.

rainbow eucalyptus..gorgeous!

jeremy got a little nervous when they couldn't find us in the bamboo forest

after a 2 mile hike we made it to this 400ft waterfall...

thats joey in the lower left side of the picture

our last stop on the road to hana was the black sand beach

there is a place at the black sand beach where you can snorkel in caves. so us 3 crazy people decided to give it a try.

i made it through 3 rooms and then returned to the safety of candise, but it was a really cool experience.

our last morning in maui, we paddle boarded. fun, but a workout! as we were paddle boarding, the coast guard kept flying over. after we got back to shore, it turned out that there had been a tiger shark sighting at a beach a few miles down the road and they were looking for it. a little scary but don't worry, jeremy says its a very docile shark :)

after another beach picnic, we headed to lahaina where the adriches honeymooned in 2011. here you can jump off black rock so of course, we had to give that a try too. this is joey jumping. i jumped too but from a much lower place (about where joey's feet are in this picture). i think im losing some of my guts as i get older and that makes me a bit sad :(

it was a great trip and i really think the best part was getting to spend so much time with joey, candise, and jeremy. can't wait to see what God has planned for them and our future church in maui (just dreaming here people, just dreaming!)

mahalo

it's legendary!

our family of 4 hit the fort worth stockshow a few weekends ago. farmer gra mostly hung out in his stroller while big bro max enjoyed the petting zoo, bumper cars, the tractors, and baby animals.

a fun family day was much needed and much enjoyed!

5 months

gra continues to make us smile. he is a pretty laid back kiddo who loves his bottle, his paci, his daddy and especially his big brother max. our "graham-a-tron" is sleeping from about 8pm-6:30am and has 5 bottles a day. he is nearing the 20lb mark which means a carseat switch will be happening soon so we practice sitting up several times a week and i think he will be doing it on his own very shortly. he puts anything and everything in his mouth so i think teeth are also on the horizon. we adore our smiley big boy!

date 1 of 12

the perfect date includes 3 things. no makeup. sweat. and my hubby. and no i don't mean that.

a personal training session at la fitness to get out butts back in gear and ready for the beach.

yep, the beach in Maui actually. bc in 6 days we will be going there to visitor our friends jeremy and candise!

ringing in 2012...vanderveer style!

this year was the 1st in 7 that we did not have a new years eve party. living in a smallish apartment and joey having to work the next day both contributed to this. we enjoyed a day at home, practicing bike riding and watching movies. my sis kacy came over and we had a picnic dinner while watching captain america. in bed by 10 and i'm not going to lie, it was kinda nice.

but i'm not that old and so next year, i hope that the party tradition will begin again!

12 dates for 2012

1-a personal training session

2-denton sweethearts ball

3-main street arts festival in fort worth

4-fiddler on the roof at the campus theater in denton

5-a progressive dinner

6-rock climbing

7-celebrate freedom concert

8-bushwhaker wine safari

9-breakfast in bed

10-evening of memories

11-dallas public artwalk

12-movie night at home

let the holidays begin!

i really enjoyed the holiday season this year!

a few weekends ago, we went to main street in grapevine to check out the holiday decor.

this is what happens when you try to get a 3 year old to pose for a pic with his brother!

(yes, that is max running away in the background)

we celebrate jesus' birthday with my moms family on the sunday before christmas.

here's the boys and their aunts working hard on gingerbread houses!

loved gra's little outfit!

then it was christmas eve eve and time for our family of 4's christmas. we tried to let max join us for the slumber party in the living room but when he was still up jumping on the couch at 11:15 we had to send him off to bed.....he woke up to a yummy family of snowman pancakes.

max loved helping gra open his gifts

and gra loved eating the green "grass" from one of his presents

the big boy on his bike!

then it was off to my moms for christmas eve hoopla and christmas morning.

joey and max making their 'man' faces

i wasn't good about taking pics the rest of the day, but we opened presents with my dad and stepmom and also with joey's parents. all in all a fun, crazy day!

then a few days after christmas, we headed out to dallas to see the trains at northpark with joey's family. max really liked them and gra got a good nap while we looked around so all in all not a bad 1st time to see the trains.

hope everyone had has happy of a holiday as we did!