Holidays

Our holidays were super busy as usual.  We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home this year.  The first week of December, Taylor had surgery on her other knee, so we camped out at home to help her hobble around for a few weeks. 
Since Christmas was on Sunday this year, and we have sacrament at 8:00 a.m., Mike and I decided to prank the kids.  We put all the Christmas gifts into big boxes and wrapped them (yes, even the stockings!) We didn't want them going through stuff and not getting ready for church.  Yes, we were up half the night!  Of course, we ended up being the ones pranked in the end.  Tris woke up just before I was done wrapping, with the stomach flu and ended up keeping me up the entire night.  Mike got Levi and Jordan to church since he was the Sunday speaker, and Levi had to sing in sacrament.  After church, we got to eat breakfast and then open presents.  Poor Tris, he had a hard day!  Needless to say, I didn't get many pictures of Christmas!
A few days after Christmas, Mike and I flew to Hawaii!  Taylor and Jordan were left in charge.  I was a nervous wreck! 
We had a great room at a resort in Ko Olina.  It was so nice to get away with just Mike and spend time together without the daily concerns of work or chores.  We loved Hawaii.  My favorite things were:  the Polynesian Cultural Center, watching surf competition, the Dole plantation, sleeping in, and the amazing fireworks on new years! 

Mike LOVES turtles!

View from our balcony

balcony view

 All my life I have heard my dad go on and on about his "Foster luck!", which by the way, is not good luck, but the worst luck you can think of.  My siblings all tell me that I have inherited the Foster luck.  The following is an example of how that luck followed us to Hawaii.  Keep in mind that on the plane to Hawaii, I read an article in a magazine about luck.  It was all about how people make their own luck.  If you are positive, and think things are going to work out in your favor, they will.  I was very excited about being more positive and changing my luck. 

We had heard from a surfer in a surf shop one day that there were going to be amazing waves in a few days and we should be at Sunset Beach to watch the surf competition that would surely be going on.  I was so excited to see it!  I haven't had much experience with the ocean.  I have only been to the ocean a few times, and I wanted to see some surfing!  We started out the day sleeping in (Yay!), then heading to the Dole plantation for lunch and more pineapple.  It was going great.  Then we found the beach.  There was very little parking as it was such a great surf day, and to my surprise, we found a perfect parking spot. Right there, was a sign to not leave valuables in the car as they could easily be stolen.  I grabbed my purse and my camera, ready to take some amazing shots of surfers. 

lots of spectators

There were lots of people on the beach with the same idea as us.  The waves were magnificent.  We found a spot to sit on our towel and watch the surfers.  Of course, not 5 minutes later, a big wave sent a small pool of water right up to us and got us a bit wet.  Mike and I laughed about it and called the kids to tell them how funny it was.  We also decided not to sit down, and move back quite a bit so that wouldn't happen again and get Mike's shoes wet.  The sun started to set, and the waves got much bigger.  They were all crashing way out though, nothing dangerous.   I got this picture of a boogie boarder about to set out to the big waves.  Her little son was cheering her on from beside us. 

 I started to feel bad about making Mike stand around so long, but I didn't want to leave.  I asked him several times if he was ready to leave, but he knew I was really enjoying the view so we stuck around.  I told him that I felt like the waves wanted to come all the way up to us and grab us to take us out to the ocean.  It was so awesome! 

I snapped this picture of us with my new camera that I got just for this trip.  I love the smile on that man!
Not long after, a huge wave crashed to the left of us.  We were watching the waves in front of us.  We didn't see the wave, but I saw water coming towards our feet.  I told Mike we should hurry back to the steps up the bank, and just as we turned and started to run back, (picture my hands full with a wet towel, flip flops, purse on my shoulder, and a camera around my neck), the water rushed in up past our knees, knocking us all over.  It dragged me a few feet, and I was sure it would take me out to the ocean.  A surfer a few feet away tried to run over and grab me, but the wave was very powerful.  I ended up digging my feet and one free hand into the sand and let the water run over my whole body before it headed back to it's ocean home.  Meanwhile, my purse filled up like a balloon with water and sand.  Mike and I were completely soaked!  My first reaction was to laugh.  It was pretty funny.  Then I looked down at my camera, and my purse with my Iphone in it, and knew this was the Foster luck at it again!  Mike had his phone in his pocket.  It was ruined too.  The surfers who lived right there said "Whoa, where did that come from?"  We made our way back to the car along with the MANY other spectators that were soaked head to toe as we were.  We were both covered in sand.  I dumped my purse out, and about 5 cups of sand came out with it.   I took the memory card with these pictures on it out of the camera right away, hoping to at least save them and have evidence of our trip.  Then we went to find a replacement phone and head back to our room.  We had sand EVERYWHERE on our bodies.  It was a memorable day.  We determined that to replace what was ruined, it was going to cost us $1500.  That was one expensive sunset! 
In all, we spent 9 days in Hawaii.  It was great.  I missed my kids though, and now I really miss having a phone.  I have to wait a while to replace mine. 
I have also decided that Foster luck is just part of my life.  I will still try to be positive and make my own luck, but it may take a while for me to not expect crazy and expensive catastrophes to hit me like a rogue wave!