Easter with the Erk's

Last Sunday we had our easter celebration with the my side of the family. We get together and have a big dinner and the kids get to hunt for eggs. Cayman thought it was the coolest thing that there were a ton of "eggies" laid out for her to pick up, and she was even more excited to see there was candy in them.


My food assignment was dessert. I made these cute cupcakes that look like easter bunnies going into their bunny hole, it was a hit at the party. Thanks to Misti/Kristi for the idea and thanks to Amy for the butter and shortening sunday morning(I couldnt have done it without you!!)

Happiness from a hat!

At Disneyland when larry got his birthday gift card, I knew what he was going to buy. To preface this a little for about 8 years everytime we would go to Disneyland, Larry wanted to buy an Indiana Jones hat. This isn’t a baseball hat type it looks just like Indy's hat in the movies and it was alot of money for a hat. Everytime we would go he would go try on the hat and look in the mirror, well this time he had money that he had to spend on souvenirs so on his birthday we go to the shop and he tries on the hats to get the right size and then gets the biggest smile you have seen just knowing that he is finally getting this hat. He goes and pays for it, the lady wishes him happy birthday and while there the lady hands him the phone from behind the desk and it is goofy, wishing him a happy birthday (so cute, the details that Disney puts in! Amazing!) Then he proudly walks out of the shop and this time he doesn’t have to take it off! Who would have thought that a hat could make someone so happy! Well he wears the hat proudly for 2 days and our last day in the park Larry and I go on splash mountain. Larry wanted to have his hat on for the picture that they take when you go down the big hill. (I think you can see where I am going with this) Anyway he wears it with his hand on top of it to keep it on but as we get down to the bottom he thought that we had slowed down enough to lift his hand and the second he did POOF the hat was gone. We got off the ride and told the castmembers that he had lost it and they told us to come back in 30 minutes because when something gets lost they usually will float through and they will catch it. 30 minutes had passed, Larry walked back to splash and no luck, an hour later he tried again, no luck, 3 more times that day he tried and still no luck. At this point we had to go fill out a form at the lost and found so that if it got turned in they would know it was his. When we got there they said that they drain the ride every night and walk through it and pick up any lost items so its likely that it would be there in the morning. We told them this was our last day in the park and they said that if it got turned in they could ship it to us. Larry was really sad, then mad at himself that he lost it and then sad again but was still hopeful that they would find it that night. The next day on our way to Costa Mesa we stopped in at Disneyland and Larry went to check and still, no luck. You could tell he was so sad because he really just wanted it to be there because this was our last chance in the Disneyland area. Well we traveled home and on Monday when he went back to work I decided to just call down there to see if by chance they had found it and guess what, they had!!! I was so excited that I could barely talk. Larry hadn’t opened his birthday gift yet so I put a card with it that that said happy birthday and that Disneyland had found his hat and they were shipping it that day. When he read that part his face was classic he looked at me and said "are you serious?" I jumped up and said YES!!! then he jumped up and down saying hooray they found my hat!! Well on Friday we got a knock on the door, Larry went to answer and no one was there, then he saw the UPS truck and then saw the box, he grabbed it ran in the house and said "my hat is here, my hat is here" He opened the box and put the hat on ran in the living room and jumped in the air and clicked his heels together several times, it was priceless! My sweet hubby finally had his hat, he was like a little kid! It was so great to see him so excited about it.

Kakaw monthly news!

Yes I think that I need to change the title of our blog,The new title is kakaw monthly news. It just seems that the time flys by and I am lucky if I get an update in! Well in the last month we have been able to do some great things. We got to go to the Draper Temple open house, it always amazes me at how beautiful that they are! It was neat to take cayman with us, even though she is still too small to remember, but as we walked though she noticed the chandeliers and she would say "Mom look, sparkly lights!! they are beautiful!!" It was adorable.
Also a few weekends ago all of larry's family was in town for his cousin, jeff's farewell. It was alot of fun to be able to spend a lot of time with them, (but poor cayman got thrown completely off because for 4 nights in a row we didnt get home before 12:30am.) Jeff is going to the stockholm sweden mission, he is very excited to be able to go and serve, I think that he is the most excited missionary that I have seen in a long time. He told us that there needs to be a trip to sweden to pick him up, if there is you can count us in! Good Luck Jeff!!!
Our big event was that on march 11th, larry turned 30!!! In the words of Jane Hatch he is now 20 10!!! I wanted to do something special for larry, I thought what would he want to do and of course he would say go to disneyland. We were going to go in april for spring break but alot of people from utah would be there, it is part of orange county's spring breaks and it is the week after easter (which is known to be busy at disneyland) so I thought I will take him to disneyland, we'll take one last trip on the annual passes before they expire and when you go to disneyland on your birthday they give you free entrance to the park, well larry already has a ticket so they give you a gift card for the cost of a ticket. That would be a nice bonus for him some spending money to buy whatever he wanted (I had a pretty good idea of what he was going to buy, this will be explained more later!) My parents, and two sisters families came on the trip with us. On the way down we spent the night in the booming metropolis of Primm Nevada at a place called buffalo bills, I was a little nervous because of a review from someone I know saying that their room was a crime scene but for $6 a night and you get in late and leave early I figured we would risk it, surprisingly it wasn't that bad (luckily!)
Disneyland is always so fun! they have it all decorated for a celebration, there are cute mickey balloons on the lights poles that are wrapped in ribbon and the mickey in front has on a birthday hat with balloons on each side so it was like they had decorated disneyland just for larry's birthday. He even got a button to wear that says happy birthday larry, so every castmember who saw it would wish larry a happy birthday. So to you my sweet hubby, I hope that you had a great 30th birthday!
The rest of the trip was great 3 days in disney and then on saturday we went to H&M and then to the costa mesa swap meet which was pretty good, we both got some great sunglasses for really cheap. Cayman got this little toy dog that barks and walks and as we walked out she sang "I got a puppy, I got a puppy" over and over to a little song that she had made up. I wish I would have had my camcorder there it was so funny!
This trip was one of the best, but I am so sad knowing that the passes will expire soon but the memories that we got from the 7 times we went we are grateful for and would not trade for anything! Watching cayman discover the magic of disneyland and enjoy the rides, sounds and smells will always be with me, another memory I will never forget was the chance for Kenzie to come with us, and for me to be an 11 year old again with Kenzie and Haley. Thanks girls for letting me be silly! We are sad that our trips to disney will be far far more spread apart. I guess all good things must come to an end. Maybe in a few more years we will do the annual pass thing again, I can't wait!


Cayman at the start of gadgets go coaster

And Cayman while on gadget's go coaster
When it was over she loved it!


Cayman and her puppy she named "ruff ruff"

Bon Voyage!

Larry and I had the chance to take a cruise, just the two of us. A great deal came along and with our Anniversary in January and as larry's graduation present we decided to book it. We are so glad that we did. We left cayman at home with summer and the lunds took her one day as well Thank you all so much!! It was so relaxing to go and just to have myself to take care of. It was a breeze getting through security at the airport and I kept feeling like I was forgetting something because we didnt have cayman and all of her stuff.
We left out of Miami and the 1st night the waves her really bad, we didnt get sick but were a little worried that it would be like that the whole time (we didnt know it was really bad because it was our first cruise) Luckily the rest of the time the waves we much milder. Our cruise was Eastern Carribean and it went to Samana Dominican Republic, St Thomas USVI, Tortola BVI, and Nassau Bahamas(we were supposed to go to norwegian cruise lines private island but they couldnt take us on the tenders because the waves there were going to be too big, so we got a bonus port city which we were thrilled about.)
The food on the ship was great and some of the food we were ordering we had no idea what we were getting. It was fun to just order whatever knowing that if you didnt like it you could just get something else. Everything that we ordered was great. Especially the desserts!!

Larry wanted sushi on the trip and our 1st meal on the ship there it was! Plus he had steak and lobster, scallops, shrimp, mahi mahi, and lots of other seafood.

Formal night was the second night on the boat, it was fun to get all dressed up for a date and have a fancy restaraunt to eat at.

In Samana Dominican Republic, we took a whale watching tour, we are heading out to see the whales

We found the whales and got to follow them for over an hour. We followed a mom and her baby, the baby whale kept jumping up out of the water, it was amazing, it jumped 5 times in a row. They are so BIG. Seeing them in real life made us appreciate how amazing these animals are and how amazing our world is that god created.

After Whale watching they took us to an island called Cayo Levantado, to swim and relax on the beach. It was beautiful.

Our next stop was St Thomas we went to Coki Beach to snorkel. This is looking out from where we were laying on the beach.

After Coki Beach we took a taxi to Magen's Bay. It is one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was so amazing, it was a perfect beach with mountains on both sides of us.

Another picture of us on Magens Bay

Coming back from Magens Bay right over the top of the mountain. This is looking out over the city and where the ships are. The roads there are scary, switchback turns and steep hills and the taxis drove crazy.

Our next stop was Tortola BVI. From here we took a ferry to another island called Virgin Gorda to go to a place called The Bathes. There are huge boulders that create caves, you get to climb through these caves and the water from the ocean is coming in. When you got through all the caves at the other side it opened up to a beautiful little beach called Devils Bay. It was so beautiful there, the water was crystal clear.

We climbed up on top of the boulders for an amazing view.

Before we left home I was afraid that I would be a wreck the whole trip because I would miss cayman so much. When I said goodbye that was so hard and I cried alot but the whole rest of the trip I didnt cry(which I was proud of) until... we walked out on deck in the Bahamas. I looked out and there was the Disney Cruise Line and instantly the tears started coming. I pulled it together after a minute or so but next time we cruise we want to go disney and take cayman with us

Just off the boat

Since our stop in the Bahamas wasnt a planned stop we didnt have anything planned to do on this island. When we got off the boat we went around seeing what there was to do. We saw a place to rent scooters and we decided to do that and give ourselves a self guided tour of the island. We felt so adventurous! Most of the roads were one way and they drive on the left, it was a blast. This was one of our funnest days becuase "we just flew by the seat of our pants" as larry said.

One of the places we went was to Fort Charlotte, It was a neat old fort and part of Pirates of the Carribean was filmed there.

We also went to Atlantis, this is a beautiful resort on paradise island with a huge aquarium with giant devil rays.

What an adventure that we had! It was so nice to have a full week of just time with larry, (even though we missed Cayman) but being able to be free to do whatever we wanted without worry was so nice. It is something that larry and I will cherish forever and will remember forever!

The New Years Letter???

Merry Christmas!!! oh wait that's already happened! Yes, christmas snuck up on us this year. I had good intentions of sending out christmas cards and then when I knew that wasn't going to happen then I had good intentions of sending out a christmas email BEFORE christmas and then that didnt happen either! So we will call this a Happy New Years email! This year has been a great year for our little family. Here's some of the things that we have done this year.

Larry:
-continued going to school, however he has 2 weeks left and he is finished!!! Hoooorray!!!!
-Built a nice shed in the yard, with some help from the neighbor, thanks KP
-is still working at dentrix
-is happy that the Utes beat BYU and are in the Sugar bowl
-is a great dad to Cayman!

Andy:
-I got my hair cut short
-has loved watching Cayman learn and grow
-loves to do hair and cant wait until we get a salon built.
-loves her calling in activity days.
-and my very favorite thing this year is that I got to be with Cayman every day!


Cayman:
-went to disneyland 5 times this year, yes you read that right, we have a serious addiction! She loves Disneyland so much! Her favorites are the teacups (however it has to be a pink cup), Small World, Tiki Room, and Buzz Blasters
-She has finally hit 25lbs, and has just hit a heighth growth spurt.
-Can carry on a conversation with you (if you catch her in the right mood)
-loves to dance and sing songs
-turned 2 in October

We have had a wonderful year and are excited for the year to come, especially for larry to be done with school! (And hopefully we can get in a few more trips to disneyland!) We wish you the best for a great new year!
Love
Larry, Andy, and Cayman

A Disneyland Christmas

Last week we had the chance to go to Disneyland with my whole family. We all love Disneyland and we all love Christmas and so its the best combination. They decorate everything there! The castle was amazing during the day and even better at night. It was so beautiful! Cayman loves Disneyland so much and this trip was the best yet! Small world was finally opened (it has been closed this whole year) and she loved the ride. Anytime that we got anywhere near it, she knew that we were and she would point in the direction of it and yell "small world, small world!!!!" Needless to say we went on that ride alot! She also loves teacups, that is her other favorite, she would always request that we get a "pink cup please" My very favorite part of this trip was that they do a fireworks show at night which is nice but the best is that right after it they make it snow!! Thats right, on Main Street U.S.A. in disneyland it snows, they play the song "I'm dreaming of a white christmas" and it snows. It's like magic to me. The snow with all the christmas lights around and the song and my family, Larry and I just snuggle cayman to pieces while it happens. I could see that every night and not get tired of it. Disneyland at christmas is definately the most magical place on earth!

Christmas is coming!

We are so excited for christmas. We cant wait to see what Cayman will think after santa has come. We are also excited because Larry's parents and brother are going to be coming and spending Christmas with us. One of our Christmas traditions is we have to watch Christmas Vacation. We are excited to have all the projects done so that we can really stop and enjoy the holiday! "This is going to be the happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny Kaye!"