Ok, so it's time for some major catch-up! But of all the things I could post, I am totally going to toot my own horn and document forever what I stayed up till midnight the night before Matthew's birthday doing, namely, making Matthew's alligator birthday cake! Matthew turned 4 on December 7th. Last year we had a friend party and I decided I didn't want to do that again so instead I would make him a SUPER cool cake. I let him choose what he wanted the cake to be - no surprises there. I was totally excited to make it for him and as much as I messed up I am actually pretty proud of how it turned out. However, I think I might go back to the friend party next year. . .
Needless to say, Matthew LOVED LOVED LOVED his cake! Too bad he was pretty much the only one to eat it and I had to foist it off on single siblings who I convinced could get their roommates to eat it! (It didn't taste bad, just not as good as the other options that were available for adults at the time thanks to the fact that it was a joint birthday party with Grandma Dean!) Here's Matthew with Grandma Dean at the party. Grandma Dean wouldn't let us put candles in for her. Hmmmm.
As tradition dictates on birthdays (translation: as I force everyone to do), here is Matthew's breakfast in bed. Ya, I went all out as you can see. Notice the tootsie roll in between the spoon and the bowl. . . I'm an AWESOME mom!
Matthew woke up sooooooooo happy that day and we had such a great day! He is definitely turning into a big boy. He is such a big helper with Nicole and loves to help me clean the bathrooms and sweep the floor! He especially enjoys cleaning the toilet! I love it! His smile just makes me happy. He asked me the other day how he is going to know what to do when he grows up. He was really worried about this too and just wanted to express his worry that he wouldn't know what to do when he is a dad! It was so cute! Especially his relief when I told him he could always look in the scriptures and pray - it was like I just solved his life's problems! That's so typical of Matthew - always thinking of things I would never expect and making connections I always hoped he wouldn't! We sure love our big boy! Happy Birthday Matthew!
Us at the 7 Sacred Pools. Nice action shot. Thanks Ben! It's not that big of a jump but for some reason I was terrified! Good thing I've got that hand just about to my nose already. Heaven forbid I enter the water without my nose plugged!
Woodson found this cool "water slide" at the pools. Notice you can see the top AND the bottom of the "slide" in this picture. He is having a LOT of fun!
Our favorite place to eat on Maui: Brudda Hutt's. That really is its name. It is at this guy's house at the end of the road to Hana where he barbeques in his front yard. It takes a couple hours to get there but if you're driving it anyway, the chicken is EXCELLENT. Plus, he's the bishop of the Hana ward. Cool, huh?
Woodson and Ben heading out for a snorkel. 
Alyson and Jenny pretending to build sand castles. . . at sunset. . .in our regular clothes. We found this green rake and it looked good in a quickly pushed together mound of sand for the photo op.
Us on the beach at sunset. I think I must have been a little surprised. I would have liked to close my mouth.
Totally posed but I still like our walking on the at beach sunset" picture.
One of my favorite pictures: Ben and Alison "frolicking" on the beach.
I always wanted to be buried in sand. Looks good on me, I think.
Us at the blowhole. We barely made it there before it got dark. Hence, the reason the picture is so dark. We had to run down this hill to get our photo op. It was actually pretty cool. This picture doesn't show how big it sometimes spewed out but we figured we'd better take it rather than chance it getting dark before another big one came. Only casualty: Ben's clothes. He went to take a "closer look."
Woodson boogie boarding. He really does have a swimsuit on. I promise.
Look at this crab. That's all I have to say about this one.
A stroll on the beach. 
Us at the Banyan tree in Lahaina. This was the coolest tree ever. I wanted to pose like the roots were like a jail cell - hence the pretend scream - but then Woodson kissed me right at the last minute. So now I pretend it is a "scream of delight" and I totally meant to look like that.
I really didn't mean to have this one on right here but somehow it is so. . . here we are in the Costco parking lot right after we landed. At least I am wearing a lei so you know I'm not at the Lehi Costco! I think we kept Costco meat department in business while we were there!
