Just Hanging out!!

Bristol and her big Brother Bryant, just hanging out.

SUCCESS!!

So I finally figured it out.  I know it took a lot longer than some of us expected, but I found a way to download pictures, and so without further delay, here are some cute pics of my kids from recent excursions.  I will work on getting the other pictures up over the next few days.  Remember to look back at the older posts as I try to put an accurate date on all of these pictures.

Camping with Dad!

So, I just had surgery on the tenth to correct everything that happened to me while I was bringing this crew into the world.  As a result my mom came to visit to help out with everything.  Lee took a couple of days of leave to be here also and during the time he was off it happened to be spring break.  He decided he would take the six older children and go camping at Bellows Beach Park.  Can you say WOW, what a daddy!!

This is the new tent he bought for the occassion so that they would all be under one roof.  Brooklyn and Bryant were very excited about it as soon as they set it all up.

They first stopped at the Turtle beach and looked at turtles for awhile.  Can you see the little turtle head poking out of the water?

After setting up camp they all caught some waves.

Bryant was gathering the wood for the campfire!  How can you not be in love with him in his little aloha shirt?

Lee took the children miniature golfing right after they swam, set up the tent and gathered all of the wood for their fire.  Here is Braelynn teeing up and trying to get a hold-in-one.  The only problem is the hole is next to her feet and she is shooting the wrong way.  Maybe she is not the next great golfer in the family.

Popcorn to end the evening with (there were s'mores too.)  Then it was off to bed for everyone.

Breakfast in the morning with six happy faces.  Pancakes are always a hit.

I just can't believe how wonderful my husband is and what an amazing dad he is!  I am so glad that Heavenly Father chose to lead me to him and that he asked me to be his wife.  Our little family is the most joy anyone could ever have.  Yes, they are a lot of work, but anything that is worth this many blessings is bound to take a little effort.  Thank you so much, Lee, for asking me to be your wife.

New Printer.

So, I am very excited about my new printer, but there is one problem.  My old printer had the little slots to put in your card for the pictures to download.  I made sure to purchase a printer that would do the same thing, but, alas, I cannot figure out now to make it work.  I apologize to all of you who are waiting for beautiful pictures to keep up with the Harms clan.  I just find something wrong with the idea of posting anything without a picture.  So continue to be patient out there and hopefully I will get something up soon!

So this is an up close look at what I do to my little sister that makes her laugh at me.  My mom is getting very worried about my face and makes the comment, "Bryant if you keep doing that it will stick that way."  Now, come on, if your little sister was laughing her head off, would you stop doing the funny faces?  I think not.

Martin Luther King Day

Brandon performed at the Martin Luther King Commemoration ceremony in the Park down on Waikiki.  He sang "Who's Loving You" by the Jackson 5 and also "There's a Hero" by Billy Gilman.  I love hearing my son sing, and I love it even more when people get excited about him singing.  I think it is because all of the songs he chooses to sing, he really enjoys or feels the message of what the song is about in his heart.  This is a picture of him right before going on stage and the second picture is of them introducing him.  Keep humming Brandon.

Trip to Kona

Yes, folks that clock reads 2:22 AM!!  That is the time that Briana, Brandon and I arose one early morning in February in order to catch our plane to Kona, HI at 5:30 AM.  It was a very early Saturday morning, but boy was it worth it.

We were on our way bright and early and all very excited.  We were going to visit the Latter-Day Saint Temple that is on the Big Island, but I had decided that we would also make a day of it and go and see some other sites, as well.

The temple was beautiful and it sits just up on a rise so that you can see a beautiful view of the ocean.  We went all the way to the Big Island because the temple here on Oahu is closed for renovations.

Brandon was being a little Ham out front with his sister Briana after we had gone inside. 

Briana is looking very contemplative like she is pondering the secrets of the Universe, or, in reality, who that cute boy across the parking lot is.

Our next stop was the black sand beaches that the Big Island is famous for.  I really wanted to see one before we left Hawaii and so off on our adventure we went.  I had rented a GPS with our rental car or we would have been sunk.  Briana slept for most of the drive, but Brandon and I were in awe of all of the lava and how this island is really being formed still.  We stopped at an antique shop on our way and I bought some Delft china from Holland to remind me of my Dad.  He served a Mission for our church in Holland, Belgium in the early 70's.  We saw a lot of horses, some llamas, and even a zebra on our drive.

 

Beautiful black beaches to squeeze between our toes.

Our next stop was the volcano.  It is still blowing out gases daily.  The day that we went there were some roads closed because the gases were so toxic that it was unsafe for people.  The moment that we were in the National Park where the volcano is you could smell the gas and it made me sick to my stomach.  We didn't stay too long because we all started to get headaches and that is a danger sign that you are not doing well.  Wow it was amazing to see God's majesty and creations.

This is my two kiddos in front of a steam vent from the volcano.  All of the purple things on the ground are Lei's that were set there for the Goddess Pele.  The Hawaiian people believe that Pele is the goddess of fire and that she is the one who created the islands in fits of anger.  You don't want to make Pele mad because then the volcano will erupt.

Here they are standing in front of a lava tube.  This tube was created a long time ago when a river of lava went through here and when it receded it left this tube, or tunnel.  We were able to walk through the first 300 meters or so.  That part is lighted with a clear path.  Beyond that there is no light and you need your own flashlight.  One of the pictures below shows the kids at the beginning, but they didn't go very far, as it became very, very black.

We tried to go and see the lava flow, but when we got there we were told that it had stopped flowing a few weeks earlier and that they didn't know when it would start again.  Brandon just grabbed onto some hardened lava and tried to see if he could move it at all, but it is definitely solid.  Briana picked up some rocks to bring home with her, but finally heeded all of the warnings by the park rangers.  They told her that it wasn't against the law to take the rocks, but that it was rumored to bring very bad luck.  They told her that they even had many people who sent back the rock just to have their bad luck go away.  I guess they believe it makes Pele mad when you take her rocks away.

That night we caught our plane back to Oahu at around 8:30pm.  We were exhausted.  We had flown into Kona and we flew out of Hilo.  We had traversed the entire side of the island and were able to see many things that we will always remember.

A teepee in the house

Braelynn made a beautiful teepee for her school project.  We are homeschooling her and she had so much fun putting together this little thing that she had to take a picture.  More of our fun homeschool adventures to follow.

Breakfast on the Lanai

The children are eating on the Lanai.  Bethany had her food first and everyone else is waiting patiently for their servings.  I love these guys!!

Bristol's new toy

So Bristol has a new toy that she absolutely loves.  It is so cool because she can walk around the outside of the center toys.  She can play with one for a few minutes and then wiggle around to another one.  She has thorougly been enjoying her time, trying to figure out how to grab everything and put it in her mouth or push a new button and play the piano.  Bryant eagerly attempts to help her in anyway that he can.  It is so fun to watch the two of them play together.