Such a treat, a "Springtime" treat!

The twigs have a cousin named Spring.

Yes, she's as bright and happy as her name.

Zac told me tonight that next to us,

Spring wrote him the most letters on his mission.

She's thoughtful beyond her years and is such a blessing in our lives.

Yesterday I got the mail and found an envelope from Spring

for Emily!

It was hard to wait for our girlie to get home from work 

so she could open it!

This is what she found inside...

A "congratulations graduate" card

and a portrait of our Emma!

Spring so nailed it! 

How does she do that?!

Spring wears many hats and one of them is

creator of the cutest stick figure doodles.

She even sells them on Etsy. 

Springtimedoodles

We love to read her blog too!

Springtimetreats

Thank you dear Spring 

for sharing your adorable creations with us 

through the years.

They are treasures and we love them so much!

Though as much as we love them, 

we love you more!

xoxo

Maui #5 Watchman on The Needle...

Iao Needle is a State Monument 

and they've done a great job telling the history of the place.

Placards all about the war on the islands 

and what a strategic asset Iao Valley was

line the path up to the viewpoint.

From this landmark, The Needle, 

you can see anyone coming from the ocean.

They did see them coming 

and they saved the day. 

Pretty neat place. 

=D

Maui #4 Sooo fishy!

Snorkeling was the main activity planned for the trip to Maui
and it was even better than I'd dreamed.


(photo credit unknown) 

We headed out to Molokini Crater on this boat early one morning.





I didn't have an underwater camera 

but did try to use Scott's camera once. 

(photo credit unknown)

It was way more difficult than it looked

to catch great underwater pictures 

(photo credit unknown)

cause all those fish are on the move 

AND the current has 

YOU on the move. 

There's a LOT of moving going on!

(photo credit unknown)

That all means that none of the fish pictures 

in this post are mine.

(photo credit unknown)

Hats off to great underwater photographers 

and thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures.

(photo credit unknown)

We snorkeled every chance we got, 

well, not here

but lots of other places!

(photo credit unknown)

We floated along the reefs for hours 

(photo credit unknown)

looking at the incredible 

shapes and colors of fish.

The yellow striped goatfish

were always swimming in schools.

(photo credit unknown)

I was too busy looking down

so I didn't notice these for a long time. 

Then I caught a flash of light out the corner of my mask

and noticed needle fish on the surface 

swimming beside us.

(photo credit unknown)

We saw some turtles in the water too.

(photo credit unknown)

It was so much fun to swim along and watch all the critters,

that is all except for the guy I saw that looked like this. 

(photo credit unknown)

He swam up and out of some coral 

right in front of me 

and opened his mouth wide!

(photo credit unknown)

I could see past his sharp pointy teeth 

and clear down his throat!

(photo credit unknown)

Didn't know it was possible to scream underwater

but it is! 

I screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed, 

arms, hands and fingers spread wide

until he retreated back into his coral!

Poor Scott was wanting to get a picture 

but that bright yellow moray eel 

wasn't coming out again!

I learned later 

that they don't open their mouth 

because they're looking to take a big bite out of you. 

They don't have gill covers 

so they open and close their mouth 

to BREATHE. 

Sorry, pal.
;)

Such a beautiful

underwater world!!

(photo credit unknown)