My talented mother

Just a point of clarification: my mom took almost all of the photos I shared from our trip to Tahiti and Moorea. She's a brilliant photographer; I wish she could accompany us on all our vacations, and not just because of her mad skills.

Photos of our trip to French Polynesia

Goodbye Enmore Ward

These photos are way past due but still worthwhile and fun to reminisce. They are from the going-away party we had for our friends in the ward. We miss you all tons!!

Serah Mariner and Sina Bush

Ryan Keyes and Nate Maeser

Chantal Boaza, Lofi Taumalolo, and Serah

Dallas Petersen, a fellow American, and Geoff Hargreaves

Jenny and Ryan Keyes

Luke and Jade Jarden, and Helen Petersen

Helen and Isabel Petersen with Piper

Anna Conlon, Teresa Obredor, me, April Webber, and Mary Muaror

Enmore Ward Relief Society

This is me and my RS counselor Lofi. She is so awesome!

Last days in Sydney

Going back a bit, here are few pics from our last days in Sydney. Piper tells us, "I miss Sydney." and she gets a sad look on her face. Then she's immediately on to the next fun adventure.

Last day at playgroup

Rick's coworkers gave Piper a Roosters jersey. They're our favorite rugby team - and we know a guy who plays on the team too.

Piper and Rick on our last night in Sydney

Things we love about Piper

Here are some the top things we love about Piper in no particular order.

• Almost on a daily basis Piper cracks us up with the things she says.
• Piper is friendly and sociable.
• Piper loves reading books.
• Piper definitely takes after us and our respective families. She acts just like I did as a kid, and her Grandma Vicki and Great-Grandma Dody too.
• She loves to sing but if you try to sing with her, she usually says, "shh Daddy," or "shh Mommy," because she wants to sing, not us.
• Piper is very polite. You hardly have to remind her to say please and thank you. Even when she's upset, she'll still say "no, thank you" even though she's got a grumpy face.
• Piper wakes up quickly and pretty happy, unlike her mother.
• Piper loves to help. She sets the table by putting the silverware and napkins on the table. She likes to clean too but mostly dusting and vacuuming. Cleaning up her toys or books is another issue altogether.
• Following in her mother's footsteps, Piper likes to cook. Whenever I'm in the kitchen, she runs and tells me, "I help you," and proceeds to get a chair to push up to the counter.
• Piper is mostly a good sleeper, though while traveling she gets very clingy and isn't as good of a sleeper.

I'm a bit behind...

We've been out of the touch recently but there's a good reason. After a few final whirlwind days in Sydney, we went to Tahiti and Moorea for a little vacation. We had a fabulous time. We're still adjusting to not wearing our swimsuits all day.

Our trip in a nutshell:

Beach, food, snorkel, beach, swimming, playing cards, beach, snorkel, crepes, beach...repeat as desired. (You get the idea.)

Happy Birthday to you...

Piper's birthday was last Saturday. We threw a little luau for her and some of her friends. It was fun. We blew bubbles, did the hokey pokey and the hula hoop, ate cake, and opened gifts. We had five kids over and their parents. Piper answered the door with an "Aloha. Thank you for coming." We worked on that all week but it usually sounded like, "loha, you coming."

Piper got books and puzzles from most of her friends. But her friend Tyler got her this riding inchworm that Piper loves. She's named it Sydney (yeah, do you think she's going to have a hard time leaving).

The only unfortunate part of the day was the fact that Zoey couldn't come to the party. She had had a slip in the tub earlier in the day and had to go to the hospital to have surgery. They ended up removing her bottom four baby teeth so she'll be missing them until the adult ones come in...in four years. So sad. But she's coping well and you can hardly tell that they're missing unless you look hard.

It could take me forever to write the "things we love about Piper" post since there are so many but I'll write it soon.