A Few Malihinis: Utah 2: Owen is 8 and loves to skate, BYU's nosebleed, East of Eden

Next up was a visit to Erin. This time, we met at her home. We loved seeing her kids in their own home and it was so much easier to talk in a more quiet place, especially after our trip to Boondocks last year. Zachary had a lot of questions this time around and we were so happy he felt comfortable asking her. She is so warm and open.

My kids feel like these kids are their half siblings, too. We did a gift exchange and my kids received art kits (dragon sticker kits and sketching) and we also gave them art supplies. Zachary gave Erin an Aloha gift from Mahina--the softest, warmest sweatshirt of all time with the islands on the sleeve.

One topic was Erin's art. She studied art in depth in college but decided against majoring in it. We asked to see her work and she brought in many canvases, including this beautiful sketch of Zachary in her belly. It is so beautiful and touching.

We met up with Brett, Shireen, Sariah and Sam plus Blake, Walker, Elise, Cory and Kristen for an evening of 300 taco assemblage. Cory and Kristen booked and planned the night serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House and I loved that they encouraged the kids to take the lead on making the food.

Owen was very involved and took his responsibilities seriously.

So much work and sweat, and plenty of smiles.

Not pictured: Kristen crying her eyes out as she chopped dozens of onions in preparation.

After the service, we went to pho, catching it minutes before closing time.

We did friend gift exchange that night. Cory and Kristen showed us the Always "#likeagirl" commercial and gifted us these custom-made sweatshirts to celebrate what we do like girls. This is my favorite sweatshirt of all time and I receive comments on it every time.

Blake and Brady spent a long time solving the puzzles Erin gifted Zachary before spending a long time reassembling them so Zachary can do them.

We sported our sweatshirts the next morning for shopping.

Shopping like a girl.

Catching the Christmas light show that night--a much different experience without cold and snow!

That night, Cory and the boys all went to see Godzilla--Cory and Walker's 3rd time! Owen was so excited to be included as one of the boys, staying up late and getting a giant popcorn as a pre-birthday celebration. Much to Kate's chagrin (the boys went out and we stayed in, heaven forbid), the girls stayed back and watched Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, which was exactly 30 times more exciting than I expected and made me a fan for life. Heart Hands.

YAY! Birthday weights with a birthday buddy before a full day of birthday fun! Owen is 8!

Owen chose ice skating as his big activity, and everyone was so kind to oblige. Kristen, the ice-skating pro among us, showed us a few tricks--none of which we could execute, and even performed a jump!

My favorites!

One thing I loved on this trip was watching cousins interact with their siblings. I love the way they play together, sometimes with a competitive edge but always with a desire to connect. I saw this with Blake and Walker, Elise and her brothers, Parker and his sisters, and Logan and his brothers. It was such a great example for my kids.

Shay joined us for the skate and lunch, too. Kate had a harder time on this trip opening up and seeing her with Shay, she was back to her "normal self" again.

Kate was not happy with me when I started messing around with her. She claims I am responsible for her one and only fall, and I will own that one for sure.

Kaua'i and Utah mixed at one booth:

We took over that half of Burger Supreme.

That evening, we visited Kathie, Lee, and their kids. After Sarah talked about this lizard, Owen was especially excited to play with it.

They generously fed us and even played Minute-to-Win-It games, too.

Last stop: Birthday presents for Owen! He was so happy to join the Nike-loving family with another pair:

My mom and dad made him a card:

He was lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Edwards with him on his big day!

A rock tumbler! Such a great idea for our crystal and rock-loving scientist. Too bad it takes 7-14 days to make a rock shine! Apparently Brady did know this prior to purchase, but it was news to me and now my front lanai has its own permanent sound machine. Ha!

Fancy cupcakes from the shop that won Cupcake Wars:

Happy Birthday, Sweet Owen! I wanted you more than I can possibly describe, and I'll never forget holding you for the first time! Your primary teacher and school teacher rave about your kindness. You go out of your way to befriend the kid in class who is having a hard time. You mesh well with all types of kids but know that a true friend does not get you into trouble, as you told me tonight. Ms. Braun said you are the kid all the classmates want to sit with, and you always have someone to walk with after school. Even if you aren't the best at a sport, you are willing to work hard and persevere. You also happen to be a very fast runner and seeing you run 2.2 miles in 20 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday morning during Run Club is inspiring! You love to read anything science, especially "Weird but True" and books about space. You enjoy piano at least 80% of the time. You think you are a Fortnite boss after playing it a few times at cousins, and take pride in stating that 5 Nights at Freddie's "isn't scary." You have so much gas that we wonder if you have some kind of allergy but you are also child #3 so we haven't taken the time to get you tested. You take "insane barrels" on your boogie board, you sand slide, you tide pool, and you paddle like crazy to keep up with all the bigger kids in your life. It is tricky to have family friends whose youngest child is 3 years older than you but you manage to run around confidently anyway.

Hang on to your confidence, Owen! You are so loved!

Kate loved this cozy spot by the fire.

The space projector shoots up a pretty fantastic solar system.

I'm sure it was perplexing to our cousins that we met up with Stebbins and Clarks for a day trampolining, but while we went to the bounce house, Brett, Sariah, Zachary, Cory, Walker, and Brady went to a basketball gaming/practice center and played hard. Way to go, Sariah, for beating the boys! Yay for me for making it another bounce session without peeing my pants! Dodgeball was my favorite activity. It was just like the "old days" with Stebbedlark basketball in the gym on bad weather, winter days.

Kate had her first J-Dawg and pretended hard to like it. She spent the afternoon with Shay's family.

Goodbye, dear Olsens! We love you! Can't WAIT for Banff this summer!

We took off for the BYU basketball v. Wyoming, but not before Cory and Kristen very kindly suggested I consider a wardrobe change as I was wearing the opponents' colors. Seriously, it's been a long time since I've been a sports fan of anything other than kid sports! They suited me up with BYU-color Nikes.

On the way into the Marriott Center, we heard Ben White's voice behind us. Happy Reunion! Ben was Brady's roommate and helped facilitate setting us up by convincing Brady I was into him after our not-great first date to Preference. Thank you, Ben!

We were so high in the nosebleeds that we wished for the top row where we could at least rest our backs. I miss the student session. I feel young enough to stand and jump around the whole game but no one does that in these seats. Too bad I don't look 18 anymore. We plotted a Christmas trip to Costa Rica while we watched the game.

We had another day at church, and then headed to the cabin in Eden. Thank you, Cory and Kristen, for convincing us that we should go to the mountains. It was our only real exposure to snow this trip! Kate and Owen helped unload and then went "sledding" on this tiny hill for almost 2 hours while I walked around a lake and the rest of the family engaged in Monopoly.