More Pictures from Hawaii!!

Hawaii

So we're finally back from beautiful Hawaii!! It was nice to finally have a vacation! Here's what we did.

Monday:

We hiked Diamond Head. It was a pretty easy hike at first but then we came to the stairs portion of it and boy did those give me a good workout! It was worth it once we reached the top! Then we toured Bishop's Museum. We learned about Hawaii's history and saw how the polynesians use to live.

Tuesday:

We woke up early to watch the sunrise! The first place we stayed at was a little condo with the beach 10 feet from our back door. It was fun to listen to the waves crash up against the rocks while enjoying the sunrise. Then we set out to explore Pearl Harbor. We visted the USS AZ Memorial, Battleship Missouri, and a couple other smaller ships. It was interesting to hear the history behind it.

Wednessday:

We went to the Hawaii Temple. We did sealings and then walked around the visitor's center. It is georgous! The walk up to the temple is amazing... pictures don't do justice. Then we spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Culture Center. It was quite entertaining. Each group taught us about their own culture like dancing, beating drums, climbing coconut trees, making fire etc. Their culture is so free and fun. Then there was a dinner luau and finally the Horizon Show.

Thursday:

We relaxed at the beach soaking in sun and boogie boarding. We caught quite a few waves in. Then we went to Waikiki and walked around the shops and beach down there.

Friday:

We went up to North Shore for the afternoon. We walked around the Waimea Botanical Garden... I was attacked by a million mosquitos leaving swollen bug bites the size of a baseball. Then we rented snorkeling gear and swam around Sharks Cove. There were a ton of fish to see. That night, we went on a dinner cruise. It was really fun. They had the dinner first and then entertainment and dancing. The group was pretty lively which made it fun.

Saturday:

We drove out to Huanama Bay to snorkel. That was a blast!! We took tons of pictures but they are not developed yet. We spent half the day just exploring.

Sunday:

We went to the Valley of Temples where the Byodo-In Temple is and cemetery lots. The Japanese culture is amazing. Some of the families have their own area where the whole family is burried (like in Mulan :)) They are georgous burial sites. Then we went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. We spent a couple hours there looking at all the different plants and enjoying the view.

The End.

We're Moving!!

We only have a week left in Cedar City. We're
sad to leave but it will be a nice change that we are ready for! We are moving to Las Vegas and
are going to live with my parents while we save up for a house! It is perfect timing for us to buy a house in Vegas right now with the way the market is so it could not have worked out better.

Ryan is taking the first part of the CPA Exam in two weeks and then we are off on our much needed vacation to HAWAII!! I've never been so I'm pretty darn excited. It's payoff for Ryan's year deployment to Iraq, me being in school ALL summer, and it's pretty close to our 2nd year anniversary too! We'll let ya know how it goes! :)

You can just call me Martha Stewart

So I've been wanting to learn how to can food for a while now but it's hard to find someone to teach me so yesturday, I just decided to do it. Strawberries were on sale so I bought two big tubs full then went home and looked up online how to make jam. Ryan's mom helped tell us how to do the canning part but other than that, I did it all by myself and I must say I was pretty impressed. I thought it was going to be way hard but it wasn't and the jam turned out perfect! Ryan came home from work and I just went off about my afternoon of making jam. So if you want to learn how to make jam, just let me know cuz I'm pretty much an expert now. ;) jk

This picture was taken on my birthday. Ryan took me out to dinner and then to see the movie "Get Smart". It's hillarious for any of you who haven't seen it yet! You can kinda see the old house I live in in the background. It's a little grandma house but it works perfect for us! It's the same house I was living in with my roommates when Ryan was in Iraq. Pretty cool decorations huh?

Ok, ok... here it is! I have finally started my blog. Now we just have to see how well I keep up with it! Ryan and I are just enjoying our last two months of freedom before we have to grow up and start our real jobs! I just started another summer class so that's keeping me busy along with work. Ryan is studying hard for the CPA exam and working also.

We've been out of town almost every weekend since Ryan got home from Iraq so we've been pretty busy. It will be nice to have a weekend to just sit around and catch up on everything. We've had welcome home parties, a family reunion, the 4th of July etc. to entertain us on weekends. We just got back from Delta for the 4th- it was fun. I went to my first demolition derby ever and I must say, Vegas is missing out for not putting on a derby! It was fun to sit and watch old beat up cars smashing into each other until there were only a few left.

Well, that's all the news I have for right now.