Thursday, January 17, 2008

Amazing Views





Kona Temple





Lush Rain Forest





Kileau Crater--Volcano Adventures






Black Sand Beach .... more info to come.


Heath and I saw the Black Sand Beach on our way to the Volcano, which was a 2 hr drive. It was beautiful and the waves were so big. I couldn't believe the range of ecosystems during the drive. At one point we're driving through rolling hills, steep cliffs along the coast, then rocky black lava areas, next amazing rain forests! It was so incredible to see the variety all within a few hours. When we got to the Volcano...it was FREEZING!! We were up 4000 ft. and yeah, we forgot it would be cold and had to purchase sweatshirts. It was pouring rain nearly the whole time. We also had a chance to walk through a LAVA TUBE. To get there, we walked down the most amazing rain forest. I wish I could capture the beauty on a camera but it's nearly impossible. The other impossible thing was that there were no bugs. I thought there would be bugs everywhere...guess I was wrong, which I'm glad about.
I know, cute toes huh? Not really, but I thought it looked cool on the black sand. :)


Thursday, January 10, 2008

Rainbow Falls


Here's the first of many Hawaii shots. I'm going to bed...I'm exhausted. I figure I caught up with a couple major events and I'll have to leave the adventures of Hawaii for another day. Happy New Year!

Holly, Jolly Christmas









Well, this Christmas was quite different than any other one we've ever had. It was our first Christmas at Home! It's Heath's family's year for Christmas but they only had a Christmas lunch with the family on th east side of Mesa Christmas day, so we were on our own for Christmas eve and morning. I decided to make a yummy fiesta dinner with fajitas and salsa and don't forget the bubbly! That's Jace and daddy doing "cheers" Not sure where he got that, but it's one of his favorite things to do when drinking something and we must hit glasses or it doesn't count. :) We then made sugar cookies together, got pretty messy and even had a visit from a neighbor dressed up as Santa Clause....Jace is still a little aprehensive about the Clause. Maybe next year. Christmas morning was oh so fun....and can you believe it, I was so wrapped up in watching Jace devour every present and enjoying every sqeak and squeel that I forgot to take hardly any pictures!!! I know, what a mom! But I guarantee this Christmas was by far the best. I could care less about what I got....I loved watching Jace and the joy on his face as he tore through the wrapping paper and yelled, yes, wow, awesome....when he got his books, trucks, tool set, new kitchen stuff, movies and more. He was thrilled.






5 Years and Counting....


Nov. 30, 2007--I can hardly believe that it's been 5 years since we've been married!! Heath surprised me with a beautiful display of red roses and I took him to the Suns game!!! We had a great time. We started the night off @ Stoudemire's restaurant and the food was mmm mmm. good. (plus, it was raining outside...so that added to the great day). We then enjoyed the game, which got pretty exciting near the end but the Suns pulled off a win. We've been so lucky to have so many awesome experiences just from the generosity of others. Thanks FOX10!

The 10 best things about being married:
1) Knowing you'll be by eachother through everything-good and bad
2) Having someone that knows you better than yourself sometimes
3) Always having someone to laugh with, cry with, talk with and snuggle with
4) Being able to learn about true service and sacrifice
5) LOVE---need I say more?
6) Learning to get over the quirky things and hoping to someday find them endearing
7) Having a FAMILY! Jace is the best part of us
8) Discovering eachother's hidden strengths every day
9) Bein able to kiss anytime we want
10) Having a best friend in eachother

Wow, lots of catch up!!





I guess the first event to start off with would be THANKSGIVING! We had a great time spending time with my family, my 89 yr. old grandpa and extended family. There certainly were some highlights of the weekend. We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast and the church cultural hall, playing Guitar Hero--in fact all the men decided to create an actual bracket for a guitar hero contest, which turned out to be quite fun and exhausting. Jace loved it but was definitely over stimulated because when we got home a couple days later he didn't stop singing and playing his guitar for 3 hours straight....no joke. I was losing my mind. Going to Vegas is never what everyone else thinks it is...for me it means, good food, family, house full of memories, and making more.