Small Beginnings

So, we're moving. No I'm not telling you where we're moving to! Stalker!!

Why are we moving? Our place is too small. We've been here for 2 years and want a change. And we don't have air conditioning and it's hot! We made it through last Summer, but we were just married so our love made it easier to handle, but now we're realistic and it's freakin' hot here! I'm sorry for the people who bought our contract... I didn't tell them that there was no air conditioning. I still feel quite bad about that, but we need to get out of here!

Our place is so tiny, I made Mark go around and take pictures of it to show our kids some day. It's a one bedroom/one bath in Union Square. A small little kitchen in it's own little nook with no window, so basically the fire alarm goes off when I cook because the smoke and steam have nowhere to go! There's a swamp cooler in the bedroom, so basically we didn't like being anywhere else but the bedroom in the Summer! We'd even watch tv shows online just so we could have cool air on us.

For my future children--here's where we started our little family. May you be luckier than us in the future. :)

Our tiny little kitchen. Big enough for Mark and I, but not much else.

When we first moved in I tried cooking banana bread. The first time it just burned and I thought I just needed to get used to the oven. Tried it again, same thing. Couldn't be a coincidence! I called the office and the maintenance man came. He turned on the oven and left a thermometer in there and noticed that it never stopped getting hotter, it just kept increasing. We got a brand new stove/oven :) How did the people before us live??

The living room was so tiny. You couldn't really move the furniture or anything. It was probably 10' x 10'. On to bigger and better things.

The sink was outside of the shower. It was nice having that. No foggy mirrors and least!

Shower and toilet. You had just enough room to sit down and close the door. Poor Mark.

Walk in closet. Quite nice actually.

Bedroom/Office. We got a new bed almost as soon as we moved in which was nice.

I don't know what prices will be like in the future, but this cost us $585 a month when we first moved in, then they raised the price to $595, and we heard right before we left that they were going to increase the rent price another $20... glad we left when we did!

Single Awareness Day.. Not for us Suckers!

So there's not much to write about Valentine's Day. Mark and I decided that we wouldn't really celebrate it. Then I realized it was on Sunday, and I could be nice and make treats for everyone in the Bishopbric. So that's what I did. I made chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered braided twists, chocolate topped rice krispies and peppermint bark (Mark's favorite).

While I was in the shower getting ready for church I heard the front door open. That's weird I thought, Mark's already in his meetings. I got out and on the bed was a huge box from Mrs Fields. It was a huge cookie! Mark can be cute when he wants to be. What's funny is that every Valentine's Day Mark gets me something that he actually wants. He loves cookies and I'm not their biggest fan. Last year he gave me a caramel heart and he loves caramel! Next year I'll get a video game, I can just feel it!


Since it was my Valentine's Day present Mark said I had to take the first bite. Why not make it a big one?!

Driver, take me to Matsumotos!

When we got back to Oahu we knew that we needed to spend time with Erin and her roomies. Not having a car, Hawaii seems pretty lame to them, so we decided to take them around and experience the island.

While we were there Mark really wanted to walk around BYU-H campus. Apparently it was some sort of big brother thing, so Erin took us on a tour. While on our tour Mark and I took a picture of this gem. Skateboards aren't allowed inside the library, so yes, of course you should make a skateboard rack! What? Yes, a skateboard rack. You saw it first here folks.

Hawaiian ingenuity and it's finest.

After classes we took Erin and Co to the different beaches along the North Shore to look at the huge waves. This is Sunset.

The waves are so disastrous to the beaches. Because the waves are so big and so powerful, as the wave recedes it takes the shoreline with it. Imagine that whole area filled with sand, that's how it's supposed to be. Trucks will have to dump more sand into the area to refill it.


This is Sharks Cove. The waves and swells were crazy! You can't really see it, but the tiny 2 bumps toward the right side of that rock are people. That's just a size gauge for that white wash!


The next day we took everyone to Matsumotos. Hawaiian shave ice baby! Mark loves it, and if I ever wanted to move back to Oahu, this would be my leverage.

Apparently this is a Shinoda thing... when a sibling is missing they put a gap inbetween them to make space for the missing person... I guess they missed you Emi!

We also took them to Buffalo Wild Wings that day! On another day we took them to Walmart, and shopping at Waikele and ate at a Korean restaurant.

*Parents of these children: We accept checks written out to us, or cash. Gift cards may be accepted,with approval only.

So back to these waves. This was the sign on the beach at Pipeline. Crazy stuff guys. Below is a short clip at Sharks Cove of the waves hitting the rock. HUGE! At least 20 feet high if not 30. Oh Hawaii, how I miss you.

Hilo! Grandma*Grandpa*Farm*Volcanoes*BJ Penn

After my brother's reception Mark and I got to take my grandparents back to their home on the Big Island. This time we were in Hilo! It was an interesting trip through the airport! My grandparents were both in wheelchairs all through the airport. I had never had to take anyone through with a wheelchair. We checked their 1 bag and went to wait at the gate. Mark and I originally were going to go on a flight before theirs because their flight was full when we booked ours, and wait for them to get to the Hilo airport. While we were waiting though, the said that our flight had seats open for anyone who wanted to go on an earlier flight. Fantastic right?? Wrong. Grandpa's bag didn't make it onto the earlier flight, so we had to wait at the airport until the other flight came in! What's the point. Anyway. We got our car and went on our merry way. Mark was very nervous driving us all in the rental.
Here's Mark next to a portion of the farm. Grandma and Grandpa are in their 80s and they're still farming, just not as much as they used to.

They live so remotely that they don't have a plumbing system and so they have to live off of rain water. Every time I flushed the toilet I felt like I was using a weeks worth of their supply! This huge wooden tank is what hold their water.

This is their little house. I think my Grandpa built it himself too. So old, but sturdy. Just like them I think.

The road to their house. It's the same in the other direction. How you know to turn I have no idea. Good thing we weren't by ourselves getting there.

They live near Kileaua, the only active volcano in Hawaii. At the National Park they have these steam vents. This is steam coming from the lava underground! When you looked around everything was steaming. It was slightly eerie, but so cool.


This next picture is the caldera. It's still smoking! Crazy to think that it the volcano actually erupted we would've been the first to die.
They also had a lava tube that you could walk through. A lava tube is created when the lava runs though an area and melts the rock down and creates a tube. The lava either stops, or finds another path, leaving a tunnel where it used to run. This is an extinct tube.

Mark in the tube.

We drove down the whole area all the way from the top of the volcano down to the water. Mark thought that he would be able to see actual lava. Me being practical knew that they wouldn't let people into that dangerous of a situation, so Mark was slightly unhappy that he didn't get to see anything.

When we got home Grandma had a huge lunch planned. Now we feel bad that we only stayed 1 night with them. Next time we'll stay longer. Promise Grandma!
One of the last things we did before getting on another plane back to Oahu was look for BJ Penn's training center. Mark was all excited to go and find it, but when we finally got there he didn't want to go in! Probably embarrassed, but it's ok, it was still cool to find it.

Now back to Oahu! So much traveling!

What the Car in the Ocean?

Our flight got into Oahu late at night.

While we were driving along the very windy road home you won't believe what happened! Here's the backdrop. It's 10 at night, a we're following a very windy road that follows very closely along the Pacific ocean. There are 2 cards ahead of us. The road is S shaped and the first car in the line does not follow the S, but goes completely straight and falls head first off a 4 foot ledge and into the ocean. The truck in front of us doesn't stop! It just kept going!!

I wasn't watching what was going on, but I saw the headlights go down and flip around. My brother Simon stops the car and pushes my other brother Solomon out of the car yelling GO! Solomon didn't see it either, he just thought that it was an old car in the ocean so he was confused, but Simon pushed him out and he understood. While Simon called 911 Solomon jumped over the edge and ran to the car. Luckily it was low tide, so the car wasn't under water. The car at this time was tittering on it's side, the drivers side. Solomon tried to get into the car through the drivers side window, and then I see the feet. There was a set of feet poking out of the window onto the sand.

Solomon couldn't get the door open. At this point 3 other cars and stopped and ran to help. Solomon jumped onto the top of the car (the passengers side) and tried pulling open the door. It was locked. He yelled at the guy to unlock the door. He did after about 20 seconds. Solomon yanks open the door and smoke comes pouring out. What comes out of the smoke? Hands holding up a little girl that looked around 2 years old!!! Are you serious?! And she's bleeding from her head!

(While all this is going on, Mark and I are standing on the road and I'm shaking like crazy with shock) When I see the little girl I go over to the ledge and open my arms to receive her, but by then Solomon helped her dad out of the car and she was yelling at the top of her lungs for him! They both get out of the ocean and climb up the ledge and the little girl is put on the trunk of someones car and we wait for the paramedics.

The cops and ambulance come 5 minutes later. The dad and daughter get whisked away to the hospital about 30 minutes later. The mother was working just across the street and he was going to pick her up. He kept saying that he fell asleep at the wheel, but one of the other guys that helped him said that he wreaked of alcohol. Right when the ambulance was starting to leave the mother comes out to see them. She talks to them for a minute and leaves. My brothers give their statements and we're on our way home again. On the news there was a 5 second mention on if, but that's it. It seemed like something way more worthy of 5 seconds that's for sure.

I forgot all about this until now. In the pictures you can't really see the water, but know that the water is there.

Reception and Beach!

So the main reason that we went to Hawaii this time was for Jared's wedding.

Mckenna wearing the traditional haku at the reception

Dad and Mckayla

Mark finally bonded with Mckayla!

But we also got to have time to ourselves! Mark and I only got to go to the beach to tan once. Every other day the tide and waves were crazy! While I wanted to lay down and tan, mark wanted to build a sand castle.

I made Erin into a mermaid. The cutest mermaid with the smallest fins!

The photographer!

Hawaiian Getaway

Mark and I spent 2 days in Utah after our California Christmas before we set off for Hawaii for another 10 days! I know, we have a tough life and I bet you wouldn't want to wear our shoes. Oh well! We're just lucky that we had saved enough PTO to take the trips!


We went to Hawaii for my brother Jared's wedding. Since the Laie Temple is closed, we had to go to the Big Island for the wedding. The hotel we stayed at was great! There was an outdoor restaurant that stood on pillars only and had water running all underneath it. It was very very nice!

It was amazing, there were turtles everywhere!

While we were there the surf was really big, so we weren't allowed to go in the water (I tried and got yelled at by guests and staff, it was really irritating, but I'm trying to forget that dark mark on our stay and remember just just wonderful aspects).

The wedding was at the Kona Temple. On our way to the temple I realize that I didn't have my temple recommend! What?! So it took half an hour until I was actually able to get in. At least I made it on time and we got to be there. whew!

My family with my new sister!

While Jared and Lisa were taking their pictures, we got to play with my nieces. My niece Mckenna is so afraid of Mark, it's ridiculous. For one brief glimmer, Mckenna and Mark actually had a moment of mutual friendship. And the best part is we got it on film!

"I want to see the horses" - Mckenna
"You can't go by yourself, someone has to take you." - Dad
"Who?" - Mckenna
"Uncle Mark!" - Everyone

Smiles!

Duck Duck Goose - over and over and over!

When everyone else left to go back to Oahu to get the reception ready, Mark and I were still in Kona! We had to check out of the hotel, and we had half a day still left before out flight. What to do?! Mark found a Hawaiian temple online and wanted to drive to it. Since I grew up in Hawaii I didn't think much of it, but Mark thought it was going to be some huge Pyramid... I have no idea why he thought that. Anyway, it was a good hours drive all the way up the island, through Hawaiian lava rock dessert and no good radio stations. When we finally got Mark was confused. Is this really it? Where's the temple? It was hilarious! Of course I had to take a picture of him with his Hawaiian temple.

Yup, that's wall of stone is the temple.

They had a little visitors center and one of the interactive things there was this stone. This stone that Mark is lifting would have been just one of the thousands of stones that make up the temple. They made a huge human chain from the water (where the stones were) to the temple and passed this huge stones until the temple was complete. I could only lift the small stone.

On to Oahu!