Patience is a Virtue...

Or so I've been told :)

Well, I just got off the phone with my grandma. Bless her, she is stubborn...but she's my grandma and I sure do love that lady!! I really miss my family. Sev and I both agree that this living in "paradise" crap...is for the birds!!

We can't WAIT to spend the Holidays back home in SC!!!

However, we like to make the best out of every situation...and we realize how very fortunate and blessed we are to be together this Christmas...so we enjoyed time with our friends and relished our Christmas morning together!!

We baked cookies together. Half we packed to take with us for our get together and the other half we saved for Santa. He even ATE two big bites out of them!! (sev had ginger on his breath...so I'm a bit skeptical that it was reallllllllly Santa that ate them ;) )

Last night we got together with Mark, Mel, Val, Matt, Rickey, Chad K., Chad O. and Dink.

Mark and Mel are from Japan and they LOVE severyn and my southern accent...they are ALWAYS trying to mock us and its actually quite hilarious!! Mark always greets me with a "Hi Ya'llllll" :) One day they heard me call Sev "sweet pea" and they decided they wanted a pet name....they now call each other "soybean" haha. We're blessed with some awesome friends :)

ps. marks real name is Makoto...but its easier for us southern folk to call him mark.

After some fun with our friends we came home and got in bed to prepare for the big guy!!

Just to name a few gifts he dropped off:

I got a sweet little lacoste bath robe, a nice jewelry box, a monogrammed blanket and money. Sev got a nice fleece jacket, a few Wii games, a weather radio and some gadget thingy (a Gerber something or another). We both got a NICE stainless steal grill, money, a table for our house in Hopkins (built by Santa himself and even displayed in photos by Vanna White, hehe), and a lovely digital photo frame!!

We are spoiled and so thankful!! Our family really made it feel like Christmas all the way out here on this sandy, hot, sunny island!!

Here are a few more pictures, enjoy!!

Our sweet baby Christmas tree with gifts and SANTA'S COOKIES!!!

Sev, myself and our cute stockings sent all the way from SC!!
Sev among our Christmas gifts :)
Me pondering what the gift I'm holding is :) (It was a cute picture frame!!)
Sevy and our AWESOME digital Picture frame from Santa Clause!!!

The boys rough housing after dinner (Sev, Rickey, Chad and Dink)

Apparently the newest "cool" thing to do is sit around and play Guitar Hero.
Mark and I (the "peace" sign is what the tourists ALWAYS do here in Hawaii...we have no idea why...but most of the tourists are from Japan...and Mark is also from Japan...so we always hold up the peace sign in pictures with him...guess its a "had to be there moment" but I didn't want you to wonder what in the world I'm doing, haha)
Dink, Chad, Makoto and Mel (everyone is in Chads room playing guitar hero)
Chady and Sevy...being....Chady and Sevy

Chad, SANTA(matt),Sevy and Makoto

My sweet friend Valerie and the apple pie she was so proud of :)
Mel and Mark (Soybean)
The gang sitting down to dinner
Rickey and his baby brother that flew out here for Christmas, Chad.




Val, Mel, Matt,Makoto,Chad and Sev


Me and Sev :)
Sev finally decorating the cookies instead of eating the icing!!
Sev and I using the cookie cutters :)
Cookies for Santa!!! (can you tell the ones sev decorated??hehehe)

I'll be home for Christmas...

IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS :)

So I just got off the phone with mom and she fussed because she said I never post pictures...so here are a few pictures....

WolfHound Army Ball 2007
Just a cute picture of sev leaving for work

Christmas Photos :)

We baked cookies for our Christmas Eve party with our friends and for Santa :)

He ate more icing than he decorated with!!

Christmas Eve with our friends.

UGH it is taking FOREVER to upload pictures...and it IS Christmas DAY...soooo forgive me if these are all that I'm going to post...I have more...but those will come when I have the time and patience to post them!!

!!!!!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I get a cup of coffee??

That or a nap would be nice.

I'm just taking a break from my hectic life for a minute. Sev is playing Wii Sports and I'm enjoying the wonderful smell of my baby Christmas tree...it amazes me how much aroma this little tree puts off!!

Sev and I had a bit of a hectic night and early morning...it's a bit of a lengthy story and quite frankly I don't know that I want to relive it right now, lol....so maybe I'll share that with you later.

Anyways, sev left for class this morning and I began to tear my apartment apart. You see...I have OCD. Really. I think I get it from my daddy...heaven knows my mom isn't this organized!! (hehe, nothin' but love mom!!).
The thing is...if you were to look at my table tops, counters and any flat surface in my house....you would see stacks upon stacks of....stuff....just stuff. Oh, its all neat and organized....it just looks like one big clutter.
BUT open my cabinets, closets and drawers...and you will see everything organized and half the time alphabetized!!
I seriously have anxiety attacks if my stuff isn't put up and packed the way I LIKE IT!!! So me moving across country is TOUGH!! It wears me out and takes a toll on my nerves, and seeing as how I've done it...oh 3 or 4 times...I'm just about to pop with excitement that this will be the last durn time!!
However...before this time can come to an end I must pack...yet again!!
My first problem is that I don't like other people touching my stuff. This is the first time we will have had actual movers come and pack us up!! I like to pack my own things. I have a system. I label and take pictures of everything. I keep a list of what I've packed and where it is and serial numbers beside the high priced items. Rubbermaid is my friend. Everything goes into nice neat Rubbermaid boxes. On top of the boxes I have a list of what is inside the box. I then put the list in a zip lock bag and tape the bag to the top of the box. OCD I tell ya!!
Well the movers wont let me pack my own things :( They want to pack it so if anything is broken they know whether or not it was already broken before it was packed...makes sense....but ohhhhh how will I survive not being in control?? Soooo even though this will make my life a bit busier...I've come up with a solution. I'm going to fit everything into my nice neat little boxes, take pictures, label and list everything...just not bubble wrap it. That way...when the movers come they can unpack everything, wrap it up, list it themselves and place it BACK into my Rubbermaid :) HA. Problem solved.
Nowwww I'm just rushing around trying to decide what I don't need here anymore and won't need in MT. Those items are going to be taken to our storage unit which will be packed and shipped Dec. 31st.
The stuff we're going to pack in our luggage will be packed and placed in our closet...most of this will be winter clothes for MT weather!!
The rest I will organize and prepare it to go into boxes a few days before the movers arrive at the apartment.
We live in a itty bitty one bedroom apartment...and we have TONS of STUFF!! I just don't get it...I don't understand how we accumulate so much!!
I've pretty much finished sorting through sev's army crap that has to stay here and the items I'm taking to the storage unit...now its a matter of packing.

My dad say's I'm always in an emergency and everything about me is drama...or something like that. Boy do I feel like he is right...sometimes I wonder how people spend their entire lives in the military....moving from here to there and back!! Hopefully my life will slowwwww down and get normal here shortly!! I'm exhausted!!

Okay...sev needs the computer to finish his midterm and I'm back to packing!!

Merry Christmas to ME!!! Which reminds me...I've got to plan a Christmas meal!! Yikes!! Does anyone know how to cook butternut squash? lol. (really though, I bought one b/c I hear they are good and have no idea how to cook one!!)

Beat to the Punch....

my dear cousin posted our good news!!!

Which is fine, I shouldn't have been slacking (sorry Haley :) )!! hehe.

Anyways, if you haven't read her post....Sev and I have good news!!!!


WE WILL BE BACK IN SC JANUARY 26 2008!!!!!!!!!! Yipeeeeeeeeee!!!

We are both soooo very excited!! We have really enjoyed our time in Hawaii it has been such a great experience for us...for so many reasons!! We both agree that we could NEVER live here forever, but how many people get the chance to live here on the governments dime for the years we did?? So I consider us pretty lucky :) ... well besides the fact that we paid for it with 2 longggg deployments.

I don't know where to start....hmmmmm....okay, first I will tell you about our move back home. Severyns mothers side of the family is from Montana. His grandfather (whom sev is named after) still lives on an over 800 acre ranch there. His sister Angie and our nephew Eddie also live there...not on the ranch but in the town of Billings. Sev's uncles also live there...anddd I believe a handful of cousins. Severyn hasn't been to the ranch in over 6 years...possibly alot longer, he can't remember. Anyways, Sev's grandpa fell very ill this past summer. They actually didn't expect him to live. Sev's mom flew out to MT to be with him and we actually told Severyn (while in Iraq) that his grandfather would probably be passing away very soon and to give him a call if at all possible. We were thrilled when his grandfather started to take a turn for the better!! I had never had the chance to meet his grandfather and we had discussed taking at trip out to MT...so when his grandpa started getting better we promised that while on our way home from Hawaii we would stop in MT, whatever the cost, to spend time with his grandpa.
So...last week severyn finally got his ETS orders and that cleared the way for us to begin getting everything else finished, ie. turning in gear, getting travel dates, packing, shipping household goods and our car, turning in our notice to the landlord, SHARING OUR EXCITING NEWS :) etc. etc. etc.
We left the ETS office and made our way to transportation...now if you know anything about the military you know that EVERYTHING is backwards and nothing EVER makes a lick of sense!! The joke in the Army is "If it makes sense the Army WONT do it!!" Anyways, we were fully prepared to hit a few road blocks during our preparations to exit the Army. We were aware when we entered the transportation office that we were only there to schedule an apt. for an actual time to come BACK and make an apt. for our HHG and Car to be picked up and shipped out. Along with making another apt. with travel to come back LATER and get our travel dates. (if you're lost don't worry, I'm still confused and this is my life!!...but to clarify there is a "transportation" office and a "travel" office both you have to wait forever to be seen at :) ).
Well....I guess lady luck was with us because they allowed us to be seen, SAME DAY!! (this nevveerrrrr happens in the Army it is ALWAYS "hurry up and Wait"). We came back to the office 1430 and scheduled dates for our HHG to be picked up. We have a storage unit from before Sev deployed...mainly filled with stuff we obviously don't need...because we've lived without it for over a year...but you know, as Americans we "need" our stuff. Anyways.........they actually allowed us to leave our stuff in storage and schedule the last day in December for them to pick that up and ship it home. That way we don't have to pay another months storage rent. Then they allowed us to schedule whatever time we wanted for our actual apartment stuff to be picked up.....so we scheduled the 17, that way we won't live without our stuff at all and we wont have to worry about finding a place to stay before we fly. Then they allowed us to pick a day for our car...seeing as how we have 2 vehicles back in SC we aren't in a hurry for this car to get there, so we are able to keep my escape here until the day we leave...therefore no rental car!! Then they allowed us to go to the travel office for our tickets home!!!!! This is were I knew our luck would run out...b/c we wanted to go home...butttt with a minor layover in MT. So the lady starts plucking away at her keyboard, "GSP is your final destination correct." ......"well uhmmmmm...technically yes, but uhm...can we have a layover??".........

and without even looking up she said "Sure as long as its in route, where would you like to layover?"
Well....MT isn't in route, but Salt Lake is....so long story short (okay not so short) but anyways:

Sev and I are now leaving Hawaii January 18. We will fly into Salt Lake where we will rent a car (with military discount and because we're on orders) for reasonably cheap. From there we will drive to Yellowstone and spend a night there. We will continue on to MT the following morning where we are so very fortunate enough to visit with sev's family until January 26th. We will then return to Salt Lake and the government will fly us on to SC. How exciting!! ....not to mention it gives me a GREAT excuse to go clothes shopping!! Hey you don't expect me to wear slippa's and tanks in MT do ya?? ;)


I realize this post is rather lengthy so I'll end it....but, I do have plans to post about my experience here in Hawaii before I end this Chapter in my life....so:

To be Continued.
lol

The oddest thing...

So we have a rule around our household...I'm sure many of you have the same one. This "rule" is mainly in place for Severyn. Why?? Because he is the one that has issues with storing random items in his pockets. The rule?? Well its simple really...its just "clean your pockets out BEFORE you put your clothes into the dirty clothes hamper." Easy right?? Wrong.
It is very common for me to find the following in the dryer after each load of laundry is complete: pens, pencils, pen tops, coins, dollar bills, buttons, little ear bud protector things he has to wear while at the shooting range, knives, paper clips, and even...and this one gets me every time...bubble gum!!!
This morning while I'm doing the laundry I pull the clean clothes out of the dryer and to my surprise there in the middle of my nice, warm, bundle of clean clothes is.........a tube of toothpaste......EXACTLY.....what, where and...well I know WHO.....but WHY does someone keep a TUBE of TOOTHPASTE in their POCKET???? Not even a travel size...nope, the full size.
When questioned about this he reacts as if it is perfectly normal to carry toothpaste in ones pocket. Although I may never understand my husband...I do have him to thank for a perfectly washed and fluffed on permanent press tube of toothpaste. I dare not ask where the toothbrush is!!

Bless his heart...as soon as he got Holiday leave from work he began winter term at school, and because he is such a hard worker (he would probably say b/c his wife kept pestering him to do so) he signed up for two classes this term. This requires him to go to school every week evening from 5-10 and every weekend morning from 8-1. While he does grumble about getting up early on the weekends and being bothered by homework during the day...he is making the best of the situation and really working hard at earning his degree. I'm really proud of him...and while he may leave odd things in his pockets....he truly is my hero. I'm really proud of him!!

Tomorrow is the day we're hoping to get orders in our hands and...drum role please......A DATE TO LEAVE THIS ISLAND!!! yipeeee!!!

I'll keep you updated :)

ps. we had a blast at the Wolfhound Army Ball this past Thursday and I'll post pictures later :)

What smells better than Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies??

.....mmmmmm yeah, I'm at a loss too :)

Sev has been asking me to bake cookies...and not my health nut, no sugar no fat, organic cookies. So today I broke down and mixed a batter of chocolate chip cookie dough. I will admit I used organic flour, shhhh.
So they are baking in the oven and sev is waiting with his glass of milk.

I'm patiently waiting to find out if my best friend, Autumn, will be gracing me with her presence here in Hawaii. We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas together a couple of years ago. I didn't really know my way around island then and was just getting settled into my apartment during her visit so she didn't really get to have the whole island experience...so I hope she will be able to make a second trip out here.

Well...my exciting news is that Sev will officially have ETS (the date he will exit the Army) orders in his hand this Monday!!!!! This is such and exciting and scary time for us!! We're very ready to end this chapter of our life and begin a new one...yet its never easy to close one chapter without being a bit nervous. Once he gets his orders he will make an appointment with travel and transportation and then we will be given the date that our HHG and POV will be shipped out...they will then place us in lodging for a few days before we ourselves take flight into our next chapter :)
Today was sevs "last" day of work. He signs out tomorrow on leave and then when he signs back in mid January he will use the remainder of his time in the Army clearing (turning in his gear, getting signed out of everything, taking classes and doing everything required of him to entire into the civilian world). Of course the lovely United States Army couldn't allow him to leave without a reminder of what its like to be in the Army...so tonight he is actually assigned CQ...basically he will leave me tonight and pull guard until 9am....I KNOW its only for one night and its our last...but this is the first night I will have spent without him since he has been back from Iraq....its bringing back old feelings :( I'm so thankful we're almost Army free!!!! Oh and to top it off...sevs unit just found out they will be REDEPLOYING...get this....NEXT OCTOBER!!!! That's right....if sev weren't getting out he would be scheduled to leave for 2 weeks in Feb. for training on the Big Island (the army calls it PTA). Then two months later he would leave for a month and a half for training in Cali (Called NTC)...then in October he would be leaving me again. It breaks my heart for the families who will be enduring their THIRD over a year deployment....Thank you Lord for allowing us to escape this one!!


Well....Sev's cookies are done and need to be packaged for him to take with him on his last night of guard :( Guess its movie night for me.....only thing missing is my cuddle buddy Ali to keep me company.

I'll keep you all updated on sevs orders :)

What a way to spend a day...

I spent yesterday shopping!! Two friends and I spent the afternoon walking from shop to shop, store to store, and mall to mall. I'm 3/4 of the way done with Christmas shopping :) We were also on a mission to find accessories for our outfits for the Army ball next Thursday. I found the cutest shoes from Aldo and the best part was they were marked 50% off and then I got to take another 50% off of that!! I love sweet deals!! We left Ala Moana Mall around 5pm and picked our husbands up for dinner.

I have found the wonderful PF Changs!! YUMMMYYYYY!! We got seated right away and shared the lettuce wraps while we decided what we wanted for dinner. I had the lemon chicken and it was ohhh sooo yummy!! We will def. visit this restaurant again!!

After dinner the majority of our group wanted to hop on over to Senor Frogs for after dinner drinks. We enjoyed each others company and even sported some really funny balloon hats one of the waiters created for us. We got home fairly early since the boys had work today and sev and I spent the rest of the time before bed discussing our future. That's always a fun topic.

On another note...my mother has officially turned into my grandmother!! Yep. I received a letter in the mail yesterday that included a newspaper clipping WITH highlighted paragraphs!!! I must admit the clipping was pretty interesting and I could see how my mom thought of me when she was reading it...but actually sending it to me was my grandmother made over!!

Well, Sev just text messaged me and said he was on his way home and he wanted a date night, yipeee. I live for date nights :) hmmmm wonder where we'll go. He said my choice...I said "Shopping?"...I don't think he liked that idea, lol. Oh well...I'm exited to start another weekend with my husband :)

Happy Friday!!

O' Christmas Tree...

O' Christmas Treeeeeeeee, I have the Sweetest Daddyyyyy :-)

Our 2007 Ornament
Decorations on the Wine Bar
The most adorable real mini tree ever!!
A real live, fresh from Maine, Christmas Tree!!





It's around 85 degrees here. Some may say that's just GREAT. While others...Sev and Myself...would give ANYTHING for some snow, a blanket, fireplace and cup of hot chocolate!!!





The weather just doesn't make for a very good Christmas feeling. That on top of being so far from family made Sev and I decide we were going to treat Christmas as any other day and bypass decorations and wrapped Christmas gifts all together.

Well Santa just wouldn't stand for that!!
My diddy called me a few weeks ago and told me to keep an eye out for a package. I asked him if I needed to save it for Christmas and he said "No open right away!!" Boy was I confused!!
So I kept my eyes peeled and made a daily routine of checking the mail box. A few days ago...my package arrived!! It was from LL Bean...no surprise there...but wait a minute...what is that smell??
I loaded the box and myself into the elevator and made my way up to the 23rd floor. I was standing beside a few other Lele Pono (our apartment) residents and we all kept sniffing the air...I thought, "my word somebody has a Fresh Christmas tree HERE on island!!"
I get off the elevator and make my way inside...Sev joined me in the kitchen and we began tearing into our box!! The top was off and....WHAM the house filled with the smell of Christmas!!!

That's right...my dad...I mean, SANTA had sent me a Christmas tree!!!! A Christmas tree full of fragrance and all the tree trimmings!! He said it wasn't Christmas without a tree!!
Now don't I have the sweetest Dad!! I'm pretty lucky!

So of course we couldn't let our little tree feel like the only lonely Christmas decoration...so I placed a bit of garland and a single ornament on my fake palm tree. Sev decided we needed a strand of lights on our Lani...so the next day we strung a strand of lights on the railing.


~~~~It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!
Here in Ha Wa iiiii
Sev and I don't feel left out and I don't have to pout
With our Little Christmas Treeeee~~~~

LALALA...SINGING IN THE RAIN, JUST SINGING IN THE RAINNNNN

or is it dancing?? crud...now I cant remember how it goes...well, its one of those two...dancing singing...whatever...its RAINING :)

I LOVE the rain!! Of course its not such a great thing for sev, when he is scheduled to fly today...yikes!! Oh well, he needs practice in all types of weather. After today he has a schedule filled up with people requesting his services, yipeeeee...he NEEDS to rack up some hours behind the...uh....1000000 buttons, knobs and handlebar looking driving instrument thingy, lol...whatever. He is loving it and I'm happy he is back doing what really makes him glow!

Soooo Sev and I could not decide what we wanted for Christmas. Seeing as how we are paying rent (that is MORE than our house payment) AND 2 sets of utilities and 2 car payments and our mortgage and my school loans...WE BE PO!!! So we decided on a firm amount of 100 spent on each of us!!! But what in the world did we want?? Winter clothes are out of the question...Sure I'm a girl and I love the sparkly stuff, but really...how many times do you see me wearing anything besides my wedding ring set?? I don't need anything and he only asked for a 20 dollar flight book...so what was there?? So one evening as we sat pondering the question...we decided we wanted something to share together we decided on....drum role...a Wii :) :) :)
Now...for those of you not familiar with the gaming world...or for the "most popular christmas item" this year....its a nintendo :) and its veryyyyyy hard to come by right now as its highly coveted by many this christmas.
So...we began our hunt. I finally located a ToysRUs that said they would be receiving some but couldnt place any on hold...they told me the day they would get them in and the time they opened...7am. So last weekend, Sev and I set our alarm...woke up and arrived at ToysRus at 6am...and STOOD IN LINE!!! yikes!! One hour and two cups of starbucks later we were in the door and running to the electronics department!!! and now...we are the proud parents of a Wii :) Now you cant have a game system without games...duh....so we went over our christmas budget by about 100 bucks and purchased a game (the console itself was 250 and the game was 50) we decided it was also part of Grandmas christmas gift to us :) Well, of course we couldnt wait until Christmas to open up and play our newly purchased toy...so we rushed home and soon became Wii addicts, lol. Its soooo much fun!!! For those of you still wondering what in the heck a Wii is...picture this....its like Old School Nintendo...but your controllers are wireless and you interact with the games by moving...thats right, so lets take bowling for example (sevs favorite game) you hold the controller and a bowling lane pops up on screen you stand and move your hand (with the controller) like you would if you were bowling...and a ball appears on screen and ta da you have a strike....or a gutter ball (usually what I get, lol). It's a blast and we're really enjoying spending the evenings challenging each other to a game of Wii. Yesterday I had a house full of boys playing Bowling Wii in my living room...it was hilarious watching them get so competitive over a simple game!! Fun Times. So yeah...some might say we ruined our Christmas gifts by getting it early..but who cares, its hard to feel the christmas spirit in 85 degree weather anyway!

Well...the boy just showed up...guess the weather was wayyyy to bad for flying without instruments so he had to reschedule, looks like its running errands for the rest of the day and then gym time!!!

Mwah

The couch has been taken over...

by sevy napping...so I'm sitting on the living room floor with a few minutes to spare :)

Not much is new. Sev started back to work monday :( While sad...and HARD to wake up at 5am...he has been getting off early, so it isnt all that bad. We're excited about his ETS ordrers being prepared. I can't WAIT until we have those papers in our hands and the date of his departure from THE ARMY!! Yipeeeee.

The 13th of December is our Army Ball. We couldnt decide if we wanted to go...but we decided it will be our last one and it would be nice to get dressed up together and hang out with our friends in downtown Waikiki for a night. So I'm shoe shopping :)
Our good friend JD just got his date to leave the army...he was deployed to Iraq the first time Sev was however his deployment was cut short when his Humvee flipped over and landed on top of him. He tried to finish his time out in the Army but his back is really messed up and so ultimately he was forced to get Medically discharged...he completed a bunch of paperwork and ended up getting the military to "retire" him from the Army instead of discharging him...therefore for the rest of his life he gets medical insurance and monthly check of 1200.00. His retirement party is Saturday, lol...24 years old and retired. He will be returning to Oregon to move into his newly purchased house with his wife and son...sev and I are planning on staying with them a few days before we head to MT. and then flying home for good.

Well....the boy just woke up.........gotta run!!!
Happy Tuesday :)

Black Friday...

Why exactly is it called " Black Friday"...I'm sure there is a good reason, but I've never heard the reason why.

Our Thanksgiving was nice. We left our house around 12pm and made our way through holiday traffic to the caldera's house. Sev and I brought pineapple casserole, rolls and a pie. The house was packed with food!! I'm thankful that for every year of my life someone else has cooked the turkey...b/c I have NO clue how you would even begin that process!!

It was nice being around friends...we missed our family, but having friends helped to make the holidays feel festive. After lunch/dinner we headed outside for a friendly game of football...I say friendly even though my husband managed to knock me flying to the ground resulting in nice grass stains on both my knees. We laughed and sweated and enjoyed the nice weather together :) After (coughmyteamwoncough) we went inside for desserts and a game of scatagories...sev and I decided to team up...I think he just wanted to win for a change.....and we won every single round we played. Around 9pm we decided to head home and leave our friends to continue playing and allow someone else to win :)

I really missed my family and our traditional thanksgiving meal at grandmas...but I must admit that I enjoy sharing the holiday in a different way occasionally.

Today was the Hawaii vs. Boise game...HU won!!! Sev and I watched the game here at home via ESPN b/c by the time we decided to look at tickets they were out the roof!!! We used my 12x zoom to look at the game from the lani but we couldnt see actual plays, so we decided to go back to the tv for the game and during half time we sat on the lani and watched the fireworks :)

I got to talk to my daddy for a bit today...with the time difference and a weird schedule I dont get to talk to family much, but today we got to chat for a bit and that was nice...dad and I are alot alike and sometimes I like that and sometimes we argue because of it...either way I'm glad I got my dads way of thinking!! Anyways...because of that I started thinking about how much I am just like my parents!!!! I sound JUST LIKE my mom!! Half the time I say stuff to severyn and he SWEARS I made up the words and I have to call mom to varify b/c honestly I dont know if they are made up or not...b/c shes the one that always said them while I was growing up. I also have my moms hands...it scares me sometimes when I'm doing dishes or folding laundry I think...my word these are my moms hands!!! I just hope I have her metabolism...lol...unfortunalty I think chris got that. I also have my moms hard headedness and stubborness...and she got that from my grandma........at least I know what I have to look forward to...........I told sev today that I would understand if he ran far far away once I hid my mid-life crisis!! hehehe!!
But really....genes are amazing, I guess its one neat thing about having a little rugrat.

Oh...I've decided to go back to school, I've been thinking about it for some time now and I've decided I really miss learning!! I miss my lecture classes...so once we get back to SC and settled in I'm going to start looking into going back for my masters.

Well...sev and I hit the gym and we're hitting the couch for the night :)


I'm late but I wouldnt be Lindsey if I werent so,:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUZ!!!!!!

Quick Update

Our internet has been acting up lately...so finally today Sev took our equipment back to time warner and got all new gadgets...and ta da it Works!!! For now...we'll keep our fingers crossed.

soooo we've really just been spending alot of time together...its great having him home I STILL cant get over the fact that he's home FOR GOOD!! I find myself waking up in the middle of the night some nights and looking at him and pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming....b/c not that long ago it was just a dream.
Yesterday we had a BLAST with friends. We went wake boarding!!
I just recently learned how to wake board this past summer. My good friend Kyle Christopher and his brother purchased a ski boat and so this past summer found me on Lake Wylie with the boys learning to wake board...almost every weekend I would leave right after work and head to Rock Hill...practice makes perfect!!
So when one of sevs friends asked if we wanted to wake board I was excited to show off my new found talent...hehe.
So yesterday we got up around 8am grabbed Rickey and Mosher from the walmart parking lot where we met and headed to Kaneohe Bay to meet up with the captain of the boat, Jason. We were out on the water alllllllll day yesterday....Jason and I ended up being the only two that could get up on the board...so he and I were wake boarded out by the end of the day....the other two boys were able to ski...and bless sevs heart as hard as he tried he couldnt get up on anything, we decided it was because he was left handed and probably left footed....or.....thats the excuse we gave him anyways.
This morning I woke up and could literally NOT MOVE...every single muscle in my body ached....I felt like a truck had run me over...backed up and run over me AGAIN....so I've been laying around allllllllll day moaning and whining.....I did get up to make sevy lunch and dinner...but thats it.....curled up on the sofa with a book pretty much made my day.
We really did have fun though...we saw sea turtles and shark!! Hammer heads to be exact, they were actually jumping out of the water while we were skiing...I was a bit freaked out at first, but from everything I've read and heard...hammerheads have small mouths and rarely attack and if they do its not bad. I have to admit that falling in salt water compared to lake water...sucks.....i think i was spitting salt water all night last night!!

Oh, so sev is flying again :) He is soooo happy. He is actually sitting on the sofa now reading up on his flight books. I'm happy for him.
This weekend sev is scheduled to fly and then we're headed back to the bay to kayak...then its back to work for sev :( I'm sad...but I know that he wont be working much until christmas and then after christmas we'll be getting ready to go BACK TO SC, yipeeeeee!!!!! We're both praying for SNOW!!!!!!

Last week we heard the sad news about the death of one of the soldiers that was deployed with Sev. He was home on leave and was showing his wife and friends gun safety....but forgot himself to clear the chamber of the gun before he put it to his neck and pulled the trigger. Its sad and heartbreaking.....and ironic.
I know his wife...she and I had a bit of a rocky start but I know she adored her husband and I can only imagine her heartache...keep her in your prayers (Maureen).

Life is short...so have fun :)
Until next time ALOHA.


ps. I'll post pictures of the boat activities later, whenever the guys email me their pics :)

More Maui

Okay, so I'm still trying to get the hang of this so I'll go ahead and apologize for the pictures being sideways, in random order and before the actual posting of our Maui vaca. Other than that, enjoy :)


Looking out over the Mountain tops we Ziplined across, yes little suzy has a flower on her helmet:
Sevy and his mom:

The tree we came across mid hike on our way up to the waterfall past the town of Hana:

One of the waterfalls we saw on our hike:
The awesome little path carved out between the bamboo: (the entire hike was not a neat little wooden path, it was more roots, rocks and mud...but the path was very nice!!)
The waterfall at the end of the hike:
Sev giving that gorgeous smile at the bottom of the waterfall (he took his shirt off b/c it started raining a bit on the hike and he got soaked...unlike me who had a water resistant jacket :) ):


The birdies in Hana sevy shared his lunch with (they actually landed and ate out of his hand!!):

The town of Hana...and yes, thats all there is to it!!:
A Mongoose!!:
One of the pools at the seven pools national park:
Sevy and another waterfall on our hike:


Sevy and his mom chillin in a tree branch in Lahiana:

God is Good:
Love and Laughter, all we need:
Black sand beach:
Sevy standing on black sand beach:




One of the more gentle curves on the road to hana:

One of the stops we made we stopped and hiked to an old hawaiian canal, they used this to transfer water to the bottom of the mountain (sev and I actually tubed down one of these in Kauai):
Sev and his dad on the hike we took at the bottom of the national park for Haleakala crater:
I took this picture because I never did figure out what was to the right, LOL:
The road we hiked to get 10,000ft above sea level:

Okay, so I have a few minutes...so I thought I would write a bit more about our Maui trip :) Just to share a bit and get it recorded for my own memory.

So we caught a ride to the airport with Jd monday morning around 11:30. We landed in Maui a little after 12pm. Picked up our small SUV rental and headed to Lahaina, the oldest town on Maui. It was sooo adorable...probably my favorite town I've been to on any of the islands. We ate at a local restaurant, BJ's. We then made our way to the condo we would be staying at. It was located on the number one spot to snorkel in Maui, the cove was just amazing...sea turtles by the dozens. We unpacked our bags and settled in with a game of hearts. The next morning we woke up and headed to Mt. Haleakala (I already posted pics for that hike). It was chilly so we actually got to put on a jacket!! yipee!!

It was a neat hike to the top and we were excited when the clouds began to lift and we were able to see the entire island for our position...along with neighboring islands. We ate at a little restaurant on the way up...it was kind of off the beaten path and we were not expecting much...just a quick bite to eat...boy were we surprised when the food was not only awesome but the views from the lani were amazing!!!

On our drive down the mountain we stopped at a state park and took another small hike...saw some neat trees and flowers and I think I even caught a glimpse of a nene bird(one of Hawaii's endangered birds,looks like a goose to me!!).

On the way back we stopped in kihei, a small town on the southern part of Maui. We stopped in at a local bar, Lu Lu's and ate oysters and shrimp for before dinner snacks :) yummy!!

We came back to the condo and I fell asleep reading.

The next morning we decided to make the long awaited drive on the road to Hana.....honestly I was soooo not looking forward to that!!! I loaded up on some motion sickness medicine and we headed out. We stopped in Pa'ia (the last town before the road to hana begins) we grabbed some sandwiches at the local deli and took off down the road.

I managed to snap some shots between bites of one AWESOME smoked salmon sub!! We stopped at a few waterfalls and a few hiking trials...so of course I had to take a few more pictures there!! Even snapped a shot of a local rooster :)

We were 15 min from the town of Hana when the meds hit me and I passed out!! Yep...thats right...I fell asleep on the road to Hana...hehehe(dont worry though, I saw most of the road and the 15min i missed i saw on the way back down). I woke up when we stopped at a black sand beach...pretty neat!! We messed around there for a bit and then headed on in to Hana.

Now...this road to Hana...it takes no less, mostly a bit more than 2hrs to make it from the bottom to the top WITHOUT stopping...we stopped...so by the time we got to Hana we were hungry again...we grabbed a Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken plate from a lunch wagon and sat down to feast with the ocean for company. Some local birds decided to join us and sev had no problem sharing his meal.

We drove around Hana for a bit (if youre familiar with Hana you know that didnt take up much time!!) and then headed on past Hana to a national state park to view the "seven pools"...basically just seven little pools of water collected between rocks at the bottom of a waterfall...beautiful all the same!! People were swimming and jumping from the rocks but it was getting late and sevs parents had decided against seeing the pools for themselves and started ahead of us on a 4 mile hike up to another waterfall....so sev and I took off after them (about 30min behind). I can honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful hikes I have EVER been on...and thanks to my Padre I've been on alot. Sev and I were astounded by all the different trees and floral. We grabbed some guava from one of the trees and munched on it while hiking. We started the hike around 4:30pm and around 5:30, on their way back down, we met up with sevs parents. We were 2 tenths of a mile away from the top so sev and I told them to go on down the Mt and we would continue the hike up and then meet them at the car. Now...I was also taught by my father to never enter a trail head if you werent going to make it out before sundown UNLESS you had proper equipment, he would be proud to know that I remembered his wise words and had sevy pack a head light!!....Which he left in the car at the bottom of the trail....sorry dad!!

I can not even begin to describe how awesome this trail was!! we walked through about a mile of nothing but bamboo, it had to be 20 feet tall and sooo thick!!We could not see but a glimpse of sky and it was dark before we knew it!! I silently cursed sev while climbing over tree roots I couldn't even see!! I also swore not to let my dad know how dingy I was for 1)marrying an amateur hiker and 2) continuing with the hike even though it was past dark thirty.

I will admit...it was well worth the hike!!! The waterfall at the end was also probably one of the most gorgeous waterfalls I've seen!!! Lucky for us the bamboo opened up right before the trail ended and there was just enough light left for a great view!!...Then it was back into the dark and back down the trail. Sevs dad met us in a clearing when we were almost to the bottom of the trail...he met us under the neatest tree...I also snapped some pictures of it...sorry, they turned out a bit dark.

We met Sue at the bottom of the trail and we all four began the walk back to the car...I happened to glance to the right of us as we were walking and noticed a nice little field with cows grazing...pretty, kind of reminded me of 1025 days (House in Landrum). I thought nothing of it...b/c like I said, It reminded me of the cow pastures I grew up beside and the cows I grew up looking at every day...but these were no landrum cows...oh no....these were HAWAIIAN cows...and like there human locals, they apparently dont like white man on their land, lol....I looked up again just in time to see a cow running STRAIGHT FOR US!!! I screamed and grabbed sue (we were a few strides behind the boys) and we both took of running for the men. Sorry, I didnt capture a picture of this...I didnt really think about it at the time. I'm not sure what stopped the cow but we ran across the paved road and it stopped short of crossing (although there was no fence...I guess it didnt want to put its manicured hooves on the rough pavement). Lucky for us.

So it was dark...and we were at the top of the road to Hana....now...this road, it has about 107893237u3283728 binds in the road...not nice little curvy turns...no no, straight hairpin turns!! (right moo??) So I forgot to mention that we had reservations for Mama's Fish House (a Highly recommended restaurant) at 8pm down at the bottom of the road...Dave's driving makes me sick on a straight road...soooooo.....my solution....I went back to sleep, hehe. The trip up I kept saying how I wanted a shirt that said "I survived the road to hana"....when the trip was complete...dave said i deserved a shirt that said "I slept the road to hana"...whatever, I road the road, I saw the road, I slept the road...I deserve something!!

Mama's Fish House was super yummy!! It's one of those restaurants famous people eat at once or twice, sign a copy of their head shot, its hung on the wall and the menu prices go up 20 bucks....but it was yummy, I must admit.

The following morning we had reservations to partake in my FAVORITE island activity....ZIP LINING, oh yes...I LOVE this sport!! I've also decided it would the IDEAL place for my brother to work!! The guides are so laid back and funny...we had a blast. We even saw some wild boar on the last line down. We were in a group of 8 and one of the other ladies was a maui local who worked at a restaurant near our condo, we decided to try it out afterwords and we're glad we did, it was great too!!

The next day was our last day and we decided to end it where we started it...in Lahaina.

So that pretty much sums up our Maui trip...lovely, relaxing and adventurous :)

Okay...I'm done.