Maui, oh Maui...

We had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch our plane, so we decided to pull an all nighter. By the time we reached our hotel we gorged ourselves on some delicious treats then slept for three hours. When we got up it was 6pm local time so we went down town to Lahina for some dinner. We enjoyed our meal at Bubba Gump's. We didn't eat there the last time we were in Maui so we wanted to give it a try, it was good.

 

This picture, on the other hand, is not good. In fact it is very, very wrong. But Aric looks good and I wanted you to see the "real" picture. Aric has some pretty good photo shopping skills huh...

Sunday was fabulous, but I already told you all about that amazing experience.

The best part of Maui...

Hanging with the Samp's!

Oh how we miss them! The good times were endless in paradise!

Amy and I spent most of our time talking and reading. We were thrilled to be doing nothing. One day Amy was kind enough to run with me, but six miles in 85 degrees was torture. So after that I just ran in the gym and we spent the rest of our time together enjoying the sun and reading our books. (I read two books while I was there, "The Help"...so awesome...and "The Last Song"....eh, not so awesome.)

On occasion we would watch Aric and Mike to make sure that they weren't being swallowed up by the ocean while they went boogie boarding. It was Aric's first time so I was a little worried at first.

 

 

The first couple of days Amy and I just watched them.  We thought it was pretty lame. We would watch them for a little while and just laugh.

We just didn't get how they could be out there for hours doing this...

 

On the last day we found a spot where some locals were doing some crazy stuff. It was quite entertaining watching Aric and Mike try to mimic them. Mike even tried to make friends with one to see if he could learn some new tricks, like this...

 

Mostly though, they were just doing this...

After three days of watching and a little bit of prodding...

...Amy and I decided to get in the water and give it a shot.

I only caught one wave... 

...and then I knew why the guys had spent so many hours in the water. It was so much fun! It was still hard for me to get over my ocean issues...water creatures swimming around me and the sand that stays with you forever...but I will totally do it again.

I definitely don't recommend a strapless swimming suit. Thankfully mine stayed put but I was incredibly paranoid about it. This suit actually had a strap but I was so sunburned it hurt to wear it. I promise you the next time I go boogie boarding I will dress appropriately. (BTW- if you are interested in renting a boogie board, do it down town in Lahina. They only charge $2.50 a day instead of $15 like the resorts charge) Our smart boys figured this out...

We enjoyed some incredible food together. Aric and I love this place, Tepan-yaki Dan, the food is RIDICULOUS!

We also ate at a Cheeseburger in Paradise, it was completely over priced, but I got a chocolate coke so it was totally worth it!

We ate at another place that had amazing fish tacos (thanks Mike for all the bites), but I can't remember the name. All I remember is that while we were sitting there a bird pooped in my water.

The other best thing about Maui is the fruit. It was to die for. Look at this gigantic apple Amy got...

...and then ate the whole thing in like one minute.

She wasn't feeling so good after that.

Our favorite things to do with the Samp's besides eat, is watch scary movies (thanks generic red box!) and make up stupid games, like who can do a hand stand under water the longest...and who can do the cheesiest "prom" pose.

We drove around blaring our favorite tunes that include, Nelson, Sugar Ray, Deena Carter, Michael Buble and Michael Jackson. We made sure our windows were rolled down so everyone could hear us as we sang at the top of our lungs. You never know who you are going to pull up next to when you do such silly things...

I bet you thought that was Hulk Hogan! We sure did. We even went super slow and made him pass us. It was only then that we realized it wasn't him. But honestly, who goes around copying that look! REALLY!  Hulk himself can't even do it!

We really did have the best time. It was so, SO, hard to say good bye to Mike and Amy again, harder than the first time. They aren't just friends, they are family and we loved sharing our vacation with them. We can't wait to do it again!

*****

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING....THIS TIME TOMORROW, I WILL HAVE FINISHED MY MARATHON. SIXTEEN WEEKS OF TRAINING JUST FOR THIS DAY. I AM SO EXCITED! I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE THOSE TWENTY SIX POINT TWO MILES BEHIND ME. I WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW HOW IT GOES....WISH ME LUCK...OR BETTER YET, SAY A LITTLE PRAYER, HEAVEN KNOWS I COULD USE ALL THE PRAYERS I CAN GET!

*****

For the Love of Tia Ana....(a kitchen makeover story)

After only five days of being home from Hawaii, I was on a plane to Bismarck, North Dakota to help my tia (aunt) do some home improvement projects. She had asked me a few months ago if I could go out there and help her get the house ready for my cousin, Ammon's, high school graduation open house. I really wanted to help and since I couldn't go out for Ammon's graduation, I knew that this would be a great opportunity to spend time with him, Sam, and my Uncle Al.
When my sister Evelynne, found out I was going out there she wanted to tag along too, but she wanted it to be a surprise. So when we landed in Bismarck, she waited until I met up with Tia Ana and we were loading stuff into her car. Ev sneaked up behind her and scared her half to death....it was awesome!
We landed at around 4pm. I went straight to work. The past few weeks Tia Ana and I have been emailing pictures, paint swatches and other ideas so that when I got there we could get started. We had only planned on doing some painting (kitchen, dining room and family room), but I realized right away that the kitchen was going to be my main focus and this is why....

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Here are some "during" pictures....

 

I really didn't realize I would be taking on such a huge project. I had done back splashes before but never a counter top. I usually have A there to help me out so this really was a big job.

We borrowed a tile saw from someone, but it has some issues...I had to have someone hold a part that was broken so I wouldn't get sprayed. Poor Ammon and Sammy had to be my helpers. 

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. My brother Ben found out about our tile saw problem and offered to put up the money to rent one as a "Mother's Day" gift to Tia Ana. So Uncle Al went and found one, the only one available in the entire town of Bismarck. We could only have it for 2 hours and it cost Ben 4o bucks, but it was sooooo worth it!

My Uncle Al is hands down one of the best men I have ever known. He has been blessed with many talents, but being handy is not one of them. He was in awe/scared of my skills.

While we were there, Ammon arranged for us to go to his choir class. He is an amazing singer and he is in two of the elite choirs in his high school. We got to listen to his concert choir sing. They were so fantastic. They performed three Chicago songs. I could have stayed all day and listened but I could only drag myself away from the work for an hour.

My other cousin, Sam, was in a play one night, so we got to go and watch him perform.

(he's the "girl" in the pink)

  

He was the lead and he stole the show! I am so glad we got to watch him perform.  Thankfully his play lasted only an hour so we were able to get right back to work again.

So I was in Bismarck for five days but only four of those days we were able to actually work. We didn't go to bed before 2am and we were up and working by 9am. It certainly was not Maui but I loved every minute I was able to be with my family. My Tia Ana and Uncle Al have done so much for me.

My love for them is deep...go here to read more about that...they helped raise me and they have supported me and loved me during the most critical times in my life. Doing a kitchen reno is the least I can give back to them.

So now you know where I have been and now I am back. I have lots of Maui to share and SO much more! Stay tuned...

Oh I almost forgot!....this is what was waiting for me when I got home last night...

Look closer...ignore the hideous picture of me...

Yes, I am going to Tim McGraw next week! Yeee Haaaw!

I. LOVE. MY. HUSBAND.

In the right place, at the right time...

A week ago today we were in fabulous Maui. We had an amazing time and I, of course, took tons of pictures and I have some entertaining stories to tell...but first I wanted to share this experience. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip and certainly one of the highlights of my life.

The last time Aric and I went to Maui we didn't go to church because we didn't know where the church was until it was too late. So this trip we made sure we had all the info we needed to get there. The meetings were supposed to start at 9am. We got a cab and pulled into the parking lot at 8:50am. For those of you who know us well, I'm sure you are shocked that we were so early...anyway we pulled into an empty parking lot. It seemed strange and our cab driver was hesitant to leave us. Aric saw a sign taped to the front door of the building so he went to check it out. While he did that another car pulled up. There were two sweet little grannies in it. The sign said that it was stake conference and the meeting started at 8am at a building that was far away. While we discussed what to do with the two older sisters, two other cars pulled up. We sent our cab away because we  had already figured out a ride back to the hotel.
By 9:05 we had over twenty people there. It was decided that we would have a testimony meeting. We opened the meeting with a song and a prayer. We all sat on the patio of the chapel over looking the ocean. For an hour and a half we bore testimonies of Christ and his gospel. Stories and scriptures were shared. The spirit was indescribably strong. I will never forget it.
One brother mentioned the scripture  Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
I know Heavenly Father blessed us with his spirit as we testified to each other of Him and His Son Jesus Christ.  As we sang, prayed and cried together we felt a closeness that only the spirit of Christ can provide. Each of us could have chosen to play instead of worship that day. We came from all across the country to vacation and yet we all knew that there is no vacation from the Sabbath.
We came from Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Washington, California and Oregon. For an hour and a half we were a temporary ward, we had Young Women and Young Men, Primary and Relief Society. Most importantly, we had the priesthood to preside and that was all we needed.
We closed our meeting the same way we began, but now we felt truly like brothers and sisters. We started out as strangers in a church parking lot, and left as brothers and sisters bound together by the thread of the gospel.
After the prayer I grabbed my camera, which I conveniently had in my purse and took a picture of our congregation of 43 strong.

 

I am so grateful for that experience. I feel the spirit all over again just writing about it. I know that we were blessed to be at the right place at the right time.

*****

To my temporary ward...thank you for sharing your testimonies with me and Aric. Our testimonies were strengthened by you and we are better people for having met you all. We will treasure our time with you forever...xoxo