Our 3rd Anniversary

We had our third anniversary this October, and it was definitely the best one yet!  Blake really went above and beyond to give us the most incredible day.

It started out with a lovely breakfast in bed with my favorite kind of breakfast: fancy cheese.

Then he showed me the present he made for me.  We had a lovely mirror in our room that had fallen over and broken recently, and so he took the frame and turned it into a jewelry organizer for me.  He even made it artistic by lining the hooks up on an angle.

Then we got in the car and headed east.  Blake was keeping our activites for the day a secret, so he kept telling me we were going somewhere but then saying he was just kidding after we drove past it.  Then finally he turned at the entrance to Sea Life Park and I knew that I was going to have the best day ever.  Blake had signed me up for a dolphin encounter!  After I got a life jacket on they led those of us participating to a large pool.  They gave us dive masks and had us swim out into the water and watch the dolphins do tricks under water.  Then we stood on a platform in the water and got to kiss the dolphins!  It was so incredible.  The one I kissed was named Adella.  We also got to pet the dolphin and watch it do tricks.  The trainer had a few of us put our hands above the dolphin's blowhole to 'feel it breathe' but then had it spurt water up at us.  Silly dolphin.  The funnest part of all was the belly ride, which is when the dolphin turns on it's back and you hold onto it's flippers and it swims really fast with you hanging on.  It was so fun!  I really have a soft spot for dolphins and being able to play with one like that made me so happy I couldn't stop smiling all day.  After that we went to a couple of the shows they have at the park.  I got a season pass with my dolphin encounter and Blake bought one too, so now we can go there any time we want. Blake took a video of me with the dolphins, but until he gets around to editing it these pictures of the back of the camera will have to do.  Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate them the right way (they're the right way on my computer...)

The next thing we did was go check into a hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort.  It was really nice.  They had a free ti-leaf lei making class that we were able to do.

For dinner we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  It was delicious.  I wish I had some of it right now.

I really don't know if that day can be topped.  I mean, I kissed a dolphin for goodness sakes.  I am so grateful to have a husband who would do something so incredible for me!

A Decoration for Every Holiday

I just finished my first craft in pretty much forever, so I am pretty excited about it.  I saw this cute framed pumpkin on pinterest, but why stop there?  I designed one for every season and can keep this decoration up all year long!

January: Snowman

 

February: Heart

 

March: Shamrock

 

March/April: Easter Egg

 

May/June & August: Umbrella/Beach Umbrella

 

July: Star

 

September/October/November: Pumpkin

 December: Christmas Tree

 I'm sure there are lots of other fun shapes you could think of to use for the different times of year.  It's a really easy project that I think turned out pretty cute!

How Hawaii is Different from Utah

I assume that every state is quite a bit different from the others.  There are some things I have noticed about Hawaii that are so different from Utah. 

• There is no fast lane or slow lane in Hawaii.  Whereas in Utah people get angry at you if you go the speed limit in any lane but the outside one.
• Instead of finding spiders in my house, I find baby geckos (and sometimes cockroaches.)
• Birds here are stupid.  They don't get out of the way of cars until the absolute last second, and sometimes they don't at all.
• The bees here are different.  There are giant black ones, little ones that walk on the ground instead of fly, and weird wasp things that look like their behind is stuck on with a stick.
• It is acceptable to call both women and men 'bra' (meaning bro.)
• No one here knows what cardstock is.
• Flip flops are called slippers, or actually 'slippaz.'
• When a store posts it's closing time as 5:00, they actually mean 4:45.
• Sometimes, the stop signs are blue.
• There are lizards everywhere!
• I used to think the weather in Utah was crazy.  Here it goes from overcast to sunny to pouring rain back to sunny within 10 minutes.
• "Howzit"
•  Parking spaces are made for smart cars, and there aren't enough spaces.
• The stores run out of things all the time.
• Gas and milk are the same price per gallon.
• Flip flops are acceptable wear at pretty much any event.
• Everyone's crazy for spam here.

There's so many more things I could think of, but that's probably enough for now.  

How Blake and Amanda Decided to Change Their Lives

Blake and I deliberated over a big decision for a long time.  We decided on it about two months ago or so, and I'm excited to share it with you all now because it is freaking awesome.  What is it, you ask?  Let me show you!

What, you don't know what this means?  Let me make it a little easier on you.

 Still don't know?  Here, let me make it obvious...

Our big announcement is.... WE'RE MOVING TO HAWAII!!!  Quite a while ago we started hearing rumors of Blake's boss Ryan bidding on contracts in Maui and other exotic places.  Early this year, Ryan came to Blake with the offer of managing some school bus routes on the Big Island.  We spent so much time and energy trying to figure out if this was going to be right for us.  We started fasting and praying to know the answer.  It was going to be hard to uproot ourselves and start everything over again from scratch.  After a couple months Ryan came to Blake with a different offer, this one that we couldn't resist.  He won a contract with Hanauma Bay, which just happens to be my favorite place we visited in Hawaii.  It didn't take us very long to know that it was the right decision.  It also made me feel better that Blake's cousin and his wife will be coming with us.  There are other people as crazy as us after all.  Blake will be managing the tram that takes people up and down the hill at the bay.  I will be working as a cashier, and probably driving as well.  We have agreed to be there for one year.  After that, it's up to us to decide if we want to stay or go back home to Utah.


Moving to an island isn't easy.  We have packed up almost all of our earthly possessions except for about 1/10th of our clothes and a few random things.  I am going to miss one of my best friends/cousin leaving on a mission (most likely).  I will miss another best cousin coming home from her mission.  I will miss my family terribly.  We are leaving lots of good friends behind.  I will not be here when my brother comes home from his mission.  I am very excited though that Aaron has decided he will come to Hawaii too in December, about a month after he gets home!  One of the biggest concerns about moving is that I will be leaving my business behind that I have spent the last few years working so hard to build.  I already have to come back to Utah in August for a wedding that I had already booked.  We decided that we will keep the business open and I will just come back for any weddings that it will work out for me to do.


I said we're moving to Hawaii, but I really should say I'm moving to Hawaii, because everyone else has already moved there.  I have to stay here because there are a bunch of weddings I had booked after Blake had to leave.  Blake left on May 7th, and it's been a very long two and a half weeks already.  I can't believe I still have another two and a half weeks left.  It really feels like forever, and it's getting harder and harder the longer we've been apart.  If anyone has any suggestions for surviving without your spouse I'd love to hear them.  I've actually been surprised at how busy I have been.  For some reason I thought I'd be bored all the time, but the work that I need to do before I leave seems never ending.  I feel left behind right now because I'm the only one that hasn't moved yet.  I can't wait until it's finally my turn to go.


All of our friends should come visit us while we're in Hawaii.  You know you want to. :)  I'm so ready to move on to our new adventure in Hawaii!

Recently...

It's been life as usual for the most part around here.  I have been super busy with work, which is awesome, and Blake has been super busy with school and work, which he thinks is not so awesome.  I am LOVING the early spring this year!  I can't believe the blossoms are out already, last year they were still out in May.

This year I have been thinking about how I never take any pictures of my life.  What they say about shoe maker's children is also true for a photographer's family.  I decided to stop worrying about the hassle of bringing my big camera everywhere to get perfect pictures, and just take normal, awful photographs with my cell phone.  So here are some recent events (and non-events) in pictures.

 Here we are on Valentine's Day.  We had lots of fun going out for mexican food (which I am obsessed with lately) and watching an extremely non-romantic movie, Ray.  That's my kinda Valentine's Day!

 Katie & David came over for President's Day weekend.  We love it when they come stay :)

 We went on a photo scavenger hunt double date with Blake's cousin.  We had lots of fun, even though we lost and had to buy the ice cream at the end.

 The only picture we got of the couple we doubled with.  Haha.

It was chick days at Cal Ranch, so I went with mom and Peeps to go see them!  There were baby ducks too. 

 The chicks were sleeping on each other, it was really cute.

 A picture of my daddy, with his cute 'grandpa glasses' as my mom calls them.  My dad is the best dad ever.  I need to take more pictures of my family.

 We bought a bunch of these cute stegosaurus plushes because they are super cute and I want our kids to each have one.  I'm weird like that, okay?  Blake has been having fun putting them in silly places.

On another note, we have been struggling all year with a really big decision.  Before you get your hopes up, it does not involve babies.  I have some loose ends to tie up first (everything is always complicated), but I hope to be able to announce it soon.  Lots of you that read this probably already know about it.  But Blake and I are super excited!