Hawaii recap!

You should've known it would take a bit to get this up...

If you read my last post, you'd know that Scott and I took a little last minute vacation to Hawaii!

So I'm just going to jump right in with a recap post! Hooray!

Alrighty, first off, I will say that we only went to the island, O'ahu. We did want to jump to at least one more island but after doing some research I found there was a LOT to do on this one island. PLUS, we wanted to cut down the costs as much as we could...Hawaii is expensive~!

(Very excited...but also very sleepy *.*)

This is us...early Thursday (30th) morning. Scott's brother (Robert) picked us up to drive us to the airport - Thanks Rob! We left behind the snowy cold city of Calgary, and landed in a slightly less cold city, Denver, Colorado. We only had time to grab a quick snack (Jamba Juice {one of my favorite things in the States!} and McDonalds {we're not ashamed}) and hasten to our soon departing plane to a warmer place.

(Right next to our gate in Denver, I noticed some cute little birds hopping around!)

This flight was LONG...it was very windy, so our Pilot went back and around to avoid the gust. This flight was about 7.5 hrs. But it was all worth it to land at the Honolulu Airport :D

(Even more excited, but also even more exhausted as Hawaii is 3 hours behind as well)

So we went to pick up our rental vehicle, which was a small, silver Jeep (which we got for quite a good deal) and ventured out in search of our hotel - Moana Surfrider.
**Fun fact - actually the first hotel here...built in 1901!**
(I don't have any pictures of the Jeep...or Hotel...)
You'll have to take our word that it was a very nice hotel ;).
So we got to the Moana, and we got Lei-d! :D

(We've been Lei'd!)

(So pretty~)

Soon after this we met up with Scott's parents who were ALSO in Hawaii (but were leaving in the morning unfortunately). So we went our for a delicious dinner (at a burger place) and then wandered around a bit together!

After a few hours (when I was pretty well a walking zombie), we bid our adieus, wished them a safe journey 

home, and went and crashed!
ZzzZ~!
(The King bed was so large and plush and comfy!)

Something I enjoyed most mornings (included at our hotel)... yoga on the beach! So no, there wasn't much sleeping in on my part ;)
It was a lot of fun...but also a LOT different than what I was used to.

(Switching over to point form...day by day will take far too long!)
What we did over the next 8 days....

• Went to Pearl Harbor. Saw (and toured) the USS Missouri (Might Mo) and also went out to the USS Arizona Memorial. Pretty crazy to think about that day and what it would've been like. At the Memorial it was also interesting looking down in the water at a MASSIVE ship sunk below. You can still see bubbles of oil coming up occasionally. We also explored the Museums.
• Took an AWESOME tour up around the North shore of the Island. Included we got to:

            - see a LOT of awesome views
            - see a lot of movement and blow hole sprays from whales!
            - stopped at a Macadamia Nut Outlet to taste all the flavors!
            - see SEA TURTLES. Just laying around in the sand. (No touching allowed)
            - snorkel WITH said turtles (only saw little guys...it was fun following them around!)
            - stopped for some fresh delicious Shrimp! (well, Scott thought so anyways...no seafood for me)
            - stopped at the Dole Plantation to explore and have some scrumptious DoleWhip!

(random Rooster outside the Macadamia Nut Outlet...though there were actually stray Roosters EVERYWHERE!)

(China Man's Hat!)

(Our creative pictures with it are on Scott's camera...)

(My favorite picture from the trip :D)

(Sea turtle! Sorry...it won't center...)

Oh man this is getting long! Let's get going and then wrap it up!

• Went to the Paradise Cove Luau which was a BLAST! Great times, great food! Scott was a part of the show in a grass skirt. It was funny :D I got some fresh coconut water :3
• Went on a hike up Diamond Head. Not too difficult or long but really beautiful views! It was SO busy! Sometimes it was irritating to be stuck behind people, but overall it was really nice!
• Went to Leonard's Bakery for some Malasada's! Portuguese donuts...SO GOOD! (And also some other yummy treats...)
• Polynesian Cultural Center! Such a good time! They have 6 little villages representing the Polynesian Islands and their unique cultures. Great dancing and information! It was also so funny, we were laughing a ton! Especially in Samoa and Tonga :D PS. It's crazy how fast some people can climb a coconut tree...seriously!
• Spent a lot of time exploring and walking around - A LOT!
• Obviously spent a bit of time walking along and relaxing on the beach :)
• Went to Farmer's Markets A LOT! The fruit (especially pineapple and papaya) is SO GOOD! I ate so much fruit while there! (Needlesstosay, my tongue was covered in sores...)
• Also ate lots of delicious food and ice cream of course!

That pretty well sums the trip up! I'll share a few more random pictures and also thoughts in another post :)

It was sad to leave, but we were also missing our 2 little fuzzballs back at home. Thanks Paige for house/cat sitting! And also thanks to Cody and Paige for picking us up :D (PS. Congratulations on getting engaged!!)

And you know what was awesome....our luggage wasn't even overweight coming home! :D

HOORAY!

And that's a wrap for today. Too many words and pictures... *.*

Love you too. 

xo T

Texas bound!

Well guys...we had to get up at stupid thirty in the morning, but we made it to the airport!

These little guys thought they were coming with us...I'll miss them!

Thanks Paige for kitten sitting for us. 

Thanks for the ride Rob!

Houston...here we come!

Love you too. 

xo T

A weekend started with pizza is good

Monday, monday, monday.
You know, we only don't like you because you bring the weekend to a close and the workdays to a start. We tell you we don't like it, yet you keep doing it.
*sigh*

This weekend wasn't too busy for us, in fact it was a pretty good weekend. (I never remember to take pictures...sorry!

-Friday night started with a pizza party! It was out to Cochrane to Scott's aunt and uncle who have the pizza oven. Lots of good company accompanied by an equally large amount of pizza. Needlesstosay I was very stuffed and sick of pizza by the end. (Though I wouldn't mind some pizza now...)
(Nice to see Greg, Louise, Rob, Mel, Keira, Alana (and her kidlets), Holly, DJ, Paige, Addison and even Dawn for a bit).

-Saturday started with yoga (of course). Then I made some delicious banana bread, which of course I didn't take a picture of....but I can share the recipe if you like :)! (Very moist and vanilla-ey)
Then my parents, along with some friends (June and Gary), came up to see our place and new furniture. It was nice to see you all and because it was Gary's birthday, we went out for dinner at Swiss Chalet. It was actually pretty good! I had never been, and my first experience was rather pleasant. Everyone else seemed to enjoy as well. We also watched a bit of Puss in Boots which is kind of a cute movie :)

We then got a call from Scott 2 (my nephew) and his wife Chantae, they were coming in for dinner and a movie and they invited us to join!
(Side note: yes, this nephew is about a year older than me).
We were already pretty full, but we decided to join on the movie. The movie we decided to try was 'Pain & Gain' and I will say, we walked out of the movie. It was a bit much (nudity, crude, and kind of stupid) and the story line wasn't even all that good so we decided to head out...to get ice cream :D So instead we had ice cream and chatted for a couple hours.
It was fun guys, we'll have to do it again soon (and pick a better movie...)!

-Sunday was more of a relaxing day. It was also a bath and groom George kind of day. He did pretty good and then he was extra soft and fluffy :D

How was your weekend??

Have you seen any good movies lately?

I want to see Iron Man 3...

(Some of you may like Pain & Gain...it just wasn't for us, we watched the trailer before hand and it still wasn't what we were expecting).

Love you too.

xo T

PS. Did you see the house tour? ;)

The Host

Ok, not a ton has been going on...so nothing really to talk about.

Living life, y'know?

This past weekend, Scott and I got some Ben and Frances time in again. YAY!
Pretty well half the day! It was nice :)
(After a morning Hot Fusion class with Paige...challenging, but awesome!)

It started out at our place and then we ventured into the land of downtown Calgary!
Did I take any pictures? No. Because I'm the worst blogger ever -.-
It was a cold, foggy day.
Frances had to take some pictures at the Olympic Plaza for a project for school. Scott was taking pictures as well, because he likes to. I was just meandering around being all chilly like...ok, I was also terrorizing all surrounding birds because that's what I do.

We then headed back to our place, after picking up Wendy's :D YAY!

Then Scott and Ben went to Conference and for wings while Frances and I had our own adventure.
Started with grabbing a couple groceries quick while some 50% off Easter candy was also gotten, then back home quickly and then to the movies!

What was in store for us?
The Host!

Heard of it?
Based off a book written by Stephenie Meyer (yes, think Twilight...). But in my opinion, this book was BETTER than the Twilight series. Nothing to do with vampires.
Basically the premise being that since humans are so violent, they're slowly killing each other off SO another species steps in.
Not aliens like you see in other movies, but basically, an alien like thing. They're small and can only survive while either implanted in another being - a host! - or if in a special capsule to travel between worlds.
However, after the humans are being hosted, they're no longer themselves...and their will and personality can slowly fade away.
The story follows a girl and a few surviving humans that haven't been taken over.
That's all I'll say in regards to the story.
I personally thought it was very well cast and I liked it!

My rating of this movie will probably be a little off because I haven't seen a movie in quite a while, but I'm actually going to give it ****(4)/5! I enjoyed it!
It's definitely a little bit more on the chick flicky end of things....but I recommend it regardless! Any other questions, feel free to ask!

Sunday, we went to Rob and Mel's place for a crepe feast while Conference was on. It was VERY delicious...thanks Rob and Mel (and little Kiera)!

There's a few things to share in regards to George, but that can wait for another day ;)

How was your weekend??
What movies have YOU seen lately?

Love you too.

xo T

Scott and I are kind of grown up.

Hey! So I've wanted to update you guys...but there has been NO TIME!

Many of you have heard through the grapevine, or seen in comments and so on...but I haven't OFFICIALLY said it.

As you probably noticed, I had been doing a LOT of packing lately because our lease was actually up on March 30th. Yes, it was a short lease...we only signed on for 9 months because we knew we wanted to start looking at houses as well.

But did we end up looking for houses? Ya...no.
Scott was gone a lot, and I was not only busy, but it was very difficult to look at houses and share with Scott when he couldn't really see them in person.

Suddenly, April was FAST approaching and we had gotten nowhere...so I realized something had to be done. I started covering all my bases...
1.asking for an extension in our lease if necessary
2.looking at house possibilities
3.looking at other rent possibilities (because really, we were just kind of sick of our property management company and needed a bit more space).

I began to realize that unless we really couldn't find anything we wanted to buy, renting was kind of ridiculous to continue. We were wanting to buy a house soon regardless, and at least the money going towards rent could go towards the impending mortgage.

So I did a lot of internet researching on houses and then set up some appointments and really fell in love with one in particular. It was a nice community, and a very nice, and not too old, little home. So I contacted Scott, sent him the link and told him we'd have to act fast if he thought he'd like it at all. So, he said it looked nice, he trusted my judgement and we made an offer (with conditions of course).
He then made arrangements to finally come see the property and he approved! Our deposit was in and then a bunch of crazy business had to happen to get this all done in time, for possession March 28th!
It was a busy busy time. BUSY BUSY!

So we got all packed up and had possession on the 28th, got a few things taken care of that day, and then we had a big moving day set. Good Friday (the 29th)!
We told everyone to arrive about 10am, but some people (my parents) began arriving around 9:30. So we just started hauling everything outside quickly to get ready to load into all the helping vehicles/trailer. We had lots of help and we were all quick workers! Everything was out and loaded up in about 2 hours!

We then went over to the new place to unload while a few stayed behind to do the few last minute cleanings.
Again, everything was unloaded quickly and we even got some things unpacked and set up!

We had an awesome crew and appreciate all the help SO MUCH~!
HUGE thanks to...
- Scott and my parents (the trailer was a huge help!)
- Paige (Scott's sister)
- Rob (Scott's brother)
- Ben and Frances
- Dave
- Daniel
You were all AWESOME!
(And a big thanks to Ben, Frances, and Daniel for staying later to help things get set up and then hang out).

I had another picture to put up...but I just can't figure out how to edit it at this moment. So for now, here's a picture of the house - our house!

This is all I really have time for today... but that's my exciting news :D

My hot yoga challenge is done. But no time to discuss that today!

Would you be interested in hearing about the home buying process? Is that just common sense?
Haha. Let me know!!

I haven't been update with the outside world...what's new with you?? And how was your Easter?? :D

Come visit ;) (OR pay for us to come visit you! Because ya...we're on the broke end of things...).

Love you too.

xo T

PS. I'm a GREAT aunt now. Crazy, hey?
(I mean I've always been a great, as in awesome, aunt...but now I'm a great aunt as in a nephew of mine, and his wife, had a baby). Congratulations to you guys!