Saturday, October 31, 2015

Hawaii Halloween Festivities





hawaiian halloween
halloween


hawaii halloween
I did every other picture in black and white... for some reason the black and white effect seems more halloweeny! :)


Sunday, October 25, 2015

Birds and Buddha

baddhist temple


“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” – Buddha

buddhist temple

byodo-in temple

 “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha



Riley had a homework assignment to go to a museum for his History class! We decided to make a day trip out of it with Brian and went over to the Buddhist Temple in Kaneohe. It was really great together. We came right when it opened and walked around the temple grounds and then fed the birds and fish. They especially loved the food and Brian. The birds would just stack on top of each other and sit in our hands. We also tried meditating and getting Brian to sit down and breath deeply for fun, he lasted about one second. He prefers pacing and speed walking. 
It was a lovely buddhalicious day!



Sunday, October 11, 2015

Big Island & Iron Man



Spent the week on the Big Island! 
We went down to work for a company called "SOLS." 
They customized orthotics with 3D printing. 
Pretty fancy stuff.

We worked in the IRON MAN Village!
It was sweet being surrounded by athletes from all over the globe participating in this championship.
The environment was unique with it's diversity and dedication to exercise.
Pretty inspiring.

We didn't get much vacation time going around the Island but ate "hecka" good food. 
We did sneak away at night and played in some big waves and had some good snorkel time. 
Also, every night the sunsets were first class.
Pretty amazing.

Probably the biggest highlight of the trip, was being able to hangout with Ben Rudolph. 
Ben is one of Riley's childhood friends he grew up with in Northern California.
 He works for SOLS full time in New York and hooked us with with the job for the week. 
He is way fun and it didn't take long to see why Riley has called him a best friend since before we were dating. It was great getting to know him during the trip and also for Riley
to just renew that friendship... although they acted as if they never had been apart.
Pretty crazy.





Monday, October 5, 2015

General Conference



Great weekend of uplighting messages and family. 
Ohhhh and the endless "Five Crown" tournament. 

General Conference in Hawaii starts at 6am. For this session we all stayed together at a vacation rental house and had ourself a little vacation listening to the prophets and apostles. We ate good and had lots of quality time together. It was a pretty perfect weekend. Both Riley and I grew up having homemade cinnamon rolls during conference weekend and we have kept this tradition as we have dated and now are married. Except they are just the store bought cinnamon rolls, but one day will be the real deal. Conference weekend is truly the best and we can't wait to study and reread the messages and "ponderize" together. 




Sunday, October 4, 2015

Honeymoonin'

I love looking though my picture archives, I am instantly taken back to that time and place. I re-live the adventure all over again and for that I am grateful for photography and the ability an image has to take you back and remember those times. The brain has a way of forgetting details. Simple things and fleeting moments that you swear at the time you will never forget... But then you do. For this reason I'm writing and recording these moments in our lives so I can remember and look back forever and cherish these times.

Our honeymoon trip to Alaska is one I don't want to forget. I love the white and blue hues of the cold landscape and glaciers, and the green that just swallows you climbing in the mountains. It was so beautiful and so many moments and experiences that could make the front cover of national geographic.

We took the Norwegian Pearl and cruised from Seattle to Alaska along the beautiful coastline to a bunch of the small Alaskan ports and through Glacier Bay National Park. The cruise was pretty remarkable in and of itself with it's entertainments options and endless supply of food and dining choices. We especially loved the decks that circled around the ship. Riley was out with his binoculars every moment of free time aboard and in the misty cool mornings searching the shores for bears and wildlife and following the waterfalls from beginning to the end down the beautiful terrain.

We docked in several little towns along the way during the week and with each stop we would ditch the mainstream of the tourist and souvenir shops and find a hiking trail and just explore. We probably hiked an average of ten miles each stop which helped balance out twelve course meals we consumed aboard.

Each hike and mountain varied from the next, each bringing a new kind of beautiful that was so different from our familiar Hawaii hikes. The hikes all unique with a capacity to make us want to continue up and up and not stop until the boat was about to undock and leave. These hikes were so quiet with just the sound of wildlife, running water and our voices as we made our way up together talking about our future, dreams, and reminiscing on stories growing up.

The views brought solace as we would looked down from the top and saw how far we had climbed and how the landscape stretched before us. Made me think of how far we both individually had come in our lives to get to the point of a temple marriage together and look down and see that journey but also to realize how many other mountains we would summit together side by side in life both figuratively and physically.

In Skagway we had connections from when I worked there and got free milkshakes and hooked up with discounted shirts at the Klothes Rush. We also were able to get the helicopter ride at the local price, but it was still way out of our price range as newlyweds. Quin and Rachel (who we saw in the airport just before boarding) gifted us the money though and it will forever be a highlight of the trip and of our lives. It was pretty remarkable flying above Alaska and to the glacier and being able to land and get out on those big icecube landmasses.

We also got to experience the famous marketplace in Seattle and visit Victoria BC along the route. We got to see the old castles and have our Canadian fill and see fish fly as they were tossed at Pikes.


The trip was pretty amazing. It was a great start to the rest of our lives. Even though the honeymoon week was just over four months ago I still feel like it hasn't ended. Different scenery but still living a honeymoon life. So grateful for the pretty views and mountain tops and getting to hike next to my best friend through this life.