Hawaiian Adventure the 2nd beginning!

Now is where Jared comes into play. Jared was in the same singles branch as me the whole time but I never talked to him until March 19th. I had to give a talk in church and I guess previous to that Jared had noticed me but thought that I was a 19 yr. old and to young for him than after I gave my talk since I was so "mature" he thought I was older. The funniest thing is that he said he knew that I was older once he actually talked to me that day and noticed that I had wrinkles by my eyes. How sad that that is how he knew I was older. :)

After church that Sunday he invited Jamie and I over for some Navajo tacos at his place. I was just excited one: because I love food and after living in a hotel for 3 months I jumped at the chance and two: I found out he was an ENT doctor and of course I wanted to ask him about my chronic throat problems. At that point I hadn't really even thought about dating him, seeing as I was on a dating hiatus and just having fun.We hung out a few times and then I found out he listened to Patti Griffin and then I started to realize that we had a lot in common. Eventually he got the guts to ask me out. Our first date was on April 7th, we went to Haliewa Joe's and then hiked to some pillboxes that overlook the ocean and a couple of little islands. It was a great first date and we hit it off. Every thing else in my life was changing, the interns were all getting ready to go home and Jamie was leaving for a while so I was sad that everyone was leaving, but happy to have Jared around to keep me busy!

Right in the middle of all these changes these three guys came out to visit and we had an amazing time. Rob to my right was one of my best friends in SLC and was and is so dear to me. The other two are good friends too so we had a blast. I think we watched either the sunset or sunrise every single day they were here. We went and went and went, until my car died, then we went in my friend Ed's car.

We discovered this amazing breakfast place. Still to this day these pancakes rule the pancake world or should I say the Macadamia Nut sauce that goes on top rules the pancake world.

If you are every here on Oahu you must go here but expect a 1 to 1 1/2 hour wait. The place is called Boots N' Kimos and it is in Kailua. Yummy!!

The guys crashed in my hotel room, I kind of felt bad that I had this huge bed all to myself and they were all crammed on the floor, but hey it was a free place to stay in Hawaii. While they were out here I of course told them about Jared and that we had gone on date. One day we were hanging out in Chinatown and Jared called me to ask me on a second date, after that Rob told me that I was going to marry Jared and I thought that he could be right. On our second date we went Kite surfing or more kite flying on the beach. It was super fun and scary, those kites are strong! The third date we went to the golfing range, before I met Jared, I didn't like golf or golfers at all. I thought it was a stupid sport and that they were all snuty. I eventually really enjoyed golfing and became good at some parts of it.

Jamie moved back and we did a lot of hanging out on the beach!
No wonder I got so tan!

Jared and I spent all of our free time together and moved really quickly from dating to serious in just a few weeks.

Of course we had our rival going on, him in his BYU hoodie and me in my Utah hoody! Don't worry though, really I am still a cougar!

(Heather, ?, Helene, Me, Jamie, Brandi, Heidi)

The time eventually came that I my internship was coming to an end and by this point Jared and I were pretty much engaged, minus the ring and actual proposal. This was my first Aloha Oe and such a sad one. I loved all the people in my branch and was so sad of course to be leaving Jared.

Jared made this beautiful lei for me, isn't it pretty?

(Right after he proposed)

June 19th was my last day here and that night Jared recreated our whole first date except this time he brought his guitar and a shiny little rock with him. When we got to the pillbox, he sang some songs and then eventually got down on one knee and proposed. So crazy!! I was so scared, excited and nervous all at the same time.

The next morning I woke up with a sore finger, because the ring was so heavy since I wasn't used to wearing anything. I was all worried that I wouldn't even be able to wear it but eventually I got used to it. I flew back to Utah that morning having my whole life completely changed and no idea where I was going to live or work until Oct 7th which was the wedding date.

Pretty ironic that we leave exactly 4 years to the date of our engagement, June 19th!

Before and right after we got married I was not super excited about living in Hawaii for another 4 year. All of my good friends were moving off island so I was sad and felt very alone, now here I am totally sad to be leaving!
As I am writing this, I am sitting in our almost completely empty apt on our last night in it and cannot believe that our time here is over. It feels like we have been living in this weird dream world and now we are going back to reality. This is Home to us now. We have so many dear friends that we have made here. Hawaii is all that we have known together as a couple and it is scary to think that in a week we will get on a airplane with only a one-way ticket.

Hawaii has definitely been good to me and I will always have all the fond memories that I have made here. Can you imagine where I would be right now had I not decided to extend my internship, I definitely would not have this little squirt and I cannot imagine life with out her!