I know I am like two months late on this post but I just have been a tad bit busy plus we didn't have any internet for a few weeks and I just was sad to do this one.
Our last week in Hawaii started off with our turn to get the old Aloha Oe sung to us by the ward. I surprisingly didn't cry, probably because I had done all my stinking crying when the stake president asked me to share my testimony since it was Jared's last day there even though they did not release him that Sunday! I had just bore my testimony the week before and really had no idea what to say this time so mainly I just cried.
It was a nice farewell.
We just a had a family move out of the ward here and it was really sad that there was no formal goodbye. I think this custom should be adopted to all wards, they could sing God be with you till we meet again. It just seems proper way to say goodbye to people who have been a part of your ward family
. Anyways, Jared's parents were able to be there for our last week so that was nice to have them there with us!
We got to have our dear friend Mike Aloha Oe'd with us. So nice to share it with him.
He and Kai are good buds.
He is actually the main reason why we took Kai in to check and see if she had Diabetes. Without him, it might have been a lot worse if we had waited till the bad symptoms started to show up!
The mighty Bishopric. Mike Redd(1st Counselor), Jared and Bill Watson(2nd Counselor). These two men were amazing and were such a huge blessing to Jared and I. They tried to carry as much of the burden as they could for Jared and we will be forever grateful to them and their great families.
I had to steal a picture of Kailie in nursery waiting for snack. I was so amazed every week when I would go into check Kai that all the kids were actually sitting in their seat, I can't get Kai to sit and eat unless she is strapped in so I just had to document this. Kai learned a lot in the month she was in nursery there. The biggest thing she learned is to fold her arms for the prayer. This was all nursery, Jared and I hadn't even started teaching her this and one day she just did it. We were working on bowing her head, now she does both!!
I miss all these kids and their parents! :(
We attempted to do a lot of surfing the last week or at least Jared did but unfortunately the surf was just not cooperating. Oh well like Jared is always saying "Worst day surfing is still better than your best day working!"
By the way the sky is pink because they are surfing at the crack of dawn, hence why I am not out there. I guess none of them have watched Shark week and don't know that that time of day is shark feeding time plus can you say BBrrrrrrrrr!!!!
Kai and I chose to do our surfing when the sun was shining and the sharks were sleeping at least that is what we tell ourselves.
(Left to Right:Andrea Keck, Glenice Hatch, Suzy Taylor, Cherie Vigil, Cameo Redd, Me, Keara Mahoney, Chrissy Barnum)Ladies Night!! We had to do one last girls night before I left. What do you do for girls night in Hawaii?
Eat food then go play in the ocean!!
And spend forever trying to take a picture with all of us jumping off the wall at the same time. Just a little too late on this one but still funny!
Here is a good one, I am not in it because I am taking the picture. Sometimes having photography skills comes in handy!
I love all these women so much. I learned so much from each of them and am so glad I was able to have them in my life. Hopefully we will get to live by each other again.
Our last Hawaiian Rainbow.
We got to stay at the Hawaiian Hilton in Waikiki our last few night there. It was kind of fun to be down there.
Blair family(he was called to be the new Bishop so although we were not that close to them it was the only chance he and Jared had to talk in person.), Hatch family, Vigil family, Mahoney Family, Redd Family, Keck Family, Barnum Family and Harris family.On our last Friday night there we had a goodbye party with most of our closest friends. It was fun and sad all at the same time. Mostly it just felt very surreal that that was the last time we might see this people who had been such a big part of our lives and who have supported us through all our trials.
I had a fun little surprise gift for all the surf group ladies which is most of our good friends. I had some t-shirts made that said Halawa Girls on the front and Relief Society Surf Group on the back.
So fun!
I love how they turned out and was so excited to give them to everyone.
Now we can always remember the good times we had surfing!!
I have to give a huge shout out and Thank You to my awesome sister-in-law Marissa who designed the shirts for me on way short notice.
She is pretty amazing!!
The Redd Family, Mike, Cameo, Kris, Jordyn, Morgan and Steve. This family is amazing!! I was Cameo's 1st counselor in YW's and Mike was Jared's 1st counselor in the Bishopric so needless to say we spent a lot of time with these guys. Not to mention the fact that they were are number one baby-sitters for Kai. They all loved her so much! We were so grateful after Kai was diagnosed and Cameo offer to be taught how to take care of Kai so they could still watch her for us. This was such a huge blessing.
Mainly, I just learned so much from Cameo and Mike. They have a great relationship with each other and with their kids. I loved working with Cameo in YW's, it was a lot of hard work but totally worth it. I hope our family is like theirs when our kids are older.
We love you guys!!
Jordyn was especially fond of Kailie and was always willing to watch her whenever we were around. This was the most
special and touching lei any of us received. Kailie is obsessed with Raisins so Jordyn made her a lei of raisins. It was so cute and made me want to cry!! Kai wasn't too fond of it until she discovered what it was. If you notice she is already eating a box!! Isn't that the cutest thing ever. I wish Kailie was old enough to remember them and how loved she was!
The Kecks, Justin, Adrea, Savahanna and Brinley- Kailie's Sidekick!! These guys were our closest friends and we spent a lot of time with them. Mostly just hanging out at their house eating good food and talking. We already miss them so much. Everyday I wish I could call up Andrea to go do something! These guys were there for us so much from Andrea bringing me dinner when I was on bedrest, to hanging out when our husbands were gone, bringing us dinner in the hospital when Kai was diagnosed, calling me everyday after the diagnosis to see how I was doing, running together, surfing, hiking, going to the big island together and just having our kidlets play and fight together! We love you guys and hope and pray that we get stationed together again!!
At the end of the night there was even a firework show to commemorate our leaving the island!!
Saturday was our last day on the island and we spent most of it at Bellows Beach for Jared's graduation party with his coworkers.
Can you believe this view, it is beautiful and so unreal! What a great way to spend the last day!
Daddy and Daughter two water babies enjoying the ocean for the last time!!
It is always customary for all the other residents to get gifts for the graduating residents. Well Jared's gift wasn't really a gift at all but a really funny story. Last year when the Chief Residents were graduating Jared bought this photo for one of them but they ended up giving him something else so Jared just decided to keep it for himself and hang it up in his office.
As we were packing up all of our stuff I asked Jared where this photo was and he suddenly realized that it was not in his office anymore and that somebody must have stolen it. Come to find out the residents took it since they thought the previous year that Jared had bought it and then never gave it to the resident leaving keeping it for himself and they thought they had all given him money for it so they were going to re-gift him his photo. It was so funny when they gave it to him because he is"all you stole my picture that I bought and are giving it to me as my gift?" Super funny and kind of sad all at the same time. Jared was a really good chief resident and he cared about his junior residents a lot and tried to help them. I think he deserved something better than his own picture but it is still a funny story and at least we got the picture back!!
This was my favorite part of the awards or gifts. This is Dr. Ramsey Jared's boss and the residents gave him a whip as his gift!! I think most of you know how I feel about that!!
After the party we had to rush to the other side of the island, shower, change, finish packing and get to the airport to fly out!! Our last Hawaii photo in front of our beloved 4 runner. Notice the cute turtles! We miss that car.
Aloha Hawaii!!!
You were very good to us and we are so happy for the time we had with you!!
Aloha Oe
Until we Meet Again!!
Well we are finally mostly settled in our new place!
Welcome to the grand tour of our new pad for the next 10 months!!
The view as you walk in the front door. We really love how open it is!
It took us forever to decide how to utilize this gigantic space, we like how it ended up! Notice the skylights, they are great and really cool when it rains!
The Kitchen, although it looks big with lots of cupboards, I have had the hardest time finding places for everything.
One thing we were looking for in our new place was lots of light and we definitely found it! There are three patios doors. Crazy, who needs that many?
This the sun room, we decided to turn it into a game room since we are going to be indoors a lot this winter. Bought these two tables off craigslist for $50 each and they work great!
Kai has her area to play as well.
Our bedroom same as before with just a lot more space!!
Master Bath: Must say that it is really nice to have two sinks! Haven't really enjoyed the tub too much yet but I am sure this winter Kai will be having lots of swim parties in there!
Our closest!
The Kaister's room! Pretty much the same as before except like three times bigger! Speaking of Kai when is good to transition her to a toddler bed? We don't really know when we should, she is all over the place when she sleeps so that kind of worries us!
We got some new furniture. I saw this dresser on craigslist and really liked it but it was more than I was looking to pay. One day I was over at a friends house from church and glanced in her garage and there was this dresser she was the seller. She buys old dressers and then transforms them into great fun pieces. So we bought it. At first Jared didn't really like it but since then he keeps mentioning how much he likes it.
We love these babies!
The guest room! The one room that I got half way done with and then just got bored of unpacking.
One of my favorite things about this place is that this is what Kai has been doing as I worked on this post! Seriously love having space and a yard!
Somebody learned how to blow bubbles!!
