Hawaii- Jan 22

I woke up promptly at 7:30. Wow, that is a record for me right? Ha, that is because my body still thought it was 11:30. I stepped outside and saw our landscaping. The first words out of my mouth were, "What is up with all the 'mud-clumps' they must be renovating?" Rose laughed and told me that it was lava.


See how I could get this confused? I had to venture up it to see what it is all about, it is tough to climb old lava in flip-flops. But, we had a great view of a golf course and mountains.

So, after exploring our backyard, we checked out our hotel pool. It was amazing! Complete with water volleyball, children's sand beach, waterfalls, adult pool, a hammock, two hot tubs and a bar. I could've stayed there the whole vacay, but I'm glad we got to explore too!


We made a short drive to this beach!


We continued along and stopped at this point that was marked on the road- scenic point.


We continued driving towards Captain Cook's bay and stumbled across a state park sign. We followed it since there seemed to be a lot of traffic. However, this was ONE BUMPY, car-SHAKING, drive.


But, alas, it was worth it! AHHHHH!


At some point on this trip, Jim thought that the perfect thing to do on the trip was to get a stick and be close enough to hot lava to throw it in and watch it burn. So, thus this pose with 200 year old lava.



We drove some more with our poor complimentary maps and we were aiming for Captain Cook's expecting to see a beach. We found some local shopping and businesses and stopped for a bite to eat. We were back on our way when we drove past markets and beaches (that were closed thanks to high tide). We drove around a mountain and the rain clouds were coming in and we got further and further from sea level. We saw some nice scenery and stopped for another picture.




At some point, we bumped into locals and asked them what there was to see at Captain's Cook and they said a monument. Well, we decided it wasn't worth making any more trips in that direction, so we turned around. We saw a few neat things on the way back, and stopped to get our book- "The Big Island Revealed"


We got back to the hotel and cleaned up to go out to dinner nearby at Ramano's Macaroni Grille- sad to say that only 2 out of 4 like their meal but it was still a nice outdoor atmosphere... when the wind wasn't knocking things over. We walked around the shopping center and headed back to call it a night. Great day!


Thanks Rose and Jim!!

Hawaii- Jan 21

Friday- January 21st: Leaving to go... Chris and I left Champaign around 8:30, arrived at Charleston to meet our traveling "furnishers" so-to-speak. We arrived at St. Louis airport before noon and had a nice lunch at Tequirela after going through security. We flew for nearly 4 hours and arrived in LAX airport, Los Angeles. There, I was pleased to find sunshine because it was nearly 6pm our time and we got more daylight. After walking the airport during our hour plus layover, we were back on the plane. This time for 5 hours. The flight actually ran a little short because the winds were with us. We sat next to a nice man from Hawaii, originally Washington DC. He gave us lots of good information including to buy the book "The Big Island Revealed" which turned out to be a wonderful tool that I would highly recommend if you are ever going to visit Hawaii's big island. We arrived to Hawaii's airport right at 8:30pm (12:30 our time) and we were greeted with a warm humid breeze and a nice open airport with only poles and roofs, no walls. It was a nice change already. When we got to our resort, I was estactic at how much attention to detail they had. Everything was modern and beautiful. I immediately began unpacking for the week. We were all settled into bed by 10:30pm (2:30 am our time) that night after our long day of traveling.


This is us leaving for St. Louis in the -11 degree temperatures


This is our resort lobby where the temperature was 70 plus degrees at night! ;-)

Couponer's delight

Hi Friends!

I learned about this new "deal" website and if you click on the link below and sign up you can get their products for up to 80% off. Also, shipping is only $2. If (enough of you) do sign up, I get freebies just for referring you and you get a $10 discount toward your first $20 purchase. CHeck it out! Let me
know if it is any good because I haven't ordered from them yet but I've definitely been tempted! Thing sell out SO FAST!!!

http://www.nomorerack.com/?cr=278207

Lately

Today 1/2/11- Got up early but failed to go to early church. I'm trying to get up before 11 as that is what I did for the past 7 days. Tomorrow will be rough. Chris and I went to eat at McAlisters and then he actually went shopping at Kohl's with me (props to him). I treated myself to 2 cute clearance shirts, Asics running shoes and dress casual slippers. We took down the tree today and Chris wanted to rearrange the living room. I'm not really sure that I like it but it is what it is. Ben moved out and I've been helping him load up his car. He has to make one trip back later to get the last of his things but he is out- kinda bittersweet.

Yesterday 1/1/11- I got some school work done. It should've been done earlier this week but I got a bit out of the way. Rose & Jim treated Ben, Chris and I to Lonestar for dinner. We watched "The Ugly Truth" together too. Talk about raunchy- my in-laws were shocked I suggested it! But, it was good for quite a few uncomfortable laughs!

12/31/11- I got to celebrate NYE by hanging out with my long-lost friend Megan and her family in Homer! There, I learned the game "THINGS". Happy New Year!

12/30/10- Chris and I had a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday and I went shoe shopping with no luck- really wanted a good set of running shoes. I kinda have a goal for myself to get a great running time. I just don't have a final date for reaching the goal set yet. I went from store to store with no luck. I also bought the first of 3 brides' matron dresses I will wear next year.

12/29/10- Chris and Ben were watching LOTR and I kinda got sucked in for a bit... but it isn't really my kinda show. I didn't get much accomplished on this day bc I was tired from only 5 hours of sleep.

12/28/10- I failed to mention that Jessi asked me in a super cute, homemade scrapbook to be her Matron-of-Honor. I am thrilled and honored!


Hubby and I- NYE

Megs and I NYE

ISU Winter Get-Together

I had a great time hanging with my girls in Buffalo Grove/Arlington Heights/Palatine yesterday. We, Lisa, Lilian, Jessi, Danah, Heather and I, got together on 12/28/10 for a day of impromptu fun. We had fun at Jason's Deli catching up and making Lilian totally squirm with our conversations. We also went shopping and bowling. It isn't too often that I can enjoy winning with a score of 113. That was a blast!!! We also went out to a nice Mexican restaurant. Jessi and I loved the day so much, we just didn't want to leave and we finally took off at 1am and I got home safely at 4:05 am. What a day!

Blessings

I am finding that this time of year I can really appreciate how truly blessed I am. I am so fortunate to have a family in good health and that will pour out love and blessings over me. I am also feeling fortunate that money isn't too tight when it comes to paying all the seasonal bills. I attribute this to my Father who provides. I also am thankful that I have wonderful in-laws that give so generously.

I have been wanting to repay these blessing and after hearing WBGL's ads for the Random Acts of Christmas I finally obeyed the call to give. If you read any of the needs listed on their website, you might have also found yourself teary-eyed as I was. Some people wanted things like a couch to sleep on, postage stamps, a car to get to work, groceries, car repair, cabinets, cleaning supplies, dog food, cat food. It just makes me put my life in perspective. Today, my husband and I had the opportunity to bless a family in Mahomet. The sparkle in the mom's eye as I gave her the small gifts made my heart happy. They will have something to open this Christmas.

I just wanted to share this small piece of love I got to experience today and maybe you could help out someone this season too. Merry Christmas!

My first newborn photo shoot

So, Amy was great enough to let me try out some photography on one week old baby Troy. He was so precious! He was such a good model, and mom was a great sport even though wardrobe and position changes stressed out Troy.

Here are a few of my faves below: