Amigos!

This past week our BFFs Curtis, Ashley, and Gentry flew in from Utah for Fall break and spent the week with us in our little bungalow. We both met Gentry here three years ago when we were all visiting students at BYUH, and she loves Hawaii just as much as we do. Curtis had never been to Oahu and Ash had never been to Hawaii at all, so it was fun to experience it with them.

The first night we went walking on the beach and ended up digging up a big black crab!

The next morning we went walking on bikini beach right by our house to collect bottles (our new thing) and ended up at this world war II bunker on the beach.

Then we headed north to Haleiwa for some shave ice at Matsumotos

And to Waimea for some beach and cliff jumping!

Then to Sunset Beach to watch the sun set.

The next morning (well, 3:00 AM) we woke up and started hiking Stairway to Heaven. This hike is amazing and such a rush. It is illegal to climb but people do it anyway. It's all stairs (basically scaffolding) that was built up sheer cliffs to a world war II satellite on the top of a mountain.

We made it to the top in time to watch the sun rise over Kaneohe Bay

That night Ashley made a pumpkin cake and we celebrated Gentry's 25th Birthday

And the junk food never stopped the whole week
(as well as playing Settlers of Catan every night and having pumpkin cookies 3 different times)

This is how it should always be

We went to the Japanese temple

And hiked to the Makapu'u lighthouse. The hike was hot, but we will be going back in a few months to whale watch because it has amazing ocean views and you can see Moloka'i from here.

We went to Sandy Beach Park to get rocked in the waves and I recreated an infamous picture from June 2007

Tried (and failed) to take jumping pictures

Our most recent purchase is these beach chairs that, if you want to look like a dork, can be worn as a backpack. They make the beach a breeze though and we love them. They even have a cooler on the back and a drink holder on the handle. I'm sure that drink holder will see its share of Diet Coke over the next few months.

We sat on the grassy knoll at Hukulau beach and each read separate installments of The Hunger Games series

And did another illegal hike to Sacred Falls near Hau'ula

We took them to all our favorite haunts, like Kahuku Grill and Ted's Bakery

We also went snorkeling at Shark's Cove, where Curtis and I ran into this friendly sea turtle

They all just went home and our house feels empty without them.
Thanks for coming guys!

Some Assembly Required

I am not handy, no not in the least. My dad can fix anything and everything and so I never had to. This is a huge disadvantage now that I live an ocean away from him.

My parents gave us some money for a housewarming gift (a grill) when we moved. After two months of searching, we finally found the perfect gas grill. The problem is that some assembly was required. I thought it would be good practice for me, but when I opened the box and I saw all these parts, I panicked.

But it all worked out! We broke it in when we had the sister missionaries over for lunch and fed them hamburgers. This will be a lot easier than heating up charcoal every time we want to BBQ for dinner, and it's the perfect size.

Also, FYI, we're EXTREMELY excited because the following crazy kooks will be joining us on 'da islands in approximately 1 week! Aloha snitches!

Kamping

This weekend our ward had a camp-out at Hukilau Beach Park. We decided to go all out and buy a $22 tent from Wal-Mart so we could camp with everyone.

We set up our tent in the dark and realized that when they say it fits two people, they really mean it fits one short person. It was EXTREMELY small. I guess you get what you pay for (but really, we're returning it and getting our money back).
We sat around and talked and grilled hot dogs. Throughout the night our conversations kept going back to TV shows and we realized we aren't the only couple on earth obsessed with TV. We thought we were kind of stupid for loving it so much but it turns out all the cool kids do!

Somehow I became friends with an obsessed BYU fan. Hey buddy, how's that Quest for Perfection going so far this season? Our bromance is based around surfing and swearing and fast food, so it's all good.

I luff her

Smores = tradish

Night swim = new tradish

There were tears and there were sore necks and bodies, but somehow we survived the night in our elf tent and were able to enjoy the sun rising over Hukilau Beach!

Let's do it again sometime - with a bigger tent please

Pennie Tapp is a Saint

This last week and a half we have had our first house guest come and stay with us. It is Tanya's mom Pennie! She knew she would miss her Tannie so much that she booked this trip before we even moved here. Tanya had a break between semesters without school the whole time too, so the timing was perfect!

After being reunited in tears at the airport . . .

They got excited and starting planning their vacation.

Here are some of the things we did with Pennie:

We went to a Japanese Buddhist Temple that is about a half an hour from our house. It is beautiful and peaceful and in the mountains. Some of you may recognize it from Lost (Jin and Sun's wedding and some other scenes were shot here).

Tannie and her mom were both reading The Hunger Games and even got me to read the whole thing in 3 days, which is unheard of because I DO NOT read. Pennie is now on the last book and Tanya is almost through the second.

We did a lot of beaching, including Pipeline, Bikini, Shark's Cove, and Pounders.

We also ate at Shark's Cove Grill where we had our wedding dinner a year and a half ago!

We got shave ice on more than one occasion.

And made home-made Acai Bowls. They are 'da best and a tradish in HI.

While I worked like a chump in the city they went to Pearl Harbor and shopped their brains out in Waikiki

And went to Duke's

We discovered a beach access steps away from our house that leads right down to Bikini Beach. We found lots of treasures and Pennie made us some cool decorations with driftwood and coral and stuff (pics to come).

This bottle had washed ashore and was covered in crustaceans. Collecting bottles that wash ashore is our new thang. We now have 6 really cool ones that we have found. We collect sand everywhere in the world we go and these bottles will be perfect for storing them.
We hit up all our favorite joints including Hukilau Cafe, Kahuku Grill, Surfin' Tacos, Grass Skirt Grill, etc.

We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

See the eel that looks like a poisonous snake?

And there were some stellar sunsets from our back porch.

And one day we went surfing with our friends Mark and Natalie, but it started raining which ruined the fun for everyone.

Tonight we were sad that our mini vacay was about to end . . . so we drowned our sorrows in macadamia nut banana splits - which helped.

Thanks for visiting Pennie and for spoiling the crap out of us! We love you!

One Night in Bangkok

We have heard nothing but good things about Thailand. We have wanted to go there for awhile now. We feel like we've done the Latin America thing a lot (which we have loved) but we long to see a new part of the world. This year in Lake Powell while everyone else was reading books about Mount Everest, Polygamy, or the latest Nicholas Sparks, I read a Thailand travel guide cover-to-cover. I'm addicted. My Aunt Candy and Tanya's Uncle Randy both served their mission there as well as our friend Nik, who all describe it as amazing. Some of our favorite reality shows have also visited there.

We promised ourselves that while we were living in Hawaii, we would travel somewhere even further west than here, so as to get cheaper tickets and a shorter flight - because we all know that traveling is fun, but TRAVELING (getting there and back) sucks. What we failed to realize is that since Hawaii is a top travel destination, flights are still very expensive to places like Australia, Asia, and the other Pacific Islands. Dang. Every flight flight from Honolulu to Bangkok was still about $1,200 a person ($1,500 a person from SLC).

The other day we stumbled upon $850 round-trip tickets. The timing coincides perfectly with Tanya finishing her student teaching. There is also a one day layover in the Philippines both ways, which is cool.

Last night we booked the tickets! It all happened so fast. My parents wanted to come along with us so we booked together! We will be spending a week and a half there next May/June!

I am personally excited to cross three things off of my bucket list:

1 - Ride an elephant through the jungle
2 - Sleep on a train overnight.

3 - Travel to every continent except Antarctica (well, we still need to go to Australia and Europe, but at least we're one step closer).

The beaches and ocean are supposed to be mind blowing

We love Thai food

And can't wait to explore old temples

ha ha ha ha HA

This is our new favorite thing. It kills me.
Enjoy.