Mele Kalikimaka

That’s right. Have I died and gone to heaven? For about a week I did.

Hawaii for Christmas?? = Dream come true.

And I think my whole family is a believer now. We are kind of liking the idea of going somewhere wonderful for Christmas and not really worrying about the fuss of presents for each other. Let’s just lay on the beach instead! Yessss!

But first things first. We decorated our adorable little tiny tree :)

  

And ate at BWW. Brad’s favorite. Blakely’s new obsession. It’s our favorite! 

Brad Finished finals! Yay! And I have to brag for just a second – he got an A- in OChem! Rockstar :)

 

Then these cute kids came to town! yay!!!!! Long drive for the Broadbents, but man were we glad to see them! Brad is a way fun uncle, and boy do we love those kids! Real life is WAY better than FaceTime.

 

While they were here we went to check out the lights!

I wish so bad we lived closer so we could do this more often! PS- Emily doesn’t even look it but, she is in fact pregnant with another little boy due in Feb!

Now- Alooohhhaaa! We stayed on the Big Island in Kona. We stayed in Waikoloa Village and it was 82 degrees every day. Gorgeous weather. Brad was on a road trip so he joined us on Thrusday.

 

Robbie: “I’m out of school, I’m in Shorts and Flip Flops – it is Summer! Not Christmas!”

I must admit – it was pretty weird to see Christmas Trees and hear Let it Snow while you are in Hawaii. It just doesn’t feel right!

We went to check out Akaka Falls over on the Hilo Side of the Island. It was plush and gorgeous over there!

 

 

Waipio Lookout.

Kua Beach. This was our favorite beach! The sand is perfect.

 

And I was in heaven.

Kailua-Kona is the home of the famous IronMan race. I think it is AWESOME!!!

The sunsets – OH the sunsets. One of the main reasons I am in love with Hawaii. My poor family would have to stop anything they were doing and wait for about 30 mins while I Oooed and Ahhed and took 200 pictures of the sunsets every night. LOVED all of them. This one was particularly beautiful.

Brad FINALLY made it over. I was missing him :)

Luau time! Besides the extravagant Luau food, we actually cooked at home a lot! Our condo’s kitchen was well equipped – with a rice cooker even! We made Mac-nut encrusted Mahi Mahi, Asian Salmon, Mahi-Mahi Tacos, and more. Oh and did I mention we drank 48 cans of POG in a week? Haha. Gotta love it. PassionFruit-Orange-Guava you complete us.

The next day the waves at Kua Bay just about tripled! These pictures do not do this justice to how big they were. Brad and Rob attempted to boogie board. They may have gotten rocked a few times haha. But it was pretty awesome and fun to watch!

Baywatch? Why hello there :)

 

Rob made a new friend on the trip!

 

We made my dad a sand throne! 

The next day was my Dad’s highlight – Marlin Fishing! Wahoo! He went fishing with Marlin (yes, that is his real, given name) on this same boat 20 years ago! And my Grandpa went with Marlin’s dad a few times as well. Schaap-Parker tradition.

Oh and did I mention that every day leading up to fishing we HAD to go to the Harbor to watch the boats come in. It was pretty cool to watch them bring this Ahi in and weigh it.

I like sunrises too :)

Unfortunately it is not Marlin season, so we broke tradition and didn’t catch one. But we had fun catching little Ahi and taking a few boat naps :)

Kona is extremely famous for Macadamia nuts. Yum. We tried pretty much every type of macadamia nut known to man. Yes, even SPAM flavored.

Perfection.

 

We took some family pictures on our last night there. More to come on that, but here is a preview.

I REALLY didn’t want to leave. We were getting reports we had a foot of snow on our driveway….. Um from laying on a beach to shoveling snow? Don’t make me go!!!

  

What a fabulous week with my family and a wonderful time to relax and rejuvenate. We all needed a break. Besides the sunsets, the beach, the yummy fish, and all other thing Hawaii, the best thing about the islands is the pace of life. Nothing is rushed, and everything is done with a smile. I loved this trip and want to make this a tradition…. :)

Mele Kalikimaka!

1/2 Marathon…?…!

So, let me just preface this post by saying – I have never been this girl!

Ok now that is out of the way, let me tell you a little story about me lately… about a month ago, there I was out on a run. Running and me have never really been that great of friends. Running is a way for me to eat more dessert – you know what I’m saying? It has been apart of my routine for quite a while now, but that doesn’t mean I like it. Well this particular day Brad was out of town on a road trip (boo) so I didn’t have a lot going on that day when I got home. As I was running, I hit my “long-one” mark of 6 miles, but I still felt pretty good. I decided to go a little longer… The longest I had ever run to this point was 8 miles. That is pretty good if you ask me! So once I was getting closer to 8, I still was feeling ok and started thinking… hmm I’ve never even thought of 10 before!

I totally surprised myself that day. 10 miles is a long way!! I felt really good about it and realized I should probably enjoy it because it probably wasn’t going happen again anytime soon! Haha. So then… 3 weeks later, there I was again Brad was gone and I was out on a run. 11 miles later I was thinking you know this running thing isn’t quite as terrible as I thought it was! 11 miles… a half marathon is only 2 more miles! Could I seriously be considering this??

5 days later on November 23 I did it! I ran 13.2 miles!!!!! What in the world??? I wasn’t even planning on a long run that day, but again- I was feeling good so I just kept running! I am so proud of myself and because of it I get to brag on here for just a minute! This is a goal I never thought I would be pursuing or let alone achieve. Running was a punishment in volleyball practice, so it just never seemed to strike my fancy, but I have apparently overcome that mental game for a little bit and accomplished this awesome feat! 13.2 miles – whew! I’m awesome! haha. And I know I’m not record-setting or anything, but I feel good about my time too! My body felt good too, surprisingly.

Oh and the best part of the whole thing maybe the picture below. Leave it to me to get tan lines on the 1 inch of my body that wasn’t covered at the end of November! What the??

 

 

Dating My Husband.

Today I need to share a blog that I absolutely adore. The writer is eloquent, talented and intriguing. I keep coming back to this one though… And I re-read it again this morning. It is resonating with me today. Although we don’t have kids yet, our lives are busy. Very busy in fact. We get caught up in the craziness and I need to take a step back and breathe. Romance – it comes in all different forms, but basically it comes down to making the other person happy. And we absolutely can find time every single day to do that. Dating my husband. Especially for us now with Basketball season in full swing… I love that this writer puts as much time and effort into making dinner as I do. Only a true foodie understands that this is how we show love. The thought and care we put into creating a meal that will be gone in the blink of an eye. Why not just buy buns? Why go through the trouble to make homemade chicken stock? Because it is the time and effort I put into planning and preparing that shows love, the end result is just a bonus. I’m happy to find a kindred spirit through this blog. Here’s the link or I have pasted it (Her site is better).

http://notwithoutsalt.com/2012/01/29/dating-my-husband-4/

If I could to speak to myself on the day of my wedding over eight years ago, this is what I would say…

I understand you’re a bit scared. You’re young and you are about to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life. You think it’s the right choice, you think you love him but what really is love? I know that’s what you are thinking because I am you.

For months leading up to the wedding day you’ve been asking everyone who would listen to help you understand what love really is. Sure he gives you butterflies and you can’t imagine not spending every day with this man. You’ve lost countless hours of sleep just clinging to his presence and not wanting to waste a moment with him. But is that really love? Is that enough to sustain a marriage that will survive moves across state lines, financial stress, young children, loss, and much more that we have yet to experience?

In case you do read this you should know that you made the right decision. But you didn’t really know love. The love you felt on the day you stared at him down the aisle, anxiously awaiting that glimmer in his eyes as he saw you for the first time in your wedding dress and the last time you weren’t his wife, that love was just the start.

At the time you thought love was how he made you feel. You questioned love the moment the butterflies didn’t flutter as rapidly as you thought they should. You resented him for shining light on parts of you that were selfish and gross. He didn’t complete you in the way you expected him to and surprisingly he didn’t completely understand you from the moment you both said, “I do.”

Love isn’t simply about how he makes you feel. I know that now. Love is a choice and love is action.

Now you realize that love is him warming up the espresso machine for you in the morning so it’s ready when you wander sleepily down the stairs. Love is how he saves the last scoop of ice cream for you, every time. Love is the way he wrestles with your sons (you have two and I can’t wait for you to meet them) after a long day of work. Love is the way he dances with your daughter (she’ll make you melt with each glance into her big brown eyes).

You slowly start to understand that when your dad told you, “Love is a choice”, he wasn’t being as unromantic as you first thought. You’ll realize that each day you have a choice. You can either choose to love Gabe and allow your feelings and actions reflect that or you can choose to allow the daily difficulties and his imperfections (yes, I know you can’t see it now, but he’s not perfect – and neither are you) to become a disease in the marriage.

Some days are better than others but over time you’ll realize that praying for and encouraging him is more useful than resenting him. You’ll start to see all the things he does for you and your family rather than focusing on what he doesn’t do. And you’ll realize that on the day you married him you really had no idea what love was and that eight years later you love him in way that you never thought possible.

It’s going to be hard. You’ll find out things about yourself that you really wish could have stayed hidden and yet, through it all you slowly become a better person. One that really knows and understands love – at least I hope that’s what happens, I’m not quite there yet.

What I do know is that no matter how tired you are, no matter how much you would just rather curl up on the couch and tune out the noise of the day, every once in awhile you need to put the kids to bed a bit earlier and ask your husband out on a date, even if that date happens at home.

You’ll plan the meal with great excitement and get inspired staring at the vibrant produce at the store while Ivy (that’s your daughter) tries her best to pull everything off the shelves and into the cart. You’ll spend the next 7 hours, on and off, preparing for a meal that you and your husband will devour in 10 minutes. He’ll appreciate every minute of your effort and you’ll love every chop of an onion and knead of the dough. You remind yourself of this moment and how many times before you’ve learned the same lesson – choosing him over your own selfish desires is what love is all about.

Costume?

This story is too funny not to post…

So there I was… at work on Friday and it was “Halloween” day where all the kids come and trick or treat. Keep in mind I work at the Church and there are about 1200 employees- so there were A LOT of kids haha.

They were giving out prizes at work for the best decorations and costume and all that. However, I sorta didn’t participate. I just can’t be THAT girl at the office. Call me lame, but I have my reasons. Anyway, I was enjoying seeing everyone else’s decorations! Some people went ALL out. Dry ice included.

While walking down the hall I ran into another girl (there are only 4) in our portfolio who was dressed to the nines as a witch. Boots, hat, face-painted, the whole she-bang. She brought costumes for all her team and decorated up the wazoo.

“You look great!! I love your costume!” I said to her as she is fixing her extra-long witch eyelashes.

“Thanks!” She said. “Now, let me guess------“ Then she points to me… “Katniss!!”

HAHAHAHA

“Umm… Actually I didn’t dress up today… (this is awkward)” hahahaha I was dying, “But maybe I will go braid my hair real quick and grab my bow and arrow!”

Hahaha Umm actually…..

OH my gosh. Seriously was SO funny. She is the nicest girl ever so I think she felt more awkward than I did, but it was just down right hilarious.

I had to tell my parents about it, so when I went over there I had them take a picture of my outfit that day… I mean I have to give it to her – she has a point!

Let me guess – Katniss!!

So dang funny.

Everything Pumpkin.

Pumpkin is the new bacon. Apparently.

Thank heavens because I do not like the other! A fun little article for your culinary-reading pleasure. Here are a few fun tid-bits:
“This year is on track to be one of the most active years for seasonal pumpkin menuing” and could top the 2011 record, when more than 60 pumpkin-related dishes appeared on the menus of America’s top 250 chain restaurants.”
“The weird thing about pumpkin’s rise to baconlike ubiquity is that pumpkin, on its own, is not a very appetizing food at all. A dense and stringy fruit, it needs the accompaniment of a lot of sugar and spices before it becomes particularly palatable. As a marketing tool, however, pumpkin is perfectly pitched for today’s eaters. The fact that it needs that extra flavoring? That’s a bonus, not a bug, as far as the restaurant business is concerned.”
Well I’m happy to admit we’ve been adding to this pumpkin craze. Who doesn’t love pumpkin-y things?? I mean really.
1. Eating Pumpkin Pie – it’s just so dang good! (would you like some pie with that cream??)

2. Carving Pumpkins – we were impressed by some of our friends’ carving skills!


This is a fun group!!
 
Brad’s was my favorite though – look how awesome it is! Plus the baby pac-man pumpkin, the whole head comes off! My pumpkin is pretty cool, however a little evil….

3. Pumpkin Pancakes with buttermilk syrup! This put us into a conference-watching-pancake-coma. :)

The other pumpkin-y things I’ve concocted:

• Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Maple Cinnamon Rolls – yes these were as amazing as they sound.
• Pumpkin Smoothies
• Pumpkin Oatmeal

And no one has even complained that I’m over pumpkin-ing! And next up in my queue of pumpkin-y things:
Pumpkin doughnuts
In other sad news… Lance. One of my heros, one of the untouchables has been really brought down lately. As of this morning he has stepped down as chairman from the LiveStrong foundation so the company doesn’t suffer from the negative allegations against him. AND Nike has terminated their contract with him. This is devastating news. He is still one of the Greats in my mind and that will never change. Lance’s efforts are being tainted by these accusations. His company is doing amazing things and he as a person is incredibly inspiring. I hope that he will be able to keep his dignity and the cycling world will retain his legacy.
So in light of that- I’ll take one of everything in that Nike black and yellow before it is all gone!!

AND PS my little brother is awesome. Parkour!