A Week of Ups and Downs

So we survived a week of ups and downs. I feel like I have been on an emotional roller coaster. We finally closed on our house (good news) but what a mess getting there. When we went to sign the papers on Tuesday we started to go through the paper work only to find out the loan officer messed up on our loan. It was such a mess and we weren't sure what to do I will spare you the details all worked out and we finally got the keys to our house on Friday. We spent all week standing in lines trying to get our cars inspected and registered here. While we were waiting to get our car registered Gracie was losing her patience so I said I would take her to walk around the mall ( this is where you go to register your cars here) We went into the children's place and Gracie started to look at the price tags and asking if she could buy things. I kept saying no that is too expensive were not going to get it today. Then she picked up a pair of sunglasses on clearance and asked if she could have those, I looked at the price and said yeah I guess you can get those they are on sale so there not very much. Gracie got excited and said look at me mom I am learning how to shop. The rest of the day she kept asking if things were on sale or not or if she would have to wait to buy them. We discovered our house needed a little more TLC than expected so we spent all night last night trying to get things ready for our stuff to arrive Monday or Tuesday. Gracie ended up sleeping half the night on the floor upstairs using a roll of paper towels for a pillow. What a sport. She was so sick of getting the house ready that On Saturday she said lets not talk about the house today so we took a brake and took her on a submarine ride. It turned out to be a lot of fun she loved it. So hopefully we will be in a home this week. We are ready to start real life again. I can't wait to cook a real meal.


We went for a walk this afternoon at this beach (I don't even know the name of it) but we needed to get out and get some fresh air. Deven and Gracie had so much fun in the tide pools finding tiny fish, and hermit crabs. They both filled there pockets full of sea shells and coral. We needed this afternoon it was the most relaxed we have been in a long time.

the sea turtle we saw on our submarine ride. We also saw a reef shark and lots of colorful fish. As well as a ship wreck and a remnants of a wrecked plane.

Gracie and I inside the submarine waiting to down. Do you think Gracie was excited.

We had to take a boat ride out to the submarine were they transferred us to the submarine. It was a fun adventure.

Happy Fathers Day

To Deven we love you. You are such a good dad to Gracie, she loves going on daddy daughter dates with you and I love how you play with her and how you can get her to do things I can't because you are clever and can find some way to make it a fun game. We love you and love spending time with you!!!

Happy Fathers Day to the best dad in the world. Gracie and I went to pick out a Fathers Day present for Deven and while we were looking for his present Gracie asked quite loud "Oh mom when is it going to be kids day?" I started to laugh and I wasn't the only one, the store clerk overheard her and said well here in Hawaii we do celebrate Girls day it is March 3rd and apparently they really go all out so Gracie was so excited and couldn't wait to tell her dad about it. We have had a busy week here in Hawaii so far there is so much to do when it comes to settling in. Deven survived his first week of in processing. We were so sick of paper work that we took the day to rest at the beach. Our friend (and realtor) Belinda invited us to a Luau at Waiemia Beach Park on the North Shore. It was a lot of fun the weather was perfect and so was the ocean we couldn't get Gracie out of it. We had a great experience with the culture here everyone was so inviting to us even though we didn't know anyone except Belinda. By the time we left Gracie had about 20 new aunts and uncles. Here everyone introduced themselves to Gracie as Auntie so and so. And Deven and I were introduced to all the other kids as Auntie Shirlyn and Uncle Deven. Everyone gave us hugs and kisses as we left. I was so impressed by the warmth of the culture.

Gracie loved to sit on the edge of the sand of let the waves push her in and out of the ocean. She laughed and laughed when the waves flipped her around. We have been so impressed with how brave she has been. When we were in Hawaii a year ago the waves scared her and she wouldn't go near the ocean.

We finally wore her out at the end of the day she finally came and plopped down on her towel. She would have fallen asleep if we would have let her.

Graduation Week

Well, this has been a whirlwind of a week. I know I posted a lot of pictures, but this past week went by so quick and was so much fun I tried to share it with everyone. Deven did it he finally graduated from medical school. We got to spend the week down in Arizona with both of our families. We got to get together with old friends. My pictures are kind of randomly placed so I will try to explain under each picture what happened. This picture was taken at the end of the day, we had a BBQ in honor of Deven it was so nice to finally sit down and relax and just take it all in. (Deven's family)

The kids also had a good time at the BBQ they couldn't wait to hit the pool it had been a long day and they were all very patient.

All of my sisters came d0wn to Arizona with us (OK except for Lisa who lives there so we took advantage of it and spent the week at her house. ) Thanks Lisa for letting us crash and have so much fun together.

And yes I know Deven was the guest of honor, but he is a great cook so we put him to work he was in charge of the barbecue. He did a great job the chicken was superb!!! That is one other reason I married him the man can cook.

I have to say thanks to Lisa and Sharon who worked hard to get everything ready for the BBQ while we were gone. They know how to throw a party everything was GREAT!!!

The moment we were all waiting for. Deven received his degree. Gracie barely made it through the graduation ceremony, so when it was time to take pictures forget it she was not going to hold still one more minute, I really don't blame her. Deven's family was so proud.

One of my favorite events of the day, was when Deven was commissioned as a Captain in the US Army. Eydie and I got to pin on his captain pins. Our really really good friends Scott and Tara Leifson also graduated and are also part of the Army. Scott's dad is an officer and so Deven asked if he would commission him as well. It meant a lot to us to have good friends to the honor.

Deven being sworn in as a Captain.

One of the most shocking events of the week for me was at Deven's award banquet. He had nominated me for the Donna Jones award. This is an award given to a spouse to honor them for their sacrifices while the husband goes through medical school. I knew he had nominated me but I didn't feel like I deserved it more than any other spouse out there. But he wrote a very nice letter and I won. I was so overwhelmed and thankful for a great husband who took the time to write the letter. I really appreciated his thoughtfulness to me. I didn't need to win, but I loved the letter he wrote for me, I guess it was his way of saying thank you. I love you Deven and I am grateful for all of the hard work you have put into things these past years to succeed. I know that you will continue to be successful.

We met up with our good friends and had a pizza party. It was so amazing to see where life is taking everybody now. And I am excited to say that life has now taken us to Hawaii we arrived this afternoon. The last couple of days have been full of such emotion as I knew this day was about to come. I cried all night and all morning as we said good bye to really good friends and to our family. As I sat on the long plane ride, I kept thinking about how nice it was to know the return flight is an hour shorter, then I remembered wait I don't have a return flight we are moving there! It hasn't quite sunk in yet we will be in a hotel for a couple of weeks until we can get into our house so for now I feel like I am on a vacation. I just want to say thank you to everyone who made last week so great. It was so fun to see all of our friends and family and now I say COME VISIT US!!!