4th of July

How can I sum up the last couple of weeks. I will just say busy, busy, busy. Things are getting so much better we have been working hard on the house and we feel like it is becoming home. This is the longest it has ever taken me to unpack. I usually have everything up (pictures included) with in a week. But we have been painting and doing minor things along the way. We are much happier with house but it has slowed the settling down process. (I'm not sure if that is proper grammar, but you know what I mean.) I have been really lucky Deven has had an easy first month I know it will get harder but I am enjoying him for the time being. Our ward has been great. They have welcomed us with open arms so much so they have already asked us to speak this next Sunday. I am a little behind on our updates, we don't have Internet hooked up yet the soonest they could come is July 9th, but some nights we can get signals off other peoples and so I am trying to catch up on stuff while we have the signal. Our 4th of July was wonderful. Our friend Belinda invited us to Weiamea Bay during the afternoon. I got my first experience paddle boarding I have wanted to try this since we got here. I had a lot of fun. It was a little tricky at first and I fall off everytime I turn around, but I got pretty good at going straight. Then in the evening some people in the ward invited us over for a BBQ. It was a lot of fun. Gracie made a lot of new friends. After the BBQ we all went to a big a foot ball field and watched the fireworks. Thanks to everyone who has been so good to us and for helping us to have a great 4th of July.
Gracie and some other kids doing sparklers. I tried to get her face but she didn't hold still long enough.

Me, paddle boarding on the North shore

This is the living room it is coming together slowly. I am still looking for a rug. I know what I want but I am having a hard time finding it. I might have to order off the internet. If you havn't figured it out by now houses in Hawaii are small so I am trying to keep it as clutter free as possible.

This is Gracie's room. It is coming together nicely. I still have a few nick nacks I am not sure what to do with but it's a work in progress.

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!!!

Busy Week

Well we survived a busy week. It's all done. They came and packed up all of our stuff and next time we see it will be in Hawaii. I have to admit this was one of the nicest moves I have ever done. After we got our bags packed with what we were taking with us the movers did the rest. We still ended up staying up late going through everything, we didn't want to take any unnecessary thing with us. Gracie also had a big week it was her preschool graduation. She got her first degree and Deven got a little bit excited soon he will be getting his last degree. What a great year for us!!!! Everything is going great so far for the house and we are excited we love the neighborhood and feel like it will be a great home for us the next few years. Things just fell into place and we really feel like this is the house and the neighborhood we are suppose to be in, not to mention we couldn't have done much better on a commute for Deven so we should see him more and he will spend less time in traffic. We will be living in Miliani. It is centrally located so we are about 20 minutes from Honolulu and about 20 minutes from the North Shore. He is only about 15 minutes from Trippler (the hospital he is working at) so it will probably take him about 30 minutes in traffic but that is pretty good all things considered.

Gracie has enjoyed preschool this past year and Mrs. Gourley has been a great teacher for her. She is very patient with Gracie and we have really appreciated that. Gracie has come a long way We are so proud of you. Heres to a lot more degrees.

Aloha

Well we are getting ready to fly home tomorrow. It has been a fun, stressful, exhausting trip. We managed to squeeze in a little much needed fun as house hunting was getting to both of us. So Deven and the dive leader convinced me to dive the ship wreck. I was reluctant but I gave in to peer pressure. In this case I am so glad I did. I dove 102 feet to see the ship wreck (the Sea Tiger). It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I even saw an eel and I didn't freak out too bad. I just kept my distance. (They are so creepy looking... at least that is what I think, you can form your own opinion I am sharing my picture of it with you). Today we put an offer in and are just waiting to hear if they will accept it or not, so Deven and I drove around to find a beach we had never been to watch the sun set. It turned out to be beautiful. It was a beach just before the north shore. It was so calm and we needed that tonight. I hate waiting. We are hoping for good news. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Projects and Moving

Well I just have to say that moving makes you have to kick it in high gear. I started this quilt for Gracie's room about a year ago. I would work on it occasionally but never made a lot of progress. I finally decided it was time. So I finally finished it!!! I was so excited this is my first quilt and hey it only took me a year. Also I have been having fun planning different rooms in my house (that I don't have yet) but I wanted to do a beach bathroom so Deven and I have been busy making a few things for it. I found a beach board mirror in a magazine and it was $300. I just couldn't justify it but Deven thought he could make one for me. I think it turned out pretty close to the actual one. Anyways I am happy with it so hopefully it will work in a bathroom. We will know soon enough wish us luck everyone we leave tomorrow to go and look for a house. It will be a pretty busy trip, we have about 30 houses we want to look at. We hope to squeeze in a little time for some fun so I will keep everyone posted and hopefully I will have some good news to share next week when we get back.