hawaii.

we spent a lovely week on the island of Oahu. we stayed in Ko Olina, to be more specific....we were surrounded by multiple super nice resorts. we went with our cute friends Cody and Stephanie Hale, and they were basically our personal tour guides, since we've never been and they've been multiple times. we had a big nice pool area, and our own beach right outside our hotel, but we spent most of the days driving to the north shore side of the island to explore other beaches.

i could take this trip and break it up in different posts, but honestly - that sounds like way too much work right now. so i'll just tell you this - outside of spending time at our own resorts pool and beach, we spent time snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, watching the biggest waves we've ever seen at Waimea Bay, hiking to Maunawili Falls, watching whales jump out of the water (!!!), at the LDS temple and PCC in Laie, eating (a lot), walking around the swap meet, watching late night movies (and falling asleep every time), annnd in the car driving to all of these fun places (aka a lot of time spent on the Kamehameha highway). we made multiple stops for shaved ice, had more than one excellent burger, the best super nachos of my life, and a giant breakfast called a Loco Moco that Jae was told we had to try. so try we did. and it was definitely worth it. i just might have to do another post on all the food itself. it really does deserve its own post.

anyway! onto the pictures.........
{there are a lot...good luck with that.}

view from our condo.

Pali lookout. SO unbelievably windy. it doesn't look so bad til you get up there. recommendation: don't wear a skirt or have your hair down. no bueno, i tell you.

super nachos at killer tacos!! craving some right now.

the waves were HUGE.

body surfing.

matsumoto's shaved ice. yes, please.

hike to maunawili falls

that was Jae's jump. i sort of missed it...whoops.

A WHALE! JUMPING! OUT OF THE WATER!! and i got a picture. it was pretty spectacular.

snorkeling at haunama bay. snorkel gear is so attractive.

pineapple ice cream!

loco moco. Jae had never tried it before, but craves this frequently since then.

my delicious french toast. i get french toast everywhere i go.

our last afternoon was spent at this lovely LDS temple. gorgeous day and gorgeous temple.

sunshine & Easter egg hunts.

it's friday!

have i blogged about anything of importance this week?

nope.

but tomorrow is saturday, and sunday is Easter!

(and this week at work has been non-stop. hello and welcome friday!)

we're celebrating tomorrow with my family.

i'll be busy tonight filling Easter eggs with candy for our big hunt on saturday.

(i put myself/got put in charge of the eggs since i made a big to-do about doing a hunt with all the nieces/nephews. it's Easter...of course we need to do an egg hunt! duh.)

plus it's supposed to be upper 60's and sunshiney for our saturday, and who doesn't want to be outside in that?!

here are a few reminders to help get us (myself) into the spirit this weekend :)

happy Easter!

to start off the week..

we had a hot dinner date at sam's club
(i know - we're super romantic like that)

that cost a whopping $5.37!

hey big spenda...

and then, we stopped at kohl's (i wanted to look at shoes, ok?)

i had some leftover money on a giftcard, but not enough to really pay for anything in full....

except for these babies we found on clearance!

$4.40.

and yes, Jae got a matching pair too.

i dare say it was a pretty successful monday.

a lucky green dinner for a lucky green day.

for st. patrick's day, my cute mom decided to go all out and make a very green dinner for our sunday dinner! we had everything from turkey wraps in green (spinach) tortillas to green grapes, honeydew, kiwi, cucumber bites, snap peas, brussel sprouts, green beans, green apples, and of course - 'green stuff' (aka a concoction of whipped cream, cottage cheese, pineapples, and lime jello flavoring packet to make it green!).

and then dessert! green donuts, green frosted sugar cookies, and mint chocolate chip ice cream

of course, can't forget about the decor - green table-cloth, green straws, and cute st. patty's day napkins.

my mom rocks. it was so fun :)

have a most fabulous
(half springy, half wintery, if you're in utah....)
weekend!

5 moments of today.

^^cake from my nephew's 11th birthday last week. he's my oldest nephew. still hard to believe he's 11. anyway, no the cake has absolutely nothing to do with my post. he's just super into dinosaurs and knows all sorts of details about them that you wouldn't even know to ask. smarty pants, like his parents. and besides....his cake rocked. obviously.

{ok, so confession - some of these are from yesterday and some are from today. the days all run together anyway, right?}

haven't done a 5 moment memoir in a while (let's be real....haven't really blogged at all in a while!....) so while i'm still trying to get my hawaii pictures and posts ready to go (and our birthday posts from a month ago...) we'll go with this today.

.1. i had a bagel with veggie cream cheese this morning. i used to be all about plain cream cheese all the time, with any bagel i ever ate. i've used strawberry on occasion, as well as the almond and honey, but the strawberry is too sweet sometimes and the almond and honey is just...ok. and then i decided to try veggie (cuz adding some teeny tiny veggie parts to cream cheese makes it totally healthy...right?) and i won't go back! officially been converted for life. LOVE veggie cream cheese.

.2. i'm all sorts of black and grey and booted on this here first day of spring. i feel like maybe i should be wearing some shade of yellow or pink or something. but no - grey, black, leggings, boots, sweaters.....none too springy. it's supposed to rain and be cold today, after all. happy first day of spring anyway!

.3. i was on a work conference call this morning, and the first thing the lady hosting the call said was "oh i just found out you're Hyde's daughter! he's a good one, i like Hyde". so in case you didn't know - yes we work for the same company, but in different departments and at different facilities. and everyone knows my dad! i get that from random people at work probably once a month. he's just cool and popular like that. i have such a cute dad.

.4. i also had staff meeting today. it's interesting.....sometimes i get into conversation and voice my opinion, and sometimes, like today.....i just decide to hold my tongue and sit back and listen to others. i'm realizing more and more (call it my old, wise age) that sometimes it's just better (and easier!) to not talk and let others fight it out, and then if i get spoken to directly, then i'll speak. ya know?

.5. i am not a morning person. some of you already know this. when i used to work at 5 AM, my co-workers learned that it's best just not to try to talk to me too much before, oh 9 o'clock or so, just to give me sufficient time to be less grumpy wake up. even now, that i don't start my work day quite so early, i still just like some time in the morning to get settled, get through my emails, maybe even read a blog or two, eat something. you know - get myself mentally ready for the day ahead. so when i walk into work and only have time to set my stuff down, take my coat off (cuz yes, it was SNOWING this morning....march is a SPRING month!), and log into my computer before i start getting instant messages from co-workers (co-workers that get to work from home, nonetheless...lucky little devils)......well it's a little bit irritating. it's like she was just waiting for my little instant messaging light to turn green, meaning i'm 'available', so she could start pestering me with work questions. NO! leave me be for 5 minutes, please! 

well i'm glad we could have this little time so you can know more about me and my psychotic behavior that is likely to happen in the mornings. 

may your thursday be as great as mine is shaping up to be :)

oh yeah....i blog.

hey guys. and gals.
soo....it's friday.
if you hadn't noticed, i haven't gotten back into my blogging groove yet this week.
it's been a busy few days trying to get caught up on life after our lovely week on the island.
and getting myself used to the time and getting my sleeping schedule straight has been a bit of a hassle.

i'm so tired!!!!!!

but anyway.
back to it being friday and all......
here's to a weekend that will hopefully allow me to catch up on sleep blogging, laundry, groceries, dishes, and everything else that needs catching up. (Jae informed me that we're down to our last 3/4's of a roll of toilet paper.....yeah it's probably time for a visit to the store.)

i think pup is ready for the weekend too..

home again, home again.

yes, it's true.

we're back home and back to work.

can you hear my 'boooooing'??!

i think with a mix of jet lag, time change, and daylight savings, we're a bit off on our sleeping schedules. as in, neither Jae or i have slept well the last two nights. 

not sleeping = not cool.

to help ease the transition back into reality, i decided, as one last "we're on vacation..." hurrah, that i'd splurge and buy these little puppies.

yep, one whole pound of almonds covered in a layer of toffee,

and then a layer of chocolate, and then a layer of powdered sugar.

mid-week check-in {beach edition}.

sand.

sun.

shades.

surf.

my book.

husband in the chair next to me.

 

need i say more?

 

 

see you in a week, utah winter.

i'm trying my best to keep myself busy busy busy today to get through work so i can get home and get myself, Jae, and Zoey packed (Zo is staying with her cousins all week while we're gone! she's going to be soo happy and soo tired!). we were planning to leave tonight for LA (and then to Oahu tomorrow), but due to lovely standby flying, we will be leaving tomorrow morning now instead.

i just felt it my duty to share with you the projected forecast for us for the next week :)

you're welcome.

oh, well hello sunshine and 80 degrees!

no promises of blogging for the next week,

but i will make an honest effort (in between naps on the beach).

mahalo.