Halloween Festivities!

This year was really fun for Halloween. I have not really been in the holiday mode because there are no seasons really in paradise, but the weather has cooled down quite a bit in order for it to feel a little bit like fall. I appreciate that. Alot. Anyways.. this year consisted of Friday night was babysitting(which was really fun, we love to play with kids.) Volleyball game and scary movie. Saturday night was Huston's work party, which we both dressed up. Same as last year. shhhh, dont tell. :) but it worked out for us. anyways.. then we ended up heading to the volleyball game again, but this time.. IN OUR COSTUMES! very fun! However, i am finding that the older we get, the more people gives us looks of death and you know they are thinking... " GROW UP, HOW OLD ARE YOU?" and my response would be to that..... where is your festive Holiday spirit. I hope we dress up every year, even if we are just passing out candy. Anyways.. after the game we tried to compile a "traditional" halloween. A few friends joined us with their favorite traditions, like bobbing for apples, carmel dip (since we didnt now how to do carmel apples), pumpkin bread, the donut game(very entertaining) and scary stories of course! It ended up being a wonderful Halloween! Then on Sunday, we carved Watermelons. Foodland was out of pumpkins, so we decided to go with watermelons instead! Our friends watermelon was epic, and ours was fun to do! :) After that we celebrated with the ward at the ward Potluck. It was really fun. We do love our ward. Anyways... for being far from home and coming from someone who doesnt deal well with change, we had a wonderful Halloween together! Our first Halloween Married! :)

Morning Person...??

Are you a morning person???.... well... i am not. i love sleep. what can i say??.. hahaha. However, i wander sometimes why i am not a morning person. This morning, i woke up at 5am to finish homework i wouldnt do on the Sabbath, and.. at first, the initial getting out of bed was SUCKY, but... I feel great now, and i feel like i had time to get ready and i just feel so much more organized and less rushed than when i wake up at 7:15am and have class at 7:30am. haha. I should be a morning person. Everytime that i have woken up early it was usually for some sort of activity i would enjoy like hiking, or working out(yep 5am workouts in high school..i believe they are what ruined me being a morning person. that or my mother being a brutal waker upper,"WAKKEY WAKKEY EGGS AND BAKKEY")anyways, the times i do get up early, i feel good. and like there is so much more time in the day. i would like to say i am going to practice this. but i am not sure i am that committed to the idea yet.

Laie Temple

Enjoy these pictures of this beautiful TEMPLE of the lord
We were able to clean it the other night and it was soo peacful and beautiful inside!

go to: http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/article/laie-hawaii-temple-rededication
to view images of entire temple. rooms and all. :)

How do you grocery shop?

yep.. doin a survey kind of thing.. Tryin to figure out how to save us some money. We usually buy for the whole month. but then when i got to make a dinner unplanned we end up going to the store to get more anyways.. so.. in your opinion.. is it better to grocery shop every week? every two weeks? make a mean plan, and then shop? or monthly?.. o and what do you think is a good food budget? we are going to try budget food too, which we are terrible at! .. So let me know your thoughts please, o ye older and wiser ones;) hehehe.

Attitude of Gratitude!

I am taking the Teaching of the Living Prophets class here at BYU-H. It has been such a blessing to me. I am truly learning so much about these bretheren,especially about thier lives, and thier schedules, and what they really do for our church. I am learning that thier words are more and more important in these latter days. In fact, just as important as the standard works, if not more important. and i am learning to love studying and pondering thier words. The first half of the class was spent studying the talks of the apostles from April Conference. and now we are spending time studying the most recent October Conference. Most recently i have read President Monson's words. and i cant seem to get them out of my head lately. I just wanted to post a few quotes. and then state a few things i am grateful for and a challenge our teacher gave us. Because it truly has helped me realize the blessings in my life. :)

"A grateful heart . . . comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives"

"My brothers and sisters, do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive? Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love."

"We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

"Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude.My sincere, heartfelt prayer is that we may in our individual lives reflect that marvelous virtue of gratitude. May it permeate our very souls, now and evermore. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen" ( simply powerfully stated testimony of the prophet)


... Ok .. so our teacher challenged us to only say prayers of thanks to our heavenly father. Do not ask him for anything. and see how you feel?... it is a hard thing to do, but it truly makes you dig deep, and sometimes you realize you are grateful for things you would have never thought to be thankful for.

Study the words of these men, and then like Elder Eyring has said, "Go and DO" it is vital to our eternal salvation.

I am grateful for our Living prophet who leads and guides our church.
I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and his Divine Plan
I am also grateful for my husband, my family, his family, our friends, the examples that are set before us, this wonderful educational opportunity, the temple, our ward, where we live(Hawaii, and TVA), our garden, my job, Huston's job, the little earthly things that we say dont matter to us but it really does. like the way our house looks, and our worldly belongings. I am grateful for that. Some people have way less than i do. I am grateful for the crockpot i just got in the mail, and for the time i was able to spend at the beach today, and for the food in our fridge and for our car, and our bikes, and for our bed to sleep in, and our phones, and scriptures, and i am thankful for little things like deoderant, shampoo, and soap that keeps my body clean, and for visiting teaching(both the teachee, and the teacher)... The list could really go on forever.

But i challenge you. Dig deep.. Break down your wall of pride, and just Thank Heavenly Father for what he has given YOU! :)

Crock Pot!

I am SOOO excited. This came in the mail today!!! yep, dad and mom finally caved!!!! and our beautiful Crock pot that my wonderful boss got for us for our wedding arrived in the mail TODAY! .. now.. what do do with it?.. Please share recipes!!! I am so excited to use it finally! Thank you, Mom and Dad for sending it to us!

Time Warp..

Time seems to be FLYING by. I usually get this weird feeling of time when the holidays start to come around. I think it is because it is the end of the year, and i start to reflect. but seriously.. i feel like yesterday i got married,became a wife, got baby hungry(still am), moved to hawaii, worked at pizza hut,found a job at Turtle bay Golf, hiked, fished, surfed, hiked some more, tanned, fell more in love with my husband, tried out for the volleyball team and got accepted into school.Wasnt that all yesterday? Where is time going? .. Now i am already past half finished with my first semester. Its crazy! But.. i dont seem to be minding it too much because in just a few short 2 months, 8 weeks to be exact, i will be HOME, visiting the coolest people in the world and perfectly content with probably never coming back here. If i didnt have to grow up... i probably wouldnt. haha.. But i have a husband i have to get through school,and who loves the ocean too much. haha. I think two weeks away from wave season just might kill him over. Anyways.. Time.. If you could please just keep speeding up till i get to go home..and then slow down and make two weeks feel like two years, i would greatly appreciate it!! :) .. o and time, please allow me in that speedily process to study for finals and do well. Thanks! :)