LPD Hawaii Trip!

Back in September my boss, Dr. Lorscheider surprised us and told us he had just bought us plane tickets to Kauai! We went as a staff about two years ago, and we had talked about going again this year...but none of us thought it was really going to happen. Luckily, he checked for flights at just the right time, where he found super cheap tickets and bought them! So then with the help of sweet Keri, we found Brad another cheap flight so he was able to go, and we were set! On Friday, October 14th, Brad dropped me off with my friends at 5 in the morning and i left, and then Brad was joining me two days later, so he could go to one more day of school and work.

I'll try and do justice to show how fun this trip was...

The first two days without Brad were fun, but i was of course just dying for him to get there! We got settled in our condo, got our rental cars, and did a giant costco run for the week.We played at the beach most of the time these two days, and did lots of boogie boarding and snorkeling. 

 Kenny, Andrea, and I just arriving in Kauai! 

All the girls on the beach our first day!

This is the place where we stayed! I am standing on the road where the beach is at, so it was just a short walk down to the beach!

The next day we went to my favorite beach! We snorkled and swam with many big sea turtles like this one...

You can see why this is my favorite beach...because it has grass! And not just sand!

 Dr. L and Kenny sword fighting

After the beach, we went over to the Spouting Horn. You can't really see anything in this picture, but Angela and i call this our 'lesbian lover' picture. We mostly just love the outfits of the two ladies next to us. :)

On Sunday morning we went to church, and got out of sacrament meeting in time to go pick up Brad! We timed our trip just right, and were lucky enough to see their primary program! We were all laughing so hard. Those kids are so cute. Also, when we went to church they just had a box sitting in the hall way of tons of huge avacado's for anyone to take. They were soo yummy!!

 So our last Hawaii trip, we went to church at this same ward. We ended up going to one of their ward activities during the week too. Anyway, we fell in love with this kid two years ago, and were so excited to see him again. Angela asked him if he remembered us from two years ago, and he looked at her like she was crazy. So we had to take another picture with him! Isn't he cute?

 Ange and I always call eachother 'Sisters in Zion', so we had to take a cheesy Relief Society, "As Sisters In Zion' picture outside of the church. :)

So right after church, we went home and changed into our daily Hawaii attire (swim suits) and went to go pick up Brad! I was so excited. Ardice, Shea, and I went to the airport to get him. He texted me when we were on our way to the airport saying he had just landed, and that I HAD to meet his man Rodney. I was kind of dreading this, to be honest. I just thought he was some weird guy that Brad sat by and talked about weird things with the whole flight. So i went into the baggage claim to meet him, and i hear this loud yell from across the whole place saying "LIINNNDSSSEEEYYY". Here is Rodney with this arms wide open to give me a huge hug. He is a native hawaiian, and is actually a United Airlines flight attendant, but was not working at the time. So he would sneak back in the plane and give Brad all of this free food the entire flight. He really was super nice.

After Brad dropped his stuff off at the condo, we got in the car and drove up Waimea Canyon. We hiked around and could not stop taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery. I'm officially in love with Kauai. 

 Angela found a pig! I would have thrown up if i would have touched it. 

 After the canyon trip, we went back to the condo for dinner, and then Brad was dying to go down to the beach and play in the water. So we did..and it was a beautiful night! 

  

Monday we went on our Kayaking trip up the Wailua River. We left early in the morning, and got done around 12:30.

Getting ready to head out to the river...

So we kayaked up the river for about an hour, and we went on this hike through this cool jungle/amazon to get to a waterfall. Our tour guide, Justin, was really cool...and once again we couldn't get over how beautiful everything was!

We had to make a stop at a rope swing of course. I even did it :)

And then we made it to the waterfall!

After the Kayaking expedition, we drove over to another waterfall to jump off of. Brad, Kenny, and Josh had a blast doing stupid things off the big waterfall. I found a little rock to jump off of. I wish i had pictures of this...but my camera was dead at this point.

The next morning, Brad was awake by 6 a.m., ready to to go boogie boarding. So him and Kenny walked down to the beach and boarded for a few hours. Checkin out the waves...

 The next day we went back to the grassy beach to snorkel some more...

 Brad fell asleep on the grass, and Kenny was putting bread on his head for the birds to eat. :)

 Swimming with some more sea turtles...

 Later that day, we went to Shipwreck, which was right by our condo too. We loved this beach. See that giant rock behind us? Yeah, my crazy husband jumped off that thing.

 Here is my husband standing at the top, ready to jump. I was standing down thinking i had so much control over him to convince him to not do it. But then i realized i had no control, so i just took a deep breath and took a picture. :)

 We also snuck into the Hyatt Hotel, and swam in their pool.  They have like a man made beach in their pool, which was fun. It felt good to swim in fresh water for a while. :)

Wednesday we went up to the North Shore. For those of you who have seen Soul Surfer (We watched it on the island) this is the beach where the shark bit her arm off! It kind of freaked me out to go in the water, but it it's another pretty place, nonetheless.

 We went on a big hike around the Napali Coast, to this other beach. It was sooo beautiful! 

 When we got to the other beach, there were lots of cool caves to go in.

 Inside of a cave...

 On our way home from the North Shore, we stopped at Dr. L's dad's house that he owns and is building. When we went to see it, the contractor that was working on his house, gave us these flattering T Shirts. 

 And then we stopped to get snow cones. I'm sorry, but the snow cones in Hawaii smoke the snow cones in the entire world. They are sooo good!

 Everynight we stayed up late with everyone being stupid, or playing games, or watching movies! We really are so lucky to have such a great group of friends!

Thursday was our last full day, and we went back to the beach to do some more boogie boarding. 

 We also went and got Brad a Kauai famous Puka Dog for lunch. I knew Brad would love it, because he LOVES hot dogs. Hot dogs aren't good on a normal day, but these were good!

 After lunch we went to this waterfall. We went here last time, and it was really fun. But this time i had a serious panic attack. We hiked down to the water at the bottom of the water fall, swam across that huge thing against the strong current, climbed up on the rocks to the right of the falls, and walked across so we were sitting on the rocks behind the water fall. Then we had to to do the whole thing over again to get out! SOO scary! I felt like i was in a hurricaine with that strong of water beating against me. You are not supposed to hike down to the water (for obvious safety reasons), but having my sweet husband and Kenny with us, we broke the rules. Liz and Shea, who stayed at the top and watched the whole thing, said that everyone around was watching us the whole time saying how stupid we were. We were stupid, but it was a good adrenaline rush i guess. 

 That night was the night that the Dr. took us all out to dinner. Before dinner, they had these hawaiian dancers that let anyone go up and dance with them. Andrea, Angela, and I went up. I was horrible and ended up falling. So embarrasing!

 Dr. Lorscheider and all of his staff outside of the restaurant.

 Eating our yummy Hula Pie for dessert. I can't explain it, but it is truly the best thing i have ever put into my mouth!

 Friday was the day we left for home. We were so sad, and not ready to go back! As we were getting on the plane, we randomly saw Rodney again! He was so nice and gave us these yummy smelling, and beautiful Lei's that he made himself, and put a flower in our hair.

We got home Saturday morning and pretty much slept the whole day, since we lost a whole night of sleep! What a fun trip it was, and we are so thankful for Dr. Lorscheider taking us all! We probably won't make it back for another 20 years...so we will just cherish these memories forever! :)

My Tuesday Surprise

Let me tell you how incredible my husband is, in case you forgot. Yesterday, i left for work around 7:15 in the morning with a sink full of dishes, and lots of laundry to do. Tuesdays are Brad's late days, when he doesn't get home from school until 8:00 at night. I usually leave my house jobs to do then, because it makes the time go by faster until he gets home. However, yesterday when i got home...i found he had cleaned the whole house, did the laundry, and dishes! How wonderful is he?

THEN....when he got home around 8 ish, he walked in with these beautiful flowers.

Isn't he so thoughtful?

He is the busiest person i know, but he always finds time and does little things to help me and tell me he loves me! Love you Brad!

Conference Weekend

This past weekend was a much needed weekend for both Brad and I. The Curtis family got a condo up East Canyon for the weekend, and we were unsure if we would be able to make it with Brad's work schedule. But he came through the door on Friday night, and said 'we're going!' So we packed up, and went up right then! Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful to be up there!
It was just so refreshing to be with family, and listen to the inspiring words of the prophets! (Don't worry, i will save a separate post to tell you about my favorite talks) Even though we were only up there for 2 days, we were able to do a lot of fun things! We got there later Friday night, and his family was already up there. We ate dinner, and played games with everyone.

While we were hanging out that night, we noticed a few racoons wandering behind our condo. As soon as the boys saw, everything stopped...and Brad, Marty, and Kenny decided to build a racoon trap, and they were determined to "catch a coon".

Brad and Kenny had a whole system set up, using fishing line coming into the condo to just pull, as soon as the racoon went to the perfect spot to get the food they set out. 

Waiting and Waiting to 'catch a coon'

The coon trap stayed up all weekend. Sadly, they never caught one. They got really close on Saturday night, but the string a pulled just a little too soon. It was traumatic. :)

Early Saturday morning Brad made me get out of bed early, and we went on a little walk. Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful. All of the fall colors were so beautiful, and the sun was just coming up. That moment with my husband was enough for me to realize how blessed and content i am. Little refreshing things like that is all i need sometimes. 

I'm almost embarrassed to put this next picture up, but when we walked out of the condo to start our walk...Brad thought my face and attire was really funny. I was obviously was putting on anyone's warm clothes that i saw..and i probably opened my eyes from a deep sleep 1 minute before this picture was taken. 

Sleeping Beauty doesn't get any more attractive than this in the mornings!

When we got back from our walk, the whole family decided to go fishing! I hadn't been fishing since i was a little girl, so i was particularly excited go! This ended up being quite the experience for me. 

It started off wonderful! I caught my fish, and was so excited. 

My cute little fish :)

Kenny and Heather caught theirs....

And Chris and Heather caught theirs...

Brad caught his...

And everyone was happy :)

Lets back up a few months now....

When Brad and I were engaged, Brad and his dad, Marty, told me that to hold a place in the Curtis family, i had to clean and gut a fish. I told them that would never happen...and that was pretty much the end of the conversation. :) So we were fishing peacefully on Saturday morning, and i was praying that Brad and Marty had forgotten about that conversation. Of course, my sweet husband had not forgotten..and insisted that i clean and gut a fish. Love him. 

Brad then caught another big Rainbow fish...

This innocent thing i had the privilege to take it's life, clean..and gut, and then later eat. What an experience.

So my Father in Law is probably the best Father in Law anyone could dream of. He was very excited for me, and tutored me step by step in this experience. Learn from us here....

Cutting the slippery fish up it's belly...

Putting my fingers down the throat from both ends, and ripping it out. Yes, those are guts in my right hand. So discusting.

And lastly, scraping out all of the poo with my fingernail. 

And here he is..our new clean and gutted fish! We went home and Marty cooked him right up! 

Throughout the rest of the weekend, besides watching conference...we had fun playing lots of shuffle board.

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Cute little Pryson taking a rest of Mini Golf :)

In between sessions, we also went down to the Lake that was right by our condo! Kenny and Heather, and Brad and I went on a little raft ride. The water was freeezing! Of Course, Brad and Kenny found a  big rock to jump off into the water. It was fun to go out on the water, and not get in it :)

Sunday mostly consisted of us playing conference bingo while watching conference. This is a Curtis family tradition that i got to be a part of this year. I don't think i've eaten so much candy in my life. Keri brought so much good stuff, and i just couldn't stop. 

Notice the carrots in the middle of all of these treats? And if all of this wasn't enough..my husband is eating a root beer float right out of that tub of ice cream.

Brad and I really wanted to win conference bingo, so we played with 5 cards at one time. Everytime you win, you get a quarter from Keri. Brad loves quarters, because they buy him dollar Ice Cream Cones at JCW's, which is his favorite thing in the world. Brad had one card that won everytime, which didn't make everyone else happy. But it was still so fun!

Our drive home after the afternoon session was absolutely beautiful...and we were so sad to go home. I sure am a lucky to girl to have married into such a fun and loving family! It is always a party with the Curtis family, and we were lucky to spend the whole weekend with them!

Funland!

Brad and I got our Trafalga passes when we were dating in the spring! When we went for the first time...he decided that the new name for this place was Funland! We love it here, and Brad is obsessed with the lazer tagging! For some reason, he finds a lot of enjoyment battling ALL the little kids in that arena, and being proud that he ALWAYS takes first place! It's pretty funny to watch actually. I've never seen a kid run so fast to the score board to make sure he beat everyone. Me, on the other hand, finds a little corner and stays there the entire time and just shoots the people that walk by. :)

Here is where the history of Funland began! Our first time we went with Brad's siblings over conference weekend in April. It just took that one time, and we were hooked. 

Anyways..Brad got home late from school and work on a Friday night a few weeks ago, and we decided to go to Funland for our little date night!

I really don't like this picture...but here is the proof of us happy at Funland!

We also love the Mini Golf course at this place! Brad was all freaked out cause the weird lighting made my make up look weird! 

We teamed up on the Go-Karts for the first time that night too. Brad made sure he got the fastest car...and he drove the both of us. It was pretty funny!

The last part of this night was epic. I'm so sad i don't have any pictures of it though. We went out on a limb and decided to do the bumper boats right before we went home. It was almost 10 at night at this point. I was already freezing, and didn't want to get wet. Brad assured me that we wouldn't get THAT wet, and it wouldn't be a big deal. I gave in...somehow. This was a terrible idea all around, because we all ended up being in fights with the little kids at the end. I just drove my boat in a little corner that way the kids would stay away from me, and i wouldn't get wet. However, this little girl in a green shirt was sure to stay right next to me the whole time and drench me. I was laughing and playing with her at first, but then she never showed any mercy. Then i look over at Brad and he has two kids pushing his boat under a waterfall with their boats. I watched him go under the waterfall...and stand up and forcefully say to the kids 'JUST LET GO OF THE GAS!' (so funny) So he now looks like he just jumped in a swimming pool, and comes over to me. I just looked at him and told him we didn't have time to waste...and we had to hurry and get the girl in green shirt back! We did :) And the game ended. The car ride home soaking wet was miserable...but we seriously could not stop laughing! 

No matter how simple our date nights are sometimes...they always end up being the best! We are so grateful we have each other to make life so fun!