January Fun!

We have had some beautiful mornings this winter!

It was so fun having Sam home...it's nice having someone around who wants to keep busy by playing games with me :) We did pretty good on Code Names Duet but we didn't hit a tricky one that I don't even remember if we beat!  Next time!!!

Loved these three over break.  They did a photo shoot one day down at Game Farm and I love seeing them post pictures 

I was able to go do some ropes course activities with the North Tapps YW with Cari and Melissa.  I was so glad they invited me b/c I needed that little spiritual uplift!

Sam got me hooked on avocado toast with everything bagel seasoning on it

I was able to go watch Konrad play volleyball on his rec team one night.  So fun to watch them and it makes me miss playing.  I'm trying to put together a team for spring...I'm hoping it will happen!

These next 3 pictures were taken the same morning on different laps at the dog park

I love Camryn's creations!

So fluffy!

Love my Monday and Friday workouts with Tami!  So grateful for her taking the time to teach us!

Foggy mornings are so cool!

Early morning temple trip with the North Tapps Relief Society Presidency.  I was put in as 2nd counselor back in November and it's been fun getting to know these ladies and a new calling.  I still miss my young women, but I've just told myself that women are just grown up young women.  I'm over activities and am having a blast planning lots of fun!

Ollie got a haircut!!!

I had a birthday date night with many of my favorite friends.  We met at Cafe Rio in Kent for dinner and then came back and played Who? What? Where? and What's Yours Like? while we had different brownies I had made.  I had a blast and I'm hoping everyone else did as well!

Another Cam creation :)

We had Thai Peanut Noodles for my family birthday gathering...Ollie likes to hang with me when I'm cooking.  This night he was extra close and definitely made things trickier :)

Allison sent a text saying "childhood dreams are coming true!" Ollie chose to sleep in her bed while Konrad and I were in Maui :)

Sam in her gear. This was after a VERY hard day.  They were driving to the "field" and ended up getting stuck in the snow.  So stuck that no one who tried to help them could get them out.  We told them to call a tow truck and one showed up within about 40 minutes, BUT didnt' bring chains and had to leave to go get some.  Meanwhile Sam was missing class and freaking out about it.  As the tow truck is leaving it gets itself stuck in the snow so now the tow truck has to wait for a tow truck and the tow truck has to be rescued before Sam can be rescued.  Eventually they made it out and made it to their class and the instructors decided they wouldn't count the missing hours, which was very kind of them.  As soon as Sam got there they were told to suit up and run the course.  They got through 3 of the 5 challenges and were completely exhausted.  At this point they decided after that crazy day that they are going to drop this semester of the fire science program, get a full time job (which Konrad just informed me they got today!  Working at a Montessori school for adults with special needs), and spend a bunch of time in the gym working on their strength and endurance, so they can resume their fire science program in September.  They make a pretty cute fire fighter though :)

In the winter the swans come to our side of the lake :)

My cute little class being bakers :)

A super foggy morning:

Kimber and JJ came home for about 40 hours to take their engagement photos.  We had dinner at our house Sunday night so all the local family could see them.  

They lucked out with blue skies in January!  We can't wait to see the pictures!

It was sunny but pretty chilly, the lake is frozen next to the shore

My morning class has been struggling with only having 2 rainbow balls so I bought 6 more.  They were so excited!  They also lucked out b/c the first week we had them we never had more than 8 friends there so everyone got one everyday :) 

A little bit of snow one morning :)

Sam's room decorations in Flagstaff

Happy friends!

Konrad is playing rec volleyball in Kent and we all had a free Tuesday night so we went to watch him play.  He played amazing!

Maui

 Doug and Brittney got a great timeshare deal at the Westin Nanea and invited us along.  We had such a great relaxing vacation!

We live in such a cool area with all the green and all the water.  Makes me smile big from the air!

Our first stop after landing in Maui was find some dinner.  We chose a Thai place about 5 minutes from the airport and split some pineapple fried rice and I got a thai iced tea in a cute glass :)

Doug and Britt didn't arrive until the next day so we had one night at a different hotel.  We went for a 3 mile walk, sat by the pool, played some pool, and bocce ball.  Their plane sat on the tarmac for about an hour so we had some time to kill before we had to pick them up, but we had already changed out of our suits.  Konrad beat me at all the things!

These weather station signs are my favorite :)

After picking up Doug and Britt we went and checked into the hotel, found our room, and then promptly left to go get some dinner.  We went to a place the valet guy suggested, but we were not impressed with the food.  The sunset was pretty and the music/hula dancer entertainment was nice, but the food was pretty bland.  although, I did enjoy the banana bread ice cream sandwich we split for dessert.  

Wednesday we just spent our day at the pool.  I did the elliptical and then we did our 3 mile walk, where I had hoped to find an acai shop, but they didn't have a booth open that day.  

This was the entrance to the beach near the end of the long row of the resorts:

I looked up how close shave ice was and saw that it was 300 feet away, just in the building behind us at the pool.  My flavors were all natural, so it wasn't the prettiest shave ice, but I thought it was yummy.  The texture of the ice was different than any thing i've ever had before.  

Doug and Konrad went snorkeling while Brittney and I headed back and got showered.  We then headed down to watch the sunset and the guys came back.  We went to an Venezuelan restaurant that night for dinner.  It was pretty yummy!

Thursday was my birthday and they were all nice enough to let me choose what we did that day.  I packed in all my favorites!

We found a quieter spot to sit in the sun. There were a couple of plunge pools to cool off in, but rather than being surrounded by people and chaos, we could hear nice hawaiian music and feel like we were in a pretty park with all the pretty green around and the pond.  

We started off the day at zumba on the lawn.  The instructor was a hoot and we had a great time.  

Then Konrad and I went for our walk.  Konrad saw this path right next to the golf course and said he could never play this course b/c he would take out the pedestrians! 

Doug and Brittney had to do their time share presentation that morning, so it was just Konrad and I laying out.  After they were done we went and picked up Doug's rental bike (he rode up a mountain on Friday morning) and got some acai bowls for lunch.  Definitely not my favorite acai bowls around, but they were okay.  

Then we stopped by Leoda's to get some pie and my favorite their banana bread.  It is so delicious!

Then we headed to Baldwin Beach, my favorite beach I've seen on Maui.  There are waves, the water is a beautiful color, there are sea shells, and sea turtles!

First off we ate our pie before in melted in the sun.  These picnic benches were buried in the sand.  Makes you wonder what happened, b/c I'm pretty sure it didn't start out that way!

Then I walked the beach, in both directions!

Turtles to the far right!!!

This is the trail of one who I watched go back into the water:

This tree makes me smile...cute green tree in the middle of the beach!

I also love these moss covered rocks

Found a few shells for the new Maui 2023 jar!

I had to go back to see the turtles b/c I told Camryn one of them was really gray and dry and looked like he hadn't moved in a long time and so maybe he was dead.  While we were talking on the phone she made me go check on him.  She named him Grayson and luckily he was alive and well!  When I had left the turtles 30 minutes earlier there were only 3 on the beach when I came back there were 5!

and a cute puppy running around them:

Then we headed to watch the sunset and look for whales.  We stopped at a different spot than I had planned on b/c we though the other viewing area would be super crowded.  This lighthouse spot ended up being perfect.  We saw the sunset and quite a few whales!  They hid from the drone though, so we Konrad didn't get any great footage of them playing around.  

That black spot is a whale

We had dinner in Laihna that night. I wanted coconut shrimp and I knew Cheeseburger in Paradise was there and that they would have it, but in the end we at at Down the Hatch and it was delicious!!!  

This is their coconut shrimp :)

I also got some shave ice as my birthday treat :)

Friday Doug took off on his "ride a bike up a 10,000 foot mountain adventure" and the rest of us hung out at the resort.  Britt and I did zumba again, I walked my 3 miles, the acai bowls were there that day (it's like a pop up craft fair so they come and go) and it was amazing!!!!, and then we just sat by the pool and read and relaxed!

We watched the sunset and then went to dinner at the food truck park near the hotels.  Brittney and I had thai, Doug had french fry nachos, and Konrad had fish tacos.  

Saturday we took a walk, laid on the beach (where I had to cut out early b/c the back of my legs were fried from using tanning lotion twice instead of sunscreen one of those times...oops!), and then went back to Lahaina for shopping (Konrad wanted to go to the Hurley store to get a new hat (or two) and Brittney wanted to check out the Hawaiian cookie company and then we ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise.  It was okay, but not as good as the one on Oahu in my opinion!  

Watched one last sunset during dinner and while walking around.  

We had to be at the airport on Sunday at 8:00 so Doug and Brittney took us and then used the car for a few more hours before they had to be at the airport (they went back to Leoda's to get more bread...so jealous!!!).  It was a long day of travel, which included a 3 hour lay over in Oakland, and we didn't land until 10:30ish that night.  Here is Seattle from the sky at night :)

So grateful for the time away with Konrad (and Doug and Brittney of course!)!!