Aloha...part 1

Hawaii The First Couple of Days

As I was trying to figure out how to even blog Hawaii, I think that the best it to group it into days. I have tons of pictures and we did tons of things, so to not overwhelm you, the reader, or me the blogger, this will be best, I think.

Our travel day was on Saturday, June 4th. Our flight was supposed to leave at 2:55 pm. That gave us plenty of time to pack and get ready in the morning. My parents were going to a play in Salt Lake about that same time, so we just hitched a ride with them. We were to the airport plenty of time and had lunch before our flight. We got to the gate and started the waiting game. After a few minutes the gate attendant announced that due to the weather in San Francisco our flight will be delayed an hour. Which was a little worrisome because we only had an hour and 45 minute layover. So too much delay and we were worried we would miss our connection. But then we were relieved a few minutes later when they announced that we weren't delayed anymore and we would be boarding as soon as the crew was there. We got all loaded and the Captain came on the PA and said that we were delayed an hour again, but instead of unloading us, we would just sit on the plane. So we sat on the plane for an extra hour and finally took off and made it to San Fran with no other problems and we had plenty of time to get to our next flight. The flight from San Fran to Oahu was L  O  N  G!! We were crowded and cramped. And the guy sitting next to us had his wife beating his back part of the time, which caused our seats to shake. So we were relived when we finally made it to Hawaii. But...we still had one more flight to get to Maui and a drive to get to the hotel. We finally made it and checked into our hotel. 

Us waiting at the Salt Lake Airport

Our Hotel

One lucky thing that happened was that we were supposed to be in a studio room with just a microwave and a little fridge, but because there was some maintenance work that was happening we got the one bedroom suite, with a full kitchen, living room room and bedroom. It was nice. 

The next morning we really wanted to sleep in, but because of the time difference it was hard. Danny's parents and sister and her family had been there the week before and we were lucky enough to overlap and spend some time with them for a couple of days. They had gone to church, be we weren't sure how we'd be feeling, so we didn't plan on it. After they came home, we went to lunch and then for a ride to Iao Needle mountain. It had some different "gardens" from all sorts of cultures. We also went on a short hike up the mountain.

Hawaii has really cool trees

Steve and Pat

This was a really cool area.

Us and Lisa

Look how relaxed we already are.

Me in front of the red house.

Ashton and Averie

Averie

We walked down this jungle path.

On the little hike.

At the top of the hike, this is the "Ocean's phallus" according to the sign. 

We then went to the beach to watch the boogie boarders and to hang out. There were some who were jumping pretty high. We hung out there for a little and walked up and down the beach a little. On the other side of the mountain there was a nude beach. Danny and his dad went to check it out. They said that most the people were clothed except a couple creepy old men.

At the beach

I want a beach on my back yard.

Danny and his dad heading off to nude beach.

Awe...cute.

And more to come...

We did it!

OGDEN HALF MARATHON

As posted before, we changed our Salt Lake Half Marathon to just the 5K because of lack of training. There was a month or so until the Ogden marathon and I was going to run and train for it, but I didn't. Danny was better about running and felt ready to do it. I wasn't feeling ready, I kept going back and forth not knowing if I was really going to do it until the gun went off and the race had started. Even when we went to leave the house, I still had my PJ's on and my plan was to just take Danny up. Then I quickly decided that I should wear my running clothes, just in case. We drove up to my brother's house, who leaves about a block away from the start line. I decided to at least walk with Danny over to the start line so I could take pictures, still not convinced I really wanted to run. The gun went off, the crowd moved and I moved with them and once I crossed the start line was when I decided I was going to do it.

Danny ran with me the first .8 miles, that's when the hill was. I told myself that I wasn't going to kill myself and I would walk the hills. I felt pretty good...the first 10 miles and had pretty good time. The last 3 miles killed me. I had a weird pain in my foot that made it impossible to run, so I just walked. And my time turned out to be horrible. 

Danny did awesome. It was his first half and he was amazing!!

At the Start Line

At the finish line...Danny ran under Troy's number,
he couldn't run do to an injury.

Me...walking it in.

In the end, I did it and finished and that was my goal!!

Reasons I love teaching...

I had a student that really challenged me this year. 

He gave me these 2 notes at the end of the year.

These are the rewards that make me love teaching.

Us2 at U2

Before I even knew Danny I bought 2 U2 tickets, figuring if I could find someone to take. Then Danny and I started to date, I didn't ask him to go with me to the concert until a couple of weeks before the original concert date. The very next day Bono (the lead singer) hurt his back and rescheduled this leg of the tour for a year. I was bummed. But the year went by and then U2 came and it was worth the wait. We got there in plenty of time to sit and relax and watch the opening act, Fray. They were good. It would be a hard thing to open for U2. Our seats were great, except the drunk people behind us. The concert was AWESOME! I had seen it in Vegas, but it was a year and a half before, so it was fun to see it again. They put on one of the best concerts. If you haven't seen them, you should if you get a chance. 

Danny and the stage, aka the "claw"

Troy and Tiff

The huge stage...they said they wanted the stage to make the stadiums look small.
Mission accomplished

They showed random facts on the screen before the concert.

AWESOME

The screen was all around...

Another screen shot

The screen spread out...they were playing in the middle.

Love them.

After

I am dyslexic...2 U

Luckily I have a husband that can fix that.

How does your garden grow?

So, we decided to plant a garden this spring. The house we are renting has a HUGE backyard. And the back part used to be garden. My parents plant a garden too, so I kind of just followed what they are doing. They tilled their garden, I had my dad till our garden. My mom bought plants, Danny bought us plants. They planted the plants, so it was our turn to plant. The trick was to do it between rain storms. We have lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, jalapenos, lettuce, green and red peppers and broccoli. 

These are our plants waiting to be planted!! Don't they look delicious?

This is our little plot of garden. It's only about a 1/4 of  what
the garden used to be.

My sweet mom helped me space the plants out.

Getting ready to put them in the ground!!

All planted...it took me awhile, but it's done!!

Our cute neighbor, Mr. Foy, let us borrow
his tomato plant cages. Yummy!! Can't wait!!

Hopefully everything will grow the way it should...except the weeds. I will keep you posted on how things are going.

13.1 or 3.1? That is the question...

Once upon a time, Danny and Kati signed up for a half-marathon. It was the Salt Lake Half Marathon in April. They signed up in December thinking there was plenty of time for them to train for it and really, there was plenty of time to train. They printed out a good training schedule to follow and stuck it to the fridge. The schedule was not too much, but enough to feel like they could finish the half. They had 13 weeks. They both bought new shoes to train in and a gym membership. They were ready for training. 

Our new shoes...

Bottom of Kati's shoe....I love Saucony's!!

Bottom of Danny's....ready to go!

Indi even wanted to train with us...but we didn't get her shoes.

Then something happened....13 weeks went by and they had only had gone running a handful of times. They were far from running 13.1 miles and making it without injury or dying. The farthest they had ran this go round was maybe at the very most 5 miles...not enough to feel confident to go 13.1.

So the day came to pick up the packets. And they made a wise decision and lined up in the line of shame to change their race. They were only going to run 3.1...the 5K. The shirts were not as cool, but being able to make it to the end was worth it.  

Hopefully they will be telling a different story after the Ogden Half....oh what? It's how close? Dang, gotta get running!!