Visit to Hawai'i

We have been so blessed to be able to visit Hawai'i every 2 years since we left 4 years ago. We have a free place to stay in the Allred's guest room, which makes the trip much more affordable.

We wanted to try some new things when we went like kayaking to the Sunken Island in Kane'ohe Bay and Chinaman's Hat.

Kayaking in Kane'ohe Bay was not as relaxing and beautiful as in Kailua, but it's good to try new things. To be honest, I was a little panicky the whole time b/c the water is dark and I kept thinking of what could be swimming inches below us.

We had to carry the kayak all the way to the water which was not easy after already kayaking a few miles.

This guy was catching octopi for his daughter's graduation party.

We hiked Crouching Lion and Kealia Trail on North Shore for the first time.

See the tiny road below us?

I couldn't resist this fake pose.

Hiking with the Howards

We also had to hit up our favorites like:

Snorkeling at Shark's Cove

 Swimming at Hukilau

View from the La'ie Temple; all the way at the end of the road is Temple Beach which is the first beach we swam at when we moved there.

We met up with some college friends who have been lucky enough to continue living there.

The Duffins and Jamie in her awesome front yard!

 The Nelsons, Duffins, and Swims

 The Faumuinas

 

Just since January, 3 babies have been added to these couples and one more on the way. Wish we could join them!

We love going back and just remembering all the good times we had there. One day we want to move back. It would be a dream come true!

Fall in Oregon

 
This has been one of the prettiest falls I can remember in a long time. The nice weather and pretty leaves lasted forever! I did lots of fun fall activities. My mom came to visit for a couple days and we went to a pumpkin patch.

They had melt-in-your-mouth apple cider donuts and pumpkin donuts. We were in heaven. I will buy those every fall while we live here!

We bought some locally grown corn to store as freezer corn like my grandma Bischoff always did. It was fun to have my mom teach me how to do it, and it tastes delicious. Forget the can or frozen bag of corn, now I can eat fresh-tasting corn all through winter. It doesn't even need butter!
                                                     

I signed up to be a volunteer "picker" when farms around the community need help harvesting crops. I pick what they need and then I can pick what I want to keep for myself for free. The only one I did this year was apple picking which I had never done before. They suggested bringing a ladder but we don't own one so I tried to pick what I could reach from the ground (not much!). The ground was so muddy and was covered with a carpet of apples. 

As time went on, some of the organization's ladders became available so I grabbed one. That thing was like 12 ft. tall and so awkward to carry between the trees. It was shaped like a triangle-wider at one end. I made sure I knew exactly where I wanted to hoist that thing up before I set it up because it was heavy and my arms were already shaky from carrying around boxes of apples.


It was pretty fun being up in the tops of the trees, as long as I didn't visualize the spiders crawling on me or my ladder toppling over as I reached for the perfect apples that were always as far away as I could stretch my fingers. I filled my bags and imagined all the yummy apple recipes I could make.

When my bags (and arms) couldn't carry anymore weight, I awkwardly returned the ladder and went home to give my apples a scrub in the bath.

 My friend from church had all the tools and know-how to help me make and bottle applesauce, apple butter, and apple pie filling. The apples were from an organic orchard and lots of them had spots or holes. Luckily, I only had to cut out a few bad spots from worms, but the apples were all tasty and good quality.

The dark spots are Red Hots to give a cinnamon flavor (another thing my grandma did).

I'm excited for next year to do green beans and make dilly beans like my grandma used to.

A few other things I've done this fall are making several batches of this addictive chewy caramel corn, etching my glass dishes, and doing a lot of cooking and baking. I missed my kitchen these past 3 years as I was always too busy and tired at the end of the day from teaching.

 I love Fall! These trees are in our parking lot and I loved seeing them every day.

Law School

This summer Rob and I started our newest chapter of life. We haven't stayed settled anywhere for too long, unfortunately, but we will have at least 3 years here while Rob goes to law school. We're sad to be away from immediate family, but I have a cousin and my aunt's family close by. Plus Rob has some relatives near here. We've also started making new friends and have been getting settled in. We've been here for about 2 months now. Here are some pictures from his beautiful campus.

We never heard of this school until Rob ran into a friend in Idaho who was from here and recommended it.

I had never seen such huge trees until we were walking around campus one day

Do you see Rob?

 

There are five 61 year old sequoias and they are the largest Christmas trees on a college campus. I'll have to post a picture when they're decorated!

This just reminds me of Anne of Avonlea. I love it!

They have random chairs and benches around campus.

Wouldn't you love to eat lunch or study on that little bench?

This little river runs right through campus

It's so pretty we just might become tree-huggers

I don't want to jinx us, but we have had the most gorgeous weather since we moved here. It's been overcast just a handful of days and the temperature is in the 70's and 80's. We had some really hot weeks up in the 90's-100's and that was miserable on the third floor with no A.C. Our apartment got up to 96 degrees one day and averaged at 89 for a while. I know the rain will come, but right now we're enjoying this perfect weather. We miss our friends and family, but I think we'll grow to love it here too.