The beginning of an adventure

1:10 AM

On June 2nd, Herb drove all of us to the airport with all our luggage to the max! We get to the airport and with some miscommunication, our tickets were not bought. Bryan worked his magic and we barely made our flight. It was so crazy and stressful. We get to the Hawaii 6 hours later with 3 adults, 4 kids, 9 suitcases, 3 backpacks, 4 carseats and a double stroller. We looked hilarious I'm sure. When the time moves back 3 hours, it definitely feels like the longest day of your life ;)

The first month in Waikiki was hard! I had never lived in a "downtown city" where there is a ton of traffic, no parking spaces and everything cost an arm and a leg. Let alone, try to find things to do with my kids without a car. Our hotel was a good 20-25min walk away from the beach and so even though it was a ton of work, I tried to take the kids as often as I could to get us out of the hotel. It was just a hard adjustment for me. It was hard to vent to anyone because who wants to hear someone complain about living in paradise.

Few months have flown by and I'm loving it. We love the ward, the people, the area and are so blown away by the beauty. It really never gets old!

And I have to mention my sister Julia came and helped us out for 2 weeks. She babysat while we looked for a car, a house and she helped keep my sanity. THANK YOU!!! Seriously would have been a wreck without her!

our walk to the beach on the first night with Julia

kids first day at the beach in Hawaii

When Bryan came out in August of 2014, he rented a surfboard and accidentally broke it. A year later he rents from the same place and its the same board!

so many asian tourist took pictures of my blonde headed kids

JULIA ROCKS!!

So many cool sea turtles

sunday stroll in Waikiki

Megan Prater and I were roommates at BYUI and now her family lives in Hawaii. She was staying in Waikiki for a month before her baby was born. It happened to be the same exact time as us. Such a tender mercy to have a friend close by!