Happy Birthday Dash!

Hello!
July 4th has come and gone, and although it was rather boring and sunburn filled for us I hope everyone had a wonderful firework-filled day.

It just so happens that our German Shepherd puppy turned 1 on the 4th as well! SOOOO I figured I would introduce you to my puppies.

This is Dash.  

He is a cuddle bug with a pretty scary bark who has recently found a way to break out of the fence in the front yard. Although all he will do is lick you to death, we figured it was probably best to put some sort of "barrier" in our yard to keep him there.

SOOO we went to Home Depot. There is only one on the island, and it just so happens to be on the other side. After a couple hours of exploring, deciding, and buying we finally made it home with some garden fencing and zip ties. We put it up, let the dogs out, and to our amazement it worked...

...for about 12 hours. Then he realized he could bite the corner and pull it off the fence... 

which became a game... which resulted in a lost trip to the Home Depot and a slightly bent fence. 

Sigh.

As most of you know, this is Skipper. 

Skipper is also a cuddle bug, and somehow sneaks his way in between Jamison and I every night with his head at his shoulders and tail-end in my face providing for around 3 feet of lost bed in between the two of us. He loves walks, but cant make it very far. Usually we will make it around 3 blocks before he simply sits and waits until I turn around. 

Then proceeds to play dead around the house for the rest of the day.... like so... 

He also loves chewing on hangers... 

Some people laugh at our little combination of breeds, but I promise Skipper's personality makes up for his little size. 

Graduation Day!

Yep... I am finally almost completely done with school. At the current moment I have exactly 12 days and 22 hours until my semester is officially over, but luckily for me my last class is in 7 days and 15 hours.

Graduation was better than I thought it would be...
Speakers were good and short, the rain stayed to a nice light sprinkle, and the man stating names almost said my name entirely correct. It was even better with family there to cheer me on.

Apparently the color of the tassel above is not gold, nor is it brown, it is "drab". At least that's what HPU gives it's Business majors.  

I can't help but feeling a little odd though... aren't I supposed to feel like a grown up yet? Isn't graduating supposed to be the ultimate step into "adulthood"(whatever that is). Maybe marriage was supposed to be that, I guess I didn't get the memo. Maybe being an adult means you have mastered the art of being dull at exactly the right time... or even learning that even though you don't want to do something, *cough* laundry *cough*, you should just do it because it needs to be done eventually.


Noooooow that I have bored you to tears with my awful monologue... on to the good stuff!

NEWS TIME!!!

Allison and Michelle came and stayed out here for a good amount of time, and unfortunately the sun came out maybe twice the entire time they were here. The ONLY WEEK in Hawaii history that the sun did not show it's face for more than 2 days in a row, was the week they came to "get away" from the somewhat awful Utah weather.

We did however see many awesome things, attempt to hike to a waterfall and fail, be pelted with rain coming UP a mountain, and chill at the beach despite the cloudy sky. Overall, very fun.

Then my Mom, Dad, and aunt Aleigh came out... and the only day the weather sucked was the day of my outside graduation ceremony. 

Figures.

My mom and Aleigh were out and about most of the time driving around and seeing Hawaii, while my dad and I were stuck inside being responsible and working on work/homework. *Sigh* Unfortunately we probably aren't the greatest for each other's productivity seeing as we would find ourselves on tangents for an hour or two every day.

We snorkeled, hiked, beached, drove, and ate usually while poor Jamison was working. :( 

Jamison, however, is officially being promoted to Corporal in about 5 hours. *Proud Wife*

Which means he is officially an NCO. He's pretty excited about it, and I get to go to his ceremony this morning and film so stay tuned for cool picts of him. 

And last, In 8 days I will be returning to Utah to get some well earned vacation time and to see family!

It's a terribly overdue trip, and I am super excited to see everyone!!! Possibly even look at houses, eat cafe rio and olive garden since Hawaii is "too cool" to have those,  and shop for clothes (I miss outlets SO much).

Well... thats all folks. :) Have a wonderful week.

... Best Drink in the World.

While grocery shopping today, I decided to take a detour and look at a shelf or two I usually skip and found this...

Now, anyone who has ever taken a drink of this knows it is the most AMAZING tasting healthy drink ever. It's like candy V8... only healthy. 

Well, I didn't know this at the time and I read the label and decided I'll try it. 

I got home and poured myself a glass... and it looked like this. 

NOW... I can put all sorts of names to this picture but we're just going to stick with green-bean baby food. At this point I'm thinking to myself "uh... should I drink this?" I pulled the bottle back out and read the description again just to make sure it actually said it tasted good, which it did, so I took a swig.

Dont let the color fool you... this drink is AMAZING. 

Yep, just had to throw that out there. Have a goodnight :)

Why... Hello Again! Long Time, No See!

I admit, I suck at the blog thing. I haven't written since my birthday of last year so... I guess it's time for another post.

Well... I'll try to catch everyone up on the news since then :)

For one, we got a new house !!!! 


A 3 bedroom 3 bathroom 2 car garage house. If you know Jamison and I you probably know this is way too much house for our little family BUT it has a fenced yard for the dogs (uh... small square of grass is a better term for it) so we wont complain too much.

This is the neighborhood we will be living in. That is almost exactly what our new house looks like, except it is tan and next to the road. I'll miss our front porch ocean view from this house, but thats about it. Our move in date is April 6th... stay tuned for picts!










Second, Jamison got a motorcycle.
Now, after much begging and great consideration we realized HEY we need another vehicle (HA) so Jamison found his toy.
A Honda CBR 600

Ps: See that TIIIINNY little pad on the back? Yep... SOOOO uncomfortable.

The best part of him getting a motorcycle now? He is required by base to not only do a safety course, but to wear a full set of "motorcycle armor". From helmets to boots the only thing showing is a small amount of neck and his eyes through the visor. 

Needless to say the wife is happy.

Third, Jamison turned 22! 

Yep... he's old. Im fairly positive that everyone says 1 year in the marines adds 5 years to your age... so technically he's 37. 

GOODNIGHT! :)

Hap... Hap... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Well... I am now officially 20.

Saturday was my birthday, and I figured since Jamison and I spent most of the day together, I might wanna share some of what happened.

First, we went to the beach after we went to 7-11 (which is only a convenience store here in Hawaii... not a gas station) to get drinks and doughnuts for breakfast. Thats kind of our thing on the weekends since buying food here in Hawaii is SOOOOOOO expensive.

We went to Bellows and swam, sat, and swam again until we decided that we were hungry and wanted to go to cheesecake factory down in Waikiki. My mom had given us a gift certificate for my birthday and we were really excited to go.

So... we went home.
After we clipped Skippers nails, and gave him a bath (woot) we finished getting cleaned up and got in the car.
After about 2 seconds in the car we realized we weren't going to make it all the way to Waikiki because we were WAY too hungry.
So we stopped at a place called Formaggios that we found on our google maps on our Iphones.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Jamison decided he wanted to run into the curb... and blow out our passenger side front tire.
So we sat outside of Formaggio's while we called around the island to find someone who had a Mini Cooper tire, size 165/75 R16.

Those numbers are drilled into my brain. I said them at least 35 times.

We quickly realized the only place who had a MiniCooper tire, was the MiniCooper dealership all the way over in Waikiki. So, we drove carefully to the other side of the island with our little mini spare tire.
To make a long story short, they would give us a tire but the waiting list to put it on the rim was a week long.



Sooo... we went to Sears. Who did it in 34 minutes.

Meanwhile we chilled at a hat store in the mall.

Yep... we're awesome.

So... we got the car, and decided we were gunna try to make it to Cheesecake again.

We didnt make it... We went to outback. It was closer, and It had a parking garage right next to it.

It was really good. We got a bloomin' onion and steak.
We didn't stay long though, and soon we were back in our little mini with one new tire headed back to Kaneohe.
Unfortunately driving to the other side of the island ate our gas.

So we stopped and filled the car...and got McFlurries. 

Anyways. The moral of the story is, if its your birthday let your husband drive, but point out to him every curb you can (like I do now... "AH A CURB") so that way he wont run into them. 

Hehe. Jk. 

Lazy Sunday? I wish...

Howdy Everyone!
Jamison and I have been lounging around lately during the weekends. Somehow, Hawaii weather knows its a weekend because the sun is never out on the days you can actually go to the beach.
Speaking of Beach...
I figured I would give everyone who hasn't quite made it to the islands (or who has but stayed in Waikiki...) a tour of our favorite beaches so you can know where to go when you make it out here to Oahu.
This may be boring...  heads up.

First... One of Jamison's and Mine's favorite beaches...

This is Mokapuu Beach.

It is quite the drive from base, and our old apartment. We would make the drive almost every weekend just go to and play in the huge waves in the fall and winter. We took pictures here for HPU dance team as well. 

You can see the light house on the mountain (it's off to the right if the picture was bigger) and next to a cool hike that lets you see most of the eastern edge of the island. 

Beach Choice number 2...

This is Bellows.

Bellows is technically an Air Force base, and is never open to the public on week days. Starting on Friday's however, it opens a portion of it to the public and opens the rest of to military. Bellows is notorious for jellyfish, so if you see a blue thing on the ground don't touch it. I haven't been so lucky to get stung by one yet, but Jamison stepped on one last time we were there and it wrapped around his ankle. He said it stings like a bugger so poke it with a stick or something... and try not to step on it.

Beach choice number 3..

 

This is Fort Hase (ha-see)

Its really not the best swimming beach, or even lay out beach, but its about a 2 minute walk from my house so its awesome. I love this beach because its close, and skipper LOVES to play in the water. Lots of beaches aren't dog friendly here so its nice to have one close that he can run around on. Its weird to me to have one so close. Sometimes I'll walk down and sit on this cement road block thing and just watch the waves. Its SO gorgeous. 

This is if you look the other way on Fort Hase. Somewhere that way is Utah :) At least thats what I like to think when I'm sitting there. 

Beach Choice number 4...

North Shore is a lot of the island... but I think this is called Waimea bay?

Jamison and I usually just decide to go to "North Shore" and end up stopping at whatever beach either has A) the most parking or B) the most waves. We have gone to this particular one a couple times... and people always jump off that rock thingy in the picture. Neither one of us have actually tried it yet. 

The picture makes it look as awesome as it is though. I feel like I'm in a sandals commercial or something whenever we head over here. The water is always SO blue and it always feels like we're on vacation.

Well. Other than planning on going to the beach this weekend, and not going because of the cloudy-ness of the windward side, this week has been pretty boring. I guess boring is good right? It means nothing is going wrong. 

Gnight!

Welcome to Blog Attempt Number 2

Welcome!
I have started at least 5 of these, and hopefully this one will catch on now that I have a crafty new background.

Jamison and I live in Hawaii in a house on a military base.

 Although I love being near his work, and seeing  all the military-ish stuff (which is total culture shock to me since I really know nothing about the military and even less about the marine corps), base is like the biggest small town you will ever live in. Everyone knows everyone else, and most everyone hates at least one other person and loves to tell you about it.

Jamison is a k9 (dog) handler.

His dog's name is Bingo... and he will eat you.

He is the biggest dog in the kennels, but I guess it works out well because Jamison the tallest and biggest handler. The picture is bellows, its one of the nicer beaches here on Oahu, but it's only open on weekends due to training. Some of it isn't open to the public ever, and only military families are allowed. I kind of feel like Im an elite club sometimes. We get our own grocery stores, our own McDonalds, our own everything. I think that Jamison and I would never leave base if there weren't amazing beaches up near north shore.

We also have a dog... his name is skipper. He is a miniature (debatable) Daschund (dock-sen).

He's a pretty happy puppy. He's only 8 months old and he's my cuddle bug when Jamison is gone. He loves chicken, and broccoli. He hates loud noises and "Swiffers". 

He also loves peanut butter. 

I (Ari) am a full time student. I also work as a preschool/daycare teacher for the 6 week - 1 year olds at the child development center on base. 

I love my job, and I love school sometimes. I get to wear a rainbow apron and sing "Twinkle Twinkle" about a million times a day. Even though I love the kids I work with and I probably have the best job on earth considering I get to play with babies all day long, I always look forward to coming home to my quiet (thank heavens) and non-screaming home. 

I am the luckiest person on earth. Im not planning on using this as a brag blog... I hate those. I just wanted to show you guys what I get to walk past every day when I go to work. 

Every time I look at this... I have to remind myself that maybe living 3000 miles away from home and in the middle of the ocean where the plane tickets are 700+ dollars to go home isn't so bad. 

But that vent session is for another day :)