Birthday and Baby Shower

On Valentine's Day, I had my birthday party with my family! It was nice to spend Valentine's Day with everyone!

Britton helped me blow my candles out!

On the 15th we had a baby shower for Paityn Hope, my soon to be neice! I had a dream to build a diaper cake - so me, Abbey, and Courtney put this together!!

Diapers, Duds, and Dips!

I got Paityn this bikini in Hawaii!! :P

Home - Friday

I arrived home Friday morning after being in airports for about 17hrs! I was grateful to be home! My sister and Britton picked me up...and we had a play day!

I am so grateful for my week in Hawaii! I look back at my pictures and I can't believe that I was actually there. God has blessed me so much. I can't believe that I got to spend my 25th birthday in Hawaii! There are so many amazing sites that I got to see...things that I got to do that I never thought I would get to do!

I am thankful for friends like Jill! Thank you for showing me around all week and for making it so much fun! It was a very memorable week! Thank you Jeanette for letting me stay with you! I felt very much at home all week!

I am thankful for all that God has done in my life! I look back at the last 25 years and I can see a lot of growing moments. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next couple of years!

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

Hawaii - Thursday

Thursday morning I packed all of my stuff -- souvenirs and all! We drove to the Health Bar and got a Cove Bowl. I will now explain "Da Cove Bowl" from the Diamond Head Cove Health Bar. It is strawberries(or whatever berry they have), apple bananas, single acai berry topped with organic granola, and honey...yummy!!! I want to try to make them now! I am going to try :)

We stopped by Leonard's to get some Malasadas for my long flights home! And then went back to Jeanette's to exchange pictures. I also wanted to get my lei to bring home! I was at the airport around 12ish Hawaii time/4PM here. Flew from Honolulu to Seattle...Seattle to Cincinnati...Cincinnati to Nashville - getting home at 9AM Friday morning!

Day 7 - Cove Bowl, Leonard's, Jeanette's, Airport

Hawaii - Wednesday

We went for a whale watch! They said that we might see whale, dolphins, and turtles...and we saw all three!! :) It was awesome!

We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay...we went past the rocks!

Rabbit Island
Driving pictures!

Pearl Harbor

We got up bright and early to go on a whale watch. We saw a beautiful whale breach and I was excited to get a picture. After that we saw dolphins that came right up to the catamaran and a turtle under the sunbathing deck. It was a wonderful morning! Of course after we left we went to go get a Cove Bowl from the Health Bar. And then we went to Hanauma Bay. We were very glad that it was open because it had been closed due to jelly fish. I had never been snorkeling so this was another awesome experience. Jill had showed me where her and her sister had snorkeled and we went out into the water. We snorkeled out past the rocks. Sometimes when I close my eyes I can still see the beauty of under the water. We snorkeled with a turtle!! :) There was one scary moment when were out and my fins came off but I got them and everything was fine! We didn't stay out very long because I had gotten a little burnt the day before.

We drove the other half of the island and saw some beautiful views, including Rabbit Island. We stopped by Pearl Harbor for a little bit...just enough to take some pictures. They weren't doing all of the tours due to renovations. We left Pearl Harbor and went to the airport to pick up Megan, Jill's other friend coming to visit her. We all took showers and got ready for dinner. That night we stayed at Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber...right in Waikiki.

For dinner we went to Yardhouse and I had macademia nut crusted ono....it was SOOOOO good!! That night we went to Nashville in Waikiki...a small taste of home! Another wonderful day!

Day 6 - Whale watch, Cove bowl, Hanauma bay(snorkeling), Drive, Pearl Harbor, Yardhouse, Nashville, Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber

Hawaii - Tuesday

Jill came and picked me up as soon as she got off of work! This is a picture from a lookout on the Pali Highway!

We hiked the pill boxes at Lanikai and then went to go lay out on the beach...beautiful!

Macademia Nut Farm

Chinaman's Hat

Kualoa Ranch

Shark Rock

Jill didn't sleep when she got off of work... she just came and picked me up from the hotel! We drove the Pali Hwy to Lanikai. We hiked an amazing hike...I think the most beautiful hike I have ever seen. The views that we saw from the top were breathtaking. The sun was hot but the wind was wonderful! The hike gets its name from the WW2 military bunkers. After the hike we went to the market to get some food and then went to go lay out on Lanikai Beach. When I was on the plane ride back I saw in the Delta magazine that Lanikai is the #6 beach in the world. Lanikai means "Heavenly Sea."

After laying out we went to Starbucks and I got a delicious Mocha Coconut Frapp. We drove half of the island and saw many beautiful things. We stopped at the Macademia Nut Farm, Chinaman's hat, Kualoa Ranch(Jurassic Park, Lost), Shark Rock. Our last stop was Waimea Bay. We were sitting there watching the waves and decided to get in. We swam in the beautiful waves until about 10 minutes til sunset. We ended the day stopping at Spaghettini and I had vegetarian marinara. :)

If I had to pick my favorite day -- it would be today!! I can't thank Jill enough for not sleeping and taking me around all day!!

Day 6 - Pali Hwy, Pill Box Hike, Lanikai, Starbuck's(Mocha Coconut Frapp), Drive, Waimea Bay, Sunset, Spaghettini

Hawaii - Monday

On Monday morning I got up, took a bus, and went to hike Diamond Head. It was a beautiful hike. There were a lot of people hiking in the morning and I went around 8:30. The park opens at 6AM.

99 stairs!

Nap on the Beach!

Duke - a famous surfer!

As I was hiking Diamond Head, there were 3 older women celebrating their 80th birthdays. I hope when I am 80 I am hiking craters! After the hike, I got a yummy chicken and pineapple sandwich from Cheeseburger in Paradise, with a view of the beach. I went up to my hotel room to get out of the sun for a little bit - I can turn into a lobster very quickly! I stayed inside for a little bit but then decided to go take a nap on the beach...lovely! I walked back to my hotel to take a shower and grabbed some fresh papaya. Then went back to the beach to watch the sunset! I walked around Waikiki for a little while...bought a beautiful spray painted picture of sunset and the beach - my favorite! The picture above is just to show the characters you can see! As a treat I got some delicious ice cream from Cold Stone and headed to my hotel room!

Day 5 - Diamond Head, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Nap on the beach, Papaya, Sunset, Banana ice cream