The Problem with moving...

...is you meet such wonderful people and then you have to say goodbye, and not just, "goodbye, I will see you later," but "goodbye, we might never see each other again and hang out like we used to." In that sense, it is almost like part of you dies when you move away. Eventhough when I loved living in Hawaii, I often felt sad like part of me was missing...part of me left in Utah. But now that we live here in Utah, I feel that same loss for Hawaii. I feel almost incomplete without my daily dealings with the beauty there, the rich culture, and especially my dear friends. When I lived in Hawaii I came across many awe-inspiring and unique individuals, and people that I feel as close to as family. This is my blog today to let you all know, that even though it is freezing-butt cold here in Utah and I miss the welcoming sun of Hawaii, I miss you all more! This next picture is my favorte shot of Miss Carol...such a funny funny lady...and very flexible!
Jackie, the beauty in red and white stripes will always be remebered by my boys for teaching them that "broccoli gives you stinky farts!"There is no better picture that could capture my bro-in-law: JASE!Rachel...my sister who stole my sweet baby girls from me and is raising them as her own...hahaha

Rat-too-tee means RAT

When you come to Hawaii, we will be sure to take you all around and show you all the lovely sights. Among the beauty of Hawaii you will also have a chance to see Hawaii's stunning wildlife, take for example the rat in the above picture.

My sister Leslie arrived yesterday from Washington state to visit for a week. As we drove from the airport she commented on the lush green fertile landscape and the bright blue of where the sky meets the ocean. I promised to take her to see the sea turtles (as mentioned in my previous post) and the humpback whales. Think how surprised we were this morning to find out that we could also add rat to the list of exciting wildlife to see. Yes, it is sad that there are rats that infest this land and sneak into my home, but what a great "hawaiian" experience for my sister Leslie. I promise all who visit me that I will try to share with them the real Hawaii that we have grown to love!
Here is Mark the Rat Hunter. For many moons he has fret over this persistant, oatmeal eating creature. Since he ate through the container that held Mark's special "Coach's Oats Cracked Oatmeal", Mark has vowed to get revenge! Look who the winner is now! That will teach you mister Rat!!! SUMMERILLS ARE WINNERS!

Honu means Turtle

Since we moved here almost 2 years ago, I have been offering our home to friends and family to stay at, but sadly the only people who have been able to take us up on that offer have been my parents and Mark's mission buddy, Josh and his wife. We were so excited when are PG, settlers-playing buddies, told us they were coming for a week. The Hales came last week Wednesday and left this evening. While they were here I took them all over the island, from Makapu light house to Haleiwa for shave ice. In fact, we were lucky to see humpback whales on Saturday and then giant Honu (sea turtles) today. It turned out to be perfect. Today for their last day in Hawaii I drove them out to Lanis (or turtle beach). This beach is popular because the Honu love to sun bathe on its shore. After a yummy breakfast of portuguese sausage and eggs at Hukilau Cafe, we drove to lanis just in time to see 5 or 6 Honu playing in the waves. After we watched them for about 10 minutes one of the turtles bobbed his way onto the shore and slowly crawled up on the sand. After he came out, another turtle followed in his path. It was great to watch the beautiful turtles make their way out of the ocean and onto the beach. Wish you could be there too....ahh, I sure do love living in Hawaii.

This guy was pretty big. Henry had a great time watching him crawl up on shore, and since he was so slow, we had some fun photo opps!
Here is me and Haley at Makapu light house look out. We spent the morning hiking up and we were both pretty tired at the end. From the lookout we could see Molokai and a group of Humpback whales doing pectoral fin slaps on the water.
I couldn't resist a picture of the turtle butt! If you are feeling saggy and overcome with cellulite, just imagine, it could be worse. This guy needs to do some serious butt crunches.