A Holly Jolly Christmas

 Christmas Eve

Gavin and I both had to work on Christmas Eve which wasn't the end of the world because we were able to enjoy lunch together in the cafeteria. I got off of work a few hours before Gavin so, I went home and started cooking! While I cooked I watched Miracle on 34th street and Klaus. I can't believe these movies weren't on my must-watch list. They were so great! I made fired-up Mac and Cheese with broccoli, Chocolate Chip cookies, fruit salad, and a casserole for the next day. I sure enjoyed my baking/cooking time in my house. The most beautiful sunset ever happened that night that I happened to see as I was taking out the trash. 

I finished just about right when Gavin got home. We blessed and ate our mac and cheese. After we watched the nativity from the church. My favorite version is the Christ Child. I love that this video matches so well to the version in the bible. This is our first Christmas together and we had the best time. It was so fun to be with each other in our cozy house. We watched Christmas Vacation that night while eating chocolate chip cookies and peppermint milk shakes before heading to bed.

Christmas Day! 

I am not sure why but we both didn't sleep well that night. I think it's because we were both so excited to give presents to each other. So, I think around 6 am we started opening presents. I got Gavin a golf bag that he wasn't expecting to get. He was so stoked when he saw how big one of his presents was. We both got each other Harry Potter books and the same candy! Gavin went crazy got me a raincoat, Chacos, towel snuggie, CD's, and a Kindle. We had so much that morning just the two of us. We have so much fun when we are together. We made French toast before getting ready for church. I feel like Christmas always lands on a Sunday. Which I don't mind at all. I had to speak that morning about Angles. I talked about how it was angles who gave the message of Jesus coming into the world and prepared everyone for this entrance. But in todays world we are the angles that will be here to welcome Christ back into the world. Angle, in the bible dictionary means people with a body of flesh and bones. I only talked for 4 minutes but I was relieved when it was over. The rest of the we talks were just as wonderful. We sang all the best Christmas songs while focusing on different parts of the Saviors story. 

 

That afternoon we went home and facetimed both of our families. We saw little Gus at home opening his presents an talked to Dart, Acacia and Mya. Each sounded like they had a wonderful Christmas day. Later that afternoon we facetimed my family. We found out that my family is coming to Kauai for Christmas next year! We are super excited about that because Kauai is the best! It was so fun seeing all of my families faces on the screen. In Heber we had my dad, mom, Ava, Callie and Graham. In Chicago we had Grayson, in texas we had Katrina and in Hawaii Mal and Gav. Next year we will all be together! 

Gavin headed to work that afternoon and I went to my friend Eve's house. We cooked and listened to Christmas music before several other couples joined us. We ate our ham dinner under the sun and ended with games and dessert. It was a wonderful Christmas. This,  is my second Christmas in Hawaii and I actually think I enjoy the warm sunshine on the Christmas day. 

Since Gavin had to work on Sunday we continued our celebration into Monday. We went up to Kilauea to find a rope swing at Rock Dam. And wow, we loved this place so much! We stopped at Foodland to pick up some Poke and snacks to eat at Lyndgate before heading up North.  It was the perfect day. The water was flat like glass and not a cloud in the sky. Safeway gives you so much Poke holy cow. One plate definitely feeds more than one person. We were so stuffed that we enjoyed long walk to the dam.  At the top there was a rope swing that we took turns swinging off of. We had some fun swinging into the refreshing water. This place had huge tall trees that we walked through that made it feel like an enchanted forest. There were wild horses and chickens all around. This is definitely a place we will come  back too. We love having the same days off even if it's just one so that we can enjoy the beautiful island that we live on. 

New Years Eve! 

I had to work a 10 hour shift which ended up working out in a way because then Gavin and I got off at the same time and in time for the out door movie and firework show! We walked over to Poipu beach to meet up with friends. We read there was going to be food trucks at the Poipu New Years eve bash. We were starving from working all day and were so disappointed when we saw there were three snow cone trucks and hot dog one with a line a mile long. We didn't want to stand in line all night so we decided to enjoy the our door movie with our friends. It was a beautiful night but we were so famished we felt like we didn't have any energy. We watched the new Disney movie Red which in my opinion was boring. But the firework show did not disappoint! It was so fun seeing the show over the ocean. There were probably a few thousand people watching. Everyone was screaming and cheering! We were too hungry after the show so we ended up just going home to get some food. We were so tried from work that day we just stayed inside and watched 24 while fireworks went off for hours. Just before midnight we stopped our show and counted with the famous ball drop in NYC! At midnight we ran around the neighborhood in our socks and pink robes screaming with everyone else. It was super fun that a lot of people were out at midnight. The fireworks were INSANE. They didn't stop for hours. CHEERS TO 2023! 

December Fun

Gavin and I were on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree for our little place. We have tall ceilings, so we thought of maybe getting a super tall tree or those half a trees. But then we saw a Palm Christmas Tree and we thought that would be perfect for our place and it was! 

We set it up when Gavin's mom was here and I was surprised by how many ornaments we fit on the tree. We just loved looking at our little Palm all month. It sure made the house feel a little cozier. If fact it has been cold here. It has been dropping down to about 62 degrees at night. And because we have so many windows there is a pretty good cross breeze in the house. When you are sleeping at 62 you wake up shivering. Which made it feel a little bit cozier this season. 

We kicked off December by going to a light parade on Rice street. The event was called Lights on Rice. It was one long parade. We watched for two hours before ditching to eat our favorite Thai Food. Brayden and Even joined us along with one of Gavin's friends from work Zoey. Our favorite float was one with all the Keiki from an elementary school singing Christmas songs. The one with the brightest lights came from Home Depot. They must have put every display they had in their store on their float. I had no idea a semi could look so bright and big.  They won the biggest and brightest float for sure.

We also welcome some visitors this season. We have hosted so many people at our place. It's so fun to catch up with all of my friends. First, we had Aubrianna and her brothers Braden and Gavin. The only other Gavin I knew was meeting my Gavin. We all kept getting confused as to what Gavin's we were talking to. We took them around to beaches, waterfalls, and restaurants. One of the days we went snorkeling and I gave them all my fish facts. They loved it. We laughed and laughed in the evening as we played games around our little table. Gavin wasn't loving Hawaii. He ended by spending the night at the airport one night and taking the first flight out the next morning. Poor guy. Wait what.. Gavin?? not mine! 

A few days after they left Seth came to visit. He is one of our good friends from Oahu. We love Seth. Gavin had the day off of work so he and Seth went and did a million things on the island. We ended the night at a Christmas party at my friend Eves house. We played games and ate yummy food. We also met a bunch of other young couples. We had no idea that there were so many on the island. We are looking forward to many other get-togethers with them in the future. 

We also went to several Christmas Trivia nights at Chicken in a Barrell. This has been our favorite Friday night activity for the past couple of months. Tricia who leads the trivia always posts a hint on her Instagram page. The hint for the game that night was Christmas music. On the way there I was naming every Christmas song and coming up with clever ways to remember the artists' names. One of the artists' names was Perry Como and I told everyone we can remember this because Gavins mission companion was Perry and Braden speaks Spanish and como is a Spanish ward. Another artist was Chuck Berry and I told Gavin and his friend's name is Chuck. Anyways we memorized all these artists on our way to Trivia. We were ready to win! 

When the music round came they were playing all the songs we studied. The only problem was that we didn't remember what songs went with each artist. We were scratching our heads trying to remember anything but couldn't. When they shared that the answers were Chuck Berry and Perry Como we got lost in laughter. We could not remember for the life of us and for that we got 2nd place by 1 point. 

The rest of the Christmas season was full of Christmas movies and online shopping. When you live in Kauai there isn't even anywhere you can go Christmas shopping. It was fun seeing all our packages arrive throughout the month. We slowly started wrapping them and putting them under our tree. It just added to the magic of Christmas! 

Each day from December 1st-December 24th we put a new name of Christ up on a tree. This became the highlight of each day for me. I loved thinking about how the Savior was that word for me that year throughout the day. I also loved seeing them all hanging up each time I was in the kitchen. He is the reason for the season and I love that we can rejoice because of Him! 

We went to Gavins work Christmas party at Keoki's paradise which was so fun! We never really treat ourselves to these nice restaurants because they are way out of our budget. But when Marriott is paying for it we go big! Keoki's paradise is a really fun vibe. We had the whole back of the restaurant reserved for the hotel managers. We sat by Gavin's friend Chuck and his wife. The whole place has dim lighting and tiki torches with live music. Very enjoyable setting. We were by far the youngest ones there. I never would have imagined in a million years that we would be at a  fancy hotel manager's Christmas party. We played heads-up, bingo, fill-in-the-blank, and a white elephant. It was full packed evening. They handed out awards to the managers that were connected to Disney characters. The head cheff got Remi from Ratatouille. I thought that was perfect. Gavin got Tigger that spelled like  Tiger. And was presented to him as Tiger the Lion. Gavin was laughing so hard that they spelled Tigger wrong and called him a lion. While we played games we enjoyed an all you eat buffet with carrot bread, poke, salad, ribs, fish, potatoes, and rice. It was sure yummy! Gavin and I got lucky and won a trip for 2 to go to Maui for three nights! We are staying oceanfront at the Sheraton there! We are so stoked about it! Working for Marriott has its perks! We left full and happy. We are so grateful for Gavin's job. It has provided for us for a whole year. He loves his co-workers and the Sheraton resort. We just feel so blessed and grateful for everything Marriott has done for us. Who knows maybe this will be us for the 30-plus years. 

Gavin has been working on a big Christmas Kupuna luncheon for the past month. Chip the general manager asked Gavin to put on a free lunch for anyone on the island 65 and above. Chip said he wanted it to be big and have at least 100 people. Gavin was working hard on trying to get the local churches to get involved but wasn't having a ton of success. I think he had around 50 signs ups few weeks before the event. He decided to call the community center to have them send a notice to all those over the age of 65 in Kauai. Before Gavin knew it his phone was ringing nonstop! He had so many Kupuna call they had to switch the location to the Ballroom. The luncheon ended up being a huge success. I went in to help hand out Leis to them as they walked in. They of course all arrived an hour early so I am glad I showed up early to help. The Kupuna had so much fun. Gavin was the host. He did such a good job. He was standing up front with his Santa hat on. I think someone called him head elf. One lady gave Gavin a beautiful sage lei to show him their gratitude. It was especially nice of the Sheraton to provide lunch for all of them. Gavin was just the coordinator. The elderly were having the time of their life. The event ended with a round of bingo and a sing-a-long to Mele Kalikimaka! Gavin loved planning this event. It was so fun seeing him running around and talking to everyone. He sure thrives doing things like this. The next week we saw he made the front page of the paper! 

A Thankful happy week

This week Gavins family came for Thanksgiving! I picked them up at the airport while Gavin was at work, and I couldn't believe how many bags they had.. I am glad I brought the Rav because we barley fit everything. I am pretty sure Gus was sitting on a suit case. 

We went straight to the hotel so they could see Gavin and check in. Chip, the general manager of the hotel was so kind, and gave the Bakers two hotel rooms with two queens beds. He also gave them a pool bungalow everyday and treated them once to Lava's and Rum Fire. Loana made a gift basket to thank him for his kindness. Chip said he was happy to do it because of how hard of a worker Gavin is. And I agree. Gavin really is the best worker and player you could have on your team. 

That night we all went to the Luau! This was our second time seeing the show with the Bakers. We had a good time watching the show and eating the food. The cake was my favorite part, because it's all you can eat cake! 

One of the main reasons the Bakers came to Kauai was for Gus's baptism. Gus's baptism was a small intimate one, but the room felt full with present family members and those who had passed on. When we got to the church for the baptism we realized the person who was supposed to fill the font forgot... So we had the water running while we set up chairs. Dart flew in from Utah that afternoon and Nikita from Oahu. There were eight us there to witness Gus's baptism. 

With the water trickling in the background the baptism started. Gus picked everything in the program. He had several songs picked out and wanted us to sing all the verses. Thank goodness Nitkita was there to keep us on tune. 

The baptism suit Gus got was quite small. Gavin is always talking about how tall Gus is for his age so when he requested a small  I thought it was going to be small.. And it was. But ya know he was in white so that's all that matters. 

Mya gave the talk on baptism followed by the baptism. Since there were just a few of us, we all stood and watched from over the glass. The water was up to Gus's knee but Gavin some how managed to dunk him fully under. The spirit was so strong and I loved seeing how happy Gus was. I'm pretty sure everyone was crying because the spirit was so strong. It was a beautiful baptism. We enjoyed dinner at Lava's after. Dart was only here for one night ,so Gavin stayed for awhile to hangout with him at the hotel.  

Gavin and I both had to work on Thanksgiving which wasn't fun. In fact I was bored out of my mind. Not one person came to see me at my desk. Probably because they were enjoying the holiday. I walked around the resort and watched the Bakers fish from the pond. In Cafe Ohana they had Thanksgiving food for lunch. I actually enjoyed eating Thanksgiving food for breakfast. Gavin and I ate together before finishing the last part of our shift. 

When we got off of work we were so tired. We went to lay on the bed and woke up an hour later to eat another Thanksgiving feast made by Loana and Mya. Loana brought everything from Colorado because it was cheaper. She had the ham all the way to the Jello salad. We ate at our tiny table enjoying our yummy food. This was Gavin and I's third Thanksgiving together. We both have so many blessings our hearts and stomachs were both full.  

We ended the night with games, apple pie, and peanut butter pie. 

The next day was Gavin's birthday. I had to work, but I was glad Gavin had his family to party with. They went out all day to different hikes and parks. I met up with them for pizza followed by present opening. 

I decorated the house that morning with balloons and streamers! I got him a new frisbee, ipad screen, drone screen, and chips. All of his favorite things! We had so many dessert left overs we couldn't muster the strength to make anymore food so we had Gavin blow his candle out over the half eaten pie. I think he was so full I didn't even see him eat pie. We played a new game he got from Bob called Chicken foot. It's like Mexican train but chicken themed. We loved it! 

One thing I love about Gavin is that he is he best at making others feel special. If there is something important to you it automatically becomes important to him because he loves what those he loves loves. I sure do love him! Twenty-six is going to be a good year for him! 

Before the Bakers left we went and hiked in Waimea canyon! The beautiful Kalepa Ridge was not disappointing. It's always a party with Bakers! Thanks for coming to Kauai! 

The Sisters

I booked a ticket back in June for Ava to come to visit Gavin and I in October and my parents ended up booking one for Callie as well. Gavin and I were super excited for their visit! We picked them up and brought them to our house for pizza! It was so much fun showing them our cute little place.

The girls were pretty tired from traveling they ended up sleeping in the next morning. And when I mean sleeping in it was like 7:30 am... I went on a run, got ready for the day, ate breakfast and they were still snoozing. But that morning it was pouring rain and I was getting nervous that it was going to be rainy their whole stay. We decided to swim anyway even though it was overcast. But when we walked out of the house we were surprised that the only dark cloud was the one right above my house. Good thing we walked outside! 

We had a wonderful time snorkeling at Lawai beach. I told them all my fish facts as we swam around. Callie looked like a little mermaid as she dove down under. We saw pretty much all the fish you can see here in Hawaii. My favorite was the baby, Moorish Idols. I hadn't ever seen baby ones before. The cool thing about snorkeling is that you always see something new. After we had Acai and shaved ice and splashed the rest of the day at Allerton's. Callie and I got in the water at this beach and we had to walk so far out to get to the waves to play in. We were getting washed around it was so fun. 

When Gavin came home that night we watched our hour-long wedding video with Ava and that was special. We also started watching Cruel Summer a mystery murder-type show that only has 9 episodes. We love a good thriller! 

The next day we drove up to Waimea Canyon and we were blessed with the best weather. The past several times I have been up there with people visiting the island and it's been cloudy or rainy and there is never a view. But today the clouds cleared away and we were able to go on 2 of my favorite hikes. Kapela ridge and the Canyon Ridge trail. Callie and Ava were troopers. We walked 18,000 steps that morning. I'm glad my sisters like hiking because it's my favorite thing to do. We had our Chacos on as we walked along the mountains enjoying the gorgeous view. 

Ava made her fantastic pumpkin bars that night. I sure did miss her baking. 

The next day we decided to head to Hoopii falls for a hike and waterfall jump. Callie said this was one of her favorite days. There is a little cliff jump you can do here that lands you into the fresh water falls. Callie didn't even hesitate and did it twice! We had to cheer Ava on for a long time to get her to jump. But she did it! 

We picked up some Musibi's before heading to the airport to pick up the twins. They sure are the life of the party. Once they got in the car it was non-stop laughs and giggles all the way home. 

For the ward party that night we decided to dress up as the girls on the Bachelor. We all had a rose in our hand, bright red lipstick, and dresses on. We were in line to get our food when Gavin walked in the door. We all started yelling Gavin over and over and that's when a member caught on to our costume. She said "look it's the bachelor" and everyone else started clapping and cheering. It was epic. Everyone loved our costumes. The Edwards from the ward came over and chatted with us for a long time. The wife just couldn't believe Callie was 14 years old. 

I am glad we went to the ward party because I feel like I got to know everyone a little bit better. 

The twins brought their paddle boards from Oahu so we used them to paddle up Wailua to get to Secret Falls the next morning. The river is probably one of my favorite things to do on Kauai. And on Saturday there aren't any tours, so the river and waterfall is a lot less busy. We had the waterfall to ourselves so it was so much fun to splash around with the girls. Gavin is such a good sport while putting up with all the girls.

After we headed up to the North Shore so Ava Callie could see it's beauty. Gavin and I usually don't go to North Shore that much just because it's so far but it is a beautiful place. We all jumped off the pier and swam around Hanalei before napping on the beach. 

The next day was Sunday and after church, before we dropped Sarah and Anna off at the airport we decided to hit up Wailua falls. This waterfall is so amazing and one of our favorites to swim in. We decided to swim all the way to the waterfall, walk behind it, and jump off the other side. And this waterfall is a swim let me say that. I am glad Gavin was there to help pull Callie along. 

We walked behind the waterfall and Chee hooed while the water from the waterfall pelted our faces. It felt so good being in the freshwater. Callie was the bravest and just jumped first right off the falls, into the water. After we all went to see the rainbow eucalyptus trees in Kapaa which is also a very beautiful quiet place. 

The rest of the week's adventures consisted of watching Love is Blind, more beaches, and relaxing. I loved having my sisters at my house. I started my new job the following week at the Sheraton and it was so fun to come home to them on my couch. I loved hanging with them after work. Gavin brought Callie and Ava Pina Coladas while they enjoyed the sun and sand. 

Ava and Callie were here for Halloween! We made hot dog mummies and macaroni and cheese! Ava and I always have to have Doritos on Halloween. They just taste like our childhood. For dinner we lit every candle in the house and ate our food in the dark while listening to spooky music. Our landlords daughter LOVES Halloween and I mean love. One day Gavin and I walked outside and saw huge black spiders all over the roof, RIP signs in the grass, cob webs on every inch on the house, and Halloween lights. We lived in the fun Halloween house and only Halloween house in the whole neighborhood. One teacher at the elementary school saw me getting in my car one day as she was driving by. She saw me the next day and asked if I had decorated the house... haha I was glad that Ava was over to see all the décor. That night for Halloween the son was wearing a black cape and walking back and fourth across the yard. While he was doing that the wife was queuing the music and lights. I hardly saw any trick or treaters come and I'm not sure the kids were a fan of the scary house. Gavin and I bought a bag at Costco and we hardly handed anything out at the trunk or treat or trick or treaters. 

The next morning I got up early to go to work and every single Halloween decoration was gone. And she was putting up Christmas lights and blasting Christmas music. I was glad that the decor wasn't going to linger until December. 

We had a little birthday dinner with Callie at Lavas the night before her big 14th birthday. We got so much food. I can't believe how much we all ate. It was all so wonderful and yummy. We got 3 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 2 desserts. Wow we were full. But with the best food! We watched the sun set from our table as we dined. Chip the hotel general manager loves Gavin and was the one that paid for the food while we were there. Such a nice guy. Gavin's prim rib was seriously the since of his hand. It was huge. I guess when the chef found out it was for Gavin he said oh let me make his. And he seriously cut the thickest piece. We all shared some Poke flat break, coconut  shrimp, and hummus appetizer. For our meal Callie and Ava shared the burger and got fish and potatoes. All of it was so yummy. We must have been hungry because we ate every last bite. For dessert they brought Callie a chocolate cate and we ordered a carrot cake. Boy did we leave with full belly's and happy hearts. 

We celebrated Callies 14th birthday on her last day here. She spent her day riding the bike path in Kapaa, with Ava and eating a Spam Musibi. I was sad I couldn't be there, but she had such a blast the days leading up to her birthday that she was so tired on her special day. Kauai was her birthday trip! Gavin picked out a cute bag for her in Turkey so she had a little gift to open from us. 

She made yummy banana butter bars for her birthday treat and we went out to Brick Oven Pizza for dinner. 

We watched the sunset for the last time before driving them to the airport for their flight home. We had the best 10 days ever! I am excited that Ava will be living just on the other island so that I can bop over and say hi to her more often! 

A hui hou!