August . . .

We had visitors this month, yea! It's so nice to have family visit, it makes being away from home not so hard. Plus that means going to the beach and doing lots of fun touristy activities. We had such a great time, but it went by too fast. It was nice to have James home for a week too.

James' mom Mintia and Nikki 

Dole Pineapple Plantation 

 

 On the train

 

Mintia and Nikki's wedding

Bare foot in the sand

 Went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Spear fishing at Officer's Beach, K-Bay
(fish curiosity of some locals)
 

 Swam at Wiamea Bay

July . . .

So July marks James being home for a whole year now, I can't believe how fast it went by. Thinking back on the year that he was gone, it now seems like it went by so fast. It was hard to be apart from James, but I feel like we grew closer and when he came home it was like he had never left.

So no cupcakes this month, but I made snickerdoodles for the first time. I'm not a fan of them, but James loves them. He came home to a surprise after work. They were pretty good, and I had a few for myself.

I wasn't home when he came back, so I left him a note.

Finished another book this month.

Never watched the tv show and wasn't very interested in it based the commercials for it. I read the back cover and it looked interesting.  There were a few things that I could relate to, but it was a good book and an easy read.

Happy 4th of July!

Yea! I love the 4th of July, so much patriotism all around us. James was deployed for the last two, so this one was extra special for him. We spent this Fourth of July down at Pearl Harbor, there were lots of fun activities, food and a free Plain White T's concert.

 Hanging out with Alyssa. 

James decided that as the uncle he needed to spoil her and bought her cotton candy and kettle corn.

Alyssa, trying to eat as much popcorn before her parents come back.

Alyssa and I

Happy Fourth of July

So happy to be spending it with James

  Ellie being silly.

 Waiting for the concert to start

 Plain White T's 

Beautiful fire works

June . . .

With all this warm weather, it seems like these days have all blended into one another and June is already over. This month wasn't too busy and I was able to get a little baking in and I finished another book.

This months cupcakes were chocolate with Nutella buttercream, which turned out to be amazing. The frosting was so good, I probably could have eaten it by the spoonful. 

 

Read yet another Nicholas Sparks book. I need to venture out and read other books.

Safe Haven, his books always have the same theme, couple in love something tragic happens, there are tears and then there is usually a happy ending. I guess I just love the way he writes and where all of his books take place. Reading this one there were no tears, just a good ending.

May . . .

I can't believe that May has already come and gone. It's crazy to think that we've already been in Hawaii for seven months. Life really feels like its on fast forward right now.

This month wasn't too eventful, it was mostly filled with lots of rain, lightning and  thunderstorms. Which was pretty cool, we live in a crater and the storms seem to settle right above our house, so we could feel the house shake with each clap of thunder. 

So this months cupcakes were vanilla with pink frosting

We went to James' Battalion Luau, which was a lot of fun. 

Colt and I have started to go on a walks which is really nice, because it makes him really tired and then he takes a really long nap. 

 He is so tired that he can't even stand to drink water.

 Colt got him self ready for his walk.

So I made my first Lasagna, it tasted really good, but it could have used a bit more sauce. James liked it so that was all that mattered. 

 

 

I got to spend a few days this month hanging out at the beach with James and a few of our friends. With having to work most weekends I haven't really gotten the chance to hangout at the beach, so I was nice to just be able to relax. 

 

Kaneohe Bay

 James making sandcastles with the kids.

We finally took Colt to the beach, and he loved it. He ran and played in the water and wanted nothing to do with us. He had so much fun. 

 Colt playing with his new friend

 Colt wandered too far off, so James had to pick him up and carry him back.

So happy with his day at the beach

 Trying to cool off with the AC blowing on him

 Love this picture, his nose all sandy

 

He had enough with sitting on the floor and wanted to sit next to James.

Well we finally got a guest bed so now we can have visitors.

April . . .

James is finally home and life is back to normal.


Now that we are in the new house, James was finally able to put together our bedroom set. It looks great and it has helped to make this house more of a home.

This month James and I volunteered at the Special Olympics, we helped out with track events. James was in charge of firing the starting pistol and I helped track times of the runners. We ended up being there for eleven hours and had horrible sunburns by the end of the day. But it was all worth it and had so much fun.

The YES foundation had their annual auction, and I was sad that I couldn't be apart of it. But I was able to make another baby afghan and donated it to the auction. 

The cupcakes I made for James' company bake sale. They were a big hit!

The ones on the left are chocolate with caramel frosting and the right is a cookie dough cupcake, with actual cookie dough inside sans the raw egg. James found the cookie dough cupcake recipe and insisted on me making them.

   

James company planned a dinner cruise. It was a lot of fun and we had a great night. 

(not the best picture, but the boat was a little rocky)

Went out with the girls to celebrate April's 25th birthday!

Our neighbor brought us over a plate of goodies!

April was a great month and filled with many activities.

March . . .

March was an interesting month I spent most of it by myself, since James was gone for school for 3 weeks. Two days before James left for school, we got keys to our new home. Which is beautiful and by far an major upgrade to our first home. It's a bit smaller than the last but feels much more like a home. It is a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom home, with hardwood floors, a garage and a big back yard.

So we rented a truck and a few friends came and helped us move all of our big pieces of furniture. That night we planned to stay in our new home, but Japan was struck by an earthquake and a tsunami warning was put out for the island of Oahu. So we left and moved to higher ground and spent the night at our friend's house. The tsunami ended up being a dud and we didn't much sleep because Colt cried all night. James left for school and I got stuck moving the rest of our house hold items out of the old house and having to clean it all up.

March wasn't a very eventful month, since James was gone. My computer crashed and I ended up losing everything on it. So that's why I haven't been able to post in a while. So I'm back!