Hawaii Day 1

We are in Hawaii!!! It is sooo beautiful here, we love it! This is the hotel we are staying in.

The scenery is AMAZING! I have never seen such cool looking plants, trees, and flowers! I think I am in heaven!

This is a dove we saw while eating breakfast one morning.... we noticed that he only had one foot just a stump....sooooo sad :( We felt so bad for him! Now every time we are down by the retaurant we look for poor "stumpy".

We went to the Dole plantation

and rode the train around the grounds.

So Amazingly Beautiful

Pineapple fields

(if you look close you can see all the pineapples)

These fish were at the dole plantation as well, I just had to post the video because I thought it was disgusting how many there were all flopping around on top of each other.... so slimy and nasty!

The North Shore

Sooo many pictures I know, but how can you resist when you are in such a beautiful place!..... And this is only the first day!!!!!

He's Home!!!!

Branden is FINALLY HOME!!! Well, for a couple of weeks anyways.... but he came home on the 7th at midnight, which I didn't think he was going to be home until the next night so I was SO EXCITED!!! Everything worked out so well! He ended up having a layover in Salt Lake City and was able to see his whole family, and even go to dinner with them! It's just crazy how things work out!

Here is Branden and his family at the SLC airport...he was so happy he was able to see everyone in his family, most of which he hadn't seen in over a year!

The whole family went to Olive Garden for dinner, here is Branden and his brother Blake with Alicey and Avenley. So Cute!! Thanks Chantel for the pics :)

And then he finally made it to Alaska!! I can't even describe how happy I was to see him! Here he is coming down the escalator!

TOGETHER AT LAST!!!

My emptiness has been filled, even if it is for a short period of time!

New Toy = New Hobby

I don't know if its because I'm bored or what, but I decided I needed a new hobby...

Photography.

I have always been interested, but never really pursued it, but nows my chance!

Being bored isn't cheap! (Just ask Branden!) Ha Ha

No... I have been saving money that I have been making at my job, and I just decided to buy a digital SLR camera!

It's Awesome.

Here are some of my first pics. (Don't judge) : )

Oh, I also learned a new term.

Termination Dust.

Termination Dust is an Alaskan term referring to the first dusting of snow in the mountains. Summer is "terminated" and winter is on its way.


Alaska is AMAZING at this time of year, but...

Its a SAD DAY when you see this.


But, on the upside... Branden comes home in a week and a half!

Alaska State Fair

This weekend we ventured out to the Alaska state fair and the weather couldn't have been better! Here I am with my friend Leslie's baby Ethan. And below are my friends Annie and her baby Urijah (Bug), and Brittany and her baby Brinkley. I didn't get a picture of Leslie and Owen :( But we had fun at the fair eating some 'healthy food', shopping around the booths, and enjoying the amazing weather! hopefully it is not gone for the year. The leaves are already changing up here and it is so beautiful! But they won't last long, that freezing cold weather is just around the corner I'm afraid.

Here is a fiddlin family that we watched, they were pretty entertaining!

These are some flowers that were in a contest at the fair, I thought they were pretty awesome!

Anyways, we have officially hit the Half way mark. 26 weeks down, 26 to go! And I'm counting down the days til midtour leave! Less than a month! Yay!

Brandens B-Day!

Today is Branden's 28th Birthday! That seems SO OLD to me! We need to start our family so he will still be able to play with them! Just Kidding! But really, we DO need and want to start our family, but living in seperate countries doesn't help the situation very much! On the other hand, Branden IS coming home in a MONTH for his midtour leave, Hawaii here we come!!!! Also, in about a week we will hit the HALFWAY mark! And then we will be on the Down Slope!

After Branden goes back I will be coming home to Utah until his deployment is over, so only one more month of my job for a while! They said they would hire me back if I want to work when I come back to Alaska, we'll see what happens between now and then. I am planning on working while I am in Utah, that is if someone will hire me for a temporary position!

Anyways, I hope Branden has as good of a birthday as he can over there!

I LOVE YOU BRANDEN!

I MISS YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

SEE YOU SOON!

XOXOXOX

Unfinished Project Complete and Update...

I started this painting of Branden and I about two years ago and never got around to finishing it until now... it made me sad painting it because it made me miss Branden even more than I already do. He has been gone 5 months now, 2 more months til he comes home for his mid-tour leave (Hawaii!!!!!), and 7 more months til he comes home for good (until next time). He is doing good, working a lot of hours and the weather is pretty hot over there (about 110 degrees), we are both just looking forward to his midtour leave. Anyways, not very much going on lately..but I just wanted to let you all know that we are still alive!

Dip Netting

This weekend I went dip-netting with my next door neighbors on the Kenai River and I caught six salmon! Well... I guess I didn't really "catch" them they just swam into my net! But it was still exciting! There were TONS of people on the river dip-netting and fishing, I couldn't believe it! Here I am holding one of my fish! Slimy! Yuck! And... don't scroll down any further if you have a weak stomach! Here is all our fish we caught, there was SO much blood and guts and slime and scales everywhere... it was DISGUSTING! The boat looked like a murder scene when we were done! These salmon were all about 2 to 3 feet long...still bigger than any fish I ever caught in Utah!

Anyways, it was another fun trip, I just feel bad I am having all of these amazing experiences without Branden... Next year for sure we are doing it all again!