New Hair Color

So I needed a change....I've had the same hair color since before I moved to Hawaii 7 months ago! I am now a dark DARK brown almost black and I love it! What do you think?

Garrett's last High School football game

I am so glad we were able to make it to Garrett's last football game of his High School career. Garrett is my little brother, #1, baby of the family, and it's his senior year. He is no lie the star of the football team. He makes almost EVERY tackle, and the radio announcers can't stop talkin about his skill! He has the biggest heart of anyone on the football team and he deserves some serious compliments! Aunt Jo and Uncle Ted drove all the way from Willard, Utah so watch him also. It was so fun even though Burley lost 49-13.

A day with Lukie Tookie

After our week long trip in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, it was finally time to make our way back "home" to Idaho. We got to thinking that it would be faster and BETTER to go through Las Vegas so we did. Of course we couldn't just drive THROUGH Las Vegas without stopping for a visit with Robyn, John, Lucas, and Tibo! We got to their house Sunday night at about 11:00 PM. Fortunately they were still awake because they had just gotten home from their softball game a few minutes before. Robyn asked that since we were gonna be in town until Tuesday morning if we wouldn't mind babysitting Lucas instead of taking him to the day care all day Monday. Are you kidding me!?! We NEVER get to see that kid so we gratefully accepted! WHAT A DAY! Alex and I learned how to prioritize our time...enough said. Our day consisted of playing ALL morning long, putting Lukie down for his 2 1/2 hr nap, feeding him mac and cheese for lunch, giving him a bath, dressing him, playing some more, hittin up the mall, wrestling with Tibo, taking another nap, and playing some more! He is such a handful now that he's walking but it was so fun to see his personality shine through! He loves his Uncle Alex and Aunt Jayne! His favorite thing to do was pull up my shirt so he could see my belly button and then tickle me! It was the cutest thing ever!!! We love you Lucas and can't wait to see you again next time!

Puerto Penasco, Mexico

Our time in Maui came to an end...but not the fun! We flew from Maui to San Diego where we picked up our truck that we shipped back. Fron San Diego we drove to Phoenix, AZ where we met our family and friends who were taking us to Mexico! They had to drive through Phoenix anyway so it worked out perfectly! We left our truck with Alex's good friend Kyle who lives in Mesa, AZ right outside of Phoenix. The drive to our beach house in Puerto Penasco, Mexico was about 3 1/2 hours. Not bad at all! We had such a splendid time! It wasn't as beautiful as the beach in Maui but it was nicer for the single fact that we could actually ENJOY it without worrying about work or whatever. We were there for a whole week with Alex's distant cousins and family friends who he used to work with in Utah County. The whole week was pretty much just leisurely hanging out at the beach, snorkeling, swimming, and enjoying each other's comany. My favorite thing to do was lay out in the beach chair for hours at a time in the heat of the sun and read my "Twilight" series book. I officially read the entire 2nd book during the week! YAH! We went into town a few different days and went shopping at the flee markets. It was alot of fun. When we went snorkeling we saw TONS of small and big sting rays! Who would have thought there we so many! Alex's cousin Brian tried catching one and it stung him on the thumb. Regardless, he caught a few and let the little kids take turns touching his belly where it's harmless and safe. We saw GIANT hermit crabs walking on the ocean floor also that were pretty cool. All in all, it was a great way to relax and be with the people we love. Enjoy the pictures!

Twilight Series

I have really gotten into reading the past couple months. It all started with a LONG plane right to Salt Lake City when we came home to visit in August. I had to have something to keep me from getting bored out of my mind and figured a good book should do the trick! I ended up getting "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicholas Sparks and can I just tell you how AWESOME it is! When the movie came out last month, I made Alex take me to see it on opening night and the movie was so wonderful! A must see in my opinion ;) Nicholas Sparks is also the author of "A Walk To Remember" and "Message In A Bottle". So....he just came out a little bit ago with his latest book called "The Lucky One" and it was even better! I read the whole thing cover to cover in 2 days between work and chores. Yes it's only 226 pages but that's quite an accomplishment for me with how busy I've been with work lately. Now I'm REALLY on a reading frenzy so I decided to listen to like 80% of female book readers and most importantly my sister-in-law Heather and bought myself the first book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer called "Twilight". So far I have only read the first 10 pages but it seems interesting enough. I have to be honest, I am soooo not into fantasy stuff like vampires but I'm willing to give it a shot. I think I may just be surprised. I am normally into books about love, mystery, or sports so we'll just have to wait and see! Thanks Heather for the advice on the book and if I really enjoy it and read the other 3 books in the series, consider this a thanks in advance!

2 YEARS!!!

October 10, 2006 Alex and I have officially been married for 2 years today, October 10th. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. Seems like just yesterday we were living in our first apartment...Wow! I figured this was a great opportunity for me to just express my love and thankfulness for Alex in my life. He is a great person inside and out. He cares alot about me, my feelings, and our future together. I love him with all my heart. Although ALL marriages have their differences, I can honestly say he's my better half without doubt. Thank you Alex for being my prince charming and putting up with my girly ways, even when it drives you nuts! I cannot wait to spend the remainder of my days with you and hopefully bring beautiful children into the world (SOONER THAN LATER!!!) You will be an outstanding father. Love you hunnie! Can't wait for the years ahead of us! Honeymoon Cruise- GuatemalaFamily Pictures- August 2008

Mom & Dad came to paradise for a visit!

Mom and dad came to Hawaii as part of the celebration of their 30th wedding anniversary which was July 27th. They came for a total of 9 days and it was jam packed with activities, shopping, eating, and beaing beach bums. The main things we did together while they were here were Pearl Harbor and Polynesian Cultural Center in Oahu. During the week they went on a snorkeling cruise and parasailing by themselves. There were lots of pictures taken so I'm going to post just some of the best ones.

This first picture is us hiking to one of the waterfalls on the Road to Hana. Refer to one of my previous posts to understand exactly what that is. Alex and I did it by ourselves not too long ago for the first time. This was our second time with mom and dad.

Next is a picture of us feeding the peacocks on our picnic, also on the road to Hana. They were freakin me out and getting a LITTLE too close! We had this picnic in the arbetorium (not sure if I spelled that right). It's a gated 10 acre "park" persay of nothing but plants, trees, and wild birds like the peacocks. It was sooo gorgeous! Everything was labeled so you knew exactly what kind of plant/flower it was. Very cool and only $10/person!


The very last stop on the Road to Hana was the Seven Sacred Pools. It is an ancient myth that if you swam in all seven pools, you would be healed or something so hence the name. Pretty sure this was the highlight of dad's trip! It's not ocen water although the seven pools flows into the ocean, so it wasn't salty or anything. After swimming around for awhile dad and I got brave and climned the rocks about 20-30 feet high and jumped off! First time I had ever been cliff jumping so it was pretty awesome so do it with my daddy!

As you can imagine, the beach was one of the top priorities for this vacation ;) We went snorkeling together for 3 days straight when Alex and I got off work at 3:30 PM. It was perfect because everyone had pretty much left the beach and it wasn't too hot. Because of that ALOT of fish we visible. We go to see sting rays swimming about 100 yards away. We also got to see the usual schools of bright colored fish, a puffer fish eating another fish, beautiful coral, sea urchins the size of soccer balls, and....SHARKS! ha ha just kidding!

We had to show mom and dad what eating in Maui is "really" like so we ate out every night pretty much at a different restaurant. The night we got back from our Road to Hana trip we took them to Cheeseburger in Paradise. It has the best burgers! The thing that made the night for my dad was the live entertainment! In fact, since we got their right at closing and we were their very last table, the entertainer stayed later just for us and sang nothing but James Taylor songs for my dad! That guy got a pretty good tip to say the least. It was so funny because my dad was SOOO into the music that when the waitress came to ask him what he wanted to eat, we had to tap him on the shoulder and say "snap out of it dad we need to order!" It was so yummy. A few other places we ate we BJ's Pizza, Bubba Gumps, and Cool Cats. BJ's was my dad's second favorite place because there was live entertainment there too. This time instead of James Taylor music, it was a really cool guy from our ward actually playing the ukaleili (don't know if I spelled that right either). He even sang 2 Primary songs it was so awesome! I ended up buying his CD he had for sale.

The last 2 days of mom and dad's vacation was spent on the island of Oahu where Honolulu is. They couldn't spend all that money coming to Hawaii and not stop at Pearl Harbor or the Polynesian Cultural Center. To say the least, Pearl Harbor was a very neat experience. To see oil still leaking out at a rate of 2 quarts a day for the past 67 years really put the whole thing in perspective. Reading the wall of names of those killed on the USS Arizona alone was really really sad. If anyone goes to Hawaii, it is a must see.

At the Polynesian Cultural Center, we walked all around an outdoor 42 acre musuem type deal and learned all about the 5 Polynesian cultures: Tahiti, New Zealand, Tonga, Somoa, and Hawaii. Each village had their own show, all of which were very fun to watch. There was a canoe pageant where all the 5 cultures did a dance on a flat top canoe while it moved throught the stream. It was very entertaining. We went to an award winning luau where we got leis, entertained, tropical smoothies, and all you can eat pig, rice, salad, fish, etc. The lady that hosted the luau asked for all those on their honeymoon or celebrating their anniversaries to come up on stage. Of course mom and dad went up and they got to dance to a Hawaiian wedding song. It was so cute.

Before we went to the airport we walked around Waikiki Beach and did some last minute shopping. We were all so exhausted we didn't end up swimming at all, just lounging around.

After a long 9 days and action packed hours, it was a bitter sweet goodbye. Mom and dad were exhausted and we were ready to get back to "real life". Thanks mom and dad for the visit! Alex and I can't wait to move back home and see you on a regular basis! WE LOVE YOU!

Family Pictures

So we totally took these family pictures while we were in Idaho for a week, but I barely got the CD with all of them when my parents flew into Hawaii to visit us this week. My apologies! They turned out super good. Before these ones, the last family pics we took was when I was in 7th grade right before Parker's mission! Now I'm 20 and going on 2 yrs of marriage. Man does time fly! The first one is the whole family with all 3 in-laws and the two grandsons. Lucas belongs to Robyn & John and he just turned 1 on August 23. Caleb is the son of Parker & Heather and he just turned 2 on July 25. Then of course we have my sweet Alex. The second picture is just Alex and I and I think it turned out pretty dang good! :) Last but not least, the "original Lyons Crew". Next time we take another family picture, there could be a few more "additions" and possible another in-law or two. (Hopefully we don't go that long again!)

Week in Idaho

I know this blog is over a week late so I apologize, but better late than never right?

We did so many different fun things with family and friends while we were in town for a week. Our first day/night was spent in Utah County and Logan visiting Alex's side of the family and my old boss. We went to the last night of the Logan fair and took Alex's nephew Peyton on the rides. It was alot of fun. He's growing up sooooo fast! We stayed our second day in Juniper, ID with Alex's parents and got as much rest as possible! It was nice to have a day off! We went into Burley on Tuesday to spend time with my family and I mean EVERYONE in my family! Parker, Heather, and Caleb came in on Wednesday, Robyn, John, & Lucas came in on Tuesday, and of course the parents, Katelyn, and Garrett are always there! It was so fun playing with my nephews because they are growing up so stinkin fast and we don't get to see them that much anymore. It was so good to see everyone although it had only been 4 months since we moved. Balancing friends and family was tough because we didn't want to leave anyone out, but I think we managed pretty good. It was also the Cassia County fair that week so we got to enjoy the rodeo with the fam. great fair food, and mingling with lots of old friends. On Thursday morning, all three of us married kids and spouses headed to Twin Falls for the temple open house and lunch at Johnny Carino's afterwards. The temple is so beautiful! It was good bonding time for all of us. We also hit up the mall so Parker could spend some of his birthday money and of course give all of us a chance to spend $$$ as well! Parker's 27th birthday was on Friday so that's when the fam went to the rodeo. On Saturday, our last day, I went to a baby shower for one of my best friends, Casey. I actually was one of the planners and that was alot of fun. Saturday afternoon we said our goodbyes to my family and headed to Juniper to see Alex's family for the last time. We shot the guns, had a campfire, and roasted hot dogs for dinner. It was really a fun trip all in all. We definitely wore ourselves out though!

When we finally got on the plane to come home, it was a bitter sweet feeling. We were excited to go back to paradise and soak up some more sun, BUT sad that our week with our families went by way too fast. Thanks to everyone who made time to stop and say hello!

Road to Hana

So the road to Hana is pretty much the most beautiful drive on earth! It is actually ranked in the top 10 best drives in the world! The best way to explain it is to use excerpts from a book we took along for better explanations of the sites...

"There are few words that can describe the cliffs cloaked in green and the lush valleys bursting with waterfalls more beautiful that you've ever seen."

"When it comes to driving to Hana Town, it's the journey, not the destination, that is the main attraction."

"Without any stops, it can take up to three hours to make the 52 mile journey to Hana Town."

"The Hana Highway winds along 52 miles of undeveloped coastline passing over 50 one-lane bridges and over 600 turns- and that's just to Hana Town."

To say the least, Alex and I both have never seen earth in a more beautiful light than we did on our trip to Hana. The MANY waterfalls, majestic pristine pools of water for swimming, mesmorizing waves hitting the gorgeous coastline, or the delicious fruit stands on the side of the road all made us fall in love with Maui. Here are a few pictures we would like to share with you. I will try my best to let you know the names of the waterfalls and stuff. And by the way, EVERYONE should do this if ever you make it to Maui. Definitely a MUST SEE MUST DO!

The first picture at the top is one of the "Twin Falls" It was a half a mile hike up to it. Obviously it's just one of the twins you can see.

The second picture is me standing next to a beautiful waterfall that I can't remember the name of...I probably couldn't spell it anyways!

The next picture is what the one way bridges looked like....All 52 of them! SCARY!

On the next picture you can see how beautiful the ocean is, but also Black Sand Beach in the distance. The sand is literally pitch black!

Seriously...pictures do not do any of these amazing sites justice because they are just too dang gorgeous! We couldn't get enough of it!

Absolutely amazing right? You just gotta see it for yourself! We have over 100 pictures we took so when we come home in 2 weeks you can take a peak at a few more.

Maserati

We had to stop and take a picture of the $120,000 Maserati!

All about Alex!

1. What is his name? Alexander James Nelson
2. Who eats more? Alex by far! When I can't finish my plate he'll finish it off plus munch on a bag of chips!
3. Who said I love you first? he did and of course I said it back cuz I'd been wanting to say it for awhile before as well
4. Who is taller? Alex by like 1 1/2 inches. I'm 6' 0" and he's 6' 1 1/2"
5. Who is smarter? I think I am more book smart and street smart and Alex is smarter with hands on stuff like cars and building stuff.
6. Who is more sensitive? Alex is definitely a sensative guy belive it or not especially when it comes to his family. I, however, am sensative to EVERYTHING!
7. Who does the laundry? we both do
8. Who pays the bills? I do ALL of that stuff cuz I'm good with numbers but Alex makes more $$$ than me so he kinda "pays" them.
9. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When we moved here to Hawaii I switched to the right but before that it was always Alex on the right
10. Who cooks more? me ALWAYS. When Alex cooks it's McDonalds
11. What meals do you cook together? when we grill hamburgers or steak Alex does that part
12. Who is more stubborn? we both are REALLY stubborn people. I wouldn't say one of us is more stubborn than the other.
13. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? totally me
14. Who has more siblings? me. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters and he just has a brother
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? we take turns
16. What do you like to do together? going to the beach, going for scenic drives, we love going to movies at the theater, renting movies and watching them at home, etc.
17. Who eats more sweets? I totally do! Alex sometimes gets mad at me that I eat so many!
18. Guilty pleasures? Alex-basketball...Jayne-sweets
19. How did you meet? a mutual friends introduced us and we were best buds from then on out!
20. Who proposed? it was actually a mutual thing
21. His best physical feature? his lips (lucious) and his calves
22. His greatest quality? his humor. He can come up with some of the funniest things to say that makes me laugh for hours. He always knows how to make me laugh!
23. Tag? everyday it's kind of ridiculous!

Fourth of July in Hawaii

We just got back from the fabulous show of fireworks over the ocean. There were thousands of people lined up on Front Street to watch. Along with all the tourists there were people singing and playing ukalaeili's, lots of alcohol, and FOOD! Definitely a Fourth of July we will never forget or have again probably...Hope everyone else's holiday was great! We are soooo lucky to live in this free country where we can worhsip how we want, walk down the street whenever we want, and be with our loved ones when and how we want. What a blessing it is....