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....

Weekend in Oahu

I figured since we have lived here in Maui for 3 months now and just started out blog last week, I better back track and post a few pictures of things we've been up to since we moved here. Hope you enjoy!

We went to this really cool miniature golf place called "Glow Golf". It is a miniature golf course inside a building that is pitch black except for the actual course, your golf ball, a little ring around the hole, your golf club, and pictures on the wall as you can see. It was so awesome because it's different than regular golf and alot harder because they put bumps in front of the holes or inclines that you can't see because of the darkness. I ended up beating Alex by 3 strokes when the night was over. What a surprise... ;)

We took the ferry to Oahu to visit Honolulu. It takes about 3 hours each way. We were only there for 24 hours which included our sleep time so we couldn't really do much. We basically it up the HUGE mall, Honolulu Zoo, and Waikiki Beach Street. The zoo was really really cool. It was the first time Alex has ever been to a zoo that he can remember. He says he maybe went when was very very young but he's not sure. Waikiki Beach Street is kind of like the Las Vegas strip except no casinos and right lights. In the pictures you see the human statue I paid to get a picture with and Alex next to Elmo. The funniest thing we saw that night that we didn't get a picture of was a bunch of kids breakdancing on the sidewalk for cash. There was this kid who was 5 yrs old doing back flips and breakdancing like I have never seen before! He was makin bank cuz everryone was stopping ad paying him personally for a job well done. It was hilarious! We really want to go back before we leave and hit up Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We came across these cool bushes when we went on our Sunday stroll through "Maui".

our Sunday afternoon...

Today was such a beautiful day. Well I guess EVERYDAY is nice here in paradise. ha ha. When church got out at noon we decided to have a picnic! We went home to make some sandwiches and grab some other goodies and then headed to the beach where there are public picnic tables. Not even 5 minutes later we noticed a whole bunch of little heads popping out of the water all over the place and realized they were sea turtles! We got to watching them and they started doing flips and entertaining us pretty good. Man oh man was it cool. We watched for quite a awhile and they weren't stopping. I'd say there were about 20 of them. Here a few pictures of them.

A TOAD!!!

So I just had to share this with everyone...Alex and I were on our way into the apartment after a wonderful dinner out on the town. Everything was awesome and peachy until I came around the corner before approaching the front door and almost stepped on this:



Come to find out it was a toxic bula toad. They have glands behind their eyes that spray poison in its predators or when they feel threatened from behind. They have caused a few deaths in animals and small children here in Hawaii. If Alex would have known that he probably wouldn't have started poking him with a stick....from behind! Pretty gross don't you think? I'm not gonna lie, I didn't sleep at all that night!

Finally a Blog!

Ok so we decided since Parker & Heather and Robyn & John have these blogs and no Myspace, it would be easier to share pics and updates if we got one too so here it is! I have never had one of these so bear with me at first here while I get used to it. Keep checking back as I think I will post lots of pictures since we are here in paradise for only a short while longer. We love you guys!

~Jayne~