Aloha!!

The highlight of our summer was a two week trip with all of my extended family to the gorgeous beaches of Hawaii!  The grandparents generously covered airfare and hosted us in a lovely home right on the beach in Oahu's rural Laie.  We swam to our heart's content, hiked, snorkeled, enjoyed time with siblings and cousins and feasted like kings.  It was a lovely trip!

Lots of tasty shave ice

 Visiting an archaeological site where there was human sacrifice.  These are just a few of the cousins.

 My cute folks

 Persy tries to do poi balls at the Polynesian Cultural Center without whacking herself in the head!

Gabe is all geared up after scuba diving.  We also did a lot of snorkeling.

Laie Lookout

A jungle hike and swimming underneath a waterfall

We had a fancy dinner on the beach with my siblings.

Stopping by roadside fruit stands for fresh banana, pineapple, guava and mango

The

The Axis of Awesome

We did it!! We completed our first Tough Mudder in Colorado this June and it was nothing short of epic, challenging, and incredible. We enjoyed the challenge and camaraderie so much that we put together team "Axis of Awesome" for the Utah Tough Mudder this October.

Some serious bruising from the military walls.

Our amazing team

I'm looking surprisingly cheerful after 11 miles of obstacles!

Tough Mudder Taper

We are less than two weeks away from the infamous Tough Mudder race in Colorado. Last week, I was on a 10 mile run in Northern Utah when it began to rain. I had an hour of splashing through puddles and feeling frigid. I couldn't have asked for better training conditions for the upcoming race, but I can't say that it was entirely pleasant. Ready or not, here we go . . . (The above picture was taken at a family 5K that we did earlier in the month. Lots of fun!)

Start Being Awesome

"Whenever I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

We had a discouraging meeting with our caseworker this morning.  I'm just feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of adoptive parents out there versus the quantity of birth mothers placing their babies for adoption.   I feel like we are freakin' amazing, but our profile with the agency is hardly getting viewed.  Time to reevaluate, make a few adjustments and hope for a miracle.  I had a good little cry and then decided to turn things over to the Lord.

Where Babies Come From

Here's the conversation I just had with Persy:

Persy:  I'm married too.
Me: Oh, really?  Who did you marry?
Persy:  Daddy
Me:  Uh-oh.  What about me?
Persy:  You raised your hand, and he didn't pick you.

Or how about this little dialogue we had last week:

P: Ding-Dong.  Oh, my!  It's the postman.   (Walks to the door and mimes bringing back a box.) Oh, look!  He brought us a package.
Me: What is it?
P: (Mimes opening a box.)  Oh, my!  It's the baby we've been waiting for, it's finally arrived!

A Week in Pictures

 My Pigtailed Cutie before her Preschool Picnic

 Goofing off with "Daddy-G"

 Attending a Fairy Garden Birthday Party

 Spending Every free minute in the park and enjoying the sunshine.

 Glow sticks in the bath = Magical Fun

Hiking Season Begins with Persy and Friends

A Tropical Celebration

Gabe and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and were lucky enough to take a trip to the Florida Keys to commemorate the occasion. We spent a lot of time reflecting all of the adventures, challenges, and sweet moments of the last decade.  We hotel hopped and scouted out kitschy diners on our way from Key Largo to Key West.

The trip highlight was scuba diving and snorkeling some of the shallow reefs.  Gabe is an avid diver. We went with a dive group out about 5 miles from shore and while Gabe went down with the divers I was snorkeling by myself and came face to face with a giant nurse shark!  We've done cage dives with sharks before, but nothing compares to the adrenaline rush of seeing one while you are floating in the middle of the ocean alone.  I also saw a sting ray and countless parrot fish.

Gorgeous tropical blossoms

Downtown Key West

Sunset tight rope walker in Key West

Laid-back Duck Key

Hemmingway is a favorite author, so we made a trip to his home in Key West.  We then drove back to Miami for our final two nights.  We went Latin dancing and ate divine food in fashionable South Beach.  I just love when we can have memorable moments like this together.  Here's to the next 10 years!