San Onofre Beach

This last weekend my Aunt had the best idea, she suggested we rent the private cottages on San Onofre Beach. So we went with them and my Grandparents for a weekend on the beach. It was so nice to be on the beach and enjoy the sounds and beauty all day and night. We enjoyed bonfires on the beach, reading, and even playing with our nephews who came up on Saturday for a little bit. We're so lucky to be here in San Diego and I'm so glad we took advantage of this opportunity. I think we may have to make San Onofre a family tradition.

Thanksgiving Festivities

The Thanksgiving fun started the day before Thanksgiving when my mom, brother, and sister in law arrived for the weekend. That evening we celebrated G'pa Hutchins birthday. It was fun to all be there with him, he really gets so much joy out of hearing what's going on with everyone. We're lucky to have him in our lives. We also gave him and G'ma their Christmas present early (from all the kids and grandkids), a Bose Stereo. The picture of my G'ma below is her crying the second she saw "Bose". Amidst her tears she said, "I've wanted one of these my whole life." She's way too cute and so deserving.

Thanksgiving was fun. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent sometime at the beach and getting some boogie boarding and surfing in during the weekend.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful family that I have and for the time I'm able to spend with them.

Trip up the Coast

The Monday before Thanksgiving I went with my G'ma, Aunt Melanie, and Cousins Rachel and Ty on a trip up the coast. It was kind of a spur of the moment trip and it was so fun. We started off taking the coast highway north from San Diego. We stopped at Laguna Beach for some shopping and Newport's Crab Cooker for lunch (childhood favorite). We even stopped at the Santa Monica Pier to check out the popular site and Pepperdine University for the view. Everything was so beautiful. It was fun to see some of the sites that you see on TV and the movies.

We spent the night in Santa Barbara and then explored the town a little bit the next morning. I love that town, seriously, I think it might be my favorite city in the US, next to Boston. We then drove up to Solvang (a danish town) and got ourselves some Ebelskivers (danish pancakes). Then off to Hearst Castle. It was a beautiful drive up the coast and I saw beach towns along the way I'd never seen before.

Hearst castle was unreal. It was the home of the newspaper mogul years ago and it's pretty insane.

It was a really fun trip. It was a great week actually, because the day after we got home the family Thanksgiving festivities began.

Sammy's for Clem's Birthday

Wednesday all the family that lives in San Diego headed to Sammy's (delicious) for Uncle Matt's birthday. It was fun to be able to celebrate with Matt and the food was so good. They have a shrimp salad that is unbelievable. The funniest part of the night was when they brought out the birthday sundae, G'ma wanted in on the action that she stood up and reached across the whole table in order to get a good bite. It was so great!

Last weekend

Last weekend was a great one for us. Friday night we attended my old high school's football game (TPHS vs. LCC). We went with my good friend from high school Melissa and her husband, Joey. Walking into the stadium brought back so many memories. It was great getting to see a few other friends as well and eat a California Quiver (fruit ice thingy, used to work there in high school).

Saturday we went surfing with some cousins and enjoyed some Roberto's while soaking up the sun. It was such a gorgeous day for November.

That evening we headed down to Peter's brother, Tommy's place for some BYU football and playing at the park with the nephews. Their boys are beyond darling, it's so fun to get a chance to hang out with them.

You know you're married to a medical student when....

your husband falls asleep at 6:30 on a Friday night. Awesome!

I was reading in my scriptures tonight and this passage jumped out at me, "there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord." It just reminded me how true it is that God has a plan for us and has a hand in our daily lives.

Update

Our time in Hawaii has come to an end. We finished it off by celebrating Robbie's birthday, eating at the Little Village Noodle House (amazing Chinese food), boogie boarding on the North Shore, and SHAVED ICE. What will I do without being able to get shaved ice whenever I want?! It's going to be a hard transition back to normal life. I left Hawaii very rejuvenated and happy.

We are now back on the mainland in the beautiful city of San Diego. We will be here until the middle of December. Peter will be working at the hospital here learning about Pediatrics while I will be enjoying the scenery and spending time with family. We each have a set of grandparents here, plus some aunts and uncles, a cousin, and Peter's brother, Tommy and his family. We are really excited to be able to spend time with everyone.

So far traveling around this year has gone really well. We have mastered the art of microwavable food, living out of 1.5 suitcases each and shared laundry facilities. I love being able to take this journey with my husband and enjoy all the places along the way.

Kim's UVU Debut

As a freshman at UVU, Kim Bell played in her first college basketball this last weekend..... and she did amazing. She scored 17 points and got 8 rebounds. Check this out:

http://www.wolverinegreen.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/103110aaa.html

We are so proud of her and so excited to see what she'll do next.

You know you're married to a medical student when....

you go to wake up your husband and he asks you what your blood pressure is in his sleeping stupor. Good times!

Parents came to visit

My parents came in to town this last week and we had a great time. We spent a day on the North Shore snorkeling, enjoying Sunset Beach, and indulging in fruit from the roadside stands and Ted's bakery. The next day we spent time at the beach in Waikiki .

Another day we hiked to Sacred Falls and then snorkeled at Hanauma Bay and ended the night at Nico's by the pier for some fresh fish. Our days have been busy!

Friday we kayaked to the Moks Islands and then went to Spaghetti Factory and then to the movie, Secretariat.

Saturday was extra fun. We attended the Laie Temple open house. It was such a beautiful temple and I loved the peaceful feeling that was there. It's funny now that I think about it, but our next activity was skydiving. That definitely was not peaceful. My Mom and I actually did it, we jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet. It was incredible and hard to describe how it felt. The scenery was beautiful, the rush was amazing, and I'm so grateful I'm alive! So cool. Afterwards we swam out to Chinaman's Hat Island and hiked to the top. I have to admit, my parents are pretty cool to do all of these things. The hike was not easy, in fact we had to climb several rocks that were pretty steep. I was impressed.

Sunday was pretty low key, we went to church and then took a drive up the west side of the island to show them what it's like.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to visit. It was really great to spend time with you and do so many fun things together.

Ha

If you didn't know, Ha is the breath of life according to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We went to the Ha show on Saturday night. It was pretty cool to see the different types of dance and music. You can't come to Oahu and not go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, right?!

The west side and Kaena Point

Peter got home a little early on Thursday so we decided to explore the west side of Oahu. We started off at the Ko'Olina Lagoons for some snorkeling. We saw a couple really cool fish that we had not seen anywhere else that we've snorkeled. Then we drove up the coast to see that was around. I was shocked at how brown everything was at first. Then I was even more shocked by the homeless communities along the beach. There are these communities of tents all along the beach. It was so surprising to me to see all these people living on the beach and the tents and the trash. It was shocking!

We took the time to hike out to Kaena Point, the farthest point on the island. The hike was long, but you really felt like you were on the edge of the world. It was really pretty and so cool that we were all alone out there. Well, except for the Monk Seals that we say. As we were walking out on the rocks at the point Peter said, "Jen, don't panic, but turn around" he then pointed out several Monk Seals just feet away from us. We had just walked right past them and did not even noticed them. What if I would have stepped on one of them?!

Being the west side, there was a beautiful sunset.

Columbus Day Celebration

We took full advantage of this holiday Peter had off and saw more of the island. We started off bright and early at Pearl Harbor. It's always so beautiful to be there and it has a way of putting things in perspective and making you grateful.

Our next stop, Sunset Beach on the north shore. The waves were amazing that day so we lived it up. I'm pretty sure all of us caught some of the best waves of our lives.

Snorkeling at Sharks Cove was the next activity. It was really beautiful to see the fish and the rock formation. The current was really strong out there, so there were some times I got a little panicky about being able to get back.

Paddle boarding and cliff jumping at Waimea was a must. I'm really starting to love paddle boarding. Thanks to my cousin Elle's suggestion, we had Thai food at Haleiwa Eats to end off the day. The food was so good and of course had to be capped off with a shaved ice. We were all so exhausted after this long day, but we loved it. I pretty sure I took several naps on Sunday to recover from our amazing weekend.

Kailua and Mok Islands

Saturday was another really great day. The boys had the day off to Peter, Josh, Jo, Robbie and I rented some kayaks and headed out to Kailua. We kayaked over to the nearby Mok Islands. One of the islands had a beach to dock our boats on. We then set off exploring the island. Around the back of the island were some rock cliffs to jump off of. We had a blast!

We ended the day off with boogie boarding at Sandy Beach (where I got worked by the waves) and a BBQ with some friends. I love Saturdays, it is so fun to explore this beautiful island with Peter.

Point Panic

Friday was spent boogie boarding at Point Panic. Although Jo and I were out there with all of the surfers and they were giving us "the look" for invading their space. We got some good rides though and had lots of fun.

Kahana River

Since we already had the kayak, we spent the next day kayaking the Kahana River. It was a very quiet, jungle-like river. It was green everywhere!

Unfortunately, it was a shorter ride than we thought, so we spent the remainder of the day lounging at the pool.

Kaneohe Bay

On Wednesday of last week Jo and I rented a kayak and set off for Kaneohe Bay. We kayaked over a mile out to the sand bar in the middle of the bay. The water was the most beautiful blue and it was really cool to be able to get out in the middle of the bay and walk around. We also had some visitors while out there, sea turtles! There was one we tried to follow for a while and then we saw two huge ones bop up right in from of our kayak. It was really cool!

Then we kayaked out to an island not too far off, just over another mile. We encountered some waves along the way that gave us a little scared because by this time we were about 2 1/2 miles out from the shore. We felt pretty cool out there in our kayak, while everyone else were out there on their tour boats.

We explored the island and loved it. The rocks were so different and we loved the little creatures we found. The kayak ride back to our car was long, but I felt pretty cool when we got there and realized we had kayaked about five miles that day.