Another week, another sunburn!

Aloha!

I know that sounds annoying and cliche to people not in or from Hawaii, but that is the formal greeting here. Every time you meet someone they say it. People say it when they go to the pulpit at church... and the congregation shouts it back! However, if you say it in an informal setting, like passing an old lady walking down the street, she WILL laugh at you! So, take that for whatever its worth next time you visit Hawaii.

I watched the movie Blue Crush yesterday. I am starting to reconsider my interest in surfing. If you haven't seen it, its worth watching the last 30 minutes just to see the size of the waves. Terrifying. I did learn, however, that the best surfing is in the winter. The waves are much bigger for some complex scientific reason. Zack and I are looking forward to attending some surfing competitions this winter, just one of the many perks to living on the North Shore.

After being here almost a month, you'd think our skin would start adjusting to the sun. It has not. We went to the beach for like 3 or 4 hours one day and we got fried. Luckily, the humidity in the air is helping us avoid peeling so we're maintaining some sort of tan. Maybe someday we'll just tan instead of burn. Maybe someday.

I didn't take many pictures this week, but I'll upload the two I did.

Mahalo for reading! Love and miss you guys!

 A lot of the locals around here are very protective of the land and don't appreciate all the tourists. Every once in a while there are signs by people's houses with funny things on them. We laugh at this every time we drive by!

Our lizard friend! At the bottom of the stairs there is a planter with all of these flowers and the lizards LOVE THEM! There are easily 50 lizards that live in this planter. This guy is one of the biggest ones we've seen!

ALOHA!!

Two weeks ago Zack and I landed on the beautiful island of Oahu. It was dark when we landed, but as we stepped off the plane we could feel the ocean in the air. The humidity has taken some getting used to, but other than the dripping condensation on the outside of our drinks, we hardly even notice anymore. We pulled up to our new house and could hear the crashing waves.

We are literally on the beach. Its absolutely beautiful. I make sure to take some time each day to sit out there alone. The crashing waves and breeze kind of silence everything else and allow me a minute to breathe. The only downside to living next to the beach is that we're on the EAST side.. which is the side that the sun rises on. At 6:30 every morning the sun reflects off the ocean and into our windows. Also, the neighbors' chickens wake up when the sun comes up. So, as you can imagine its difficult to sleep past 7. Luckily, the night-life around here is... nonexsistant, which makes early to bed early to rise easy.

While we do live in paradise, it hasn't been easy. I think we both went into this move expecting everything to happen quickly and easily, but that hasn't been the case. Its definitely helped me to remember that God has His timetable, and its not always going to match up with mine. I've definitely had to be patient and learn to relax. I'm so lucky to have Zack because he has been so calm and confident through this process and it has definitely helped me. The situation definitely could've put stress on our relationship, but I am so happy to say that it has made us closer.

Last week we decided that we needed to start enjoying this beautiful place that we live! Until my car gets here, we have to take the bus everywhere. This is an adventure in and of itself. The most interesting/bizarre people ride the bus. We were also lucky to have my friend Cece here and she had a car for a week. Between the bus and the car we got to see most of the island. I'll post as many pictures as I have and try to keep posting them more regularly!

I love and miss everyone, but I feel so blessed to be here on this adventure and I'm grateful for your love and support!

These first two pictures are our backyard.

This was a beach we found by accident. It had the biggest waves (not pictured) that we've seen yet on the island.

It rains at least once a day here. We always have awesome storm clouds coming in.

The Laie Temple. So beautiful!

Just enjoying a Sunday on the temple lawn.

Matsumoto's Shave Ice. YUM!

Just an example of the crazy ladies at the bus stop.

Our first papaya. CAN'T love it.

Easily one of the coolest things yet. Swimming with sea turtles. They were everywhere!

Heirloom Ring

As Zack and I began to look at engagment rings, I had a hard time finding a ring that I really loved, one that I felt was just me. He mentioned that his dad had a ring that had belonged to his grandmother who had passed. I was very intrigued and thought we should check it out. When I first saw the ring it was missing a couple stones, including the main stone and it was dirty and looked very old. Obviously, if you know anything about me you know that I fell in love with it. It was everything I'd ever wanted. Zack replaced the missing diamonds, and chose a yellow sapphire for the main stone. I think he must know me better than I know myself. When he proposed the ring took my breath away. It was more beautiful than I had ever imagined.

I visited with Zack's dad, Les, yesterday for a few hours and asked a million questions about the ring and who it belonged to. Let's just say I feel so honored and blessed to have this ring on my finger everyday. The rings were first worn by Les' grandmother who was married in 1921, exactly 90 years ago! His grandfather was an older man when it got married and Les said the rumor had it, the ring was given to him in 1890 as encouragement for him to settle down. It was 30 years later he gave it to his sweetheart. If the rumor is true, that would make my rings 121 years old! That is completely unreal to me!

He shared many stories with me about his ancestors. It was great to hear all the history behind the Dupaix name. I have been so blessed to become part of the tradition and look forward to continuing it!

June! Finally, it feels like SUMMER!

Its been a while since I've posted...too long probably. June was a good month for Zack and me. The beautiful weather gave us a lot of time outside with good friends and family! We feel like we have to make the most of the time we have before  we leave the main land for the islands! I thought I'd share some of our adventures and my favorite photos from this month!

We made a trip up into the mountains to watch the sunset on the Summer Solstice.

The sunset was one of the most pure sunsets I've seen. There were very few clouds and the light was so natural. The way it lit up the lake was just beautiful

We could see the results of the extra moisture this year with the insanely green grass and how far Utah Lake has stretched into the city!

It was so peaceful. The mountains are definitely going to be one of the things I'll miss most about Utah! We've been so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

For Zack's Birthday we spent the weekend at Panguitch Lake with some friends.

I didn't take many pictures over the weekend, but we did take a few when we stopped at Cedar Breaks on the drive home!

Cheesin' it up!

We've felt so blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with so many people that we love. Our move at the end of the month will be one of the most bittersweet in our lives (and that's saying something). We know that amazing adventures are ahead for us as we say goodbye to our friends and family and look forward to the opportunity to find more.





Mother's Day Trip to Zion

This Mother's Day we continued our tradition of hiking Angel's Landing at Zion National Park. After a looooong and treacherous morning, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon by the river with the kiddies. They are BY FAR my favorite subjects to photograph! I just cannot get enough of them!

They just both have such expressive faces.

Blogging... Take Two

This is my second attempt at starting a blog, but I'm feeling much more optimistic about my blogspot future. I never really understood the whole blogging sensation until I started planning a wedding. After spending months browsing wedding and photography blogs, I am now hooked.

With so many loved ones who live far from us, I hope to use this as a way to stay in touch and share the adventures and trouble Zack and I find. I've attached permanent links to the bottom of this blog for slide shows of Zack and my wedding pictures. I find myself looking at them ever so often, and I know there are still many who haven't seen them!

So, here we go again! Hopefully I'll find more success and consistency with this blog!

Peace and Love my friends.