I may have to leave this place, but it will never leave me

I have not been blogging as much as I would like to, but things have been busy and changing fast so I have a good excuse. I am on final countdown to leave Hawaii in about 37 hours, which breaks my heart to think about. I am going to dedicate this blog to my top 5 greatest memories/moments I have had in Hawaii. It is really hard to narrow it down, and I have so many, but I think these 5 stick out the most. We have spent the last few weeks packing up our house, Chance got officially discharged from the military today (woo) and now we are Utah bound for a few weeks to spend time with friends and family. Then onto the next part of our life together. There are a lot of things I am going to miss, but there are a lot more things I am looking forward to!

 5. My first 24 hours as a Hawaii resident. After waiting what seemed like forever, graduating from college, quitting two jobs, and leaving everything I had known for four years, I hopped on a plane. Chance picked me up and took us to our house. He cooked me dinner and we enjoyed our first of many evenings on the lanai. Definitely a great memory! 

 4. Seeing PEPPER in Hawaii! I moved out here in May and was waiting and waiting and waiting for the day we would get to see Pepper live and in their home state. Finally the news spread that they were coming in December and I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. We got to see a few great bands while we were here like Forever the Sickest Kids, Matt and Kim, Silverstein, The Green, Iration, but best of all was Pepper. I made Chance get there super early and we stood right in front of the stage, we were front row center and it was amazing! If you have not ever listened to Pepper I highly suggest it.

 3. Skydiving! I feel like this explains itself, but Chance took me on my first visit out here and I am hooked. It is the most amazing experience ever and I could do it on a weekly basis. Back-flipping out of an airplane, falling over the turquoise blue seas of North Shore is amazing. So I made Chance promise to take me one more time before we moved and we went last weekend. We were the first jump of the day, the skies were clear, and it was better than I even remembered. It is so surreal and unexplainable, I recommend that you add it to your bucket list!

2. The Ocean. We are headed to the east coast which is a new world to me. I have been raised around the Pacific Ocean most of my life and I am going to miss it so very very much. I am going to miss gliding under the waves. Spending hours just playing in the ocean. I am going to miss body boarding with Chance. I am going to miss the warm, clear waters here in Hawaii and most of all how the salt makes me feel. I love the salt on my skin and the waves it puts in my hair. It always makes me feel better and I am going to miss it so very very much! 

1. Chance coming home. So this is just a memory that I have in Hawaii that will forever me one of the greatest days in my life. Chance was gone for 8 months, we lived through emails, letters, and dreaming of the day he came home. I thought the day would never come that he would get home. Finally it did, I was so nervous standing on the pier waiting to hug him. I thought of it/day dreamed about it so many times that it did not seem real. It seemed like eternity from the time they pulled in until he was finally able to come off the ship and in the moment he did it was one of the greatest feelings ever, and I knew that my new life was finally starting. 

Mahalo for all the great memories, Aloha Hawaii.

Mow-ee

Before I ever moved out to Hawaii I told Chance that I really wanted to island hop. Well this whole time thing always seems to rush by quickly and then you realize that you have to cram everything in at the last moment. So about two weeks ago I told Chance that I had some frequent flyer miles, and a hook up for a cheap condo in Maui. We booked our flights, and took off for the weekend. It was lovely! While there relaxing I realized it was technically our first vacation together which made it even more special. We are not much of the staying out super late at night people because we much prefer to get up early and enjoy the whole day which is exactly what we did.

We arrived late Friday evening and enjoyed the coastal views on our way to the condo, got set up, enjoyed some dinner, and called it a night. We spent most of Saturday in the epitome of a surf town called Paia. We did some shopping and had some amazing lunch at the Paia Fish Market, we are talking fish caught that morning and served up for lunch fresh! It was delicious. We wandered all over the town enjoying the beach, and the people. We had planned to go on a zip-line but unfortunately neither of us brought shoes, and it is kind of a requirement. So we headed to the beach instead and did some scavengering in tide pools. That night we drove up to Lahaina and had dinner with a view. We walked around the shops and caught a beautiful sunset. Finally Sunday morning at O'dark thirty we got up to catch the sunrise whale watch. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in my life. I, along with most children at some point in their life, wanted to be a marine biologist of some sort because I had this deep infatuation with whales and dolphins. I have seen a lot of planet earth but nothing prepared me for seeing two full size humpback whales breach out of the water right in front of my eyes. I was speechless and in awe of these amazing creatures. They are so unique and beautiful, and the calf was so playful. Chance and I could not help but wonder what it felt like to them to be completely out of the water for just a brief moment before returning to the deep blue. I had no idea that we actually have very little knowledge of these whales, we do not know their life expectancy or how/where they breed which is crazy to me. Maybe this means I could actually live one of my childhood dreams and be a marine biologist?

To sum it up Maui was a great weekend trip and I hope to go back next time and spend a little more time. Zip-line and the road to Hana are at the top of my list! I will miss the islands so much, but God is good and, even though my life will be doing a 180 very shortly, I have a lot to be thankful for and even more excitement to look forward to. The countdown continues, 14 days and I will be mainland bound. So rather than blogging too much I have been enjoying what time I have left in Ha'vay'i

Sunset in Lahaina

Whale Watching

Speechless 

Aloha to Maui

Natural Beauty

I have fallen a little behind on my farewells to this island, partly because I have been busy, but mostly because I just do not want to really have to say goodbye to it all. I did get side tracked on Thursday evening making a snowboard video of Joey for the school talent show, and then was busy enjoying my weekend.

To catch up for the last few days I will say goodbye to the nature around me.  The strategically shaped volcanic mountains laden with canopies of green, the picture perfect sunrises and sunsets, the tropical flowers that seem unimaginably real, and the sparkling turquoise blue hues that completely envelop me. I have been so fortunate to live here. I will miss the beauty of this place more than anything. 

Below are some of the moments I have captured in the past few months. These are the things I get to see daily and I constantly have reminded myself to never take them for granted. I cross between the pali's every morning and I always look out over the bay, pause, and then give thanks that I have had the opportunity to live here for the past year.

The pink sunset from our lanai

Pyramid Rock 

Tropical Flower

View from Mariner's Ridge hike

I will miss drinking my coffee on the lanai in the mornings. I will miss the way the clouds get caught on the pali's and form a layer of gray atop the green mountains. I love the Banyan trees and how their roots grow from their branches and into the ground. The random flowers that you can pick and place so elegantly in your hair. The birds that make loud noises in the trees. The sunrise as I cross the Pali every morning. Most of all I will miss the ocean. The salt has become a part of my blood and when I go awhile without having it on my skin I do not feel myself. The waters are healing, they relax me and calm me and let me forget everything else and just be a part of them. I will certainly miss the ocean most!

This is kind of how I feel about the ocean.

"I wish I could live where the sea meets the land.

The ocean and I would be the best of friends.

I'd make her my own. I would float in her waves.

She would sing me to sleep as she carries me away"- Emery