Hawaii Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our trip. This was our sightseeing day. We took a drive up to Waimea Canyon. It was amazing. It is call the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It is 14 miles long and 1 mile wide. It was huge!

Our next stop was Kokee State Park. There you could see over the Na'Pali Coast. It was gorgeous. We got there just before the clouds rolled in.

Our last stop on the tour was the Wai'ale'ale overlook. This is one of the wettest spots on Earth, averaging over 450 inches a year, and approximately 360 days of rain each year! You can see the rain clouds rolling in.

Green Smoothies

So lately I have been seeing green smoothies everywhere! So I wanted to give my opinion about them in case you haven't tried them yet. I LOVE them!! I have been drinking them for just over a year now. My mom got a Vitamix last Christmas, and I fell in love with it.

Then for my birthday, my parents got me a Blendtec.

I got the combo, so I have two pitchers with mine. Honestly, I like the machines equally. The only thing the blendtec doesn't have it the tamper (the stir stick), but I haven't found that to be an issue. Anyways, these things are amazing!! You just throw in a bunch of greens and fruit, and it mixes it right up. Here are a few secrets I have learned over the last year. Spinach is pretty tasteless, so it is the best green to use. I sometime add a little bit of kale or mustard greens, etc, but these are pretty bitter and can ruin the smoothie if you put in too much. Also, frozen fruit it not a sweet as fresh fruit, so if you use frozen, use just a little bit of orange juice to help sweeten it. You can also put in anything you want. I never use a recipe--I just use whatever I happen to have at the time. I also will put in flax seed, oatmeal, protein powder, etc. It's a great way to get your fruits and veggies. If you are unsure about it, try adding just a little spinach at a time until you get used to it. I make sure at least half of my smoothie is made up of spinach. One more trick--buy a big bag of spinach, blend it all up, pour it in a muffin tin and freeze it, then put them in a bag in the freezer. That way it is ready to go whenever you want, and your spinach won't go bad before you can use it all. I like to get the big bags of spinach at Costco. It is way cheaper than the grocery store. Let me know if you have tried green smoothies and what you think.

Hawaii Part 1

Our trip to Hawaii was amazing! We were on the island of Kauai. We stayed for a week, and could have stayed longer. There was so much to see and do and we didn't get it all done! The first beach we went to was one of my favorites. It was Polihale, and it was right at the beginning of the Na'Pali Coast. It is very secluded, so it was not busy at all. There were pretty big waves that we had a blast in with the boogie boards. After we wore ourselves out, we made a fire and cooked hot dogs and smores. Then after dark, we watched for shooting stars. We saw so many!

Beginning of the Na'Pali Coast--so beautiful!

There were rainbows all the time. If you look closely in the top right hand corner, you can see the beginning of a double rainbow. There were a lot of those also.

From here, there is a 17 mile stretch of beaches.

The sunset was amazing. It just lit up the clouds like I've never seen before. You can also see out fire--the little dot at the bottom left corner!

Trips in 2011

We didn't do a whole lot this year, but we had fun. We went camping up in North Carolina, which is always fun. While we were up there, we went rafting on the Nantahala River. We didn't do white water rafting this time, but it was still fun. We also went down to Savannah and Tybee Island for a few days for Crystal's wedding. She got married on the beach. It was beautiful. Perfect weather too.

My mom and I went to Charlotte to see Jon Scmidt. That was fun! I loved his concert. The next day we went shopping and had a great time. Here is one of his songs that I am working on right now.

http://youtu.be/gdxJ3WxR1qY

We also went to Atlanta to see Wicked and Cirque du Soleil. I love, love, LOVE Wicked. We have seen it before, but I had to see it again! I also love Cirque du Soleil. We have seen a few different ones and they all amaze me. Hopefully we will get to see another one this coming year.

We also went to Isle of Palms with Troy's mom. She had a conference for work so we tagged along. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo, which was very nice. Troy and I kept busy while she was in her meetings by going to the beach and going shopping. Once she was done with her meetings, we all went to Charleston and walked around. It has been years since I have been there, so it was nice to go again.


The place we stayed was a whole "resort" area. It had hotels, condos, and houses to rent. It had a golf course and tennis courts, pools, restaurants, etc. It was pretty cool. Here is a picture of one of the hotels.

Here is the condo we stayed in.

Each of the 2 bedrooms had its own porch with this great view.



Charleston is so pretty. Beautiful houses and gardens.

More Spray Paint Projects

So I decided to try something new with spray paint. It was actually a huge project, but I LOVE how it turned out. Since we built a nice, big deck out back, I wanted some patio furniture. I didn't want to pay a lot for it, so I started looking on Craigslist. I found a dining set that I like, except one thing--the color. It was just blah and it blended in with the cushions. The price was good, so we went ahead a bought it. I went to Lowes and picked out the perfect spray paint color and got to work. It took quite a bit of spray paint, but it was totally worth it. It turned out perfect, and had held up great so far. To make things even better, I found a great outdoor rug on clearance for $30, originally $127. Can't beat that!! We love having a "room" outdoors to use now. We had a party on the 4th of July with my family, Troy's family, and a few friends. It was perfect--we had the kids swimming and we grilled out. The table was great--it doubled our space so we could have people eating inside and outside. Also, just for fun, I put pictures of the old deck before we moved in. Such a HUGE difference!

Year in Review

I'm back! I quit blogging for a while, but then decided I liked to put posts up, even if I am the only one that reads them. It's fun to look back and see what we have been up to. One day I will convert my blog into a book so I can always remember these things. Anyways, over the next few days I will be posting some highlights from the past year.

In October 2010, my grandma passed away. She was 92 and was such an amazing woman. I am so glad I was able to attend Utah State University and be close to her and spend so much time with her. My whole family was able to be there for the funeral, and just about all of my cousins and their families were there. The night before the funeral, all of her kids and grandchildren got together for a "family service". Everyone got a chance to tell how she influenced their life. It was amazing to hear all the stories and really was a testimony of what a wonderful person she was and the righteous life she lead.

Troy and I loved being back in Utah, especially in October. It was so beautiful. Sometimes I really miss it. I loved going to school at USU. Maybe one day we will be closer than Georgia!

I didn't have any pictures of my grandma on my camera, so I got these 2 off Beth's blog.

Paul and Grandma, and Udell and Grandma

My family at the funeral

Porter--One of the cutest little boys ever. How can you not smile when you see that face?

The cemetery is beautiful.

Grandpa's and my cousin Craig's headstones. Grandma's will be next to Grandpa's.

The Logan Temple. My parents got married here. So did Melissa and Lance.

Old Main at Utah State University. Beautiful!

The boys playing in the leaves. They had a blast.

Main Street in Logan

We had such a beautiful weekend. The weather was wonderful and the leaves were amazing. The morning we were leaving we woke up to this--SNOW! Typical Utah weather!