Just like that, our Hawaii trip has come and gone. I have always wanted to take my kids to Hawaii, and I wasn't sure if it was in the cards for us. When John and I were trying to decide when and where to get married, we decided to do it on a family trip to Hawaii. I really didn't want to have a traditional wedding again, and I would rather spend money on the cost of a wedding and take a family trip instead. We thought about eloping at the courthouse, but my kids wanted to be there, and Hawaii is the perfect place to elope. We found a company that had an à la carte wedding menu, and you can pick and choose what you want. We picked the simplest package. The wedding was already in a gorgeous setting and taking place on an epic trip; it takes care of itself. A minister and a photographer showed up, and within 20 minutes, we were married. It's a good thing, too, because Piper woke up with the flu and was dying during the ceremony. She basically spent the rest of the trip in the hotel room. Poor girl!

Let's back up. We flew out on Sunday around 1:00 pm. We arrived in Hawaii around 7:30 pm Hawaii time. We got our rental van and headed to the hotel. The hotel was a little annoying in that it charged us $50 a day for a "free coupon" to use at the hotel restaurant. Even though we were super tired from a big day of travel, we ordered some food off their menu that night to use our voucher. We crashed after that. On Monday morning after breakfast, we drove to pick up our marriage license, and then we went to Walmart to buy snacks and supplies for the week. After that, we went to the beach and played for a few hours. Monday was one of the only days it didn't rain. I think had we known that, we would have stayed at the beach even longer that day. Later, we went to an early dinner at Lulu's. 

On Tuesday, we got up early and went on a hike to Monoa Falls. I heard it's best to go early, and that was correct. On our way back, the trail was packed, and I was glad we didn't have to deal with all of the people. The hike was 1.6 miles round trip, so it was perfect. The hike was pretty slick and very muddy, but no one fell! After the hike, we went to Goofy's Cafe and Dine for brunch. We waited FOREVER. It was at least 2 hours so that was kind of awful, and I don't think any of us would do that again, but it was very good. After that, it started raining, and I didn't want to go out in it. The kids swam in the hotel pool for hours. Ryan rested in the room. We had dinner at Marugame Udon place across the street from our hotel. The line was always long, and it had really good reviews, but we all agreed it was the worst dinner we had. People love it, I guess!

Wednesday was wedding day! It was the only other day that didn't rain. We got so lucky. We had breakfast, and then we got ready and drove to the wedding spot. Getting ready on time is always tricky, and right after we left, I remembered that we forgot our marriage license, so we had to turn around and go get it. Luckily, we were early enough that we still ended up on time to the wedding. We got married at the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens. They were SOOO beautiful. It looked like Jurassic Park. Like I already said, the ceremony was short and sweet. After the wedding, we had lunch and went on a snorkel trip. Originally, we had that planned on Monday, but it got rescheduled for Wednesday due to the weather. Right when we got there was the only time on the trip I was actually hot for a few minutes. The sun came out, and it was warm. We took a short boat ride to a spot to check out the sea turtles and fish. Piper was sick, but she rallied to go. After about 15 minutes, she was done, so I joined her back on the boat. I was okay to go back. It freaks me out to try to breathe through the snorkel, and I couldn't handle it. I felt very claustrophobic and was not into it. I was happy to get back on the boat with Piper. We could still see the turtles from the boat. That night we got Cheeseburgers in Paradise, and they were okay. Not my favorite burger. 

Originally, we were going to go to the North Shore on Thursday. I wanted to show the kids where I went to school for a couple of months and just be at the North Shore. It has a totally different feel than Waikiki, and I love it over there. We decided not to do that since Piper was sick, so we stuck to Waikiki so we would be close to her, hanging out in the hotel. It rained off and on all day, but we went to the beach anyway. John and I went first for a few hours, and the other kids didn't want to go. After lunch, Ryan wanted to go to the beach, so Gabby joined him. I couldn't talk Corbin into it. It is not appealing to go the beach in the rain but it was pretty fun. The upside is the beach was practically empty. It wasn't too cold, and we played for a few hours. (It wasn't warm either, haha, I had to rally). That night, we went to a fish market for dinner near our hotel. It was very good!

On Friday, we had breakfast, and it was pouring rain. I forced Corbin to join us, and everyone but Piper went to the beach for several hours. It was not warm, but it wasn't terrible. It rained pretty hard the whole time we were there. We were supposed to go to a luau on the North Shore that night, but it got canceled because of flooding. I'm really glad we didn't book our hotel at the North Shore. They were experiencing more of the flooding issues on that side of the island. I was bummed we didn't get to go to our Luau and we didn't get to go to the North Shore, but I was glad we didn't get flooded out, and we still had fun at the beach despite the weather. We went to an early dinner at Earl's that night and got ready for an early morning. 

On Saturday, we got up at 3:30 am and by some miracle, were able to get all of our things to fit in our suitcases. On the flight from Hawaii to Seattle, Ryan barfed right before we landed. I was several rows behind him and didn't have any idea. I guess he wasn't feeling well and just barfed in the aisle. Yikes! I'm glad it happened right at the end, so people weren't dealing with barf for very long. He now knows where to find barf bags and will never live this one down. The flight attendant was trying to talk to him, and he wasn't responding. At one point, she asked if he spoke English. Oh, Ryan, love ya buddy! We got back to Boise around 7:30 pm. Today I was able to do laundry all day and get some groceries. I'm trying to gear up to wake up early for work tomorrow. Gabby slept in until 1:00 today. Tomorrow will be rough!

Waiting on the floor at the Boise airport on route to Hawaii. There were no seats.

Walking to the beach

Sisters, cute!

This was our only rain-free beach day. Had we known, we may have stayed even longer that day.

Dinner at Lulu's.

Monoa Falls hike (Ryan was sick and was STRUGGLING, he did it though!)

The trees were so cool!

Ryan's face! haha.

Waiting for breakfast at Goofy Cafe & Dine. We had to wait 2 hours, it was really good, but was it THAT good? 

Ryan was trying not to die after the hike and waiting for breakfast.

Night beach walk.

On the boat to go snorkel with the sea turtles.

Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Piper was sick at the hotel.

A couple of my friends made our Just Married sunglasses and gave me that sign at my bachelorette party, so we had to take a picture! 

Our last dinner at Earl's. Piper was at the hotel.

Our dogs were so happy we came back! We were happy to see them too!

It was a big week in culinary. 2 of my students and I taught a class on Monday at BSU. It was a bit of an undertaking. I was super happy when it was done, and I'm glad to have that behind me and that experience under my belt. I had to load my van with all of the recipe ingredients and cooking equipment, along with the warming trays filled with food. The worst part was heating up all of the food. Timing was hard to figure out because I didn't want to do it too soon and then have it cool back down before I arrived at BSU and set up the warming trays. I started 30 minutes before I needed to leave, and it took much longer than expected. I was running from kitchen 6 to 4 to 2, where I have the big microwaves, and I was constantly stirring, checking temps, and restarting the microwave. It took 45 minutes. I was sweating bullets. I finally got it loaded up and drove to BSU. Luckily, my mentor teacher in charge of the class began teaching first while my students and I made several trips from the parking garage and set up our table. Each of us cooked a different recipe and shared cooking tips and ways to boost the nutrients. We were told to expect 40 people, and there were only about 15. We had tons of leftovers. I drove them back to Borah and had my students eat them over the next couple of days. I was glad all of it got eaten. I don't like wasting food. It all worked out, but I think I had 1 million steps that day and lost a few pounds in sweat. I really enjoy the subjects I teach, but there's so much work involved with them. I have teaching health in the back of my mind if I get too burned out with FCS. So. Much. Work. My culinary students did a brownie plating challenge. They did such a good job!

My parents and sister came to Boise yesterday. My brother Alex got called as a bishop in his ward, so they came to support him. Several of us met for Costa Vida last night. I thought my parents were staying with another sibling, but they booked a hotel. I offered for them to stay with me, and they decided to do that instead. We had a nice time chatting before bed and a chat over breakfast. It was fun to have a quick visit with them. 2 weeks from today, we fly out to Hawaii! I can't wait!

Piper and Ryan were on winter break this past week, lucky! They somehow get a fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, winter break, and a spring break. No wonder they love their new school, John was like, "Are they accredited?" They were living their best lives, sleeping in and slumming it on their computers all day, no doubt. 

I decided I wanted to move my projector screen to the front of the classroom, and it's been a whole ordeal. At first, they moved it directly in the middle of the room. It was comically bad. They then moved it in the right spot, but it's too far from my projector, and it can't focus. I couldn't use it for 3 days last week. I really can't teach without it. They are working on a solution, worst case scenario, I just have it moved to its old spot, which was near the kitchens and just kind of annoying but WAY better than unusable. 

Tomorrow a couple of my culinary students and I are traveling to BSU to teach a class on easy meals on a budget. I think it's for disabled young adults who need some assistance. I'm not 100% sure. I'm pretty stressed about it. We made a bunch of the food on Friday, and tomorrow I have to try to reheat it and put it in the big catering warmers and transport them to BSU. We are also cooking live, so I have to bring portable burners and cooking equipment along with recipe supplies. I can't wait until tomorrow at 3:00 when it's done. Wish me luck!

The girls and I did way too much shopping for our Hawaii trip, and we were very successful at finding cute things to wear while we are there. I think a spending fast will be in order after this. Luckily we found the cutest dresses for them to wear on the wedding day. I'm so excited we found something that all 3 of us could agree on. The girls look so cute in their dresses! 

We celebrated Gabby's birthday with me today. I made her a special breakfast, dinner, and a cake. I can't believe she's 16 already! Crazy.

Worst projector screen location ever.

These dogs love me so much! How can I not love them???

Ryan made a fort one day while on break.

Ryan and I went to the Birds of Prey on Saturday so he could earn some extra credit in his science class.

This bird was so funny looking. 

Cutest Gabs!

 

I don't have much from the week. Same old, same old. On Friday night, my friend Krista threw me an amazing bachelorette/galentines party. She went WAY over the top, it was so nice! We had a night in, which is my favorite. Good food, good friends, in cozies, heck yes! I was definitely spoiled for sure. Valentine's Day was good. John got me chocolates and flowers like I like and want. We made dinner at home together. We recreated an early date where we made eggs benedict and somehow I made it worse this time. It still tasted good, but it certainly wouldn't earn any culinary awards. John surprised me and made me a secret Valentine dessert. It was so cute and so good. It was some sort of cookie, peanut butter bar situation. Yum! It's a 3 day weekend. Woot. I'm excited to have another day to do whatever!

Gabby turned 16 on Friday. She is with her dad this week, so we will celebrate again when she is with me. She had a great 16th birthday bash. Well, that's all!

The kids put Piper's hat on Hutch. He's thrilled!

Hutch thinks he's a lap dog and tries to be on my lap sometimes.

John and Mitzi M&M's

Beautiful!

Just married sunglasses. Bride hat, and I Do slippers.

All the ladies

Me, the bride!

The Hollandaise sauce was a quick hack, but it didn't turn out thick enough; it did taste good. Really good!

This past week has been pretty good. I got some sort of flu of sorts, who knows. I had a cold, but then Tuesday morning, I just felt extra crummy and had a weird stomach ache, headache, and just felt unwell. I hurried and wrote a sub plan and bailed from work. It also happened to be on the day that our garage door needed to be fixed, so it was convenient in that I was home for the repairman to come and fix it. $600 later. Don't you just love out-of-the-blue expenses? Apparently, you need to grease your garage door springs every 6 months, so John has put that reminder in his phone. Corbin had the flu a week ago, and Gabby was also sick. Ryan missed school on Friday but seems to be alright now. It's going around for sure. I still didn't feel great on Wednesday or Thursday, but I didn't feel like I could skip school again. I feel back to normal now. 

I got my formal evaluation over with last week. I love checking those things off my list. My VP is super laid back, so it's not stressful at all, which is nice! 

Corbin has earned 28 college credits throughout his high school career. Mostly math and science classes. Good work Corbs! Gabby is already taking several college courses, so I'll be curious how many she has earned by the time she graduates. Piper's meds aren't working as well, which is annoying. She's still doing well in school, though. Gem Prep has been a very good switch for her. Ryan is doing great. He's such a cute, funny boy. I don't want him to grow up. Stay my baby forever, Ryan!

I felt like celebrating Valentine's Day with my kids this week since I won't see them next week. I made a special breakfast and got some very expensive chocolates. Never again. LOL. I have a friend who owns a local candy store, so I thought I would support her. Holy smokes, they were expensive. Oh well. For breakfast, we had crepes with fruit, fried red potatoes, eggs, and bacon. I made Ryan a slice of French toast with my homemade artisan bread because he loves French toast. It was a feast. Making yummy food is definitely how I show my family love. haha. 

Hutch and Charly love me so much. They follow me around waiting for me to sit down so they can cuddle next to me. It's pretty cute! 

My sick buddies.

Piper was so excited to get this Stranger Things 1000-piece puzzle. She knocked it out of the park!

Ryan built a fort randomly last night. 

Breakfast feast.

Because she's cute.

My study buddies.