This is my 4th Bout with Island Fever!

It's really funny to talk about now, but when I got my first dose of island fever it completely freaked me out.  By the second dose I kinda knew what it was so I was a bit more calm about it.  By the third time it happened I recognized the signs right away and booked a trip to the mainland ASAP.  I am starting to feel it come on , and so am taking the proper steps to ensure that I don't get to the 'fright or flight' mode (I would say more like flight or flight mode- get me off this island NOW cause if I have to see water all around me one more day I am going to loose my marbles- If you are reading this blog and are from my adoption agency, I swear I am completely sane- and am just being a bit dramatic when I say I feel like loosing my marbles :)
I would say that island fever happens to a select few people who choose to move off of a large land mass (i.e. MAINLAND USA) to a small island- which happens to be not only 3000 miles away from any mainland but also the farthest island away from a mainland in the whole world.  I live on an area about the size of the Valley I moved from- What also helps to fuel island fever is when your favorite season is winter and where you live is 24/7/365 summer- it's like being in the movie Ground Hog Day waking up to the same temp. everyday- day after day (my husband LOVES this part of living in Hawaii)

For those of you who have never experienced 'Island Fever' I will do my best to describe it:

1. It starts with a nagging claustrophobic feeling.  You start noticing that everywhere you look is water.
2. The claustrophobic feeling grows with each passing experience- an example of this would be that on my way to drive my kids to school, when I get to the top of our drive way and see the ocean all around I do the 360 head swirl with my head to find an extended amount of land- when I don't see it I get the wild eye, the the feeling of 'I've gotta get out of here and drive'........I need to drive for hours on an interstate (Drove over 12 hours on a little road trip on my last trip to the main land and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT- sorry mom and sis if I was a driver hog)
3. The mountain's that are on 3 sides of the ranch (the ocean is the 4th side) start closing in on me- It's like they move closer and closer to our house
4. The claustrophobic feeling get's worse and the constant humidity and constant warm temp. mixed with the salt on everything and sand every night in my bed starts getting to me............
5. I sit Matt down and tell him that while I love Hawaii, I've gotta get a change of scenery- He usually thinks I am being a bit wimpy but tells me to do what I need to do........
6. I book a week long trip to the main land
7. I Stare out the window of the airplane just before landing on the main land memorized by all the lights of whatever big city I am landing in (San Fran, Seattle, Portland, etc..)
8. Feel Like kissing the ground when I land
9. Enjoy my week on the mainland- the fever subsides- 
10. I fly back to my little island with a new appreciation for my surroundings and the ocean that was a week earlier closing in on me now looks beautiful- the mountains that before I left seemed to be closing in on my house are back in their rightful place- the overwhelming humidity, salt, and sand everywhere is tuned out once more and life goes on as usual...............UNTIL
11. The cycle starts again.  At this time I battle a bout of island fever about every 4 months.

Nov. was the last time I was on the main land- I've gotta go cause I need to search for airfare!! LOL!

Have a good night everyone and enjoy with me what I will see tomorrow morning.......

A Beautiful Hawaiian Sunrise

A year ago Chile sent something to Hawaii

Early this morning I got a text message from my sister in law that read:
'Hey! I had a funny thought- a year ago today we were on tsunami watch!!'   
I chuckled under my breath and thought I would blog for just a sec. before we headed out to church.
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Last night a year ago I was busy making Chicken Kabobs for the BBQ we were going to have the next day (Feb. 27) with Matt's cousins Tim and Conny and my brother and his wife- both were visiting from the mainland.  For some reason I decided to use a whole bag of Coscto chicken for the kabobs- I knew it would be an overkill and we would have a ton of leftovers but figured my boys would eventually eat them up.  I finished up the Kabobs pretty late and headed to bed.
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Our phone rang at 4 am- It sits on my side of the bed so I grabbed it with a groggy 'Hello'?  The chipper voice of my dad came across the line, 'Hi Hun! Just checking in to see if you had seen the news.  Hawaii has a Tsunami Watch and I wanted to make sure that you knew.'- If you read my previous post you will already know what I am about to share.  Because we live so far out in the country, we do not hear the Tsunami Sirens- This would not be a problem except that we live right on the ocean.  We depend on friends and family (especially if it is in the middle of the night) to call and let us know if there is there is any type of 'warnings' we should know about.
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I copied and pasted from KHON News parts of their feature, 'One Year Later: Lessons learned from Hawaii's last Tsunami Scare:'
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February 27, 2010. It's six o'clock Saturday morning and the civil defense sirens are sounded.  Hours earlier, a powerful earthquake rocked Chile, triggering a tsunami warning for Hawaiiand the Pacific.

"We had a long lead time, the tsunami was going to arrive around mid-day, Civil Defense could make a reasonable decision to sound sirens early in the morning, people had several hours to get ready," said Charles McCreery, Director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Geophysicists at the Pacific TsunamiWarning Center are poring over data.

But at that time, gauges along the coast of Chile are only transmitting readings once an hour.

"Thats a little bit slow for us and its frustrating to have wait an hour to see if something happened there," McCreery explained. "So now those gauges have all been upgraded and they transmit every five minutes so that’s much, much, much better."

Residents living in tsunami evacuation zones are told to head for higher ground.

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That was us! We were headed for higher ground- Conny and Tim were not staying with us, there were staying at a local hotel.  My brother and sis in law were staying in a guest house here at the ranch.  Conny and Tim's hotel evacuated them and they were not able to make it over for BBQ- My bro, his wife, Eli, Ryan, Matt, I, Roxy and Hurley (our rabbits), our dog Oklie, the BBQ (cause we were not going to miss a fine opportunity of bbq), some personal items, and those CHICKEN KABOBS headed to the top of our driveway (the blessing of our driveway is that it climbs to about 1800 feet in a matter of 1.5 miles).  The tsunami came in a lot smaller that what they were thinking- THANK YOU JESUS- (I think it was a 3 inch rise)- and we had a great day BBQ'in with not only my bro and his wife but some other friends showed up with their friends and all those kabobs I had made the night before was the perfect amount to feed everyone!   (I do not want to take away from the fact that Tsunami's can be very dangerous.  For us, with this particular Tsunami Scare, we knew that we were not in any immediate danger and wanted to keep it serious enough that we did what the State was asking us to- evacuate, have plenty of food, water, etc...- but not so serious that we freaked our boys or our visitors out)

Below are some pictures of the day.

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BBQ'in at the top of our drive way- and if you notice
the view we had of the ocean...

This was our set up- with the chairs facing the ocean

The small wave hit Hilo, HI first and made it's way down to
our island- We knew from listening to the radio that the wave was
not going to be big- Matt, my bro, and Eli went down to the beach to check
it out- this picture was taken exactly when the wave was hitting.

my bro and beautiful sis in law

Tim and Conny finally made it over for dinner a couple day's later.

Being Still instead of Freaking out......

A couple nights ago we had a HILACIOUS  Thunderstorm.  It was the type of thunderstorm that wakes you out of a dead sleep at 1 am with a BOOM of thunder.  I would say that this is the worst thunderstorm that I have ever experienced- I don't know a lot about thunder and lightning except that it can be extremely loud and a bit terrifying but this storm was very electrical- the lightning would move across the clouds first and then hit the ground.  From what I have heard, it hit our island the worst-and then worked down the chain of islands with less and less strength.

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As soon as I heard the first boom I decided to get up and go sit in the living room on the couch so I could watch from our living room window.  Due to how far out in the country we live we can not hear the Tsunami Warning Sirens nor do we get any sort of warning for flash floods- we do not have any neighbors to rely on for information, and the fact that we live right on the ocean, I like to be awake and listening to some sort of outside news station when we are having any sort of abnormal weather activity.  A couple of nights ago was no exception to my 'stay tuned in rule'- I promptly turned on my TV when the rain started dumping with this very busy thunderstorm- the signal was dead and TV was not going to be happening.  I grabbed our phone to make sure that it was working just in case one of our friends on the other side of the mountain from us needed to get a hold of us to let us know that we needed to be aware of flooding or extreme weather- the phone line was dead.....it runs on top of the ground and from how high the water was rising in the field outside of our house I knew it was floating in the water.......uugg......the storm was getting worse, no TV, no phone, we live so isolated and the panic started to set in!! It has been a long but victorious road for me to overcome a ton of fears- moving to Hawaii and living so isolated was a very big stretch for me.  Moving to Hawaii and living so isolated right on the ocean was an even bigger stretch for me!  I had a choice as I was sitting on my couch with the rain pounding on my roof so loud you would have to yell to be heard.  I had a choice as along with the rain the thunder and lightning was so bad I was in a mixture of shock and awe that so many strikes could hit at one time.  I had a choice as along with the rain, thunder and lightning, and the fact that we had no TV, Internet, Phone, and no way of hearing the sirens that would blare if there was a natural disaster coming our way- I could either resort back to my old ways- have a panic attack and completely FREAK OUT or I could rely on a promise that God gave me:

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'God is our refuge and our strength and ever present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

THOUGH THE WATERS ROAR AND FOAM and the mountains quake with their surging......

God is with her, she will not fall!  The Lord Almighty is with us.....

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!'

Psalm 46

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By the grace of God I did not give into panic- I prayed my way through all the feelings of panic and prayed for the strength to trust my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- That He had this storm completely under control and We would be fine.  The next morning, when the storm was over and the sky's were clear I snapped some pictures of some of the water falls all the rain created- I had a new appreciation for the beauty of the water around me.  I am working on 'enjoying' the storms both in life and in nature.  I wish I could have had the view of my husband and some of our guests who thought the whole storm was amazing and beautiful- They saw God's handiwork as something to be in awe about- I was to worried about the 'what if's' to actually enjoy the storm......someday I will be to that point......but for today I am just working on making it through the storms with baby faith and clinging to God's promise that He will never leave me nor forsake me- I need to only 'BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD'

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Below are some pictures I took of some random water falls on the property we live- the water falls were created by such a large amount of rain in a small amount of time.

I got Matt to stop the truck on the driveway and get our picture
taken by a 'waterfall'- you get to see us but somehow we missed the
waterfall :)

If you look really closely, along with the obvious waterfall on the right, on the left hand side of the mountain
you will see a couple of waterfalls

Baby Bookin'

When I picked up the mail today I got a long awaited item (ordered it on e-bay from an Australia seller that sent it 'media'..took 5 weeks)- The Baby Book we will use if we are blessed with adoption:

Trying to figure out what would fit the need best for what we will try to communicate to our adoptive child as she/he gets older and gets to read and hear about how she/he came to become part of her forever family was quite a research project- do you use just a typical baby book that mentions not a word about adoption, or do you go with a baby book that talks about their adoption story- we went with a well written baby book that will talk about our child's adoption story.  It was an interesting comparison to my boys baby books- I wanted to make sure that our adoptive child's book was emotionally attachable and not just detached facts-
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Eli's 'baby book' is stuffed full of information of what my pregnancy was like (I gained 41 pounds and he had hiccups all the time)- it also has the typical 'first shots, first hair cut (Eli's little hair is taped under that caption), etc...Ryan's book contains far less extra curricular items like 1st birthday candles and first hair cut hair and more somber, serious information-  hospital visit bands (the ones that you wear on your wrist when a patient), most of the pictures are of him with oxygen tubes, IV's, and documentation of what a miracle it is that he survived his first couple years of life.  Each book unique and each book filled with information that will be fascinating for them to read some day (or maybe just for me to oohh and goo over every once in awhile).   Both of their books, while unique to each child, communicate a warm, informational, and bonding story........
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In our adoption baby book it covers topics like:

• Our Journey to you (included in this will be years worth of Journal entries penned out to our precious child) 
• Our very first Meeting with sub topics like 'our first impression of you and your first impression of us'
• All about your name and what it means and where it came from (the anticipation of whether our child's birth mom will choose the name or we get to)
• Your adoption buddies with places for pictures and spots to fill in favorite memories with these particular people

The questions go on for 40plus exciting pages- 40 pages that I can HARDLY WAIT to fill out- I already feel emotionally bonded to it!  There is not doubt that this book will contain every bit of warmth and love that my boys books contain- if not more :)

Hey Sis.........Happy 'Almost' Birthday!

My sister Jodi is turning 37 next week and I've been thinking about what to get her.  Last year for my birthday she MADE me a purse. This Christmas she MADE me a table runner- we won't talk about the fact that in one of our conversations this past week I asked her what she had been up to she causally mentioned that she had started her own garden plants from seeds and they were growing at such a rapid pace she was going to have to graduate them to bigger pots or that she has a grain mill set up to grind her own flour!

I'm on a roll so I've gotta keep going for a little bit- She grew her own potatoes last year from planting a regular potato in the ground!  She also has chickens that lay eggs (brown eggs- does it not seem odd to anyone else out there to eat something brown that comes out of an animals behind....just saying) and home schools 3 of her 4 children (the youngest is not school age)-

A picture of the potatoes my sister grew

Bringing the conversation back to the fact that next week is my sister's birthday- What in the world should I get her?  After she made me a purse last year I went to our local fabric store- bought a pattern for a purse and some really expensive fabric...I was going to make her a purse for her birthday.  My birthday is in Sept and her's in in March so I had plenty of time to complete the purse.  I got the pattern out- was able to cut out the pieces and then was completely lost on all of the 'sewing language'- words like Notion and interface had me so confused I finally just gave up.  The cut out pieces of fabric are still in original fabric store bag sitting on a shelf in my closet.
A couple of weeks ago I was cruising through Facebook and my friend Treva had posted on her wall that she was really enjoying a site called Etsy.  Etsy is a site set up a bit like e-bay only from what it looks like, almost everything being sold on it is home made.  The light bulb went on when I saw the site- I would get Jodi something off of Etsy!
Jod, if you look at this post before your birthday you will see what's coming in the mail- Hope you enjoy it!

Jodi's Birthday Apron

Today!

So here's what my day looked like-

• Started with waking up at 4:30 a.m. and not being able to fall back asleep- Usually when I wake up earlier than I would like I will lay on the couch in the living room and do my devotions- This morning I just laid on my couch and prayed- 
• Got up around 7- the boys got up and we all got ready and ate breakfast and did devotions.  Since moving to Hawaii we do family devotions in the morning.  Right now we are going through a mixture of Daily Bread and a Devotion Book that my mom sent from her church in Oregon (written by Ben Courson).
• I was bringing the boys to school this morning because I had Bible Study- After dropping the boys off I had a wild hair to skip Bible Study and go hang with Matt for the day.  I called my Bible Study leader- told her I was skipping Bible Study to go on a date with my husband- and headed home to get him.
• Matt had a list of stuff to do today.  I was going to be his 'tag along'- On days I know he is going to be doing errands and I am going to be going with him I will pack with my a book- Today I brought a book we have to complete for our adoption education-  Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge.  I think I spent a total of 10 minutes reading it.
• First stop was the dump.  Go with me here.........imagine your trash then times that by an area the size of your house.  Now add constant humid hot temp. to the trash (Matt say's imagine putting your trash in the microwave) and you have the dump.  I sit in the truck with the windows rolled up- trying to hold my breath until I am seeing stars.  Today I noticed a canister of Lysol wipes on the ground of the truck- I had my nose shoved in the canister the whole time.  Once I had to go drop stuff off at the dump without any of my boys- I had a group of dump workers standing watching the show I was putting on-  I dry heaved the ENTIRE time I was unloading :(
• When my sister in law was flying off island last week she said that the pilot announced that John Travolta was on island and pointed out his plane at the airport- The dump is by the airport so we stopped so I could snap a picture of his plane.

• On the way to the dump, the truck was acting funny so we swung into Napa to get transmission fluid- Matt was sure that was the 'fix'- after dumping the trash and snapping a pic of John's plane we went in search of a place to park and put the transmission fluid in- We found a nice little place right on the beach.  Here is what that stop looked like:

• After this stop we went to the Lumber Yard, To Home Depot, and to get the mail.  In the mail my Aunt Anne surprised me with a book my Nana gave to me in 1979.  My Aunt Anne had gone through her children's books and came across it- Thanks Auntie Anne.  Also got some muffin mix and carrot cake mix from my step mom.  The mix is from a mill in my step mom's home town and taste's AMAZING- Thanks Deb!

• We had 10 minutes to spare before we needed to pick the boys up from school- We noticed that a HUGE cruise ship was in port (Eli's school is very close to the port) so we thought we would take adrive by.  It was a ship we had never seen in here before- It is called the 'Queen Victoria'

• Picked the boys up- learned that Eli had Meatballs for lunch and Ryan had chicken- made it home in time to make Chicken Enchilada's and check the beach.  It was a beautiful ride checking the beach tonight.  The Queen Victoria was just leaving port so we saw it heading out to sea and a mama and baby whale was jumping in back of it- Breath Taking!
• Now I'm going to go finish folding wash, do dishes, and read with Ryan- There.......That's it...You just lived my day with me!

Ryan's Parent/Teacher Conference

When we decided to move to Hawaii we had a BUNCH of important decisions to make.  One of which was what school Eli and Ryan were going to attend- After much deliberation, some serious prayer, and visiting some different schools our whole family decided (we really wanted our boys to be a big part of the decision) that the local Public School was the perfect choice for our family.  The odds were not in my boys favor- we were moving to a state that was known for their public school system being below the national average.  It was also somewhat nerve wracking hearing that our boys would be such a minority (I pulled the statistics but can not find where I filed it- I believe that in my boys specific school, being a Caucasian, they were in the 5% minority)- Also knowing that on our specific Island, which is a tighter knit 'local' community, Our boys would be classified as 'Howlie's' which is a term used by the Native Islanders to describe Caucasian's that have moved from the Main Land- for the most part I have found it to be used in a derogatory way.  Why do I bring all of this up?
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To let you all know that we have had a wonderful experience having our boys in the Public School system here!  Last year Ryan went through his last year of elementary school and Eli finished up middle school here.  This year Eli started high school and Ryan started middle school and still, Praise the Lord, our boys are thriving and doing well.
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I had the 1:15 slot parent/teacher conference for Ryan on Fri.- I have not gone to a teacher conference this year because we were out of town for the first one- I see notes that teachers send home and I see Ryan's grades but thought it would be interesting to sit down  with Ryan's teachers and hear how he was doing.  I was also looking forward to being able to ask specific questions like, 'Is he respectful, does he pay attention, do you see him 'hanging' with a good group of kids'... The general common denominator between 4 teachers I met with was that Ryan is very respectful, likes to socialize (this put a smile on my face) and is very well liked, hangs out with a great group of kids, is somewhat impulsive, and over all a joy to have in class.

Ryan at his schools 'May Day' getting ready
to do the Hula

Ryno Chase, Daddy and I are so so proud of you!  You had a huge life change moving from Oregon to Hawaii- you left family, friends, and comfort zone to go to a place you had never even been.  You started school with no friends and nothing familiar and you have thrived!  God Bless you Sweetie and GOOD JOB.

Flying!

I am watching Flying Wild Alaska on Discovery Channel right now and have learned that it is $600. per hour to have a private plane drop you off at your hunting site, If you find yourself in a down draft when flying you have to throttle and pull up, and the 'home base' for this show is Unalakleet Alaska.  
Right now I am watching the pilot Sara battle strong down drafts trying to take off with her passengers being a sick baby and the baby's mom- She is on a 90 mile flight to Bethel to bring the baby to medical help!
If you are at all interested in Flying or seeing what Alaska looks like (seriously FREEZING) It is a fun show to watch!
I received an e-mail from our adoption coordinator Conny a month or so ago.  We were touching base about some information that our Adoption Agency needed- At the end of the e-mail she was excited to let us know that:  
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"If you get a chance to see Flying Wild Alaska on Discovery Channel, (I have to brag a bit...) my son-in-law, Luke, is one of the featured pilots and our daughter Alyssa will be on the program next season as a regular (she was pregnant during the shooting this season). On one of the last episodes they actually go to their home in Wasilla. Luke grew up in the fishing village, Unalakleet, where the show is based. It's fun for us as we know everyone on the show and all the places they go". 
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Speaking of flying- My dad has been an avid pilot my whole life- It has been his dream that one of his children would become an airline pilot.  Out of his 5 children not one of us have taken up his love and passion for flying- thus there are no airline pilots in our family.  My dad's newest 'recruit' is my Eli- While in Oregon over Thanksgiving Eli went flying with my dad and loved it .  Below are some fun pictures of their flight. 

My dad explaining to Eli the 'in's and out's' of flying his airplane

Somebody's Excited!!

They are off!

Mochi, Avocados, and Vog

I was looking at the Vog in the air today thinking about how much it reminded me of a summer day in Oregon when wild fires are blazing and the wind is blowing the smoke into the Valley where we lived.  If you have never heard of vog- I copied and pasted a small description of what it is below- you can also click on the first Vog I typed on this post.

Vog in Hawaiʻi

In Hawaii, the gas plumes of Kīlauea rise up from three locations: Halemaʻumaʻu Crater, Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent, and from along the coastline where lava flows from the East Rift zone enter the ocean. The plumes create a blanket of vog that can envelop the island. Vog mostly affects the Kona coast on the west side of the Island of Hawaiʻi, where the prevailing trade winds blow the vog to the southwest and southern winds then blow it north up the Kohala coast.

Prolonged periods of southerly Kona winds, however, can cause vog to affect the eastern side of the Island on rare occasions, and affect islands across the entire state as well.^[3] By the time the vog reaches other islands, the sulfur dioxide has largely dissipated, leaving behind ash, smoke, sulfates, and ammonia.^[4]

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Looking at the Vog and thinking of Oregon started my mind down a rabbit trail of some of the differences between living on the mainland (specifically Oregon) and living in Hawaii.  Here is where my brain went:

The First Christmas we were here, I went to a women's tea- When dessert was served, small squares of what appeared to be a pumpkin brownie was passed out.  I took 1 bite and LOVED the taste- I asked the ladies at my table what the dessert was- they said it was Pumpkin Mochi.  The easiest way to describe the taste would be a really dense and moist piece of pumpkin bread cooked in a brownie pan.  I had never heard of Mochi (which is a popular food over here) and promptly went to our local grocery store and bought it- Instead of eating the traditional Lemon Curd at the tea I went to I had a chance to try something new- PUMPKIN MOCHI

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Seasonal Fruit has been a huge change- Instead of Apples, Peaches, and Blackberries that are plentiful in Oregon during the summer and fall you get Avocados, Mango, Lychee, and Papaya - We also get a fresh coconut, fish, and sand............actually the sand is never ending all year long- It is immune to having just a specific 'season'!!

In Oregon, when someone was going hunting you could automatically assume that they were going for either deer or elk.  Here the most popular hunt is for pig or goat.  Some of the variations I have eaten are: smoked, char-su'd (this would be equivalent to going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering the appetizer pork that they serve with the hot mustard- the pork they serve would be marinated in char-su), and bar-b-qued.  I have yet to enjoy eating goat- To me is has a super gamy and very chewy taste.

My list of 'differences' could go on and on- not in this blog post but maybe in the upcoming ones. I was just asked by a wonderful 'auntie' that is in her 60's and has been born and raised on the islands if I had ever driven in snow.......'Yes' was my smiled reply and I told her about how Cinders are put down to help so that your car does not slide all over the place.  She then asked me if I had ever gone to the salt ponds here- I told her 'No' and her smiled reply was a story about how you can gather salt at certain ponds and use it at your table.......Our life experience is vastly different but each of us learned something in our conversation- She learned a little more about something she had never experienced, living on the mainland- and I learned a little more about the culture of where I live.  Diversity is such a blessing!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

I uploaded the below picture as my facebook profile picture today- It is a bracelet I made at a family reunion probably 15 years ago.  I keep it in the top drawer of my jewelry box and still break it out to wear from time to time!

This morning, before the sun was barely up I hear Matt roll over and whisper 'are you awake'? Our conversation went directly to how many Valentines Day's we have spent together:
I met Matt the fall of my Soph. year in high school (which was the fall I was turning 15)- We were friends almost immediately.  I knew he was someone special, but being so young I did not read to far into my 'feelings'- Valentines Day came and went that school year.  The next year, Matt and I had become closer friends and I think I speak for both of us when I say that we felt a strong connection but had never pursued going on a date- just school friends that held each others hearts at some deep level that I don't think either one of us completely understood.  The Valentines Day of Matt's Senior year and my Junior year we were still just good friends with a heart felt understanding that there was something 'special' between us that neither one of us could put into words- we had never even spoken about the 'specialness' between us- had still never gone on a date, held hands, or even spent ANY time together except for sometimes hanging out at lunch and talking during mutual classes.  Just before I was leaving school on that Valentine Day I went to my locker to put all of my books away- my locker had small slots at the top that were just wide enough to put notes, basically anything paper or thin, or cards- Out dropped a card...................................
On the outside of the card was cursive 'Steph' and on the inside was a gold bracelet and a card from Matt telling me that I was special to him and he loved me.
That was 19 years ago today!
Of those 19 we have spent 17 Valentines Day's married!
I love you very much Matt................Your my heart babe!
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PICTURES!!

We were not able to go 'home' for 9 months after moving to Hawaii
This was the first time I had seen my friend Treva

Susie!!

Kristi's Glasses :)

D & B

Cruisin' on the Coast

Val and Vin

This is a pic of Matt's parents- they just celebrated their
51 Anniversary

Erika holding my friend Michelle's baby that they adopted last year!

Deb.

my cousin with her niece- such a precious pic

House boat  Bonnie

Nic

I just found this picture of us- not even sure when it was taken

D & A

just being sisters

I'm thinking that convincing people to do silly things and then taking
a picture of it is a really funny thing to do- I LIKE!!

I love you mom and sis

Tyla

This Christmas Tree hung in my grandmas house all when I was growing up-
I used to stand under it and imagine wearing all the Jewelry- My grandma gave it to me
a couple of years ago and I have the privilege of hanging it on my wall- 

80's prom with my friend Christy

Bring it on!!!

Nic again

Holly b

One Halloween my friend Josie read about carving your house number into pumpkins-
I gave it a try and loved the idea

getting ready for facials

my husband a couple hours after getting all his wisdom teeth out

I miss you Kathy!