September:
- Kai and I went to Turtle Cove on the North Shore and snorkled.
We walked through the tunnel behind Kai to get to a cool snorkel spot.
The cave it pitch black for a little ways but luckily we had our camera, so I would take pictures every once in a while so we could see where we were going.
Turtle Cove didn't let us down! We saw a ton of turtles :)
We are really mature and took advantage of the self timer!
October:
- I turned 27! For my birthday, we went and ate at my favorite restaurant here (Nanea)! I decided to have a birthday week instead of just a birth day which meant that Kai got to hear, 'But its my birthday week!' A LOT :) Sadly, I have no pictures from this night...iphone got stolen and I never downloaded my pics :P
I did find this picture...these cute twins are in our ward and live in our building. They made me a birthday card and hat and delivered some tastey treats! (Don't mind the fact that I am all sweaty...we had just finished working out)
November:
- Kai and I cooked our first Thanksgiving meal and it came out not too bad! I'm used to being in charge of a side dish, setting the table, cleaning up, etc., but this year, Monica, Brian, and Chey (Kai's mom, stepdad and sister) came to visit us. So, Thanksgiving eve and Kai and I stayed up late prepping the turkey and then I woke up early the next morning to prep the sides. Then during the day while the turkey was cooking, we went to the north shore and hiked, snorkled, and relaxed. Then we got back, and finished the food prep. I think everyone had fun and enjoyed the food!
Kai took the fam to the South Shore and Chey tried surfing.
December:
- We opened a CrossFit gym called CrossFit High Impact (CrossFit HI for short...the naming process was a headache and a whole other story for another time). It has been tons of work and a lot of time has gone into it, but it has been a lot of fun too! We are doing WAAAY better than our best case scenario (although I guess that doesn't really say much since I am totally not an entrepreneur and am totally pessimistic when it comes to projections).
The finished product!
- My work sent me to a conference in Vegas at the beginning of the month and I missed the first official week of our gym being open :P BUT, it was soooo fun to be in Vegas again! I stayed at Mandalay Bay, shopped, ate good food, and we even got to see each of our families! Kai's flight had gotten cancelled and so he missed out on a full day in Vegas, but nonetheless, it was a great trip! On the way back, our flight in LA got delayed by a few hours, which would've been a great time for us to meet up with friends in LA, but of course, we didn't think about it until it was too late. Next time we will be smarter :)
I was in Vegas and got to go see JJ & Meika's Chritmas Play. It was soooo funny! They both did awesome with their lines :) Wish I had a video, but of course, those were lost with the iphone :P
- Kai and I got our first real Christmas tree as a couple. In the past, we never bought one since we knew we would be going to one of our families for Christmas. This year, since we would only be gone for Christmas weekend, we decided to get festive! This was Kai's first REAL tree and we loved coming home to the pine tree smell!
Unwrapping our tree! Best believe I had the Christmas music blaring...and I may or may not have been dancing around like a kid!
The finished product! What you don't see from the pictures is that it took us DAYS to finish the tree. We had bought 6 things of lights at the store, but of course, I love lots of lights, so we ran out 2/3 of the way up the tree. AND, since we couldn't decorate til we got back from teaching at the gym, it was too late to go buy more. Anyways, the next day, Kai went to pick up more lights...unfortunately, he didn't see the little box on the lights that said, 'Colored', so our tree decorating was pushed back yet another day. The next day, we exchanged the 2 colored lights for white lights, went home, and finally finished the tree! Of course 3 of the 'unbreakable' ornaments we had bought shattered and our tree was crooked, but now I understand the time and effort it takes to decorate a tree! I was so ready to be done!
- We spent Christmas on Maui since my cousin Cissy got married the weekend before. My parents flew in for the wedding too, so we all got to hang out with my Aunty Nalani and Uncle Francis (and all the girls). We skyped with Jonathan from Japan, and Keenan in the Phillipines, ate lots of great food and guri guri!
We checked out Iao Needle and Kai jumped in :)
Apparently Kauai is a lot like Western Samoa (at least thats what my mom said)!
Hehehe :)
The parentals were actually pretty good kayakers!
Glad these two crazies got to come visit us!
January:
- I got to go to Oahu for my cousin Angela's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and true to our Ige roots, we had the best food! Seriously, I think I just ate the whole weekend!
They looked so happy and everything was beautiful!
- While I was on Oahu, the Kaaa's, my parents, Aunty Kimi, and I went to see Wicked at the Blaisdell. It was my 3rd time seeing it and I still love it! Leading up to the night, I asked my mom if she knew the story of the Wizard of Oz and she said yes. Then when we were actually at the play, I could tell she was confused during the first part...of course, come to find out, she hadn't actually seen the whole Wizard of Oz movie, she just knew what it was! Needless to say, we had to explain a bunch to her so she could get it :) She isn't blond, she is just Samoan ;) (I'm probably gonna get it for saying that)
We decided that it was time for us to upgrade to an SUV so we can go camping without fear of getting stranded :)
- We had our grand opening for the gym and Kai's dad Mark and Mark's friend Chuck came out to support! They were with us for a week and we had a lot of fun. They were like two boys having a sleepover every night...they would talk and laugh until they fell asleep. Not to mention, Mark took us out to eat, and worked on our shoulders (love having a PT for a father in law)! They went hiking, snuck into hotel jacuzzi's, went stand up paddleboarding, and siteseeing...and most importantly, RELAXED! Mark works A TON, so we were glad he could take a break for once :)
February:
- Deinas and McMeaty came to visit us for a week. They flew in on a Saturday morning and my cousin Joelle and her kids (Carson, Cady, and Camryn) decided to come visit too! We went tubing down the tunnels (its like a long lazy river with tunnels), which in and of itself was a huge adventure. Cady was nervous about it from the beginning, and the 45 minute drive up the dirt road didn't do much to calm her fears. Once we got up to the tunnels, she calmed down and was ready to go.
Pretty sure it took 4 people to pump up this floater!
Here we all are at the beginning...everyone was happy :) We made it through the first tunnel which was long and pitch black
and Cady was fine.
Thats about it in a nutshell. Life has been super busy, but really great!
