6 Months Later...

Ok, so can I just say that time goes by WAAAY too quickly!  So, since I haven't updated this in MONTHS, lets just do a quick rundown of what has been happening in our lives...


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 picture on the left is the warehouse when we first leased it...we had to get more drywall put up, patch up the old drywall, clean, paint, put in mats, and put up our rig...

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 :)

- My parents came to visit us on Kauai after Christmas for a week.  Unfortunately I couldn't take any vacation since I am STILL on my orientation (less than a month to go), but we still got to do some fun stuff.  We hiked, kayaked, ate out, ate in, and watched lots of movies.  It was actually really nice to have my parents here since I have missed my mamma's cooking!  She is the best cook...seriously...

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 added another member to our family...a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo!

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. 

  

Then before we entered the second tunnel, the people in front of us said it was blocked, so of course, we all stop.  Joelle, Deina, McMeaty, and the kids get out so we can hike around the tunnel and get back in on the other side...which was what everyone said the plan was.  It was pretty dense where we got out, not to mention it was muddy too.  Of course, after we were bushwacking our way out and not finding the road, we were debating what to do.  Everyone else in the group had apparently changed their minds and floated through the blocked tunnel.  Finally, we resorted to going back to the water and putting the kids on the tubes and pushing the kids up the tunnel (Not to mention I lost my sunglasses AND broke my slipper)! 

 Luckily the kids were okay to get back in and we made it to the rope swing

We finally made it back to the car and everyone was happy!

Thats about it in a nutshell.  Life has been super busy, but really great! 

Did I do that?! (Think Steve Urkel)

I recently got hired to do Internal Audit for Kauai Community Federal Credit Union and I started 2 weeks ago.  I feel pretty blessed because I had been looking for random jobs since there wasn't anything in my field, and when I applied to be a Loan Counselor, they looked at my resume and said they may have another position that they could open based on my past work experience (not to mention it pays double).  Long story short, things worked out and i'm excited to be working again!

Soooo, I am considered a part of the management team with all the VPs and the President (crazy huh?) and along with that comes a really nice office with great views! 

 

To top things off, I also have one of those bank robbery buttons that is under the desk.  When I first saw it, I thought it was so cool, but now i'm rethinking that...

During my FIRST week of work, I was working at my desk and the VP of HR came by and asked if I had pushed the button.  Of course, my answer was, 'No'.  So, he said he was going to figure out what was going on.  Later on, I find out that the police showed up because of the robbery button and guess who pushed it?!  Yup, ME!!!  Embarrassing?!

One week into the job and here I am causing false alarms for a freaking bank robbery!  Now I wish I could just have the stupid thing taken off so I don't 'accidentally' push it again.  Bleh.  Guess i'll just cross my fingers that it doesn't happen again!  On the bright side, at least I know it works :P

I love my pops!

My dad decided last minute to come visit us for the weekend (since I was going to be starting my new job this past Tuesday), so we picked him up Friday night at 10:30pm.  We had already made plans to go kayaking with our friend Cliff, and luckily, he had room for one more, so we brought my dad along!

 

It was the daddios' first time ever kayaking, and my first time kayaking in the ocean!  My dad and I took one kayak and then Kai paddled a single.  Anyways, it was pretty amazing.  We headed out from this beach called Rock Quarries and paddled about a mile around this point to a secluded beach.  You can only get there by boat or kayak, so we had the whole place to ourselves. 


Thankfully it was a beautiful day, but its crazy to be in the swells.  In the pic on the right, you can barely see the tops of our heads. 

 

When we got to the beach, it was surreal!  There was a seal just resting on the beach!  And the views were beautiful from every angle!

We basically, just hung out on the beach, and then there was a small tunnel/cave thing there the ocean water goes through.  The boys said they were going to swim through, but the water looked a little crazy for me, so I had decided I wasn't going to do it.  Luckily, after the guys all went through, they reassured me I would be fine, so I did it, and I'm sooo glad I did! 

Anyways, after that, we had lunch, talked, and my dad went and got a bunch of opihi.  He ate some and said it was good, but when Kai tried it, he wasn't a fan.  I think Kai was probably right, it didn't look appetizing at all!  After a long day of relaxing, we all headed back in to paddle back.  There was a pretty crazy shore break where we were launching out on so we had to swim out and then climb onto our kayak after we passed the breaks.  BUT, me and dad did good.  We almost made it all the way back without tipping (we tipped when we were about waist deep and pretty much back).  In our defense, pretty much everyone else did too. 

That night, my pops bought stuff for dinner and then we came home, ate dinner, and watched the BYU v Utah game.  I was so tired, I fell asleep through half of the game and woke up just in time to see BYU miss a field goal (which would've tied the game).  Anyhow, we'll get them next year! 

Monday was my last day of freedom before becoming a contributing member of society again, so we were planning on doing some sightseeing in the afternoon.  We dropped Kai off in the morning and went to WalMart to get RainX wipes for my windshield and we got a flat tire!  I was so glad my dad was with me because I heard a weird sound, but had no idea what it was.  Thankfully, my dad knew so he told me to pull back into the parking spot.  He got everything out and was starting to change the flat, and then as he was taking off the lug nuts, he realized there was one with a key lock (aka, a stupid thing that is supposed to prevent people from stealing your hubcaps/tires).   Of course, with our luck, we didn't have the key, and there is no VW dealer on the island.  I called around to a few auto shops, tire shops, and auto parts stores to see if they could help, but everyone said the same thing...they didn't have the part!  After trying to figure out what we were going to do, I remembered that our neighbor has the exact same car as us, so we called and she was on her way into town, so she brought us her key.  Problem solved, right?!  Nope!  It had 13 spoke things and ours had 17!  So, I called the dealer and found out that the keys vary by vehicle.  AND even if I told them how many spoke things I had, they couldn't guarantee that it would be the right part.  Not to mention, it costs $40!  It was a nightmare!  After about 5 hours of trying to figure out how to get it off, a guy at Napa overheard me and said he would come help.  He had a bunch of tools and he finally smashed a thing over the lug nut and even though he stripped part of it, he got it out! 

Anyways, there was a bunch of other crazy stuff that happened (I got kicked off a bus after I was stranded in another city, my phone died, etc.), and I was soooo mentally drained!  Luckily, my dad was there to help me with everything!  After he got my tire fixed, he took me grocery and household goods shopping, gassed up my car, and then took us to dinner before we had to take him back to the airport to catch his flight.  Then, he took the part with him and went to a few dealerships to find the right part so he could send it to us!  Now we will be able to change our tires out and hopefully not deal with this again!  Basically, my daddio is the best!  He is cray cray sometimes, but at the end of the day, he is always there for me and is always doing whatever he can to take care of me and make my life easier!  I love him lots and am glad he got to come visit!  Can't wait to have them come again in December!

Alakai Swampee

One of the coolest hikes (in my opinion) we have done while we have lived here was the Alakai Swamp Trail.  I think it's about 3 miles each way, but you go through all kinds of terrain (i.e., forest, rain forest, swamp, etc.). For the majority of the hike they have a boardwalk that you hike on (I can't imagine having to be the person to put the boards down...it most def would've been a pain).

Here we are at the start of the official trail...i'm obviously really cool hanging from a tree (thats a joke, btw).  We hiked with some friends who are pretty much professional trail runners (ok, not really, but they are avid hikers/marathon runners, so they might as well be professionals), so of course, Kai and I were scrambling to keep up :) 

Here we are going down the stairs...they were easy going down, but coming back up was HARD!  If I were in the front, I would've stopped so many times to rest, but Lena was leading, so we powered up the whole thing!

This is the end of the hike.  The bottom picture is the view from the lookout spot, but of course, when we got there, there was tons of fog and we couldn't see a thing!  We waited for about 30 mins, but nothing cleared up, so we headed back.  Guess i'll have to cross my fingers that next time we will see the view.

 

The weather changed so much during the hike.  We hiked through swamps and it was so foggy that you couldn't see too far in front of you, and then we made it through the clouds, and the sky was super blue!

Also, did I mention Kai brought the machete my dad gave him?  I was making fun of him at first, but his excuse was that he was going to do 'trail maintenance'.  So, as we are walking, I can hear him swinging away at the overgrown branches. 

Of course, after a little coaxing, I decided to take a turn, and it was actually really fun!  I think I was actually better at using the machete than Kai...must be my Samoan side!  Haha!  (see the before and after pictures above...i'm a nerd!)

 

On the way out, we stopped at the Puu Hinahina lookout.  When we got there, there were 2 tourist guys with nice cameras on tripods who were standing there doing nothing.  Anyways, we asked if one of them would mind taking a picture of us, and they were sooo annoyed!  Seriously, they weren't even really nice, but oh well, I got my picture :)

AAAANDD, to finish off our day, we stopped at Pakalas, so Kai could surf.  While I was waiting, I got this sunset pic!  I will admit, I often miss having the hustle and bustle of LA (food, shopping, friends, etc.), but then you see these pictures and you realize how lucky we are to be here!