BIG changes! Hawaii!

I was actually surprised to see that I had posted last February.  I didn't realize it had been so recent. :-) So many things to talk about. Most of those things will wait for a later post.

LOTS of things have happened since last February!  We have a new grandson; that was a BIG deal!! I love him so much!  It's amazing how much love you can have for grand children.  The HUGE think that happened this year was Hubby was assigned a new position and we moved... to Laie, Hawaii! Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think that we would live in Hawaii.

Main entrance to BYU-H.

Family Photo Wall

Many would think that this was a dream come true, but it isn't easy. It is true that I love living here, (I'll talk about the challenges later), but I miss Provo, too.  I miss my family- in-laws, kids, and especially grand kids-, friends and neighbors. After living in the same house for 25 years, the roots are deep.  One of the first things I did here was to hang family photos. Didn't feel right until the pictures were up.  I also started using Facebook a LOT!  I didn't feel so far away when I could see what my friends and family were doing.  Some people moving here have a hard time adjusting, mainly because they are so far from family.

There are many challenges here that I've had to learn how to deal with:

1) Humidity. When you drop a piece of ice, it melts, then stays a small puddle of water.  Unless it is in the sun, it seems to stay forever.  90 degree weather feels about the same as 100+ degrees in Utah.  Thankfully, we usually only get to 90 during "summer": July, August, September, and maybe into October if it's a hot year.

Humidity is also a good thing.  My skin and hair are so soft, even though curls don't stay more than 5 minutes after you step outside!

2) Mildew.  Related to humidity, obviously, but you have to always be on the look-out.  I've had to clean mildew off of 2 pairs of shoes, a skirt and a jacket that I hadn't worn for a while.  Plus a wallet I wasn't using.  Threw out my almost all green "boot" (worn after I broke my foot last February.) Gross.

3) Rust.  Also related to humidity, but also to the fact that we are close to the ocean, and the ocean breeze blows in salt air.  Plastic is way nice to have here, especially for patio furniture and fan covers.  Motors don't last long on small appliances or lawn mowers.  Someone said the average life of a lawn mower was 2-3 years!  I put my sewing machine under its cover with a silica gel bag inside the cover.  Hopefully, it will survive.  Also, metal door handles and door stops corrode like crazy. Everyone's bike that's not brand new this year looks like it is 20 years old. We wash our car every time we come back from the beach, and it still has rust spots on it. Rust just happens. You have to constantly attack it.


4) Bugs. Never, ever leave any food scraps out.  Ever.  You need to make sure you clean up after meals and not procrastinate or leave until morning.  You will be sorry.  Sometimes the ants come without even food to invite them.  Terminex is my friend.  They come every 3 months and in-between if there is a problem.

The things that I've really enjoyed:

1) The sea breeze.  Our house is 2 blocks from the ocean, and we get the East Tradewinds blowing right through our windows.  I absolutely love it when the wind is blowing!

2) The green mountains.  I love mountains.  I love white, snow-capped mountains, short mountains, tall mountains.  Oahu's mountains are green, some are very steep and some are more shallow and round.  I love seeing the different mountains around the island, and love showing them off to visitors.





3) The ocean.  Okay, that may be obvious, but there are a lot of people here that just aren't ocean goers!  Hubby and I love to snorkel and scuba dive, and have done so many times since our move here.  Many of the beaches are fun to go to to look for shells, too, which we have done for some of our Saturday outings.

4) The community.  Laie is a very close-knit community.  Almost everyone is associated with either BYU-Hawaii or the Polynesian Cultural Center, and everyone knows everyone.  I don't know everyone yet, though!  The faculty and staff at the school are definitely an "ohana," or family.  Although I'm quite new here, everyone has really tried to make me feel welcome.

5) The fruits, palm trees and flowers.  I really love pineapple, mango, bananas, passion fruit!  Palm trees are just so cool and make me feel relaxed.  And the flowers are gorgeous!

6) My house. We are renting, but I really like our new house, which is technically a duplex.  I have a master bathroom, a walk-in closet, a garage, a huge laundry room and a huge dining room-living room combined area.  Small yard.  LOVE it.

7) Being with hubby more.  John's responsibilities at work and church here do not take up as much time as they did back in Provo.  Even the fact that he can walk to work in 3 minutes makes a big difference in how much time he spends at home.  Back in Provo, he would walk to work and back- almost 1 1/2 hours.  Now we take a long walk together each weekday morning.  Even though we still have yard work, it takes much less time, so I get him for more hours on Saturdays.  We probably spend 10-15 hours more together each week than we used to. That's a huge difference.

So even though I miss Provo, my home is here now.  The truth is, my home is where John is.  When he goes away on a business trip, I miss him, and start feeling a bit homesick for Provo.  But when I'm gone visiting, and he is here, I miss him and love it when I'm back!

Pretty bad picture of John and I after a Saturday outing.