Hawaiian rainbows!

Over the course of our trip, we saw 21 rainbows! We saw multiple rainbows everyday except one I think. Absolutely beautiful and often, they took my breath away. We even saw a full-on double rainbow! (Okay, maybe it wasn't full-on, but have you seen that YouTube video circling around yet? Too funny!) I had a conversation with Luke recently about rainbows and trying to find the ends of rainbows. I'd never actually seen the end of a rainbow, but on this trip, we saw the ends of them and even once, saw the both ends of the same rainbow, in Hanalei Bay! Luke was thrilled to hear our rainbow count when we got back home! My friend, Betsy, has asked me since our return if that meant it rained a lot while we were there. Actually it rained almost everyday for a quick 5-10 minute shower, but mainly in the early mornings over the mountain range in front of us, so we woke up to rainbows, but the rain never stopped our plans! Perfect!! God's promise to us was everywhere!! I tried blowing these pictures up for you, but the format of this post cut too much of the rainbows off. You can, however, double click to see the pictures x-large!

Kauai Adventures: Day 3--July 19th

We had our last breakfast at our condo, out on our lanai, while observing our 8th rainbow of the trip thus far(I have a rainbow post coming)! We headed down one last time to Hideaways Beach and once again, I survived the trek! We watched the ocean and the silly, scared crabs and just soaked in the North Shore of Kauai!

Finally, we said goodbyes to Pali Ke Kua and headed less than a mile down the road to the St. Regis hotel (a 5 star hotel)! It was quite intimidating just walking in the lobby--so fancy schmancy! We unpacked in our room, which was fabulous---a huge window with sliding doors that opened to a screen, but one that could also open all the way up! Our new view was gorgeous like our old one, but we were even closer to Bali Hai! Here are some pics from our window at our new place overlooking Hanalei Bay. . .

After we observed our view, we made some reservations for massages the next day and headed down pool/oceanside! We ordered lunch and it was delivered to us pool/oceanside and we ate and read and relaxed! We were getting spoiled by the second! That night we ate at the Makana Terrace, a restaurant at the hotel, which was delicious. If I could remember the details of the food--you would be salivating, trust me! The ambiance was perfect--we were under a covered porch, right next to a fountain/pool type thing and it started raining---just beautiful!! A great way to end the day!

Kauai Adventures: Day 2--July 18th

We woke up this morning and while Chad went for a run on Hideaways Beach (up and down and all around) I chose to sit on our lanai and enjoy more rainbows while eating breakfast alone--I mean with the Hawaiian state bird, the Nene, who came right up to the table looking for some Cheerios! We then got ready and drove to Tunnels Beach (a beach that was recommended and ended up being our favorite) and the dry caves. Everything there was so beautiful and lush! The blues and greens were amazing!

Chad was convinced the waves were screaming his name and so he went out to body surf and brought back LOTS of the beach to the condo. He had sand in places he never thought anyone could!

We had such a fun time there and even bought a house. . .

Okay, well, we haven't bought it yet, but we are going to because of these views. . .

Okay, well, we probably can't afford it, but you want to buy it too, right?? After our beach outing, we drove back through Hanalei on our way back to our condo in Princeville and grabbed some lunch. We then showered up and took a walk over to the St. Regis hotel  to check in (we will be staying there the rest of the trip). We rented a movie there, and brought it back to our condo, for later that night, since there are no Blockbusters or movie rental places to be found anywhere near us on the island. We went back to Hanalei (you think we like this place?) to grab an early dinner so we could be back to read outside and enjoy our last Kauai sunset from our condo. Chad took a picture of me, little baby, sunset and Bali Hai and I got him holding the sun! We were a little delirious--all the fresh air and God's amazing creation!!

Kauai Adventures: Night and Day 1

We arrived in Kauai late Friday afternoon and after about a 45 minute drive to our Pali Ke Kua condo, we arrived just in time for our first Kauai sunset! We enjoyed the view we would have for 2 more days (before we moved to the St. Regis hotel) and then decided to drive to Hanalei, which turned out to be our favorite little chill town for the rest of the week! I marveled at the one lane Hanalei bridge and the driving etiquette that was posted on a sign before the bridge--so cute and such a sleepy, fun, relaxed town! We went back to our condo and hit the hay to get ready for our first real day in Kauai!

We woke up on Saturday at 6am--partly because our bodies told us it was 11am and partly because our bedroom had 2 huge windows on 2 walls with the bright sunlight streaming in! Our first rainbow was waiting for us too---not a bad way to wake up! We decided to hike down to our condos' beach, Hideaways Beach, and check it out! Chad likes to call it a .01 mile walk down to the beach but a 3 mile hike back up! The beach was beautiful and filled with lava rocks and skittish crabs, but the journey back up was not for the faint of heart---or a 30 week pregnant woman!! What a workout!!

After getting showered up for the day we headed to the Kilueau Lighthouse--the western most lighthouse in the US and also a humpback whale sanctuary, which we enjoyed because we knew Luke would love to hear that! We then drove to a hole in the wall burger joint, Duane's Ono Burgers---a place we heard not to miss and enjoyed some declicious burgers! Craziest thing there were the chickens that were walking all around our feet as we ate. We found out later on our trip, that chickens and birds are everywhere in Kauai---about as common as beautiful Hawaiian flowers, sunsets and rainbows! We also checked out another beach--Moloa'a Beach and chilled there for a bit before we saw some rain clouds moving in and headed to our condo.

Our lanai (porch) at our condo was fantastic. It was right on the edge of a cliff and our views of the Pacific and the Makana Mountain range (the jagged part of the range is known as Bali Hai--from the movie South Pacific) were incredible! I found myself in a love affair with Bali Hai, wanting to capture it in every photo and just feeling a sense of peace wash over me when I looked at it---which was the entire trip!! We enjoyed another pretty sunset that evening and realized that it would be something we would do every night in Kauai!

Hawaiian sneak preview!

Okay, so I don't know if anyone is still reading this as I've been a little sporadic during the summer, but I'm going to try to make it up to you by posting about our dreamy 10th anniversary trip to Hawaii! We returned this past Saturday afternoon and we've been soaking up time with our boys and trying to get back into the swing of things. I have over 500 pictures to go through and edit, on top of other things of course, so I will give you a little taste of what's to come! My friend Beth and her husband, Peter, went to Kauai this summer as well--and they told us all about their adventures--which sounded great, so we followed in their footsteps and had a fantastic time! Beth also blogs, but hers is private or I would link to her. However, she told all about their trip by days, which is a great idea and one I will do too, so I can include more pics and stories! Off for now, but stay tuned!!

an alley and train tracks

I did a photo shoot for some friends in early June for a Father's Day present. It was fun and nice to have subjects that stayed still for some quality shots! It has been a while since I've done a photo shoot of my own boys though. Well, unless you consider everytime I pull out my camera a photo shoot---which I do not. Anyway, this weekend, a weekend that was finally free of any place to be, we decided to head to Colllierville, a favorite place for our boys! I brought my camera, a part of the plan, and tried to get some good shots of the kiddos. Definitely tough because they just go and go, (which actually is part of the fun--capturing their variety of entertainment) I was thankful to have my hubby corral and encourage them throughout the shoot! I've posted a few other pics here, but thought I'd post some here too since most of you visit here more often! Got it?

Probably my favorite of the shoot. . .

See ya later!

10 amazing years!!

I actually started this post last night because I knew it would take some time to get the pictures together. So as I am signing on to our blog, I see something about 10 amazing years and think, "Oh no, it posted instead of saved!" Turns out, my sweet husband hijacked the blog and did his own rendition of a 10 year anniversary post. Chad, you are so sweet and thoughtful! I love it!

And as I was going to write, ten years ago today, July 8, 2000, I married the man of my dreams! And though I didn't think it possible then, he's even more the man of my dreams now. What a fantastic 10 years it has been! We are continually blessed by the Lord and want to give full credit to Him. While marriage is awesome, it is also hard, because life is hard--it is supposed to be. Honestly, I don't know how couples survive marriage without the Lord. But, with God leading our way, He has helped us through the periodic rough times and made our good times that much more precious! Chad, I know I will convey so much more to you today, but I wanted everyone to know how much I still, and always will, want to scream it from the mountain tops just how thankful I am for you!! Happy 10th Anniversary Baby!! I love you with all of my heart, lin

And for a very tiny recap of our amazing married life adventures. . .

Going to Texas Ranger baseball games the first year we were married!

Continuing the sports theme and going to Indiana basketball games during our 2 year stint in IN!

Both of us graduating with our Masters from Indiana University!

Galavanting around Paris!

Becoming a family of 3!

Enjoying some romance in Hawaii. . .

Becoming a family of 4!

Soaking up some lake time!

Training for a half-marathon together!

Soaking up family time on the beach!

And loving welcoming in every new year together!