9th Island Getaway!

Alooohaa!

Our trip to Vegas was such a nice getaway, but came and went in almost a blink of an eye! It was so amazing to see my mom and be able to spend a week with her catching up while enjoying a wonderful vacation all at the same time! We were able to see Yellowcard at the House of Blues which was pretty amazing! They played a bunch of new songs from their new album and of course many of their classics. At the end of the night Mark and I were beyond excited too because Ryan Key, the lead singer of Yellowcard ended up re-tweeting both of us on twitter one right after another. Yeah, it pretty much made our year, lol. Yellowcard from the very beginning really has been the band of our relationship. We both loved them even before meeting one another and once we met one another we were able to continue our love of the band. We first saw them together at Summerfest in 2006 and throughout the course of our relationship we have seen them together in; Milwaukee (half a dozen times), Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and now Las Vegas. We even used their song, Only One, as our cake cutting song. You get the point, we love this band. :)

Storm that just missed the islands as we were in Vegas.

We also rented a car in Vegas which was really cool to be able to see Vegas other than the strip and downtown. We had a ton of fun gambling and playing slots while we were there too as we haven't been able to gamble whatsoever in Hawaii, so it made the casinos even that much more exciting! We hit up a few casinos off the strip and were able to drive around and see the "local side" of Vegas which was really nice. Later on we were able to catch the new display at the Bellagio Gardens where they had a Thanksgiving themed flower garden on display. (By far one of our favorite things to do in Vegas is see the Bellagio fountains and the flower garden at night... breathtaking). Vegas never seizes to amaze us with so much new stuff every single time we go. I was just there this past December and there were dozens of new restaurants, clubs, bars, and now even an enormous 'ferris wheel' right on the strip. It's a great way to keep people coming back and one of the reasons we love it because of everything new, all the time.

New pink phone and my favorite drink! Ima happy girl!

Hunnie!

 Now that we are Hawaii Kama'ina it was so funny to pick up on all the Hawaiian references in Vegas, especially downtown. We found King Kamehameha on top of a beef jerky store, the California Hotel had a gigantic sign outside reading; "Aloha Spoken Here", and another hotel had a bar called, "The Ninth Island". ABC stores are also a Hawaii based store so we found plenty of local beer, mac nuts, and other Hawaiian goodies sold there that we have at home. One night Mark enjoyed his Longboard beer and I had my Lava Flow (Pina Colada and strawberry Puree).

And of course eventually all good things must come to an end. After shedding a bunch of tears at the airport saying goodbye to my mom we were on our way back home. I must say however it was a pretty amazing feeling not dreading going back to freezing cold weather (sorry all our Wisconsin friends and family.. just had to throw that out there, LOL). It was a great little vacation before heading back to the read world, which we got thrown back into right away as Mark started his new job the very next day, as well as moving into a brand new apartment. I've been having fun furnishing it and making it more of a home... it's also the first time in 7+ months that we have watched TV! Not to big of a deal but still makes it feel more like a home with the background noise :P. 

 As we are both finally working full-time now we are trying to make the most of our time together and make sure we never take for granted the magic of the islands even after a long day of work. If we have time we try to catch the sunset as it falls below the ocean every night or even on our way to work together admire the beauty of the mountains. Hawaii definitely isn't loosing it's appeal as we find we have been falling in love with it more and more as the time goes by...and with the people. I am especially looking forward to this winter season as the humpback wales migrate to Hawaii and the waves on the North Shore coastline will be home to many, many surf competitions. 

Happiness can be found anywhere... :)

Not a bad office view...

Bad boy.

A few amazing guests from New York!

Hawaiian care package I made for my favorite guests.

Candy corn kitty.

What a festive girl!

Happy Birthday Shane!

                                                  Aloha Nui Loa (All my love),

XOXO.........Jen & Mark