Aquarium

This is a cute little aquarium. Let me just say though if you have been Sea World it will blow this little place away. It was cute though and had a lot of information about coral reefs and the colorful fish that live there.

Here's Nemo:

This shrimp really looks fake, like it is plastic because of the colors, but it is real!

I made Matt stand by this--Can you tell?

Honolulu Zoo

It has become a sort of tradition for Matt and I to visit the local zoo and Honolulu was no exception.

At the entrance they had this beautiful mosaic mural. It is really hard to see how intricate it is, but it was awesome.

Here is the montage of some of my favorite animals.

I can't get over the trees here. They are so beautiful and so different from what I am used to.

Watch out this guy is making a break for it.

This zoo wasn't huge, but it made it nice because it wasn't so crowded. It was so well maintained and the warm temperatures allowed us to see a lot more animals out and about.

Hawaii--Dole Plantation

I kind of have a bucket list in my head and it mostly involves places I'd like to travel. Hawaii was definitely on the list and it still is. I finally convinced Matt to go and we kind of went as an early 6th wedding anniversary. It was fabulous and I want to explore it again.

Here are Matt and I at the Dole Plantation. This is the only shot of my lei so enjoy. This place is fun because you get to watch the pineapple be cut and you learn all the tricks to recognize a ripe pineapple. Plus you get to taste all that you want.
So pineapple are really intensive to grow and each plant takes about 18 months to produce one pineapple. When looking for a ripe pineapple you should look for an even pattern on the outside. The pineapple should be firm with a white dot on the center bottom, which is basically the core.

They also have a big koi pond on the property which the kids feed. I've never seen fish jump all over each other like this.

Hawaii really is the rainbow state. We saw two while we were there. This one we caught from out hotel room.

This is the view from the hotel room, not too bad for a Travelocity deal.

More to come . . .

The Kitchen

Once upon a time I wanted to update the kitchen. I liked the layout and everything was really functioning, but I wanted it to look a lot different. I didn't, unfortunately, take many pictures of the kitchen before, but I think you will get the idea. Here is the color of the cabinets before.

This is kind of a partial kitchen shot before hand as well.We started by getting new countertops. I chose quartz. Why you may ask? (I know you probably aren't asking, but since I am a home project geek I am still going to tell you.) I chose quartz because of its durability like granite however it doesn't require sealing as most natural stones do. It is also highly scratch and heat resistant. Here are the counters installed. They are mostly white with a small speckle in it.

This is the sparkle of the kitchen to me. It is a glass tile backsplash with a metallic silver border tile.We also added handles to all the cabinetry.

Our Christmas present for the house was a new dishwasher, which I love. It is all white with the buttons hidden on top. It has a child lock for those lovely button pushers that visit my house and it is so quiet. I swear my last dishwasher sounded like a train and the trays were starting to rust out. The new trays are all vinyl and the inside is stainless steel, which hopefully will prevent any rusting.

We also stripped and restained the cabinets to a kind of lighter cherry color. I think it looks great now, but honestly in the future I would just hire someone to do the cabinets and pay the cost rather than suffer through the process of doing it ourselves to save money. Stain can be rather frustrating to work with and it felt like it took forever to accomplish, so the kitchen was a wreck for quite awhile as was my sanity.

We also got these little burner covers because let's be honest electric burners look terrible, even if you do that little foil trick to cover them up.

Here is a look at the sink area. When the counters were installed we also got an undermount sink. I love this feature when you are cleaning up it is so nice to wipe all the crumbs into the sink instead of them getting stuck in the lip around the sink.

Overall I love how everything turned out and the new little bonuses that make the kitchen look and function just a little better, but wow was this a tough makeover. I might think twice about even cosmetically making over a kitchen in the future.

Mariana Reads

Here she is reading all by herself.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

The other day I started thinking about the amount of jobs I have had. For quite awhile I have had as many jobs or more than the age I currently was and in the last few years I have surpassed that. So below is a list of jobs I have had and a little description of each.

1. Summer daytime babysitter
2. Piano teacher to two students
3. Recreation leader for summer kids group
4. House cleaner
5. Telemarketer
6. Dry cleaner cashier
7. Housekeeper for retirement center
8. Campground staff (3 times)
9. Student Janitor (2 times)
10. Dishwasher (3 times)
11. Suit presser at dry cleaner
12. Retail cashier
13. Gift wrapper
14. Retail cash office manager
15. Customer service for large print company
16. Legal secretary (3 times)
17. Reading tutor
18. Recreation leader for summer kids group

That's 25 jobs in 31 years. I am grateful I have finally found a job that I really love--being a reading tutor. It incorporates my love of reading and I get to help others enjoy it too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas dear friends and family! We have had a wonderful year and hope you have too!

Matt continues to work on the air force base for a contracting company creating radar software. It is a blessing that he still has a great job despite the economy. He continues to serve as the Elders Quorum President although I think he might start campaigning for release. He also continues to enjoy mountain biking and racket ball. He is looking forward to recreation volleyball at the start of the new year.

I am still working for the local school district as a tutor and I am really enjoying it. The job is great and the time off is a great perk too. I continue to work in the Young Women as the Second Counselor. Most of my time is filled creating projects for our home much to Matt's chagrin. This year we have worked on our kitchen and hopefully soon that will be finished including stained cupboards, handles, new dishwasher, and back splash.

We wish you all joy and happiness during this season and a new year of good fortune and prosperity.