Chester. May 2006-May 2012

Oh Chester.  It's been a good 6 years.  May 5, 2006.  

That's the day you joined me in my adventures.  (Who knew it would also be my future husband's birthday!)  I remember being so excited that I finally had a car at college.  A way to get to Wal-Mart.  It was fantastic.  Since then, you've been with me for many good times!  You were there throughout me and Steve's dating-ness.  

I believe you were even the car we drove to Liberty Park when Steve proposed!  You were our getaway car when we got married, and you drove us on our honeymoon.  

That turkey was the last thing to leave Chester.  He's been there for years.

You have been on many adventures with us over the years!  We've been to family reunion.

And you've even taken us all the way across the country.  

(Note- this picture was actually taken our last night of the road trip...in Laramie.  Never thought we'd actually live there...)

May 14, 2012.  I'm sorry Chester!!

We tried to make you look a little better,

But I think we all knew the end was coming.  Chester, you were an amazing car.  You made it to 255,000 miles, and we know you still had more in you.  We will miss you!!

While out running on Saturday, Steve and I stumbled upon a used car lot that specializes in Hondas.  (Side note... looking for a car while in running attire = fantastic!  No pressure!)  We looked through all the overpriced cars, until we found the hidden gem.  My dream car.  She was ours within a few hours.

Welcome to the family Ruby!

A Bunny Story...

So these pictures are old.  But I just have to share!!  Way back in September 2010, Steve and I went down to the SLC public library with my dad.  Down by the kids section they had a big art display.  There were several picture books made by students that were displayed on the walls.  When we came across this one, we knew we had found a gem.  This kid seriously has a future in kids stories... or maybe not... :)  Enjoy!  (By the way... note this kids' age.  7.)

Let's just quickly recap a few of my favorite points.  

1- Just look at the cover!  Smiling bunny, glowing carrot, perfect.

2- Fantastic facial expressions!  Really- look at the bunny's face in every picture.  Amazing.

3-  The process of the melting wings.  3 pictures that we see those wings melting.

4- The crazy monkey man who jumped out of his car.

5-  The angel bunny at the end... complete with brown wings and halo.

6- The fact that this 7 year old kid told such an awesome story using only pictures.  

Yeah... I'm impressed!

Hawaii Day 9- March 17

Our final day in Hawaii.  Sad day.  We started the day off early with a 6am temple session.  Unfortunately, Maggie and Brian just missed the session.  But we met up with them in the celestial room and were able to do some sealings together.  Here are a few pictures from the temple for your viewing pleasure.

Then we stopped by McDonalds for lunch.  It was cool.  

After that we packed up all of our stuff, said goodbye to Maggie and Brian, and headed to the airport.  Our flight left that night, and we got to Salt Lake early in the morning on the 18th.  Steve and I took a nap, then drove back to cold Laramie.  We LOVED our trip to Hawaii!  

Hawaii Day 8- March 16

In true Corry style, (and like most of the other days in Hawaii...) our day started off with a run.  And our run turned into an exploration.  We found trails that wound through the golf course and then to a completely deserted beach area.  We couldn't see another person the whole stretch of beach.  It was just incredible.  

Then we proceeded to the tennis courts.  Unfortunately, we both forgot to bring tennis shoes. Although our black soled running shoes don't leave streak marks, we decided to play in our socks.  It was awesome.  

My parents drove us over to the temple and we walked down to the temple beach.  Yes, they have a little meditation area and then a beach.  It's pretty cool.  I think all temples should have beaches.

We spent some time wandering around Haleiwa and got Steve some new flip flops.

Then we had dinner at Kahuku Grill.  So yummy!  I guess it's owned by a stake president in Laie, and it was fun to have the owners at the table next to us, along with the mission president, missionaries, and an investigator.  

Finally, we finished up the night by going to BYU-H to see Brian perform in Lady Windemere's Fan.  He played Lord Darlington and did a fantastic job!!

Hawaii Day 7- March 15

March 15.  Happy 4 year anniversary to us!!  We began the celebrating by waking up to this gorgeous view.

And of course- more ocean time!

After spending the morning playing in the waves, my dad came to pick us up and we said goodbye to our little hut on the beach.

We spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Awesome!!!  

We watched the canoe parade...

We had a blast watching this cool dude in the Samoa village.  My dad took this picture from the back... you can see the rest of us up near the front.  My mom's in a bright teal shirt.  (Click HERE for a video of him doing part of his performance.)

We enjoyed time in the other villages as well.  Then we took a canoe ride down the river to meet my family for dinner.

And at dinner... guess what!  They had my favorite food!!!  It wasn't nearly as good as the yummy stuff served at the East High Luau... but it was the first time I've seen it since then!  (The yummy noodles...mmmmm...)

Towards the end of dinner, our waitress found out that Steve and I were celebrating our anniversary.  She sent these cute girls over and they sang Can't Stop Falling in Love by Elvis Presley.  It was fantastic.  

We finished the day by going to see Ha- Breath of Life.  My parents had already seen it, so Steve and I went by ourselves.  It was absolutely amazing!  (Click HERE for a video with some of the fire dancing from the show.)  I wish I could go see it again...and again!  It was a fantastic way to end our 4th anniversary!

Hawaii Day 6- March 14

On the morning of the 14th, Steve and I decided that we had not seen enough of the beach.  This beautiful, empty beach was where they filmed part of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Lost.  It was within easy walking distance of our condo, so we set out and spent the morning on the beach.

On our way back, we stopped by the Banyan tree from Lost.  It's Huge!!

That afternoon, while Maggie was in class, Brian offered to take us rock climbing.  We drove along the coast and then climbed a mountain.  Here's the view from where we started climbing.

Steve made it all the way to the top!  At this point, Brian was yelling at him to "Just slam dunk it!"  He basically had to grab the ledge above his head and hoist himself up to stand on it. 

The rest of us climbed too!  Berkeley and I didn't make it all the way up, but Brian made it in probably about 30 seconds.  

And here's the mountain we climbed!  I honestly think that was almost the neatest part!  It wasn't really much of a trail, just charging up the mountain!  You can see the cliff face near the top, that's where we climbed.

We built up an appetite with all our climbing, so we met my parents at the Aloha General Store for some shave ice.  I think the shave ice was better here.  The flavors were a lot more intense.  SO Good!

Then we made a pit stop at Ted's Bakery, where we got a coconut pie and a chocolate coconut pie.  Yum!

We met up with Maggie and had dinner at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck/Kahuku Grill.  After dinner, Steve and I were dropped off at a shack on the beach.  For our anniversary, my parents surprised us with a night on the beach.  I LOVED this little hut!  You could see the ocean from inside, and it was very relaxing to listen to the waves all night.

Before we turned in, we made a fire using driftwood.  We had been told that it was nearly impossible to start a fire here, so we decided to prove our awesome-ness by making a fire.  Unfortunately, we didn't have anything to roast over it... so we just stared at it for a while.  Then we sat by the beach for a while listening to the waves until bedtime.