lucy, elias and his o's

that little highchair was for my baby dolls many years ago. my mom still has it (awww.) 

we put elias' cheerios on the highchair for snacking, because it's just out of lucy's reach. 

when e was born, he was the same weight as lucy, but he quickly out grew her. 

i still think they'll be best friends. 

(AFTER elias realizes she doesn't like to be pulled across the floor by her tail.)

here in hawaii

the plane ride over the pacific was long & uneventful. i slept most of the five and a half hours. sleeping so much was probably caused by not feeling well. i had congestion mixed in with a headache. :p great way to start out my summer in hawaii.

it's SO nice to be back though! being with my family is the best. 

tea and a lei. what's better?

this little boy is 1 now! happy birthday, elias!

elias peter and lucy belle

if you give this dog attention, she will love you forever. seriously.

home.

i love fruit. any size, shape, color, texture, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

this island is spoiling me. i've eaten mangos everyday since i've been here.

(thank you, Lord, for growing a mango tree in our backyard). 

i tested out nate's hammock. it's good enough. if you follow my instagram (@arosewithhappiness), i said i needed to buy one. well, i did- using a 30% discount at rei. score! i'm sensing many more hanging days in my future.

lunch: aloe vera juice & spam musubi. 

it's one of those meals where you don't look at the ingredients, nutrition facts, or calories. 

just eat and enjoy the deliciousness.

best climbing tree i've seen in awhile. <3

i've missed this polish pottery bowl with its hawaiian vibe.

church meets here? ok, i'm fine with that. :) 

(side note: jurassic park and lost were filmed in this area!)

my  indecisiveness won; i basically put everything on two pieces of bread and called it a sandwich.

(peanut butter+avocado+tomato+dried cranberries+walnuts+lettuce+ hummus) 

just awesome

This time I only have awesome things to share. 

Nothing too awkward has happened in my life, but tons of great things have happened! 

+Having my whole family here for Christmas and New Years!!!  

+Finding my old watch under my bed- I had been looking for that thing for a couple months! Of course I found it after buying myself a new one.

+A 6 or 7 paragraph email from my beloved anatomy and physiology teacher. She’s sooo sweet... one of those teachers who really do care about each and every student. :)

+A kind stranger walking by sees that I’m scraping my car windows without gloves, and then scrapes them for me. Thanks!

+When professors grade on a big curve, and I end up with 100% on a final.

+Making tons of hot cocoa for all to drink.

+Ugly Christmas sweater parties and friends.

+Eating fresh pineapple ‘til my mouth is sore. 

+My three brothers coming into my room to wake me up by singing Soul Sister by Train (Nate was on the ukulele.) :D

+When Elias laughs and giggles. It’s so adorable!

+When my mom rescues Mr. Scofield (our beta fish) from going down the sink drain while I try to clean his tank. 

-----------------------------------------------------

and here are some pictures that have nothing to do with the things above ;)

my grandparents' neighbors' creation

(notice the armpit hair?) ;D

a walk through nature

winter wonderland

sledding with family in minnesota (& a crash)

we had the whole hill to ourselves.

All 7 of us (yes, my whole family is here with us for Christmas!) packed up into a rented mini-van and drove about 4 hours to St. Cloud, MN for my grandma’s birthday. We spent two nights there, and drove back up to Grand Forks after that. While we were there, my dad and 3 out of 4 brothers went shopping for some good sleds. They got 3, so that afternoon grandpa, my dad, three brothers and I drove to a large hill. I had been debating the whole morning about going (even 10 minutes before we left, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go.) on one hand, its lot’s of fun. On the other hand, I twisted/sprained my ankle pretty badly last year from a sledding incident. So I went through the pros and cons of going over and over and over.

FINALLY, I decided to go. Go to this huge *icy* hill.

I slid down once- didn’t get hurt. Went down again, fine, but third times a charm, right? Right.

I used a different sled the third time. It was a circular sled (which is difficult to steer) and tried to avoid the ramp half way down the hill, but instead I headed right towards it. And BAM. That was the end of sledding for me for the day. Maybe ever? Haha. I landed on my jaw/head/hip/knee. Don’t ask how I landed on all four of those places at once. I didn’t even notice my knee was bruised until that night… Ha. *ok, back to the crash* Nate said I was lying there for quite a bit of time. I don’t think I ever lost consciousness though. The rest of the day I had a painful pounding/throbbing feeling in my head, and I also felt nauseous and really dizzy. Around dinnertime those symptoms began to clear. Praise the Lord. We were planning to go out to dinner for Grandma’s birthday, and I didn’t want to hinder that! I was extremely tired though. Even with all the coffee I drank, I wanted to sleep. My mom didn’t let me- I guess that’s something you’re suppose to do if someone possibly got a concussion- do not let them sleep. I might have had a concussion, but we didn’t go to the hospital to confirm it.

Now a few days after the lovely sledding experience, I only have bruises and a scrapped chin left as “battle scars”.

thanksgiving break + a road trip

We left Grand Forks bright and early Thursday morning.

First stop, Starbucks. Nate had a couple gift cards and since he doesn't like coffee, I kindly asked him if I could use one. :) He said yes. #bestbrotherever

I just wanted to fill my travel mug with regular brewed coffee, nothing fancy.

The lady asks if I wanted the Thanksgiving blend. Sure...

It didn't taste like turkey and mashed potatoes fyi.

She was impressed with my Pike's Place mug from Seattle and even more impressed when I said I used to lived there. Ha.

So why did you come here, she asked. my short answer: school.

3 pounds of entertainment. 

This (plus music) kept us going.

We saw a  whole lot of nothing and farms (sometimes).

second stop: bathroom.

third stop: Subway.

A little less than 6 hours later, we made it to our grandparents' house on my mom's side.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with them and about 12 other extended family members.

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving was Skyping the family in Hawaii! They had my cousin over at their place while her mom (my aunt) was with us! 

kinda crazy, kinda cool. It was a big old Skyping reunion. 

Oh, and we even got to witness Elias eating his first food: poi! :) 

He hated it, but his facial expressions were priceless!

I should practice getting more pictures of PEOPLE...

In the morning, Nate and I headed out on the icy roads to REI then the Mall of America. Just because we could :) I wasn't out to buy anything; I just wanted to walk/explore/window shop.

Remember me talking about recognizing people everywhere I go?

Well, I saw two people I knew from school on this trip. haha! ;)

Late afternoon on Friday, we headed a little north to my Great Uncle and Aunt's. The rest of the day included relaxing, playing pool in their basement, chemistry homework, Chinese takeout and a movie! Thanks guys!

The next day we were able to meet up with some friends from Grand Forks/church, and have lunch with them.  That night, my Aunt's sister had us all over for dinner, and we were able to meet more extended family :) Surprisingly, almost half the people there were graduates of the school Nate & I are going to! small world.

This is Bob. He thinks he's more important than chemistry.

As long as you get the questions correct on my chemistry homework, Bob, I'm more than happy to let you lie right on top of my papers and laptop.

Oh, such a silly cat. :)

We were going to spend the night at my other grandparent's house in St. Cloud, but they were feeling under the weather, so we ended up just going out to lunch with them on Sunday. Better than nothing :) They aren't exactly the most tech savvy people, so we were able to help them "fix" their new digital camera while we were there. Oh, they're so cute! :) I only had to push a button twice, and it was fixed!

I'd have to say the trip down to Minnesota was successful.

We're blessed with so much, and I'm so thankful to God for all of it!