Christmas time!

Last night we took a trip to Wal-Mart and loaded our cart up. Among the list of purchases were carrots, milk, bread, pizza sauce and CHRISTMAS STUFF :) We returned home and decorated our living room and put up our tree. 'Twas quite the lovely evening :)

The tv was difficult to make festive....

God is so good! I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas Season :)

From zero dogs to THREE!

Zach and I had really, really wanted to adopt a dog, but realized it just wasn't realistic for us at this point. Mainly, because Zach is going to seminary after college and there is a good chance we couldn't bring a dog with us. So, it just wouldn't be fair to get one.

However, we found a program called Field of Dreams. It is a rescue organization in which foster homes are a place for dogs to stay until they are adopted. They pay for all the supplies, vet bills, food--the foster parents just need to take care of and love on the dog :)

So, today we got our first foster dog. Her name is June. She is a five month old jack-russel/hound mix. She is super awkward and cute, either going 100% energetic or completely wiped out and sleepy.

The dog in the sweater is Zach's parents' dog, Ferrari. We are watching him while they are on vacation.

The little black dog we saw lost and wandering the busy street (about to get run over) So we took him in, put out a sign and he stayed last night with us. We're hoping to find his owner soon. He is a wonderful little cuddler :)

So that is the story of how we came to have three dogs within one week. It's a bit crazy at times. Like when car doors slam (like at this very moment!) But we are lovin' our little pack :)

Honeymoon Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from our honeymoon in Kauai. Two weeks of bliss :)

REAL Hawaiian pizza (it's all in the pineapple)








Kauai was amazingly beautiful...

Zach making homemade guacamole--frightening, really....

There are roosters ALL over Kauai. Seriously. And they cock-a-doodle-doo whenever they feel like it. They might choose dawn, but they'll just as soon crow at noon or 11 at night.

Zach and I put about 500 miles on our rental car in two weeks. That is because we probably explored every single road on Kauai. Zach couldn't pass up the adventure.

We named him Numa....

Shave ice. Like a snow cone, but shaved so fine that it feels like ice cream. We ate a lot of this :)

Oddly enough--one of our favorite activities was going to the grocery store/farmer's market and then cooking nice meals at our timeshare.

We rented a kayak one day, stuck it on our car, and took off to explore rivers. SOO much fun.

Zach pulling the kayak up rapids....so that we could then fly down them :)

The second river we explored was pretty much impossible to navigate. We went through what you see in the picture below....yeah--it was intense.

Our rental car. It was a tough little guy....we tested its limits more than once....

Another of the delicious meals we created.

Dang, he's cute ;)

Honeymoon Pictures

Some more pictures from our 2 weeks in Kauai!

Awesome bridge

Kauai was absolutely gorgeous. To put it lightly....

We woke up for the sunrise one morning

The next set of photos follows a great story. But I’ll put it briefly:
1- Seven hours of hiking
2- Mud. Lots.
3-Mile long tunnel through mountain. One headlamp.
4-Overgrown trail, feeling lost, no end in sight.
5-Burning muscles and fatigue.
6-One of the coolest things we’ve done. Something we’d probably never do again :)

This was the start of the trail. And we thought it was dificult...we had no idea what lay ahead.

This was the end of the tunnel. We had been in the wet, dark tunnel for probably 20-30 minutes

After we made it out. Relieved to be in sunshine.

My leg after the hike. Heading to one of the most long-awaited showers ever...

We have a great video of the hike. Eventually I'll get it up, too.

Living room and kitchen of first the timeshare we stayed at. Very, very nice

We camped two days in the mountains...here is our humble abode.

In the hammock Zach strung between tree roots and our picnic table...

Waimea Canyon--quite spectacular

This mom and her chicks ate a loootttt of bread at our campsite :)

We stayed our second week at the resort below. 'Twas lovely....

This is one of the waterfalls before Hurricane Felicia....This is it afterward.....

SoOoO delicious and you can't beat the view :)