Date Night!

First item of business.. I am blogging on our iPad with this wireless keyboard and it is AWESOME. Shout out to my work for having cool electronic accessories! :)

Now that we are back from our "honeymoon" (I put that in quotes because our honeymoon was about a block away from our house... :) ) it has been back to work as usual. This week has been hard - I have put in so many hours at work and while I'm enjoying it, it's also a LOT of standing in one day and my feet hurt ..

So, after work today I went to this little salon that is right by our apartment building and got a 20 minute foot massage - those are pretty much my new addiction. Plus I really like the Asian family that runs the salon, they helped me get all ready on my wedding day and have the most adorable kids. It was soooo nice!

When I got home Mike had bought me a giant gerber daisy - MY FAVORITE! and suggested we go out. We ventured down the street to a Kobe steakhouse. Not as good as the one in Ogden, but pretty dang close! I love watching them prepare the food in front of you. We shared a plate - we have found that splitting entrees is usually plenty of food. It was really relaxing and fun.

When we got home we set up our NETFLIX! Shout out to our friends Justin and Elissa for selling us on getting an account, we already love it.

Although I am always missing my Utah family and friends - even sometimes seeing someone who reminds me of a family member can sometimes make me pretty emotional - I am really starting to love it here and enjoy the culture!

Something cool about the Japanese culture - the other day I was carry a HUGE box of cell phone accessories to storage in the mall. The bottom of the box gave out and all these cases and other accessories came CRASHING down. It was SO loud - everyone turned and stared. I was instantly swarmed by a group of people, and I kid you not, every one of them was Japanese. One of the guys whipped out some duct tape and fixed the box, and another offered to carry the box for me. What a culture of kind hearted people. It was great.

Well - thosse are the happenings in the life of the Reynolds family! Loving life and realizing how blessed we are everyday!

Here's to more sunsets in paradise :)

This week I got married!! Woo hoo!

Mike and I asked Bishop Zakimi to marry us on Sunday - and it just so happened that he was available that Friday!  It was awesome.  Just like when Mike proposed in San Diego - the rain stopped just long enough for us to have the ceremony.  We were married at our church, which has an awesome looking courtyard in the middle.

Sister Zakimi made us the leis, which were a fun tradition to add to our wedding as well. :)

  

Sharing our first kiss as husband and wife... well... were about to..

Bishop Zakimi and his wonderful wife!

This couple is AWESOME. Brother and Sister Hovey witnessed for us, and then invited us to a party at their house after the wedding!  We got to eat some delicious barbecue and met a couple more people in the ward too, so that was fun.

Ring exchange!

In the Bishop's office signing all the paperwork and making everything official.  Bishop and his wife have been married for 29 years and they had fun reminiscing back to the day that they were married.  

After we signed everything we went to the Hovey's place and they gave us dinner.  It was fun getting to know them and I'm sure we'll have plenty more opportunities to hang out with them!

After dinner we went to our 5 star hotel - the Waikiki Edition.  It was SO AWESOME.  It had this kind of Euro trendy vibe to it that was cool.  So nice.  The first night there we got room service and it was delicious.  I've never had yummier ice cream in my entire life... I don't know what they did to it but mmmm boy. SO good!

The next morning we went on a Submarine Tour.  We took a tender out to a submarine called the "Atlantis."

 

We're going under... Trying to make fish faces!!

I love him.

On our way back to the Hotel.. motel.. holiday inn... :)

Some beautiful scenery near the hotel where we were staying.

After exploring a little, Mike surprised me with an awesome Sunset Dinner Cruise.  It was so romantic... we ate in a five star restaurant and got to meet the captain.  We were sitting next to a couple who had just gotten engaged, and on the other side of us was a couple who'd been married for a year and were celebrating their first anniversary and then there was us - the newlyweds - so all ends of the spectrum were covered!  After watching a beautiful sunset and eating a delicious meal, there was a jazz singer there to serenade us and we shared our first dance as a married couple. :)  It was so great!

Boarding the Honolulu Star - this was Captain Mike! 

Fun dancers on deck to greet us...

Ready to eat our seven course meal.. soooo yummy!

Here's to more sunsets in paradise!

Happenings in Hawaii

This past week has been crazy!  Here are a few of the things we've been up to -

1.  Sweating bullets over the possible "government shutdown."  Okay, I have for a time realized the inefficiency of our government as of late, but never have I resented it so much as when it's policy so directly affected us.  When as a result of their indecisiveness you don't know where your next paycheck is coming from - that's nerve wracking.  I am SO THANKFUL they reached some sort of compromise in Congress this week and hopefully better budgeting is in our future! cough cough Romney 2012 cough cough...

2. We leased a brand new Honda Civic this week!  I am in love with it.  It's Urban Titanium and smells like new car, which quite possibly is my favorite smell in the entire world.  Although I consider myself a Nissan girl at heart, I am still pretty fond of Honda's and it's a perfect island cruiser.  Great gas mileage.  Our salesguy, Konrad, was AWESOME.  We told him we were going to wait until we had heard about the shutdown before we made a decision on the car, and he dutifully called us and informed us the second it was announced that there was a compromise. So, that night we went and picked up the car!!

3. I got promoted to a manager at my job at Tricked Out Accessories!  Working at  a kiosk has been weird getting used to - it's something I've never done before!  But I do enjoy talking to people all day and I love changing my phone cover every day to!  Getting the promotion to manager means a lot more money, which is also nice.  Because let me tell you what - it's so expensive to live here!!

4. Our stuff arrived today!  So we have been unpacking and I'm super stoked to FINALLY have our stuff here!  It's awesome.  I am real excited to watch a movie and actually eat at a table.  Haven't done that for about a month!

5. We're getting married on Friday.  We met with our Bishop on Sunday and arranged everything - we're getting married Friday and our honeymoon is a surprise.  :)

Next time I blog my name will be Marissa Reynolds!  Woo hoo!! :)

All You Need is Love

This week has been great... I like my job at the shopping center, and Mike's been learning the ins and outs of his new position here at Hickam.  None of our furniture has arrived, so the place is completely bare and we eat on the floor like freaking hobbits.  But I guess it's okay...Might as well enjoy our empty place before our walls are covered in Alabama football paraphernalia.  :)  I did see the first cockroach scamper away behind the fridge the other day... So that's no good! I guess there is a pretty big problem with them here in Hawaii. 

Friday night we finally did something I've been wanting to do ever since we got here - we took the iPad and watched Pearl Harbor on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base!  It was awesome to actually be there and watch Hollywood's depiction of the attacks... and take some time to think back on people who have given their lives for this country and the principals America is founded on.

Today we listened to some conference on a beach since I had to work during Saturdays sessions.  I did get to hear Elder Oak's talk on priorities and desire, and I loved it!  I am thankful for modern day technology that allows me to catch up on all the goodness I didn't hear the first time. :)

This week we also went for a night time stroll and got some Baskin Robbins.  Incidentally, through a random google search, we discovered that we were eating at the very Baskin Robbins where Obama was employed as an ice cream scooper back in the day!   Kinda cool.  Coincidentally, the lady there didn't give us our change - I guess that's where it all starts. :)

Mike has been spoiling me this week too - I have been whining about how my feet hurt from work, and so he bought me this twenty minute foot massage and let me tell you what... HEAVEN.  It was awesome!  Tonight he also got me this book from Barnes and Noble I have been dying to read - it's called "Unbroken" and since my cousin told me about it I haven't stopped thinking about it!  I am blessed.  Miss Utah - but am enjoying every second here with my best friend!!