Hawaii

This summer after our trip to Oregon with my side of the family, we went to Hawaii with Nate's family for two weeks.  We stayed on the island Kauai, which supposedly has the least tourism, but is the most beautiful and green of them all!  I've never been to any of the Hawaiian islands before this trip, so in my eyes it was the most beautiful place I've ever seen!  We had all of Nate's sisters and their husbands (and Roxy & Steve's kids) with us for the first week and then the second week was just Nate and I and his parents.  We had an amazing time, hanging out and seeing the beautiful sights of Kauai.  Here are some of adventures from the trip!

We went and saw the Hawaiian Grand Canyon while we were on Kauai, it was beautiful!

We hiked up to a look out over the Na' Pali Coast. It was an amazing view! 

 This was a waterfall we drove to, it was so pretty but I wish I could have gotten closer! We would have hiked down to it and swam but I think everybody was a little tired by this point in the day and the children definitely weren't up for it.

The most adorable niece and nephew ever!

This is when we hiked the Na' Pali Coast up to a waterfall. It was an 8 mile round trip and we were exhausted by the end but it was well worth it!

Nate swam in the waterfall.  It was FREEZING so I wouldn't get in. Yeah I know, I'm a wimp.  But at least I didn't get hypothermia.

Sunset on Hanalei Bay. So pretty.

 Playing in another waterfall.  This one wasn't quite as cold :)

Dinner at Dukes with Nate's parents. I got the macadamia nut crusted Opah. It was delicious!

Kayaking! We went out and kayaked up the Hanalei River in the morning, and then at night we kayaked out into Hanalei Bay and Nate and I rode the waves back to shore.  It was so much fun!

Mmmm. Pina Colada's.  Only the best.

 

Nate chillin' by the pool with a book. What a nerd.

Haha I love this picture of Nate. It's epic.

Cafe Rio Salads!

A couple weeks ago Nate was out of town interviewing at University of Rochester Medical School and so I invited my sister Mariah over (she's a freshmen this year at BYU - and it's been so fun having her up here!) for dinner a movie and to sleepover.  We had a great time, and we made Cafe Rio Salads for dinner.  They were amazing so I thought I'd share the recipe I used!  I found it on a blog and have to admit, I think I liked it better than the actual cafe rio pork salads - which would usually be blasphemy.  The key was making homemade tortillas (they were amazing!).  So here's the link to the blog with the full recipe and some pictures (with and without dressing) of how ours turned out!


http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html

Girls Night Out!

This last Thursday I got to dress up and go out with some of my best friends (and old roommates)!  We haven't all been together in a while so it was really fun! We went to Sparks Lounge and Restaurant in Provo which is such a fun place, but could really use a little publicity because whenever I go there it's practically empty. Anyways, they have mocktails and amazing appetizers.  I got a peach ring martini (alcohol free! - can't find that very many places) and then we shared herb fries with a garlic and blue cheese sauce and pork lollipops with amazing dipping sauces.   We had a great time catching up and laughing at old memories, and I can't wait to do it again!

Lincoln City, Oregon

This summer after Nate's internship in Houston was finished, we took some family trips with both sides of our families.  We went to Lincoln City, Oregon with my Rasband side of the family during the first week of August. Everyone attended, and we all stayed at a giant, beautiful house on the beach.

While in Lincoln City we enjoyed visiting an aquarium and seeing enormous crabs, pythons, and exploring in the touch pool with starfish and other sea creatures.  Later that day we had a great time exploring  in the tide pools by Devil's Punch Bowl.

Some of our other activities during the week included an amazing talent show (where my family performed a rap they had written - it was awesome), a sandcastle building contest on the beach, a hike, and blueberry picking (they were delicious!).

Road Trip!!

This summer one our way back from Houston Nate and I decided to make our road trip through Texas/Colorado a little more exciting by stopping at some National Parks along the way.  

Our first stop was Mesa Verde in Colorado.  For those of you who have never been to this National Park, go.  It is amazing! I remember going when I was younger with my family, but it was really neat to see it again now that I'm a little older because I was able to listen more to what the tour guides had to say, and learned some really interesting things about the Anasazi Cliff Dwellings.  

 We had to climb a 32 ft. ladder to get to the Balcony House cliff Dwellings! It was so scary, especially because it was just raining and so the ladder was really wet, muddy and slippery.  It's a good thing I didn't look down because I probably would have froze!  The climb was definitely worth it though, because these cliff dwellings were amazing, and so was the view!

We stayed in Cortez overnight after visiting Mesa Verde at a family owned lodge called White Eagle Inn, and ate at a Mexican restaurant in town that was really good!

After our night in Cortez we continued on through Colorado into Utah, where we stopped at Arches National Park.  This also is a really amazing National Park that if you haven't been to, you should.  Again, I remember visiting this park with my family when I was younger, but Nate had never been so it was really fun to go again and share the experience with him.  I wasn't too bright though because I wore jeans, and if you've ever visited Arches in the summer, you know NEVER to wear jeans - I was dieing of heat!!!  But after I got over being a grouch (I'm not very good with dealing with heat) we had a great time and really enjoyed some of natures most beautiful creations!