Friends Reunion in Hawaii

When I went on my study abroad to Italy four years ago, I was so lucky to make some awesome friends and we still try to get together as often as possible. Jo, Chelsea, Emily and I have been able to see each other in smaller groups since then, but because we're spread out all over with our Husbands the last time that we were all together as a group was my wedding! And... that doesn't really count anyway. So since Jo lives in Hawaii now and we're all relatively on the West Coast, we decided it would be perfect timing to all meet up for a girls' weekend in Honolulu! 

 This was the first day we all spent together back in 2008 on a day trip to the island of Capri

And this is us in 2012! We live in four different cities, have new husbands (and a baby on the way for Chelsea!) but we had just as much fun together as we did four years ago. 

We spent our first morning there snorkeling at Hanauma Bay - always a favorite! Jo put together some fun videos from their footage from the trip, too. Here is the video from the first day:

Snorkeling Hanauma Bay from johanna franco on Vimeo.

After that, we headed over to Diamond Head to hike to the top

And then we rewarded ourselves with some awesome shave ice and malasadas. Yum!

We spent the next day on Pipeline beach and around the North Shore. Aaron (Jo's husband) grew up in Laie so we got to see all of his favorite places! 

They introduced us to Ted's Bakery (to die for) AND, of course, we had to stop for some coconut shrimp. Yes, we ate A LOT of good food on this trip :)

Our afternoon at Pipeline beach was awesome and the weather was absolutely perfect. So was the water! We had way too much fun playing in the waves.

Here's another fun video Jo put together of our adventures that day:

 On the drive back, we of course had to stop at the Dole Plantation for some pineapple whip. The five us us polished off this entire sundae. Don't judge.

 We spent our last full day on the island on the North Shore starting at Waimea Bay and then hitting some favorite spots on our way into Laie. Here's the last of the videos that Jo put together from our day on the North Shore. And yes, we had to stop for more chocolate haupia pie at Ted's. :)

We also got to stop by the temple and the visitors center which I always love to do. Such a unique and beautiful place!

 Even though it's ultra touristy, Waikiki holds a special place in my heart for all the memories I have from over the years. We had some time to burn before our flights left on our last day, so we headed over to Waikiki beach to get Yogurtland (my ultimate favorite) and walk along the beach for a while.

The four of us packed a lot into four days, but we're so glad that we had the chance to finally be together all at once! Jo and Aaron were awesome to let the three of us stay at their place for the weekend. We can't wait to go back for our next reunion. Maybe we'll bring our husbands next time. ;)

Summer in a Nutshell and the Big Move

Well, it looks like I have an entire summer to catch up on, so here it goes! Picture overload ahead. 

4th of July

We met up with our friends, the Cooks and their family at the Helaman Halls field. I got  to watch the Logan fireworks show with my mom the night before so I got double the fireworks this year! 

Scottie finished up his pilot training at Sheble Aviation in Arizona, so on his drive down he stopped in for a visit on my lunch break.

 And once his license was official he came back to Provo to take us all for a ride! Getting his pilot's license is something he's worked hard for and wanted practically his entire life, so we are so proud of him for accomplishing it! He's already a great pilot. 

One of Nick's mission companions, Gabriel, was visiting Utah from Brazil for the first time ever so he stayed at our place for a couple nights. It was fun to show him around Provo! 

We said goodbye to our beloved Infiniti. Lots of memories with this little car! Its AWD was great in the Utah snow, but unfortunately, not needed in Arizona. :( We had a great four years with this car and the selling process worked out perfectly with our moving time frame. 

My last day of work was a couple weeks before our move and I got to spend some time in Logan with my family before Scottie left to the MTC and while Nick was finishing up School in Provo. I'm still working remotely from home, but my mom sent me this pretty bouquet on my last day in the office

 While I was in Logan I got to meet up with friends that I hadn't seen in such a long time! 

Heidi and I have been friends since the first day of kindergarten! She just graduated from Standford and was back in Logan for a while before heading off to Germany for a year with her husband. She's amazing and it was go great to meet up with her! 

It's not too often that the five of us can all get together, so I was so glad that it worked out for us to all meet at lunch while I was still in Logan. We get to see each other about once a year and it's always fun to catch up and see how much little Quinn has grown! 

Gotta love Logan sunsets. Amazing! 

It was great to have Marissa here for the weekend of Scott's farewell. It didn't work out to have Dan and the girls come, too, but we had a fun weekend nonetheless. 

 We took the boat out one last time before Scott left. It was my first time out that season... and the last, sadly! 

Scott, Patrick, and Conor have been friends since elementary school and they're pretty much considered family by now. I think we like hanging out with them as much as Scott does ;). 

Oh, and of course Kona came on the boat with us. 

Speaking of Kona, this little dog is one of the best parts of coming home. Granted, I might be kind of obsessed because she's my dog, but she definitely keeps us laughing. 

When the suitcases come out in our house, Kona knows something is changing. She hung around the entire time we were packing Scott's mission suitcases. 

A few other Kona moments:

We were glad that most of us got to be there when Scott got set apart - we had Marissa and Dan on FaceTime so they could be a apart of it, too. Nick was a good sport to stay in Provo to study for finals, but we certainly missed him! 

Scott requested that I make shrimp alfredo for his last dinner at home, and thanks to Pinterest the entire dinner turned out great. 

 After Scott got set apart, the rest of his friends came over to say goodbye

What would we do without Skype? The nieces got to say goodbye to Scottie before he left for the MTC. 

 And yes, Kona came with us to the MTC per Scott's request. Ironically it was the first time anyone had been through the Provo MTC gates -- my dad went on his mission before this MTC existed, and all we had to do was drop Aaron off at the airport since he went to the Brazilian MTC. Nick was taking a final and couldn't be there, but I'm sure he'll be there to pick Scott up when he gets home ;). 

 Right as we drove through the gate, we saw two of Scott's best friends waiting for him on the curb. It totally cheered him up from our tearful goodbye and he couldn't wait to get out of the car! We were so glad they were both there. 

 Scott has finished one month in the MTC by now but still has two to go! He says the Korean language is the most difficult thing he's ever studied but really loves what he's doing. 

 The week after we said goodbye to Scott, said goodbye to Provo altogether! It's crazy to think that we lived in our little apartment for a full three years because time went by so quickly! We loved the time we spent there, but were definitely ready for a change. We had a lot of great experiences in this little home and will always remember it as our newlywed apartment...though we're not even close to being newlyweds anymore. Haha.

We had so many friends and ward members help us move our stuff into the moving truck--down three flights of stairs, mind you! We were soooo grateful for their help and seriously couldn't have done it without them. My mom also came the day before to help us pack. She is definitely a master mover! Thanks to her, nothing got broken or even damaged on the way down. She's amazing! 

Nick's mom and Calvin were so nice to make the drive with us in our car so that we didn't have to tow it behind the truck. They were lifesavers the whole way! 

 Of course we had to stop at In-N-Out in Vegas. 

It was Nick's first time at the Hoover Dam so we braved the intense heat at 7:30pm to go take a look. It was only after we were leaving that we realized the tail lights were out on our moving truck, so we decided to just get a hotel room and drive the remaining 5 hours the next day. 'The Hacienda' casino was right down the street, and admittedly, I was terrified about even thinking about staying there. Haha. But thanks to reading TripAdvisor reviews and realizing rooms were only $40, I was convinced. Thankfully, it really wasn't all that bad and we got some sleep for the drive the next day.  

And we finally made it! We had signed the lease of our new place before even seeing it, but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our complex was even better than we had imagined. We love our apartment--especially for the fact that it's nearly twice as big as our Provo apartment. Haha. And, as you can see, our complex has an awesome pool, too. 

I realized that moving in is almost just as bad as moving out. This is one of many Costco attempts to re-stock our kitchen. It's been a month and I'm still working on it! 

Last but not least, I took Nick out for his long-awaited and much deserved graduation dinner! We were celebrating his graduation and the fact that he did great on the DAT, so he deserved an awesome night out.  Ruth's Chris definitely didn't disappoint and I even got to have the most amazing leftovers the day after :). 

The new apartment is still a work in progress, but pictures will be posted soon!