Birthday Festivities!

Wow, I had an AMAZING birthday this year! Kyle is the total opposite but I have always made a big deal about my birthdays. It's the only day and I ask for anything I want. 

My birthday was already amazing since it was on Memorial Day which meant no school or work! Then...I GOT A FREAKING iPHONE5! Kyle and I woke up and his phone alarm went off. Kyle asked me to go turn it off and once I found the phone it said "Happy Birthday Gwyenne!" on the screen. I stared at it for about five seconds then realized it was a phone for mee!!! I was sooo excited. This is my first iPhone. I've always been hesitant since they were so fragile and expensive but if anyone should have an iPhone, it should be me. I hate when people have iPhones and don't even e-mail, use GPS, or social network. That sounds bratty but whatever. It was perfect too because I broke my other phone on Saturday by jumping into a waterfall and getting it soaked. I guess it was just meant to be ;)

 

Then we went to breakfast at Papa Ole's.

  

When we got back, there was ANOTHER present sitting on the bed. I was so surprised.

 It was Dot by Marc Jacobs perfume! I've needed perfume for so long but it's so expensive so I haven't bought any in a while.

  

Then we went on a catamaran in Waikiki all thanks to Groupon! The weather was wonderful and so was the view! An Asian guy got sea sick and threw up on the boat. It was hilarious, poor guy.

The boat!

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It's one of my birthday traditions! Then we went and saw Fast and Furious. Kyle loved it but I don't like those types of movies.

6 Months!

Today Kyle and I have been married for 6 months! Honestly, it feels like so much longer than that. Even though it hasn't been very long, I want to share some marriage thoughts. One thing that I want everyone to know, at least from my experience, is that marriage is hard. Unless you've been married before, there is absolutely nothing you can do to fully prepare yourself for marriage. People say you should date for a certain time, wait for a certain age, but none of this is a one size fits all. Luckily for me I expected marriage to be really hard but I was going to do whatever it took to make it work. Kyle and I had a great dating life but I knew marriage was going to change everything. I didn't necessarily know how or why, but I knew it would....and it did. For Kyle, I'm pretty sure he thought things would stay the same and I think it shocked him a little bit. 

I think one of the reasons marriage changes everything is that it changes your mentality. Kyle and I love each other so much but just because we are married I think it's easier for us to take each other for granted. There are many other factors as well but I can't put my finger on them. 

These last six months of marriage have been like a roller coaster ride. We have gone through so many rough patches but luckily I can say we have recovered and our relationship is so much better than it was in jan/feb. I think we are continuing to learn and just getting better at being married.

I don't mean to sound so negative but I just hate it when people(mostly Mormons) make their marriage sound like it's perfect. It's not! We all have issues so don't hide them. 

I guess my advice is to just know that marriage is going to be hard. You can make any marriage work if you're willing to put in 110% and make a hell of a lot of sacrifices. 

I am so happy that I am married to my best friend at such a young age. I never thought I would get married ever, but I'm so glad Kyle decided to put up with me. We are just two crazies that fell in love. 

Hawaii Goodness

A couple weeks ago we had a week break before summer semester started and we went a little Hawaii crazy! It's hard to do all the stuff you want here when you're going to school full time and working. So whenever we get the chance we always try to soak it in as much as we can! So here are some pictures of what we did...



On Saturday, we went to Pearl Harbor! Katie was leaving the island and that was one of the things she wanted to do before she left. It was my first time too.

On Sunday, Katie left :( It was raining all day and we were all so sad. I am going to miss your accent Katie!

On Wednesday, Kyle and I did our first hike in Hawaii! Normally I hate hiking but Hawaii is just so beautiful, so how could you not?

Naturally, we cooled off at the beach afterwards.

He is so precious. Yes, he insists that we bring five towels every time we go to the beach.

On Thursday, we went to the Disney Resort! We always go at night when it's less crowded and we just act like we're guests. They have three hot tubs and it's so amazing!

On Friday, I had a little girl time with Whit Whit. We had lunch at Kahuku Farms and it was delicious! Definitely my new favorite lunch spot on the island.

Honolulu Symphony

Finals are over! Woo! Now we have a week break then summer session starts up :/

My co-worker is graduating so today was her last day at work. She will be working at Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City! I am going to miss my little Asian partner in crime!

I know I look disgusting. Give me a break, it was finals week.

Our monthly party! My department is the best.

How cute is she.

The best boss ever!

Then in the evening my friend Whitney and I went to the Honolulu Symphony with our orchestra director. They played Brahms Requiem. A requiem is basically funeral music so it was very solemn and beautiful. It was such a good way to start the weekend!

Maui-ed!

Kyle and I are only going to be in Hawaii for another year so I want to take advantage of it as much as I can. So for me that means visiting all the other islands! I had been looking at flights to other islands and they were super cheap so I was planning on taking Kyle for the three day weekend. Well, the hotels are so expensive, I didn't really know what there was to do, and Kyle had his CFA Challenge the same weekend. Turns out my roomies were planning a trip for the same weekend! So I decided to go with them to get a taste of Maui before I took Kyle. I am so glad I booked that ticket cause we had just a blast! My roomies are the best : )

Nothing better than a Jeep for an island cruiser ;)

This is the view from the house we stayed at...right on the beach!

 

On Sunday we went to Lahaina. It's a cute touristy strip with tons of souvenir shops. 

Then we went to Kaanapali beach and we ate at Nikki's Pizza. There's tons of hotels and shopping. Me likey!

Then coming back we did the road to Hana! It road was out of control but so beautiful! It seriously looked like Ireland.

Then on Monday we had the most perfect day at the beach! It was super warm, the water was perfect, and the sand was super smooth! Oh, and I successfully boogie boarded for the first time!

So it's actually mating season for whales right now so Hawaii is making a killing off of whale watching tours. They pop up on Groupon all the time and I always tell myself that the next time I see one I am going to buy it. I think I've let about 3 or 4 slip by me already. Well, at this beach you could hear the whales from under the water! IT WAS AMAZING. Now I just want to buy one EVEN MORE!

We ended the trip with the one and only Krispy Kreme :) Don't know when we'll be able to have it again!

I have my hubby back!

One of Kyle's majors is finance and to get more involved, he joined the CFA team at our school. This past Friday, his team competed in the CFA Challenge against two other schools. Their presentations were on the financial status of Bank of Hawaii. They started preparing for this in September and it consumed their lives. Kyle literally had no time for me and I did not take it well because I am so needy. I think twice he ended up staying at the school for 24 hours...on a Saturday. It was ridiculous.

So a few people from our school made the hour trip downtown to go support. We ended up being late since the traffic was so bad. Once we got there the first team had already started presenting and they weren't letting anybody in. Well, we thought that BYUH was the first to present so we were SO bummed. Once they let us in we realized that it was a different team presenting! We were all so excited, it was so funny. So we got to watch our team and you could tell they were super nervous but they did a great job! Afterwards, there was a small banquet where they announced the results and recognized the schools. Our team didn't win but I'm just so glad it's over! Then Kyle dropped me off at the airport so I could go to Maui, and that's a whole other blog post ;)