Well Hello There...

Hello family and friends. I have finally gotten my act together to write a blog entry. Sorry for the ridiculous month and some days break.

During the entire month of March I was in Maryland visiting family and friends on the East coast. I had a great visit and I stayed just long enough to get used to things but not too long to become annoying. During the visit, both Lauren and Sarah had their spring breaks from classes, so I was able to spend quality time with both lovely sisters. I was also able to road trip with my parents to visit Sarah's university in North Carolina. It was great to finally see where she spends most of her life now. Life is simpler in the south and Sarah has adapted beautifully and found quite a niche down there.

March 17th was Sarah's birthday, that's right, the little leprechaun. She was not in Maryland during that time but here she is blowing out her candles the week before in Maryland during her Spring Break. She is sporting her new shrug Lauren knit for her. It was too cute!

I was able to spend some great time with my old church as well, the Life. So many things have changed, but the people are still as wonderful as ever and so nice to get away and chat with. Thank you Lifers for taking the time to reconnect!

I spent some wonderfully chilly days in DC seeing the sights. One day my Mom and I went to the National Art Gallery before we met up with Dad in Arlington for dinner. The main entrance has a grand fountain with Hermes standing on tiptoe on the top tier. When we visited, as you can see, it was surrounded by azaleas of every color. They were so beautiful. I had a hard time getting enough light, but this picture will have to do. We had a great time gazing at several great pieces of art. I do not have a picture of Mom and I, but I have the picture Mom took of Dad and I in Daddy's new office in Arlington. It was another great day with family.

Another DC Day, Sean and I spent time roaming around the Dada exhibit at the National Art Gallery. We met up with Lauren and her friend Becca for a few hours. Afterward Lauren and Becca had to leave for class so we took several goofy pictures.
Here is the set; and here we are in the mirror art. Hey, we were making our own art...just like the Dadaists. ;)

I was super stoked because I was able to spend so much time with my girl, Katy. Katy has been very busy with her last semester of student teaching. Basically, she teaches everything and the original teacher sits at her desk and picks out vacation spots or paint colors. The teacher is about to retire, she deserves the break. It really is a big responsibility for Katy. Anyways, she took a lot of time out of her busy life to spend time with me. Thank you Katy for the time sacrifices you made. We lived it up in the time together. We even visited Fort McHenry... HA! Now that's livin it up!

Most of the time home was spent crafting it up though. I learned how to correctly use the sewing machine. I also stocked up on some great yarn that I had to mail back because I bought so much! Knitting and sewing took up a large portion of time. It was great. I finished sewing a knee-length skirt. I also finished knitting a sash, a scarf, and I am almost done with baby blanket #1. I just have the last few rows to wrap it up. Here are the ladies knitting and chatting, the best pastimes combined.

All in all, it was a fabulous visit with family and friends. I am so thankful for the memories and next time hopefully Daniel will be there as well.

Speaking of that man...He is still staying as busy as ever. He is feeling comfortable in his work environment and he really feels productive and in control. He is getting great feedback on his work from his peers as well as superior officers. When I talk with him, he sounds healthy. The Marines do a good job of taking care of their own and Daniel says they have a great cook. I hope he misses my cooking too though. He has time every once and a while to get to the gym, so that has been helping his morale as well.

The Command has been saying the return dates are scheduled now for the end of May. There are circumstances that can push the flight dates back into June, but we are all hoping that they get here as soon as possible. I am still anticipating June so I don't have a large let down in case they do return later.

Life for me has returned to normal here in Kailua town. I did yard work this morning. The amazing amount of rain the islands have had this past month have made the weeds killer. It was drizzling as I was pulling weeds and pruning bushes. There are patches of sunlight this week so far, so it is better than last week when I returned and it rained non-stop the entire week. It has flooded so many canals and homes. We are ready for sunny clear days to dry the muddy soil. I need to mow and I don't want to be slipping through the rain and mud while doing it!

Enough complaining.
I leave you with my Project Spectrum hibiscus. I did a horrible thing today trimming the hibiscus. They were covering all our windows so I had to trim them back. I had to cut off so many blooms; it was depressing. I had to keep thinking, this is good for the plant...

Orange and Yellow month of April. I also have several red, pink and white hibiscus blooms, but they are "sooo last month"... :)

Love Ya'll. Thanks for your patience in reading this.