Aloha Christmas: Part 1

Hawaii has finally arrived! My parents have been planning to take my three sisters and I to Hawaii for years, but with conflicting schedules, marriages, and babies arriving it got pretty hard to find a time when we all could make it. So they decided to take two trips. And December 14th marked the date of our long awaited and anticipated trip! Mom and Dad Mallekoote graciously took Mari, Justin, Daniel, Zach and I to Hawaii for our once in a lifetime vacation.
Mom, Dad, Mari, Daniel and I left for Honolulu, Oahu for the first leg of the trip. (Justin and Zach had to work a few extra days so they couldn't join us for this first part of the trip.)
One of our first mornings in Honolulu we walked to the beach and saw the famous Diamond Head. So pretty...

Grandpa (Bumpa) and Daniel playing in the ocean.

This is the view from our hotel room.

We spent our mornings lounging by the pool. Daniel jumped right into chill-mode. :-)

We walked down the road to see Waikiki beach.

A highlight in Honolulu for me was seeing Pearl Harbor. Mom and I spent a morning taking tours and walking through museums and learning more about that tragic, historical day in our country's history. We even took the boat tour to the USS Arizona Memorial. (You can see it in the distance in the picture below.)

This picture is taken from the USS Arizona Memorial. It was incredible to look through the water and see parts of the mighty ship resting below us. The oil continues to float to the surface today. That buoy in the distance, a little to the right, signals where the bow of the ship rests below.

We all went out for a stroll one evening and got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory!


After a few days, we packed up to head to the next island. Mom, Mari, and Daniel were all ready to go in one van and Dad and I were waiting for the other taxi. All of a sudden a limo pulled up. I was watching and waiting for some famous person to emerge from the limo. But then we were told that that was our ride to the airport, with no extra charge...score!!

Moving Day

Whew- We have been busy! We are thrilled to say we are officially all moved into our new home! Here is a picture of our sea of boxes in the garage before moving day (It feels like we just did this a year ago...oh wait...we did!)

We had a great cleaning/moving crew to help which was wonderful. Thank you so much to those who volunteered their time and muscles to help. We feel so blessed to have such great friends. Below are some shots of the crew. Joanne helped wash walls and gave me many new cleaning tips. She even hid a few of Zach's favorite chocolates in the cupboards for a surprise. What a lady!

Here come the guys with the trailor...

Grunt- Lift with your legs!

Here we are enjoying some warm soup and bread after everything was moved.


Once everyone left, here is what the kitchen looked like...Ahhhh, the sea of boxes has returned!

Making progress...

Much better!

A friend of ours offered to bring over dinner the next night. We happily accepted as we knew we would love more time to unpack. We were expecting something simple like soup or a casserole. Boy were we surprised when she came over with a full meal with all the fixings. She made enough chicken wings, meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, banana bread and apple crisp to feed 10 people! So we have been enjoying that meal every night since.


One thing I love about moving is it gives great opportunity to clean house and re-organize everything. I had a blast (really I did) organizing our bathroom. Our last house didn't have much cabinet space so everything was crammed under the sink. I so appreciate having cabinet space now.

We also enjoy going through clothes and saying goodbye to items we have been hanging onto for either sentimental reasons, or the hope that a certain style will someday repeat itself. Here is our donation pile, minus two full boxes, after sorting though it all.

All said and done, it was a successful move and we feel so blessed to have a home of our own.
Some other recent news, the addition to the church is finished so Zach will be moving his office to the church. We are both very excited for him to have an office outside of home.
Lastly, I got a job working at the Christian school in Jarvis. My papers still haven't been approved to teach so I was hired by Children's Aid Society to work with a third grader who needs one-on-one attention. So far it has been great. I really enjoy being back in a classroom with the kiddos. Although, it's pretty funny that I have a government job in a country where I am not a citizen. That would make a great lesson on irony!

Thanksgiving

We were super excited to make a trip to G.R. for Thanksgiving to spend some time with family and friends. We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving meal at Grandpa and Grandma Miller's home with the family. We spent the next day relaxing, shopping, watching a movie, and decorating Dad and Tracy's home with Christmas decorations. I loved listening to Christmas music while hanging ornaments on the tree.
"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches..."

I had my 10-year high school reunion. (Wow, am I that old?!) It was great to see some old faces and catch up with those who made my days at CCHS so great. Adri, Laur, and I couldn't pass up a chance for a picture together.

A decade later, and we're still laughing...

The next morning we enjoyed a wonderful brunch with the Mallekoote side (thanks to Mr. Bob Evans). We then took Pieter and Sarah to a playground to play. Oh man, was it cold!! But that didn't stop us from having some fun. Pieter was pumped about the ice he found at the bottom of the slide, and later he had a blast smashing it on the cement!

Baking and Balloon Hunts

My friend's little girl, Kaitlyn, came over to help me make brownies and cookies for Zach's catechism class. She was a great helper, and so cute! She really liked to stir the batter...

...although I caught her "taste testing" more batter than she stirred!


We had some left over balloons around the house from a birthday party so we had a balloon hunt!


What a sweetie :-)

Our House Hunt is Over!

Zach and I have been house hunting for about 10 months now. We live in a small town so we have gone through pretty much every house that is for sale in the area (in our price range of course). We were thrilled to finally find a house that has the features we are looking for! It is pretty amazing the way God lead us to this house. We are very much looking forward to moving in and making it our home. And the best part is (according to Zach) we live on Church street! That's about as bad as a dentist being named Dr. Hurt. Pastor Zach lives on Church Street...it was meant to be. Sorry you can only see half of the house. It was hard to get the sold sign and the whole house. For those interested in seeing the other half you're always welcome to visit (hint hint)!! :-)

Night in Rochester

Zach and I left for a surprise getaway trip to Rochester, New York. Zach knew where we were going, but he had no idea why we were going there. I had a surprise up my sleeve for Zach which I could hardly contain! We left Friday afternoon and took a nice scenic drive to the city.

We arrived at the hotel and my surprise was almost busted because the event we were going to see was posted right next to the elevator on an events board. Thankfully, Zach didn't notice. Here are some pics of Rochester from our hotel room.


We had a nice dinner...

And then we walked to the arena...

Zach was making all sorts of guesses as to what the big surprise was. He didn't even come close. Once inside I gave him his ticket to see....The Trans Siberian Orchestra!!!

It was an awesome show that lasted 3 hours! We listened to one drum solo that literally had me staring with my jaw open in awe- what talent! We had a great time visiting Rochester and the surprise was a big hit- Merry early Christmas Zach!

We have a visitor!

My mom came to visit for a few days which was WONDERFUL! We had a lot of laughs, played some games and just enjoyed lounging around together. It was so great to spend time with her. The first night Zach had pre-marital counseling in our family room so Mom and I hung out in the bedroom and worked on a wedding video she had to finish. We finished all the editing and it turned out awesome. She is super talented.

She took us out for dinner two nights in a row which was a real treat.

My little cousin is doing a Flat Stanley project at school and he asked me to take a picture of Flat Stanley in Jarvis so his class can learn about where we live. Mom was kind enough to take the picture for us.

Thanks so much for coming Marm- it was so special to have you here for a few days. We miss you already!

Fall Fun!

Fall is my favorite time of year! Zach and I were in GR and got to enjoy a beautiful, fall Sunday with the family. We ate a delicious dinner (Thanks Marm!) and then spent the afternoon outside making the biggest pile of leaves ever (according to Pieter).

Jayne is a fabulous photographer and she caught some fantastic shots of the little kids playing with the big kids.

Blake having a ball.

Sandbox fun!



Zach and me with Bryson, our newest nephew.

Lookout Auntie Mari...Pieter's after you!!



Where's Daniel?!

Pieter got Auntie Kasey!

After the leaves excitement faded, we "painted" on the driveway.
By the way, this is a great idea for those who have young kids. A brush + a driveway + water = hours of painting entertainment!


After an afternoon of playing, Sarah was pretty tuckered out...as were the rest of us.