Wedding Festivities!

Saturday came quickly! After getting our nails done we spent some time with Adrien's nephew Ethaniel... what a cutie! 

The rest of the evening was spent eating and decorating the reception hall... when they say D.I.Y. weddings save you a lot of money, they aren't kidding. What they don't tell you is the amount of work it takes to make everything go together smoothly! While Billy was enjoying himself at a hockey game, Adrien & I spent nearly 5.5hrs setting up the place. At least it looked fantastic in the end, we both practically fell into bed once we got back home.

The following day was "the day!" We enjoyed breakfast, did a few last minute errands, then headed to the Emerick's house for Ceildh to do all of our make-up. Once we were dressed I realized I had lost my phone- not good considering that's my only phone and way of communication, I felt bad because everyone was focused on helping me find that, instead of Adrien & Billy. I ended up finding it kicked underneath the bed (probably while I was taking the picture of her dress/shoes), needless to say I was relieved and everyone got back to the right business- celebrating the Lemos'!

Traveling to the Tri-Cities & Adrien's "Bachelorette"

I left snow on Four Peaks in AZ - Landed to tons of snow in Salt Lake City - and finally made it to the Tri-Cities where there was no snow, but it was a blustery 37*! We chilled that evening and I got settled into the make-shift guestroom at Billy's parents house. The next day was spent antiquing (we needed a few more pieces to finish the cake stands and decor) then creating the final projects. I got a balloon for valentines day and sent a picture for Quinn to see once he returned home from the field.

The following day we went out for Adrien's "bachelorette" party at Twigs, a pretty unique bar at the Richland Mall. I enjoyed my 80s biker/rocker look... what do you think? Haha!

Arizona Friends & Snow on Four Peaks

Most of my time in Arizona was spent catching up with friends. Some froyo with the Coplan's, a nice dinner at the Cylwik's, brunch with Liz, and dinner with the Bonilla's. It's crazy to think the next time I come back for a visit the Coplan's will have a baby and the Bonilla's will no longer live in Arizona. Sometimes this growing up thing is hard.

The day before I left we woke up to snow on Four Peaks, so dad & I loaded up Storm & Tank and headed out there for some great photo ops and to let the dogs run out some energy. While I absolutely love the amazing landscapes Hawaii has to offer, sometimes it's nice to remember the unique beauty the desert has to offer. It's also always great to spend time with my dad!

Wind Caves Hike

Literally 3 days after dad left Hawaii, Quinn was dropping me off at the airport headed to AZ (via LA)! One of the first adventures I went on was the Wind Caves Hike at Usery Mountain Park with Ashley, right after church on Sunday.

We followed up our hike with some good conversation over delicious Mexican food at TQLA. It's always great to see Ashley, I'm not sure what to do about her moving to Seattle this summer!

Sunrise Lanikai Hike

On dad's last day we got up extra early and headed to the Pillboxes so we could see the sunrise!

After our short hike (opted against the 2nd pillbox because Quinn only had until 11am off work) we headed to Cinnamon's for their amazing breakfast! Dad was here nearly two weeks but time seemed to fly by!

Superbowl Sunday!

Quinn and I volunteered the house for our Mini-Church super bowl party... 

We managed to squeeze 20 people into our living room!

Everyone had a blast, we had great food, tons of laughs, and it will definitely be remembered for that... not the game. Well other than half the stadium's lights going out! Haha!

Kualoa Ranch Adventure!

Saturday morning we got up really early and were on the road by 7am. Quinn had planned an entire day of adventures for Dad's birthday. Once we got checked in we found Heather, one of the girls from our Mini-Church, she introduced us to Topher... who would be Quinn's "cousin" for the day, allowing us to go on an extra tour for free!

Our first adventure was on the ATVs...

Garth was our tour guide, lucky for us we knew what we were doing so we picked the last 3 ATVs so we could goof off, the ladies in front of us needed some help, so he was mainly focused on them. We had competitions to see who could go the fastest! shhhh....

Our second adventure took us thru the jungle...

Godfrey was our tour guide, he was very knowledgeable about the area, how the land was divided in the ancient Hawaiian days, how the fishing pond was originally made to be utilized, and of course pointing out any areas that movies were filmed in (most recent- Hunger Games 2). The middle of the tour there was a short but steep hike which provided an amazing view looking back towards base and into the valley (you can see the Atlantis set still up)!

Our final (and free) tour was the movie sets...

Topher, Quinn's "cousin" was our guide! It was the three of us and a European couple in this giant school bus, pretty silly. We got halfway thru the tour and our bus broke down, so they sent a mini-bus which fit us better anyway! There were SO many movies and television shows filmed here there's absolutely no way to list them all! There is also a lot of history to this 'aina (land) during WWII it was actually converted into a temporary flight line! They had to use metal sheets with holes punched out so they weren't too heavy causing sinkage. The bunker is original, it wasn't built for a movie but has been used in many films and TV shows (such as LOST). Our favorite group picture is definitely the Jurassic Park one- we also learned that the "moo" sound these cows make are extremely different from the cows on the mainland and were used as background dinosaur noises in the films!

We enjoyed all-you-can-eat lunch at the ranch house, then wandered thru the giftshop making sure to grab a photo with Heather before we headed home to shower and relax after such a fun-filled morning/afternoon!