Aloha!

This is what Rand and I both said about two weeks ago.
The difference is that I was saying 'goodbye' to him and he was saying 'hello' to Hawaii!

Rand was able to go with his brother on a work trip to Hawaii to cover some football and basketball games. They spent a week on Oahu taking in the sites, the beaches and the sporting events. One day we talked on the phone and I asked what they were up to, "On our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center." Then a few hours later, another call, "Just waiting for the evening luau to start."
Even though he did have homework to work on while there, it was a tough life for him.

His brother took all the pictures, so we'll post some when we get them from him.

So what did I do while Rand was gone? Well, I decided to catch up with some friends.

First, my niece Ellie.

She and her brother came and watched my football game and then Ellie stayed the night with me. We stayed up watching theatrical marvels like "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" on Disney. Yeah, it was as good as it sounds.

We got up in the morning and Ellie wanted to make pancakes. After breakfast we went to run some errands. I feel for all the moms out there who have things to get done and kids to take with them. I just had Ellie, but my errands weren't all that fun to her (even though she was fed Wendy's and got to pick out a craft at the craft store.) She did like trying on shoes at
Famous Footwear though (such a girl).

While out we saw a bunch of puppies for sale outside a store. There were about 4 different litters. These white labs were so cute. They were just piled on top of each other sleeping.

I guess Ellie was enjoying having her picture taken because she asked me to get a picture of her on this statue. I told her it wasn't happening, so she settled for just a picture standing by it.

RANDOM!

After I dropped her off at home, I still had errands to do (it was Saturday, after all). While running around, my neighbor (and RS Secretary) called to ask me what food she needed for our RS Presidency dessert night (we have 10 sisters from the ward over for treats to help us get to know them better, and get to know each other better). I quickly ran through the things we had at my place the Sunday before. It went something like this, "Fruit, marshmallows, oreos, chocolate to melt, brownies. Wait, brownies. I remember making them, but did we ever eat them? I don't remember cutting them or serving them, or cleaning up the pan. Hmmm. Oh no, have I left them in the oven ALL week? Wouldn't they have burned? Rand would have noticed before he left. I always leave the oven on and he catches it. What in the world happened?"

Well, as soon as I got home I walked into the kitchen, opened the oven (that was not on) and found this:



Yep!

I had turned the oven off but left the pan in to cook a little longer while the oven cooled. Then I forgot about it! For a week they sat in there. I hadn't cooked anything in the oven all week (that's what happens when I don't have Rand to feed.) Luckily I used the miraculous Pampered Chef brownie pan that will NEVER burn the brownies. They were a little hard from sitting out a week, but it was easy to cut them out (and throw away) and nothing was stuck to the pan!

The following Monday I had dinner with some of my old roommates (and honorary roommate) who I lived with for the two months before I got married. After dinner at my place and chatting, we all were leaving to other things. I realized we didn't take a picture so we tried to do it out in the parking lot. Jamie (on the right) has the longest arms so she took the pictures. It was a learning process and someone was always getting cut out of the picture. Below are just a couple of them to show the fun we went through.

FINALLY, we got one of us all in the pic!

Clockwise from top: Mollie, Jamie, me, Cat.

Then the next night I had dinner with the roommates before the above ones, Janey and Katie. Again the dinner was at my place, but this time we made it. We chatted and caught up on everyone while cooking and eating. Then we chilled on the couches and talked some more. After 4 hours we finally decided it was time to break things up. It was awesome to catch up with them (Katie is expecting in February and it was fun to see her HARDLY showing!)

I forgot to get a picture of us together that night, so I've posted one from a ward activity we went to together 2 years ago when we were roommates.

L to R: Janey, Katie, Me

Then the following night, and my last night without Rand, I met up at Applebee's for dinner with some friends from California who I seriously had not gotten together with in years (ran into them each once in like the last 5 years!) It was fun to catch up with both of them!
L to R: Sara, Kensley (how does she have 3 kids, the oldest in fourth grade!) and me.

Thank you: Ellie, Mollie, Cat, Jamie, Janey, Katie, Sara and Kensley for a wonderful time and getting me to do something other than sit at home and watch movies every night while Rand was gone (though I did watch lots of movies too). It was fun to see you all again and catch up! We'll have to do it again the next time Rand takes another 'business trip' with his brother.

ALOHA!