Aloha, part two...

Here we are on Monday waiting for the bus to take us to Pearl Harbor.

My dad walked around on the submarine behind them. It was something he always wanted to do.

We explored the museums and equipment all around.

Taylor and mom being serious by the seriously large guns.

Patrick with big guns.

 We watched a movie in the museum and took the ferry over to the memorial.

 

Enjoying our pizza dinner poolside back at the hotel.

We woke up early to watch the sunrise on the morning of our anniversary. The plan for the day was to go parasailing, ride a motorcycle around the island, and eat someplace fun for dinner.

On the bus ride to go parasailing!

We were both a little nervous to go up but once we got hooked in we were excited.

We got to go up really high and had a great view of the coast.

On the way back to the boat.

Everything was going good on our ride until the motorcycle overheated when we were at a light and shut down. We had been riding for 45 minutes and it would not start back up. Patrick pushed it over the three or so lanes of traffic and up the hill to Burger King. We got something to drink while the motorcycle was able to cool down.

After the motorcycle rested it started up and we continued our ride. We stopped at a nut farm were we bought some tasty macadamia nuts.

We kept riding and found a nice park. We took the opportunity to take some pictures and enjoy the view.

We loved riding a motorcycle again. We finished the day by eating dinner at hula dog and eating cupcakes. We had a great anniversary!

Aloha, part one...

Patrick and I were lucky enough to spend a week in Hawaii! My parents scored a sweet deal through a travel agent that their friends from the ward knew and they decided to take all their kids along for the trip. It was fun to be in a place that was new to everyone and to have the Portela family all together.

 Here we are on one of our flights. We had a brief layover in LAX.

Enjoying breakfast by the pool.

The hotel we stayed at provided complementary breakfast including bagels, donuts, muffins, danishes, fruit, cereal, miso soup, rice patties, and lots more. They even gave each room a lunchbox so you could fill it up and eat on the beach or have extra snacks for later.

The view from our room. We were on the 15th floor.

We went to a swap meet that was huge. It wrapped around a stadium. After we were done we went wandering over a crosswalk to get a better view.

 

Then we hit up a Japanese noodle place for lunch. Everyone loved it and it was served cafeteria style.

I was really excited about trying my dish. You ate it by taking the noodles from the wooden bowl and dipping them into the sauce in the little bowl.

Along with our noodle dishes we each had some tempura.

Here we are ready to go on our second day. Since it was Mother's Day my mom picked the agenda and we were off to the North Shore area.

At the Dole Plantation.

I had no idea how pineapples grew so I was excited to find out.

On the Pineapple Express where we learned all about pineapples and got to tour the pineapple fields.

The plantation had a large koi pond. We loved watching the fish go crazy as they were eating.

My mom wanted to eat at a shrimp truck so that is what we did. Here we are waiting.

Danielle and Chad eating the delicious shrimp. It was quite messy but good.

Because it was going to take so long to eat my dad bought some barbeque corn for us all to try. After eating lunch Patrick decided that he wanted a little more.

Here we are at the temple. It was beautiful and more amazing than any pictures I've ever seen of it.

We stopped for a little break on the drive back to the hotel.

Happy Anniversary...

Patrick and I have been married for two years! How awesomely amazing is that? We are so excited and look forward to the changes this year brings.

Pinning...

 As part of graduation from nursing school there is a pinning ceremony. It was about a week after graduation. Patrick got to "pin" me and we took lots of pictures afterwards. And you've guessed it, headed to the Sagebrush Cantina to celebrate!

Waiting in line at the pinning ceremony.

 

  

Receiving my nursing pin.

With my nursing friend Brenda.

With  Amanda, Jenn, and Brenda. The four of us sat together and did tons of group projects and papers together.

Graduation...

On Saturday the 28th I graduated from nursing school!  Patrick surprised me with flowers the night before and then on graduation morning the apartment was festively decorated and a delicious chocolate raspberry muffin was waiting for me. I had bought a new dress to wear but with the temperature being less than 40 degrees I opted for tights and the warmest dress clothes I could find. My parents and Taylor joined us for the commencement ceremony. After the chilly ceremony we headed straight to the Sagebrush Cantina for a celebration lunch! Because it was so cold we decided to take pictures in my cap and gown another day.

 

My favorite flowers from Patrick. We enjoyed an early celebration dinner the night before graduation.

 

 The stage with a bagpipe band playing. My favorite OU tradition.

  

Getting the diploma...case!

  

Flowers from Linda.