Highlights from Jan-June 2014

I cannot believe how fast 2014 is going! It is now October and I have not written since February! ha Well better late than never right so here it goes fam bam and friends!

January 

Let the training begin!

Randy officially began the fire academy on the 13th of this month! They had an orientation for the recruits and their family members and discussed how us as family members would need to learn to be more independent because our loved ones would be extremely busy over the next 7 months. 

I was a little nervous for this big new change in our lives but SO grateful for Randy and I to be given this opportunity. The Honolulu Fire Department only took 24 recruits this round (2 of them women--yay for girl power!) when approximately three to five thousand began with taking the written test. Randy and I basically felt like we won the lottery! 

The academy is Monday through Friday in town at the training station off of Valkenburgh. They work from 7:30 to 4:30pm and the training and structure are VERY strict (paramilitary). I am grateful though because Randy gets paid through out class and received insurance.

Visiting the Bishoff Clan

For my Christmas present Randy bought me a plan ticket to visit my family at the end of this month! I missed home and LOVED seeing my family. We had a good time together from walking/running Radio Hill to talking non stop in the kitchen. My mom and sister Jennifer even made me a special vegan pie to celebrate my visit! The women in my family made face masks together and when my dad came home from work he looked at us like we were crazy. We also made some serious granola together and I made my family Buddha bowls for the first time. One day, we all went and played tennis at the high school and my parents slaughtered Jen, Brent, and I. 

I wanted Randy to come with me to California but with his insanely strict training schedule that was not a possibility. At one point I also got randomly sick and threw up 5 times but recovered by the next day--maybe food poisoning? My favorite part was talking in the kitchen and making food together---in my home that is definitely the gathering place and we all (especially the women in my fam) have been blessed with the gift of gab (as my Nana June would call it)----we can just talk for hours no big deal! It felt so good to be around my family but I did really begin to miss Randy (this my first time really away from him since we had been married). 

At the top of Radio Hill

Looking like hot messes ;)

I love this little sista blista of mine

Taking one of our many walks together

More Radio Hill

Random Pic:Jan 22nd HUGE HUGE waves at Waimea 

February

Academy Update

This month was extremely hard for Randy with driver's training. He would come home exhausted and stressed, This academy consumed his whole life and they were constantly being given tests to study and pass (they were warned about this during their orientation). At one point Randy mentioned to me that he felt this was harder than college! We said a lot of prayers during this time and I can honestly say they were answered over and over again though his rigorous training and tests.

During this time I didn't get to see Randy as much. In fact, our sweet neighbors took me under their wing and made sure I was not alone at home all the time. If there ever were nights Randy was gone they would invite me to come and watch the Olympics with them and drink ginger tea. I am so grateful for how considerate they are of me. Plus Chris and Jill are very animated and passionate people so watching the Olympics with them was pretty entertaining! 

Horse Visit and the Lion King

Okay I LOVE my job---it is pretty unique to say the least. This past month we had a pony and horse visit the hospital and the residents loved it! They all got the opportunity to pet, brush, and feed them carrots. We even brought the pony up the elevator and into our dayroom INSIDE the hospital (don't worry I got all the paperwork done to make it legit). For work we also took the residents to Lion King!! This was a big deal and required so much planning but was extremely worth it. My assistant and I took a group of 5 residents and they had an amazing time. Plus I also got to see the show with them and my work paid for it! Talk about some good perks right?! 

Meet Moxie the pony :)

Valentines Day

This marked the two year anniversary from when Randy and I got engaged! I cannot believe it has already been two years since then. This valentines day was pretty chill. With Randy having next to no life because of his training I decided to keep things simple. When he came home exhausted from work I made him some of his favorites---healthy sushi (I am loved Nori rolls) and some fudgy black bean brownies by Dr. Fuhrman. I also cut out a few paper hearts and stuck them around the table. He was so grateful---tired but very grateful.

The Sunset Branch has arrived!

Ok so we have been with the Kahuku 1st ward since we moved to Hawaii and we LOVED it!  This month they announced we would be dividing the Kahuku 1st ward and setting up a Sunset Branch (the ward was getting too big). Since we live in Sunset we are now apart of the branch and we are small in number. I just got called to work with the young women as the first counselor (ages 12-17) and feel excited and nervous. Randy got called to be the executive secretary. We are going to miss our Sunday school class in the Kahuku 1st ward but are excited for the opportunity and experience to be part of a branch and do our part to help. God is so good :)

***Mormon Lingo: A ward is just a congregation that is a bigger group than a branch  of people who meet for church/worship. You go to the ward or branch the you geographically fall into.

Our Young Women's Group

March

Girls just wanna have FUN!

Okay this was AMAZING! A bunch of my Fitclub girlfriends (about 20 of us) and I went on a two  day retreat in Kaneohe. We stayed in this beautiful house overlooking Kaneohe Bay (Elika hooked us up) and everyone pitched in with the activities. The first night I taught a "cooking class" and made Thai Veggie Curry and Fudgy Black Bean Brownies. I talked about striving to be a nutritarian and Dr. Fuhrman's book, Eat to Live which has changed my life! One of my friends asked me afterwards if I would be interested in cooking for her family. This blew me away but really increased my confidence in my healthy cooking. Some of my other friends cooked amazingly healthy and delicious dishes as well for the retreat. We also had a friend teach an essential oils class, someone did yoga, goal setting, and meal plans. Seriously, this was such a cool experience for me to be around like minded women striving for many of the same goals I am. 

We also had a blast being girly. Some were running around with face masks on while others were getting their hair cut by our friend Kalee who is a hairstylist. I went out of the limb and had a piece of my hair dyed blue (I know--I'm such a wild woman). I felt like a mermaid. We also made sure to relax and chit chat by the pool and hot tub and drink our greens smoothies. At the end, a few of us hiked to the pillboxes and then went to the beach. Our friend, Tiffany Garfield was the master mind behind this whole thing and I am so stoked that I had the opportunity to be a part of this with these amazing and talented women. Love you guys!  

The retreat in a nutshell

I don't know why I put my foot up but it seemed appropriate at the time!

Thanks to Bree for our Yoga class!

Hiking the Lanikai Pillboxes

Some of the amazing women

Thai Veggie Curry---SOOOO delicious!

Randy's Birthday

Randy had his birthday on the 22nd of this month! We celebrated together by going to Waimea Bay and boogie/body boarding. Then we had a BBQ with Chris and Jill and they made their amazing Grommet burgers and I brought a salad (go figure). I also made Randy's favorite---chocolate raspberry torte cake (the Boles introduced us to this cake back in Utah and were nice enough to give us the recipe). For his gift I got him brand new scriptures since his last pair died. Chris and Jill were so sweet and gave him a poster with all the different surf breaks on Oahu. Randy is kind of crazy though...he insisted on mowing the yard for Chris and Jill on his birthday! Who does that?! 

Randy had a lot of candles on that cake---it was almost blinding ;) 

Randy boogie boarding

Woman with Wall of Water at Waimea (say that 5xs fast)

Elise's Birthday
My sweet young sister had her birthday on the 10th. She is currently in Cordoba, Argentina serving a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) and will be coming home this September! I sent her a little email birthday card and realized how much I missed her. She will have served for 18 months before she comes home and I just wanted to say how proud I am of her for making this sacrifice to serve God. She writes our family and friends weekly emails and I love reading her stories and hearing how her testimony of Jesus Christ is continuing to grow. Love this woman and miss my sista blista :)

April

Landon's Birthday
One of my baby bro's turned 18 (woah)! He is going to be graduating high school in a few months and then working on paperwork for his mission! My siblings are getting older and sometimes it feels like it is happening WAY too fast! Landon is becoming a good man and a hard worker. He is a handy man and can fix cars!! This is weird for me to think about---I just remember him playing with legos and blocks! He is even taller than me now which is still hard to believe. I love you lots Landon :)

VEGAS BABY
My work sent me to Vegas for a 2 day Studer Group Conference. My family decided to come stay with me in my hotel and make a party of it! The conference was great and helped me understand so much more about hospital leadership but I am not gonna lie I was little more stoked to see my family. We stayed at the Paris hotel and after my conference ended my family and I made some good memories.

We went and watch the O show and ate at some good places---the Bacchanal buffet is quite amazing---expensive but they pretty much have any type of cuisine you would ever want to try! This is pretty bad but I went once with my coworkers and again the very next day with my family because they wanted to try it out. Needless to say it was a fun experience but I don't plan on eating at a buffet for quite some time. When I got home I was grateful to get back to my routine of simple food and water.

The O show was pretty good though. I was impressed by what these people could physically do but it was a little on the weird side for me. My family enjoyed it though. After the conference and spending some time in Vegas we drove back to Blythe together and enjoyed one another's company briefly. I has to head back to work pretty soon so I flew out of Phoenix back to Oahu. Randy was not able to come because of training---he has been working his butt off!

Day 1 at Bacchalan

Day 2

My Bridge :)

Loving the blue steel look Dad!

The O Show

This was hilarious---mom slapping Jen's hand for pinching this guy's booty!

Caesar's Palace

The Paris Hotel

Work Party "Lets Get Wild" 

I have to say I work at a pretty cool hospital. The people at Kahuku Medical Center are amazing. I really appreciate my job and the people I get to work with. They are a pretty fun bunch to top it off too! We had our annual work party at the PCC and had good food and live music. Randy was able to come with me since it was in the evening! I even got my groove on and danced with some of my working ladies!

Love this guy!

The ladies getting jiggy with it! Oh and Al doing the sprinkler.

May

Surfing
I have had a love hate relationship with surfing since I got to Hawaii but I finally have gotten over the hate aspect of it! I Decided to try and go surfing a lot more this past month to improve my skills and get over my fears. I am definitely a beginner but I am getting better---finally!! I used to be so scared of surfing on even small waves but that is changing! I still surf the baby waves but I am no longer scared of them so this is big progress for me. Randy is still rocking it like always but with the summer months the surf gets smaller and easier for me :)

Slowly but surely getting better

Randy makes it look so easy!

Academy Update
Randy has not missed a single day of class (you basically can't). He puts in pretty long days of training and comes home very tired. He comes home to only eat and study some more before the next day of class. He has been sick a few times which is usually quite rare for him. A lack of sleep and stress are hard on people. I try to do small things to make his days easier but seriously I am pretty excited for this training to be over and done with.

June

Girl's Camp at Koaloa Beach Park
From June 3-6th we had girls camp and it was so much fun, a ton of work, but worth it. The girls got to go on different hikes, camp certification, crafts, read scriptures, go paddling in outrigger canoes, and most importantly draw closer to their Savior. I turned 26 on the 6th and the girls made me a "cake" out of Oreos  and had me blow out a candle. I loved this simple gesture of thoughtfulness from the leaders and  girls. I really have been blessed with so much from my Heavenly Father.

Effie and I with the girls on their hike

Crazy Fast Wedding Trip
As soon as girl's camp ended I cleaned up and drove into town to pick up Randy from work. We had a birthday dinner together at California Pizza Kitchen---the grilled veggie salad is to die for---seriously this is all I get when I go there and NEVER regret it! Anyway, we had to do a quick dinner and then pick up his sister Wendy and drop them off at the airport for Davey and Tiffany's wedding in Utah. I decided to stay back because of the expense of plane tickets and having to return to work on Saturday but I really wanted Randy to go. This was a crazy trip because they left Friday after work and got back Sunday evening so he could be back in time for training Monday morning.

Family is a big deal though and I know we are so glad he went despite how quick the trip was. At the wedding Randy and ALL his siblings were there together---this had not happened in years! Randy said the wedding was beautiful and was excited he was able to see his brothers he had not seen in a long time.