Home for Christmas!!! :) :) :)

We waited for the loading of the plane to get done last night and since it had been delayed two hours, some people transfered from that flight to another that left sooner so there was room for all five of us standbys. The plane left around 9:50pm Phoenix time, 10:50pm Memphis time. He didn't give us assigned seats just told us to find an empty one. I ended up sitting next to this guy who wasn't like any of the other people I sat by on the ride to Hawaii. He actually talked to me and was nice and more than that...he smiled! :) It seemed like everyone on the plane was in a good mood, or it might have been that I was in a good mood! :) Towards the end of waiting for the plane, my mom and I were soooo tired that we were laughing at everything! It was great to be in a good mood again and have my stomach hurt. :) The guy I sat by wasn't that talkative but did talk when I asked him questions. He looked like he was in College and was studying some papers. Anyway, the ride was long but endurable. I just read my book the whole way and looked out the window. There was no going to sleep for me. We landed in Memphis at 1:15am this morning and Stephen came and picked us up. I was wearing flip flops, or slippers as the Hawaiians would say, and my toes were like on the verge of frost bite! They were literally really cold. They are used to weather in the 80s everyday not the high 20s. They warmed up though when we got in Stephen's truck and I put them up the the vent. Probably not the best idea but it helped. :) Not forty minutes later I was warm and covered in my bed!
I got up this morning around 10:45am to Autumn staring up at my bed with a humongous smile spread wide across her face! :) It is good to be home!!!!! :) :) :)

Day eighteen in Hawaii!!!

Hey guys, yes we are still here...in Hawaii! :) Obviously God has different plans for us here. Only He can see the bigger picture.

So the news for today is...we are going to try to fly home tonight! It might be a little easier than last time because we don't have any check in bags. I think we are going to try to get to the airport earlier too. Hopefully that way we will miss the big long lines that we hit on Friday.
The only thing we did today that was interesting was watch Aika for about nine hours. Other than that we did the normal...eat, slept a little when Aika did, sat around...that's about it. Oh yeah, we did some laundry. Now that was funny!! If only you would've seen me!! :) I was wearing a pair of Marshall's swim shorts and a t-shirt of his. Even I admit that I looked pretty funny! My mom laughed every time she looked at me. She tried to get a picture of me but, now way! I wasn't gonna fall for that. Plus she wanted me to blog and post the picture...nope!

Okay, so there really isn't anything to blog about today. I did take a couple pictures though so I might as well post them. :)

Aika is pointing to her nose...she actually said it when she did it too!! :) It was soo cute!!!

Our very sad Christmas tree. :( It is losing all its leaves and it isn't even Christmas yet... :(

Marshall going to work...

I'm here!!! Finally!!!

I never thought I would be here...ever!! It was nothing short of a miracle getting all of us four, my mom, dad, younger bro, and myself, out here to Hawai'i.

We left yesterday morning for the airport at 5:45am. After checking in and going through security, we went and waited to board. We talked to a guy in charge and he said that all the seats were occupied. He said we would be waiting for a while. We took out seats and waited patiently praying all the while, watching people board the plane. Finally, after what seemed like forever, well, not really that long, our names were called and we were told that there was room for us!!! :) Totally God! The ride there was good. I got a window seat so I could take some pictures. Sorry they're soo bad. :(

This is the plane we took from Memphis to Phoenix, Arizona.

Taxing to the runway

Taking off

More taking off

Above the clouds where the sun was.

Clouds

A clear sky

Arriving in Phoenix. Can you see the canyons?

Preparing to land

Getting closer to land. In the bottom left hand corner you can see the plane's shadow.

Landing

When we arrived in Phoenix, we only had time to find our next gate and grab a bite to eat. I settled with a $9 cobb salad. :( A little more than I expected to pay! When it came time for our next flight we sat and waited. Again a guy told us there was no room on the plane. We waited in fervent prayer and finally he told us there were three open seats. Still more prayer on our parts. After what seemed like another forever, we were called up, all of us! He said he had room for all! Another totally God moment! An answer to prayer! This plane was a little bigger than the last with three across seating instead of two. My seat was 16B, which means that I didn't have an isle nor a window seat. :( A bummer especially when the lady I was sitting next to decided it was a better idea to close the blind to the window and sleep. No pictures for me! :( I did get a few though before she closed the window blind.

The second plane we took. This one went from Phoenix to Honolulu.

Taxing to the runway

Taking off

Taking off out the other window.

Beautiful clouds

Inside the plane.

My view the whole way there. :(

First sighting of the Hawaiian islands!

A bigger island

More islands

The island out the other window

The ocean!

Starting to descend...

Landing on the island of Oahu!

Arriving in Honolulu International Airport around 3:30pm Hawaiian time!

Tourists in front of their plane. :)

We are here!!! More happy tourists in front of a big tree at the airport!

Both my older brothers were there to pick us up along with my niece Aika! I haven't taken any pictures of her yet. She is really cute! After we got to my brother's house, my parents weren't there yet so we took the dogs for a little walk...up a mountain! The only bad thing about that was that I was wearing a really nice dress top, gaucho pants and nice slip-on dress shoes! :( Not exactly the best hiking attire. My feet were already killing me and my heels had blisters on them. I took them off and was going to go barefoot but my brother made me wear his big, humongous work boots! :( Not exactly the best idea of style! Anyway, I did wear the boots but they made me slip in the mud going up the hill. It was a beautiful sight though, with the bay on one side and bigger mountains on the other. No, I didn't bring my camera. I promise later on today I will take it up there if it isn't raining like it is now.