Hawaii - Day 3: Jenni's 27th Birthday

What more could you ask for, than to spend your birthday in Hawaii??

It was a perfect day - and a LOT happened, so read on...

First of all, Will and I had a lot of fun just driving around and looking at the various sights. We found this beach, pulled over and ran down to it. There weren't a lot of people, which was nice.

Above: Jenni actually wrote this in the sand, but Will is the one picture by it.

Above: I thought that the beach, the ocean, and the palm tree in this picture looked like it belonged in a calendar. So we had to get our picture taken in it.

Above: Will looking for coconut shells to make a "coconut shell bathing suit" for Jenni. Silly Will.

Above: So many candles, so little cake...

Above: Jenni excited that everyone remembered her a birthday and made it special for her, and also thinking about the fact that only an hour before this picture, Will proposed marriage to her. (What?? Read on...)

Above: Its hard to make a wish when you are in paradise with the one you love. Everything is already so perfect.

The Proposal: In Will's Own Words

Not every good Latter-day Saint boyfriend/girlfriend picks up and heads to Hawaii for a week of vacation. Jenni and I had a good excuse. My sister was getting married and my whole family was heading over for the wedding. I decided to bring Jenni along for her birthday present as her birthday took place while we were there. What a week of fun that was.

Jenni had moved down to Portland over a month prior, but I hadn’t been able to give her the time and attention needed to help blossom our relationship. I was finishing up my Bachelor degree while simultaneously wiggling my way through a Master’s program and working self-employed to make ends meet.

Our escape to the tropical paradise and leaving all of life’s worries back in Portland created the perfect setting to fall in love. We spent everyday together with siblings playing and having fun. Jenni and I always seemed to catch heavenly sunrises and sunsets on magical beaches.

It was the evening of Jenni’s birthday as a stroll along a sandy shore found us secluded in prayer under the evening’s heavenly stars. With the warm breeze on our face and cool sand cushioning our prayer-bent knees, it was here that I desired with all my heart to share eternity with Jenni. I shared this desire with her then. We knew the timing of our heightened feelings were not the most adequate (in light of my sister's wedding), so we decided to keep this special event to ourselves until it was revealed to us the appropriate time to take action.

Jenni's Memory of the Event:

Will described this evening so eloquently, and I don't want to take away from that. But to give a few more details surrounding this event, keep reading...

First of all, before we left for Hawaii, two of my brothers had bets going on whether or not Will would propose to me. I kept telling them that it was not going to happen because Will, himself, told me that it wouldn't.

So when it actually did happen, it took Will by as much surprise as it did me.

We were both kneeling in the sand and holding each other. Up above us was a starry sky, but everywhere else had stormy clouds. There was a warm breeze blowing through us and the moment just felt so beautiful. I looked at Will and asked him "What are you thinking about?".

He describes to me that he had been thinking about how much he wanted to marry me, and the thought "Will you marry me?" kept going over and over and over in his head. So when I asked the question "What are you thinking about?", he of course answered,"Will you marry me?"

My first question back to him was "Are you serious???". Of course I was excited and of course I was going to say yes, but...I wasn't expecting this! I wanted to be sure he was for real. And he was. :)

But as Will said, we didn't want to steal Kristi's thunder because being in Hawaii was a celebration of her wedding, so we kept our engagement a secret for quite a while. Several months actually.

Hawaii - Day 2: Pearl Harbor

We finally arrived at our first accomodations: Kristi's apartment on the BYU campus. It was really cramped living quarters that first night - I think the entire living room was covered with people. I don't know if it was the Thomas family just trying to be nice to me or what, but I lucked out and got a bed. :) I felt pretty honored. Besides the scary gecko lizards that were crawling on the wall next to me, I got some good sleep.

We only ended up staying at Kristi's for two nights before the rental house became available, and then all of us (all 15 or so of us) moved on over there.

Above: Will unloading our things from the rental car the morning after we arrived, since the first night we were too tired and just went straight to sleep.

Will came and woke me up bright and early around 5:30am on our first morning there. Being that we didn't even get to bed until after midnight and after a long day of travelling, I was not excited about this. But he told me he had something he wanted to show me. I kept asking what it was, but he said it was a "surprise".

In our pajamas and flip-flops, he led me outside and we walked towards the beach. Being that we had arrived so late at night, I didn't realize how close we were to the beach. And then, all of a sudden, Will told me to stop and turn around and look.

We both turned and right in front of us in all of its magical beauty was the Honolulu Temple. Rows of palm trees, flowers, and fountains lined the entry way up to the front of the temple. I was absolutely awe-struck. Turns out that Kristi's apartment was only a couple of houses down from the temple.

We then walked to the beach and sat on the sand and watched the rest of the sunrise. I couldn't believe how warm it was. It was very magical and definitely worth getting up so early for. Thanks Will. :)

Above: Will and I in front of the rental car on our first "real" day in Hawaii. So happy together. :)

Below: Our first outing in Hawaii - Pearl Harbor

Below: Will and I on the shuttle boat riding across to the Pearl Harbor Memorial for the U.S.S. Arizona

Below: Reverently gazing down at the ocean depths where thousands of sailors were buried alive. We could see the oil in the water that was still leaking from the ship.

Below: It was a pretty hot day, so after Pearl Harbor we walked over to a marina and dipped our feet in the water. This is me being goofy.

Below: On our way back to Kristi's apartment, we stopped at a public beach and walked around.

Below: Dry and heading towards some rocks to climb on

Below: Totally soaked from a huge wave catching us as we were standing on the rock ledge (seen behind). Good thing it was hot enough, even in the evening, that we dried off in no time.

Hawaii - Day 1: Travelling

Will and I left Portland International Airport early, made it to San Francisco, and then flew to Honalulu from there. It was a long flight, but a lot of fun. My parents had just given me a digital camera for my birthday (which was going to happen while in Hawaii) and so much of our flight time was spent trying to figure out how to work the thing.

Above: Jenni waiting to board at PDX

Above: Will waiting too

Above: Testing out the digital camera while in flight to Honalulu. We look kind of tired don't we?

We arrived at the Honolulu airport late that night and waited around for Daniel and Dalynn to arrive as well so we could go and pick up our rental cars together. I was getting a little impatient because by the time we finally got our rental car (and after they messed up our reservation), we had been at the Honolulu airport for about 3 hours and it was midnight. We were sooooo tired!

Just a note: The first thing we noticed was the change in temperature as we got off the plane. It was very hot and humid!

Meeting the Family - Preparing for Hawaii

Will's sister, Kristi, got married in Hawaii June 25, 2004. The entire family went over for the event, and I was invited as Will's special guest. I was really excited!

As everyone was gathering in town getting ready to depart Portland for Hawaii, these are a few snapshots of us hanging out at Daniel and Dalynn's apartment a few days beforehand.

These photos have bittersweet meaning because this was also the same night that Jenn (Luke's wife) went into Labor and Delivery and found out that Hailey had died sometime earlier that day - only days before her actual duedate. So while the family was all in town getting ready for a wedding, everyone also ended up being there for a little funeral. :(

While it was an extremely difficult time for the family, I also have good memories that are of a spiritual nature. I got to see Will and his brother Luke spend a lot of time together comforting each other and it really touched my heart. Will and I also had many spiritual talks as we walked around the temple grounds. And the memorial services were so uplifting and hopeful as well.

It was a very unusual but wonderful introduction to his family.

Rose Festival: The Starlight Run

Will gave me a good excuse to stop unpacking my boxes at my newly settled apartment (with a girl from the ward) and come watch him run in the Starlight Run. This is a 5k race that is part of the Portland Rose Festival. It's a crazy loony race where everyone dresses up in costumes.

Will and his roommate, Nate, decided to dress up as Mugatu (from "Zoolander"), and Will was "Hansel" from Zoolander, except he took the meaning more literally. He actually wore leiderhosen and wore clogs. We're talking true clogging shoes with taps on the bottom. Everyone in the entire parade could hear him coming from several blocks away as the sound of his clogs hit the pavement.

His feet were pretty sore for a few days - as running 3 miles in clogging shoes is not exactly the most comfy thing to do.

Below: Will and Nate in character. Mugato is a gay character from Zoolander,

just to clarify why Will is posing like this. :p