The good, the bad, and the ugly

 recently came to the realization that I’ve been treating this blog like a new relationship. I’ve only been portraying the best of life here and our experiences these last few months. While we have really enjoyed getting to know the island and settling into life here it hasn’t all been rosey. We both struggled with some home sickness during the holidays but still had all the newness of the island to keep us cheery. Now that we are into our weekly rhythm I’m finding myself missing things from home more and more. When I really stop to think about what it is I miss from our life in Oklahoma City it’s a mix of places and people. We have so many great friends there- some friendships that have grown through the years and those that were just beginning. We cherish those memories and know that as hard as it is to imagine it’s probably unlikely that we’ll ever live in the same city as most of those friends again.

Enough sentiment… for now, if we’re going to do this blogging thing right we want to share it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Here’s a little of what we’ve been missing lately:

The current river. John grew up floating this river, it’s become one of the many things we look forward to on our trips back to Salem.

 So many great things about this photo. At the end of the summer we had the opportunity to help get the word out about a dear friend Lee Ellen Starks new album (check out her music and purchase the album here!http://leeellenstarks.com/index.htm) Her heart and voice are unbelievable. Jacob Weaver played at the show and blew us all away with his voice as well. He forgot to mention he was an extremely talented singer during all our nights of cards and fun as neighbors. Then there’s the painting- Tim Krause an incredibly talented friend and designer gave us the painting for our wedding. Just seeing this photograph made me so very excited for the day when we can have this hanging in our house again!

Not the best quality photo but in honor of the annual Superbowl party with all of these friends, it couldn’t be skipped.

I’m not sure this picture needs any explanation- With the arctic weather in the midwest we found ourselves envying our friends who got the day off from work to play in the snow and have moments like this.

This time last year we spent the day sledding with Scott and Ansley and playing the looonnngggeeesssttt game of monopoly in history.

Yes, we even miss our first apartment and our collection of mid century chairs. No worries it’s all safely stored for our return to the mainland someday. (wasn’t worth risking anything getting broken or lost to ship it)

Last year we welcomed in the new year with Chelsi and Matt at the Flaming Lips show. Definitely a NYE to remember!

Long drives between Fort Worth, OKC, and Missouri. We never realized how easy we had it being within a half days drive of both our families.

Speaking of families, this Christmas just wasn’t the same without the chaos of these little rugrats running around.

Sixlets summer float trip. Not missing the waters of Oklahoma, that’s for sure.

We’re getting a lot more nature now (obviously) but boy did we enjoy our front porch, whether it was like this- or like this:

John and little baby Kam

We’re sad that living across the Pacific means we won’t be around for as many of our friends big life moments!

4 of my 6 bridesmaids from our wedding at one of our showers.

John and his annual man trip with Will and the Matts.

It’s really hard to be away from these two! We know that they are better with our families than couped up in this tiny apartment all day. (not to mention we can’t find a place that would allow a dog Beau’s size anywhere..) He’s got 200+ acres of farmland to keep him company for a while.

This list doesn’t come close to covering all the things we’ve found ourselves missing since the big move. We are so thankful for the memories and the opportunity to live in Hawaii, we are also thankful for this new-found  appreciation for all the people we left behind.