Resurrected

Our blog is back! As you may have noticed, my posts in the last 9-ish months have been rather sparse...ok, they've been non-existent. I don't really have any good excuses for this, so I won't even make an attempt at one. What's important is that Jason and I are on the verge of our BIG move to England and we're about to have many more interesting things to post about, so I decided that it was time to resurrect "Our Own Little World." I'm dedicating myself to more frequent posts, and why shouldn't I?...I'm only a month away from part-time employment (and let's be honest, I've started winding down a bit already)!!

My first order of business as I get back into blogging - our Hawaiian wedding!

We had such an amazing time with our friends and family that I am confident there is no way I can do it justice here, but I'll sure try.

After spending a few days in Honolulu getting our marriage license and adjusting to the 5 hour time difference, we headed to the tiny island of Molokai for the wedding.


This is how we got there (that's the pilot loading our luggage; he was also in charge of boarding the flight!):

Molokai is historically known for the leper colony that once existed on the island. Today Kalaupapa, the peninsula that was home to the colony, is nationally protected land where just under 30 of the colony's (now cured) patients still live. The peninsula was selected because of it's significant isolation - it is surrounded on three sides by very rough seas and on the forth side by the highest sea cliffs in the world. The only ways in and out of the colony were (and still are) by foot - hiking up and down the sea cliffs - by air, or by boat. We hiked the 6 miles round-trip in and out and were awarded with some absolutely amazing views!

View of colony from the top:

Tour bus that drove us around the colony:

Where Jurassic Park II was filmed:

This was by far the most amazing hike I have ever done and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to visit Molokai!

We spent the rest of our time on Molokai preparing for the wedding and relaxing at the amazing house my parents rented for the occasion (www.papapaplantation.com, if you're ever looking for a great vacation):
Jason and I always knew we had really great friends, but boy did they pull out all the stops for our big day!

The girls all helped me decorate and set-up, in addition to making countless bouquets:

Charlie spent hours making this vision come true:

(Decorated by my mom, Terry, and Dina)

Kyle raked away an entire sand dune to make my aisle level:

My mom, Terry, and Dina worked their tails off setting everything up for the ceremony:

John and Terry treated us to our own personal chefs for the entire day of the wedding:

(Does anyone in this picture look familiar?...take another look at the close-up below, if you're as big a Top Chef fan as I am, you might recognize Mia Gaines-Alt from season 2. What a great surprise it was when she showed up!)

Chefs Don Hill and Mia were extremely professional and made us amazing spreads of food for breakfast, lunch, and the reception dinner:


Don't we have the most amazing friends and family!? Thank you all!! You made our day absolutely perfect in every way!

The entire day, ceremony to reception, was everything we had hoped it would be! Jason, the wedding hater, has even admitted that he loved our wedding! Here are a few of the photographer's pictures (Rachel Robertson - www.rachelrobertson.com), but there are lots more at http://www.pictage.com/467069





And, my personal favorites: