Aloha Hawaii!!!

ALOHA!

So, my intentions were to blog each day that we were in Hawaii, but unfortunately, my iphone wouldn't allow me too! Silly technology! So, instead, I kept a daily log, so that I would remember everything that we did! I should start be saying that Brent and I have been trying to go on this trip for the past two years, but with our work and school schedules, it wasn't until February that we realized that this May was a possibility. Luckily, everything worked out and we had such a blast!

When we were booking everything for our trip, we decided that we were going to go on an extended vacation of 10 days, which after everything, I truly believe is the perfect amount of days for Hawaii! It allows for fun/adventure and rest/relaxation. We took advantage of both! Another note and tidbit I should add in is that we booked our vacation through Costco! Yes, Costco! On their website they have a link for travel! A friend at work had told me about what great deals she had found through them! Who knew? So, when we were searching for the best deal, we discovered, Costco won! And, to top it off, our package was awesome! We received 2 roundtrip direct flights, 9 nights in a 5 star resort, a free in room movie credit per day, free breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants, 2 free dinners at the nicer of the 3 hotel restaurants, our rental car, and a $100 resort credit to be used as we liked! It ended up being worth every penny! And, for those of you asking...Yes, Sam's Club does have the same type offers through their website as well, we just found Costco to have the better option at the time that we were booking and planning!

So, to makes this easy for you as the reader and me as the "still trying to catch up on sleep and return to normalcy" blogger, I will type out my daily blog with an explanation of each day to help give you a bigger picture! Again, I realize this would have been so much better if I could have blogged on the actual day, but I am an occupational therapist (OT) working with special needs children, so adaptation is in my blood!

Friday, May 8th:
Depart DFW on an 8 hour flight to Maui.
Depart time: Dallas- 11:55 am (Maui- 6:55 am)
Arrival time: Maui-3:00pm (Dallas-8:00 pm)

*Our flight wasn't bad! We were both so excited that I don't think the flight could have ever been that bad. It was long, but it was doable! We did arrive at the airport on time, got our rental car, and got to our hotel (Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa) by 5:00! Not bad! We were allowed enough time to go walk around the resort a little bit and then we headed to Front Street. Front street offers a variety of shops and restaraunts for tourists and locals. We at a gourmet handburger at Kool Kats! We arrived in Maui with our bodies still on TX time, so it was strangely akward and weird to be physically exhausted and sleepy at 7:00pm. We were in bed by 9:00pm!

Here are some pics from the plane ride over!

Here is Brent anxiously awaiting to arrive! Weren't we all?!?!

Here is a view from my window seat before arriving!

And, here is the view of Maui as we began our descend for landing!

Saturday, May 9th:
4:20 AM- woke up and watched "Role Models" as our daily movie credit!
6:30- went to breakfast! Oh the food! So much to choose and only one tummy to fill! And, what a view!

This was the view from our table!

7:30- walked around hotel and took pictures!
8:50- went to pool laid out in sun! (No burns for me thanks to my SPF 70 sunscreen! Woohoo!)
11:30- ate a snack and prepared for NW shore excursion!
12:30- drove up along the shoreline and hiked down to blowhole! Stopped along a cliffside and wrote our initials (BAG...yes, bag!) in stones! This is a traditional symbol to gods turned into a fun tourist thing to do! As the story goes, once stones are placed, they aren't to be touched, so who knows? Maybe if we return someday they will still be there!


The blowhole! Cool, uh? Me with our initials!


4:45- ate pizza for dinner!
5:45- went to hot tub and laid on hammock and watched sunset!
8:00- back in room for the night! Still adjusting to time change.

Sunday, May 10th:
6:45- breakfast at Umula. It was Mother's day and they had done some rearranging at the Hotel, which allowed for us to have a wonderful ocean/pool side breakfast!
7:45- went snorkeling and beach bumming at Kaanapali Beach! This is the best beach I have ever been too! On the far north, end there is the idea calm waters with plenty of reef and rock for snorkeling with tons of tropical fish! On the far south end, there is the ideal calm waters with open ocean for swimming!


This is Brent snorkeling!

11:30- at Subway and headed back to hotel! Us (practically Albino) white skinned people have to leave the sun every so often so that we don't fry like bacon!
5:15- went to the Old Lahaina Luau! Had a ton of fun! Great...no Fabulous pinacoloadas! Plus it was an open bar, so they were FREE!

Top: Our view of the stage from our table.
Side: Us at the Luau
Bottom: The pig pit! Brent would have been disappointed if I had neglected to show you this. Yes, that is a pig barried under there. No, the dirt didn't get on the pig!

9:00- Back to hotel and went to bed! Still on Texas time and had to get up early for a fun adventure involving turtles!

Monday, May 11:
5:45- left for Wailea for Kayak adventure involving snorkeling and swimming with huge sea turtles!
7:00- Met our group of 8 and out tour guide. I was so happy that Brent willingly offered our services to be the first ones out, especially since this was my first time. All went well though. We didn't tump over. Thank the Lord! Went to our first stop for snorkeling with tropical fish! I saw an octupus that our tour guide nicely poked, so that it would squirt ink! Second stop was the Turtle washing station. This is where the turtles come for the fish to clean the allgee off of their shells. These turtles were amazing. So gentle, unbothered by us, and interesting. Some swam towards us out of curiosity. Others were used to the human interruption and could have cared less. My apologies to Brent for not making it to see the Mantaray that swam away to fast. Brent was like a 5 year old on Christmas morning when I pointed and announced that I had spotted one. Without a thought, he had jumped back into the water and was swimming frantically to catch up to it! No such luck! Sorry babe!
11:30- returned to beach, showered and changed clothes.
12:15- had lunch at Maui Tacos! Pretty good!
1:00- stopped at some merchant shops and took pics at the beach park across the street.
2:30- back at hotel, took nap, finished watching a movie. Went and made reservations at Spa, swam in pool, sat in hot tub, laid in hammock!
6:30- had pizza for dinner and talked to a few locals about activities to try! I love love love talking to locals no matter where I go! Not only are they very informative of free stuff to do and what to spend your money on, but they are just interesting! It is a great look in to what their reality is in living in this beautiful place!
9:30- in bed!

Tuesday, May 12:
6:45- breakfast! Oh such a wonderful breakfast that included Maui gold (fresh pineapple)!
8:00- went swimming and laid around pool area! Had another delicious pinacolada!
11:45- went to room to snack and shower!
1:00- massages at spa! Loved this! We did a couples massage! Brent had never had a massage before, so I eager for him to join the club!
3:15- I went for a beach side run along the nicely paved walking path that ran along the beach side portion of the hotel property and extended 4 miles north! NO, I didn't run all 4 miles!
4:45- joined Brent for a nap!
7:30-Went to dinner at Cascades (one of the hotel restaraunts)! Ate the entire 8 oz. steak! Yummy!...and oink! Yes, I know!
10:00- in bed!

Wednesday, May 13:
6:45- breakfast
7:45- left for Hwy 37 (alternate route to Hana)! Scariest experience of my life... I think! Picture this....one lane shared by both ways of traffic, steep hills, unpaved portions, cliffside areas (WITHOUT GUARD RAILS...I was sitting in the passenger seat....enough said!) We did make a few stops for picture moments! Saw some breath taking views!)
11:30- arrived at state park! Hiked up 2 miles though a bamboo forest to a 400 ft waterfall and back down the 2 miles, plus an additional 1/2 mile to the 7 sacred pools! Got in and got out! We were exhausted!

Top: Path through the bamboo forest!
Side: View of the 7 Sacred Pools!
Bottom: The 400 ft. waterfall!

3:30- Left and went to roadside fruit stand where I pedaled for my smoothie! Cute concept. There was a bike attached to the blender. In order to blend, you must pedal. Very fun! Brent ordered tea!

Me pedaling for my smoothie! YUMMY!

5:00- stopped at roadside deli! Bought a drink and postcards for the nephews!
5:45- stopped and at dinner at Italian restaraunt!
7:00- back at hotel!
8:00- watched Lost! Even vacation won't keep us from Lost!
10:15- asleep in bed!

Thursday, May 14:
7:30- breakfast
10:00- went to black rock in Kaanapali and went snorkeling/swimming!
1:00- went to taco bell for lunch!
2:00- came back to hotel!
4:30- walked to whalers village for shopping and dinner at Leilanis, a beachside restaraunt! Watched sunset!
8:00- back at room to watch The Office and relax!

Friday, May 15:
2:30AM- up and dressed
3:00- leave for Mountain
5:00- arrive and waited in cold for sunset at 10,000 elevation. So, we are in Maui where you associate warm weather and sunshine, but up on the summit, in the dark, it was 54 degrees! I was freezing!
6:00- sunset and pics. We got a ton of great pictures of the sunset though, so I guess it was worth it.

Brent's view of the Sunset! I told you it was worth it!

7:00- left and headed back to Lahaina for bed! We were exhausted and it wasn't even mid morning!
8:00- Ate breakfast
12:00- up watching a movie
3:00- At pool relaxing!
7:15- dinner at Maui tacos!
9:00- back at hotel!

Saturday, May 16:
7:30- breakfast
9:00- went to Big Beach and saw large waves! Not snorkel friendly! Took a few minutes to watch a few surfers!
11:45- back in Lahaina... lunch at Subway
1:00- watched movie at hotel
3:45- went back to snorkel at Kaanapali
5:30- back at hotel, took pics of sunset and played in hammock
8:00- had dinner at Dollies! A pub and grill!
9:30- back at hotel!

Sunday, May 17:
6:00- at Black Rock for snorkeling
8:15- breakfast
9:15- showering quickly before electricity shut off! The hotel was having their annual safety drill, which includes shutting off all power for 2-3 hours! Ugh! We got free snowcones out of it though!

No, I didn't eat both of these! I didn't even finish all of mine!

11:00- pics of hotel lounging at poolside bar
12:30- quick nap
2:00- checked out of hotel
3:00- got to airport, only to wait due to a 5 hr delay!

Monday, May 18:
10:30 Am- back in DFW after a long sleepless flight! Sad to be home, happy to be home! Already miss Maui, wanting my bed desperately! Might need another vacation to recover from flight!

New News!

So, my mother will at least be happy when she pulls up my blog because I am going to play a little game of catch up! Yes, again! I have been super busy the past month and there is a lot to discuss! So...Enjoy the next couple of new blogs!

Also, I had hoped to blog and post pictures about Easter, but wonderful technology has stood in my way! Stay tuned!

One BIG Purchase!

Can you guess what Brent is signing? That would be the contract agreement for our new house! Yes, finally we are getting a house! We are building a house in Prosper, TX! (That is just north of Frisco!) We are thrilled! We went on Monday to make all of our decorative choices (interior and exterior) and can't wait to see how it all turns out! The projected closing date is August 28th! Woohoo!

So, calling all movers! Yes, this is you...Taylor! Haha! No, actually it is an extended offer to anyone who loves moving boxes and furniture!....Suddenly, I hear nothing but silence! Oh well! I tried! We are hoping to move Labor day weekend, but of course, it is a projected date!

Hooray for no more house hunting, and a BIG hooray for furniture shopping!

One Bundle of Joy!

Eastin Reid Moody

So, most everyone I know has heard the Moody family news....Eastin is here! All 9.6 lbs of him came into this world at 8:41pm on Thursday, April 2nd! Bless Kelcie and the epidural for making it through the 20 hour labor! There aren't words to describe the way I felt when Aiden and Conner were born, so why would this moment be any different! He is perfect! Brent and I were overjoyed to be there at the hospital when he was born and to experience Taylor and Kelcie's joy!

There were numerous family members in the waiting room when Taylor came out to announce Eastin's arrival. It was surreal to watch as my baby brother announced (through tears of joy) that his son was born! We were all so eager to go and meet the little guy, but naturally, with a 20 hour labor, there comes some much needed and deserved recovery time for the Momma, so it was about 11:00pm before Eastin and I met for the first time!

He was precious! He looked at me with those big curious eyes and perfectly round cheeks, and instantly, we were the best of friends! I enjoyed this moment, and just as I had with Aiden and Conner, I made Eastin a promise! I promised him that I would always love him, provide him chocolate, and that I would beat up his Daddy if he ever made Eastin cry! ;) I can promise that since I am still Taylor's big sister!

Here are pictures from Eastin's Birthday!

This is when we met for the first time!

Uncle B loves those cheeks!

Check out those hands! Great for throwing a curve ball!

This is Eastin admiring his Mommy!

The 1st family photo!

Over the past two weeks, Brent and I have been blessed to have spent time with Eastin! He is already changing so much! And, naturally, Eastin and I are already the best of friends! He lets me hold and kiss him whenever I want, and I always bounce him and allow him to look around when he gets fussy! It is a wonderful give and take friendship! ;)

Here are some more pics!

Eastin and Coach!

One proud Uncle B!

Look at this sweet face!

Eastin's first Texas Longhorn jersey!
Already a Texas Longhorn fan!
Hook 'Em!

We already love to cuddle!

Sweet Baby Eastin,
I am overjoyed to have you in my life! You are a true testament of God's miracles and a little piece of heaven! I pray that God bless you in all you do and that you find happiness in your life! I pray that your Mommy and Daddy be filled with joy as they raise you and that God give them all the patience, strength, and knowledge needed in order to raise you by His plan! You are and will always be one of my greatest joys! I love you and will always be here to love, spoil, and kiss you!~ Aunt Ash

One down...One to go!

Conner Brandon Gartrell

March 14th proved to be a great day for the Gartrell family! Conner Brandon Gartrell decided to join the world. At 6 lbs. 12 ozs. and 20", he is perfect! Brent and I were in Prosper taking care of some house stuff when Carol, my mother-in-law, called to tell us that Brandon was bringing Aiden to them and then planning to take Mandy to the hospital. It was around 5-ish when we got the call. At 10pm, she called to say that Conner was here! He came fast. So fast, in fact, that Mandy's water never broke and the Dr. didn't make it in time. Little Conner was born in his sack and delivered by the nurse! I know what you are thinking, "Ashley, what do you mean, "in the sack"?) I mean just what I said. Conner was born in the ambilical sack! Cool, uh? And, what a story!

I think that we all expected the little guy to come quickly because Mandy delivered Aiden fairly quickly, but this was quicker than I ever expected! Which was good for Mandy, I suppose! Anyway, Brent and I could hardly sleep the night before because we were so anxious and excited to meet little Conner. Sunday morning, we got up and went to Stephenville to see him! There aren't enough words in the English vocabulary to describe the precious-ness of this baby boy! He is fantastic! I was so excited to have another nephew!

Brent and I have had so much fun with Aiden over the past 5 yrs., and we are happy to add another "little man" into our bunch! Here are a few pictures of us meeting Conner and then a few from yesterday when I got to go play with my boys!

Aiden is such a wonderful and proud big brother!

Uncle B just loves this little guy!

Here is Conner wide awake!


I love these boys!

No babies yet!

Okay, so before I start getting comments related to my lack of postings, I should start by apologizing! Life has been a whirlwind lately! It's amazing how quickly time passes these days, which is ironic, funny, and true testament of God's sense of humor considering I can remember the days of when I was younger and prayed that time would speed up!

While there are many reasons why I haven't posted lately, the reality of it all is that I am lazy! I'll explain. It would be really simple to say that I haven't posted because I have a full case load of patients at work, an hour commute to and from work, regular everyday responsibilities which are limited to the time that I am home from work, etc....etc.... But the reality of it all is that the main reason I haven't blogged lately is because our laptop fried. And, yes, I mean fried. (My angry rant about stinky HP products can be saved for another day!)

Now some of you are probably thinking, "Well, that makes sense, you didn't have a computer!" But, you see, I did! We have a desktop too, but I am so accustomed to sitting on my comfy couch and blogging, that I couldn't get inspired to walk into our study/storage room and blog from our desk. See, I told you. I am plain lazy these days, but at least I am breaking the pattern!

So, in the past 2 months, so much has happened. Brent started back to school! I am really proud of him! I know that getting a graduate degree is hard work, but doing it while working full time and commuting 1 1/2 hours to and from work 5 days a week is sometimes near the impossible. Brent has always been strong in almost every aspect of life (especially academics), so I never doubted his ability to take on such a task with flying colors!

We started house hunting....again! I keep telling myself that God will provide, and he will, but I continue to question when and how much will it cost me! We have found several opportunities, but when you have been looking as long as we have, we just can't bring ourselves to settle on something we don't love! It'll happen, God will provide!

Our 2 (yes, 2) new nephews are due any day now! Brent and I are thrilled to add 2 little nephews to the list of kids we love to spoil! To summarize, Brandon and Mandy are having Conner Brandon, and Taylor and Kelcie are having Eastin Reid! We are so excited! The past 2 months have been filled with Baby showers out the whazoo! So much fun!

On Valentines' Day, Brent and I were waiting for a table at Olive Garden for dinner (along with what seemed like the rest of Fort Worth!)! Brent had bought me a iphone several weeks prior and was playing on it as we waited. He pulled up some True or False trivia game. One of the questions was "True or False....parents will lose between 450 and 700 hours of sleep during the first year of the baby's life?" Turns out....it's true!

So, to Taylor and Kelcie and Brandon and Mandy! May you get plenty of sleep during these last few days! Lord knows you are going to need it! We love you and can't wait to spoil these babies!

No Blues Singin' at the House of Blues!

Okay, I am really sorry that it has been a month a half since my last post. It had gotten so bad that even Mom dropped a hint that I needed to get on it! :) Believe it or not, I actually wrote a post about the Cotton Bowl, but I haven't uploaded the pics that I want to post along with it, so that will be posted at a later time.

With that said, I had to tell you about the fun "Date Night" that Brent and I had on Monday night! But, first I should start with this....

On Saturday, Brent and I were in GR (Glen Rose, for those of you who didn't know!). Our plan was to go see Aiden (our nephew) and Brent's cousins (Wes and Rachel) play basketball and then have lunch with his family! We were at my parent's house, and I was in the midst of getting ready when Brent popped his head into the bathroom! He had been playing on the computer and found concert tickets online! You should have seen his face! So mischievous and yet, cute! The conversation went as follows:

Brent: "So, what are you doing Monday night?"
Ashley: "Well, I am off on Mondays, so cleaning/laundry during the day....dinner at night...nothing I guess, why?"
Brent: "If I bought tickets to go see The Fray at the House of Blues in Dallas, would you want to go?"
Ashley: "Uh, yes, please!"

So, he bought the tickets and we made out a plan. He would be working on Monday, so it was decided that I would ride the TRE/DART to meet up with him! If only it were that simple in Ashley's little life?!?!

Monday arrived. I had several errands to run before heading to the train station. I got up at 9-ish (not because I was lazy and just didn't get up, but because I had a hard time falling to sleep the night before!) And.... I send a huge thank you to Taylor for texting me and waking me up! Seriously. I would have missed my train had he not woken me up because apparently I didn't set my alarm! So, I got up....got ready...now it was around 10:30-ish....and headed out the door to run errands!

I should make a side note here.....my hair is naturally curly! And, when I choose to wear it straight, it takes blood, sweat, and tears to make it look the way I want it to! Now, I didn't think to look out the window to see what the weather was like....which leads me to this.....

As, I opened the door, I instantly felt it...the damp, due, and moisture in the air. As, I stepped out my door and looked around, I realize it was raining. Now, because I work with children, I am typically very aware of my surroundings and who is near, but in this instance, I was not. I was beyone annoyed that I had spent an hour or so straighting my hair for nothing. I immediately slammed the door (with me standing outside) and yelled, "Crap!" (Which by the way is my word of choice when I am extremely annoyed! This has to be genetic because there is a particular family member that loves this word too....no names though!) At that moment, I realized that the lawn servicemen that our complex hired were all standing there staring at me! I politely smiled, gave a little wave, and ran to the car!

I ran the errands and got to the train! I rode the TRE to Union Station (downtown Dallas) only to get off and go stand outside (Yes...in the rain!) for the Red Northbound DART! Now, it would have been nice if the people making the TRE schedule got with the scheduling people at DART and made it so that the schedules were convenient and correlated with one another, but no....why would they do that? So, I sat in the rain for 15 minutes until the red train came. However, the destination stop listed on that train was the southbound listing, so I convinced myself to wait for the next one, only to watch it pull away headed north. Another 15 minutes in the rain!

Now, I am a huge "Friends" fan. There is an episode were the gang goes to Jamaica to see Ross speak at a conference! Monica's hair slowly grows throughout the episode due to the humidity. Let's just say this: Monica had nothing on me at this point!

I got on the Red Northbound Train properly labled for my destination and pulled my hair back in a clip. Once I arrived at my destination, I ran through more rain to a Starbucks, where I sat and waited for Brent.

Things finally started to turn around...We went and ate at the House of Blues. Which by the way....FYI...if you eat there before a concert, they stamp your receipt and you are able to go into the venue first and skip standing in the admissions line outside! The food was great!

When we finally got into the venue, we found a table, sat down, and enjoyed the concert! Vedera was the opening act...and I loved them! They were great, but The Fray! Oh...they did an amazing show! I highly recommend anyone and everyone go see them if given the chance! We had a great time! I am really excited about their album dropping next week!

Brent and I don't go out and do things like this too often, so it was really nice! We had a great time!

Oh...and the other good thing about my day...I got new ankle heel black boots!