Bird Encounters: Heaps Peak Arboretum

Today for Sabbath, we adventured to Heaps Peak Arboretum off the 18 in Skyforest, California. This is one of our favorite locations to bird, not only for the species we have spotted there, but also for the easiness of the Sequoia loop trail. The trail is about a mile long and is just right...not too hard, not too easy. The perfect trail for birding!

We have been to Heaps Peak either two or three times before (neither of us could remember). Our first time was iconic. We spotted the White-headed Woodpecker within minutes of hopping on the trail. And every visit to Heaps Peak, we have seen new birds, which is always what you want as a birder!

Every time we go back, and this time was no different, we walk very slow as we begin. We look for the White-headed Woodpecker to return. No luck. 

Once the trail takes its first big bend, it opens up into a vast array of trees on both sides. This is where the majority of our birding takes place. We venture left, then straight, then back, "psst-ing" to each other if we see anything. We even ventured farther this time off the trail (oops!). But good thing we did! We saw the bird we came to see this time!!! The Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) is a woodpecker that is quite large and I've been wanting to see this bird ever since June. Not only did we see the Northern Flicker off the trail, but we also spotted a Nuttall's Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker in the pine trees! What joy!

Does anyone know if this is Poison Oak?

Heaps Peak is known for always having multitudes of Mountain Chickadees and Western Bluebirds, which are always fun to see chirping and fluttering about. Other repeat bird species for us at this location are: Steller's Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Acorn Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture, Spotted Towhee, and Dark-eyed Junco. Already on our birding lists, but new for us at this location now are: Western Scrub Jay and Yellow Warbler. And, of course, we usually always have a suspicious bird we are unable to identify. We are not sure whether we saw a Western-wood Pewee or an Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Our favorite part of the trail 

Western Bluebirds all over the place!

Acorn Woodpecker

Today, I counted my blessings. There are so many things to be thankful for. I love how birding slows down my life and makes me able to realize this. 

I have been indulging in a pleasure read, in between reading for school, and my newest book, Bird Sense: What's it's Like to be a Bird, has taught me that birding is all about encountering. Encounter: an unexpected experience, in this case, good. Oh how I love birding and all of the encounters it has shared with me! Today, I cherished our encounter with the Northern Flicker. And, as always, I cherish my time with my best birding friend, my husband. In between our lines of "what I remember about coming here before..." and "this is where...," we have once again created new memories in nature. 

Oh, what joy!

Our "Big Year"

Justin and I are celebrating our 1 year anniversary by doing something fun every day this weekend, since I start school again on Monday (our true anniversary).

We have decided to celebrate by doing something new and going to a swap meet, eating dinner at the delicious Corner Bakery, doing our favorite hobby together (birding), and we still have yet to go to our favorite restaurant in Palm Springs, watching our wedding video, and finally going to Yellow Deli in Vista!

As I reflect on our last year spent together, I am filled with joy. I thought life couldn't get better on August 4, last year, but our first year of marriage has proven that life is full of blessings  no matter what, but so much sweeter when you share them with your best friend! 

I think the most unique thing about Justin and I is that we consider ourselves to be birders. We have beginner's luck with birding too (or so I believe). Although Justin has been exposed to birding off and on his whole life, once we started birding together, we now consider ourselves true birders. I feel like I should write "Birders" with a capital letter just because I love being a Birder SO much!

Justin mentioned some birding stories to me a few times when we were dating, but I didn't find too much interest in it (sorry Justin). The more he talked about it, though, the more intrigued I became. I began to fully appreciate this topic of "birding" when we were on our honeymoon in Maui. We went out and bought Maui bird books and started trying to search for a few different birds. The most difficult thing about this was we didn't have any binoculars! I knew, though, if I could enjoy birding as much as I did without binoculars, I would enjoy it SO much more with binoculars!

The birds we could see with our naked eyes in Maui included: Common Myna, Red-crested Cardinal, Red Junglefowl, House Finch, Cattle Egret, Spotted Dove, House Sparrow, Zebra Dove, Black-crowned Night Heron, Gray Francolin, Muscovy Duck, American Pekin Duck, Mallard, Black-necked Stilt, Wandering Tattler, Common Peafowl, Great Frigatebird, Japanese White Eye, Maui 'Amakihi, 'I'iwi, Red-billed Leiothrix, and Ring-necked Pheasant.

As you can see, once we started birding we couldn't stop. It's a good thing to be addicted to, though! As my mother so comically and wisely put, "It's better than clubbing!" Little does she know not only how much we enjoy birding, but how much SHE would enjoy it! (Justin thinks you would be very good at it, Mom....)

Once we got back to California, we reported an easy-to-see Acorn Woodpecker while we were on a hike in Cleveland National Forest (San Diego), but our biggest birding experience happened shortly after that in September. 

My father-in-law is extremely into birding and he is our Birding Master (another title that deserves capitalization). We got calls, texts, and emails from him about a rare bird sighting on the coasts of California. The closest sighting to us was one on the coast of Playa Del Rey. A Blue-footed Booby was being spotted! (Actually a few were being reported!) This was a very big high-alert birding event we couldn't miss apparently. There was hub bub in all the major birding websites and people from all over were coming here to spot them! So we drove out there on September 21 with 1 pair of binoculars hoping to make a historic bird sighting of the "BFB" (I've learned some bird lingo...). We arrived at the wrong time of day, right at dusk, when the lighting was just a little too bad and the jetty where the bird was was just a little too far. So close!!! (At least we were still able to spot: Black Oyster Catcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Brown Pelican, and Double-crested Cormorant). The Bird Master was disappointed  we missed the BFB and encouraged us to try again and go back (he was living vicariously through us, since the BFB is a lifetime bird for most people, including him). ("Lifetime bird" is really a phrase in birding...awesome, right?!)

We made our 1 1/2 hour trip again the next day, after we stopped at REI to pick up our second pair of binoculars, and were blessed to see not only one, but four Blue-footed Boobies (also a Black Turnstone and Great Blue Heron)! Although they were only juvenile BFBs, which means their feet were not indeed blue, this was something special!  We definitely have beginner's luck. (The species stuck around long enough and started showing up in a few more spots in California, so our Birding Master was able to see this lifetime bird of his next trip out to California!)

Note: We ended up visiting Playa Del Rey months later and spotted: Barn Swallow, Elegant Tern, Forster's Tern, Marbled Godwit, Red-breasted Merganser, Surfbird, Surf Scoter, and Tree Swallow.

One of the fun aspects of birding is to meet other birders and enjoy this wonderful hobby in nature together. When you pass by birders, the conversation always makes me laugh because we are all such big bird geeks! We were able to meet two ladies at Playa Del Rey who graciously let us look through their birding scope to get a crisp and ever-so-excellent view of the BFBs. We have now purchased our own birding scope because of how much it truly helps scan the distance.

Around our home, we started paying attention to the birds that frequented our neighborhood. We have noticed many Black Phoebes, of course the usual House Finches and House Sparrows, a few Great Egrets live in the meadow, some American Goldfinches hung out in the park trees for awhile, and way too many Northern Mockingbirds make our HOA their home. Our favorite neighborhood birding experience ties between randomly seeing an ear-full of Cedar Waxwings in the trees across the street (never have we seen them again), getting close-up encounters with the Red-shouldered Hawk who lives around here, and staking out at the tree that is home to at least thirty hummingbirds (Anna's and Allen's) who sit still long enough so you can get good looks at their shimmery beauty!

We have discovered a few favorite birding hotspots, thanks to ebird.org this past year, as well.

(Side note: I only mention new birds spotted. The great thing about birding is you always see multitudes of different types of birds and you are constantly seeing repeat birds you have already seen, which is good review. Birding trips are always fruitful!)

Heaps Peak Arboretum near Lake Arrowhead is definitely my favorite spot, so far. There is a perfect little loop trail that is just the right length of a hiking trail to bird on. It is very very quiet up there in the mountains as well. And it smells like pine trees, which is always a plus in my book. Over our two visits there, we have seen these wonderful and amazing species God has created: Mountain Chickadee, White-headed Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture, Western Bluebird, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Spotted Towhee.

Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino has been a favorite park of ours to bird at as well. (It also has a great frisbee golf course that looks fun! I know what I want for Christmas!) The cool thing about ebird.org is that you can go online to a hotspot and see what birds have been reported (it is being a good birding citizen to input your bird sightings as well). We went specifically to Glen Helen to see a lifetime bird for Justin: Lewis's Woodpecker. We didn't see it the first day we went, but we went back two days later and saw it in all it's glory flying from tree to tree in the wide open grass area. (It's a wide open grass area, because it's part of the frisbee golf course...which we didn't realize and were in the way of what happened to be our friends' shot!) Overall, we have also added Belted Kingfisher, Northern Shoveler, American Coot, Dark-Eyed Junco, Hooded Merganser, European Starling, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, and Great-tailed Grackle to our list from Glen Helen.

One of the fun aspects of birding is to think of it as a game. You research what hotspot you want to go to, what is being seen there, and where to find it. You go and you search. You find, and you feel like you win! It has been especially fun birding this year too, because since I have never birded before, every new bird is literally a new bird for me! Most are review for Justin, but he barely remembers them, so it's been fun for both of us! We enjoy seeing repeat birds as well, but it's definitely fun to go birding and spot new species! Most of the time we walk away with seeing at least one new bird for our life list, and we also add birds to our Big Year list! (If you're confused what a Big Year is, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zTt6PEODBM). 

Something we have enjoyed this year is whenever we take a trip, we have vowed to bird in that area, since most likely it will offer some different types of birds than the cities we live in or around. (Sometimes we joke about moving to southern Texas one day where it is known for birding!)

When we went to San Francisco during winter, we found these species (we also met a great birding friend...shout out to Felix, who taught us a great birding lesson: never bird without your book!): Pied-billed Grebe, California Towhee, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Stellers Jay, Long-billed Curlew, Bonaparte's Gull, California Gull, Western Gull, Bufflehead, Eared Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Common Goldeneye, Snowy Egret, Ring-necked Duck, Willet, Mute Swan, White-crowned Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Ring-billed Gull, Horned Grebe, Western Grebe, and Lesser Scaup.

A birding highlight of our year was when the Birding Master came to visit and we took a family birding trip to San Diego county. Trips just to bird are now some of my favorite trips! These are the special birds we saw with our Birding Master: Nuttall's Woodpecker, Northern Harrier, Mountain Bluebird, Savannah Sparrow, Ferruginous Hawk, Green-winged Teal, Bald Eagle, Burrowing Owl, Prairie Falcon, Hutton's Vireo, Lark Sparrow, and American Wigeon.

At our local Hulda Crooks Park in Loma Linda, we have seen: Killdeer, Western Scrub Jay, Band-tailed Pigeon, Bewick's Wren, and Lawrence's Goldfinch.

We have tried a few other parks as well: Fairmount Park in Riverside and Ford Park in Redlands. Collectively, we have spotted these species at those parks: Canvasback, Cassin's Kingbird, Graylag Goose, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Another great local birding spot is the San Timoteo Creek area in Redlands. I love going here because my friend, Seth, is buried in a cemetery near there and he is a lovely person to remember. Justin and I had a very exciting Cliff Swallow and Sora sighting there.

A great thing about birding too is that we can go back to the same park a few times a year and see different types of birds, since different seasons bring different birds to different areas. Also, bird plumage sometimes changes with season, which is fun to see! For example, we have seen Ruddy Ducks multitudes of times, but we just recently spotted them having their bright baby blue beaks, which change that color in the summer! (Side fact: If you don't already know, many male bird species are more colorful than female species, so the males can be more fun to spot.) 

Another regional park that is great to go birding at around here is Prado Regional Park in Chino. These are the birds we have seen there our two times: Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned Warbler, American White Pelican, Say's Phoebe, Vermillion Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Clark's Grebe, and Common Moorhen.

A city that has amazing birds around here is San Diego. Since I worked down there at the beginning of our marriage still, I had more opportunities to bird there than Justin. We try not to bird without each other, but sometimes it just happened (whoops). A few great places to bird there are the San Diego River Estuary, Famosa Slough, Lake Hodges Footbridge, Lake Murray, and Cabrillo National Monument. Together, we have seen: Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail, Bushtit, Little Blue Heron, American Avocet, Least Sandpiper, Song Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Wren, California Thrasher, Hooded Oriole, Bullock's Oriole, Western Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Caspian Tern, Wilson's Warbler, and Brandt's Cormorant. Accidentally (whoops) I saw these birds in San Diego solo: Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, Gadwall, Whimbrel, Hermit Thrush, and Redhead

The San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Lakeview and Lake Skinner County Park in Winchester are not for birders faint of heart. It was a little too much for us to handle. It would take days to cover those whole areas, but we were able to spot: Violet-green Swallow, Western Kingbird, American Pipit, Greater Yellowlegs, White-faced Ibis, Yellow Warbler, and Phainopepla (we had to Google how to pronounce that one!).

I love birding when I least expect to be birding. One time I was at the animal shelter when I noticed a Brewer's Blackbird in front of me. One time I was sitting at my desk at work in San Diego when an Osprey flew up on the telephone pole right outside the window. One time Justin and I were going to Home Depot, when we noticed Canadian Geese across the street in a pond. One time we were driving near the mountains in Grand Terrace when we noticed an American Kestrel on a street sign. One time Justin and I were on a walk when we saw a Eurasian-collared Dove. The time I was waiting in my car to go into my interview at LLU, I noticed multitudes of Acorn Woodpeckers and American Robins in the palm trees right there in the parking lot! One time on my way to work in San Diego, a White-tailed Kite flew across the freeway. One time when we were at Vasquez Rocks with my parents, we saw a White-throated Swift. One time on a trail on Catalina Island, I saw a Horned Lark for a split second. And American Crows, Common Ravens, Rock Pigeons, and Mourning Doves seem to be everywhere we go. 

Birding is my new favorite hobby, if you can't tell.

And, today, as we celebrate our love we have shared together for this past year of marriage and for all the years to come, we went birding at San Timoteo Creek again. We found what we went to look for, which always makes me feel like I won a prize! We saw Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, and Lesser Goldfinch!

This year has been the best year of my life. It has been my Big Year. I married the love of my life, my family doubled in size, I have a new favorite hobby, I have two wonderful dogs, we have had two beautiful homes and made the best of them, and I have started my MOT program! Blessings abundant! Praise the Lord.

Just Maui'd (Original blog date: September 26, 2013)

Just Maui'd Photos

Our first taste of married life…in Maui…SPOILED! Our honeymoon was the best trip I have ever been on. My husband is amazing. Maui is amazing. Perfect combination.

Justin had everything planned out to the perfect extent—not too much, not too little, and wiggle room for any change of plans. He’s the best trip planner! I thought I was just marrying the most amazing man in the world…I didn’t know I was marrying a tour guide, my own personal travel agent, and an in-person GPS and navigation system! : )

Now…all the goody goody details! Where to begin! I’ll break it into categories….

Food

Sarah will enjoy this fact…we probably had Taco Bell for at least 3 of our meals. And it DEFINITELY was our first meal once we got off the air plane. Obviously. It also tastes better in Maui for some reason, which was an incredible treat because we think it already tastes so amazing in California! We also had Denny’s the next day for breakfast…you know, comfort food! Then, after that, we started branching out and trying different eateries. My favorite restaurant was Longhi’s in Lahaina, thanks to Uncle Mike and crew for the suggestion! That restaurant has the most scrumptious food accompanied with the best view and complete with an ocean breeze! The best company was obviously with my cousin and his wife, who took us out to a quintessential Maui breakfast one morning—thank you!!!

The biggest disappointing meal was a pizza at the Tiki lounge. This pizza sounded UHHH-MAZING. It seriously was going to be the best pizza I have ever tasted. It came with all of my favorite things on it and once it arrived, I noticed it had a perfectly seasoned and thin crust as well. Then…we ate it. And it took a few minutes for us both to confess it tasted funny. Their white sauce tasted like straight up mayonnaise. We ate about 1/5 of the pizza that night. Hugest let down. When we go back, we are going to order that exact pizza, but with RED sauce. Oh goodness.

One night, Justin took me to probably the one Italian restaurant in Kihei. Mmm. I love me some Italian food! The most amazing salad and cheese ravioli’s I have ever had, complete with homemade ravioli noodles. But the best part about this meal happened about 2 hours later when I ate what I ordered in my to-go box. Dun dun dun. Tangerine and raspberry macaroons. Probably the most delicious treats I have EVER tasted. EVER. Enough said.

I am pretty sure 75% of our breakfasts contained breakfast potatoes, my newest obsession. It was fun to see how different each restaurants’ were. I also tried fresh pineapple and fresh mango as well. Very confused about the mango still….

We also had shaved ice with cream drizzled on top. A Maui-must!

Driving

When we talk about our trip to Maui with others, everyone asks if we went scuba diving. No, we did not. I was terrified and Justin tried for about 5 minutes looking absolutely adorable with big goggles on and then quit. What we DID do mostly in Maui, though, was drive. That sounds so odd and uneventful and boring, but…it’s Maui. Nothing can be boring in Maui! : )

We drove through sugar cane fields. We drove up hills, down hills, in hills. We drove around the west side, then we drove around the east side, then we drove up to the top of the crater. We drove under clouds, in clouds, and above clouds. We drove on roads that got splashed with ocean waves and on roads that reached over 10,000 feet elevation. We drove in sunshine and we drove in rain. We drove every day! Getting to drive in a Jeep was the cherry on top too!

We decided to take off the top, though, one day. Don’t necessarily recommend that, unless you want to wear your shirt like a headdress (which is what Justin calls the towel on my head whenever my hair is wet). We both agreed we liked the lego-top on and the windows down better.

Side note: Some of my favorite moments in the car were when we were listening to island music—a Maui-must—and we, as in mostly I would hog it, used the wooden shaker to keep a beat.

The sky

 Maui has the best sunsets. Palm trees are everywhere, so their dark silhouettes look exquisite in front of pink, orange, and purple hues as the sun goes to bed for the night.

Justin took us to Makena’s Big Beach to watch the sunset one night, which was the most amazing sunset I have EVER seen! There were hardly any people there to enjoy it too, so it felt like we had the huge beach all to ourselves for a good hour of a sunset. Hard to leave a place like that….

Birding

I vaguely knew about “birding” my whole life. Once I met Justin, I found out he likes to “bird” and so does his dad and grandma. Who knew people who liked birds could have so much fun! I assumed it was an incredibly boring activity I would not enjoy whatsoever…until I started! There were a few birds we specifically wanted to see while we were in Maui, so we began to keep our eyes out for anything that fluttered and it became like a game! I love birding so much because it is an extreme challenge to me currently, since I’m new to it and am not good yet, but it is so peaceful and relaxing, not to mention rewarding, once you find what you are looking for!

I am on a birding craze. Just last weekend we went to the shores of Los Angeles to try to spot the juvenile Blue Footed Boobies who migrated to our coast up here for some reason. They are extremely rare to see in California and the last time they were spotted here was over 40 years ago! We were as close to seeing them without being able to see them when we went the first day, though. The sun had JUST gone down and our binoculars and camera weren’t strong enough to make out a clear image, but we knew there were two out there somewhere (said the birders who we passed who had just packed up with huge giant scopes!). We slept on it and researched it a little more.... After a trip to REI the next day for another set of awesome binoculars (the only Nikon item I own—so exciting!), we made our way out to Playa Del Rey again in complete sunshine. Best decision ever: we were blessed to see five amazing juvenile Blue Footed Boobies just chillin’ on the jetty. The crispness of their salt-and-pepper head through the scope will always be unforgettable to me. The birders whose scope we glanced through stated it was a “lifetime bird” for them. Justin and I are very fortunate we were able to spot this bird. Gotta practice for our big year! (If you don’t get that joke, it’s in reference to the awesome movie about birding called “Big Year”, which you ALL should see!).

We saw many House Sparrows, Doves, Roosters, Egrets, Ducks, and other common birds, but even those were exciting for me to spot because I was memorizing their names and learning how to observe and spot them! I love birding!

One  of my favorites we spotted was the Common Myna bird. It was everywhere in Maui! When it spreads its wings, there are beautiful white vertical marks on them. I also enjoyed spotting Red-Crested Cardinals and I loved being able to be so close to such a beautiful bird!

Whenever we spotted birds on our trip, we’d point and say the name. It was like a game. It was hilarious when I’d stop and realize how often we talked about birds on our trip because we announced literally every bird we saw, so it was like “Spotted Dove! Myna! Cattle Egret! House Sparrow! Zebra Dove!” and one and on. : )

One bird we specifically wanted to see was the Japanese White Eye. It is a very tiny and beautiful lime green-colored bird who has a white circle around its eyes. We couldn’t spot them with our natural eye sight, but Justin’s camera took great pictures of a few of them right off of our hotel balcony! 

Another awesome bird we saw was the Gray Francolin. But even MORE amazing were the peacocks we got to see from just a few feet away at The Garden of Eden!

The best bird-viewing place we know of on the island was hands down Hosmer Grove up in Haleakala National Park. This part of Maui made me feel like I was in Northern California! I’m telling ya…Maui has everything!!! Well, maybe not snow, but still, everything! : )

In Hosmer Grove, we were able to spot a Maui ‘Amakihi, the I’iwi, and a little family of Red-Billed Leiothrix birds! We had bought two Hawaiian bird books (that’s what birders do : )) and were able to confirm their identity and learn more about them. Ahh I love birding!

Adventures

We broke the trip up perfectly into 3 main days: I’ao Valley, the Road to Hana, and Haleakala National Park. Justin is an amazing trip planner!

I’ao Valley is magical. End of story. But I want to tell more. : ) The trails are mystical. The views are incredible. The stream is peaceful. The gardens are wonderful. The people are friendly. Go see for yourself. It’s a Maui-MUST.

I never knew what a Banyan Tree was until Justin took me to the MOST AMAZIN G TREE IN THE WORLD! I’m still not sure how it exactly works, but there is a main root of the tree that branches out, but instead of that sounding like a normal tree, the cool thing about the Banyan Tree is that the parts that branch out also go down and root themselves into the ground, then they have branches themselves that go out and then root themselves…ahhh it’s like one continuous magical tree! I want one!

We drove around West Maui one day. The roads were scary-but-not-with-Justin (that’s what I scribbled in my notebook) and we took our sweet time curving up and down and around and around the roads. I’m so glad we got to see firsthand what each part of the island looks like.

There are many adventures to be had on the west side of Maui. A few we were able to experience was a beach way down from the cliffs, hiking down to a blowhole (crazy cool phenomena!), and doing some hiking on the cliffs. Supposedly there are floating or hanging bridges that are on our list to do next time!

Sarah…we saw a Japanese Friendship Bell. No joke. I was SO excited!

Paia is where we did some good shopping and where I had the BEST gelato of my life called Lava Flow: strawberry, coconut, and pineapple flavored. Loved it so much, we had it at the beginning of our shopping experience, and also at the end!

I recommend Café Des Mois in Paia for lunch. It was the place where Justin and I first ate hummus together. It was also the place where we both dared each other to dip our noses in the sour cream on our plates. Done.

The Road to Hana. Another completely magical experience (Maui is full of them!). We stopped at The Garden of Eden. TOTALLY worth it. Can’t even explain it, you gotta go there! Then we continued on the road and stopped at many waterfalls (ahhh!!!! SO amazingly beautiful!) and eventually we made it to Nahiku and Hana where we did a little shopping and had lunch. It rained most of the day, but I’m a rain-lover, so it made the day even more magical to me. It was cool to see the black sand beach at Waianapanapa (say that 10 times fast! I can’t even say it one time…) in overcast weather, and also the cave (which was Justin’s highlight!) we climbed into! The Road to Hana is enchanting.

We continued all the way around the east side of the mountains, past the Road to Hana, and back to Kihei. Glad we did it once, and probably would do it again, but just be warned our whole day took us 8 hours! So long! It was nice to have  a Jeep, but, boy did we sure feel every bump in the road! We saw many many horses, though, along the way, which I adored. We also took the most relaxing snack break ever too, parked facing the ocean, complete with cheese, crackers, grapes, and Gatorade, and had a view of a fresh double rainbow!

Justin was so sweet in planning the trip and tried to find things I would REALLY like to do. It was such a fun adventure to go to the lavender farm, which was something he planned for me. We walked around in the peacefulness of the hills and fields and soaked in all the amazing views (you could completely see the west side of Maui and where it connects to the east from up above! So cool!). We also tried lavender coffee (don’t try) and lavender tea (mmm mmm mmmmmm I recommend!).

Another fun-filled adventure of ours was visiting the Maui Animal Shelter. Twice. (Not as bad as our visit to the music store, though: three days in a row. Whoops!) We wanted to bring home a kitten SO bad. Its name was already chosen: Maui. Those cats, I must say, have a pretty darn good life there, though! There are two “rooms” (HUGE cages) where they have cat ramps and contraptions and toys everywhere. The best part about it is that you can go in as long as yours hands are washed and play and cuddle with any cat and stay as long as you want! Talk about therapeutic! I wish I lived closer so I could make weekly appearances! : )

Our trip ended perfectly with our adventure to Haleakala National Park the day before we left. I was incredibly nervous about going so high up in the sky and being able to look down and see the whole island and only ocean all the way around my view, but…there was nothing to worry about! It was exquisitely and breathtakingly beautiful up there! Not to mention EXTREMELY windy and INCREDIBLY cold…will dress better next time! Next time (there WILL be a next time), it would be fun to go on hikes into the crater as well. It was so incredible just to stare at the top of the volcano. Definitely a highlight to our trip and we were able to get our stamps in our National Park Passports! The drive down into Hosmer Grove was also our birding highlight.

The best part about Maui is that anywhere on the island is perfect. I know I’m probably high on Maui and that isn’t necessarily reality, but I don’t want to come down from Cloud 9. You can go from sun to clouds within 15 minutes. You can go from beach to mountains, from busy town to deserted town to hippie town, from rain forest to pasture, and on and on. Maui is literally the perfect place for me. (I wonder how many people say that haha!).

Hotel

LOVED our hotel. Every night there was live music out at the pool. It was EVER so relaxing to sit in the hot tub, look up at the stars, be surrounded by tiki torches around the patio, and listen to live music…all with the love of my life!

Outfits

Justin and I both bought new clothes for the honeymoon, which was such a fun idea! We loved mixing looking outdoorsy with looking beachy. We both bought Chacos and Tevas and raincoats and swim suits. We were ready for any type of weather. We get excited when we wear any of those clothes now because it reminds us of Maui!

Souvenirs

I try to make it a point now to only buy souvenirs if I absolutely need them. Justin and I happened to find plenty of things we needed in Maui. : ) Two Maui beach towels, wooden salad “hands”, a necklace for Justin, lots and lots of earrings for me, coffee for Justin and tea for me, macadamia nut Hershey Kisses, coconut candy, a banjo ukulele for my Justin, 5 awesome wooden egg shakers, a bamboo shaker, a tambourine for me (!!!), and my favorite, obviously, is the guitar Justin bought me, which I named “Sugarcane.” It was perfect because neither of us can go very long without playing the guitar, so it was lovely to end of being able to have one on our honeymoon! We joked about how we’re coming home with enough instruments for a whole band!

I was a bit nervous to go to an island in fear I would get Island Fever. I got the farthest thing from Island Fever because multiple times per day I sighed the phrase “Let’s move here…!” It’d be a dream come true to be able to become an Occupational Therapist and work in Maui.

Let’s do this! 

Wedding Woos (Original blog date: August 20, 2013)

One small step for man, one giant leap for Lindsay Ann. I MADE IT TO MAUI!

Brakes. Lets back up.

I got married to the love of my life on Sunday, August 4^th!

Oh wait…let’s back up a little more actually.

My dearest lovely sister, Christy (whatupswags), cleared her whole schedule in order to spend the last two weeks before my wedding with me! I am forever grateful for the time she gave me, since her time in America on her summers is always of a limited amount. She cooked for me, cleaned for me, and made me laugh. She helped me move, she helped me with wedding to-dos, and she kept me sane through the whole process.

Some crazy good memories from that time include:

• The deliciousness of cooking food from savory to sweet, including bomb dot com authentic French crepes. C’est magnifique!
• Romping around Southern California giving her French tutor, Monique. An experience of a lifetime for her 65^th birthday present.
• Knowing what it feels like to have my very own Personal Assistant. FYI: It feels good!
• Doing the historical walking tour of Bankers Hill, complete with crossing over the Spruce Street suspension bridge! Dun dun dun….

 There were very good times to say the least.

Then, once upon a Friday afternoon, she threw the most amazing bachelorette party I could have ever asked for! It was perfect for me! The cherry on top should’ve been the surprise massage at the salon we spent all day at, but the cherry on top actually ended up being the fact that I was able to spend time with all of my favorite girl friends at one time in one place. That meant the world to me! It was such a beautiful picture for me to see them interact with each other. Sigh….

I’ve never actually had my nails done before, so the French tip manicure I got and a somewhat relaxing pedicure was also very bomb dot com.

Although, I feel the Pedicurist should be obligated to give a briefing before they let me sit in the chair the next time. No one told me if I would move my feet it would make the water jets hit my airborne foot at the exact angle to spray the poor poor Pedicurist with water. Twice on her clothes. Once on her face. I apologized profusely through giggling.

I don’t think I ever want to get a pedicure again, though. Not because of that. But because, during that whole pedicure, I had the lovely company of Miss Sarah Baddeley beside me giving me comedic entertainment. No pedicure could ever be that good and entertaining again. Unless, Sarah, you want to come with me every time. My experience with pedicures has peaked too soon.

The night was topped off with scrumptiousness and a heaping order of laughter from Buca di Beppo and then French Angelina’s homemade hot chocolate (literally: “hot” “chocolate”. There ain’t no water involved in this hot chocolate!). Not to mention more delicious French crepes and a slumber party at the new house!

The next day, Saturday, was the day of our rehearsal. Oh Golly Gee Willikers, when did time travel so fast?! This day seemed to always be so far away in the future and now…. It. Was. Here!

It seems like every monumental moment of my life involves Taco Bell. If not, I at least wish it did. Birthdays, moving days, every day (hehe), Honeymoon days, you-name-it days! (Side note: I knew Justin and I were soul mates for many reasons, one being the fact that his favorite place to eat is ALSO Taco Bell.)

So, rightly so, we had Taco Bell to kick off our Saturday with a bang! Then…(must read the following in a very dramatic tone)…we arrived at THE MANSION.

We at least got a briefing here. Obviously not a good enough one, though, because we somehow managed to drain the Jacuzzi….

The day carried on for me with eager anticipation. Marc would arrive soon. My parents would arrive soon. Justin would arrive soon. The groomsmen and his parents would arrive soon. And all my family would arrive soon for the rehearsal dinner. 

My stomach was a meeting place for all the butterflies around.

It is impossible for me to describe my gratefulness to all of those people. They are all such BEAUTIFUL people and it truly was the most beautiful picture for me to see everyone in one place together. Throughout the past few weeks, Justin and I have had multitudes of conversations about how much we love all of those people and how blessed we are to have them in our lives.

The rehearsal dinner was "c'est parfait!" and we had "haystacks" due to my request. Yay! And my Uncle Mike made a term for seconds: "restacking." There was fruit galore. Always makes me happy. And Magic Bars, which taste exactly how they sound...magical. And Justin’s dad’s speech…oh me oh my! I am joining such a lovely Christian family. I am truly blessed!

The night dwindled down into quiet chaos for me, Miss Bride-To-Be. But it ended hilariously…. This is why people shouldn’t let Bride-To-Be’s do two things at once! 

I started a bath in the master bath tub that could probably hold 6+ of me. Then I decided I wanted to say goodnight to all of my lovelies while I waited for the bath to fill up. I should’ve known better…I can’t say goodnight to eight people I love in less than fifteen minutes the night before I’m married! I came back probably a mere thirty minutes later only to find the bath tub completely full! Good thing we were at THE MANSION because they have an anti-overflow feature in the tub, which it definitelywas utilizing…. Nothing like comic relief right before you go to bed after a stressful day.

Bghrrrr. Bghrrrr. Bghrrrr. (My best attempt at putting the sound of my phone vibrating into words). Holy jeepers creepers, it’s Sunday! I scurried to get ready for the pre-wedding brunch hosted by my bell of the ball, Aunt Wanda! Best breakfast restaurant I have ever eaten at! Servings were HUGE, food was DELECTABLE, presentation was ARTISTIC, prices were GOOD, atmosphere was PERFECT! What more could you ask for? Penfold’s Café in Temecula. Go. My waffle showed up with a crown of whipped cream on it. Enough said. Go.

I will leave out the next few hours up until I get ready since I made a huge mistake and lost track of time and it made me start getting ready TWO hours late. I have NO clue how that happened since I usually am so well with time management. 

My favorite moment during that time, though, was when I went to go visit the horse in the stable at THE MANSION. I was so focused on my goal of sweet talking the horse to come over to me so I could rub it’s nose that I didn’t notice the goat who came immediately to the fence to greet me…by trying to EAT MY BRUNCH DRESS! He got a hold of it and yanked it, making me almost fall into the fence. It was hilarious. And still is, only because he didn’t ruin my dress.

Christy and Allison. The two that stayed with me while I frantically and stressfully got ready. It felt so right to have them there, despite my scurrying around, if not around the room, then in my mind.. And my mother sent food up to my room: cheesy on Homer and Betty’s famous white bread and also a bowl full of watermelon. Memories.

We summoned my mother and Aunt Denise up to the room to help me get on my dress and take pictures. It was such a beautiful moment. And it felt so right to be finished getting ready and to be prepared to finally marry Justin! I have never had one doubt about being with him. There has always been such peace and comfort…. It has made me feel very assured the whole time through our relationship because I knew God had given him to me.

Then I was supposed to see him. Christy was prepping me. She sent everyone out of the room and was about to go herself when she took one last look at me and I lost it. It wasn’t a bad “lose it.” It was a good one, if that is possible.  I’d been so overwhelmed with happiness, good tears started spilling out. But they aren’t “good tears” when they mess up your freshly done makeup! Once she got me to pull it together like only a sister can, I saw the love of my life. In our wedding clothes.  Can’t write about this because words can’t express a moment like that.

The public appearances began and the camera flashes came rapidly. I had to suck it up and try with all my might to not be awkward in front of the camera. Worked about 85% of the time, which is good odds for me. (Sarah, see me later to see the awkward pictures!)

Weddings are expensive, so buying things last minute is never a good idea. But. I bought a “prop” about a week before the wedding. And it was expensive. But it was SO worth it. I justified buying it by telling myself it is worth it because I know wedding pictures will stress me out and this will be a way to decompress and get rid of the stress at that time. I bought a parachute. Not the kind you jump out of the sky with. The kind you play with when you’re a little kid in a gymnastics gym. The big red, yellow, green, and blue parachute with handles around the outside. We ran through it, twirled under it, kissed beneath it, and played with it like we were children again. Stress release. Check.

The day was beautiful. Nothing could ruin it for me. I was braced to have something go wrong. I had heard horror stories, or at least stories where music wouldn’t start or you trip on your dress or stumble on your words. But no. Nothing ruined the day. I may be biased. Actually, I know I’m biased, but me and Justin’s wedding was perfect! Nothing went wrong. It was the best day of my life. Justin’s too. And my mom admitted hers too. : )

Having most all of your favorite people in one spot at one time is such a rare occurrence. Of course we couldn’t have everyone there, since we both come from different hometowns and have friends and family throughout the country, but everyone who could come definitely is in the category of me and Justin’s favorite people. And to see them all together…on a night like that…was ___________. No word can best describe how I felt. If you see me in person, I can do a motion that best explains it where I sigh and have a thankful look on my face and my hands over my heart. Other than that, I have no way of expressing how much it meant to me. I can’t wait to watch back our wedding video and be able to relive this day whenever I want!

Some highlights and moments I never want to forget (besides the ones I’ve already mentioned!):

• Seeing my bridesmaids for the first time, looking as beautiful as ever and hugging all of them!
• Taking fun pictures together with my extremely photogenic bridesmaids.
• Seeing Christy, Marc, Jeremy, and everyone else step it up like it was no one’s business!
• Hugging Justin’s parents in the kitchen when they first saw me.
• Aunt Denise explaining to me through tears how she put one of Grandpa’s tie clips in my bouquet on one of the stems.
• Seeing our parents dressed up so beautifully and handsome!
• Taking a picture with all of my aunts.
• Gnawing on a loaf of bread in a room with Justin, Christy, and Marc before the wedding.
• All the bridesmaids deciding we should have prayer before the wedding starts. So I made everyone hold hands, which Sarah knew I would say, and Pooky prayed for us and made me cry. Best part about it is that we were cramped in the little laundry room for some reason doing this.
• Pooky helping me fix my makeup.
• Finding out Sarah was ALSO Nebula from Zenon: Girl of the 21^st Century for Halloween one year when we were in junior high before we ever met. CLASSIC. PRICELESS!
• Playing the copying-singing game with all of the bridesmaids as we copy-sung at the top of our lungs to the song Christy was making up and rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter.
• Peaking out one of the bathroom windows of THE MANSION to see who was seated at the ceremony already. Seeing a couple arrive I haven’t seen since I was little, trying to figure out who they were, and realized it was Michael and Julie Moskus! I started crying because I was so happy and it was so sweet of them to come!
• Deciding it was time to go downstairs. The heard of butterflies came back.
• Christy helping me figure out how to walk in the long grass at THE MANSION. Just a “toe flick.” Piece of cake! How does she seem to know EVERYTHING?!
• Losing it again, but Diane came to my rescue with creating a copying-singing song again! But having to "whisperrr it because there are peopleeeee outside nowwww." So perfect! Thank you, D!
• Watching everyone all lined up in front and waiting for me and my daddy to enter. Letting him know we’d walk down to “Edelweiss,” the song he would always sing to me growing up in my room to help me go to sleep at night.
• Only keeping my eyes on Justin as I walked down the aisle.
• Realizing the netting of my dress was caught on my sandal’s buckle right after I got to the top of the mound at the ceremony and thinking “oh crap, how am I going to be able to walk to the unity candle table?!” I ended up going big. I really went for it for when I walked to that table. You bet I did. Haha. I tried to move that foot in gigantic steps in order to try to release it from the netting without having to bend down to do it (tacky!). Voilà. Worked!
• Looking around at the people we love. Glancing back at my bridesmaids standing there to support me.
• Justin having to re-light the unity candle that burned out with the Bunsen-burner-like lighter, aka: the  TORCH.
• Justin and I realizing our hands were super sweaty the whole time and trying not to laugh or talk about it during the ceremony.
• Crying when we said our vows. Christy handing me a kleenex from her bouquet, but then not knowing what to do with it and almost stuffed it in my dress, but realized that wouldn't be socially acceptable, so I just made Justin take it. Hehe.
• Justin not being able to put my wedding ring on because I have such strange fingers.
• Sometimes noticing Jeremy behind Justin’s head and smiling with him.
• Exiting the ceremony with such a happy “lightness” about it all! I felt like I was on cloud 9. Probably because I was. Probably cloud 10. Cloud a million!
• Taking a moment with Justin to let it all sink in. Kissing a lot.
• Seeing all the bridesmaids and groomsmen walking in together figure out what they were going to “do.”
• Entering the reception and seeing it all look exactly like I wanted it to and being completely happy!
• Loving the music we chose!
• My favorite part of the whole reception: Uncle Doug’s portion about unity and going around to light people’s candles. Hugging Grandma after it.
• Racing Justin to finish the crossword first and winning, which wasn’t fair, because I helped my mom make it, but laughing because Justin knew all of the answers except where HE was born! And him finding out it was Springdale only because Laurie came over and immediately said, “I didn’t know you were born in Springdale!”
• Seeing the complete cake design. Took my breath away!
• Eating the delicious food!
• Kissing A LOT.
• Being waited on like it was nobody’s business!
• Looking at the stars.
• Having people I love come up to us to tell us congratulations and feeling overwhelmed with happiness seeing so many special to me all at one time.
• Taking it all in.
• Finding out the groomsmen adjusted their ties every time Pastor Jeff said the word “love.” Hysterical! Props to Beanz. Can’t wait to see the video!
• Hugging my Grandma, my Great Aunt Wanda, and Justin’s Grandma Rasmussen at the reception.
• Hugging my cousin James.
• Laughing watching Castwell dance with my mom and Aunt Daphne dancing with Diane.
• Seeing the bridal party have so much fun together, doing little dances to music, and taking pictures together.
• Having all of our siblings together. I love you Christy, Marc, Jodi, and Jeremy! Justin and I are very lucky!
• Telling Beth there is a meteor shower going on and she said she and Brad saw a shooting star!
• Jeremy singing The Gift of Love.
• Matt Chancey playing our song and making us laugh.
• The toasts. Laugh. Cry. Laugh. Cry. Smile.
• Sarah and I immediately looking at each other when You and I by Ingrid Michaelson came on.
• Justin singing my song to me. Jeremy helping me get a seat front and center, near Aunt Denise. Crying when I realized he added a new verse about soaring around the world together and holding on tight to each other. The photographer whispering to me to look behind me during the song so I could notice everyone had lit their candles again and were swaying back and forth.
• So glad we chose to add in sparkling apple cider with toasting glasses last minute.
• Justin and I cutting the cake and having no clue how to do it.
• The beetle bug being in all the cake cutting pictures in my dress. Becca bringing it to my attention. Me freaking out holding onto Justin. Trying to figure out which layer of netting it was caught in. Jeremy finally grabbing it with his fingers and throwing it on the grass. What a man. What a man….
• Castwell and Alex being bosses with the sound and flashlights for people.
• Seeing Carrie and taking an LOL² reunion picture!
• Hugging all my friends and family whom I cherish so deeply!
• Castwell making it a point to say goodbye for me before he had to run to the airport.
• Throwing the bouquet and massively sucking at it. Regretted not practicing it off the balcony beforehand. Massive fail of a toss. Hit the roof and fell straight down. But, yay, Sam grabbed it! Feel like that was fate because she won the "toilet paper bride" contest at my bridal shower…it only made sense to get the bouquet to go with the dress!
• Justin being silly before he got the garter. He stinking at tossing it as well. I’d really recommend "engagees" to practice these things! It went right behind him and Jeremy grabbed it off the ground with the guys chanting at him to get it. Ardy and the guys put Jeremy on their shoulders cheering for him.
• Spending time with Michael and Julie. Getting a picture with them, Justin, and Christy.
• The night not feeling long enough to spend time with everyone.
• Going inside to get ready to exit through the sparklers. Marc organizing things and leaving, then showing right back up to give us a sweet funny hug and to tell us he loves us!
• Seeing all the sparklers light up down the row for us!
• Opening the big doors of THE MANSION to walk down the sparkler tunnel. Dip kissing in the middle.
• Falling down the patio step. Twice.
• Finding Mom, Dad, and Christy to hug goodbye.
• Realizing the whole car was filled with balloons, amongst other things. And trying to get all the balloons out before we drove away.
• Driving down the road and stopping along the side to look at the stars.
• Realizing Castwell used Justin’s phone to take pictures and videos for us all night, so we were able to watch them before we went to bed.
• Ordering room service because we were starving.

Those were my favorite moments. And I’m sure I forgot plenty of others I will want to add to the list for my memories also. Everything went so seamlessly and perfect. It was the most beautiful day of my life and I feel so blessed and fortunate for these sacred memories I will always be able to hold on to. God has truly blessed Justin and I. We are so lucky.

Screech. Now fast forward to Maui. Yes, MAUI! Excuse me while I go splash water in my face, pinch my cheeks, and do a happy dance, because are you freaking kidding me?! Did I really get to go to MAUI?!?!

The “Just Maui’d” adventures will be included in the next blog. But I want to end with this thought:

One of the mornings there, I was doing my devotions outside on the porch in between birding. Yes, birding. I would now consider myself a “Birder.” And proud of it. But...a bad birder. A beginner birder. A BABY BIRDER! Eeeee!

Anyway, I was reading in 2 Corinthians where Paul refers to heaven as “paradise.” Just moments before I was doing my devotions, I was journaling and wrote about how Maui is definitely paradise to me! The most beautiful place I have ever seen with my eyes! Maui has literally everything I could possibly ever want in a place to live. I realized I had written about Maui being paradise, but Paul wrote about heaven being paradise. It made me realize, that Maui may be man’s paradise, but Maui probably isn’t even CLOSE to what God considers paradise! Such a beautiful thought.