2012: What a year!

This year was full of new and unexpected experiences.  We celebrated our one year anniversary of living in Hawaii on October 1st, we had a plethora of visitors, and we spent a lot of time away from each other.  Here are some stats from 2012 followed by some memorable moments.

Durant's Statistics 2012

• Time apart: 166 Days
• Time together: 200 Days
• Places Brittney lived: 4: (Studio apartment in Kailua, my friend, Jenny, in Kaneohe, BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarters for 1 week), and finally our house on base!
• Places Kyle lived: 4: (Studio apartment in Kailua, San Diego, CA for Track School, BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarters for 1 week), and finally our house on base!
• Kyle's training exercises: 4; Track School, PTA (Lave Viper), RIMPAC, Island Viper
• Books read by Brittney: 12
• Visitors: 14: Dad (May), Ken (Australian Captain in July),  Jess & Joel (August), Dad (September), Mom/Tyler/Katrina/Macie (September), Alison (September), Darcy & Josh (October), Larry & Rhonda (October), Todd (November)
• Trips taken: 3: Hale Koa in Waikiki (Staycation), Las Vegas, Big Island 
• Britt's Hikes: 8
• Kyle's Hikes: 5

* Brittney's Favorite 2012 Moment: Surprising dad with mom, Tyler, Katrina, & Macie

* Kyle's Favorite 2012 Moment: Bull Riding

January

Kyle at Track School in California

While Kyle was at Track School I was able to get a LOT of beach time in!

February

Half way through Track School Kyle and I met in Oregon.  It was only 2 1/2 days, but it was wonderful to see each other.

That's when we found out we were going to an Aunt and Uncle AGAIN! :)

March

Kyle graduated Track School

April

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary, only 1 week after Kyle returned from California.

After 6 months we finally moved into our house on base!

May

Our first visitor, my dad.  Since Kyle was gone, it was nice having him here.  Check out what we did here.

June

New friends.  Kyle and Aimee :)

July

My summer consisted of working with kiddos and taking awesome field trips all over the island!

Kyle and Ken.  We were able to host an Australian Captain for 10 days before they left on the Naval exercise, RIMPAC.

Skydiving with Australian friends!

Kyle on ship for RIMPAC

August

Mandee FINALLY made it to Hawaii with Marcella and Maddox!

Kyle becoming a 1st Lieutenant! 

Las Vegas with Darcy and Josh! What a blast! You can read about it here.

We even had a layover in Portland, so we were able to spend 5 hours with our families!

Jess (a childhood friend) and her fiancé, Joel, stopped by for a few days on their way home from Maui! 

September 

SURPRISE! What a secret! My dad came to visit us first and my mom, Tyler, Katrina, and Macie flew in on Macie's 1st birthday to surprise him! 

The Blue Angels came to KBay! They were flying directly over our house.  They are truly amazing!

If you look closely, you can see my husband...on a real, live BULL! Him and our friend Kyle decided this would be "fun"...their bodies didn't really think so.

October

The Durant's came to visit right after the Adams' and we had a blast showing them around the island!

Kyle and I flew over to the Big Island to meet his parents and watch the Ironman World Championship triathlon.

November

I was able to fly home a month after my beautiful niece, Alexis Shyanne, was born! This is my first time holding her :)

Thanksgiving.  Kyle had duty, but I was able to bring him dinner and spend an hour with him :)

December

This Christmas was SOOOO much nicer than last year! We feel blessed to finally have a house (not being cramped into a tiny studio) and to have a BIG tree (even if it is fake...that was tough for us Oregonians).

I hope 2012 treated you all well and I wish the best for 2013! I can't wait to see what's to come!

Merry Christmas!

This was our 2nd year being away from family for Christmas.  We weren't as "sad" to be away from family because I feel we are becoming used to being away for important events...I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  The only thing that is different about Christmas away from family is that it feels like every other day, other than the gifts part.

Three days before Christmas Kyle had me open a gift from my stocking because he was too excited to wait till Christmas.  He ALWAYS has a tough time waiting for gifts, which usually means before my birthday, Christmas or Valentine's or our anniversary I usually get to see a gift before the date.  He's cute :)

This is my gift.  A cozy to fit my mini Dr. Pepper cans! Since I've been drinking the mini cans now, the cozys we have don't fit, so he took one of ours and ripped out the seam and hand sewed it to fit the mini cans! I love my husband! 

Kyle's family has a tradition of opening up one gift on Christmas eve, so we started that tradition when we got married.

I opened a gift from Rhonda and Larry.  A planner I have been wanting for awhile! It'll keep me more organized come 2013!

Kyle opened a gift from me and he really is happy with the flip flops, he just isn't happy with me taking a picture. 

After opening our one gift Kyle got our air mattress, placed it in the living room, and pumped it up.  We got our sheets and pillows and put on A Christmas Story.  At about 6 in the morning I asked Kyle if he wanted to go upstairs to our bed.  He agreed.  Our bodies are already too old for an air mattress. 

Christmas morning I was planning on making streudel for breakfast, which is another tradition from the Durant family.  I have never made it and neither has Kyle.  We didn't have time to make the dough till morning, so we decided to have it for lunch instead.  So we started off our morning with stockings, presents, Christmas movies and then we moved onto baking, cooking, and dinner with friends. 

PRESENTS!

Kyle with his gifts...movies, clothes, racquetball bag, ear protection for shooting, a heated towel rack, and some fast food gift cards for work lunches.

 My gifts...Toms, Blazer shirt, Shark mop, jewelry box, paint brushes for crafts, gift cards to shop for clothes from Macy's, Banana Republic, and Target, and Starbucks :)

Adding to our collection...we may have a problem with collecting movies :) Is 300 too many?

Blackberry Streudel! I did it! Kyle even approved :) Delicious!

I also made some simple chex mix for our dinner party.  Along with that I brought over delicious yams and deviled eggs.

Derek, Rachael, Kris, Amanda, Aribella, Megan, Britt, Kyle

We went to our neighbors Rachael and Derek's for Christmas dinner.  We had a potluck style delicious dinner! Amanda lives on the other side of Rachael and her mom, Kris, has been with her helping with her daughter because her husband is in California.  Megan is another wife whose husband is deployed. I have met her a couple times, but hope to get to know her better.  After dinner her, Rach and I signed up for a Living Social deal for a photography class in Honolulu.  It will teach us how to get out of Manual mode on our DSLR cameras.  I can't wait! 

After dinner Kyle and I went home and I asked Meg if they could FaceTime and fortunately, they were all still up! So glad I could capture this moment! From Hawaii to Oregon.  I love technology! 

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed to have family who love us, even if we can't spend it with them.  We are so thankful for having an amazing Marine Corps family who we are able to spend time with and be our "family" when we can't be with our blood family.  In the midst of the gifts, family, friends, food, and fun I have to remember that this is the day that God sent His son in the form of a baby to this earth...a baby! How miraculous that Jesus Christ came into this world the way each and every one of us do.  We need to be sure to spread the GOOD NEWS that He is BORN! Praise the Lord! 

Christmas Preparations

I am proud to say that we finished our Christmas shopping earlier than ever! That makes the relaxing and enjoying Christmas a little easier.  Here is how we've been preparing for Christmas this year:

I put up our "Nativity Set" that I ordered from Etsy!

Going to the beach to relax...only a walk down the street

Kyle gets to showcase his wrapping skills, which he prides himself in :)

I got a sneak peak at who got me a present this year.  Oh, my husband makes me laugh!

AAV rides at the Christmas party for 3rd Marines (who Kyle works for)

They even brought snow!!!

There was a beautiful sunset that night!

Mailing packages and Christmas cards to family on the Mainland!

Enjoying our lights at night and trying to get into the Christmas spirit in Hawaii.

I hope your Christmas preparations are going smoothly and you are having fun doing them! We wish we could spend Christmas with our family this year, but it's wonderful to be able to start new traditions with Kyle...even if it's in Hawaii when it doesn't necessarily feel like Christmas.  

Thursday Ramblings: Boy Bands

Lately, I have been feeling a little bit like a teenage girl again.  Growing up, Megan and I were completely infatuated with loved boy bands.  From Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync to 98 Degrees and O-Town.  Here's a little something to bring you back :)

Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way

Now onto why I have been feeling like a little girl again...I had heard of the new boy band One Direction from the UK and rocked out in the car to enjoyed their pop song, You Don't Know You're Beautiful, on the radio. Well...being the 25 year old, married woman I am, who just so happens to still love boy bands, decided to look up some of their other songs.  All I can say is uh-oh... :)

I texted Megan the other day a link to the video below asking her "What other song does this remind you of?! I can't think of it for the life of me!" She texted back saying she thought it was the Backstreet Boys song above, followed by, "Great, Britt...now I want their cd" :) 

One Direction - One Thing

Then we said how "adorable" they are and how they are 18 and 19 years old and how, 1. They are younger than Tyler (weird) and 2. We totally could have substitute taught for them.  Now I feel old.  But ya know what, I don't care...I am still going to totally rock out to boy bands in my car, while I get ready in the morning, shower, and clean my house all the way from 90's boy bands to One Direction!

As I listen to boy bands while I write this post, I'm going to leave you with a text Meg sent me today which makes me want a girl someday.