Christmas 2010

Christmas was faaaaast this year due to our whirlwind of finals, graduation, moving...

We arrived from Honolulu on the 23rd of December, did all our shopping on the 24th (insanity!), and celebrated with loved ones.

What better way to spend Christmas than with your family.









And I guess I forgot to take more pictures because this was it.
I swear we celebrated with the Collins family as well.

graduation and the move... aloha 'oe

The semester came to a quick close and graduation finally arrived!
The fall semester was tough to get through but we did it!! I was truly ecstatic to be finished.

At the banquet... Our families flew in to celebrate this major milestone and help us pack up our lives. Graduation was a two-day event starting with a graduation banquet the night before, the ceremony and the celebration.

The ceremony was wonderful. The talks were great and they made it so memorable for the graduates.
It was wonderful to hear Elder Perry speak and when he shook my hand when I received my diploma he said, " This is a big step for you." I said "yep!" because it is! It felt so nice to graduate and so so so awesome to graduate with my husband. It could not have worked out better.

I am so proud of my husband for graduating!! He graduated cum laude in Business Management with an emphasis in Corporate Finance. What a stud.

We are so grateful for the oppurtunity to earn our bachelors degree and are extremely grateful for our families who supported us to do so.

I am so grateful for the chance to study International cultures. It is such a unique and special major that I grew to love. It has encouraged me to look at the world and myself with new eyes and I hope to teach my children to do the same.

We had lots of friends that graduated with us! Here are our fellow neighbors and graduates:Rachel (under allll her many leis) and the Harmons

Celebration BBQ time at pipeline.

Relief! We finished! On to relaxing and enjoying our last few days in Hawaii.

Moving out of TVA was sad in some ways and not so sad in others. We made many memories in these married dorms and will miss the great friends we were surrounded by.

Thankfully, we had our parents there to help us pack up/ throw away our whole place. We didn't do much of it before because we were so busy with finals.

(Advice to those who are moving off island soon: sell your stuff asap [sooner the better] on a blog or garage sale, our airline(Hawaiian) surprised us and let us check on baby stuff such as baby walker and jogging stroller on for free, and don't rely on craiglist or flyers solely to sell your car, just write a price and a # on it with glass chalk and go drive around the island, that seemed to work the best)

Our last few days we spent staying at the turtle bay condos, surfing, and playing at the beach. Cameron and I even got to go out just the two of us to Lei Lei's for dinner to celebrate our last night there.

Hawaii was wonderful.

It was so hard not to ball my eyes out when our ward sang "aloha 'oe" to us. The last three years were like one big honeymoon in paradise (+baby). We grew closer being out there on our own. We enjoyed the beauty of the island and learned to love the aloha spirit. We will miss paradise and its warm water and big waves but we look forward to the new chapters in life.

Hawaii, aloha oe... Until we meet again.

photog jog

My last semester I needed a few more credits and I decided to take a jogging class... at 6 am! Surprisingly it went well. I only slept in once, Cameron did great with the sleeping baby while I was away, and I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would.
Since we were jogging at 6 am, the sun hadn't even risen which was nice and cool to run in but it was pretty boring.

And then I thought of this movie... Stupidest/Weirdest idea ever, a running/photography class!


Well, I was pretty darn bored and this idea didn't seem so stupid anymore. One day I brought Cameron's GoPro (a very small/adventure/waterproof camera) with me and snapped away.

I decided I could sell these for hundreds in a gallery. Who doesn't want a unique blurred picture?


1. blurred view of the Laie temple 2. sunrise near the dorms 3. a campus view at 6:45... no campus like it!


It was very entertaining but I have to admit I did get a little embarrassed when the teacher saw me taking pictures.

Nothing like a mustache made from pureed peas.



We've made it to San Diego over a month ago but somehow I feel like we are still "settling in".

Jeff's homecoming

On January 26th, Hermano Jeff Collins came home from his mission in Cuernavaca, Mexico!

What an awesome little brother I have! Krew finally got to meet his uncle Jeff!

A visit to Santa

Cameron, Krew and I made a visit to Santa...



I am now convinced that the real Santa resides in Hawaii when it's not Christmas. Who's to blame him?
Krew was so fascinated with Santa's bright outfit, beard and all the other distractions around, he forgot to smile.
But he sure does look cute on Santa's lap.



Mele Kalikimaka!

My Confession: I didn't pass D.A.R.E.

In elementary school, I was an A+ perfectionist. (what happened to that??)

In the sixth grade, we all had to go through the program D.A.R.E. where a police officer taught us not to use drugs etc.

We had a booklet that we had to complete and in order to graduate the D.A.R.E. program we could not have more than two pages incomplete. On our turn-in day, the police officer noted that I had 3 pages incomplete and that I could not graduate the program. I had missed one! I told him the pages stuck together and that it was an honest mistake. I cried uncontrollably and was sent with the two trouble maker, pot-smoking boys in the class to sit out of the graduation. The police officer had no pity-- typical.

I think I cried the entire hour my class was gone.

My bratty friends came back bragging to me how good the cake was and showing me all the cool things they got.
I cried to my mom. She assured me that I was okay and she knew that I wasn't going to go out and smoke pot.

Well tonight I ran across this on Forever21 and thought I should get it just in spite.
I'm obviously still bitter.

some quick pics

It has and will be a crazy few weeks in the Rondo household.


Selling almost everything you own/both of us finishing school/taking care of little Krew is keeping us busy.

We got some time to go to the beach and Krew decided to enjoy the water for the most part (after the initial shock).





And Cameron is such a great dad.
He was putting Krew to sleep, put the baby down, and then put himself to sleep... wearing the boppy pillow and all. I came in to find this.





We love being parents.

Selling it ALL

In celebration of Black Friday/weekend, instead of going out and buying everything...
We are selling EVERYTHING.
I haven't posted everything but take a look so far.

www.movingoffisland.blogspot.com

Penny's Eulogy: Our loyal pup

This afternoon my mom called me crying with the news that Penny was going to have to be put to sleep. I had always hoped that Penny would pass away while I wasn't in San Diego because I think it would be too sad to handle.

My mom brought her to the vet in a towel. Our little 14-year-old Penny was shaking but very calm. My mom held her head as they put her to sleep. She said the whole process was peaceful which I'm sure it was (while I'm reviewing scenes of Marley & Me in my mind trying not to cry too much).

We bought Penny, the Jack Russel Terrior for $100 dollars when she was a year old. Her previous owners said she needed more attention and she was too much to handle. So we took her to our house where she lived with 9 kids +. She was the perfect addition to a crazy, kid-filled family.

Anyone that knew the Collins family knew our dog. Penny left impressions on everyone-- good and bad. The neighbors knew her as the "dog that stands in the middle of the street". Kids knew her as a spastic dog or as she got old and senile "the dog that nipped at me". Many knew her as the Collins' fat dog that kind of resembles a seal pup. Some knew her as the "the dog that humped me" or visitors to our house knew her as " the dog that snuck into my car that I didn't notice she was in there until I was half way home". Either way, Penny had a lot of personality.
She lived through it all. Kids hitting, pulling, tugging her. She once jumped out of the car window after seeing a squirrel. Being attacked by a German Shepard. Kids thinking it was funny to pull her tail. Attacking her dinosaur puppet as a way of entertainment for others. She was a champ.
Penny wasn't very good at going on walks or runs because she would sniff around every second. She was overweight most of her life because she was our family vacuum cleaner and my mom fed her chocolate cupcakes that the kids didn't finish.

You may think that it is silly that I make all this fuss about a dog but I was really attached to Miss Penny.
She was my best friend.
She jumped through hula hoops with a little skirt on when I conducted a circus in my backyard. (there was probably lunch meat waiting on the other side for her)
She laid with me in my bed when I was being an extremely emotional teenager.
She understood me and stayed with me.
Most of the time she was obedient.
She listened to me and was always happy.
She thought she was one of the family. Seriously, I think she thought she was a kid.
She was a smart dog. If you left a whole pizza on the dining room table, she was smart enough to jump up and only eat the pepperonis off (leaving the cheese in perfect condition) in hopes that no one would notice.
She was always up for a drive. And while you rode in the car, she would climb up and lay across your shoulders behind your head like a neck pillow (even during her heavier days).

She would let you pose her for pictures as "cash money dog"



She would even wear the poncho you bought for her from Tijuana.



She was an awesome little dog and the Collins Family Mascot.

My little Penny dog, my forever pup... I will miss you!

THANK YOU, Nana

Mid October, Shannon (Nana) came to visit us! Boy was she such an awesome help! She made meals, watched Krew, edited my paper, and anything else we needed! What a blessing it was having her around that week because I had one of the craziest weeks of the semester so far.

Shannon and I were able to go through the Laie Hawaii Temple Open House. The work that has been done on it is beautiful. Perfect for such a special place.

While she was here, Cameron and Shannon were able to do the Gunstock Ranch Half Marathon! I heard they did great and heard it was an intense (lots of hills) course. They are awesome!
(thanks Shawn for the pictures! Krew and I were cheering them on from our beds)

We were able to do a little beaching as well while she was here. Always a must.

Halloween 2010: Giraffes

Krew LOVES giraffes.
Strangely, he received two toy giraffes when he was born and he can't seem to keep his eyes off them. If I set a giraffe in front of him, I find him smiling at them.
I wonder what Krew was for Halloween...

Can you find Krew?




Why does he love giraffes so much? Maybe their spots are really attractive to babies or maybe he hopes to be tall and slender some day? Either way, Nana/Shannon found this adorable giraffe costume and we couldn't resist!

We celebrated our Halloween with a fun ward party!



Ya, Halloween came too quick for us so Cameron borrowed our neighbor's scrubs and lab coat that had "Lindsey Alkema" embroidered on it and I dressed up as a mom. Next year I promise improvement on our part.



Ashleigh and I and our baby animals! Poor kids, they make these baby Halloween costumes to keep the kids warm on a cold Halloween night. It's only 80 degrees here so we just make our kids sweat it out because they just look too darn cute in them.



Cameron got really into the games.
First, it was the doughnut on the string game.


And it ended up on the floor.



Cameron also won the musical chairs game. I hope no one was injured from him but we did win two movie tickets. Woo hoo!



And Sunday Halloween, Krew got in some festive church clothes.
(which were then puked on within an hour but that's just how we roll these days)

Thanks Rachelle for the cute tie!

Happy Halloween!