kitchen renovation

Nige's Dad, Keith, came for a visit mid-October primarily to help us with our kitchen renovation.  He was a huge help to Nige, and some neat memories were made as we all helped to change the kitchen into an even more functional room.  Our friend, Bill, from church who is a contractor came and did the electrical work, demo of the old island and pantry, and re-framed the new pantry.  Nige and Keith pretty much did the rest.

BEFORE: the island with a breakfast bar, and low wall that separated the kitchen from the family room.

AFTER: now we have a true island, and it is open all the way around.

BEFORE: the island and breakfast bar.  Where the mat is on the floor is where I stand to do most of my food prep for meals and baking etc.

AFTER: we added in another 15" cabinet, put shiplap around the front and sides of the island, and had the countertop made out of reclaimed wood.  The guy who made the countertop for us, got the wood from Vintage Timberworks in Temecula, CA.  He said the wood came from a 100 year old Sugar Factory in Glendale, AZ and that the wood looks to be about 400 years old.  It is a red/white oak.

BEFORE:  our pantry when it just ran along the back wall.  It was tricky to reach the things on the left because of that support bar.

AFTER:  now pantry is an L-shape.  The trash bin can hide in there.  Nige designed it to have a counter-height shelf which is deep enough for me to have my diary in there too, which is a great little workspace for me, nicely hidden away.

BEFORE: having the wall was handy to have the sofa there, but we are enjoying the new layout much better!

AFTER: we are now able to use our island stools again (which were too low for sitting at the old breakfast bar).  We have new pendant lighting over the island, new under-cabinet lighting, new crown molding on the cabinets, and new flooring.  We are loving our new kitchen, and sharing it with all those who come into our home.

hawaii kai and close by

Isn't this a lovely spot to enjoy a coffee? Or a latte milkshake!  This is the outdoor seating at Island Brew - so pretty!

Soft, powdery sand at Lanikai Beach.  Our favorite beach, from the ones we visited.

 Oh yeah!

People were sailing and kayaking past us, on their way to one of the islands off in the distance.  There was a gentle breeze, which was nice and cool for us on the beach, but I'm sure was making it hard for the kayakers.

It was a great time at the beach swimming, chatting, snacking and enjoying being together again.

Cooking chicken on the BBQ.  Because we were staying in friends' home, we were able to eat most of our evening meals at home.

We visited Hawaii Kai Church, where a number of friends who used to live in California, and now live in Hawaii, now attend church.  Fun to see friends in Hawaii.

A jar of strawberry jam for first time visitors!

special dinner out

Phil has a special birthday coming up in November (50!) so we wanted to treat them to dinner while we were all together.  The Cheesecake Factory was the number one choice for us all.

So many choices on the menu!

For the appetizer, we shared Avocado Egg Rolls.  Delicious!  For mains, the Hendos shared tacos and we shared BBQ Chicken Salad.

And of course, it was cheesecakes all round for dessert.  Phil had a chocolate/coffee one, Nat had strawberry, Nige had a chocolate one, and I had my favorite, lemon meringue.  None of us could finish our slices, but we all enjoyed what we ate.

After dinner we gave Phil and Nat a 2017 birthday/Christmas gift each.  

makai beach

Having friends who live on Oahu, we got insider tips for quieter beach locations.  Makai Beach is located over by the pier in the background.

The pier.  It seemed familiar to me . . . from watching a Magnum PI episode sometime in the last few years.

Our little setup on the beach.

Nige, Phil and Nat giving snorkeling a go.  I tried it but didn't really care for it.

So since I recognized the pier, I checked out online where Robin Master's Estate was, and it was less than a mile down the road from the beach we were at.  This is the building where Magnum lived.

This is where Higgins lived.  It was all a bit overgrown on the roadside, but fun to find and peek through the bushes.

a long awaited vacation

Nige and I have the wonderful opportunity to go to Hawaii for a vacation and stay in the home of friends who used to be at Faith Bible Church.  BUT we're not vacationing alone.  Phil and Natalie are joining us.  Their flight arrived in Honolulu about 11 hours before ours.

Natalie on her first trip to Ross Dress for Less!

Yes, we're just a bit excited to be in Hawaii!  Our first visit.

Reunited!  So nice to be together again.  It's such a blessing to have family who are best friends.

One of the bonuses of being with Phil and Natalie, was that we got to see these two on FaceTime most nights too.

friends and beach

This little cutie loves the sand.  Eek - not me though!  Her mama was trying to keep Brennan off our blanket with all her sand, and I was trying real hard to be okay with sand getting on our blanket. Hehe  🙂

Watching the little ones, while daddy digs a hole/pool for when the tide comes in.  It was fun to hang out with the Levis family for an afternoon at South Ponto Beach.

On another afternoon, Rob and Heidi took us to Del Mar Beach.

Such a pretty sunset!

this and that

I love to see products from "home".  Side by side at Costco, was (a new brand to me) Koru Apples AND Zespri Kiwifruit.  We are spoilt with all the NZ foods we can buy here!  Somehow a taste from home eases the homesickness just a little.

We had a friend over for dinner and I made this yummy (and dangerous) recipe:
One-Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake.  Nige and Brandi didn't care for the peanut butter in theirs, which was easily eliminated since I made the three cakes individually.  Too delicious!

This summer FBC sent out a short term missions team to Onekawa Bible Church, the church my brother in-law pastors in Napier.  Obviously we would have loved to have been on the team, but because our Green Card application is still being processed we are not able to travel internationally until it is finalized.  Please continue to pray with us that it will be approved so that we can stay longer at Faith Bible Church.  The 19 team members had a great trip, running a 5-day children's program (Vacation Bible School) during the day and teaching adult seminars in the evening.  Plus they got to enjoy a few perks of NZ like Te Puia and The Luge in Rotorua, Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel, and The Shire in Matamata.

Meantime, back in Menifee, we enjoyed a quick visit from some of the Hanson family from Auckland - Philip, Michelle, Lucy and Cat.  Long time friends from New Zealand, but we actually became friends living around the corner from each other in Sherman Oaks, CA while Nige and Philip were in seminary together.  It's always lovely to see this family!

celebrating july 4th

It's always fun hanging out with FBC'ers, and getting together on July 4th for a BBQ at the park and to watch fireworks is a great excuse to be together.

FBC's ice cream truck turned up too!

And it drew lots of people to the park for a free ice cream.

#fbceastmurrietajuly42017 - fun photo booth!

Let the fireworks begin!  We were up high at the park, looking out over the Temecula valley.  We could see the pretty fireworks off in the distance, without the big bangs.  Nice for the kids.

getting some sun and sand

We have a vacation to Hawaii coming up soon and so we thought we'd get some visits in to the beach in preparation for many beach days in Hawaii.

We made the most of the opportunity to explore a new place for coffee on the way to the beach.  We've been to Copa Vida in Pasadena before, and this location in Carlsbad served equally good coffee.  They've converted a 40' container into the coffee shop - very cool!

FBC's next women's event is a beach day at South Ponto Beach, so we thought we'd check it out.  It's a nice beach.

I got some reading done, while Nige had fun boggie-boarding.

Isn't technology great!?  I even got to FaceTime Mum while at the beach! Haha 🙂