Cold is Relative

In the morning on my way to work it warmed up quite a bit! 0 degrees.

But by the time I was on my way home from Bible study that night it was back to those frigid temps!

It is crazy how anything about 0 degrees can actually feel rather warm 

after having a couple of weeks of below 0 temperatures!

-13 Degrees to 82 Degrees!

Matthew and I went to Hawaii on January 2 and spent 10 days there!! What a perfect vacation. We could not have asked for a better vacation. We got to spend 10 straight days hanging out. Which in itself is AMAZING. But on top of that...we got to leave Alaska's -13 degree temp to go to sunny, beautiful, 80 degree weather in Maui!!!

 We got to do a little snorkeling and saw lots of fish, coral and some sea turtles!

 We also drove about half of the road to Hana. Along the way we saw lots of beautiful waterfalls.

 We went to the North Shore and to Jaws beach to watch the surfers. So cool. I would be scared to death to even go out in those waves. It was really amazing to watch!

 The pictures do not even do the surfers justice.

 We also went on a kayaking trip! I had never been kayaking before, and have to say that I loved it. We had so much fun. While we out on the water we got to see 6-7 beluga whales off in the distance. AND then, all of the sudden a huge whale surfaced about 10 feet from our kayak!!! I was so scared. I was shaking. I didn't even get a picture of it because I was soooo scared. Matt was just laughing at me, because I could not stop shaking. It was an incredible experience and an amazing display of God's creation.

 We also rented scooters one day and drove all over the island :) And, we went and watched the Hyundai PGA Tournament of champions. So fun. We had never been to a PGA tournament before. If we ever have the opportunity to go to one again we absolutely will because it was sooo fun!!

 Plus, we spent LOTS of time laying on the beach or at the pool reading our new Nooks :)

 We also went on a doors off helicopter tour of the island. Gorgeous!

 And one of the highlights of the trips for Matthew was visiting the lavender gardens! Matt loves lavender! So he had a blast walking around the gardens and tasting the teas and foods made from lavender :)

 This is the lanai at our condo where we sat and ate breakfast every morning.

Ahhhhh, again. It was a fabulous vacation. We had a great time with each other. And it was a nice change from Alaska (even though we go love the cold in Alaska!). We are so blessed to have been able to take this vacation.

Christmas Eve to the New Year

On Christmas Eve we had a few of our friends from church over to work on a 1500 piece puzzle, eat dessert and hang out. It was nice for all of us to get to hang out with friends (especially those of us who are very far from our families)!

 Matt and I had a very relaxing Christmas Day. We had gotten each other Nooks for Christmas, so we spent the day hanging out at the house and reading mostly!

 Matt doing a little snow shoveling in his shorts :)

For New Year's we hosted the first annual Puzzleoff!! We bought three puzzles, had some friends over, divided into three groups and raced to see who could finish the puzzle first (and we had prizes for the winners). I have to say I believe this was a hit and will probably become a tradition in the Cornett household!

Jen, Ryan, Cameronn, Emily and John got first place!

 Sarah, Devin, Tami, Kate and Aaron got second place.

 Sadly our team got third, but we had a blast!

Marianke, Courtney, Eli, Matt, me and Aiden :) 

I got to hold Aiden a lot while doing the puzzle, which was fun!

The guys bought a few fireworks and put on a little show for us afterwards!

We had a great time bringing in the new year with friends!!

Our driveway is notoriously difficult to get up and down! So, the next day, Jen slid down the driveway into the snowbank at the bottom of the driveway. Thankfully it wasn't stuck too bad. They managed to get it out with a few snow shovels!

New Year's Day was a gorgeous day! It was COLD, but pretty clear and crisp. Beautiful.

It was a good start to the New Year. Matt and I are looking forward to what God has in store for us this year. He has taught us so much through many different difficult, sad, and joyous situations and we are anxious to see where He will take us this next year as we are getting out of the military in about 10 months!