Our First Major Purchases as a Married Couple

Geoff and I have been doing what we can to make our little, cozy basement apartment a home, and it's been quite fun! We were able to find a couch and matching love seat for a really good deal as well as purchase a little dining table that fits into the small space we have in our kitchen. The couch and love seat were previously owned by the sweetest couple who was moving and had to sell it. They are so comfy and much more inviting than what we previously had (which was nothing!). Although we already have a dining table which I bought before we moved into my cousin's basement apartment, we've decided it's too big and we would like for our living room to just be a living room and not a dining room as well. Our dining table is only big enough for two people, so when we have guests over for dinner, we'll probably buy a folding table for us to all eat on. But I love how the stools conveniently store underneath the table and you can expand it to make it bigger. It's also convenient that it has wheels to roll around on! There's also a couple of extra drawers we can use as well as a towel rack, so those are pretty handy.

The best and most expensive purchase of all has been our new camera! I've been wanting a DSLR camera for some time, like over two years. So on our way to our honeymoon, Geoff suggested we buy a camera to take with us so we could take some sweet pictures. So we did and it was the best decision! I'm so glad we purchased the camera when we did. We got some amazing photos in Hawaii that our iPhone cameras wouldn't have been able to capture.

The camera we decided to get was a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS. It's not as fancy as some of the DSLR cameras you see nowadays, but it has all the basic functions we were looking for as well as an inexpensive price tag to match! It's very easy to operate for both Geoff and I. It has a 50x zooming lens, which is seriously amazing! Geoff and I were able to zoom in on tiny dots clear out into the ocean to discover they were boats or jet skis. The zoom feature is so powerful we could even read the name on the sides those boats clearly! I personally wanted a camera that had a flip out screen so we could take photos of ourselves without a problem, and that's exactly what we got with this camera. It's been way fun having a nice camera and I can't wait to capture more memories with it for years to come!

While in Hawaii, the thin camera strap would start to get annoying and rub against our necks. So I purchased a fun camera strap on Etsy for a really good deal, and so far I'm in love with it!

I apologize for the lack of decorations/photos yet to go on our walls! I'm still deciding where I want to put things. I plan on taking photos of our place once we have everything set up an organized, which probably won't be for a little while longer!

Mr. and Mrs. Whetstone's Honeymoon in Paradise

A lot has been going on in my life lately! The most important thing is I now am a wife to the most wonderful husband! Geoff and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Columbia River Temple on Friday, April 4th, 2014! We were so excited when our wedding day finally came, everything seems like just a blur by how fast that day went! But it was also the best, perfect, and most wonderful day of both our lives so far. It's crazy to think after seven years of being friends, dating, and having this idea of getting married one day, it actually has happened! We've been married for two weeks today and couldn't be happier.

Since I won't be getting my wedding pictures back for a couple more weeks, I will talk about our amazing honeymoon in Oahu! We arrived late Saturday evening on April 5th and spend five full days enjoying the tropical sunshine, ocean, relaxation, and yummy Hawaiian food. I'll talk about some of the highlights of each day while we were there, just to make you jealous! We already are wanting to go back someday!

Sunday, April 6th - This day's main event was spending a couple of hours at Pearl Harbor. Out of all the things I did as a 6-year-old girl when I went to Oahu, the U.S.S. Arizona vividly sticks out in my mind more than anything else. It's actually one of the only things I remember, everything else I know about just from looking at pictures. So I know it had a huge impact on me being a young girl and I wanted Geoff to experience that same feeling as well. We walked around the museums and shops for an hour before our boat left for the U.S.S. Arizona. It was pretty crowded for being their slowest day of the week, so I can't imagine what it is like going when there's even more people there!

On the boat on our way to the U.S.S Arizona Memorial.

Part of the U.S.S. Arizona above the water.

Names of all those who lost their lives on the U.S.S. Arizona.

After Pearl Harbor, we walked to the Aloha Stadium where there was a swap meet going on. We got a lot of fun little souvenirs and visited with a lot of the locals! Silly me forgot to put on sunscreen that morning, so by the time we got back to our hotel I looked like a really red lobster! Getting some color on my pale white skin was totally worth it though :)

Monday, April 7th - I had nothing major planned for this day, so I figured we could spend it by walking around Waikiki and spending some time at the beach. And that's exactly what we did!

The view from our hotel room.

Our hotel is the small one in the middle with the tall tower behind it.

Geoff having fun with the camera!

Geoff with Diamond Head in the background.

I love me some palm trees! This is at the Ala Wai Canal.

Hula show at the Ala Moana Mall.

Our favorite sunset picture of all the ones we took.

Tuesday, April 8th - This day was spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were there for almost 10 full hours! We experienced many of the different Polynesian cultures, had the best kalua pork ever at a fun luau, and watched some awesome fire dancers at the "Ha: Breath of Life" night show. We also were able to go see the Laie Hawaii Temple.

Making fire from a coconut husk.

He climbed clear to the top of a tall palm tree!

Before our luau. Geoff loves his Hawaiian shirt.

At the Laie Hawaii Temple.

Wednesday, April 9th - The only major thing planned for this day was a sunset dinner cruise, so we had the whole day to do more walking around and sight seeing. We went to a Portuguese bakery where they had the most delicious malaladas I've ever had in my life! We also walked around the shops on Waikiki Beach.

Leonard's Portuguese Bakery.

Geoff with Duke Kahanamoku.

Enjoying our dinner cruise!

On the dinner cruise with Diamond Head behind us.

Thursday, April 10th - Our last full day in Oahu... so sad! We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay early in the morning before the crowds came and saw lots of colorful fish and even a turtle! We ate lunch at Teddy's Bigger Burgers, and both Geoff and I agree that they had the best burgers we have ever had. After going to the aquarium, We spent one last time at Waikiki Beach before leaving early the next morning.

Snorkeling at Haunauma Bay.

Gorgeous Hanauma Bay.

Geoff at Teddy's Bigger Burgers.

Fish at the aquarium like the ones we saw snorkeling!

Last sunset in Oahu.

And that's our perfect honeymoon in a nutshell! I'm so glad we decided to splurge on a honeymoon in Oahu. The memories we made there were all worth it!