Climbing up the mountain

On Sunday we decided to hike the Napoli Coast. You can hike in 4 miles without a permit. The complete hike is 11 miles in and you can camp on the beach. This is another reason we hope to be able to come back to Kauai and try to bring camping supplies and do the whole thing. 

We look so excited in these first pictures because we had just begun our hike haha. It took us about 6 hours. You hike the first half to a beach and it is mostly down hill and then you can turn left and go up to a waterfall. Then it gets more challenging with lots of climbing up and over rocks. We really have enjoyed hiking together since we moved to Hawaii. We always seem to talk a lot and enjoy experiencing it together. 

Seeing the waterfall was well worth the hike to get there. We ate a subway sandwhich we packed in our backpack and then jumped in the water below the fall. It was the coldest water I have ever been in. My body felt numb. I swam to the fall and back as fast as possible. 

On our way back we stopped and jumped in a pool of water we spotted on the way up that had a rock to jump off. We love to jump off anything into the water that we can find. Landry kept calling it our little "blue lagoon."

Still smiling on the hike back up some how. We felt like zombies the last couple miles. It was so hot on the dirt path with little shade and since the hike in was downhill of course we had to hike out mostly up hill. My legs felt like jello when we got back to our car.

 We squeezed in one last sight before the sun set. Queen's bath is a pool of water protected by some rocks. There were lots of small fish swimming around and we had it all to ourselves since it was close to dark.

Another Day in Paradise

Tunnels Beach

Our third day in Kauai was filled with sightseeing and beach hopping on the north shore.













Some guy had his front yard full of cars asking for 10 bucks to park for tunnels beach. We turned around and parked in a residential area a couple miles back. We would have walked several miles to save money. Every time we passed his yard we would count all the cars. He had 20 or more most days. So needless to say he had a pretty sweet day job.

The water was so clear!

Landry was in paradise snorkeling here. He can stay out for hours. I got cold in the water, which is my usual reason behind getting out. I don't know how I am going to survive on the mainland when I actually am really cold. 70 degrees feels cool to me now o goodness.

I never get tired of seeing all the colorful fish.

Ke'e beach was our next stop. It had really warm water and was completely sandy on the bottom. Which was really nice for a change. Most of the beaches in hawaii have rocks or coral on the bottom and we almost always were water shoes. The sand felt super soft since we are not used to being barefoot.

Caught a cute little bird drinking some coconut water.

Here are some just random scenery pictures I took. I really enjoyed the country feeling of Kauai. 

Rooster Country

The second day of our trip we got up early and tried to go on a hike called "tunnels." The tunnels were made for irrigation to the crop fields, but are no longer used and it makes for a really exciting hike. But the main challenge is getting to it. We tried twice to get there but our little car couldn't make it over the water covered road or all the pot holes. You need a 4wd vehicle for sure. We hope to come back to Kauai again and rent a jeep and do a couple more hikes that our car could not bring us to.
After our let down of not being able to do one of the main hikes we were looking forward to doing we decided to take a drive up to Waimea Canyon.

I have never been to the grand canyon our seen anything like this before. It was so beautiful. It was hard to capture in pictures how big it is. Landry always reminds me when we see something amazing here on this earth that it does not compare to what Jesus has prepared for us in Heaven. That is pretty exciting!

We drove and stopped at a lot of the lookouts and then we hiked one of the trails to get a closer view.

Unfortunately, it rained on us most of the hike. For some strange reason Landry loves to hike in the rain. He thinks it is more adventurous, but I usually just feel cold and uncomfortable. We tried to jog some of the trail but the rain was making it pretty slippery. The hike in was fun, but the hike out was a bit more challenging since it was mostly up hill. It was worth it for the view.

I am so thankful God created beautiful things on this earth for us to enjoy. When I saw how large this canyon was it reminded me of how big God is. My small mind can not comprehend God's power. I pray today that I will put complete trust in him.

5 Days of Freedom

Somehow Landry and I were able to get 5 days off of work and enough funds to make our first trip off the island(still not positive about the funds part haha). Yesterday morning we boarded our flight for Kauai at 6 am. The above picture is our view before we landed. It was a short 30 minute flight.

Our first stop after we landed was to get our rent-a-car and then headed to Walmart to get waters ans snacks for our hikes. Yep this is going to be one active vacation. I read that if you hiked everyday for a month you couldn't hike all the trails Kauai has to offer. So we are trying to squeeze in all the hiking we can.....

So we started our first one about an hour after stepping off the plane. Wailua falls was our first adventure of the trip. This is a picture from the look out and this is the closest MOST people get to the falls. But that was not satisying enough to us it only made us want to get closer. We asked a Hawaiian lady how to hike to the falls and she said she was not aloud to tell us. Luckily we have this awesome Kauai revealed book that has insight and everything from hiking to restaurant suggestions. It gaves us two routes to get to the falls. One longer and easier and one that was faster and more challenging. We chose the more challenging one( sorry mrs.Candy). But don't worry it wasn't too 

bad, it was pretty step and we had to grab on to branches because the wet leaves were slippery. If you fall you weren't going off the side off a cliff you would just have a bruised tail bone. There was no 

one else on the trail and we had fun just walking and talking. At the bottom of the trail is a river we had to wade through to the fall.

 This picture is to help you see how huge the fall is. It is 

173 feet tall actually taller than Niagra falls. That is crazy!!!! And we got to swim in it!

Here is a video from the bottom!

The swim was so refreshing.

Hiking back up was a lot more challenging the going down. We got a bunch of scratches from all the sticks. But it was fun. 

We were starving when we got to the top. We ate lunch at this cute little hotdog stand and had 

coconut and chocolate gelato for dessert.

We took a big nap under this shade tree.

then hiked up the cliff for a good view.

The rest of the day we went in some cute shops and walked around a little old town.

Aloha!

Chinaman's Hat

 Today we were ready for a new adventure so we swam out to a little island known as Chinaman's hat. It is called Chinaman's hat because of its cone shape, which resembles the peasant’s hat worn in rural China. It is very beautiful to look at from the beach, but you can't see its real beauty unless you explore it close up!





A lot of people take a kayak out to the island, but we snorkeled out to it. It is about 450 meters from the beach to the island and takes about 45 minutes.

The mountains behind us were so beautiful.

On our way back we went shopping(Hawaiian style) for some home decor for our apartment. We picked up some coral pieces that I am going to bleach and maybe paint some bright colors.

 I love my handsome hubby! We love being off all day with each other and enjoying the outdoors. Anything we do together is always fun:).

 Video from the top!

 We met some guys who had been out spear fishing and caught some octopus. The locals call it "taco." We asked if they were going to eat them and they said yes and then we asked how to cook it and they said they eat it raw. I am not sure I am up for eating uncooked octopus just yet. I held one and it was really cool to feel it suction to my hand. Landry bought a spear a while back and really wants to try it out soon.

Aloha from the Allens!

Girl Meets Boy!

5 years ago today I went on my first date with a handsome, brown eyed boy. Landry and I met on a mission trip to Merida, Mexico in 2007. Someone from our team dropped out at the last minute and some guys on the trip called Landry to see if he wanted to take the open spot. He said yes of course because he loves to be spontaneous and is always up for a new adventure. Which now is one of the many things I love about him.
After a week of watching him be a servant to the Mayan people in the village where we were working and seeing how outgoing and friendly he was with the other members of our group I felt a feeling I had never truly felt before. I wanted to be around him all the time. Every night we went on a walk and no matter how tired I was from the long day of work I didn't want the night to end. I felt an instant connection with him.
On our plane ride home Landry passed me a note asking for my phone number. Yea, yea I know it is cheesy, but at the time it was the best thing ever. Then a couple days after we got home he called me and it was really hard to hide my excitement talking on the phone with him. At the time he lived in Alabama and I was at my parents house in Jackson, Tennessee about to go back to  college in Arkansas. He asked if I wanted to meet him in Nashville, Tennessee and hang out before I went back to school. Which is ironic looking back since this is the city we both moved to and where we lived the first 6 months of our marriage.

I can remember trying on what felt like hundreds of outfits and being so nervous on the 2 hour drive to meet him. He looked so cute when I saw him. Probably because I had only seen him in athletic shorts and t-shirts all week on the mission trip. He had planned the whole date which really impressed me. We went to eat at the Spaghetti Factory downtown and then walked around the Parthenon and fed the ducks and then he brought me to this hill that overlooks downtown. It was a great first date.

I am so thankful God crossed our paths on that mission trip.
I pray today that I never take for granted what a blessing he is in my life.

The "ME-DISEASE"

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom, brother Andrew and his friend Felix where here visiting us for most of the month of July. Boy did we have a full house! In Nashville before I married Landry my roommate and close friend, Sarah and I shared a 600 and something sq. foot, one bedroom apartment. We had two twin beds crammed into our room and we thought it was really small. Then Landry and I upgraded to a 900 square foot one bedroom apartment in the same complex once we got married. We really loved our place (mostly because it was our first place), but we felt like it was really small, especially with all of our stuff in it(mostly landrys :)). And we compared ourselves to our other couple friends with houses or town houses much larger than our place. Well now we live in a 515 square foot place, which is smaller than anywhere we have ever lived in. On top of that we have had WAY WAY more visitors than we ever had before. So I know God is getting a good laugh about us thinking we had a small place before.
My brother and his friend slept on an air mattress in our living room floor and my mom slept on our couch right beside them. We have one small bathroom, no air-conditioning or dishwasher so needless to say it was challenging living in such tight quarters for this long of a time.
So here's where my post title comes into play...the "me-disease". I would like to say I caught this disease while my family was here, but I think that is not being truthful. I have had it a very long time and tried to cover it up or act like it wasn't there. But man o man did it explode while they were here. I found myself always thinking about myself. How am I going to have enough time to get ready for work? What am I going to eat for supper? I want to do what I want to do on my off day from work....and the list goes on and on. Instead of focusing on my company like a good hostess should do I began to focus on me and me alone.
I did not realize how self centered my life has become until I had to focus on someone other than myself for the first time in a long time. Since Landry and I have moved to Hawaii I have not had to focus on many things except working and hanging out with Landry. But thank goodness God is giving me a wake up call.
Right after my family left Landry and I moved in with a family from my church. Their mom asked if we would stay at their house for 10 days while she had the chance to go see their dad who has been in Afghanistan. I wanted to help them out, but selfishly in the back of my mind was the "me-disease" flaring up again. I wanted my alone time with Landry, I wanted and empty house and to do what I wanted with my time. Do you see all those "I's" yep it was coming back. But God told me not to listen to those selfish voices to listen to his. When I asked Landry he immediately said yes and I am so thankful for his constant selfless attitude reminding me to change mine.
Philippians 2:3-4 says "Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. Those verses are pretty plain and simply. God wants me to put others first. We stayed with these three teenagers and we were blessed. They were amazing, they cooked dinner for us most nights and we played games and watched movies. They had such servant attitudes towards us. Morgan the oldest put most of the meals together with help from her siblings and she would always leave some for us when we got home from work. Bailey was up for going anywhere and doing whatever, no matter if she enjoyed it our not. She has a very caring nature. Gavin was always asking us what movie we wanted to watch or changing the channel to something that was interesting to us. I am so thankful we got to know them better.
The next step to my journey of less of me and more of God was a book I just finished reading today, Kisses from Katie. http://youtu.be/zfXgCx3f_1c Here is a link to a video about Katie's story. You can also visit http://www.amazima.org for more videos and information about her foundation.
I heard about this book via facebook. I had read several post from girls inspired by this story. Though I often read about new books something was pushing me to read this one. I believe God lead me to this particular book at this particular time when my heart is open and ready to stop the "me-disease".
I immediately went on amazon and purchased the book when it arrived a couple days later I started to read it and could not put it down. Usually at night when Landry comes home all I want to do is hang out with him and no matter what was on my agenda I drop it to get to be with him. But sorry Landry this week I have had my head in a book most nights.
It is a story about a teenage girl from Tennessee who moves to Uganda. She has lots of disadvantages to the outside world. She is young, she is a female, she hasn't gone to college yet, she doesn't have a lot of funding and on and on. But she says yes to God's call and puts complete trust that he will provide what she needs.
"Uncertainty is everywhere. But I am living in the midst of the uncertainty and risk, amid things that can and do bring physical destruction, because I am running from things that can destroy my soul: Complacency, Comfort and Ignorance/ I am much more terrified of living a comfortable life in a self-serving society and failing to follow Jesus than I am of any illness or tragedy." This is one of my favorite quotes from the book. It hit me hard when I read it. But I REALLY REALLY needed to read this. We are constantly surrounded with people and a society that has a self-seeking outlook on life. We want bigger houses and nicer cars and cuter clothes and more stuff. This SCARES ME! Because notice I said we I am definitely part of this.
I know this post seems rather like a sermon, but I had to let it out. I want to make a change. Luke 16:13 it says "No servant can serve two masters."...it is referring to God and money, but I am realizing I can not serve my earthly fleshly desires and my eternal God.
So what's next?....I don't have an answer for that yet! But I want to say yes to serving God and his people. Mark 8:36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"
Matthew 9:37 "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
My prayer today is for whatever God asks me to do I say yes. Lord, please heal me of my disease. You alone have the cure. I want to be more like you and less like the world.


We sang this song at church a couple weeks ago and I had never heard it, but I thought the words were really good so here it is....

The things that I love and hold dear to my heart
They are just borrowed they're not mine at all
Jesus only let me use them to brighten my life,
So  re-mind me , re-mind me dear Lord

Roll back the curtain of memory now and then
Show me where you brought me from and where I could have been
Remember I'm human and humans forget
So remind me remind me dear Lord

Nothing good have I done to deserve God's own son
Im not worthy of the scars in His hands
Yet he chose the road to calvary to die in my stead
Why He loved me I can't understand