A lot to catch up on... From S&A

Hello everyone! Long time since we have posted anything and a lot has happened since then. First off we went to Hawaii this Christmas with my parents and it was amazing. It was a graduation/ retirement gift for my dad and I. It is funny because we took our camera everywhere but only took pictures the last 2 days. We spent almost the entire time in our swim suits and I actually forgot my swim top so I got to wear tank tops as my swim suit! I have a funky tan line because of it but hey its there! Greg and Heathers kids will have to stop asking me why I am so white all the time now too! lol. We had an amazing time. Saw perfect beaches, went body surfing, ran into turtles (literally), and went to the pacific version of the grand canyon. Here are some of the pictures... Here is a little story too: while we were walking on the beach, to our normal snorkel spot, Aaron found a real pearl earring (platinum color). Then on another beach, called glass beach which is entirely made up of glass, he found a piece of gold which was the backing of a woman's watch like 50 years ago! He is really lucky and he plans to make it into a necklace for me some day, which will be a great story! Another crazy thing that happened is that when we went to church in Kauai we saw the Popes! It was crazy cool seeing our old stake president, the man dad was second counselor to in Santa Cruz. His whole family was there, including his sone and daughter in-law who go to the SLV ward and I know. The church is large but it's amazing who you se and where you see them! All in all we had an amazing time! It will something we will never forget and feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to go! Second thing is we are finally back and I have been applying for teaching jobs in Columbia MO. Aaron is applying to vet school again there and hopefully he will get in. If he gets in and I get a job then we are planning on buying a house within the next year there. It's a great place to live and work so I hope we can start a life there soon. Things are very up in the air right now, but very exciting at the same time. And in the mean time we are still living it up in Springfield. We are actually both substituting in the district here and it should be fun! And third, while we are on the topic of vet school, Aaron got invited for an interview at Louisiana State University! He is very excited because out almost 1,000 applicants he got picked as one of the top 150. It doesn't mean he will get in but it is an amazing step in the right direction. His interview for them is on February 8th and we will be driving down to get the lay of the land and get some good old cajun food while we are down there! We still have not heard back from Mizzou, which is Aaron's top pick,but thats normal and we know he will get an interview there. They guarantee any in state applicant an interview, he just has to nail it and then he gets in. So thats our little/big update for A & S Gibbons! Please make sure to keep us in your prayers on account we have a lot changing these next few months and especially about the vet school stuff and a job for me! Both Aaron and I are pretty confident that he will get in this time but you never know what the Lord has planned for you! Hope you are all doing well! We love and miss you guys very much and look forward to seeing you all in 6 months! Love Shannon & Aaron.