Hawaii, pt. 2

On Saturday, we went snorkelling at Hanauma Bay.  I am in love with snorkelling!  It was so fun, and I would have stayed all day, but it was windy and cold, so once we got out of the water, it was too hard to convince ourselves to go back in.  I also got some battle wounds from slamming into the reef.  It is so shallow when you are trying to float over the top of them, that as soon as a wave rolls out, you slam right into it.

When we got back, we headed for the beach, and tried our hand at paddle-boarding.  That was also pretty fun.  We practiced in the lagoon, before heading out to open water.  Scott and Spencer even saw some sea turtles.  Jealous!!

 

Later that evening, we went to dinner and then walked down the strip.  We made sure to pick up some souveniers for the kiddos back home.  Every night at our resort, these guys would light all of the tiki torches. 

 

On Sunday, we went to Pearl Harbor.  I wish we had more time to spend there to look at all of the displays, and read all of the stories.  Then we went to sacrament meeting.  A group of six teenage boys got up and sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" a cappela.  It was beautiful and amazing.  All of our jaws dropped to the floor while we listened to them sing.  It was icing on the cake to a beautiful Sunday morning.

 

   

 

That evening, we hiked Manoa Falls.  It was beautiful in the lush jungle of Hawaii.  The boys had fun swinging on ropes, and dangling from the banyon trees.  We all had a good laugh while throwing rocks at what we thought was a snake in the tree, but was a stick.

 

On Monday, we relaxed all day at the beach, and then Scott and I had a wonderful dinner right on the beach to celebrate our anniversary.  Then we went and saw a movie with my sister and one of her friends.

 

Tuesday was our last day in Hawaii.  It was sad to say goodbye to the sun, the water, and the beautiful views.  We will definitely be going back to Hawaii someday! 

Hawaii!!!!!

My parents made a wonderful announcement back in August, that they were taking all of the adults to Hawaii!  Thankfully, we have awesome friends, and they agreed to take our kids for a week so we could go play in the sun.  Scott and I, and my parents, traveled early in the morning on Wednesday, Jan. 16th, over to Portland.  We flew from Portland to LAX, where we met up with everyone else before our flight to Honolulu.  We were worried that Erin and Spencer wouldn't make their flights, because they had 2 stops, and only about 30 minutes at each stop.  But they surprised us by taking an earlier flight out and met us in LA looking like this:

 

It was hilarious!  Especially, because my dad didn't recognize them at first and looked at them like "you people are a bunch of wierdos!" Don't you love my bro-in-law's Luke Perry 90210 shirt?

Next, we were off to Hawaii.  Longest flight of my life!  Landing in Honolulu wasn't pleasant, because I had an ear infection.  Everyone around me heard my ears squeal and then pop.  I thought that I had ruptured my ear drum!  But once we stepped off the plane, it was all worth it!

We stayed in a condo at the Hilton Hawaiin Village.  This is the view of our tower (1 of 6 on the property) from the beach.  The first day, we layed by the pool, swam in the ocean, buried Spencer in the sand, went grocery shopping, and then went to hike Diamond Head.

Then we ate authentic Hawiian at Ono's, some dive featured on the Food Network, and then ate delicious malasadas at Leonard's bakery.  So good!!!

 

On Friday, we went to the temple and did some sealings.  It was beautiful driving up the coast of the island.  Then we went next door, and spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 

 

 

 

We saw all of the cultural presentations, rode the canal boat, ate at the Luau and danced on stage with the rest of the honeymooners/anniversary couples, and then watched Ha! Breath of Life.  It was a fun-filled day!  The best part about it, was a friend back home was able to hook us all up with half-off discounts, because one of her friends still worked at the PCC.

Happy New Year!

Our friends own a bounce house gym, and they invited a ton of families over for a New Years Eve party.  The kids played, and the adults did a white elephant exchange, and an ugly sweater contest.  I thought for sure, that I would win, but the guy with the reindeer cut in half, and glued onto his sweater won.  At 8:00, we did a count down for the kids, and they let off some poppers.  It was a great family party!

10 year anniversary

I can't believe it has been 10 years (12-27-12)!  We've had 5 children, lived in 5 states, bought our first house, and it hasn't slowed down yet.  We went to the temple, the same temple we were married in, to do some sealings for family names, and then went to dinner at Anthony's.  We didn't make a huge day of our 10 year anniversary, because we were headed to Hawaii in 3 weeks!!