HAWAII!!!

Jeff and I had been planning on going on a trip this summer, but our summer is starting to look pretty busy. So the way everything worked out we decided about a week before we went that we were going to Hawaii! It was SO SO SO nice! Jeff's sister said she would take our kids (BLESS HER HEART!!!) so here are our adventures in Hawaii:

I thought I would go get a spray tan before we left. (I didn't want to be pasty white on the beach! :) ) The nice gal that showed me to my booth wasn't the most helpful so I wasn't sure what I was doing and I ended up with a lovely line across my forehead. Love it! This is me in all my glory the next morning bed head and all, but it was to funny not to remember. I guess that is what I get for trying to be cool.

Here is me same day after a hair cut. It was a little shorter than I expected but it is kind of a fun change. I know it grows so I am ok with it. After much exfoliating the nice 'tan' line faded. :)

Jeff and I in our rental car.

Oh yes we did! :) We got talked into a convertible and I LOVED it. (Jeff this does not mean we can get one!) Ever since I was little I always wanted a convertible, a red mustang convertible to be exact, blue came pretty close.

Jeff's excited face.



Welcome to HAWAII!!! (picture taken while driving!)

We arrived Thursday evening and made it to our friends house (Thanks guys!) got dressed, went and grabbed some food then headed to the temple (BEAUTIFUL by the way!). After we got out we hoped in the car and on the radio we heard a weather alert saying that there was a tsunami warning in place. Thirty seconds later we heard all the tsunami sirens going! It was CRAZY! About a year earlier my Brother and his family were there and they had the same thing happen. I guess we make for exciting vacations! SO, we went back to where we were staying and packed up our stuff and waited and tried to sleep and waited some more. We just watched the news and made a game plan.

I am SO grateful we were staying with friends because we headed to the store to try and get some 'supplies' and they were closed! Thank goodness we are counseled to get food storage and 72 hour kits!!! We took their 72 our kit and went to 'higher ground' which was pretty much across the street and up a little hill to the BYU Hawaii campus. We spent the night in our car listening on and off to news reports.

Pretty awesome way to start a vacation. This picture is of us in our car 'sleeping'. Thank goodness nothing exciting happened. The next morning no one was allowed to go to the beaches because they were still expecting some large waves. SO, we slept in (after heading back to the house around 6:30 a.m.) and it was great! It threw off our plans a little but it could have been a lot worse!!! So after sleeping in we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The PCC was great (a little pricey but since I know it is going to a good cause it makes me feel a little better :) ). It was a fun day. We were a little tired, I got a little slap happy but it was a fun day. We sat by some guys at the Luau that served their mission in Alaska (where Jeff served) and they were there with a guy they baptized who had gotten his endowments our there in Hawaii a few days before. Pretty small world.


This guys was HILARIOUS! I believe he was a previous student at BYU Hawaii and then came back and works at the PCC full time.

I have never seen someone climb a tree like this guy, it was pretty crazy.


This was in the Figi area, Jeff and I thought these looked like senior pictures from way back in the day! :)


Jeff's favorite....Tahiti! :) These girls could really shake their hips!


This is for you hun! ;)


The pig at the Luau.

Saturday we headed down to Pearl Harbor, the swap meet and Waikiki. This is on our boat to Pearl Harbor. (By the way for those of you going you can not take bags, purses or large camera bags in. There is an area where you can 'check' your bags for $3 a bag)

Flag at half staff for those in suffering from the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

Pearl Harbor was nice I am sure we could have spent a lot more time there but we were trying to make the most of every minute. The swap meet was not quite what I expected, a lot of the same stuff over and over again, but it was fun. Waikiki (at least the part of the beach we were at) was over rated. A lot of reef but it was still FUN!

We were planning on going night snorkeling at Hanama Bay, the book we had said it was supposed to be open. It wasn't. We think it was because of the Tsunami??? Either way, here is the view. We also found our favorite spot to eat just down the road called Teddy's Bigger Burgers. Yes. A hamburger place. I don't even like hamburgers, I had the chicken teriyaki I did try Jeff's burger and I kinda liked it! :) BUT, their malts are AWESOME! SO SO GOOD! Maybe it just hit the spot but we ended up going there twice!

'Was it a Titleist?' :) Name that show!

The next day (our 7th anniversary!) we went golfing. It was beautiful! Perfect weather, great scenery, and I kicked Jeff's booty! :) haha, ok, well the first two were true. It was really fun!

Hole number four was CRAZY! You had to go up these stairs and then hit it over a walkway and down a hill.


Do you see that green way down there?

Pretty great view!

The view at the bottom of green four! :) Did I mention it was only $10 for nine holes?

To prove I actually do 'golf' if that is what you want to call what I do!

The pro shop...a little shady :) As were were going to tee off one of the guys came running out to make sure we took all of our valuables out of the car!

We headed to Ted's to get a slice of their famous haupia pie. It is a chocolate coconut pie. I love coconut, but it was good, not great. :)

Then we headed to go to Motsumoto's to get their famous shaved ice but the line was forever long so the book we had said the place next door was just as good. The line was still long but it was tasty! Nothing different than your normal shaved ice but since I haven't had one in a LONG LONG time it was SO good!

Next we went to the Dole Plantation. We were so tired and were sick of treats but we HAD to get the famous Dole whip. I loved it, Jeff did not. Yes, we did have three treats right in a row but this was the only time we were going to be around those areas so we made the most of it! :)


Baby pineapple. Did you know they take 18 - 22 months for one to mature?!


And some start out looking like this?!


Fish at the Dole Plantation.

Happy Anniversary Love! :)

The next morning we woke up bright and earlier to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was SO fun! I haven't ever been before, I think I probably could have done it the entire trip and been just fine! We bought a waterproof disposable camera so maybe one day we will get it developed and post the pictures. I was hoping to see a sea turtle, but no such luck.

Instead we went to a beach where they hang out, not quite as exciting but still fun to see!

Then we went swimming at Waimea Bay on the North Shore. The waves were HUGE! The lifeguards kept announcing to people to be careful and only experienced swimmers. It was so fun to play in the waves! That salt water is something nasty though! Jeff and I got swept away a few times, and have a few bumps and bruises but it was really fun.

We ended our trip taking pictures of/at the temple, we tried to get to the visitors center but it closed a few minutes before we got there. The temple is incredibly pretty, I don't think any picture I have seen does it justice.

A sweet missionary couple tried taking our picture... :) It's ok. (the humidity does awesome things to my hair...)

It was a great way to end an amazing trip. It was SO nice to just be with Jeff. No kids, not to much work, just us. I think EVERYONE needs to go somewhere sans kids every once in a while to regroup!

This trip wasn't planned because it was our anniversary, it just ended up that way and it was perfect! I am so happy that Jeff is stuck with me forever! Seven down, eternity to go! Love you!