Keep Hawaii Coming! 4

Day 5:

We hit up Waikiki beach, once again, to just chill while we waited for our ferry time for the U.S.S. Arizona. It's a good tourist beach to chill if (if you have some time to burn) and people watch. Right in the middle of downtown with all the shopping you could ever want (as if we'd take time to shop while in Hawaii!). :)

these little surfboard racks are everywhere. Love it!
Here we are, kickin' it on a grassy patch:

In the afternoon we went and saw this. The remains of Pearl Harbor (when the Japanese did a sneek attack on our fleets, bringing us into WWII) It was very sombering.

Here is what the memorial lies over...

Here are some of the ship remains that are out of the water. (pretty shallow channel where they parked the naval ships) The ship still leaks 9 quarts of oil a day.

These are all the men that were either killed or entombed in the ship that day. WOW.

We also watched a half hour video about the details of this battle and some of the men who valiantly did all they could. My grandfather fought in WWII, and has lived to tell it's stories and is now in his late 80's. It made me grateful that the Lord spared him in this war to accomplish all that he has.

That night, we drove to the west coast to go to a LUAU!! We partied it like fat pigs!!

Jon with one of the new zealand bootie shakers:

We just chilled and played cards while everyone sipped their pre-dinner alcohol. :)

me and the fire dancer!

They put on a GREAT show!

and the best part was this....pig right out of a pit. Genuine!

The pig coming out of the pit was the official start of the feast!! Traditionally, and now.

I was so sad this picture turned out blurry, because we happened to go to the same luau as some people from an "Elvis Cruise". These are the top 3 elvis impersonators in the world!!! They sang a few songs for us!

There was also a few people who knew and toured with Elvis personally. Rare experience...and another phenomenal day!

Aloha Hawai'i...3?

Day4:

KOKO CRATER. It was a crazy hike! This doesn't give it justice. We found out about this from one of the locals.

Here is on our way up. All railroad ties. made it trickier than you'd think!

view from the top! As we stood up there, we could see where people walk right out to the edge of danger. You can never be too careful. But we stayed back, and it was gorgeous!
(by the way, I brought my small, crappy camera and regret it, because none of these pictures do anything justice!!)
View of diamond head crater in the distance:

Coming down, you can see Hanauma Bay on the left:

After the tough hike, we went to this beach to boogie board, but the wind kicked up and the waves were breaking on the beach, so we body surfed intead. Here's jon (on the left in wave):

He got slammed by a wave right on his back on a rock. :/ poor guy! But we had a great time! (Don't mind the warning signs. We didn't. :)

We also did some hardcore body boarding on a beach on the east side. We didn't get any pictures, but it's my dream beach. Only locals, a small beach and MAD (8ft waves or so) that break so you can ride them for a while! A lot of them had the shortie boards, too. It's tough to get out past the surf, though! Jon's board got ripped away from him and broke. You get enough salt through you to clean you out! ;) Great workout! Not for the faint of heart.

Aloha, Hawai'i 2...

Our Polynesian Cultural Center experience continued...

Here is Jon and some other men learning one of the Tahitian warrior dances. Hot!

We got church-endorsed tattoos. Here's Jon with one of our polynesian brothers. The men traditionally do all of the cooking (why don't we inherit that? ;) and this guy was making coconut bread in a fire pit of rocks. Yum!
A replica of one of the boats the polynesians traveled the vast ocean in. NUTS!
Jon in the spear throwing competition!
At the end of the PCC experience, they fed us a buffet (inc: coconut pudding, pork, poi) and put on an amazing theatrical production called "HA; the breath of life". It was all about the circle of life and polynesian culture. Very touching and a great show!! The PCC had too many awesome things to tell!
On this day, we also had time to do a quick hit on the Dole pineapple plantation. We enjoyed fresh pineapple and pineapple ice cream and toured the gardens!

Here is one of the many breeds of pineapple:

These trees were all over the place. Colorful bark!

One of the best parts of the day was visiting the Laie LDS temple. This was the 5th temple ever built! The story behind the saints that helped build this is amazing. Missionaries came from the mainland by boat (2700 mi. I think), lived amongst the people throughout the islands and learned the language, thus, bringing them the restored gospel.

The church purchased around 160,000 acres in Laie and it became a gathering place for the polynesian saints. They left everything (land, crops, homes) to come here to be among other saints and help with the building of the temple starting in 1915. They show the pictures of the temple when it was first built, and it was basically this big, beautiful temple with nothing around it.

They eventually used more of the land for the building of BYU-Hawaii (the missionaries had been teaching the saints for a long time before this) and the PCC.

This was another HUGE testimony builder about the truthfulness of the gospel. What a sacrifice on the part of the missionaries and the saints to continue building the kingdom of God! We feel so blessed to have the truth. No matter what our background, the Lord loves us all. We felt his love for this people, and for us being there.

Amazing Day.

Aloha, Hawai'i!!

5 Year Anniversary Trip

Oahu, HI

Jon and I left the kiddies and went, just the two of us, on a second honeymoon. :) It was Jon's first time to Hawaii and we loved every minute of it and realized why I've wanted to live there since I was 17!

(This will have to go in segments, because I get lazy. Sorry.)

We arrived in Honolulu on Sat night, checked into our condo and and immediately walked to an open air restaurant right on Waikiki beach called DUKE'S. Named after a legend. They had WAY good local flavor and live music with tiki torches. Jon was sold.

Day 1: The next morning, we went to church in central Oahu and LOVED how each speaker greeted the congregation with, "Brothers and sisters, ALOOOOHA!" and everyone would say it back. :)

then we went and swam and chilled on this beach 2 blocks from our condo:

Day 2: hiked this crazy number: Diamond Head Crater... 1.5 mile crazy hike! you start inside the crater:

steep stairs

long, dark tunnel

and then BAM! This view of Waikiki/honolulu

after the hike and some nourishment, we hit HANAUMA BAY. This is a washed out crater where there is tons of coral= awesome snorkeling! Beautiful and educational.

Day 3: We went to this amazing place!!! This took up the majority of our day. You go to each "polynesian village" and learn their traditions of their tribes. (Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii, etc.) It was AMAZING.

This was built by our church to support the students of BYU-Hawaii. They are kids from all different islands and countries. They come there to school with ppl of their religion, learn more about their heritage and become leaders to return to their own home lands.

canoe pageant they put on mid day

this guy (hilarious!) made fire out of two sticks and a coconut husk.
Jon with some tribal hand-carvings. These are very popular around HI.

see the guy at the top of the coconut tree?? We watched him climb that schnap!

beautiful bridge @ the PCC

to be continued...

Easter Weekend ::sigh::

To reflect on this Easter weekend, I could tell you how cute the boys were when Jon took them to the easter egg hunt at PFHS,

or finding their baskets on easter morning...

I could tell you about the yummy food we ate ALL day on Sunday,
or the great friends (for breakfast) and family (for dinner) we got to spend time with.

I could even tell you about how I happened to dye my hair one of the colors of spring...purple. (more of a mahogany, but still...I love it!)

but that wasn't the best part of the weekend.

It was remembering what is most important in this life, and what Easter is really about.

Our church had general conference this weekend and it really, really touched my heart. Lately I have felt a bit tense... feeling like I really need a vacation from the daily grind (hence, HI). But hearing and watching men and women of God helped me have a change of heart. I was reminded that the "daily grind" is full of blessings and an abundance of love from my little family each day.

There were many talks on the great calling of motherhood, the importance of being in the home and influencing your children and family for good. It made me think about the amazing family I was born into. How grateful I am to have such loving parents, and siblings that have each taught me so much! How lucky I am to have my husband who chose me! How did I ever live worthy enough to be blessed with two breathtaking little spirits to raise with the help of my Heavenly Father?! And most of all, how incredibly humbled I am by the sacrifice of my Savior... for me...and even more so we can live with our amazing family forever. I don't want any to be left behind! It's all that matters.

My heart is so full. I feel so refreshed with an eternal perspective! I am inspired, ready to be the strong woman I know I am and continue trying to be the best I can be each day for me, and for those around me.

What a great Easter weekend it was.