Our trip to HAWAII

So we had so much fun in Hawaii. We went with a couple of families that we know really well. One family (the Sturgils) have kids the same ages and personalities as ours so that made it so fun!! Its a good things our little sweeties went with us or we wouldn't have as many pictures. It is more fun to take pics of kids than me....However there are quite a few pics I just couldn't decide which ones to put in and which ones to leave out.

And so the journey begins...

First we went to Oahu. We stayed in Laie which is where the Temple, PCC, and BYU are. This is actually a picture overlooking the road to Laie. So pretty...


The first morning our kids woke up at 4:00 am, (four hours different) so we got up ate breakfast and headed to the beach by 7:00 am. The kids were so excited. For those of you who got the pic of D in his jeans, we weren't really planning on staying at the beach long so the adults were not really prepared.. We did the beach, temple, and PCC all in one very long day, we were so tired, but it was fun!!!



These are all of the kids at the Temple. The Temple is being redone on the outside and is a darker gray color. It was still so pretty though. And we had fun at the visitors center.
(I actually had a lady at the airport ask me if they were all my kids. Do I look like I could seriously have 8 kids????)

Then we headed to the Polynesian Culture Center (PCC). It was fun to see all of the different cultures. Our fav parts were the HAKA dance and the fire twirlers, and the popsicles bought by Rob...thanks Rob!!

This was at our luau dinner. I can't believe that I actually ate a pig that was cooked in the dirt with its skin still on. Actually it was pretty good though!!! The smoothies in the carved out pineapples were so yummy, Dar and I only got a few sips though after our kids devoured it!!!

That is the PIG!!!

The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. It was a very somber place. Very neat to see. My grandpa Hunt actually was on his mission there at the time the Japanese bombed Hawaii. He actually had to patrol the beaches for a few days because everyone was so afraid that the Japanese would come back and attack them again. Luckily they didn't or I might not be here.
This is the actual ship (it is upside down under the water) .

We then headed to Maui. That was the best flight I have ever been on, only 30 minutes and pretty the whole way.
Here are some pics from our hotel. (You are right Jamie it was fun, did you try the waterslide??)

Does she look tired???

These pancakes were so yummy!! Can you guess why???

This was a "blowhole"... The ocean waves would come in and blow up this big hole in the rocks.

Brandon and Sterling

Can you tell the wind was blowing HARD!!

This was a places where the waves would sometimes come up and make big pools of water in the rocks. The waves in the background were HUGE. I was a little nervous being here but it was beautiful.

This lady who sells shaved ice in the middle of no where showed us how to open a coconut. It was cool since I have never seen that before.

I can't believe my kids loved it. It was ok to me.

How would you like to go to church with THIS view right out the front door. It was so pretty. And yes that is the ocean that you can see.

We took a drive to Hana town, which is on the other side of the island from all of the resorts. It was a crazy slow road with over 600 turns and 30 one lane bridges. It was so pretty though, and looked like a jungle. There was a black sand beach that seriously looked like crushed oreos, and the waves were the biggest I have ever seen. ASK DAR ABOUT THE BLACK SAND BEACH SOMETIME..:):)

Daryl teases me because I say awesome so much...but it seriously was!!!



We took a boat out to go snorkeling. SO FUN. Bre and Brandon did a great job snorkeling.. I took Lex out for a bit and she was kind of nervous to be in the water, she will have to try next time... We saw whales, turtles, and tons of pretty fish.

Here is the whale.. It kept flipping its fins around in the water.. so cool.

THE END.
We had fun, but we are so glad to be home and especially be back with our little ELLEE!!!