HAWAII

So this is it! I finally had some time to post my Hawaii pictures. There were so many pictures to choose from and I wanted to give an overall view of the trip, so I decided to make collages of the activities. (If you want to see the pictures closer up you can click on the collage and it will show it bigger.)

This first collage is pictures from the town Lahaina in Maui.We stayed in a condo right on the beach. Literally, when you walked out the back door there was the ocean. Most of the pictures are from around our place. I also have a picture of the downtown area of Lahaina where the Banyan tree is located. What you see is all part of one tree with many branches and trunks!

Beach days! We had fun laying in the sand and playing in the waves. We were able to go on Christmas day as well, although it didn't feel like Christmas after opening presents despite the decorations. Barrett, Isaac, and Porter bought speedo's to wear on the trip (bottom left corner). Porter never took off his regular swimsuit to show his... but we did get some model shots of Isaac, ha ha. The bottom left corner is one of the pictures we took for the Yates' Christmas card.

 

Mele Kalikimaka! The first four pictures are from Christmas Eve and the rest are Christmas Day. It was fun opening presents while looking at the ocean and feeling the warmth outside, but still listening to songs about winter! It was also fun to buy small presents for every member of the family and open stockings. We ate a nice dinner that night overlooking the ocean and walked around the nice hotels near the beach.

 

One day on Maui we hiked to a place called Twin Falls, which surprisingly enough, had two different falls to hike to. It was beautiful! One of the amazing parts of Hawaii is the many different types of trees. We were able to see this while hiking. If you look carefully at the second picture you will see a chameleon. While we were walking we saw many houses along the way. The third picture is a fence covered in leaves... it made me think of a jungle house you'd see in the movies so I took a picture of it. (Barrett though I was silly to take a picture of it.)

 

On to Oahu: Oahu and Maui were very different from each other, but both had their amazing qualities. I loved the giant, green mountains in Oahu! We stayed in an amazing condo on Turtle Bay with our own private beach. Sadly, we weren't there often because of the many activities to do on Oahu. The first picture is waiting in the airport for our 25 minute flight in between islands. Another funny part of Oahu was the 15-passenger van they gave us for the rental car! As if we didn't stand out enough with a bigger family, don't notice us as we pull into tight spots in a white bus. We weren't able to go in the water on Oahu because of the high tide... but we did see some huge waves with surfers riding them. There are also pictures of Pearl Harbor in this collage. What an amazing memory! I love learning about World War II and the monument made me even more grateful for the sacrifices made to protect our freedom. (These are the three middle pictures on the center row) On the same day we went parasailing! So fun! The last picture shows how beat we were by the last flight home.

 

Last, but certainly not least, are pictures from the Polynesian Culture Center. Another must see on Oahu. But first are the pictures from the Hawaii temple. Again, beautiful and amazing. The temple is closed for reconstruction, but it would have been awesome to go inside. It was fun at the Polynesian Culture Center learning about the different islands and their unique cultures. Each island also teaches different activities they do on their island... many pictures are during the activities. There are also pictures of the luau and the show at the end of the night.

Beside the amazing activities, atmosphere, surroundings, and spending time with Barrett's family (we love you guys!), was the gratitude we felt to Barrett's parents for taking us and for the many blessings in our lives. How can we ever thank you Jeff and Shannon? We truly feel blessed by the Lord everyday!

Creating our own Christmas morning

Barrett and I left for Hawaii with his family on December 22. So we decided to do our own Christmas before we left. We saw Christmas street the night before and cuddled by the tree, and did a good job, if I might say so myself, of creating the feeling of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

I painted Barrett a sunset a was excited to give it to him!

Barrett knows I love Utah State and bought me a new license plate cover because I lost my old one. However, he wanted to make sure that I have alliance with the University of Utah as well.

Barrett with his presents.

I thought it was fun to have our own pile of wrapping paper and boxes!

I have many more pictures coming of Hawaii and Christmas with my family... But it may take awhile to get them all on there, so stay posted.