Aloha!!

So, it's FINALLY Hawaii update time. It took forever to make myself do this because there were so many pictures it was completely intimidating. I'm just going to warn you...there's a massively long travelogue to follow. Any of you who don't want to be struck with vacation envy (or read a really, really, really long blog entry) may want to skip all this.
About six months ago, Sam and I decided we wanted to take a really fun vacation before he started medical school. We figured it was now or never (or at least not for the next five or six years). Amazingly enough, we actually followed through this time, and I'm so glad we did. We made some great memories and hopefully they will help us get through our vacation drought which is sure to follow.
I have to credit my friend Serena with most of the pictures here. Serena and Ian Ishii--our friends from the BYU days-- also went with us, and it's a good thing they did, because we totally ended up using them for their awesome camera the whole week they were there (hope you guys don't mind being used!) If you remember, I dropped our camera in a snowdrift last winter. We borrowed one to take to Hawaii, but it wasn't a great one. So if any of you see a photo you a really, really, really impressed with, odds are Serena took it. We can probably work out a purchase order---just write the checks out to me and I'll make SURE she gets the money :)

The Ishiis and us at Hanalei Bay in Kauai. We stayed on Kauai for almost the entire time we were in Hawaii, and I'm so glad we chose to go there. The north shore, where we stayed, is very rural and very green. You can see farmers out working in their taro fields and most of the people there still speak Hawaiian.
We spent a lot of time in Hanalei Bay, as it's a world -renowned spot for surfing. Whenver it rained here--which was at least a few minutes every day, there would be little waterfalls running around all the hills that surround the bay. There were also clouds of mist and rainbows....one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Check out our matching swim suits. Totally unplanned, by the way.

Another beautiful Hawaiian sunset

Sam on the Skim Board in Hanalei Bay

Duke's

Believe it or not, one of the things I liked best about Hawaii was the chance to eat out without having to frantically try and keep a tantrum-throwing toddler under control. We really only ate at one nice place because we were on a pretty tight budget. The place we picked was called Duke's and it was really, really good. I don't like fish much, but the fish at this place was absolutely delicious--probably because it was drenched in tasty, macademia nut, calorie-laden sauce.
Another plus about Dukes...it was located in the commons of this fancy schmancy hotel, so after dinner we got to stroll around and take pictures in front of all their tiki torches

Life's a Beach

The next five pictures are from this great place we hiked to called Queen Emma's Bath. It was the expanse of lava rock right next to the ocean. There were lots of indentations in the rocks and fun little "baths" were you could snorkle and soak in the sun.
We saw hundreds of huge sea turtles there too. They would come right up to the rocks to feed. Unfortunately, the water was too choppy for us to jump in with them--I probably would have been too jump right in the middle of all those turtles anyway.













This was another great place we went to called Tunnel's Beach. It had great snorkeling and great sunsets. They filmed part of the movie South Pacific here. The little pointed peak is called Bali Hai--the place that crazy old lady sings about.....If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. "Come to me, my spesial island, come to me, come to me..."

Under the Seas

We did a TON of snorkeling while we were there....We didn't see anything too exciting (luckily no sharks) except a sea turtle or two. But there were tons of pretty fish everywhere.
I came to an interesting conclusion during the hours we spent snorkeling.....fish really freak me out. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've always lived in fear of the slimy little things brushing against my leg when I'm swimming. We bought some fish food to attract the fish while we snorkeled...the little scavengers flocked to us and followed us the whole time. They kept trying to rip the bag of fish food right out of our hands. I spent a good deal of our snorkeling time frantically waving my fins at the dozens of fish that were approximately two inches from my body and trying to make them give me a little more personal space.

The Na Pali Coast

If I had to pick a favorite thing that we did while in Hawaii, it would be the half day Sam and I spent hiking the Na Pali Coast. The Na Pali is this undeveloped stretch of coastline in Kauai that you can only see via hiking, kayaking, or boating. We hiked a few miles of the coastline to this secluded beach and then turned inland for a side trip to this awesome waterfall.
They say the Na Pali coastline is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and if there is one thing I would have done differently on our vacation, it would be shelling out the money it takes for a boat tour of the coast. We talked to a guide who led kayak tours down the coast, and he told us you almost always see dolphins and whales when you boat the entire 17 miles of coastline.
Even though we didn't get to see all of it, the part of Na Pali that we did see was absolutely beautiful.

Up a river.

We also spent a day kayaking up the Wailua river to this little waterfall/swimming hole. The scenery was, of course, beautiful, but the best part by far of the trip was our tour guide Judah.. He was this major hippie, reggae band player complete with dreds that had moved to Kauai twelve years ago to be a bum. I'm pretty sure his brain was fried, which made him quite fun to talk to.

Getting ready to hike up to the falls.

Everywhere on Kauai, there were these crazy roosters. You hardly ever saw the hens...just lots of roosters. People down there pretty much hate these little guys, and after spending a week there I can see why. They crow all day and all night.

Shredding Da Kine

Shreddin' Da Kine...I'm not exactly sure what it means, but it's surfer lingo so I figured I better start saying it if I want to get sponsored by Roxie or Hurley. We spent a lot of time surfing. Surfing is an intersting sport. You invest so much time and energy into getting perfectly positioned to catch a wave, only to ride it for a measly ten seconds or so (okay, so much more for the people who really know what they're doing, not just the pretenders like me). Still though, I loved it, and wish I was at a place in my life where I could be a full-time beach bum.

Sam catching a wave.

Me catching.....well, kind of a wave.... As you can probably tell by the picture, I didn't pick up on surfing quite as easily as Sam did.

Sam and Ian paddling.

Yep, that's me way out there...I'm not making it up, I promise.

My hubbie's a hottie. He looks like he belongs on Baywatch.

Riley's trip

Riley took a trip to Utah last week to visit my mom and dad. Notice I said Riley took a trip, not Riley and I. And nope....I didn't make a mistake. Riley flew to Utah with a family friend while Sam and I did something totally irresponsible and flew to Hawaii for a week with some friends from college.
As expected, our trip was completely wonderful. We figured this was probably our last chance to do something crazy for a long, long time because Sam will be starting medical school in August. Plus, we got a great deal on airfare and a family friend let us stay in their rental condo for a really great price. All reasons we used to rationalize wasting money on a crazy trip.
Riley had fun too. I was so worried about him flying on an airplane without me there, but Riley was an angel (or so I'm told). Our friend said he slept pretty much the whole way there and the whole way back. The first thing our friend said to us at the airport when he delivered Riley was, "Your child is so well-behaved." I know, shocker, huh? Honestly, I consider his perfect behavior a small miracle since he can't even sit still through an hour of church.
As expected, Riley was spoiled silly in Utah and loved staying at his Grandpa and Grammie's house. Here are some pics of his trip, courtesy of my dad.

"Go faster, Uncle Dustin!"

Riley making gravel angels...don't ask me why. It seems like they would really hurt. He's going to be excited this winter when we introduce him to pain-free snow angels.

"Somehow this dirt doesn't taste as good as I thought it would."

My mom is wondering what she got into when she happily agreed to watch Riley for the week. Thanks a ton mom!

While in Utah, my dad and my grandpa took Riley on a 4-wheeler trip. No, I'm not kidding. Of course, it was a very slow-paced and perfectly safe trip, where the speedomotor never exceeded 5 mph (right dad?) Riley is absolutely obsessed with cars, trains, boats, planes, or any other sort of mechanical thing that moves. He knows which keys in the house go to which cars and how to unlock the door, stick the key in the ignition, and turn the engine on. He can seriously spend an hour out there pretending to drive. (And this from a boy who has a three-second attention span.)
So of course, he was in heaven on the "farm" in Utah, where they have motorcycles, tractors and riding lawn mowers galore.



Taking a bath with cousin Graycie.

"Here Graycie, stick this rag in your mouth and suck all the dirty water out of it. I do it all the time!"

"Cleaning" Grammy's flower pot holder. My mom filled him up a squirt bottle of water, which he happily used to spray down everything outside (Including my mom's previously unspotted windows)