*HaWOWaii*

Aloha!

Whelp, our much anticipated trip to Oahu has come and gone and here we are on the airplane heading back to the frozen tundra of the north called Utah. We have napped, played games, snacked, played more games and, Im pretty sure we’ve only killed maybe a half hour of the six hours we have left on our flight.
Longest. Flight. Ever!

Anyways- So I thought, no better time to spend than now to write down some thoughts on this past week!  This trip was probably one of the best vacations we’ve been on! But before I dive into all the details I have to take a moment and say how grateful we are to have such great friends. This past week was made memorable by our dear friends Kohl and Lindsay.  They went above and beyond to make sure we got to experience it all. They are the cutest couple and we value their friendship dearly. They have officially become one of our vacation buddies and we love them to pieces!!! Thanks again Kohl and Linds, see you THREE in September!!  J

So here we are, all sun kissed and beach-a-fried-feeling with soft hair and skin from the blessed humidity, but sadly in just a short while we will step out into the dryness and shrivel right up into flakey nothingness of peeling skin and itchiness. Ta ta to glorious humidity, and hello to lathering up on lotion, one of the many transitions we will have to face here in the next couple days.

But enough with my whining, let’s move on to all the exciting adventures of our trip.

Thursday Feb 16^th

Travel day!! Our flight was out of Las Vegas so we had to get up bright and early to make the six hour drive to Vegas. We got there with some time to kill so we did a little shopping and stopped at the Pawn Shop off the strip where Pawn Stars is filmed. It was a lot different from how it seemed on T.V. but still awesome to see and experience! They had some really cool pieces there and we even saw some items that we had seen on the show. Supposedly the ‘Old Man’ was there but we didn’t see him. After that we headed over to David’s Uncles house, hopped in their car, drove to the airport and flew to Honolulu, HI.  Right when we got there Kohl and Linds greeted us with beautiful flower leis that smelled divine and tons of snacks and fruit. We drove to the north shore in Liae where they live and stayed up to the wee hours of the night chatting and laughing.

In our summer clothes surrounded by snow! 

Pawn Stars

The cool cannon that shoots out bowling balls! 

Drive up wedding??? Niceee...

 

Putting our toes in the sand after just landing! 

On the airplane getting ready with our snacks! 

Friday Feb 17^th

We tried sleeping in but our body clocks were so thrown off that we ended up getting up at seven in the morning! David and I, not wanting to wake anyone, went on a nice little stroll around the little town of Laie. We walked to the beach, BYU-H and the PCC and later the beautiful Laie Temple. The best part was just feeling the glorious sunshine and ocean breeze on my face, ahh it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. After that we got ready for the day, pulled out the bathing suits and headed to the beach. The boys went swimming and didn’t waste any time pulling out the boogie boards and letting the good times roll. After a little while out there it started to rain (a daily occurrence usually mid-morning, which I love) so we decided to grab lunch. We then went to Laie point which is really beautiful. It was a little overcast and windy so pictures didn’t turn out so well but a must see if you are ever there. We kept the rest of the day pretty low key since we had a minor case of jet lag rolled in with sleep deprivation=sleepy unmotivated people.  The rest of the day we pretty much just veg’d,  played games, made dinner and then later that night we went crab hunting!! SO FUN!  Coolest most intense thing ever! You have to reach your hand in the holes and pull them out. Make sure you go with someone that knows what they are doing so they can show you how... again, please do not go sticking your hands down dark holes with live creatures in them without the proper supervision! And if they are sneaky and realize whats coming, the best thing to do is sprint across the beach really quickly and they all run out of their holes in pure confusion and try and make a mad dash for the ocean. You can try and snatch them up then. The running on the beach is probably my favorite because it is the funniest! Seeing the husbands sprint across the beach with each other and then chase these scattering crabs that are running in different directions is quite the sight to see!  Lol. Us girls provided the light for the men and the squealing!  But I did pick one up by myself!  

 

I promise I don't have to pee...right when Lindsey was taking the picture the crab moved in my hand  and my smile turned to pure horror! I love that we got it captured in a picture! lol

Saturday Feb 18^th

There are a lot of highlights on Saturday! Saturday we had Woody’s BBQ corn, one word, DELISH! We went to Pipeline to watch a surfing competition- AMAZING, we went to turtles cove/beach and saw some turtles on the sand and rocks eating the algae, we went to Waimea Bay and Sunset beach-BEAUTIFUL, and then we ended our beach hoping at a gorgeous beach that was very secluded (like most of them are). I think there were maybe two other groups out there besides us. It was a beach that we happened upon by chance. Kohl and Linds had never been there either so we decided to give it a shot. Here at this beach was where we hung out with and swam with about seven or eight turtles that stayed by us the whole time! I will never forget that experience! Probably most memorable out of the whole trip. We also saw some of the most unique and colorful fish. I also saw a sea slug, sea anemane, and a see through clear fish that was so bizarre/cool looking and many other neat things! This was definitely one of the best days of the trip. After all of that awesomeness we went and walked around the old famous surf town called Haleiwa. This place had the cutest shops, surf shops and restaurants like the famous Matsumotos know for it's shaved ice! And then grabbed some dinner at a local favortite called Kahuku Grill. Such a great day! 

Side note: My camera died this day almost all of these are off of Lindsey's camera-

Sunday Feb 19th 
The Sabbath! We went to church of course and LOVED their student married ward! Everyone was soo friendly and welcoming! Lindsey is in the Relief Society Presidency so she had to sit up front for that meeting and right when I walked in probably three or four people waved for me to come sit next to them. I felt so loved. David and I felt so welcomed by their ward! Their ward was basically made up by their apt complex so I am glad we got to see everybody throughout the week! Such a great feeling! It sure pushed a point on the tally board to move to Hawaii. After church we had Brother and Sister Lee over (senior couple missionaries that David taught in the MTC) and ate delicious flank steak that Khol and Lindsey made! And of course dessert provided by famous Ted's Bakery! After that we said goodbye to the Lee's and went on an fun little walk/hike on some trials and ended back at the Laie Temple. Played some games and then called it a night. 


Monday Feb 20th 
The treacherous hike to Sacred Falls! Mind you this is a closed hike to public-we had to walk around the gates to get on the trail and once on the trail there was probably a sign every 10mins that said something along the lines of, 'Do Not Enter!' People have died on this hike-have I dramatized it enough yet?!  Whelp we made it out alive but not unscathed. The main cause of death/injury is by rocks falling since a good portion of the hike is along slot canyons and, I'm sure, the other cause is by slipping/erosion. It was a very very exciting  hike filled with climbing over and under trees, walking through streams, balancing on rocks, sliding down little mud slides, walking on skinny paths with a pretty steep drop and of course the BEAUTIFUL scenery every where you turn! It was a LOT of fun! 
In no special order- 

The Adventure crew right here (minus Charlotte taking the picture!) 

While we were swimming, out of no where, large rocks came hailing down on us! It was the freakiest thing ever. We all  ran to  the canyon walls and booked it out of there!! It was honestly a miracle that David didn't get hurt worse or hit in the head and that no one else got hurt. I think after this we all had an 'aha' moment and realized the purpose of perhaps paying attention to the signs! 

This was the entrance to our hike! 

*To Be Continued...*