Hawaii

I've wanted to go to Hawaii for a LONG time and Benj finally gave in.  ;)  We haven't been on a trip or anything since before we had kids.  So it was nice to just be us and enjoy new things together.  We had such a great time.  My mom came down to stay with the girls for the week (thank you, thank you), so they didn't miss us much because they have such fun with Grandma.  We had more pictures and video on Benj's iphone, but we were snorkleing for about an hour before Benj realized he had left it in the leg pocket of his swimtrunks... :( 

We stayed on Oahu, in a resort right by the beach in Waikiki. We enjoyed several sights, watched some amazing sunsets, and ate some really good food! 

Pearl Harbor

It had been pouring rain the morning we visited Pearl Harbor.  But soon it cleared and the sun came out.  We took the ferry over to the memorial, visited the museums and learned a lot more history. 



U.S.S. Arizona Memorial



We ate dinner here, Top of Waikiki, a rotating restaurant. 
The food was DELICIOUS!

Benj rented a surf board while I laid on the beach.  :)

We went out on a boat for a dinner cruise one night.  The food was good and the entertainment was fun.

La'ie

We rented a car and drove about an hour up the island to La'ie to do a temple session and visit the Polynesian Cultural Center.  The temple has some of the most beautiful grounds!

Polynesian Cultural Center

This place is AMAZING. It was so fun "visiting" the different islands and watching the performances.  The above pic is from the canoe parade.

Enjoying my guava-coloda...mmmmmmm.

Time for the Luau... sooooo fun and such good food.

The pig!

Hanauma Bay

We came here specifically to snorkel.  There are tons of colorful fish and coral.  It was our first time snorkeling and it's pretty cool.

We went to the beach again on our last day.  Benj rented a stand-up paddle board. 

We had such a good trip and are already talking of going back... someday.  We would like to take the kids when they get a little older. 

After flying home all night with 2 layovers, we came home to our girls.  Reese wouldn't come to me AT ALL... she would go to Benj and my mom and dad, but would just glare at me.  It was so sad!!  She was pretty ticked I had left her for a week.  But later that night, she was finally warming up to me.  After spending this week catching up on things; laundry, bills, church stuff, I fell asleep one day and was late picking up kids from school, forgetting one crucial ingredient for our dinner when I had JUST been to the store that morning, and SLEEP,  I would do it all over again, totally worth it.