Howdy and Aloha!

Well, the summer is pretty much come to an end for us, and boy did it go out with a bang! We spent the last few days of July in Jackson Hole with some friends and went from there straight to Hawaii with Chad's family. We had a great time, played hard, and now... we are exhausted! I will try and organize this post the best I can, and not ramble on too much :) JACKSON HOLE Jody and Tyler were kind enough to take us to Jackson and spend a few days seeing the town, visiting the Tetons, and just relaxing. Here are a few pics of our adventures!

HAWAII
We flew out Monday morning and due to delayed flights, we did not get to Oahu and get to our house til late that night. We still made time to visit the beach. Our house was in Kailua on the island Oahu. To get to the beach you had to walk about 100 yds down this creepy/enchanted looking pathway. The beach was beautiful at night and I feel bad I did not get a picture.
Day 1: Because of the time change, we were all screwed up! We were awake and out to the beach by 7! We played in the sand, rode boogie boards in the waves, and got burnt! Later that afternoon we visited Pearl Harbor. I loved it. It was so sombering to see all those names. We visited the USS Arizona Memorial. I was kind of creeped out knowing that the bodies were never pulled out. I loved reading the stories of the men who experienced that day, and that war. It made me grateful for the sacrifices they made. We went from Pearl Harbor to the Punch Bowl. There were tons of graves here. There were walls and walls of names of people who faught in the Pacific Wars, but were lost and bodies never found. Again, pretty sombering. Day 2: Today we went snorkeling at Sharks Bay. We saw a HUGE sea turtle! It swam right out to us and let us touch it. Later that night we went to Waikiki, had dinner, and walked along the beach. It was beautiful at night with all the tall, glowing motels right on the beach.
Day 3: We went snorkeling again today at Haunauma Bay. It was beautiful. I cannot get over how beautiful everything is here. I saw tons of fish here. They were bright and colorful and came so close. I kept thinking of Finding Nemo and telling everyone I saw a Dori or a Nemo.
Day 4: This might have been my favorite day. We went to the Polynesian Culture Center. We visited each little nation and participated in games, presentations, and even took a hula lesson. It is Chad's request that I post this.
We had dinner at the luau and watched a show "Ha: Breath of Life". It was pretty much a dancing show and I loved every minute of it. Chad got a little bored, but still agrees is was a great day! Day 5: Today we went to a swap meet. It was all the way around the Aloha Stadium. It took hours to walk through it but we got some pretty cool stuff. Chad got a Happiness Tikki Man (a big one!) and I found a cute photo album and some jewelry. I love places like this and all the little booths. It was fun when the family all met back together and shared our found treasures! Later than afternoon we went to another beach on the island. It was a pretty beach, but kind of rocky. We spent most of our time playing in the sand and digging out crabs. We caught one that was HUGE! The body was about as big as my fist, and then adding on the legs and snappers it was ginormous! And of course, my camera battery died about 5 miutes before we found the crab. But believe me it was awsome! On a not so awesome note, I got stung by a Man-Of-War jellyfishy thingy. They were everywhere on almost every beach we went to. Most of us got stung at some point during the trip.
Day 6: Today is Sunday, so we attended a sacrament meeting in Kailua and then went on a hike to Maunawili Falls. The hike was gorgeous. I felt like I was walking through the deep jungle. However, it was so humid and hot in there I thought I was going to die! The trees in Hawaii were so weird. Everywhere we drove Chad and I were looking for a new strange tree. We saw lots of them on this hike.
Day 7: Most of the family went to the Bishop's Museum today, but Chad wasn't feeling well so we stayed behind at the house. It was so quiet and peaceful. We sat in the house with every window open and listened to it rain. Chad took a nap, and I went down to the beach. We spent a lot of time at "our" beach in Kailua. We were there almost every day for some period of time. It was very private and not at all crowded like a lot of the public beaches we visited on the island. We mostly loved it because it was on the windy side of the island and the waves wer huge, perfect for boogie boarding. As I was laying on the beach alone, a family sat down right next to me. The wife was pregnant, and white. The husband was black, and a pretty ripped dude. They had the cutest little boys, twins. The dad and the boys played in the water and I just watched them. They were so cute! I was a little weirded out cause there were these 2 guys just kind of hanging out about 20 feet from the family and following them around. Later when the Barton's came out to the beach, Tyrell recognized that this family was Seal and his wife Heidi Klum. I felt kind of dumb cause I had been watching them for like 30 minutes and did not recognize them. At one point some little dude tried taking their picture and the body guard got all up in his face and hustled him away. It was kind of funny to watch.
Day 8: Going home today. We checked out of the house at 10 and spent the day in Honolulu and Waikiki. We visited the Iolani Palace. It was cool and we learned a lot about Hawaii as an independent nation and the queen being overthrown. At one point the queen was imprisoned in the palace and spent 9 months locked in a room. While she was there she made this awsome quilt. Because I am kind of a quilt nerd, I loved it and baught a book about it. I love learning history lessons like that.

We boarded the plane around 8 that night, had a short layover in Denver, and finally flew into Salt Lake around 10:45. We are exhausted! I hate unpacking, so after a nap, I decided to blog! We had such a great time on both our trips. I have not been able to spend a lot of time with Chad's family and it was really fun to get to know them better. His brother, Jason, just got off his mission and I met him for the first time. We are so grateful we have the oppotunity and the means to live the comfortable lifestyle we do. Rod and Lisa, we cannot thank you enough for providing this experience for us! Horray for family and friends!