in summary

we had a wonderful time on the island.

vacations are pretty much my favorite thing in the world because you get

to spend time with the people you love the most, while experiencing brand new

things together.  you get to make memories that will be the center of conversations

for years to come - so even when the vacation's over, it's not really over.

oh, and you don't have to go to work, or really do any kind of work at all.

vacations rarely go off without a hitch: i did get in a fight w/ my sisters (my fault, it

was totally stupid), we did have to sleep on a terrible bed, i've never been more

unphotogenic in my entire life, and there were cockroaches for crying out loud!

but even with all of that, i wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

some of the highlights i haven't already covered:

i lei'd richard first thing when we picked him up at the airport.

because we're still in love!

mom and dad immediately took advantage of the fact they were

on a vacation.  they deserved it.

the island you see to the very left is the bird refuge/shark breeding ground that

boo boo, chelsa, and i braved the coral (barefoot) to get to.

one of the best memories i have made w/ my sisters in my entire life.

i'm already close w/ my sisters, and this is why (they're awesome, duh)

my parents are always fun and funny (i bet we laugh harder at our kitchen table

than any other family in utah...or at least davis county),

but it was fun to see them let loose and really have a good time with us

and each other.

they're the best.

richard, no matter how stressed he was before/after the trip about missing work,

had a helluva time.  it's fun to be around him when that's happening.

we really did have our own little slice of paradise.

i love my family more than anything in the world, and

i'm so happy and thankful that we were finally able to go on the

hawaii trip we've been talking about for ages.

mahalo, and aloha

the temp, waikiki & the stairway to diamond head

our last days in hawaii went a little something like this:

first we said goodbye to our beautiful, roach-infested north shore beach house,

then we headed straight for the temple grounds.

we didn't do a session, but we did go in the visitor's center to chat w/ the

missionaries and watch a short video, which i remember nothing about.

i do, however, know that this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

this fountain is labeled "maternity"

chelsa thought i'd get knocked up just by posing next to it.

nearly 2 months later, i can safely say that birth control also works against

the fertility powers of fountains.

next we made our way back to haleiwa to eat at the waialua bakery.

sandwiches were great, dessert was heavenly.

richard had to give the hawaiian pizza a try, of course.

next we went a little bonkers finding waikiki before the rental ran out of gas.

we went snorkeling (no pics!) next to this great old war memorial that looked

like it came straight out of that movie wild hearts can't be broken - i seriously would not

have been surprised to see people jumping off of a high dive on horses at this place!

we also went to the aquarium right next door before getting spiffed up to hit the town.

this is a place i remember sitting outside of w/ my bff's ceara and jackie when we

went to hawaii on our senior trip after high school.

waikiki has so many big, fun stores!

we hooked back up with the bates at old reliable, the cheesecake factory for dinner...

and then walked over to another restaurant (that i can't remember the name of!)

for dessert.  it was right on the beach so the atmoshpere was really great!

dessert was out of this world, too :)

that night we had a slumber party at sam and melissa's house,

and in the morning melissa made us a wonderful breakfast - still dreaming about her

coconut syrup.

it was sad to say goodbye to our friends, but we're so glad we got to spend time with

them and make such fun memories!  we have to meet baby girl bates eventually,

so we'll be back.

after leaving the bates, we picked my dad up at their hotel and went to hike diamond head.

it starts in the valley of a volcano crater and you make your way to the top to see incredible

views of the city and the ocean.  we almost didn't get to do this, but i'm really glad we did!

there were so many dang stairs we had to climb to get to the top!

and a few tunnels to walk through.

we met my mom and sisters back at the hotel to get washed up and head home.

our flight wasn't til really late, so we killed time by going to the punch bowl and

seeing a movie, Arthur, which we all really like (surprisingly).

eventually, the time came to drop off the rental car and wait in the airport.

settling in to wait for the plane.

one last post coming...

huh-vy-an swapameet, etc., etc., etc.

can you go to hawaii and not visit the massive swap meet? 

my family can't.  we went twice.

here i am, just getting started.

don't be fooled, as i was.

this tropical looking coconut juice tastes like ICK!

richard and i raced from the swap meet (in flip flops) to make our time @ pearl harbor.

it was totally worth it.

the one and only time we were able to attempt climbing we got rained out.

richard was seriously on the boulder no more than 5 minutes.

i didn't even get my shoes on.

we had to capitalize what little time we had on the same island as our buddies

so we met them at a fabulous little thai restaurant between their house and ours.

had the food been horrible, we still would've loved every minute w/ these two.

luckily, it was delicious.  icing on the cake :)

mom was super excited about the macadamian uts.

i spelled it right, don't worry.

she also loved the crazy pine trees.

those needles are pointing to the sky, people.

visiting the punch bowl inspired me to crack open some history books...

i'm currently on book #3 of the harry potter series.

but one of these days...

these pictures are pretty much identical,

but i just love how chelsa is primping in the first one.

almost done. don't worry.

warding off vampires & running from dinosaurs...in hawaii

my parents went to hawaii ages ago for their anniversary (one of the big ones, like 20th maybe?),

and they've always raved about giovanni's shrimp truck.

they swore if we ever went as a family we'd eat there a bunch, and we did.

the first night we went, they were close to shutting down for the day, and all they had left

was the garlic shrimp plate.  dad and i were the only ones who thought that sounded like it would hit

the spot, so the two of us had us some delicious garlic shrrrrrimp.

we both smelled like garlic for days.

neither richard or my mom would look at us - i didn't even get a kiss goodnight.

interestingly enough, this was also the night that a LARGE centipede made its way into my

side of the hide-a-bed from hell...apparently however good garlic is at keeping vampires at bay,

it attracts the largest bugs on the island :(

my family is a little nuts about television and movies, so we jumped at the

chance to go horseback riding on the kualoa ranch which is home to an incredible

valley where many a movie/tv show has been filmed,
including but not limited to Jurassic Park, LOST, and Chelsa's favorite Mighty Joe Young.

here we are making fun of a foreigner who did this exact pose only moments before us.

i love me a petting zoo, but didn't really want to touch the animals much.

cutest goat sleeping in a tree you've ever seen?

just pointing to my good friend jack/matthew fox, who has also been riding at the ranch...

probably because pretty much all of LOST was filmed in the valley we rode through.

never mind the fact that his horse isn't moving, my man is a cowboy!

how would you like ten apples?