Hawaii

Well it's been a long time since I've been in a blogging mood but our Hawaii post is way over due as well as a few other posts. So Here it goes!
Hawaii was a great trip! We loved the vacation and the time we got to spend with family (especially the help with Afton). We left for Hawaii two days before my family and left Hawaii a day before them... that is just how logan could work his time off. The weather was perfect everyday we were there! It was great!


Thursday, May 28th

We left our house at 3:00 a.m. to make it to L.A. in time for our 7:00 a.m. flight. We arrived with lots of time to spare so Logan dropped me off at the terminal to check in the luggage while he drove to the parking garage. I totally messed up and left my toiletry bag in the car and it had to be put in a suitcase and checked (since the liquids were to big). So instead of checking the bag I sat and waited for Logan to come with the rest of our stuff. It took him an hour! The owners of the parking garage claimed they were quick and took only a few minutes but they definitely lied... that's what we get for parking at the cheapest place! So we finally get to the check-in counter and the kiosk told us we had to pick another flight because we missed the luggage checkin by 5 minutes! It turns out there weren't anymore flights that day and rescheduleing comes with a big fee. I was close to freakin out at this point! We grabbed a worker to help us and at first she acted like there was nothing that could be done but then when she saw there were no more flights she checked us in fast and found us a guy that could personally take our luggage through the security and to our plane for a tip. So it was a crazy start to our vacation but things definitely settled down. We flew to Salt Lake, had an hour lay over, then flew to Hawaii. (I know, we flew in the worng direction then back... really stunk!) Our flight to Hawaii was 6 hours and 40 mins! I thought Afton was going to die but she actually did great on all the flights. We did have a scary moment on the plane... Afton choked on a cracker... literally was not getting any air through. After a few seconds she was able to get it up. Very scary for me. In that short amount of time I remember thinking about how up in the air, on a plane was the worst place to be. Really no possiblitly for immediate help! I think I'm going to be more careful on planes now!!! We got to Hawaii and my good friend Hillary (who lives there) picked us up, took us to Matsumotos, and then to her place. We had a relaxing evening talking and hanging out. Logan crashed at 7:00 since the night before he had about 2 hours of sleep. We actually wanted this to be a vacation where we didn't try to fit in a ton of things, we wanted to relax and soak in our break... mission accomplished.

On the plane. On our flight to Salt Lake there was an empty seat on our row so Afton could scrawl around and sleep. It was so comfortable.

Crawling around at the airport. Yes the floor was distguisting but she needed to move around!

Dad trying to entertain Afton on the flight to Hawaii.

Hillary picked us up and we were headed to Laie. Afton had a total melt down on this drive so then Jocelyn (Hills baby girl) started fake crying... it was a very loud drive!


Friday, May 29th

We slept in and hung out with Hillary. We went for a relaxing walk, checked out the Laie temple (but we didn't get to see much since it's closed for another year due to remodeling), then went to the beach. That night we drove into Haleiwa and went to a great Thai restaurant that Derek and Hillary love. It was great and a very relaxing day... just what we wanted!

Jocelyn and Afton taking a bath together.... cute girls. Look how bright and blue Jojo's eyes are and how dark Afton's are!

On our walk around campus and to the beach. I still hadn't showered since arriving... very gross I know but hey, it's vacation.
Afton loved swimming in the ocean.

Look at that happy face!

Saturday, May 30th

We slept in again!! It was great! Once we decided to get up and going we went to Turtle Beach with Hill and Derek. My family arrived in the afternoon so we met up with them and took our things to the house my parents rented. We relaxed there (at the house) the rest of the day then got some hawaiian food for dinner. We loved just sitting on the deck or on the beach hanging out.

Getting her packed.... ok just kidding. But she loved swinging in this bag....the toys dad's think up!

We couldn't get her to stop eating the sand so we just let her chow down. Her diaper was very sandy the whole week! :)
My first and last attempt at getting her to not eat so much sand.

She loved sitting in the water.

Sunday, May 31st

We went to Church with Hill and Derek and randomly ran into Brian Pike and his wife (one of Logans old friends that he hadn't seen in a really long time). It was really fun to see them. We invited them over for a barbeque at the house. At the sametime as the family ward there was a singles ward going on so Mike, John, and Neal went to the singles ward and ran into Kit Elledge and also invited him over for the barbeque. We had a lot of fun just sitting on the deck catching up and hanging out with freinds and family. Another relaxing Hawaiian day!

Ready for church. Standing in the back yard.

After church hanging out on the deck.... amazing view!

Self entertaining.... I'm loving it!

Ashlee relaxing

And of course Logan was the only one to get attacked by mosquitoes!

Monday, June 1st

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Hillary worked so hard to get us tickets that were a great price. Literally she saved us $480 dollars. She's my hero. Thank you so much Hillary for everything you did for us while we were there! I love you!

The sun literally came up every morning at six. By 8- 8:30 we were up and swimming in the ocean.

Taking the boat ride at the PCC.

Learning how to play the Ukelele. Mike actually already plays really well and has his own very nice Ukelele... pretty funny.

I think I averaged 2 shave ice's a day! I love love snow cones and you can just about get them everywhere in Hawaii! Heaven! Afton sleeping in the stroller.

This was one of my favorite parts... the boat parade with the dancers... very cool.

And she's awake.
Mike's Tahitian tatoo.

This is what happens when grandma feeds Afton... I guess she wasn't wearing her glasses! j/k Look closely, the food is all over the top of her head :)

Me and my Hawaiian hunk

The whole crew

Mom showing off her skills. Last time my parents went to Hawaii (like 20 years ago) they brought Ashlee and I home some of these... I thought they were weapons to use on my brothers.

The Luau

Tuesday, June 2nd

We went to Matsumoto again but spent the rest of the day at the house. My parents rented some sea kayaks and we had borrowed snorkeling gear from Hillary and Derek. Right in front of our house was a nice beach and about 20 feet out into the water were some fun reefs so we snorkeled around exploring and kayaked than we walked down the beach and swam out to this boat that was built for a class at BYU-H. It's styled after the boats that the Hawaiians used to use. We just wanted to see it up close because it looked really cool. We didn't think anyone was on the boat but once we got out there and were swimming around it someone leaned over the side and told us we could get on. It was really cool.

On our drive to Matsumoto's. We all piled in one small van so people had to sit on the ground. Mike had just put sunscreen on and didn't realize he was leaned against a magazine.

Traveling in style.

I call them snowcones but I was corrected a couple of times. In Hawaii they are shave ice... not shaved ice. Weird!

Afton was loving the snowcones

Logan getting ready to go out kayaking.

It was a long day and this girl was exhausted.

Wednesday, June 3rd

We drove to Honolulu to go to Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was a really cool experience. I loved reading all the stories from the war and then standing over the Arizona. We're very greatful for the men and women that make sacrifices to protect us and our freedoms. After we we're done at Pearl Harbor we drove to the International Marketplace and Waikiki Beach. Logan, Afton and I went to Waikiki and everyone else shopped around. We met up after a couple of hours and headed back. On our way home we stopped at a steak house and had dinner. It was highly recommended by people but most of us left still hungry (I'm a nursing mother... I need bigger proportions!).

The boat ride out

The Arizona Memorial

Afton getting cuddly... I love that she will cuddle.

Once again the whole crew.

I started editing this pic but didn't finish... that used to be a person standing to the left of me. Hopefully I'll finish it soon.

On the boat ride back.

Playing with Ashlee's face.

At Waikiki beach. We sat on some chairs at a resort.... we thought for sure someone would ask us to leave but we never got caught.

I feel like I am always doing this!

Sitting with grandma at dinner.

Happy and leaving the restaurant.

No smoking but torches allowed?!...hmm.

Climbing up on everything and playing with uncle Mike.


Thursday, June 4th

Our last day in Hawaii. :( We definitely were not ready to leave! We were taking the red eye so we had all day to go somewhere and do stuff. We decided since we all loved snorkeling that we would hit up a protected snorkeling cove Hanauma Bay. It was awesome... I really really wanted to see a sea turtle while we were in Hawaii and I finally did but better.... I got to swim with a couple! The whole time we were in Hawaii I did not get burned or really even tan. People kept telling me how intense the sun is there so I covered Afton and myself the whole time and over did it a little. In the end I think the suns strength isn't any different there than it is by the beach here (San Diego). So no sunburns except for this day. I covered my whole body except I forgot about the back of my upper thighs! haha. Of course they got crisped since I was swimming with my face down and my backside up facing the sun for hours. When I got home I showered in ice cold water and then iced my legs the whole drive to the airport... it worked great. The next day they weren't bad and I really didn't peal. 7 years as a lifeguard and I've really figured out how to take care of bad burns! My parents dropped us off at the airport and we headed home. Our flight was packed and the seats were old and close together. Of course they put us not sitting together so we had them move us to sit next to each other but then they put us in the inside seats. We couldn't get up and walk down the aisle with Afton like our first flight. It was horrible. We couldn't sleep and we couldn't move because Afton was asleep on our laps and we didn't want to wake her. I think both our legs and arms fell asleep a couple times.... but we survived!

Logan and I snorkeling.

Me with a turtle! Don't worry I did not touch it!

Me and Ash! She has a serious fear of Sharks. Yes she realizes that it is very irrational but still is afraid of them. She conquered her fears on this trip and got in with everyone everytime we went in the water.

They had a nice grassy area that was perfect for Afton to play around.

A steep hike up to leave.

Beautiful cove!

My dad hurt his back so instead of snorkeling he went looking for a chiropractor or massage therapist. He found one and felt a lot better after. That's why he's missing from this pic.

Our hula girl. We found this outfit for 5 bucks on our walk through the market to Waikiki beach. It was worth the 5 bucks for these photo ops. Too cute.

Finally arriving in San Diego... What an exhausting flight!!