Hawaiian flowers for my Mommy....

We used to live on Oahu, and when my Mom & Aunt Sharon came to visit they literally spent hours looking at all of the flowers. They used to work together in a florist shop and they new most of the names, and were amazed to see them growing.

I have no clue what their names are, but they remind me of my Mom and my Aunt. I miss them both very much.

Dear mother all flowers remind me of you...

The BEST Christmas Present EVER...and How I got to Hawaii

Well I knew that Brent & Bishop Ellis had been plotting some sort of elaborate Christmas present. But I had no clue what it was. The subject of Hawaii had come up, but I firmly believed that he was trying to throw me off by hinting about Hawaii. There is no way possible that we could afford that kind of trip right now. I check the bank statements routinely and knew we hadn't spent that kind of money.
So when I opened up the gift, that was actually a travel itinerary for a trip to Hawaii. I kept looking and looking for something to say it was a joke....well it wasn't. It was a trip to Hawaii, and we were leaving that day! Brent had arranged for our friends the Pelless's and the McCormick's to take the kids and everything was planned. All I had to do was pack.

Bishop Ellis had extra Alaskan Airlines miles, and they wanted another couple to go to Hawaii with them. How do you adequately thank someone for that kind of a gift? Even though it's been 8 years since we moved back, I still feel homesick for Hawaii. I just loved it so much. This was literally the best Christmas gift I've ever received.

We enjoyed every single day 100%. It didn't matter if we were tired, or if it was raining, if we were stuck behind a landslide, sun burned, or suffering from a dislocated shoulder. Every day was absolutely as perfect as it could possibly have been. Everyone was so thankful just to be in the HAWAII! We got to feel the actual heat of the sun! That's a big deal if you live in a place where the sun barely clears the house across the street at it's peak. It was the best Christmas ever!

Me and Jen in the sun!

The 4 of us at Kulaniapia Falls.

This was the 1st beach we stopped at on Christmas Day. The boy's couldn't wait to dive in!

Doesn't Jen look cute? Can you believe she's 5 months pregnant? It was so nice just to be in the sunshine!

Snorkeling, a Shoulder Dislocation, and a Sea Urchin...

We didn't have many sunny days on the Hilo side of the Island. We got up early and drove 2 hrs to get to Hapuna beach on the Kona side (which is the desert side of the island.) It was absolutely beautiful.
We brought some tag-a-longs from the Hilo side of the island. This cute little frog, and a giant cockroach that about scared Jen to death.

If you have sensitive eye's you may want to shut them and scroll past the next 2 photos.....Beware of the butt shot.

The black spots are sea urchin needles that are stuck in my butt. They're really brittle and break off, so you can't get them out. You just have to wait till your body dissolves them.

Of course the funny part is how they got there. Brent, Brant & I swam out and were snorkeling along the cliff side. I found this cool little coral arch that I could dive down and swim through. I thought Brant would enjoy it so I called him over. I calmed myself down, took 3 deep breathes in preparation to dive, made the appropriate wide overhead arching motion with my hands.... and my shoulder popped out of it's socket....it wasn't awesome. I thought Brant would be watching me, and I briefly considered swimming through the arch anyway. But gave in to the sheer agony and swam to the surface. Brant in the meantime had decided I must have been calling for Brent, and was swimming in the opposite direction. I climbed up on a piece of coral that was partially submerged, and began screaming desperately for Brent. Apparently it was an awful noise. He said the 1st time I screamed he thought I wanted to show him something. The 2nd time he thought I'd seen a shark. The 3rd time, he thought I was actually being attacked. Luckily he's brave and came over to help me anyway.

This wasn't Brent's 1st water rescue, but it was his first time putting a shoulder back into socket. He watched the Dr. in the ER the first time, pick up my arm and push it into place. So that's what he did. Unfortunately my shoulder had popped out the other way....so his 1st attempt was an agonizing failure. Completely unfazed he picked up my arm and pulled it the other way and moved it around a bit...blessedly it slid back into place.

Feeling much better, I stood up and realized my butt kind of hurt. So I reached down and pulled 3 long sea urchin needles out of my butt. Apparently a dislocated shoulder hurts worse than sea urchin needles, because I hadn't even noticed I was sitting on it. Brent pulled most of 2 more out. But they're very brittle. The life guard told us there was nothing we could do, just wait.

I'm proud to say that I was able to swim back after dislocating my shoulder and with sea urchin stuck in my butt. Of course it hurt, but the 1st time I dislocated my shoulder was much worse, so I still considered myself lucky. It actually still turned out to be an awesome day. We had a good time and spent the night in Kona.

I just wish I would have taken a few more pictures....not of my butt, of the beach! It was such a beautiful day! :)

I love to see the Temple...

Here's something to ease the shock, if you were brave enough to look at my sea urchin encounter...
One of the best things about dislocating my shoulder, was that we changed our plans for Tuesday's activities. Instead of a busy activity packed day, we slept in, hit the McDonald's drive through for breakfast, and started touring the south side of the Island. We just happened to turn down the road that led us directly to the Kona temple.

We stopped and ate our breakfast in the parking lot, and spent the next 2 hours just enjoying the peaceful spirit on the temple grounds.

In case you forgot that it was Christmas, here's a beautiful nativity to remind you what Christmas is really about.
This was really special to me, because I'm taking the temple classes right now in preparation to go to the temple. I've been waiting my whole life and now the time finally seems right.

I'm so excited to go, and looking forward with hope to the day that Brent and the kids might be able to come with me.

Maybe one day I can come back, and I'll be able to go inside the Kona Temple. That would be one of my dreams come true.

Cayacking to the Captain Cook Monument

The Captain Cook Memorial actually belongs to Britain. When Captain Cook first came to the Island the Hawaiians thought he was a god because of his white skin. He left, and then later returned which made the Hawaiians suspicious and they ended up killing him....bummer.

I couldn't paddle (obviously) because of my shoulder. But Brent did a fabulous job and enjoyed the work out. He's always wanted to go kayaking and could have paddled all day.

I just got to sit and look hot in the front of the boat...hey it works for me!

Brant and Jen made a good team rowing together. (I'm glad I had my shoulder as an excuse. Jen would have definitely out rowed me.)

You don't even have to be there to see how awesomely clear the water was. The snorkeling was insanely awesome.

I didn't get a picture of myself snorkeling...because it's hard to photograph one's self while swimming one handed. But I did get back on the proverbial horse. I even tried out my one handed diving skills. Even though everyone else thought I was crazy. I had to prove to myself there was nothing to be scared of. No point ending up with a phobia like I did with the dirt bike....(but that's a different story)

I'm glad I went one handed snorkeling! It was beautiful!

You know you're smitten when you think your man still looks good even in a snorkeling mask.

Whew!!! he looks even better without it!

Here's Jen. She is the most adorable little pregnant snorkeling lady you have ever seen! She and I sure had a lot of fun together.

We've been married for 10 years, together for 12. I love him more now than I ever did. He proves to me more and more that he is truly the man of my dreams. I'm such a lucky girl!