Trip to Hawaii!

Kenny and I recently returned from an amazing trip to Hawaii.  We spent some time on both Oahu and the Big Island.  We saw so many neat things and had such a great time.  Thanks a million to my parents for watching our kids while we were gone.  Warning: Long post ahead!

Waikiki Beach

Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

 Polynesian Cultural Center

 

Kenny trying to make fire the Samoan way

 We had a fun experience in the Tahitian portion of the Polynesian

Cultural Center.  They took people from the audience who were on

a honeymoon or celebrating an anniversary (we were celebrating 
our 10th), and had them participate in a mock Tahitian wedding 
ceremony.  It was supposed to be like we were renewing 
our vows.  It was a lot of fun.

Laie Hawaii LDS Temple

Snorkeling

We saw lots of sea turtles!  This one came near the rocks

I was standing on and I lucked out and snapped a photo

just as he came up for a breath. 

 Kona Hawaii LDS Temple- 

This is on the west side of the Big Island.

 Lava rock sea arch

 This is called "End of Chain of Craters Road" in Volcanoes

National Park because the road literally ends here.  Lava flowed 
over the road once, and they ended up repaving it.  Lava flowed 
over it again and they decided to give up and just let the 
road end here.

We thought this buried sign was pretty funny.

 

Halema'uma'u Crater-  This crater currently has no lava

flowing out of it but is emitting a gas and steam plume.

The plume glows orange at night because it's reflecting the

lava below.

 

Hiking through the Kilauea Iki Crater- This hike starts at the

top of the crater and then goes down through it.  This volcano last

erupted in 1959 and the eruption filled up this huge crater with

a lava lake 200 feet deep.  It has now cooled enough to walk on,

but there are parts that are still steaming and the rock feels 

warm to the touch. 

Thurston Lava Tube- This was formed when the outer

lava cooled more quickly than the lava below.  Lava

continued to flow through underneath and left a huge tunnel. 

We went to the Mauna Loa factory and saw them

gathering the nuts and learned how they crack

them and go through the whole factory process.

Did you know it takes 3000 lbs of pressure to 

crack open a macadamia nut? 

 

 We took a helicopter tour over the volcanoes, and we were

so glad we did because there was currently not really

any lava flow that you could see from the ground.

A glimpse into the top of a volcano

A subdivision that was recently destroyed by lava flow.  

You can see some of the road and trees that were spared. 

 We flew over a ton of waterfalls.  You can see 3 in this picture.

The view from our hotel room in Waikoloa, Big Island.

We went to an amazing place called Wapio Valley which is

on the northeastern part of the Big Island.  It was pretty

foggy so the pictures don't do this place justice.  This is a picture

before we hiked down to the black sand beach.

 

 This is a picture at the bottom.....and we looked like wet rats.

It was pouring rain as we hiked down but it was totally worth it.

What a gorgeous place!  There was hardly anyone around.

We had a wonderful trip, but we missed these kiddos!

We couldn't wait to get back to them!

Back to School

It's hard to believe that school is back in session! My kids love school and were thrilled to jump right in!

 My second graders- They are back in the same class

this year and love being together.  They insisted on

dressing exactly the same the first few days

so that there was no question that they were twins.

So excited to start kindergarten

They're growing up so fast! My little buddy and I have half the day to ourselves, and he's always asking where his sisters are.  Don't worry, I'm sure he'll get used to having all the attention to himself soon.

Where did the summer go?

I realize that once again I have fallen behind on the blogging.  Where on earth has the summer gone? Here is a quick recap of a few happenings from this summer.

Hyrum loves helping his dad move dirt in the wheelbarrow

Running through the sprinklers

4th of July parade

Swimming with cousins

Kenny and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary.

I made him this cake to celebrate. 

These kids are great at coming up with crazy fun!

We went as a family to Minnetonka Cave in Idaho.

Playing "mud monster" at Bear Lake

Celebrating my Grandpa's 91st birthday

Yellowstone Trip

We took our family up to Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a trip.  We had a great time.  The kids were great sports.  They enjoyed seeing the different things, but made sure to point out to us that there was more walking than they expected.  We were all exhausted by the end of the trip but loved seeing so many neat things and spending time together.

 

I love how in this picture you can see the reflection

of the bison the kids are looking at. 

 Looking toward the bottom of the Lower Falls

Mammoth Hot Springs

Old Faithful

Proof that we were all exhausted.  Kenny kept feeling

Hyrum's head hitting his neck before he realized he was asleep.

Grand Teton National Park

Jackson Hole

I took this as Kenny and I were packing our stuff up to head home.

There weren't many kid shows on tv so they were engrossed in the Food Network.