And one post of Maui

We were in love with Maui. We have no idea why we left the beauty of Maui for Yucca Valley. Anyway, here are some last pictures of our trip.

We went on The Road to Hana. It was so extremely beautiful. Here are some of the pictures we took as we spent the day on this long road of beauty.

The road to Hana is 52 miles of undeveloped road, 56 one-lane bridges and 617 curves. Not to mention all the beautiful waterfalls...how come I can't find a count of the waterfalls online??

Scott and I were able to leave Jacen with his Grandma and Grandpa while we took a hike down to a black sand beach. The water was warm.

We also went on a glass bottom boat. The one we booked was with the Four Winds II. Scott had his eye on it from the first day we started thinking about going to Hawaii. This adventure was so fun, another high on the list. Jacen loved it, too.

Scott and I were most excited about the opportunity to snorkel from the boat. Jacen would have more time with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips. Right when they anchored the boat Jacen fell asleep. This was the best thing ever. We didn't have to worry about him tiring out Grandma and Grandpa and getting into mischief.

I had never snorkeled before so I had the time of my life. I was so tired and hungry when we returned to the ship. Good thing we had lunch waiting for us :)

We took pictures underwater as we snorkeled. I don't think they really captured it well enough. Just believe me, it was pretty. If you really want to see some fish, I will post them later. From the ship we saw some Sea Turtles. They were so cool. The ship stopped so everyone could get pictures :)

Our Condo was really nice. Scott had his mind set on this condo from the beginning. At one point we thought it was all booked and you would have thought our trip was completely canceled :) Good thing when we called them directly they hooked us up with a room, and not just any room, but one close to the ocean. Here are some pictures of The Maui Sunset, the condo we stayed at.

Here we are having family time at the pool. Grandma snuck some pictures from our Lanai, or balcony as we call it on the mainland.

We really enjoyed being so close to the beach. We were often entertained by the people riding the ocean. Here are some pictures that try to capture how cool Kite Surfing is (we learned what it was called while watching the show Wanna Bet of all places). They would get such air that it was hard to catch them on the camera.

It was truly beautiful in Hawaii!! Well, there you have it!! You are probably grateful I am done sharing our trip to Hawaii :) It was the time of our lives. And, the best part was that Jacen was under 2 so we didn't have to buy him a plane ticket. Would you believe we got 3 seats on 2 of our 3 flights? (The plane from Oahu to Maui was a small plane anyway so we would have had to sit seperate to get 3 seats.) They fed us too :) I love Hawaiian Air :)

One Last Post of Oahu

I know I am probably boring you to death but I just wanted to share a few last pictures from Oahu.

We all went over to the Arizona Memorial. I think Jacen's favorite part was the ride over to it...oh well! We were grateful that there were fish in the water to entertain him while we were there.



Then our little family headed over to the Missouri. We enjoyed touring it. Scott loved the large guns on the front of the ship. While on the ship I noticed two large stacks of hard green hats. I thought for sure they were going to be bolted down...but they weren't. Jacen enjoyed wearing one. I think the picture is super cute.

The church building in Waikiki has an open courtyard. It was really pretty with all sorts of Hawaiian plants. The building was beautiful. I have not seen one quite like it. It had a mural of Jesus on the front. The building said "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- Honolulu Tabernacle"

The Saturday after we left they had an open house for people to tour the building and learn more about it, and our religion.

The Polynesian Cultural Center & The Laie Temple

The Polynesian Cultural Center was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. We were entertained, and loved all the activities we got to take part in. Do you see the guys climbing the trees??

Did you know...The PCC functions as an extension of BYU-Hawaii classrooms?? Over 750 BYU-Hawaii students currently work at the Center each semester. Awesome huh!!

We actually spent two days at all the events of the Polynesian Cultural Center. Scott pushed his dad in a wheel chair these two days since there was so much walking. We went to a Luau which had such good food. The family we were seated with had already been to Maui and gave us lots of tips on the sites there.

We also went to the night show, now that was neat. Jacen was trying so hard to stay awake during the whole thing. He fell asleep right before the fire dancing. Scott really wanted to wake him up for it. I was okay with it. Can you imagine a 18mo old thinking he can play

with fire? Actually, the next morning he was reenacting some of the dances and songs we had heard. He had kitchen utensils in hand, banging on the couch as though it was a set of drums, making sure to hit all the cushions as part of his performance. It was fun to see how much he loved the shows.

BYU-Hawaii is right next to the Polynesian Cultural Center and the temple. We drove around campus. Here is a picture of the Laie Temple. It is so pretty.

We spent some time in the Visitors Center of the temple watching videos and such. Jacen loved the Christus Statue. He couldn't stop running over to it saying, "Jesus" while pointing to the Christus.

More of Oahu

We also went to the Dole Plantation. Who knew that this is how a pineapple is grown? I found it so interesting. I don't think I ever thought about it honestly, but I couldn't stop taking pictures of the pineapple :)




Scott, Jacen and I went through the huge maze at the Plantation. They had all these ports you had to find and color in the image on your passport card. I got to fill in both Scott and my card while Scott got the joy of pushing the stroller on the rock path.


The Garden at the plantation is pretty too. Here is a pond and a banana tree. We have a ton of pictures but again I don't think you want to see them all :) (We also saw many Botanical gardens on Oahu..we loved their plants and wildlife)










Then we met back up with Scott's parents for Pinapple ice cream. Oh it was good...and being pregnant Pineapple was not working for me, so that says a ton.

Hawaii

Here are the long awaited Hawaii pictures!! I won't bore you with all the pictures we have but post my favorites!

We went to Hawaii August 1st-18th. We met Scott's parents there and had the time of our lives. We spent the first 10 days in Oahu. Here are some pictures from our the first 5 days :) (It is a little over whelming looking at all the pictures from two cameras and deciding what to post)

Here is Jacen showing off our view...and his new shirt (which is a MUST READ). Jacen started our trip off with spreading our good news to both sets of grandparents (mine before our flight and Scott's once in Hawaii)







Another picture of our view from our Condos lanai. We stayed right across the street from the International Market, in Waikiki.





The State Capital Building. The inside of the building is an open court yard. It is really cool.








'Iolani Palace--the only official state residence of royalty in the United States






King Kamehameha Statue









And the Famous Bonzai Pipeline. Too bad we came on the off season for the surf to be big on this side of the island. We saw surfers closer to our place later on in the week.






Jacen and I getting ready to dip our feet in the water. It was starting to sprinkle.


There you have it...most of what we did the first 5 days of our trip. More to come soon!! :)

Sea World

We went to Sea World June 18th and 19th. Jacen just loved it...and good thing because we bought season passes :) (on the 18th we went with my parents on the 19th we went just the 3 of us) Enjoy the slide show of Jacen's fun!

The Fair

On June 17th we took Jacen to the Del Mar Fair. (That is what we call the San Diego County Fair.) We went along with my parents. 2 of my sisters and their families met us there, too. Here are a couple pictures from the day.



Grandpa Anderson and Jacen petting a cow.








Jacen telling his daddy about the sheep's water. (he would do his sign for water and then point at the water buckets, it was cute!)


Jacen was so confused. Before the fair every animal could have barked as far as Jacen was concerned. Then we taught him to "mooo". Then the sheep and goats also should moo, right??

We did see other things at the fair but I guess the animals were the best part. They are the only pictures I have from the day.