Kaua'i - Days 1 & 2

Most of you know that Rob and I just returned from an amazing vacation to Kauai. Rob surprised me with the trip for our anniversary back in June and we've been counting down the days, minutes, and seconds until the trip finally came. We were so excited for a break from everything and it was EXACTLY what we needed. I'm going to post our vacation a couple of days at a time. Since I use our blog as my journal, I want to document our trip in detail. So, if you don't want to be bored with all the little details you can skim through and just look at the pictures.

Day 1

We left for beautiful Kauai last Sunday morning. The flight was extremely long for my liking, but we finally arrived in paradise.

On the plane, unable to contain our excitement anymore!

We picked up our rental car (a sweet Mustang convertible), and headed to our hotel. Our hotel was a quiet cozy little place on the East shore. We got checked in and did a little exploring.

On the beach in front of our hotel

Our sweet ride

We then headed to the Coconut Marketplace (which was conveniently located right next to our hotel) and picked up some Hawaiian BBQ. We decided to take it to go and ended up enjoying our meal on the beach. The food was AMAZING and reminded us of our favorite restaurant in Cedar City. After dinner we headed up to our room and hit the sack.

Day 2

So much for sleeping in...we woke up the next morning at 6:30 am! I was awakened by the lovely birds singing outside our room. We decided to get up and head out for the day. Our first stop...Wally World! That's right, they even have Walmarts in paradise. We decided to save a little money on food by buying some breakfast stuff at the store. I don't know how much money we really saved, because we spent $3.73 on a HALF gallon of milk! Yikes! After we dropped off the groceries back at our hotel, we decided to head over to the North Shore to check it out. Turns out...it was my favorite spot on the island!

Look at that scenery! I was in awe of the beautiful green peaks.

We researched some of the beaches on an amazing website, and decided on Hanalei Bay for our first beach stop. It was gorgeous! It wasn't crowded at all, which was quite surprising since it was Labor Day. We spent a couple of hours there relaxing, reading, and body surfing in the waves.

Hanalei Bay

This is overlooking the Hanalei Valley

After grabbing some lunch, we decided to do a little beach hopping. We headed over to Anini Beach, but shortly after scoping it out, we decided to head back to Hanalei Bay. Anini was extremely crowded, the sand wasn't smooth, the wind was blowing like crazy, and it wasn't great swimming conditions. So, we headed back to Hanalei and spent a couple more hours baking in the sun. We then headed west again and ended up at "the end of the road." On Kauai, there isn't a road that takes you all the way around the island. Kauai's famous Na Pali coast makes it impossible to get all the way around. You can only get to the Na Pali coast by air or water. Ke'e Beach is at the end of the road on the North side. We spent a short time there mainly scoping it out for the next day's activities. Again we were taken back by the amazing green mountain back drop.

Ke'e Beach

We had a long drive back to our hotel so after a short walk around Ke'e, we decided to call it a day and head back for some grub. We were kind of pathetic on the trip. We had a hard time adjusting to the time change, so we were in bed by 9pm every night and up at 6:30. It didn't really bother us though. Everything we wanted to do was during the day, and the sun went down before 7pm, so it was nice to get an early start every morning.

Where have we been all summer?

Playing at LaGoOn!!!

I talked Rob into letting us get Lagoon season passes this year, and boy have we gotten our money's worth! For the exception of a week or two, we have spent at least one day a week (sometimes more!) soaking up the sun at Lagoon-a-beach or getting queasy from riding all the rides! The boys have been completely spoiled! Especially since our good friends have passes too, so we have great company when we go as well! As we approach these last few weeks of summer, the boys and I will be extremely sad to see our lazy days at Lagoon come to an end!

Hobby's Wedding

So... the newlyweds have already been married for almost 2 months, but I wanted to post some pictures from the blissful event. Although there were some stressful moments during the preparations, the night turned out beautifully! I know I posted a ton of pictures, but there were over 500 to chose from and it was quite difficult to narrow it down. I hope you enjoy!

The Ravishing Bride

The Studly Groom

(Texting before the Ceremony)

The cutest little couple

The adorable flower girls (and lil' guy)

How handsome is the Ring Bearer?

(SO handsome! If I do say so myself!)

The teary eyed, but GORGEOUS bride walking down the aisle

The Groom and his best men

The Vows

Their first kiss as Mr. & Mrs.

Bobby sporting Heather's red lipstick

The newly married couple

The Beautiful Cake

(Way to go Mom!!!)

Beckett was lucky enough to snag a kiss from the Bride

Siblings

The whole wedding party

The Grandkids

Beckett's excited face

The cutting of the cake got a little messy

First Dance

My talented husband accompanying the first dance

Our Little Family

Heather decided to take the garter off of Bobby.

It was one of my favorite moments of the night!

Hobby took these adorable pictures to send out as their thank you cards.

SOOOO CUTE!!!

(Special thanks to Dede for printing out the vinyl last minute for us!)

4th of July

Wow! Look at me...three posts in one week! That hasn't happened in a LONG time! It seems like we have been so busy playing for the past month or so, and the fourth of July weekend was no exception! With Wesley's birthday being so close to the holiday, it feels like we celebrate for a whole week! We started off the patriotic weekend with our good friends the Arbuckles. We met up for dinner at Robintino's, then we headed to the firework show at Granite High. In my opinion, Granite puts on the best firework show! We are never disappointed. Since Wesley is completely terrified of fireworks, my parents were kind enough to let me tag along with them up to Bear Lake.

Beckett and his buddy Max playing with Max's uncle Matt

Us minus Wesley

Silly Beckett

Cute max

Scary Carter

Next on our weekend of celebration...I decided to run my first race since my knee injury. The City of West Jordan usually holds a 5k and 10k over the holiday weekend, so I decided to try the 10k and asked my friend Lexi if she wanted to join me. I had never ran a 10k race, but figured it wouldn't be too difficult. I ran 6 miles the week before and my knee held up ok, but I was still nervous for the 10k. Saturday morning turned out to be a gorgeous day! It was a little cooler than normal (no complaints from me!), and I ended up with a great run! I finished 6 minutes faster than I was hoping to finish. Afterwards my knee felt great and I couldn't have been any happier!

Lexi and I after the race!

After we left the race we headed home, packed up the car, and hit the road! We spent the rest of the weekend with family at our cabin up in Bear Lake. Although the weather was a bit on the cooler side, the kids still had a great time playing in the sand and in the hot tub!

We had a great weekend and were completely exhausted by the time we got home! I think it took a week or so for us to recover. I am definitely loving summer this year! Can't wait to see what else is in store for us...stay tuned!