Graduation!!!

We can't believe it has happened to us. We have joined the ranks of the old with a graduate. : ) Matthew graduated this spring. Can't believe our oldest has reached that milestone. I think the part that gets me most is knowing I have to drive by myself to work, won't be able to text him during school hours to come see me : ) and to know that he won't be in my math class anymore. Starts to bring tears to my eyes still. It was a great graduation though. He had so many people come to support him. It was great to see everyone that came, grandparents, aunts, uncles, lots of cousins and bunches of friends. Thanks to all of you that came and have helped him. I have finally been able to get him to write Thank You cards, now getting those delivered is our next goal and chore. Don't worry, yours is coming. His plans as of now are to go to Dixie State for a year and then next summer wait for his mission call. Hopefully we can all handle each other for one more year and not drive him crazy. You know how parents get after the young adult has graduated. : )

One More Sunset

If we weren't playing we were looking at the sunset and walking on the beach. Saving our money to take the kids there someday. We have 19 states covered, so we have a while before we make it there with them, but it will happen.

Final Sunset in Hawaii

We had a great time on the trip. It was one of those things where you prepare so long for it then it finally comes and just like that it was over. It was a great week that we will never forget. After we had played all week and did so many things we all had one final request to be back at the resort early evening. Our resort was on the west side of the island. I am not sure there was a better place to see the sunset. It was beautiful. It was the perfect end to our perfect week. I know many of you have gone there, but if you haven't I would encourage you to go. I have to admit I enjoyed the time with just Darin, but truly missed my kids after two days, but would not have traded the time with Darin and friends. These pictures will not do justice to the real thing, but hope you like a few of my sunset pictures.

Catamaran and Body Surfing!

For the next couple of days we continued to be regular tourists and enjoy the island! We had to go on the ocean so we reserved our spot on the Catamaran! It was a big sailboat that took us on a two hour tour! Did you want to start singing the Gilligan song right then? It was fun and we were able to see a battleship, a submarine, a turtle and lots of dolphins. I tried to take lots of pictures, but only got a few good ones. After the boat ride I ran all over the island looking for the one souvenir I had promised Bryce, a basketball from Hawaii with the word Hawaii on it. I finally found it in the University of Hawaii store. Then on Saturday we went up the coast and played on the beach. We did some fun body surfing. Darin can't read and disobeyed the sign and jumped off the cliff. It was so fun that day. We did everything we wanted and more. The people we went with were great. One more post to come with a few more sunset pics.

Snorkeling, Waimea Bay, PCC, SHAVED ICE and more!

Wednesday we spent some time at the Swap meet so we could purchase our souvenirs. After Darin got tired of shopping, yes it was quick, then we headed over to the beach to try some snorkeling! It was a fun activity that took me a bit to get used to but it was worth it. After I got the hang of it we swam out a ways and saw lots of fish, a sea turtle, a scary electric eel and lots of weird people! It was a fun. Then we spent some time with friends from Hurricane that had taken their girls to Hawaii. It was a relaxing barbecue. Thursday we went to Waimea Bay for a nice little walk. Part way up the hill it started to pour on us. Not just a little rain, but tons! We tried to hide under the trees, but still got drenched. At the top Darin, Jess and Josh swam to the waterfall. From there we headed to the Hawaii Temple and the PCC. The temple was closed and would be for another year. We had gone to a luau on Tuesday at our resort, so the PCC was fun, but seemed to be a lot the same to me. It was enjoyable and I am glad we went. On our way home we found the famous Muotosue's Shaved Ice. It was really good Thursday, but even better on Saturday. That's story in itself and would not be given justice in writing, so ask Cory or Darin about that one someday. : ) Fun times were had by all.

More Hawaii

We had tons of fun on our trip. We stayed at a fun resort on the beach. The resort had four smaller private beaches and a cool swimming pool. We are excited to take the kids there in the future. On our first day, Monday, we just hung out and rested from our flight. We found the stores for food and supplies. We also found a McDonald's which sold SPAM. It is a popular meat in Hawaii. Funny thing is both Darin and I remember eating Spam when we were kids. We will be having a meal with Spam, rice and pineapple soon, all are welcome to come!! : ) On Tuesday, we went to Pearl Harbor. What an amazing place. We walked through a submarine, toured the area then took a short boat ride over to the USS Arizona. To walk on the deck of the memorial and see the oil drops in the water, it was all surreal. After that we went on a hike up to Diamond Head. It is an extinct volcano and was a great hike. Cory and I tried to run up part of it, but kept getting stopped by people who were wearing flip flops or heals. Serious? On a hike? It was a fun hike. More days to come . . .