January 17-22, 2015 ~ Kauai

January 17th
On January 17th we all went to the airport to travel to Kauai. By some miracle Lucas and I still made the flight and saved dad $1,000 on our flight. Apparently when Sara (dad's personal assistant AKA his Siri) bought Lucas and my flights the credit card was declined but we somehow still got a confirmation email and all the documentation as if we had bought the flights. When we went to the airport with our confirmation code nothing was showing up and we had to buy new flights. By some miracle there was still two seats available on the flight and they were somehow significantly cheaper! We didn't get to sit with the rest of the family but hey, we are going to Kauai!!!

January 18th

On January 18th we went to church and then went on a nice car ride to Waimea Canyon, which is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific! The car ride was a lot of fun because we rented two white jeeps and rode with the tops down. On the way to the canyon we winded up and down valleys and saw some waterfalls so naturally we had to stop for pictures. Lucas somehow managed to lose his wedding ring while we got out to take pictures, I don't know why he took off his wedding ring in the first place but luckily he found it in the dirt!! When we finally got to the Waimea Canyon boy was it beautifully breathtaking! After visiting the canyon we went to Po'ipu Beach for an amazing sunset. 

January 19th

Mom, Dad and Diana went kayaking, exploring and eating while the rest of us went zip lining on Kaua's North Shore. I have always wanted to go zip lining in the forest! I wanted to go zip lining in St. Lucia for our honeymoon but it was raining the day we were thinking about going. It was amazing! It was a thrill running off of a platform on a tree and waiting for the hardest to catch you. It was beautiful scenery and near the end we got to go tubing before going on the "King Kong", the highest, and longed zip line that could fit two people. Lucas and I raced down on the King Kong but naturally he won because he had more momentum and more weight. After zip lining we all met up for some delicious food! 

January 20th

This was the best day ever...until we remembered NONE of us have sea legs. We went on a boat tour to the Na Pali coast. They served us breakfast on the boat and it was a smooth ride out. The Na Pali coast was breathe taking! The boat stopped to see some whales...yes we saw whales!! It was amazing seeing whales and dolphins until the boat started bobbing up and down and Lucas and I realized we should have taken drugs like everyone else. Lucas, Dad, Diana and I were all feeding the fish the rest of the boat trip. It was the worst feeling ever because you couldn't escape it! There was a rare monk seal eating a very large eel during the tour but I only saw pictures of it later because I was preoccupied. The boat stopped for snorkeling and they said getting in the water would relieve some of the sea sickness but it didn't help at all for me. I ended up just feeding all the fish again. When we finally got off the "boat ride from hell" all the sick people dubbed it we quickly recovered luckily. At night we enjoyed a fancy steak house! 

January 21st

The kids took the jeeps to explore while dad was at a conference. After the conference mom and dad walked to the beach by the condo and relaxed on the beach with the chickens. The goal for the day was to catch some waves so we went to the beachs with all the big waves! Unfortunately the waves were either too big and people weren't aloud to swim or the waves were too far out to swim to and people were riding jet skis to them. Chelsea, Bryce, Diana, and Cody wanted to go take pictures so Lucas and I took one of the jeeps and we finally found a secret beach with awesome waves and no people. The beach took a while to find because we were just driving up the coast at stopping at every beach to see if we could swim but it was worth the wait! It was 3077 Kalihiwai road, Kilauea HI. The waves were huge! I just watched lucas boogie board for a while until I saw a girl going out and I figured if she can do it I can do it! The waves were so huge that riding the white water in was a thrill because of how powerful they were. 

January 22nd

Sadly for Lucas and I had to leave shortly after breakfast because I had to get back to Vegas in time for nursing school to start back up. The rest of the family was able to stay the rest of the day and leave on January 23rd. In the morning we got famous acai bowls from a local store, they did not disappoint! After breakfast we took an artistic picture that mom had thought of by a cute little bus stop. It turned out really good! Even though it was hard to stay goodbye to paradise it was a wonderful trip with people I love!

After they took us to the airport they went to Wailea Falls and snorkeling at Po'ipu Beach. Mom said, "The fish were incredible! Thanks to Bryce for bringing fish food!!! I loved the exotic teal/orange fish...sad to leave paradise!"

January 14, 2015 ~ Mini Baja Riding and "Where is Waldo"

Due to Lucas' amazing job (as usual) we were able to go out to the speedway and ride mini baja buggies for FREE! We rode with a company called Sunbuggy.  It was the coolest thing EVER, way more fun then dirt biking or ATVs. We did a package that was called "the chase" because we had a guide and we were following him the whole time. At first I thought it was going to be a slow little tour of the desert but man did our tour guide do some crazy stuff...and we followed! I admit I wouldn't have done some of the crazy things I did while driving if our guide didn't do them first. He would go up a steep dune or mountain going at full speed and then whip around and ride down the mountain. I did lose control once and spin out into some brush but it was a lot of fun. Lucas drove first for 30 minutes and then I finished up the tour driving for another 30 minutes. It was an hour tour but it went really fast. The terrain was really rough so we were bouncing around quite a bit but the baja took it amazingly. Due to all of the bouncing and my tiny bladder when we stopped after the first 30 minutes I had to get out and hide behind a dune to go pee, I felt like I was camping. I am so glad they gave us goggles though because we were super dusty after because of the high speeds we were traveling at and all of the sharp turns. It was a morning I will never forget! 

In the evening we dressed up as old people to be apart of a mutual activity called "where is waldo". They had multiple different people from the ward dress up and go to a mall and the kids had to find us and collect a scripture from us. The goal was to find all of the "waldo's" as fast as they could. It was a fun activity but the kids found us a little easier then we thought they would.

December 27-30, 2014 ~ Hoer Snowboarding Trip

December 27-30, 2014 ~ Hoer Snowboarding Trip

December 29th
Each year I look forward to the Hoer snowboarding trip and this year it was amazing! The weather was perfect, it was sunny and not too cold. We woke up early and got a head start to snowboarding. Bryce, the twins and Chelsea are hardcore and went to the Brian Head park with all of the jumps and Lucas and I went on the blue runs. We were worried we wouldn't be able to meet up for lunch because we didn't set a time for lunch and the cell service is spotty but everyone managed to show up to the pizza place. Lucas and I were already eating when everyone else rolled in to order but it worked out and we had a nice lunch together!

December 30th

After snowboarding for a full day and staying up late to hangout and watch movies everyone was wiped out so we spent the day in comfy cloths and played games.