Big Huge Weekend X2

This was a big huge weekend for two of our favorite couples.  Derek and Mary had their going away to Switzerland party AND Sunny and Justin got married!  All on the same day!

We started the weekend out right by making a really great pasta salad for Derek and Mary's party.  I know I post a lot of pictures of food.  I may look back on this years later and wonder why I did that.  But food is our hobby and such a big part of our lives, so it almost seems wrong not to document the dishes we really enjoy.  That's enough justification for me!

Moving on:

To the surprise of many (including ourselves!), we made it to the temple ON TIME for the ceremony!!!  We cut it close, but we made it!  I'm pretty proud of that.  Thanks to Scott, I seem to be getting better at being on time for things.  Thanks honey!

Alisha, Shayna, and me.  I totally put my flower thing on the wrong side.  Wedding formalities are not my strong suit.  Oh well.  I had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up with these two lovely ladies while we waited for the bride and groom.

Hooray for Sunny and Justin!  We adore these two and are absolutely thrilled for them!

Sunny made such a beautiful bride.

Scott and I made mischief with the getaway car.  (what are friends for!?!)   I feel HORRIBLE because I think a little of the shoe polish dripped onto the paint.  Hope that comes off!  

In between the wedding and reception Scott and I hustled back to SLC for a party in honor of this lucky couple.  Derek got a job with a bank in a town called Zug, just outside of Zurich.  They'll be living there for at least a couple of years.  I hope we get to visit them several times while they are there because, I mean, come on! SWITZERLAND!  Scott and I are so jealous and excited for them.

The Dudley's are probably the best party hosts I know.  I'm not just saying that to be nice.  A big thanks to them for taking such great care of my brother.

We are going to miss these guys like crazy!

HONEYMOON PART 2... KAUAI

Better late than never... here are some pics from the Kauai portion of our honeymoon.

This was the view from our room at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. Unbelievable! Because it was our honeymoon, we were upgraded to a REALLY nice suite.

This was one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen. We probably won't be able to afford a place like this again, so I'm glad we have lots of pictures to help us remember our fabulous stay in Kauai.

No picture will be able to convey how lush and green Kauai is. Seriously. This is the "Tunnel of Trees" we drove through on our way to and from the hotel. The whole island basically looks like this.

We drove past lots of lovely taro root fields.

We went on the Kalalau trail to Hanakapi'ai Beach. We would have hiked all the way to the falls if we had more time. Maybe next trip.

The hike took us straight through a jungle. Kauai is one of the rainiest spots on the planet (some places get around 400 inches a year!), so it was no surprise that we had a downpour right before our hike. Sections of the trail were really muddy, but we didn't mind.

There are several outlooks on the trail where one can see the Na Pali coastline. Check out the crazy Dr. Seuss tree behind us. The plant life along this trail was really bizarre.

The geography of Hanakapi'ai Beach makes it pretty unsafe for swimming. We brought our suits but decided to stay out of the water after seeing this sign. Yikes!

The stream in the picture derives from the Hanakapi'ai Falls... you can see the mist from the falls in the background. We would love to go on this hike again someday with camping gear. Gorgeous!

It felt SO nice to take our shoes off after such a muddy hike.

Um, yeah. I saw this lovely friend AFTER we ate lunch right in front of her web. Great. The jungle is home to some crazy critters.

The elements have carved out this really cool cave. In the background you can see where the ocean and Hanakapi'ai stream mix. It was fascinating to stand at the intersection and feel the temperature difference between the cool mountain water and warm Pacific Ocean.

Our hike through the sweltering jungle made this Hawaiian shave ice seem 10x more delicious than it already was. I love that there are shave ice trucks all over the place in Kauai. Yum!


This is the spot where the 'Bali Hai' scene in South Pacific was filmed. SO many movies have been filmed on Kauai.

More taro root fields...



This is close-up of the mountain behind us in the previous picture... how cool was it to see a waterfall going down the entire length of a mountain? Very.


Our hotel was really close to the Spouting Horn. It's like getting to see Old Faithful without having to wait 30-120 minutes between eruptions. Spouting horn, uh, spouts? about every minute or so. The 'geyser' is created as ocean currents are forced through a small hole in a lava shelf. Worth checking out if you're in the area, especially around sunset.




On our last day we went on a zipline tour.


At first the idea of standing on these little tiny platforms mounted to swaying trees (40+ feet in the air!) was a bit unnerving...



But it didn't take long for us to kick back and enjoy ourselves. Oooh!

This rope bridge was a lot easier than it looked.




I took this clip on one of our last runs. We had SO much fun and totally recommend the zipline company we used. The owner said they will be adding to the course before the end of the year, so definitely check out 'Just Live' zipline tours if you happen to be in Kauai anytime soon.

Some people on our zipline tour told us to try 'Puka Dog'. SO GOOD! Halfway through the line we realized Puka Dog is a 'cash only' establishment, so Scott had to run back to the rental car to dig for change. Hawaii is expensive, I think we left Kauai with maybe $1.25 in our pockets.

The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii. I loved seeing 'Nene Crossing' signs everywhere. Nene!

We took a drive around Waimea Canyon before heading to the airport. Kauai is pretty much the most beautiful place on the planet. We can't wait to go back!

HONEYMOON PART 1... MAUI

Our wedding was pretty much perfect, so it makes sense that our honeymoon would be practically perfect in every way. Scott surprised me with the destination... 4 days on Maui, 3 days on Kauai.

This was after we landed in Kahului, Maui. I'll explain how we got to sit in the cockpit... the pilots play an in-flight game with the passengers called 'halfway to Hawaii' where everyone tries to guess the exact time at which the plane will be halfway to Hawaii. Scott and I geeked out 9th grade math style and calculated what we thought would be an accurate time. So of course we won. I went to talk to the pilots after the flight to find out how close we got to the actual time (within 40-something seconds. Our middle school math teachers would be so proud) and they let us snap this photo before we left. I don't care how old I get, I still think it's fun to say hi to the pilots.

This was the view from our room at the Kaanapali Hyatt. We left the balcony door open all the time so we could hear and smell the ocean.

We went to an incredible luau in Lahaina called "The Feast at Lele". The food was amazing (they served a 5 course meal with dishes from all over Polynesia -Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, & New Zealand-). The Feast was a little on the pricey side, but we totally recommend it.

This was the first time Scott and I had tried poi... it wasn't bad, but it wasn't awesome. I can see how people could grow to like it though.

Those that know me well know that I am capable of ingesting ridiculous amounts of food. The Feast at Lele crossed my threshold. This was after course #4. We thought our bellies were going to burst, but kept eating because the food was SO delicious.

We ate breakfast at this yummy place in the hotel every morning. Best Eggs Benedict EVER. Also the view was great.

We woke up at 3AM to watch the sun rise on top of Haleakala. It was STUNNING! You absolutely have to do this if you go to Maui. A word of caution: the top of the volcano is a semi-arid 10,000ft, which is ridiculously cold at dawn. So definitely take a warm jacket, gloves, and a hat (I know, it seems crazy to bring cold weather gear to Maui, but you'll need it if you go to the top of the volcano) and take a blanket from your hotel. We are SO glad we did because it was still cold even with our blanket and layers of clothes.

We were seriously so cold. But the beautiful sunrise was worth it.

Scott imitating a sun worshiping monkey. I can't remember the story very well, but apparently there are some monkeys somewhere that raise their palms to the sun every morning. I just think this is a cool photo.

The visitor center sign says, "House of the Sun". After seeing the sun rise over Haleakala, I would say the sign is fairly accurate.  If I were the sun and had to choose somewhere to call home, I think Maui would be a top contender.

This crazy looking plant is a Haleakala Silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense macrocephalum). It's part of the family Asteraceae -the sunflower family-, which at first doesn't make any sense because, to me, it kind of looks like a Chaparral Yucca. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that the flower heads closely resemble those of other members of the Asteraceae family.  I am a huge nerd.

I was SO fascinated by this plant!

As we were driving down the volcano Scott said, "I smell eucalyptus!" And, sure enough, we were driving through the middle of a huge eucalyptus forest. It was gorgeous! I had no idea it could grow so tall.  Scott served a mission for our church in Cali, Columbia, where these plants grow all over the place. It was a nice little nostalgic moment.

We spent lots of time on the beach. I can't remember which beach this is, but it was just as gorgeous as all the others we visited.

We also spent loads of time snorkeling. We saw 3 turtles and lots of crazy looking fish. My back got SO sunburned. Well worth it, but I now have a really crazy looking tan line that will likely last most of the winter.  It'll be a great reminder of how awesome Hawaii was.

We ate SO much fabulous food on Maui. The restaurant scene is incredible, a foodies paradise!  This is at a great little seaside place called "Mala".

Just in case you were wondering, Jesus is coming soon. No worries.

We stopped to take some photos of the Banyan Tree in Lahaina before leaving for the airport. It was a huge bummer to leave Maui. However, little did we know, Kauai would be more amazing than we could ever imagine.  Let me put it this way:  I want to go back to Maui, but I NEED to go back to Kauai.  I'll post photos soon.


This tree is so big that it doesn't even fit in one photo. Wild.