I love my man!

The best part of Hawaii was getting to be there with Gabe! I think in the hustle and bustle of life, even a great relationship gets worn down. I'm the mom, he's the dad and on and on life goes. But this was one of those great times when we reminded ourselves that we are also friends. We snorkled hand in hand, tried new foods, some great, rice for breakfast, not so great at all.... I knew that a week away from kids would be easy, but I didn't know how much perspective it would provide me. It was long enough that we missed them, and appreciate them so much more now. And it helped me to remember that I need to be a better friend. It's easy on vacation, away from the broken arms, and homework, and late night tow or fire calls, but I want to be a fun person to live with, love with, be with, the other 99.99% of the time! And I'm looking forward to planning some friend time with the love of my life!

Sunset Cruisin'

Sunset Cruisin' baby!!! One of the highlights of our trip was the sail boat cruise that we took. It has always been a dream of my mom's to sail on a real sailboat, and it must have gotten into my blood too, because it was a geat time! It was really windy on the night that we picked, so we spent the whole time actually sailing and it was amazing. We also spent some time exploring whatever, and where ever we felt. And found this jungle road, and thought hmmmm....... Maybe we'll do a little monkey business!!!!

The beauty was EVERYWHERE!

Our condo was just a block from Waikiki Beach. And it was so beautiful everywhere we looked. From the iconic palm trees to the crashing waves, the amazing sunrises to the animals in the ocean. There was a pier (maybe a levy?) thing from which we saw these cool manta rays. Just playing in the waves. It was so cool! No wonder they call this paradise!

I love sunday's

I love Sundays! And I love that even when you are thousands of miles away from home, you can find a ward where you can feel the spirit. On Sunday after Pearl Harbor, we drove up to the North Shore near the temple to go to church. We found this FABULOUS beach, where we had a picnic lunch. It was so beautiful! And could not have been more serene. When we went to church we were welcomed with open arms. Literally! Amy and I were presented with shell necklaces and hugged and kissed by the relief society sisters. And we found some relatives of Aarons. (Not hard when you are a Heaton/Young. Ha!)

hawaii

So we flew in Saturday morning and were in awe of the heat and humidity as soon as the airport doors opened. None of us slept really well, but Gabe didn't even try. He was excited to see a pre-viewing of the pilot of Hawaii Five O, (Yes he saw it before the premier) I caught a few parts, but was just to tired to stay focused. When we got there we were suprised that mom and dads GPS didn't have Hawaii maps, and struggled to use Google maps on Aarons laptop to find our way around. (and it was tough!!!) But we made it to the Swapp meet, and it was fun to wander around and taste my first hawaiin shaved ice. It was soooo good (but probably just because it was so hot.) We wasted some time before we checked in to our condo where we all crashed for the afternoon. Then Sunday morning we decided that it would be nice to visit Pearl Harbor. I am fascinated by the history of our country. It was a humbling experience to stand in the places that so many of our bravest patriots lost their lives protecting our freedoms.

pa-pa---pa-pa-razzi

Scott Caan- You might know him from, Into the Blue, Ocean's 11 (One of the mormon brothers Ha!) or Gone in 60 seconds. I LOVE him!

Alex O'laughlin- Gabe and I loved him in Moonlight. It was a vampire tv show before vampires before vampires were hot. He was also in 3 Rivers, a medical show that we watched because it took place in Pittsburg. Grace Park- Known best from, The Cleaner

Daniel Kim- Most famous from Lost, but has done a lot of other things too.

We had such an amazing time! One of my favorite things that we did the whole trip was getting to go to the premier of the new tv series, "Hawaii Five-O" Gabe & I had been excited to see the show even before we knew about the premier. So the fact that we got to go see the actors, and I got to take pictures of them, was so exciting! There were some great local guys waving over the actors to us for autographs, so I was literally backing away from some of them to get these shots. What a thrill!