Scott and Em in Hawaii

Scott and I had such a great time in Hawaii last month! It made January go by fast because we were looking forward to our little vacation. :) Scott found out in mid-December that he had been selected to attend Novell's President's Club in Kauai. He has been just so excited, and I was too, but I was also pretty nervous about leaving the kids for a full week. It turned out just fine though. Cute Katrina came down and spent four 1/2 days here at the house with them, then the other three days they went up to South Weber and had some fun cousin time with the Soderquists and Matthew and Kimberly's kids because they were in Hawaii with us. When we got home, Katrina seemed to still have all of her hair, and Alison and Quin seemed to have survived the inundation okay too. :)

My favorite part of the trip was having so much time just to be with Scott. He is so nice. As the years go on, I am more and more grateful for him. I married someone who is so patient with my quirks, someone who makes me want to be better, someone who lets me be myself, and someone who loves me and makes me feel good. I hope I do the same for him. Anyway, it was so fun to have that time with just the two of us. It is wonderful to be parents, and nice to remember how much we liked being together before we had kids too.

We did some fun things - hiked the Na Pali coast on the north shore of Kauai, explored the shops a little in Hanalei, sat on Shipwreck Beach and watched the surfers and the sunset one night, explored some trails around the resort and found some turtles to watch! We also had a really nice time visiting with Matthew and Kimberly at the Awards Gala and Scott enjoyed learning how to scuba dive in one of the resort's pools with them too. We saw Spouting Horn near Poipu Beach, found a "Puka Dog" stand in a shopping village - it was the yummiest hot dog ever! They grilled a polish dog, put it in a big, fresh bun, then covered it in Hawaiian mustard and mango relish. Yummy. Scott and I were so grown up during our trip! Neither one of us really enjoy seafood, but we tried all sorts of loster, crab, mahi mahi, and fresh shrimp off of a truck near the Polynesian Cultural Center. :)

The group we went there with was so diverse! There were people from India, Boston, San Diego, Provo, Korea, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Denmark, Italy, and more. Anyway, the trip was quite a treat. Novell served us a beautiful breakfast every morning, had a couple of nights where they served sandwiches and appetizers, and had a big, wonderful seafood dinner for the Award Gala. They also left us a gift every night in our hotel room. It ranged from Hawaiian snacks one night to an Amazon Kindle our last night.

Having the time with Scott was my favorite thing, and my next favorite was getting a taste of what the church is like in Hawaii. A bunch of the couples from Novell went to a church meeting in the Kalaheo Ward about twenty minutes away from the resort. What a nice experience. One of the Polynesian sister in the ward started making leis out of yarn for visitors in Relief Society years ago, and they have just kept it up. Kimberly and I talked with one of the counselors after the meeting and she said they usually have five visitors every week in Relief Society! There were close to twenty the Sunday we were there - probably because it was Valentine's Day and a lot of people were celebrating in Hawaii? The Polynesian people just seem relaxed and happy.

Our last two days, Scott and I flew over to Oahu and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center run by the church, BYU Hawaii, and the Laie temple for a few minutes. We learned that the Laie temple was built in 1919! It was the first one completed after the Salt Lake Temple because they had such a nice group of converts in the area, the church wanted the Polynesian people to have access to a temple. The siter missionaries we visited with told us that the Laie area is 90% LDS. When the early Polynesian church members were converted, church leaders encouraged them to gather in that area. The church bought the land the PCC, the temple, and the university is on today. As they recognized a need for the people to be educated, they started the school there and President McKay dedicated it as BYU Hawaii while he was the prophet. A lot of the performers in the PCC are on talent scholarships so perform there at the center to help pay for schooling.

Anyway, it was a really nice trip. We might even go back someday. :)