Hawaii

We had been planning this trip to Oahu for several months as our big end-of-summer trip before school started up again. Oahu is definitely my favorite island in Hawaii and I've been wanting to take Nick there for a long time since it's one of my family's favorites. It was so nice to see the beach again and relax for a few days! 

We spent Saturday morning at Hanauma Bay, probably one of the best snorkeling spots on the island. We saw so many colorful fish that we had never seen before! 

During our drive around the island that afternoon we decided to stop at Shark's Cove to get some more use out of our snorkel gear, and I'm so glad we did! I've never been snorkeling there because every time I had been there before was in the winter with really high tides. But this time of year the water was more clam than I had ever seen it.. and we saw some amazing schools of fish! 

And of course, you can't drive through Haliewa without stopping at Matsumotos! 

Church in Honolulu

Pali Lookout

Pearl Harbor

We spent lots of time on Waikiki beach just soaking up the sun.. it doesn't get any better than that! Nick's skin got about 10 shades darker... while I'm pretty sure that my skin stayed the same color!

A trip to Waikiki isn't complete without getting conned into holding the infamous parrots! 

It was so much fun to get to see Jordan and Cole... on their Honeymoon! They stopped in Oahu on their way back from their stay in Maui, and we got to go to dinner with them while they were there. 

In front of my favorite hotel...

We spent our last day on the island at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I hadn't been there since I was really little, so it was fun to go back when I could really appreciate it. This is a giant canoe that was built about 10 years ago by the students at BYU- Hawaii. It looks way bigger in real life! 

We topped our day off with the Luau and their their new show, Ha - Breath of Life... which is amazing! 

And in between dinner and the show, we got to visit the temple grounds for a little bit... a tradition to take a picture there every time I'm on the island!