"Paradise." The one word says it all.

So for the past 11 days, my hubby and I have been in Hawaii! It was AMAZING! I could try and explain to you about all of the beauty, but I can't find the words to actually describe it. I have hundreds of pictures, but they just don't give it justice. Kauai is DEFINITELY a place you should all put on your "must visit" list! I will just give you an outline, with pictures, of the things we did in Hawaii!

We got there late in the evening, about when the sun was setting. Now, you gotta understand that this was my first time on a plane, so I was amazed at everything! This was the first picture I took of the "sunset" in Hawaii. It was such a beautiful sight. 

Since it was pretty late (Utah time), we decided to hit the sack early, which meant only one thing... we woke up early the next morning! When I say early, I mean like 3:00am early. Which is 7:00am in Utah, the time Nick and I usually wake up. What is there to do at 3 in the morning? Well, we forced ourselves to get at least one more hour of sleep so we wouldn't be completely drained. So about 4:30ish, we decided to go for a walk on the beach, which was right across the street from our condo. As we walked, we saw some pretty amazing things... blow fish, flowers, coral, and my favorite...the homeless man with dreads. I didn't dare to take a picture, so let me explain. He was standing out on a rock in the Ocean, with dreads down to his knees. White, loose button up shirt, with cut off pants. The wind was blowing, which meant so were his dreads. He looked like Pocahontas. It was hilarious. Later that day, we met up with his family and went to the "touristy" sights. It was, by far, the most beautiful lookout I have ever seen. So beautiful, in fact, that they used footage from this place in the temple video. (Shhhh...don't tell!)  

We went to plenty of other beautiful sights, but that was by far my favorite.

Since we were there for 11 days, we got to go to church TWICE!! This was an amazing experience for me. Going to a place where I was foreign to everything, it felt good to find something familiar. 

Of course, there was tons and tons and TONS of swimming! In the ocean, pool, hot tubs. You name it, we swam there. We even got to swim with giant sea turtles and beautiful colorful fish. 

We spent a lot of time with our family. Cousins, Uncles, Aunties, brothers, sisters, mom and dad. And of course friends! :)  

But my favorite thing of all was spending ALL my time with my hubby.

Yes, that is his bum crack. 

I didn't notice until AFTER the picture was taken. Ha ha. Oh well, makes for a good laugh.

You can't go to Hawaii without getting a picture of a flower in your hair. 

Or getting a snow cone the size of your head.

Or getting a picture flashin' the "Hang Loose" sign.

Or going on a romantic date...

We put aside one night to go on a date. That night was amazing. He took me to a place called "Spouting Horn," which is a beautiful place on the beach where the water shoots us like a geyser. Then to dinner at a fancy restaurant with delicious food. To finish off the night, we went to the beach and listened the waves as we talked and remminisced about our wonderful vacation. I cannot even express how much I love my man. He's definitely my the best friend I could ever ask for.

Eventually, we had to leave this paradise and return back to real life. When we laid down to sleep the last night, I ended up breaking down in tears. I had such an amazing time. I got to spend every waking minute with Nick. As soon as we would get off that plane, work, school, and LIFE would come rushing back to us. We would see each other only a few hours a day, if we were lucky. The thought of that just made me cry. I love being with Nick. Now I just have to cherish the few moments that our schedules don't conflict and we get to spend precious time together. 

Goodbye Hawaii. Thanks for the great memories! :)