Flying By

Where did the summer go???

Be prepared this is a long one..

Wow the summer flew by in a blink.. With all the vacations we took the time has just vanished..

We were so lucky this summer to be able to make so many get aways.. So now to conclude our summer vacations with our trip out to Utah, and Hawaii!!

For starters about 2 weeks prior to our leaving for Utah my parents played another big surprise on me and showed up on our doorstep.. They decided since they were not going to be able to spend much time with the kids while we were there in Utah due to that we were going to be spending the first week with Steves family camping and then leave for Hawaii the second week with my parents. So they decided to come here and get some good quality time with them..

It was so nice to have them here and keep me company while steve went on a week long buisness trip.. We did alot of biking while they were here.. Steve and I had just purchased new Giant bikes and my parents bought new bikes as well so we were breaking them in.. Usually my dad and I got or early morning rides in then often went with the kids throughout the day.. One Saturday we got a total of 30-35 miles in.. We were wooped!! It was a nice change from running and much easier on my body... I miss having my biking partner!!

So we packed up and left for Utah and it was nice having my parents making the trip with us it seemed to make the trip go by much faster and gave us someone to talk with along the way..

The first night we made it to Omaha Nebraska where Steve's aunt Jana lives and works at a casino and was able to get a room for us.. It was awesome.. She had little goody bags for the kids full of candy and toys. She was so nice and she took us to dinner and signed the kids to play in this cool playland area where they could do kareoke, play video games, play on the gym equipment. They had a blast......

Next day we made it to Rollins Wyoming.. It was so nice to see the mountains again. Along the way we had stopped at a rest stop and we encountered one of these..

At first we thought it was wild but soon found out this was a man's pet. It was very friendly and was constantly on the go walking around the grounds of the rest stop..

Once we got to Utah we got ready to go go to Flaming Gorge where we would always go every year with Steve's brother.. Oh how we have missed camping here for the last 3 years.. We had such a blast..

Aunt Kim...

Aunt Chandra.... I loved this.. My nephew Kenny keeps her busy!!

Logan getting ready to hit the sack..

Our awesome boyscouts playing with the fire...

The kids had so much fun being pulled on the tubes.

Getting ready to do some solem skiing which I never did get up for some reason.

And of course Scuba Steve ripping up the waves..

And Uncle Rich catching some sweet air. I only feel bad I didnt get any pictures of Steve's other brother Matt who was slaying the water and getting some serious air..

After Austin saw his cool uncles ripping up the water he decided this year was going to be the year he would try wake boarding.. He has been skiing since he was about 7 and so now he is broadening his horizons. After a couple attempts he had mastered this too...

We had so much fun at the Gorge.. Wish we could have only had more time.. But all good things must come to an end so new ones can begin..... And so it did!!

The first stop?? The Beautiful Island of Oahu...

We took a drive around the island and almost every beach we stopped at there were plenty of these..

At the Pearl Harbor Museum. The U.S Arizona

Beautiful mountain in Oahu.

Stopping by on of the stands along the road that goes around the island for some fresh coconut and pineapple.. YUMMY!!!!

At the Polynesian Culture Center.. Mom got called up on the stage because it was her birthday so she could learn to do the native dance from the island of fiji..

At the Luau

A little out of order but trying to cannonball it on the zip line..

This is the beach we did some snorkeling at in Maui.. Awesome fish here.. We say 3 eagle rays and 3 sea turtles and just tons of diffrent fish.. I also found a conk shell that was still alive.. I contemplated on taking it home but thought I better preserve sea life and put it back.. Later walking through the shops down town found a conk shell selling for $200 dang!!!

Dad thought he would give snorkeling a try..

On the beach looking for sea glass..

Temple on Maui

Very hot guy from one of the islands..

This guy was my favorite. He was from Samoa and he said people call him I'm so handsome.. He was a riot.. Ok not sure why my text is underlining.. sorry!!

There were some pretty big guys from these islands.. Samoa

Fiji

This was Diamond Head on Oahu..

Gorgeous sunsets from our balcony!!

Dad heading down into the bamboo hole to find the waterfalls..

A set of 3 falls called the 3 bears..

Cliff jumping at the 7 sacred pools.

even Grandpa jumped...

Steve jumping from the upper cliffs probably 30-40 ft high.

One of the beautiful angel fish we saw while scuba diving..

More fish..

This was called the cathedrals.. It was so beautiful.. They actually perform wedding ceremonies down here.

One of the girls on our dive found an octopus.. It wanted to suck face with her..

I wasn't to sure I was happy about seeing one of these on our dive.. I kept my distance but it is cool to think I actually saw one..

My tarzan swinging from the tree's..

There was an awesome park made out of these banyan trees.. Well it was like 1 banyan tree planted a couple hundred years ago which spread and rooted down in different spots so its all connecting.. It was awesome..

So that pretty much concludes my pictures of our hawaii and utah adventure. We got to the airport to come home and found out that the plane had broke down and didnt make it to hawaii so we had no idea of when we were going to get out.. Wish we could have known sooner to make arrangements but owell.. We spent 6 hrs hanging out at the airport before we finally got a flight out and then had more delay in LA but eventually we made it... It was a very long night though and it was very hard to get used to the time changes coming back..

I am so missing the beaches right now and the warm breezy temps.. Sigh!!!

Now School is back in session and we are getting back into a routine.. Fall has set in here in MI.. The leaves are all starting to turn and it is beautiful...

We are looking for a house to buy so we can finally be done renting but it is a long process.. We find one we like to only find out it is already under contract or sold... I guess everything happens for a reason and the right one will come along eventually.... Not looking forward to moving or having the children change schools again but I guess we do what we have too.. I only wish it was back home to utah but it must not be meant to be at this time... Hopefully someday...