It's Official!

Dave & Katie Kimball

Married: February 25th, 2011

Laie, Hawaii

They were married by my brother-in-law Dave H, at Laie Point.

It was a beautiful ceremony and we wouldn't have missed it for the world.

The fact that it was in Hawaii, was just a bonus...

The fact that we were celebrating in paradise without our four children...priceless!

We were so blessed to have willing family and friends help us with the little ones while we were gone.  We got Tyson on a bottle just in time, and shipped him and Tanner to Becky in Logan, and then Remi and Mindy came to stay with Taylor and Jessica so they wouldn't miss school, and my mom was so sweet to take them on the weekend and even drive to Logan so they could see each other ;)

They missed us, and we missed them... almost ;) 

Each activity we did we thought about the kids, and what they would have loved about it and how they might have reacted, etc. but being able to sit on the beach and read a book, eat out (not once @ McDonalds), and sleep in or stay up late playing games with the family was a much needed vacation!

We started out the first day @ Sunset Beach, where Phil and Andrew (the small white dots, on the left) paddled (way) out to do some boogie boarding.  They didn't pay much attention to the warning signs...

Phil caught a monster wave that rolled him over several times, and he lost his flippers.  He wasn't sure which way was up for quite some time and then couldn't get out of a strong current without his flippers.  He was waving for the life guard, but could only let go with one hand for fear of being pulled under.  We thought he was waving to his parents who just arrived to join us.  Luckily, Andrew found his flippers and they both made  it back to shore. His mom about grounded him when she heard what happened and how he was worried enough to try to flag down the lifeguard.  

The next day was the wedding and we were able to meet Katie's family when we met @ the Laie, Hawaii Temple for a session that morning.  Then it was off to the point for the ceremony, and a delicious wedding luncheon @ Ola, @ Turtle Bay.

Unfortunately, that evening as they were doing some snorkeling @ Shark's Cove, Phil's sister Tiffany and her husband Dave H's rental car was stolen which had their cell phones, wallets, etc. in it, and his brother Andrew's wallet as well.  They all handled it with such grace and didn't let it affect their vacation.

We drove into Honolulu the next day for a whale watching tour, the swap meet @ Aloha Stadium, and lunch @ the Rainbow Drive In.

Sunday brought church and then a hike... with the Jensen's (Dave H's sister and her family who currently live in HI) wish I would have paid better attention to if it had an official name.  It started off of Kuliouou Road, so I'll call it the Kuliouou Hike;) or better known as ouch!

It was 4 hours (5 miles) round trip.  It felt like 3 hours up and 1 down.

The last 1/4 mile was all stairs...

the view was definitely worth it!

 Not exactly, a leisurely Sunday activity, but it sure was neat to admire all of Heavenly Father's creations while we were on top of the island!

Monday was snorkeling @ Hanauma Bay.  It was beautiful, but we were a little on edge as they had 4 box jellyfish come on shore the day before... apparently we hit Hawaii at just the right time as they come about 8 days after the full moon!

Tuesday was spent @ the PCC {Polynesian Cultural Center}.  A must see if you haven't been there.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day touring the different 'islands', and the night show was wonderful.

Wednesday we packed up to leave and then headed back into Honolulu.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch @ Gordon Biersch, shopping @ the International Center, and whale watching at the Blow Hole.  We boarded our plane at midnight for a red eye back to the mainland.  Thankfully, Phil and I were able to sleep most of the way.  Though with the time difference we sure felt it later that evening.  We surprised Jess and Taylor and checked them out of school so we could go get Tanner and Tyson in Logan.  When we first got there, Tyson wanted nothing to do with me.  He snuggled into Becky and wouldn't look at me.  He went to Phil, but it was a good 20 minutes before he would come to his mama.  Broke my heart, but we're back on snuggling terms now and I can't get enough of that little guy.  It was such a fun vacation, and we're so excited for Katie and Dave and the start of all their adventures together!