hawaii

We got back from our vacation last week and I'm still trying to catch up on sleep! :)  We spent a week in Maui, Hawaii and it was absolutely amazing.

We had a little bit of a nightmare getting there. Our flight was delayed for two hours in Jackson due to all the bad weather (and tornados) so we subsequently missed our connection in Memphis, which caused us to miss our connection in LA.  The last flight out of LAX to Maui left at 5:55pm, so we were re-routed to Salt Lake City. We were supposed to then go to San Francisco and we were planning on spending the night with my sister and leaving for Maui the next morning. Well, we were late to Salt Lake and missed our connection there too. So we had to spend the night in Salt Lake City. It was pretty disappointing. We ended up getting to Maui the next day around noon. But once we finally arrived everything was totally worth it!

We stayed at the Royal Lahaina Resort on Kaanapali Beach. It was gorgeous. The view from our balcony was stunning and the hotel was really nice.

We unpacked and then immediately went to the beach! We got a few drinks from the pool bar and explored the resort.

It was sunny and wonderful! We were so happy to finally be there after 24 hours of traveling.

My godsister, Lacey, lives in Maui with her boyfriend, Patrick. They've been living there since August and she came to meet up with us when we arrived. She lives in Kihei, which is about 45 minutes away from Lahaina. We opened up a bottle of champagne and enjoyed our first Hawaiin sunset.

I want to mention just how much we felt God's presence throughout our trip. When you experience such AMAZING natural wonders as we saw in Hawaii, it just reconfirms over and over again that our God is so mighty - He is perfection.

This was the view from our balcony.

Friday morning on the beach

We walked around to several resorts nearby and explored the different beaches.

Later in the day we drove to Wailea to see the resorts and beaches on that side of the island. This is at the Grand Wailea resort - it was SO over the top!

Grand Wailea Resort

We visited with Lacey and Patrick and saw their house, and then drove back to Kaanapali (on the beautiful scenic highway - right through the mountains) to go snorkeling. We snorkeled at Black Rock which is one of the best places in Lahaina to snorkel because the water is so clear.

Danny saw a huge sea turtle in the ocean and I saw so many beautiful fish.  Danny climbed all the way up Black Rock and jumped off - he is such a daredevil!

Sunset :)

The next day we went to Kihei so Danny and Patrick could go surfing. Danny was so excited because he hasn't been able to surf since he left Costa Rica.

Lacey and I watched for a little while and then we walked over to Charlie Young Beach to lay out. It was so relaxing! Later that afternoon Patrick took us to "Big Beach" and "Little Beach".

The beach was surrounded by a giant wall of slate and rock - it was so unique!

The waves were some of the biggest I've ever seen - easily 10 feet tall.

We climbed to the top of Big Beach and had the most amazing view.

Patrick and Danny jumped off this cliff several times even though the water was SO rough! It was kinda scary - haha!

The view was amazing.

The next day (Sunday) we went to Whaler's Village and Danny surfed again - he got better and better as the trip went on!

We spent the afternoon relaxing (and drinking piña coladas) at our resort and got ready for our first luau that night!

The Luau started at 5:30pm and overlooked the gorgeous sunset.

It was our very first Luau and we had so much fun!

On Monday Lacey acted as our "tour guide" and took Danny and I on the Road to Hana! It was a beautiful two hour drive through the countryside of Hawaii. The best part of the Hana trip was stopping at all of the cool places along the way!

The picture below is at Venus Pool - we are standing near the cliff and I was scared!

Jumping off the rock into Venus!

Danny of course climbed all the way up and jumped off the high rock :)

This was right after he jumped off. I think it was a huge adrenaline rush for him! 

Our next stop was Red Sand Beach. It was totally isolated and we were the only people there.

We then started the two mile hike to Waimoku Falls - a 200 ft waterfall!

Lacey was an awesome tour guide and knew everything about all the spots! 

We finally made it to the falls and it was breathtaking. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I took a quick video and was obviously a little speechless :)

Waimoku Falls- Maui, Hawaii from Rachel B. on Vimeo.

We stopped to take a photo when we were walking through the Bamboo Forest. I kept telling Lacey and Danny that I felt like I was in Jurassic Park - haha! It was so green and lush!

It was one of the best trips Danny and I have ever been on. Simply amazing and so much fun. It really is a STUNNING island and was a constant reminder of our amazing Heavenly Father.

Several world events took place while we were in Hawaii that I want to document. The first was the terrible natural disaster resulting from the tornados in Alabama and Mississippi. I went to college at the University of Alabama and I lived right off the strip. Seeing the devastation there and in Smithville is totally heartbreaking and unbelievable. I keep praying everyday that God will lift the city up and help them recover. He is faithful.

The Royal Wedding also took place while we were out of town - it came on at night since we were in Hawaii and Kate was beautiful.  The last thing that happened right before we left was the death of Osama bin Laden. I don't have much to say about that except I hope people find peace in knowing the world is without such an evil person, and I find solace in this but also find it hard to "celebrate" and be jubilant at the death of anyone.

All in all, it was a week I'll never forget, and I loved spending every second with my husband in paradise.