Sacred Falls

I have been wanting to hike up to Sacred Falls for several years now, but couldn't find anyone who was willing to be "illegal" with me. Dolly Wright was staying with us for a couple of weeks and also was really wanting to go, so we ventured out. It was even more beautiful than I remembered from over 10 years ago. The trail is still in great shape. These pictures don't do it justice. We will have to go back with our new camera. It truly lives up to its name. It's so lush and green, with carved out mountain alcoves, beautiful waterfall pool, and spired formations behind the falls that you can't see in these pictures. Lucky we live Hawaii!! (And lucky no boulders fell on us).

pictures next time

I tried to add pictures, but it didn't work. Maybe I need to change the format? someone can let me know and I will try again. Anyway, happy beginning of the Christmas Season! Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving

Okay, so we didn't get to have the traditional Thanksgiving with friends and family. We had to settle for snorkeling at Captain Cook's monument and having grilled burgers on the boat. This was the most unusual Thanksgiving ever, but we are indeed thankful for sooooo many things. Thanks for being you and for all you mean to us. We are also grateful that we live in a beautiful place that you all want to visit!!! Lucky we don't live in North Dakota!

Halloween in Laie

Here are scenes from Halloween. Sunset Beach Elementary had a big Halloween costume parade. Aren't they cute? On Moana St., we may have had the biggest Halloween we have ever had. We're guessing that about 1,000 Trick or Treaters came to our house. We gave out about 800 pieces of candy and ran out by 8:00 p.m. when it was still going strong. We think maybe it was because kids from some areas like Sunset Beach and Kaaawa descended on Laie, since it was the only game in town on Saturday night. The rest of the island probably Trick or Treated on Sunday night. It was crazy, but fun.
By the way, we're showing three pictures of our pumpkin. Bonnie wanted me to carve a beautiful tree branch with small holes for leaves. Instead, I carved the whole tree, which let in too much light and showed all of the Christmas tree lights that were inside the pumpkin. So, I tried it again by carving a tree branch on the side of the same pumpkin. We thought it looked pretty weird, but lots of people complemented us on our great, intricate art work.

Dad the Model

One of Dad's students talked him into being a model for his photography class. He was gone for EVER! The students then had their photos on display in the lobby of the auditorium, just in time for the big Ohana meeting for all the faculty at the beginning of the year. The student titled this "Justice and Mercy". If you ask me, it's waaayyy more justice than mercy! What do you think?

Bike Path Groundbreaking

Bonnie and I rode out bikes to Gunstock Ranch on Saturday to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for a new bike path that will run from Laie to Kahuku. It is the first small step in what is called "Envision Laie", a plan to increase the size of BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was fun and funky: local Hawaiian style. Since we are an LDS community,
the only thing that was missing was the ti leaves and water.