Easter Traditions

Every year, we dye Easter Eggs.  Here are the ones from this year.

Yes, that's a snowman

Froggie

There is another Easter tradition we participated in.  The Hinckley's (family friends from Minnesota who now live in Utah) have a giant Easter Egg Hunt every year.  Janet and I picked up Ella for the fun.  Ella didn't care much to look for eggs, but the bounce house and swinging with Grandma were a hit.  Who wouldn't want to spend a whole afternoon with this sweet girl?

Birthamagrad Day

By some trick of the University, the Men's Chorus was asked to sing at commencement.  Elder Scott asked for them.  So Brad had to go to graduation.

If you're singing at your own graduation, you'll have your family come.

And if you have your family come, then you might as well go to convocation as well.

And if you go to convocation, you'll have to get pictures of everyone.

And after pictures, they'll want to have dinner at a nice restaurant.

And after dinner, you'll want to celebrate Brad's birthday since it's only a week away.

And since it Brad's birthamagrad day, we'll eat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake.

It was actually a very nice to have everyone come to celebrate Brad's graduation.  We loved having everyone there to celebrate with us.  And it wasn't as bad as Brad thought.

General Conference

Please don't think less of us because of the horrible quality of an iPhone photo.  They wouldn't allow regular cameras into the Conference Center when we went to General Conference this afternoon.

Is it surprising/unusual that I have lived in Utah my whole life and this is only my second time going to General Conference?  I've been to plenty of Young Women's general meetings, a handful of Relief Society general meetings, and even quite a few Christmas Devotionals, but I get extra excited for General Conference.  And it was extra cool because we got to see Uncle Boyd speak.

Also of note, a temple is coming to Fort Collins!  Brad was so excited since this was the first area of his mission.  After celebrating he had to ask me what other locations were announced.  Funny boy.  Doesn't he know he's supposed to pay attention during General Conference?

Last Day in Paradise

Our trip to Hawaii came to an end too quickly.  We couldn't believe we were already leaving.  So we packed in all we could our last day.

We couldn't resist stopping by the beach one last time. There was an paddle boarding exhibition going on and the guys out on the waves were the best in the world.  No joke.  Here's the world champion.

We also went for a drive up Waimea Valley.  Does this look familiar to anyone?

What about this?

They filmed parts of LOST in Waimea Valley.  Not only did we get to walk around were they had filmed, but we stayed in the same hotel.  Yeah, we're that cool.

For those of you who have watched LOST, this is where Kate and Sawyer go swimming.

On our way back to Oahu, we stopped by the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  This was great for two things.  Pineapple head pictures and pineapple ice cream. 

Not so great were the disgusting koi in this pond.  Really.  They were gross.  There were tons of them and they would congregate at the side of the pool begging for food with piggy-like snouts.

And what would a day in Hawaii be if it didn't end with a beautiful sunset.

We loved our getaway for Brad's graduation.  Brad's parents were so nice to take us along.  We had so much fun taking lots and lots of pictures, sight seeing, and relaxing.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The Polynesian Cultural Center

Most relaxing: the canoe pageant.  We just sat back and watched the canoes float by.

Hawaii

Tonga

Tahiti                                       Aotearoa (New Zealand)                                  Samoa

Fiji

Most strange:  The nose flute from Tonga.

Most surprising: Samoan making fire from a coconut husk and a stick. Here's the proof.

Most delicious: While the luau was yummy, you can't beat a pina colada out of a pineapple.

Funniest: Brad called this guy the "diaper dancer."

Most exciting: The fire dancers during the evening show.  Didn't hurt that we were amazing seats.

Too bad photography wasn't allowed.  But to let you see how amazing this was, I thought I'd borrow this photo from the internet for you to get a taste of it.