A Christmas in Paradise.....A.K.A. Kauai

I know it has taken a long time for me to update the blog, but I have had other things on my mind lately so the blog has been a last priority. Anyway I am here now so let the blogging begin........

Thanks all in part to Adam's mother and little sister Erin, we had an amazing opportunity to go Kauai for 10 days. In that window of 10 days we were able to celebrate Christmas and much much more. Kauai more beautiful than I can describe in words. Its something that you just have to see for yourself. If any of you that read this have the chance to go there or anywhere on Hawaii for that matter promise me that you will never pass up the chance. If you have had the opportunity to go to Hawaii I know you agree with me 110%!! Since this was the first time I was going to be so far away from my family in my entire life!! So I was a little nervous as we arrived at the airport for our flight to LAX. But as soon as I boarded the plane to go to LA I knew that Adam would be by my side and that nothing bad was going to happen and that I would have a amazing time, and I did!! We had a 11 hour lay over in the LAX airport where we took turns sleeping and guarding our suitcases. After the 11 hour lay over slow ticked by and we began boarding the plane to go to Lihue with is the city in Kauai where the airport is located, by this time it was the 21st of December. I knew that there was no turning back and that I was in fact going to Hawaii.  It was a surreal feeling for me as It was for Adam. When we landed in Kauai it was 12:45 in the afternoon. There is a 3 hour time difference between there and Utah. We were met there by Adam's mom Vicki and younger sister Erin. Our first stop was Poi'Pu beach where we ate lunch on a picnic table there on the beach. I have to say it was weird to go from snow and cold to sun and beach. Anyway we noticed that some of the beach area was roped off so went to get a closer look and the reason the beach was roped off was because there was a Hawaiian Monk Seal laying on the sad probably 15 feet from where we were standing it was so neat. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is a endangered species so it made it even more neat to see. We decided that Poi'Pu was to crowded and wanted to do something else so we went to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. I have never seen so many crazy and beautiful flowers and trees all in the same place.  There are 3 parts to the gardens we only saw one so I can only imagine what the other ones looked liked. After a while we went back to Poi'Pu and I was just looking out into the water and I suddenly saw something moving and I told the gang and we all were looking at trying to decide what it was and as you will see in the movie it was a seal!!!

The next day led us to a beach called Tunnels. It became a favorite of ours!!  That was the first place I learned how to snorkel and was able to see many beautiful fish. We definitely did a lot of sun bathing at this beach. It was so relaxing to lay on the beach without a care in the world. 

Also on this beach I just happen to sit up from sun bathing and I glanced towards the ocean and I thought I spotted something In the distance, so I did a double take and sure enough it was a whale so I told everyone and there soon was a huge crowd gathered all straining to see the whale. It was so neat, something not a lot of people can say they have seen.

When Daddy got to Hawaii it was night time so we didn't do much until the next day. As the morning rolled in the chickens started up and didn't let up until they had woken us all up. Boy did we have fun!!! Since Adam's family thrives on risky things to do they wanted to go to this place called Secret Beach at first I up for it and then when we arrived and saw the path down to Secret Beach I wanted to turn around and leave but with reassurance I continued on. You see it rains about every night in Kauai and so the path was super muddy and slippery and not knowing what to expect I wore my nice shoes that I had brought and they ended up being my lifesaver. Also thanks to Daddy who very graciously helped me down as well..we finally got down to the bottom and I have never had as much fun as I had at a beach. When the trip was coming to an end and Mom asked me what my favorite thing was I quickly said Secret Beach!!!! After the hike back up to the car I got so muddy but it was worth it. I had fun so that's all that mattered!!

Before I knew it it was Christmas morning!! Waking up to roosters making noise on Christmas was definitely a first LOL As we all gathered around the small little tree that was brought from home, though I was used to triple the amount of presents under the tree Christmas morning I didn't really care about the presents this year I was just blessed to be in the most beautiful place in the world with family that cares about me and has my best interests at heart was better than any Christmas gift. Not that I didn't like what gifts I did get don't get me wrong. But I think you get what I am saying. You reach an age in life where the people matter more than the presents ever do. I wished I could have experienced this with my family as well as Adam's but hopefully someday that wish will come true..... We had chocolate muffins and oranges to eat during gift opening time to hold us over til breakfast. We also read the real Christmas from the scriptures. 

We spent the rest of the morning at Hanalei Bay doing whatever you wanted. The boys (except Adam) did boogie boarding and I played in the waves. It was pretty windy and the waves were crazy at times. The next adventure we took to was to a place called Queens Bath this was one ill never forget! It also had a sign at the entrance saying to the extent of DANGER!!! sharp rocks and high waves ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!! and of course somehow we plug right along not even thinking twice, not to mention it had a tally of how many people had died there!! If you guess I was nervous you are right. You see my family would have turned around and gone to the beach or something a bit safer. I am so blessed to have the best of both worlds!! I have done things I would never done in a million years and somehow I manage just fine. I am so grateful for their patience with me because I know sometimes I slow things down but not one of them ever complained if they ever had to stop and help me out and I couldn't have done it without them so Thanks guys!! Your the Best.... anyway by the time we got to the bottom and crossed all the flat lava rocks, we got to this huge "bowl" like rock formation that was filled with water, every time a wave came it would fill the "bowl" with more water, we spent a good hour there some of us jumping in the water climbing up to the other side and standing on top of huge I mean huge lava rock and while we were there we saw a gorgeous sunset and it was just a magical way to end Christmas day and like I said before that's memories that Adam and I will have for a lifetime.  Little did I know the real BIG adventure was still on its way the next day. Chad, Matt and Daddy went looking for Sea Turtles the day before and were successful so of course they wanted all of us to come and see them as well which sounded great until Daddy said that it might not be a good idea I went so I trusted his opinion and decided not to go but after the boys convinced him that they thought I would be fine we all made the trek to where we were supposed to enter the trail which didn't start out to bad, muddy as usual and Daddy was helping me down so I wouldn't slip on the mud I did fine. The path that we were taking felt never ending, we got to a point were there is a good 5 foot drop off were you had to carefully maneuver down the boys help lift me down, but this was not the end no no the path kept going at least at this point the ground was pretty flat. I have never been this adventurous in my life so you can imagine how I might be feeling. I knew I would be safe but still there's a part of you that wants to freak out LOL I made it around another bend of lava rock and then all of sudden I see the water and then Matt says you need to swim across to the the sand bank about 20 feet from the rocks. The water is probably six feet deep, I informed him and the rest of the gang that I don't know how to swim. The next few minutes were spent brainstorming on how we were to get all nine of across including me that person who doesn't know how to swim. The end result of our brainstorming was Matt would swim across while carrying me, he has been a lifeguard for a long time so I knew that I would be fine but I hung on to him for dear life!!! After we had all made  it to the cave where the turtles were napping we all stood there amazed at what we were seeing. I have never really seen in animal in the wild so even though they were not very exciting the process of getting there and how it took all nine of us to make there became the most amazing bonding experience that I have had with Adam's family since I became a member of their family last May. I'll never forget standing there everyone silent, I was hugging Sara and out of nowhere she said "I love you Ashley" and I respond back "I love you too". Like I said it was special moment and no amount of words can paint the appropriate picture for the moment so all you have is my words. :) We all walked out of the other side of the cave most of us hand in hand. We had many more memories that I could talk about but if I did this post were never end so I think I will end the post saying this. I have grown to love Adam's family more since the trip. One of the things I love most is that no matter the physical distance is from each other or the time apart the bond they have is still strong as ever never wavering and when someone needs help there is always someone to catch you. No matter what the circumstance is there is always someone in your corner ready to pick you up and keep you going. So thanks!!! I will and well as Adam never forget the memories, bonds, and the laughs that were made in paradise...