Hawaii!

H A W A I I !
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For our fifth anniversary, we went to Hawaii - Oahu! It was so much fun!!! We stayed at the Waikiki Marriott and the best part was just being with Brandon. We drank PinaColadas (virgin, of course) at every restaurant and we drove around the island a couple times.
It was so much fun, whenever we would see a beach we liked, we would just pull over and either take a walk on the beach or just sit there and enjoy the view.
We went to Pearl Harbor and that might have been one of the biggest highlights of the trip. It was so amazing to see that. It was a tad eerie thinking about all that horror and actually standing there thinking about it and imagining the shock! When you get to the visitors center you watch a little movie before the boat ride out to the memorial and you can actually see the ship under the water and little bits are sticking out. It is an experience that everyone should have.
We then took a drive to the North Shore and around the Eastern part of the island. That was our favorite part of the island. We saw the Temple and went to BYU-Hawaii.Then we went to a little place called "Angel's Ice Cream" where Brandon got himself a "little" shaved ice. They have this container and at the bottom they put Vanilla ice-cream, then all the shaved ice, then they put on three flavors of your choice, pour some Condensed milk over the top, and of course don't forget the whipped cream on top! They have two sizes, medium and large...Brandon got a large. So, I told him he had to eat the WHOLE thing, and he did! He did have to buy a Diet Mountain Dew to help wash it down with though.

That little bowl next to his "Angel's Halo Shaved Ice" is my little bowl of Bubble Gum Ice Cream

We also went to the Dole Plantation and we did the Maze that they had there. It was crazy! We were in there for over 45 minutes, but it was really fun. We then went and saw a Pineapple presentation where they showed us how to plant and pick out good pineapples. And then we walked around the plantation, and had right before we left, we had some fresh Pineapple Ice Cream with freshly crushed pineapple on top. DELICIOUS!

We also hiked Diamond Head. It is 1.6 miles round trip, but the way up is really an uphill battle. It wasn't so bad until we hit the stairs. There is this one spot that is 86 narrow steep steps. It was totally worth it though. Once you wind your way up to the top, the view is spectacular!'THE STAIRS'

The view from the top

We drove to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific the afternoon that we had hiked Diamond Head. We didn't realize that we would have a bunch more steps to go up, but once again, it was worth it. This cemetery had a Memorial to all the members of the Armed Forces who had lost their lives in the war and their bodies were never recovered. There are over 28,000 names that are etched on the walls of the memorials. We read all the names and searched for family names, we found quite a few "Childers," but no "Ungricht."
We spend one evening just driving around and watching the sun set. It was just so relaxing!

Brandon had the brilliant idea of riding in the back of our convertible and let me drive around -
too bad it started raining a little bit later and I couldn't put the top up because I wouldn't pull over...

On our Anniversary we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and brought some Cheesecake back to our hotel for dessert later. It was so good! I got Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and Brandon got something else. I don't remember what he got, I was a little focused on mine.
We didn't really buy any souvenirs, but the one thing I wanted to buy was some pearls and everywhere you go, there are places to purchase Pearls and even break open your own oysters and get a pearl from inside. So, on our Anniversary, Brandon took me to a shop and let me get an Oyster to crack open. The lady opened it and I was really wanting a dark colored Pearl, she told me those ones are a little harder to find, but inside I got my wish! A nice size Black Pearl. It was perfect! I wasn't planning on making any jewelry at this time with it, but Brandon had other plans. He let me choose what I wanted and I really wanted to put it in a pendant and have a nice necklace, so I got a white gold pendant with a little diamond. You can't really see it in this picture, but I just love it! The lady that sold it to us gave us another oyster to open for free (because we are so dang cute!) and we were lucky enough to get an oyster that had two pearls in it (which you only have a 5% chance of finding) and guess what, they were perfect identical black pearls. It was the best Anniversary EVER!
Well, it was just about the best vacation ever, we really had a good time. I am so grateful for Brandon and all he does for me. I can't believe it's been five years. We are so lucky to have found each other, and so early in our lives. It makes it even better that we were married younger, now we have a lot longer to spend together!