here today. gone to-maui

We did it.

We really did it.

After almost 10 years of talking about it, we boarded the plane and took a 6 day {and 6 nights} romantic vacay.

{alone}

{after dropping off 5 VERY excited children at grandma and grandpas}

I am not a very good flyer... especially when seated next to a highly drunk 80 year old women.

{who continued to drink for the entire 6 hour flight}

{and was SUPER chatty}

She was sweet enough to give Jake and I marriage advice.

{he he}

In her condition, you can imagine they were jewels.

Too bad I didn't have a pen.

We arrived at our hotel very pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous set up.

Waterfalls, 8 pools, water slides, flamingos, parrots, koi, and, of course, THE BEACH!

Soak it up!!!

We didn't waste any time getting into island mode.

As we went to shops and restraunts up and down the coast, we quickly learned that shoes, bras, and cover ups were not only optional, but frowned upon.

Hawaiin style.

We spent days sitting on the beach and by the pool.

Truly just laying there.

{Jake even left his cell phone in the room every day}

gasp.

The trade winds would blow and it would feel like nothing but paradise.

{and eating a daily freshly cut pineapple didn't hurt either}

On Sunday, we found the nearest chapel, braved the local bus system, and then walked the remainder of the way to church.

{it was awesome}

I love that wherever you go, you feel the truth of the gospel and see it in the members of the church there.

It was such a huge difference to go from {nearly naked} resort people to Solid members of the church within a few minutes.

So cool.

Then we stayed in town and did some sight seeing for the rest of the day.

During the week, we made about 5 stops at Hilo Hatties.

{gathering the free necklaces and samples}

While waiting for the bus to come pick us up.

{the bus stop was out front}

We chose a wide variety of the mac nuts.

Dark, milk, coconut, etc.

{only the necessities }

{you should have seen the TSA guys face as he searched this bag on the way home}

{priceless}

on the bus.

in LaHaina at sunset

snorkeling!!!

We went snorkeling twice and we were not disappointed.

We saw TONS of fish and 4 or 5 sea turtles swimming along with us.

It felt like I was swimming in an aquarium.

Our final Maui sunset.

Jake and I are lucky enough to be best friends.

{and sweethearts}

{forever}

We laugh nonstop together and I was sad to see him go back to work today.

I will miss spending every second with him.

But luckily we took enough self portraits to last me until he gets home from work and I get to see his handsome face.

I hope it's not 10 years before we do this again!

{but in full disclosure, I definitely happy cried when I hugged my kiddos again. I missed their faces}

Maui is fab, but there is no place like home.