Panther Power

I've been working at Merrill Lynch now for two weeks.  I've yet to take a picture, because that environment seems less conducive to pictures than my previous job was.

I got a text from my old co-worker and friend Marcia seeing if I'd like to meet up after work on Friday.  It was great to see these great ladies!  Go first grade! :)

Brooke's Blessing

Last Sunday was my cousin Dannen's daughter's baby blessing.

I went to the Humble Ward to see it happen.  It was great to see a lot of Dannen's immediate family members there.  He had graduated that weekend too, so his parents, his two brothers, and some friends came in for all the celebrations.  This is everyone who was there except for my Uncle Darrell Call that was taking care of some Bishop responsibilities.

I did get him in this one.  I thought it was cool that it was just family in the circle.  I'm not sure I've seen that ever happen.  What a great group!

Kauai - Finishing the trip

Wednesday morning we headed back toward the hike we did on Monday.

We went to this beach which is called Tunnels beach, we think.

I got really brave and took my camera out in the water with me.  Luckily my camera survived!

Here's cute and sandy Evie with Grandma and Grandpa.

Two cute girls!

After the beach we got some food at Bubba's Burgers and drank our favorite Hawaii drink - POG.  We found these little ketchup cups that we drank out of. 

We then went back to the coast to find a place called the Queen's Bath.

This little pool was right next to the Queen's Bath.

Here's Adam Warr, mom, and me in Queen's Bath.

There were so many sea turtles around this area.  We had a hard time getting good shots of them because we never knew where or when they were going to pop up.  If you like right in the middle of this picture, you'll see a turtle's head poking out of the water.

We thought it might be better to try video.  Both of these have some turtles.  Watch closely!

This one is right at the first.  Sorry about all the wind!

Thursday we headed over to Kapa'a for some fun.  We went on a tour to the Fern Grotto.  This is a view from the boat we were on.

This is the cave or "Fern Grotto."

I wanted to do a family picture here, and my dad was kind enough to let me test the light on him.

Not my favorite shot, but we're all in it!

The cute little Warr family.

These leaves were huge!  We used Evie for scale.

Here's another family picture attempt.

This is on the way back from the grotto.  This area is where they filmed the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Harrison Ford comes running out of the cave.

After the grotto tour, we went to the Smith's Luau.  We had to wait a bit so we did another family picture try.

This is in the Smith property.  It was really nice.  The guys were being silly.

Beautiful mom with lovely flowers.

Love these girls!

They had goats and chickens and a cow.  The Adams had fun feeding the animals.

Fun until a goat bit Adam!  If you look closely, you can see a bite mark in the middle of his index finger.

The luau begins!

I love kalua pig!!!!

CUTE!  This was right after dinner and just before the show.

It was a great trip.  This is a view from the place we stayed.  It was really nice.  I was sad to leave.

I was especially sad to leave this little munchkin.  Here she is doing her wounded soldier crawl.  I'm sure she'll be full on crawling soon!

Kauai - Helicopter Ride

When I found out I was going to be heading to Kauai, I decided I was definitely going to do a helicopter ride.  I think it all stems from my love of Jurassic Park! :)

I rode with a company called Sunshine Helicopters that flew right out of Princeville.

I probably won't comment on all the pictures, because there are several, but just know that these are only a small fraction of the ones I took.  This is just right after take off.

These next few are all through the mountains on the wet side of the island.  In this particular valley there were at least 50 waterfalls all over the place.  It was incredible.

We flew over Waimea Canyon again.  It was spectacular!

These next few are along the Napali Coast closer to where we were staying.

The water, reefs and cliffs were all so impressive.

The peak the furthest to the right is the famous Bali Hai peak from the musical "South Pacific."

If you look closely, you can see the trail we hiked the day before.

Hanalea.  You can barely see the beach just to the left.

I had one of my flight mates take this one for me.

I'm definitely glad I did this flight.  It was so beautiful!

Kauai

This was my first visit to Kauai and it was beautiful!

We met my parents and brother there.  This was taken at a little shopping center in Hanalea which is right by Princeville where we stayed.

One of our first stops there was a farmers market!  That pineapple was amazing!  Always love the apple bananas too.

The first beach we went to was at Hanalea Bay.  We accessed the beach from the St. Regis hotel which was amazing.

This is a view of the beach from the hotel.

We put one of my parents glasses on Evie and it totally cracked us up.

We passed this scenic outlook many times as we drove between Princeville and Hanalea.  I loved the mountains there.

On Sunday we went on a drive up to Waimea Canyon which has been called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

It was pretty breathtaking.  We spent quite awhile at this lookout.

The whole family.

Cute little Evie and her dad.

My dad got this one of me.  Too bad I'm squinting. :)

After Waimea we went in to Lihue where my dad gave a fireside for the seminary and institute students and their teachers.  It was really great.

The next day we went on a hike along the Nipali Coast.  It was a beautiful hike and a definite workout.

This view was so cool.  The water was such an aqua color and we almost felt like we were in a highlighted black and white picture for a minute.

I love this cute picture of my parents taking a little rest on the hike.

My dad scouted this shot for me.

The trail went a lot longer, but we stopped at this beach that was 2 miles from the trailhead.  It was beautiful, but had very dangerous currents so they told us not to swim in it.  Up to that point they'd had 83 drownings at  that beach.

Mom and Evie getting their feet wet.

I loved this shot as we were about to head away from the beach.