Hawaii

Turtle Bay: This is acutally where we stayed.  About 10 minutes from Laie.

The end of January Bo got a phone call from an old BYU-I professor.  He is actually serving a service mission at BYU-Hawaii and asked him if he wanted to come for a visit and be a judge and speaker and their upcoming Business Plan Competition. (There's a bit more to the story that I'll post about at another time.) But, we talked it over and decided it would be a great way to celebrate our 11 year anniversary.

It's worked out great because Bo's Mom, Gini, already planned on taking our kids the end of March for a few days for our anniversary.  Our trip ended up being the week before she planned and was able to change her schedule to be here for most of the week.  My parents also helped watch the kids for part of the time.  We had to be gone for about 8 days.  Thanks you guys so much for helping out!  It was great to have some time away just the two of us and not have to worry about the kids while we were away!

We left on a Friday night thinking we would fly out the next morning.  But, just as we were getting in to Boise our flight got changed to Saturday night.  Bummer!  But, it worked out ok.  Bo had some work to do and Gini and Carley's stake had a guest speaker for their Relief Society Birthday.  It was Heidi S Swinton!  I love her!  She wrote President Monson's biography and I heard her speak a few years ago.  It ended up being a great start to the trip. :) She's so inspirational.

We left at 7 pm, landed in Oahu, drove to Laie and made it to our little condo at 3 am (our time).  I couldn't wait to jump into bed and sleep as long as I wanted.  We slept as long as we could and woke up at 6:00 am, Hawaii time.  Not wanting to waste any time we decided to check out the island but not until after an 8:00 am sacrament meeting.  I couldn't believe they started church at 8 in the morning!

Check out those waves!

The rest of the day we decided to drive around the entire island.  It was exciting to see it all.  We stopped at some little touristy places and Pearl Harbor.  After that we were caught in a traffic accident for a couple of hours and saw some of the more sketchy parts of the island a bit closer than we intended too.  (Later finding out that those areas really don't like white people and will throw rocks and things at your car.)  We were pretty lucky to not run into any of that.

Monday we checked out the Dole pineapple plantation.  It was really cool.  We also checked out some beaches.  The waves were so huge and powerful.  I could have just sat and watched them all day.  We couldn't believe some of the waves we were able to see.  We tried boogie boarding.  Bo had a blast and I just have to say that I could use a bit of practice.  Those waves were very strong and I got slammed into the ground a few too many times.  It was fun, but I was exhausted after about 15 minutes and I rested on the beach until Bo was worn out.:)

I had no ideas pineapple grew like that!

Tuesday we relaxed a bit in the morning and then went to the temple.  Of course it was gorgeous, though smaller than I pictured it.  It's always great to visit the temple and fun to see a new temple.

 After that we met with Jason Earl who called and invited Bo and I.  We had a great chat and learned a great deal about BYU Hawaii.  I had no idea that they students from over 70 different countries.  That evening we went to a dinner at the school and were able to hear Sheri Dew speak.  She is also a great inspiration.  I think by this point I was on a spiritual high. :)

Wednesday morning we went snorkeling and then the Business Plan Competition began that afternoon.  So, our exploring of the island was over.  But, our experiences the next couple of days made our trip more memorable.

After sitting through three business competitions that Bo participated in at BYU and BYU-I it was very humbling to listen to the business plans of many of the students at BYU-H.  Many of the students came from countries in The Pacific.  I learned that one was a child slave in his community and another wanted to bring a tractor and implements to his community so they could produce tapioca more efficiently.  He also had to buy his wife for $5,000 to be able to bring her with him to BYU-H.  Many of the other business ideas were different ways to increase revenue in these developing nations.  As you can probably see these are very different businesses than those of the competitions at BYU and BYU-I (they are just about how big the business is and how much money it can make).  That is what made me realize how special BYU-Hawaii really is.

The business school at BYU Hawaii teach these students to get a degree of course, but they want to take it one step further and train them how to be entrepreneurs.  These students especially from The Pacific can earn a degree but when they go back home there are no jobs for them.  So, they want them to learn how to build a business and go back home where they can start a business that will provide for their families.  They also hope it will bring more jobs and innovation to their villages and communities and help build the church while they are at it.  Pretty amazing!

Thursday was the finals and when Bo spoke.  He was very intimidated but he did great for his first speech to students and it was a BIG group.  I would have passed out if it were me.  It was also a fun to see who won the competition.  We didn't have time to do a real visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center, but we did hit the buffet before we drove back to stay the night in Honolulu by the airport.

We had a great time in Hawaii.  But, toward the end I was a little bit home sick for the mainland and the kids, of course.  It is definitely an experience that has changed my thinking and helped me realize how grateful I am to live where I live and to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

A couple of other random pics