Maui

Ah, Maui...

I went to Maui with a few friends over New Year's. Great trip, great friends, great weather!
It was nice to be away for new year's and even better to leave salt lake when the temperature was in the teens!

It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations I've been on in a long time. No work to worry about, no school to go back to, and I passes my pediatric nurse practitioner boards a week before we left!! yeah!!

We were mesmerized by the surfers!

Haleakela, the volcano.

The Iao Needle (the mountain opposite of Haleakela)

We went on a whale watching tour, expectations were low,
it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

The whales were breaching!
(still amazed that i got this shot. yes, i really took it!)

And dolphins, we saw a pod of 200 dolphins.
They were swimming under our boat and jump out in front of us.
Every one in a while we'd hear one crash into the boat,
jumped a little too soon.

Cheeseburgers in Paradise, a perfect New Year's Eve dinner.

Surf lessons. Do I look like a natural?

How about now? I spent more time falling off my board than I did on it.

These little one's made the trip complete. (they did not come) Clara requested that I bring back a grass skirt and coconut "breastesses." As soon as i gave them to her she stripped down to her skivvy's, put on the breastesses, and started dancing around the house, knocking the coconuts with her fists as she danced. Love.