Early Valentines

Since we have our semiannual Stake Conference this weekend, Rick and I decided to have our Valentines Date a few days early.  We chose Wednesday the 11th to be that day.  We began our date by going over to the Bountiful Temple to do some baptisms for FAMILY NAMES!  We have never done family names before but with the help of our Stake Family History Specialist we were able to print up some up.  I was baptized for 17 women and Rick was able to do 10 men.  It was wonderful! Rick still has 19 left to do on the male names and so he is hoping to have those done before next Thursday, our Stake Temple Day.  That way, hopefully with the help of the stake members we can have all of the work finished that night:)  

After the temple we drove into downtown SL and had dinner at the Steakhouse in the Little America Hotel.  It has been remodeled since the last time we were there.  We had a romantic dinner next to a blazing fire.  It was fun being all dressed up:)  I bought a new maxi skirt for the occasion.  I love it!

The fireplace....

While we were there I had to get some pictures of the hotel lobby.  I think this hotel has the best lobby in the valley. (although if the JSMB were a hotel that would get top billing)  So much so that I suggested to Skylar that he propose to Sarah in this very place.  If I remember right though, they were on the second floor in a more secluded area.   In my opinion a close second and third to this is The Peery Hotel and The Monaco.  They have great lobbies too:)

The marble, the chandeliers, the woodwork, the fireplace.....WOW.  Rick and I have only stayed here once and it was back in the late nineties.  The rooms were very elegant but very outdated.  The whole hotel has recently been renovated in the last six months. (Except this beautiful lobby.  I hope they never change it.)  Rick and I wanted to see a new room so we looked in on a King Suite and a regular King room.  Super Nice!  The king suite was beautiful.  Actually they were both beautiful, the suite was just larger and had a gigantic jetted tub.  It also had beautiful views of the downtown area.  We might have to put this on our list of places to stay for a night getaway:)

After Little America we drove the few miles over to Anniversary Inn off of 4th South.   Rick had reserved the Romeo and Juliet room.  It was very elegant and romantic:) 

Here are a couple pictures of the room.

While we were there I had Rick bring up his Valentines present from the car.  It was big but not heavy and was wrapped beautifully with a nice big bow.  He opened it and found this picture......

(This picture was taken the next night at home.)

It is called "He is Risen".  I had gone to Deseret Book to find a small picture of a grandfather and grandchild to have him put in his office.  I didn't find any and so I looked through the options THREE times before I looked down and saw this gem on the floor.  I had forgotten that after Christmas I had seen this in the catalog and thought how nice it would be to have it for the spring season sitting on our mantle.  It had a sale price on it.  Bingo!!  Rick was so pleased and we are both happy with my purchase:)  This Valentines Day date will be one to look back on with fondness!  It was a great night!

Things we did in Maui.....

Here are a few things we did in Maui.......

Visited the famous Banyan Tree,

went whale watching,

(I took about 35 pictures and these were the best I got:(

visited a pineapple plantation,

and stopped at a couple of fruit markets.

(maybe I should have held the fruit a little higher....or lower haha!)

We also ate some shaved ice.....

(or shave ice as the Hawaiians call it)

and doughnuts,

lounged at the beach

and swimming pool,

ate at some fun restaurants.....

(Italian)

(Mexican)

(and Seafood)

visited Iao State Park

and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us.

A couple of other things.....  I found a new TV show.  It's called Flea Market Flip on the HGTV channel.  While Rick went Scuba Diving one morning I watched 2 1/2 hours of it!!  I felt like a junkie because I couldn't bring myself to turn it off.  It was awesome!  I most likely won't be seeing it again whereas we don't have cable TV but it was fun all the same:) 

We did a little shopping in Lahaina and I brought home a couple of fun beaded items.  Rick found a hat for his collection and we found some cute stuffed animals for the kiddies.

On Sunday after church we took a drive to the North Shore.  The surfers were going at it in those huge waves and they were fun to watch.  We also found a HUGE blowhole.  The water spewed out about 40 feet high.  Pretty cool!

After Rick went diving he thought it would be fun to go on a night dive since he hasn't ever done that.  He was all set to go but towards the end of our trip we got some rain and wind and the conditions weren't good enough so he wasn't able to go.  I was a little relieved because frankly I worry enough about him diving in the daytime let alone the pitch black waters of the night!  

One thing that is amazing about Maui is all of the whales.  They fill the waters!!  It is so fun just to watch from the shore (or even driving down the coast) because they are constantly spouting, slapping tails, and breaching.  We saw a lot of that!  Rick was in heaven:)

We enjoyed our Mustang Convertible.  My hair was always a mess because of it so I just ended up wearing a hat most of the time.  Every time we ride in a convertible Rick thinks he wants to buy one.  HAHA!  He would love to have a hard top.  We looked online the other night at them.  As if.........

Anyway......it was a marvelous trip!!