Wowie Maui.

To celebrate the end of tax busy season and my graduation from the Masters of Accountancy program, we packed our bags and headed to paradise. Here are the highlights: 

We spent 12 hours loving life at LAX. Pure bliss.

The week looked a lot like this:

  

I got stuck in a hammock.

We golfed at the most beautiful course ever.

Matt was in paradise. Literally.

Until now:

I was the designated putter. I used the entire allotted par for the putting. Every time.

My true talent shined with ball washing.

The Road to Hana = too many good views.

We saw whales, maybe 100,000 million feet away.

Major discovery: true Hawaiian shaved ice. We stopped twice.

We found the 'Lost' pond.

The first of many pina coladas.

We accidentally ate at the same resaurant twice. Who knew Cheeseburger in Paradise = Cheeseburger Hawaiian Style? We do now.

We totally got spoiled at the Waldorf Astoria. View from the room:

Gorgeous grounds.

We even went swimming once. Maybe twice.

We went to a manly luau.

With delicious (did I mention delicious?) food.

Made a fool of myself trying to hula with my new friend.

With 50 kids, with their proud parents watching. That's embarassing.

But mostly we loved finally spending time together.

Labor-less Weekend!

When Matt and I started dating, we had a game we played called "we can't go to the same restaurant more than once unless it's on our top five list of ultimate favorites." This game actually lasted quite a long time, like a year or so, until our top five list turned into a top twenty list. Every now and again, we try to start this game again. This past weekend we tried the Blue Lemon right across from Temple Square. The food was super fresh and had that gourmet edge to it. Matt gives this one an 8 out of 10 for the "infused elegance" of his hummus. (Can you tell he has been watching the Food Network too much?) 

On Monday morning we headed up to Park City with Matt's family to get our thrills on the Alpine Slide. I had never done the Alpine Slide before so let's just say that the first time down, Matt may or may not have beat me by a good couple of minutes. I'll let you decide what happened...

On the second run, Matt's mom and I were neck and neck. Every turn, every straightway, every bump down the hill we were at each other's side. Unfortunately for me, Matt's mom is a daredevil and wouldn't slow down at the end until she knew she would beat me. I think I know where Matt gets his extreme competitive edge now. ;)

I think my favorite part of the day up at Park City was when Aaron, the most competitive of them all, was trying to race down the hill and got stuck behind a sweet little 5-year old girl just inching along the track. Thanks Hammonds for a wonderful slide down the hill! We definitely have plans to go back and try that crazy roller coaster up there!

Moose

On Sunday night we fell in love with a little dog we found on the Utah Humane Society's website, so naturally we went and saw him the next day. I mean who wouldn't love this little guy named Moose?  His little hairs on his forehead stick straight up!

He's just a little guy and the sweetest little puppy ever! Much to my delight, we got to take him home the next day. We found out quickly that his favorite hobbies were to eat wood and shoes and to pull his bed around the kitchen. ;) Unfortunately, Matt started getting super allergic to Moose on the first night. Like super allergic. No more Moose. There might have been a couple wet eyes for this little guy.

SF Awesomeness...

So, at the end of July, we went to San Francisco for a little visit of the town and my sister, Heather "Bean". Due to our brilliance, we planned a four day weekend trip that involved a total of 23 hours of drive time. Basically, we got there, had "drive lag" for the next day, had a good day in SF, then drove back, resulting in another day of "drive lag" on the job the following monday.

Anyway, to sum up this trip, we will be handing out awards:

Best Eye for the 5-Overers:
This one will be given to the officer in Elko who decided to make his city $116 off of some friendly Utahns that couldn't challenge in the judicial courts without spending twice as much to appeal and come back for a court date!!

Best Sleep in the Passenger Seat Position:
Awarded to the infamous Brigette Marie for her conservative use of space. She was able to sit completely upright with her nose straight in the air and her mouth wide open and still make it look cute and comfortable!

Best Pizza:

This will go to our second night chicago-style pizza with sausage, shrooms, and pepperoni from Patxi's. We'd just returned from a long day of walking through SF to find that we wanted pizza again from the same place we'd eaten at the previous night. It was better the second time.

Best Stereotype Fulfilled Moment:
Awarded to Elder #2 from downtown Palo Alto (sorry we forgot your name, buddy :) ). As we were crossing the street with our unwanted leftovers from Patxi's (we didn't have a fridge readily available and still had an evening schedule to keep), we found our solutions to the problem in white shirts and black name tags crossing the street in the opposite direction. Brigette offered them first to Elder #1, who graciously declined. His explanation was interrupted forcefully by Elder #2 relieving Brigette of our leftover morsels with a grin as they continued onward.

Best Bed:
This is a hands down winner with the award going to the "Bean" Queen. I doubt I'll ever find a bed to match this one for sheer awesomeness. Brigette concurs.

Best Dole Whip Pineapple:
This is a little unfair. There were two entrants in this contest: Brigette's Dole Whip and Heather's Dole Whip. Brigette got her's first and it was everything a great Disneyland Dole Whip has to offer. A while later in the day, Heather decided that she wanted one, too. Unbeknownst to us, the stand-man had changed to one with less of a feel for the Dole Whip excellence. Heather paid, received her Dole Whip, then turned around with a puppy dog pout as her Dole Whip consisted of a total of 2 turns around the little cup forming a small pretzel to Brigette's large tepee from earlier in the day.

(This was Brigette's) ;)

Best Lead-Changing Home Run:
While in SF, we went to a Giants-Dodgers rivalry game. This award's between Casey Blake's (Dodgers) lead taker in the 6th and Pat Burrell's (Giants) game winner in the 8th. Casey's went higher and further, but Pat's was basically a line-drive shot that he hit so hard that it made it over the fence. I'd have to say Pat the Bat takes the cake and the game!!

Most Depressingly Awkward Silence:
At this same rivalry game, we had a crew of Dodger fans chanting behind us. They were extremely happy and being entirely secure in their chances of winning right up to the Pat Burrell home run. Once that one left the park, any pro-blue chants diminished into nothingness.

Most Rickety Rollercoaster Ever:
On the second day, we went to an amusement park on the beach. While there, Heather raved about the greatness of a wooden rollercoaster that looked like Lagoon's White Roller Coaster's little brother. We waited in line for 20 minutes or so behind a young teenage couple playing tonsil hockey. As we crested the first hill, Brigette and I made an unspoken pact to keep our hands up for the duration of the ride. Then we hit the first turn that put the Wild Mouse to shame for how little tilt was used to execute the turn. We both promptly seized the sides and battled to keep from getting beat up too badly by the previously cute little coaster. The exit sign looked like paradise when we saw it.

And there they are. The awards have been dealt. We had a ton of fun and would like to thank the "Bean" for her guidance. It was great to chill with the Hip Hop Guru of Palo Alto.