Hawaii and Other Happenings!

Ok, so we have been lame for a long time!  Where did February and March go or the last years? They both flew by. I feel like we did a lot but didn't really document it with pictures. Jer and I just aren't that photogenic. We will try to be better in the future.
The highlight of February was our trip to the ballet. Jer bought season tickets to support the dancers he treats and it has really been a treat for me! I love being able to go and watch such amazing talent. We went to Cinderella and LOVED it! As we were leaving we both were lamenting over the fact that we didn't have any little girls to share this with and then Jer realized that we DO have beautiful little girls we could share this with. So he got to work and made sure everyone was available and then he sent us to the ballet! We wished so badly that Sai, Britt, Brit, Peri, Kendra, Taytum, Elle, Logan, Kellyn, Taylor, Brette and my mom could have been with us too! It was so fun to watch the girls watch the ballet. They made my month! I feel so blessed to have such a thoughtful husband and fun family to be with.
March flew by too as we anticipated our trip to Hawaii with the Billingsley family. Can I just say this trip was amazing! We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa in Kona. We thought that it would be the perfect place for a family reunion someday. There was so much for the kids to do and for the big kids like us too! We spent a lot of time down at the Lagoon snorkeling and sunning. The lagoon is ocean fed so we swam with multiple sea turtles, eels, and beautiful fish everyday. It was so fun to snorkel around.... I didn't really appreciate the large eels but Jeremy got a kick out of watching me frantically swim away from them.  We did a lot of exploring too! We went to a couple of different overlooks. Our favorite was the Waipio Overlook and road. It is beautiful! You can drive down into the valley if you have 4x4 drive. Let me just say the road is NUTS! I can't describe how steep and windy this thing was. I was sweating bullets as we went down and I wasn't even driving. We got down to the bottom with a LOW Fuel Light flashing and so we were disappointed to have to turn around without really exploring but this is not a place you would want to be stranded. There are a few taro farms at the bottom and a beautiful black sand beach but nothing else. The road was even scarier as we went back up. It felt like our Jeep would flip over backwards. Such a fun and exciting adventure.
We got to go to church in Waimea, eat the most delicious Porteguese donuts and pancakes the size of hubcaps. We also went down to Hilo with hopes of making it to the Volcano as well but ran out of time. While in Hilo we went to their Farmer's market and found lots of fun souvenirs. Jer got to speak to some cute Phillipino ladies. It is always fun to listen to him speak his mission language.
Jer got to do two dives while we were there with Adessa. On his day dive he saw a 6 ft reef shark. On his night dive (yes in the dark of the night) he hung out with 27 manta rays as he held on for dear life 40ft down with a strong current. The footage is amazing so I have included some of it for you to see. I know this is something he will be talking about for a long time. He has a nice little mark on his forehead from being hit so many times by the rays as they passed over him to catch plankton. What did I do while he was out diving you might ask? Well, I went running through some amazing lava beds and beaches. I hung out and snorkeled with Brooklyn and Audrey in the Lagoon and chased sea turtles. I also went to this incredible beach... Hapuna and boogie boarded until I had no energy left. The highlight of that beach was watching two whales just off shore play for about 30 minutes. I was so mad that I didn't have my bigger lens on my camera but I did get some good shots. It was like they were having headstand contests to see who could keep their tails above the water the longest. It was so fun to watch!
What a great vacation! I am so glad we were able to go and so thankful to have spent Easter with amazing friends and the Polynesian people. The ward in Waimea had their testimony meeting on Easter Sunday and it was so neat to feel of the peoples' spirits and hear their testimonies of our Savior. It was a beautiful day and week.
No other news in our world.... we just keep moving forward. We have had 3 unsuccessful IUIs and are planning to take a break this month. I think we just need to breathe a little. We sure love all of you so much and feel so lucky to have all of your support.
Have a happy week! Jer and Mands
Follow these links for a view of Jer's day dive and night dive with the manta rays:
White Tipped Reef Shark
Manta Ray Night Dive

 Beautiful Sea Turtles

 Polulu Overlook

 Jer ready to snorkel!

 Can you spy the whale tail?

 Billingsley Family

 Hapuna Beach 

 Hilton Waiokola

 Waipio Valley Overlook

 Akaka Falls