Two Tickets to Paradise

I joined Daniel and his team in Hawaii for the first week of December. They had a tournament in Laie on BYU-Hawaii campus with BYU, BYU-Hawaii, University of Hawaii and Texas A&M. One ticket to paradise (for me!) is probably a more accurate title for this post because Daniel had to work hard and I got to completely relax. Carolyn made it all possible by watching the girls for us. I have been looking forward to this trip for months. It kept me going through all of Daniel's travel in July... and September... and November. 

My first impression of Hawaii was that it looked like the tv show Lost, which makes sense since it was filmed there. The lush green and bright pops of color were so beautiful. I even loved the humidity. In a lot of ways when I went outside I felt weirdly nostalgic because the humidity and ocean breeze by our hotel reminded me of the summer I spent living in a coastal town in Maine. 

Anyway, on Tuesday morning we woke up before 6 AM, due to the 3 hour time difference. I was greeted by this unreal sunrise out our hotel window while the team had early practice. 

Once it got light enough outside I explored the beach across the street and went for a run. It was slightly treacherous since the route I took lacked sidewalks, but the scenery was still beautiful. After a couple close calls with semi trucks, I turned around and finished my workout in the hotel gym. I cleaned up and headed to the pool, where I hung out until we left to grab plate lunches at Papa Ole's and swim with sharks in Haleiwa. 

Swimming with sharks was unreal. I was a little bit nervous until I saw the set-up. We went out 3 miles from the harbor to where a metal cage was attached to an anchor. As soon we got there we could see 15 sharks circling under the boat. 

Our guides told us that the sharks are really attracted to the bottom of the boat. We had such a large group that we were split into 3 groups of 12. Each group got to swim in the cage for 20 minutes. Daniel and I were in the last group so I was not nervous at all when our turn came. Unfortunately, while waiting for our turn we were just bobbing up and down in the ocean and many of us got quite nauseous. 

Once we got into the cage I felt fine. The bars on the cage were about a foot apart so there was plenty of room to get a good view but I felt very safe. The guides asked us to refrain from sticking our arms and legs out of the cage, but holding onto the bars was safe. We had snorkel masks on, but my favorite way to watch the sharks was to dive to the bottom of the cage. The type of sharks we saw were Galapagos sharks, which were mostly 6 to 8 feet long. 

It was crazy to be able to see all their scars. They seemed very tame and curious. They mainly hung out under the boat. We also saw some barracuda and fish. I loved it and I didn't want our turn to end. As we headed back to shore I lost my lunch in the ocean, which was funny because I was feeling fine. We hung out at a nearby beach and then got some dinner in Haleiwa. Afterwards we walked along the shops and got some amazing desserts: Daniel at Matsumoto Shave ice and me at an ice cream shop. The employee was a little annoyed by my millions of questions and samples, but it all paid off because I ate the best ice cream I have had in a while. No pictures of it since I was too busy eating it. I fell asleep that night by 8 PM and didn't open my eyes for 12 hours. 

Wednesday morning Denise (another assistant's wife) and I walked over to the temple after a work out (picture above from after my work out) and breakfast. Halfway to the temple the rain started dumping on us so we slogged our way up to the front desk. Our shoes were squishing with every step. That temple is just gorgeous. We had a quiet few hours there and walked back to the hotel, still soaked. That evening BYU played BYU Hawaii, which wasn't a close game, but it was a good start for BYU. 

Thursday morning Daniel and I jogged to the temple. After breakfast I took some of the players to Hukilau beach for an hour while Daniel did some more film. 

He was very stressed about playing University of Hawaii that afternoon and spent a lot of time prepping. 

Nate (an assistant's husband) and Crew were adorable on the beach. It made me hope we can bring our kids next year. 

I spent the rest of the day reading and talking by the pool until it was time for the game. All the prepping paid off because BYU handled UH pretty easily. 

Dinner at the hotel that night was slightly awkward since UH was in the hotel lobby with us.  

Friday we went to the beach again, but this time Daniel came with us for a while. 

The waves were fun and I got destroyed a couple times. 

I came back and hung out at the pool during practice. We ate an early dinner at Turtle Bay, out on the porch in perfect weather. Daniel went to watch the Texas A&M- UH game while I got some gifts for the kids at some small shops in the PCC. 

Saturday was the big game day. While the team went to shoot around I ran to Hukilau beach, then up to the temple, and back to the hotel. It rained intermittently the whole time. You can see the gray clouds at the beach.

Texas A&M was ranked #11 in the country and you could tell they were feeling confident. BYU jumped out to an early lead and stayed that way for most of the game, even though A&M tried to come back at the end. A&M seemed shocked that they couldn't just muscle their way to a win. The girls all filled their roles so well. It was a great way to end the trip. I feel such a mom-like pride of the team. I can't imagine how I will feel when/if my girls are decent at sports.

After hanging out in the gym for a while, talking to families and fans, we made the long drive (so much traffic!!) back to Honolulu and checked into a new hotel. 

We walked around downtown that night and waited a long time for tables at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the win with a tasty meal. By the time we got back to our hotel in Honolulu we had 5 hours until we needed to leave for the airport. 

We sleepily, but happily made our way back home on Sunday.