waipio valley!

Our hike down was beautiful. Straight downhill wasn't too hard and we enjoyed the view of the incredibly gorgeous valley of Waipio!

This part of Hawaii is so beautiful.

Josh crossed right over no problem... I thought I was going to fall in.

I'm not sure what kind of flower this is... but it's AWESOME!

As we hiked down through the valley in search of adventure, we came upon a couple wild horses. A beautiful Mare and her adorable baby. They knew that humans had food... and they let us pet them, but they were still a little nervous. Maybe they were wild? We'll never know.

So CUTE!! I wanted to take him home with me... but his mommy said no.

Instant friends. :)

The hike up. Not a bad view! This hill was steeper than you think. We definitely got our workout in hiking straight uphill one mile. And I mean straight uphill!

Twin Pearls

One evening Josh and I decided to go for a walk. Somehow we ended up looking at some pearls at a very expensive jewelry store. We got out of there without purchasing anything... but hit up the Pearl Factory right next door and decided to open up and oyster in search of my very own pearl. It was 7.5mm (pretty big I guess!) and then picked out a beautiful pendent and chain to go with it. Because we spent so much money (which we weren't planning on spending) they let us open up another oyster for free. Josh picked out the second one and it was almost identical to mine... silvery blue and about 7.0mm. It was a bit expensive, but very much worth the experience. I will always remember that fun evening with Josh... opening up twin pearls in Hawaii.

Snorkle!

AMAZING! On our first day off from work, Josh and I rented snorkle gear and headed for the ocean. We hit up Turtle Bay for our first expidition. I've never been snorkeling before, so I was a bit nervous... but wow!! The underwater life is so goreous and surreal.

Our first days in Kailua-Kona

After arriving in Hawaii, we walked around the area near our apartment in search of food! We ate at Big Island Grill for our very first meal and then headed out in search of some groceries. We were in shock to find prices on foods tripled or doubled compared to what you would find at any grocery store back home! $8 a gallon for milk....... speechless. Josh and I can drink around 3 gallons a week. We've definitely cut back since we've been here. We found a store where the mile is only $4 a gallon. Still pretty pricey in our minds, but definitely better than $8.

Josh across the street from the Pier! We walked just down the street from our apartment to get to the ocean.

This is a cute little Italian restaurant overlooking the Pier. We ate out quite a bit until we got our groceries figured out. So far so good!

here we are!

We arrived on Monday, May 18 around 2:00pm, and boy were we tired. Of course we had to check out our area... here we are by the pier down the road from our cute little apartment. We've been working every day and haven't had much time to play, but tomorrow, Monday the 25... we are going to play all day! So be ready for an update of Hawaiian fun from the cute Sorensen couple. Don't worry, I'll catch some sun while I'm here eventually. If you feel the need to come visit us, please feel free! It's beautiful here!!

St. George Triathlon

About a week after Moab, Josh and I and a bunch of his old high school friends all made the trip down to the "hot-hot-hot" St. George for the annual SGTri! 6 of the Jordan High School alumni participated in the event.  Due to the wind, the swim was cancelled.  Instead, the swim was replaced with a 5K run, as well as a 5k run at the end.  Basically the swim was thrown out all together, whereas usually the athletes will run a 10k at the end after the swim and bike ride.  It was a hot morning, but they all made it!  Great Job everyone!  Perhaps next year I'll join you...

catch up...

The beginning of May, as soon as finals were over and we found some free time, Josh and I went down to Moab.  We were going to stay in some nice cabins, but it was "Toyota... week" or something like that. Everything was booked.  So we took our tent and camping gear and set up camp!  It was a blast.  We hiked to the arches, did a little 4-wheeling in the Tacoma (up and down baby lions back!), puddle-jumped... and anything and everything we felt like doing.  It was hot most of the time, but a BIG rain/hail storm hit us and cooled things down for a bit (That's when we went puddle jumping).  It was so beautiful down there in Moab.  And for our first trip alone... we both agree that it went really well.