Maui 2: Donuts and Wedding Day

A cemetery we passed on our walk.  In case you don't know, I love cemeteries.  They are beautiful, peaceful places that remind us of the legacies of those who've gone before and inspire us to be a better person today because our own time on earth is limited.

When summer had begun, Steve and I started going on walks together in the mornings.  We decided to go for a walk and explore Wailuku, plus I had a destination in mind, Donut Dynamite, that we heard so much about from my cousin the day before.  So, we google mapped it and set off on our walk.  We saw a lot of chickens and some, like the one in the following picture, were trying to do a wobbly-walk-balance thing on top of the bushes. It was funny to watch.

Weird chicken doing the wobble-walk on the bushes.

We made it to Donut Dynamite!

The owner and creative genius herself served us these tasty treats.  They were $4 a piece, but like chocolate truffles, you just gotta try more than one.

Since we were new to the place, it was recommended we try the honey-goat-cheese-walnut (with a sprinkle of fresh thyme, and a molokai sweet potato (made with sweet potato in the brioche dough giving it a more tender consistency).  We also decided on a lilikoi malasada and a pop-your-cherry fritter (with cracked pink peppercorns and chocolate shavings).  So with our wallet $16 lighter, and a box of fresh, delightful donuts in hand, we set off back to our room to "carb-load" after our 3-mile walk in the hot Maui sun. Yeah, I know, that's not effective carb-loading, but it's a second burst of endorphines, right?

When we got back to our room at the Wailuku Guest House, we cut the donuts into pieces and tried them all.  My favorite was the goat cheese one!  It was so YUM! Steve wasn't as impressed with that one.  He was all about the lilikoi malasada.  It was heavily loaded with the sweet-tart lilikoi custard that just made your tastebuds pour tears of joy with hyper-activity.  My second favorite was the molokai sweet potato because it really did have a lovely texture and the purple icing is so pretty.  In case you're wondering, it doesn't particularly have sweet-potato flavor, it mostly tastes like a really yummy donut.

What we termed as the "hotdog" tree.  Those seed pods look like long hot dogs.

Me holding a fresh mango that had freshly fallen from the tree along our route and one of the "hotdog" seed pods from whatever that tree is.

The flowers on this tree are really cool and interesting, something we had never seen before.

Just a picture out our rental car window showing some of what things looked like there.

After our walk and breakfast of donuts and fresh mango, we headed off to where my cousin was setting up for her wedding in Kihei, about a 20 minute drive.  The countryside along that drive is beautiful and green.

Getting the ceremony set up.  The wind wasn't on our side.

The backdrop had to be weighted down with large rocks to keep it from taking flight.  Uncle Joe was the brains behind that engineering operation.

Steve helped hang the lights in the pavillion, then he photographed it.

The ceremony started late, but was short-sweet-and beautiful.  I decided I really like the shorter ceremonies.  It was a blast photographing her wedding.

My cousin, Uilani, and our grandmother, Linda Guting.

The ceremony was followed by a photoshoot and then a rockin reception with dancing and dinner.  We kept clicking photos all through the night.  As things were winding down and people started getting really drunk and others were starting to clean up the party, we decided it was time for us to turn in for the night.  We took the groom's mom and aunty to their hotel and then headed to our own for the night.  Apparently we missed seeing the drunk groom pass out and have to be wheelchaired up to his room.  The drunk bride was throwing up in the rental car.  I think we left at a good time.

15th Anniversary: Maui Day 1

For our 15th anniversary, we wanted to go to Hawaii (planned on it a couple years ago) and we couldn't come up with the money for it until my cousin contacted me and said she'd pay my airfare if I photographed her wedding.  HECK YA! So, Steve and I went to Maui and Oahu for our anniversary this year and we got to photograph and attend my cousin's wedding!  I just LOVE her!

On our photography blog (clifephotos.blogspot.com), I shared 6 blogposts of a few favorite photos of my cousin's wedding (Haku Leis, Getting Ready, Ceremony, Reception, Mikayla, Beachside Photos).
Check them out!

And we were off to Maui...

I was hungry at the airport.  I was happy to find a bacon egg sandwich for a decent price.

Flying above Utah

Above the clouds now!

Not the prettiest selfie, but it was good times with Steve at my side on the plane.

 One of my favorite moments on the plane was sharing a kindle with Steve and both of us were reading an interesting story, but since he's a faster reader than I am, he'd read the page and then have to wait another 30 seconds for me to finish reading before we could turn the page.  It was great because if something was funny, he'd chuckle and then a few seconds later, I'd see why he chuckled.  How romantic.

Over the ocean

This sunset lasted a long time because we were flying into it.

 When we got to Maui, it was dark and to us it felt extra late, even though it was only 10pm there.  We went to bed almost as soon as we found the Wailuku Guesthouse where we had a reservation.  My mom gifted that hotel stay to us for our anniversary present.  That was incredibly generous!  I so LOVE her and thank her for that.  The room was wonderful, comfortable, and small, but I'd stay there again.

The Hibiscus Room at the inn we stayed at.

The corner of our room had beach supplies!

Steve standing by our door showing off the room.  It was small, but big enough for us.

What a nice little gift of mango, apple, blueberry, pecan bread from our guesthouse host.  They'd give a little treat every other day when they come clean the room.

The treat also came with beautiful fresh tropical flowers!

Cool Tree!

The entire world was in bloom.  These bushes were right by Walmart.

There are tons of chickens everywhere.  They dig holes to take dust baths in.  That's what you see above.  Sorry, bad pic.

 We went to Walmart to get some food so we could save money and not eat out every meal.  While there we spotted some definite cultural differences in the goods they sell there.  Of course I had to have pictures!

This ice cream was tempting but we didn't have a freezer big enough for it... and I couldn't bring myself to pay $9 for a quart!

 We also hit up Costco which was next door.  Again, more fun Hawaiian food items!

Fresh Fish!  Need I say more?  Mom?  April? Where you at?

We decided to eat at Costco because the price is the same there as it is in Utah, and we know the menu!  The one difference is the eating court is outdoors and there are little chickens running around everywhere.

Chickens roaming beneath the tables (excuse the squat pose from an innocent customer)

More chickens

 After our meal, we headed over to meet my cousins, aunts, and grandma to make haku leis and assemble the bouquets.

My cousin, Lani Guting, laying out her flowers for her lei

Me starting my first lei.  I'm braiding long strands of plastic garbage bag to make the rope that ties around the head.

 When we were done there, we headed to Zippy's, a Hawaiian food chain, to eat dinner.  I thought it was good stuff.  So good, we went there again later on during our trip.   I liked the drippy Teri-burger.  I didn't care for the stew I got the second go-around.

Smile

Bridger gives good smiles

Our Daughters

I just want to talk about my daughters for a bit. They are growing up, and it's actually really noticable. Lily is almost as tall as I am. I think she's only an inch shorter. Today at church Shiloh Funk caught us afterward and said that she noticed this tall young woman walking down the hall and didn't recognize her and wondered who she was, and then she realized that it was Lily! Then she wondered if she was just wearing tall shoes or if she's actually that tall. Well, it just so happened Lily was wearing tall shoes, but even without them, she is passing others up quickly. She has exceeded her Aunty April, Grandma Bobbie, and I think I'm next.

I did a yard sale not too long ago with a neighbor friend who was selling her clothes and shoes. Lily fit lots of her clothes and Amara fit her shoes, which was a complete shocker! Last time we bought shoes for Amara, a couple months prior, we were buying her kids size 13, but these shoes were all youth size 2! That's 2 full sizes up from where she was.

Aside from the physical lengthening evolution happening before my eyes, their interests and hobbies are evolving and their talents and gifts are emerging.

Lily is loving stretching and getting flexible. One Sunday a few weeks ago Lily stayed home from church because she was sick. When we got home, she showed us that she could do the splits. She was stretching the entire time we were at church and got into the splits for the first time. Although she hasn't maintained that flexibility completely, she's still pretty bendy and actually enjoys stretching.

Amara has an amazing jump and a beautiful gazelle-like leap. It's fun for me to watch her athleticism and grace when she dances. Both she and Lily like to make up dances together from time to time and perform them for us. Their latest performance of "Fight Song" was my favorite!

So, I've noticed Amara has an aptitude for learning foreign language. She can repeat and recall words and phrases really well. 

Lily has a natural capacity to compose piano music and figure out the patterns in written song.