Maui

I was talking to Amber, my sister in law, on the phone the other day. She is so funny. I know I make her crazy every time I call and talk too long about weird stuff, but oh well. She puts up with me. My family is hopefully going to move from Maui pretty soon. Amber asked me what my favorite part of Maui was.
I have not been crazy about living here and so all these negative things came to my mind right away. I kept thinking about that though. I have been here almost 5 months, there has to be something good about this place. So here are some of my favorite parts of Maui, the place I can't wait to leave:

-Whale watching. Honestly it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The beach is only about a block from my condo and we would walk there in the evenings and go watch the whales. You could see them from the shore, but we also bought some binoculars. We also went on a boat ride out to see them. It almost makes me want to be a marine biologist. Almost. The animals are amazing and I learned a lot about them. They are in Maui from about October to April.

-Haleakala, the huge dormant volcano on Maui. We went from sea level to 10,000 feet in a little less than 2 hours. That means almost straight up a cliff. The ride was scary, but the views were breathtaking. When we got to the top we were freezing! The temp change took us by surprise. We were literally above the clouds and it was amazing.

-Learning to chill out. I got used to having less, meaning less of everything. Less space, less stuff, less going out. But you know what, I am just fine. I have a great family and that really is all that matters. I got my priorities in check.

-The coastal drive. Darrell gets to drive along the coast every day for his commute. I have only driven over to Lahaina about 10 times, maybe, and the views are just stunning. You can see two other islands in the distance. All the beautiful rocky cliffs near the shore line are amazing. There are lots of people at the beaches and it's fun to watch the surfers.

-The bishop in our ward. He got out the cattle prod and got us doing what we are supposed to be doing. Darrell got his priesthood and we are going to be sealed in the temple in August?!? Not sure of the date, but that is the plan for now.

-Being able to find babysitting work. Everything is expensive in Maui and I wanted to do what I could to help out with the bills, but I still wanted to stay home with the kids. I was able to charge between $6 and $10 per hour and stay home with my babies. In Utah the going rate is about $2.50 per hour, hardly worth it. A couple weeks there I made over $200 for doing what I would normally be doing with my own kids. Very cool!


I guess that is about all of my favorite parts of Maui. Don't get me started on all the things I don't like. It is a beautiful place to go on vacation and leave the kids home. I would definitely come back with no kids or when the kids are older.