Our Hawaiian Honeymoon

It has been a wonderful, stressful, crazy, fun, whirlwind of a summer.  Michael and I got engaged in mid-May and miraculously found a date that worked for us, the venue we've had our eye on for over a year, our families and our pastor (who currently lives in Nicaragua as a missionary with his family).  So when everything lined up, we jumped on it.  September 15, 2012.  Four months went by in a blink of an eye and we are about to leave for the airport for our return flight to Seattle after a weeklong honeymoon in Maui.  I'm sure I'll be back here again to talk about the wedding, the prep work and projects that went into our big day, but right now I'm incredibly grateful for a chance to breathe, reflect, actually take some pics with something other than my iPhone (I've missed you, DSLR), and hang out with my husband. :)

Neither of us had ever been to Hawaii before this trip, and since we knew our honeymoon was basically an excuse to be lazy, we wanted to pick somewhere beautiful, where we could go on small adventures if we wanted to, but mostly just lay on the beach or near the pool.  Ka'anapali, Maui was perfect for all of the above.  Here is a peek at our part adventurous, but mostly extremely lazy first week as a married couple:

And here are some of the Instagram pics I took over the week:

It has been an amazing week, and wouldn't have been possible without all the help we received from family and friends via our honeymoon registry (we used Honeyfund--highly recommend it to anyone planning a honeymoon beyond their means).  A huge, giant thank you to everyone who contributed!

Some highlights of the week: swimming every single day, snorkeling, reading by the pool, exploring the island in our rental car, laughing crazy hard at a magic/comedy show in Lahaina, watching the sunset from our balcony every night, waking up early enough to see the sun rise, Lava Java Coffee in Kihei, breakfast at the Gazebo, calling Michael my husband, our awesome new sunny g's (pictured above A LOT), and lazy nights watching movies in bed.

I'm going to miss our honeymoon, but am also looking forward to normal, every day married life.  Stay tuned...