Learn to Stamp and Scrap with Lynn Larson

New Photo Album - Hawaii Incentive Trip

Many people have been asking to see photos from my recent Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip to Hawaii.  I have shared a couple of photos in my posts after I returned home but have also started a Hawaii Photo Album in the left column of my blog since I can't stop dreaming about this fabulous trip either!

 

Here is a picture of my hubby and I - man, do we still look tired from the trip over.  We flew nearly 13 hours to get to Hawaii.  With the time difference of 6 hours from Hawaii to Vermont, we were just starting to feel normal here:))

 

This is a photo of my "INKredible sister", Diana Gibbs (from Arizona) and I before the luau that Stampin' Up! put on for us Thursday evening.  We are both wearing the Stampin' Up! shirts that were made special for the incentive trip.  We almost looked like twins - right down to the color of our shoes and the ties at the bottoms of our capris so we had to take a picture...

 

When are husbands were done taking our picture, we had to take a picture of the two of them that looked a lot alike as well:))  They have on their Stampin' Up! incentive trip shirts for the luau as well.  To the left is Jeff Gibbs (Diana's hubby) and to the right is my honey, Darryl.  They thought we were strange taking their picture since they didn't even meet each other until today.  I wanted to take the picture for my scrapbook. 

You know what was funny about this trip, Darryl was the one asking me if I wanted to take certain photos for my scrapbook.  I was taking TONS of photos already, but he saw photo opps that he knew I would want to include in my scrapbook...  He is beginning to understand my obsession and looks for photo opps himself - too cute!

Anyway, be sure to check out the photo album that I created for Hawaii.  I took way too many photos to include them all, so I hope you enjoy the sampling of our trip in this album.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

Hawaiian Sunset

Everyone that knows me and knows of any of my trips to the ocean knows how much I look forward to sunsets and sunrises.  Our trip to Hawaii was no exception.  Darryl and I would start at one part of the resort and do some major walking to other key points to take some photos before ending up at the final sunset watching place of "Budda Point" at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.  That was the best place to watch whales and sunsets all at the same time...and yes, I did say "watch whales", but that is not what I am writing about today:))

 

The sunsets in Hawaii were just fabulous!  They aren't your typical red and orange sunsets.  They start off with reds, blues and purples and the sun is a bright orange.  In Hawaii, there are usually a lot of clouds in the late afternoon this time of year so the sky has even more depth and dimension.

I particularly love this shot going down one of the walkways heading to Budda Point.  I like the fact that the sunset is peering through the palm trees.  Did you notice the torches that line the walkway?  They were all over the resort.  I must say that whoever designed the layout and landscaping of this resort was an absolute genius.  There are so many "perfect" pictures you can get here with just the right architecture and just the right landscaping all surrounding the natural beauty.  It was something that was truly breath taking!

Lynn

Hawaii Lava Rock and White Coral

One of the biggest things you notice after you land in Kona Airport and head up north is the acres of lava that surround you and the "white coral graffitI" that is written all over the lava rock.  It was actually neat to read the writings in the white coral as we rode the shuttle from the airport to the Hilton Waikoloa Village.  You would see things like people's names and "marry me" among other things. 

Toward the end of our trip Darryl and I wandered around the resort's walking path and ended up at a little beach off to the side of the resort.  It had the perfect lava rock background with some white coral near the deep turquoise blue colored water.  Darryl decided to write his own little message using white coral next to "our beach" to remember that we were there.

 

Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?  We loved our trip to Hawaii and even extended it a couple of days to make it a second honeymoon.  We had the best time and got to fall in love with Hawaii, its people and its culture.  It was just fabulous!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lynn Larson

Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort - Waterfall

In sharing some of the highlights of my Stampin' Up! incentive trip to Hawaii, I thought I would share some views at our resort.  This waterfall is right on the side of the Ocean Tower hotel that we stayed at all week.  This waterfall trickles down into a saltwater pool with waterslides.

 

This resort is so unbelievable.  It is like a fantasy land and we were lucky enough to live inside of it for a week.  What a beautiful and extremely clean facility! 

Lynn

Still in Hawaii...

I have been at the Big Island of Hawai'i all this week and only got internet access for today to quickly check my email before going home.  I thought that while I was on I would share a photo or two of our trip so far.

 

This is a cool shot of a sea turtle sunning himself on Black Sand Beach.  Black Sand Beach was one of the many stops we made on our Volcano Tour on Tuesday.  Our guide was great.  He gave us a bunch of info about the history of the island.  Did you know that there are 12 climates on the Big Island alone?  We toured around the whole island and saw the dessert area (near our resort) that has miles and miles of barron lava rock, a tropical rain forest with the best waterfalls and grasslands where Parker Ranch is located. 

This beach was an awesome sight to see.  The black sand is actually lava that has been pulled in and out of the waves and crushed into teeny tiny pebbles - almost like rock salt but slightly smaller. 

We are here for one more day before flying home.  More next week when I get caught up:))

Thanks for stopping by!

Lynn Larson

Hilton Waikoloa Village in Hawaii - Here We Come!

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post.  I have been working on many top secret projects for different events that I can't quite post publicly yet.  I have also been getting ready for Stampin' Up!'s incentive trip to Hawaii this year.  We are leaving on Saturday for the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island.  If you haven't checked out this resort before, you can check it out by clicking HERE.  If you have a minute, check out the photo tour they provde on the home page, it is just gorgeous there! 

Here is a sneak peak at part of the pool on the property.  If you check out the lounge chairs on the left side of the pool, that might give you some inkling of how large this pool is.  It just keeps going and going. 

Some things we plan on doing while there are having lunch by the lagoon with dolphins, ride on boats just for the resort to take us around the 62 acres, tour volcanos (we are doing that Tuesday), go whale watching, sit by the pool or the waterfalls, etc.  We are even having our own Luau put on by Stampin' Up on Thursday night.  I am so excited to be going, I can't even begin to tell you!

Here is a photo of the dolphins that are kept right at the resort.  We can swim with them if we would like or just stand back and watch them.  I definitely plan on having lunch overlooking the dolphins while we are there.  Aren't they just the most incredible creatures?!

I will be gone from Saturday, March 21st through Monday, March 31st and will have very limited access to email.  Since I will be on vacation during that time, I will not start emailing anyone back until April 1st.  I do get a lot of email and it may take me a few days to get through them all.  I will scan them and do my best to answer them in order of importance or deadlines. 

I am planning on scheduling a couple of posts while I am away so you will still get to see some of the many projects I have been working on but couldn't share quite yet.  I think that you will enjoy them.  I have had a blast playing around with them!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lynn Larson