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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Holiday in the Sun

I have been waiting to post about this glorious trip until I felt like blogging, blog posts are exhausting for me, it's like a chore, but I need to keep my life documented so I can make this into a book! I think I am just going to give a general summary of the trip because the days all seem to blur into one there, and I was born with an exceptionally bad memory, here goes starting with the ever exciting airport. Oh and it's kinda detailed just for my own memory to remember it. :)

After an exhausting week of finals I reached the Salt Lake City Airport at 2pm for a flight at 7:50pm. I saw one of my good friends Ali there and she was in the same terminal, so it wasn't so bad talking with her until her plane left and I was informed that my plane was delayed 2 1/2 hours. I was so sick of being at the airport I was about to cry, but thankfully I discovered a starbucks and got a mint chocolate chip frappachino instead. Finally I boarded my plane and Brooke picked me up in Phoenix since the rest of my family was already in Hawaii. When we got to her house it was a little after 1am and I had to switch all my bags into a carry on because, as you all know dad, he didn't want to pay baggage fees haha! So by the time I got packed, showered, and prepared it was 3:30am and I got 1 hr of sleep before waking up and going to the airport for an early morning flight to Honolulu.

When I got to the airport and got to my terminal it was about 7 and then I was informed of something that no one wants to hear when they are about to board a 7 hour flight over the Pacific. The plane was being delayed 3 hours because they needed to wait for a part to arrive that was on another plane and then they needed to fix our plane so we could take off. The time slowly ticked by and I people watched and played episodes of full house on my lap top. Once we were on the plane I happened to have a cute Hawaiian boy my age sitting next to me and we talked for awhile so the ride went quickly. I get the best luck on planes because I have never sat by anyone weird (knock on wood)

Once in Hawaii I changed into my swim suit in the airport bathroom and was picked up in our cute jeep rental car and we were headed straight to Sunset beach!! It was so great to see Ashley since it had been a year! We went back to the condo after the sun went down and enjoyed dinner at Ted's Bakery. I think I could live on their pulled pork bbq sandwiches and never get tired of them. We also got a Ted's Chocolate Haupia pie-soo good!

We celebrated Dad's birthday at the beach and with another pie...
I love dad! I am thankful for how hard he works for our family and for lending me some money for college so I can attend while I am young, ha! you are the best!

One day we went paddleboarding over in Halewia for the day, me, Ally, and Ashley paddled under this bridge and into this river-like area and we found a rope swing. We took turns swinging off of that which was really cool. We also saw lots of turtles poking their heads up next to the boards. We had Killer Tacos for lunch and then just relaxed on the beach, this was one of my favorite days.

Another day we went surfing! This was after my parents left and we went to Castles with Ashley, Lowell, Katie, Jake, and Jeremy. It was so fun, but the water was choppy and so it was hard to paddle out. I got pretty smashed up as the waves kept flipping my board and then my fin jabbed my arm and left a bloody bruise with a big lump that is still on my arm, it won't go away ha.

One day we went to Wiamea and sun-bathed and dove into the big waves and rode them, with Ted's Bakery and Sunset Cake for lunch.

We ate at Waialua Bakery for lunch(Best sandwiches in the world and coconut cookies) several times and of course got Matsumotos shave ice!

On my birthday we went downtown to Waikiki and went on Sheila's boat, it so fun and as we were coming back in they stopped the boat and we were able to jump out and swim in the beautiful blue water. We then went to Dukes and had Nacho's for lunch and the traditional Hula pie. After that we went shopping and got some cute Christmas pajama shorts and necklaces. We headed back to Halewia and ate at my favorite restaurant in the whole world- Halewia Eats. I always get the pad thai and it was heavenly. Then we got a Ted's chocolate haupia pie and ate it back at the condo while watching a Christmas movie. It was perfect.

Christmas day was spent at the beach and we had a nice dinner, it was a great way to celebrate Christmas and I wouldn't mind spending every Christmas in Hawaii!

We went to the macadamia nut farm, the Dole Pineapple plantation, and the soap factory which used to be the sugar mill that my grandparents worked at when they migrated over to Hawaii in the 1900's. We also met up with some Hawaii cousins that we had there and it was fun to meet them and talk with them.

After two weeks my parents went home and I got to stay with Ashley for an extra week and half! It was fun going to the beach, eating good food, going on bike rides , and meeting her super fun roommates and friends.

On New Years Eve we went to a party at the Red house for an hour and then went to a party with Jeremy and his roommates and some other girls. New Years in Hawaii is incredible. It was bigger than any Fourth of July I had ever seen and smoke covers the whole island. As we were standing on the street lighting off fireworks and sparklers someone 15 ft away lit a HUGE one that probably almost blinded me, burst an ear drum, and scared the heck out of me and ash, ha if a bomb ever hit me I imagined it would be something like that. Then we had apple cider and headed home at about 1:30am. When we arrived home Ashley's friend jake and his other friend Nate were sitting in Ashley's house waiting for us. They wanted to hang so we were up until about 4:30am playing cards. I was a little scared off by his friend when he stated his age, 30! um no thanks....

One night when we were hanging out with Jake we went on a bike ride and we went and picked up his friend Lowell (tall, dark, handsome, and muscular)-this is why I need to move to Hawaii. Ashley is probably rolling her eyes as she reads this because I had a crush on all the cute Hawaiian boys, but come on who wouldn't! She must be used to it. Anyway we went to Jake's house and hung out, then we went on the roof and we looked at the stars. Then we went to Ashley's house and we watched surf movies, it was a very, very good night. ;)

On one of my last days in Hawaii we attempted to hike out to Chinaman's hat. We started to, but then decided we should just wait until we had better shoes or boards to paddle out because the coral was so sharp it was torture walking out there.

Ashley took me out to this really nice restaurant, Halewia Joes and we had a really nice dinner there it was so fun to get dressed up and eat at such a nice place right on the ocean :)

Beau and his mom came on my last night and we went out to Halewia Eats and then had Ted's Pie again. By this point though it was hard to enjoy because we discovered it has trans fat so we could only eat a little without feeling disgusting. what a shame...

As I wrote this out now I realize how much I talk about eating, I probably sound like a pig. ha

Monday, January 17, 2011

home sweet home

I haven't blogged in a while and I think it's because I am dreading updating on everything that has happened and haven't had time to take a breath since finals! At the end of the semester I was actually looking forward to spending sometime at home, in my own room, and with my trusty car the Corolla. Since being home I am doing the dreaded job of looking for a job. I have an interview next week so that's good! I also got a scholarship!!! This is definitely a blessing from the Lord and I know I wouldn't have gotten it if He hadn't helped me learn so much in my classes last semester by increasing my understanding and ability to learn the concepts. I am also teaching dance classes at my old studio again and taking classes so that's always fun for me to do. Brooke has also inspired me to find good deals and free things on all these web sites she checks...a favorite of mine became Groupon when they had this deal in November for half off Nordstrom Rack! After that none really caught my attention until today which now leads me to my guilty pleasure....Thrifty Joes!! Everyone else in my family hates this little old pathetic used book store because according to Ally-there are weird people there, and it wreaks with germs haha, but I love going there and getting really good classic books for super cheap! my best find there was the book Beauty by Robin McKinley that Sister Nally let me borrow once and it instantly became one of my favorite books, It is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast and I couldn't put it down. Anyway... today the groupon is pay $10 for $20 worth of books! that is like 6 new books! today is a good day :)