Tourist Time!

So my best friend from Utah, Kaelyn, was here for the past week and a half to visit me and it was so much fun having her here! She got here on Oct. 8th and didn't go home until the 18th so it was a good long trip and gave us time to do everything we wanted to do. It was her first trip to Hawaii and since this is my last semester out here she took the opportunity to come out and visit me. She rented a car and we basically drove all around the island hitting every tourist spot that we could think of to give her the tourist Hawaii experience as well as the experience of a college student going to school in Hawaii. Plus, I got the chance to go to some tourist spots that I hadn't been to before either so it was good for me to see those things before I leave this place. :(

We went to the swap meet and the International Marketplace to get some shopping done and then stopped by Wal-Mart in town to get a few things we needed.

She came to church with us on both of the Sundays that she was here.

And we all got bright neon Hawaii shirts and decided to all match on Sunday night.

This was Kaelyn's first Thai food experience. We went to Haleiwa Eats in Haleiwa (obviously) up on the north shore. She liked it so much that we went back there a second time before she went back home!

Then after Thai food we went to my school's volleyball game so she could see that too.

We went to the beach, A LOT! This was at Waimea

We also went to the Haunted Lagoon that was going on at the PCC with a big group of people. It was fun that she came in October and got to do this. Everybody in the community goes and it's become so big on the island that they had to have it open the whole month because last year they only did it for like 2 weeks and had to turn people away. They make a lot of money off of it and it's just fun!

Here's Alexis, Kaelyn, and I at the beach again. This one is at Hukilau, the beach right across the street from my house.

And we went to the girl's and boy's soccer games too.

I couldn't let her come to Hawaii and not get the full PCC experience. So we did the Haunted Lagoon one night and then the next day we went back to do the villages and canoe pageant. The luau was sold out for that night so we bought tickets for the next night. Thank goodness my friend Bryan was so willing to help us out and get us 50% off on our tickets since he works there! It was so nice of him. So on Friday night we went back to the PCC and did the luau and night show thing. That was my first time seeing the new night show and it was AWESOME!! This was taken before the night show started.

Then on her last Saturday here we crammed everything else in. We went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation, then we went over to Pearl Harbor. After that we went to Costco so me and Ashlen could get food to hold us out through the rest of the semester (THANKS KAELYN!) and then we went back to get ready (and so I could write my talk) and went to Foodfest on campus that night, then the volleyball game, and went and saw the movie Surrogates after. It was a pretty good movie. Weird, which that's what I was expecting because it's about robots, but it just kinda ended. I was entertained but I'm thinking it was probably a one time see. Here are the pictures.

This was our amazing ice cream we all shared. It was in a half cut pineapple with pineapple chunks in the bottom, the famous pineapple sherbet on top, with chocolate, caramel, and strawberry syrup. Wow! Don't worry, we finished it. (and all gained 5 pounds)

Some things I didn't get pictures of were going to Pearl Harbor on Saturday, going to get acai bowls two different times, once before the beach and once for breakfast, and pictures of foodfest. She's gone now so it's out with the life of a tourist and trying to recover my life as a student. But it was definitely worth it!

Time for Fall

Well I survived First Term and actually made it out with good grades! I got a B+ in Physics which made me very happy (I was just praying I passed the class period) and I ended up with an A in stats. I was trying to find any major that didn't require me to take stats because I am terrible at math and everybody was scaring me out of it and I don't even know why now! I just kept sitting in that class waiting for it to get harder and it didn't. I was very proud of myself. Now Fall classes started today and I know that this semester is going to be a little bit overwhelming because people are starting to scare me out of my Human Physiology class by telling me how hard it is but hopefully I can do it.

This past week I had absolutely nothing to do because we got a week break before the Fall semester started. It was so nice to just be a worry-free bum in Hawaii and actually be able to enjoy this beautiful place where I LIVE! Needless to say, we hit up the beach A LOT and just hung out with each other. That's really all there is to do in Hawaii. But it was so relaxing, fun, and really needed! My friend Shad's birthday was this past Monday and he was turning 24. We wanted to do something special for him because he's leaving on a mission probably in January so it would be his last big hoorah birthday before everybody goes their separate ways. I made him that awesome fun-fetti cake that is pictured below and we had a bonfire on this hidden beach. It was a lot of fun until we got busted by some Turtle Bay people. I guess that beach was on Turtle Bay property (oops!) so they sat there and watched until the fire was completely out. That was kind of a drag but it was still a beautiful, clear, starry night and was fun to be all together.

Side Note: The Office started back up today (Yipee!) and Hawaii has some of the most beautiful starry nights that I have ever seen in my life!

Shad and I

Labor Day

Well Labor Day this year was pretty awesome, not gonna lie. It was so nice not having class and just getting a little break before I have to worry about finals this week. At first we thought our Labor Day plans were going to be foiled by the rain, but it only rained for about 20 minutes (typical Hawaii) and then it was a beautiful hot and sunny day! Instead of me telling you all at once, there are pictures of all the events we did so I'll say it as I go.

First, we all got in the truck or in Bryan's jeep and made our way up to the North Shore to go to Sunset Beach. This is me and Emily in the back of the truck.

Sunset Beach

Then we made our way to Kava Roots to go get a delicious Acai Bowl! It was definitely one of the best ones I've had! After leaving Kava Roots we were in the Foodland parking lot going to our car and I saw John Locke from the TV show Lost in his truck! Unfortunately I don't have a picture to depict and prove this event because he was leaving the parking lot but I saw him I promise! I've heard he's really nice so I was bummed that I didn't get to meet him and get a picture but it was still really cool!

After finishing our Acai Bowls we made our way to Waimea Beach to enjoy the sun some more. :)

After we were all fried from the sun and dead tired, we went back to Foodland and back to the Bus Stop House to start our Barbeque. I don't know what it is about BBQ's that are so fun and make the day so much better but they do! We had some intense Guitar Hero going on and some yummy food with fun friends! It was pretty awesome

This is a Chilean (sp?) hot dog that we had courtesy of our friend Anthony, who lived in Chile for a long time. It's a hot dog with mayo on the bun, avocado, and tomatoes. It usually has onions on top of all of that but I'm not a big onion fan. I admit, I was a bit skeptical at first but I tried it anyway and it was pretty good! It was very filling but it was good.

All in all, a pretty freakin awesome Labor Day in beautiful Hawaii! :)

Almost Done!

Well there is a week left of first term and I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. These past 6 weeks have definitely not been a relaxing, stress free time for me. I was taking Statistics, Physics, and New Testament 2 and having 3 months worth of material crammed into 6 weeks definitely doesn't make things any easier. But with only 1 more test in Stats and Physics and finals next week, I feel like I can start to breathe again. I'm ready for it to be done!

Other than this term being very stressful and worrisome with school, I was wondering (freaking out is more like it) about life in general. There have been recent happenings to my life and to my family that got me thinking about where I should be this winter semester and what I really want to do with my life. I was making myself sick over what I should do because those of you who know me really well know how AWESOME I am at making decisions, especially life changing ones. But after weeks of worrying and studying, venting to my family, fasting, and praying really hard, I think I have my near future pretty much laid out; transferring to BYU (if I get in) and majoring in athletic training. Thank goodness for my family being there to calm me down and listening to me and for prayer! I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my family or the Lord to help me make decisions in my life.

Other than that, here's some fun pictures from this past Summer that my mom just emailed to me. Some were on her camera that "went missing" for 4 months! Found in the sofa that I swear we checked a thousand times. Oh and on a completely unrelated note: The Office starts back up in 2 weeks!!! :)

Here's the latest picture of my newest nephew, brother and sister! Parker is already a chunk! I love it

This is awesome. After swimming, too tired to even eat

I love this one. It totally shows their personalities (as Keith once said)

Recent Happenings

So obviously I've been slacking on blogging lately. Here's a recap of the last few things that have happened in my Summer. First, my mom, dad, Lauren, and I all hopped in the car on July 2 to make a drive out to Colorado to visit Angie, Keith, and Jackson. It was a long drive but it was a lot of fun to see them and just hang out with family. Jackson has gotten so big and I don't know when I'll see them again so it was a lot of fun. Then I took a trip out to Arizona to visit Allie and meet Max. That was SO much fun! Max is an awesome guy so I approved of him for Allie and we just hung out and went to the lake and just partied. And lastly right before I left to come back to Hawaii, Nicole had her little baby boy, Parker Jeremy Burton. So we drove up to see him and they came down right before I left to say goodbye. Now I'm back in PaRaDiSe! Here are the pictures of those events. I'll try to update more often now. The end

Allie came to visit!

It seemed like FOREVER since we had seen each other but after almost 2 months of waiting, last weekend Allie came to Utah!! She stayed with me for the weekend and it was so much fun. We basically just hung out and shopped around (pretty casual) but it was still a blast and I was still sad to see her go back home. These are just a couple pictures of while she was here.

Us right after Church on Sunday

Typical Allie face

All of us washing the dishes after Spachalli and Cheesecake for Dustin's Birthday

She's gonna kill me for putting this one up. haha Don't worry Al, not many people look at my blog. NAAAAAACHOOOOOOOooooo!!