Oh and one more thing

I forgot to put up the video of the sharks! :)

My christmas gift to all...A new post ;)

Hi all!!
I am so sorry I haven't written in such a long time, but don't worry I am alive and things are still going fabtastic in H-town :) Lots has been going on! 
Kandi and Bill were in town so I went to dinner with them to celebrate Bill birthday and catch-up...it was so good seeing them! I wish I could have seen Karly and Kyle, sounds like they are doing great and growing up so fast. I can't believe Kyle is driving!! If they are reading this I love you both and miss you!!
My parents also came to visit, which was awesome. Sunday they cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner for my friends and I and it was spectacular! :) All who know me know my love for thanksgiving and it didn't disappoint! I felt so bad I had to work most of the time they were here, but luckily they are pretty self-sufficient and kept themselves entertained:) I did take one day off and we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) for my mom's birthday (30th of course ;)) and my friend Mon totally hooked us up! He works there so he gave us a VIP tour of all the villages and back stage at the evening  show. That was about the only day we took pictures, my bad! Here they are:

Some other highlights of the trip included a University of Hawaii (UH) basketball game, the swap meet, and that is all I can remember right now haha. Honestly the whole trip went by way too fast and it is all a blur now!

I am still busy with the calling as FHE coordinator and am even more stressed since my partner got deployed to Iraq and I am flying solo! Luckily things have been working out great and we are having a lot of fun. We have written holiday letters to the troops, gone to a UH basketball game, decorated gingerbread houses, and gone on a trolley ride to look at the Christmas lights. Here are some pics of the branch:

Now what you all have been waiting for...pics from the shark encounter! Saturday morning we got up early and went over to the North Shore to catch a boat that took us out about 3 miles and dumped us into the ocean with sharks. Ok we had a cage to swim in and snorkel masks so I never felt I was in danger. We saw some awesome 10-12 ft. sharks that would come right up to the side of the cage and blink at us haha. Oh and I have to tell this story for Renae cuz she will freak! While we were in the cage swimming the water was really rough and we were getting thrown around pretty good. Well Jon got sick and threw up. Oh my gosh I flipped! We were snorkeling around and I could see it in the water so I jumped up and wanted to get out, but the cage had drifted about 10 ft. from the boat so I was trapped in the cage swimming in puke! Granted it was the ocean so it diluted pretty quickly but it was super nasty nonetheless! Happy ending though, we got back on the boat and they had a hot shower waiting for us...Hallelujah!!! On the way back in we saw a bunch of spinner dolphins that kept jumping up and doing tricks next to the boat , soo cool! And we also saw a whale! Totally worth every penny!

Lastly here is a compilation of some random stuff that has happened in the last month and a half:
Finally got the pics scanned from the Haunted Lagoon at PCC.
I got free tickets to the Symphony from a girl in the branch that play the violin for them and got to meet Bela Fleck, 18 time Grammy winning banjo player...Yee haw :) Really he is awesome though!
Also got free tickets to the Marine Forces Band concert and got to meet singer Anita Hall and Jake Shimabukuru, ukulele genius!! Seriously if you have never heard or seen him you-tube him, he will knock your socks off! And he is super super nice!
I found my favorite beach so far called Lanikai Beach...stunningly beautiful, soft sand, not very crowded, and some shade. Who could ask for more!
I got caught in a terenchal downpour coming home from mini golf one night-literally clear sky one second then snap a bucket of water thrown on my head. Surprisingly refreshing :)
I made festive crafts with my Kindergarten group...I promise it is work :)
And last but not least I finally tried SPAM and eggs from McDonalds. My review...not inedible, not incredible :)

Love you all so much and am sooo sad I won't be home for Christmas!! But, I will see the Robinson's in a week so I can handle it :) Best wishes to all and Mele kalikimaka!!!

Chinatown

Saturday we took the bus from Waikiki to Chinatown for some lunch and shopping. I went with Jon and some of his friends that go to school at BYU-Hawaii. They are originally from Thailand so they knew of all the good little places to eat and shop in Chinatown...lucky for me! :) We had dim sum at a place called Good Luck restaurant and it was so good! I had never had dim sum before and I was pleasantly surprised :) It is basically a variety of steamed dumplings with different fillings like shrimp and pork. They look a little scary at first, not gonna lie, but they are quite tasty and inexpensive! We got a whole table full of food for 6 of us for $35! After we went to lunch we wandered around the different shops and markets that have all sorts of fresh produce and ethnic ingredients. We bought some strange fruits, one was delish...the other was the complete opposite! The little red fruit is called Rambutan(?) and it is sweet and juicy. The big spikey fruit is called Durian. It smells so putrid and the taste is likewise...imagine the taste of rotten potato salad. But hey at least I can say I tried it right?! Here is the slideshow of pictures...enjoy :)

I'd Carve That!

So this week was filled with Halloween festivities. On Tuesday night we carved pumpkins with some of the girls I visit teach and had such a good time! We got the kit with patterns and tools so that we could make designs on the pumpkins, fancy style :) I made a vampire cat, Alena made a spider, and Mona made a ghost...so she says ;) Just kidding they all turned out great!

Then on Wednesday night we went to the Haunted Lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center over in Laie. They haunted the canoe ride and it was freaky! They had guys that would hide under the water and pop up and splash you as you rode past, they had people that would lean over the bridges or they dropped big hairy spiders down onto you. Seriously the best $8 scare you will ever get. Something that you just can't get on the mainland! :) We have some pictures from it but I haven't had time to scan them in yet sorry. 

On Thursday night I had some friends over to watch The Office and made a spooky dinner of spaghetti and 'eyeballs' with 'lady finger' french bread and dirt cups with worms for dessert. Yum-o! It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself ;) 

I forgot to take a picture at first so this is a half eaten version haha. 

 So little red riding hood, an angel, a witch, Superman, Batman, a New Kids on the Block fan, and a pimp  walk into a bar...

That pretty much describes Friday night:) I went with Mona and some friends from work to Moose Mcgillicutty's to dance and we had a blast! They loved there Jäger bombs but don't worry I just had some chocolate milk ;) Let me just say Mardi Gras is to New Orleans what Halloween is to Waikiki! There were thousands of people wandering the streets in anything and everything you could imagine. I didn't really take any pictures unfortunately but one of my co-workers got this nasty one of me after dancing...I was little red riding 'hood' ;) BUT you can't even see my bling or most of my costume for that matter...sad story! I will check with my other friend to see if she got any better ones.

Here is the rest of the group:

New Kids on the Block groupies: Jayme, Ali, Natalie, and Tricia

Venus and Serena? aka Ann Marie, Loretta, and Thea

Jijo, Mona, and Natalie

And here is some random goodness from around town:

Pants optional...

Moral of the story...best Halloween ever!! I would recommend it to anyone who is not faint of heart or easily scarred for life ;)

Fall Break Fun

So not this past week but the week before was Fall Break for the school district so I ended up getting about 10 days off! :) Derrek flew in on Friday and we had a good time exploring Waikiki that weekend. We went to the aquarium, got Mani-pedi's (he just got a pedicure), and had a picnic by the beach. Saturday night we celebrated my friend Christine's birthday and went out to sushi. I ate an unagi roll (which is eel!) and a spicy yellow fin roll and didn't spit it out haha I was so proud of myself!! Maybe this sushi thing isn't so bad :) Monday we hit up the north shore for some snorkeling at Shark's Cove, cliff jumping at Waimea Point, and acai bowls of course...mmm! Then Tuesday D-rock and I flew to Kauai with Christine and her friend also named Christine from Boston, and Jijo. We all stayed in an awesome 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom condo with full kitchen and 3 lanai's! It also had a sand bottom pool with 2 water slides, waterfall caves, and multiple hot tubs...fabulous! While we were there we hiked the first 2 miles of the Na Pali coastline to the private beach which was spectacular...seriously a beautiful hike! We swam in Queen's bath, visited Waimea Canyon which is also called the grand canyon of the pacific, amazing! We even saw a monk seal sleeping on the beach! Also, they have a BBQ place called Scotty's that is off the hook yummy! Honestly probably the best food I have had in hawaii thus far...almost worth the airfare over just to eat there ;) We flew back to Oahu on Friday and our flight was delayed by almost 2 hours :( That kind of threw a wrench in our plans so we did dinner and a movie that night. We saw Eagle Eye which I thought was good...but I like any thing with Shia LaBeouf :) Saturday we hiked Diamond Head and went to Pearl Harbor which was really neat. I had never been there and it was a really touching experience. I think everyone who has the chance should take the opportunity to see it. Derrek flew back to the mainland Sunday night...I guess all good things must come to an end. It was so fun to be a tourist again and explore more of the islands that I haven't seen. I thoroughly enjoyed the vacation and it was really hard to go back to work! But I think my bank account will be glad I went back :) Here are the pictures from Kauai, I will put up slide shows from the rest of the week as soon as I get the pics. 

Kauai Condo

Na Pali Coastline Hike

 Queen's Bath

Waimea Canyon and Poipu Beach

I can't wait for all the visitors that are coming in November and December, I am seriously anxious!! :) My 3 month mark is tomorrow can you believe it?!?! Time is zooming! Love you guys and honestly miss you sooo sooo much!

Surprise, surprise!!

Well I flew home to Utah last weekend to surprise everyone and I had a whirlwind of a trip! It was awesome :) I left Honolulu at 9:40 pm Wednesday, had a 30 minute lay over in San Francisco, and got into SLC at 9:05 am Thursday. My mom picked me up from the airport and we made the rounds to surprise everyone. We went to my dad's work, Costco to see Auntie and  Shawn, Overstock to see Renae, then over to my grandparents. After that we got ready and headed downtown to the temple for the main reason I was in town...Emily's wedding! She didn't think I was going to be able to make it (and neither did I until about 2 weeks ago) and I think her reaction was the best of anyone haha. She started screaming and crying then I started crying...totally worth no sleep on an overnight flight for that moment!! She was so beautiful and has never seemed so genuinely happy. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jake Bates...AHH that is so weird to say!! But I love it :) 

Between the time change and lack of sleep I didn't waking up on Friday until 1 pm...but hey that is only 9am Hawaii time! I went to the mall with my mom and Kim to hit up some stores they don't have in Hawaii and I got a new phone...Woo hoo! Anyone who saw my old one knows it needed a makeover and I was pretty proud of myself for going 2 years without getting a new one! 

On saturday I went out to Miller Motor Sports Park for the last big race of the season and it was great...I am not use to such wide open spaces and big roads anymore so it was a nice change haha.  While we were there we rode the kool bus which was freaking amazing!! Best $5 I have ever spent :)

Saturday night we had a BBQ for Tucker's birthday at Renae's house. Mo and I both brought our Wii's so we played Rockband and Mario Kart...very entertaining. We also had an intense round on Texas Hold 'Em going on. I was cleaning up, but decided to let the birthday boy have the win ;) His birthday was on September 19th which just happens to be national "Talk Like a Pirate Day" so needless to say we just had to have a pirate pinata! It made the rounds for photo ops...Thanks Mikey! And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't bring him back a surfing monkey carved out of wood ;)

Well the trip was WAY too short, but it sure was packed full of good times! It was so geat to see everyone again..I can't believe it has already been 2 months since I moved! Well I love you all and hope you come see me soon! 

Snap, crackle, and pop!

Today I came home from work and was kind of stressing because I had to teach the lesson for FHE tonight and I hadn't even started...so surprising I know! ;) Anyway I grabbed my computer to start looking up stuff for the lesson, but the computer had no battery power left and shut right off. It was still connected to the charger but it wouldn't light up. I wiggled the cord around and got it to light up so I tried to keep in that position but then I looked down and it was melting through the plastic on the cord and smoking!! Umm...game over! So by this time it is like 5pm and FHE starts at 7:30...panic time! I jumped in the car and drove to the mall, bought a new cord ($82 later) and made it back to my place by 5:45! If you have ever been to Waikiki you know that was a miracle! Well the lesson went well (if I do say so myself JK!!!), and my baby is fire safe, for now :)

Oh and here are some picture from snuba way back when...I forgot to put them on my last posts.

Marilyn and I all geared up!

Turtle, turtle...

Just another day in paradise

Ok I'm finally caught up to this past week.

I started Institute on Wednesday. I am taking a Hawaiian culture class where we are learning about traditions, history, etc. and also a little bit of the language. The teacher is really funny so we have a good time! I am also taking...wait, get ready...preparing for eternal marriage! Gag I know, but it is the only class on Wednesday and that is the only night I can go. Luckily it is almost all singles and only like 1 couple so I think I might be able to handle it...MAYBE!  

I ditched hula lessons on Thursday because I was soo tired and didn't feel like dealing with traffic so Christine and I went to the mall instead :) Hula lessons are moving pretty slow so i'm sure I can catch on pretty quickly the next time I go. I still need to take pictures of that so stay tuned.

Friday night a few of us went to the Aloha Week Festival here in Waikiki. They closed down the main road and had tons or booths set-up with food and shopping. They also had stages set up all along the road with hula performances, bands, singing, etc. It was fun to appreciate all of the culture of the islands. Sorry none of my pictures turned out cause it was so dark :(


During the festival we happened to meander into the Ferrari store and found this beauty. You too can own this car for only 2.3 million dollars! And if that wasn't a sweet enough deal for only a million more they will throw in the engine too! I couldn't even afford the key to a Ferrari ($216...ridiculous) haha 

Saturday was a football marathon...isn't that what I moved away from?? We watched BYU vs. UCLA's patheticness and the USC vs. Ohio State's overratedness (sorry Justin)! They were pretty awesome games so I guess it was ok. Later that night I went out to dinner with my peeps from work and chilled. Another week gone and I can't even believe it!! 

2 weeks ago...

Ok we are getting closer to current events haha. 

So they have these gun clubs where you can pay to shoot all sorts of different guns...seems like a rip off to me since we used to go in the mountains for free but whatevs. Apparently in Japan you can't have guns or something, don't hold me to that fact it is just something I heard. Anyway, Jijo and I were wandering around Waikiki one night and since he had never shot a gun he decided he wanted to...so we did!  Well I just watched because I had gotten my dose of shooting in before I left Utah, but I still got to hold an awesome gun (and wear some dead sexy ear muffs) :)

On Saturday I got to go to the University of Hawaii (UH) football game against Weber State. It was great and we, meaning UH since I would never claim anything from Ogden (no offense), won! We got rained on a bit but luckily our seats were under some cover so we didn't really get wet. The rain did however make some awesome rainbows over the stadium! 

It was a double rainbow but the second one doesn't show up in the photo :(

The view from our seats...not too shabby!

All and all I would say it was a pretty good week with a double nice end!! ;)

Three weeks ago

Sorry I am really behind on posting! I wrote this 3 weeks ago and just got around to actually posting it with the pics and video so...

I started hula dancing classes on Thursday along with a line dancing class. A lady from work found the class through her church so we are taking it together and having a blast! It is every Thursday for 3 months so that should keep me busy.  

On Saturday Christine and I found an awesome little strip mall within walking distance from our apartments. It has a yummy acai bowl place, a cheap mani-pedi salon, a new york style deli, and a great  affordable sushi store (for christine haha). After that we went to the 26th annual Okinawan Festival. They had  a drumming performance with a cool dragon and of course food...what festival would be complete without deep fried goodness! :) They make these things called anda dogs which is a hot dog wrapped in Japanese doughnut and fried WOW! Good thing they only have it once a year haha. 

After the festival we went to a party up on the North Shore and it was a lot of fun! There was a pinata...enough said! haha 

It's official...my baby is Hawaiian!

No i'm not pregnant...my CAR is officially registered and sporting her rainbow (not that kind!) ;) After several trips to 2 different service station for a safety check and the DMV I finally got my Hawaii plates, yippie! That is one more thing to check off the list...I love doing that :)

Also, on an unrelated subject, I have started walking with a friend from work in the afternoons. It is so nice being a short walk from the beach and shopping! Here are some pics from todays walk.

Don't be a hater...Laters!

Snuba...not scuba

Ok I know I am a few weeks behind, I was waiting for pictures from a girl at work because I forgot my camera but it could still be awhile so I will just post them later. Anywho, wow I have a lot to catch up on telling you. So 2 weekends ago a big group of us went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. A sea turtle ran into my leg...freaky at first until I realized what it was. Then it popped its head up, cute! Here is the group that went:

1st row (L to R): Thea, Natalie

2nd: Cornelia, Amber, Danielle, Trisha, Jayme, Marylin, Me, Ali

3rd: Christine, Amber's boyfriend, Kevins hair, Jijo, Keith, Sovy

Then that Sunday I got a calling at church, sure didn't take them long!! Haha I am an FHE co-coordinator so if you have any ideas please let me know! 

Last weekend I went Snuba diving (pictures to come). It is a mix between snorkeling and scuba diving. You breathe through a regulator like scuba and wear a weight belt, but you don't carry the tank on your back. It floats on the surface and you are connected with a 20 ft. tube. We only went down about 8 ft. but I got to hold a starfish and a sea urchin and I touched a sea cucumber! It was pretty neat:) Later that night Christine, Marylin, and I went to the Made in Hawaii Festival. They had all sorts of things from clothes to food to jewlery, and the best part...free samples! You all know I am a sucker for free stuff.

Apparently Elvis was made in Hawaii ;)

After that Christine and I went to a Japanese Bon Dance. It was at one of the Buddhist temples here in Waikiki. They dance around in a circle with flags and towels and do choreographed moves to honor the spirits of their ancestors. It was very interesting to watch. Plus some great food :)

Traditional Bon dance

Teriyaki mochi ball skewer and teri beef plate...mmm! 

(It tastes a lot better than it looks I promise!!)

Then on Saturday Christine and I went to the North Shore. We ate at a cute little diner and went around to some cool shops. Then hit the ocean for a bit of sun. Oh and we discovered the most delicious treat I have ever eaten in my life! I am seriously in love. It is called an acai (a-sigh) bowl. It is like a thick berry smoothie with granola, bananas, and blueberries all topped with honey...yum-o! I am on the hunt for one here in Waikiki, I found one place but it wasn't nearly as good :(

 After that we were supposed to go horseback riding but they called and cancelled on us while we were on our way...lame! It was actually probably a blessing though. My left eye had been bothering me ever since breakfast and by the time I got home it was bright red and teary and any light hurt it. Long story short I ended up having to go to the urgent care to get medication for the infection. It started clearing up Monday and is now completely gone! I was finally able to start wearing my contacts and mascara on Friday...woo hoo!

This weekend was pretty low key I had a lot of errands to run and things to do around my apartment so I didn't do anything too exciting. But I did go to dinner with my friend Natalie at a place called Roy's (in honor of you uncle Rog;)) and got a huge steak. I couldn't believe my eyes when it came out.  Good thing I sat through that timeshare presentation..again with the free stuff haha. 

My new Hawaii boyfriend Natalie ;)

Did somebody say steak?

Also, Friday was my 1 month anniversary can you believe it!! Crazy how time flies. Well here are some pictures of sunset from my balcony...

Still makes me stop everytime I see it!

Love you guys so much! MUAH :)