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