Aloha 'Oe

Sunday (29th) was our last Sunday in our ward. It has been a BYUH tradition to sing Aloha 'Oe to all those who are leaving. They called us up to the front and everyone in the ward sang while the bishopric handed out shell necklaces to us. It was a touching moment which made me realize that I am really going to miss this place. 

Later that afternoon Christina and I went over to Britnee's house to make dinner. While we were waiting for some friends to come we played outside on the lawn with some neighborhood kids. I don’t know how this always happens to me but before I knew it I had little Polynesian kids sitting on my feet, which made me fall over. Christina, along with all the kids, dog piled on my back and made my pants slid off ha. I think they liked it so much that when I tried to get up they retaliated by chasing me mercilessly all over the lawn. When the activities were over, and our friend Eric showed up, we had Hawaiian burgers (teriyaki patties with pineapple) and salad. Pie and whip cream were for dessert and when there's whip cream there's a whip cream fight. Christina first sprayed a mustache on my face which started the whole fight. I got Britnee in the face while Crystal ran for cover. Soon we were all "creamed" and sticky. After the fight we went out on the lawn and sang songs to the ukulele and guitar. It was a good Sunday

PCC Day

yummy steak

only in hawaii would you see a motorcycle with a surfboard passenger

the coconut

christina, kosh, and me

stephanie, christina, and me at new zealand

this is destiny 

new zealand

samoa

tonga

canoe show

IOSEPA hawaiian boat

new zealand village 

A Day at the PCC

Saturday (28th) after my test we went to the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center). we used Christina's employee pass and just walked into the park.  we were both really excited to be there! the first village we went to was Aotearoa (New Zealand). we got there just as they were welcoming the chief. they sang traditional songs, danced with poi balls, and did the haka. we got some sweet Maori tattoos on our face. and were on our way to the island of Fiji. a Fijian woman was talking to us about their buildings and how the grandparents are the most important people on the island. they see it as if you didn't have grandparents, then you wouldn't exist. they also performed traditional dance with spears and fans. we walked to the Hawaiian islands and saw our friend Kristen. she told us about taro roots and how they grind them up to make the purple paste they called poi. we were able to sample the poi but because its made fresh everyday it doesn't taste like the real fermented poi at luaus that apparently tastes like wall paper cement. the island of Tahiti was vacant except for the ladies handing out Tahitian Noni soft chew candies which were really good. next was the canoe show. big platform canoes come out with performers from each island on them. Samoa made me laugh when they rocked the boat so hard that the driver guy fell off into the water, oh Samoa. Tonga was probably my favorite island performance. they did a drum show and pick 3 men from the audience to hit the drums and yell out Tongan words. this guy from japan that went up there was hilarious, and had no idea what was going on. Christians friend Leah also gave us a free pineapple delight ha. when we were walking to Samoa a huge black bee made a B-line for my face, both of us screamed and twisted out of its way. we were like our own tourist attraction, the people behind us were laughing. Samoa was really entertaining too. the Samoan man husked and cracked open a coconut, lit a fire in with a dry coconut husk, shaved the coconut and squeezed it to make coconut milk (i couldn't believe how much milk came out), he also explained to us that in Samoa the men cook the meals. the most amazing thing was when 3 guys climbed up a coconut tree like it was nothing. we saw our friend/neighbor Kosh working and she gave us a free coconut. my attempt to open it was in vain ha. i had to have the guy help me pretty much the whole time but i did husk and crack it open, don't worry i got an explosion of coconut and juice all over me! 

after Samoa we headed to the bus stop. we were at the bus stop when Britnee and her friend Eric drove up and offered us a ride in his rental mustang. 6 people squished into the 4 seated convertible. i was on Britnee's lap with my legs hanging out the window as we drove to the steak truck next to ted's bakery. the last time i went to this steak truck was with my mom in January and i remembered how good it was, and cheap! we both got steak and devoured it! i love moments like this. when we were finished we hoped back on the bus and headed home. today was an awesome day!

Tahiti

Night Show

Friday the 27th, Christina and i went to the PCC Night Show called Horizons. we were super excited to go and once the show started i got the chills! the opening ceremony looked a little like the lion king but i hear the show every night from my Hale so it was awesome to finally put a picture to the music. Hawaii was first followed by Tonga. the lively dress and intense atmosphere was felt by all the audience members especially when Aotearoa (New Zealand) came out. with the flared eyes, stuck out tongues, and sharp movements you could tell New Zealand meant business. after New Zealand there was a brief intermission where one of Christians friends, Seth who worked at the night show, came and gave us a 2 free pineapple delight- i love friends with hook ups! when the show resumed Fiji was first, the men did a sweet spear dance. Tahiti is known for the shaking of the hips. i was so jealous, i wish i had Tahitian skills but i really loved watching the dancers. Samoa is always a crowd favorite. they had a fire dancer and he was amazing! i couldn't believe how fast he spun his stick and at one time the flames were just chilling on his feet, ouch! then there were 3 guys with hug skirts on walking across big mats that were on fire and sometimes they would sit on them it was a funny part of the show.

Kuhio Day Hike

david about to jump

the life saving tree-things

the vertical log

the majority of our group

1,2,3 Jump

Kuhio Day

Thank you prince Kuhio for being born and making March 27 a state holiday! Today (Thursday) we didn’t have any school! So Christina, Alecia, Britnee, Eric, David, Cody, Bo, Chris, Phil, Rachelle, Andres, and I went on a hike to Malaekahana Falls. It was a big group of people but we broke off into smaller groups as the hike commenced. It was a long and steep hike with a lot of mud towards the end. When we reached the top of the mountain we took pictures as people climbed a vertical log. I laughed so hard when Christina jumped off a stump, tripped, and bounced off her knees only to slide her face across the dirt. I love that girl. Climbing down to the falls was treacherous; to combat the muddy slop you had to grab onto the bamboo like trees for stability and to prevent you from jetting off the mountain. In my case the tree was a life saver when I slipped and swung like a pendulum and got mud smeared down my leg. I didn’t know until we reached the falls that we had hiked to the top of the falls and the only way to the bottom was jumping off the 17 foot cascade into the cool spring. I have never fallen from such a height before but with the mentality of “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It doesn’t exist in nature" (Helen Keller), I jumped. I didn’t scream until I was about 2 feet above the water which is probably the reason why I swallowed about a buckets worth of water in my mouth and through my nose. Almost everyone jumped too, even Christina! Hiking back I ended up in a group I with Britnee, Eric, and Bo. We sang Disney songs almost the whole way down.

Not long after we were back in our Hale were we on the road again to Turtle Bay to play beach volleyball. Almost everyone on the hike was there minus Britnee, Eric, Phil, and Rachelle. We waited patiently for the net to free up while passing the ball around. When we were passing Christina, once again, full on tripped over a rope with both feet flying behind her as her body did a spread eagle impersonation, making a nice crash landing. This time she took down the entire group, everyone was on the ground laughing I almost pee’d my pants. When we finally got the net the hotel took it down, just my luck. It didn’t really matter because everyone was pretty exhausted from hiking and running in the sand. Christina and I went home and watched Kung Fu Panda in our room and relaxed our worn out bodies

Weekend Pictures

bus ride home

our improv towels 

check sand pyramid off our list

IHOP for breakfast

we are twins or sisters according to some

Macy's

Hayley and Christina fell in the crack

motion pictures

Cold Stone

Fireworks on the beach

all the credit cards to pay for PF Changs

borrowed hotel towels

hilton lagoon

Waikiki's Series of Unfortunate Events

this weekend we spent in Waikiki, our adventure was hilarious. Friday (20th) Christina, Rachelle, Hayley, Britnee, and I all hopped on the bus headed to the Ala Moana mall in Waikiki. we were chatting when the bus came to an abrupt halt. our bus driver had just hit a car, ha of course we would be on that bus. we got off the bus and walked to another bus stop while being led by a crazy guy saying "I'm a christian man but I'm going to start swearing soon". we were rushed onto another packed bus and found our seats toward the back. we didn't realize until we were seated that we were located in the senior citizens section. everyone back there was old, "I'm between 75 years and death". 3 elderly couples from Canada were here on vacation and they were quite a hoot. we talked with them all the way to Waikiki. one of the guys, in regards to swimming in the ocean said, "I'm not getting in that water, whales have sex in there" as you can probably tell we had a funny time. 

when we reached the mall we started off on the trek to our hotel, The Holiday Inn. we checked into our hotel and got ready for the beach. Christina, Hayley, Rachelle, and i , to save room in our backpacks, didn't bring towels so we had to use the white hotel towels. we didn't want to look suspicious with our obvious towels so we thought the stairs would be a good idea. i didn't realize before i opened the stair door that it said, "burglar alarm will sound when open". of course i would set off the alarm in the hotel, Britnee took off running and i was laughing and trying to not look like a fugitive. we quickly walked barefooted to the beach and laid on our stolen towels. after the beach we got ready to hit the streets. it was Rachelle's 21st birthday so we went to P.F. Chang's to celebrate. real food never tasted to good. we rushed through the end of dinner so we could catch the firework show on the beach. the fireworks were really cool, but only lasted 5 minutes. we started walking towards Cold Stone for some birthday cake remix when a group of guys tapped Christina on the shoulder and said, "my friend thinks your loud".... army boys ha. next stop was Macy's and we spent about an 1 1/2hours  putting  on makeup, trying on shoes, spraying perfume, and posing as manikins. by the end we were ready to head back to our hotel. it was a typical girls party of laughing at crazy pictures, massage train, true laugh, foot scrubs, and more. we were told once more that we were loud by the front desk. probably because at one point we all had jumped on Rachelle when Hayley and Christina fell into the space between the wall and bed laughing.

Saturday (21st) morning. we went to IHOP for breakfast, we were so hungry. a magician came to our table and showed us some magic trick, he even bent a steel fork with his mind powers. our meals come out and we scarfed them down. they even sang happy birthday, off key, to Rachelle. we laughed as we headed to the beach because we realized that we had no towels so we would either have to stand or get really sandy. Christina and i finally made our sandcastle that turned into a pyramid. we ended up laying on clothes and backpacks instead of the intrusive sand. we all fell asleep on the beach, it was so relaxing. we packed up and headed back to the Ala Moana mall. this time we spent some time in the mall walking around. we stepped into Sephora and tried on some lip plumper gloss and our lips were swollen and on fire, no pain no gain. we shopped around some more gawking at new clothes until our bus was scheduled to come. the bus ride was just as eventful going home as it was coming to. the bus didn't get in an accident, but there was a man following some poor Chinese lady on the bus and she let everyone know. we finally reached Laie, and had to stop at Foodland to pick up 3 boxes of brownies for our relief societies visiting teaching bribe. 

later that night, after making brownies at Britnee's, we went to culture night on campus. culture clubs perform a dance or skit for all, the Hawaiian and Samoans performances were the best! i particularly liked the Samoans most, you could feel the family honor and pride they have in their culture. it was an adrenaline rush watching then give off such vigor and love for representing something that is very close to their hearts. we knew after that we were going to have a good night sleep after an awesome day.

North Shore Shark Adventure

wet, cold , and muddy (christina's legs)

pizza bobs

christina didnt feel so great

another sharking vessel

after

group 2's ready to come back

hayley's a model

group 1

our boat

before (britnee, me, rachelle, marisha, cody, lizzy, christina, hayley, alecia, and aaron)

all the girls