school...back in session

Alas, the summer is officially over. I can't believe how fast another year has gone by. Darn the person who said, "The older you get, the faster life goes." They were right. I honestly prefer this one: "Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes." A little more humor in that one.

Here I am rambling about toilet paper and this post is supposed to be about school (hence the title). I have started my last year of school. And, can I say, it feels really weird coming back this semester. I don't know why. Maybe because half of the campus is under construction (wait, let me rephrase that: "destruction"). It just feels weird to think of myself as a senior now. I can remember back when I was a freshman and walking onto campus for the first time. I was scared, nervous, excited, overwhelmed (a good overwhelmed) and felt so grown up. Now I walk onto campus and think: "Holy cow! This is my last year. Better make it a good one." Again, it amazes me how times flies by...oh look, there it goes.

I have no idea yet what kind of homework overload I'm in for this semester. From what I've heard from others who have taken the classes I'm currently enrolled in, I'm in for a pretty busy semester...Great! (hint of sarcasm)

I'm on break right now and have no idea what to do, so I'm writing a post. I have no homework assignments yet (and won't until my next class)...so I'm just rambling away on here, tring to sound somewhat interesting. Don't know if it is working.

eternal night

Hey there,
I just wanted to post this link to another blog I started that has to do with the book series that I want to write. The series is going to be called "Eternal Night." Some of you already know about this series and have heard me talk for hours on end about it. I will post some of my ideas, and even actual text I have written. Please give feedback, I will take what I can get.


Here is the link.
http://eternal-night-book.blogspot.com/

murder mystery

So, recently I learned that I have a twin brother. I was able to become acquainted with him on Saturday night. I did not realize what the drinker he was...holy cow! And he is (actually, was) quite the gambler, until he gambled all his possessions away. Now he is a poor town drunk who spends his days sipping from a bottle of brandy in the saloon. I got a picture of him...you will be surprised at the resemblance. We look a lot a like, I think, except I have better hygiene.

Ha ha, just foolin' with ya. That is actually me in that crazy getup. Why, you may wonder. Saturday night was actually a murder mystery party, and my character was the town drunk. Yep, that's right, I had to dress up like a guy and act a little tipsy. It was actually really fun!

My character was Louis Satchel. I was once the wealthiest man in Deadwood (western town). Jasper Harrison (the now deceased/murder victim) was my business partner. One night while gambling he paid the bartender to give me free drinks all night and I, of course, drank all I could. Taking advantage of my drinking problem, Jasper got me to gamble all of my possessions. I lost horribly and he had me kicked out onto the street. Since then I've been the town drunk, working in the stable for the saloon owners.

The night of the murder I was in the saloon, getting drunk as usual. Gun shots were fired, and I went out the back door (on the way snatching a bottle of booze). Sadly, I was not the killer (that would have been cool). It was actually the grocery store owner who was in on a plot with his wife to try to get Jasper's money. He had his wife seduce Jasper, convince him that she was pregnant, then his inheritance would go to her and the baby. And they got away with it.

Me, I spent the night acting a little tipsy. Never being drunk before, this was a challenge for me. I had no problem walking around looking like I was going to fall over, but I could not get the speech right. Everyone said I had to slur my speech, which was very hard for me to do and to try and sound like a guy. The other parts of being drunk I was able to pull off fine. I said random and stupid things, was loud and obnoxious. I would hang all over people and use them for support. I once pretended to pass out on the floor (that was funny...someone asked if I was dead. The answer was "No, he's just comfortable"). I often made myself fall over, or when sitting down I would miss the chair. I was constantly carrying a mug or a bottle of pretend booze (my favorite was the brandy bottle). Probably the funniest thing that happened was that I got paid off (in a drunken stupor) by the Catholic preacher to become Deadwood's new preacher. He was running off with his mistress (that's right) to another town. So Deadwood's town drunk became the new preacher. That got quite the laugh.

I had a really good time acting drunk, though, in the end I would prefer to play a sober character next time. A big thank you to the masterminds behind the event.

running

So, I have picked up running again (or, at least I'm trying to). I have loved running ever since high school, and it's a good way for me to stay in shape.

I mainly stopped running because of time and for health reasons (I had a health problem about a year ago). Well, I've finally run out of excuses not to go out running, because I just bought a new pair of running shoes so I could start running again. My old ones had way too many miles on them. So I got up early one morning and went for a walk/run...actually it was more of a walk/jog.

I could not believe how out of shape I was! I usually start out my work out with stretching for 10-15 minutes and then I get right on to walking. During the walk I'll gradually increase my pace, and then after 5-10 minutes I'll start to run (or jog in this case). Now, a year ago (before my little health fiasco) I could run for an hour straight. My first time out last week I could only go for about 7 minutes (10 if I was lucky), then I would have to walk again. My muscles aren't in the right condition for the endurance running that I'm so fond of, nor are my lungs. It's going to take a while to get to the point where I can run for an hour (heck, even 30 minutes will take a while). But hey, I've got to start somewhere. I'll just be happy when I can run without the sideaches.

My new running shoes. They have really good support in them and are really breatheable. And I love the colors!

hawaii--part 5 (the last one...yay!)

Well, I have a lot more extra time tonight than I thought I would, so I'm going to work on this last Hawaii post.

Day 8

Well, our trend continued of us sleeping in. We tried some of Courtney's crazy fruit that he bought on the way back from Hana. The dragonfruit kind of reminded me of kiwi. It is kind of white on the inside with a ton of purple little seeds (like kiwi). It tasted good. We also tried a strawberry papaya...also tasty. And then we tried mangos, which tasted a lot better than what we have in Utah. Just a note, the pineapple in Hawaii is 10x better than the pineapple in the states. We ate several of those while on the trip.

After breakfast we got ready to go to the beach again. We planned on going back to Mokule'ia Bay again (our favorite beach). We decided to go snorkeling in the neighboring bay, about a 10-15 minute walk away), which is Honolua Bay. There was no beach at Honolua, but we had heard that there is good snorkeling there. We got in and swam to the right side of the bay. We didn't swim that far until we hit a wall of fish. There were hundreds of them. If you all have seen Finding Nemo, it is like that group of silver fish that all move at the same time. It was amazing. The wall of fish stretched for several dozen yards.

It's hard to see, but this is the wall of silver fish.

Some cool looking coral. There is also a red starfish there.

We saw some other cool fish, too. Then we cut across and started to swim towards the left side of the bay. The place we were swimming across was very deep and very open. It kind of freaked me out...I would look under the water and all I would see was a ton of blue. I kept thinking a shark would pop out of nowhere or something. Just my imagination going wild again.

The walk back from Honolua Bay. There were a ton of cool looking trees and such. I took so many pictures just along this walk.

We finished in that bay and headed back over to Mokule'ia. We ate lunch, and then me, my uncle and aunt went out again. This time we swam out to the left side. That snorkel trip wasn't worth it. We hardly saw anything, plus the water was getting really rough and really cold. We came back in and I passed out on the beach. I was so worn out.

We left a couple hours later. When I got home and showered I got a chance to check out my leg again. Not only was that pretty red stripe going down my leg, but a purplish bruise a little bigger than the size of my hand now encircled it...not pretty.

We ate dinner and then drove to Lahaina to get some souvenir shopping done. The only place I got anything at was a shop called Del Sol. There they have stuff like shirts and nail polish that change color in the sunlight. Kind of cool. I got two things of nail polish ($10 a piece!) and a t-shirt that said Maui and had flowers printed on it.

So, I couldn't get to bed right away after we got home, so I thought I would get a head start on packing. We didn't have to be out of our condo until 5:30 pm the next day, so no hurry. But I stayed up packing and watched on of my favorite movies.

Day 9
I woke up early on this day and went outside to take some pictures of the plant life and such (this was about 6:30 in the morning). While amongst the bamboo I was taking pictures of, I found a snail that was about the size of my hand. I thought it was cool, but kind of gross...so I took a picture. After going around for about an hour taking pictures (as much as my memory card could hold...I was nearing 500 pics) I went back and got ready to head out for the day.

The giant snail.

Some of the bamboo that was around our condo.

We decided to go to a place called the Gazebo for breakfast (the only time we ate out besides the Luau). By the time we got there is was almost noon, so it was kind of brunch, I guess. The restaurant is a gazebo (hence the name), and is very open. There were birds flying in and out and landing on the tables and such (I wonder about the sanitation). It was right next to the ocean, so there was a really pretty view. I got an omelette, which tasted really good. I also tried some of my cousin's banana pancakes. Yummy!

Me and my grandma outside of the Gazebo.

After breakfast we went back to Lahaina to finish shopping. I ended up getting a hoodie for me and my sister. I also got a necklace and some flip flop platforms. I'm not much of a shopper and hate spending money, but it was somewhat fun to splurge a little.

After Lahaina we went back to the condo to finish packing. My packing was pretty much done, so all I had to do was fit my souvenirs in. After dinner we packed up the cars and headed to the airport. We got our luggage checked in. We sat around for a while beacause our flight didn't leave for another few hours. My cousins decided to have a water fight with the water bottles they brought (might as well use them up before having to get rid of them when we went through security).

When we got to our gate we had over an hour to wait until be boarded the flight. I ate some ice cream and took something to help with motion sickness before getting on. Eventually we boarded, and our flight actually left earlier than planned. Now this was an overnight flight. It was 10 pm (Hawaii time), which translates over to 2 am in Utah. I tried to sleep, and I dozed in and out; but I couldn't fully sleep because of the roar of the engines. We hit some pretty bad turbulence at one point. I've officially determined that I don't like flying. Nope, not at all. At least I didn't get as sick with this flight.

Back at Home
Our flight arrived about 40 minutes early. We picked up our luggage and said bye to my aunt and uncle and their family. My other aunt was supposed to pick us up, but she was planning on us coming in about an hour later. So we waited for an hour at the airport...fun...I just wanted to sleep. She finally came and we went to Village Inn for breakfast. After breakfast we all went home and crashed. We didn't even bother to unpack until later.



Well, that was my trip to Hawaii. It was a lot of fun and a much, much, much needed break for me. I was sad to go, but it also feels good to be back home in Utah, surrounded by mountains.

hawaii--part 4

Hopefully this will be the last Hawaii post...we'll see how long it gets.

Day 7--The Road to Hana...and Beyond
We finally got around to taking the road to Hana. Now, for those of you who don't know about this, the road to Hana is about a 4 hour long drive along a twisting, winding, narrow road. The whole drive you are just swerving back and forth and hoping you don't hit oncoming traffic. There were some parts of the road that were narrowed down to one lane.

Again, we were late getting up. We ate breakfast and packed snacks and lunch for the long drive ahead of us. Now with the road to Hana, think of the quote: "It is not the destination, but the journey that matters" (or something like that). Hana is a really small town with not much to show in the tourism category. Really, it is driving the road which is the great part of the trip. It is a really pretty drive, tons of great scenery. The further we went on the road, the more beautiful the scenery got (and the crazier the road got). We would follow the road along the coast and then go back into the mountains, and back down to the coast again.

Me at one of the rest stops on the road to Hana.

There are several places to stop on the road to Hana. At one of our stops we tried fresh coconut. My cousins drank the milk, but they shared some of the coconut meat with us. It tasted very plain (really not much of a flavor) and the texture was weird.

We arrived in Hana and then took another road that went further (hence the "beyond" part). This road was even more narrow and twisting. It led up to Haleakala National Park (spell check). Surprisingly, I did not get car sick. We ate lunch and then got ready to hike to the Seven Pools, which was the whole reason for going there. The Seven Sacred Pools are a series of fresh water pools which start about 2 miles inland and stretch to the coast. Most of them are connected by waterfalls (depending on the time of year). It is a really pretty sight. We were able to see about 3 or 4 of the pools where we were at. Me and my cousins went swimming and cliff jumping while there. It was nice to swim in fresh water as opposed to the salty sea water.

The Seven Sacred Pools.
The waterfall closest to the bottom is the one that we jumped from.

The first place we jumped was at the larger pool with the waterfall coming down into it. We had to climb back behind the waterfall to get to one of the better (and safer) places to jump. It was only about 15 feet high. I was a little hesitant at first because of my fear of heights, but after the first jump it was easier for me. My cousins got bored with the waterfall jumping and went to one of the other pools where no one was at and started jumping there. This pool was smaller, but way deep...there wasn't a single spot where you could touch the bottom. I went over there, and wanting the keep up with my cousins decided to jump. The place I jumped was about 20 feet high. When I hit the water that first jump I must have hit it on a bad angle because I felt the full force of the impact hit my left thigh...and it hurt like heck!!! When I came to the surface my leg was in such shock from the impact that I couldn't use it to swim. Luckily, I'm a pretty good swimmer and got out okay. After the pain wore off I jumped again; this time I didn't get hurt.

The second pool we were cliff diving at. This is the jump where I got hurt. Everyone kept asking: "Are you sure you didn't hit the rock?" I'm pretty sure...this pool was so deep you couldn't touch the bottom anywhere. And plus, I would have been hurt a lot worse it I had hit the rocks.

Well, my cousins started a trend. What was once a pool where no one was jumping quickly became a popular spot for the rest of the tourists. I jumped one last time and then went to go dry off. We packed up and headed back to the car. My leg was killing me. It was throbbing like crazy and felt really sore. I couldn't see much damage other than my leg looked really red (like it had been sunburned), so I didn't think much of it. We started our long drive back home.

One of the stops we made on the way back was Wai'a'napanapa National Park where the black sand beach is located. We went down to the beach, but not to swim. There were warning signs everywhere saying not to swim because of the riptide and the jelly fish that inhabit those waters. So yeah, swimming a definite no. The beach was really cool looking. To the right side was a little cave you could walk into which went out into the ocean. I would hate to be in there at high tide.

The Black Sand Beach at Wai'a'napanapa (say that five times fast). Those waves coming in were huge. You can see how far some of them reached on the shore.

The small cave off to the side of the black sand beach.

Then me, my granpa, uncle and cousin Courtney went to the "loop" where a small pool was. The greenery was cool, and the water for the pool was really clear. Just a pretty secluded little area. My leg was still sore and I was having a hard time walking on it.

On the way home we saw a rainbow. It was probably the best rainbow we saw the entire trip. I had to slide over to the other side of the car to get a picture. I had the window rolled down, and out of nowhere it started to rain. That happened quite a bit on the trip, rain coming out of the middle of nowhere. There was a time where it did rain and it was bright and sunny. I looked up and saw a little whif of a cloud. I thought: "The rain is coming from that pathetic cloud...you've got to be kidding."

The rainbow we saw on our drive back from Hana. We saw several rainbows while in Hawaii, but this one was the best.

The trip back was worse than going up. We were following my uncle, and he really wanted to get home in a hurry, so he was flying down that road. Remember, this road is really twisty. My grandpa was trying to keep up with him, and we were all getting jerked around in the back seat.

On the way back we stopped at a little tent full of fresh fruits. My cousin Courtney, who is a fruit fanatic, bought several different types of fruit for us to try. He go papaya, mangos, and dragon fruit.

Somewhere along the drive I managed to fall asleep and I was asleep until we got back to the condo. Once back at the condos we unloaded and I went to take a shower. I was then able to get a good look at my leg (it was still really sore). I had this large red stripe going down the back of my leg that broke into two stripes at the end. It was a deep redish-purple color. (see pic)

My "battle scar." That mark was actually about as long as my hand and about an inch wide.
"I came, I saw...I got my butt kicked."

After that was dinner, and I went and showed everyone my "battle scar." It seemed unanimous that I won the best/worst injury for the trip. That's what I get for trying to keep up with the boys.

After dinner I went to bed, or tried to. I couldn't lay down on my leg without it hurting.

Sadly, this is not going to be the last post. I still have two more days to cover.

10 years--wasteland

I love this song by 10 Years. I just thought I would post it for the heck of it.

hawaii--part 3

Yet another post about Hawaii.

Day 5
I got up really early again this day (around 7 a.m.) We were going to do the road to Hana drive, but ended up putting that off until later. We decided to go snorkeling again (oh joy). We went to Ahihi Cove. When we arrived, no one was there. Then when we were getting our gear together, tons of people showed up. There was no beach--it was all rock. Getting in was hard. There was only a small designated area where we could stand and then we had to swim without touching the coral. That would have been easy, but the coral was about 1 foot below us...very hard to navigate. I was afraid to kick at all because I thought I would hit the coral. The further out we got, the deeper it got (thank goodness).

Since the whole area was covered in coral, there was lot more that we could see. I remembered to bring my underwater camera this time, so I took pictures of this snorkeling venture. We saw tons of fish, and another sea turtle. Another cool thing we saw was an eel (I think it is called a moray eel). It was this reddish-brown color with black and white stripes. It looked like a long snake. It was kind of freaky looking, and was only about 7 feet below us.

One of the sea turtles we saw.

After the eel, there wasn't much else to see, and I was starting to get sick again (I guess I get sea-sick). Going back in was harder than going out. I was so worn out from snorkeling. We packed our gear and I got into my aunt and uncle's car and we drove further down the road to the lava fields. It was cool; you could see where the lava came out and flowed into the ocean. The lava was very rough and jaggedy. And thanks to my geology class, I know what kind of lava rock it was. It is called Ah'ah lava.

The lava fields.

After that we went back to the condos and my aunt and uncle went to go reserve our spots for the Luau. They came back and invited me to go shopping with them in Lahaina. I'm not much of a shopper. I have to have an agenda, or know what I'm going shopping for...I didn't have a clue what I wanted souvenir-wise. We were there for 3.5 hours, and I didn't buy a single thing.

Some cool sites we saw while in Lahaina was the Banyan tree. It is a tree that looks like 10+ trees, but really it the roots of the one tree popping up all over the place, or the branches growing back down into the ground. Kind of cool.

The Banyan Tree.

Me at the ports in Lahaina.

We also went into some art galleries. My favorite was a photo gallery with the work of Peter Lik. He is from Australia and does landscape photography (some of Utah scenery). His photography was amazing!!! You walk into the gallery and it looks like his pictures are backlit because they kind of glow, but they aren't. The photographer shoots with slide film (which gives you vibrant color) and then prints on a material that reflects light, giving the illusion that it is lit up. For those of you who know, I am a complete photo-nut, so this was heaven for me to see this.

The most amazing, beautiful sunset we saw while in Hawaii.
The picture doesn't do it justice, though.

Day 6
No one wanted to get out of bed this morning. We didn't really have a game-plan for the day so I popped a suggestion that my mom had given me: that we go visit Iao Valley. My cousins decided to stay out of this one, so it was just me, my grandpa, aunt and uncle that went. The drive up there was really pretty...so green! The mountains were all covered in green. We got up there and started walking around. Then we "hiked" up several stairs to the viewpoint for the Iao Needle (see picture for what that looks like).

The Iao Needle (which is the rock formation on the left). Can you believe how green it is?!

We also walked around the botanical garden up there. It was a small garden of native Hawaiian plants, such as bananas, papayas, limes, coconunts, etc. It was pretty cool up there. It was nice to have a break from the beach. We came back and had some pool time before getting ready to go to the Luau.

A banana tree. Kind of funky looking.

The Luau was great! We left early so we could get good seats close to the stage (and we did, got seats in the middle table of the second row). We had a really good host; he was very funny and entertaining, and he even did some singing. They had some activities going on, like Hawaiian bowling and spearing throwing. I wasn't good at either...oh well.

Me and one of the performers.

After the activities they dug up the pig and got it ready for dinner. Now, I'm not one to back away from trying new foods, and there were some interesting foods at this Luau. What I was not looking forward to was trying the poi (a goop made from tarot root)...I had heard horror stories about it. Yet I was forced to try it...and it was horrible!!! People say it is an acquired taste, but why you would want to acquire a taste for that stuff, I don't get that. YUCK!

Me putting that nasty goop stuff (aka: poi) in my mouth.
Just thinking about it makes me want to gag.

The first thing I put in my mouth after the poi was mahi mahi (which is fish), and I'm not much of a fish person either. But the fish tasted good (thank goodness). I also tried a purple sweet potato...that was pretty good. And dessert was awesome.


The show was really good. The dancers did several different types of hula dances. The show pretty much showed the progression of the hula and the influences from different countries and such. During the show they even gave some simple hula lessons. Me and my cousins gave it a shot. Hula is definitely not for me...I think I will stick to ballroom dancing.

Pic of the dancers. Probably the coolest dance of the whole show.

The fire dance was one of the best parts of the show. Holy cow! And then the finale was funny. They asked people from the audience to join the professional dancers on stage. Two of my cousins were pulled up there (one of them against his will) and they started dancing with the female dancers. The host kept making fun of them. It was really funny to watch. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants (I know, hard to believe).

The fire dancer. Isn't that just cool.

After the Luau we went back to the condo and played 5 Crowns (a card game) for a little while. We were all so tired that we sort of out of it during the game.

The little gecko I found in my room when I got home.
He was about an inch long. Isn't he cute!

hawaii--part 2

Sorry these are coming so far apart. I was sick all weekend and feeling like I was going to throw up if I even moved. Not fun. Anyway, back to Hawaii trip.

Day 3
We got up late and ate breakfast (pancakes). After breakfast we headed to the beach to go snorkeling. I wasn't thrilled at first, but we used our rented snorkel gear which fit a lot better.

We drove for about an hour to go to a beach that was recommended to us by the gal at the snorkel shop. The place we went was Mokule'ia Bay, which is a small but beautiful beach tucked into a small cove area. The best beach we went to the whole trip. The water was so clear and blue. It was easy to get out into the water and get our snorkel gear on, too.

Mokule'ia Bay (the left side). The best beach we went to.

Once out into the water we swam over the the right side of the cove area. The water was so clear and we could see everything perfectly. We saw several different kinds of fish (big, small, yellow, green, orange, just a ton). The best thing we saw were the sea turtles! We saw about five of them. One came so close that I could have taken a picture...and I was cursing myself for forgetting to grab my waterproof disposable camera (which I had bought solely for that purpose).

We were out for a couple of hours. I got really worn out and started to shake because I was cold. My aunt said that means it is time to go in. It took us 30 minutes to swim back in, and I was starting to feel sick (is it possible to get sea-sick while snorkeling?). I was so worn out that I had to have my cousin help pull me in on his boogie board.

We came back to the beach and pulled out some snacks. I was starved...being out in the ocean really works up an appetite for me. After eating a little I just rested in the shade on the beach while my cousins went out to do more body surfing. I couldn't get how they still had the energy to do that. They did that for about2-3 hours. During that time I rested and then got up and took some pictures while trying to stay out of the sun. We left at around 4 pm, and I was ready to go.

My cousins body surfing.

Me acting like a dork on the beach.

On the way back we stopped for some shaved ice. I got banana flavor with a scoop of vanilla icecream on the bottom...that tasted good. I ate it so fast that I got the hiccups.

When we got home we all jumped in the shower. I was worried that I had gotten burnt, despite my attempts to keep sunblock on. Everyone said I just got a little bit of color...yeah, that color was read. I got burnt on my shoulders and all the day down my arms. My efforts failed, apparently. Luckily, that was the only day I burned on the trip, and the burn wasn't that bad (I didn't peel or anything afterwards). Ironically, my legs (which are glow in the dark white) didn't burn. They didn't even get tan!We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner that night. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is rice topped with a chicken, cream of chicken, pineapple (which was the best part), green peppers, green onions, and dry lo mein noodles. Now, for the pineapple. In Hawaii the pineapple is so good...it makes the stuff we get here in the states look pathetic. It is so, so, so sweet and juicy. After dinner we all crashed.

Day 4
Day 4 was a Sunday, and we just planned on going to church and then do some driving around later. We were planning on going to church at 9 am. Well, that didn't happen. I even got up at 7 so I could be ready in time. So, I'm all ready to go to church and I go upstairs to my aunt's condo and everyone is still in pajamas. Come on guys!

We ate breakfast and figured we would go to church at 11, only one problem...none of the churches had meetings until 1 pm. That was a long wait. Everyone took a nap and I worked on a drawing. I was copying a picture hanging in the dining room of our condo (just a picture of a beach). I probably should have taken a nap, though.

We went to church, came back, had lunch, and then took an unofficial tour of the Marriot Hotel which was down the road (for those of you who don't know, this was a 5-star hotel that started at about $700 a night). It makes me sick to think that people have that much money to spend. We walked along the beach behind the hotel. Beautiful beach; kind of looks like one you would see on a postcard.

Me, my grandpa, and my cousin Courtney walked further while the rest of the group sat to rest. We went to this rocky cliff area. My cousin climbed the rocks to the water. I went as far as I dared to go because I was in flip flops. We got some great pictures there of the water coming in and crashing into the rocks, as well as some pictures of me and my cousin.

Waves crashing on the lava rock.

Me and my cousin Courtney

After that we went home and had dinner...steaks! I thought for sure I was going to gain weight on this trip. After dinner I crashed at my usual spot in my aunt and uncle's condo (who knows how long I was out).

oquirrh mountain temple open house

I've been to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple a few times in the past month. The first time I was there I had volunteered to be an usher (or a "silent sentinel" as the other temple workers called it). It was fun to be an usher and to see people's faces as they were leaving the temple. I was posted right outside the bride's room, which was at the end of the tour. My job was to direct people to the door that led outside to the reception tent. It was tough, I will have to admit, to stand there for 5 hours straight, and by the end my legs and back were killing me. But it was totally worth it and I wish that I would have had another chance to do that again.

I also went through the temple open house the last few days it was available. I had missed out on going to the Draper Temple open house, so I wasn't going to miss this one. The last time I had gone to a temple open house was for the Bountiful Temple. I was really young then and all I can remember about it is getting to wear the plastic booties on my feet (I thought they were silly).

So I made the reservation and went to tour the temple. Although it is one of the smaller temples, it doesn't subtract at all from the beauty. Everything about the temple, inside and out, seemed perfect. I loved the chandeliers, especially the one in the center of the temple, the one in the celestial room, and the one in the sealing room. I would have to say that my favorite part of the tour was going through the celestial room. It was so white and peaceful in there. Just amazing! I also loved the sealing room and the mirrors that reflect eternity. It was a very good experience for me, and I'm glad that I didn't miss out on it.

This is a picture of me standing in front of the temple. I'm the very small figure with the brown skirt (not to be confused with the very cute girl in pink)

Me sitting at the fountain in front of the temple

My favorite picture that I took before I left the temple

hawaii--part 1

I'm finally writing something up (with pics included) about my trip to Hawaii this summer. I was going to send an email to everyone with pics and a little description, but it would take forever to load pictures to an email, and plus I wouldn't be able to put captions under them. I figured the best way to get this out to everyone with the best amount of detail is to put it in a blog. So I signed up, created a blog, now I'm posting about my Hawaii trip. So here it goes.

The Day Before
So the day before going to Hawaii was pretty normal. I went to work and spent most of the day there. Then I came home to pack. I had most of my stuff set out, so I thought it would be pretty easy. My grandpa was reassuring me that it would only take 30 minutes. Yeah right. That 30 minutes quickly translated into a couple of hours. This was my first time packing a suitcase.

Surprisingly, I did really well. I was able to fit everything in one suitcase (a small one at that) and a carry on with room for souvenirs on the trip back. And I didn't forget anything (another shocker). So I did pretty good my first time packing.

Day 1
We left our house around 8:30 Thursday morning to go meet with my aunt (she would be dropping us off at the airport). We arrived at the airport around 9 or 9:30, got our luggage checking and went through security. This was my first airport experience since I was 10, so it was completely new to me. After going through security we got some snacks and waited to board our flight which wouldn't be leaving until 11:30.

So this was my first time flying since I was 10. I was a little worried where the flight was going to be about 6 hours long (ugh). Sadly I got sick for the first 2 hours of the flight, and then I got sick again just before landing. I even took something to help with the motion sickness...a lot of help that did.

We arrived in Maui on time. I couldn't believe the humidity! As soon as I stepped off of the plane I felt my clothes instantly stick to me. Nice. We then picked up our rental car and drove to the condos. Once at the condos we unpacked and then my cousins and I went to go hang out in the pool before dinner came (we ordered pizzas).

Our condos in Wailea. My aunt and her family stayed in the top, we stayed in the bottom

We decided to eat our pizzas on the patio, which was a good idea until the rain came. This wasn't just a little sprinkle, but a complete downpour. It rained like that for about an hour. Then we all went to bed to get ready for the next day.

Day 2
So this day started pretty early. I went upstairs to my aunt and uncle's condo (they rented the one above us) to see what the game-plan was. Before I knew it I was told to hurry and get ready to go do some snorkeling. So I quickly jumped into my swimsuit and me, my uncle, and my cousins Courtney and Dayton got in the car and drove to Kama'ole beach.

That was a horrible snorkeling experience for me. For one, our gear wasn't custom fit (it was stuff we borrowed from the condos), so my mask kept slipping off and kept filling with water. It also kept fogging up and would get tangled in my hair when I was trying to readjust it. Not fun. I also had a really hard time putting my head underwater at first and kept freaking out everytime I tried. I finally sucked up the guts to put my face in the water and breathe normally through the snorkel. The water was pretty churned up from the storm the night before, so it was hard to see anything. We did mangage to find a sea turtle, but it was just laying around. I hoped that future snorkeling expeditions would entail less complications.

We left the beach about an hour later, disappointed and starving. I ate so much that I surprised myself. After breakfast I watched TV for about an hour and then slept for an hour. Later that afternoon we decided to go rent some snorkeling gear (custom fit) for the week. We rented the gear from a place called Snorkeling Bob's and the gal who worked there was so cool.

After that we went back to Kama'ole beach, but not to go snorkeling (thank goodness). I just stayed on the beach, going picture happy with my camera ( I got some pretty good shots, too). Then I was finally convinced to go join my cousins out in the water, who were all body surfing with boogie boards. I had never been body surfing, so this was a new experience for me. I wasn't very successful. I would either fail to catch a good wave coming in or fall off my board when I tried. I was able to catch a couple of good waves, but I did also swallow my fair share of sea water. Yuck!!!

Me and Stephanie at Kama'ole Beach

We were at that beach for about 3 hours and then headed back to the condos for dinner. When I got home and showered I was amazed at how much sand was in my swimsuit! After dinner it was bed for me.

Well, this is getting to be pretty long, so I will end it there and add more about about the trip in another post, or two, or three.

yay! i found a design

Well, after several hours of arduos looking I found a design that reflects my taste. It's history to the other design (no offense to whoever desinged it...it just wasn't me). So here is my design for my blog that I have chosen. Knowing me, I'll probably get bored with it after a year (if I manage to keep this blog up for that long) and change the design again.

i started a blog...welcome to the 21st century

After much debate, I finally decided to start a blog. I figured it would be a good way to write about the random happenings in my life and such.
Since I am new to this whole blogger thing I'm settling for a blog design that really isn't my taste, but I will use it until I can find one or, if I get really motivated, design my own. But this will have to do for now.