island fever.

i would just like to point out the fact that i am on this tiny little island in the middle of the huge pacific ocean. and last weekend i suddenly came to realize that. i've been doing fine & didn't think it would bother me but i'm starting to really feel the fact that i could drive for hours and hours and all it would do take me in a big circle around the island over & over & over again. actually i couldn't even drive... i would have to ride the bus. which is the reason i think i am feeling this 'island fever'. i would be able to do & see so much more of the island if i had a car. the bus takes like triple the amount of time & doesn't always take you directly where you want to go. but ohhh well i only have two weeks left so i'll be fine.. i'm doing a lot better now. this past weekend was just hard because it was crappy weather the whole weekend... like the sun didn't come out at all. and since i have no car & the beach wasn't an option.. there wasn't much to do which led to me really missing everyone/home. i love hawaii & i'm going to miss it but I don't know how people could live on an island their whole lives. there is no freedom at all. i guess coming from a girl who likes to travel waaay too much... i feel a bit stranded. being a beach bum in hawaii for the past month has been so much fun but i'll be happy to be back on the mainland (that is what they call it here) in just two weeks(: see you all sooooon.

red. white. & blue.

{happy fourth of july}

this holiday weekend has made me miss my family & friends but i'm glad I have devin here at least and we made the best of it!

*we went for a morning walk on the beach

*painted festive pictures with water colors (i had to beg dev to do this with me)

*made red jello (devin must really miss utah because he was craving jello ;)

*went all out and bought a frozen pizza & festive cupcakes for dinner (yes, this is going all out for us poor college students)

*watched fireworks at turtle bay resort with friends

*lit our own fireworks on the beach

it was a good day to be an american!

god bless america, my home sweet home(:

rain, rain, go away..

(even the beach looks sad today)

come again another day.

this would be a rather depressing day for tourists. good thing we aren't just here for vacation.

i heard rain pounding on my roof through out the night & then when i got up this morning i found it to be a cloudy/rainy/dull/ no good very bad weather day here in hawaii.

i actually love rainy days usually and in hawaii it's kind of fun because when it rains it actually POURS like you've never seen it pour in utah. with all the humidity you still even get soaked when its sprinkling because its more like a mist than water droplets. so i wouldn't mind it so much if it were a regular week day & i had classes to go to anyway. buuuut today is {saturday} and i wanted to play at the beach aLL day longgg.

ohh well! here is to a lazy day in hawaii.....devin is reading & i am blogging. we will be seeing toy story 3 later today.

cloudy day in hawaii

meant the beach was out of the question.

but it was a perfect day to head over to the dole plantation to see where the delightful fruit called "pineapple" come from.

the pineapple ice cream was yuuummmy.

hawaii to-do list: #18 check!

laie temple.

the laie temple isn't far from campus so dev & i went and walked the grounds & the visitor's center. they showed us a short movie in the visitor's center about the history of the church starting in laie and how byu-hawaii came about which was interesting to learn. right now the temple is closed for remodeling but it was beautiful to see.

hawaii to-do list: #23 check!

culture.

You can find plenty of it here in Hawaii. That is one thing that I love about being here… so many people from so many different countries with so many different cultures you can learn about.

The polynesian cultural center (a.k.a. the PCC) is right next to campus and tons of students from BYU-hawaii work there but unfortunately I couldn’t get a job there since I’m blonde & white (racist?... maybe ;). Anyway dev & I went there yesterday to check it out and it was a lot fun. We learned many things about the different pacific islands, watched a guy climb a huge palm tree, had a tour in a canoe, learned how to get the coconut milk from coconuts, etc.

P.s. I’m taking a “folk dance of the pacific islands” class at byu so when I get home I can teach you all my sweet new dance moves from Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, & New Zealand. I'm sure you cant wait!

hawaii to-do list: #17. check!

good morning sunshine.

This morning I woke up feeling particularly happy because my english class was cancelled which meant no school & the day was mine.

I ate my bowl of cereal in my backyard watching the beach in its morning freshness and decided there was no better way to start my day than a run on the beach.

I went out there and just started running barefoot along the shore.... and kept running all the way past temple beach, hukilau, and whatever beach is after that.

I haven’t ran since before the accident & although I did slow it down more and take a few breaks on the way back, it felt so good. I can already feel the soreness in my calves since even just walking in the soft sand is a workout in itself. It feels so good to be active again.