Maui Wowie!!

So my parents had a trip planned to go to Maui before I decided to do my internship on Kauai. Well I didn't want to miss out on the fun so I decided to hop on over to their island to hang out for a couple days. Before I moved out I realized how lucky I was to have great parents, but man does it make you appreciate them even more when you don't see them every day! Needless to say my dad was nervous that if I went to see them I would not get back on my plane to go back to Kauai. Ha! If they wouldn't be so much fun maybe I wouldn't like them so much.. It sounds like it is their fault I like to hang with them :)

Me and the Parents



I guess you could say I was a little bit excited to see my mom...



It was so nice to have a few days off and to just lay by the pool and relax while soaking up the sun! They went with their friends Jay and Marjorie and we all had a great time hanging out drinking Pepsi and kicking back.

Me and my momma



Me and my cute dad



Drinking Pepsi by the pool with my mom in Maui... Does life get any better?!



We went to Whalers Village and walked up and down the boardwalk in Kaanapali. And of course we did Front Street in Lahaina. (I had to visit the two Del Sol's on the island... It just wouldn't be right if I didn't!) It was just so much fun to be with them and have a break. I'll admit it was sad to say goodbye to them but at the same time I was excited to come back to my island. It is so funny how it has become my home! Before I know it though my time will be up here so I was anxious to get back. I have a lot to do these next few weeks!



Thanks again mom and dad, I had a great time!!

A Hawaiian Halloween!

The Halloween started out this year with an FHE at our Del Sol home Monday night. We made a typical Halloween meal, chili, but added a little local twist by putting it over rice. Surprisingly it was very good! You learn something new everyday! We decided to carve pumpkins and had to search everywhere to find them. Apparently it isn't a super huge deal over here. Me and brown Jess finally found some so we are walking through the grocery store with 5 in our cart. Everyone was laughing so hard at us. Honestly people.. what is Halloween without carving pumpkins?! The best was when the lady at the checkout counter asked what you do with them. She said, "Do you eat these?" It was classic.
So after dinner the whole group carved pumpkins in our garage. Some of our friends had never carved pumpkins before so it was definitely a great time!

Ikaika, Tessa, Chad-Eh, Lucas, Jenna, and Coach



Nephi, Jess, Freddy, Cathy, and Me



My cute I Heart Kauai Pumpkin



The Whole Group




Later in the week we had a few cruise ships in port so we decided we would dress up and have a costume contest. Well the island is a little bit small and it seems like if you don't plan in advance you end up dressing in a costume from Kmart like everyone else. So I decided I would try something a little bit different.. Try the little girls. So I totally rocked Hannah Montana for Halloween. It was great. We had a concert in our store for a few customers. It was classic. Jess was a scary Vampire and Heather was a lunch lady. We had a great time!



Exhausted after the cruise ship left



Josh from Honolua




Levi the shuttle bus driver dressed up as a super tourist, Jess the dracula, Heather as the lunch lady and Hannah




Heidi, Nic and Ty came over. He was Little Nemo and our favorite trick or treater of the night. It was adorable. We just can't ever get enough of their cute family!

I think the highlight of the day was at night. Me, brown Jess, Jim and Nouveau went to Duke's for dinner. The live band was playing and the funniest drunk people were dancing. I loved the old grandmas in their crazy costumes dancing away.

I'll admit I missed the fam for a sec when my mom sent me pictures of them all eating caramel apples, but my Hawaiian Halloween turned out great!

The Best Trip to Oahu Ever... NOT!

So my sister Hollie and her husband Jordan have never been to Hawaii. Well it makes perfect sense that they come see me while I live here right? So they decide to come to Hawaii. After all was said and done it worked out best for them to just go to Oahu so the plan was for me to go stay with them for a couple nights. I was so excited to go see them. I had been missing home and thought this would be the perfect fix. Boy was I wrong... I finally got there Friday morning after my flight was delayed a couple hours. I was so excited to see them and right when they pulled up to pick me up all I could do was burst into tears and say, "It's my family!". Haha okay a little sad.. I know.

We had a really fun day starting off with the Waimea Canyon hike up to the waterfall. We hike our way on up only to find the waterfall is barely visible because it was so dry. A little bit of a let down but we had to laugh at it.



Of course we stopped to visit the Dole Plantation to have some pineapple sherbet. I introduced them to Rufus the sea turtle. I hadn't seem him since last March so it was good to pay him a visit on the beach.



Now mind you on all these adventures we were taking pictures of everything. I thought to myself, "Oh it will just be easier for Hollie to take them all and I will have her burn me a cd and mail it to me." So I kept my camera tucked away occasionally taking a scenery picture. Bad idea.

The next day we went to the swap meet at the stadium. I think it is an unwritten law you have to go there if you are on Oahu. After that we went up to Kailua beach to lay out and chill on the beach. The highlight of the trip was making a stop at the store Ross. I have missed my weekly shopping trips to Ross and was in heaven being able to shop!!



A great day again. That night we hung out on Waikiki, watched the sunset, swam in the pool, walked up and down Waikiki looking in shops etc.

The next morning we had to check out of our hotel so we decided to go check out the new Marriott in Ko'Olina. It was beautiful! It is a nice new area on Oahu.





I was not looking forward saying goodbye to Hol and Jord later that night but it was a good day. We went to the Valley of the Temples and walked around the grounds.





After that we decided to head up to the North Shore and come back down and watch the sunset on Sunset Beach and head to the airport later that night.

Well we pull up to La'ie and I wanted to take them to La'ie Point to see the view. So we pull up and park right on the point. We get out and I take my camera to take a picture.






I leave my purse in the car, Jord has his wallet in Hollie's purse and she leaves it all in the car. We lock the car, and it is in our sight. Well as we are taking pictures we realize a truck has pulled up next to our car. We start walking back and I realize the window is broken out of my door. So the stupid "Bad Guys" as I refer to them got away with Hollie's camera with all of our pictures, all 3 of our cell phones, our wallets (which included our id's and all of our money and credit cards), and 2 ipod's.

I pretty much hate those bad guys and wish they would have been caught. Unfortunately the police have better things to do and frequently commented "This happens all the time.." Like that makes it any better. So at this point I am a nervous wreck. I think that might be an understatement. I am thinking "I don't have a phone to call my mom. I can't get home to Kaua'i without my id, I have no money and I can't get a hold of my roommates to pick me up at the airport."

Jordan was the most calm level-headed person in this situation. Poor guy had to listen to me cry all the way from North Shore to the airport. Hol and Jord were great. They walked me to my gate and made sure I got through security before they went to catch their plane. And to think I am such an independent person.. I couldn't have made it through that day without them. Ha! I guess it was a great "Learning Experience" as my mom would say :)

Speaking of which my parents were GREAT through all this. We couldn't get a hold of them but Jordan's parents called them to let them know what had happened. By the time we got to the airport and finally reached them they had canceled all my credit cards, called my roommates to make sure they knew when to pick me up (I'm still trying to figure out how they got their numbers) and they just really are the greatest parents! So thanks again for all your help!

Despite the last day it really was such a fun trip. I loved being with those two and have unforgettable memories! Even if I don't have too many pictures to prove it... Thanks again Hollie and Jord!

The Latest and Greatest on Kauai

Well I guess you can say it has been awhile since I have updated anything. Cut me some slack we have had a lot going on lately! I'll start at the back and work my way back up to now.
Chad our Canadian friend keeps us well fed. He is always cooking up yummy bbq's for us and keeping us entertained. We hang out with the YSA group quite a bit with FHE, institute, pretty much all the time. We had a bonfire and Chad cooked for us a few weeks ago and it was great as usual!

All of the girls..

Ikaika and Chad-Eh

Being silly as usual


Danny is the adventure thrill seeker of the group... He is always looking for something new and scary/exciting to do. We have gone kayaking with him a few times up the Wailua River. Despite the scares of Anacondas and sharks living in the river, I have successfully made it up and back without a panic attack. We even hiked in to see the Fern Grotto (Which I somehow managed to not get any pictures of..)

Making our way up the river..



Nephi, Kaika and Danny



Silly Tessa



Tessa, Jenna and Cathy



One of my favorite places to visit on my days off is Poipu. It is almost always sunny down there and the beaches are beautiful! I had a day off by myself a couple weeks ago and headed on down there to catch some sun.



The day finally came that we had to move out of our house. We were not looking forward to it. As I have said before, we absolutely adored our neighbors Heidi, Nic and Ty. They were pretty much the Del Sol parents on the island. We had the backyard for a jungle, life was just going great! And then word came we have to move. We didn't know where we were going yet but we had to be out. So we packed everything up. The boys came over to help move it all and two truckloads and 2 carloads later we had it all moved into Nephi's spare bedroom.




Our last family picture at our house...




We stayed at a hotel for what started out as two nights and ended up being a week. In the midst of the move I went to Oahu for a couple weeks (which I will post about later). It was quite the fiasco trying to get into a new place but we are so relieved with the home we ended up in! I am going to have to post some pictures of our new house. It wasn't furnished so we are slowly collecting more items for our little home. Life is most definitely keeping me busy over here but I couldn't ask for a better time!

The Rough Life... (Are you happy mom, an update with pictures!)

I feel like the time flies in between each post!! I have done a ton the past week and a half so I will try and update quick.

Last Saturday morning Danny took a bunch of us to hike the Sleeping Giant in time for the sunrise. It is an amazing hike and the sunrise was beautiful!





It is always fun to have everyone come over and hang out. They keep us entertained and we sometimes fix them food. (Hey the Del Sol budget doesn't allow for an elaborate lifestyle!)



Last Sunday in church the cutest couple was visiting from Bountiful. We got to talking to them and they were moving to Australia for his job in a month or so. Turns out they got called to go earlier and needed to head back home to pack up. The bad news for them was they had already paid for the Marriott for the week, but the good news for us was that they let us stay there!! We had a week in a great room at the Marriott and I have to say I was in heaven being back in an air conditioned room. I never realized how spoiled I was to sleep in the cold basement until I didn't have it anymore! The beds were amazing, the pool was great (not that I don't swim there all the time anyway, but still it was nice to play tourist) and we had some fun bbqs while we were there.





Also a quick story while we were playing beach volleyball right there on Kalapaki Beach on my day off I went to set the volleyball down and my CTR ring slid into the sand. My parents had just given it to me at the airport and I was devastated! I thought it would be super easy to find since it just slid off but it was no where in sight! Me and Jess searched for probably 20 minutes. I was trying so hard not to cry and praying my little heart out. After one final prayer I said "Okay let me just look here one last time" and I slid my hand over the sand and my ring popped up. I was ecstatic! I will obviously be more careful now with my ring and I am so happy to have it back!



We have the cutest neighbors in the world, Nic and Heidi Clark. They are like the parents of our little Del Sol family. They have the most adorable little boy that is two named Ty and Heidi is expecting a girl in November. They had us over for dinner on Sunday. Ty is always out front running around semi clothed. He keeps us entertained. Heidi and Nic have done everything for us from changing our light bulbs to cleaning out the mold underneath our sink. (I know, they are very brave!) They had us over for dinner on Sunday and it was so fun to hang out with them.





So everyone is asking how the work is going... Well Del Sol is way fun to work at when we are busy. The cruise ships are supposed to start picking up so that will be good. When it is slow we have to come up with ways to entertain ourselves, which is not hard. As a little extra movitation our manager Julie challenged us to beat the Del Sol store on Kona and if we did we would get a day off work. We tried every trick in the book to get people in to buy and it just wasn't our day! Me and Tessa were sad at the end of the day when we didn't get our day off..



Sometimes crazy things happen at the Del Sol house. Like at midnight we might just make milkshakes and pull out our hide-a-bed and watch a chick flick. I have to admit I love my roommates (even if they don't always remember to line their shoes up at the front door... ahem Tessa). But we have a ton of fun just being girls.





Today I had the day off work with Tessa. Jenna had the day off as well so we were excited to hang out with her. We started out surfing with my bff Nephi.



After surfing we finally were able to go to the infamous Kipu Falls with Danny and Nephi. Can I just say that Danny is amazing? We walk in and can't find him at all. Oh don't worry... He is in the tree a million feet in the air. I have never even seen an animal climb trees as fast as he does. I don't know how he does it without being scared.. I would wet myself if I was that high up bouncing on a tree branch.



I was daring enough to jump from the falls (It only took me 20 minutes before I finally jumped) and then we all played on the rope swing. At times like that it hits me how beautiful it is out here!





Nephi took the love of his life his dog Bella with him on the rope swing. It was crazy to watch!



It was a way fun day! Like I have said before days off are highly treasured, but tomorrow it is back to work! I guess when you live in Paradise you still have to work occasionally.. Totally overrated I think!