Everything's Better in Hawaii

I don't mean to make anyone feel bad, but it's true: everything's better in Hawaii. I can prove it.

Chocolate. One of the best things in the world (in my opinion). Chocolate makes life better. At times, it's what makes life worth living. And... believe it or not, chocolate is even better in Hawaii.

It's not just because we've got these.

Or these.

Or even these.

But it's because the temperature in Hawaii is perfectly conducive to chocolate consumption. As soon as you put a piece of chocolate in your mouth, it begins to melt. And I feel like I never actually tasted chocolate before I came to Hawaii. But when you eat it here and it starts to melt, it's like the flavor, in all of its chocolaty goodness, bursts in your mouth.

We bought some Caramacs before Christmas so we could take them home to share with the family.

We were too excited when we bought them to wait until Boise, so we opened a box for ourselves. I don't remember chocolate ever tasting so good. So when we got home and opened some to share, I was expecting the full flavor burst that I had experienced just days before in Hawaii. And I was somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the Caramacs were still delicious, but they were missing the perfect texture and taste and temperature that Hawaii seems to give them.

And so, my point is this: when you all come to visit, we'll be sure to enjoy some chocolate together --> Hawaiian style. You won't be disappointed.

Victory

This morning, with Brent already at school, I found this guy on the curtains in my closet.

Needless to say, I was terrified. I've seen my fair share of large bugs in my life, but I've never seen anything that looked like this. It was like a huge, metallic, buzzing, scary ant with wings. I had no idea what to do. Brent's supposed to take care of the big ugly bugs. So, in order to put off having to take care of it myself, I grabbed the camera and took pictures.

Then, mustering up all my courage, I grabbed the roach/ant spray. Brent doesn't like to use the spray because then there's poison all over our house. But I refuse to try to kill bugs with just my hands and some toilet paper. Shoes don't work very well either. Cockroaches especially are surprisingly fast and very hard to kill. Plus I had no idea what this bug was going to do when threatened. So I sprayed him (and our curtains) with a healthy dose of poison. He spread his wings and started crawling all over the place. I was screaming all over the place. After the poison had time to slow him down substantially, I smashed him with my shoe and used an entire roll of toilet paper to pick him up. Victory. Janelle's Self-Confidence = 1 point. Big Ugly Bug = 0.

Surfing: Hawaii's Favorite Sport

On Monday, Brent celebrated the holiday by giving surfing a second try. This is how cool our car looks when it has a surfboard strapped on top.

This is me, looking ecstatic about being dragged out of bed at 7am.

Brent really is happy because he found a baby lizard.

Here's Brent being cool with his friend Jeremiah.

And here he is out battling the waves.

In the afternoon, we drove downtown and walked along Waikiki. Waikiki is the prime tourist location on Oahu. It was fun to feel like we were on vacation. Do I look like a tourist?

The street along the beach is lined with tons of shops; a lot are upscale. We stopped in at the Ferrari shop and saw this.

I said "cool" and moved on, but Brent just stared with his mouth wide open for about 5 straight minutes. Then he had this look on his face for the next hour.

When I could finally get him to come look around the rest of the store, we found Ferrari bikes and strollers, car seats and cologne. I had no idea Ferrari was so versatile. I found a pair of newborn Ferrari pajamas for $90. Crazy?!?

Here is the beautiful and famous Waikiki.

Notice the old guy in the speedo. Oh wait, we got a close up for you.

You're Welcome. Here is where the locals can store their surfboards.

It's a beautiful sight, isn't it? Honestly makes me feel like we're living in paradise.

And here are just a few more pictures we've taken in the last week.

Our Weekend

Last Saturday, Brent and I took our bi-weekly trip into town (about an hour drive) to get the essentials at Costco and Wal-Mart. Every single time we make this drive, I see this guy.He's the biggest bull I've ever seen and he's always in this pasture right next to the road. No fences holding him in; just that one chain. Every time I see him, I can't help but exclaim, "There's that bull again. He's humongous. Look at him, Brent. Can you even believe it?"
So this time, Brent pulled over to take some pictures for me. I bet he's just a big, gentle giant. I like him. We decided to name him Bullock because we were in the middle of a conversation about favorites and after much discussion and consideration, we had both decided that Sandra Bullock is our favorite actress. So there ya go.

On Sunday, since our church doesn't start until 2pm now (yes, 2pm) we decided to take a walk. There's a pathway at the end of our street leading up into the mountain, but it's blocked off by "No Trespassing" signs. Still, the neighbor kids go play up there all the time. So, we decided to see for ourselves what was at the end of the trail. It's just some type of water preserve, but the little hike itself was gorgeous.

While our skin may be appreciating the return of moisture in the air, some of our possessions are not. Yesterday, I pulled out my black flats and found this. Yuck. All moldy. Good thing I've been looking for an excuse to throw those things away for a while now. Shoe shopping time.

And, just in case any of you are dying for a reason to escape to Hawaii in the next month, the next Food Fest is scheduled for February 12!

Oh the Difference

Can I share with you my favorite difference between BYU Provo and BYU-Hawaii?

Here it is.

There's BYU-Hawaii.

And here's the parking lot.

So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, in Provo, I could literally drive around for an hour and a half looking for a parking space a quarter of a mile (or more) away from the school; all while missing my last class before the final. As someone who stresses immensely about grades and tests and punctuality, I would end up cursing BYU and maybe even crying. All parking spaces even remotely close to campus buildings are reserved for faculty and unless you are on campus at 7am - good luck finding a parking spot.

But at BYU-Hawaii, I can come at any hour, park wherever I want, and I'll only be about a 30-second walk from whatever building I want. For this reason alone, I feel like this place is heaven.
And whenever I pull my car into that huge empty parking lot, I feel ridiculously happy and blessed:) It's the little things, right?

And We're Back

We had a wonderful Christmas at home in Idaho with the family. Unfortunately, I fell back into my routine of letting everyone else take the pictures and didn't collect from anybody before we flew back to Hawaii. Oops! But I did take a couple pictures that prove I'm becoming crafty. So here they are.

One day, I sat down with my sisters and we made hair flowers all day. I'm pretty proud of our results.

With my mom as my teacher, I made a BSU quilt for Brent for Christmas. This was my first project on a sewing machine since 8th grade Home Ec class, so I was surprised at how well this baby turned out. I matched up my corners and everything!It took the entire break to finish, but at least I've conquered my first big project and I'm not so scared to move onto the next one. I'm excited I've started down the crafty road because, now that I'm done with school, I'm going to need something exciting to fill up my free time.

We loved spending two and a half weeks with our parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. We also got to catch up with some old friends and I was able to fill in as an assistant at my Dad's dental office for a few days. I love working with my dad!

I also helped convince my dad to get an X-Box 360 with the Kinect (your body is the controller) just in time for our New Years Eve party. SoOOoo much fun. That dance game you see on all the commercials... it's as great as it looks. If this is the future, I'm excited. We can't wait for the Wii to come out with something that rivals the Kinect sensor.

And now we're back in Hawaii. We are loving the warmth and our skin is loving the moisture in the air. We jumped right back into the Hawaiian lifestyle with some starfruit from our landlord. Starfruit is delicious. It tastes like a mix between an apple, a pear, and a plum. Yummy, right?!

Other than that, school has started again for Brent. As a new VP, he's been asked to give the opening prayer for the first campus devotional of the semester on Tuesday where the president of the university is the main speaker. So that'll be fun. Brent's a big wig around campus now I suppose:) We've also inherited a hand-me-down camera from my dad in order to document our Hawaiian experience the way it deserves to be documented. Brent's pretty excited about it. So hopefully this means I'll have a lot of better quality pictures to post from here on out.

So family, we loved seeing you! Thank you for everything. Loveyoumissyoubye!