A Relaxing Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a beautiful, Hawaiian Thanksgiving Day and weekend. Except for a devastating football game and a few related tears, we were able to relax, unwind, and work on our tans.

After the BYU-H intramural Turkey Bowl, we ate Thanksgiving dinner with seven other couples in our ward. Dinner was delicious and our view was unbelievable.

This was our happy group. (Mom, Dad, Traci, Joey, and Audra -> Notice Deklin Keket on the far right. Yes, I ate Thanksgiving dinner with him.) My family knew Deklin as a high schooler in Tonga; we thought he had the coolest name we've ever heard.

I'm usually a huge fan of the Black Friday pushing, shoving, and excitement. But with stores opening at 3am and town an hour away, I decided that a day of sunshine, sand, and ocean breezes sounded pretty nice. We woke up Friday morning and headed out to Castles Beach with some friends for Brent to have his first go at surfing. He was able to catch a few waves, but he's looking forward to going out again and eventually becoming a pro. I may try next time too, but the waves looked a little too choppy for me that morning. The rest of Friday and most of Saturday were spent at Turtle Bay; catching rays and reading my Mormon romance novel. Life is definitely good!

My Man

Today Brent went on a jog, found a ripe coconut,and husked it with his bare hands.Then he cracked it open with a rock (just like he learned at the PCC), drank the juice, and brought me home the tasty meat - thick with coconut milk.I thought it was pretty manly of him. And there's nothing better than eating fresh coconut meat (although it's loaded with saturated fat. Don't worry, I didn't eat too much).

In other news, Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! We're sad about missing the family gatherings this year, but we're excited to have Thanksgiving dinner with some friends in our ward and get to know them better. Most of all, we're thankful for all of you! We miss you!

Just a few other things I'm thankful for that I just have to mention...
My sweet husband.
Prayer.
The Holy Ghost.
Scholarships!
Public Health efforts.
The Food Network.
Airplanes.
Telephones.
Palm trees.
Dancing with the Stars!
Mormon romance novels.
America.

And I know I already mentioned you, but just to call you by name...
My supportive dad and mom.
My awesome mother- and father-in-law.
My sweet grandparents.
My cool older brothers.
My favorite sister.
My fun sisters- and brothers-in-law.
My adorable nieces and nephews.
and My incredible best friends.

Traci's Visit, Part II

On Sunday, we were able to relax, go to church, and spend the evening with the Kinoshitas (our family who live in Kaneohe). After a delicious dinner, we were able to talk everyone into gathering in the Kinoshita's living room and watching the one-hour special episode of Hannah Montana. It was the one where she revealed herself as Miley Stewart and I just couldn't miss it! I'm proud to admit that I love Hannah Montana; it's hilarious. And everyone else in the room thoroughly enjoyed it too, or at least that's what they said.

On Monday, we hit the beaches, but only after we stopped at the malasada truck for breakfast. Malasadas are a Portuguese donut: no hole. They are deep-fried, covered in sugar, and if you want, filled with bavarian cream, chocolate cream, or haupia (coconut milk) cream. Yum!(Normally I would've waited to take the picture until that guy moved out of the way, but he matched the truck so I actually thought he was a nice touch)

Waimanalo.

The blowhole.

Hanauma Bay. Snorkeling.

On the way home, we hit up the famous Kahuku shrimp trucks.Their shrimp scampi is definitely the most delicious seafood you'll ever eat.The shrimp are raised in ponds surrounding the shrimp trucks, so they are very fresh and very yummy.

And we stopped to see the temple all lit up at night.

I forgot to mention that the first morning of Traci's trip, we drove out to Ted's and got an entire chocolate haupia cream pie and a carrot cake; just so we could have them in the fridge to eat whenever we wanted. We'll do this when you come too. It's a must.

It was great to have Traci here. She has a better knowledge of Hawaii than we do, so she showed us everything we'll need to show you when you all come to visit.

Can't wait for February when Traci comes again; for food fest, right Tra?

Traci Comes to Visit!

Last week, my sister Traci came to visit us! We've been looking forward to her visit since before we even moved to Hawaii. We've been waiting to do most of the touristy stuff with Tra, so we jam-packed it all into a fun-filled weekend.

Friday morning, we watched the sunrise, and Brent saved a starfish's life.

Then we went to the Laie Temple Open House.
We spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Our friend Atu was able to get us good tickets to the nightshow "Ha: Breath of Life." Before the show started, Atu gave us a backstage tour. It just so happens that Atu is the main character in the nightshow, so he knew exactly how every prop was used in every dance - because he is in all of them! And to top it all off, he came out during the intermission and gave us all free pineapple delights (tropical rainbow sherbet with fresh fruit). Atu is the greatest. A few days later, we were walking around and happened upon this banner. It's Atu! He's kindof a big deal.

Saturday morning, we drove to Waikiki and ate at the Shorebird Breakfast Buffet. This buffet has been a family favorite for as long as I can remember. You get to eat fresh papaya and pineapple, Hawaiian sweet bread pancakes with coconut syrup, and lots of other things to your hearts content while you sit right on Waikiki beach.The view from our table. See the rainbow?

Next we went on over to Pearl Harbor and rode a boat over to the USS Arizona Memorial. It is a very hallowed and humbling experience. The warship, which still leaks 2-9 quarts of oil into the ocean every day, is the burial site for 1,177 crew members who went down with her on December 7, 1941. The memorial was built over the sunken ship, but parts of the ship are visible above the water.
Yes, we were brave enough to wear our Boise State gear all around town as the BSU vs. University of Hawaii game was being played in Boise. Some people gave us a hard time, like pretending they were all out of tickets at Pearl Harbor (at least for Boise State fans), but everyone was actually really nice and most just asked us the score and told us how great Boise State is.

We spent the rest of the day at the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium (where UH plays! We were Boise State fans on enemy territory:). At the swap meet, local vendors and artists set up booths in a circle surrounding the entire stadium. Here is where the smart tourists go to buy all of their souvenirs and gifts. You can find everything at the swap meet, and for a fraction of the price that you would find on Waikiki or in Hilo Hattie's.We drove home by way of Haleiwa and enjoyed delicious pineapple burgers at Kua Aina.

11/11

I had a wonderful 22nd birthday. Thanks to my sweet husband. I woke up to the new Taylor Swift album playing on my iPod! It had been released on October 25 and I was beginning to feel like it was a crime that a new Taylor Swift was out and I didn't own it yet. So Brent fixed that for me:) I love it.

Between classes, I was treated to spam musubi (a local and personal favorite) for lunch.Rice and a slice of spam wrapped together with seaweed. Delicious! (Spam is huge in Hawaii. You can get a Spam breakfast at McDonald's. And I don't care what people say about Spam, it tastes really yummy:)

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Polynesian Cultural Center; taking time to enjoy things we haven't had time to see before. This is a cool palm tree that grew over the lagoon. Elvis sat on this tree in the movie "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" while he sang and played the guitar. We felt really close to the King.Every piece of wood you see in the picture is that one tree. Isn't it crazy how it's grown and wound back around like that?

Then we went home to enjoy the special birthday dinner of potstickers and rice made entirely by Brent.

Then Brent gave me my special present that he had spent all morning making in the Mac lab in the library. Before he gave it to me, he warned me that it was a present that I was going to love but it would also make me very sad. It was a little book that Brent put together about my dog Bruce that died earlier this summer. It was filled with pictures of her as a puppy and the two of us together. Brent had also gathered memories of Bruce from each of my family members and included them in the book. Excuse the picture, it was taken after a few tears had been shed. This book immediately became the most thoughtful and wonderful present I've ever received. Bruce had been my best friend since 2nd grade. I still think of her often and miss her immensely. I'm probably the only one that a present like this could mean so much to and Brent is the only one who would think of something so sweet. So thank you Brent, and family, for helping to make my birthday so special. Can't wait to see you all at Christmas! And I'll definitely bring the book so we can all laugh and cry together:)

Halloween!

Halloween turned out pretty great this year. Brent gets really into carving pumpkins. He makes sure his pumpkin is a piece of art. Last year he carved Mario.

And here is this year's masterpiece.

Look familiar?

How about a little Batman? Pretty dang good huh?

Brent was so proud of Batman that he decided to take him to the ward party with us to be the centerpiece and center of attention. Everyone loved it.

We were excited to attend our ward party after all the hype that was made about it, even though a lot of people in our student ward didn't even know what Halloween was (my invite email from the relief society included a link to Wikipedia explaining what the holiday is all about). We're not super into dressing up. Maybe someday when we have kids and I become more creative. This year, we just decided to go as Bronco fans, because that's the best thing there is anyway, right? I also wore some awesome socks that I got in a care package from my parents (my dad picked them out, they're pretty great).

On Sunday, we were invited to a feast at the neighbors' house where I ate oysters for the first time. I even ate two! The neighbors were impressed with my toughness. The oysters were pretty scary looking, and you're supposed to eat them in one bite so you don't see what's inside:) They were actually kinda yummy.

We then spent the evening passing out candy with the neighbor kids to trick or treaters who came by. Our neighbor kids are our new best friends. They jump up and down when we get home from school and tell us repeatedly "we always love you guys." They've definitely made their way into our hearts! We'll have to get some pictures with them soon.