Easters

I must admit when I found out I would not be spending easter at home, I was a little bummed. Little did I know this would be one of the best easters ever!

We wanted to be with family on easter so Kaitlin and I spent the night at Kilie and Huston's on saturday night. We started with eating at my FAVORITE shaved ice place called Angels, and then headed back to their house to chat and laugh and play! We always have the funnest time over there and for some reason we were all in a really goofy mood s

o it was really fun. We finally got to sleep and then early in the morning I heard the Easter Bunny rustling around in the other room!!! Huston was awake as well, and w

arned us that if we didn't go back to sleep the Easter bunny would leave. It was so fun to feel like a little kid again as me and Kilie would get excited and giggle under the covers. Finally, the E.B. was done and came in to sing his easter song to let us know he had come. Hooolly cow what I wouldn't give to have that song and dance on video!!! I think we laughed for an hour straight before we finally saw our goodies. I guess the E.B. ran out of baskets in the mainland because he left our stuff in some of the Farnsworth's Pans!! hahah so creative, I loved it. Here are our lovely "baskets"-

Snugglin under the covers

Huston made yummy waffles and we ate them while watching the sunday morning of conference. It was lovely! It was so wonderful to have Easter and conference fall on the same day. There isn't a greater way to celebrate the Savior's resurrection than to learn of him through the words of our prophets! I loved this session so.

After the session Brandon and Brad came over for lunch and Kaitlin and I got ready to take roommate pictures with all our roommates on the beach. Kilie wanted me to try curling her hair with my special ringlet iron. It turned out beautiful :)

Kaitlin and Anna sleeping during conference.... tisk tisk. haha

Here are some of the roomy pics we took. We are missing one roommate, who was hiking, but we still love her too!

Feetsies!!!

This is the cover for our new reality tv show...

I love ALL these girls so much!!!!

Oh daaaaang....

Thug status

After we were done taking pickys we headed back to Kilie and Huston's to watch conference and play some games. We played this new game based off Pirates of the Carribean called "Pirates Dice" and it was really fun! The boys got really into it, talking pirate the whole time and had the soundtrack music playing in the background. It was fantastic

Huston and Bradley Battling it out for captain

Kilie and I decided to go to the YW broadcast that was being shown at the CAC... but the guy with the dvd never showed up so they canceled it haha. We had some good talks though and met some really neat women who inspired us to be better :)

Patience and Selflessness were our theme words for the evening.. haha

The boys were still watching the Priesthood session at home so we boiled some eggs while they finished up and then colored Easter eggs!! Here are some of the finished product.

All in all it was a Wonderful Easter! I'm so grateful to have such great friends and Kilie and Huston here to be our family... they are always so kind and giving and selfless towards us (and everyone)! I am going to miss them so much when I leave, but will see them soon again ;)

I'm also so grateful on this Easter weekend to have a knowledge of the Gospel. I have such a burning testimony of it and I'm soooo blessed to know of the truth that God lives, that the Savior lives and that he died for every single one of us so that we may live with them again. I'm so grateful to be able to listen to a Prophets voice lead and guide us in our world today. I get such strong and peaceful feelings when I hear them speak and I know what they are saying is true. I love my Savior and Heavenly Father and thank him everyday for the blessings I have.

Behind

I really really need to update my blog. A ton of exciting things have happened in the past few weeks, it's just hard to find the time ya heeeaar?? Until that time, I will let you in on a little secret.

I.

Miss.

CHIPOTLE.

Oooh those small-child size burritos of heaven make me scream with joy... I can hardly wait until the 13th when we will be reunited, along with my nina girl. Cept really I can wait a lil bit, cuz paradise rocks.

Pay back

I have a good calling in my singles ward over here in Hawaii. I was called just two weeks after I arrived to be the Enrichment Night Leader (now known as Relief society night coordinator). It’s certainly not the hardest calling, but it still takes a good amount of effort and planning. Well tuesday night was relief society night for the month of February and I planned an activity that I thought would be great. We were going to make little bags of candy with encouraging notes tied to them saying things like “Jesus loves you”, “I love you”, “You are special”, etc, and send them to an orphanage in Burundi, Africa (I’m part of the African club... they have connections).

Anywho, during the past couple weeks I have made a few trips to Wal Mart and food land to buy chocolate, take back chocolate, buy non perishable candy, buy little bags and ties, get all the card stock and cut them into 100 pieces and hole punch everyone of them and buy a bunch of pens. Finally I was all ready for the night and I went around to a few of the floors on my house a couple minutes before, making sure all the girls remembered it was relief society night and I got a few promising moans and questionable looks. I started my journey down to campus a little late, so I was expecting a fairly large group to be waiting for me seeing as I was the one who had all the supplies and instructions. We have 110 girls in our relief society.... there were 4 girls waiting for me on a bench. We waited a little longer and one more girl showed up, but notta one after that. Not even anyone from the presidency showed up. Awesome. The girls that did come were really sweet however, and we had a good time and got everything done which mostly the point of the night, but it still hurt to not have that support... and I still went home and cried. haha. Now I’m not saying I’m mad or disappointed in anyone, I’ve certainly done my share of “studying” and “spending time with family” when it came time for meetings or activities I was supposed to go to, and I understand that it’s midterms week and a lot of girls might not have even heard about it! All I’m saying is it was a real good slap in the face and really put in perspective how important it is to show support and attend your meetings whenever possible. This was not the biggest activity ever planned, but there was a lot of thought, time and energy put into it (which is probably my fault-I tend to think I can do everything on my own and not have any help) so it would have been nice to have some support. At least the kiddies in Africa will be happy :) Maybe next month....

Love Day

I know it's like a week and a half past Valentines day, but im'ma post about it anyway :) Valentines Day has always been one of my very favorite holidays... not just because of all the candy and cookies you get, or the cool Spider-man and Hello Kitty Valentines, or even the cute pink white and red clothing you get to wear! I love Valentines day because it's a day you get to express your love to everyone!! I think it's sad when people get depressed on V-day because they don't have a special lover, but hey... who said you needed a boyfriend or girlfriend to be happy and spread da love??? Share it with your family and friends!! I mean if you have a special someone, even better, but don't let it ruin the fun if you don't. Maybe I just think this way because that's how I was raised. My mom always made Valentines Day super fun for us by decorating our doors, baking heart shaped sugar cookies, and doorbell ditching goodies randomly throughout the day. My dad always got us girls flowers or balloons and it was just a fun, special day where we got to express our love to each other!


This year, seeing as I am very far from home, Valentines day was a little different. My mom still managed to send some love my way and gave me this awesome package!



The weekend was full of lots of fun too. It started off Friday night at the Sea
sider Basketball game with my friends Meagan and Alisha.

After the game Kaitlin and I went to the Latino Club Valentines party and I totally reached down deep to my Latino roots (I'm sure they're there some where) and danced the night away.

They were gonna take us to Honolulu to a Latino club because we were so legit... but the car broke down. Sad day :(

The next morning we met up with some friends and went on a hike to some springs. The hike was fun and the pond place even had a rope swing to jump in with!

(Sorry the pictures are mini...)

After the hike Kaitlin and I went with Kilie and Huston to Waimea Bay and then got shaved ice at the famous Matsumotos... Soooo good!!

After we got home and showered, me Kaitlin and our friend Meagan headed down to campus to an annual event BYUH holds called Food Fest. This is really a neat experience (especially for me because it involves tons of FOOD!!) Basically all the different culture clubs bake a bunch of different food from their countries and each person buys tickets and then goes around to all the booths and trades tickets for food! I got this yummy chicken curry stuff from Tahiti, a pork shishkabob from China, and this delicious strawberry-marshmellow shishkabob drizzled in chocolate sauce from Japan! I was in HEAVEN!!
After Food Fest we hopped in the car with some friends and drove to a little place called Kava Roots (has the BEST Acai bowls) for Open Mic. They hold open mic. every saturday night and it's just a night where people go up and share their musical talents. Most instruments are provided and anyone can go up and do their thang. Our friends played some awesome songs and totally got in with the owners and everyone loved them. I loved it because it was just the epitomy of Hawaii. Sitting on couches, drinking Kava (well... not the byu kids of course ha) and listening to chill island musicians. So good. I recorded a little bit of one of the songs, this is basically Hawaii in a nutshell.






Awesome.




Sunday morning we woke up and went to Kilie and Huston's ward to hear them speak. They did awesome!! Their talks were on love (of course) and different ways we can give "Valentines" to the Lord, like serving others, being selfless and showing love to everyone around us. It was a great way to start of the Love Day!!

After church we went to their house and made heart shaped sugar cookies!! It was so much fun and they turned out DELICIOUS (besides the frosting that Huston preferred to call a "glaze" haha).

That night we got invited to go camping on a beach way on the other side of the island and in the morning try to snorkel with dolphins!! I was pretty dang excited... but something inside me is always a little doubtful when it comes to big things like swimming with dolphins when no payment is involved. I thought it would be fun anyway so we drove out there with Kilie and Huston. The drive out was loooong, but we had fun listening to Kilie sing every word of "baby got back", and getting lost and pulled over was pretty cool too haha.

We made a campfire, roasted some marshmellows and finally snuggled in our "beds" to try and get some sleep.

Group Spoonaaage!!! Love these guys :)

About 45 minutes after I fell asleep, we were awakened by a couple of cops telling us we had to leave on account of it wasn't safe because hobos hide and steal stuff, and the locals like to stab hales (white people) around these parts of town. Awesome. So we drove all the way back home. It turns out my gut instinct was right and we wouldn't have been able to swim with dolphins anyway.

The next morning was Presidents day so I FINALLY got to sleep in! Kaitlin went on another hike that morning, and after I woke up, Kilie, Huston, Brad and I went to the beach. We actually got in the water this time and body surfed! It was sooo much fun!! Such a good day :)

(Kaitlin wasn't there so sorry no pictures :/ haha)

That night we had a mini girls night and went down the street to the Laie theatre to see Valentines Day. I thought it was really cute and we had a good time.

We wore socks and soffees. It was cool.

And that was my lovely Valentines weekend! I hope you all had an awesome day full of love and happiness, cause I sure as heck did!! :D Maybe next year I'll have a lover of my very own...

The Goof-Troop

When I was a sophomore in high school I joined the Badminton team with three of my best friends, Natalli Smith (Ellsworth), Megynn Caffall and Donelle Porter. Any of you readers who know the four of us (or any of us for that matter) know we aren't your average kind of girl. We average about 2 showers a week, and I'm pretty sure each of us have an acute case of A.D.H.D. Anywho... Our Badminton coach gave us a name one day that stuck pretty hard, and that name was The Goof-Troop. (Unfortunately I only have my lap top which doesn't have all my old pictures, so there are none of us all together in badminton, but smash these together and you got the crew)

In August of 2009, we lost Natalli to a worthy apponent named Jacob.

And today, on February 12, 2010.... another one bites the dust. That's right, Donelle Vivian Porter is no longer Donelle Vivian Porter, but rather Donelle Vivian Clare. The bandit this time, a young man named Caleb. Besides the fact I am losing yet another one of my best friends, I am SOOOO stinkin happy for her! She has been SUCH an amazing friend through the years and I am thrilled that she found such and Awesome guy to spend the rest of eternity with! Sadly... due to the fact that I am a million miles away and plane tickets are a million dollars I can't be there :( I've been so bummed all day today so I've been having friends send me texts and picture messages updating me every step of the way. I even tried to go to the reception via skype! haha...that didn't work out. None the less, I am so grateful for Donelle and the amazing example of love and kindness she is and now the example she and her new hubby are!

They are the cutest couple ever by the way. So here's to Donelle, Donatello, Don Juan Triumphant, or whatever you wanna call her... Hope your day was the BEST! I love you!!!!

Looks like we're the only ones left Meg... but it shouldn't be long with looks like these eh???

B.J.E

Once upon a time I was up here at BYU-H and everything costed a million dollars. So one day I said to myself... "I really need a job". One of my friends that I saw on campus the very next day happened to run into the IT center and notice that they were short on staff members (thanks Blakey). I ran my lil hiney over there, got an appointment for an interview, whipped up a bodacious resume (thanks pops), totally impressed them with my charming peronalitaaaay, and veula! I gots myself a J.O.B! And let me tell you... this is the B.J.E!!! (BEST JOB EVERRR)!

Heres me doin my thang

So basically my job consists of sitting in an office full of extremely fun, nice, hilarious people, doing homework and stalking on facebook until occasionally the phone rings and I have to answer and say "Aloha, BYU Hawaii how may I direct your call?" all professional-like, then direct their call (which takes a total of 20 seconds, unless there's a problem with their email or computer.... then I just hand the phone to someone else! :) ). I know right... Dream Job!! My first couple days I just sat and listened in on people's calls to learn, and also decorated the office for Valentines day haha. Yesterday they took my training wheels off and I got to answer all by myself! I'm a big girl now!! But the first hour I worked, I answered a grand total of FOUR CALLS, which combined took about a minute and a half. I made 8 bucks sitting on Facebook. So I decided to treat myself to some ice cream, you know, for all the hard work I just did (paid for by half of the 8 bucks I just made sitting on Facebook). So here I am, enjoying my brownie fudge sunday, that I got for sitting on Facebook. Haha I can't say that enough! I LOVE MY LIFE!!

Ok... so I feel obligated to tell you I went back in later that day and it was much busier and I answered like 30 calls. It got a little crazy at one point because they had me workin the switchboard too which answers 1-800 calls or something. I had to double up my headset... talk about intense!!

But still... B.J.E.