Manoa Falls Trail

I had an opportunity to do this beautiful hike with my kiddos for work on Friday and it was so beautiful! It was a rainforest, very lush and green, it was so serene and peaceful! There was a gorgeous waterfall at the end of the hike too! It was a pretty neat day!

Reality is setting in

The reality of Evs getting accepted is finally settling in the more we do to prepare for it. Its pretty exciting. We received his official paperwork on Monday for Cal Baptist University. Evs filled it out and sent in a deposit check to make sure he gets his spot in the program as their is a waiting list for the program and people are hoping to get a spot. But definitely not Evs spot because it is officially his!! He has committed to the program and we are very excited. With only a little more than 2 weeks left of Evs Senior year he has been busy doing all his last minute projects, Senior Study and papers. I am so proud of him for working so hard and being diligent in all his efforts. We are getting all our ducks in a row, crossing t's and dotting i's. We have booked our tickets to the mainland, bittersweetly ONLY one way. We leave April 20th. But we will for sure be back so I am not too worried about that. We will miss our Hawaii Ohana too much. Next item of business was our housing, but we were just approved for our apartment this week, so we will be moving to Riverside April 28th. We dont have too much to sell from our apartment here, we were pretty low maintenance people. But we are working on selling the few big items like our tv, table, and kitchen island. After that stuff is gone, well we will just be selling the small stuff like dishes, pans, pots as time comes a little closer. I feel very blessed for everything we have and how things have fallen into place as we hoped and prayed they would. We know its the right thing for us because it did fall into place and we are truly so grateful. Our Heavenly Father is always watching over us and truly gives us those things we need in our life. We will always be indebted to Him for everything we have and we will never be able to do enough to repay him except keep doing the right things, serving others, and seeking for learning and growth.

Thanks..

for the visit Tony and Michelle. We had such a fun time with you both! Wish you could have been here a little longer! Thanks for the stinky lingering farts (Tony), thanks for sharing with us a small front room, an even smaller water heater, portuguese sausage, spam & eggs, local kine food from Ted's bakery, movies The Princess and the Frog and 2012, dinner at Lucys Seafood and Grill, and shaved ice at Island Snow. Few things to remember about their visit..

Don Quijotes massage tester section there were a ton of different items to try and we all know which one Tony liked the best (inside joke: jiggle jiggle)

A day of kayaking in Kailua/Lanikai. Dead crabs with their eyes eaten out by birds. The low tide and the reef we got stuck on. Evan and I getting nailed by a wave while being stuck on the reef..OUCH..(sorry Evs for all the cuts you got thanks for being a trooper) Strategically paddling the kayaks away from the large waves and riding them in to the shore to avoid getting pounded by them. The best chips ever getting soaking wet in your kayak. Watching Evan and I try to get into the kayak after flipping it three times coming out from the Mokulua islands because we were so nervous we would get pounded by a wave again. The long journey back with the wind. Oh joy the memories.

The swapmeet, glad we found Hawaii shirts for Tony..now that he has three. And the $1 difference the vendors wouldn't budge on..

Aloha Oe'..until we meet again in April on California turf. See ya then!

Happy Birthday!

Today is My Mums birthday. Evs and I seranated her with this lovely transformed childrens musical in her honor. "If your turning 57 and you know it, clap your hands [clap clap] if your turning 57 and you know it, clap your hands [clap clap], if your turning 57, if your turning 57, if your turning 57 and you know it clap your hands [clap clap]" Happy happy birthday MUM!

My Mum has always been there for me whether she has wanted to be or not. Its just in her nature (no child left behind). I love her and am so thankful that she was born and that we could celebrate her birth today. Even though Evs and I are far away we are thinking about you Mum. Hope you had a great day!

Dear LoveSac,

You will be missed! I am glad you went to a good home. We experienced many long Sunday naps and you were such a comfort during movie time and wii time. You were always wanted by every visitor that came over. We will miss you and all our great memories.

Love your foster parents, Evan and Darcy

Masseuse in Training

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I am so PROUD!

Dear Evan,

Congratulations! You have been accepted into the Master of Science in Athletic Training program at California Baptist University.It was a pleasure getting to know you a little in the interview. We hope to continue to get to know you better and see you reach your potential in becoming an Athletic Trainer.

Today was an exciting day! We finally found out what will be doing and where we will spending the next two years of our life. Let me tell you, it is such a relief; a weight has been lifted. We have been very blessed to have this opportunity and are thankful for all the prayers and angels rooting for us! I have much gratitude in my heart that cannot be fully expressed into words, but we are super excited!

Evs says," I am HAPPY! I want ice cream!"

Now were off to celebrate with some shaved ice (for me) and ice cream for Evs at Angels!

Hooked up

Now this is what I call a GOOD LOOKIN glass of Horchata!

and it was Mmm..good! I could have gone for another one, but no free refills! The waiter hooked me up with a BIG glass of Horchata and it made my day!

Since Saturday I have been so glad to have my Evs back! Its been a week since he interviewed for Grad school and each day I get more anxious and anxious to find out if he was accepted. (they really should have just told him that he was accepted right after the interview because really hes that amazing and they shouldn't even need a week to think about it) He was suppose to hear back in a week or so from when he interviewed, so that week mark was yesterday. So.. today is Thursday and I am still waiting and so is he...PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE right?? I suppose.

the day

So my hubby has been in California since Tuesday and I miss him so much. He went there for a grad school interview which he had today. All night and morning I just couldnt help but pray for him and constantly be thinking about him. I know he is amazing and I knew he would do fine in the interview, he's a natural, but I really just prayed for "them" (and when I say "them" I mean the panel of interviewers, 6 to be exact). I pray that they will see that little bit extra edge that Evs has that someone else doesn't have. That they see his passion and dedication and drive to be successful. And more than that, that they see him for the hardworking man that he is. Amongst all these prayers in my heart and actual prayers on my knees, I just knew that he was nervous and I felt an overwhelming anxiety for him and wanted him (and me) to be calm and feel at ease, so I prayed again since I knew he was in his interview (right as I was making my cinnamon toast) that he (and I) would feel peace and surety. As soon as I said "Amen", I got a text from my mom.

And it looked like this:

SMILE and STOP WORRYING

So I did. I mean how could I not with this picture of my two nieces! Immediately I felt better, calm and peaceful. My Father in Heaven knew what I needed. It was like he was singing to me the hymn, Be still my soul: The Lord is on thy side; With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; in evr'y change he faithful will remain. Be still my soul: thy best thy heav'nly Friend, thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

And since my Mom was the one who took Evs to his interview she would be the one to know best what to say and do. Thanks Mom for sending me the right thing and feeling the need to send it. It made all the difference! Evans interview went great! He felt strong, confident, sounded happy and delighted with himself after the interview. He did and said everything he could to make him a candidate for admittance into the program. I love him and I am so proud of my hubby. I know that its always been in the Lords hands and we have done all we can up to this point and now we wait. I normally don't get so worked up over things like this, I just let things be as they will, but I knew that this was a huge deal to helping Evs get to that next step. I am exhausted and I am not even the one that had the interview! Go figure! But I sure was his biggest cheerleader the whole time.

Pure Beauty

I took Cynthia to see Kailua and Lanikai because they are just such gorgeous sights to see I didnt want her to miss seeing them. Even though it was very windy and we didn't stay too long because I had to work, (the kiteboarders were definitely out) the water was clear, blue and beautiful. Pure beauty.

A Sunday trip to the temple and Visitors Center

Even though the temple is closed and has been closed for over a year now, I still really enjoy being on the grounds and seeing it from my front door. Its beautiful and signifies doing good.

The After Party..celebrating a couple things..

So after being stuck inside on a beautiful Saturday when we were suppose to be kayaking in Kailua and Lanikai, we went out to party after everything opened back up in Waikiki. We first headed to the International Marketplace, the place Cynthia learned to bargain or get ripped off.

Notice the hula girl that inspired Cynthia to dance the hula randomly.

My cute hubby and me (1 of 500 million thousand pictures I have of us..hehe)

Cynthia isnt flipping this guy off really, but this was a "street magician" and was supposedly going to take a ring and spin it in the air without using his hands..he was going to use "the force" I guess. Too bad Cynthia saw the string he was using, but she let him fool everyone else. haha good, weird times in Waikiki, but we had to let her experience the streets of Waikiki.

Then we headed to Dave and Busters! Mine and Evs favorite place to partay! We had to celebrate Cynthia's birthday early (12 days early) since she was here in Hawaii.

They brought her cheesecake and we all sang happy birthday.

My addiction, if I had one, would be this coin game. My most favorite game at D&B.

We had a great time with Cynthia here for the week. Hawaii is definitely a place everyone needs to experience, especially the BYU-Hawaii campus, PCC, and temple grounds. Theres definitely a Spirit that you cant miss, and when you leave you will feel the Island Spirit missing.

11:19 AM

It was 3:30 AM when we heard banging on our front door. I shook Evs and said, "someone is at the door." He jumps out of bed, puts on his eyes and is like ,"Who is it?" It was our neighbors the Sandbergs (thanks for the warning guys!) I seriously thought someone died or nailed our car. We were told that because of the earthquake in Chile that a tsunami was headed our way. I tried to grasp this warning at 3:30 am and grab our 72 hour kits and prepare for the worst. We had our friend Cynthia visiting with us and so we had to gather enough food and water for her and well and possibly move to higher ground. Luckily we found out that we weren't in an evacuation area and that we had to hold tight until 11:19 am when the tusnami was to hit the big island the worst then makes its way through the rest of the islands.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 8.8 hits Chile which makes the authorities to issue a tsunami warning in Chile. In Hawaii tsunami warning is also issued. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning at 12:46 a.m. on Feb. 27 Government agencies – county, state and federal – began implementing evacuation plans, safety and security along shorelines, and informing the public of the pace of the storm through the media.The waves generated by the earthquake are almost 10 feet high. According to information the first wave of tsunami will hit at 11:19 am to Hawaii shore.The US Geological survey assessed the magnitude as 8.3 initially. The quake hit at a depth of 36.9 miles of the ocean, 197 miles southwest of the capital, Santiago, at 3:34 a.m. Chile time on Saturday.Vindell Hsu, geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that the waves generated after the quake was very high and it will cause tsunami and he also said that center is waiting for more information about it.Tsunami warning has been issued in Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, and as far as Russia and Japan.

It hit the Chile at 3:34a.m. After the quake people came out of there homes. They were crying and hugging each other. It was dark at the time of earthquake. Many buildings collapsed and phone lines are destroyed.

As the tsunami sirens went off all throughout the island and it became a huge reality to me that they were preparing for the worst since 1960. It was a little scary, but after having everything ready I made sure to call my car insurance to check that I had flood and fire damage on my car, we moved all electronics and items we cared about up as high as we could to save them. I grabbed our important documents and we waited. Since the night before we went to bed at around 1 am, we were exhausted and so we all slept in the same room with the jalousies and door wide open to make sure we heard any commotion. We pretty much slept, ate, ate, slept and watched the news. It was an eery feeling to not know what to expect but I was glad that we were prepared because I wasnt scared for what could happen. One thing Evan and I did talk about though was getting renters insurance. We don't have any huge valuable items here, but we made sure to throw it in the budget for when we move to the mainland in April. The warning was later canceled around 1:40 p.m., with no major surges hitting any of the Hawaiian Islands. Phew! Sigh of relief.

I had a block of legos thrown at my head today. TWICE.It hurt. I had my feet smelt today. It was funny. I love my job.

Dear You know who,

Evs and I were thinking about you today when we heard it said in an inspiring talk, that if you recite the following phrase (or any phrase you want to make up) 10 times in the mirror every morning you will convince yourself that you are this and you will become what it is you want to become. Its all a mental game that Satan plays with you. He wants you to think that you are of less worth than you really are, but we know who is boss, YOU are. You are the one that controls your thoughts. So be the winner of the mental game and just do it. We love you and want you to be happy.

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

I AM A HAPPY CHEERFUL PERSON

(Dedicated to the one who needs it most, you know who you is)

One choice.

First there were TWO..

Then there were THREE..

Still THREE about to head up a hill to the right..

There they went...

AND then there were FOUR.. thank goodness for the FOURTH guy. Where did he come from anyways??

Evs and I had a neat experience yesterday, Saturday 20 FEB 2010. (Ok maybe it was just neat for me to watch as I followed behind with my hazards on..) So this is how it went down we had just finished doing our taxes and then eating at Chili's and we were heading to Ewa Beach for Evs internship at Campbell High School. We saw this car with their hazard lights on, broken down. They wave us to pass them and as we are about to pass them we stop and say," Hey you need help?" The guy in the car was like, "Yea." So we stopped where we were in the far right lane, put our haz lights on and ran over to help this guy and gal push their car out of the middle lane. They pushed it right in front of ours and then we all decided we needed to move it on the next street because it was going to be blocking one lane still. So Evs helped him keep pushing and I run back to get our car so its not blocking a lane and I follow them. Meanwhile we were at the stoplight and all of a sudden I see guy number 3 come running from the car behind me. I was feeling better for Evs and the other guy since they were going to have to push the car up a steep hill soon (apparently the other guy wasn't that strong though and wasn't helping too much, but its the thought that counts right? of course it is!) So as the three of the guys try to plow up the hill, out of nowhere BIG guy number 4 comes around to finish off the deal and helps them get the car up the hill. (Dear BIG GUY NUMBER 4, THANK YOU! whoever you are and wherever you came from, my husband was working very very hard and might have busted a gut pushing the car up that hill with those two other dudes). Needless to say we were in the right place at the right time. Because we chose to stop and take a second to help someone in need, a domino effect happened and two others partook of service that day as well. Its amazing how one choice we make can create so much good. It was surely a feel good day yesterday. We love to serve! There are always opportunities to serve, its a matter of looking around and taking a second to step outside of your zone to reach out and see what you can do. Serving isnt about getting recognized; its about doing because you would hope someone would help you if you were in need.