rAnDoM

Ev being a spaz..me being clueless
Having a great day at the water park!
Pineapple fields forever!

This week was a great one. We got Evan to the dentist. Dentist told him he needs to floss and floss regularly not just when he has something stuck in his teeth. We decided to hit the water park on Saturday and yes there is a water park in Hawaii, weird I know. We had a good time, wish the lines were shorter (dang tourists!) but we enjoyed a sunny but not blazing sunny day so no sunburns, which was good. We walked around Borders. I love bookstores they are great. There are so many books you could buy we could've seriously stayed there forever. We even looked at childrens books about the solar system and they have made it official, Pluto is no longer in the solar system they ousted em for not being planet like enough. Its considered as just being something floating in the air and being an object in the Kuiper belt. Its not the only thing in its orbit, its a party planet,the scientists found bigger objects in its orbit. Unlike all the other lonely planets. Pluto is considered by scientists as a dwarf planet. Sad day, its always the little guy that gets picked on. For an object to be a planet, it needs to meet these three requirements defined by the IAU:

• It needs to be in orbit around the Sun - Yes, so maybe Pluto is a planet.
• It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape - Pluto…check
• It needs to have “cleared the neighborhood” of its orbit - Uh oh. Here’s the rule breaker. According to this, Pluto is not a planet.

We came home late and got to bed. It had been a long day. Today we taught gospel doctrine, we taught about the Word of Wisdom, such pure revelation. Such a basic law to keep our bodies free from the bad stuff and keep us from creating harmful habits. Its true, pure truth. We also were taught today about trials and enduring them well. We hear all the time that we arent ever given anything that we cant handle, yet oft times we tend to disagree. It feels sometimes as if a wave keeps crashing on you and you cant get up to clear the break. Its often so tough and I wont pretend to know what its like to go through things that others have gone through that I haven't, but all I can say is be faithful and endure because thats what we are here to do, not to give up. I love the poem below its so neat!!! I am so excited to be heading to California this Thursday (Ev's birthday by the way, the BIG 24) We are excited to see family and friends and grateful we got such a good deal on our plane tickets. Aloha Nui Loa!!

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

Ciinnaammoonn Rollls,Wii Active and Teaching

Its been a great week. Busy with work as usual and Evan finishing up his term. We shopping to find a navy blue or cobalt dress and a shirt and tie to match for Ev for his sisters wedding in three weeks. We are so excited to go to Cali. Our shopping trip wasnt too successful.We went to the Waikele outlet mall and to the Kahala mall and then last weekend we went to Ala Moana outside mall..nothing..seriously how hard is it to have a blue dress at a store honestly though...NEWWAYS..we had fun time with each other. For the past couple weeks we have been wanting to make cinnamon rolls, so we finally got a rolling pin to make our job a little easier. We made the dough this morning and then came home and Evy rolled it on out and did his thing. They turned out really good. We shared them with the neighbors and we proud of ourselves. We made "notes to self" on what we would do better next time. Not too bad for our first time. The first batch we put in the oven were huge..then after we cooked them they were ginormous..Bigger than cinnabun =) Its nice to know that even the smallest things like making cinnamon rolls with my hubbs, we have fun doing because were doing it together.

So last week Evy and I started the Wii Active, honestly I never thought I was in that bad of shape, but if you havent heard of the Wii Active look it up. Its probably one of the coolest programs made for a game console, I swear. Its like you have a personal trainer basically. I love it. I can do it inside my home at whatever time I want. Now I love to sweat, I know thats gross but when I work out its fulfilling when I sweat...ya I know gross okay..but neways when I work out on the Wii active, I am sweating buckets, gross again..and I love it.. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants their own workout program laid out for them. Its kinda hard to explain without you seeing it, but you have a work out journal. You log into it and report what you ate the day before, how much water you drank, and how much sleep you got, how motivated you were to workout...etc..You can choose low intensity, medium, or high..Exercise and Sport Science was what I got my degree in and I think its a good program. It pushes you to burn calories and monitors your form making sure you are doing things right. I love it, what else can I say...Thank you Evy for my Wii Active! Onto teaching...I love to teach. I loved to teach before my mission, loved to teach on my mission and really love to teach now that I am back from my mission. Ev and I are Gospel Doctrine teachers. We werent suppose to teach today, but we got a call at 10 am asking us if we could teach (Church starts at 2pm). Of course we said sure! The topic as you probably learned was on the Second Coming.. What a huge topic, so busy with so much to think about and to teach..we honestly didnt know what to focus on more...but after the lesson we were given so many compliments on our lesson,I was convinced we did our job exactly how the Lord would have us do it. It was a neat feeling. It was really a neat lesson to think of the Savior born in such Humble circumstances, no one believed that the Carpenters son could be the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He then atones for our sins and bled from every pore. HE was then Resurrected and He will come again in great glory. The most powerful thing in the lesson was knowing that He LIVES and HE WILL COME AGAIN.

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught:How do you prepare for the Second Coming? Well, you just do not worry about it. You just live the kind of life that if the Second Coming were to be tomorrow you would be ready. Nobody knows when it is going to happen. … Our responsibility is to prepare ourselves, to live worthy of the association of the Savior, to deport ourselves in such a way that we would not be embarrassed if He were to come among us. That is a challenge in this day and age (Church News, 2 Jan. 1999, 2)

We all know about the parable of the ten virgins, when all ten were waiting for the bridegroom. 5 were prepared and had their lamps filled and the other 5 procrastinated and werent ready when the Bridegroom(the Lord) was ready. A great quote...In the parable, oil can be purchased at the market. In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps (Faith Precedes the Miracle [1972], 256)

Well I hope this will enlighten you for the week and I hope that you fill your lamps will drops of oil each day..not gallons, just drops day by day...

reflections on the day

I imagine that every Sunday, when 3 hours is spent at church, you would always come home edified and uplifted ready to start a new week; You plan to be better, more kind, and on the look out for opportunities to serve your fellow brodas and sistas. Sometimes you learn something new, you're are grateful for the Gospel, but dont spend enough time pondering because you are so starving by the time you get home that all you want to do is eat. Today thankfully, I ate lunch before going to church and found sour skittles left in my bag from the movies, I was set. I really enjoyed today. I finished up my Visiting Teaching, as I was given a new route, dont even know who my companion is, but knew that it was the last day of the month and I needed to make sure my sisters were doing okay. I love visiting my sisters and chatting and getting to know them. I love just being able to offer a helping hand and knowing that if they need anything that they know they can call upon me, its a good feeling. We went to a baptism today. One of Evan's high school friends was entering the waters of Baptism. I havent been to a baptism in a long while, it just doesnt happen that often at BYU.As we sat there listening to the prelude music, I couldnt help but become reflectant as I saw the missionaries. I remember when I was in that situation. When so much faith and time was put into preparing our investigator and new friend. I remember teaching and praying for our investigator hoping that they would read and pray and ask Heavenly Father to bless them to recognize the truth. I forgot how much my companion and I used to pray. We were praying machines! But who better to talk to then the one whom we are serving.I remember see the "light" in their eyes as people we taught were baptized. As their knowledge grew and as they were blessed and recognized that things didnt happen by chance, but that God was real and listening to them. I remember the joy when people accepted the Gospel and just "got it" and I also remember feeling sorrow when people "got it" but didnt want it, as they didnt want to make necessary changes in their lives. Im not sure I liked those days very much. As the baptism began the room was full. In Hawaii they always find a reason for a party, everything is a big deal to family and friends, and to add to that not only that everyone is related to everyone,there is just a large support group here. It was a neat experience when the newest baptized member stood up and said, "this is going to be a huge change for me, but I am ready to do it" I cant help but think about those words and pray for her. As her transformation may come easy but as life often happens, the disappointments and challenges come and some reason people find God to blame instead of turning to him for help, they turn away and think someone else can help them better. I love how such an event brings so much Joy. How such an event like baptism brings people to reflect upon the day they were baptized and the feelings that followed that moment when they were perfect as they came up from the water. Its neat to just be in one place and feel so edified and have the Spirit testify to you that what is happening this day is the true and right way by His authority. I feel blessed and grateful. I feel joy for our friend as she begins her journey. I cant imagine what my life would be like if I didnt know where I came from, why I am here and where I am going... I am truly grateful for Jesus Christ who made the whole Plan of Salvation possible. I thank my Father in Heaven for giving us so many chances to shape up and get it right....

Our trip on the Gemini....

Since living in Hawaii for almost three years , I really havent "enjoyed" the beautiful island I live on. Of course I have hit the beach and the town and good food and the mall, but now that I am out of school I have accumulated what I call my "BUCKET LIST" for Hawaii. Yesterday was a day that I could cross off one of my bucket list activities. Ev and I headed to Kailua (sounds like its spelt) to one of the prettiest beaches in all of Hawaii. The water was so warm I thought that one too many people had peed in it, but none the less, I loved how warm it was (gross I know)but thats just how warm the water is in Kailua. We rented a Kayak and headed out for three hours to Flat Island and then to Mokulua Island. Both have bird sanctuaries, nesting places, on them, it was pretty cool. The beauty of the water and mountains is always so breathtaking, especially from the being on an island in the middle of the ocean.I feel like I am living in a movie.


We had such a blast. We flipped once, only because when coming to shore we got slammed by a wave. Let me tell you I jumped off so fast, but still hit rock bottom, I had one too many grains of sand in my bottoms, if you know what I mean, but we survived. We ate our PB&J sandwiches and had a blast. The trek coming back from the further island went by super fast we thought, we must be getting good.We were going to go shopping yesterday,but after a lot of kayaking we were pooped and drained from the sun, all we could do was take a trip to Costco so my husband doesn't starve this week. So..I hardly ever sleep in and I think I slept in this morning until 9. We had a great workout. I am so glad we went it was so great! We had such a blast. For those of you who dont know much about kayaking, when you have two people you want to try and be in sync therefore actually moving in the direction of straight and not in a circle, It was fun for Ev and I to be paddling along and then me hitting his paddle, most of the time, because I was so gung ho I was using all my power except I was following through a little too much...so every time I would hit Ev's paddle I would stop and take a break..then we would laugh and then Ev would stop and we would just cruise..It was so fun for us to use so much team work. We kayaked a long ways..even though it didnt look far from the other island, it was so far..haha...but we did it and it was such a great accomplishment!The best part was we would see tourists kayaking and the one in the front would be paddling along and the one is the back would be pretending she was paddling but not doing anything at all, just drinking a soda..we got a kick out of that and had great laughs. It was a great day we had with each other! I love my adventures in Hawaii! I am about to bombard this blog with a ton of pictures from our Kayak adventure on Gemini(the name of our kayak).









ANYONE PLANNING ON A VISIT ANYTIME??? MOM, YOU IN???





The water was so clear we could see the coral we were kayaking over. We saw one turtle and fishies, but no sharks on this adventure...
SEXY FEET WE HAVE, I KNOW =)

sunny.days

I love Saturdays where I can relax with Evy and just enjoy this beautiful place in which we live, Hawaii. I love how everything is beautiful and the thought often scares me that I am surrounded by a body of water, but its a beautiful sight and one that can drive you into deep meditation. The Ocean just seems as though it never ends from these pictures. There is a constant beauty within the ocean and no man could have ever created something so extraordinary.
My Auntie and cousins were here for a visit so we took them out for a great Saturday. The surf report said the water was going to be pretty flat, that a swell would come in later, so we all hopped in the car and headed to Sharks Cove, one of the most popular sights for snorkeling. There is an array of colorful fish and often times there are turtles just swimming around enjoy the water. We saw some pretty cool fish and me telling you doesnt even capture the beauty of the water. The name Sharks Cove isnt given because there are sharks, but because from an aerial view the rocks are in the formation of a shark. This time we were there, we went and looked at the tide pools and fish. We happened also to see a shark! It was a baby white tip shark. I was pretty cool. I have been dropped in a cage where sharks have surrounded me before, but never while snorkeling has the shark been just swimming around. I didnt get a picture under water because I dont have an underwater camera, but here is about what the shark looked like. Heres also a few of what Sharks cove looks like.



Pretty cool aye?? I thought so. After being there a few hours we headed to Laniakea beach, the home of the Honu's(turtles)and Monk Seals. Turtles usually just lounge around and soak up the sun on the North Shore. This time there were three on land and about 8 in the water surfing the waves like on the movie Finding Nemo..Coocoocachoo...Righteous, righteous! Pretty exciting. Here are a few photos:


All in all we had a great day. It was sunny and beautiful and I was so drained I slept like a rock! Often times living here, I see the beauty everyday and sometimes dont get enough of it like I should, work keeps me inside, but now that its Spring time I am making every effort to see the beauty of this island. I have my own bucket list that I have given to Evy so hopefully within the next year I can cross some of those things off before we leave(crossing me fingers).It was a great day!

Sometimes bugs just Xross the line....

***WARNING!THIS MAY GROSS YOU OUT OR MAKE YOU SQUIRM***
I have to tell you that bugs/insects are a beautiful gift that our Heavenly Father put on this earth. So many species and so many purposes for each one. I would like to talk about the C-O-C-K-A-R-O-A-C-H. Here are a few fun facts that you prolly never knew or never wanted to know:
*A cockroach can hold it's breath for up to 40 minutes.
*Some female cockroaches mate once and are pregnant for the rest of their lives
*Cockroaches rest for approximately 75% of each day.
*Young cockroaches only need a crack about 0.5mm wide to crawl into your house. Adult males can squeeze into a space of 1.6mm.
*A cockroach can live for up to a month, without its head.
Ever wondered what the supposed purpose of having cockroaches on the planet at all is? Well try this handy example of a coackroaches supposed usefulness:
Crushed cockroaches can be applied to a stinging wound to help relieve the pain (http://www.funfacts.com.au/cockroach-facts/).
I am sure there are a few more reasons as to the purpose that cockroaches serve, but I will tell you why I do NOT see their purpose.Okay, so I have never been afraid of bugs, reptiles, really any animal unless it is very wild and shouldnt be close to me.So the story is I was taking a shower the other day and as I was putting shampoo in my hair I looked up at the shower curtain and saw this:

 

I tried to shower as fast as I could not only because I was thoroughly disgusted and cuz that gross thing wasnt just a normal Roach it was a flying one..and did I mention it was in my shower while I was in there??? Look at all his detail that would freak you out too ..heebgeebeez.. Eww..After I got out I thought,oh Ev is gonna have to get in later too I will just kill the roach..so i got some toilet paper and tried to kill it but then it FLEW at me. I tried to smash it on the wall, it didnt die and tried to fly away again finally I threw it in the toilet and it tried to fly out (new fact to me roaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes so drowning him didnt work) But I just FLUSHED him..and that was the end..I have another crazy story that happened to my friend on Saturday. She woke up in the early morning to something in her ear. She called the ambulance because it had dug its way in but she had no idea what it was. She went to the hospital and the doctors kill it in her ear! She had to wait until Monday to go to a specialist and have it removed, it was then she found out that it was a ROACH, about the size of her thumb..I know you are all looking at your thumb right now and cant imagine that happening, but it did, and its real!! Needless to say, we are extra careful around here these parts and the bugs that decide they want to move in and live free of rent! Well thats it..Enough for one night..hope you all are glad you took the time to read my blog and learn about roaches and ponder their purpose. When you find it, please enlighten me, and I might even send you some =)

I thought this quote I found was pretty cool. My Evy is perfect for me!

a.great.day.

I really have no complaints. Life has always been full of blessings and lessons to learn; Heartache and sadness, but on the flip side joy and laughter.Its all about how you look at it.. Today being a day to remember our Mothers and those that have been "Mothers" in our lives, I cant help but be grateful for my Mom, shes a special person.She has had her countless trials, ones she felt she could never endure, yet she has. She has endured many days of motherhood raising 6 crazy kids with their own personalities and many activities, days she felt exhausted and that she could not give anymore, yet she did. She has endured and I admire her for her faith and dedication to her family. She gave everything for her children..and I one of those recipients of her time and support am indeed grateful and blessed to have been born of Goodly parents and a Mother that constantly supported me, even if its not what she felt was best for me, or if it took her some time to come around to the idea.
There is much to be grateful for as I reflect on the many memories that my Mom and I have had together. I am also grateful for my Mo in-law, Lolly, she is much like my Mother and has so much care for her children. She too gives so much for her children. I enjoy being able to spend time with her and am grateful for her loving acceptance as her only son's, the baby of da family, wifey. She is always thinking about Ev and I and what we need and what we could use. She too is a special person in my life and means much to Ev and I. Even though I am not yet a Mother, my hubbs while we were dating last year gave me a card wishing me a happy Mum's day, it was cute. This year though, he upgraded and I got flowers. 12 red roses (maybe thats how many kids we will have and hes thanking me in advance) I love flowers they are so beautiful and bring so much color to my house. I love my husband. He is so thoughtful and it was so nice to wake up and see roses. I also guilted him into making me breakfast because, "I was so STARVING." He's such a good sport and I am not even a Mum yet. It was a happy day!

Powerful.Prayer.and.Pray.With.Power

I love the words and analogy of Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. First let me define a tumbler-The part in a lock that releases the bolt when moved by a key- Ok, now you are ready. He explained the role of prayer like this: “Petitioning in prayer has taught me, again and again, that the vault of heaven with all its blessings is to be opened only by a combination lock(think about a locker lock or a bike lock) One tumbler falls when there is faith; a second when there is personal righteousness; the third and final tumbler falls only when what is sought is, in God’s judgment—not ours—right for us. Sometimes we pound on the vault door for something we want very much and wonder why the door does not open. We would be very spoiled children if that vault door opened any more easily than it does. I can tell, looking back, that God truly loves me by inventorying the petitions He has refused to grant me. Our rejected petitions tell us much about ourselves but also much about our flawless Father.”
Our talk in Sacrament meeting was on Powerful Prayer(strength in numbers, fasting, deep..etc) and then a twist on that, Praying with Power(faith, hope, charity, willingness, Thy Will Be Done..etc) Its such an AWE-INSPIRING act of faith we take to petition with the Lord. To know that a loving Heavenly Father and Brother Jesus Christ are listening and wanting so very much to help, to make everything okay...I am indeed grateful for my testimony of Prayer and that when we pray with power and are a powerful prayer we will be heard and answers will come. What are your insights?

beach.fun--Time well Spent--

Have you seen the commercial for this yet???? Well I think they run it every minute because I was destined to try it. I went to the store and just wanted yeno a small can or bottle, but of course they didn't have that, they just had a 12 pack...I had to cringe because I do not normally buy soda, bad soda, bad soda, but I had no other choice. Not to mention it was on sale for a whopping $6.29, yes I know I splurged for a 12 pack of soda and that was on sale...I told Evan it was on sale... I said I would share if he didnt hassle me for spending that much..and of course he agreed..The soda was good..im not sure about the whole "ANTIOXIDANT" thing its preaching but it was good...maybe if its on sale for a NORMAL price I might buy it again...
Usually once a month we make a Costco trip and buy meat and bread and things we can freeze because its so much cheaper to do it that way, then to buy food from the local super market because everything is so much more expensive..just everything...so anyways we bought one of the roasted chickens for dinner since it would be like 7 when we got home and it was like $4.99. So we get home and I had to finish up some things, but Evan put the chicken in the microwave to heat it back up a little. I got out two plates and I got a fork to start pulling the meat off the chicken. Well Evan decides that a neither a fork nor a plate are needed..haha..I just let him be... And gave him a hard time for being so hungry and this is the face he gave me...and the chicken well..thats what was left when I got to him..A wing gone and half of the chickens body...


Today was such a beautiful day! I wish everyday were like today, except I would probably never want to be working. Ev grew up in Hawaii and he has never been a huge, "lets go to the beach!!" kinda guy. Im not sure why, but he just isnt. He has no problem going he just doesnt care to spend forever sun bathing as much as I like.. He prefers to stay white..hehe. I tell him, "oh but babe I need to get my Vitamin D, I just need to!! So I threaten, "I guess I will just go ..ALL ALONE.."and hes like no I am going to come..So we got to the beach and we had so much fun. he showed me how to make sand balls (instead of snow balls). It sounds easy, but its a process to get the sand to harden enough that it wont crack. It was fun! We built a sand wall and just watched the waves crash and then the water would stretch out to our wall and our wall would WIN. Then we would have to patch it up a little, we even made a mote. Everytime the water would hit our wall, we would find another way to try and defeat it! Im not sure why we do the things we do, like spend an hour at the beach building a sand wall, just to see if the water was strong enough to break it down..but looking back at today it was just fun to see how long our wall lasted, which got me thinking. Just like the LDS commercials always emphasize, "Family, isnt it about TIME?" I think that time really is about what effort we put forth. Time is about building a relationship. I mean Ev is the type of person that doesnt like to do very many things alone. He will, but if he has a choice he would probably choose to have someone help. If I ask him to take out the trash, or rotate the laundry at the wash room, he says cant we do it together? Can you please come with me? Its just the time we spend walking the 5 minutes together that we just talk and do things together. Its been an eye opener to me, just because if I need something done,I, like my Mother, just do it, which isnt a bad thing, but just think about it. If you found something that you tend to do by yourself and ask for someone to help you do it, thats time and memories that you are building. I remember growing up, my mom being at all my track meets and sporting events and at the end of the day everyone else having to ride home on the bus, while I got to ride home with my Mom-Time well Spent-I remember spending the night at my sisters house so excited because we were going to go to yard sales and clean up the yard together with my brothers the next day-Time well Spent- I remember going to Seminary every morning with Josh and being so happy to ride together knowing that after wards we would go to Del Taco and get a breakfast burrito (I never had to pay) and sit in the car while he copied his friends Chemistry homework-Time well Spent- I love that time is of the essence. If each of us took 5-10 minutes of time to help others or spend it with family, I really think it would be well spent. I dunno just a thought...anyways it was a fun day..good times...