Back to Reality

Jacob, this is for you

2008-11-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

I know someone has been "patiently" waiting for this post for a while so here it goes, now please get off my back:) While looking for plane tickets to Hawaii I added my email to every airline website to be contacted for great deals on airfare. With the outrageous cost of gas, the deals had been very few and far between. However, I opened an email and saw tickets to select cities for $49!!!! I had been waiting for an excuse to go and visit Peri and her new husband Jacob in Denver and I thought with airfare that cheap I had to do it, my heck, you couldn't even drive there for that price. Needless to say I booked the tickets and spent an amazing couple of days up there with the happy couple and my aunt and uncle. The trip was perfect. The weather was awesome, we pampered ourselves, we went for an enjoyable hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, laughed our guts out, and spent a whole lot of time relaxing. It was just what I needed and even losing 4 games of Sequence could not ruin the trip (Jacob, I hope you know that was all luck and next time you are going down) I would also like to note, however that I came back and totally redeemed myself in our bowling showdown so I kind of made up for it:) Thank you guys so much for having me and being such great hosts. You two are the best.

The following picture is of the two "whimp-o Nicki Kreinky's" (don't even ask) Peri's parents were are source of entertainment for most of the trip:)

Jacob had been telling us on the drive up to the National Park that the place was covered with elk. We were all very disappointed as we drove around and were not able to see a single one. Just when we were all losing faith in Jacob, we turned around the corner and saw this.

Peri talked a mean game plan when it came to bowling, but totally failed to deliver. We thought the scores may have humbled her a bit but she was already talking trash again before we even made it back to the car:)

Baby "B"s Shower

2008-11-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

A co-worker of mine is soon to be a mom for the first time. We love Eva and wanted to throw her a little baby shower. We decided it would be fun to invite all the employees to come and celebrate. We had good food, Eva got some great gifts and we all enjoyed a little Rockband. We are all so excited to meet the new baby. Because Eva refuses to tell anyone the name we refer to the little guy as baby "B".

Rockband action shots

The Right to Remain Silent :)

2008-11-03T21:07:00.001-08:00

I will be the first to admit that I am am not the biggest fan of Halloween. For years now I have protested even getting dressed up. This year i finally gave into the peer pressure and went all out. Sam and I decided to head to Provo for a change of scenery and some stellar parties:) We had a blast and saw some great costumes. Here is a recap of the night in pictures. Hope you enjoy. Happy Halloween!

There are no words to describe just how much I loved this costume. Probably one of my all time favorites.

The famous " Captain Underpants" WOW!!!

Loved it:)

Chelce's good friend Kit got us VIP access. We owe him big.

The long awaited summer recap is coming. Please be patient:)

I'm BACK!!!

2008-10-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for those of you who still check back here in hopes that I have posted something new...This is for you. I will give you fair warning though, the contents of this blog will in no way be as exciting as what has already been posted and may not even be worth your time to check back, but I am doing this for my avid followers, you know who you are. I hope I don't leave you disappointed. No time to post all the updates just yet, there are far too many, but check back soon because I am promising you I will do it:)

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

2008-06-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

We figured snorkeling was one thing we needed to do before we left here. We had put the activity off until my mom and grandma came. We left the house this morning at 5 to make sure we got at least three good hours of small crowd snorkeling. I was a little nervous when we were told a bunch of jellyfish had come into the bay because of the full moon(yeah not really sure why that has anything to do with it but that is what were told). After getting on our gear and learning how to breathe under the water, it only took us about two minutes to spot a jellyfish and another thirty seconds for Chelce to get stung. I did not handle that well. I was really brave though and took a little tour in the other direction and was able to see some pretty cool sea creatures. My mom loved it and we even got my grandma in the water. For anyone who knows my grandma that is quite the feat.

The only good thing about leaving at 5 was we got to watch the sun rise.

Us in our gear ready to go.

And this is proof of Chelce's jellyfish encounter.

Polynesian Cultural Center

2008-06-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

After two months of waiting we finally got to go and spend the day at the PCC. The place is amazing. The whole park sits on 40 acres and is set up to look and feel just like six of the islands of the Pacific. Each of the islands had a little presentation and we got a pretty good laugh at a couple of them. The highlight would definitely have to be the night show. The lights, the dancing, the music, the fire etc. were incredible. I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Hawaii. It is a definite must.

I just had to post this picture. I do not think I have laughed so hard in my whole life. There were tears and I am not kidding.

Swap Meet and Pearl Harbor

2008-06-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

So my mom and grandma made it here yesterday afternoon. It was so good to see them. However, they are on a completely different sleep schedule than we are. Both of them were wide awake at 4:30 this morning! The three of us also had a rough nights sleep so when 5:30 came around we were all up and ready to go. We headed to the swap meet and walked around the entire stadium going through all the vendor shops. We all got a few souvenirs and after suffering from heat stroke(man it was hot today) we got back in the car and rode to Pearl Harbor. We were able to see the movie and take the boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial. The trip was pretty educational and you left feeling pretty appreciative.

We took our visitors into Waikiki for dinner after picking them up at the airport.

Our ONLY source of air conditioning at the Swap Meet.

A few pictures from Pearl Harbor.

Kyaking (Finally)

2008-06-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

So we finally did it. We went kayaking for the first time and it was so much FUN. It was one activity that I think we would have done a lot more of it had we tried it a little sooner. Our room mate took us to her favorite surf spot and we rode the waves just like we were on a surfboard. It was such a good time. We almost made it the whole day without getting knocked off the kayak but don't worry, Chelce and I managed to wreck big time while coming in on the shore. We provided some pretty cheap entertainment for others hanging out on the beach.

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While I was waiting for my turn on the Kayak I saw a bunch of these little guys running around and snapped a few pictures.

Another side note- The other day Chelce and I experienced a first. We hitch hiked:) Our mothers would die but we did it and I will admit it was much faster than the bus and even though we were riding in the back it was quite enjoyable. I had to take a picture of Chelce as evidence that we really did it.

Schools Out!

2008-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

So it is time to dispel some rumors,(yes I know many of you don't believe me) but despite all the fun we have been having, I have also been attending school. I will admit, class is not always the easiest to attend when there are so many other fun activities to be doing but somehow I managed to pass. Yeah We still have so much to do and I have a feeling without class to interfere we just might be able to accomplish it all. Time has flown and I can't believe we will be coming home in just two weeks:(

On a positive note, my mom and grandma have decided to come and spend the last week here with us. Can't wait to see you guys. Prepare yourselves for a fun-filled week and plenty of sun.

Surfs Up!

2008-06-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

We finally decided to try the whole surfing thing. Some good friends were willing to take us beginners out and try to teach us how it is done. There were only two extra board so we had to go in shifts and while I was waiting I learned how to boogy board too. There are not many shots of us out there because there was no one to run the camera but I swear we did it. It was a little harder than it looked and we got worked a few times. Swallowed some salt water, bruised our ribs and even got a little board rash( kind of like road rash, but from a surf board). Our teachers were very patient and even offered to take us again. Who knows, maybe we will be pros by the time we come home:)

Laie Temple

2008-06-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! This temple is beautiful. Words don't really do it justice so here are some pictures. Check it out.

Pedal Boat

2008-06-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

We had been looking into renting some kayaks and going on a little cruise in the ocean. Well on Thursday we finally went into Haleiwa to rent some. When we got there we decided we all wanted to be in the same floatation devise and chose to rent the pedal boat instead. We went down the river which took us about an hour and gave us quite a workout. Would we do it again? Maybe not:) I think we will try the kayaks next time.

Memorial Day

2008-06-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

On Monday I did not have class and we decided it would be a great day to head into town. While waiting for the bus we got a call from some friends of ours seeing what we were doing. As luck would have it they were headed into town too so we did not even have to ride the bus. YEAH!!! They went surfing while we went shopping and we met up later for dinner. We had the best seafood ever at Dukes. This place was right on the beach and we got a table with a perfect view of it all. It was a great day. We did not have to ride the bus, there was no school, we went shopping and we had good food and good company. It doesn't get much better than that.

Our Own Episode of LOST

2008-05-21T03:29:00.000-07:00

In case you did not know, the television show LOST is filmed on the island and some friends took us to one of the beaches where it had been filmed and we recorded our own episode. We had torches that lit our way through the jungle and when we got to the shore many of the guys practiced their fire blowing skills. We spent the night listening to the guys play the guitar and finding little creatures in the sand. It was quite entertaining. As good as it was, I don't think you will be seeing our episode on TV anytime soon.

The Dole Plantation

2008-05-21T03:09:00.000-07:00

The Dole Plantation is about an hour bus ride from our house. We had some extra time last Friday and decided to check it out. We walked around the gardens and learned a lot about pineapples for instance: pineapples grow out of the ground, not on a trees.(Just in case you were wondering) and got to see some of the smallest pineapples ever. We also got to watch how to properly slice a pineapple and then got to taste it. Many of the attractions were an extra charge and we did not feel they were really worth it but we took advantage of the free stuff:)

Hike to Diamond Head

2008-05-21T02:47:00.000-07:00

While on the plane on our way over here we created a list of things that we would like to do before we headed back home. There were quite a few activities and attractions on the list and one by one we have been checking them off. One item was to hike Diamond Head Crater. So last Thursday we hopped on the bus and headed into town. The weather had been pretty mild all week and of course the day we chose to hike was a scorcher. We entered the crater and it was a desert, so different from the rest of the island. The hike was not that long, only about .8 miles one way but the incline was unreal. We were making jokes at all the people coming back down the mountain who were drenched in sweat. Little did we know what we were in for. We made it halfway up and all of us were soaked in our own sweat. Really attractive I know. We decided the view from up there was worth the effort and the breeze at the top was not bad either.

50 First Dates?

2008-05-21T02:37:00.000-07:00

So for any of you who have seen the movie 50 First Dates you know of a place called the Houkilou Cafe. Well this place actually exists and we went there last week for breakfast. The place was incredible.

We had been told of the amazing banana pancakes(made famous by Jack Johnson who by the way grew up here in Hawaii if you did not know) and each had a stack. I would have to say we were all very impressed.

Playing Catch Up

2008-05-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

A little disclaimer, this may be a lengthy post.

We have been pretty busy lately and have seemed to neglect the blog a little bit. We have been doing a ton of random stuff lately and just been enjoying ourselves. So here is a little recap. We went with our room mate Claire to Turtle Bay to watch her surf. All the beaches in Hawaii are public access but the resort itself is pretty exclusive. The resort is amazing and apparently Chelce, Mindy and I all still look like tourists because we walked the grounds and even sat by the pool for a while and no one questioned us:)

We have met a lot of new people here and last week a couple of our friends took us in to Waikiki to show us around and take us out to dinner.

There is also the cutest little surfer town called Haliewa and we made the bus trip into town on Saturday. There were a ton of fun shops and the BEST shaved ice I have ever had. This town also has some of the best places to eat. When we first got here our room mate took us there to have dinner at Haliewa Eats. The best Thai food around:)

This weekend we decided to try somewhere new and went to Cholos and again we were not disappointed.

Also we just wanted to give a shout out to The MOMs. We are all so lucky to have such great mothers and grandmothers. We miss you guys and love you lots. Hope you had a great day.

Waikiki Weekend

2008-05-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

We started our day off with a nice long bus trip into town. Man we love the bus! After pampering ourselves at the 4 story mall we baked our bods real good in the beautiful Waikiki sun. After a semi hecktic week it was really nice to relax in the sun and water. We made a pit stop at Bubba Gump's Shrimp House for a nice dinner and desert, delicious! It was a great trip and we plan on making it again soon.

Our Crib

2008-04-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

This is our new place in Hauula! We all sleep in one big room and the rest of our house is really open. We love it! P.S. the ocean is steps from our front door, boo-yah.

We Made It

2008-04-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

After months of waiting we finally made it to Hawaii and needless to say it has been quite a day. We started it off at 3:00 this morning in order to catch our flight at 6:00. To add to that all three of us saved all of our packing until the night before which put us to bed around midnight. We have been running on nearly 3 hours of sleep and have put in a 24 hour day. We spent the day spending plenty of money and driving around the island and even stopped at the beach for a minute. Here are a few pictures from our adventures today. Enjoy!

This picture pretty much sums up how we all felt this morning.

These two seem to be in a better mood.

This is right in front of our apartment. Not too bad huh?

All of us enjoying the beach.

A whole new Wardrobe

2008-04-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

So I have known I was going to Hawaii since January and over the last four months I have acquired quite the collection of summer clothes. Now I could not post them all but I did surf the Internet and found some pictures of some of my favorite things I have purchased.

I had been eyeing this dress for a while and finally broke down and bought it.

I had looked forever to find a cute hat that I liked and just the other day Kenz found this one for me and it was perfect. It may just be my favorite item yet:)

And this is my new swimsuit. I finally got brave and bought a real bikini. Lets hope the time at the gym paid off:)

So there you have it, a little glimpse of my new wardrobe. Check back soon and you can see me sporting them.

Here We Go

2008-04-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Alright, for anyone who does not know, I am going to be attending BYU Hawaii for Spring Semester. I decided I would hop on the blog bandwagon to keep everyone posted on how much fun I am having. The countdown is on. I fly out April 27, 2008 and I can not wait. Thanks to Chelce and Mindy for being willing to abandon their lives for two months to keep me company while I am there:)