GAHHHHH!!!

There are several things that I need to blog about, and I just haven't taken the time. Those will come soon, but right now, all I can think of is that...

MY FAMILY COMES TOMORROW MORNING!!!!

My mom, sister Becky and brother in law Adam will be landing here on Oahu at exactly 11:47 tomorrow morning. I can't wait. My dad will come at the same time Saturday morning, and they will all be here until next Wednesday. A whole week with my family is going to be sooooo incredible. This is the longest I have gone with not seeing any of them, and I think I have done pretty good with it! Many people thought that I would have a panic attack within the first few weeks, and I haven't had one yet.

Last week I started feeling really sick, so my aunt and uncle took me to their house where I ended up staying for the next few days. I went to the Health Center on campus, where I tested positive for strep. I hate strep. I've probably had it 30 times in my life and it sucks just as much each and every time. Luckily with strep though, once I started on the antibiotics I quickly started feeling better. I was back to 100% within about 24 hours.

When I first started feeling sick, I went home and took a nap. I woke up feeling a hundred times worse. It was then that I started getting the most homesick that I've been since I got here. I knew my family was so close to coming out, and that made it so much worse that I was laying there alone in my bed feeling like garbage. I miss my family so much. I know that I am having the time of my life out here, but I also know how much of the little things I'm missing out on at home. As much as I obviously miss everyone in my family, who do I miss the most?? ALISON!! 

I miss that little 3 year old more than anything or anyone. I miss her every single minute of every single day. I get to talk to her all the time and Skype her every week or so, and that helps, but what I need is to HOLD her! I need her hugs, and kisses, and to chase her around.

I am going home on May 13th, and as sad as I am to leave, I know that I have Alison, my family, and my friends to come home to. I'm just crossing my fingers that that little princess is waiting at the airport when I get there! Well that's enough venting about my homesickness for one post. I can't wait to post about my family's trip here!

How could I forget THE BUNKERS?!

I have been slacking. Hardcore. I keep doing these fun and amazing things here in Hawaii, and Ive been falling behind in documenting them! I pay way too much attention to my facebook page. I need to start prioritizing and tend to my blog too! Well, I just noticed that I have forgotten to put up pictures from the bunkers. The bunkers are some old World War II bunkers that are a few miles down the coastline from where I live. Ive gone to the bunkers a couple of times now, and they never cease to amaze me! When I say "amaze" here, I mean that they are like nothing Ive ever been to before. Once again, it may or may not be illegal, but what fun activity isn't around here!?

First, you climb a little gate and walk up a little ways to the bunker's entrances. 

During the weekdays, these bunkers are used as museums for tours and they have all sorts of WWII stuff in them.

Apparently, this is a film location for Pearl Harbor! These are real WWII bunkers, but after the war, it was used for movies. Lost was also filmed here.

In between the 2 huge main bunkers is a locked and barred door. Someone (and now all of us) just so happens to know the combo to the lock. Inside this area is NOT part of the museum. This stuff isn't viewed by the public and is probably not supposed to be viewed at all, hence the barred and locked door!

As you go inside, there are lots of things, like those green cloth cots that they would use to put hurt people on:

Jordan and Zack carrying around Mary

There were all sorts of things like mattresses in a pile, tons of barrels labeled "Not regulated" stacked on top of each other, and random stuff that aren't from the war like life jackets, a drum set, fins, etc. Someone must have known that this place isn't open to the public and is using it for their own storage. The floor has big gaps all over, lots of them are covered with ply wood. You definitely have to watch your step. On one side of the musty, dirty room is a big hole with some sort of animal bones inside: creepy!

Now for the fun part. You have to climb up about 10 flights of ladders. Not just any ladders, these things are old, and rickety and go straight up. They feel like they'll never end. The last ladder at the top isn't bolted in at the bottom, so its really sketchy, not to mention it is pitch black and we didn't have nearly enough flashlights to light up the ladders for everyone the whole time! Lets just say I was glad to reach the top.

Climbing up the roughly 150 feet of ladder to the top!

I was so scared to slip, that would have been disastrous.

My cousin Alex on our way up.

When we got to the top, there are 2 main rooms. EVERYTHING is graffitied. I think it looks really cool. Obviously there are lots of locals and other college kids that know the combo to the lock to get in here, but not enough that we will ever run into anyone when we come.

When you go thru the first room, you go into the second room. This room is awesome, because it is flush with the face of the steep mountain that the bunkers are inside of. There is a 2 ft. gap through the middle of the concrete walls, allowing for an amazing view of the ocean! We are right on the shoreline, I could probably throw a rock into the ocean from there. There is stand in the floor that is super heavy duty, which (as the locals say) most likely held a machine gun. I think it held some sort of telescope like ones on submarines because there is a hole in the ceiling directly above it and when we climbed out and on top of the room, it had more hardware that looks like something attached to it. 

Tanner posing on the outside of the second room. There is a 2 foot piece of concrete that wraps around the outside of it. Its sketchy because that 2 ft wide "walk way" is a 150 ft drop off to the ground below us. If you climb around it though, you can climb on top of the room, which makes for the most beautiful and secluded look out place I have EVER been to. We are literally in the face of a ridiculously steep mountain, yards from the ocean, in an old, locked up WWII bunker. How cool is that?!

Here is everyone that went. There were 18 of us that came down in 2 cars. That's how we do it in Hawaii!

Here are just some fun pictures of us goofing around in the bunkers:

 Alex, Tanner, Andrew and Andy

 Me and Tanner posing with Buddha

 Me and a kid I don't know in the creepy closet!

My cousin Andrew and I posing with the graffiti

Jordan giving me a lift so I can grab the graffiti axe

Slip n' Slide!!

A couple of weeks ago, a big group of us piled in a couple of cars and drove to the other side of the island to a reservoir that is known for some good slip n' slide action. 

It may be illegal, but we aren't hurting anything by being there, and it is SO worth the legal risk! We brought bottles of dish soap and body boards.

So, this reservoir is filled with run off water (at least to my understanding) so it is relatively clean. The entire reservoir is covered with a thick and super smooth tarping, making it perfect for sliding.

Usually the water level allows for 30-40 feet of sliding before you go into the water, but because of it being the rainy season the water levels only gave us 15-20 feet.

We are planning on going back in a few month when it dries up more so we can have twice as much fun! There are steps going up the sides of the reservoir at many different spots so its easy to climb back out.

 

It was fun going down the tarp on the body boards, laying down, and trying to surf down it standing up:

 Me and Erica going down on body boards

 Andy, Tanner and Jordan

 Jordan, Tanner and Andy

 We recorded a video of us all going one after the other, crossing from side to side right here. This is a clip form the video where Nate, half a second after this, slips before he gets to the water and hits his head. He had a slight concussion. I cant believe how hard he hit!

 Doggy pile on the body board!

 Mary, Me and Makara taking in the tropical environment!

It was a rainy day (which helped with the slip n' slide) so the mountains were misty,

and we could see lots of waterfalls.

 Jordan surfing down the tarp

It was so much fun going with so many people. Hopefully next time we go the water wont be so high so it'll be even more fun! One thing is that I wish more than anything we had brought some bug spray. It was mosquito CENTRAL, and we all left with dozens of bites.

Click this to see a quick youtube video of the potential that the slip n' slide has when the water levels are much lower! Such a cool video, WATCH IT! 

Hike to Maunawili Falls

 Hike #2! A group of 10 of us hiked to Maunawili Falls last Friday afternoon, Feb 4th.

There were a few different places that you can jump off of at the falls. The highest is at least 40 feet. I climbed up there but I couldn't get myself to jump! All of the boys and Madi did it. Kaylee and I were too scared, but maybe one day Ill do it! The sound that it makes when a person hits the water is SO loud! It actually sounds painful!

Sounds pretty fun right? Yeah, well it was, except for the countless times that I slipped and my body slammed straight into ROCKS! I slipped while climbing the waterfalls, and Jordan caught me. My Fisheye camera smashed my fingers between itself and the rocks, and I hit my elbow pretty hard too. I hit my fingertips so hard against the rock that it broke my short little fingernails off! I fell again while crossing a river on the way back to the cars. Don't worry though, my shins caught my fall, followed by my wrists! I'm not sure why my hands didn't save the day, somehow my wrists made it to the rocks first :)

{It was like walking into a Jurassic Park movie}

Sacred Falls was for sure my most favorite hike of the two, and I doubt any hikes I do in the future will top Sacred Falls either, but we will see!! The hike was a bit more difficult than the last, which doesn't say a lot. There was just a lot of stairs up and down.

{Andy and I on the hike up. So pretty!}

{This is a popular hike}

 {Using my new Lomography Fisheye 2}

{Liz. Tanner. Kaylee. Alex. Matt. Madi. Andrew.}

80's Dance Par-tay!

This past weekend I went to a party at the Red House - 80's themed! 

 {Me and some of the gang at the 80's house party}

I don't know what it is about 80's dance parties, but I LOVE THEM! Always so much fun. Since my wardrobe is pretty limited out here, I had to rumage around to find something even slightly 80's looking. All I could find were some orange shorts and an electric blue striped tank. I threw in a trucker hat for good humor too. It was so much fun....and there was a lot more people there than I expected! Im glad that my cousins came with too. We hang out all the time, and we keep busy but we didnt feel like we were really gettin' out and doing things like college kids should in a place like this. It was a totally successful night, we had a BLAST and made even more new friends. Since we've kept pretty busy doing a variety of random, fun things with everyone out here! Not going to lie though, a dance party with a few dozen people, in a small house with no A/C and a crazy high % of humidity = some super sweaty people!

Learning how to longboard!

A few days ago my cousin Andrew taught me how to longboard (mainland longboarding, not Hawaiian longboarding which is surfing which a bigger board). Katie has always been able to longboard and loved it. Ive wanted to try for years but I've always been...well....too scared! Out here there really aren't any big hills for anyone to try to make me go down, everything is pretty flat so I felt more comfortable giving it a try.

It wasn't NEARLY as hard as I thought it would be! Andrew was a good teacher and I think I got the hang of it pretty quick. We went up and down the street a bunch of times, then did a quick cruise around campus. There are speed bumps around campus though, which made me so nervous but the longboard just goes up and over them, no problem! I would still cringe every time as I went over them though, it made me really nervous. Now I just need to keep practicing so I can longboard around campus when I dont feel like riding my bike or asking Andrew for a ride everywhere! Thanks for the help andrew :)

The video is dark (sorry), and I'm only going like 2 mph. No making fun, Im still learning!

{....Im just proud that I put my big girl pants on and finally tried it!....}

The Laie Hawaii Temple

“This temple shines as a beacon to all who will follow its light.” 

-President Thomas S. Monson

The Laie Hawaii Temple is less than 1/2 mile away from my house. It is SO pretty! It was the first LDS Church temple built outside of the continental United States. The temple is also the oldest to operate outside of Utah, and the fifth-oldest LDS temple still in operation. The site of the temple was dedicated by Church President Joseph F. Smith on June 1, 1915, and the completed structure was dedicated by Church President Heber J. Grant on November 27, 1919. It was once again renovated and rededicated by President Monson just a few months ago on November 21, 2010.

Im so glad that it is now open and available for me to go inside and do baptisms. It is a whole different experience doing baptisms at this temple than any other temple Ive been to. I get to walk down the beautiful streets of this island straight into an equally beautiful building. The only thing that is the same is the feelings that I get while doing the Lord's work inside.

The first time going to this temple I went with my roommate and her boyfriend. We walked in and the temple workers were a little unorganized. The temple is so newly opened and the workers are always so new that they werent sure what to do because apparently we were supposed to make an appointment. They have so few workers that it is difficult to find enough brethren at any random time to help carry out the baptisms. After about 20 minutes they were able to round up the 3 additional brethren that we needed, and guess what! One of them was the temple president, President Workman! Ive never been baptized or confirmed by the temple president before, and it made the whole experience that much more memorable and exciting. I loved the spirit that he had with him.

{Chanise, Zack, Liz}

I love doing baptisms for the dead, it is so comforting and calming to me. It's one of the only times that my mind allows itself to tune out everything else and focus on what is really important. If I didn't live in paradise I would say it is a great escape from everyday college life responsibilities!

At the temple rededication, President Monson said:

"Long ago defeated warriors or fugitives in ancient Hawaii sought sanctuary in the area that is now Laie. Locals say the walls of that Puuhonua, or city of refuge, marked by white flags, beckoned to all who desired protection and cleansing. And, they add, a renovated temple, standing on the land of the ancient Puuhonua, is a symbol that this is still a city of refuge. The original beauty and structure of the temple has remained intact during the renovation process.”

"In addition," he added, "the state flower, the hibiscus, and leaves and nuts from the kukui tree add local significance to the temple's décor. It stands as a physical manifestation of all the faith, dedication and devotional over the years.”

“We thank our Heavenly Father for the blessings this temple and all temples bring into our lives.”

{Found some Plumeria flowers on the ground}

{Me and Zack looking BEAUTIFUL}

A little of this, A little of that...

I noticed that I am accumulating pictures that don't really fall under a big topic or need their own post, so I am throwing all those right here with a quick caption before I start getting too many of them!

Hukilau Beach is basically just down the street from me (when you go out my back yard).

Lots of my friends live right here, and across the street is the Hukilau Cafe! (anyone seen 50 First Dates??)

Me and my cousin Andrew hanging out at the North Shore.

 The North Shore is a pretty famous touristy area, and is known for it's big waves!

This is where Jack Johnson grew up, and he still has a house here!

There are seriously wild chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE on this island.

These roosters have no idea when sunrise is, they cock-a-doodle-doo 24/7!

Dont forget about all the lizards and geckos! These milky ones are always in the house at night but they

are small and they eat the bugs for us so we leave them alone. I've gotten used to them.

Me and my roommates, Britt (left pic) and Nat (right pic) were walking home from church when this little guy was pointed out to us. He was just hanging out on these people's driveway. Poor tortoise.

Only in Hawaii would you see this!

Hiking Sacred Falls - January 22nd

Hiking Sacred Falls was probably the BEST hike I have done up to this point in my life. 

 I went with my new besties Tanner Camp and Andy Romney, as well as two girls: Savannah and Kelsey. 

Sacred Falls is part of a state park that is now closed because of a major landslide that killed several people many years ago. Many people still hike it though, the closure isn't very actively enforced.

It only took about 45 minutes to get to the waterfalls...

We were climbing through crazy tree trunks and branchs,

over wet and dry streams,

in between and around big boulders....

The mountains were INSANELY steep.

The narrow canyons they made were incredible!

 

Tanner, Me and Andy at the waterfall.

Pictures never do things like this justice!!

Swimming in the waterhole at the top. The water was SOOO cold

but with the warm, humid weather, it was refreshing and such a blast!

Hitch hiking back to Laie. Everyone hitch hikes everywhere along the beaches here.

Its great transportation for college kids like us with no cars and really adds to the

whole Hawaii experience. I would never hitch hike anywhere else though!