Fun Stuff

Our friend/neighbor Jess made this video last week for Mitt Romney. The 2nd guy (in the beanie) is our neighbor Mike, Rob is the 4th person, and the girl at the end is Jess's wife Rose, my friend and workout partner! Go F building!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5p-wxaH410

On Wednesday for enrichment we had a Japanese culture night. We learned about Japan, made origami boxes, tried on yukatas (lighter-weight, less expensive kimonos), and ate Japanese food. We have several people in our ward from Japan so it was nice to learn more about their culture. Thanks Hikari for the pictures.
Concentrating on making the boxes
Miha, Chelsea, Rose, and me. Look at their shoes! I don't know how they walk in them. Plus you have to have 'Japanese Barbie feet to fit in them' as Miha said.
Showing off the bows. The Japanese girls had to dress us and it looked complicated.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Two weeks ago the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away. He is the only prophet I really remember since he was called when I was 10. I love President Hinckley and will miss hearing and seeing him. He had such a wonderful sense of humor and was a great example to all of us. I am thankful for technology and that I was able to watch the funeral even though I'm so far away. I was sad to see his empty chair in the conference center during his funeral but I know I can see him again. I know that President Monson will be a great prophet.


Rob's sister Kareena sent us this link. It is a tribute to President Hinckley. Please take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DONH655IR1E&watch_response

This is a video of when President Hinckley visited Hawai'i.

http://newsroom.byuh.edu/node/1544/play

Diamond Head

Back in December we went to hike Diamand Head with Scott and Ashlyn. There was a beautiful view from the top. Afterwards we ate some yummy burgers at a place called Kua'aina Sandwich in Ward Centers. I felt touristy but there is a fun atmosphere in Waikiki/Honolulu.

Waikiki Beach

Rainbows are everywhere in Hawaii.

Going down these 99 steps was the easy part except that my legs were jello by this time.

Game Night

Saturday our ward had a game night on campus for winning the Turkey Bowl in November. There was bowling, pool, ping pong, air hockey, karaoke, and guitar hero. These are some of the good friends we've made here.

Larissa and Ryan Chase
Mike Denning and Rob playing guitar hero
Rose Bradfield and me playing guitar hero
Spencer and Amberly Duncan & Scott and Ashlyn Bigler
Rose and me bowling
Us
Mary and Shane Boyd
Matt, Miha, and Asher

crazy Rose
Leah and Taylor Stimmel
Derek and Hillary Williams
Mike and Chelsea Denning

Christmas Vacation Blog?!

Yes, I know it has been forever since I posted. This will be quick. For Christmas break we flew in to Salt Lake and got to attend a temple session in the SLC temple for the first time. It was beautiful and a neat experience. A few days after being in Rexburg we drove down to Smithfield to see all of my family. It was the first time we were all together since Kim's wedding in 2002! We had a pre-Christmas celebration late at night when Mom, Dad, Anna, and Will finally made it to Grandma's after a long trip across the country. It was fun to all be together and open gifts. We spent the rest of the time in Rexburg except for one more trip down to Utah to take family pictures. We had a fun time seeing all our family members. We even got to see Rob's grandma and grandpa Joe in the Phoenix airport during our layover home. We miss everyone but we have lots of photos to look at.

Hukilau Beach

Thursday we went with our friends Matthew and Jessica Hyde to Hukilau Beach. They moved back to the mainland yesterday so it was nice to spend one last time with them. Rob and Matthew boogie-boarded for a while. I got wiped-out within 5 minutes so I got out of the water. After they swam, we built a sand castle. Then we husked and cracked open a coconut they found on the beach. It was tasty. We saw a huge sea turtle, probably 4 ft. long, swimming in the water. Sorry no pictures. It was a fun day but really windy and it kept raining off and on.

This is one of my favorite beaches to go to by myself. It's close and it's usually pretty warm and calm.
Look what the humidity and ocean water does to my hair. POOF!Matthew trying to ride a wave.
Our castle was complete with tennis courts, secret tunnels, an outdoor pool, movie theater with stadium seating, a mote, and a look-out spot.

Coconuts are hard work to eat but they are worth it to me. Rob says he likes the processed, shredded, sugar-coated coconut better.

Pronounciation

Have you heard the joke where you have someone spell and say a word several times such as "milk" and then ask them what cows drink and they're supposed to say "milk" instead of "water"? I substituted this week in a 5th grade class in Kailua for 2 days. On Wednesday a girl came up to me and asked me to spell "fort" 4 times, say it 3 times, spell it 2 times, and say it once more. Then she asked, "What do you eat soup with?" I don't know about you, but by 5th grade I knew fork was spelled with a k.


That class also pronounced all their 3's as "free." A different 5th grade class I was in on Friday pronounced their 3's as "tree."


And according to pronounciation here, one of Santa's reindeer is named "Cupit." When the Kupuna asked a boy to name one of the reindeer and he said "Cupid," Auntie Kai started laughing and thought it was cute that he pronounced it with a "d" instead of a "t." I was the one that was really laughing though.