Christmas in Paradise

Aloha!🌺 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know that my Christmas was very enjoyable! This was how I spent most of my day

We took a family vacation to the wonderful island of Ohau in Hawaii and I loved it! We left the 24th and it was a long day of travel, nothing like today, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Wednesday was very nice once we got to the house that we were staying at and could finally unload the car. I spent the afternoon/evening playing ping pong with my brother S and my dad. And indexing like crazy so that I can become an Indexing Ninja!

Christmas morning was super relaxing, we didn't get up at the crack of dawn to open gifts, I got to sleep in, so it was a wonderful morning! Because most places were closed Christmas Day we just spent the day relaxing and enjoying the beach! Thursday afternoon was spent playing card games and family karaoke (you know family bonding stuff!). 

Friday morning, the 27th, we got to go to the Laie Temple to do baptisms and my mom ran into an old high school friend which she enjoyed! 

The rest of the day was spent exploring the beach looking for shells to bring home and place into ornaments. Overall super relaxing! That night we went to a place called Titas and had some yummy garlic shrimp. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Laie. 

Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the Polynesian Culture Center and learn more about the islands of Polnesia and their culture and traditions. I really enjoyed learning about a different way of life, we saw an example of a Tahitian wedding ceremony (my cute parents got to renew their vows), saw a coconut husked and my brother J got to bang on some Tongan drums and scream into a microphone. That evening we got to watch Ha, the Breath of Life and while I was bored in the beginning, it got better! (Whether that was because of the fire dancers or the ice cream halfway through, I'm not entirely sure) 

Sunday we got to go to church and then off to Pearl Harbor, which I was very excited about because I love learning about history! Can I just say WOW!!! Words cannot describe my feelings about that sacred place. Thankfully my dad did some clever thinking and got tickets in advance so that we could go to the USS Arizona memorial. For those of you who have never had the chance to visit, Let me explain what it is. You watch a 20ish minute video explaining the events that lead up to Pearl Harbor and America's involvement in WWII and a timeline and some footage of that day Dec 7, 1941. Then you get into boats and sail over to the memorial, a white buildingish thing that is placed over the actual ship (which also serves as a grave for the men serving on the ship). Out of all the ships that were sunk and destroyed during the attack, only three were never raised and repaired, these are: USS Arizona, USS Utah, and USS Oklahoma. I don't remember the number they said that died on the ship when it exploded, but it was a very very large number and every year on Dec 7th they have a memorial to remember those men. 

Now a little fact you may not know about December 7, 1941, was that Pearl Harbor was not the only place attacked on the island. The Laie temple was built and dedicated by the time Dec 7 rolled around and it stood like a beacon on the other side of the island. A bomber flew over the temple and tried to drop bombs and fire on the Laie temple, but his gears had locked and jammed. So he went and dropped more bombs on Pearl Harbor and circled back to Laie and tried to bomb the temple once again, and once again his gears jammed. While that may not mean anything to you, I think it's a sure sign that the Lord protects his houses and the people inside. 

After we went to Pearl Harbor, we took off to the Dole Plantation, the biggest producer of Pineapple in the world. Their farm went on for ages and ages, there was no end in sight. I wasn't very interested in the large maze or the garden tour, I had my sights set on this 

Oh yes! The one thing I always get when going to Disneyland, Dole Whip!!! I was not disappointed in the least! We got some souvenirs and headed back home.  It was a long day!

Today, (or yesterday depending on when I can post this) has been suuuuper long. We had a flight that was supposed to leave for Phoenix at 1:05 (mind you, I have a flight that leaves for England the 30th of December at 8 pm. I have a lot to get done before I leave). We arrived at the airport at 11:15, and find out our flight has been delayed for SIX HOURS!!! What the heck! Instead of coming home at 10 at night, now we are scheduled to get in at 4 in the morning. So 6:15 arrives, the moment we are supposed to start boarding, and there is still no plane at the gate. The airport finally finds us a plane to fly and we load up and take off close to 7:30. So I'm guessing that whatever time I actually post this is when we land. Now the question is, do I just stay up and get stuff done and sleep on my red eye to Heathrow. Or take a nap and risk sleeping in? Maybe if I sleep on the plane a bit it'll be ok. We'll see!

Nine Ladies Dancing

It's crunch time!

Last week on Thursday I had the opportunity to drive down to Scottsdale Fashion Square and meet up with my lovely friend JR, from my soccer days at PVCC. We had dinner at Paradise Bakery and I know, I just know I'm going to have cravings for their chicken and rice soup and their tasty cookies. We walked around the mall later and I purchased...you guessed it...ANOTHER coat. Yes I have a serious problem, but it'll be good to have a couple *cough cough* coats to wear in London. It was hard saying goodbye and I'll miss her, she has been an amazing friend and listener. 

This weekend I had the experience of watching my 3 little cousins from Friday morning till Sunday night. I have come to the conclusion that I'm not ready to have kids yet. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed the time I had with them and I love them dearly, but it's a lot of work ! Hats off to you moms! I think the thing that was hardest for me was waking up so early, I'm definitely a night person. I had the pleasure of losing my youngest charge at the park for a good 10 minutes and almost experiencing an emotional breakdown. But overall I love screaming children and I think I'm going to miss hanging out with kids the next 6 months. 

I said another goodbye to my friend AS who I've known for forever. She lives down in Tucson and she wants to be a flight attendant (which I think would be an awesome job) after she graduates. AS is planning on visiting me in London at some point which I'm very excited about and hope it can actually happen! 

Tomorrow is packing day at my house and the great LL is coming over to help me pick out outfits!

Four Calling Birds

I can't believe that we have only 8 more days until Christmas! I'm actually starting to panic! I feel like I have a million things to do and I have little to no time to finish my errands and pack and leave!
This is how I feel right now... a list of a million things to do and pulling my hair out.

Today I had the pleasure to go to lunch with my lovely Visiting Teachers AS and JF at Olive Garden. I can already tell you that I'm going to have cravings of their breadsticks while I'm in London. It's crazy how time flies, when I was a Beehive these incredible women were my advisors and now I'm almost out of college and I feel like they haven't aged a day! I love catching up with them and I'm sad that they were only my VTs for a short period of time. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky enough to have them as my VTs again when I get back!

It was also a day of sad goodbye for me as I visited some of my clients/families for the last time. I got to visit for the last time one of my kids who has crazy curly hair and loves it when I smack the floor after he has smacked the floor. He busts up laughing every time and it makes me smile. He doesn't normally grab my hand, but today he did. Maybe he knew on a deep level that it was my last day with him. I'm going to miss him and his family like crazy. My kid has a little brother who is just a steam engine, he can run and run for days. He's super cute and he quoted bits of The Polar Express today. 

My second family that I said goodbye to today was my family that I tutor/nanny for. I've known both the mom and the girl for a number of years and have babysat her a ton! I feel like I am part of the family. The girl is taller than me, which is not very hard to beat, but still not fun-_- I've seen her grow up and it's hard for me to say goodbye, I feel like I helped raise her. I spend a couple weekends a year or a week a year nannying her and I love those weeks/weekends, they are so fun. We spend time making crafts, going to movies and of course shopping! The mom is an awesome lady who has always been supportive of me and I love talking with her when I get the chance. 

You'll be glad to know that I've finished almost everything on my list that I needed to accomplish! 

Now I just need to get around to packing, I am really dreading this... I have to pack for 6 months. I am not normally too concerned about what I wear around, but I'm stressing about this. I want to be able to take outfits that can mix and match, that way it doesn't look like I'm wearing the same outfit every week. I'm also worried that I won't have enough warm clothing for when I get over there. Living in AZ, I don't usually have to wear more than jeans and a sweater, it's going to be a huge change!!! (Sorry if I've bored you with talk about clothing. I'm really freaking out about it!)

I've started to look at places to visit and see so that I have interesting things to write about in my blog! So PLEASE if you have any suggestions of where to go or are curious about let me know! It'll give me things to talk about! So far I have:

• Harry Potter Warner Bros Studios
• Doctor Who Experience (Whales)
• York
• Scotland (to see my aunt at some point)
• Paris
• Maybe or maybe not Spain
• Germany (not sure where yet)
• Copenhagen
• Rome
• Venice
• Dublin
• Prague
• Greece

Now I'm not saying that I'll get to all of them, but these are some of the places I would love to visit! But please! If you have suggestions I would love to hear them!

The Beginning

With school ending on Wednesday and not having to worry about exams anymore, it's time to start thinking about leaving for London!

Today is the first day of the next week and a half that I have to start preparing to leave. I feel like I have so much to do in so little time! My bestie CM and I are going shopping, for me it'll probably be my last big shopping trip getting all the clothes that I need. A bittersweet moment. 

Next week will also be the last week I get to spend with my clients. I've been working with TLC for about two and a half years and with some of my clients for that long. While I will be sad to stop working, I think it will be good for me to a have a period of time where I can just focus on school and perhaps get a bit of a social life! 

I've already been looking at the singles ward I will be going to once I'm in London and thankfully it's not that far away! It'll be about a 15 minute tube ride south of where I will be living. I think of all things I'm nervous about, it will be going to the singles ward. Living at home, I decided to go to the family ward and skipped out on the singles ward and now I'm excited and nervous to go!

Anyway that's it for now! I'll keep you posted how the next couple of weeks go!

London!

"Not all who wander are lost."  - J.R.R. Tolkien