Today I am grateful for...

* attending BYUH

* amazing friends I met there

* the Polynesian culture

* my wonderful friend who helps with diff eq

* good grades

* regaining confidence in EE

* understanding teachers

* my family

* safe airplanes

* an orderly room

* clean sheets

* quiet time

* one case study instead of three

* one less lab

* 3 weeks left in school

* my PB

* my best friend, KJP

* my Savior

* BYU

* the Lord's faith in me

AND General Conference this weekend : )

Luau

Last year, I attended this beautiful university;

the experience of a lifetime to say the least.

Unfortunately, I could not stay forever - 

BUT I still have the chance to be involved with the amazing Polynesian culture.

At 6 AM this morning, 

I attended rehearsals for the BYU Multicultural Luau, 

a performance to raise scholarship money for international students.

Every Saturday morning I will be up in the Wilk dancing away, 

reminiscing...

I guess this will have to suffice until I see that beautiful island again.

Aloha Oe'

Until we meet again

do you remember?

that time we hitch-hiked to Waimea, nearly a dozen of us in the back of a truck...

or the time we had photo shoots with breakfast foods and froot loops... I could not get the smell of milk out of my clothes for weeks...

What about the time we took a vespa tour around the south eastern side of the island, ate nutella and peanut butter sandwiches on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and hiked to the top of the lighthouse - only to find it was fenced in... so we climbed the fence...

Remember when we painted easter eggs to look like ourselves,

and ESPECIALLY that night we raised our elbows high : )

Remember when we watched the Sunday morning session of conference at 6 AM,

or that awesome Valentines day when we made a movie?

or better yet, the Christmas movie! creeping on the rocks, dancing with Santa in the Aloha Center, smelling the poinsettias, or kissing the toy soldiers

Do you remember the trips to the Cheesecake Factory, giving Gandalf as our name

Spicy cats... oh those spicy cats....

I remember going to the lovely Laie theatre to watch New Moon, Invictus, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and so many more..

I remember playing with the amazing Norton boys, Lincoln asked me to marry him : )

do you remember chasing the rat around Trisha's room?

or watching Keith,
what a horrible excuse for a movie....

I miss those days.

I miss you guys.

Somebody better get married soon so we can have our crazy bachelorette parties : )

Photo from Trisha Zemp

Aloha 'Oe

I know I have been MIA for the past week, but for good reason.

I have been spending my last days of life in paradise in Waikiki with some of the best friends in the world

Not to worry, thousands of pictures will come very soon
Videos too :)

Today, I leave this chapter of my life and head home.

I've held back the tears.

This is going to be really hard.

I love you Hawaii
Aloha 'Oe

in conclusion

I've come to the conclusion 

that it is not about the activities you do 

but the people you do them with...

The list will still remain on my wall

but I am not so concerned

with chiseling away at the things to do

more will get done

and I will cross them out as I go

but i'm not concerned

with getting it all done

I am going to enjoy the company

of my friends

while they are still here

live in the moment

(a controlled moment, yes)

but a moment nonetheless :)

I LOVE YOU GUYS

math

I love math. 

I know I'm weird. 

but check it out, how awesome is this?!

a = b
ab = bb
ab - aa = bb - aa
a(b-a) = (b-a)(b+a)
a = b+a
a = a+a
a = 2a
1 = 2

another chapter of adventures

This weekend was a long weekend because of Prince Kuhio day on Friday... for this reason, I was able to have another adventuresome weekend!!

Friday I went to Waimea with Tessa, Dustin, Pono, and friends :)

There was a sailboat out whale watching, and boy were they in luck!  There was a whole pod of whales and we could listen to them underwater!  They really do sound like Dori in Finding Nemo, Listen for yourself below!! I know the visual is of nothing interesting, but listen to the whales!

After a wonderful afternoon at Waimea,  we headed to Ted's Bakery for some delighful treats :)

MMMMM Chocolate Macadamia Nut Creme Pie :)

After a long day in the sun, I got home in just enough time to shower for our wards Relief Society CAMPOUT! (more details on sydneys blog post :) )

We camped out in Alyssa's backyard in Hauula, and then the next morning, headed over to the beach for some fun in the sun!

After a morning at the beach, Alyssa Jessica and I headed down to Kanaohe for a Dance Party!

Its not a very clear picture, but after watching the DVD of the concert, Sister Foster brought out this beautiful cake!

We left the Foster's and headed to Ross where I bought some adorable new sandals, headbands, and a new wallet :)

We then returned home to Laie where I showered then crashed for a wonderful LONG night sleep :)

TODAY: Church was wonderful, and you can read about my inspirational thoughts in my last post!

all the world's my stage :)

In the midst of all the CRAZINESS a couple weeks ago, I forgot to mention that I was a part of a big dance concert! Abuliz Dance International: Rhythm of Love

The students of Nina Abuliz Foster's modern and advance dance classes performed a magnificent show with many different styles of dance.  Below is the pre-show video as well as some pictures and videos from the show!

Pre-Show Video

backstage before the first show

evacuate the dance floor

crazy little thing called love

Live Your Life

large chunk of the classes

AND I participated in BYUH's Culture Night with the Swing Club. 

Culture Night is a BIG DEAL here at Brigham Young University Hawaii.  It is a night where all 25+ of the Culture Clubs at BYUH get together and perform songs and dances from their home countries.  2 whole nights of FANTASTIC performances.  It reminded me why I LOVE this school and all the amazing things that our world cultures have to offer.  Truly remarkable. Here are some pics from some of the other clubs

Tahiti

Tonga

Hong Kong

Fiji

Japan

Thailand

Hawaii

Samoan

(thats my roomate :] )

Culture Night photography by Marco Mak

Sorry, I know its a long post, but I just LOVE pictures and my school!!!

Adventuresome Day :)

Yesterday Jessica Sydney Dane and I hiked PCC falls, it was a wonderful adventure full of Wookie calls and MUD :] Hiking through the jungles of Hawaii is definitely something the adventurous type of person must try. Sydney blogged about it too- click here to read :)

an Awesome Adventure!

So Saturday was my first real day to take a crack at that list of things to do before I leave here:

Take the bus to Waimea Bay
The crew: Jarek, Jefferson, Sydney, Jessica, Lauren, Dane, Joanna, *Nathan and *myself
*not pictured

But wait..... Lets hitchhike instead!

With the help of Jessica's mad hitchhiking skills, all 9 of us got a ride in the back of a truck... 

But only to Kahuku, so we had to take the bus the rest of the way to Waimea

We spent a WONDERFUL day at Waimea playing frisbee, swimming in the giant ocean waves, and soaking up the sun while playing the fortune game with Joanna's Star Wars cards :)

 **I didn't get to jump off the rock again, but as you can see I had already jumped it many times :)
(the Eddie Aikau moved all the sand around so the lay of the land has completely changed)

After many hours of fun in the sun, we hopped back on the bus and headed into Haleiwa

where we stopped at Matsumoto's for some souvenirs and shave ice :)

We played around in the historic old surf town, 

and then grabbed a Kua Aina burger to eat on the journey home

Needless to say, it was a successful adventure.  

Stay tuned: 

Thursday Sydney Jessica and I head off to hike Laie Falls and possibly the summit!  

And this Saturday will hopefully be the Mauna Loa hike and Sharks Cove, with food pit stops at Ted's Bakery, Kava Roots, and a small local cafe :)