Okay I know that I JUST put a blog post up, and I HATE when people mass blog, but I just really want you guys to know what I am doing. Because I do awesome stuff. Since I live in Hawaii (this does not always still feel real despite the fact it has been happening for several months) I am trying to take advantage of all the fun, outdoorsy things there are to do here. This means I went hiking with a bunch of people in my ward a week ago. We are working our way up to Koko head, and I'm pretty sure I will need a year to work up to that one! But here are some pictures from the beautiful hike we did up to the Makapuu Lighthouse. Enjoy!

This girl kills me. Eating garlic fried chicken and mashed potatoes at 8:30 in the morning

And then she used her sweatshirt to carry her water bottle

Just the ocean

This is a Zombie lady bug. It was biting everyone

Tati loving the hike

teeny tiny light house!

Blue!

My girl Osiris

LOVE these girls

I am so blessed to live on this rock

As a teacher I have the opportunity to advise a club. This club is called Skills USA. This club does a variety of things, including volunteer, hold fundraisers and generally just have a good time. But also they have an annual competition in Honolulu, where they can compete in many different areas, including Robotics, Advertising Design, Job Interview, Internetworking, etc. This was my first year being involved with the Skills club so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It turned out to be a great little experience and I am already excited for next years competition. Here are some pictures from the couple days we spent in town. Just know that since I am the only female advisor from my school I got my own hotel room, which I did NOT hate. :)

My cute little name tag

Most of the kids from Mililani. We took 40 kids(!) and 5 came home with Gold Medals, and several Silver and Bronze. There were also 2 categories where Mililani placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

These are the men I work with...

and this is how they chaperoned the dance...

I was all prepared to have a pretty terrible birthday. Last year I had recently moved to Arizona, didn't really have any friends there. Some key people in my life didn't wish me a happy birthday, so it was kind of depressing. Hence why I was ready for this year to be a bust. I have friends here in Hawaii (despite what some of my students think...) but I have only been living here for about 7 months, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. And woah. This was one of my favorite birthdays ever. 

There was so much love on the days surrounding my birthday I just didn't even know what to do with myself. I just want to publicly say thank you to everyone that contributed in any way, even if it was a text or fbook message. I felt so loved and it was the perfect day.

Here's a recap of the events in Hi.

This girl is the main reason my birthday was SO great

Dessert waffles are always the correct choice

Other highlights/favorite presents:

Crayons shaped like mustaches

iPhone 4s (I love it so much and only fight with Siri occasionally)

Birthday cake/cookies from my second period

(it's still weird to see Ms. Wright written out)

Also, this is chantilly cake and if you have never had that I suggest you do so IMMEDIATELY.

It is amazing

Ice cream cake from my co-workers

(Did I mention I ate lots of cake?)

A BEAUTIFUL new journal/notebook

BEAUTIFUL new purse

Birthday "song" voxed to me from the London airport

I'm pretty sure my sister and I are the most disappointing mormon daughters ever. Mid-late 20's and no dating or marriage prospects. Sorry mom!

My sister recently (as in 3 days ago) started teaching high school in a small town in Nevada. As she just turned 28 and moved to this small town, my sweet mother is pretty concerned about her marriage prospects. As part of my mother allowing her to move to Ely (Yes, she actually pretends like she can still control our lives. It's pretty adorable) she demanded my sister sign up for an eHarmony dating profile.  So during Christmas break we pulled the trigger. Turns out I have some experience filling out eHarmony profiles that have resulted in marriage, so obviously she had the right person helping her out.

However, since we set up her profile, my sister has refused to do many things on the site, such as communicating with other people. Since I have her log in information I will occasionally log in and check out the prospects. Quite honestly I have been slightly disappointed. There have been a few promising candidates, but more for me than her. Oops, that's awkward.

Anyway, since she refuses to do anything with this profile, I have been acting as her account manager. Which means I am sending questions to people and responding to emails they send to her. Okay, so she has only had one person send her an email so far, but she is making me answer it for her! (okay, obviously I am more than willing to do this. There is something so exciting about dating websites when they aren't actually for you) I am in the middle of composing a response to this lovely man that lives in Salt Lake, and let me tell you, this is tricky business! What do you say? Will my humor translate over email? Very stressful things. Plus, I have to try to sound like my sister! Good thing I have known her for 24 years! (I'm getting old)

Wish me luck on finding the perfect man for my big sis. Maybe we can make a lifetime or Hallmark Channel movie out of this eventually. I'll get started on the screenplay.

Can we talk about how much I love this?

Just so you all know, I am alive. I didn't get swept away in the tsunami, or eaten by a shark (or my students). I have just been ridiculously busy. And kind of lazy. So this post is brought to you in picture form with minimal explanations.  I would like to apologize in advance to those of you who follow me on Instagram as you will have seen many of these pictures before. Enjoy!

 Sushi delivered on a conveyor belt. I don't hate it.

The culinary kids at school bring me food ALL.THE.TIME. I also don't hate this. 

 Are you getting a feel for all that I do here in Hawaii?

 One time I was volunteered to chaperone some children on a community service hike

You would think I had never seen a paycheck before the way I react every time I get one...

These are real sweet potatoes (Okinawan) NOT play dough

One time for a relief society activity we made ghosts for Halloween

Okay, really? How many of the things on this menu would you eat?

I obviously love grading things

The things I do on the weekends to support my department and children

Pumpkin Carving!

Sometimes I'm a demanding diva and make people play instruments for me. It's fine.

This picture, and the next 2 are drawings my FAVORITE 5 year olds (in Hawaii) did on my whiteboard one day when we were hanging out after school. Can you tell which one is me in each picture? I couldn't either.

I figured out the hard part of being in Hawaii

EVERYONE (this is obviously an exaggeration) is sassy

and I am sassy, but they are out sassing me

which I am not used to

I am used to being the sassy one, and now that I have all this sassy competition I don't know how I am supposed to act

It is an interesting game of trying to figure out how I fit into the Hawaii culture, and the only thing I feel right now is that I don't quite fit

I am too white

But everyone is still nice and welcoming, I am just trying to figure out how I am supposed to act around people and this is one of my least favorite discoveries any time I have to do it

really people though, come visit me! You will love it!