old with the new

A few quick memories of my days livin on huki lau

I woke up to the sunrise every morning just like this shot---->

It was gorgeous. First off I had never even been to Hawaii in my life. I had always loved the beach and was super sick of no sunshine and dark long winters having lived in rexburg the past couple years so to get into BYU hawaii made my life!!! I was so excited. I didn't know anyone and wasnt going with anyone I knew so it was going to be quite the experience:) I remember my first day moving in. I took a shuttle to my house. I got dropped off and walked into this beat down beach house. I took one of the tow beds in the kitchen and I just remember sweating and my hair going curly from the humidity. Then some of the other roomies rolled in. Robin took the bed by me and then we had Ms. Japan who spoke little to no english and we hardly ever saw her. Then Robin the RM who again was hardly ever around. Then my fellow cali girl moved in- Ms. Ashley- we hit it off right off the bat and are forever BFFs. Then Cat and Erin came and a girl from singapore. Our house was packed. There were two families who lived in the front of us. But we had the beach side and that was all that mattered. Life was good. I got a job on campus and worked a ton while taking a light load. Ash and I found Jake and Tyson to run around with. They were tons of fun. We went all over the island with those kids. It often hurts thinking back to the good times we had cuz my days as of recent are sooooo lame. Anyways-memories. I remember not having a car and skating and hitch hiking everywhere. I remember not being able to afford much food and living off of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwhiches. I remember working with Tasha and becoming friends with her and findin out recently she is on the womens olympic soccer team. I remember nights skinny dipping and coming home sweating only to strip down and get into my suit and take a dip in the delicious water. I remember trips to matsumotos and haleiwa. I remember taking a hula class and waking up to the INS one morning as they searched for my singapore roomie to deport her:( I could go on and on and on but those are what come to mind the most. So my fam and I went back a bit ago -

Below is a pic of me and my sisties

snorkeling.

We had a blast. We all hit up Matt Hardens wedding

at the gorgeous Turtle Bay Resort. It was an amazing time. Those Hardens know how to throw a party that is for sure. They wined and dined us silly. I'm suprised we continued to get into our swimsuits day in and day out cuz we ate soooo much. We hit up Pearl Harbor which tickled my dad, cuz he is always watchin the history channel and they are always doing WWII specials so it was neat to see it live. The pic below is of me and cat skydiving. We hit up drop zone north west of us to do it. It was super fun. Good times. I miss it tons. I remember deciding to serve a mission and having to come home to prep. I would wake up in tears cuz I missed the ocean and my chill hawaiian lifestyle. It was such a beautiful time in my life.

DROP ZONE!!!

So the Andes kick the Rockies ass hands down. Flying back to Santiago I was in awe of these majestic peaks. This pic doesn't do them justice but oh geez they were amazing!!! Gorgeous.

Javi checkin out the falls.....

Soooo this pic of this lady cracks me up every

time I see it. Javi and I were on the bus to Brazil and this lady dropped a ton of change. Javi being the gentleman that he is bends over to help her pick it up- she flipped out!!! she thought he was trying to take her money and so she was smackin him and telling him to stop - it was crrrrazy- but funny. anyways we caught her sleeping and her dentures were flappin so I had to take a pic:)

So Brazil was the next stop which is getting another temple as of this weekend and will be the home to the 2016 olympics- very cool. This trip was super fun. Javier and myself hopped a bus and stayed in a ghetto hotel in cuidad del este. On our way to the falls we saw a white family get jumped by a huge group of lil pateros- It was super scary I was sooo glad I had javi with me. We saw the falls which were gorgeous!! we got soaked and had a super fun time. We saw cool lil monkey things all over the place. We didnt take the boat into devils throat due to not being able to afford it, but it looked pretty intense. We hit up the Itaipu damn light show. It was pouring rain and we got a shady taxi driver who supposedly misunderstood where we were going, so he took us to the wrong place and javi got into a scuffle with him which was kinda funny/ oh geez this better work out cuz we don't have money to pay another taxi dude to where we need to go. It worked out thank goodness and we ended the night trekkin back to our hotel in the rain. We were starving so grabbed some ghetto asado in front of our ghetto hotel and went up to our room and ate on our bed in our soakin wet clothes and enjoyed some good laughs while we listened to the thunder and loud music bumpin outside. We cleaned up and got dry and cuddled til we fell asleep just to awake to what we swear were gun shots:) but it was perfect timing cuz we had a bus to catch.

Back to the mish

So I hopped a plane with my amigo Javier and we headed back to la gran mision paraguay. It was a priceless experience. It was uber bizarre being there and not being a missionary, but it made it sooo nice to be able to sit with people with no curphew or pressure to keep it moving on to the next cita. I was only able to find a few of my favorites but it was so good to see them. It was definitely a taste of heaven. It took me back to the good ol days of waking up and thinking about nadie mas but my paraguayan amigos and how we could help them come into the fold and lead happier and healthier lives. I miss it!!! I miss them!!!

I hit up the beach in lima and wanted to check out some of the waves and surfers. The next thing I know this guy was tokin up next me. He is offerin me a puff in this pic:) I declined of course but got a kick out of how chill it was there. I was impressed with the skills of these peruvian guys. The beach was rocky but a cool location and the guys were super welcoming and sweet.

brady and myself having fun tryin on these gorgeous alpaca hats and much more:)

So we hit up the market in cusco and I saw this little girl crawling around in the street. I fell in love!!! she totally drew me in and I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her but her mother swooped her away once she saw me taking interest in her.

me with some adorable lil bambinos and an alpaca:)

Peru- one word "wow" we drank some cocaine tea, hit up tons of ruins and climbed putukusi, wayna picchu and the famous macchu picchu- it was breathtaking. We stayed in cusco, and aguas calientes and saw and did a ton in the few days we played there. Loved it and fell in love with the cute lil alpacas. The people were gorgeous and spoke amazingly clear and perfect spanish. It was a priceless lil trip.

Soooo this pic is horrible - our chilean server had never really seen a digital camera before:) but it was one of the best nights ever. I was the only girl in my Spanish class so me and the other guys got to be buds really quick. My favorites of the bunch took me out for my birthday and we had a great time doing our thing in Vina del Mar. Good times were had for sure :)

the streets of valpo

So Chile. I fell in love with this place. It is a hidden gem for sure. I dream of going back to work for a bit or do something while I live downtown and play. I lived in Recreo right by Vina del Mar and down from centro. It was a great location. I got to ride the bus along the coast on the way to class. My view from my room was killer as you can see. I loved it!!!