Life as Lil' Red: August 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Utah and California Adventure Time.

Cruisin' with Luke and Crew.

     My plans for this summer were to simply have no plans, but to just GO! So about three days after I got home from Hawaii for the summer, I headed straight to Logan, Utah to spend some time with my brother Blake's family, not knowing when I would return to Reno (just the way I like it). Christine had baby Ellie about two days after I got there, so I got to spend some precious time with my two awesome nephews Sam and Isaac. I had so much fun with them, and they were so excited for their new sister. I spent the next week hanging out with them, and then on Saturday I headed to Salt Lake with my roommate Destiny to our friends Dave and Catherine's wedding. It was so much fun because there were twenty of us there from Hawaii! I made it back to Logan the next day, bought my ticket to San Diego, and left two days later.

     I landed in San Diego where Crosby, my great friend from Hawaii, picked me up. I then remembered that my nephews were on vacation there with their dad, so we headed straight to their hotel on Coronado Island to say hello. It was great to be at the ocean again :) We then drove up to Crosby's house in Temecula, where we got to catch up. The next day, we met up with our friends from Hawaii Nate, Colby, and Devin for frozen yogurt. Then we made our way to my Uncle Craig's house in Santa Clarita. Later that night, Destiny showed up at my uncle's house with Nathan, Chris, and Rachel so that we could go to Six Flags Magic Mountain the next day! That was such a blast, because it was Nathan's birthday and that was our excuse to act like kids again for a day ;)

     On Friday, my Aunt Jennifer and I had so much fun going to downtown LA for some majorly discounted designer shopping! I had a blast with her, and we finally got some girl time together! Then we met up with my sister-in-law Merideth so that I could spend the next day or so with her and my brother Wade and their five kiddos. We spent the next day riding bikes, swimming at the pool, and getting tasty food at Cafe Rio. After church on Sunday, we went back to Craig's house for a big family dinner, and I then stayed there that night.

     Monday I went to Hurricane Harbor, the water park at Six Flags, with my cousin Easton and his friend. That was super fun, even though those teenage boys acted like babies for all the "big" slides! ;) That night we just hung out and, my friend Devin came and stayed there that night so that we could drive back to Reno together the next day.

     It was definitely a fun-filled and sporadic trip! And I was exhausted after being gone for almost three weeks, but it was definitely worth it! I can't believe I got to do everything I did, and more importantly see everyone I saw! I'm so grateful for the friends and family I have, and how much joy they bring to me in my life. I don't have many pictures from this adventure, but here's some:

Beautiful baby Ellie.


At Dave and Catherine's wedding with Destiny and a bunch of Hawaii friends!

Top left corner: Me with Crosby at the beach in San Diego

Top right corner: Hotel del Coronado in San Diego

Bottom left corner: Me and Nathan with our incredible glasses...

Bottom right corner: our group at Sixl Flags workin' the capes!

Getting Danny Tan!

Danny, Beth, and Me at the Laie Temple.

I know, I know. It's been awhile. But, once again it's with good reasoning- my life is just too good. So I'll take it one major event at a time. First off, it's Danny visiting me in Hawaii!! Words cannot describe how incredibly excited I was to have my best friend in the entire world fly across the Pacific to come visit me, especially since she will be leaving September 18th to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Cuiaba, Brazil. So it was so incredible to have this last little adventure together before she leaves.

She came in at night on Wednesday, June 13, then the next day I took some finals in the morning, she went to the Laie temple, then we went to the beach, and then I took another final (with my hair still wet- only at BYU-Hawaii). That night we went to Kahuku Grill, my personal favorite, for dinner. The next day after my last final, we headed to Sunset Beach with my friend Beth and relaxed all day. Then headed to Ted's Bakery for dinner, and then off to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the amazing night show.

Saturday was our North Shore Adventure Day! We headed straight to Shark's Cove for the absolute BEST day of snorkeling I've had there. Then we went to Waimea and jumped off the rock, then off to historic Haleiwa for Matsumoto's Shave Ice, shopping, and tasty Thai food. Then we ended the day at Turtle Beach at sunset where we saw about 8 turtles just hanging out :) Sunday we went to church, then headed to the Buddhist Temple for some great sight seeing. Then back to Laie Temple Visitor's Center, then relaxing the rest of the day.

Monday was a the East and South Side of the island Adventure Day, and what a day it was! Drove first to Lanikai Beach to see the whitest sand and clearest water on the island with my friends Zach S, Zach Z, and Chandler. Then off to Makapu'u Lighthouse for a breath-taking few. After that, we headed to my absolute favorite spots on the island, "China Walls" and "Spitting Caves." Here there are beautiful cliffs of all sizes to either soak in the beauty, or to jump off of!! At China Walls, we had a bit of fun when we were watching a surfing DOG and got distracted by him so we got hit by a huge wave haha. It was fantastic. Later that night we headed into Waikiki for Danny to do some shopping, where we also ran into my "Teddy Bear World" teddy bear costume who just loooooves to scare me.... haha.

Then Tuesday, my friend took us on a hike to "Sacred Falls" for a fun waterfall to swim at in the middle of the jungle. After that, we went straight to the beach where some of my friends helped us surf. Danny and I caught the same wave! Cheehoo! That night was then full of me packing and cleaning my apartment, with the help of my amazing friends. The next morning, we headed back to Reno on the same flight together, where my amazing summer would continue!

I'm so grateful Danny got to come. It was seriously the best trip ever; we know each other so well and work so well together that it was like a vacation for me too! Everything turned out absolutely perfect. I'm so grateful that I have Danny in my life because she's the sweetest and funniest girl I know, and I don't know what I would do without her. As sad as I am that I won't get to call her for a year and a half, I'm so excited for her to go to Brazil and serve the people there! Check out our pictures :)