day 3

day three: hau'ula park place


this is my home. if i won the lottery and had unlimited income...i would want to retire right here. not even kidding. i would fix my parents home...buy out a few other properties on the street (namely the ones who i don't even know) and move my whole family there. lol. i'm so fortunate to have this be my place of upbringing. i've never felt so safe anywhere else. from playing kickball and skaiini in the lane to picking flowers from granny's puakenikeni tree and plumeria's from paul down the road...this is my home.

i.love.hauula.park.place.

30 days of thanksgiving...

a few of my friends have been posting pictures on facebook of one thing they are thankful for...and will continue to post one thing a day for the month of november. so i figured i'd do that on my blog! since the second day of the month is nearly over i guess i'll post the first two items i'm thankful for with this entry:

day 1: the parentals

the 'rentals in their prime...lol

of course i can't list EVERYTHING when it comes to these two AMAZING people...but here are a few...

thank you for being great examples
thank you for loving me unconditionally
thank you for teaching me how to serve
thank you for dropping me off at school even though we only live like a block away...lol
thank you for chasing down the school bus whenever we woke up late
thank you for waking me up to go to school
thank you for cheering me on from the stands
thank you for driving me to and from practices
thank you for allowing me to make my own mistakes
thank you for being there for me when i made said mistakes
thank you for everything you done...continue to do...and will always do.

i.love.you.mom.and.dad

day 2: my siblings

the most recent pic of us 5...the BEFORE pic...lol. the AFTER is under construction lol
*sigh* miss him

as the youngest of six...it is assumed that i am the spoiled one. well...i am! hahaha. but not only by my parents. i have five WONDERFUL siblings who have all contributed to my spoils...lol. i mean who wouldn't want to spoil me right?! i'm so thankful for all of them and i couldn't imagine life without them. it would be so...boring. lol. man...i especially miss jason...i can't imagine how things would be if he were still here. i mean we get pretty crazy already as it is...and if jas were still here i think our neighbors would probably call the cops on us every time we have a game night. not to say that that hasn't happened before...but yeah...my sibz pretty much ROCK!!!

i.luv.you.sibz.

kap kun ka thailand...

so i've been putting this off for the past few weeks because 1 - i knew this was going to be MONSTER of a post 2 - i was overwhelmed with the amount of information i wanted to share and 3 - i was lazy. lol. but...it must be done. so here it goes.

thailand

early monday morning my two besties (who just so happened to be in town for conference weekend) dropped me and my cousin taualai off at the airport to embark on our journey. we got there early...in hopes of getting on the early flight to minneapolis....and FAIL!!! so we desperately researched different alternatives til we settled on the next flight to seattle. luckily...we got the last two seats. we knew that as long as we got out of salt lake, we would make it to bangkok. and the rest of the trip was cake.

gotta luv business class

we landed in bangkok late tuesday night, and our flight to chiang mai, (a province north of bangkok known to have the best elephant tours) wasn't for another 7-8 hours. so we tried to kill time by getting a massage, dined in some of the airport restaurants (which had some amazing food), and conversed with random travelers who were also waiting for their flight in the morning. one lone traveler in particular gave us some great tips on what to do and where to go while in chiang mai...which turned out to be very useful later on.

sawasdee ka bangkok

after being on airplanes and in airports for the last 31 hours or so it was nice to take in the fresh air...but man was it hot!!! the first thing i wanted to do was go straight to our hotel and take a nice shower. our first hotel...the kuang singh residence was located just outside of the main city. excellent accommodations for an amazing rate! only about $15 a night! if you EVER plan on going to asia...agoda.com is the best place to book your hotel. the staff was so nice and extremely helpful

our hotel in chiang mai.

after getting refreshed for the day we made our way to the city! it was a little difficult at first trying to find a taxi since our location wasn't in a routine area. our attempts at asking for help or getting directions were pretty good considering the language barrier...but i found that as long as you know at least one landmark, and have a map...you're good. thank you lonely planet. we finally saw a tuk tuk headed in our direction so we flagged him down and we were off to get a massage!!!!

time for a lomi lomi

thanks to our new airport friend kevin, we knew an area that was flooded with massage shops. and they were all dirt cheap...i'm talking $5 an hour cheap. so we found one highly reccommended by kevin, and opted for a slightly pricier massage for 2 hours! and by pricey i'm talking about $17 for two hours!!!! holla! it was EXACTLY what we needed after all that traveling. i was about dead after we were done. i could've ended the day right there...but we decided to explore.

wat prah singh temple

we must've stuck out like a sore thumb cause almost every taxi driver would stop and ask if we needed a ride. and they asked at the right time, cause we were still trying to recuperate from our amazing massage treatments. so we hit up one of the local temples...sat in on a prayer session there...visited the silk factory...and since it was crazy hot, we thought we should head back to the hotel to rest. what was supposed to be a two hour nap turned into being a 12 hour dead bird session into the next day!

outside of temple

and that brings me to the elephant tour. i can't even begin to describe how much fun this was. here was the basic outline for the day:

• pick up from the hotel and drive out to the elephant camp
• elephants put on a show where they do tricks, dance, play soccer, and paint
• go on an ox cart ride
• do a little shopping
• go on an elephant ride throughout the village
• lunch
• take a bamboo raft down the river
• head over to the orchid and butterfly farm
• return to your hotel...or in our case we had them drop us off at a spa

all of this for a grand total of roughly $35!!!! ridiculous!!!! one funny story...everywhere we rode...the local villagers kept pointing at us saying "big big." hahaha...eh! more worse the elephant trainer that was taking us around was saying "yeah big big. big money." i was thinking to myself...yup...keep saying that and your tip is gonna be small small! but in the end the experience was amazing. take THAT bucket list!so...of course when we got back into the city...we just HAD to get another massage. this time we went to an actual spa...and paid a little more for a full on spa package....which included an hour long body scrub, an hour long massage, and a facial. i'm not even gonna discuss the price....lets just say it was about 10% of what it would normally cost here in the states. crazy cheap! and man was it worth it. i felt so fresh and rejuvinated afterward...ready for a night out on the town.

after getting worked on, we developed quite an appetite...and we opted for....mcdonalds. hahahahaha! don't judge me. but after killing time eating...drinking...and people watching, we headed to the muay thai boxing arena. to be honest i was a little hesitant about going cause it wasn't really my thing, but i'm so glad we went. i found it so interesting to see the different type of protocol performed each match. but the highlight of the night was their exhibition match. they had 5 random guys fight against each other blindfolded, for like 5 or 10 minutes. it was hilarious!

after the fight we headed back to the hotel to get some rest as our flight was first thing the next morning back to bangkok. our flight left bright and early at 7 am, and we almost didn't make the flight because it was so full. but we go on and left beautiful chiang mai for...the monster that is bankok.

our time in bangkok was nothing like chiang mai. first off our hotel. we got there and it was an amazing lobby. so clean. so modern. we even enjoyed their breakfast buffet before heading upstairs to our room. the room. hmmm. i swear it was like entering the twilight zone. as soon as those elevator doors it was as if we were totally different hotel. the hallway was so cramped and dingy..and the room was worse. so bad that when i went in the bathroom i got locked in!!! seriously?! the stupid doorknob broke! irraz. granted we were spoiled by our luxury accommodations (lol) in chiang mai...but seriously?

disgusted by the room...we head out to do some shopping!!!! finding a taxi in bangkok was cake...trying to get the drivers to take you where you needed to go...not so easy. they always wanna make different stops on the way so they can get gas credit for bringing tourists. annoying. we kept saying "MBK...MBK...just take us straight to MBK!!!" we finally got there.

that shopping center was ridiculous!!!! i was overwhelmed by the time we entered those doors. it was weird because in some sections it was like a regular mall, and others more like a indoor swap meet. and thats where u find all the bargains. u can totally bargain to get stuff for like half off their asking price there. i had so much fun doing that. we also watched a movie and interesting thai fact...after all the previews, they have this short little 2 minute slideshow of the king of thailand where everyone in the theater is asked to stand to pay tribute to him. they also had a karaoke booth that we totally took advantage of.

post shopping activity...dinner at an authentic thai restaurant. that was the plan at least. but i don't know if that's what we got. lol. we trusted our tuk tuk driver to take us somewhere nice...and he FAILED! after refusing to get out of the tuk tuk...he finally took us to a better place. he offered to wait and take us back to our hotel for 50 baht...but when we came out he fully left! hahahaha. we didn't pay him...so he pretty much took us there for FREE!!!!! we headed back to the hotel and packed up for our flight early the next morning.

omg i can't believe how long this post is! but needless to say...it was an AMAZING trip!!!! i seriously came home ready to go back! i feel like i just didn't get enough shopping done..and i would love to explore the southern part of that country next time. who's down?

sawadee ka....

just booked the hotel today....and i'm ready to GO!!!! in less than two weeks i'll be doing this!!!!

SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

tita's in town!!!!

since i moved to utah almost two years ago the transition has been easy with my sister and her family...and my brother and his family here. not to mention the *almost* monthly trips back to the rock. but i know that it has been hard for my other brother and other sister back home to be away from all of us...especially me. hahahaha...jk. so whenever they get a chance, they try to take a few weeks off to come up and spend some time with us. more so mahea than aaron...tis the life of a single lady.

so...as leone (oldest sis) and i got ready to pick her up...we joked about the different things mahea would say as soon as we picked her up. here's what we came up with:

"its sooooo coooooold!!!!"

"i'm soooooooooo hungry!!!"

"i HATE utah!!!!"

buahahahaha....you really have to know my sister in order to understand how funny this is. so i guess this is just for my own personal documentation.

so needless to say as soon as she stepped out of that airport...she repeated each phrase almost verbatim! not necessarily in that order. lol. and then there was her FAMOUS line...which she says almost everytime we're driving somewhere NOT in hawai'i...

"WHERE are we?! i don't even know where we are!!!"

never mind she's been here like 5 times already!!!! and she wants me to list her as my companion next year???? hahahaha. omg...i LOVE my tita.

luv my twinkies!!!!

one of the best parts about coming home from a much needed vacay is coming home to this...

this...
this...

and this....

don't forget this....

i was only gone for a week but these two monkeys changed so much while i was gone! they both started crawling...and hili girl's first two teeth broke through!!! ugh...they are growing so fast, and i'm so excited! i can't wait for them to start walking/running around. it's gonna drive their dad NUTS when he comes home to a messy house. hahaha!!!

much needed vacay...

just got back from one of THE best vacays i've had in a while. much of my time was spent relaxing...eating...swimming...more eating...exploring...playing games...talking story...did i mention eating?...and spending quality time with some quality people.

destination: Lake Powell
duration: 7 beautiful days
company: my murr town/long beach 'ohana

i don't know if words could describe the grandeur of lake powell. before i met greg, i've never even heard of lake powell...let alone planned to go there at any point in my life. being the island girl that i am...forever surrounded by the largest body of water there is...the pacific ocean, i never....EVER thought i would be spend time in a...lake...let alone spend 7 days there!!! but it was freakin awesome!!! we spent our entire time there cruising on the dowden's houseboat...and exploring the canyons on their smaller boat and seadoo's.

the dowden's have been going every year for the past 30 or so years...and the murphy's (greg's grandparents) have been going almost every year since the lake opened up back in the 60's! they knew every nook and cranny there! man...i swear i was so luck to be with them, cuz if i ever went by myself i swear i would get lost. every corner looks the same to me. lol.

i'm kicking myself right now for not taking that many pictures. thats wut happens when you go with people with cameras...you're too lazy to take any of your own. but here are the few that i do have.

wahweep marina..the morning i arrived
the other side of the marina...where all the houseboats are docked
the back of castle rock...its HUGE!!!!
the dreamcatcher...my home for the entire trip
rainbow bridge...one of the natural wonders of the world. a 747 can fly thru it. MASSIVE!!

the cliffs by our campsite
hole in the wall (yup thats what its called) an lds historical landmark. you can read about it here.
some indian ruins. if you look closely you'll see the opening to their homes. these guys would scale these cliffs (which are a couple hundred feet high) just to get to their HOUSE! i'm never complaining about my drive to and from work ever again! lol
there were a lot of HUGE cave. if you look closely to the bottom left you'll see greg and josh on the seadoo's...just to give you some perspective of how GARGANTUAN everything was.
i forgot what this was called...but it was another HUGE hole in one of the cliffs. lol
just a shot of the water reflecting on the rocks as we were coming out of one of the canyons. pretty cool huh? and...while i was there i discovered a new app that does some pretty cool effects with your pix. this is the modified version. i call it..."fiyah on the rock"... lol
i thoroughly enjoyed the different colors and lines on all the cliffs.
here's the same pic after its been instagram-ed. i call this one "rawr like tigah...on the rock" lol

the pix really don't do it justice, but i had so much fun just enjoying God's creations. who knew the desert could be so beautiful?! with all the swimming and exploring you can guarantee that i got my tan on! and here's proof...

me and anabunz on our way to rainbow bridge...

this was one of the few pix of myself while there. its been instagram-ed...but it stays true to my color. lol. anyhoo....thats the extent of my trip. i don't know if i'll ever go back again by myself..but if the dowden's extend the invite again...i'm so there!