To Follow Blindly is Without Faith

I was at the dreaded mall yesterday.  I hate the mall.  Maybe because I hate people forcing me to buy the latest and greatest (I have a cell phone already! Leave me alone!).  Maybe because everything is always too expensive.  Maybe it's because I meet people like the woman in the store yesterday who inspired this post.  I was in a trendy store filled with coral and turquoise, bangle jewelry, the hippest jeans, etc.  She had eyed a pair of (trendy, or course) ivory lace shorts.  Then she said this gem of a statement, "I love them! Can I call President Monson so I can tell him how cute these are?! The ones in the bermuda length would be so ugly but these are so cute!"  Fast forward the few hours it took me to grasp that an LDS woman had just said that.  I'm not saying I place myself above her because honestly, I could easily see my younger self saying something similar.  But it made me think of the way we follow the Prophet.  Do we merely take his advice because we know we should or do we seek to understand why he may be giving us these commandments?  I think it is so important for us to listen to the Prophet, heed his advice, and seek to understand all he tells us.  When we merely follow someone because we know we should we become lifeless and thoughtless robots.  Be believing and full of faith and ponder why the Prophet has given us that particular commandment.  If we try to understand why he has given it, we can follow with not only faith but with a purpose to become better disciples.      

Fighting is inevitable

My husband and I are at a great point in our marriage.  I will always strive to keep it this way but it wasn’t always fulfilling.  I came from a good family with some intense structure.  My husband came from a good family where he was the male figure in the home for most of his life.  Both of our parents fought and both of us feared our parent’s eventual separation.  Both couples are still together.  But as I see my friends’ marriages crumble one by one I wonder what plague our generation has succumb to? 

Take a step back with me to the earlier days of my marriage: I’m sitting in the bed of our truck under the carport holding a blanket and planning on staying out there all night.  My husband is inside wondering how far I could have made it walking in any direction. The fight that led up to this had been a definite mole hill turned into a mountain of epic elevation.  He had quoted someone who made a general comment years earlier about snowboarders.  I. Blew. Up.  Back and forth yelling.  Crying. Hope of escape.

At this point we had been married for a few months, obvious newlyweds with our lives ahead of us.  We didn’t understand each other, our new roles, or ourselves.  We weren’t ready for this big step called marriage but honestly, is anyone?  Is anyone conscious of the way they will react to a mixing of such different backgrounds?  How would I know that a simple statement could send me into a world of my own suppressed emotions?  You don’t know those things until they happen. 

So what then?  What about when those eventual comments come?  Do we hide? Do we suppress those new feelings? No.  We explore those feelings, dig into their roots, and expose them in true light.  Only then can you see a new perspective of how those feelings may be irrational.   

Marriage will never be like those earlier days spent together.  You are fully involved and can’t decide to take a break from that person.  Nor should you have to.  You should lean into those arguments to learn about yourself and your spouse.  Doing so will eventually lead you to a place where you give a little and take a little.  This is where you will find love. 

Kakela's beach swing

So it's old news but I have been way busy so I haven't been able to update here yet.  I'm getting married!  I'm marrying Brandon Shane Olmstead and he's amazing.  We got engaged on a friday night (Dec 3rd) at our favorite beach spot, Kakelas.  He bought me a TON of flowers and took me there and he pushed me on the swing for awhile then we went for a walk on the beach and he started reciting the lyrics to a song called "I must have loved you before".  There is a line that says "..If I was the ocean and you were the sandy beach every minute I'd be falling at your feet" and he got down on one knee and proposed.  It was really sweet.  Planning is going to be crazy because I will be in Utah and he will be working in Hawaii.  Lots of details to sort out before March 10th. 

hiking

Today was a good day.  Woke up at 4 am (and was happy!) went to hike the Haiku stairs but got rained out.  Instead, we hiked to a lighthouse and up the Koko head stairs.  There was a mine at the top of the stairs and when we were in it we heard a little boy say "dad?" really creepily.  Me and another girl booked it out of the mine but started laughing when we realized there was a vent through to the top.  Now we're trying to figure out a way to watch elf.  I am not convinced that hawaiians know the pleasure of plopping down and watching a good movie.  I have yet to see or hear about a room devoted entirely to movie watching (other than theatres) like they are so easily found in Utah.      

adventures in the kitchen (part 2)

I lost my domestic spirit for awhile but alas! it has returned.  Yesterday I tried my hand at my mother's famous apple pie.  Her crust is flaky, her apple filling is sweet yet natural, and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream I don't know it can be beat.  I got the recipe from her but somehow my crust was a wee bit too small for the pie so it was a one layer crust and with the remaining dough I made a mini-pie.  I was so excited to eat the mini pie because I rinsed off the excess sugar from the filling to make it less sweet. I set it out on the counter to cool and after I went to the fireside I returned to find this:

  It's head was stuck so far into the pie that it didn't even notice the flash.  I guess I should have learned by now to never leave mini cakes and pies out for the critters.  It's like putting a mini toilet in the restroom with a sign "no children".  They're not going to heed the sign anyway and who else would it be for?

Slacking

A lot of my friends slackline and my boyfriend Brandon is a really good videographer so we set out to make a movie.  Here are the fruits of our (mostly Brandon's) labor:

Slackline Adventures

when I wish time would stop

Weekends are so fun.  Waking up naturally, sipping fresh carrot apple juice, and of course my favorite day, super Saturday.  That is what my friends are calling our activity-filled Saturdays.  We do everything from grocery shopping to cliff jumping to hiking.  This weekend we celebrated my boyfriend's new job and went out to dinner, went to a haunted house (the best one I have ever been to), went window shopping at the lavish Ala Moana mall in Waikiki and then my boyfriend took me jet-skiing.  It was so much fun and upon return I made chicken soup and we watched the green lantern.

I sure wish I could figure out how to make my weekends (and dark chocolate) last longer.

Adventure website

I may have found the best website on the internet.  It is infinitylist.com and it is AMAZING.  It is everything I love on one site.  It is a collection of the best videos of all kinds of extreme sports.  I decided it can be my motivation to get my homework done early.
   

adventures in the kitchen

I have really enjoyed cooking lately.  Any extra time I have I like to whip up something new and tasty.  I just wonder how long it will last.  Recently I have been fairly successful regarding the outcomes.  I guess I figure while Im having success I should keep it up. 

This is a cream of broccoli soup.  It was inspired by a Costco sample and it turned out pretty good.  Fairly healthy as well.

 
This is a passion fruit meringue pie. This was a shot in the dark but it turned out really good.  The only thing was I kneaded the dough a little too long and it came out a little harder than I wanted.  The tartness of the passion fruit and the sweetness of the meringue were a perfect match.  I doubt I will do this again considering it took me half my day.  I am learning a lot about cooking and it is so fun!

Another thing i made is a yogurt salad dressing.  It is really easy but really delicious.  You add plain greek yogurt, vinegar, garlic, pepper, olive oil, and italian seasoning.  It tastes a little like greek yogurt dressing.  I have been making it everyday and I'm not sick of it yet. 

the irrefutable truth.....

I now have an internal alarm clock of 6am.  6 AM!!!! That is the only reason why, on a saturday, when I have nothing going on, I am sitting at my computer, at 6 am.  Nothing worth being up for happens at 6 am.  Probably the opposite actually because at 6 am the cockroaches believe that the humans are still asleep and thus roam the house like they own it.  Ya, I saw the biggest (and fastest) cockroach this morning.  Don't worry though it went back under the fridge before I could smack it with the broom handle, at 6 am. 

The art of bargaining

My housemate, Bev is pro at getting great deals.  There is a swap meet every Saturday where most of the sellers know her by name.  We went there yesterday as part of a birthday weekend for my roommate/distant relative Paige.  She has many tactics to getting a good deal.  Some of them include:
-talking down your price and then walking away
-using the "we're poor college students" phrase
-throwing money at them and taking the item

She teaches us so many things. 

Peggy Sue's Diner

While on vacation with friends we ate at Peggy Sue's, an old fashioned diner like those you see scattered across, well everywhere.  They do hamburgers, shakes, and fries.  Before eating here I thought I had known hamburgers.  I'm American, raised in Santaquin where the Santaqueen and Guy Wall's burgers were a childhood staple.  But it wasn't until I went to Peggy Sue's that I experienced a real burger.  No I didn't get a fancy burger made with steak or smothered in a "secret" sauce.  I just ordered a burger with fries.  I don't know what they did or who they were calling upon to create these burgers but I will tell you I may never have another burger because of them. It does help that they had a car show out front which reminded me of home.


Cheers to Peggy Sue's and for ruining any future hamburger experience. Cheers, truly. 

pics

ya...i live here

A heaping serving of paradise

Sometimes you move somewhere and you get accustomed to the environment and it becomes a mere backdrop for your new life. Hawaii isn't like that. I walk around everyday and still wonder how it is I came to live here. Yesterday I went to a resort called Turtle Bay and swam. The pool was part of the condo development and it was gorgeous! As I sat there wading in the infinity-edge pool surrounded by palm trees and the sound of crashing waves I couldn't help but smile. It kept hitting me and I couldn't stop smiling. My friends were looking at me and giggling because of how much I was enjoying myself.

A phrase that has become quite repetitive in our group is "wait, we live in Hawaii." I am so blessed to be able to be learning and growing in such a beautiful and perfect place.

Cheers to Hawaii!!

love me my fives

So I decided barefoot running was a good idea when it took away my knee pain. My jogging teacher didn't know what to think of my barefoot shoes when I put them on. I told her about the knee pain and gave her an article on barefoot running and she agreed to let me use my Vibram Five Fingers. I was a little scared to teach my teacher but it turned out better than expected. Not all teachers are stuck in their ways.

things to avoid - clubs, car crashes, and candy

So Saturday night I went clubbing and it was fun but kind of not really. I prefer dancing to Yelle on top of a highrise at 1 am in a sleeping town.

On our way home we noticed a car swerving so we backed away and let it pass us. Another car passed us and passed the swerving car but as soon as it passed it the swerving car sped up. It then proceeded to hit the median, overcorrect and hit the SUV that had passed it, drift until it was facing backwards and grind to a complete stop. It all happened about 50 feet from us. It was kind of cool to watch considering no one was hurt. The police said the guy was drunk. I am so grateful our driver was watching and was able to avoid any damage.

I started a jogging class recently. Awhile ago I realized that eating sugar makes it harder for me to do endurance activities so I've cut out sugar. My last sugar meal was a monster and a cupcake. Time to go cold turkey.

10 things I am learning about school but not in school

1. I get to do what I love, learn
2. I am learning that people who slackline on campus are fun
3. I am learning to wake up at 7 am
4. I am learning how to be accomplished
5. I am able to work towards something that will benefit me
6. I am learning how to manage my time
7. I am learning that I never was truly busy
8. I am learning how fun it is to have knowledge
9. I am learning to appreciate my professors
10. I am learning how to learn

You could say I wasn't the most academically interested student in High School but I feel I have come a far way and I love school more than ever. Yes my opinion may differ when I have a 5 page paper due but ultimately I will always love to learn.

Facebook, the anti-personal connection site that lets you brag, stalk, and waste hours of your time

I am very, extremely anti-facebook. Why? Because what is the point of checking to see if people I don't care for say things I don't want to hear about things I don't care about. I have heard many people say to me "you need to get a facebook". I say to them "I have a face and people who actually care to see it contact me other ways". I recently got one to swap pictures from a recent camping trip but quickly decided that no amount of pressure can make me keep it up. Once all the pictures are downloaded it's gone.

Collecting Facebook friends is the equivalent of being a catlady, collecting numerous Himalayans, which you have neither the time nor the inclination to feed. "You have obviously never been on Facebook," he said. "It's so much worse than collecting cats."

This... nicely catches the nuances of the ‘Facebook addict’ type: an anti-social, agoraphobic, ‘low maintenance’ lurker who is also a passive-aggressive and voyeuristic stalker accumulating useless social capital

In the back of the truck with barefeet

This was the sunrise at Haleakala. Pictures don't do it justice. Not even slightly. It was amazing.

Everything that takes me back to the simplicity of childhood is highly cherished. For this reason the past week for me has been awesome. I went camping and hiking and swimming and slacklining and cliff jumping. Most of these things were done barefoot and I realized how awesome being barefoot is. Which makes me realize how much I love Hawaii.

Well my vacation was amazing! Above and beyond any expectation I could have set. Best of all it cost pretty much nothing. Some of my favorite things we did was watch the sunrise on top of the haleakala crater.

Snow, Wake, Surf, and long boarding....I love it all

So I have a thing going where I watch videos of women doing really well at different board sports. It kind of gets me depressed for the lack of them in my life but I enjoy it at the same time. First it was wakeboarding, when family and friends back in utah were boating every saturday. Then it was longboarding, because I missed cruising up and down provo with friends. Then I started watching surf videos to get me pumped to go big while I'm in Hawaii. Now I am starting to think about snowboarding back in Utah. Ya....snowboarding. While I'm in Hawaii looking at blue skies and basking in the balmy weather I am thinking about snow. Some call it crazy, I call it the love of my life.