Freedom Writers

In english...we just watched the movie Freedom Writers... and..I cried. I cried, cried, cried for these students who are fighting for their lives. most of them only 14 years old. It made me think about my major. Social Work. .. How am i supposed to do this job someday when i cry like a baby watching the movie Freedom Writers? .. Well if i have anything to do with it i guess, these children would not be fighting for their lives, they would feel safe and i will do my job the best i know how to make them feel safe. Thats what Social Workers do right?

The Church is TRUE!

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/18/6292170-in-japan-the-mormon-network-gathers-the-flock

About the church's relief effort in Japan and how we were able to account all the missionaries so quickly. Its a great article

Two birds, One Stone

Sometimes i have alot of thoughts about blog posts.. but then i think.. that isnt worth a WHOLE post in its own. So i cram it all into one. :) Two Birds, One STONE!

-we are both busy with school...and both so spent, and soo OVER this semester. it has been a hard one.

-ZUMBA'd it up again this week. went to that instead of my math review. BAD IDEA!

-I LOVEEEEEE hearing from old friends. Random texts or FB chat, its a great feeling to catch up with an old pal.

-I just LOVE people in general. I guess i am kind of a creeper, but i love to people watch and learn by example. there are so many amazing people in my life. I am very blessed.

-I changed back to part time at work starting next semester, which will be helpful to my energy level i hope, because school is only part time also. We plan on getting to bask in the hawaiian summer rays, if there are any. Lately we have had a whole lot of RAIN.

-Summer is starting here. The temperature is rising, and so is the humidity level. Our house is starting to feel to HOT and we barely sleep with our covers. This happens about 2-3 months out of the year... NOTHING like ARIZONA dry heat though.

-Time is going by way too fast.

-My little brother graduates high school May 25th, and I WILL BE THERE! Yep..just purchased my plane ticket home! Thank you mom and dad! Dear Arizona, Please wait to give your highest temperature of the summer until AFTER i leave.

-When i leave in May, that will be the first time Huston and i have been separated since we have been married. I might have some anxiety. We are attached at the hip always. it will be weird without him but im still excited to hog my family.

-My cousin got married last weekend. I got homesick for not being able to be there, but just wanted to shout out CONGRATULATIONS MARLEAH AND DANNY!! love you guys. ps. Marleah.. you looked beautiful in my dress... and mom thanks for posting pictures for me.

-Im still SO tired all the time. took 2 naps this week.

-Huston and i got to spend some quality time together this week. We celebrated by playing our new X Box KINECT game. DECA SPORTS. It is really fun. I kicked his butt at Dodge ball, but he hammered it all back at my own game.. YEP VOLLEYBALL. I kept telling him.. He may be able to beat me at "virtual" volleyball but i can kick his rear on the real court. We had a good laugh. Our neighbors even showed up stating it sounded like we were having too much fun! .. we must have been loud or something. haha

-My neighbor mentioned buying an Easter Dress, which reminded me of all those years my mother dressed me up. I always had an ANUAL easter dress too. Huston didnt understand this concept. So. i still have some convincing to do.. but im thinking.. I WILL HAVE AN EASTER dress this year!

-There is talk of a trip to Kuaui or Maui soon. Hopefully we will be able to do this when we have some time off. We would rather island hop while we are here in Hawaii. Tickets are much cheaper from island to island..rather than Phoenix to island. haha Our goal is to visit all of the islands before we move back. its on the Hawaiian bucket list.

-Graduation is in ROUTE for us both! DECEMBER 2013 here we come!(i lied its actually next year. DECEMBER 2012. ccrazzyyy huh??! thats SO soon. It makes me sad to think we will be leaving here. I have grown to love it so much since i made it my goal this year to be positive! haha

- i have a new fear. its the ocean. i know i know.. but ever since the second TSUNAMI scare i have realized just how LUCKY we have been. i watched a show the other evening on a couple Tsunami's that hit other islands. like closer to Thailand area..and It starts as a normal day..and then WATER FLOW is hard and fast and continuous and not be be stopped. What IF that happens?? I hate the WHAT IF game.. but it just seems so likely to happen. Flip. I cant wait to get back to dry land.

-I dont understand what is sooo cool about Mexico or California..Why did everyone go there for SpRING break, and NO-ONE came to see us??

-HEAR MY PLEA.... PLEASE COME VISIT US!!!!!!! You will have a free place to stay. and awesome tour guides!! If you dont make it out here before we leave.. YOUR FAULT.You will be sorry for not taking advantage of this.

-my last thought for the day actually could be its OWN post..but im trying not to be too bitter about it. Gas is up to $4.10 here. What the HE**
middle east. HOw is one supposed to afford to get from point A to point B?

-My heart is still with Japan. Keep praying people!

-The Temple is SUCH a beautiful and Peaceful Place

AMEN!

Rest

Rest..

Sometimes it is just what your body needs... however lately I have been having a bit of overdose... i know i know.. i have posted before about how tired i have been...and trust me people i am not Pregnant. I have taken 2 tests already.. both of which were negative. but my week has consisted of a whole lot of REST...and i dont know why i have been so tired. but i need to get out of this rutt. I feel selfish, and like i have missed too many service opportunities.
Anywho.. just to get an idea how much rest.. Last sunday, I took at 3 1/2 hour nap, and this sunday Huston and i both took 4 hour naps. During the week i was pretty tired too. But yesterday is what urked me over the edge. I didnt have to work, nor did i have class. and i had a lovely day planned of basking in Hawaiian rays of sun...and doing laundry, along with maybe a little bit of whatever else I wanted to do. It was a day to myself...and sometimes thats what a girl just needs... but NO.....instead, i literally spent the whole day in bed sleeping part of the day, catching up on Tv shows the other part of the day. I finally mustered up enough energy to take a shower around 3 pm and do homework till about 5 pm. But then, i came home and got right back into my bed.

What is wrong with me?? i felt really gross for doing nothing ALLL day long, and i was mad at myself for wasting all the time. But today.. You know what? I woke up..MOTIVATED, FRESH, and ready to move. I think my only justification is that my body needed it. It has been overloaded from working full time, and school full time, plus add in a Tsunami, and being homesick(yep i admitted it). Homesickness has been back for a few days, and i am trying to get out of that too. haha .. I guess all i can say.. IS THAT I JUST NEEDED TO LET MY BODY REST! .. however, if i do not start feeling better, as in.. if after today i start to see more patterns repeat themselves i may see a doctor and talk about fatigue/tiredness and get some blood tests because i cant handle being that lazy. there is so much to do, and i am not even sick. its just a matter of energy level, and feeling awful. i want to feel energized and better about myself!

I cant wait until Spring Term starts in 4 weeks, i will be going back to work part time, and because its a term, school is only part time too! Therefore, we will have a little bit of a break.

Goals for when that happens:

-Spend lots of time in the SUN
-possibly visit another island
-Scuba Dive
-Sky Dive

I miss SPRING BREAK! ... wish we got one! But until graduation, school and work .. in paradise... it is! :) Man my life is hard! haha

Mahalo.

Mac Book Pro, or Mac Book Air?

Recently we have decided to start saving for one of these babies for ME! .. I already have a computer, but its heavy to carry around and is slow..and i just have all around converted to mac since Huston got his. We decided to just sell mine and put it towards the cost of the new toy.

However, little did i know.. we would not have to save for very long. The government has helped make this possible. Last week i recieved a pretty nice looking check in the mail as a scholarship for doing so well my first year in school at BYU-H. We are just going to be counting this whole computer thing as an educational purchase. I was super excited when my husband said, "well..it looks like we can go get your computer sooner than we thought!"

I cant decide for sure which one i want. I WANTTT the Mac Book air, but practicality keeps telling me to go for the NEW Mac Book Pro. Any opinions?

Stay tuned to find out which beauty we bring home! Her name will be Bon Qui Qui and she will be my new baby until we make one that is human. :)

Tsunami ROUND 2

Good food storage eh???.....haha

Welp... I guess i better tell everyone that we are still alive! :) I would like to thank everyone who prayed for us, and called to make sure we were doing ok! We do live right on the coast, so it is pretty scary, but our apartment luckily, is on higher ground.

I will start off with a little comparison. Last year.. at the end of February after we had been in Hawaii for just 4 short weeks, and this same TSUNAMI thing happened to us. We were woken up in the middle of the night by neighbors, as the evacuation sirens were sounding. Coming from ARIZONA where almost NOOOOO natural disasters occur..aka"dry landers" we had no idea what to do. In fact, i can remember not even knowing what a Tsunami was. We or should i say "I" packed our entire house in panic. We fit all we could into our little car..and put the rest up high. We also left our home to drive more inland. This was an aftermath of the earthquake that hit Chile last year. After the matter, we asked "HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN IN HAWAII?" and we were told by a few locals, "OH DONT YOU WORRY..ONLY ABOUT ONCE EVERY 8-10 YEARS." ... I can remember thinking.. Sweet, we will be safe. haha

NOT!! ROUND 2 started in March 11' exactly one year and one month later...

This year... an EVEN bigger earthquake hits JAPAN which is a little bit closer to us than Chile. We had plenty of time to evacuate again, this year. We were on watch until about 10pm our time, and then evacuation started. We knelt in prayer with our neighbors, and asked the lord to be with those in Japan, and also asked him for guidance on what we should do. After prayer, we all felt comforted, and like we would be ok staying in our home. We filled our bathtub with water, and almost every cup in the house. We LUCKILY had a full pantry and tank of gas. Heavenly Father really looked out for us this time, but next time...ill stick to having Huston and Kilie's 72 hour kit packed(done the day after TSUNAMI) so now we are prepared for the next one...which hopefully there wont be another one. At about midnight we drove our car up to the temple to be on higher ground just in case, and then we came back to our home to watch the news. Our hearts were broken for those in Japan....and we got a little more nervous as the water in our area started to recede. (Research Tsunami if you dont quite understand) ... I fell asleep at around 3pm after the Tsunami had not yet reached us.. but Huston stayed up to make sure our family was safe. At about 5pm when nothing had happened except the rise of the shoreline, he went to bed. the next morning.. it was as though nothing ever happened except all the tiredness and grumpiness had not yet worn off... but we were both back to work and school for the day.

All i can say is that we got lucky this time. Oahu was supposed to be the first island hit, but somehow, Maui, and the Big Island had more reported damage than we did. There are reports of water going inland as far as 100 feet on the Big island, and a few injured in Maui.

Stay tuned for my next post on the importance of a 72 hour kit. :) and i will save you the tears from posting pictures/footage of Japan. it is pretty sad. I will soon post pictures of my bathtub full and all the water we filled up up though. I am pretty proud of myself for staying calm this time around.

Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing us, and keeping us safe and prepared. Please though, i dont think Mom Rainey can survive another one, so lets preserve the earth for another 2 years or so until we get away from the OCEAN.

My heart goes out to families in Japan who lost everything they have including loved ones. My prayers will be with you.

Mahalo.

ZUMBAAAA!!

Well my fellow bloggers..ok ok... coming from a girl who grew up lifting weights and running a timed mile for a workout, i guess times have changed a little bit..modern day work out consists of something we like to call ZUMBA. ..aka..riskaaayy dance class made really fun... I was always too shy to attend any form of the class. but last night i attended my first class, and let me tell you how it went and what i learned...Its basically a whole lot of hip shaking and bootie pumping. but i will tell ya.. it was a CRAZY GOOD work out, and seriously SO fun! I had a blast and will be returning! and what i learned is that .. I HAVE TWO LEFT FEET!!! Picture a very very white girl, in a class with alot of polynesian, hawaiian women who already know how to shake it?? now that everyone is laughing too hard with that picture in their heads.. i will finish by saying that i really loved it, and that if any of you have a chance to attend any form of ZUMBA, you should try it. Its way fun!!! -The end

ps. Family inside joke... " I am WHITE TONIGHT!!" comes to mind when i think of this experience!