Windy Times

Let me just say, I am so grateful to have the friends I have. There are some amazing people in my life and they bless me greatly! 

Last weekend a group of friends headed to Bear Lake for the long weekend. Saturday night, well Sunday morning, I was headed to bed at about 12:00. I opened the door to the tent and realized something was wrong. The wind was so strong the tent was caving in. My students would call it a concave shape... There were three people already asleep in the tent and I was worrying about what to do. I went outside and grabbed the tent pole and pulled it back into place so the tent looked normal but that was a VERY temporary solution. It was while I was standing there thinking that another friend came by and he came to the rescue! He started trying to figure out new sleeping situations. He got people up and out of their tents and eventually he organized efforts to get all of our stuff out of the tent so we could transport it to a new location (Yep, he even found us a new location). We got our tent moved and got all resettled. The wind was no longer a big problem and the tent ended up okay!

Us after our midnight move...

I stayed awake thinking of how lucky we were to have such a great friend there who was willing to step in and help improve our situation. That is what a friend does. That is why we need friends. We all need a support system that will help us when things get rough. When those winds bear down on us we need people who will help us come out okay. That is one of the things I love most about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have people to care for us, to minister to us, and to help us through those difficult times!

Other than the tent mishap and a few minor problems we had a fantastic getaway weekend!!!! I couldn't stop taking pictures of the lake... It was gorgeous!

San Francisco (Part 3)

Monday we started of a Ghirardelli Square. It was fun and they had different shops that we browsed. We ended up at the sweets shop for some treats. I got a Chocolate Sundae that was simple and delicious!

After Ghirardelli Square we drove over to Golden Gate Bridge to be all touristy. It was great! So very windy but a lot of fun. After walking around at the visitors area we started to walk across the bridge and the wind got crazier so of course we had to let our hair down for a 'wind picture'!

We left the bridge and headed for the woods! We had been told that we needed to go to Muir woods to see the Redwoods so we did and it was awesome! We went on a hike once paying the admission for the woods and it was lovely. I am a fan of the trees and beauty that surrounds us. Also, the trees were HUGE! It was fun to walk around on the trail that had been created and there were perfect little clovers growing all around. In all it was an awesome, unexpected addition to our trip.

After going to Muir Woods we stopped by Muir beach for a picnic dinner and the possibility of the ocean... We were in California! The beach was a good place and not too busy when we got there. After eating and changing we went and jumped in the water (for a picture of course). It was after taking some jumping pictures that we realized there were jellies on the beach. They we stranded from the tide and we decided we would observe them so using a rock we dug a hole and waited for it to fill with water before putting a jelly in the water. We weren't sure what was up with the jellies but we later found out that they were not poisonous and they were called Gooseberry Jellies. As we were driving away the fog was coming in and it was lovely!

Did you know...

... that I am part Polynesian?? Truly I am! I know you would never guess it but I am a part Samoan and I believe (maybe too much) that I can dance like a Polynesian. That is why I have performed in BYU's Lu'au pretty consistently while I've been here at school.

For those of you that don't know about the BYU Lu'au here is a background... Every year BYU's Multicultural Student Service's office puts on a Lu'au. The Lu'au is based on volunteers (the choreographers, dancers, ushers, etc.) during the years that I have been at BYU I have volunteered as a dancer in the Lu'au and it is quite the time commitment. The Lu'au takes place at the end of March and practice starts at the beginning of January. The Lu'au has different sections that you can sign up for (Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, and Hawaii).

I have performed in Lu'au before but, this year I decided to do Tahiti and New Zealand sections. It was quite a time commitment starting in January I had practice from 6-8 (in the morning) every Friday for Tahiti, and practice from 10-12 every saturday for New Zealand. Despite the fact that it was a huge time commitment I really enjoyed participating in Lu'au this year. This was the first time that I have done New Zealand and it was exciting to learn the Poi Balls and to be able to learn some songs and have a chance to sing while performing.

I love performing and Lu'au is the only performing I have done at BYU so I always look forward to it!

New Zealand:

Did I mention I was the front row for the single poi dance?

Tahiti:

Thanks to my lovely cousin Jesi for these pictures!

Backstage:

Here is the Tahiti group that I performed with I'm sure we were all glad to get our Friday mornings back!

With Karmila and DeTiare!

And where would we be without a jumping picture!?

We Fiso's need to stick together! I convinced Steph to do Lu'au freshman year and then she was stuck! ;)

Melissa was helping backstage

Sadly DeTiare graduates this year! :( but it was fun to dance with her while we could!

Lexi joined in the fun this year too!

Last picture I promise but this one was inspired, though maybe not as much as we thought, by the other so we needed a comparison somewhere!