Hawaii...nuff said.

Yes, I'm blessed to have been able to take a trip back to O'ahu with my fam this summer. We stayed in Laie most the time at what we call The Hukilau House for sixteen days. We also bounced to Levon's place in Waianae a few nights. The surf was really good out there on the West side and like they say, the water is a lot cleaner (you don't get the dirty mountain runoff from the river). As always, the food was ono and the beach had some real good days. The best part about it was to see Levon and his family. I hadn't seen Pohai and Kekoa the niece and nephew for a whole year and it was neat to spend a lot of time with them. There's so much to be told with many funny stories built in but you'll have to give me a call if you want the narrative. So here's a pictorial recap of some of the things I love in Hawaii.
(P.S. all of these pictures are from my phone, but you can click any one you want to see it bigger)

First stop when we arrive: Zippy's .....always Zippy's.

Chocolate Long John! Another Zippy's stop. I believe Mike and I went about 5 or 6 times.

Ahhh, Laie Bay (Hukilau Beach).



Here is the steep mountainside near Kualoa Ranch.


It was a rippin' day at Pali Lookout. Mike is Supa-Man.

The wind can be so strong you can lean into it and your body remains at an angle, or even blow you back and knock you down.

Seeking refuge from the wind for awhile.

But it's a great view of the windward side, and a "must do" event if you come here.


In the summer, it's really busy at Matsumoto's (shave ice) so here we are waiting in line. We went there four times I think. Hey, you gotta go all out when you're there.


My brothers and I and the kids went up on the heights overlooking Waimea. On the way Kekoa fell asleep...

So Pohai and I were fakers and we tried to copy his open-mouthed napping approach...

But we couldn't do it for long because we just started laughing.

We decided to take a quick detour to a Heiau I've never seen. It's the Puu O Mahuka Heiau State Monument which is above Waimea Valley. Pretty Cool.

The bay was beautiful as always.

Silly Popo-nani...

and "solid" but always busy, Kekoa.



Did I mention we love all the food here? That's one massive macaroon.


Levon collected some big daddy Portuguese Man o'War and we probed them. It was interesting under the magnifying glass.

This tentacle was a few feet long! We tried to "see" the barbs but they're microscopic.

Not sure if the tiny specs were barbs being produces, egg sacs, or if they served some other purpose.


Arizona Memorial
Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial are always humbling.


The song about the "Hukilau" was made famous from this beach. This is a local ward pulling in the net.



My friends, this is no screenplay, it's authentic fishing. I apologize for the wrong orientation.


Oh yeah, I celebrated my 22nd birthday there too. I'm filled with glee because I got a Chantilly cake from none other than Liliha Bakery.


It's hard to say goodbye to this place.

I hope you enjoyed this. I sure did!

4th of July in Manti

I celebrated Independence day with family and a few friends from Santa Clara. It was decided that we beat the heat this year so we spent our weekend in Manti. We stayed in our 1850's pioneer-era restored home. It is actually a vacation rental, capable of hosting small parties for receptions or weekend getaways. It was a delightful weekend becuase Manti really comes alive with their celebratory activities. There was a volleyball tournament, small carnival style games, food and entertainment, karaoke, a movie projected in the park, a parade of all the surrounding towns' clubs & organizations, and an impressive fireworks show. It was great.

Here's Sara walking around the Manti house. We stuck a coon tail on her, and she eventually forgot it was there. It was quite cute and quite funny.

Just waiting for the parade to start.

We also drove up into the mountains at about Fairview where it was even more pleasant. We went with intentions of seeing Mike and his friend Braedon as they stayed with his family by Scofield Lake, but it was a zoo up there. There were some truly zany people just out there having a good time. It was fun to watch, but we opted out of the crowded scene. My brother Dan had brought up his wife's Sunfish sailboat and it was just too crowded so we opted for a quieter, Electric Lake nearby.

We spent the afternoon with the Stucki family riding four-wheelers, barbecuing, canoeing, and sailing. Pono, Steve Stucki, and I went for a long ride high up into the mountains where it plateaued at the top. There were some snow drifts still up there and we made a stop and threw some snow around. I thought it was the coolest thing to be playing in snow in Utah, on the 4th of July. Playing around the water was fun too, and I'm really starting to crave sailing with Dan & Beckie.

Spring Recap?

.....I know, it's been that long.

I stayed up at school for the short spring term and I had a great time. I kept working and took two classes: Packaging Design, and Accounting. While accounting wasn't my favorite I learned a lot about business, and I thought my instructor (Norm, for any of you who know who I'm talking about) was pretty funny. And though my packaging design class was six hours long, two times a week (yes, 6!), I learned a lot struggling through getting things right, had a lot of fun, and enjoyed my classmates and my instructor. Adrian Pulfer shared numerous stories about his experiences as a designer, and taught us some important lessons.

This is a sample of what I created. I redesigned the labels for a company called DHC skin care. Here are 5 products with a new (and hopefully better) design.

Also, what was cool was that we had a guest critique from designer Brett Traylor. He came all the way from New York to spend the day critiquing and telling us a little about himself and the company, Thinkso. Later that month, we discovered a post was made about his trip to Provo, UT. Here is a picture of the class we took which is posted on the site. It was pretty neat.


I also had a chance to hike up to the 'Y' on the mountain with my dear friend and roommate, Lauren. It was sort of a last hurrah before the semester ended, and I had yet to go so I finally got a chance. It was great.

It was so bright as the sun reflected off the white-washed cement.

And here we are, looking over Provo and Utah Lake. The phone didn't suffice that day.