...little children

Well today was quite a day but I wanted to make sure that since it was Monday I would start this week off a good one. Lets just say that almost didnt happen...I woke up at 8:33 but class starts at 8:40. I bolted out of my bed and ran to class. After class I came back to shower and got ready for the rest of the day. The downer on today was that I had to go to the Health Clinic because a rash has started to form on the tops of my hands...They dont know what it is so I just have to rub this cream stuff of on it 3x a day. But the positive thing about going to the Health Clinic was that while I was waiting I was being entertained by a little 3 year old who just kept talking and talking. He was definitly a little surfer boy with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes! After his parents had been helped we were all waiting in the hall. The little boy was still about 5 seats away from me when we looked at each other and he waved to me. The Dad said, "Kai go say hi to your new friend." So while he walked over to me he just stood there waiting until I put my book down so he could snuggle up on my lap...and thats just what he did. Just a few minutes later his parents were ready to go so he hopped off my lap and left. Just a few minutes later I see him running back through the glass doors and I put my hand out to give him a high 5 and then he jumped on me and gave me a hug. I had exchanged numbers with his Mom and told them that if they ever needed a babysitter I would love to come watch him for them. After he hugged me he ran back to his Dad looked back at me and said 'I love you!' It made my day!! I couldnt have been more happy at that moment :) it just made me think about how innocent every child is. He didnt even know me but trusted me when he sat on my lap and then decided to come back to give me a hug and let me know that he loves me. It reminded me of the scriptures when it says that we should be loving and Christlike just like little children. I want to be just like a child and know what its like again to love every single person even strangers and see them through the eyes of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do.

...Sunday activities

Let me tell you about my most favorite sunday activity that I expirenced here in Hawaii. Jenni and I were invited for dessert over at a friends named Chris Wood. He came and picked us up and we met both Jake and Sam Fullmer who are brothers and who he lives with. Chris had put together the most adorable dessert, not just brownies and cookies but something fun that we all made! They were worm homes! We started by crushing oreos, cutting snickers and reeses, and then making chocolate pudding. After we finished they gave us clear cups that we put a layer of oreos (dirt), whipped cream, snickers and reeses (rocks), chocolate pudding (mud) and then to top it off we put sour gummy worms on top! They were so so yummy!! We had so much fun laughing and making a mess with our mud pies :) While we enjoyed our treats Chris decided to teach us some sign language and act out some 'deaf' jokes for us. Chris is 100% deaf and is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met. He is a amazing soccer player here at BYUH, has served a mission, and is a great example not only to me but to everyone around him. This night for me was so fun and we all laughed so hard because Chris kept us entertained the entire time. I have been so blessed to meet and become friends with such wonderful people and they have all impacted my life in many many ways.

...MLK/one of the best

MLK

What a day...I dont even know where to begin! So, Monday we didnt have school. Jenni and Skylar invited me to go to Turtle Bay to hang out with there aunt and uncle Jeff and Heather Peterson. The plan was that Jeff and Skylar were to go golfing while Jenni, Heather, and I would hang out by the pool but...Heather wasnt feeling very good so Jeff told us to relax by the pool and get whatever we wanted. This is only the beginning :) So Jenni and I ordered some virgin Pina Coladas to sip by the pool while we looked at the ocean.

After a few hours we decided to see how Heather was doing, so we went to talk to her and she still wasnt feeling well. The guys came back from golfing and Jeff and Heather decided that we needed to go to the hospital! They were going to take Jenni and Sky to dinner and I was going to go back to the school but we were in quite a rush and didnt have time to take any detours. As the car pulled up to the hotel we noticed that it was a gold mustang convertible haha there were 5 of us! We drove for about 40 min. into town to go to a nicer hospital than Kahuku and once we got there Jeff looked at the 3 of us standing there...He gave the keys to the car to Sky along with a bundle of cash for dinner and a little bit of shopping. I was stuck in shock because i didnt know what to do! We got in the car and drove to Honolulu. Jenni and I were and felt sooo gross because we had been by the pool all day and needed a little make over. Our first stop was Sephora! Jen and I just used a little bit of make up and maybe a few brushes to clean ourselves up!

Next stop...F21! Jenni and I bought a whole new outfit for dinner! It felt like a movie...walked into the dressing room in our swimsuits and walked out in a whole new outfit.

After our small little shopping spree we made our way to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner!

After dinner we did a little more shopping while we waited for Jeff to tell us what happened with Heather. Turns out she had an appendicitis and had to get her appendix removed!! I couldnt believe it and felt so sorry for her that it happened while vacationing in Hawaii. We went back to the hospital and Jeff drove us back to campus after our long but great day! Thank you Jeff and Heather for taking me in like family for a day and im sorry about what happened you guys are the best for letting us enjoy 'the best day of our lives'! love you!

...Happy Birthday Lama! (Mom)

Dearest Mom,

I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday and I hope that you had such a wonderful day! Im so sad that I couldnt be there but you know that i was thinking about you (hence the 12:10 Happy Birthday call) im sorry that you were half asleep! I just want you to know that I love you soo so much and I wouldnt know what to do without you. I am so blessed to have such an amazing role model to look up to and I hope that only one day I could be like the kind of mother, wife, leader, and sister that you are to all of those around you. I dont know what I would do without talking to you everyday here in Hawaii even if its just for a short second but its always so comforting to know that your always thinking about me...im just so sorry you miss me so much ;) thank you for never letting me give up and thank your for letting me try and do everything that I wanted to and supporting me every step of the way. I love you with all my heart mom and I wouldnt know what to do without you in my life. Happy Birthday!

xoxo

love,

Courtney

...Stairway to Heaven

A decision I made a long time ago when I was in Hawaii as a young girl was that I would hike the Stairway to Heaven before I died. Little did I know that I would actually be attending BYUHawaii but I am so happy to be here! Im so grateful formy parents for believing in me and letting me pursue my dreams and I need to thank my parents, family, grandparents, friends, and everyone who helped me get here because I couldnt have done it alone. THANK YOU

This hike was unreal. I can not even begin to explainhow amazing and breathtaking it was (literally). The entire hike is about 4,000 steps!! Sometimes your just hiking upwards but at a few points your actually climbing, straight up like a ladder. We left campus at 1:30 A.M. in the morning and began hiking at 2:15ish before the guards get there! hah Luckily we picked a great night to hike because there wasnt any rain and not one cloud was in the sky. The hard part about rain is that the steps because very slippery and it takeslonger to hike. It was amazing and I couldnt stop saying that because I was blown away with the thought that our Heavenly Father created all of this for us! How amazing is that? It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen in my entire life.

The entire hike looks like this though...you are climbing upthese small metal steps with the handrails up both sides and a drop off down both sides. Not to mention, im partially afraid of heights :) There are 3 stops throughout the whole hike and we would stop to rest, take pictures, and eat food.

We arrived to the top aroud 4:15 A.M. and the sun usually doesnt rise until 5:45 A.M. so we climbed to the very top and got on top of this small building and took a nice little nap. It was freezing up there too!

Around 5:30 they woke us up and the sun was beggining to rise. I could not believe what I was seeing...it was amazing! Once the sun was up past the ocean we began out trek back down the mountain, now that I could actually see what I was hiking I couldnt believe what I had just done in the middle of the night. Thanks to Skylar he kept me company and kept my mind off of it the whole time!

...freddys

January 14, 2011

Today was Friday and Jennilyn, a few of our guy friends and I all went to freddys which is one of the surf beaches they like to go to. While the boys all surfed Jenni and I just hung out and talked on the beach. Oh how much i love her and wouldnt know what to do without her here in Hawaii! I love you Jen!

I also surfed for the first time today! at freddys :)

This week two of the boys opened their calls. Isaac Kirkham and James Christiansen...they are both going to, RUSSIA! Different missions though, that night we went to Kahuku Grill to celebrate their calls.

...Beach

Since im super behind on my blogging im not going to date these next few blogs because I cant remeber when exactly when did them so ill just put some pictures up. We went to Waimea again after class one day in 'Brudduh' (the boys truck). Ill also post some pictures from one of the BYUH boys basketball games.

Lauren Ockey and Me at Waimea!

...Waimea

My very first Saturday a big group of us went to Waimea! I have to tell you all a little secret though, that my Dad might just punish me for...We had to hitch hike there :s but dont worry i did it the safest way possible. I made sure that I went with boys and I wouldnt get into a sketchy car. Everyone hitch hikes here in Hawaii so itwasnt new for anyone but me. Also, most people dont pick you up unless they have a truck so you all jump in the back and get going on your adventure. So at about 11 a.m. we stuck our thumbs up and hoped for a ride to get to the beach. I ended up in a group of 4 (Jennilyn Sorenson, Skylar Schone, and Isaac Kirkham) but we were lucky and got picked up by someone who went to school at BYUH (see Dad I told you I was safe) anyways, its about a 30 min. drive there and they also bought us coconut drinks at the gas station (so gross). Finally we got to the beach butunfortunately it was pretty windy and cold. Before we knew it, it started raining on us!We hurried and ran for cover and waited until itstopped. Once it stopped we went to the bus stop and jumpedon to go have some fun over by Mastumoto. After some fun walking around we made our way back towards Laie but stopped in Kahuku to eat at Kahuku Grill. It was SO good! I hadnt even been here for one week and couldnt wait to eat actual food hah Once we came back everyone got ready and there was an opening social for the start of the new semester.

Waimea

...Hale 5

My adventures of Hawaii have finally begun. I had been anticipating this new adventure in my life for 4 months and now i am already here. I arrived on January 4 all by myself. I checked into my new room 209B Hale 5 and met my new room mate Minnie (from Hong Kong). To be honest if you really want to know how I felt...I was lost. I unpacked and tried to settle into my room. School started the next day and I was just a little stressed. As time went on I began to love it here and I had already met so many fun people. It only took me 2 days until I was on the beach. I decided that I should have done that the first day because the beach is a lifesaver to me and I began to feel much better about where I was and what was ahead of me for the next 3 months of my life. This should be exciting...xoxo

Here are a few pictures of my room