oh boy

i knew i would be way busy but i thought i would at least have a tiny bit of time to blog. But there is no way...

just wanted to say that efy started today

thanks for all of your sweet comments and texts of encouragements.

This first day was amazing. My group is nothing short of perfect. I love all of my girls.

last night me and a bunch of the girl counselors got together to help give ideas and support for our devotionals we have to give every night. It all helped so much, and the spirit was so strong during my devotional. Of course i was tearing up the entire time. (my poor girls, they get the counselor who can't go a day without crying... haha) But i am just so grateful for the spirit and how it directs me to say things that inspire these young girls. I can't wait for the rest of the week to come. I am so pumped.

So quickly a little about my group. I have eleven girls (Kalee which is actually related to Michael Phelps!, Noelani, Mallory, Rachelle, Nanea, Melissa, Caressa, Holly-her birthday is on Wednesday-i need to make sure to do something extra amazing for her, Kailey, Alex, Keturah) all ages 16 to 18. Last year i had the 14 and 15 year olds, so i'm excited to see the difference between the two age groups. Seven girls stay in the dorms with me, and four go home every night. Eight are from the Island of Oahu, the other three from the mainland (meaning the other 49 states). We are teamed up with another girl counselor and her girls, and a group of boys that have two guy counselors. These groups make up our company which is called "Mighty Winds". Haha we are already having fun with that name. As a company we will have to make up a cheer for game night on Wednesday. After today i am rejuvenated, i am ready to be the awesome counselor they need! Woooooo!

Oh on a side note....

Today during orientation all of the counselors had to perform the line dances for the youth. I remembered the dances from last year and was in charge of teaching everyone else. We had about 20 minutes to learn all three. It was madness. Lets just say no one really remembered the dances and they pretty much stopped the music early and made us sit down. For the rest of the night i was told several times how awesome i did up there dancing. Haha. They said i was the only one who knew the dance, and my girls said people were saying did you see that counselor in the front dancing? She was so good! And my girls said "oh ya that was MY counselor". Therefore they now call me "the dancing leprechaun". hahahaha. Part of the matter being we have to wear these bright green shirts. Anywho i love my girls already, and just wanted to give you a little update. I will try to blog more... but don't be expecting it. :)

LOVE YOU!

xo

day one

sorry it has taken me so long to blog, but i don't get service anywhere, and so i have to blog from the computers on byu-h's campus. I am having a blast already and so i will keep you updated on what happened each day! :)

I arrived on Thursday afternoon around 11:30 and my dear friend Erika picked me up. We had to make a pit stop at Walmart and pick some things up for EFY. We took a lovely scenic route around the island and stopped at Kava Root's for lunch.




we got the oh so delicious acai bowls!

I tried one last year and have not been able to stop thinking about them, so i was stoked.


me and erika enjoying our bowls.

Its funny how in Hawaii all the proportions are ginormous! So i could barely eat half of my bowl!


we made a friend at lunch. i think he enjoyed the acai as much as i did.



after lunch we dropped off the car to campus. Erika's co-worker let her borrow the car to come pick me up! I love that when you are here and you know someone who owns a car, its yours too!
We then walked to Erika's house. (another thing i love about hawaii, you walk everywhere!)



We hung out at her house for a bit and then went to her friends house to watch them skate.





they claimed the camera was making them "too nervous" to do any real crazy tricks...

after that we all jumped in the back of the truck and headed up to the point


because the boys wanted to jump off.



Erika and i thought it looked a little too risky...


as you can see this one's battle wound.


Later we walked down Kam highway to get some dinner. We walked back facing the gorgeous sunset. ahhhh. Nothing better than a Hawaiian sunset!

We got back to e's house and i was pooped. i was running on about 2 hours of sleep and it was already 12:30 utah time. Robbie, a counselor from last year as well, came over and said that the Shumway's (the session directors at EFY) we're coming to pick us up to feed us.
Haha they are the sweetest couple. I just had dinner so I couldn't even fit a bite in, but the gesture was so cute.
After that was pretty much a blur. I think i went straight to bed when we got home.
All in all, a fantabulous first day in hawaii!

hopefully i will have some more free time to keep blogging. But i start EFY tomorrow.
Wish me luck!!
xo

oh baby oh baby

hawaii of course!
can't control my excitement right now
ahhhhhhhh

#1 dad

my sweet little brother austin made this trophy for my dad today.
how cute is that?

he really is the best dad in the world.

so something you must know about my dad is that he is a huge, i mean HUGE chocolate fan. he claims "the darker the better". so for father's day i made him a yummy chocolate cake.



i found an amazing recipe and i was really impressed with it. so if anyone wants the recipe i am more than willing to share it! sooo yummy.

i couldn't find a decent picture of me and my dad, and we took one us tonight but i have the worst allergies and i'm not feeling that great so i just looked blah. but...
dad i love you!
i could not be any more proud to call you my dad.
you are probably the most selfless person i know, and never complain about anything.
i admire that so much. i can't thank you enough for everything you do for me.
LOVE YOU!
xoxo
c

photo by me. this is what i do when i babysit my niece :)

c+t {sneak peek}

had the fantabulous opportunity to shoot my best friend Cassidy's engagements. This is a favorite for sure. More to come later :)

...

I want to apologize for being such a lame blogger lately. Don't take it personal if i haven't commented on your blog. I have been so crazy busy these past few weeks, that i barely have time to think. I use google reader to read everyone's blogs, but they don't provide feed for private blogs. So my apology especially goes out to Emily & Brooke. I always forget to read your blogs, and i'm sorry!! I promise to do better, and to be a more efficient blogger.

Promise.

On a side note...
I will be here in 8 days

doing this again

and staying with this pretty lady
we'll be doing lots of this

and going on hikes to these

or taking 3,922 steps to do this

we'll enjoy a couple of these

and eat lots of french toast at this place

maybe learn a song or two on this

you may find me doing this a lot at the beach

i will be stocking up on these

playing in these

hopefully see more interesting people like this

maybe get better at doing this

and meet up with him

and maybe buy this before i go :)

seriously, CAN'T WAIT.

remember?

Remember THIS post?
I was one of the first to comment on my cousin Emily's blog,
therefore she made me this...

HOW CUTE IS THAT???

You can probably guess how excited I was when I opened it!!
Seriously, I treasure this SO much Emily. You have no idea!
She made this herself, can you believe it?
I am grateful for talented cousins.
here is her cute blog filled with such darling handmade goodies please, please check it out
http://createdbyemily.blogspot.com/
Thanks again Emily!!

ps i know i still owe something for you trista, emily, sarah, cassidy, and jaime!
don't worry, i haven't forgotten about you.

a tribute to joseph

On Saturday at precisely 5 o clock I had to say my goodbyes to my jeep!

It was a sad day.

Joseph has been in our family for over 9 years, and has been mine for the past 5!
We've had so many memories together.
(all pictures taken in or by my jeep)

Thanks for getting me to and fro safely.

Thanks for providing many photo ops!

Thanks for letting me feel the wind in my hair!

and making it hard to eat a shave ice!

Thanks for providing the many opportunities to meet new, and interesting people.

My dear friend chris said "there is nothing hotter than a girl in a jeep"
i agree.

You we're so good to me, and you will be missed truely.
love forever,
c