Deb vs. Ants

My home has become a battlefield. The invasion started gradually, with only one or two scouts showing up and poking around. No big deal. And so I was slow to begin planning my counter-attack. Now if I'm not on my guard,

THE ANTS ARE EVERYWHERE!

Just when I think I've got them beat and I spray the dickens out of their little path with bug killer, they reappear from another direction with double the forces! Today I discovered that the ones on the bathroom counter came all the way from the kitchen. What are they eating in there, facewash?

The Deb Show

Aloha and welcome to the ward! Today we'll be having the Deb show!

This morning at church I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was about how the Young Women's program has strengthened my testimony. Our whole Young Women's presidency spoke. (I'm the 1st counselor)

Then, I subbed for another teacher and taught the Teacher Development class during Sunday School. We discussed the impact of having Christlike love for those you teach. Only two people came. One was Nate.

And I taught the Mia Maids during Young Women. We learned about making wise choices.

It was crazy. Church has never gone so fast. I was constantly hurrying about to gather chalk, pictures, play prelude, go sit on the stand, etc. Now I can really be grateful for regular Sundays when I only have one lesson to teach.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Amen.

Laundry

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the warm sun on my back, maybe it's the fresh smell of clean sheets, maybe it's seeing my clothes flapping in the blissful breeze that swirls through my apartment. There is something serene about it. I love hanging my laundry on the clothesline on our lanai.

Delays

Sorry, you're just going to have to keep waiting for the awesome post about Tuesday until I can get the video to work. Hopefully Nate will be able to help me soon.

Tahiti Tuesday

And now, the moment you've been waiting for.... TUESDAY! Thanks Steve, for helping me get the videos all sorted out.

We saw some huge sea turtles.

And headed back to the PCC. Here's Joe and Nate at Rapanui (Easter Island).

Whitney and I practiced our Tahitian dancing. Apparently it's all in the knees. My knees do not have it.

The best part though was watching the show at the Tahitian village. They taught the whole audience how to do Tahitian dancing. After we learned, they asked for volunteers and had a competition. Naturally, Whitney and I volunteered Joe and Nate to perform. They were awesome! Check it out:

Here are our dancers in their victory crowns!

These posts really don't do justice to the amazing week we had. Thanks Joe, Whitney and Ellie for coming to visit us!

More from our Staycation

I know, I promised to post more sweet staycation photos soon, and I made you wait two whole weeks. Sorry. But as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I just wanted to make you all more fond of me so that you'll want to come and visit me. If that doesn't get you here perhaps these will:

Sunday we went to Punchbowl, the National Cemetery of the Pacific. A memorial honoring soldiers who have fought for America in the Pacific from WWII through Korea.


Joe and Nate at the Punchbowl lookout.

Monday we found a new favorite beach. Hukilau. It's awesome.

We relaxed and boogie boarded at the beach all day. The day was perfect. Here's Joe catching a wave. I picked this picture because it makes the waves look big. It was my first time boogie boarding and I loved it!

Cute baby. Hot mama.

Then it was sushi time. I must say it's grown on me since we've moved here. Delicious.

Wednesday, (I know I skipped Tuesday, just you wait until tomorrow) I had to go back to work, but everyone else headed to Pearl Harbor.
Joe checking out the big guns.

Nate ringing the dinner bell.

They also got to meet two soldiers who survived the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Stay tuned for Tuesday's pics tomorrow. Trust me it's worth the wait.

Our Hawaii Staycation

May 13 - 20 we got to have our great friends the Hardies come and visit us! We had a fantastic time seeing a lot of the island, hitting the beach, checking out the local food (and by local of course I mean international), and exploring the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). It was an awesome staycation. Nate and I got to do a lot of things on the island that we'd been wanting to do but hadn't gotten to yet, plus we got to spend a whole week with great friends!

First things first, we hit the beach out in Kailua:



The next day we stopped by the Laie temple grounds:


And the PCC. Nate and I hadn't been yet. It is so incredible!

At the PCC we watched the canoe pageant. Each represented country did a traditional dance as they went by on these canoes.

Here we are waiting for the show to start. (I wove that fish that Nate is holding at the Samoan village)

We saw this guy climb a really tall coconut tree.

Nate was in his element speaking Samoan, meeting everyone and sporting his Manu Samoa jersey.

Next we went to the Aotearoa (New Zealand) village where we learned how to spin poi balls (warrior training). Joe was very good at it.

We played tititorea, a stick tossing game also used in warrior training to develop hand-eye coordination. I'm pretty sure we played a version of this in my elementary school music class.

We got some tattoos (removable of course) and practiced our Maori war faces. Check out Joe in the background.


There was so much more to see, but that was all we had time for before heading to dinner and the night show "Ha: the Breath of Life." The show was really cool. It follows a archetypal Polynesian boy as he grows up, with performances from all the different islands.

And of course, we got to meet the cutest baby ever!

All of this was just in the first two days! There's more to come and I promise you won't want to miss it!