Skydiving!!!

Yesterday was definitely a full but very awesome day. In the morning, I caught the bus with Kellie and my roommate from last year, Micaela, to go Skydiving!!! We took the bus to a town called Haleiwa to a McDonalds where the Skydive Hawaii van picked us up, which was very convenient since we don't have a car here and the bus doesn't go by the Skydiving location. Micaela and I were going to Skydive but Kellie didn't have the money so she ended up being the picture taker. When we got there we had to watch a ten minute video on skydiving and basically sign our life away on seven pages saying that we were ok with taking the risk that the plane may malfunction and that the parachute might not work and that we were willingly risking our lives doing this :) Pretty scary... especially when we realized that we were doing this on 9/11 haha. But about five minutes after that, our tandem partner guide strapped us up and we were on our way to the runway to catch the plane! I wasn't nervous at all but just completely excited!! We loaded the plane and there were two benches we sat on. I was sitting right in front of my instructor and we were hooked together. The view from the airplane was amazing flying over the Hawaii coast and looking through the clear water. Then they opened the door and it was time to go! The first tandem group jumped and that's when I got a little nervous thinking "Holy crap they just jumped out of an airplane... no big deal!" I was like the 4th person to go. We actually jumped out backwards and did two back-flips out of the airplane. It was nuts! But as soon as we straightened out we were free-falling for about 20 seconds before the parachute came out and then we glided to the bottom. It was sooo crazy but so incredible. The adrenaline rush mixed with the view of the mountains and ocean right below me was the coolest thing ever. My instructor gave me the reigns and I was able to steer the parachute for a little bit. We came to our landing and I safely landed on my feet. It was the coolest thing I have ever done!
After that we shopped around in Haleiwa and then ate lunch at a Thai food place called Haleiwa Eats. After that we rode the bus home and went to the beach. Pretty much the best day I've had yet here in Hawaii!!

This was the sweet rainbow van that picked us up from McDonalds!

Micaela and I

Signing my life away!! EEEP!

Getting ready to go!

Micaela and her instructor

Micaela, me, and Kellie

Walking out to the plane

Getting on the plane! No turning back now :)

Micaela on her way down

Me!!

We landed safely! So awesome :)

Hahaha look at our messed up hair

We were so excited we did it! We even got a certificate to prove it :)

back to school!!

Well I am officially back in Hawaii for my junior year of school! My bestie Kellie Morgan came along with me and we are rooming together. We are very excited for the new adventures this year :) Our house is only a couple blocks from campus, a couple blocks from Foodland, the grocery store, and a couple blocks from the beach! So it is pretty much the most perfect location. Our house was pretty sketchy, dirty, and ghetto when we first arrived. I definitely had to readjust back to the Hawaii living conditions. Not to mention that there are six girls living in our house with two bedrooms and one bathroom. But as Kellie and I started unpacking, our room started to look more "homey". We also made a run to walmart to get some things for the house like rugs, towels, lamp, and decorations to spice things up. And when I say "make a run", I mean a 6 hour run... including the time waiting for the bus, the actual bus ride, shopping, and heading back. It ended up being a pretty long day!! We are getting used to the house and are starting to actually enjoy it. Today we went to campus to get our ID cards, talk to our counselors, and try to find jobs. Slowly but surely, things are coming together and by Wednesday of next week, we will definitely be ready to start up classes!!

This was our room when we first saw it. The picture definitely makes it look better than it was...

Our beautiful bathroom

And our lovely shower

The kitchen with some cupboards lacking doors

The living room. The couches are actually super comfy :) which is a plus

This is actually our Landlords house. To get to ours, you go through the gate on the right and to the back house

The street we live on

Me and kellie on campus!

Utah Trip

A couple weeks ago I flew to Utah to hit a couple of weddings! I went to my cousin Lindsay Johnson's wedding and my friend Maddie Geddes's wedding. I was so busy the whole weekend with all the wedding activities, hanging out with friends, playing soccer and going to a foam party. In these first couple pictures, we are at a foam party celebrating... Pioneer Day. Makes sense right? Isn't that what everyone does on Pioneer Day? Firemen were there spraying foam from the hoses and there were tons of people there just playing, sliding, throwing and getting drenched in it. It was pretty awesome :) The only downside to it was that you couldn't breathe when the foam got on your face and it also stunk really bad haha. In the other pictures, we are at Maddie's wedding reception where I was chosen to be one of five bridesmaids. It was really fun to be apart of everything and to see so many people that I hadn't seen in a long time. Blast from the past! All in all, it was a great trip to Utah!

Chanise, Me, Lindsay, Zack, and Paige at the foam party! Crazy fun!

Lindsay and I. Haha we are nerds. Lindsay kept tackling me in the foam.
And then she kept plowing over little kids cause she couldn't see... sad day!

Hilary, Lindsay, and I lighting sparklers for Maddie and Justin's exit from the reception.

Love this picture :)

Best friends!

HEH is what we are spelling with our hands. Inside joke haha. Ps. look at Lindsay's arms!

So... the sink broke during the reception and we were lucky enough to be
chosen to wash the dishes in the bath tub

Lindsay, Hilary, Maddie, and I. So much fun :)

Fourteener

I hiked my first Fourteener! For those who don't know what a Fourteener is, it is a hike that is at least 14,000 ft in elevation. The Fourteener that I hiked is called Grays and Torreys. I hiked it with my roommate from Hawaii, Micaela, my co-worker, Robin, and her roommate, Lindsay. It took about 4 hours total and it was probably the hardest hike I have ever done... which isn't saying much because I am not a very experienced hiker...  but it was still hard and I finished! It was definitely worth it!!

Lindsay, Micaela, Me, and Robin

We had to sign the roll proving we made it to the top

Such a pretty view from up there!

I made it!!!

Me and Micaela at the top

On the way down, we saw 3 mountain goats super close to us!