"Cousins Business" Dinner

Thanks for coming to dinner!

So one time I moved to Hawaii and Karen, I don't know how you couldn't live here, it's great

But anyway, this is a little story about my second time at the beach.

Which was last night

After seeing Step Up: Revolution (which I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone) some of my friends in the singles ward decided we would go to the beach and go crabbing for our night activity

The crabbing didn't actually happen, but we did go to turtle beach

which, let me just say now for those that don't know, I love turtles. I have always loved them since I was little and my grandpa would tease me about the snapping turtles (him pinching me)

SO we are at turtle beach, trying to find sticks for our fire, so we could have s'mores

and my friend Joe stumbles a little, and then says "oh, I almost just stepped on a turtle!"

Now when I looked down, there were these giant turtles laying in the sand

But for some reason I thought they were like statues of turtles, like the seagulls in Salt Lake

So it didn't really hit me that I was in the presence of large, LIVE turtles!

When I finally realized I was very excited and kept talking about it the rest of the night, which I was made fun of for by my local friends

But this was huge for me people

Then we went to a beach in Hale'Iwa

where apparently all the homeless/druggies live

But I was totally safe because I was with some locals

And I can honestly say that I like Hawaii and I am excited to be here

I have a great single's ward and they have just fully welcomed me

School is an adjustment, but all the teachers/tech people in my department are so good to me (perks of being the only female) and have helped me so much

A turtle, a REAL LIVE TURTLE!

So, Hawaii. I Went There.

Hope you all are looking forward to hearing about Hawaii and/or the things Junior said throughout the trip!

June 1st-7th my family spent some time on the Northshore of Oahu.
It was a nice vacation overall and Im glad to be back in Utah!
I know its "paradise" and all, but I could never live in Hawaii...is that weird?

Beginning with the flight.
Our seat assignments got switched around and we were split up on various parts of the plane. Junior griped about getting the middle seat between two strangers. He said every time he tried to push the armrest down, the "largeness"of the girl next to him kept the armrest up on one of her "rolls". I got to sit next to this nice, elderly man from West Virginia. He had a heavy southern accent and we made friendly banter of "hubblubhsshmHawaii y'all" and "Say that again?" He'd point out the window and say something about something and I'd nod.
We landed at the Honolulu airport at about 4pm and the weather was beautiful. There was a little rain coming down from the passing clouds and you could see rainbows through it.

This is the condo we stayed in for majority of our trip. Junior got the pull out bed in the living room and I was in the loft upstairs. We stopped at the nearest Foodland and stocked the fridge with spam musubi and POG juice. We woke up at 5am everyday and spent the mornings on the beach. 

This is just one of many events in which Jr went H.A.M with coconuts. One morning, my mom picked up a coconut on the side of the road and thought it would be funny to bring back to Jr to crack open. It was still green and no one knew how long it had been baking on the side of the road.....no one told Jr that, either; he thought she bought it. He got very excited upon receiving his gift and stabbed it with a kitchen knife, and broke a couple fingernails trying to pry it open. I wasn't there for the actual consumption of said coconut, but he said it "smelled like farts" and drank a little bit of the juice anyway. Needless to say his stomach wasn't feeling too good the rest of the night.

This is the house we lived in when I was a baby. I don't remember it, but it was a sentimental moment for my mother to get to see again. Glad I got to share that with her.

We spent one evening on the BYUH campus for their Food Fest (Have you been to this, Megan?) There were a bunch of booths set up selling food from different cultures and performances from different groups. We ate crepes from the Tahiti booth, some meat substance and garlic rolls from the Samoa booth, and some empanadas from the Hispanic booth....I don't think I saw anymore Hispanics after that.

This was the beach ceremony for my mom and Aaron. Junior and I were on camera duty. Reverend Bob performed the ceremony. You can't see it in this photo, but he told us he cut himself shaving and had a big bandaid on the other side of his face. Hard to take seriously, but he was a nice guy and it was a sweet wedding. (My mom asks about you all and hopes you cousins are doing well!)

This was after my mom's wedding. Jr thought it was hilarious to write " K + ...." and leave the rest of the heart blank to get washed away by ocean. He told me it was symbolic of me being alone forever.

 

My mom didn't get any professional pictures or bridal shots done so I took some for fun with my camera.

We spent a day roaming the streets of Hale 'Iwa. We stood in line for a long time to get a taste of Matsumoto's Shave Ice, had some yummy Hawaiian style burgers and fries, and got ripped off at the various souvenir shops. All part of the experience.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was probably one of my favorite things. My friend Seo had a friend who got us in for the half the original price; it was our lucky day! At the Samoan village, there's this guy named Kap who worked at the PCC back when my mom did. After watching his show, my mom went up and talked to him and he remembered her! The picture above is at the Tongan village. Nathan and Megan already told me a lot of what would happen but it was still hilarious.
"Are you ready?!"
"Yeah!"
"Are you lying?!"
"Yeah!"
Asians are just funny.

Oh man. We were getting some Korean food from Yoon's BBQ truck and this guy was sitting on one of the picnic tables next to the truck. Junior was just roaming around and this guy strikes up conversation. He was creepy whisper-talking so my brother walked closer to the guy to hear him. He told junior about all his medical problems and told him to go ask my mom for some money. Junior walks back over to us by the food truck and says, "This guy's gonna kill me. I'll be waiting in the car." We saw this guy twice. This is him eyeing down his next catch.

Waimea beach was my favorite beach that we went to. I didn't jump off the cliff like everyone else....I guess you're supposed to or you don't get the full effect. This was a fun place to boogie board because when the waves hit the shore it'd push you all the way up the sand. We even saw this huge sea turtle moving under the water. 

I got to do baptisms in the Laie temple with my friend Seo. The temple grounds were beautiful. Everyone in the Visitor's Center wore those Hawaiian print muumuus. Later that day, I picked a hibiscus to put into my hair and my head started to itch. I took out the flower and there were ants all over it. Ants all over my head? Couldn't handle it. I showered and was paranoid for the rest of the day.

We spent our last night on Oahu in Waikiki. This is the view from the top floor of the hotel that we stayed in. Waikiki beach was only a block away, but wasn't too impressive because it was so crowded and small. We went to Pearl Harbor on our last day and only got to see the submarine because tickets to the Arizona were sold out. We also went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation and browsed the gift shop. Im not a fan of pineapple anything so no Dole whip for me! We did get a can of Spam flavored macadamia nuts though. 

Got these in Chinatown. Sketchy place, but we had to do it for the leis. 

So, as far as the things on Megan's must-see list, we didn't get around to hiking Diamondhead or seeing Punchbowl. Hopefully next time!

Recipes

Here are the recipes for the brownies and fudge I made for dinner at Pat and Jill's last month. Enjoy.

HOT FUDGE

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup white Karo syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup soft butter

Stir together in a saucepan and bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Cook to a firm ball stage stirring occasionally and then add:

1/2 cup canned milk

6-8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer Guitard brand)

Stir until smooth and serve over ice cream.  If you have difficulty stirring out the lumps of chocolate, you may blend with a hand blender or put it in a blender.

BROWNIES

4 eggs	1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar	1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla	1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup (8 0z) butter	2 cups broken walnuts or pecans or mixture of both
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate	1 cup Chocolate chips

Melt chocolate and butter together in pan over hot water or in microwave (be very careful not to overcook because chocolate burns very easily in microwave.  About 1 minute on high then stir till it is smooth.  If there are still lumps give it more time in increments of 15 seconds.  Whip eggs and sugar till light and lemon colored (about 2-3 minutes).  Add vanilla and chocolate that has cooled slightly.  Mix in dry ingredients and then spread in a buttered and floured 9” x 13” pan.  Sprinkle top with walnuts and pecans and chocolate chips.  Press lightly into the batter and bake at 350º for about 30-35 minutes.  It is best to cool completely before cutting.

 

This one time...

We graduated from college!

Firsties!

This post is so-called because it is the first one of the year 2012. Funny that it should be happening in June (I guess everyone has been pretty busy)!

Since it is the first post of the new year, let's talk about improvement. What goals do you have right now in terms of it? What do you wish you were you doing that you aren't. I will throw a couple of mine out there to help you get started:

• I am calling this summer "Matt's Summer Makeover" - this means getting to the gym and losing some weight that has haunted me for several years.
• MattyReads - I am going to start posting book reviews again.
• Writing - I will write for at least 30 minutes a day - more if I can handle it - to get a book written before the end of the year.

So there you go! Drop us a line and fill us in our your own goals. You stand a better chance of reaching them if you write them down or put them out there in the universe.

Grandma Bohn

Our beloved grandma passed away April 4, 2011 of terminal cancer. This quote written on her scriptures sums up her life. "Never let an imperfect situation rob you of the opportunity to accomplish something." She will be missed.