Hawaiian Adventure: the beginning!

(Yes, I am completely drenched here thanks to the 42 days of straight rain that came right after I moved here)

For the last 4 1/2 years I have lived on this tiny island in literally the middle of nowhere!! I moved here Jan 15 2006 to do an internship with the Navy at Pearl Harbor for 3 months. I was so excited for many reasons some being, I had always dreamed of living in Hawaii for 3 months( I really always wanted just 3 months), I had a rough time the previous fall semester mostly due to dating then not-dating then dating again the same person. Mostly I was just excited for a change and I knew that it was only for a few shorts months. I will never forget my friend Pam at my going away party in SLC telling me that it was only 3 months and that nothing ever changes in 3 months. Well normally that is true but for me everything changed.

(My room that I lived in for 6 months, small but came with a maid!!)
When I got here I didn't really know anybody and had never been here before so it was all exciting and scary. The nice thing was there was 5 other interns with me that came from all over the country so at least we had each other to do things with.

The interns: Sarah, Alex, Allison, Matt, Carrie and Me. Our first leis!
We had a lot of fun all hanging out, the hardest thing was we had no cars, it was so hard to be on this beautiful island and not be able to just go see it all. We did a lot of biking, a lot of bus riding and a lot of Walking(especially when we would miss our bus stop, we seemed to do that a lot)

(Me, Trisha, Jamie)

There was a few people that I knew here and one I owe a lot to because without her I probably would not have met Jared. My first day out here was a Sunday and I called Trish, who was a friend from my ward in SLC who lived out here and she was hanging out with our friend Aaron who was out here visiting. They had just gone to the Singles branch and mentioned that if I was looking to date someone then I probably wouldn't find anybody in the branch. Aaron said it was slim pickins. I was DEFINITELY NOT looking for anybody to date since I had just gone through a bad break-up so Iwasn't really concerned about it. (Once I went to church I was actually surprised that they were more options than they made it seem, but compared to our SLC ward it was slim pickins.)

My aunt and uncle were out here on mission serving at the Temple visitor center so it was nice to know that some family was close by even if it took me 1 1/2 hours to get to them by bus. Their son Kerry and his family were also here, he was teaching at BYUH so it was fun to see them as well. The bummer was their mission ended a months or so after I got here, but it was nice just to have some piece of home here even if just for a little bit.

I became instant friends with Jamie, we were both doing the same thing with pretty much the same major and we both ended up extending our time here. We had so much fun.

I had the coolest internship ever. I worked at the Outdoor Adventure Center on Pearl Harbor. In the shop we rented out all sorts of fun equipment but the real fun came on all the excursion we led. I did a lot of hiking, snorkeling, surfing, ropes courses, dolphin excursions, special events for the sailors and their families and anything else you can do outside here.

I went to the Big Island with Matt, Carrie and Allison. We got some Shaved Ice (yummy!), the sign said they were big and it was right, they were big shaved ice.

The Arizona building aka my home for 6 months.

The one and only time that I have actually done the Pearl Harbor tour, but don't you worry we are scheduled to do the private military tour here soon and I have gone to the USS Utah memorial many a times.

Brayden and Kansas my two buddies out here. Brayden and I became really close and hung out all the time. They were so much fun!! Love them! I decided before I got here that I was just going to try and make a lot of friends right away since I only had a short time and it was awesome to have such great friends so fast.

Some of the gang from church, notice that Jared is there, this is pre-dating time for us. The other interns were pretty amazed that I had a whole group of friends so fast. It just made me realize how great the church is, anywhere you go you can instantly have some great friends.

The interns and I met some great young sailors who had just arrived on the island and spent a lot of time with them. This is the only picture I could find of Ed, who became a dear friend. He was so sweet and innocent, who knows what has happened now that he has been on a sub for 4 years. I hope he is still the same.

I could not share the beginning of my Hawaiian adventure without sharing my sweet ride. I got so tired of not being able to get places except by bus or having friends drive me so I found this beautiful thing. This is the first car that I ever bought and I loved it. I paid $300 dollars for it and had to actually tie the muffler on so that I could get it on to base. For Jamie and me this car brought freedom, even if we couldn't go too far in it, we could go and that was all that mattered to us. Isn't she beautiful!! I really wish I could have taken off the hood and hung it on my wall.

(In the background is the destroyer)

By far the coolest thing I got to do for my internship was ride a Navy Destroyer Ship from Oahu to Maui and back. The Captain contacted my boss about setting up a camping trip in Maui for the sailors, basically we just had to plan a trip and provide the gear. Nothing beats a free trip to Maui on a navy ship no less.

On the way over they let everybody tour the boat and even drive it. Here I am taking my turn at it.

Our room for the first night. We got in too late to camp so we stayed aboard the first night and then camped the second night. Definitely tight quarters, don't know if I could ever be a sailor.
On the way home we got to shoot clay pigeons off the deck of the ship, so cool and I hit 3 out of my 5 not bad for being on a moving ship!

Eating dinner in Lahaina, Maui with Alex the intern and Aj our amazing boss. Technically she wasn't our boss but was in charge of all the outdoor adventures so she became our mentor. One of the coolest ladies ever a true hippie!(Notice my racoon face, it took 7 hours to get there by ship and I fell asleep on the deck for a few of those. It was cold and overcast so I didn't think about sunscreen. Oops!)
This was the exact moment that changed the course of my life. They offered all of us interns the opportunity to stay on another 3 months if we wanted and I just could not decide. I would go back and forth. The biggest reason that I didn't want to extend was because I would miss my college graduation. I know most people would gladly choose Hawaii over a boring graduation but I had worked really hard and paid my way through college and it just felt as though it would not be official unless I was there. As I was sitting at this restaurant eating dinner I had the thought "would I regret if I stayed?-Probably Not, but would I regret if I didn't?- Yes I probably would. So here in this moment I decided to stay and the very next Sunday is when I first met Jared.