Wedding weekend

One of my very best friends got married last weekend, and he asked me to be part of the wedding party.  The wedding was in Omaha, and even though it took two layovers and nearly a day to travel out there, it was totally worth it!  I flew out Thursday night and, after a six hour flight attempting to sleep next to a stranger, made it to Vegas.  Long story short, by the time I made it into Omaha I was totally beat.  Good thing we had a rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and bachelor/bachelorette party that night!  

Zach, Will, and I reunited at the rehearsal for the wedding.

 I was soooo excited for this trip because I got to see Zach and Laura get married.  Plus, it was like having a big reunion in Omaha.  We even had several former Elders come back to visit (and be in the wedding party).  Plus, I love fall, and I have really been missing fall living in Hawaii.  (Believe it or not, you actually can get sick of year-round 80 degree weather!)  Well I got my wish because it was freezing the night of the rehearsal, but after that we had beautiful weather.

After we figured out how to walk down the isle properly, we had dinner, and then a combined bachelor bachelorette party at the bowling alley.  I brought back a little bit of paradise with me in the form of flower leis for the wedding party.  (The boys got some fancy yarn leis.)  I actually ended up getting one of my highest scores our first game, but things rapidly deteriorated so I let Will or Chase bowl for several of my turns.

All the bridesmaids slept in a suite together, and the next day was filled with wedding events.  All the ladies went to get their hair and makeup done at the salon.  It was so much fun because we totally went in our pajamas (or at least I did) and had juice and bagels while they made us look beautiful!

Here I am with my hair and makeup all fancy!

After the ladies spent 4 hours getting ready (and the boys spent like 15 minutes) we met up for a whole bunch of pictures in this gorgeous park in Omaha.

The groomsmen in their berry and navy.  They also had really cool socks, but you can't really tell.

The bridesmaids.  We were worried it might be cold or raining, which is why we had all that stuff.  However, it was beautiful weather for the wedding.  In fact, it was almost a bit too warm!

Because Zach is a fellow Diet Coke addict, of course we had Cokes at the wedding party table for the toast!

Cutting the cake.  These two were incredibly nice.  It was kinda sweet!

This was such a fun night, and it was awesome to see Zach and Laura so happy.  I also got to see all kinds of people from Omaha that I haven't seen since I moved.  I loved it!

Snorkeling adventures

Living on an island, we have some excellent places for snorkeling, and scuba diving.  I haven't found a dive certified friend, so I haven't done any dives yet.  However, I've gone out snorkeling several times.  Maui is unique since we have several islands just off shore, including the crater of Molikini.  This is a small, half-moon shaped island about an hour off-shore that offers some excellent diving!  I managed to convince a couple of my friends from work to book a tour on a boat two weeks ago, and we had a total blast out snorkeling.

The boat pulled out of the dock around 7:30 am on Saturday, which made for a rather early start to my weekend.  It was about an hour boat ride, and we spent several hours in the water.  They fed us a delicious breakfast, and a rather early kalua pork sandwich for lunch.  I think I had just as much fun with the boat ride as I did with the actual snorkeling!

Me and my friend Sophia on the boat.

We rented an underwater camera, and we went crazy taking all kinds of awesome pictures!

We went for a little drive around the crater

On the way back to the harbor, we stopped to spot some sea turtles.
We saw several, but it was hard to get a good picture.

 I've been out snorkeling a couple of other times just off the beach.  I've ran into these huge turtles on different occasions, and they are actually really fun to swim with.  They are probably as big as I am, and despite the fact that they are very docile, their size sometimes makes me a bit nervous.  I followed one of the turtles around for about ten minutes before I finally got bored.

The next day was Sunday, and it also happened to be General Conference.  This was an interesting experience for me, since I usually have a big breakfast and watch conference with a bunch of friends.  Since I have moved, I didn't get to do that this year.  Also, due to the time difference, Conference started at 6 am for us here in the islands!  Unfortunately I was mostly unconscious for the morning session, but once I woke up I spent the day baking delicious cinnamon rolls, and listening to Conference on the internet.  It was wonderful!

Life after school

As fall is rapidly progressing, I have realized that some people are probably getting into midterms, and all that jazz.  I have to say that with my short-term memory of things that suck, I am rapidly forgetting what it's like to have to come home and study.  Seriously.  After a day filled with demanding patients, and pulling teeth out of people's heads, I pretty much spend my time chillaxing in my hammock watching whatever I can scrounge up on my Netflix account.  That might explain why my head is filled with ridiculous quotes that make me laugh.

"Peppy Bismilk?  Why is everything here different?!"

Haha, I love 30 Rock.  Sometimes I feel that way about Maui.  Whatever.

Also, it's no surprise that when this friend popped up on instant Netflix (FINALLY) it literally changed my life... for like a day.

For those of you who are worried that my homework-free life seems just a little too lame and boring, don't worry.  Today I made it out to the beach to soak up some vitamin D in preparation for my upcoming trip back to the mainland.  (Apparently people expect you to be tan when you live in Hawaii, even when you work full time, and you are a Haole.)  I then made it home to enjoy some delicious dinner, and whip up a batch of ginger snaps.  Yum.  Sound good to you?  Seriously, my home is open, come visit me!  I had a friend tell me they would visit when they received a formal written invitation.  Well no one is special enough to warrant a personalized written invitation.  Consider this a formal invite to anyone who feels so inclined to hop a plane!  (Except I'm pretty sure that particular individual doesn't actually read my blog...)  Yeah, just let me know ahead of time so I can scrounge up some vacation time.  Or don't tell me, and I'll just have to use some of my sick days...

How coworkers react when you tell them that you're getting sick - Imgur

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go eat my ginger snaps with Diet Coke because, as a friend once told me, they taste better together!