Vacation for Graduation

Getting towards the end of April I realized I still had a plethora of vacation days saved up, and because of our residency's regulations, I had to use them all up before the end of May.  I had originally intended to go to Kauai with a friend, but we went to Big Island for the weekend instead.  Plus, flights to Kauai, even from Maui, were surprisingly expensive!  So I decided that since my younger brother was graduating from High School, and expecting his mission call, I would fly home for the duration of the vacation time!  (Yes, I know, seems strange to take a vacation away from Hawaii.)

Because I'm a proud sister, I provided a whole bundle of authentic Hawaiian leis for my brother, two of my cousins, and several of my brother's friends.  Mitchell even got a real tea leaf lei - the traditional male lei - along with a whole other pile of leis.  It seems to be a Hawaiian tradition to make a grad wear as many leis as possible, and who am I to argue with Hawaiian tradition?  Haha.

His graduation was May 23rd, and I got there in time to help my mother set up for a joint grad dinner with Mitchell, and my two cousins Whitney and Britney.  I helped make sweet pork, and my mom had some interesting cakes for the grads!

Whitney, Mitchell, and Britney.

Those cakes are supposed to be lockers... whatever.

Graduation was oddly nostalgic for me since my same choir director had the choir sing the same songs we had done for my graduation.  It was so fun to see Mitch graduate, especially since I had missed Blake's graduation four years prior.  So proud of him!

All the sibs minus one.  Blake, Carson, Mitchell, Calvin, and me.  Just missing Randall.

Mitchell and his friend Marshall.  He actually lived on the Big Island for a couple of months.

Part of the crowd cheering for our grad!

Mitch and his neck candy!  He didn't even wear all of the leis I brought for him.

Mitch and my parents left that night to go on a grad trip to Disneyland, CA.  I was a little bit jealous of the Disneyland thing, but I was not jealous that it was a marathon bus trip with no hotel to sleep in.  Instead I got to stay home and play with the puppies, and hang out with my other brothers!