livin' the HI life: flashback friday: graduation

Friday, May 30, 2008

flashback friday: graduation

with all the high school and college graduations going on, i felt it only appropriate to reminisce on this particular experience of mine.

i graduated with my associates degree from the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City, Utah on may 6, 2004. my mother and grandfather flew all the way up to support me. i felt so special because i had more leis than anyone else that graduated that day!! this kind of situation would never have happened if i had actually graduated in hawaii.

in my last year of school, i was privileged to live with my cousin, darren, and his beautiful family in eagle mountain. although i may have been thousands of miles away from home, i never felt like i was too far from those who loved me. the nawahines sure knew how to make a sister feel at home...especially when i was out late with friends! i'd come home after a night out, only to find darren falling asleep with one of the kids waiting up for me in the living room. it was too funny. i hope they know how much i love and appreciate all that they did for me during that time.

also, i was able to make a bunch of new friends while in utah. who would have guessed that these amazing girls would become friends for life?

even though utah can be similar to laie in many ways, i feel that the experience away from home was definitely priceless...thanks to the education from ldsbc, the love & support of my mom, the hospitality of the nawahines, and the friendship of my lovely ladies.

3 comments:

Brie said...: harm, what school was that?? by the way..it's so good to be home...ahonui is SOOOO CUTE! he's my litto big man! so cute!; June 4, 2008 at 9:51 AM
mary said...: i love the collage harm. very cute and very colorful. thanks for the fun memory.; June 6, 2008 at 10:28 AM
D said...: Harmz. U know I had for protect da only sista i have. But in reality, it was more a blessing for us to have you in our home. Kaloi was hapai with Keahi boy and I swear we would have starved if you wasn't dea for cook and take care of da family. Howeva, I have to say dat once we saw you going for da showers, we all knew it would be an hour before you would pau and den we would have to wait a couple mo' hours jus for da water to heat up again. Can I just say, "Not the chokest clogged drains from da daily cat dat would be washed off ur head!" Gotta luv da DRANO! Luv u much Harmz. You always have a home wit us.; June 13, 2008 at 9:07 AM

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some stuff...

for those of you who may not know much about our family...this one's for you:

1. where are you from?

brandon grew up in kahuku, while i grew up just a few minutes away in laie.

2. so you must have known each other growing up, right?

not quite. although we grew up in adjoining towns, we had no idea that the other even existed! brandon graduated from kahuku high school in 1995, while i graduated from kamehameha in 1999. the only thing we had in common during those days was that my older brother, tane, was brandon's classmate. how funny is that?

3. when did you get married?

we were married & sealed for time and all eternity in the laie, hawaii temple on november 3, 2005.

4. where do you work?

brandon works at the polynesian cultural center and has worked there since june 2005. he is a musician for the canoe show, ali'i luau, and night show.

i work at brigham young university-hawaii as a financial aid supervisor and have been in that department since january 2005. i help students find money to fund their college education.

5. how many children do you have?

three, and they are definitely a handful! our children are the lights of our lives and we are trying to take things one day at a time. but we hope to give them a playmate or two in the future...ya never know!

6. who cares for them while you are at work?

my mother in law watches nahe & linohao in kahuku. and ahonui attends laie elementary school.

7. what do you do in your free time?

if i could wish for more of something, it would have to be that - free time! brandon enjoys getting in his gym-time and practicing his guitar. i love to cook and read...and weirdly enough, cleaning our place actually relaxes me.

8. favorites?

tv shows:

brandon is a non-stop learner. he likes watching the discovery, history, and national geographic channels...but if the UFC is on - forget the rest - he'll be watching the fight.

i am such a girl when it comes to tv. my all-time favorites are "friends" and "seinfeld", although thanks to netflix, i have recently found an addiction to the "gilmore girls". i also LOVE the food network. too bad i can't cook like those peeps...

movies:

ocean's eleven, mean girls, pursuit of happyness, the notebook, count of monte cristo...the usual chick flick classics...brandon's favorite movie is black hawk down. but i think anything with action and/or comedy is cool with him. hehehe.

music:

brandon loves hawaiian, r&b, soul, and jazz music. i'm into almost anything that soothes me, like sade, stevie wonder, miles davis, 'ol school slow jamz & 90's rap. don't hate.

9. plans of moving?

nope. i have never been happier here in laie, hawaii and i'm sure brandon feels the same. if we could stay here for the rest of our lives, i'd be a lucky duck. who wouldn't want to raise their children in the same place they grew up?

i may add or update this information on us from time to time depending on the demand. but if you have any other pressing questions that you would like to know - hollaback!