Happy Hula Dreams

I'm about this close to stealing Chris away from work and jumping on a plane headed for Hawaii this very moment. But instead, I'm actually just sitting here at my desk at work looking at pictures, wishing I had the sponteneity to do such a thing!

The reason for this little detour of Hawaiian obsession is because last night we had the most wonderful night at our Bishop's house (he just lives a few houses down from us). He invited us and the Shupe's over for dinner and an evening spent with he and his beautiful family. Dinner was so delicious and served with that genuine Polynesian hospitality and aloha spirit of come one, come all and what is ours is now yours. Little did we know they actually had a little program planned for us that just took my breath away! His 4 absolutely beautiful and graceful daughters performed about 4-5 traditional Polynesian dances that were just amazing. They are sooo talented and I've decided that Polynesians are just blessed with some special genetic make-up that allows them to move like nobody else on the earth can!! I LOVE to dance, but I just could never look like they do when they dance! They even sang the Hawaiian wedding song -- the song that I performed the Hawaiian wedding hula to at my sisters wedding several years ago. Unfortunately I could not remember the dance for the life of me and that made me incredibly sad. The dances they did for us were performed to that lovely and contageous Hawaiian music that I can't get enough of. (I still have several CD's of my favorite Hawaiian songs that I listen to on a regular basis!) A few of the dances were performed by the strumming of Bishop on his guitar while he and his family sang in beautiful harmony. Oooohhhh my!! I kinda can't even describe how everything about the Polynesian cultures makes me feel. Yes, I am obsessed a bit! It was such a fun, fun night and they have such a special family. So warm and welcoming, so close with each other, and so talented beyond words! I could have stayed there all night listening to them sing and play the guitar and watching them do their beautiful dances. It was such a great night!
( I stole these pics from Ry and Ashley's site, so please guys, don't convict me for copyright laws!)
It took me back to that special (but short) time in my life when I was able to live in Hawaii and go to school. It seems like so long ago and gosh, I can't believe it's been 8 years!! It was a time of my life that I will never be able to replace or forget. I got to share it with my sister and some of the best friends I've ever had. We lived on pretty much nothing, lived in a house that welcomed all creatures including gecko's, spiders, HUGE centipedes, lizards, oversized cockroaches, mice, etc., etc., and yet I have never enjoyed life in such simplicity ever before! I remember having to turn on the lights so that the cockroaches could scatter before you walked into a room, and the nights that we couldn't turn those lights on and had to pray that you wouldn't step on one of those buggers. I remember finding them on our toothbrushes -- I guess they liked toothpaste -- and the night that one crawled up my pant-leg as I performed this weird flailing dance in our little standing room only bathroom while trying to get it out! I loved walking accross the street to the beach WHENEVER we wanted, I loved the amazing color of the ocean and the white sand. I loved taking the bus or hitch-hiking to Sunset beach -- my favorite beach. I loved Kua'aina sandwiches, Matsumoto's shaved ice and ice cream. I loved fresh pineapple sold on the side of the road and the fresh ocean breeze that constantly blew in through our always open, screenless windows. I loved when our landlord would decide to roast a pig right outside our window and we smelled that delicious aroma all night long. And how he and his friends would get together on a regular basis and strum the ukelele while singing those sweet Hawaiian tunes in perfect harmony. I loved going to BYU-Hawaii and the special intimate feel of that small campus. Heck, I even enjoyed (sometimes) cleaning classrooms as a janitor or serving sandwiches at Subway to earn a few extra bucks. What a truly magical place and time in my life. Can you get a glimpse of why I'm wishing I could go jump on a plane and go there RIGHT NOW?! Chris has never even been there! Someday we will make that trip back there and I will try to relive a tiny bit of what my time there meant to me. So, thanks to my Bishop and his sweet family for sending me back down memory lane and for the wonderful night of Aloha!