Sad day in Samoa...

I woke up this morning to my dad calling me to tell me about an earthquake that happened this morning in Samoa and to hurry to turn on the news to see what they had to say. I watched the news this morning to find out about an 8.3 earthquake hitting near American Samoa. They had all of the surrounding islands and HAWAII on a strong advisory and warning for Tsunami's to hit us. It was pretty crazy to watch the warnings live on TV and how caotic it looked in the background of everyone trying to figure things out to keep us safe here in Honolulu on the news (it faces on the south-so closest to Samoa). LUCKILY we did not get much of the after-effects of the earthquake. We were strongly advised to STAY out of water and off the beaches as the water rised and we had large waves for a few hours! We are so blessed to have not been affected by this...So crazy when natural disasters like this have to happen. But our thoughts and prayers go out to those in Samoa. The families that lost loved ones or their homes. Living here in Hawaii someone or someone you know in some way is connected to that island and the people that live there. I feel for those! Many people in our ward are from there as well and still have family there... we hope for the best....

Here is a news article I thought was interesting...

HONOLULU — The earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Samoa and American Samoa prompted officials in Hawaii to take precautions against possible devastating flooding as some residents prayed that loved ones in their homeland survived.

At the American Samoa government office in Honolulu, the telephones were ringing constantly as worried Samoans in Hawaii, Las Vegas, California, Utah and elsewhere on the mainland inquired about the tsunami's aftereffects. Some in Hawaii frantically texted and e-mailed family members back home.

Hawaii and much of the rest of the Pacific were placed under tsunami advisories for a few hours Tuesday following the earthquake. The warnings and watches were canceled by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu after the threat of a tsunami subsided.

The mayor added a personal note.

"My thoughts are with friends and family in Samoa," Hannemann said. "I know many of us have relatives and good friends in the affected areas, and we pray that they are safe and secure despite what must have been a very frightening time. We hope no one was injured and expect a quick recovery."

Huge Waves

We spent Sat afternoon and evening at the Beach on the north shore. It was beautiful!

WE LIVE HERE!!!!! Sometimes I still cant believe it! And its amazing sunsets!


A lil too close up....

AWWW.. Cute! ;)

The waves are up now. The swells are huge! They are anywhere between 12 and 20 feet high. And here is Chandler and Shane IN IT!

The swells would calm down for a min then start back up again, one after another! Chan and Shane again.

The lifeguards made over 1000 warning calls this day out to the beach goers and we heard a few of them ourselves at this particular beach-

Shane threw the football to Chan in this photo..


More football!

And that would be me below!

and there I am again..
and Here I am gone! I am in that somewhere I promise.
Don't worry (Parents) It was pretty crazy how the swells pull you out into the water and under! It was crazy how powerful and big they can get. I know its not totally the safest but it was so fun! These pictures dont even show how big these waves really were!

Chandler and Shane rinsing off the sand in feezing cold water at the beach after the sun went down.

These videos are cool. First one of them in the waves fighting with the water. the 2nd one of them playing catch with the football and Shane is out in the water- its hilarious because Shane throws the football right before a wave comes then it knocks him over every time!

Boys and Girls Club!

The Basketball has to do certain things to condition for the Maui Classic and do some service basketball work! In Ewa Beach there is a boys and girls club and thats where the team went and put on a free Kids basketball day camp. Here the team is on the courts with the children.
Here is a picture of Mamadou the 7 footer from Africa.

The TEAM! The kids made them a Thank You poster!


The camp was for a few hours this last Sat. and they have to do it three more times before the Maui Invitational. Chan had a good time doing drills with the kids!

A TeamMates B-Day

Chandler's teammate Ryan, turned 19...sound so young. A really good kid from Laguna Beach. We all met at Duke's, a restaurant on the beach in Waikiki. We had a yummy dinner and a fun time!

So there were some girls eating there and I asked them his my single buddies could take a picture with them! Look how tall Chris is next to that blonde girl- they are in college here in Hawaii too!

Here was our dessert piece of pie! It was HUGE

The group! This time I wasnt the only girl! Lacey was here visiting from Southern Cal. Ryan is the one in the middle in the blue shirt! One of the boys' assistant coaches works at Duke's as well- Stew. He was serving us a lil and hanging out talking with us at our table (he is in the middle, in the back in the green shirt!)

Here is Kevin with our waitress! He was feeling special ;) ha

And Shane posing for the camera at the dinner table!
It was a fun night at Duke's eating out on the patio- It was actually raining on us for the majority of the time but what do you do in Hawaii about that?

Chandler's Basketball Run

Chandler has some TOUGH runs for conditioning before the season starts. He obviously dreads the running but in the end he is so strong and gaining his strength back- and knows its necessary! He came home from practice today and was telling me about this HUGE straight up hill the team had to run in a neighborhood. He drove me up to show me later that day. I think the car was struggling up this hill. It was insane!!! These pictures don't do justice...

Here we are part way up the top looking down over diamond head and the start of Waikiki to the right
Looking straight down the road....

In this photo you can see more of the road A-L-L the way down past the white bigger building is where they started- this road is called Wilhelmina and where they started to where they ended was a mile and a half strictly up hill only!

Chan's team ran up the inside of the crater of Diamond Head last Week... this week this steep hill and next week Koko head- It just keeps getting worse for him ;(



The view was Beautiful from up here though! Well the 2nd time anyway for Chan. 1st time up- not so pretty! We were so much higher than Diamond Head- as you can tell in photo it makes diamond head look teenie!

North Shore

Chandler and I finally found time to take a drive to north shore one afternoon after work!
So different than where we live in Honolulu
We stopped at a fruit stand to get some pineapple and fresh coconut
Oh and a coconut drink...Chan didn't like it too much...

We were going to the beach at Turtle Bay but we were so close to the temple and I wanted Chan to see it. Sadest news.... The temple is CLOSED for 18 months!!! Renovation inside and out.. It will get rededicated in July- so we have 10 months to go. It was built in 1919 so it prob needed it. But we have to go to Hilo on the Big Island to go to the temple for now!



These crazy flat side ways palm trees are one of Chan's favorites here so I had to take a pic on Temple grounds!


Well Dressed for the beach but stopped at the temple!




We finally made it to Turtle Bay! The sunset was priceless! Amazing!


A good lil drive for just Chan and I! We still love it here! We love our alone time! We are so lucky to be here for school and work and still have a life together. We have fun exploring the new things out there! I know we will look back on this time and be so grateful for OUR time that we get to spend together and our new experience and growth! In other words too, No kids for a long time ;) ha! We want more time to ourselves to play and hangout more like this!