Ski Season and Real Salt Lake!

Aloha Utah! You may not know this but I am back in Utah, you may not know this because I'm in denial that I'm not in Maui anymore, and the more people that know I'm here the more real it becomes. Speaking of Real...

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REAL SALT LAKE ARE MLS CHAMPIONS!!!!

I'll get back to that...
I came back to Utah to further my career as a ski instructor so I had to come back when the snow started to fly. This winter I'm working on getting my PSIA certifications that will put me in position to turn skiing into a career. This is the main reason I gave up my life in paradise. Don't worry though, I still have at least 3 Maui slideshow episodes to post. Admittedly though, I have quite mixed feelings on my move. It's been good to see friends and family, but my toes are SOOOO cold! I really miss Maui already, but my first night back I watched this years Warren Miller movie and I'm pretty stoked on ski season. I never thought trading surfing for skiing would be this hard, but I fully plan on making this winter just as epic as summer was.

Now, this last weekend I drove to Seattle with some friends to watch Real Salt Lake win the MLS Cup! It was so much fun! It was such an amazing experience to be there to watch my fellas win it all. I worked for RSL last season and I am so excited for those guys. I followed the team while in Maui and one month ago I was certain we weren't even going to make it into the playoffs, today...we are the champions! I am way stoked and had a blast! Ole Ole Ole Ole Real Salt Lake!

Episode 9

This whole episode is from when my friends Tara and Kristi came to visit. Half of it is a turtle montage, but I like turtles, so it's in there. Spread the Aloha!

The things smart people know.

Smart people know that after you have been running VERY hot water (hot like it's coming straight from the center of a volcano hot)for a long time, and you switch it off for the cold water, you should wait a little bit for all the water to run out of the pipes before sticking your hands in it...OUCH!

Smart people know that when you are tall, you shouldn't take you shirt off while underneath a ceiling fan that is on full blast...OUCH!

Smart people know that after you have scrubbed one foot really well with lots of bubbly, slippery soap, you should rinse it off real well before placing it down and lifting the other one to wash it...OUCH!

Ugh...I learned a lot today, maybe I'll be a smart person soon too!
The last one hurt the most.

Episode 8

Most of the locations of these pictures are repeats. But there is new people in them all! Remember, I make these mostly for me, so sorry if this is boring to you. But the adventures in this slideshow are as follows:
My friend Alyssa went back to school at BYU in Provo (poor thing) and she wanted to take the road to Hana one more time. So the beginning is just one more Hana adventure. Hana as seen from the back of a truck is pretty dang awesome! Especially when crazy Koleka thinks she has a bug in her hair! Funny stuff! Then my other friend Ashley left for BYU on Oahu and before she left she wanted me to take her on the commando hike. So the two of us planned on doing it one day after a baptism. I was a tad nervous about taking her becuase it's a pretty sketchy hike and danger is high. But I knew she was tough. But then, she invited half the branch to come at the baptism so we ended up with about 15 people on the hike with us. which made me even more nervous becuase none of these people had any idea what they were getting into. it took us forever, no one got seriously hurt, and the next day in testimony meeting most of the people who had a miserable time during the hike expressed their gratitude for such an amazing experience. During the hike I wasn't a popular haole at all! Some of them had never done ANY hiking and this was full on Bear Grylls slip and die stuff! Then to my surprise most of the girls even jumped the cliffs! It turned out pretty awesome. Other than that just some fun with friends and more Maui beauty! Enjoy, ALOHA!

Shoots Brah!

I just came home from a four day trip to Oahu. (Home is currently Maui to avoid confusion) And it was awesome. I hiked, jumped, swam, sat, surfed, and loved...every second of it. I will get to that when I make a slideshow of it. Which I am getting behind on, sorry. But while on Oahu I went to the North Shore. For the uninformed...North Shore on Oahu is the Mecca, birthplace, holy grail, and most famous place for surfing in the world. And I surfed it! Now it's epicness comes from the winter months when the North Pacific storms send down swells that would eat 5 story buildings, but late September was good enough for me! yeah, the waves were pretty big. I spent a day watching and scouting before I paddled out and I was filled with mixed feelings of fear and excitement. So I rented a board and threw it in the back of my bright blue PT Cruiser that just screamed TOURIST! all over it, and went to find my surferhood (like manhood, but for surfers). I physically shook with fear, because the waves were huge and the locals are mean. I camped out at the end of the lineup for awhile waiting for a wave no one else wanted. I stared down into the clear blue water and could actually see the reef caves and canyons that have actually claimed the lives of significantly professional surfers. My heart beat faster than the first time I, well...it was beating fast! Finally, I was in a good spot to catch a wave without getting in anyone's way. Then the most amazing thing happened...I paddled into to this huge mass of moving water, stood up and rode the greatest ride of my life. I caught so much speed dropping in, then made my first turn to the right (I'm not so good at the rights) and cut back to the left and realized I still had massive wave behind me. So I cut back right again and rode the lip then turned back down the face. The reef was flying by underneath, the wind was blowing the surf into my face, and I just kept riding. The power didn't die like I am used to, just kept pushing. I realized that in a few more seconds I would be barrelled on the sandy beach, so I peeled off the back of the wave, landed on my board, wiped my wet hair out of my eyes and paddled back out. But this time I got right in to the middle of the lineup, with all the locals. Then the second most amazing thing happened. I did it all again. Then again and again and six hours later I was still doing it. I had just surfed Bonzai Pipeline, and I surfed it well. I felt like I deserved to be in that wave, I had earned respect in the lineup. Sure it wasn't going off like you see in December but hey, it was going off for me. Then I realized: I don't wear shoes anymore-I walk everywhere barefoot; I say "shoots brah"; My hair is always in my eyes and yeah, its actually really blonde; I am almost constantly feeling in my mind the sensation of riding a wave; and...I just surfed Pipeline on the North Shore!

It's official...I AM A SURFER.

I didn't even make anyone mad, get barrelled by waves, or embarrass myself in any way. It was an absolutely beautiful experience. Even the pouring rain didn't make a difference. Shoots, I surfed pipe in a typhoon!
Then today I went back to my humble little breakwall on Maui. Pulled out the longboard and it just wasn't the same as it was last time I was there. North shore changed me. Tiny little waves weren't this tiny last week. But you know what, I just worked on nose riding and still had blast! Funny thing though, here at humble breakwall I almost got in a fight! check this out:
surfer 1: Wutchyou doin brah!
surfer 2: What?
surfer 1: Wutchyou mean wut? Why jew drop in on me!?
surfer 2: I didn't drop in on you, there were like ten people on that wave. Chill out.
(surfer 1 throws his board at surfer 2)
surfer 1: where jew goin!?
surfer 2: surfing. you?
(surfer 1 grabs surfer 2's ankle)
surfer 1: Hey! We gonna take dis to da beach!?
surfer 2: you mean like a date? No thanks, I like girls.
surfer 1: I'll (expletive) you up!
surfer 2: Hey I said I'm not interested in that sort of thing
(big wave hits both surfers, surfer 2 paddles away and doesn't see surfer 1 again till later, surfer 1 is waiting on the beach)

Well, I am surfer 2, and surfer 1 is some 40 year old local hawaiian with a bad case of little man syndrome. Lucky for me (or him, I'm not really tested in the fighting arena) he left before I came in. So much for the Aloha spirit! I miss north shore.

p.s. I didn't drop in on him. Surfer law states that he who is up first gets the wave. That was very much me.

I love Hawaii!

ALOHA!

Last night and tonight.

I know this is meager, but in an attempt to help you understand why things are different here and why I love it so much here, I will tell you this....

I didn't have a phone for ten days, and the most annoying thing about that was that I never knew what time it was, and that's only because I needed to know when lunch break was and when to be back!

And on another note, I should have taken my camera out surfing tonight. It was another gorgeous sunset. I love how I can actually see every night the sun a little bit further to the south as it goes below the horizon. Remember how it used to be right where the Island of Lanai'i touches the sea, now it is way far up Lanai'i's mountains. It's beautiful to watch every night. I love it here, I still love home too. Everywhere is just awesome!

MAUI MATH:
long legs/surfing + low tide x coral reef =

Episode 7

It's time for another slide show! I know they all look the same but every picture means something to me! So this time...Our buddy Oren hooked us up and got us on one of the Trilogy boat cruises to the island of Lanai. It was great, we even got to help rig the sails. This is the job I really wanted when I came here, didn't work out obviously but oh well. Then the singles branch I'm in had a luau, then there is a picture from us at Pu'ukalani where the first LDS chapel in Hawaii is. Then we went to Oahu. We went to North shore, the PCC, Pearl Harbor, Waikiki etc. Pearl Harbor was amazing. I love history and especially WW2 history, I think it's amazing how our country came together during such a horrible time. Then the rest is just playing with friends. Life is beautiful. Love you all!

For the Beauty of the Earth.

So i got my waterproof camera back from the repair shop and I decided to try to share with you what I was talking about in a previous blog about last Friday night. I knew any pictures wouldn't do it justice but I tried anyway, and I was right. But tonight and last night I took my camera out with me and took these photos. It was unbelievable on Friday night, these two nights were ok. But I hope this gives you an idea of what I was trying to portray in words. And also, think about what Derrek commented on that entry. At the end watch the video closely, I got a bonus treat tonight. I was surfing with giant manarays. You can see their wingtips breaching a bit. It was amazing. The song is by Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (Iz). He is a Hawaiian legend, this is this song I heard from the boat last Friday night. Hope you enjoy this, and all the beauty in every day!

Still not learning my own lessons...

Another stupid back flop...I can still move my neck this time though. Ugh...stupid. I promise I can do that without hurting myself, there were girls watching me this time, plus a few dozen annoying tourists...nuff said.