The week started out as usual, PCC assignments on Monday, ukulele lessons in the evening, then FHE. This week they did get the gym reserved for our Ward to use, so we were playing volleyball, basketball, and badminton in the gym. The only problem was that when we came out of ukulele lessons, I had a bad headache. FHE didn't start until 8 PM tonight instead of the usual 7PM start time. We waited in the Aloha Center until 8 PM. I was hoping my headache would go away by 8PM, but it did not. We went to the gym unsure if we were going to stay. We had only been in the gym for about 5 minutes, and I could tell that all the bouncing of the balls and voices echoing in the gym were going to be too much for my headache. We opted to go home, thus no pictures of the FHE activity. It's a shame because the gym is a popular FHE activity.
Elder Rappleye and I sat across the table from Joanna, Zero, and Leiana - three of the food warehouse student workers. Joanna works evening shift, so I never see her. I was able to talk with her and get to know her a little bit. Zero and Leiana work in the mornings and I know them fairly well. 
Friday was the last day that I would see Rachel at work because Saturday was going to be her last day working at the Food Warehouse. She is changing jobs and going to work in the finance department. It is a good change for her since that job is more suited for her major in accounting, but it's always sad when a student leaves. When I came back to work a week later (spoiler alert - our daughter, Noelle's family is coming to visit) Rachel had left me a nice card at my desk. None of the other students that have moved on from the warehouse has given me a card when they left. Love you, Rachel! Our daughter, Noelle, and four of her children came to visit us. They got in late Friday night. Since they were getting in late, after work Elder Rappleye and I went down to Honolulu for a Costco run to pick up groceries for the week and brought them back to their Airbnb. They had booked a house in Hau'ula less than 5 minutes away from where we live. We were at their Airbnb when they arrived to greet them with kukui nut leis. Everyone was pretty beat from the long travel day, so we didn't stay long. We let them hit the sack so they could get rested for a fun first day in Hawaii the next day.
As we were waiting to eat and while we ate, we had a nice view of the sunset.
The rest of the week was not very eventful. Town Run on Wednesday was kind of a light day with only 9 stops. I did get to snap a picture of this fountain that we passed by. It's not one we pass by very often, but we have driven by it a few times before.
The rest of the week was not very eventful. Town Run on Wednesday was kind of a light day with only 9 stops. I did get to snap a picture of this fountain that we passed by. It's not one we pass by very often, but we have driven by it a few times before.
Thursday night we did an Ask Me shift at the Gateway Buffet position. We've had a little rainy spell, but thankfully no rain that night while we were standing outside of the Gateway.
On Saturday we headed for the North Shore. Our first stop was BYU - Hawaii to pick up the Rowe's cousin, Lawson, who is attending BYU - Hawaii this semester. Then it was off to Kawela Bay. It is such a picturesque bay (top left-hand picture). We saw some paddleboarders out on the water. We also hit the jackpot for seeing turtles. We have been to Kawela Bay multiple times and never discovered the turtles hide out until this time (top right-hand picture). The picture only shows one turtle, but under the rock cropping in the background were two more good sized turtles napping. It was the best turtle encounter of our whole stay here in Hawaii. We also hiked out to the Turtle Bay Pillbox (bottom right-hand picture). Lawson and Will crawled into the pillbox and are peeking out in the picture. Of course, you can't go to Kawela Bay without stopping for a picture at the big banyan tree (bottom left-hand picture).
Then it was on to Shark's Cove for some beach time and snorkeling. The tide was super low, so no water coming up over the rock barrier this time. Will and I went out and explored and we saw the biggest blue fish I have ever seen at Shark's Cove. Then Noelle, Elder Rappleye, and Sofie came out to snorkel. I was able to snap a few pictures of them in the water. The bottom pictures are Noelle (left) and Elder Rappleye (right).
Even though it was Saturday, it wasn't crowded, and the snorkeling never disappoints at Shark's Cove. Sofie is in the pink in the top right-hand picture.
Even our non-swimmer, Lili (bottom pictures), enjoyed hanging out at the beach in the shade and her new black waders. The weather was perfect. We never can get enough of paradise when we are spending time with family at Shark's Cove.
We topped our North Shore adventure off with shave ice at Kuilima Farm Stand on the way back to Hau'ula.
After getting cleaned up, we attended my boss's daughter's wedding reception at the BYU - Hawaii's ballroom on campus. We have been to a few receptions while serving here, but this one was the most elaborate and had the largest attendance. The bride and groom are from two well-known families here in Laie, so there were lots of family and friends there to celebrate.
We arrived late, but we got to sit at a table near the bride and groom. You can see the beautiful decorations in the pictures to the left. They went all out. Lili, my boss, is very good at floral arranging and decorating. Noelle and Will were the only ones who came into the ballroom with us. The girls were too shy to come in since there were a lot of people they didn't know. They waited outside on the plaza. Noelle did go take the girls ice cream cones which they enjoyed.
Sister Sauve and I went in together on a gift for the newlyweds. We folded dollar bills to look like French fries and put them in a clean McDonald's French fry container along with a gift card for McDonald's. I thought it turned out very cute and a better way to give cash than just putting the money in a card.
After hanging out at the reception for a while, we then headed over to the McKay auditorium for the BYU-H Salsa Orchestra concert. It was such a fun concert! Not only was there an orchestra, but there were three amazing students singing the songs the orchestra was performing. They projected on the big screen behind the orchestra the faces of the original performers of the song they were doing. We are not big fans of salsa, so we weren't familiar with a lot of the songs, but a few of them were familiar to us. We are certainly fans now! The audience really got into the music and would jump out of their seats and go into the aisles and dance along with the music. So much energy! Everyone had fun.
Sunday, my favorite day of the week. We went to church in the morning. These two pictures were taken in the Heber J. Grant building where we have our church meetings. Noelle, Sofie, and Lucy (top picture) are standing upstairs outside of the room where we have sacrament meeting. I covertly took a picture of Jazz while he was giving his talk in sacrament meeting. Jazz is in our YSA ward, and he works at the Food Warehouse where I work. This semester he has worked late afternoon/evening shifts, so I don't usually see him at work anymore.
It was the fifth Sunday of the month, so for the second hour of church we went over to the visitor's center and the junior missionaries presented the lesson. They showed a few short videos, and we had a discussion about them. After the meeting, we all went out to the parking lot and had muffins, oranges, and socialized. It's the second time we have had the second hour on the fifth Sunday at the visitor's center, but the first time we have had food afterwards. I think the students all enjoy the change even though most of them have to walk to the visitor's center from the HGB.
We got a group picture in front of the Laie temple before heading to the parking lot for food.
After church and a short nap time, we headed out towards the Honolulu airport to pick up Cory and Ava who were flying in later that night. We stopped at the Pali Lookout to see the view.
We still had some time to kill before Cory and Ava's plane landed, so we went to Magic Island by Ala Moana Beach in Honolulu in hopes of catching a gorgeous sunset, but all we got was a hint of color (right-hand picture). Sofie and I got bitten on our feet by ants as we watched the dismal sunset, but the park was a pleasant way to kill time before going to the airport.
Ava qualified to compete at state in musical theater. The competition was all day Saturday, so Cory and Ava delayed coming to Hawaii until Sunday. Ava did really well and had a lot of fun competing. Qualifying for state as a sophomore is a real honor. It was nice to now have the entire Rowe family here visiting.
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