Last week Elle ended her summer semester at BYU Provo and started anew on the island of Oahu smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
She bid a sad goodbye to all the adventures and learning and new friends and more than a few sleepless-because-she-was-having-too-much-fun nights. Part of those adventures she had up in Provo included tree climbing, a "hot tile," hikes in the middle of the night, camping, "shooting the tube," and oh so many more things we need a translation for and also that we don't even know about.
Along with all that adventurous fun, she got a little modeling side job at this place called "Called to Surf." Kind of a funny name, yes, but such a great store (we stopped by when we were in Provo this summer to check it out, I'd definitely recommend a stop-by for anyone who finds themselves in Provo). It was funny because since she didn't have a car she had to be pretty creative to get to work, but the store owner was confident she would figure it all out and she was right.
Check out their instagram at calledtosurf and scroll down to find a whole slew of pics of Elle.
(They add new things all the time and since Elle isn't there any more there you have to scroll a little to get back to her.)
They also have stuff online and you can find Elle a bunch if you head over HERE.
Most importantly, that girl of ours studied her heart out for her classes and learned more than she bargained for. All her learning was accompanied by some pretty sweet grades. It was a semester I think that will go down in her record book as being the most fun she's ever had.
Ever.
It was a pretty good how-do-you-do to college.
Which made for a sad goodbye. Most of her good guy friends from up there (a few of them from her high school) are leaving to serve two-year missions within a couple months. And most of the girls she hung out with up there are sticking around in Provo and many are thinking of missions themselves. And when you don't know when you'll see someone you care about a lot again, if ever, that's tough stuff I tell you.
Right as she was still wiping the tears away from saying goodbye she said hello to the beach and a slower lifestyle in Hawaii (at least so far). If you're going to bid farewell to something pretty grand, I figure a pretty good place to wallow in your "missing" is on a beach in Hawaii :) She is excited for this next grand adventure that awaits but that doesn't make the "missing" any less. Especially when they are all gathering for farewells and good-byes while she's thousands of miles across the ocean on a tiny little island.
But let's back up to before the island for a minute.
It was cheaper to fly from the desert to Hawaii than it was to fly from Utah, so Elle came home late one night so we could leave all together the next morning. (Yes, Dave and I got to go take her over there:) Dave booked her on a flight from Utah with a very unreliable airline (he didn't realize how unreliable when he booked it) so she could come home to re-pack and get situated for a couple hours before we left early the next morning.
Lucy and I (as well as a couple neighbors) got busy on a welcome home banner for her.
There are some funny things surrounding that whole story like how Dave tracked the airplane for her flight all day and kept giving updates all day, and how it made my heart jump with every delay he announced, but she finally arrived home.
She was almost two hours late, but she got here. Hallelujah!
She arrived along with all her stuff my mom had gone to help her pack up earlier that day up in Utah...THANK YOU MOM!
I think by that time Elle was quite delirious with lack of sleep and finals-studying, she was so dang tired. She hadn't slept much that whole last week.
Let's check that banner out a little closer because hey, Lucy worked for probably over an hour on those last few letters....
Elle hadn't been home since we left for Europe on May 30th so she was pretty excited to be here.
This whole transferring process has been a little tricky since the dates don't match up between these two universities Elle decided to attend. I don't know if it is intentional so that kids don't do what she did, but with quite a lot of work and grit (and a little guidance from her mother) that girl did it. I mentioned this a little before, but I want to remember how that girl worked with her teachers to take her finals early, and kept in touch with teachers in Hawaii to let them know she was still coming even though she was a week late. So the Hawaii professors loaded her up with assignments and projects she should be doing in the midst of her finals and goodbyes in Provo which was quite an undertaking. Even when we finally arrived to her Hawaiian dorm and met her new roommate, the RA told her she though she may have been kicked out of that dorm since she showed up as a "no-show" the first week. Luckily she had been in touch with her counselor and we got it all worked out.
Lots of complications like that, but it all worked out and we are both glad she is officially tucked in safe and caught up in her classes.
Lots of complications like that, but it all worked out and we are both glad she is officially tucked in safe and caught up in her classes.
Here's what her dorm looks like there:
And here's her room:
After we unpacked a little we met up with this great couple we had been looking forward to meeting my sister had introduced us to through the internet before we arrived:
That sure puts you at ease to know that your daughter has people who will look out for her when she's so far away.
James (the husband) told us all about the amazing programs BYU-Hawaii has to help kids all over the world get an education through scholarships and another program called IWES (explained pretty wonderfully through "fromthemrs" in the last post's comments...thank you!). He goes all over the world to actually recruit kids who may otherwise never have the chance to get an education and bring it back to their own communities. I love that.
Dave and I mixed tucking Elle into her dorm and helping her feel situated with a little late wedding anniversary celebration by ourselves. We knew Elle would be better off without us hovering over her too much so we let her be most of the time, but got to do a few things together first. On Sunday she went to her own new student ward there (which sounds like a great one) and Dave and I went to church with some friends, Rusty and Melanie, who used to live in the desert and now live right across from the Polynesian Cultural Center (right next to BYU-Hawaii).
I had to take a picture of their view from the hallway of the church:
Wow, right?
We helped Elle get going on some of her assignments. She's doing a web design class which I wish I could take with her. We sat and tried to figure out html code for a little bit...
...and then went to join our friends for an afternoon sail.
This is Melanie:
For reals, they live there. Is that cool or what?
A while back they invested in a sailboat which they have taken out on multiple-day cruises with their four kids. They are adventurers.
One is Rusty & Melanie's daughter who is a freshman like Elle. The other two are living with Rusty and Melanie until their apartment becomes available so it was so nice for Elle to get to know all three of them...especially since two of them have the same major Elle is thinking of doing (graphic design).
It was a gorgeous evening riding over those huge ocean swells, talking and watching the sun sink.
Rusty and Dave even caught a fish off the back (and Rusty fried it up for dinner later).
We were hoping to see some sharks (this is right where we did our cage shark dive last Christmas with the whole family back HERE). No luck that night, darn it.
We went back to Rusty and Melanie's for home-made pizza. Man, those guys took great care of us.
As Elle got submerged into her new life and classes, Dave and I got a few days for a long "Date."
We ate delicious fresh food...
And laid out talking on this beach all afternoon one day:
We did that rock jump up there and got burned to a crisp in that beautiful Hawaiian sun as we talked through life and the world.
We went on the Crouching Lion hike we tried to find and failed at Christmas.
See that little point in the middle of the picture below?
Some day I'll go back and do it with Elle (who has already done it herself with some friends there) but I was so glad we did the higher one this day.
Going down wasn't nearly as exhilarating as going up...
We took the wrong route and got caught in a lot of mud, slipping all over the place (it was very steep).
And slipping in mud isn't the most fun thing, especially for Dave who just got new shoes that weren't cooperating very well for hiking.
But we made it out alive and headed to paddle board at Rusty and Melanie's.
We just walked down these steps with their boards:
...and headed through the reef off to the left below to head out to some big waves.
Amidst other things, we got to get in a quick visit with this cute girl our family fell in love with when Max dated her a little bit his senior year.
We visited the beautiful temple there right next to campus:
We explored the beaches right next to where Elle lives. This one is called Castle Beach:
And this one is Pounders, literally right across from campus:
I LOVED how the waves would crash up against those craggy cliffs and spray up all their white foamy mist.
The last day we grabbed Elle after one of her classes and took her to get a smoothie with us before we left. This is the only picture I got of us together there, but this was right before we found a quiet spot for a special Father's Blessing.
So this is now Elle's home:
She has tiny classes and at lest a few outstanding professors and has gone on hikes and figured out at least part of the bus system and how to get around with no car in the short week she has been there. She has so many adventures awaiting her.
It's hard to express my feelings leaving her there but this picture kind of depicts my mood as we left.
I know she will thrive and love and learn and grow.
But we will sure miss her.
On our way to the airport Dave and I actually hit the Thai food truck my mouth has been watering for ever since we tried to go there and it was closed at Christmas. And tried again the beginning of this trip, closed again.
As we left Elle with her new "beginning" back in Hawaii we headed home to our own new "beginning" at home:
Life with three kids.
We had some babysitter problems while we were gone (our babysitter got shingles of all things!) so everything was kind of mismatched and scrambled. But those three girls of ours fared great with so much help from neighbors and family (thanks guys!). We got home on a red-eye so things were a little blurry for a couple days, but first thing I had to go surprise Lucy at lunch at school since I was so anxious to give her a hug.
And since then we are all off to new beginnings. The end of an era with so many kids at home going every-which direction on to a new reality here with these three girls of ours.
New classes, new family theme for the year, new things learned in Taiwan for Max, new everything for Elle in Hawaii, new lessons to learn and schedules to solidify.
Here we go!