Paddle Power

On Saturday we found ourselves at Utulei Beach with a load of people doing canoe races. These were 6-man canoes doing 250m, 500m, and 1000m heats. Some of the participants paddle regularly on teams, and others were like us, just there to try it out.
It was a perfect day for paddling in Utulei Bay.


This exhausted team didn't win, but they sure paddled like champs. The groups were mixed all around in the 4 hours we were racing, but we noticed a pattern with the winning. It seemed the green boat always lost. ("It moves like a slug" was a comment I overheard.) The red one was always second, and the blue boat always won. They didn't tell us it was rigged!



Paddling wasn't the only fun thing to do at the beach.

Just another fun day in Samoa!

Home Birth

My sister Katie had another baby at home. You can read about it here.

Ephraim's sister Evie also has her babies at home. I really wish those stories were blogged, too.

It's just so amazing to me.

Sunday Afternoon on Campus

Since we live on campus, we often take walks through the hallways, the paths, and around the fales on ASCC. It's kind of fun that they have an entire campus to play in. Here are some photos of last Sunday.
Ella wouldn't make a straight face. She's very into layering. Therefore, she's often sweaty.

Isaac and Stripe in the main fale. Remember fale is Samoan for house or building. Here's a view from the outside:
They're everywhere. And very functional for dancing, meeting, playing, sleeping, relaxing, escaping rain, etc. I wish we had our own personal fale. Don't you?


This is how we know when it's time to go home.

The Power of Mango

No, I'm not referring to the power of that lame Saturday Night Live character, but the fruit. Almost everyone I know, even those allergic to the skin, bark, and sap loves to eat mangoes. Samoans are so anxious to eat mangoes that they go to great lengths to pick them even before they're ripe. They'll climb precarious rooftops and launch slippers, rocks, and sticks at tall trees to get the fruit before someone else does. It's kind of fun for me because there's a tree just out my office window that everyone walking past takes a crack at. The problem with their mad rush is that all the mangoes are eaten while green and none ripen. I know they like to eat green mangoes and I admit I like green mangoes too, but it's gotta be Big Island style - with a little shoyu-sugar dipping sauce. That tangy, salty, sugar taste is just so perky, I love it.


I like this picture of Isaac with a large mango from Pammy's back yard. You can tell he's feeling the Power of Mango. By the way, Pammy's tree is small but you know it has a big heart because it makes some massive mangoes. I'm jealous that she gets to wait until they're ripe. I, on the other hand, will have to compete with the ASCC students for green ones. They don't stand a chance this year though because I've been training for harvest time. I've found that old textbooks have aerodynamic properties with mango-smacking force.

Called to Serve

Recently two large white envelopes were delivered to my family's mailbox. They contained the exciting mission assignments for my sister Rachel and brother Mark.

Rachel is going to Roseville, California! Yay! Anyone know anything about it? She's heard the missionaries average 30. That means gaining 30 pounds.

And Mark announced he's being sent to the Copenhagen Denmark Mission, speaking Icelandic!? (I still think he's pulling my leg.) So if you want to share your favorite experiences of vacationing in Iceland, tell me about it.

We're so excited for both of them and the great experiences they'll have.

So What Have We Been Up to Lately?

Well, frankly I've had a case of blog aversion leading to blog neglect. It happens on and off for me. So I changed our layout for an "exciting new look". We'll post more often now.

We miss Hawaii, but life is too busy to dwell on that. (Do you ever come back from vacation feeling refreshed, then take on more and more tasks everyday after until you feel swamped again?)

I'm teaching a six week course of high school Spanish this summer. La clase va chevere, aunque los estudiantes me sacan la piedra! A little Venezuelan there. These Samoan students love talking. And they're fearless with a foreign language. In the first week they were standing in front of the class having conversations and introducing each other in Spanish. These kids love performing. For some their whole life is a performance. (Is that a Samoan thing or just high school?)

Ephraim's jonseing to surf, but we've had blown out waves and almost constant rainstorms. So he just constructed a shelving unit (from scratch, and treated lumber) for our storage room. Oh, if I could show you that room. Picture roaches, moisture, termites rotting out anything wood-like, and a pile of our stuff--carseat, stroller, boxes of Christmas decor, various surf items--in room the size of your bathroom. Oh, don't forget the graffiti-covered walls. The shelves are a big improvement.

We've also had our noses buried in Children of Dune and Eat Pray Love, respectively.

Enough babbling for now. Like I said, with this jazzy new look you'll be hearing more from us, your friends out here on the island.

(P.S. Do you ever brag that you have friends in Samoa? Like we brag about our friends in New York City, Paris, North Shore, and Japan? And American Fork?)

Goodnight Ella and Ike

Ella and Ephraim ended tonight with this conversation:

Ella: Maybe, when I'm old like mama, and I'm 30, then I'll marry you.
Ephraim: How can I marry you if I'm already married to mama?
Ella: Well, then I can marry Isaac.
Ephraim: Sisters don't marry brothers, and daughters don't marry fathers.
Ella: Oh.
Ephraim: You'll just have to find a man that's like me and Isaac. Someone who treats you like a princess, and makes you happy, and keeps the commandments.
Ella: Maybe when I'm 30, I'll find a man, who treats me like a princess, and makes me happy. And I'll name him...........Ike.

Big Island Weekend

Our last weekend we spent on the Big Island with the Temples. We enjoyed jumping at Rainbow Falls, hanging out in the orchid greenhouse, Slurpees, Chinese take-out, video games, card games, movies, swimming in tide pools, homegrown corn, BBQ taro, Jolly Time popcorn balls, lots of ice cream--like a 3-day sleepover.

Friends and Family

What's Hawaii got that American Samoa doesn't? Well, for starters: Costco, Ross, Old Navy, Walmart, Mac Store, Ala Moana Shopping Center, Safeway, Borders, Foodland, Matsumotos, Savers, Longs Drugs, Ted's Bakery, MeKong Thai's "Evil Jungle Prince", etc....

But most importantly, Hawaii has these folks that we love so much.

Israel slaved over Ella's gourmet birthday cheesecake.

Isn't Carly sweet?

Adam and Israel warm up for beach sumo wrestling

Ladies Night at Casablanca

Bad photos. Great meal. Best company.

On one of our last nights in Hawaii we indulged in a nice evening at a Moroccan place in Kailua. Tailee is an irreplaceable face at Pammy's, Cailin is my sister in law (Israel's wife), Mariko is basically another sister in law (Jake's wife), and Robbie is my for reals sister in law (Ephraim's sister). Mariko did a better job of explaining our evening at Casablanca.

But I'll just add that maybe the only good thing about us not living in Hawaii is that I would want to do this every night. (Would that be so bad?)

Aloha 'Oe!

The reason for no posts lately is that we've been on vacation. If you live in paradise, where do you go on vacation? Well, the only domestic flight from here goes to Hawaii. So that's where we've been for the last month. Actually Ephraim had to go for business, so we tagged along and made it a family vacation.

We stayed a few days on University of Hawaii campus, but most of the time we stayed at Pammy's house in lovely Laie.

Moments at Waimea

Fun on the trampoline
Cruisin at the Seasider
TVA park with Cailin, Keahi, and Jarom

Robbie brought over the Wii so we could see who's the real Guitar Hero.
Getting our tie-dye fix

Is it any wonder that we love Hawaii?