My senior year of college, when I was taking 17 or 21 credits, depending on which semester we're looking at, I decided not to do the dance team. It was incredibly heart wrenching and I still miss it all the time. I would have been a 4 year member! It was a really difficult decision, but I was a student first, and I was trying to keep good grades for scholarships (and because I like to get good grades). I thought for a second that I might be able to go the outer islands and play on holidays because of this (we always had games during breaks, like Thanksgiving and things like that), but I was of course busy with everything else, like school and choir and all the reasons I didn't do the dance team.
So then for some reason, in December (right before my last full semester of college), I was like, "Hey, I have time to do the musical. It's only for January and February. Easy!" But what I didn't know was that it would then CONSUME MY LIFE. I had practice all the time, including (and especially) on holidays. So poor Ho'oulu didn't get to take me out all the time, as he had hoped. And we never had time to go to outer islands, but it was impossible for him to get time off of work anyway because he has a Mandarin position, which means he can only switch with other Mandarin-speaking-employees, and they hired all of the Mandarin people for the same shift. So we were stuck on this island anyway!
SO THEN. Flash to MLK, Jr day on February 17th (our 11 month anniversary haha). I had rehearsal that night and Ho'oulu had work, but we didn't want to waste the day, so we decided to go ice skating! I had this really cute jacket that I bought to wear when I was in Oregon for Christmas that I wanted to use again haha. Ho'oulu came to pick me up, but then turned toward the school, and just said, "detour." We stopped at the temple and he was being oddly serious and weird, and I was kind of jokingly thinking, "he's either going to break up with me or propose..." We then drove to the parking lot by Temple Beach and started walking toward the beach. I was very hesitant; what happened to ice skating?! I was wearing ankle boots and socks (so that I didn't have to bring socks in my purse for when we went ice skating), so I suggested we walk toward the temple. He was insistent that we walk to the beach. When we got to the sand, I was very annoyed! I have slight OCD and I don't like to put socks back on after I've worn them once, even if only for a little while. I also hate putting socks on if I have even one piece of sand on my feet, and I don't put anything on my feet but slippers if they are wet. So this was all terrible! But he took his shoes off and kind of pulled me along. So I angrily took mine off and followed. I was then slightly cranky for our walk on the beach, but I still noticed he was being weird, which ebbed away at my crankiness and made me feel... Weird. So halfway between Temple and Hukilau, he stopped and asked what was wrong. I was a little bewildered because I had told him very clearly that I didn't want to walk on the beach (haha). So then he just hugged me and said, "Please, please don't be annoyed with me." And I'm not saying I have a heart, but hypothetically speaking, if I did have a heart before that moment, it would have grown three sizes that day and then melted. Haha it was kind of tender. But then I noticed him pulling something out of his pocket and shuffling between hands behind my head as we were hugging. For a fleeting second I thought of a ring, but I had asked him like the day before if he had one, and he did not. I turned my head slightly and he had his phone out. Why was he texting behind my back (literally, not figuratively). Then we headed back in the directed from which we had come. Some girls we'd passed earlier who had been sunbathing were now walking toward us. We passed them and they laid out again, and I thought, "It's not any sunnier over here, ya weirdos." There were a bunch of sticks in the ground when we got back to Temple. We stopped right in the center of them, and Ho'oulu got all weirdly serious again. I was kind of beginning to panic when he said, "I talked to your parents." And that's when my heart stopped. The only reason for him to talk to my parents was...
(Those nice girls who moved because Ho'oulu texted his brother Kaanoi, who was hiding in the bushes to take pictures, and asked Kaanoi to ask them to move. They were super stoked for us, even though we didn't know them. Thanks, random strangers!)
While we were out getting all engaged and such, Pononui was setting up an awesome party with some of absolute FAVORITE humans, including my parents (and Avery, I think) via Skype! And then Tor had Cat on Facetime... I cried like a baby.
(As soon as I saw my parents, I started bawling. Like full-on ugly crying.)
(Ris!)
(I cried like a baby here, too. Super funny video on Facebook.)
(Sparkling cider to celebrate like the sober Mormons we are!)
(Here's the amazing spread, complete with fancy set up and table clothes! Thanks to Pononui, Kamealani, Umi, and everyone else who contributed!)
(The rings... Every kiss begins with Kay!)
All pictures courtesy of GCB Photography, which is super amazing and I would HIGHLY recommend for any event, even if you just feel like pictures for fun! You can find GCB Photography on Facebook here (seriously, check them out!):
https://www.facebook.com/GCBPhotos
Oh yeah, so then Ho'oulu got the day off of work and he came to rehearsal with me and showed off the ring and such, and then we were just TOGETHER. And it was so fabulous and I love that day with my whole heart, and I love every single person involved or even around that day. It was absolutely perfect.
Oh yeah, so then Ho'oulu got the day off of work and he came to rehearsal with me and showed off the ring and such, and then we were just TOGETHER. And it was so fabulous and I love that day with my whole heart, and I love every single person involved or even around that day. It was absolutely perfect.
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