Lovin Laie

Lately David and I have been working on balancing our lives more between work, school, and family. So this past weekend we had an impromptu family (David&I) weekend. We went to Laie Days Summer Jam and the movies Friday night. It's always nice to live in a community that gets together often. We enjoyed the free food, free music, and great company. It was packed as you can see. Well kinda. Then Saturday we went to town to do more for David's physical, went shopping at Costco and Walmart, cleaned the house, then went to the beach. It was a long but beautiful day. Sometimes when you live in paradise you forget how beautiful it is. Later Saturday night we were able to Skype with David's family and see my namesake, and the new princess of the Ravia family. Hopefully by the end of this year we'll be able to go see them in person.
I am so grateful for this life that I have. Even if it gets stressful sometimes. I wouldn't trade anything in the world to be where I am today. We are truly blessed by our Father in heaven.

Below are pictures of Laie Days, beach time, and the fun things you find at BYUH

Home

So it's been about 2 weeks since I had my mini vacation to California and I think I need another one. It was so nice to go to the pool and the beach on a daily basis. And I literally haven't seen the beach since. Sad story. Anyways. When I was home I was able to spend time with my family, in particular my sister Felila and her family due to the departure of their baby boy back to Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for a family that always pulls together in times of need. I was especially grateful to my brother Tyson and his family who flew me home last minute. Since I got married I have a hard time going on planes by myself because my personal pillow and heater doesn't cone with me. Unfortunately the only seats available on the flights was in first class. So I suffered through a 3 course meal on both flights. Now I've been corrupted. If I ever have to fly by myself again it really needs to be first class. So let's get this boy through school so I can fly first class whenever I want! Lol. Here are the menus from my flight. I had other pictures but they got deleted from my phone.

BYUH Confessions

Okay so on Facebook there's a page called BYUH confessions. Basically what it is, is people can send in their "confession" and it will get posted with out anyone knowing who they are. So last night someone "confessed" and David and I spent a good 20 minutes cracking up and thinking of responses. Below is the confession and our responses to it. Always good to have a good laugh before bed lol.

Air Conditioning

Since becoming a TVA coordinator my wonderful boss has been trying to standardize things, and since the hale coordinators got AC she got me one too. Can I just say that we've become slightly antisocial with the world. Lol we are enjoying the coolness especially in this humid Hawaii heat. So glad I don't pay the electric bill now. :)

BABY RAVIA

Finally pictures of the newest princess of the Ravia family. I feel sorry for the guy who tries to date this girl.

Graduations, Births, and Mission Calls

Okay, so life got a little busy for a minute, but now that I've promised myself not to work tonight so I have a little time to write.
Let's start from the very beginning... a very good place to start... LOL. Anyways... The Graduation. So during Winter semester this year David went with Maiko to a Hawaiian Charter School down in Kaneohe. He helped to teach them about peace building, and they in turn taught him about Hawaiian culture. They even let him make his own nose flutes. So how does this lead to graduation? Well one of the senior girls did a project on women's fashion using tapa cloth, and since David worked at wardrobe for night show, he helped her to meet the right people to help her in her project. This was a big deal to the girl, seeing as how she had never sown before in  her life. Well, as it turned out, her project was such a success that she even held a little fashion show in Waikiki. So she invited "Uncle Isi" to her senior graduation. Now remember how I said it was a Hawaiian Charter School, there was only 6 graduates in this graduating class. It was one of the most interesting graduations I had ever been to. It was complete with dances, chants, leis, and speeches from each graduate. The graduates didn't wear the normal cap and gown, but all black instead. And in addition to giving them a diploma, they gave each graduate a i'e that they had designed, and a lei. When the graduates made their speeches they had their parents or grandparents stand next to them and gave them a lei of thanks. After the graduation was all done, the families stood outside in true Hawaiian fashion and piled the leis on each graduate. After that the school provided a huge luau for everyone that came to the graduation. I don't mean just refreshments, but a full on kalua pig, laulau, chicken long rice, poi, cookies, pineapple upside down cake, the works. As I looked at it, I thought, man this is so nice. All you have to do is pitch in a little money, and then show up for the graduation. No work for planning a party, no cooking, nothing. Just show up. Okay so I'm sure that you might have to put in a little more work than that, but it was nice to have it all done and over with in one day. So that was round 1.
Round 2. AUDREY LETHE LOLOHEA RAVIA was born May 30 at 8.5 lbs. She was born to Niko Ravia and Sala Taukei. They were on their way to the Register General (Fiji's version of the Court House), and then Niko changed direction and went to the hospital instead. David and I were planning on Skyping that night with the family and the newly weds, but instead we waited a day and Skyped with proud parents of a healthy baby girl, and an even prouder "Nana." Welcome baby Audrey to the Ravia family. (Pictures to follow)
Round 3. So I don't know what people did before technology and Skype, because that was our best friend this past week. On Saturday afternoon we were able to Skype with David's family once again and be "present" while his brother, Ether, opened his mission call. Elder Ether Ravia has been called to the SIERRA LEONE FREETOWN MISSION.  He will report to the MTC in Ghana on October 4, 2013. We are so proud of him, and wish him all the best. Return With Honor Elder Ravia.

Well now that I've explained our lives for the past week I can go to bed. Have a good night everyone!!!

Zucchini Fries

So I've been trying to introduce David to new vegetables. This week it was zucchini. I know dipping them in butter, then rolling them in fits crackers, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper isn't the healthiest way to introduce him but they went so well with our burgers and salad. Thankfully my husband is amazing at cutting so they were perfect size for fries, and it made way more than I planned so I even had some for lunch the next day. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this cooking thing. Lol still got eternity to practice :)

Mommy & Na

I am a very blessed individual. I was born to one of the most amazing women I have ever had the opportunity to encounter on this earth. She is selfless, tireless, and full of love. She gives 110% all the time. I can only hope to become half the woman Paulette Nalani Thompson is. I love you Mommy.

I was equally blessed to inherit a second great woman in my life on July 6, 2013. Kuini Radrodro became my Na. She is such an example of faith, strength and love. She has done so much, but most of all, she raised the wonderful man I am married to today. She has 4 more after him who are just as great. We love you Na!

I look forward to the many lessons that I will learn from these two women. We wish them the happiest mother's day ever!
WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

We Are Samoa

So this is a festival that I love to watch, and participated in as a student at BYUH. I'm so glad that they finally put it streaming online, cause I really wanted to go, but my house is demanding my attention. LOL So for those of you that are stuck at home with nothing to do today, here you go. Enjoy!

We Are Samoa Festival 2013

And apparently they're also broadcasting the World Fireknife Competition!!

World Fireknife Championships 2013

Up Again

So it is officially 12:56 am and I'm once again sitting here listening to my husband snore soundly, while I attempt to make my brain shut off. Not really working all that great, so hey why not blog about it. LOL Anyways, today was a good day, but lots of things to do. I was very proud of myself however, for getting organized with the many things on my To Do list. But I think there is something wrong with my list. It seems as though every time I check off one thing another 5 pop up. It seems like it inherited some crazy gene from Mary Poppins' magic bag. For those of you who have no idea of what I'm talking about, please revisit the classics and watch Marry Poppins.
Speaking of movies, David finally got me out of the house tonight to go on a real date. It was nice. We went to dinner at Seven Brothers, and ate way too much. This is not uncommon since the Hanneman brothers have made quite a delicious menu right within a 10 minute walk from our apartment. I love and hate them for it. PLUS now they deliver, so I don't know what we're going to do. It's nice to know that they're just a phone call away, but it's also dangerous. That goal of eating healthier in the new year just keeps slipping away. Not that it lasted past January 5th, LOL.
Anyways, after we rolled out of there, we went to Laie Palms Cinema, who has now gone DIGITAL!! We watched Iron Man 3, and I must say that the digital upgrade enhanced the experience quite a bit. And another plus, David acquired a whole new set of one liners that he didn't hesitate to execute as we walked home. Maybe I should buy him an Iron Man Suit and he can wear it for Halloween. Hmmmmmm interesting picture right?! And don't try to deny that you just tried to picture it in your head. LOL Either way it was a nice walk home, and a wonderful date night with the LOVE of MY LIFE.
I think my brain has officially hit its limit and it's time to say good night.
Buenos Noches. Hasta Manana.

New Beginnings

Okay. So for those of you that don't know, I recently started my job as the coordinator for Temple View Apartments. It's kinda crazy. I got trained in 2 days and then was kinda let go and said here you go. There was a ton of paperwork to do and half of it I didn't even know what to do with. I can't blame my predecessor though because for a good 2 months they had her doing 2 jobs in 2 different places. Anyways. This is definitely going to be fun. I am thankful for the summer break coming up so I can maybe get some things organized. But for now I'll just lay here and try to figure out how to get my brain to stop thinking. Lol. Good night. Sweet dreams.

We are the Ravias! So I've decided to keep a blog because so many people I know keep them as a way of journaling, and that is one thing that I struggle to keep  up with.
So shall we start from the beginning. So in October of 2010 a friend of mine called me to tell me that he  had finally proposed to his girlfriend, and they would get married in January of 2011. Well it just so happened that Hawaiian Airlines decided to be nice to me and made plane tickets super cheap. SOOO I jumped on my laptop and booked my ticket right away. And another plus to this January trip is that my best friend's birthday happened to be January 27th, so it's all good to take a 3 week vacation for a wedding and birthday right? LOL. So anyways, long story short, I went to the wedding, had a fun birthday, we first met, but we didn't remember each other, and I went home to California.
Then another friend called and he was getting married in July, so, of course, I had to go back to the 808. And I was just in time to see the canoes from the Pacific pull into Hawaii. Meeting #2. AND STILL DIDN'T REMEMBER EACH OTHER. Or at least I didn't.
So since we obviously couldn't get it together, Heavenly Father decided to step in by using someone  by the name of Randy Kelemeti. You see, Randy grew up with David, and Randy went to BYUH with me during my last 2 years at school there, and he was inspired to think that we would be a great fit. Neither one of us was too keen to the idea, but what could it hurt right? So we became Facebook friends. I know I know. FACEBOOK! REALLY?! But hey, that's what modern technology is for right? To connect more people. So chats turned into messages, and messages turned into conversations, and conversations turned into friends.
Then Heavenly Father decided we were taking a little too long and opened up one more opportunity for us to meet in September. My mom and I took a trip back to Hawaii for a conference for a week, and David and I decided that it was time to finally meet. So we met up once to hang out, and it lasted a whole 20 minutes. He got nervous. So we tried round 2 about 3 days later. That lasted a little longer. We talked for hours and had a great night. I even got a foot massage out of it. Unfortunately, this was one of my shorter trips and I left 2 days later, but the bug had been planted. After that we stepped it up to texting, phone calls, and even Skype.
Things went well, so well in fact that that a mere 4 months later, January 2012, David was making his first trip out to San Diego, and we got engaged. February I moved back to Hawaii, and July 6, 2012 we started our eternity together.

We have now been married 10 months, and I don't know what I would do without this man in my life. David is studying Political science now at BYUH, and has already earned his Peace Building Certificate. With any luck he'll be done by December. I am so proud of him. I am working full time to support him in his academic endeavors as the Coordinator for TVA (Temple View Apartments), the apartments where we live. Yes we have had our fights, and life hasn't been sea breezes and sunny days, but I wouldn't have this any other way. I love this man with all my heart, and am so glad that Heavenly Father saw fit to let me spend eternity with him. He has the patience to deal with me in all my moods and qwerks. He also helps me to see so many things in a different light. We may be weird, we may be anti social sometimes, and we may not always have it together, but that's okay. We are the Ravia's.

PS. The 20 minute thing, not my fault...I am a pour college student that don't know any place to go to apart from Campus and PCC...I did make it up a few days later...foot massages really made things work out - DR