tinder, take dos

Tanner likes to rock climb, hold doors open and served in Argentina. Not Kelsey's mission though. He started talking to me first and was different than anyone I'd talked to. Usually it's something like "Hey" or some cheesy complement about your smile. But he was very straight forward and said something like "You look like a pretty cool girl, what city do you live in?" so we started talking and it was so normal. like not tinder normal. like real life normal so when he asked for my phone number I totally gave it to him.

We started talking and it was good morning and good night texts, and real questions. not like "so..what's up?" Eventually he asked me on a date. Being adventurous and stuff, I said yes! Finally Saturday rolls around and I'm FREAKING out. I'm pretty sure this guy is cute and I had nothing to wear. In the midst of my panic, the boy started talking to me. So now the knot in my belly just doubled. I finally decide on black jeans, rolled up with tan sperrys, a turquoise t shirt and a blue jacket. Totally oops I'm cute. I even painted my nails so it looks like I have my act together. I made Lauren come over because I was freaking out. First dates are awful feeling. And dealing with the boy too made it a little harder. 

Anyways, 6 comes around and he picks me up at Lauren's because I don't want him to know where I live in case he's a crazy weirdo.We do the awkward friend side hug thing and we get in his car. He opens my door and off to noodles we went. He kinda sings softly when he drives and drums along to every beat. He's really nice and we just talk about school. He's starting at UVU this summer and he's thinking going pre-med and an art minor. I tell him my plan to take over the world and he laughs. After dinner I asked where we were going and he wouldn't tell me. The only clue he gave me was "You can see it from here actually" So I'm thinking like the Y or something and I'm really not thrilled. I hate the Y. After a few failed guesses, he said "rock canyon! The plan is to scramble up this cliff and make it to the top for sunset!" We get there and he leads the way and it was so fun. I love climbing but it's a little terrifying at the same time. This guy is like a serious spider monkey and he's been climbing for only two years. I kept up pretty nicely and he even noticed. So that was cool. The view from the top was beautiful. We go there a little sooner than we thought so we just played twenty questions and he died at all the stories I had about me and Britt trying to take on the woods. 

After the sunset we went and played pool at fat cats. I successfully made myself look like a idiot. But I've learned that if you bat your eyelashes and flash your smile enough, it does't matter how bad you are at pool, all is forgiven. I thought that would be the end of the night but he had yet another surprise. We drove up the water tower and he showed me the coolest part of his car. The back seats folded, and he had like lake powell pad that fit perfectly to make it like a baby couch! So we sat back there and the view was ridiculous. I forgot how much I loved being up there. Another cool thing was that his auxiliary cord reached from the front of the car to the very back so we had our playlists going the entire time. This guys taste in music was through the roof. Young the giant, mumford and sons, Frank Sinatra. Yes please. He would just drum the entire time and sing along with the songs. But he would change the lyrics so it was about me. And my heart melted (which is dumb since i bet he sings to all his dates). We listened to SO many songs and it was so funny cause we had a story for like every song. He pulled out all the stops when he was like "I have a classic ready." and it was Lucky by Brittney Spears. Shut the front door right?? So we just cuddled there for a little and then he played "kiss me" by sixpence none the richer, we both were just singing along to it then the last line goes "so kiss me" and it was right before that, he tilted my chin towards him, sang me that part and kissed me. We hung out there trading stories until like 1:30 in the morning and it was so easy. Like i didn't feel like I had to try to impress him or anything.. 

I'm realizing that RM's adjust at all sorts of different rates. Both Collin..Colton...whatever, and Tanner have been home since December and one's creepy and pushy, and the other is a gent. And normal. Note to self* Don't date BYU boys.

H A W A I I

hawaii is simply beautiful. everything from the muggy air to the coast line is marvelous. i plan on returning with someone to cuddle me under the stars and kiss my forehead at the top of Koko head. as you're descending you look out the window and all you see is green. green, a strip of gold and endless miles of blue. that's the moment hawaii stole my heart.

because Hawaii welcomes all

this is at an overlook. the fog made it feel so surreal. on a clear day you can see the entire island.

iced black tea with lily koi jelly. superb. 

the cute coffee shop that Britt works at at the WCC

this is sprunch. half sprite half fruit punch. it's the craze.

 Day one: Britt and Noa picked me up from the airport and it was the craziest thing in the world. I have never been anywhere so humid. It felt like I was swimming just trying to breathe. It rained in honolulu but when we made it to kilua town it was still cloudy but warm. We had lunch at this cute cafe where a girl complemented my slippers, to which i looked at her like she was crazy because I was in my chacos.  not slippers. then I realized that slippers and sandals are the same thing.. woops. then we went to Noa's.. and FHE and then to Auntie Cindy's. Hawaiian mormons are so much nicer. I am a child of God on the ukulele and a bon fire? Yes please.

this was literally outside my window

the jungle was the back yard. literally. 

#selfie

this was the view from the top of the driveway

Our adventure for the day was electric bike riding around Laniki.
shaka brah

                                         

flowers in our hair and bike rides. 

breakfast at cinnamon's. deelish. 

snippets along the way to north shore

passion fruit. they have fresh fruit stands all over the place. it's amazing.

the end of the road leads to this. 

selfies for days

this is hawaii. swimsuits, sandy feet out the window.

best friend & sunset beach. 

sunset beach to end the day was beautiful. 

We did it all on day two. Electric bike riding, three beaches. One of them being SHARKS COVE. Historic north shore, laniki juice, north east shore (BYU-H) and the end of the road. We hit like three beaches and then called it a day.

botanical gardens 

welcome to the most raw place in the world.

light house hike/walk

koko head!

there are "turn back now" signs all up until the actual trail. 

before picture. 

there must have been a lot of effort put into this graffiti since it takes so long to get to the top. 

we did it!

candid. 

on top of hawaii!

Sandy's beach to lay out after hiking all morning

then we went to the WCC to learn about stars. 

then we broke the car after we bought tickets to the PCC the next day.. woops.
this is the longest adventure of the week.

Day three was full of hiking and beaches. When we told locals that we were doing both hikes in the same day, they all thought we were crazy. But the light house one was literally a walk. Koko head was harder but it was so fun! The scariest part was going across the bridge on the way down. Your legs feel all jelly like and you're scared you're going to fall through the planks. Then on our way to dinner we broke the car by hitting a median. So then we had to sleep over at Noa's that night. Britt worked the next day and Noa's mom let her take the car to work while me and Noa ventured off into the ghettos of Hawaii to find four new rims and tires. Aloha spirit at its finest.

PCC show

Day four: While britt was at work, Noa and I went and  found a tire set and then he got to work. After a long day we finally made it to the PCC. we were super late so we only got to go to two villages and then we had spaghetti for dinner.. so that was a little lame. But Ha (that was the name of the actual show) was really good! So that made up for our $60.00 spaghetti. The car was still rattling too much so we took it back to Noa's to see what was going on. We ended up staying the night there anyways. 

nutella crepes for breakfast!

Pie day was ruined. But that's a story for another day.

beach bumming 

Day five: After all the commotion that had occurred, we decided that we needed some salt water therapy. we woke up, got food, then we had  ourselves a Maui beach babe day. We had dinner that night with one of her friends. We had true Hawaiian food. It was good but looked a lot different than I was used to. Then we got cocoa puffs because it's almost impossible to be sad when you're eating those.  

Day six: It was a little hard to be as carefree my last day there. But real life is everywhere, it doesn't matter if you're in Hawaii or Utah, it will catch up to you and bite you in the ass hard. We woke up and tried to see the sun rise but it was raining so we went back to bed. When we woke up, we went to the swamp meet and I finally got me a pair of Hawaii sandals! we walked the entire thing then went to Thai for lunch and it was delicious. Then we went to some little strip mall with the most amazing book store I've ever seen. It was literally covered from wall to floor in books! Used books!! There were stacks all over and it was just beautiful. There is something so healing about books. We decided that we were going to walk the strip in Waikiki that night but it was so windy we decided to stay home. So we red boxed movies, got dressed up, picked up a pizza and had girls night and started to pack up because my flight was Sunday morning. 

Day seven: We woke up, went to the airport and off I went. The airport people are a lot nicer in Hawaii than they were in Utah. I got boarded without a problem and met a girl on my row. The kid sitting next to me was a little monster and his parents didn't say a thing. He was kicking and being annoying all six hours. When I landed in LAX, I called my mom because I wanted to talk to her. She was really one of my rocks when this all happened. But that too is another post all together. My mom really is wonderful though. I had a three hour lay over in LA, I was seriously DYING to come home at that point. Finally 7 had rolled around and I was headed home. To my own bed, my own house, and my momma.. Both my parents and my sister were at the airport when I got there and I just started bawling when I hugged my mom. That was when I knew I was safe, home, and that I would really be okay.

All in all, my trip was so  much fun. I loved Hawaii and it really taught me a lot about myself. Can't wait for my next adventure.