michelle lately

Just returned home from the Utah Jazz sponsor trip to Kauai with my dad. It was so much fun to hang out with my dad and have not a worry or concern in the world. zuri stayed home with my mom and sisters (thank you for watching her and taking good care of her) and nick was left to do terrible hours at work (sorry babe). i gained 5 lbs due to the amazing fish dinners, fish tacos, virgin fruit drinks, amazing breakfasts, desserts, desserts and more desserts...nothing like enjoying a free trip with free food. i had the opportunity to meet some incredible people who are very successful. i was surprised to find how kind and funny they were. There are a few couples that i wish were close and could become my besties...one couple i am determined to go and visit in seattle. hope they were sincere on their offer! ha ha ha.

where was I when the world heard the devastating news of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in japan? i was getting ready for bed at the grand hyatt in kauai hawaii. i am so sad for those people. how horrifying to be able to watch the devastation take place—yes technology saved a lot of people, and yes it is amazing that they were somewhat warned and got the helicopters off the ground, but i hated every minute (couldn't take my eyes off) of watching the news and watching the monstrous wave taking out lives. why does their have to be tragedy? all those helpless children and animals that don't even know what was going on and the men and women not knowing it was coming to protect them and themselves. i feel sick inside that life goes on for all of us so far away and that we can laugh when such pain is occurring. kauai is the closest hawaii island to japan and we were under tsunami warning all night. luckily my dad and i were on the top level and we didn't have to move to another room like most of the others in our hotel (we later found out that those staying in the marriot (close by) were allowed to grab a pillow and then they had to leave the hotel and stay in the walmart parking lot in cars and the store. the tsunami was to arrive just before 3am. at first i was nervous and sick inside—i left my baby and nick and put myself at risk, but we soon found out the wave was to be only 6ft. we were totally safe and i wanted to stay up and watch, so dad and i put a movie on (we attempted to watch this movie 3 times throughout the trip and were never successful) but we fell asleep within 10 minutes. woke up at around 6am to hear the "captain" on the intercom announce that we were now under tsunami advisory. i woke up thinking i was on a cruise. some of the sponsors stayed up and they talked about how the news made the arrival of the tsunami like new years eve and they all stayed up and drank and waited for the arrival—which ended up being hardly anything. we were blessed. i am sorry japan that you aren't able to laugh off the warning. i am sorry for laughing. i am sorry.

back to fun parts of the trip (which i felt guilty for). the next morning we thought our zip line excursion would be canceled, but it was postponed a half hour and soon we were sleepily off to zip line. it was fun. i was able to meet some more people on the trip as well as the employees. it made me miss living in hawaii. i love the layed-back people of hawaii. the zip line was like a miniature golf course compared to the real golf course i had experienced in costa rica. still fun. went on a over 6 mile run along beach and a sunny dirt road, layed by pool, couple of hikes and suddenly the trip was over.

i was so excited to see my little zuri. i walked in to the house and zuri gave a huge smile—it was adorable. i couldn't believe how much she changed in 6 days. she is so beautiful and adorable.

miranda has been running for student body vice president for the past 2 weeks and i have been helping her with her campaign by screen printing tshirts, making posters and banners and giving her really bad ideas. she came up with a great slogan, "whoopee vote miranda for vp". she wore our halloween whoopie cushion costume during lunch, passed out whoopie cushions and other random stuff and it was hilarious. nice job mandas. Last friday from 3pm to 5pm she was to find out if she made it by either getting visited by them (which meant she made it) or a phone call of devastation. it was intense. all the girls sat in mandas room from 4:15 on to await the news and it was killing us. every phone call our hearts sunk. soon heather and i went to the window and we saw 3 random cars parked and some balloons exit one of the cars...hurray!!! jackie, heather, mom and myself ran downstairs and put on our past officer sweaters and cheered miranda on. hilarious. looks like viewmonters are smart people and know a cool girl when they see her. i do feel really bad that there have to be losers in life. miranda said that she met some really neat people on her campaign that were running as well.

that's the update. house is coming along. before my kauai trip, my sweet mom spent 8.5 hours working on a kitchen wall with me. i wanted to have an industrial cement wall in my kitchen and we attempted to create one ourselves. 8.5 grueling hours—after the first hour we were ready to scrape it off and not do it, but we persevered and it is staying there—whether i like it or not. i haven't seen it in person but nick sent me pictures. tomorrow is going to be a big work day on the house. really want to move in soon. ridiculous that we have owned the house for 8 months and still not living in it. yargh.