Hawaii!

Okay now for the good stuff! Why I must work on updating this frequently.

I, once again, am far from home and have to keep all my faithful followers updated on my many adventures!
So to start off, my Dad and I flew into Honolulu on the 28th and had almost a week to ourselves to explore!
We stayed with my favorite uncle, Uncle David and were able to catch up with alot of old friends and family and tour around.



We ended up going to alot of Cemeteries. The top two pictures above are from the WWII Memorial cemetery. We also visited my grandparents, and uncle Steve's gravesites.

Hawaii is full of different cultures meaning lots of cool buildings!

My personal tour guide had all sorts of local places to show me.

This lookout shows Diamond Head and Honolulu

Beautiful water!

Pearl Harbor

Buddhist Temple!

It was like I was on vacation until Dad dropped me off with my stuff at school...

Puzzles

Most puzzles have hundreds, even thousands of pieces.

Ours has three.

Yup us three together and BAM! amazing.

Plus this little pip squeak Bella who usually lights up every moment with her adorable laugh.

On my last day we were going to go out and eat some fancy lunch but why waste our money when what we really want is to be at home eating Mac and Cheese!

Our fabulous chef Lauren prepared the meal

And it was delectible with coconut cake to finish it off (my personal favorite)

We wore whatever and were loud and as messy as we wanted!

It was fabulous. Nothing is better.

Starla, Emily's new puppy was even there to join us!

And then it was time to say goodbye.

(Notice how upset I am while they can't contain their smiles?)

Fantastic Four

Say hello to my new friends

Zack and Steve!

Erica introduced me to her step brother Zack and his best friend Steve and we just all clicked!

We were pretty much inseperable for the last 3 weeks of december.

We even got matching watches, more than once too. Here is mine and erica's.

We liked to spend our late night at the local diner Mels.

We even had a favorite waitress. I'd post a picture of her but I haven't gotten it from Steve.

On my last night,  Angie (our waitress) even won me a necklace out of the claw machine there.

She loved us!

We also lived for peanutbutter chocolate milkshakes from Sharis.

Delicious.

We've taken about a million pictures together. We are always laughing.

And entertaining eachother.

I even got flowers from Zack before I left.

We make an amazing team and would do anything for one another.

We are the Fantastic Four!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

Last year while I was hanging out in Colombia I missed the first annual ugly christmas sweater party held by the Bueges!

Luckily this year I was able to make it.

We got to reunite with old friends like Kevin here who I haven't seen since the Ike-WV game our sophomore year or something! He was a riot though.

No party at the Buege's is complete without an official photoshoot!

I love all the different snapshots!

We're adorable.

And like to take jumping pictures. haha

Allison took Lauren and I on a scavenger around the house taking pictures in random places.

Above is in her coat closet and below is the fridge!

Cuties!

Oh did you like all of sweaters?? I can't remember who got best but they were all pretty awesome.

There was also a gingerbread man decorating competition. I think I  ended up eating mine before the judging, but it was soo fun!

Halloween

As it has been a tradition for the past several years Lauren, Emily and I got together once again to carve pumpkins!!

before

After! not bad eh!

We're amazing.

lets take a look at us two years ago

We haven't changed at all huh!

Olive Garden

It's only appropriate to fill in the last few months leading up to where I am now.

Meet VicTOR

During the first few days when I thought nobody spoke english, out of the trees comes this kid

We started chatting it up everyday as I did my rounds. (he had alot of bruising so I had to be there alot)

One day I was getting alot of crap from one of the pickers about how 'bonita' I was and blah blah and Victor was like 'I'll take care of it. I'll say you're my girlfriend and tell him to leave you alone.'

And that was that. It worked!

Oh did I mention most of his family worked there too!?

They were amazing. I ended up calling his parents suegro and suegra (mother in law and father in law) while they called me daughter in law. I think I mentioned this earlier but they did not speak any english. Haha! It was fun and hard. His mom showed me how to make tortillas and always send some food with the boys for me too. Yum.

Oh and his like 3 brothers and 2 cousins. They were awesome and we still talk every once in a while!

This is Marianna. A super good friend who I met working. She suggested we go on a double date!

Here we are with Victor and Julio her husband. Awww

We dated for most of the season (yes my boss knew) but ended up going our own ways after harvest.

It's always sad when that happens but we all had a great time and I wouldn't take back any of it.

Apple Harvest

For the second season I worked for CM Holtzinger Fruit Co doing Quality Control.

Yup QC for apples just like I do Quality Assurance for salmon.

Quality is my middle name! Or just my calling in life. 

Everyday, usually starting at 6 am I would clock in and be on my way in my company vehicle, a 2004 Chevy Silverado that I miss very much.  I really want a truck now.
When I started in August it would get into the 90's which helped me get a little tan after my summer in ak.  An by the last week we'd be gathering around the little fire because it was still only 20 degrees waiting for the apples to unfreeze.
It was great!
Some of my favorite parts are...
All I could eat fresh apples.. duh
ones in the store, especially after they have been in the cold room, just aren't the same
Delicious warm pan and hot chocolate (with straight from the cow) in the mornings
Blasting music in the truck to and from work
Learning how to make tortillas
Learning all sorts of new words and actually having to use them like bruising, worms,  and put the back in slower etc..
New friends!
Getting super close with my boss
Yes a boyfriend.. plus a whole new family!
(They totally adopted me and the parents didn't speak any english! But we did our best)
Learning how to milk a cow
Everyday burritos from the Granger gas station!
Learning more about their culture
Alot of laughs and good times
Money
and so much more!

Not only was it a great job, but also another amazing expierance full of awesome people.

You should listen to this

I know it's like a ten year old boy but I lovee the lyrics.