Jollyday Season

Being busy with school and work distracted me from realizing the rhyme and reason to the season. A few things stood out this Christmas that made everything more special and helped me remember what Christmas is all about.
I think the first thing was that when I talked to my brother Kaihe on the phone, he said "bye! Merry Christmas!" I was like woah! Ok! Ok! :D
Also, I watched a great movie that has now become one of my favorites. It's called Joyeux Noel. It's about Christmas time in 1914 on the WWI battlefield. I highly recommend watching it! Christmas time or not, it's a great movie.
And for the most intersting thing...3 Japanese kids stayed with us for 10 days to enjoy Christmas with us. They're names are Ryo, Go, and Hiroko. Ohh my gosh they were sooo funny! It was so fun to have them here! They barely spoke any english but we still found ways to communicate. We taught them english words and they taught us Japanese words. A lot of inventive sign language was used too. I was really excited to hang out with them. I guess I just really wanted to have a big impact on them and I wanted them to have a good experience.

My nephews and nieces really liked them too. They all had a lot of fun together. My two oldest nephews wrote a long list of Japanese words so they could try to speak to them. But, as crazy as they are, they would sometimes ramble off thinking that Ryo, Go, and Hiro could understand. That wouldn't work out so well. Hiro (11) is funny - he would say "ah, yes" and repeat whatever you said. He did not know english. Ryo and Go (13) are the oldest ones and they knew a little more.
They toured around the island with the group they came with, but most of the time they stayed with us and we took them to different places. They really liked "shaving ice" and the fireknife dancing and they also really liked playing cards. They went Christmas caroling with us - the only song they knew in English was We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We sang that a lot in the past few days. :)


Christmas Eve was kinda weird because Mom and Dad didn't do any shopping so they had to go on Christmas Eve. So at home it was only Me, my little sister and brother with the 3 Japanese kids. I made Char Siu chicken and we had our little meal around the table. It was nice. Then finally everyone came home and we had a party and played games.

So I realized I'm still a little kid and I still get excited Christmas morning. I was the first to wake up (at 8:30) and I danced around the house while waking everyone up. I was just anxious to have Christmas with the Japanese boys, and also to see what my mom and dad thought of the gifts I got them..

I'm just grateful because I realized that Christmas is about sharing and loving. But the love is not measured by the price tag of gifts. It is the giving of gifts that is most enjoyable as you see the happiness that you have shared. This Christmas, my family was able to share our Aloha with three youngs boys from Japan who all really grew to love us too.
As the Christmas season comes to an end, I keep reminding myself that these feelings of love and gratitude do not end. I can continue to share whatever I have to make others happy and to fulful their needs.

So Christmas was interesting and different than usual, but that's what makes it all memorable. Aloha to all, and to all a great year!

Moving on to moving pictures

I made a promo video for the BYUH Men's basketball team. It's on YouTube. There is the short commercial version and the longer highlight version. Here is the commercial:



There's another video that has inspired me and my worldviews. A video that makes me cry and laugh. A video that makes me envious of the creator. Take a look...



Filming and editing is something I love to do and I hope to learn more and grow in the industry so I can create videos of the things that are important to me that will also inspire others.

I hope you have enjoyed these videos! Mahalo for coming by!

Gramma's 80th

My Grandma is 80 years old. Viola Ku'uleimomi Akina. We just held a huge party for her and it was amazing - unlike any usual birthday party - it was a family reunion. Even my Grandpa's siblings came from Maui! I haven't met my Grandpa or any of his family, so I was very emotional and grateful for it all. My Grandma was very happy and excited to see everyone and especially shocked to see the slideshow I put together for everyone to see...
I had gathered over 120 pictures of her - old and newer pictures.

Funny story...she made that skirt herself out of a shower curtain and cellophane! She and her sister was dancing for the returning troops coming in at the base. I guess she got too close to the guys and one of them grabbed her, and bit her butt. Yes, you heard me. Bit her bootay. He had cellophane stuck in his teeth...... uh...awkward.

Grandma and Grandpa, Wedding Day, September 29, 1946
Arnubi & Viola Akina

Grandma and friend.
Grandma was taken to the hospital this day because of heat exhaustion.

This is the family! Left to right, top: Uncle Alex, Uncle Eugene, Uncle Renny, Uncle Frankie, DAD. Bottom: Auntie Lei, Auntie Pam, Gramma, Auntie Gail.

Travel

There are so many places I want to see. I want to go to Africa. I want to go to Australia. I want to travel the states and visit all the National Parks. Europe, Mexico, Guatemala :), all of the Hawaiian islands, everywhere. Hopefully I will be so fortunate...


This summer I went to Las Vegas for my brother's wedding. Honestly, the only things I really worried about taking on the trip were my dress for the reception, and my camera. On the plane ride to Nevada, I sat by another photographer! We talked the whole flight about her professional photographer career, and dreams that we had, and just getting to know each other generally. Talking to her really inspired me to keep working and having fun with photography. [[Shout out to Karen! Mahalo! www.karentabaranza.com]]

I really wanted to experiment with the lights of the Vegas strip, which turned out kinda cool but I realized the city is just too crazy for me.









I definitely wanted some good pictures of the desert. We only had a few days, so I had to be very dedicated. We took the short drive up to St. George, Utah and I sat in the car marveling at the desert beauty.



It's completely different from the tropical lusts here on the islands. I was now looking at a red, orange, and brown world.

On one side of the highway the sun was setting, silhouetting the mountain range. On the other side was a big white moon, rising over the red desert.

A Day Through The Lens

Aloha! I am proud to present my new photography blog. Life through a lens.

Recently... Berni, Ryan, Sara and I went hunting for some cool shots around town. With our digital cameras and newly acquired manual film cameras strapped to every shoulder, we made a few heads turn and envy us for sure. Here are a few shots I got, but they got wonderful photos of the awesome antique store we shopped at, and some great portraits of the local people.