Ke Alaka'i Homepage

Here are five ideas specially tailored to life in Laie that can set you apart from the typical cliché box of chocolates.1. Brunch at Hukilau CaféLocated on the corner of Loala Street and Wahinepee Street, the somewhat small and intimate Hukilau Café offers a wide variety of local home-style favorites including banana pancakes and fried rice with eggs and bacon. Although more of a casual dining location, the Hukilau Café provides amazing meals for an even more amazing price. The average dish usually will cost no more than $10. The hours for Hukilau Café are from 6 a.m. to 2: p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.2. Picnic in the Temple GardensSurrounded by the lush Hawaiian flowers and manicured lawns, the Laie Hawaii Temple offers the perfect grounds for a nice intimate Valentine’s Day picnic. The Temple Garden located immediately behind the Temple provides an array of tropical flowers and aromatic breezes. The gardens are ideal for a couple, but can work for groups as well. The Temple grounds are open to the public from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.3. Hike Laie FallsIf you are looking for a more adventurous Valentine’s Day then challenge yourself and your Valentine to one of the few hikes located in Laie. Laie Falls is one of the more popular hikes; it has received an 85% and is ranked as the #5 attraction in Laie, according to Trip Advisor. It takes approximately an hour and a half to reach the summit, but provides views that are breathtaking. The trail begins at the very end of Poohaili Street.4. Beach treasure hunts Creativity goes a long way and on Valentine’s Day. Being creative just may be the way to winning that special person over. A beach scavenger hunt is always a fun thing to do, but having a successful beach scavenger hunt takes planning. To begin planning you need to figure out what beach you will be having the hunt at. Laie offers a variety of beaches including Hukilau Beach, Temple Beach and Bikini Beach. Next, decide on the type of prizes you want to have at the end of the hunt or, in some cases, during the hunt. Finally, compile a list or map of items that need to be found.5. Scenic bike rides For the outdoorsy pair, a scenic bike ride might just be the perfect Valentine’s excursion. To the south of Laie, various beach parks gain the attention of the common passerby with their white sand beaches and gleaming blue water, while to the north of Laie rolling hills and shallow valleys cover the horizon. Depending on what the mood calls for, a bike ride to the north or south could be the ultimate Valentine’s memory.Uploaded Feb. 13, 2015.

Whether spent with family or friends, watching movies or on a date, Valentine’s Day is a day to be with the ones you love. Students at BYU-Hawaii have a wide variety of plans for this day of love.Some students are planning to watch movies with friends. “I am going to have a girl’s night with my roommate,” said Maclaine Day, a freshman majoring in international cultural studies from Montana. She went on to say, “we will probably order some pizza and watch Clueless.”Brooke Parry, a freshman majoring in biology from Utah said she will be “watching movies with my roommates because my boyfriend is back at home.” However, she said she plans to send him some gifts for the holiday. Katie Callister, a sophomore majoring in business from California, is choosing to go out with friends. “My roommates and I are going to go to The Cheesecake Factory.” She said the goal is “to celebrate the single life.”Kira Nielsen, a freshman majoring in international cultural studies from Utah, had similar plans to Callister. “I am going out to dinner with my friends in Haleiwa,” said Nielsen. She mentioned that she thinks Haleiwa is fun place to be with friends. Bailey Barton, a sophomore majoring in elementary education from Colorado, however had other plans. “I will be spending time with my parents because they are visiting.” Ashlyn Jones, a freshman studying social work from California, will be spending her day in a few different ways. One of the ideas she has for herself and her friends is to attend the Valentine’s Day dance held at the school. She said she will also be “baking cookies and watching chick-flicks like the Pride and Prejudice.”Parry explained what she thinks to be the point of Valentine’s Day, “I think Valentine’s Day is a time when you show the ones you love that you actually care about them. It is like a second Christmas because I get to give gifts on a special occasion. I especially like this day because it happens to be my 2 year anniversary with my boyfriend.”These few students will be spending their Valentine’s Day with both their friends and family. The students also shared that, overall, Valentine’s Day is a fun day, whether you have a significant other or not. Uploaded Feb. 13, 2015.

Valentine’s Day means kisses, and kisses are best when your mouth is as fresh as possible, both inside and outside. Men and women should be conscious of their mouth for the sake of hygiene and of their kissing partner. Be courteous to your Frenching partner by brushing and flossing your teeth and following these at-home teeth whitening recipes as well as lip care for your special day.• Teeth Whitener:4 tps of baking soda1 strawberrya forka bowltoothbrushFloss and brush your teeth with water to clear off plaque and food. Mush up the strawberry in a bowl with the fork. When the strawberry is of an even consistency, add the baking soda and stir. Dip your toothbrush into the mixture and coat top and bottom teeth. Leave on for 7 minutes.Baking soda acts as a natural bleach, while a strawberry’s citric, malic, and ellagic acid digs into the enamel of the teeth to let the baking soda do its work. Don’t use this homemade whitening duo too often because it can strip away at your tooth enamel. Bonus: add tea tree or peppermint oil to freshen breath and kill germs as you whiten.• Fresh Breath:1 tbs coconut oilThis is called “oil-pulling,” according to everydayroots.com, a health and beauty website. Swish, push, pull, and rinse the coconut oil in your mouth for 10-15 minutes. Coconut oil’s lauric acid will get rid of bacteria in plaque that yellows your teeth, and it also makes your breath fresher.• Lip Scrub:1 tsp brown sugar1 tsp olive oila spoona bowl Mix the two ingredients together till it is a uniform consistency. This lip scrub gets your pucker as soft as rose petals. Brown sugar scrubs off dead skin cells and exfoliates the skin. Olive oil moisturizes and softens the skin. Rub the mixture into your lips with your fingers for a couple minutes and then wipe off with a cloth. • Lip Balm:1tsp coconut oil Coconut oil doubles as a breath freshener and lip balm. Rub onto your lips and leave on until soaked into your lips, or rub off if you feel too shiny before you go out.

With her eyes closed, Saren Koch smiled and cooed, “His beautiful eyes are blue with a little bit of gray, like the ocean. But today he’s wearing gray so they look a little green.”“Aw, you,” replied Donnie Winter, opening his eyes to twinkle at his girlfriend of two years.This is what you get when you talk to people who are in love. Winter’s eyes are blue, but you won’t receive a simple answer like that from Koch, a sophomore in Peace Building from Ka‘a‘awa, Oahu, who just returned to her beloved after serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission for 18 months.“It still feels like a dream that we’re together,” they said in unison. Winter, a senior in business from California, apologized, “It’s super cheesy, I’m sorry. But for real, it feels real and unreal at the same time to have her back.”After the mission age change in October of 2012, an influx of sister missionaries expanded the LDS Church’s missionary force and it seemed the phrase, “Dear Jane,” might have to be coined. “But he waited,” said Koch, holding Winter’s hand. After meeting in September of 2012, dating unofficially for months, and after their first kiss the day after Valentine’s Day, Koch left May 2013 for her 18-month mission. “He wrote me every week, and he was super careful in his letters. They weren’t filled with, ‘I miss you, I wish you were home.’ You rarely, if ever, wrote ‘I miss you,’” Koch said to Winter, nestled in his arms. “You never wrote hardcore, ‘I love you, I wish you were here,’ because you knew they were things that would distract me from the mission.” Squeezing his hand and smiling, she said “He knew how important this was to me and how much I wanted to serve my mission.”Winter explained, “I’ve always supported girls who want to go on a mission.” Although he was supportive, Winter found it hard to let Koch go. “[Before she left] I had actually kind of given up a little bit, but I just wanted to keep texting her, wanted to keep hanging out with her because I wanted to be around her. She was such a positive influence in my life. I was probably a little bit crazier about her than I realized,” he laughed.Winter’s feelings stood the test of time and distance, as did Koch’s. What kept them together, they agreed, were their letters of support and focus. Every letter ended with, “You’re amazing. I believe in you. You’re so cute. And then this hashtag, #smallkinewait,” said Koch. “It’s what he said, since way before I left. ‘Yeah, I’ll wait for you and I’ll write you on your mission. It’ll be really short—small kine wait.”’ Now that the wait is over, the duo is spending every spare moment they can together. “We go to the gym almost every morning,” said Winter. Koch laughed, saying, “I take him running.” They both giggled while Donnie explained, “I hate it. Remember on Parks and Recreation when Andy’s training for the police academy and he says running’s impossible and takes his pants off? That’s me.”Winter would do anything for Koch, he said. Even running every morning or waiting 18 months, because he’s in love. Uploaded Feb. 13, 2015

I hear women complain often how guys don’t ask them out. I’ve been the witness of aggressive conversations from date-starved women who snarl at boys, telling them they need to “shape up and date them already.” On these occasions, I ask myself, “Why would a boy want to date a bitter, slavering she-wolf?” So, ladies, I will turn that question to you for some light introspection as I ask men, “What can women do to make it easier for men to ask them out?”1. Make an effort.“Give guys the green light,” said Robert Bonds, a tall, muscular surfer from Glendora, Calif., living in Laie. “It’s not up to women to initiate romance, but chances are a lot better if they give the green light. It’s something so minor—like at FHE. If we’re screwing around and you give me a high five, some sort of interpersonal contact, a hello, a handshake, a smack on the butt or something.” Josh Wallace, a sophomore in music performance from California, served a mission in the City of Love, the France Paris Mission. He gave his own advice for women: “You know there’s a certain way a girl looks at you. They stare past your eyes—they stare into your soul. I want that. That would be something that would help me know they’re into me.” Making an effort to show men you’re interested varies from man to man, ranging from butt slaps to soul-staring. However, what Wallace advised women to do is use their body language and tone of voice to show men they’re interested. In a faux-feminine falsetto, Wallace cooed a sample of correct body language and tone, “Hey Josh, umm, it’s so good to see you,” he said as he flipped imaginary curls. “Ooooh, you’re so beautiful and you’re buff, whoa-WOW! You’re so strong! Oh! We should just hang out.” Wallace’s friends called his simpering tone, “Minnie Mouse-like,” but he disagreed, and said, “If girls just do that in their daily activities—if they want any guy to ask them out, it would be a lot easier and we’d see more dates on campus.”2. Make space.For Harry Potter fans, you will recall the fourth film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” during which Harry and Ron try to ask girls to the Yule Ball. Harry asks Ron, who is no more astute in the art of wooing than the Boy Who Lived, “Why do they always travel in packs? You can’t get one alone!” Jacob Moss, a sophomore in music composition from Oregon, observed a similar phenomenon at BYU-Hawaii. “Girls do this thing where they are always bunched up in their friend groups. In their mind, they’re just hanging out with their friends, but a guy sees that and thinks he doesn’t really see an opportunity to talk to her. He doesn’t want to fight off her friends.” Moss counseled, “You need to leave a little alone time for yourself next to cute boys if you want them to talk to you.”3. Make time.College is a busy time for people, and “the type of guy you want to date is going to realize this,” said Moss. “I know what girls do. They pretend they have all the time in the world when they like you, and when they don’t like you, they’re always busy,” said Moss. This is generally common knowledge among men, said Moss, and the way to use this to your advantage is to make time for the gentleman you like. Moss said “the most important part of the scenario” is if he likes you, the gentleman will “make it happen.” Otherwise, you’re wasting your time. 4. Make a date.“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with girls asking a guy out,” said Bonds. “I think guys are so worried about getting shut down because it happens all the time, and I’m sure girls are worried about the same thing.” So give men a break and take a risk. “Guys would like it if girls asked them on dates,” said Moss. While some question whether this means women have to pay for the date or not, as a believer in “feminist dates,” where women drive and pay, and wear pants to show how far women have come since the 1800s, I think it’s only right women give men a break from paying. However, Moss, a supporter of women’s rights, commented, “If you prescribe yourself to certain gender expectations, it would be kind of emasculating if the girl paid, but maybe you could go for a very liberating halfsie [Dutch] date.”

After 43 years of being married and 50 years together in love, BYU-Hawaii Health Center Dr. Douglas Nielson and his wife, Madelyn, said the key to their marriage is the honor they give to the covenants of the temple and the blessings they have received from them. The best part of their marriage, they said, is their five children and their temple covenants. “Our greatest thing is having been sealed together in the temple,” said Doug. “Keeping our covenants and remembering the promises has gotten us through many, many hard times.”The two recounted the beginning of their story. Douglas Nielson and Madelyn Hollingshead met at Beaver High School in Beaver, Utah, in 1965. At the beginning of her first year in high school, Madelyn was a J.V. cheerleader and Doug was the star J.V. basketball player. They were always around each other, and one night after a school assembly, Doug swooped in and began flirting with Madelyn. “It was one of those love at first sight things,” he said. After love at first sight, they went on a date. She told the story: “My sister let me borrow her pretty new sweater and skirt, and we met at the school dance. I danced with him and afterward, he took me to dinner that night.” She ended, “He kissed me goodnight on the porch. Then I stood by my bed and I knew I had just been with the man I was going to marry someday. It was amazing.”Having dated through high school, she waited for him while he was in Taiwan on his LDS mission. She said one of her sweetest memories happened in the Summer of 1971, as Elder Nielson came home from his mission. The two went for a hike together up the mountains in Beaver. They stood at the top of the mountains, and “he told me that he knew he loved me. He really loved me,” she said. He described the memory as well: “The sun was setting and the full moon was coming up over the mountains. I was standing there in awe of the glories of God’s creations and overwhelmed with my love for her and the eternal possibilities of us being together.” She was on the Cougarette dance team at BYU until she traded that title for “wife” on July 21, 1972, in Minersville, Utah. “It wasn’t hard for me,” she said about giving up the extracurricular activities she was a part of. “I loved him.”That love carried them through all manner of hard times, they said. “One of the important things I want to share about our marriage is that without [Madelyn] there, I would have never made it through medical school,” He said. “It’s the power of the faithful, devoted companion.”Looking at Madelyn, he said, “There have been many joyous and happy times together, but the thing that we look at that has strengthened us is the power of the trials we have faced together.” Two years ago, Madelyn had a stroke. For a while, she did not have the use of her left arm or leg. Because of their devotion to their temple promises and to each other, they have been able to remain together and get through this tremendous trial, he said. She added, “He told me he would always take care of me.” Doug said by going to the temple together and remembering the promises made there, their marriage and love will last through any trials that come their way. Uploaded Feb. 12, 2015.

Valentine’s Day can be expensive when you’re trying to spoil that special someone. But as broke college students, there are ways to accomplish showing your love on a budget. By doing small, creative things, you can show your affection on Valentine’s Day. “A bouquet of flowers can make a girl’s day,” said Emily Brown, an education major from Idaho. Bringing a rose to that girl you have had your eye on can be the start to a great Valentine’s Day. Brooke Dillingham, an art major from California, said, “Sometimes the simplest of things turn out to be the best when it comes to romance.” Don’t over think your plans, keep things fun and relaxed. Start out your night with a nice dinner or romantic picnic. There’s no need to go all out. Making a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and heading out to the beach for a sunset picnic is more than acceptable and only costs a few dollars -- but the experience? Priceless.If you feel like getting out of town, head over to Kaneohe for a bite to eat. Don’t forget to document your night by stopping at the mall and taking some pics in the photo booth. Valentine’s Day isn’t the time to show off by buying that special someone a gift you can’t afford. Although you would like to be able to go all out for the person you love, it’s not always possible or needed. If you are a limited budget, consider making something. Here are some additional ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts from familylife.com. • Make a book about why you love your special someone and why you are thankful for him/her. The woman who sent this idea wrote, “He loved it! Said it was the best gift he has ever gotten. And it helped me to focus on the things I love about my husband and not his shortcomings.” • Take your sweetie on a scavenger hunt. Ask him/her to answer riddles to find the clues to items that you placed somewhere around town. The last item should give instructions that lead to your Valentine’s Day activities. • Enjoy a candlelight dinner for two at home and watch a romantic movie. • Give your honey a rose while reading a love poem. • Order food from a take-out restaurant and have a picnic for all the Valentines in your home or apartment to include everyone. • Make a meal with symbols of love. Examples: Write I love you with string beans or make a cake in the shape of a heart. • Hide little heart candies in your special someone’s shoes, coat, car, etc. The woman who suggested this said she has been doing this for decades. “Now a couple of the grandkids help me with delight.” • Fill a jar with Valentine candy and notes about why you love the person. • Write a poem for your sweetheart and frame it. • On individual note cards, write why you love your honey.Insert these cards in a small photo album. The woman who suggested this idea began her album with a honeymoon picture and introductory note card, and ended it with a love note. • Make a special “14 Reasons I Love You” Valentine’s Day breakfast for your sweetheart. On his/her plate, leave a letter or card listing 14 reasons why you love them. Whether it’s a treat, a card, or a piece of jewelry, it will make their day as long as it comes from the heart. The most important thing is to enjoy the time spent with your significant other. Experts say that is what really matters. Uploaded Feb. 12, 2015.

Valentine’s Day is not the only holiday that symbolizes love. China has long had Qi Xi set aside as s day to commemorate love. Li Yang, a junior in business from China, who got married at BYU-Hawaii in June 2013, shared his opinion about Qi Xi and Valentine’s Day; “I personally think there is no difference between Valentine’s Day and Qi Xi, because both are the specific time for expressing love. Chinese people would like to have a romantic date on either one with their lovers. We may feel these days are the best time to do something special like making a proposal or getting married. I think it is important to have this kind of holiday because more and more people don’t express their love to others, and this is a good opportunity to do so.”Niu Lang, the main character of the Chinese myth that started the Qi Xi celebrations, took the opportunity to show his love to his wife in a big way. In the myth, Niu Lang lived with his brother until his brother got married to a horrible woman who drove Niu Lang out. He then lived by himself herding cattle and farming. Later on, a fairy from heaven called Zhi Nv came down secretly to the earth, saw this hard working boy and fell in love with him. They got married and started their happy life together. Soon Zhi Nv gave birth to a boy and a girl. A few years later, their cow was about to die from old age, and suddenly it said to Niu Lang, “Keep my skin after I die. Sooner or later you will need it for an emergency.” As Zhi Nv enjoyed her life on the earth, the Queen-Mother of Heaven found out and came to take her back. As his wife was being taken away, Niu Lang remembered the cow and used the skin to fly after her. When he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen-Mother took her gold hairpins and slashed the sky, making a billowy river appear in front of Niu Lang, separating him and his wife.They looked at each other with tears in their eyes but never got closer. Day by day, their loyalty to love touched the souls of magpies, so thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for them to meet each other. The Queen-Mother heard tale of the bridge, and eventually her heart softened enough to allow them to meet each other once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Hence their meeting date has been called “Qi Xi,” as “Qi” is the pronunciation of “seven” in Chinese. On that day, poets write love poems, lovers raise lanterns, and others celebrate the day in various ways in hopes for a romantic, happy and sweet love.Yingchun Chen, a junior in EXS from Taiwan, shared her opinion about Qi Xi and Valentine’s Day: “Both of them are very romantic, but the story of Qi Xi seems more sad. Now, most of the people in Taiwan celebrate Valentine’s Day more than Qi Xi. Most of the young people don’t even know where the Qi Xi came from and don’t know the story.” Chen explained she believes it is good to remember and practice traditional Chinese culture.Tandric Bench, a sophomore from Indonesia in business finance, said, “I don’t have a girlfriend so I don’t care about Valentine’s Day too much. But, comparing Valentine’s Day with Qi Xi, I think the creation of Qi Xi was more related to love and couples. The Qi Xi story has stronger romantic emotions than Valentine’s Day.”Uploaded Feb. 12, 2015