Aaron Eskaran

Aloha friends. Re-introducing the multi-talented Aaron Eskaran!! At times life may distract this guy but when he gets into something he really attacks things to the fullest. Take for example the flying Hawaiian picture above. First time in the winter snow and already he is shredding like a pro :). Aaron is a very inspiring, creative force to be around, you’ll SEE what I mean once your done reading this post.


Aaron is a true local boy. Born and raised in Hawaii in December of 81. I remember the first time the boys left the rock was when they went to the Rose Bowl with the Kahuku Marching Band. I think that was maybe junior year. After that Aaron never left the islands until it was time for him to serve a mission in Japan in April 2001.
Kahuku Grad class of '99 Aaron got into the arts and music while in high school. Playing trumpet from 7th grade on Aaron also joined local band RUKUS, now known as UPSTANDING YOUTH! Aaron plays and sing backup vocals for UY. They have played tons of shows, opened for big international bands, and even toured the west cost.


After the mish Aaron returned to BYU-Hawaii and got right into the arts. If any of you have seen his paintings or his photography you know what I’m talking about. Breathtaking. See for yourself.







Aaron graduated from BYU-Hawaii with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2006 then last year moved on to get his masters from BYU-Provo where he is working on that currently. Aaron is an aspiring photographer and does wedding, photo shoots, the works…so if you in the area and need some family pictures or head shots give this guy a call. He says “I hope to be a free lance artist that can do it all.”

Aaron is dating Johanna Franco from Maryland. He says “Awesome beautiful girl who I met on a hike on the stairway to heaven just before I left to Grad School.” They have both been hanging out in Provo for the last year and now are on the road to Johanna’s home in Maryland for a little bit then both back to Hawaii for spring and summer fun.



Travels? “I went on a mission to Nagoya, Japan the same time as Adam. I have also been on tour with Uptstanding Youth during the summer of 2007 to Hollywood CA, Las Vegas Nevada, Albuquerque New Mexico, Provo Utah, and back to Cali to play a show in Santa Monica. Other than that Kahuku,Hawaii. And a bunch of times to Maui and the Big Island.”

What’s up with the band? “Upstanding Youth is going strong and we are hoping to tour the East Coast at the end of this upcoming summer. We are working on a new album and the recording for that has already begun. We are aiming for that to be done before we go on tour so we have a new product to sell.” Keep an eye on www.upstandingyouth.com


What are your future plans? “Get married and catch up with the rest of you”

What do you miss the most about the old days?
“Not having to worry about anything other than where the best waves were going to be the next day… and running around in the mountains with Lona. Just chillin’ with the boys when we all had no girls! Haha Playing football on Moana St.” Good times.

Where was your peaceful place in Hawaii?
“On the point at Pounders. I have gotten some of my best photos from that angle. I sit up there for hours just watching and thinking about life.”



If you went back to Laie for one day what would you do? “Spend time with my family who is there and see my niece (Adam’s daughter Ava).”

Tell me something you've learnt in the last 10 years:
“Life throws you curve balls at you all day and sometimes you miss even though you know its coming.”

Favorite Websites?
www.pandora.com- awesome Internet music site
www.upstandingyouth.com
http://aaroneskaran.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/photos/hynpoloboy - that’s “HA-WHY-N Poloboy” not “HIN”
www.myspace.com/aaroneskaran
Also feel free to hit Aaron up at:Aeskaran@gmail.com

THE LAST FIVE:
- all time favorite band: Upstanding Youth
- favorite local food: RICE!
- favorite beach: Pounders
- Obama or Your mama (a.k.a Hillary): Obama
- famous last words: “No make tantaran”


If your going to be in Hawaii or need a reason to be there you'll want to come to a show next month. May 23rd. The reason i'm posting this info here is because not only will i be playing but Upstanding Youth will be playing as well. Should be fun so come hang out and use your tax return to buy a ticket home :).

Michelle | The Woods Family

Michelle Woods (Kehoe) is a bundle of talent and spunk! Always has been and I doubt she will ever stop. Me being the short guy in Vocal Motion usually put my dancing with the shortest girl which would be Michelle. Before that was her equally sized sister Mandy. Those dancing days are long gone and I wish I still had the moves hahaha.


So let’s catch up shall we. :)

Michelle lived in Hawaii from 1992 to 2001 coming back to the North Shore on and off though probably forever. Her family moved to Laie point (remember that house? I do. That house had a firkin elevator! haha) from Northern California. Graduating with the 2000 crew from Kahuku Michelle soon after spent Spring of 2001 at BYU-Provo and went on to get her BFA there as well in Photography and a minored in Advertising. She started on her Masters degree but the power of love took over and she got married and moved to California instead. She still plans to finish up some time in the next 5 years though.

Michelle married Frank Reginald Woods II (aka Reggie) from West Jordan, Utah. Michelle says “leave it to me to find the one Mormon black guy in Utah ;))” LOL. That’s so racist haha. Just playing ;P. They were married in the Laie Hawaii Temple on May 19th 2007 and now live in live in Southern California. Irvine but plan on getting a place in Aliso Viejo “with the most amazing view.” No kiddies just yet but are having fun being kids themselves. Get a room! Haha.

Travel List | Where have you been that last 10 years?
“Lets see I've been to Canada a few times, Mexico and Europe. California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska (The picture or Reggie on the boat is from Alaska), Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, DC and well a number of other states. So I like to travel what can I say.”


So what’s going on now? “We're just working and playing. Reggie is a Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch and I teach high school photography but my favorite thing is doing my freelance work. We're buying a house as we speak so if all goes well we'll have a luau and pool party at our new place in Southern California before you know it.” Count me in for the pool party!

Future plans? “Reggie loves his job and he's amazing at it and well I can do photography anywhere so it looks like we'll be in Southern California for a while. If things change we'll head up to the bay area (San Francisco) but besides that I'm stay as close to the ocean as possible. My parents are still in Sunset so it's a quick 5 hour flight to the North Shore any time I get home sick but besides that California will have to do.”

Michelle’s photography is EPIC! We have a bunch of awesome photographers from our group as a mater of fact. Mrs. B must have done some good for you guys hey? She inspired me that’s for sure.
Anyways, Meesh should have a photography website up and running in the next few months. “I'm just super picky about everything so it's been hard getting everything exactly how I want it. Plus I'm super busy with everything else but someday it will be www.michellekwoods.com.” FYI for now that website is home to a blue sun it looks like haha. Pretty awesome but not as awesome as your photos so get on it!!

What do you miss the most about the old days?
“Clean beaches! California is warm, beautiful and convenient but the beaches are a far cry from those of the North Shore.”

Where was your peaceful place in Hawaii?
“My parent’s deck. It over looks more than half the beaches on the North Shore. What's not peaceful and amazing about that.”

If you went back to Laie for one day what would you do? “I'd drive up to Sunset to be with my parents. :) My family left Laie when I got to Kahuku High so I was one of the few members of the group that actually commuted to Laie when I needed to be there.” Well fine den! Hahaha. Frik! Laie wouldn’t want to hang out with you N-E-WAYS! hahahahaha. HAAIIIITERRR! (Read that in a Laie chevron drag queen voice)

Tell me something you've learnt in the last 10 years? I've learned to work hard and play even harder. I'm sure that will change once we have kids but in the mean time . . .


THE LAST FIVE:
- all time favorite band: The Beach Boys
- favorite local food: Kalu Pork
- favorite beach: Waimea Bay
- Obama or Your mama (a.k.a Hillary): I'm keeping my fingers crossed for John McCain and Romney for vice ;) . . . I'm a republican what can I say.
- famous last words: . . . I'll let you know my famous last words when I'm 85 ;)


The Woods couple has a blog. www.reggieandmichelle.blogspot.com so feel free to drop them lines there or hit me up at Cubworld@gmail.com and I’ll connect you.

Andrea | The Low Family

ANDRIA!!!!!!!!!! Hey guys. Here’s Andrea and her family. The Low family! Andria Low, formally known as Hopkinson moved to Laie early 1999. Some of you might remember the bitter sweet emotions she had about being in Laie which I totally understand. Who would want to leave their home town mid Senior year? Not me! She came and we’re glad she did. The Hopkinson house was the bomb (who says that anymore? “I do”) on Sunday nights.

Andrea graduated class of 99, tried a year at BYU-Hawaii then moved back to Utah in 2000.

Andrea met her husband Court (Courtland) Low in April of 1995, had their first date April 18th 1998 (happy anniversary guys!) and then married in April 13th 2001. Court’s from South Jordan, UT. He works with Disabled teens that’ve been removed from their homes. In the fall he'll be going back to school to finish his Bachelors Degree in Social Work and Criminal Justice! Right now Andrea is being a full time mom and working full time for a health insurance company. She says “I work from home, so yes I do both full time!” Doesn’t get any better then that. The Lows have been living in Murray Utah for 4 years and plan on being there for a while so if your in the neighborhood make sure and stop by.

Meet the Low girls. 2 cute girls, Skyler - 6 years old and Ellyit - 1 month old.
Skyler
Ellyit

What do you miss the most about the old days? “Late night runs to 7 Eleven with Heather - Melona bars, I'd never had one till we moved there and I LOVE them!!!! And Cereal nights - we should totally start those up again, the first one can be at my house!!!!!”

Contact info to get a hold of Andrea feel free to hit her up at ancolow@hotmail.com or by phone: 801-558-5105
For those of you in the SLC area Andria and the family will be having their baby blessing on May 4th. If you’d like to attend email Andrea for directions and time. Later that night we are thinking of having a Lupulu, panipopo, im drooling, get together hahaha. We’ll have a meeting for da kine grinds at my house. I’ll post my address later but if you can block out this date and come hang out we would love to have you.

The Kongaika’s and the Low’s have caught the drive in movies on redwood last year and as soon as this Utah weather figures out what its doing we plan on heading out again. Good time for the kids and another chance for us all to hang out and chill. Lets us know if your interested and we’ll keep you in the loop next time we head down. As always Cubworld@gmail.com :)

FYI: Check out new BLOG LINKS (Other Bloggers) for Andrea and Lauren. Say "HI" :)

Derek Smith | NEW BABY!!

Hey friends. Some of you might remember Derek Smith. He was in Laie from his 6th-9th grade years with us. I wont do a full update on him but i wanted to let you all know about his new bundle of joy. Introducing KOVEN DEREK SMITH.

I dropped in on the Proud daddy and Derek and wife Hailee are very excited about the new addition. Koven is 5 days old in these pictures.




More to come on Derek in future updates. They don't go online much at all but if you'd like to get a hold of him email me and i'll get you his phone number cubworld@gmail.com

Also coming up soon on the 808update are updates from
Andria
Michelle
Aaron

Thanks guys for answering my Q&As and sending me pics. I really enjoy doing these posts and catching up with you all. More to come :)

Brooke | The Tu'ifua Family

Brooke Tu’ifua a.k.a Brooke Barker is in the house! Joining the Moana Street crew back in 94 most of us know the Barker family. Her brother Brandon was in the 2000 crew. The Barkers were always seemed laid back and fit right in with the island styles.

Brooke lived on Moana Street from 1994 to 2001, except for a year (97-98) when her dad traded teaching spots with another BYU Provo professor. She spent her Freshman year in Utah. She graduated from Kahuku High School in 2001 and took off back to BYU Provo. In 2005 Brooke graduated from BYU with a degree in English.

Brooke was no match for resisting the ‘horse force’ and fell in love with Tongan stud and soldier Vakameilalo (Vaka) Tu’ifua. Vaka is from Mu’a. I grew up with the Tu’fuas and know Vaka and his family very well. I probably could'nt name all his siblings as I think he has like 40 of them hahaha. Tongan style :).

I asked Brooke how they met and she said “ I have to share how we met cause its a great story. :) I had just ended a long, bad relationship and a friend told me she had a friend I should email, that it was safe because I couldn't date him because he was deployed to Iraq. So I did. :) Long story short, he got injured and returned sooner than planned and we met for the first time in April 2006 in Hawaii... I was going back to visit after 5 long years away and he was going to visit his family. It just so happened that his oldest sister and brother-in-law, Annetta and Hopate Taufa had been in my ward growing up with Annetta as my YW leader for all 6 years. Small world. :) He moved back to Utah a few weeks after our vacation to finish school, we were engaged that October and married in Laie in June 2007.” Brooke and Vaka now live in Draper, Utah.


Just over a year of being married the Tu’ifuas are having their first baby due September 14th. “We are very excited, especially now that morning sickness is over.” They will be finding out about the sex of the baby in a little bit here. Brooke is cheering for a girl and Vaka is hoping for a boy. My guess Is a boy :). They got a lot of kids to make to reach the Tongan standard of 50 kids haha. Just playing, Kind of :) haha.

What kind of travels have you done? “Not much of a world traveler yet, but that should change. :) We did go down to Mexico for our Honeymoon, and we're planning a trip to Tonga in summer 2009 and hope to stop in both Australia and New Zealand on the way. I worked as an EFY counselor for 4 years during college and traveled all over the western US for that. We spent last Thanksgiving in San Fran/Oakland, and of course, we're always traveling back to Laie. :)”

Tell us some future plans? “Move to Hawaii as soon as Vaka graduates in 2010 (so far away!). We hope he'll be able to get a good electrician job so we can move right back to the island. School is the only thing keeping us in Utah :( . Once Vaka is done with school, I want to go back and get my Masters in Cultural Studies.”

What do you miss the most about the old days? "The simple, carefree life in Laie. The 'no worries' attitude. The good ole social days of high school, filled with football games, dances, etc."

Where was your peaceful place in Hawaii? same as everyone else, THE BEACH.

If you went back to Laie for one day what would you do? "We're going back in June and I am excited to go back and not have to plan a wedding!! I plan to eat lots and lots of L&L, Laie Chop Suey, breakfast at Hukilau Cafe, plate lunches on Saturday and maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have Food Fest while we're there. I'd love to go out to Goat Island and hike Laie Falls like old times, but since I'll be 7 months pregnant, I'll probably just spend lots of time layin on the beach!!"

Tell me something you've learnt in the last 10 years? "Take risks!! Don't wait for tomorrow to live your life."

THE LAST FIVE:
- all time favorite band: UB40- favorite local food: manapua, musubi, Laie Chop Suey's crispy gaugee and Ted's chocolate haupia pie (can you tell I'm pregnant and think about food all day?) :)
- favorite beach: Waimea
- Obama or Your mama (a.k.a Hillary): neither, we're moving to Tonga if either win. :)
- famous last words: Alohas!

Brooke can be found on Facebook, Myspace, and also her blog at tuifuamixedplate.blogspot.com

If you want to get a hold of Brooke and Vaka by email hit me up and I’ll connect you: cubworld@gmail.com or go to her blogs and post a comment there.

Kickin it with Mike and Ben

Some of you might remember this photo. Mike, Ben, Pete, and Ryan jamming on the back of a truck as they road around in a laie parade playing jams for the masses. This is not an official update on Mike and Ben but more memories revisited after handing out with them on Tuesday night.

Mike and Ben came with me to an open mic night in Draper. Mike and I were kind of out of our element because there was 360 degrees of love in the air with stud, duds, and Utah chicks at every turn. Ben on the other hand i think was all about this place hahaha. I think he even got a number or two! Ladies and gentlemen how does he do it!? haha. Long story short: I played, we cracked jokes,and it was fun :) (short enough for ya?)

The real reliving the past began at our private after party at the stomach turning Rancheritos! hahaha. Nothing like talking story over a Bacon Egg and Cheese Breakfast burrito at 1 in the morning! What made it even crazier was Mike had to be up for work at 3 and I had to be up for work at 4. Mike ended up not sleeping at all that night. Sorry about that dude :). I got a little nap before heading to work but in the end its all worth it for some music and good company.

Anyways. So we talked about the old days and the days to come but what i want to showcase in this post is the EVOLUTION OF GROMIT. I wish i had more classic pictures to balance out a ratio of old and new pictures but its all good. I think you'll enjoy the shots. FYI I took some of these from Aaron's flickr acount.

I'm not sure when the shot at the top of this post was taken but THIS picture was taken sometime around November of 2006. I'm guessing the guys are 7th or 8th grade in the top picture. Any guess? Betsy? You probably remember what kind of shorts your were wearing in that picture :).


When they first started rockin they called themselves Gromit. Not sure when they changed their name but in the more recent photos they are changed their names to STARSCREAM.

2008 and Ben and Mike are no longer on the rock anymore. They are both here in Utah for the time being. (side note) Peter is here in Utah to but that guy is ALWAYS M.I.A. and i think he is actually trying to hide from us most the time haha. Mike just started a new band here as well using craigslist.org to bring in some band mates. He is pretty stoked to be playing again. I play with Mike from time to time and have had the pleasure of being able to take him with me last August to Amsterdam to play a show. It was an EPIC trip and i was stoked to be able to take Pete and Mike with me. Nothing like sharing the stage with musicians you not only respect but like. Here are some pictures of the boys rocking it for CUBWORLD.



I still have a copy of their first CD they put out but if you want to hear some of their latest recording (from last year drop into www.myspace.com/starscreammusic

Good times guys! Music, morning burritos, and memories another time. :)