a tale of whales..

My dad loves whales. He always told us our last name was is really Whale. That the first Vails were really Whales from Whales, but over the years they changed it a bit.

I was thinking about it a few years ago and if Marni comes from Marine like the ocean and our last name is whale then what am I but a Marnie Whale. I dont know if thats something to be proud of, but I would love to be one for just a second or two.

Anyway last night there I was dreaming about them and I awoke from my sleep (in my dream ofcourse) and looked out the window to see that there was a whole pod of Orca whals jumping and playing and being so beautiful. I was taking pictures and thinking to myself, 'wow my camera has an incredible zoom' and I wanted to be in the water and before I could finish my thought all of a sudden I was! The water was so blue and laughing with me and I couldnt stop smiling. It was weird.

Something is so amazing about whales. Just their mere existenc is magical. It was a very peaceful dream and then when I really woke, and realized it wasnt real, that I didnt really have those pictures, I was still happy.

Only the best dreams can do that. They leave you with a safety net. For when you realize its not real, and want to feel sad you couldnt possibly because theres still so much happiness left over to just make you just feel happy you got to be a part of it.

This made me think that maybe things are worth it, if only if to make us happy for a second, its worth it, if you want to be happy, just be!

I hope they call me on a mission...

On Sunday I took mission pictures! Well actually Meagan and Jordan took them.

It was alot of fun! Even though Ive been waiting for this time for so long, for some reason it only started to feel real just then, when I stepped out the door in crisp white collar. Most of the time life never feels real, and then sometimes just for second, you suddenly feel so AWAKE and its only then you become so aware of how asleep you just were. This was one of those moments!

I know that the spirit calls you where you need to go, but maybe putting a little visual out there might not hurt. My roomate Aly took her mission pictures in a bushier part of her front yard and then she was called to be a bushwoman in Vanuatu.

So we tried to take pictures with lots of foliage in the background so they know I can survive in the wild and live off the land. I want so badly to be called to Japan or Africa, or some developing nation.But in the end every place is one of learning, growing and loving. Wild and exotic in their own way I guess. Never hurts to try though. I cant wait!

Here are the choices:



I dont know how to make this smaller





I thought if I choose this last one it must be a full body shot. I dont know why im doing this stance.

Back to the land of milk and honey <3

I love Hawaii! After a summer of leisure,Teddy and I could not wait to get back to the beautiful island that we are so blessed to call home. Ive heard it said, "Whatever we love becomes a part of us."










Hawaii I feel is such a part of me now and each time I leave I feel like a piece of me is left here in the middle of the ocean. How wonderful it is to dive back into familiar waters! To see old friends and to make new!

Look at this cute little friend that landed on me while I was doing some school work.


I am the worlds biggest procrastinator! An hour before my plane took off I finished the painting of James that I started in Hawaii for his family. It was a little selfish in some ways as it took so long to finish, not particularly because I couldn't get him just right but rather because I just didn't wanted to leave him.
The night I found out James was no longer with us I didnt know what to do or think. I just felt so empty inside. People deal with things in all sorts of ways. Baking a cake didn't seem to make sense, but nothing else made sense either so thats what I did. I remember my face feeling all sticky with sugar and tears but most of all I felt so helpless.

That night after James left my friend Al came over. He had a piece of cake with me and said "you look remarkably beautiful and I think James would want you to know that." What I loved most about James was how brutal honest he was. He was never afraid to tell you exactly what he was thinking. Al shared so many wonderful things about James with me that night eating cake in my kitchen. One was he said James loved how I loved to paint so I started one of him and I think this was James's way of helping heal my heart.


My friend Nathan told me that art is our way of making sense of the world. I thought Ive always understood this as I always feel so at peace when painting. But this summer I really felt like the few times that this crazy world made sense were the few hours spent with brush in hand. Sometimes when no understanding can be found on our side of the canvas, we can create a world of our own entirely.

How I love to paint and how I love James. Looking into James's kind eyes over the summer made me feel the greatest peace about knowing his spirit is still so strong all around us.

I love you James and am so greatful to still be close to your beautiful soul.


For the new school year 2008 my friend Clark and I got makeovers. I attempted to give him a bowl cut and he gave me a deep conditioning mask made of MAYO! A little cholesterol does wonders apparently outside of the body.

I am loving school! The first week my contacts accidently washed away at Waimea so I wore glasses for awhile till the contacts shipped in, I felt so smart! People even started commenting on how smart I was. Totally the glasses.


I love my roommates. Meagan and I celebrate our 2 year roomie anniversary in December. I am sad to say its also the last : ( she came back to Hawaii with a ring on her finger. I am so happy for her but we will have to make this semeseter an unforgettable one.
This semester my friend Natassia asked me to be the vice president of Brazilian club. I know nothing about this sort of thing, but I will learn!



Two things I missed the most about the beatuiful laie are biking and the blue blue ocean!!!
I even missed riding up thehill to my house on the point!
My friend Tiera was baptized this week! She is so awesome! She is my next door neighboor. She looked so beautiful and is loved by so many!
My friend Clarand I k adopted a kite named Cheeralee. she truly is cheerful. Who could not be cheery while flying a kite?!






I am loving being back in the land of Milk and honey. Life is wonderful!

phelps, YOU CAN!

So I found this old picture CD of when Me and Momi met Michael Phelps in 2004 and I was cracking up.

It was right after the Olypics in Greece and Momi and I were die hard fans of the young rising star Michael Phelps. We had every swim meet he ever competed in recorded and he motivated us to run 4 miles a day that summer. Watching the olympics can almost be religious! After watching the swim meets or Paul Haum on the gymnastics bars I felt the phrase "I CAN" roll off the sceen and onto my tounge. I love to see how passionate these people are at what they do. Phelps was our favorite because he was always so enthusiastic, you could just feel his joy oozing out of the screen, he was so happy! And he always seemed a great team player, who could forget when Phelps gave up his spot in the Athens 400 to his teammate Ian Crocker!

Anyways, Momi and I found out the gold and gracious Phelps was comming to Washington so we took the day off school and thought "WE CAN" meet Phelps! We trecked out to North Bend to this event called "Swim with the stars" featuring all the Olympic Gold Medalists swimmers. We only had one goal -to meet Michael Phelps. We didnt know how but we knew it was written in the stars.

Showing up hours and hours before the event the only person at the pool was the janitor and a father and daughter who were bragging to us about meeting Bill Clinton had just purchased backstage passes-100 dollars a piece to meet Phelps and the swimming gang. This wasnt for us so we watched the Swimmers from the stands and sadly the event ended with only our cheers from the stands reaching them.

We walked back to the car happy but a bit downtrodden. But wait- a voice from heaven shouting my name-I turned around and it was the only other solitary sole at the pool that afternoon. The Janitor! I met him while he was taking out the garbage hours before and told him of our goal to meet Phelps. Suddenly a blue badge reading "backstage access" was thrust into my hands as our dreams were thrust into the realms of reality! This kind soul by the name of Steven said, "I think you would like this more then I would"

It truly was a dream come true!

Unfortunately by the time we finally met him, Momi and I were both star struck. When I shook hands with "Crocka" my eyes were fixated on his chest hair and I couldnt speak. By the time I got down the line to Phelps I was struck dumb. Momi was in the same condition. Unfortunatley we used up all our film from the stands so I dont have any picutres with them. But I have a great memory.

Its funny looking back, the whole way home Momi and I ranted to eachother about how we were at a loss for words. Now that I think about it I dont know what Id say if i could have revived myself.

For homecomming that year I thought it would be funny to take that good samariton janitor, steven. Though we'd only met once I knew he was gold. However I still wanted to test the waters and make sure he was legitamate. When he came to pick me up I came down the stairs as stiff as possible in a neck brace.

Stevens face was in shocked at first but he kept his cool and didnt ask any probing questions. My parents were snapping away shots of me steven and the brace and I tried to remain stiff as a board and not to laugh or make any reference to the brace. Steven passed the creep test with flying colors. He never uttered a word about the way I looked.

This test can also be done with a full body cast. Anyway moral: I love phelps! What an inspiration he is, that WE CAN do anything we put our minds to!