One Year Older & Wiser, too... Happy Birthday, to YOU!

David's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, which made doing anything for his birthday difficult, since he works the evening shift. Because of this, we decided to celebrate the Saturday before. And where did we go? -- Iou Sushi! David had been craving it for quite sometime (as was I! I hadn't really had sushi like that since right before I found out I was pregnant with Keaka). Ohhh it was amazing.

David and I tanked roll after roll after roll, for over an hour and a half, until we were beyond full--we were literally in pain, we were so stuffed. But it was so worth it!

Christmas 2009

So... I just realized that I completely neglected to take any pictures of Keaka opening presents on Christmas Day. Bad Mommy! We took lots of video (lonnnggggg video), but no pictures. Lame.

Anyways... Christmas was great! I hope all of you can say the same as well! Kels has been home for Christmas vacation since December 15th (David's birthday)-- It's been fun having her here again. We've been fortunate to see her like every 2 weeks for the past 2 months! haha.

I was very anxious to see how Keaka would react this year, opening presents-- She did extremely well! It was so cute, and I'm so glad she had fun. She had a blast ripping the wrapping paper off her presents, and thoroughly enjoyed playing with each opened-gift for a few minutes before moving on to open another. Some of her new favorites include her drum (which came with a flute, tambourine, and maracas), toy TV remote, mega blocks, purple mushroom chair, and especially her little Dora couch that folds out into a bed.

Her LEAST favorite is the rocking horse her daddy surprised her with.

The dreaded rocking horse... Do I really look that scary?!

Keaka will say "hi" to it, clean it, pet it, and even kiss it, but will not sit on it; for the most part, she won't even go near it. I'm not sure why she's so scared of it. Maybe it's the way it looks, or the size of it. Maybe it just needs a name! Whatever it is, I hope she gets over it soon enough to really enjoy it! Until then, we're using it to block the fireplace & the area our laptop is at, and wherever else we want her to avoid. It seems to be working very well for that!

With 2009 nearing an end, as I look back at this past year, I can't help but be thankful for all that my family and I have been blessed with-- a warm home, food to eat, that my husband has a stable job-- things that many families are forced to go without this year. During this time of year especially, I am so grateful that we have the Gospel in our lives. No matter what trials and tribulations we may face, we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, knows what we're going through, and will always be there for us. How wonderful it is that we have a season set aside to celebrate the birth of His son, who is the greatest gift of all. May we remember Him, and follow His example of selfless love and charity throughout all of 2010.

We hope you all had a Mele Kalikimaka & Feliz Navidad, and
wish you a Hau`oli Makahiki Hou & Próspero Año Nuevo!

Keaka Gets Her Cake (& Eats It, too!)

The Aftermath

During Keaka's party, we were so busy that she didn't even get a chance to eat some of her birthday cake! Sooo... Sunday (the next day), we let her dig in! Hey, could have been so much worse... (Ok, it was. It was actually all over her legs; just can't see it in the picture.)

*Note: I have some pretty hilarious video of this, but it's too big to post, and I have no idea how to clip it.... :(

Keaka's First Birthday Ever!

Keaka must have known it was her birthday.

She usually wakes up every morning between 8:30-9...
But on that day, she was wide awake at 7am, and in the BEST mood possible!
Luckily, Daddy had her present (Princess ball pit) set up for her just in time....

She didn't hesitate at all, haha!

*Smile for Mommy and the camera!*

She looovvvveeesssss all the balls she gets to play with now!

After that... we finished cooking and left for the church to finish decorating and do any last minute preps for the luau.

Talia making sure all the decorations were set up!
The screen & projector were ready for the slideshow, too!

People beginning to arrive a little after 3pm...
Each table had either a lollipop or chocolate bouquet, accented with a single, GIANT balloon!

We had 6 paper trees to decorate the walls, each a different color with corresponding birds and flowers. In the right corner, we had a backdrop the wishing well set-up infront of it, decorated with ivy garland and lights (mahalo Kaya's for decorating it!).

Some of the musicians... (L-R) Uncle Bobby, Uncle Rich, and Uncle Herby. David is in the back trying to fix the sound, hahah.

Uncle Bobby trying to convince Kelsy and I to sing a song...we did, but later.

Some of our guests! The Flemings and Harvey Lutu.

(L-R) Lorene & Hannah Erickson (& baby due in May!), Solomon, Jacqueline, Aunty Nani, and Uncle Jacques Chung Hee

Morreeee people! We had hundreds of people show up.

Shot of the food tables...
And if you wanna know what we had to eat, watch this vid:



So... Shredded beef enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Salsa/chips (everything homemade), kalua pig, lomi salmon, squid luau, poi, chicken long rice, mac salad, rice, teriyaki. Was that everything? Pani popo... Guava cake, lilikoi cake...

Everybody eating and talking story

.:Singing Happy Birthday:.
Each table had its own mini-birthday cake with a candle on it. After everyone sang Happy Birthday, Keaka blew out her candle--and the youngest person at each table blew out the candle on their cake as well! It was pretty awesome!

This is one of the cakes that Aunty Nani made for the tables:

Here's some video of everyone singing:

Keaka's 1st Birthday Cake! Right after she blew out the candle.

Hat from the Taylors

Keaka's Korner, right above her high chair

We also had a few games at the sign-in table... like...
1. How many cookies are in the cookie jar? (answer: 88. Bro. Dehart won with guess of 89)
2. What was Keaka's birth weight? (answer: 5lbs 13oz. Hoopii's won with guess of 5lbs 8oz)
3. What does Keaka's full first name mean? (answer: The fern that reflects the glimmer of the moon. Kealoha won with guess "The eye of the fern")
We also had "Keaka's Keiki Raffle" for the kids 10 & under. They could enter a drawing to win a $15 gift card to Toys "R" Us! McKinley Howe won the drawing-- woohoo!!
**The winners of the birth weight & name questions won a bag of rice and bottle of Aloha shoyu! :)


Keaka's rocking chair with her "Momo the Monkey" sitting in it, the wishing well, and all her presents!

What a lucky little girl!

The wishing well Daddy made!

Cards in the well

I must admit, I'm happy the party is over, haha!

It was a lot of fun, though, and it was especially good to see
friends & family that we haven't seen in a while.
We had the best music (of course!), the best food,
& the best company to help us celebrate Keaka's first birthday.

David and I are still talking about how great it was.

MAHALO to the following for their contributions in making Keaka's birthday luau such a huge success:
The PJs-- food (chicken long rice, squid luau, kalua pig, lomi salmon), decorating, set-up/clean-up, helping to choreograph the party, running food
The Kayas-- baking all the princess birthday cakes for each table, decorating, set-up/clean-up
The Nauahis-- teriyaki, water, rice, decorating, set-up/clean-up
The Galeais-- Mac Salad
Rob Meyer-- tortilla chips
Kelsy-- slideshow, saying the prayer (in Hawaiian! Cheeee!!), set-up/decorating, clean-up
Matt Taylor--coming from Utah!, helping run the party, and taking pics/video for us
The Lowes-- decorating, set-up/clean-up, chicken, running food
The Lutus-- drinks, pani popo
The Kauvakas-- guava and lilikoi cakes
The Akos--clean-up
MUSICIANS/ENTERTAINMENT:
Dad
Kelsy
Uncle Rich Mansfield
Uncle Bobby Mansfield
Uncle Hank Nawahine
Uncle Herby Fermantez
Kaiana Hoopii
Uncle Ken Purdy
Aunty Laureen Tau'a (dancing)
...The entertainment was BOMB, as always! Thank you all for contributing your talents!

Mahalo nui loa ia oukou for your continuous aloha and generosity. David, Keaka, and I love and appreciate you all.

A Glimpse of Heaven

David and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary this week.



The past two years have been nothing short of amazing. Every step we've made together has been wonderful.



Now I'm not gonna lie; marriage is definitely a challenge. It's a big change from being single.



...But there's no one else I could see myself going through trials with.
There's no one else I'd rather go through life with.


There's no one else that could ever make me this happy!


And that step we made two years ago--those vows we made to eachother that day--lead to such great things, like...

...Our beautiful baby...

...and our family getting sealed for time and all eternity last year.

If I could go back and do it all over again... I would do it in a heartbeat.
Love is a glimpse of heaven; it's an eternal treasure.
I'm so lucky to have that "glimpse" on a regular basis.

I love you, David! Happy Anniversary!

On a Magical Day, When Wishes Come True...

I find it so hard to believe that in 2 weeks, my baby is going to have her first birthday! It seems like just yesterday David and I were at the hospital, in awe at the blessing we had just received. My, how time is just flying by!

Keaka is fortunate to have her luau on her actual birthday, since it falls on a Saturday this year. We're getting excited! We're having friends and family coming from out of town to help us celebrate. We have all the fine details ironed out (I think...), so hopefully everything runs as planned! Aunty Nani was so nice to make Keaka her fairy princess dress, which she is wearing in the picture above, for the invitations and for her party. It is SO cute! We have the centerpieces figured out, all the decorations... I'm excited to see how it all plays out.

We've been teaching Keaka how to blow out candles, and have been really practicing it the past few weeks. She can do it, but we'll see how she does under pressure, infront of a large crowd! haha!

For those of you who see this post, and would like to come, we'd love to have you. We're having FULL ON Hawaiian grinds (if you'd like a small glimps at the menu line-up: kalua pig, chicken long rice, lomi salmon, squid luau...), as well as Mexican (enchiladas, spanish rice...)! We're having live entertainment (as expected), games/prizes... It'll be a day to remember.
Hope to see you there!

Anitquities Photo Session

A few weeks ago, Dad came home with a coupon from a friend at work... She had participated in a fundraiser by purchasing a $10 certificate, good for a free 10x13 photo, done in this antique style. She unfortunately had no one to use the coupon on (it was good for children up to age 16), and gave it to Dad so that I could use it. How nice of her, huh?!



Mom and I took Keaka to get the pictures done-- I was somewhat worried about how she'd do; she had fallen asleep on the way there, but thankfully she woke up in a very happy mood! :)


The Antiquities fundraising company had the costumes there for the pictures, and she looked so cute! The dress we chose was pink (can't tell from the pictures), and very lacey. Wish I could have kept it! hehe...


As you can tell, Keaka did great in the session. The photographer even said she did better than most babies she's photographed. For the longest while, she didn't want to let go of the pearls that the photographer put on her. It was pretty funny. She was a little shy in the beginning, but....


...Once she stood up for this pose, she started dancing! ...Yes, I said dancing. There wasn't even any music playing, but this girl does not care. She dances to the song in her heart. :)


So, to top off the whole experience...

We went back last night to pick up the pictures. The photographer we saw and her husband lay out all the poses, and allow you to pick and choose which ones you'd like to purchase, along with the free 10x13. They offered different packages, depending on the amount of poses you wanted. Each pose came with 1-8x10, 1-5x7, and 4-wallets. The lowest package was like $120 or $130, but only came with two poses. I went with the intention of buying the next package up, which was four poses for $149. They also sold the pictures by the sheet at $40 each, which was a rip-off in comparison to the packages. I knew I'd want all the pictures, but I figured I could settle for only four of them.


As you can see, I got more than four of them, LOL! I took the longest time deciding which pictures I wanted. Mom and I both couldn't decide which four were the best of the bunch. We were supposed to be there for 12 minutes, but that quickly turned into at least 20 minutes, haha. We ended up being the last ones there. The photographer told us all the pictures on the table were $200, or she'd give me the 4-pose package, plus all the proofs, for $150. I gladly agreed to the $150 package she offered. As she made her way to our table, her husband quickly said something to her. She said, "Okay!" and started collecting all the pictures. I was confused, since I hadn't told her which pictures I had chosen, but before I could ask about it, she stated, "He said to just give you all the pictures." I was in shock! I was like, "Are you serious?! No way, are you sure? Are you serious?!" She said, "Yep! It's only a $50 difference, and all your pictures are so cute. Sometimes it just pays to be the last customer!" I was so grateful, although I'm sure they were just trying to get me outta there! Haha! So, thanks to them, I have all the pictures!

I must say, that TOTALLY made my entire day!!!

If You Give a Mouse A Cookie

David and I bought these Gerber Biter Biscuits last week for Keaka. I gave her a whole one a few nights ago, and...


I guess it goes without saying that she absolutely loved it!!!

FO' SHIZZLE!!!!

When David and I were living in Hawaii, we attended local concerts pretty frequently... We saw groups like Katchafire, Kapena, Mana'o Company, Rebel Souljahs, Lost Coast, and so many more. It was a fun way for us to get out and go on a little date, and of course we built lots of great memories together that way, too.

Since being back in the mainland, we hadn't been to one-- not ONE-- in almost a year. That can mostly be attributed to us having a daughter now, and our responsibility takes priority over pleasure (which isn't a bad thing--we just don't get out much anymore, lol).

A few weeks ago, Dad called me and asked, "Do you think David would want to go to the Snoop concert?" I was pretty much like, "OH MY GOSH! YES!!!" To this day, I'm not quite sure if that exclamation was out of excitement for my husband, or more for myself, being able to tag along, haha! But it turned out Dad had won a pair of box-seat tickets from work, and was giving them to us, if we wanted to go! Gladly, I accepted!

The Tickets!!!

That evening, David came home during his lunch break. He came into our room, and I handed him the tickets. He gave me quite the confused look as he read them, and said, "What does this mean?! Are we going?" I just said, "Yep!"

I should have recorded David's reaction as I continued to explain how Dad won the tickets and that he and Mom would be able to watch Keaka that evening. It was priceless! He ran out of the room and thanked Dad for the tickets... He was so excited, like a little boy getting a new bike on his birthday! Both of us were anxious to have a little date night, and that was the perfect opportunity.

At the Concert, between bands

The night of the concert, David and I arrived at the Idaho Center around 5. They had bands prior to Snoop's performance, including Mickey Avalon (he was alright... kind of lame...), Slightly Stoopid (who slightly SUCKED!!!!!), and....

STEPHEN MARLEY!

Oh, he was amazing, and made the concert worth going to all on his own! He even brought his brother, Julian, too! And his backup singers were the BOMB! They played a bunch of their father's songs (the late and great Bob Marley, of course!), like "Could You Be Loved", "Buffalo Soldier", "Punky Reggae Party", and "Three Little Birds". It was awesome. Kelsy and I saw all of the Marley brothers in concert a few years ago, but it was fun to see Stephen and Julian in concert again, and this time with my best friend! :)

Snoop didn't come out until 9 or so, and he was also AMAZING! He puts on a really good concert, we were very impressed! He did everything, from old school favorites like "Gin and Juice", to 2pac songs, to newer songs like "Drop It Like It's Hot," "Sensual Seduction," and "I Wanna Love You." He was seriously awesome. At one point, he had the whole crowd rapping:

"If you look up on the stage, and it's gettin' kinda noisy... It's Snoop Dogg in BOISE!"

Needless to say, I was glad we went. It was funny, cause we were a few of the only ones there who weren't drinking (or smoking weed, for that matter...), but we had just as much fun, if not more, than all those who were. My husband had a blast, I had a blast, and we were especially happy that we got out for a few hours.

Here are a few more pics-- Just FYI, I DID take video of Snoop when he came out, but I'm not gonna post it (he has quite the potty mouth! LOL.).

See the smoke from all the weed?! Dummies... But I thought it would make a funny picture.

SNOOP DOGGY DOGGGGGG! Check the background.. hehe.

Us at the concert right before Snoop came out

A Fairytale in the Making

So I've finally begun planning Keaka's 1-year old baby luau. I've been putting it off and putting it off, and I've only got 4 months left now! I really need to get on the ball; I don't want to be rushing to get things done like the week of her party. It's amazing to me how quickly time has flown by--seems like just yesterday she was born!

I already have a super cute idea for the invitations (seriously, if we can pull it off, it's going to be SO cute!), and the past few weeks I've been trying to come up with a theme. I wanted to do something that would kind of bring out the kid in everyone-- something not too grown-up for Keaka, but at the same time not be too childish. Then I wanted to do a princess-y kind of thing, but figured that may be a little much. Soooo, it's come down to a "Fairytale" theme! I'm thinking not so much midevil, but kind of more enchanted/floral... Here's what I'm thinking so far:

*Life-size flowers hanging on the walls (think of Thumbelina)
*Fairytale quotes on the walls ("Once Upon a Time...", "There once was a princess..." etc... Ok, so that's all I can really think of. Shut up. LOL. Ideas, anyone?)
*A wishing well instead of card box (I remembered this from Ailani's baby luau! Although I was little, it apparently made a big impact, haha!).
*Turn her high chair into a little princess throne

I have so many ideas running through my head, besides just these few... just need to figure out how to put them all together. Anyone have any ideas to go along with this theme????

Anyways.
David and I took Keaka to get pictures done this past weekend at Walmart (they did a really good job, by the way!). We had originally signed up to only buy a one-pose package for $7.99, but as part of the deal, they take an additional 5 poses... And, of course, those ones all ended up being super cute--in fact, probably cuter than that first, $7.99 pose. Needless to say, we ended up buying a much bigger, more expensive package that includes all the poses. The pictures really were cute, and I guess she's worth all that money (hehe!!!)! I will be sending out pictures *hopefully*, since we got a ton. If you are reading this, and want a picture, get me your addy. Meanwhile, David has posted four or five on facebook, and I'll post some on here for you to check out. I was trying to hold off on posting any so that everyone could just see them in-hand, but they're just too cute! I can't resist putting up just a few!

Taking a bath! She loves being in the water... even fake water.

One of my favorites! I think it captures that sweet innocence that only a baby has.

Our little Hula Taquito! hehe... (nickname courtesy of Mandy Bartley)