Starting early...

I just had to share something cute about Eliana that one of her Sunday school teachers shared with me the other day. She said that every time they do a craft in Sunday school, they let the children choose what color paper they want to use. Well Eliana always checks out her outfit and what color she is wearing and then picks the paper that is the same color so that it will match. I try to show her how things go together, but hadn't realized just how much she was paying attention to me.:) I will have to pay close attention to her Sunday school craft this Sunday and see if she color coordinates again.:)

All I can say is...

I am so glad that we have such a patient cat!! As I was making dinner I heard Eliana chatting away with Maka. I didn't think anything of it until I took a peek in the living room. Poor Maka was just sitting in the sun minding her own business as Eliana layered her with one thing after another. As if there weren't enough things covering her, Eliana decided that Maka needed a blanket as well. Maka just sat there the whole time. She even stayed under the blanket for another 5 minutes or so. What a sweet and patient cat!!

A Surprise Visit

We had a fun weekend with our surprise visitor all the way from San Diego. Mike, Jon's brother for those of you who don't know, was in D.C. for some military business, and made the 4 hour drive to come see us. We had a good time just hanging out and catching up. Eliana had a good time being spoiled by her Uncle Mike. Thanks for the visit, Mike! We can't wait for Christmas!!:)

A must-see movie

Jon and I were able to go on a double-date tonight with some friends to see the movie "Fireproof." If you have not heard of this movie or seen it, you need to!! It is a really good movie, and also a real tear-jerker! They confront some very intense marriage issues and show how God is in the midst of all of them. What a great God-honoring movie!! I am so glad that I saw it, even if I did cry my way through it!! I would strongly recommend it to both my married and unmarried friends!! It's so cool that such a God centered movie is showing in theatres across America!

Do we have a budding actress in our midst?

In the past couple of weeks, we have heard Eliana dramatically exclaim, "Now I will never be a princess" or "Now I will never be a big girl" and several other phrases that have started with that very dramatic, "Now I will never...". We have wondered where it was coming from and just figured it was some stage she was going through. She would make the phrase acting all sad and exasperated, and then a few minutes later she would be fine.

Well, tonight we discovered the culprit! In the mornings when I run, Eliana gets to pick a movie to watch and lately her favorite has been "Gigi, God's Little Princess." I am usually on the treadmill with my ipod on and so I don't pay that much attention to the movie that she is watching. Tonight we decided to sit down and watch this particular Gigi movie with Eliana. The character Gigi thinks that she needs some sort of royal thing to do in order to be a better princess, so her and her best friend sign up for ballet. Only her first day of practice goes horribly and she comes home very discouraged. She goes straight to her room and hides under her covers loudly exclaiming, "Now I will never be a princess!" I almost fell off the couch laughing when I heard it and made the connection. But the real thing that made both Jon and I shake our head in wonder, was later on in her playroom when she acted out that entire part of the movie, including the part where her Dad comes in to talk to her. She had Jon come in and talk to her about how upset she was and why. I wish that we would've had the video camera handy! She has interacted with movies before but never have we seen her reenact one!:) It was so cute!! And now we know why there is all the drama behind her "Now I will never..." exclamations!

A little Aloha in Danville?!

Jon and I decided early in our marriage that for our Anniversary gifts each year, we would follow the reccommended gifts. It has been both fun and challenging to see how to use thier suggestions and get something we know the other person would like. This year for our 4th Anniversary I think that I got my favorite gift by far!! The suggestion was "fruit and flowers" or the other was some kind of fabric, think. I was wondering which way Jon would go and what I would get. He totally surprised me by getting me 2 Plumeria plants! The company that he used start a cutting growing right when you order it and ship it to you when it has firmly rooted. I was so surprised to see 2 flowers even growing on the white/yellow Plumeria plant when it arrived. We bought pots and the right soil and got ready to try and keep them alive. I have not been blessed with a green thumb and neither has Jon, but we were going to give it a try for these special plants.

Why are they so special, you ask? Well, besides the fact that they grow all over Hawaii in all different colors and smell amazing, there are two other things that make them extremely special to us. When we got married in Hawaii, I wanted a very simple wedding that reflected our love for Hawaii. We ended up using Plumeria's for our flowers. My bridesmaids all had Plumeria bouquets and a Plumeria in their hair. It was so simple and pretty and perfect!:) The Plumeria that we used is probably one of the heartiest kinds and it was white with a yellow center. They each have a specific name, but I can't remember it. After we got married we decided that we wanted to have a little garden outside of our tiny condo. We bought 4 different Plumeria cuttings and had started growing them. There was a white/yellow one, rainbow one, red one, and gold one. Unfortunately Jon got his orders to Afghanistan and I had to leave my Plumeria's behind with a kind neighbor who loved plants. I truly grieved over having to leave them. They were like my babies. I know it's silly, but that is how I felt.

So you can imagine just how special it was for Jon to find those Plumeria's and get them for me! We have a white/yellow one and a rainbow one. Our white/yellow one has been blooming for us all summer, and the picture is of the latest blossoms. They may be the last we see until next year as we have to bring them inside soon. The rainbow one hasn't flowered yet, but hopefully next year. We had to leave a part of our hearts in Hawaii when we so hastily moved, but having these beautiful plants is such a delight. Now we just have to keep them alive!!:)

Just some pictures...

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Getting into the game...

Well, the Uyboco's have finally decided to join this crazy blogging phenomena. We have many friends that are already blogging and we have enjoyed keeping updated on their lives through that. Hopefully this will be a better way that we can stay in touch with our friends and family.

We just completed one full year of living here in Danville, Virginia. We have a great church that we are a part of, and Jon and I just started teaching a 4th-5th grade Sunday School class which we are really enjoying. Eliana loves her Sunday school class and is even doing Awana's on Sunday nights. She is a Puggle, for those of you familiar with Awana's. She loves wearing her cute little platypus shirt, but we think her real favorite thing about Puggle's is the snack that she gets each week.:) We are very thankful for the church that God directed us to and the friends He has give us here.

Jon is working at ABB in South Boston, which is about a 45 minute commute each day. I keep busy with Eliana and with my new hobby, running. Jon encouraged me to try running the summer he came home from Afghanistan. I didn't think that I could do it, because I had never, ever been a runner and actually hated running or maybe it was just the thought of running that I hated... anyways, he found me a running program and now I am hooked! Jon and I recently ran with the Nike Human Race 10K while on vacation in the Outer Banks. That was really cool! I now have my sites set on my first half-marathon.( Thanks Emily for the awesome inspiration!!) Hopefully we will become a running family. Eliana loves to pretend that she is running while I am on the treadmill. She has an old watch that she puts on her arm as her "i-pod" and presses it to start it. She will run for a while and then stop and tell me she has run 2 miles or 4 or whatever number pops into her head. Then she will start to do her interpretation of my stretches. It is so cute!!:)

Well, that is a brief update of our family. I have some big examples to follow in this blogging business with my faithful blogging friends, Emily, Kate, and Kimi. I hope that I can keep up with you guys!!:)