That time already?!?!

I can hardly bring myself to say this, but... Eliana has lost her first tooth already! How can my little girl be that old? Actually Jon and I were a little concerned when we first discovered that it was loose because we thought she was way too young having just turned 5. She had taken a couple falls recently where she hit parts of her face on a wall and then another time on the tile floor in our house... we though maybe one of those falls knocked the tooth loose. However it happened, she is now missing a front tooth. She LOVES it! She told me it was what she had always wanted so that she could be more grown-up. I need a freeze button because I don't want her to be more grown-up. She hasn't stopped grinning to show off her gap.:)

GO NAVY!!! BEAT ARMY!!!

Additional details...

I wanted to just fill you in on some extra details about our move that people have asked about:

Our house is still on the market in Danville. Our realtor was going to put a virtual tour of our house on the site, so that should help. We just keep praying!

We will be living in a rental house that the church owns. It is across the street from the church and is a nice open ranch style house. We are excited to get in there and make it a home.

Jon starts work on the 15th officially... so we have some time to get settled and do all of the stuff that comes with moving.

California is a wonderfully vast place to visit with all sorts of things to do... consider our new house as Hotel Uyboco... Come and see us!! We'd LOVE to have you!:)

Our cross-country adventure

Personalize a photo slideshow

Here are some pictures from our cross country adventure. We left on Monday to head down to Atlanta to stay with friends from Hawaii, the Spayds. We had a wonderful visit with them and then headed further into Atlanta to have lunch and spend time with our friends, the Barbers. The kids had a blast playing with their kids, and it was hard to get them back into the van for the drive to Birmingham. We arrived in Birmingham and met up with my father-in-law, who had flown in from CA to help us drive the rest of the way. Wednesday we headed to Ft Smith, Arkansas, where our hotel reservations got messed up, so we not only got switched to a much nicer hotel for free, we got a gift card also! Thursday we headed across Oklahoma into Texas where we spent the night in Amarillo. We experienced the restaurant Big Texan there. They have a 72 oz. steak that you can order. It comes with a side salad, a roll, 3 breaded shrimp, and a loaded baked potato. There is a 1 hour time limit to consume all of that food and then your meal is free... otherwise it is $72. 2 people tried it while we were there... a guy in his 20's and a 7 year old boy. We left before either one's time was up, so we don't know how they fared. It was quite the experience though! While we were having fun driving and visiting crazy restaurants, our truck of household goods was arriving at our new house in California. The staff men came over to the house and got all of our stuff off-loaded and into the house in just over an hour. My mother--in-law said it was quite impressive. We are so grateful for their help!! Today we headed through New Mexico and into Arizona and are stopped in Flagstaff for the night. Highlight of today was visiting one of Guy Fieri's restaurants from Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was a Mexican restaurant called Salsa Brava's and I got the signature dish that Guy tried, Stuffed Soapapillas with Carnitas and a Cilantro Cream Sauce. It was YUMMY!! We are tucked into our hotel for the night, and going to try and get an early start tomorrow so we can get into CA at a decent time. I think that I still cannot believe that we are actually moving! Guess it will become more real tomorrow and in the days to come. Thanks so much for your prayers!!!

Boxes, boxes everywhere!!

I cannot believe that my last post was the middle of August. Shame on me! Well, since then A LOT has changed for our family. Right now we are in the midst of packing up our entire house and getting ready for not only a major cross country move, but also a major career change. Jon will start this next week at Grace Church of Glendora in Glendora, California, as the Young Adults Pastor with the Company 122 ministry. If you don't know the story about how it all unfolded, let me know and I will tell you... it is too long to blog about, but it is VERY cool and VERY much a God thing!! My Mom is on her way down here right now to visit and help with the kids and packing. We have gotten a lot of packing done, but still have the part I am dreading the most... my kitchen! I LOVE my kitchen and being in my kitchen... it is my "happy place." I love all my fun gadgets and cookery type things... I am scared to pack them myself... will any of them survive the trip? I just keep telling myself it is just stuff... and it is, but some of that "stuff" I am really rather fond of.:) The moving truck will be here on Saturday along with some hired loaders. The kids and I will be getting out of the way by them going to a babysitters and me going to a ladies Bible study brunch. Sunday is our cleaning day, and then Monday morning we will be on the road. We are heading south to visit some dear Hawaii friends and also our former pastor and his family. From there we head to Birmingham, AL where we will pick my father-in-law up at the airport, grab some dinner, and shut-eye and then the real fun begins. We will then travel west with 2 cars, 2 kids, 3 adults, and 1 poor kitty cat, who hates riding in the car. It should make for a grand adventure!!:) I seldom really care if I have the newest coolest cellphones... but for an occasion like this, I really am wishing that I had an i-phone so I could be sending updates and fun pictures while we drive. We are very excited and also a bit nervous and overwhelmed as we enter this brand new chapter of our lives. We know that God is in this, so we just rest in Him and look forward to being both the participator and spectator in seeing Him at work.

Just some recent shots...

Eliana's new Do

Eliana was happily cutting away with her kid scissors one day, making cards to give people. I thought little of it, until later when I kept coming across chunks of hair. At first glance I thought that Maka was shedding a lot more than normal, but then got a closer look and realized it was very much Eliana hair! It was stuffed into some pretty interesting places in the house. From what we could tell she cute off quite a bit, but it was only noticeable in the front. Solution: I took her and had her hair fixed with bangs. As disgruntled as I was that she chopped off her hair, I got such a kick out of her checking herself out in the mirror every chance that she could get. She obviously approves!:) It took Jon and I a little getting used to, as it seemed to make her look so much older instantly, but now I have to say that I love it and wish that I had done it sooner. It is so much easier to do her hair now!:) And I have to admit, she does look awfully cute with bangs.:)

Hilarious!!

I heard a whole bunch of squawking coming from the playroom that just got more and more insistent, so I went to check it out. This is how I found Kai, stuck in the blocks bin. Poor boy, I made him stay there as I ran for the camera, cell phone camera, and Flip. He was fussing the whole time and I just couldn't stop laughing. Pretty creative seat though, huh?!:)

Chick Fil' A Cow Appreciation Day

In honor of Eliana's favorite restaurant we put on our cow gear and headed to CFA for some free lunch. I was considered partially dressed like a cow, so I just got a free chicken sandwich. Eliana got an entire kids meal, not to mention the free ice cream she got for smiling for a picture that one of the employee's took of us... which got posted on their facebook page.:) I know this may sound funny, but if you have been to Danville you will understand. Chick Fil' A is one of the best places to eat in town. The restaurant is clean, everything on the menu is not deep fried, and the service is always friendly. Hooray for CFA! (By the way, this pic is obviously NOT the one that Eliana smiled for to get free ice cream.)

Shhh... don't tell Jon :)

Kai was walking all over the house with one of Eliana's purses hung around his neck. He just thought that he was the coolest thing too. Too cute and too funny to not post. Jon didn't even want me to take a picture of him... but somehow with a big sister, I am sure that this is not the last time that Kai will be doing something on the "girly" side.:)

Quick trip to OH

On our way home from PA, we made a slight detour to OH to surprise my Mom with a visit for the 4th of July. I had arranged all of the details with my oldest sister, Amanda, so that we could completely catch my Mom by surprise. We ended up meeting them at Cheesecake Factory. They were already seated and we walked up to my Mom, who had her back to us, and I asked her if she minded if we sat with her. I wish that I could have captured the look on her face on camera. It was PRICELESS! She was so shocked and just stared at us for a while, I think she may have been trying to convince herself that we were real.:) It was so fun! We had dinner and then I called one of my other sisters, who we had also not told, and told her that we would be joining her the next day on the family trip to the waterpark in Cincinnati. Fun times! Eliana had a blast playing with her cousins at the waterpark and in G-ma and G-pa's backyard. I had made all of the kids tie-dye t's for the 4th so it was fun to see them all dressed up in those. We had a great trip, even though it was for such a short time. I will never forget the look on my Mom's face when she saw us.:)

2010 Family Vacation

This year for our family vacation we loaded up the van and drove up to Manns Choice, PA for a week at the OCF retreat center, White Sulphur Springs. We had been invited to attend a family camp called Anchor Points. When we got our invitation we really felt like God was telling us that this was something that we needed to do for several reasons. We have been praying and seeking His guidance in our lives for our future. We both feel like He is leading us on to someplace/something else, possibly the chaplaincy or some other ministry related thing. This invitation literally came out of nowhere... it is based on references that OCF receives from other people within OCF. We have our suspicions of who that was, but why us? We aren't military anymore... haven't been in an OCF group in years since we had to leave our precious Hawaii group. So after praying about it, we just followed the invitation and made plans to use our vacation time in that way. We drove to the camp not knowing what to expect and feeling a little out of place. Jon said it best when he said, "We arrived at the camp and felt very out of place the first couple of days, but by the end of the week, we felt as if we had come home." So true! It was such a blessing to be around military families again. There is just something so unique and comforting about that community, as many of you know.:) We got to sit under great teachers, interact with other believers, and spend some much needed family time together, not to mention how much fun our kids had, especially Eliana! We still really don't know for sure why we were chosen to be there, but we were extremely blessed by our time there and will cherish the memories forever. Here are just a couple pictures from our time there. We had two different theme night dinners, International and Cowboy. Jon and I are dressed in Afghani clothing that he bought while he was on IA, and then the kids are in Chinese outfits that Jon got them on his trip there in May. Eliana absolutely loved playing in the creek looking for crawdads... I have never seen my child so dirty in her entire life.:)

Celebrating 6 years!!!

God is SO good to me!! About 7 years ago He brought this guy named Jon into my life in the coolest way, and nurtured our relationship through emails for several months until we could actually meet in person. I think that before we even saw each other for the first time, we knew that this was something special. It was totally God! He brought us together... even though we only lived miles apart, we had never met until then. Now here we are 6 years later. God continues to be SO good and SO faithful to us in our marriage. Jon is really above and beyond all that I could have asked or imagined. I never dared believe that God would have someone like him for me... oh me of little faith.:) I have learned so much about God's love through the way that Jon loves me. I have learned so much about how God loves as a Father through watching Jon love our two kids. I am just so immensely blessed to be married to this man. Today, and everyday I praise God for him. I look forward to many, many more years as we both fall deeper in love with our Savior, and then that much deeper with each other.

Happy 1st Birthday Kai!!!

It seems like just yesterday that we were heading to the hospital to get ready to meet you for the first time, Little Man. I was so excited and so nervous at the same time. The Doctor's and nurses that delivered you were very nice and made Mommy feel much more calm. Before I knew it they were talking about what a big baby you were and how they didn't know where you had hid all 8 lbs. 6 0z. of you inside of me. Then there were comments about all your dark hair, and then there you were. Daddy was bringing you close so I could get a good look at you. I got really choked up because there you were the amazingly perfect answer to Mommy's very specific prayer. I asked God for a son that would look just like his Daddy... and there you were looking so much like your Daddy and just as I had envisioned you looking when I would pray to God about you. Unfortunately Mommy couldn't hold you then, and it would actually be quite a while later until I would get to hold you for the first time because you were having trouble breathing and the baby nurses had to take very special care of you. I finally got to see you at 2 am the following day, and the nurses even let me hold you. Oh what a moment that was for me!! I will never forget it... Mommy was so overcome with love for you, My Precious Son, but at the same time, so nervous for you as you were still having trouble breathing. It took you a little while but you got better and we got to take you home on Mommy and Daddy's 5th Anniversary. We had a bit of a rough time at the beginning with you learning to eat, but you definitely don't have any trouble with that now. We have had such a wonderful time with you this first year, Kai. Mommy, Daddy, and Eliana all adore you. You bring so much joy to our lives. You are adventurous and never sit still. You are already walking and you love to climb on anything and everything. You can say several words: Mommy, Daddy, Eliana, ball, bye-bye, uh-oh, no no, Aw-ya(that's how you say Maka), and a whole lot of other stuff that we can't really understand right now. You love your Big Sister and she loves you. Mommy loves to see you two together. You are all boy and love to play rough and play with balls and trucks. You really love electronics, like tv remotes, cell phones, the flip, and other things like that, but you can't really play with those. You really just bring us so much joy, my precious boy. Mommy is so grateful for this past year that we have had with you, and she looks forward to so many more years. We love you so much, Kai!! Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

That's my girl!!

So back when I was pregnant with Kai, I was planning on when I would run my first half-marathon. I got on the computer and started searching for some. I came across one that just sounds AWESOME! It is held at Walt Disney World in March, and it is only for woman, and called the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. You run through the park and the princesses are all throughout. You are given pink, ultra-girly running shirts to wear, the whole things is just geared for women. It is a weekend long event, as far as the other activities which include a family fun run of a mile. After reading about it, I told Jon all about it and how I thought it would be so fun to run and that maybe Eliana could do the fun run. Well, Eliana overheard me talking about it, and because of the Princess theme, she has not forgotten it. She says all the time that she is practicing to run the Princess race and that she is going to win it over all the other kids, because she just likes princesses the best.:) She does laps around the house as part of her training. The other day I came across her running around with her water bottle tucked into her pants, but she was complaining because it kept falling out. I went and got her my hydration belt that I used for my long runs when I trained for my half. She was so excited to wear it. She wanted to know what went in the pouch, so I told her that I put my cell phone in it, so she ran to get her pretend cell. She has an old watch that my father-in-law gave her that she pretends is her ipod, so she had that strapped to her arm. Then she was all ready to run! So cute! I love that she is interested in running! Jon and I talk often about how cool it would be if one day her and I ran a race together.:) So these are just some pics of her all geared up for her run.:)

On display

Jon put up the pictures that he had framed for me, and I think that they fit very nicely with our room.:) Please ignore the huge monstrosity in the corner, also known as a Captain's Chair. That part of our room is becoming kind of a workout area. Wish we could put my treadmill there instead of the dreary basement.

In recipe heaven...

Thanks to Kimi I have a new addiction! It is called pioneerwoman.com/cooking. I am one of those really weird people that loves nothing more than to peruse a cookbook for hours, especially if there are pictures. I find it hard to resist buying a new cookbook or cooking magazine... especially when Sam's Club has them for cheaper. They carry my favorite magazine's cookbook which is Cuisine At Home. Yum!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it... but enough of that... I am really here to talk about this ladies blog. I guess that she is a bit of a Renaissance woman and blogs about homeschooling, photography, and cooking... and maybe even more stuff. I haven't tried any of her recipes, YET, but fully intend to! They look AMAZING!!! I know that some of you are into cooking, like me, so if you haven't already heard of this blog, check it out! It is a lot of fun! Now to decide which recipe to try first.:) Many mahalo's Kimi!!!

We were so honored to be able to host Kimi, Jared, and Lydia for a night on their cross-country voyage to San Diego. Eliana and Jared got along realy well, and had a blast playing together. Eliana was crying after they left because she forgot to give Jared something to remember her by. I told her not to worry we would see them again. Disneyland sounds like a great place for a reunion... what do you think Kimi?! Lydia and Kai weren't very interested in each other, other than to poke each other in the ear and face a couple of times.:) It was a wonderful visit, just missing Jeremy... next time!:) Praying for you guys as you make this transition!! Thanks so much for coming out of your way to see us!!

Enjoying the gorgeous weather!!

The Monday after Easter was a gorgeous day, even got up into the 90's. Jon had a rare day off from work, so we headed outside to enjoy the warmth. Jon took the kids to the playground and let me go for an outdoor run along the river, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Eliana had a blast at the playground. She is losing some of her timidness and getting more brave with the things that she will try and do. Kai enjoyed watching everything from the jogging stroller front seat. (He is usually in the back bucket seat, so the front was a treat for him.)

My Valentine's gift...

I had bought these Hawaiian quilt patterns at the Swap Meet when we were in Hawaii in 2007. My plan was to frame the smaller ones and then hang the big one on a quilt rod. They have just been sitting around all these years, because I am a complete slacker mostly... but Jon found them and unbeknownst to me, took them to Hobby Lobby and had them framed for me. They were my Valentine's gift. I absolutely LOVE them! They turned out just as I had envisioned them when I bought them. Now we just need to hang them up.:)

Our little ballerina

These pictures are from February... I am just horrible at keeping this blog up to date. Eliana took her first ballet class this year and LOVED it!! These pictures are from her last class, which Jon and I got to attend. She was so excited to have us there, especially her Daddy... and then she told us that when she saw us watching her she got all embarrassed and nervous.:) She did a great job and we are so proud of her.

Kai is 10 months old!!

I cannot believe that my sweet baby boy is now 10 months old! He is as sweet as ever and we are enjoying every moment watching him grow. He is a very busy boy! He started crawling shortly after the New Year, and then within just a week or two of that accomplishment, began pulling himself up on things, starting to climb, and taking steps while holding onto things. He is doing everything a lot sooner than his big sister did and a lot closer together. It makes the child-proofing of the house very interesting. There are things that Eliana never tried doing that Kai is determined to do... as evidenced by his trip to explore the dishwasher. He has already had his first taste of Maka's food and seemed to enjoy it, so we are very quick to get her food up and out of the way whenever he is roaming the house. He still refuses to try and learn to sign... he has "all-done" down but has no interest in any of the others. Oh well, I will keep trying and see if he signs the words first or decides to just say them.:) He is my little cuddler and loves to have his face touched. He will pull your hand onto his face and hold it there, especially if he is sleepy. He and Eliana love to hold hands in the van any time we are driving somewhere. Someday I am going to have to try and get a picture of that. He loves the outdoors and goes to lift the blinds and peek out them first thing everyday. If I have the windows open in the front of the house, he will stand there and jabber out them to the world beyond. His hair is continuing to grow and is even starting to curl up in the back. I am so curious to see if he will have the curls that Eliana had as a baby. Won't that really confuse people... and Asian looking baby with a head of black curls! It is so hard to believe that I am going to have to start planning his first birthday soon. Better buy him a pair of running shoes, as I am almost positive he will be walking/running by his first birthday. Crazy, precious boy!!

Note to self...

HIDE THE BABY POWDER!!! This is how we found Eliana one night when she was supposed to be asleep. All had been quiet upstairs, so we falsely assumed she was asleep. Definitely NOT asleep... just quietly decorting herself and her entire bedroom with her brother's baby powder. Where is the parenting manual on something like this?! (Kate, I thought you would get a chuckle out of this remembering back to HI. Was it diaper rash cream with Sabrina?):)