Alaina

On December 27th 2012 we welcomed little Alaina Kalei into our family. I went into the hospital on Thursday morning and just 8 hours and a few short pushes later we had a sweet little 6.12 lb baby in our arms.

She is very calm and has a sweet spirit about her. She's like a sweet dream that I never wake-up from.

Jeremiah has been such a good big brother. He loves to hold his sister and giver her kisses.

When Alaina cries at night, Jeremiah will call out to her from his crib and say, "ok, Laina..ok" to let her know that it's ok.

Time

I never realized how special and valuable time is; it comes and it goes so quickly, passing by without return. (I often wish that I could push a pause button and just linger in a moment for a while.) 

Being in Utah with my family gave me the desire to live more happily and participate in as much as I can while I can. Because I'm pregnant I often feel too tired to want to play or be with Jeremiah. But, I know that if I sacrifice my comfort for the time I can spend with Jeremiah I will never regret it.  I might say to myself in the the future, "I wish I had spent more time doing things with Jeremiah." But, I will NEVER say, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time doing things with Jeremiah." I think most of you agree that you would say something similar. So, Let's spend more time with our loved ones and use our time to do wonderful things! We can never get our time back.

4th of July

It was a wonderful 4th of July yesterday!!

We had a ward activity in the morning and Jeremiah was able to ride his trike around the church parking lot behind a police car for the kids' parade. He had such a blast and it was fun to be with our ward friends. So many of them have served or are currently serving in many military positions. I am so grateful for those who serve us and continue to make this country a place of refuge.
In the evening we celebrated by going downtown DC to watch the fireworks and enjoy the atmosphere. It was 97 degrees and extremely humid but, being on the National Mall for the 4th is well worth the discomfort.
Jeremiah couldn't get enough of the music and people. He ran around and round looking at everyone and giggling. 

While we were dancing at the concert I looked around at all of the many diverse faces surrounding me. As I watched, I also listened to their voices with accents from all over the world singing in unison to the music. The words were:

"We got to give a little love 
have a little hope
make this country better 
try a little more, harder than before
lets do what we can do together
Oh oh
we can really make it better
oh oh
only if we try"

WOW! :)  It was so touching to be among such a large plethora of people who had gathered together to celebrate a country that has given us all so much. Isn't that so cool!? And Isn't it so true? We can make this world better by just trying,  having faith, hope and love. I believe that we can make a difference and that our founding father's set up our government the way that they did so that we 
would and could make a difference.

After the concert was nearly over we walked back to our camping chairs to watch the fireworks together. Jeremiah loved the fireworks and kept saying, "boom boom, wow wow." It was really cute and such a fun experience for him.

I don't know that I've ever seen such an amazing firework show anywhere else in my life. It was a treat to sit with my family under bursting flames of light and just enjoy the night. I take for granted the freedoms and luxuries that I have just because I live in the United States of America. There are so many around the world who can't sit down or even sleep at night without worrying about how they are going to survive the day. 
We have so much to be thankful for.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and got to spend time with your loved ones.

Maui

Jeremiah and I were able to return to Maui for my grandma Honda's funeral. It was a beautiful service and ended up being a wonderful time to spend with relatives. Even though funerals are often difficult to attend I have always loved the fact that they bring family and friends together again. Of course there were moments of tears but most of the moments were filled with joy in remembering the sweet life of my grandmother. 

My Grandmother was many things but, most importantly, she was a disciple of Christ. She left behind a legacy of faith for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We all know of her testimony and are guided by the lessons she taught us while she was alive. 

I am so blessed to know that families can be together forever and that my grandmother is reunited with her sweet husband once again.

One of the best parts of being able to go back to Maui was being able to see my sweet mother. I love and miss her very much. She exemplifies the kind of person I want to be and strive to become.

Jeremiah's First time to the Beach!

I wanna be like you!

Jeremiah is at a stage right now where he wants to do everything like everyone else. His favorite person to mimic right now is his uncle Sam. Jeremiah makes sure that he always has his rugby ball for all of Sam's rugby games. He also screams loudly and tries to run on the field to play with all of the big boys.

Because Sam is so good at a wide variety of things, he has a huge opportunity to be an example to his peers. We are so proud of him for always living his standards and being a missionary in the way that he lives. Because of his example, one of Sam's friend's, Joon, is learning about the gospel. Joon is a wonderful guy who is full of faith and has many Christ-like attributes. We feel like Joon is part of our family and enjoy having him around so much. I have been blessed to witness Sam teaching his friend Joon and Joon learning gospel principles.

Both Sam and Joon have been Jeremiah's buddies. They are so sweet with him and even though they could just ignore him and do their own thing, they play with him and make him feel happy. No wonder Jeremiah wants to be like them.

(Sam's friends: Joon and Caitlyn)

  

There is Beauty All Around

 I don't have a lot of time to write but pictures are more fun anyway. Enjoy!

These are pictures taken from behind the house. Everything is in blossom and beautiful. We love going for walks on the trails outside and seeing all of the wonderful things Heavenly Father created for us. Jeremiah loves the wildlife around here. There are always bunnies, dear, giant squirrels or other critters around the house

 For Easter our wonderful Neighbors and ward friends threw a party. All of the little ones were able to play games and hunt for easter eggs. It was so cute to watch all of the babies and toddlers. They didn't quite get the whole easter egg thing but they loves running around and taking eggs out of and putting eggs in each others baskets. 

Jeremiah thought that the eggs were fun all by themselves. He thew them, rolled them and just laughed and laughed. But, once he found out there was candy inside of the eggs he was even more pleased!

We went to Belle Isle for spring break and had a fantastic time. Bell Isle was beautiful and relaxing. Most days were spent playing games in the sun room/dinning room and going canoeing. Jeremiah loved playing in the water but didn't like getting bumped around by the waves.

Chris and I went out canoeing at sunset and enjoyed the beautiful colors.

Skills

We have all been given talents and it's our job to develop them and use them to build up the Kingdom of God. I have always wondered what my talents were and how I could develop them. I have found that we cannot know or understand what our talents are unless we are willing to try things and pray for help. Heavenly Father has given us everything that we have and will continue to bless us with more things as we ask for them and work for them. 

Something that I have always desired to have and have always admired about my father is his talent and ability to create. He can make anything. Since I was a small girl my dad was making up stories, games, toys, drawings, designs, programs, and much more. I loved and still love watching him and learning from him. 

I know that these graphics look very simple but it actually took me quite a while to do. This is the poster I made for Sam's local High School Basketball Team. 

Thanks for teaching me daddy!

Virginia

Life has been good in Virginia. Chris is still trying to find a job and working hard at it. Jeremiah is pretty well adjusted now and loves having his uncle Sam around to play with him all the time. Sam teaches him new tricks all the time. Jeremiah spins around in circles with Sam and they both fall down laughing. Sam also taught him to raise his hands in the air and shout "Lasagna" but Jeremiah says "lalana". He kept doing it while we were eating dinner and loved having everyone react by mimicking him.
Jeremiah's favorite food is still peanut butter. He eats it like Pooh Bear eats honey!

We are so sad that Sam's team is done playing basketball. We had a fun time attending his high school games and cheering on the Westfield Bulldogs. Jeremiah learned to cheer, stomp and clap really well by the end of their season.

Although, life right now isn't as we had hoped we have been so blessed. We have been able to stay with family at little/no expense, we have been given great callings in the ward, we walked away from a car accident without injury, we haven't had major health problems, and we have wonderful family who continually prays for us and supports us. We are so grateful for all that we have. We know that the Lord is looking out for us.

Most Handsome Guy In The World

This is a movie of Jeremiah kissing himself in the mirror. He did this in our hotel for about a half hour. I only caught the end of it but, it's  pretty cute!

A Cross-Country Journey

Christopher, Jeremiah and I just moved from Provo to Washington DC. Along our way we made some fun stops and saw some incredible things. 

We made a stop at a rest area and Jeremiah played in the snow for the first time in his life. He was so excited at first but once he started playing with it for a while he began examining his hands, whined a little bit and flapped his hands in the air. He didn't realize that snow was so cold.

Nauvoo was incredible! We were able to see the temple and visit some of the Church members' homes. One of the highlights included running into my High School Painting teacher who is currently serving in Nauvoo with his wife as a senior missionary couple. The old cultural hall (#5 on the map) was currently being renovated but because I knew Mr. Laney (my old teacher) he took us on a private tour of the building. Chris and I were able to slow dance on the same old floor that Joseph and Emma danced on...such a sweet moment. 

The spirit is so strong in Nauvoo. Tears came to my eyes as I walked around and looked at how much the early saints had done and dedicated to the Lord. 

Just a few miles away from Nauvoo is Carthage Jail. We were able to have another private tour and spend some time walking around in the jail where Joseph Smith Jr. was kept under false charges of treason. We stood in the same room that Joseph, Hyrum, Willard Richards and John Taylor were kept in and saw the bullet holes left in the walls from the angry mob. I knew I would cry at Carthage but, I also assumed that there would be a terrible feeling that accompanied my tears. However, to my surprise, I was met with a soft, sweet spirit that left me feeling only grateful for sweet Joseph and hopeful for the future.

Along our trip I made an effort to stop at some of the restaurants featured in "diners, drive-ins and dives" on food network.  My absolute favorite place was a little "dive" in Cincinnati called Terry's Turf. There best menu item is a burger with a burgundy wine with wild mushroom hamburger topping. AMAZZING!!! I'm not necessarily a burger person but, I could eat a burger from Terry's any day!

We made it safely to DC 2 days ago and are so happy not to wake up and drive 8 hours!

Some updates on Jeremiah (14 Mo. old)

He now does sign language for: "please", "thank you", "more", "diaper", "bye", "drink", "milk", "water", "eat", and "help".

He verbally says, "mamma", "dadda", "please", "nana" (banana), "gawa" (grandma/grandpa), "go", "hi", "bye", "hot", "wow", "ish", and "jus" (Jesus).

He runs around like the Tasmanian-devil and his favorite toys are: cell phones, remote controls, pots, pans and silverware.

 We love you all and are so grateful for all of your love and prayers!!!!