my life according to flickr

tagged by mary...

1. go to flickr.com
2. enter your answer in the "search" box to each question below
3. use the first picture that comes up from the search results
4. copy the html and paste!

what's your name?

what's your favorite food?

favorite color?

favorite drink?

dream vacation?

favorite dessert?

what do you want to be when you grow up?

what do you love most in life?

one word to describe you?

what do you dream about?

again, anyone who is curious to see what flickr has to offer, or is bored, or needs to update their blog - this one's for you!

i could get used to this

ahonui has been sick since last week friday, and although it hasn't been a very fun past few days for our little man, i've been staying home to care for him -- which i am absolutely LOVING. the past few days & nights we have been experiencing varying moods from the boy...from deep throat coughs and cries, to jumping for joy on the bed and tickle wars. brandon and i are doing our best to keep him comfortable and content.

after spending the last two days here at home instead of heading off to work, i'm really getting the "wannabe-a-homemaker-type-mother" bug. don't get me wrong...i do love my job at BYUH for the most part. i love feeling like i'm helping students create a bright future for themselves. i love that students feel comfortable enough to continually come back to see me. and i love that i can feel like i'm making somewhat of a difference in someone's life everyday.

at the same time, however, i REALLY LOVE my son and family life even more. i love waking up in the morning without feeling rushed to make breakfast, brush ahonui's teeth, change his diaper, get myself ready, and run out the door to work. i love having time to clean the entire apartment, run errands, wash/dry/fold the laundry, and cook all of our family's meals. i love drawing his bath, chasing him around the apartment, and putting his elmo pjs on at night. and it dawned on me how much i loved it all so much more when i put him down for his nap this afternoon. as i laid next to him on the bed watching him sleep, the cool wind blew the curtains open, and the warm sunlight shone through the windows...and i knew there was no other place that i would rather be. in that moment everything was perfect and my heart ached wishing i could experience that moment every day.



but alas, the reality of cost of living in hawaii sinks in and the daily grind of going back to my cubicle will resume early tomorrow morning. sacrifice is a part of life, right? i just hope it's all worth it.

what can you live without?

one night after ahonui had gone to sleep, i stumbled upon a late night episode of "oprah". the topic that night was "what can you live without?" and it totally opened my eyes on how to clear the clutter in my life and make space for more meaningful and fulfilling things. i took a few notes that night and want to make it a goal to simplify our family's life in these ways:

1. limit driving by walking or bicycling to work. this will save on gas AND give us a little more exercise. two birds...
2. carefully watch our budget by spending only $100 a week on groceries, and also by not shopping online or in stores once a month. (that's a tough one.)
3. no ordering out, getting takeout, or going out to restaurants. not only will this save us loads of money, but it will also give us more opportunities to eat healthier!
4. turn off the tv & internet (perhaps we'll start with at least 5 days a week for now. heehee!). family time together is priceless, and we definitely get caught up in the frivolous things in life just like many others.
5. box up everything that we haven't used in two months and put it in storage or give it away. supposedly when you clear your literal space, it enables you rid yourself of "emotional baggage" as well. interesting...but i don't think i have much emotional baggage -- but you never know. lol.

so far this is all just ideas floating around, and i haven't really tested any of it yet. isn't it funny that most of us KNOW what we should do...such as eating healthy, daily scriptures, exercising, yada yada yada, but we don't actually do it? call me the queen of procrastination...

ham & cheese

just a few updates of our little ham:



who never fails to brighten our days with a lot of laughs and saying "cheese" for the camera...


when i look back at his baby pictures and realize how much he's grown (or actually lost - he's a heck of a lot skinnier these days - but taller), it still trips me out. here's a few things we've noticed about our little big guy lately:

• he squeals with delight during hide and seek sessions - so he's not very effective at hiding.
• "deedoo" can be translated as "thank you", and "the" is the exact same word as "star".
• sentences consist of a single word in ahonui's "book".
• he has memorized the streets we drive...according to ahonui, if we make a left on kam hwy., we're heading to "mamas" (that's grandma's - not me). if we make a right, we're getting "fies, fies, FIES, FIIIIES!" (that's fries - at mcdonalds - i'm not too thrilled about that one).
• reading is overrated when you can play games on an iphone without the aforementioned skill.
• bread has been categorized as being inedible, but broccoli and lettuce is very well accepted.
• the curse of the terrible twos rears its ugly head -- most often when there's people on the sidelines "tsk-tsk"-ing about my inability to control the tantrum thrower.
• elmo's "potty time" is his number one movie at the moment...unfortunately, he's not taking the instructions from the dvd very successfully yet.
• bare feet wins over wearing slippers or shoes any day. lucky for us we live in a state that equally accepts all shoe-less people, even at the mall.
• everything is g-double O-d good when sitting in his elmo chair or "cuddling" with his blue "bit-et" (blanket) as you can see below.

playing catch...up, that is

i know, i know, i've been neglecting to post for a while. but i have been quite the busy bee lately. after coming home from san francisco, life has been such a whirlwind of events so i'll do my best to catch everyone up.

my grandpa passed away on february 11, just a few days after i came home. we held his funeral on the 21st since we had to wait for relatives to come in from the mainland. luckily, gramps has been planning his funeral for the past 30 years so we didn't have to guess at who was speaking, performing the musical numbers, or making the food after the service. it was definitely sad to say goodbye to a man who we all love so much, and hold so many fond memories with. it also didn't surprise me to see tons of people at the funeral. it only made me very proud to be his granddaughter, and to know that i was blessed to have spent a lot of time with him.

my nephew, jayson, had his baby blessing a few sundays ago in my home ward. it was the first time we've had a family picture (not quite professional, but can't complain) that includes all the spouses and grandchildren. our family is growing so quickly nowadays with my mom having seven grandchildren and one more on the way (nue, not me!). i just love having family get togethers because i get to catch up with my brothers & sisters, and it's always a full house with babies everywhere and kids running in & out. you just can't escape the love!

brandon and i went to paradise cove luau in kapolei along with all of his musician co-workers (so you know we got the hookups!) the day after i returned from san fran. it was the first time i've seen the show and i gotta say that it was great! the food - 'ONO, the atmosphere - very romantic, and the performances - awesome. it was a wonderful date opportunity for brandon & i since ahonui stayed with his grandparents, so we surely enjoyed ourselves something other than dinner and a movie that night.







pcc did a test on the new night show called "ha" about a week ago for the community of laie, so ahonui & i went to check it out and support our favorite musician. they tested the samoan, tahitian, and fijian sections that night and i think everyone did a superb job! it's a little more suited for the tourists rather than authenticity but i'm sure everyone is anxiously awaiting an exciting new show in the future. (sorry, no pix - you get scolded by ushers with big orange lightsabers in your face if they see so much as a flicker of light coming from your direction. and i don't appreciate being humiliated).



ahonui loves to play with his cousin royal, who is just six months older than him. whenever we drive in the vacinity of his house, ahonui calls out from the confines of his carseat, "woyo! woyo!" over and over again. i have recently discovered that by letting them run loose together at laie park will get him ready for bed a lot earlier and sleep a lot snugglier.



so that pretty much sums up the last month...looking forward to another busy & hectic one!