Manoa Falls Hike

On conference Sunday, our friends Brint and Brea suggested we hike to Manoa Falls between sessions. We thought it was a great idea to get out of the house, enjoy some nature, wear Zak out, and do a hike we hadn't done before. Little did we know we were about to embark on one wet, rainy, muddy, slippery hike! Zak and Duke loved jumping in the puddles (and the river for Duke). Zak also loved throwing rocks in the river. He wasn't so sure what to think when it really started raining, but we had a great time. I didn't get pictures of us with the Hiatt's...but they were there too. Trust me.

Holy humid! Nate and I posing with the crazy bamboo.
Crazy bamboo...

Such a cute family picture....right?! NOT!!! But it's the only picture that proves we got to the waterfall. So this is us, in all our soaking wet glory! I didn't realize what i looked like or I would've just take a picture of the boys with the waterfall! Fun times!

Making Cookies!

Sunday morning I was craving pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Lucky for my, I have a son who loves to help me bake....or at least stir and sample. He kept saying it was splashing him so he wanted an apron too...We didn't have one for him, so we were resourceful and just tied one of Nate's old t-shirts around his neck.

I turn my head for one second......

And again.... pumpkin batter grosses me out, i've never tasted it. Zak seems to think it's amazing though!

Bonfire and Movie on the beach

Last Friday was our friend Kellie Hatch's birthday. Her hubby threw her a birthday part with a fire for weiner roasting, other yummy treats, a projector and screen for a movie, and great company. It was a ton of fun!

The fam! I think my mouth may have had food in it...oops

Kellie blowing out her birthday candle!

You can't see the movie in the picture...but don't worry, we could!

Heber manning the weiny roasting

The yummy snacks I spoke of!

Zak and his buddy Bentley

Me, Lieren, and Brea

problems with pictures

Ok I planned on uploading like tons of pictures....but am having some problems after only like 5. So hopefully i can add more soon!

We're baaaaaack

SOOOO, waiting like 5 months between posts is no fun. I start getting overwhelmed about posting again because I'm so far behind but i'll try to give some quick highlights of what we've been up to.

I left off in February. Hmmmm I have no idea about what happened in March or April we'll see if I have any pictures from those months to remind me. In May, Nate finished the 1st year of his 2-year Masters program and University of Hawaii. He did awesome and has really enjoyed his research. Zak and I took a trip to Idaho to visit family so Nate could get in some extra studying for qualifying exams and the MCAT. Zak did AWESOME on the airplane and slept pretty much the enitre flight from Honolulu to Salt Lake. He stayed awake from Salt Lake to Boise and just played and looked out the window etc. He loved seeing his Grandma's and Grandpa's on both sides and some cousins and aunts and uncles. We were a little bummed the weather wasn't better.... it was freezing....but we still had a great time. We were in Idaho for about 3 1/2 weeks and were ready to be home again by the end. Zak and I were both missing Nate like crazy so it was good to be reunited. And I got some flowers from my sweet hubby when we got back to the house. =)

June seemed to fly by. Nate woked and studied hard for the MCAT while Zak and I had some beach days to make up for our lack of beach in Idaho and had fun catching back up with friends here. Then this month Nate took the MCAT. YEAAAAAAH!!! He has to wait like 30 days for his scores to come back but I'm so proud of him for how hard he studied and worked and I think he did AWESOME!

Zak is 2 1/2 and is getting so big. He can count to 10 and knows most of his letters. He can say short bedtime prayers by himself. He has a book of dinosaurs and can name them all and tell us whether they're plant-eaters or meat-eaters. Still not potty trained....but my goal is to actually start trying to potty train him asap. =) When he needs to go poop he goes into the bathroom, shuts the door, poops in his diaper and then flushes the toilet. So we're kinda missing out on the biggest step....but hey...we gotta start somewhere. He loves collecting rocks whereever we go so he can save them to throw into the ocean the next time we go. So at pretty much any given time you can go through my purse and find at least a few rocks...or find them in random places at our house. He loves finding bugs and squishing them, running playing cars, trains, animals, dinosaurs...etc. He's very protective of me these days and let's Nate know if he's not playing soft enough with mommy. =) Or if I say something and Nate says something different, Zak gets pretty worked up repeating what I said to Nate. Zak loves when Nate comes home and LOVES to have Nate play tackle with him. He likes to get thrown on the bed or do little flips (with nate's help) and all those things that mommy's just aren't so good at.
I did the summer reading program with Zak that the library puts on and he LOVES getting new books and reading them over and over. He got to earn some prizes too which was fun.
We have so much fun taking Zak out and doing stuff as a little family. Zak's definitely a stubborn little guy and knows what he wants and when. We love him though and are so greatful he's part of our family.

I guess that's kinda it for now. Sorry it's kinda random. I feel a little scatter-brained but I finally did a little bit of catching up at least!!

Yes, it's true..I updated our blog!

Where to begin??? I guess I'll just summarize our recent happenings by month and try to give you a quick overview of what we've been up to the last few months.

NOVEMBER: Hmmmm, I can't remember too much of this month. My 25th birthday was on the 17th. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a big group of friends all of which had no family on the island and weren't going home to celebrate. I think there were almost 30 of us there. It was hosted by our friends Kellie and Darrick who live in a high rise with a big room they can reserve for parties, etc.so that's where it was held. It was a lot of fun. Looks like I can't remember too much more of this month. Oh ya, Nate's brother Jeff that had been staying with us since August went back to Idaho and my friend Sadie came and visited. Lots and lots of fun!
DECEMBER: This was a busy month as I'm sure you can all imagine. Although I don't have many pictures from the holidays because my camera decided to break on Christmas EVE!!! Yes, I was quite upset..but we did get a few picture from our disposable camera we got that night. This was our 1st Christmas we've celebrated totally on our own. (Oh, and our anniversary was on the 23rd) We just hung out on Christmas Eve for the most part and had a BBQ on the beach (Magic Island) with the Garner Family. Steak, shrimp, fruits and veggies, salad..Mmmmm. That night Nate and I had a blast getting the house and gifts/stockings ready for Zak. Christmas morning was so much fun watching Zak realize that all the boxes that had been under the tree had fun things inside of them! For quite awhile after Christmas he'd bring me random things asking me to open them...things that don't open. I think he just thought everything had fun surprises in them after Christmas. We all got spoiled and had a nice relaxing day. Until Nate and I fell asleep for a mid-morning nap when there was a knock at our door with our neighbor telling us Zak was out playing in the parking lot! SCARY! Woops! Anyway, he was safe, don't worry. =) We had dinner with our friends Dan and Ann and had lamb and mashed potatoes and rolls and salad and had AMAZING bread pudding for dessert. Although we missed our families, we had a great time with just our little family on our first Christmas alone.
JANUARY: There's a couple we know from Idaho who are living on the North Shore in a beautiful 4 bedroom 4 bathroom house right on the beach. They were in Idaho for the holidays and their son's wedding and let us stay at their house over New Years. Nate and I went up on Dec. 30th and then Dan and Ann and their son Teague, came up the 31st to help us ring in the New Year. It was so relaxing getting out of Honolulu and just having a real kitchen and yard and our own beach to chill at. We snorkeled and laid out and then had a fun time watching all the crazy fireworks that were going off, off all the different shores that we could see. Zak's 2nd birthday was Jan. 6th. We threw him a little party at Chuck E. Cheese and he loved it. He got spoiled by friends and family and probably just a tiny bit by us. I made him this snake/caterpillar/creature cake and he was not impressed at all. Apparently he's only interested in chocolate cake b/c he got a free slice of chocolate cake from Chuck E. Cheese and he was all about it and it didn't even look like a cute little snake thing! Oh well I guess...I tried. Grandma and Roger vacationed on Maui and then, lucky for us, came to Oahu! They took Zak and I out to lunch one day and we went for a scenic drive while Nate was at school. Then, their last night here, they took Nate and I to dinner and on a little shopping trip! It was so much fun to see them and spend some time with them and get spoiled by them! =)I can't remember if anything else happened this month...
FEBRUARY (as of yet..): Nate's birthday was on the 4th. He turned the big 2-7! We made him bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. Then, he worked and schooled most of the day. Then we went and got him some sa-weet snorkeling gear. Then we went to eat at Buca di Beppo with Brint and Brea while our awesome friends Olya and Heber watched Zak. Then we came home and had an awesome ice cream cake (made by me)with Heber, Olya and Stephanie. We're horrible planners...so sorry for other friends we didn't have come celebrate with us..it was all very last minute. Promise. =) My friend Brea colored my hair caramel brown. Um, and I think we're now current. WOOOOHOOOOOO! Sorry I didn't write in a very interesting way... I was just trying to hurry and bring us current without getting into major details and typing 4 million pages. So now for the pictures!
*Drag cursor over picture for caption, or part of a caption. Half of them cut part of the caption off*

LAME

I totally just wrote out a big ol blog catching everyone up on our lives ie. Christmas, New Year's, Zak's birthday etc and I lost it as I was about to upload the pictures. SO.....I will blog sometime soon, but just know that I tried. More to come on a day when i'm in more of a chatty type mood! =)