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! =)

Fun visit from my parents and Halloween!! TONS of pictures!

We had a very busy and exciting October. We had to move out of our luxurious apartment because our landlord sold it. So we packed and said goodbye to our dishwasher, washer and dryer, swimming pool, bbq area, workout facilities, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, gated parking, a/c, and moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment. We did say goodbye to the expensive rent though and are now saving almost $600 a month!! We are VERY excited about that. Good trade I think. Honolulu's rent is out of control. But we've really enjoyed are new apartment. We're very close to a couple of parks and it's a much quieter apartment. Anyway, We moved into our new apartment October 19-20th about...and my parents came from Idaho to visit on the 22nd. We were so excited to have them. Here are some pictures of our outings with them. Nate had 2 tests that week so wasn't able to come to everything, but came when he could which always made the outings even better! All these pictures are WAY out of order and some of the captions might be misplaced as well. That's why I'm not such a great blogger I don't wanna take the time to put it all in order. The locations of pictures are: Waikiki Beach, Waikiki Board Walk, Aloha Stadium, Yogurtland, ToDai, Waimanalo Beach, Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay, Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), North Shore, Haunted Lagoon, and I think that's all. There may not be pics of all these things either but we'll see...

Zak LOVED sharing the backseat with Grandma

A lady was teaching Zak how to hold still to feed the birds. She took pictures of my mom doing it with us, but none of those ones turned out.

Waikiki Beach

He and Grandma were couldn't stop taking pictures together

Taco's El Ray all the Way from Caldwell! There's NO Mexican food in Hawaii! Thanks Mom and Dad! =)

Grandma showing Zak the light with some BBQ chips after snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Had a Sunday picnic at Waimanalo

Just pretty

Hawaii vs. BSU

I LOVE this picture my mom got of Nate and Zak! Both have eyes open and are lookin too dang cute.

To Dai, a Japanese and Seafood buffet

Yogurtland. All kinds of different soft serve, self-serve frozen yogurts and TONS of toppings. Serve yourself as much as you'd like and they charge you by the ounce.

Japanese students on a field trip to Pearl Harbor couldn't get enough of Zak. They were chasing him all over the place. I'd never seen anything quite like it!

Me and my dad at Pearl Harbor

Zak and Grandpa Berg at Pearl Harbor

At the Polynesian Cultural Center

From the village of Fiji at the PCC

Zak looking so pretty with a flower in his hair like mom

At Dad's birthday dinner. He was trying to get my mom to try baby octopus salad. ewww

While walking through the mall, the Dairy Queen girls came up to Zak and just gave him a free ice cream cone. Blonde hair and blue eyes goes a long way in this environment =)

Our star enjoying a sucker

Zak going trick or treating with his cute turtle of a friend Julien. Zak was a basketball player..or NBA Star I mean. Due to our busy month, we forgot to get him a costume. At about 5 pm on Halloween we went costume searching but nothing was anywhere, so we came up with this and thought he looked dang cute!

I know we have more family pictures from this night...and better ones, but I'm not sure where, so this will have to do.

Zak after a long night of trick or treating

Shrimp Shack on the North Shore..Giovonni's. Our friends the Greens let us stay at their BEAUTIFUL home up there and joined us for lunch

Samoan dancers

Samoan village and holy crap he climbed a coconut tree!
I apologize for the crazy order of these pictures, but you get the idea! ...I hope. And sorry for the spell of small pictures in there. I forgot to make them bigger...don't be mad at me Jill! Our other exciting new is....Nate's experiments are working and his research is progressing more and more and he gets to start doing some brand new stuff he's excited about. I can't give you all the info because it's top secret...and I just don't understand it all. But it's exciting! =) Zak is talking like a crazy man these days. He just busts out new words all the time like he's known the word for years and has just decided to start using it. It's a lot of fun. That's it for us for now. We're loving being together here in Hawaii!

Random happenings of the last little while

I've been getting asked to post pictures of my arms for an update. I keep forgetting to take pictures of them. I finally remembered but it happens to be night and the lighting isn't great, but you get the idea. They're WAY better! Good as new, practically!



We bought a family pass to the Honolulu Zoo. It was only $20 for the whole family! It gives Zak and I something to do on those days where we need to spice up our life. One Wednesday, Nate got out of class early so we all decided to go to the zoo. It was so much fun having him go with us!




This is Zak's new favorite past time. He likes to take weird things out of the cupboard and just move them from place to place. He can do this for hours. Put them all on the couch and then the entertainment center then the floor then who knows...




Day at Ala Moana Beach playing with Uncle Jeff. It was soooo rocky! And I fell right on me knees on the rocks. It killed walking into the ocean too. I'd never been on a beach that rocky before! It was still rocky until you were like in to your neck!




After a busy week at work/school, Nate's boss gave him the day off today. In the morning we went apartment hunting because our landlord has put this apartment up for sale officially. For the rest the day we drove to the North Shore and wanted to go to Waimea Bay. Little did we know there would be no swimming signs EVERYWHERE because the waves were so freakin' huge! It was way fun to watch the body boarders and surfers though. Even funner to watch the people who didn't know what they were doing and would be told to get out of the ocean over the loud speaker because the life guards didn't want to have to go rescue them. I was thinking that'd be way embarrassing! Anyway here are a few pics of the waves there. We also went to Turtle Bay and were planning on going to Shark's Cove but passed it and didn't really feel like looking for it. It was a fun day though!



Zak's 1st dentist appointment!