Fun Tag

I feel bad that I haven't done my other tags yet, but I'm excited about writing about Aaron... thanks, Michelle! I promise I'll do the other ones soon though! What is his name? Aaron Kauhimakakuokalani Auna
How long have you been married? 3 1/2 years
How long did you date? 10 months
How old is he? 26
Who eats more? It's pretty close : ) but Aaron's Hawaiian and he has hollow legs.
Who said I love you first? I really can't remember.
Who is taller? I have to echo Michelle: Aaron is - thank goodness!! (Can you imagine?!)
Who sings better? Aaron, most definately! He is a beautiful tenor - he sang with the BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir (picture in aloha shrit above) and he also sang "White Sandy Beach" (by Israel K) for our wedding reception. My mom likes to say that's when she fell in love with him. : )
Who is smarter? Aaron's always reading and he has a great ability to remember quotes, so he is. Whose temper is worse? I stew over things more. I've never seen him more than really irratated and it never lasts long.

Who does the laundry? I do, but it sometimes just rests on the bed for a couple of days until I fold it. He's sweet-he never complains, just moves the mound over to go to sleep. I'm trying to be better though.
Who does the dishes? We used to have an agreement that whoever cooked wouldn't have to do the dishes, but now he gets home later and we're both tired so I just do them the next day.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Aaron, he likes to sleep next to a wall.
Who pays the bills? Aaron sets up the automatic ones, sometimes I pay rent.
Who cooks dinner? I mostly cook dinner, but on weekends Aaron will give me a break because he likes to cook too.
Who drives when you are together? Always Aaron. He gets too nervous when I drive and I like being able to relax when we go places. I have a bad history - but I haven't gotten into a wreck since we've been married... knock on wood.
Who is more stubborn? I'm pretty stubborn. It's an Okinawan thing.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Aaron will always apologize first, even if I'm the one wrong - we don't like to fight much and gratefully he has a really good memory - he forgets the bad quickly and doesn't bring it up again. I try to learn from him.
Whose parents do you see the most? We split it evenly during the holidays...
Who proposed? Aaron proposed to me on my birthday in the McKay Bldg. Courtyard at BYU-Hawaii... He wrote me a sweet poem that he ended up reading twice all while kneeling on one knee - he was really nervous. We even took a cheesy picture after to remember the moment. I was impressed he got a ring without me knowing. It was beautiful - I lost it a year after we were married.

Who has more friends? I think we have a lot of the same friends.

Who has more siblings? Me - I have three younger sisters and Aaron has a younger brother and a younger sister.
Who wears the pants in the family? Aaron - the kids listen to him better and they come to me for comfort.

I'm so grateful for Aaron - he is a fabulous father and husband - a loving, generous, thoughtful and forgiving person. He's very musically talented, he plays a little piano and trumpet. He loves to read especially everything gospel-related. He loves soccor and people: I used to like to call him, "Mr. Aloha" because he is so friendly to everyone. He inspires me to be a better person.

I tag Elizabeth H., Sarah W., Alexandra C., and Muriel R. Don't feel obligated, but I look forward to reading yours if you write one.

I'm Grateful for...

A highlight from our trip to Florida over Thanksgiving weekend was our breakfast at Denny's. This picture is sooo unflattering but I laugh every time I see it. Aaron just happened to capture the moment Elijah stuck his foot in my syrup. He looks so calculating and I look cross-eyed - and my eyes are literally popping out of my head. Elise has an "ewww" look on her face... LOL! I'm grateful for moments like these and for family.

However, the biggest highlight for me was seeing our lovely friends, Debbie and Kathy, people who uplift and inspire me. I am so grateful for good friends! They are such kind, loving, ambitious people. We met them at BYU-Hawaii and since graduating at the top of their classes, Debbie has completed nursing school and passed her nursing exam and Kathy went to grad school in London to study Ethno-botany. Amazing! I loved looking at all her picturesque European backpacking photos and hearing her crazy stories! They have a colorful heritage too, their mother is Columbian and their father is from the Dominican Republic. Brother and Sister Reynoso have a beautiful home and a wonderful welcoming spirit in their home. I hope we can that type of home that is open to all and so loving... Their family graciously included us in their delicious Thanksgiving celebrations, including dancing in the kitchen after dinner : ) I got to know their sister Erica who has really gorgeous daughters - Isabella (Isa or Belli for short) and Lilly, much better and she is as lovely a person as Debs and Kat. Debbie recently got married to a wonderful guy, named Josh Keliiheleua, who has Hawaiian heritage but his family is from Oregan. I was so impressed with him! He's so laid back and knowledgeable, he's enthusiastic about teaching (his career) and he is into photography and recording music. This pic is in front of Debs and Josh's townhome. We really love Debbie, Kathy and their family!!

(Here's a cute pic of Debbie and Josh. : )

The other days we spent at Universal Studios and taking pictures at the Temple which was fun too. I'm grateful for family vacations!

Elijah's Birthday Bash

Elijah is one year old! How did the year fly by so fast? A short tribute to his life thus far: he is such a joy, he has a bright smile and happy eyes, an infectious laugh and though he has recently shown some seperation anxiety in social situations, has had no fear when swimming or crawling or walking. For one so little he climbs to some pretty high perches, and quickly! I am always amazed at how far he can go in so little time. He has been a great kid and we feel so fortunate to entrusted to his care and be his parents.

We had a birthday celebration at the Rockville Municipal Swim Center. Elijah was fearless in the water - he plowed through even while water was rising above his head, chasing after balls. I think he would have kept going if we hadn't caught him. Elise had so much fun too. (If you think about it, most of the kids there were her friends too, after all. : ) They both were so tired they conked out on the ride home and Elise was even mid-bite, chewing on a piece of cheese.

We are really blessed to have great friends. I'm kind of absent-minded and it's hard for me to multi-task so people really came to the party's rescue. I had mentioned to Alexandra that I wanted to make a dump truck cake because I saw it on her blog and thought it was super-cute, so she drove over to let me borrow Andrew's dump truck! So thoughtful... Aaron set everything up in the party room - I think we make a good team. I plan and he executes and presides - he is a much better host than me. Our friend Tiana took many pictures for us capturing candid memories that I would never have gotten, Rachelle was the life of the party with the kids in the pool - they adore her and think she's so fun, Carolina watched and played with Elijah as I was running back and forth, Trina thought ahead and brought extra swim diapers, and Michelle and Sue helped us clean up after the party. That was really an answer to our prayers time-wise, because we had to catch a plane to Orlando, FL that evening. Mahalo to all for celebrating with us and making it a special day for Elijah and our family!

Huguelys, Hulets, Holbrooks, Harrisons...

Random pictures of Elise and her friends....
This one to the left is of Michael Huguely and Elise at the Build-a-Bear place in Montgomery Mall. I love Micheal's face! When Elise sees this picture, she cracks up and says, "Picky Nose!"
This was taken a month ago of Elise and Annika Hulet. She's so pretty in pink! I still can't believe she's walking, talking and signing. Her mom and dad have been so good to us! Her dad was the best home teacher - he memorized Aaron's middle name (Kauhimakakuokalani) on the first visit - very impressive. He and Elizabeth are so generous... We love the Hulets!

Damon is such a photogenic guy - always smiling and laughing about something! It's great that he always finds wonder and joy in everything! We see him almost every other day and we're so sad if we don't see him and Taylor and Michelle...


I like this one of Kiara and Elise - They are so oppisite, blond and black hair, short and tall... I still can't believe that Kiara is a week younger than Elise!! I've said it before but we're so glad that the Harrisons moved out here. It's nice for Elise to have girl friends and friends from Hawaii.

Baby Aley's 1st Birthday

Aaron's first cousin, Aley Auna, moved out to Ellicot City after graduating from the University of Hawaii with his MPA. We were so excited because they have a little girl, Audrey, who is just a couple weeks older than Elise and a son, Aley, who is a week older than Elijah. Add the Harrisons into the mix and we have three girls the same age and three boys... Funny, isn't it?

So this past Vetran's day, (Nov. 12th) we celebrated Baby Aley's birthday, who was named after his father, Aley III. Sarah made some yummy chilli and a cool race car cake... I love the pics of the girls snuggled up in Audrey's bed reading books (all on their on accord!) This is how girls play : ).

A fun coincidence: Aley served in the same mission as me (Arizona Tucson) but he went home the transfer I came into the mission.

Stylist in Training

Sissors + Elise = Recipe for Disaster! Am I exaggerating? Maybe a little, but you can't see that she got some of her bangs too! I was really sad that Elise cut her hair off. Actually, this isn't the first time, but today, she found sissors in my back room that is usually blocked off when I was sending out invitations for Elijah's birthday party. Like most parents, when it suddenly becomes quiet, you know that it indicates trouble... But as my parents, in-laws and friends have pointed out, at least she didn't hurt herself or cut Elijah's finger off or something! Now I have the fun task of deciding how to fix her creation...

Good memories, old friends

In partial response to Michelle's tag ("What were you doing five years ago?") - this slideshow show is of two of my favorite co-workers and people ever: Jeffery Taylor and Travis Lawrence. Five years ago, I was working as an RA at the only co-ed dorm or "hale" at BYU-Hawaii (which had gender-segregated living quarters), with these two great guys and lovely ladies, Sheena and Kavita. I will always remember those semesters with the most fondness because we had such fun and also since that is when Aaron and I started dating. Time flies!! Now Jeff is married to a great girl - Susannah and they have a beautiful daughter. He's working for a government agency, and they own their first home - so exciting. Travis was here on a conference for work. He owns a condo in Hawaii and is working at HRI, I think. I'll correct it once I figure it out. Single ladies, he's a catch! (Contact me if you care for more info : ) j/k.

The Pumpkin Patch Kids

Part of my Halloween fun consisted of dressing the kids up in costumes. We tagged along with Elizabeth Hulet and her adorable little "duck-duck", Annika, to the mall to take some pictures. (I wish a had a picture to post - she was so cute!) I borrowed Elise's costume from her friend Ches, whose mom Tiana created this great outfit for Ches to wear last year. I found Elijah's at a thrift store as well as a little ballerina leotard for Elise, which she wore to Brown's Halloween party with her girlfriends. But a ballerina and a pumpkin just wouldn't have turned out as cute for pictures, so we are so grateful to Ches and Tiana for letting us borrow their pumpkin suit!

Our Halloween at Home

At the Brown's home that is. : ) Our friend, Rachelle had the brilliant idea to throw a Halloween party for her daughter and some of her friends. We had gone to a fun trick-or-treat event at the Congressional mall and took costume pictures of the kids' at Sears with the Hulets (pictures coming soon), but weren't able to go trick-or-treating on Halloween day because Elijah wasn't feeling good. So this was a really memorable way to celebrate - with fun games and ono (Hawaiian for "delicious") food! (Continued below.)

Rachelle had made some great chilli and breadsticks , and cut-up some fruit for the kids - Elise's favorite foods! For first game we tried to eat doughnuts off a string without using our hands. I think it was supposed to be a race but I had a difficult time just getting Elise to follow the rules!

After that we wrapped the kids up in toliet paper to make them look like mummies! Funny story - Rachelle asked the kids at the end of the night what they had turned Ben into and Kaelene Harrison's daughter, Kiara exclaimed (because she knew the right answer!), "Toliet paper!" Too cute!

(Kaelene is our good friend from Alaska, like me, who went to BYUH and is my jogging partner. Knowing she's waiting for me inspires me to get out of bed and exercise - I'm so grateful to her! Also, her husband Sanoe grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii just like Aaron! Such a small world!)

Anyway, Kaelene made some yummy spice cupcakes and the kids had a little cake walk, and then the kids got to go fising and "someone" in the closet attached treats and gifts onto a fishing pole for them. They couldn't figure out who it was and wanted to peek, but Kaelene said it might be a ghost - the friendly variety. That's when Elise got her cool teeth! She loved it and started growling at people immediately.

They also got sweet glow sticks - which mesmerised them for a bit until they found Rachelle's bed and computer! For a good little while they listened to this techno-pop Hampster song from YouTube and jumped on the bed (Rachelle said it was okay. : )

It's fun for Elise to have girlfriends her age - to dress-up with and be girly with. (Although, Elise's friends that are boys like dressing up with her necklaces too - much to the dismay of their fathers!) Also, Lizzie and Kiara are potty-trained and so Elise wants to be a big girl like them when she's with them.

Elijah hung in there and didn't spread too many germs around (I think). We had a such a great time, Elise cried when we left - thanks so much to Rachelle for throwing a terrific party and for taking pictures!

Elijah's "First Steps"

Elijah started taking steps a couple of weeks ago, but he suddenly decided that he wanted to walk more than crawl. It started when we were visiting our good friends, Sarah and Ethan on Monday. I was looking for my keys behind the chair when Sarah said, "He just walked over to the couch!" At first I wasn't excited, but this whole week he's been trying it out. Check him out, he's so cute! : )