1 Year

Wow, just wow.

The time has just flown by and I can't believe it!

My little baby is now a little boy.

He turned one today and he has changed so much!

1Year ago:

I was in the worst pain of my life.

Everything about my life, was going to change.

I was afraid.

I was from then on, going to be called 'Mom'.

It was the last day I would ever get to sleep in.

I was going to be 100% responsible for a little human.

It was the start of a brand new life. A harder Life.

A life that I didn't want for many years.

A life that was, and is, full of ups and downs, highs and lows,

depression and frustration, happiness and proudness,

accomplishments and failures, and hundreds of pictures.

Being a Mom is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

I feel like my life has been put into fast forward.

And it was bad for a long time. Really bad.

But it's getting better :)

I am finding more joy in being a Mom and I am grateful for that.

And I am so thankful for all the love and support I've had from everyone <3

But there's no doubt that I love him.

He is so adorable and he makes me smile everyday.

He is silly, shy, loud, grumpy, chatty, stubborn, 

smiley, smart, needy, ticklish, and everything in between!

So without further delay, here is a little montage of his life so far!

Brand New!

At first I thought he looked alot like Maikal,

But as he's gotten older, I see he's more me.

1 Month

Straight from the womb he was able to

lift himself very high. We make em' strong!

2 Months

Starting to smile big!

Finally got the hang of nursing (huge accomplishment!)

3 Months

Had his first fever

Began to laugh

Loved tommy time

4 Months

Started with solid foods

Began sleeping through the night! (heavenly)

Laughing up a storm

5 Months

Huge personality boost!

He began to 'play' more

6 Months

Began Rolling

Starting Sitting up

Moved to Hawaii!

Lifting himself up from the floor

7 Months

Scootching across the floor

Reaching for us to be picked up

8 Months

Crawling!

First two teeth (bottoms)

Began swimming lessons

9 Months

Standing alone

Top 2 teeth

Feeding himself (only finger foods)

10 Months

First Christmas!! 

4th and 5th top teeth

Taking a few steps

Learned 'Soooo Big'

11 Months

Talking up a storm

More steps!

Pointing at things

1 Year!!

Walking across the room

Not so afraid of the cold ocean water

Long beautiful Prince Hair! Love those curls!

Cheesy Smiles

Happy Birthday My Sweet Little BOY!!

I can no longer say he is a baby...sad, but also awesome.

I love seeing him grow and seeing what he's going to look like!

Electric Beach

This place is amazing. Simply Amazing.

Sure the beach part isn't much, but when you go to

Electric Beach, you aren't going there to play on the beach,

you are there to play in the WATER!

Why?....

let me explain.

Electric Beach is the place where all the

wild Whales, Dolphins, Sting Rays, Turtles,

 (and sometimes Sharks) come to play!!

So why do they ALL come to THAT particular Beach??...

Well this is called Electric Beach for a reason.

There is an Electrical Plant right across the street.

This huge Plant pumps out hot water into the ocean

from a huge pipe under the water.

(you will see it in the video at the end of this post).

The sea animals LOVE the nice warm water so thats

why they go there to play!

The snorkelling is also amazing here.

The water is so clear and blue!

And there is so much life around here. So beautiful!

I could seriously spend the entire day here

and I wouldn't get bored.

There is room for beach volleyball.

You can go camping.

The waves are great for boogy boarding.

You can fish all you want..either by spear or hook.

The ONLY thing that would make everything complete

would be to have either a small motorized boat, a kayak, or a jetski!

Click on the Sentence below to see our sweet video!

There is much fun to be had at Electric Beach! Such a sweet Video of our day!

Be My Valentine

It was the morning of Valentine's Day and neither of us treated the day like any other, we ate some breaky then Maikal went to school for the day.

Secretly I was hoping he had forgotten it was Valentine's Day so that I could surprise him with a lovely little dinner later on.

He came home for lunch and I made him some bacon and eggs. He then had a realization look on his face...he turned to me and said, 'Happy Valentine's Day Hun!' I of course laughed and said it back. Throughout the day I was trying to come off as 'oh I don't care about Val Day' just so he would be even more surprised later on. He told me it was going to be a busy day and probably wouldn't be back until 8ish. I was happy about that because it would give me plenty of time to prepare every, PLUS Ben would be asleep already so it would have made for a more romantic evening.

Everything was going to plan, I had all my ingredients and decorations bought and planned out, until something horrible happened....Maikal decided to come home and hang out with me for an hour at 4:30! Gah! I had already been thawing out the beef for my spaghetti (i chose that because it's red just to try and have a Val coloured theme). This was terrible. He saw that I was preparing for spaghetti so he was excited.....well there goes our entree for the evening lol. It was alright, we could just have a dessert themed surprise dinner instead. But lucky for me, I didn't have ANYTHING else out so he didn't see that I was planning something.

After he left I went straight to work. 

I prepared;

-Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Icing

-Chocolate covered Strawberries

-Pistachio Pudding

-And of course the Sparkling Cider

I had placed a lovely white table cloth on the table (which is actually a sheer curtain...ya im classy like that) and also made this cute little centre piece. I then jumped in the shower and got ready.

He came home at 8pm and was totally surprised! He said to me 'I totally thought you just didn't care about Val day! You tricked me!". He then had a little surprise of his own! He had boughten me a darling flower! It is sooo beautiful <3

We finished the night with a mini silly photoshoot and of course watched The Vampire Diaries.

Perogies

Living in Hawaii has been an amazing opportunity and experience for us. We are so blessed and very thankful that we live in such paradise.......but.
There was just one thing missing.....

PERGOIES!

I mean seriously....

How could anyone live without the delicious taste of

a hot, fried, smothered with sour creme, Perogie!

My mind is blown that the States do not have them.

For real. Mind Blown.

My sister-in-law Brittnee found this AMAZING recipe

for home made Pergoies!

I was through the roof excited!

So this week I decided I would try it out!

It was somewhat of a long process, but im sure i will get faster 

now that i know what im doing.

Here is the recipe for those who want it!

Perogie Dough:

1 1/2 Cups Warm potato water. Make sure potato sediment has settled. Don't use the sediment part.

3Tbsp Cooking Oil
4 1/2 Cups Flour
1Tsp salt
Combine warm potato water and oil together. Add 3 1/2 Cups flour and salt. Knead. While kneading add in up to 1 more cup of flour. Make a smooth soft dough. Place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rest for 60 min. This is a must.
Roll Dough out on floured surface thinner then pie crust. cut into 2inch or 2 1/2 inch rounds ( I use a canning jar lid) then put one heaping tsp in the middle of each round, fold in half and pinch together along seam. Set a side until you have enough folded too cook.
I usually cook 8-10 in a pot of boiling water for 8-10 min or until they float to the top. I fry mine after as well with onions and butter.

Filling:
1 finely chopped med. onion
1/4 cup butter ( i used margarine)
3 cups mashed potatos
1/2 tsp salt
That is for plain perogies. I like to add 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 cup grated cheese, 1 cup cottage cheese, and finely chopped cooked bacon
Saute` onions in butter, add mashed potatoes. add the rest of ingredients and mix well. Let it cool a bit.
This makes about 4 dozen

Filling

Dough

Be sure to REALLY pinch the opening shut.

Some of my perogies split open when in water.

They are SOOOO good!!

Not the EXACT taste, but still freakin delicious.

Maikal actually prefers these :)

Ben just liked the filling lol

Playing Tour Guide

So my sister Rebecca and her friend Ashley came to Hawaii for a little vacation!

I was so excited that she decided to come! We had such a blast and I hope these memories

will last forever.

Some thing I Love to do here on the Island is play 'Tour Guide'. 

I love taking people to places and showing them the ins and outs of Hawaii.

A lot of people think they need to spend a ton of money in order to have fun.

But that is definitely NOT the case! Most of the things we did were free.

Plus they stayed with us, which is a HUGE money saver. And we were happy to have them :)

So let me tell you in pictures of most of the things we did!

Went to Pounders Beach

This is where everyone Body Surfs

The girls had a hard time figuring out the technique lol

Sharks Cove.

Good snorkelling and great view!

We loved just climbing on the rocks and watching the waves

crash into the side of them.

Went surfing

Becca was able to get up!

Very impressive, I still cant surf lol

Did a little Bestie photoshoot

Went cliff jumping

Becca got really cut up.

The waves pushed her right into the sharp rocks...

I felt so terrible.

Apparently we jumped in the wrong spot on the cliff.

I would also lie to point out Becca's insane thigh and bum muscles...

one day..

Walked around the Hawaii Temple.

Rope Swing

Parasailling! 

The girls said this was an amazing experience

and they would do it again in a heart beat!!

Such a blast!

I stayed on the beach with Ben :)

Electric Beach!!

This is where the wild Dolphins and Whales come to play!

The whales were so close and huge!

We saw one dolphin and it was about 3 feet in front of us.

It just came out of no where! 

The girls totally freaked out. Hilarious.

Went on a forever long hike.

We meant to climb to a waterfall,

but apparently we took a wrong turn and

ended up 2.5 hours up in the mountains

with no food, little water, no diapers or bottle.

It was awful...but super beautiful lol

Went to Waimea Beach (my fav beach)

Played in the waves

Played some Vball

Had a BBQ

Body Surfed

Walked along the rocks

Posers.

loving the speedo's!

Went Shark Diving!!

While on the boat, I got really really 

sea seek due to the not stop waves.

I totally threw up over the side. Embarrassing...

But once in the water it was totally fine!

The water was SO blue and the sharks were SO cool!

I felt completely safe and comfortable.

I was even aloud to take Ben on the boat with us!

It was a great experience

Day at the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Centre)

Waikiki!!

One of my favs....China Man's Hat!

You have to walk/swim to the little island.

there is a little hike where you can climb to the top.

The water is very shallow so we were walking basically the whole time.

Around back there are caves and cool rocks and sweet waves

you can play on!

So amazing!

Around back this is also where hammerhead sharks mate.

(not all the time)

But its way further out into the ocean.

Plus, sharks rarely eat where they mate

so we were safe swimming wherever

All in all it was such a fun time playing with my sister and her friend ashley.

I cant wait for our other friends to come out this week!

PLUS my mom and her sisters and their husbands come out at the end of Feb!

Im sooooo excited!!

And just so everyone knows, we are MORE than happy to let anyone stay at our place if you want to come visit! So book some flights and come see us!