For you, G.G-rents!

The G.G-rents NEED to see these! That is, great grandparents for those of you who don't speak awesome :) jk. 

Auntie Coco is here in Provo and stuck with us for now so she comes over about once a week for dinner/laundry/'ihi time. We went and picked her up after church today and Kahili made a delicious dinner for us all to enjoy: chicken katsu, chinese chicken salad, pork gaugi, and rice. Yummmm! after dinner and some ice cream, Auntie Coco whipped out her computer and of course opened the 'Photo Booth' app and 'Ihi loved it! Here are some of my faves:

Pretty dang hilarious if you ask me! Love you guys!

'Ihi's 1st Birthday Luau

Last week we celebrated 'Ihi's 1st birthday by throwing her a luau party at our church pavilion. The Soon family has a tradition of having big first birthday luaus so even though we aren't living in Hawaii, we decided to carry on the tradition here with our friends in Utah. I just have to say that there is NO WAY we would have been able to pull this party off without the help of our families that came into town from California and Hawaii!

The Invites

I had seen some cute postcard invitations online and decided a long time ago thats how I wanted to do 'Ihi's invites. I had searched around and didn't quite find what I wanted online so I knew I had to make it from scratch. I called my friend Alana who is a photographer in Hawaii to ask her what I needed to do and she offered to make them! She does amazing work so I sent her some pictures from our family shoot last month. She took those pictures and the info I gave her and made this:

 I love them! They were exactly what I wanted and I am so grateful to have such a talented friend! If any of you are in Hawaii and need pictures taken, go to Alana Yates Photography and schedule your shoot. You won't be disappointed!

The Favors

I saw an idea similar to this on Pinterest and liked it but decided to switch it up a bit. I found some adorable sand castle pails at Target in the dollar section a few months ago and bought 12 of them on the spot. I couldn't pass up an amazing deal. I made a list of a bunch of snacks that 'Ihi likes to eat so we filled the buckets with those things and placed them on different tables so they doubled as center pieces as well. My mom went out and bought all the stuff at Costco: Teddy Grahams, Animal Crackers, Goldfish, Candy, and Marshmellows (which we didn't end up using cuz they were melting like crazy!). My mom also made the little bags for people to fill up. They were clear bags with a little sticker on them that said, "Thank you for helping us celebrate 'Ihi's 1st birthday!". This picture isn't the best but you can see the sand pails on the tables:

The Food

We are so lucky to have the best 2 families in the world! Weeks before the party, the Soons and Kahalepunas did the emu of the pig in Hawaii. The packed it in gallon ziplocks and froze it until the week of the party when they put it in a cooler and sent it to Utah. Kahili's parents came up on Wednesday before the party and started cooking right away! The Taualii's were good sports and chopped until their hands were sore. On the menu was: Kahlua pig, Teriyaki beef, rice, noodles, Chinese chicken salad, poi, poke, squid luau, chicken long rice, and fruit. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all that goodness!

The Decorations

The plus to having the party outside was that I didn't have to decorate as much because it was already beautiful just being in nature! All of my decorations came from the dollar store except for the pictures of 'Ihi. My mom and I put streamers up on both sides of the pavilion and then I had bought some little poster decor that we put up on the pillars. I had decided on 4 colors that I thought looked good together for all the decorations: hot pink, lime green, yellow, and orange. I loved that it looked so vibrant. We also had pools out for the kids to play in, beach balls, and a ball pit! These were all super fun things that 'Ihi loves to play in/with :) I forgot to take a picture of my display table but basically I just made some mod podge posters of pictures I had printed from her first year. I also made one entirely from instagram pictures I have taken throughout the year. My mom made a photo book for 'Ihi that tells a story of things she likes to do or has done this year. Lastly, using a tutorial I found on Pinterest, I made this:

The Cake

Back in June, I made a simple s=wedding cake for my cousins wedding. That gave me the confidence I needed to take on 'Ihi's birthday cake. I decided to just make a small "smash cake" for her and then cupcakes for all our guests. Luckily, I have some great friends here in my complex that helped me out a ton! I distributed the cake mixes and different ingredients a few days before the party and then all I had to do was pick them up the night before/day of. My friend Kristi made 4 dozen cupcakes and my friend Lauren made 4 dozen cupcakes and a batch of buttercream frosting. I just had to make one more batch  of the frosting and the beach ball "smash cake". The morning of the party, I frosted all the cupcakes with a star tip and Lauren helped me put on the little umbrella cupcake toppers I had found at Zurchers. Here is how they looked:

The birthday girl and her cake:

And the aftermath:

Last but not least, I had to post a family picture of us at the party! I wish I would have been able to get pictures of 'Ihi with all of her guests but that just didn't happen. Thanks to everyone who came or who thought about her on her special day! 

I Have a 1 Year Old

Yep, we have officially made it a year being parents to a little girl. What an amazing blessing she has been in our lives! I know this post is a little late but I have been busy coaching and having fun with 'Ihi!

*We went to a WIC appt a few days after her first birthday and found out she is a little over 21 lbs and about 29 inches long! That makes her in the 40th percentile for weight and 72 percentile in height.

*August 24th was the last day I nursed her. It was getting really hard trying to schedule feedings around practices and stuff so we had dropped down to nursing 3 times a day at the beginning of the month. The week my family was here, 'Ihi bit me...HARD. I thought I would just stop cold turkey but ended up nursing her once a day for about 2 days and then went to every other day and then I was done! It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. She has adjusted well to drinking whole milk and takes bottles at night and before a nap but sippy cups any other time of the day.

*She has been eating well! She eats just about anything we give her but she sure has a sweet tooth, just like her momma! I usually make her fruit smoothies in the morning and she sometimes eats cereal with that. Then she just eats some of what we are eating for lunch and dinner. She loves her Mac and Cheese and any other kind of noodles. 

*She is so smart! She says "Ball", "Mama", "Dada", "Detta" (Jetta), "Uh Oh", "Yeah", "Outside" and lots of other words that I can't make out yet. When family was in town they thought she was saying "Papa" and "Daylene". I heard the "Papa" but not the "Daylene". 'Ihi even knows where her friend Jetta lives and will go knock on her door when we go for walks!

*'Ihi still loves being outside and points at the door and yells "Outside" when she wants to go out there!

*Shes a full time walker now and is starting to run too! She knows when someone is chasing her and she runs away pretty fast. We are loving her Crocs that we got her last month.

*This month she started sleeping so much better, thank goodness! I started sleep training her again at the beginning of August (a week before I had to start working) and it worked this time. She started sleeping from about 9pm-5am and then eating and going back down til 8ish. We have had some not so good nights in there but for the most part that is her sleeping schedule nowadays.

'Ihi has such a fun and cute personality. She makes everyone around her smile, especially Kahili and I. She is definitely crazy and gives me a run for my money but we love her so much! She started to form more of a bond this month with Kahili and I love watching them play together. 'Ihi thinks Kahili is hilarious and laughs at everything he does. I can't wait to see their relationship blossom. 

And now for the picture overload:

My little gym rat (Yes, she is in a ball cart)

Helping me at my CPR class

Exhausted after a long day in the gym

Daddy was home today so they built a fort in 'Ihi's room while Mommy was working

Chocolate face

Work

I start coaching tomorrow and I have mixed emotions! For those of you who have played soprts, I feel like it is the eve of Fall Camp! Except tomorrow when I get to the gym I won't be playing. I am so excited to get out of the house and apply my education and knowledge of volleyball but at the same time I am sooooo nervous! Will I remember what I am supposed to do? Will 'Ihi be good? Will the girls hate me? AHHHHH! So many blanks...

Anyways, hopefully I will still be able to keep everyone updated via the blog. :)

I have an 11 Month Old!

This post is pretty late but I have been keeping up with 'Ihi-isms on a post it note. I just have to make sure she doesn't eat the post it...why does she love eating paper so much!? Anyways, our little girl is not so little anymore. Here are some things she has learned this past month:

*She mastered the Filipino squat. Demonstration:

*She learned how to get down the stairs so now she goes up and down all day by herself.

*She learned how to get off the couch and the bed by sliding backwards. Sometimes she turns around and starts scooting herself from the middle of the bed and I think it's the cutest thing. 

*She started walking! As mentioned in a previous post, on July 10th we went to Provo High to play tennis with the Packards and Daylene. Since there were 5 of us and 2 kiddies, we were just rotating out every once and awhile trading off who was playing with 'Ihi and Jetta. Kristi was sitting out with them when she yelled, "Look!". All of us turned and watched as 'Ihi took 5 wobbly steps! I was so happy we were all there to witness it! She continued to take 4-5 steps for a few days and then on July 16th, her and I were playing outside and she took 11 steps toward a ball I was holding out in front of her. It took her a few more days to really get the hang of it and then she was off! Now she prefers to walk all over the house and outside as well. 

*She loves getting into drawers and throwing things out. She also takes everything out of the diaper bag and loves to get into mine and Kahilis' wallets. She throws all the shoes off the stairs now and just makes a huge mess all over the house!

*She is nursing about 4 times a day, eats about 3 meals a day, and snacks when she's hungry. She drinks whole milk, apple juice, and she still loves to drink water. We even got her her own Camelback water bottle! Now she can be just like Mommy and Daddy.

*She is a social butterfly and still loves to be outside for the majority of the day. 

*Her first word was "Ball" and she knows how to throw a ball. She can also locate a ball if you say, "Where is the ball?" and throw the ball if you ask her to throw it. 

Our little cutie. We love her so much and are so happy she is here with us! Being a Mommy is the hardest job I have ever had but it is also the most rewarding. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Happy 3 Year Anniversary!

On July 11th, Kahili and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! The 11th was a Wednesday but the Sunday before we had a special surprise, Auntie Daylene caught a ride to Utah with some family friends so she could stay with us for the week! It was awesome. Daylene was with us last year when we celebrated our anniversary as well :) On Monday we took Daylene to 7 Peaks to check it out! Tuesday we went to Provo High and played some tennis with our friends the Packards then got some Sonic after. 

Wednesday, our actual anniversary day, Kahili had to work so Daylene, 'Ihi and I walked to Provo Bakery, got some donuts and dropped them off at the Marriott. Apparently Kahili was very busy that day...he forgot our anniversary and just thought I brought him donuts cuz I'm nice (which I do do that sometimes). I didn't say anything and we left. I guess he ate lunch with a friend in the cafeteria and the friend said, "Man, I gotta think of something to do for my wife. It's our anniversary this weekend." Kahili said, "Yeah, me too! Uhhhhh.....dang! It's today!" Haha. It's ok, I forgave him, he's a busy man these days. Anyways, he came home from work with a big bouquet of my favorite flowers and a smirk on his face. That night we had 2 softball games so Daylene watched 'Ihi at the field while Kahili and I played.

Thursday, we had the Trinidads (family friends that brought Daylene to Utah with them) over for some Chicken Taquitos and Chinese Chicken Salad. They brought ice cream and toppings to make sundaes. It was delicious and we had such a good time talking and catching up.

Friday, Kahili worked again and Daylene and the Trinidads left. When Kahili got off[early...yay!], we ('Ihi and I) participated in Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day where if you dress up as a cow, you get a free meal! We could pick anything on the menu and it came with fries and a drink too...Awesome! We left sraight from there up to Park City. I had bought a LivingSocial deal for a room at the Yarrow Hotel that included Sparkling cider, truffles, and breakfast in the morning. Such a good deal, not the nicest hotel we've ever stayed at but it was fine. We ate dinner at a BBQ place on Main St called Bandits and Kahili said it was the best tri-tip sandwich he's ever had. I got a pulled pork sandwich and it was pretty good. I wanted to take 'Ihi swimming but the weather wasn't the greatest so we just walked around and then went back to the room.

Us at Chick-fil-a

Saturday we went shopping at the outlets and spent way too much money. :)  

What a great week we had to celebrate our 1st anniversary as parents of an almost 1 year old (YIKES!)!

4th of July 2012

'Ihi's first 4th of July was pretty uneventful. To give you an idea of what Daddy did, here was his schedule for the day: 6:30 am-4:15 pm Work at the Marriott, 4:15 pm-4:45 pm Come home and Play with 'Ihi, 5 pm- Midnight Work at the MTC. Not much of a holiday if you ask me! haha.

'Ihi and I went to watch the parade on Center St with the Ings in the morning. That was fun! Then we went home for lunch and a nap. I cooked dinner while Kahili was home and watching 'Ihi. Then we took dinner to Kahili and the other MTC security guards and ate with them. While we were there, President Uchdorf and his wife came into the MTC! We got to see them in person...haha. The highlight of our 4th. Then 'Ihi and I went home, she fell asleep at 9 and I went to sleep around 10 after watching some fireworks from our window. LAME!

At the parade in the morning

Playing outside in the 4th skirt I made for her

I had a great view of fireworks all the way down to SLC!