Hawaii!!!

I know I said I would get some pics up of our apartment, but I wanted to make sure and get Hawaii up first! (Plus our apartment is still covered in boxes and all that fun stuff so maybe when it is clean I will take some pictures!) I know there are a lot here...but you really can't skimp on Hawaii pictures!


Sunset Beach

Hawaii Temple

Craig checking out the view at Pearl Harbor

Hiking Diamondhead

Making it to the top of Diamond head (old volcano)

Sunset beach

Shaved ice we waited in line an hour for!! it was great though!
(I think the best part is the sweeted condensed milk on top)

Peacock in the parking lot!

Some endangered bird we saw on a hike

water falls we swam in..pretty warm

wild chickens everywhere!

Drive around the island...very pretty:)

Pearl Harbor Memorial

Coconut Tree

Polynesian Cultural Center show

Craig tired after trying to make fire...isn't he just so cute?

Us after snorkeling

This is where we went snorkeling...pretty amazing stuff

Enjoying an early morning walking through town

Back in Houston

We made it! We just got in today and situated with our new apartment. Soon we will have our things to put inside it...I am very much missing our bed!

Luckily our drive was uneventful and after 24 hours of sitting I don't even mind the humid heat as long as i can move around! I will get some pictures up soon!

We are having a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you didn't read Heidi's last post very carefully, we are having a baby. The due date is November 13th(Friday the 13th), and we have no idea is it's a boy or a girl yet. We did however hear its heart beat last time, which sounded more like a submarine than a baby, but I guess that is normal. We also felt that baby kick for the first time last night, which was pretty cool. It seems a lot more real now that we have actually felt it kick. So, yes we are having a baby and we are very excited about it. :)

Finally out of winter!

I really do have a good excuse for not writing in so long--weird how once I kind of took over my husbands blog I feel a nagging obligation to continue it.

After getting the flu TWICE this winter followed by a miserable cold i thought to myself "if this doesn't end soon I am going to die." Little did I know haha....well, still alive and actually getting better (I think). My third flu hit back in February with the greatest force--it has a heart beat, two arms, and two little legs:)

We are going to be parents!

Thrilled as I am, world beware for the greatest terror you have yet seen. I can only imagine what a child of ours could be like.

What's your dream job?

Today when I was at work thinking...wow, this is not my dream job....I started to think of what my dream job would even be. I decided probably something that has lots of time off whenever I want it, involves traveling and working with all kinds of different people. Immediately the first job that comes to mind is Ricks Steve's job--think he would hand it all over to me? Can you imagine getting paid to vacation and tell other people all about it? And when you find the awesome little restaurant nobody knows about you get a promotion! that is the first job that popped into my mind.

Then I thought of being an artist. Of course I would need to improve a little...k, a lot. But wouldn't it be amazing to look for the most beautiful place or thing on earth and paint it, draw it, photograph it, or whatever you want and get paid to create something wonderful?!! I imagine it would also be great to simply be independently wealthy and join the peace corp. I always wanted to do that after graduation...I guess a husband was the choice I made:) I also love the idea of art restoration. I love good art, if you can't tell. I saw a job posting for art consultant in Park City the other day. Yes..perhaps I will be an art consultant and explain to the world why certain Utah artists (he who shall not be named) are no closer to artists than I am to a sumo wrestler.

I wonder what I will do. I asked a friend of mine what she was going to do after graduation and she said she "couldn't wait to sit at home all day and scrapbook." And then I got scared, and felt it was absolutely essential I did something with myself. Hopefully something that is very far away from math....and boring things. (please nobody remind me of this post 20 years from now) Luckily, Craig landed his dream job right out of college. He will be hacking this world one server at a time, and I am off looking for a new adventure in the meantime!

New Years Resolutions

I am so stereotypical. (which is honestly one of my greatest fears...eeee) but I actually made a new years resolution--to work out more. I know...sounds lame, sorry nothing more exciting to report. Craig and I started this little goal back in October. I have a free gym membership with my company so we jumped right in with that perk. Unfortunately, so did everybody else. Ever since Jan. 1st that place has been slammed--we can't even park close, we jog to get there!!

Tonight I was observing all the different people that I see every time I go. Lots of old women in matching adidas pants and vests, weird married couples who show up in pajamas and hope their children obiedently watch them on the elliptical, guys who apparently don't understand the point of headphones and sing aloud (that's right, I am talking to you Eric), as well as every other type of person you can imagine. Meanwhile I kind of wonder where I fit in...I don't think I hum outloud with my music but can I really be sure? oh well. It's usually the highlight of my day. I like feeling like I am in decent shape. The other night Craig, Eric, and me went for a jog down toward the lake. Of course Eric wasted me even while singing the whole way--he's crazy, but I LOVED feeling like I could do it. It is kind of like a Jack Bauer moment for me.

Unfortunately, I sit at a desk all day otherwise.

I have a friend who does Grand Canyon rafting tours every summer (of course she has the awesome schedule of a school teacher so that works for her)....maybe I should get that job...with the intent of getting her summer job:)

ultimately, what is the point of all this?

That's right baby--french silk pie whenever the heck I want it.

Good News Minute

I know this is not relief society but I thought I should share some good news.

Item 1: Craig published his first hack! It was a hack he worked on this summer with his internship in Houston. He actually found lots of vulnerabilities and is waiting for hopefully more to be published. I am glad he is so good at what he does, luckily his hobbies will soon be paying the bills! I just wanted to share that because I like to show everybody who reads this little blog how smart he is, but mostly how proud of him I am:)

Item 2: My brother Eric got a job at Squire and Company with me! It's fun to work with him and we even have matching shirts now...yeah...now we can go to the mall together in matching clothes while holding hands.

A true career

Between the three of us (me, Eric and Craig) we decided you have not officially begun your career until you have the matching backpack to prove it.

I thought this picture was funny.

New Years Southern Style

Coming soon...

So...obviously "soon" is relative when considering this little blog.

As you can probably gather from the title of my post, our new years was spent in the south--Colfax, North Carolina to be exact (though we did bounce between Raleigh, Greensboro, and Colfax quite a bit) The holiday, as you can tell, was spent on the move. Vacation--just as it was meant to be.

New Years Eve was spent with Craig's sisters and their families which was a blast. I ate probably as many exotic foods as I did backpacking across Europe, in other words I loved it! We hung out with family that day and also celebrated my birthday. The next day was spent at Craig's grandmothers where we enjoyed a traditional southern new years dinner. For the past three years Criag has been telling me about all the foods you have to eat on Jan. 1. In my family we just finally eat the old gingerbread house, but his family cooks specific dishes for luck.

For example:

collard greens=money
black eyed pees=luck
jowel (no idea how to spell)=health

So, as you might guess, we are going to have a great year.

Here are some pics.

Christmas in Ohio

2008 Christmas was spent in Marion, Oh with the Rose family. For those of you who may not know much about this place, Marion is an obscure village really in central Ohio where the red necks eat squirrel legs, the buckeyes are next to deity, the grave yard consists of "down town" and the rest of us just try to survive the bitter cold while munching on Marion famous popcorn. Now that I have covered the base of where we were, here is a little bit about the Christmas we experienced.

For the first time in three years my entire family was together (technically the first time ever since Craig is a fairly recent addition). It was a truly wonderful Christmas blessed with the dearest of friends, family, and the reminder of our Savior and Lord. I was hit by this reminder while in Wal-Mart one of these days when I heard a song praising Jesus Christ. In the electronics section of the store, searching for gifts, at a place I find to be usually repulsive and evil (we call it Valde-mart) I listened to a world hustle and bustle around me grabbing for sales to save mere dollars and in the background a choir on the radio singing Hark the Harold Angels Sing. In this pc world, Christmas music celebrating our Savior is still heard in the most commercial of places. I quietly thanked God for this blessing and experienced a sudden feeling of joy reminding me of what Christmas is: Love, Family, Kindness, Sharing, and ultimately Jesus Christ.

This is how we enjoyed and celebrated Christmas

We ate candies, chocolates, read stories and scriptures, watched movies, delivered goodies, and played games to our hearts content. We enjoyed the holiday traditions we have spent years building together. Here are some pics, movies and explanations of our traditions.

Instead of a big fancy Christmas Eve dinner, we usually enjoy pizza:)
one of my all time favorites!

as well as my famous cheese ball
(somehow that one has become a popular tradition at our house)
and of course hot apple cider which some years includes homemade eggnog...hmmmm

Another tradition of ours is reading Christmas stories on Christmas Eve, lots of stories

And then of course presents Christmas morning