Friday, March 20, 2009

Saint Patrick's Day

For Saint Patrick's Day we decided to go with some friends to watch the parade in downtown Topeka. We had lots of fun!

This is Noelle waiting patiently for the parade to begin. Since it was Spring Break and a beautiful warm day (about 80 degrees :) ), the parade was packed. Towards the middle of the parade we moved up and sat on the concrete so that Noelle could try to get some candy.

It was such a beautiful day to be with friends and enjoy St. Patrick's Day!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

It has been literally 6 months since I have blogged. Life has been pretty busy. My pregnancy this time around has been a little more rough than with Noelle. I got pretty sick for the first couple of months then went back home to Hawaii unexpectedly in January. Mike also studied for the GMAT, applied and will be attending Washburn University here in Topeka for his MBA starting this June. I am now 8 months pregnant and we are expecting to have another little girl, which we are so excited about. It will be fun for Noelle to have a little sister to be friends with. Our baby girl in due on April 30th. Hopefully, I will be better at keeping up with blogging.

Happy Birthday Noelle!

About a week ago, we celebrated Noelle's third birthday. My little girl is growing up so fast! She kept asking me for about two weeks before her birthday, if it was her birthday yet. Finally on her birthday she asked "Is it February 24th?" and I could answer yes! She is such a sweet little girl and is a ray of sunshine in our lives that always fills our home with joy. I can't imagine my life without my sweet Noelle. She is almost completely potty trained and is finally sleeping in her big girl bed all night instead of coming and sleeping in our bed in the middle of the night. She loves to sing, dance, play with her friends, help mom and dad, draw, paint and watch movies. Noelle will be the best big sister!

This year I decided to make Noelle a princess cake, since she is really into princesses. It was the first doll cake I made and it came out okay, her skirt came out a lot smaller than I thought it would be. If I wasn't 7 1/2 months pregnant I think I would have spent more time making the cake a little more "perfect" but luckily Noelle loved it anyways.

Noelle posing in front of her presents. She is such a goof ball, when I tell her to smile for the camera she likes to be silly.

Noelle was so excited to open her presents. As she gets older she is more and more fun to watch open presents. I think she equally enjoyed unwrapping her presents and seeing what was inside of them. Thanks for everyone who sent and gave Noelle presents.

Bowling

On Valentine's weekend we took Noelle bowling for the first time. She was really excited about going. It was cute to see her try to pick up the bowling balls and roll it down the lane.

I loved her cute little bowling shoes we rented.

She had fun bowling with her dad. Mike had to help her roll the bowiling ball or else it would roll really, really slowly down the lane.

Noelle copying my bowling move of rolling the ball under my legs.

Happy Valentines Day

Noelle had a blast with some of her friends at a Valentine's Day party. They made cookies, a bird seed holder, some Valentine's hats and had fun playing with each other.

This was her finished bird seed heart she made and hung on outside.

Noelle with all her friends at the Valentine's Day party.

My Dad

In January we made an unplanned trip back home to Hawaii because my dad passed away unexpectedly. Life is such a precious gift and can be gone so quickly. It has been hard dealing with my dad's death, but I know in my heart that I will see him again one day. Noelle has asked lots of questions about where her Papa is and it is so nice to be able to answer those questions for her. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that families can be together forever and of my Savior, Jesus Christ who has made it possible for each of us to have life after death. This experience has definetly been a hard one, but has strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and the love that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has for each of us. I miss you dad and look forward to seeing you again one day.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

One of our favorite beaches to visit when we go to Oahu is Kailua Beach. It is the beach that I went to a lot growing up since it is about a 5 minute walk from my house. It is such a beautiful beach and was always one of the places that I went to when I needed to be alone and think about things. It was nice to be so close to the beach again. It is something I definetly miss being so far away from.

Noelle loved the beach! When we first got to the beach for the first time her eyes lit up and she was so excited. It was getting dark so she didn't get to go swimming but she was in heaven running on the sand and feeling the tradewinds blowing through her hair. I honestly haven't ever seen Noelle happier any other place. She would follow the water, when it came in she would run up the beach and when it went out she would run towards the ocean. Of course she got closer and closer to the water as time went on and Mike had to grab her before she got all wet. I loved hearing her giggle and enjoy herself so much.

Mike and Noelle building a sand castle.

Our little mermaid Noelle.

Maui

Noelle LOVED being in the ocean even though it was a little colder than I like it. Whenever we went she would say that the beach was "so much fun!"

Mike and Noelle checking out the big waves crashing on the shore. Noelle is such a brave little girl. She wasen't afraid of the waves. I'm sure if Mike let her she would have tried to get in.

Maui Ocean Center

One of our favorite places to go to when we are on Maui is the Maui Ocean Center. It is an aquarium with tons of cool exhibits, including turtles, sharks, stingrays, jellyfish and tons of different fish. One of my favorite is the underwater tunnel that you can walk through where you are completely surrounded by sea life.