Pray for our friend, Wade

Will you take a second and pray for our dear friend Anne and her adorable son Wade?

Richmond 1/2 Marathon

Run Fast Daddy! Keoni ran the Richmond 1/2 marathon last weekend. His goal was to run the 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours, and boy did he reach that goal. Keoni ran 13.1 miles in 1:52:23. Malia and I were able to cheer him on at the 2 mile marker and the finish line. We are very proud of our daddy!! Good Job Keoni!!


Oh, and look what Malia found in the parking lot- the Christmas Deer decorations! Maybe we will take Malia to the grand lighting this year!!

Malia is ONE!

The big day has come and gone, and I'm still trying to wrap myself around the fact that my little daughter is now one. It seems like just yesterday I was planning how I would tell Keoni we were pregnant.

First and foremost, I was an emotional basket case the entire weekend, or should I say the entire two weeks leading up to her birthday. I must have cried at least 5 times on her actual birthday. But any-who...

Malia had a small birthday snack at daycare on Friday with her daycare buddies. Grandma made a fabulous batch of blueberry 'cupcakes' :) To no surprise, Malia ate the muffin and shared a few bites with her partner in crime, 'uncle' romeo... the family golden retriever. The kids sang Happy Birthday to Malia (and I cried).

Friday night was rather rough for me. Keoni and I reminisced about our life as a couple before we expanded. We talked about our trip to Ukrop's for ginger ale and more Robitussin. I was miserably sick the week before Malia was born. This could be the reason she was 9 days early... she was tired of being bounced around every time I coughed up a lung. Then came Saturday, November 6th.

The morning of Malia's birthday, Keoni went for a 10 mile run. He was training for the Richmond 1/2 marathon and wanted to be up and out rather early. Malia woke up around her normal time and I rushed in singing Happy Birthday (and I cried). I couldn't believe that this day had finally arrived. Malia had no idea why I was crying and she just leaned in and kissed my cheek (the tears did not stop). Daddy made a scrumptious batch of pumpkin pancakes for the birthday girl- only after I told him I used all the eggs for the cookie bar :) We also took Malia to have her professional one year pictures taken at Sears... and such a diva she was. I don't know what I ate, but she sure did have a sour face for a majority of her picture. Fortunately, we did get a couple good ones of her cheesing. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon baking, wrapping gifts and spending time with the family.Quick trip on the bunny trail- Keoni and I went to Hallmark, Walmart, CVS and Target and only found one, yes ONE, happy 1st birthday daughter card... I mean seriously... each store had at least 5 happy 1st birthday granddaughter cards, but no daughter cards...very frustrating!

Grandma and Granddad had everyone over for the traditional Wilson birthday party. We had chicken alfredo, salad, bread, peas and Malia loved every minute of her dinner. Following dinner, we had birthday cake! I realize that I'm not the best cake decorator in the world, but I have to admit that I was pretty impressed with her cake. We all chimed in and sang Happy Birthday (and I cried).


Then came the presents, and they just continued to come in left and right. Malia was spoiled by all her aunties and uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. Mommy and daddy got her practical things like a winter jacket. Malia's 'Big' Mammaw and 'Big' Pappaw gave Malia a Mickey Mouse wagon that has a keyboard, lights, horn, music, the works, this toy does not have an OFF switch, but I will admit, it's pretty cute watching Malia dance to the music. Grandma and Granddad had a theme for their gift. Ever since the day Malia was born, Granddad promised Malia a pony, and what did she get for her first birthday? Yep, a pony... a pony stuffed animal, pony blanket, pink cowgirl hat, cowgirl vest, and a rocking pony. And would you believe it, Malia is TERRIFIED of the rocking pony. She won't go near the thing. You can pinch the ears and he makes pony noises and she screams... someday... someday...That night, I rocked Malia to sleep and balled like a baby. I was surprised she could even sleep, for fear that I would drown her with my tears.




Sunday was the BIG Cookie Monster party! I had a blast planning this party, and I can't wait to plan more as she gets older. The focal point of the party was the cookie bar ( I'm hoping someone took a picture, because I didn't). We had 5 variety of home made, made from scratch cookies. I was tickled at how well the cookie bar turned out. We even served milk- you can't eat cookies without a nice cold cup of milk. I couldn't have been more excited for how everything looked. I hope everyone had a great time, because I sure did enjoy planning it!






And finally, I thought I would share a picture of Malia as a newborn and on her 1st birthday....




Happy 1st Birthday Malia! We love you very much!

Election Day!

It's Election Day!! Don't forget to vote! Keoni and I believe it is extremely important to teach Malia the importance of voting. So many of our family members fought and continue to fight for that freedom, the freedom of choice... GO VOTE!

Pumpkin Patch

I love my little pumpkin face!

uhhh stupid blogspot... please help!

I'm getting so frustrated with blogspot! I have a great preview page of how I want my post to look like when published, and as soon as I hit 'publish post' everything is thrown into disarray... can anyone help or suggest another free blogging site?

Slacker... again...

This is getting bad... this is now the second month that I've not routinely updated the cyberworld with something interesting/relevant... Why have I been slacking; I don't really know. I've been telling myself it's because we have been so busy that I haven't had time to actually sit down and write about everything that has been going on, but let's be serious, it's because I have an 11 month old who consumes my everything!

Here is a picture of the three of us departing from Richmond to Chicago. Malia was a champ on all of our flights. She really enjoyed ripping out pages from the Skymall magazine... sorry United!

Gig Harbor/Seattle, WASHINGTON

So, in the past month, we have gone cross country! The end of September, Keoni, Malia and I travelled to the West Coast. My brother Jack and his wife Julie moved out to Gig Harbor, WA in April. Gig Harbor is a beautiful place to live, and Jack and Julie did a great job showing us around town. Everything is in walking distance from their town home. There is a great little coffee shop just a block down where they make the best pumpkin cream cheese muffin. Across the street was a organic grocery store with at least 10 different apple varieties. Keoni actually found one of our favorites at the grocery store yesterday!

We spent some time in the big city doing the typical tourist attractions- Space Needle, Pike's Place Market, First Starbucks. And of all things, we were able to see a good friend and groomsman from our wedding Tony! The pictures below don't give Tony much credibility, but Malia did warm up to our Mountaineer buddy!

We also were able to have Jack show us around Fort Lewis. This is one of the bases that we have on our list of possible locations, so it was really helpful to see the surrounding communities to help us determine if we could see ourselves living surrounding area.

Below are just a few pictures of our trip to Washington:

Beautiful picture of Gig Harbor. Jack and Julie live about 10 minutes from the Harbor. Could you imagine waking up to this view every morning?

Pike Place Market. The Market officially opened in 1907 and is one of the oldest operated public farmers' markets in the country. Here you can get fish, flowers, veggies, baked goods, artwork, jewelry, etc. We had a fabulous lunch at Jack's Fish Spot

Here is a picture of one of the fish stands. I was shocked at the 'show' these men put on when someone orders from their stand.

This picture is really disgusting, but crazy at the same time. Right under the alley under the big Public Market sign is this wall of gum. It is LITERALLY covered in gum of all shapes, sizes and presumably, flavors.

The First Starbucks! Malia, Julie and I are waiting in line for our drinks in the first starbucks. I was surprised how small the coffee shop was in comparison to all the other millions of stores across the country. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I did get a vanilla bean frappuccino!

Malia and our dear friend Tony! I promise as the lunch hour progressed, Malia became more delightful and less scared of Tony.

Oh the Space Needle... call me cheap, but we did not want to spend $17 a person to go to the top of the needle. They did have an awesome gift shop though. Malia got a cute pink shirt with a silhouette of the needle made out of crayons.

Check back for the next post on the second half of our trip to Oregon!