The Pahulu Family

End of November, December, and into January

2012-01-19T13:51:00.005-07:00

We had a really great Christmas and actually all of December this year. For the first time ever we had Christmas at our house. Paul had a week and a half off work and it was so nice to just hang out and be together. I got really lazy having a husband home all the time to help with laundry, dishes, and parenting so it took me a while to get back into my regular routine after he went back to work. And let's be honest, my regular routine isn't even that impressive, so the first part of January was a little rough at our house. But I finally felt the pull of the new year and all those resolutions that had been bouncing around in my head. So, I finally jumped back on the treadmill yesterday and I'm on my second week of a push up/sit up regimen. The kitchen is actually clean at this moment and the majority of the laundry is washed and dried (even if it is sitting in baskets waiting to be folded). And here I am finally blogging about what has been going on for the last two months!

Thanksgiving at Jenni and Rob's house

Gingerbread house

Christmas card pictures, both unsuccessful

and slightly more successful
Christmas Eve:
new jammies

letter for Santa
Christmas day:
Stockings

the only present she actually asked for, Yoshi
as Grandma says, every boy needs hotwheels.
New Years Eve

Keleni at 2 months

2011-11-14T11:16:00.004-07:00

We are so blessed to have Keleni in our home. He is seriously just a little, chubby ball of sweetness. A few weeks ago he started smiling and now he won't stop. Every so often I'll be holding him and I'll look down to see him just sitting there, smiling back up at me. On his 2 month birthday, we had his blessing. When babies are born, in our church the father is able to give them a blessing. It was a very special day for our family. Paul's mom came out for a week and was able to be here for it. We LOVE having Grandma here and we really miss her when she's gone. My mom also made the long drive to be here for the blessing, even though she was just here a few weeks ago after he was born. We also had some of our brothers and my sister here. We love our family!! I did a horrible job of remembering to take pictures, I swear I get worse at that with every child. But here are a few that I did manage to take.

Halloween happenings

2011-11-03T08:44:00.004-06:00

These pictures are in reverse order, but I didn't feel like changing them, so just imagine you are going back in time.

Annie decided he needed an oversized Hello Kitty watch on, but really, who doesn't need that?

Lauryn's #5

2011-10-22T17:17:00.005-06:00

Lauryn turned five this past week. I can hardly believe I have a five year old. I think it will really hit me hard once she goes to kindergarten. We decided to do her birthday party last Saturday. This is the first real friend party she's had and she was SO excited. So I stayed up late Friday night trying to get a bunch of things ready. Then about 1.5 hours after I finally got to sleep, Kelen woke up with a fever. Long story short, we ended up in the ER in the middle of the night and then he got admitted to the hospital from there. After some painful tests, they determined he had meningitis. Since they couldn't yet determine if it was bacterial or viral they started pumping antibiotics into his system to be safe. We decided to go forward with Lauryn's birthday party since we had everything pretty much ready and I just didn't want to put it off. So Paul traded off with me at the hospital and I ran home to do the party. Thankfully, my good friend Lynleah (whose daughter happens to be one of Lauryn's best friends) stepped in to help me. She and her husband even decorated the cake AND watched Lauryn and Annie while Paul came to the hospital. Even with all the odds against us, Lauryn had a wonderful party.

Kelen had to stay in the hospital until Monday morning when the tests confirmed that he had viral meningitis, which is much less serious than bacterial and doesn't need to be treated. My brother, Tyler came down from Idaho on Sunday to help us and stay with the girls (he even did all the dishes and laundry). So on Monday, Lauryn's actual birthday, he was here with my niece Brynlee (who is Lauryn's age). Just after we got home from the hospital he took Lauryn, Brynlee, and Annie to Chuck E. Cheese so I could get her presents together. That night we opened presents and had cupcakes. I don't think Lauryn ever realized how much of a challenge it was to give her a good birthday this year. But, thanks to the help of friends and family, we were able to pull it off.
And just so you know he's okay, here's a picture of our little survivor.

Keleni Golden Pahulu

2011-09-20T13:47:00.008-06:00

Our little guy is officially two weeks old so I thought it was about time I blogged about him! His was definitely the easiest and least eventful birth I've had so far! After a lot of consideration, I decided to get induced on Sept. 6. Mostly I was just ready for him to come, but I also justified it because Annie's birth was so crazy and I did not want to do it like that again.

So we went in at 6:30 am, filled out some paperwork, got admitted, got my IV, got my epidural and had our baby boy by 10:45 am. After the pitocin started and they broke my water the contractions started going really fast. The epidural had a hard time keeping up and they ended up giving me the most powerful stuff they have. I really really loved my nurse and the anesthesiologist, they took such good care of me. They really tried to make sure I wasn't feeling any pain. At about 9:45 the nurse checked me and I was at 7 cm, then she checked me 30 min. later and I was at a 10. Thankfully she had already called my doctor to come. When he got there, the baby was crowning, so I pushed a total of three times and out he came. The doctor said it was possibly the easiest delivery he had ever had. So then I asked if that qualified me for a discount. Just kidding, I wasn't even thinking of money, I was totally consumed with this squirmy little black haired boy they had just given me. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was measured at 19 inches, but I'm pretty sure that was wrong. At the doctors office 2 days later he was 20.5 inches. As you can tell from the title, we named him Keleni Golden Pahulu. Keleni is a Tongan family name from Paul's side. His brother is named Keleni and an uncle who passed away is also Keleni. Golden was my Grandpa Farnsworth's name.

A little about his personality, he is pretty much an angel. He sleeps a ton and eats like a champ. He didn't lose any weight in the hospital and at 10 days he was already 9 lbs 4 oz. He never had any trouble nursing from day 1. I don't know if this excellent behavior will last, but we'll take it while we have it! We all just adore him, especially his big sisters. Here are some pictures of our little guy from the last two weeks.

Paul's Aunt Kalo came to visit us after Kelen was born and brought him this tapa. It is a cloth made out of bark that is dyed.Keleni with Keleni

Summer fun

2011-08-23T10:43:00.005-06:00

Per usual, I've been pretty bad at blogging this summer. It's like a catch-22. When we are actually out having fun and doing blog-worthy things I don't have much time to blog about it. But when we are stuck inside all winter doing nothing I have plenty of time for blogging. We've had a great summer, even though we haven't vacationed much. We've been to the fair, gone to the waterpark a few times, had a lot of play dates with friends, and more. Lauryn took a summer dance/tumbling class. Her performance was on Paul's birthday. For his birthday we went to Tucanos for a late lunch and I made him a Snickers cheesecake.

This is a random picture of Annie that really captures her personality. I asked her to go get her jammies and this is what she came back with. Yes, that is two tie-dyed onsies that she must have pulled from the back of the drawer.In August we had the Farnsworth family reunion. All the grandkids were there except the oldest, J.T. who is in the Air Force. On the last day, right after the reunion, the second oldest grandchild, Parker went into the MTC to serve a mission to Tallahassee, FL.

This is a not so great family picture. I wasn't really trying for us to be that cute or posed since I will never display a picture where I'm 8 months pregnant in our home. But, we don't get many pictures with all of us, so I figured I should put it on the blog. And speaking of pregnancy, I'm now 37+ weeks and counting down. We're about 85% ready for this boy to come (my body is 110% ready). He even has a name (we think) which I will reveal once he is born :). Other than that we are just trying to capture the last few non-newborn days we have left.

The 4th

2011-07-06T15:21:00.005-06:00

We had a super fun 4th of July. We headed up to Emmett on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend with my family. We were able to go to baby Millie's blessing and meet her for the first time. She is SO cute and tiny. The kids had a sleepover at my mom's and she let them all sleep out in her camper. She even slept out there with them, what a great Grandma! We did some fireworks on the 3rd since we were leaving the 4th. Then on the 4th we swam and had a BBQ before we took off for home. It was actually kind of cool driving home at night because we were able to see fireworks all around us as we were going on the freeway. At the end is a little video of Lauryn and I going down the slide at the pool that we recorded on the new camcorder that Paul got me for my birthday.

A wet spring

2011-05-23T10:08:00.003-06:00

Just a few pictures of the girls. The first one is from Lauryn's tumbling/ballet recital. I am noticing that about all of our pictures from this month are inside. Maybe because it has been raining ALL MONTH LONG!!! We have had a few nice days here and there and have spent every minute outside that we could. We got a free swing set from someone and Paul set it up a few weeks ago. The girls could swing for hours on end. I finally just started pulling up a chair to sit on while I push Annie. You might call me lazy, I just call myself pregnant (and lazy).

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T09:59:00.003-06:00

I had a really wonderful Mother's Day this year. I think it must be because of the pregnancy, but I have been so emotional and reflective lately. I just keep thinking about all the blessings that I have. My life is definitely not perfect, but I have so many things to be thankful for. All day on Mother's day I kept thinking about how blessed I am to be a mother. Yes, I started crying when Lauryn and the other kids were singing a Mother's Day song in church. This doesn't ~~ever~~ usually happen, but the girls were pretty well behaved all day as well. When Paul brought in Annie in the morning she said, "Happy Birthday..um, Mother's Day Mommy!", it was very cute. Paul knows the way to my heart and spoiled me with food all day. Einstein bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, turkey, bacon, and avocado croissant sandwiches for lunch, and swiss cheese fondue for dinner with chocolate caramel fondue for dessert. And he got me wood to make garden boxes for me and a compost tumbler. Now if I just knew anything about gardening!!

A Little Easter

2011-04-25T08:17:00.003-06:00

We had a great Easter with all the traditional activities: dyeing eggs, neighborhood Easter egg hunt, Easter baskets, church, and then dinner at my brother's house. I only got pictures of the girls with their baskets and then snapped a couple before we headed off to church. Another cute thing that Lauryn did that I can claim no credit for (she did it at her friends house) is that she made a giant sugar cookie and decorated it with jelly beans and sprinkles to leave out for the Easter bunny.

It's a BOY!!

2011-04-18T14:18:00.000-06:00

Jumping and 19 weeks

2011-04-15T16:36:00.004-06:00

Here are some pics and a video of the girls jumping. I seriously think it has gotten us through the winter. When they just need to release some energy but it is way too cold outside they jump and jump and jump. When they jump on the couch Lauryn likes to call it "Splash Mountain" and pretend they are at a water park. Can you tell we get a little stir crazy during the winter?? Also, at the end is a picture of me at (almost) 19 weeks. We find out on Monday what we're having!!!

#3

2011-03-28T17:02:00.002-06:00

What could that #3 refer too? The third blog post I've done in March? The third Cadbury mini egg I've eaten today today? (Yeah right, try 20th- and they aren't even that good, we got a defective bag or something, and yes, I will be calling the company to get a refund. Mini eggs are something I take very seriously). Or could it be baby #3 coming to our house sometime early September?!?! That's right, we are expecting again. Thankfully I'm past most of the morning sickness. And I'm far enough along to tell people which is good since I started showing very soon (way sooner than with the others). In fact, I'm big enough that people are brave enough to ask me, which you know they would only do if they were pretty sure that I was. No one wants to get a "no" back on that question :). We find out what we're having in 3 more weeks, so I'll be sure to post when we know!!

Annie Bananie

2011-03-12T12:40:00.006-07:00

Our little Annie pie turned two about 2 weeks ago. She is our little fireball and we love her. I was just thinking today about how empty our family would be without her. It would certainly be a lot less exciting. For her birthday we kept things pretty low key. We went to dinner at Chick fil a and then came back and had cake and ice cream and opened presents. And for the second year running her favorite present was a toothbrush.
Here are a few fun facts about Annie at 2 yrs old. I was trying to keep this short, but apparently I really adore this girl, so here you go.

1. She's very independent and likes to copy what we do. She is constantly changing her clothes and putting on socks and shoes (usually mismatched and on the wrong feet). I came out of the shower the other day to find her stripped of her jammies but with socks (one of them mine) and shoes on.
2. She is feisty. When she gets angry or frustrated she grits her teeth and unleashes her fury. Poor Lauryn is usually her target and despite being about twice her size is usually outmatched. We are working on Lauryn standing her ground and Annie controlling herself. We are also working on not hitting mommy:)

3. Her verbal skills have really blossomed in the last few months. I love waiting to see what will come out of that little mouth next. The ability for Annie and I to communicate with each other has really helped to reduce the frustration for both of us. She understands when I say, "Annie, that is enough." And I understand her when she says, "Mommy, don't say that is enough, okay?" She also tries to tell jokes and be silly and thinks she's so funny. The other day we were driving in the car and I said, "Annie, I love your guts" to which she replied, "I love your guts, car" and laughed like it was the funnies thing ever.

4. She loves to play rough. She loves when you throw her around and tickle her like crazy. If you stop she'll even grab your hand and put it back on the spot you were tickling. She'll sometimes put her forehead right up against mine and push as hard as she can while growling.

5. She can be super sweet. Every once in a while she'll run up to me, squeeze my leg, and say "I love you, mommy!". She loves to be held and snuggle into you. She and Lauryn love to give tackle hugs to each other. She also loves to snuggle and hold dolls and stuffed animals.

Drum roll please...Vacation part 2

2011-01-28T14:50:00.005-07:00

Okay, I know I stink. Posting vacation part 1 and then waiting forever to get the rest up. But for anyone who cares, here is part 2. For the rest of our Florida trip we went to Disneyworld. Paul's conference was actually at Disney, so we were able to stay at one of the Disney Resorts. We went to the Magic Kingdom 2 days. For the second day, Paul's brother Charlie and his family came with us. We really had so much fun. On the days we didn't go to the park Paul had meetings so the girls and I just hung out at the resort. It was a little cold for swimming (although we did get in once for about 15 min.), but it had sand beaches so we played in the sand and it had playgrounds. Maybe the best part of the whole trip was the dining. As a promotion with the room we were able to eat on the Disney dining plan for free. We ate lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's Castle and also ate at Chef Mickey's with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald. Anyways, I tried not to post too many pictures (since I took 150 or so), but here are the best ones.

Vacation- part 1

2011-01-20T13:31:00.004-07:00

We just got back from a fabulous vacation. Paul's work sent him to a conference that just happened to be at Disneyworld, so we decided to make a full on family vacation out of it. We went about 6 days before the conference to spend time with family. We spent the first few days at Grandma and Grandpa's with plenty of visits to Paul's brother Charlie's new house. Then we packed up and took a road trip over to Fort Meyers to visit Paul's sister, Saane and her family at their new house! It was so great to spend time with family, especially those we don't get to see very often.

On the road!!

In Fort Meyers we went to this really cool park and rented surrey bikes.

Look closely (or click to enlarge)... yes that's an alligator in the pond at the park.

Just a little cuteness

2010-12-14T10:55:00.004-07:00

Here's a little of what we've been doing lately:

Waiting for waffles

Making marshmallow snowmen for FHE

Looking cute for church

and even giving a talk.

Being happy...

and being sad.

And just in case you were wondering, Annie is still crazying it, for instance...

No big deal, she's just tearing up pieces of wrapping paper and sticking them down her diaper.

Living room reveal

2010-11-23T11:26:00.004-07:00

One year ago we were packing up our townehouse and getting ready to close on our home. Here we are a year later and we have finished a good portion of the upstairs. We are done with everything except the master bedroom and the bathrooms. So here is the before and after for the living room. We painted, replaced the carpet with hardwood, took out all the floor tile and replace the fireplace surround with slate. And when I say we, I mean about 25% me and 75% Paul. One thing you can't see in this before picture is the blinds, which were metal and the same forest green as the carpet (just really lovely as you can imagine). Also, the picture doesn't do justice to the old tile (marbled with forest green) and the forest green grout. We'll get some pictures up of the rest soon!

Halloween - 2 weeks later

2010-11-12T09:37:00.003-07:00

"What's this?", you say, "the third blog post in two weeks?". Yes, yes it is. We finally got our computer fixed so I have been able to do a little catch up. Here are our Halloween pictures. We had a trunk or treat at church and then went trick or treating on the weekend. Lauryn decided to mix it up a little bit and wore a Snow White costume when we went to a Halloween party at the Aquarium. Thanks to Grandma Mary for the awesome pirate costumes.

When we went neighborhood trick or treating the girls were so funny. We went with some friends and Lauryn really got into the whole running from house to house thing thanks to the older kids we were with. About half way through her bucket apparently got too heavy for her so I had to carry it. I also happened to be carrying Annie, since I had to almost run to keep up with Lauryn and her friends. As opposed to her sister, Annie would not let go of her bucket no matter how full it got. I tried to pry it out of her death grip when it got so heavy she was literally leaning over but she would not have it. Unfortunately, she could only protect it from me for so long and once she went to bed (and over the next week) I ended up eating pretty much all of it.

Lauryn's "mean pirate" face.

Arrrrrgggg, the booty.
I let Annie play with her candy thinking she wouldn't be able to open any. She showed me and ate half a tootsie roll, wrapper on.

Pahulus in the house

2010-11-08T10:16:00.002-07:00

We had so much fun when Paul's family came to visit. We went to a farm, toured a candy factory, made and decorated sugar cookies, had a pumpkin carving contest, make pumpkin rolls, watched movies, went to a corn maze, went shopping, ate too much food and stayed up way too late. We LOVED having them here and already missed them about 2 minutes after they left.

Our favorite 4 year old

2010-11-03T14:51:00.004-06:00

Lauryn turned 4 on Oct. 17. It was a bit of a chaotic time, but we managed to have some major celebrating nonetheless. The Thursday before her birthday I took her into the Dr. because she wasn't feeling well and we ended up taking the ambulance to the hospital where she stayed for 2 nights. We went straight from checking her out of the hospital to pick up Paul's mom, sister, and brother at the airport.
Since her birthday was on a Sunday, we went to Incredible Pizza Saturday night. (It's like Chuck E. Cheese x 10). Then on Sunday we had a family party where we played games, had dinner, opened presents and had cake. Lauryn was a pretty happy girl, especially to be out of the hospital in time for her birthday and to have Grandma, Aunt Kalo, and Uncle Shiblon and Uncle Key here to celebrate with her.

ps - I know there are a lot of pictures of the rainbow cake, but I was really proud of it and it was quite the labor of love to make (I was up until 3 am Saturday night after two nights of very little sleep). I followed the instructions from this site: http://www.howdoesshe.com/6-layer-cake-tips

pps - In case you were wondering, Lauryn was in the hospital because she has asthma (which we didn't know). She's on a preventative medicine now, so hopefully it will make life better and she can breathe a little easier now :)

cra·zy -[krey-zee]

2010-10-05T11:01:00.006-06:00

We have come up with a new term at our house: crazy. You might think you already know this word, but at our house it is neither a noun nor an adjective, it is a verb: to crazy. This word was created by Lauryn, inspired by Annie. The definition: to create a general state of chaos, or basically to do the complete opposite of what someone wants you to do. Let me give you some examples:
Q: How did all these (choose one: toys, coupons, newspapers, clean clothes, pots and pans) get spread over every inch of the house?
A: Annie crazied them.

Q: How did my cell phone get dropped in this cup of water?
A: Annie crazied it in there.

Q: Lauryn, why are you flipping out?
A: Annie is crazying my markers.

Q: How did this dish towel get into the sock drawer?
A: Annie crazied it.

Q: How did this book get into the silverware drawer?
A: Annie crazied it.

Q: Lauryn, how did 15 pairs of your panties get on Annie's arms?
A: She crazied them on.

Q: How did this bowl of guacamole that I just made get dumped all over the floor?
A: Annie climbed up onto the counter and crazied it.

Yes, Annie is one wild, biting, jumping, snuggly and crazy girl. She keeps us on our toes, and we love her little guts.

Summing up summer

2010-09-03T10:23:00.005-06:00

I have been a total slacker in the blog department. But it isn't totally my fault. Our computer has been acting up and even now I am running the risk of it spontaneously shutting down on me. But I decided to take the risk to post the best pictures from our summer. They are a little bit in reverse order, but at least they're here :). I won't narrate the pictures, but here is a little summary of what we did this summer and you can try to find the pictures to match. Paul and I both celebrated our birthdays (lots of cake and presents), the girls and I went to Emmett for the Cherry Festival (lots of rides and cousin time), we had the Farnsworth reunion (river rafting, Starlight mountain theater, hot springs, even more cousin time), we attended our first ever Draper days (Collin Raye concert, bouncy houses and slides, parade with candy galore), I trained all summer and ran my marathon (lots of hills and sweat and pain), and we've finished up the summer with Lauryn taking swimming lessons (lots of water up the nose) and with us upgrading to a new vehicle (lots of seats). In between all of that we played in the backyard, played inside, and did some other fun stuff as well as worked on the house a lot inside and out (pics to come?). Yes, friends, the summer of 2010 has been a good one.

A great Daddy!!

2010-06-20T15:40:00.002-06:00

I am so thankful for Paul, not just as my husband (which is pretty great), but also as my girls dad. He is a wonderful father for them. He is silly with them, teaches them, provides for them, and loves them. And they love him back. Everyday when they hear the door opening when he comes home from work they go running for him! We love you Paul!!!!

Shake your groove thing

2010-06-10T18:10:00.002-06:00

GGs forever

2010-05-20T09:37:00.003-06:00

In high school I had a group of friends and we called each other GGs. Over the past 11 years (yes I graduated 11 years ago, I can hardly believe it) we've all gone our separate ways but still keep in touch a little. A couple of weeks ago my friend Shalese, who lives in Wisconsin, happened to be having a baby shower here in Utah! I hadn't seen her since my wedding 5 years ago. Our other friend Andrea was also there, so it was a mini GGs reunion. (On a side note, Andrea is actually my step niece since my mom married her grandpa, crazy, huh? And even crazier, she lives in Saratoga Springs where we lived before we bought our house.) So here is a picture of the three of us (along with a vintage GGs picture from Riki's wedding). I'm the only one in the picture not pregnant! It was great to get together and see Shalese and her mom and sister, hopefully it's not another 5 years before it happens again.

Same or different?

2010-04-26T22:49:00.002-06:00

Looking at that last post got me thinking about the similarities in my girls' appearances. I think they look so much alike now, but not so much when Lauryn was the same age as Annie. Here is a picture of Lauryn when she was about Annie's age and one of Annie from a couple weeks ago. So, what do you think, the same or different?

Pajama party

2010-04-26T22:45:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted in a while so here are just some pictures of my cute girlies in their jammies.

So cute!!

2010-03-18T22:35:00.004-06:00

So, I'm sitting here browsing the web waiting for Paul to come home and came upon this idea for interchangeable flip flops. It just may be the smartest thing I've ever seen. I'm a little obsessed with flip flops. I wonder if I can get some sets done for the girls before Easter...maybe even matching sets for all of us. Although Paul would probably refuse to go anywhere with us if we ever wore them at the same time. Might be a risk I'm willing to take.

Snow, snow go away

2010-03-11T23:11:00.003-07:00

Ughhh...I'm tired of opening my blog and seeing snow. Today we went on a walk and I noticed we have some shoots popping out of the ground in our front yard, daffodils or tulips-who knows? I was pretty excited! We bought our house in November, so it will be interesting to see what pops up in our landscaping this spring and summer.

I love this picture of Annie. I think it really represents her personality. So curious and always studying everything. She also climbed up onto the window seat all by herself.
"Mom - what does this spell?" How am I supposed to answer that?

When March gives you snow...

2010-03-05T11:40:00.006-07:00

make a snowman!! We tried to make the best of it, but I do think that March giving me snow is way worse than life giving me lemons. Come on Spring, I know you're out there somewhere. Although, Al Roker told me this morning (via the Today Show) that this is the worst El Nino year in the past 50 so we may just have some more crazy weather coming at us. And for those of you who don't hablo espanol, El Nino is spanish for the Nino.

You say it's your birthday...

2010-03-01T22:32:00.003-07:00

nah nah nah nah nah nah..happy birthday to you. (By the way, I had no idea that song was sung by the Beatles). Annie's birthday was today. I can't believe she's one already. We had a great day and so did she. I think she has a tooth coming in or something because she's been super fussy and grumpy lately. She must have known it was her birthday because today she was happy all day. Lauryn helped me decorate the cake and cupcakes and then when Paul got home we all went out to Chuck-a-rama. Kind of a weird place for a 1 year old's b-day celebration but really it was great. She got to try all kinds of new foods and she and Lauryn both ate for free! We came home and opened presents (the $.99 toothbrush was by far her favorite) and had cake and cupcakes. When Lauryn turned one she wouldn't touch her cake, but proving once again how different she is from her sister, Annie went to town. We had to cut her off early since she'd already eaten a lot at the buffet. Although she could really use a little more meat on those bones. Annie adds so much to our family and we're so thankful for her. I took something like 50 pictures today, so I'll just post the best ones :)

Annie- lover of socks

2010-02-12T16:21:00.006-07:00

For some reason, Annie really loves socks. No matter where they may be hiding, if there is a sock in the vicinity she will find it and chew on it. Clean, dirty, big, small, it doesn't matter, she loves them all. Just another little thing that makes our Annie unique. Also, Annie is just on the verge of walking. She is constantly standing up on her own and has even taken a few steps.

Christmas 2009 - III (finally)

2010-02-01T15:02:00.003-07:00

So, I'm finally posting the last of the Christmas pictures. These are the ones from the actual big day. We had a lot of fun. And the great part of posting about Christmas late is that now I only have 11 months until it happens again, not 12 :)

Christmas 2009 - II

2010-01-28T22:29:00.002-07:00

While in FL we of course hit up the beach. Lauryn and I were even brave enough to wear our swimsuits and get in the water. Lauryn LOVED playing in the waves. Annie tried out the sand but curiosity quickly turned to dislike (see pictures below). We'll try again next time :)

Christmas 2009 - I

2010-01-28T08:42:00.004-07:00

So, I know Christmas was over a month ago, but we had way too much fun in Florida not to blog about it. We had so much fun, in fact, that I'm going to spread the pictures over 3 blog posts. This first one is all about cousin time (and Grandma and Grandpa time), Lauryn's favorite thing about the vacation. She loved spending time with her cousins so much that she wasn't even that upset when we drove all the way to Disneyworld only for them to tell us they were full. She was just excited to go back and spend more time with her cousins. (I, on the other hand, was in tears and did not handle it quite so well.) Her favorite thing was that she got to sleep in the same room with all of them. Needless to say, it took a while for things to get settled down every night.

You can't tell, but we were on a carriage ride here.

Behind the fence were live reindeer.

Still here

2010-01-25T16:00:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering, yes, I do still have two daughters and yes, they are still super cute. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Home sweet home

2010-01-04T15:13:00.004-07:00

As you may have noticed I haven't been much of a blogger lately. As with everyone, December was a pretty busy month for the Pahulu family. Right before Thanksgiving, we moved into our new house! After 4 1/2 years of marriage and 5 different rentals we are finally home owners. We spent the first 2 weeks of December unpacking and getting settled in and then packed up and flew to Florida to spend the next two weeks with Paul's family. Now we're back home and trying to decide which home improvement project we want to get started on first!
Our house is a rambler with a full basement on about 1/3 of an acre. It's about 15 years old and has some things that need some updating, like the flooring and fixtures. My favorite features are the fenced back yard, the fireplaces, and the hot tub (which we haven't started up yet). It was pretty hard finding a house that fit both Paul's and my taste. He wanted a fixer upper with investment potential and I wanted something we could be happy in right now. When we found this one we knew it was the one. I'll post a few pictues, but I'll post more once we've done some of our projects and when everything is all unpacked and organized.

The first thing I did when we moved in was take down all the curtains. So much better without them. This is the living room when you first come in.

Kitchen/dining room area, door to the back yard, stairs to the basement. Backyard view from the dining room.

Lovely blue countertops (will eventually be replaced).

2009-11-19T10:29:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Halloween: the Gateway to the Holiday Season

2009-11-03T16:33:00.004-07:00

We had a great Halloween with lots of fun and lots of candy. Our ward trunk or treat was on Friday and then on Saturday we got some $.50 corn dogs (Paul's favorite food) from Sonic and then trick or treated in our neighborhood. I came up with a great nick name for Halloween- "the Gateway to the Holiday Season". I keep telling it to Lauryn so she'll help me have it catch on, but all she does is smile at me, nod and say "oh".

T H R E E

2009-10-21T17:53:00.004-06:00

Lauryn had her birthday last weekend. I really can't believe we have a three year old! She was pretty excited about this special day and has talked about it at least once a week since her birthday last year. Paul and I were yard sale champs this summer and found her a kitchen and a table and chair. The kitchen came with a box of dishes and some food and only cost $5. The table wasn't so pretty, but only cost $.25. After some sanding, a few coats of spray paint and a little mod podge it was back in good shape.
On the morning of Lauryn's birthday she and Paul went to a dinosaur museum while Annie and I went to a church thing I had to go to. Then we rented a movie and watched it together. For dinner we went to Chuck E. Cheese and then came home for her Ariel cake and ice cream. All together, a pretty great day for our favorite 3 year old.

My mom made her this little apron to go with her kitchen, she calls it her kitchen dress.

She went back and forth on whether she wanted a Nemo or a Cars cake and then decided Ariel at the last minute. I decided that Nemo could make a guest appearance, though.

Before and after

Laughing

2009-09-14T16:06:00.002-06:00

Preschool

2009-09-08T22:34:00.004-06:00

Lauryn started preschool last week. She was so excited for it and then when we were getting ready to go got cold feet and decided she really didn't want to go after all. I finally convinced her to go by agreeing to stay there with her, which actually worked out well since it's a co-op and I'll have my turn to teach in a few weeks. This gave me a good chance to see how it goes.

Lauryn with her backpack and alligator (her show and tell for the letter A).

*Update: Since I wrote this Lauryn has attended her second week of preschool and this time I was able to drop her off and leave. As she told Paul that night, "I was so, so brave".

Six whole months

2009-09-08T22:20:00.003-06:00

Annie turned 6 months last week. I can't believe her first year is halfway over. I was thinking about it last night and I about started crying when I realized that my baby won't be a baby much longer. We had her appointment today and I was not too surprised that she is in the 50% for weight but the 99% for height! Our little beanpole. Annie has the most contagious smile and little giggle. We sure love this sweet girl and couldn't imagine our family without her.

Catch up July

2009-08-21T23:41:00.004-06:00

So, yes this post should have come before the last one. But I didn't feel like doing it that way so there you go. We actually had a really fun July. Probably the best month of the summer for us. For the 4th we went to my sister's house in Blackfoot and had a lot of fun. Paul and my bro's in law bought fireworks from the Indian reservation so they were nice and loud and big. Lauryn was totally scared of them but I finally convinced her not to be scared. So, she's finally sitting calmly on my lap when she starts to freak out again. Apparently, she'd been chewing on her glowstick necklace, which broke open and then she somehow got it in her eye. How do I know this? Because I could see it on her face in the dark.

Two weeks later we went up to Idaho again for my family reunion. We spent one day boating, one day at the waterpark, and one day to go see the new Harry Potter. And then that Sunday we were able to go to my nephews Cache's blessing. Lauryn still randomly brings up the reunion and how much fun it was, especially the waterpark. "Mom, do you remember that lazy river we went on at the family reunion? Maybe we should go there next week." She thinks cousins are pretty much the best thing in the world and she had so much fun with them. Annie was an angel on the trip and even slept through the entire movie which was probably the loudest one I've been to. I didn't take many pictures of the week, but I stole some from my mom that she took at the dam..

Finally, the last highlight of the month was Paul's birthday. He ended up working until about 9 pm on his birthday, but when he came home we had cake (actually cake balls) and ice cream. Then on the following Sunday we had dinner at our house with Paul's brother Key and our friend Wayne. We made ribs in the slow cooker and then finished them on the grill. They turned out good, but I wish we would have left them in the slow cooker even longer. And a note on cake balls, they are super rich, good, but rich. They're pretty easy to make, but dipping them was the trickiest part for me, probably because I've never really dipped anything but strawberries before. I used a french vanilla cake with rainbow chip frosting. I think a more contrasting cake and frosting combination would have been even better.
Oh yeah, we also got to go to Lagoon for Paul's work at the beginning of August. It was pretty fun, Lauryn was really brave and loved all the rides she was big enough for.

Catch up August

2009-08-21T22:45:00.006-06:00

I've been a real slacker when it comes to blogging lately. So, I have a lot to catch up on, well not that much, our lives aren't that interesting. And really, I don't actually have to catch up, I just want to :) Paul's been working ridiculously long hours lately so the girls and I have been trying to find as many activities outside the house as we can to keep us busy. We've been to the Dinosaur Museum, the Children's Garden, the Aquarium, Cabela's, and to the zoo twice. Unfortunately, the only time I remember the camera was at the garden which also had a pretty cool splash pool. So, here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

Nothing wrong with showin' a little cheek.

Sweet little Annie just along for the ride. She's been such a trooper to just hang out in the stroller on all of our adventures.

June

2009-07-13T17:55:00.006-06:00

Well, now that July is almost over, I guess I'll post some pictures from June :)

These first two are from my birthday. Paul came through again and made it a wonderful day. He took the day off work and surprised me by taking me for a massage in the morning. For a present he got me Wii Fit! And he got me a Rasberry Truffle ice cream cake from Coldstone, yum.

By some miracle we were running ahead of schedule and I had time to take pictures of the girls before church. Annie couldn't quite stay awake for it though :)

We attempted to attend the Saratoga Springs Splash carnival but it started pouring about 10 minutes after we got there. We only had enough time to get a Nemo painted on Lauryn's cheek which was promptly washed away. To make up for our lost fun we came home and built a fort in the living room.

Just a little bed head.
Sweet little Annie. This girl can cry like no other but is usually as sweet as can be.

Annie's blessing

2009-06-08T16:57:00.009-06:00

We had Annie's blessing in church yesterday. Paul gave her a wonderful blessing and it was great to have our friends and family with us. I'm including a ton of pictures because there were too many good ones to choose from.

Farnsworth side

Everyone

Pahulu side
We didn't get Kelen in the group shot, so I got a pic of him with Annie later.

My mom made Annie's dress. She looked so beautiful in it. (Thanks Mom!)

Even though these two have completely opposite features they really are cousins and the best of friends.

Lauryn was so excited to be able to play with some of her Pahulu cousins.

4 years!!

2009-06-05T15:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Paul and I had our 4 year anniversary. We celebrated by leaving both girls with my bro and sis-in-law and eating at the Olive Garden. It was so nice to be child free, even if it was only for about 1.5 hours.

I'm so thankful to be married to Paul. He has so many qualities that I admire and I think he's so amazing, but he's also my very best friend and the person I want to spend all my time with. I'm so thankful that we are not just married, but sealed together forever to each other and our two girls. What a great blessing the temple is.

Here are some pictures from our wedding and one from last night.

I love the summer!!!

2009-05-18T16:49:00.003-06:00

So, this post doesn't have anything to do with the title, but I couldn't think of a good title and it's a nice, hot beautiful day so I thought I'd just proclaim to the world how much I love the summertime.
Anyways, here's a little video of Annie talking and smiling and some cute pictures of Lauryn and Annie.

Beautiful girls after church. Notice the difference in skin coloring, looks like Annie is going to be a whitie like mom.

Lauryn "helping" make peanut butter cookies. When I was putting my apron on she said "Is that your kitchen dress?". To the right of her you can see my mother's day present a new Kitchen Aid mixer!

Speaking of Mother's day, here is the delicious meal that Paul made me, steak with blue cheese butter and marinated grilled vegetables. He forgot to get skewers, so he used our fondue forks instead :)

All about Annie

2009-05-12T17:02:00.007-06:00

I didn't even realize it until I read my friend Hayley's comment on the zoo post that there hasn't been a single picture of Annie in my last three posts. So, to make up for it, this one is only about our little Annie-bananie as we like to call her, or Anns-banans as Lauryn likes to call her. I just love watching babies grow and learn new things. Annie has started to discover her hands and will watch them and then bring them right up to her eyes and then back out, it's so cute to watch. She has the best little smile and I could spend all day getting her to show it to me. We sure love this little girl.This picture is from my cell phone and doesn't do it justice but it's the closest I've gotten to a picture of her smile. Her really smile is about 10 times this big, I just love it.

This is Annie's "Don't mess with me. I may look cute, but I'll take you out" face.

The zoo

2009-05-11T14:12:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we decided to put our season passes to good use and go to the Hogle Zoo. Little did we know it was going to be Mommy and Me day and totally packed! Bad things about the trip: having to park a mile from the entrance, major meltdown from Lauryn on the way out, and getting stuck in traffic with Annie screaming on the way home. Good things: perfect weather, seeing the animals, Lauryn loving the animals, train, and carousel, Annie sleeping almost the whole time we were there, and being together.

Tulip Festival

2009-05-01T14:24:00.004-06:00

Last week Lauryn, Annie, and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was our first real outing with just us girls. I was a little nervous, but it went really well and we had a lot of fun. Annie was a champ sleeping in the stroller the whole time and Lauryn loved running around and exploring the gardens. Every time we saw a bench she would make us stop so she could check where we were on the map. It was a little bit pricey to get in, but I think it was totally worth it we had so much fun!

Easter

2009-04-23T15:46:00.006-06:00

I know it's a little late, but here are some highlights from Easter:

Patiently waiting for the egg hunt to start (if patiently means asking if it's time every five seconds).

Lauryn was so excited she kept falling over. It seems that she has inherited my coordination.
The loot. Each egg had one small piece of cheap chewy candy in it, but Lauryn didn't seem to mind.

Riding the train, her favorite part. She definitely enjoyed it more than the boy sitting in front of her.

My attempt at a picture of the girls in their Easter dresses. Would be cute if Annie wasn't crying and Lauryn had a real smile on instead of the one she gets when I tell her to smile.

It's always fun when Grandma comes!!

2009-04-10T13:56:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks after I had Annie, my mom and sister came to visit and help me with everything. While they were here I got a few good naps in, Annie got a blessing dress made by Grandma, and we got a fully stocked pantry. Lauryn loved having her cousin Logan here to play with. She thinks Logan is pretty much the coolest kid around. Here are some pictures from their visit plus one of Annie's cute nakey body.

Lauryn had just taken a tub in this shot, thus the wet crazy hair.

Sisters

2009-03-16T13:44:00.003-06:00

Lauryn has been so great with Annie and has been very patient with me as I try to find enough time to give her and Annie the attention they need. Having a new baby is definitely challenging, but I'm so thankful to have two perfect girls and a wonderful husband who helps me so much!

Uncle David

2009-03-16T13:27:00.004-06:00

This post is a little out of order, but Annie came before I had a chance to blog about David's visit. Paul's little brother David came to visit us right before he went into the MTC to serve a mission in New Mexico. (Side note to Ginger: I think his mission includes your area so keep your eye out for an Elder Pahulu). For those of you who faithfully follow our blog you might have noticed that this is the 3rd of Paul's siblings out on a mission right now. It has been great spending time with each of them before they leave. Here are some pictures from the MTC.

Pictures of Annie

2009-03-04T13:43:00.003-07:00

Annie Kathleen Pahulu

2009-03-03T15:48:00.005-07:00

Well, we are officially a family of four!! On Sunday, Annie decided to make her dramatic entrance into the world. I woke up at about 8 am having a contraction and bleeding a little. We monitored the contractions for a while and they were pretty irregular and not too intense but the nurse at the hospital told us we should come in so they could make sure the bleeding wasn't from anything going wrong. They monitored me for about 2.5 hours and my contractions stayed about 10 minutes apart and I didn't change from where I was when I came in (dilated to a 4, 90% effaced). So, they decided I was in the early stages of labor but that we should go home and when the contractions were closer together and more intense we should come back.
So, we drove home and put Lauryn down for a nap and tried to get a little sleep ourselves. My contractions stayed about 8-10 minutes apart for a while but then suddenly started to pick up and became 3-5 minutes. But we really wanted to make sure this was it and not go back to the hospital if it wasn't so we timed them for about 30-45 minutes. On the way back to the hospital the contractions were really bad and I could totally feel that she was coming. I told Paul we needed to hurry and then called my brother to see if he could meet us at the hospital because we didn't have time to drop Lauryn off at his house. So Paul starts speeding as fast as he can to the hospital and I was trying to hold her in as my contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes. About a mile from the hospital a cop pulled behind us and started his lights but Paul just kept driving. He pulled up to the front door and I jumped out and made it up to labor and delivery thanks to the nice lady in the lobby who could tell I wasn't going to make it on my own. Paul explained to the cop that I was having a baby and then parked the car and he and Lauryn rushed upstairs.
When I got to labor and delivery I was basically crawling in because I was contracting so hard and trying so hard not to push. They grabbed me and put me in the first triage room. Literally 10 minutes later Annie was born. Paul barely made it into the room and Lauryn was out in the waiting room with one of the nurses. I was still wearing the t-shirt and even the socks that I'd come in (kept the t-shirt, threw the socks away). Needless to say, no epidural for me even though I still tried to get one. Having gone both ways, I must admit that I prefer a painfree labor! Here's the crazy part, we left the hospital to come home from the first time at about 2:30 and Annie was born at 5:33. So, yeah we should have just stayed the first time. The doctor and the nurse that sent us home kept apologizing. But I can't really blame them and now we'll be prepared for next time.
Thankfully she was a bit smaller than Lauryn and was only 7 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches long. It helped that she was 9 days early! She is really healthy and perfect. She's catching on to nursing pretty well and we're just happy to be home all together. My recovery has actually gone really well and I feel pretty good. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance to get them off the camera.

Fun website

2009-02-27T14:57:00.003-07:00

My friend used one of these pictures for her facebook profile and I thought it was so cool so I decided to check out the website. So instead of working on my "things to do before baby comes" list I've been spending the last 30 minutes playing around with this.

Give it a try: www.photofunia.com

More Lauryn

2009-02-17T13:39:00.003-07:00

I'm getting tired of seeing my pregnant self every time I open our blog, so I thought I better make a new post. A quick note about the pregnancy though, at the doctor on Thursday he said I'm dilated to 2.5 cm and I think he said I was 80% effaced, but that seems like a lot, so I'm not sure. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about going early, since I dilated early with Lauryn and she came a week late. But, of course I can't help it and I'm really hoping this one comes early. I'll be 38 weeks in a week, so anytime after that and she'll be full term! Anyways, here are just some random pictures I've taken lately that I think are cute.
I've been wanting to make a tutu for Lauryn for forever and I finally got the stuff and did it. She totally loves it and when she first put it on she kept dancing around had the biggest smile. These were supposed to be pictures for a Valentine's card, but I never got around to actually making the card. Oh well, I guess they'll make a cute scrapbook page.
Her hair is getting so long, but it's totally uneven. I want to trim it, but Paul is against it and really, me + scissors + hair is not going to make anything more straight. I had a whole childhood of uneven bangs and I probably shouldn't submit Lauryn to the same thing.

35 weeks

2009-02-05T16:26:00.003-07:00

Here I am at 35 weeks. Getting nice and huge. 5 more weeks, sometimes it seems so soon and sometimes so far away! I am getting really excited to not be pregnant anymore. And I'm totally nesting, I went crazy cleaning all the baseboards in our house yesterday, it still smells like Pinesol. By the way, we still don't have a name picked and really only have one option, so I will take any suggestions you'd like to offer :).

All aboard the potty train

2009-01-22T16:38:00.003-07:00

We decided to start potty training Lauryn in hopes that when baby sister comes she'll be the only one in diapers in our house. After 2 weeks with ups and downs, we had our first accident free day yesterday. I know we still have some struggles to go, but I'm counting this as a big victory. Hooray!!!

New Year's

2009-01-22T16:28:00.003-07:00

For New Year's we decided to have fondue for dinner. Paul got me a fondue pot the first Christmas we were married so I decided to finally put it to good use. We had cheese fondue for dinner with ravioli, broccoli, Pringles, and French bread. For dessert we had a chocolate caramel fondue with apples, bananas, marshmallows, cheesecake, and pretzels. Lauryn really loved the cheese (as you can see by her face, covered in cheese) but didn't really get into the chocolate and ended up just eating apples for dessert, silly girl. After we put Lauryn to bed Paul and I ended up falling asleep and missing midnight. We both woke up at about 3am and got in our New Year's kiss. Oh well, it was a fun night anyways!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T14:20:00.005-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful Christmas break up in Idaho. I didn't really want to come back, but now that we're home it is nice. I got there a week before Paul and then he joined me on the 23rd. It was so fun spending time with my family and Lauryn was in heaven with so many cousins to play with. While we were there my brother and his wife had a new baby so we got to meet the newest Farnsworth, Mya. She is so cute and it made me so excited to have my own little baby girl soon!! Lauryn had a great Christmas and was totally spoiled of course. We didn't even have room for all of her presents so she gets to open 2 more tonight. Here are some pictures from our 2 weeks up north.

Lauryn trying to throw snow at me while Paul tries to build a snowman.

Lauryn and Tessa getting in some Dora time.

Lauryn and Logan sporting their new jammies on Christmas Eve.

Stockings!!!!Ainslee, Brynlee, and Lauryn who were born within 2 months of each other.

Paints

2008-12-15T15:48:00.005-07:00

Lauryn totally loves getting her fingers and toes painted. She actually will sit really still during the whole thing. Her favorite part is when I put little stickers or gems on them. She's such a girlie little girl. This month we decided to go with a Christmas theme.

26 weeks

2008-12-02T16:00:00.004-07:00

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T15:43:00.003-07:00

We had a really great Thanksgiving. We decided to play it low key this year and just stayed home. Paul's brother Kelen came over for dinner and I even made a turkey. Well, it was a turkey breast, but almost the whole thing. On Friday we did a little holiday shopping and got most of our list done. It was really nice to have a relaxing weekend together, especially because Paul's been working so much lately. All I can say is bring on Christmas!!!

Big bad October

2008-11-03T13:46:00.009-07:00

We had a very fun and exciting October, but I didn't blog about any of it. So, here are some of the highlights of the month:

At the beginning of the month my sisters came for a visit. Lauryn really really loves her cousins and was on cloud nine while they were staying with us. We went to the zoo and swimming and played while they were here.
We made some Halloween cookies to send to Aunt Kalo and Uncle Shiblon on their missions.

She decorated this cookie all by herself. I think it has about half a bottle of sprinkles on it.

Lauryn turned 2!! Her cousins Paige, Noah, and Tate came over to celebrate. She was so excited about it. The first thing she said to me when she woke up on her birthday was "Where's my cake?"

Can you believe I made this cake all by myself. It turned out better than I thought it was going to!

We found out we are having another girl!!

We went to Pumpkinland and carved the pumpkin we picked out.

We celebrated Halloween. Grandma Mary and Grandpa Hank came to visit for the weekend. During the day Lauryn and I met them at Gardner Village. Lauryn wore her costume and we looked around at the shops and very cute decorations. That night we went with my brother Shane's family to their ward party and trunk or treat. Lauryn did so good trick or treating this year, except she always went for the suckers instead of the chocolate, silly girl!

Uncle Shiblon

2008-10-08T12:45:00.003-06:00

Paul's brother Shiblon came to visit for a few days right before he went into the MTC. We had a lot of fun while he was here and Lauryn LOVED having her uncles around. One of the great things about living in Utah is that we're the last stop for Paul's siblings going on missions and we get to take them into the MTC. Here are some pictures from his visit.

Watching football with Uncle Key and Uncle Shiblon.

Funny girl

2008-09-17T13:22:00.004-06:00

She looks a little like a ragamuffin in this picture,
but I thought it was cute that she went and got my
shoes out of the closet and put them on all by herself.

Lauryn says the funniest things sometimes. I think they're even funnier when you see them coming out of her little 22 month old mouth. Here are some of the funniest ones.

"Come on, Mom. Vamanos!"

"Let's go, guys" -Talking to Paul and I as if we're her buddies, not her parents.

"Lauryn Reese Pahulu and Mommy Reese Pahulu"

"Go brush your teeth?" -Said to me after I kissed her one morning.

"My can do it!" -Said anytime she wants to do something without help, like eat or sing a song.

Me (very frustrated): "Lauryn, do you want to go to time out?"
Lauryn (calm as can be): "No thank you, Mom."

Last night she wanted to sleep with her stuffed alligator but I told her I didn't know where he was and we'd find him in the morning. Then at about 7:45 this morning we hear her yelling excitedly from her crib and when Paul goes in to get her the first thing she says to him is "I found alligator! I found alligator!". Apparently he'd been in the crib the whole time.

Goodbye, Hernia...you will not be missed.

2008-09-09T13:08:00.003-06:00

Bright and early at 5 am this morning Lauryn had surgery to fix her umbilical hernia. We got there and got her dressed up in a little gown. It was so cute when she was walking around right before the surgery and you could see her little back and diaper bum through the opening of her gown. It went pretty quickly and the toughest part so far was when she woke up from the anesthesia. She was really out of it and very grumpy and squirmy. She slept all the way home from the surgical center and has been pretty good since we got home. We watched cartoons all morning and then she just went down for a nap, hopefully a very long one :). Our camera was out of batteries, so I didn't get the before shot like I wanted to or any pictures of her in the tiny little hospital gown. But looking back over her pictures I found where that hernia snuck into a few of them. In a couple weeks when she's healed up I'll get an after picture on here.

Moved

2008-09-03T13:43:00.004-06:00

Well, after 9 years, I no longer live in Provo. It's hard to believe I actually lived there that long! About 2 weeks ago we moved to Saratoga Springs. We are renting a town home there. It is so nice having a garage and a yard. We really like the place for the most part. What we didn't notice before we moved in was the massive amounts of dog hair all over our carpet. Apparently, the renters before us had a dog, but no vacuum. But after a thorough Rug Doctoring, several vacuumings, and a complete going over with a lint roller of every square inch of carpet we are 90% dog hair free. Hopefully, regular vacuuming will eventually clear up that last 10%. Needless to say, I didn't have the kindest thoughts going through my head towards the previous renters as I was down on my hands and knees trying to lint roll the hairs out of the carpet. I think one of the most frustrating things about moving 5 times during our 3.5 years of marriage has been spending hours cleaning the place we were moving out of and then spending hours cleaning the place we move into. I don't know if it's just our luck, but we have never moved into a place that was left clean by the previous tenants.

Well, I usually don't vent very much on our blog, but it feels nice to get that out. Anyways, in more exciting news, to celebrate our clean carpet, we went and bought a new leather couch! Well, new to us and in very good condition. Now we just have to find a loveseat or chair to match it!

Just a random picture if Lauryn I thought was cute.

Family Reunion

2008-08-20T13:46:00.006-06:00

So, I'm supposed to be packing right now, since we're moving this weekend. But, I decided I deserve a little break since I just got 3 whole boxes packed. This is a little out of date, but I wanted to post some pictures from our family reunion. This year Paul and I were in charge and we had it up in Island Park, ID. I was very stressed about it, but it ended up turning out really well. We spent one afternoon at Yellowstone and the rest of the time playing games and just hanging out at our cabin. Lauryn had so much fun and still asks to see her cousins. Here are some pictures. I can't get the captions to go by the pictures, so I'm just going to describe them below.

1. Smores around the campfire.
2. Cousins waiting for Old Faithful.
3. Paul and I at Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone.
4. Getting steamed by one of the Geysers. It was like a rotten egg sauna.
5. I can't remember what this was called, but it was so cool. It was crystal blue and you couldn't even see how deep it went.
6. Family pic at Mesa Falls.
7. Group cousin pic at the cabin.
8. Kids taking a dip at a creek in Yellowstone. Lauryn threw a MAJOR fit when we made her get out.
9. Lauryn, Ainslee, and Logan: cute little cousins.
10. Making giant bubbles with the cool bubble wands Grandma got for everyone (one of Lauryn's favorite parts of the weekend).

Where we've been

2008-08-16T16:28:00.002-06:00

So, you may all be wondering where the Pahulu family has been for the last month and a half. Well, let me briefly tell you why we haven't been blogging.

1. Our internet went down. Actually, it got cut off because the owners of our apartment messed something up. So, finally today we took matters into our own hands and got our own service. I am so happy to be online again. This is so sad, but I have barely been able to function without it.

2. We have been super busy! We had a family reunion that we were in charge of and that we had to plan and organize without the internet! It went really well though and I will post some pictures later.

3. The most exciting reason: I'm pregnant!! I'm almost 11 weeks along, due March 10. I have been feeling SO sick. I don't know if it was because I worked full time during Lauryn's pregnancy, but I don't remember being this nauseous. Hopefully I'll feel better after the 1st trimester is done.

Anyways, hopefully some people still check this thing. I promise there will be more regular posting from now on!

Mooooooooooo!

2008-06-26T10:31:00.003-06:00

For the past month or so the country radio station has been having a contest to win Tim McGraw tickets. Paul always listens on his way to and from work and has tried calling in a few times but never makes it through. So, last night on our way to the grocery store we were listening and they said the contest would be in a few minutes. We decided to wait out in the car until it came on and each try on our phones to get through. After several busy signals I finally got a ring tone so I quickly handed the phone to Paul and we were the right number caller! So he had to listen to a Tim McGraw song played in polka style and guess which song it was. He got it right (it was "where the green grass grows") and we won 2 tickets!!! We got to hear Paul on the radio too. It was funny because the DJ told him he got it wrong at first and he was so upset but then he told him he was just joking and that we won! They also made Paul say "mooooooo" because the radio station is called K-bull. I was glad I handed the phone over to him. So, tomorrow night we're going to see Tim McGraw!!!! And best of all, my cousin Jake and his wife Jo are watching Lauryn for us so it will be a real date!

The big 2-7!

2008-06-23T10:28:00.005-06:00

I had a great birthday yesterday. Paul woke me up with breakfast in bed. He got a french toast recipe from the Food Network website and it was really good. We did our usual Sunday activities and then he made me an AMAZING dinner. Paul doesn't cook very often, but when he does it's always really good. He made me steak, bacon wrapped potatoes with a honey butter glaze (another Food Network recipe), broccoli, and french bread. Oh, and while everything was finishing cooking, he made me a Caesar salad for my first course. For my present he got us tickets to see Jack Johnson when he comes in August!! He also got me a Coldstone cake, yum. Lauryn even sang the Happy Birthday song to me. What a great day! (I don't know why this text is all underlined and I couldn't figure out how to change it, sorry.)

Cherry Festival

2008-06-16T12:23:00.005-06:00

When I was little, the most exciting part of the summer was the Annual Emmett Cherry Festival. My cousins would all come to town for the week and we would have so much fun. Now it's become a tradition for my family to get together so the next generation of cousins can enjoy it. Lauryn and I went up last week and took my nephews and niece with us. Poor Paul had to stay home and work. But don't worry, he did have some fun of his own with renting a Wii game and going golfing with his brother. Anyways, we had an awesome time with the family. Lauryn had so much fun at Grandma's house. Here are some highlights of the week:
petting the goats who live next door

swinging on the porch swing (Lauryn and Ainslee who were born 5 days apart)

picking and eating Grandma's strawberries

playing with cousins

riding the big slide at the Cherry Festival

1096 days of marriage

2008-06-04T10:22:00.003-06:00

Today is Paul and my 3rd anniversary! In some ways it feels like a long time, but in other ways I can't remember not being married to him. It seems like there is a lot of negative media in the world surrounding getting married and having children, but these are the best two things that I've done in my life.

I like it, I love it

2008-05-28T13:19:00.003-06:00

Lauryn loves to dance. Don't ask me where she got her awesome moves! Her new favorite song is this one from Tim McGraw. Paul has it on his phone and she asks for him to play it for her over and over again.

Mexico

2008-05-09T15:18:00.006-06:00

We've been home for over a week now and I'm finally posting about our big trip. The night before we left we stayed at my brother Shane's house. Paul and I woke up at about 3 am and left for the airport while poor Lauryn was still sleeping with no idea that her parents were leaving her for 4 nights and 5 days in beautiful Mazatlan. Well, I did tell her we were going, but I don't think she really understood me. We had such a great time! Our resort was amazing, with the most beautiful landscaping and pools and ocean views and wildlife. There were flamingos, peacocks, macaws, iguanas, and a lot of other kinds of birds. We spent most of our vacation at the pool drinking virgin tropical drinks, eating nachos, and swimming. The waiters thought we (especially Paul) were crazy when we asked for our drinks with no alcohol. We also went in to the city a few times. One day we went into the center to go to the open market and see the Cathedral and were seriously attacked by pigeons at the cathedral. One about landed on my head. The best parts of the vacation were (in order): having some alone time where we could just relax, eating a ton of delicious Mexican food, and enjoying the incredible scenery and different culture. I was so thankful that Paul speaks Spanish and had lived in Mexico for two years so I didn't have to worry about keeping track of money or communicating. One of the nice things about leaving Lauryn behind was that we were so excited to come home! The report was that she did really well as long as she had her blankie with her. I know she loved being around so many kids to entertain her. And now that we've been back for a week, I'm finally getting back into normal life mode. Here are some of the best pictures from our trip.

This was the view from our balcony.

Graduation

2008-05-05T08:10:00.003-06:00

Wow! We've had a very crazy couple of weeks. Things have finally calmed down and now I can blog about it! On April 24 and 25 Paul graduated! It was great. His family came into town and we had a really nice time. I know wives are generally proud of their husbands, but I just want to say a few things about how proud I am of Paul. About a year ago, he had 50 credits to finish before he could graduate, but he told me he wanted to be done by April graduation. Honestly, I really didn't think he could do it. I have faith in him, but I just didn't see how it could be done. But, he proved me wrong and worked really hard to get it all done. Plus, he did a full-time internship all that summer and worked part time throughout the school year. Anyways, that's enough bragging. Here are some pictures.

Laurynous

2008-04-21T13:45:00.005-06:00

Lauryn has now had two Sundays in nursery. She did really well both times. The second time she cried for a while, but after about 5 minutes she calmed down. I think she'll really love it once she gets used to it. Anyways, h ere are some recent pictures of our favorite girl.

What happens when Daddy's in charge of pajamas.

Playing with Logan Fox when Beck and Joe came to visit this weekend.

This is the look we get when we tell her to smile. I think we need to work on that one.

Half Marathon

2008-04-21T12:30:00.003-06:00

Well, my half marathon is finally done! I ran the Salt Lake City half marathon on Saturday. It went really well. My main goal was to finish under 2 hours and 10 minutes, since that's what I did the last half marathon that I ran in (back in 2003). But I really wanted to finish under 2 hours. Today the official times came out and mine was just under 2 hours 3 minutes. I was pretty happy with it, but still bummed that I came so close to being under 2 hours. If only I hadn't stopped to go to the bathroom and had run just a little faster! Oh well! It was great to run with DaNae and Becky, my friend and my sister. I didn't get any pictures of the run, but DaNae's husband got one of all of us around mile 9, so you can check it out on her blog here and there are some from the company that took pictures below (they're small because I didn't actually buy them). Paul has been a great supporter during the whole training process and even woke Lauryn up and got her ready so they could drive up to Salt Lake and see me finish. I think I'm ready to try a marathon next, but probably not until after the next baby comes along (maybe 2010?)

It's Official!

2008-03-28T13:21:00.003-06:00

I'm happy to say that the Pahulu family job hunt is officially over. After 2 months of applying and interviewing we have accepted a position with Geneva Rock here in Utah. We weren't planning on staying here, but the job offer was too good to pass up. Paul is really excited about what he'll be doing for them and I'm really excited to start looking for homes!

Easter 2008

2008-03-25T12:20:00.006-06:00

We had such a fun Easter this year. On Saturday we went to two egg hunts. By the end of them, Lauryn was an expert at picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. I think she got around 15 eggs at the second one. Then when we got home she kept dumping the eggs out on her head and picking them back up and doing it over and over and over (see the video at the end). Then on Sunday we hid her Easter basket in the living room for her to find. She LOVED all the new toys and things in her basket. Her favorite was definitely the bubbles and she has asked me to do bubbles about 10 times each day since then. She wore a new dress that Grandma Pahulu gave her. That night I made dinner for us. I think I went a little overboard, since it was only Paul and I that ate it, but it was good. We had meatloaf, funeral potatoes, carrots, rolls, and deviled eggs. Anyways, here are some pictures of Lauryn enjoying her Easter.

Keeping entertained

2008-03-18T12:17:00.005-06:00

Lately Lauryn has been getting more and more active and independent. Than kfully, the weather has started to get nicer and she LOVES going to the park. She's getting to be a pro at climbing and sliding. On the days when it's been too cold outside I've tried to get creative to make our house a more fun place to be. He re are some of the activities we've come up with, all of which have been somewhat successful.

Toe painting. She had a hard time staying still, but she loves her painted toes. She makes me take her shoes off sometimes just so she can look at them.

Coloring. This goes alright for a while, but twice she's made it to the door without me noticing and colored on it. Luckily they are washable crayons!

Festive dinners. This was my St. Patrick's day inspired meal. The pancakes are supposed to be 3 leaf clovers. Lauryn wasn't too interested in the spinach eggs, but she did eat a few bites of them.

Spending time with Dad and Uncle Key. Weekends are the best because both Paul and his brother Kelen are home usually and they help me entertain Lauryn. I realized the other day that I don't have very many pictures of Lauryn with her Uncle, even though he lives with us. They are really cute together. Sometimes he watches her when we go to the temple on Saturday mornings and we always come home to find them both in pajamas snuggling on the recliner watching cartoons together.

ABC Tag

2008-03-12T10:58:00.003-06:00

I thought this was a fun tag. So here you go, some of my ABC's:

A-attached or single? Attached
B-best friend? Paula Lava Pahulu
C-cake or pie? pie, unless it's the Great Wall of Chocolate cake from P.F. Chang's
D-day of choice? Friday
E-essential item? wet wipes
F-favorite color? blue
G-gummy bears or worms? gummy worms
H-hometown? Then: Emmett, ID (E-town); For now: Provo, UT
I-favorite indulgence? chocolate, sleeping in
J-January or July? July
K-kids? Lauryn
L-life isn't complete without? family
M-marriage date? June 4, 2005
N-number of brothers and sisters? 4 bros and 2 sis
O-oranges or apples? oranges, but they have to be good ones
P-phobias and fears? pain, anything bad happening to Lauryn, scary evil people
Q-quote? anything from "The Office" or "What about Bob?"
R-reason to smile? my life: I have a wonderful husband and daughter, amazing family and friends, and the weather is turning warmer.
S-season of choice? Summer
T-tag 3 people. Makenna, DaNae, Hayley, Cassandra
U-unknown fact about me? I've had both of my lungs collapse at the same time.
V-vegetable? I like them all. That's the one thing I've noticed about my diet as I've gotten older, I like vegetables more.
W-worst habit? waisting time
X-x-ray or ultrasound? I don't really know what this means, but I'm going to say ultrasound, since this is when you get to see your baby.
Y-your favorite food? yum...food. Probably Chinese, but I really love Italian too.
Z-zodiac Sign? Cancer

Stake Conference

2008-03-03T09:12:00.003-07:00

We had Stake Conference yesterday. I was sure that Lauryn was going to do better than she normally does at church because it would only last 2 hours instead of 3 and we could just let her play between us on our bench. Oh, how foolish I was. She was totally crazy! I don't know what got into her, but she was acting like she was on hyper pills. Even though we were totally distracted, it was a great session. Former BYU President Merrill J. Bateman and his wife spoke all about temples. It made me realize how thankful I am to live at a time when there are so many temples throughout the world and that these blessing can be extended to so many more people.
Here are some pic's of Lauryn after church. She started putting her hand in her pocket, I thought it was so funny!

The Burn's Supper

2008-02-20T12:05:00.004-07:00

Last week Lauryn and I went up to Idaho to spend some time with my family and to have our 6th annual Burn's Supper. For those of you who don't know what a Burn's Supper is, you can find out more here. Mostly, it's just an excuse for family to get together and celebrate our Scottish heritage. While we were in Idaho, Paul went to Reno to compete on the BYU Heavy Civil Construction team. It was hard being away from him for 5 days, especially since it was during Valentine's Day. The actual competition took place on that day, so I didn't even get to talk to him until about 11 pm that night. But, L and I had alot of fun in Idaho. Some of the highlights of the trip were skiing with my bro., swimming, and of course, the Supper!

I thought I'd also add this classic Burn's Supper pic. from when Paul and I were dating. This also happened to be the first time he met my family.

Grandmas

2008-02-20T11:57:00.002-07:00

Lauryn is lucky to have such wonderful Grandmas. Both of them do just what a grandma should, spoil her like crazy. Whenever we go home to Idaho or Florida we come back with new toys and clothes. Also featured in each of these pictures is Lauryn's best friend, her blankie.

Mohawk Baby

2008-01-31T16:15:00.001-07:00

Lauryn's hair is starting to get pretty long, especially in the back. Now if only the top and sides could grow! I guess they're long enough to pull off the mohawk, though.

Lauryn and Daddy

2008-01-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

Aren't they so cute?! I love to watch these two play together.

The beach

2008-01-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally posted some pictures of when we went to the beach in Florida. Lauryn was a little skeptical of the water at first, but then she started loving it. It was a little cold to go in, but we splashed around a little. Lauryn loved when the waves would come up on her feet and walking around in the sand.

Playing

2008-01-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great time while we were in Florida. Lauryn loved playing with her cousins on the Pahulu side. While we were there Paul's brother blessed his new baby Aubrey Jade Pahulu. She is such a sweet and happy little girl. While we were there Paul and I also took advantage of the free babysitting and went out to dinner a couple of times and out to see a movie. The other highlights of the trip were going to an arcade, doing some major shopping at the malls, going to the zoo, playing ALOT of Playstation and X-Box (more of a highlight for Paul than for me :)), and eating, eating, eating! We also went to the beach, but I'll talk about that more in the next post!

Christmas

2008-01-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas vacation this year. We spent 15 days with Paul's family in Florida. I'm going to show our vacation in three different posts because I took alot of pictures. This one is about Christmas Eve and Day. On Christmas Eve we went to Paul's Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner with the extended family. As usual we got hooked up with money and ornaments from Paul's Grandma and Grandpa and Great Uncle Don. Santa even stopped by and gave Lauryn a present. Lauryn was peer pressured into sitting on his lap but cried the whole time.

On Christmas morning we opened presents at Paul's parent's house. Almost all of them were for Lauryn since she was the only grandchild there in the morning. Of course, she was spoiled like crazy. I think her favorite present was a little puppy from Grandma and Grandpa that barks jingle bells and rocks on a sled. She keeps giving it kisses and holding it. Paul and I also got hooked up with more money and some rocking stockings! Later that day Paul's brother Charlie and his wife Julie and their two girls Hailey and Aubrey came over for dinner and more presents. It was another wonderful Christmas spent with those we love. So, the only pictures of Lauryn opening presents were her stocking presents and the first one she opened because I got too into watching her. But here are the ones I got!

Goodbye, Kalo!

2007-12-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Paul's little sister Kalo came to visit us Monday because she went in to the MTC on Wednesday to go on a mission to Honduras! She was only here for a couple of days, but we loved spending time with her before she left. While she was here we did some shopping, played games, went to Cafe Rio, and went and saw the lights at Temple Square. It was sad to say goodbye, but she is going to be a great missionary. You could tell she was so excited to serve and she's so friendly and outgoing. The people in Honduras are going to love her!

HO HO HO

2007-12-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Lauryn and I went with the mom's group in our ward to go see Santa at the mall. Too bad I look more excited in this picture than she does!

What was Paul doing while L and I were gone? Of course, more homework! But, yesterday was the last day of classes for this semester, woohoo!

Family pictures

2007-12-11T13:46:00.001-07:00

The most recent picture we have of Paul, Lauryn and I together was taken at Lauryn's blessing, over a year ago! So, right after church on Sunday while we were still dressed up we got Paul's brother Key to come and take some pictures of us. They turned out pretty cute, but we only got a couple where we were all looking at the camera. These are the best ones.

I've been tagged

2007-12-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

So, following the tradition of being tagged, here are six things about me that you might find interesting:

1. Up until I was about 13 or 14 I had straight hair. Around that time I got a perm and my hair has been naturally curly ever since. Also, I used to be a blond but my hair got darker and darker as I got older.

(That's me in the yellow if you couldn't tell :)

2. I love the ocean and all things related to the ocean. My favorite color is blue, I think because it reminds me of the blue sea and the blue sky. Dolphins are my favorite animal and I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger. Lucky that I married a boy from Florida who's family lives close to the ocean!

3. Like many of my friends, I LOVE to dance. When I was 10 I got a tape player for my birthday and I used to put in my Paula Abdul tape and go crazy when I was alone in my room. Then in college we would always have spontaneous dance parties which mostly involved dancing on the furniture.

4. One of my nicknames is HHH. My brother used to tease me by calling me "Heather the Hungry Heifer" and when I'd tell my dad on him my dad would try to console me by telling me that a heifer was a beautiful maiden cow. To this day my brother still calls me "triple H."

5. I really love to read. When I have a good book it consumes me. I have to limit the amount of books I let myself read or I will completely neglect all other obligations I have, including Paul and Lauryn. My favorite books are all the Harry Potter's, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, and The Life of Pi.

6. One of my favorite things to do is eating out. I love being around alot of people and eating good food and being served. Paul loves it too. This is not a good thing for poor college students, but we've really tried to cut back. Our favorite restaurant is Red Robin (bottomless steak fries!!).

Now I tag:
Cassandra
Julie
Courtney
Joanna