Honolua Wahine

I belong in Hawaii -- there is no doubt about it. Perfect weather every hour of the day, all year round... Pineapple that is out of this world... Clear blue water... A zillion beautiful beaches... The greenest-green mountains and trees anywhere... What more could I ask for? (Besides milk that doesn't cost $7 a gallon.)

A few weeks ago, Matt gave me the best anniversary present ever by planning a 5-day trip to Oahu. We had both never been to Hawaii before, so it was certainly an adventure. The Clives and my parents planned to visit the island that same week, so we had plenty of good company. I mean really, what could make a day at the beach better than watching little Cadence in a bikini dipping her Doritos in the water and chasing around sea birds?

Here are some of the highlights:

My parents took us the north shore one day and we spent some time at Waimea Beach. It was gorgeous, much less crowded than Waikiki, and you could actually see whales jumping and splashing in the distance! How cool is that?

That same day, we took a little nature walk up to a waterfall. It wasn't huge since there hadn't been much rain lately, but the roaming peacocks definitely made up for it. (Please try to ignore the preggo belly hanging out.)

The next day we went to the Dole Plantation with Spencer, Mardee, and Cadence. We saw some amazing flowers, planted our own pineapples, and ate the most delicious pineapple ice cream on the face of the planet! (Okay, maybe it's the only pineapple ice cream I've ever had, but how could it not be the best? It's Hawaii!)

Pinapple served in a pineapple with more pineapple on top. Can life get better?

That night we went to a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. My cousin Nicholi, who went to BYU Hawaii, gave us some sweet hook-ups so we could actually afford it. One Hawaiian luxury I could live without -- poi.

We all got leis as we came in, and Cadence thought it was hilarious to try to eat the flower petals every time Mardee turned away. (It probably didn't help that the rest of us were laughing, too.)

At the luau, there was a show with music and dancing. Toward the end, they invited everyone with a March anniversary (aka Matt and Mimi) to come up and dance on stage to a Hawaiian love song . The old people at our table got a kick out of it. I think they got more pictures of us than we did.

Spencer scored us some tickets for whale watching. Although I didn't manage to get any great pictures, it was pretty cool. We pulled up right next to a competition pod, which is basically a bunch of males fighting over territory. Apparently, they were butting heads and diving really deep to show off their masculinity. The only part of the fighting we could have seen from the surface was the jumping, which I guess they were too girly for that day.

Matt and I like to think of Cadence as our surrogate daughter sometimes. Even though we have our own on the way, I don't think we'll ever be able to get enough of her.

We were so glad the Clives decided to come with us. Not only did they share their rental car with us (which was a life saver), but they provided us with constant entertainment and great company.

Our hotel was right across from Waikiki beach, so there were plenty of tourist shops and street performers within walking distance. This guy called himself Basketball Man. He was about as talented as he was annoying, but fun to watch.

Our last stop before heading to the airport was Pearl Harbor. We rode out to the U.S. Arizona memorial and went through the museum. It's an interesting place to visit. We both learned a lot.

For instance, Matt learned how to pose so that he looks as manly as a 13,000 pound anchor.

We definitely miss Hawaii and are ready to go back. Matt has already started looking for work projects over there in case his current project closes up soon. From there, the plan is to make millions of dollars ASAP so we an afford to live on the beach. Our hopes are high. Aloha!

Man-fest Destiny 2008

First--as Mimi previously mentioned, I call the baby Thor. As in the Norse god. I keep telling Mimi that he is going to be 6'6" 260 lbs. And he's going to be an All American linebacker. Or I'm going to teach him to be a left handed pitcher. Lots of money there. Or I suppose he could fight injustice and save the world. All of these would be acceptable.

We wanted to celebrate Thor's future, so we decided to do the manliest thing we could think of. It was raining the day of the monster truck rally, so we didn't go to that. Now, lest you think that our lack of resolve to attend the rally in the rain is "girly", we planned the following activity to make up for it.

MAN-FEST DESTINY 2008

Our plan was to live out every manly stereotype we could in one night. So, after not showering, we put on our manliest clothes (my Cardinals jersey and baseball hats), went to Blackbear Diner and ate massive amounts of food.

Then we wanted Thor to feel the joys of pyromania, so we lit some stuff on fire.

After that, Mimi broke some stuff, and used a power drill to put it back together. (We saved the big wood thing and have it in our home as a memorial of man-fest 2008.) I think we'll probably hang it over Thor's crib, so if snakes (ala Hercules) or any of our potential enemies come into our apartment, he can use it to destroy them.

As a finale we rented and watched the manliest new movie we could think of. Live Free or Die Hard. It was a perfect capstone for man-fest--basically, it contained a scene where a woman got hit by a speeding SUV, was driven through several walls, and then had her legs smashed against the side of an elevator shaft. Afterwards, she was climbing around in high heels and kicking Bruce Willis in the face.

Go ahead--ask me for a one word summary of the movie. I'll give it to you.

Manly.

Anyway, it was a pretty fun night. My only concern? Mimi is already talking about Girl Party 2010. I don't look good in pink.

20 Weeks and starting to show...

I'm putting these up by popular demand. I have nothing else to say regarding my disappearing waist.

It's a Man-Child!

This is Mimi. I'm going to start writing on here now since I'm the one with more time and a fatter belly.

So, after weeks of counting down the days, we finally went to the doctor on Wednesday and got some cute pictures of the Bear. I like to think that he's flexing in this one. He's a boy alright. The lab tech even pointed out the boy parts to us (which I thought might be inappropriate to post, since I haven't got Baby's permission or anything).

The ultrasound was really cool. You could see his lips moving and his little legs kicking like he knew we were watching. I tried to count all the fingers and toes, and I think we're safe so far.

This week has been all about little Thor. (This is what Matt thinks we're going to call him. Ha!) I knit his first little blue beanie and bought him a robot onesie at Target last night (which was the most masculine article of baby clothing we could find). The highlight for me so far was a few days ago when I felt him move for the first time. It's crazy!

We're pretty excited. We decided that we need to celebrate our baby's masculinity somehow, so tonight we're going to the most manly activity we could think of -- a monster truck rally in Oakland. We decided that the winning truck's name is going to be the baby's middle name. I hope it's "Grave Digger".

Cinnamon Bear

1 In the beginning, there was darkness.

2 And the Son o' Gram said, "Let there be light", and there was light.

3 Mimi saw that the grainy white light was good, and separated it from the darkness.

4 Matt called the light "The Cinnamon Bear" for it was like unto one with stubby appendages and a large head.

5 And the Cinnamon Bear was glad to be seen, and did squirm about like unto the fishes in the sea, thus prompting its parents to exclaim, "Forsooth, it shall be a great warrior"!

6 And they saw it, and rejoiced with cries of great joy.

I've seen the light.

Specifically, the grainy white and black light of a sonogram (in case you didn't get the previous reference).

The Cinnamon Bear was revealed to me yesterday at about 10:00 AM. Up until that point it had been nothing more than a figment of my imagination (which involved internal bragging rights extolling my manhood), and two months of evening-tide nausea for Mimi.

But now things are different. It is official that we are having a baby. I've seen it. In fact, just so you know, CB is planning to make its big debut on June 24, 2008, in honor of its good old dad (which I can lovingly confirm IS me--and not the milkman/pool boy/postman--Yay for marital fidelity!)

But it's been fantastic thus far. We are so excited. It really was quite surreal to see the baby moving around. I had no idea that the baby could move so much at this point, or that the image of the sonogram would be so clear. You can't tell from the picture, but CB was kicking it's legs around like crazy, and you could see them perfectly. It was really amazing.

We are taking bets on whether it's going to be a boy, or if I'm going to have to buy a gun. I'm drawing up the plans for my 12 step Overprotective Father program. It's kind of funny, because it seems like almost everyone we know has baby girls! Jake Hawkes, Jake Butler, Paul Gwilliam, Alaina, Carley, Spencer and Mardee, etc. etc. etc. Only the Gochnours are holding out strong with baby Jack. We'll see how that plays out in the next few months though.

I'm just lucky that I have such a wonderful, patient, beautiful wife to be so excited with. She is everything that I could ever ask for. I'm so excited to be able to see a little piece of both of us together. Let's just hope that our stubbornness genes happen to be doubly recessive.