Andrea and Justin's visit to HI!

Aloha! Last weekend my friend Andrea and her husband Justin came to Honolulu to visit! :) We explored Waikiki, went to Pearl Harbor and Lanikai beach, watched the Cowboys game (sad they lost) in Kailua, tried a Japanese restaurant we had never been to, and went to the

Polynesian Cultural Center - all during the first three days they were on the island. Then they island hopped over to Kauai for the next four days (and did zip lines and a helicopter tour!). Yesterday they came back to Oahu. After I picked them up from the airport, we went up to the North Shore to watch some surfing (since the waves were so high) and had dinner at a shrimp truck followed by Menchie's for dessert. Today we spent the morning shopping at the swap meet, had lunch in Haliewa at Kono's, then made our way through the Dole Plantation maze (the largest in the world!). I had so much fun while they were here, and was sad to take them back to the airport this evening - and was even plotting ways to keep them here. :)

CLICK HERE to see the pictures from their trip that I took.

CLICK HERE to see the video I shot today at the Dole Plantation maze. :)

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

The Peanut (aka Meranda) is HERE!!!

This afternoon Meranda made her grand entrance into the world! She was 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz!!

She is welcomed by parents Mandy and Josh, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and two VERY proud Aunties, Beth and ME! :)

WAY TO GO MANDY FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK TODAY! And I trust that you will fill us in on all of the gory details later. (But maybe in private.) ;) But for now, get some little naps in while you can and re-charge.

Today I wanted more than ever to be in Texas. More specifically, to be in Fort Worth, with the rest of the Cozart clan and friends to see baby Meranda on her BIRTHday. For me, the hardest thing about being married to the Navy is the distance from our family and friends. Not being able to be with everyone for important life events is so difficult! So today was a hard day.

I can not WAIT until I can hold baby Meranda in my arms and see her in person. I am going to hog her and keep her all to myself. :)

What a beautiful day to be born! Welcome to the world, Meranda! We already love you oh so very much.

CLICK HERE to see Meranda's hiccups - sooo precious!

To see a video of the baby sleeping, CLICK HERE!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Our Second Anniversary

Happy second anniversary to us (Tuesday, the 22nd)! I can not believe that we have already been married for two years. While Zac has been gone for a lot of those two years, we have made some incredible memories together. I can not wait for the next years to come! We have had so much fun. We are incredibly blessed.

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

What the heck is a diaper stacker?

Since so many of my friends have been pregnant and having precious babies lately, I have been learning a LOT about being pregnant and everything that comes with that. I have learned (some of) what not to eat, what not to drink, what certain gadgets do, the list goes on and on...

One of the things I learned a while back is what a diaper stacker is! I had never heard of such a thing before. A few weeks ago I made a "prototype" of a diaper stacker just to see if I could do it. And recently, I made this diaper stacker for Mandy's baby's nursery. :)

Isn't it cute!?

Now Mandy will have diapers readily available for Meranda's changings. :) Stack away!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Finishing Projects

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! I finished three projects, so it was a successful one for me.

First, a baby quilt for Nathan Clark, quilted by Donna Francis in a CUTE frog pattern. There are frogs in the white striped fabric.

Front:

Back:

Quilting detail:

Can you see the frogs? Some are jumping, some just sitting there looking cute. I love it!

I also finished a changing pad and burp cloths for baby Carter Hamm (finally - I am a slacker), but I'm not going to post those pics because I know that Mary will read this and see them, and I want it to be a surprise. So Mary, be looking for a package!

The final project I finished was a diaper stacker for baby Meranda. I have to get some black grosgrain ribbon to make the ties, so I will post pictures of it tomorrow, when it is totally complete. :)

Now, I have eight more baby projects to go...so I'll be sewing away this week if you need me!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

Tonight my friend Marisol and I went to the Dole Theater to see "(500) Days of Summer".

I had heard such good things about this movie from my friends Beth and Brett, so I had very high expectations going in to see the film. And I can gladly report that my expectations were definitely met, if not exceeded!

The movie has a great way of telling the story in an off-beat way. I don't want to give away too much of the movie, so just go and see it (if you haven't already)!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt does an amazing job and completely embodies the character of Tom. Zooey Deschanel is impossible NOT to fall in love with in the film. But, just like Marisol said as we were walking out of the theater, this movie just goes to show why guys sometimes seem to be SO CONFUSED about women. Poor guys, we do make it so incredibly difficult for you at times. And for this, I apologize.

I kept trying to determine if I was "Tom" or "Summer". I have to say that I have been both at different points in my lifetime. :) (Curious? Go see it and then you will know!)

On a side note, the people that were at the same showing with us tonight were NOT laugh-out-louders! Marisol and I kept laughing out loud at parts that were obviously funny, but sometimes, we were the only ones! Why? It really was funny, people! Laugh! We didn't even have drinks before the movie - we just sincerely thought it was funny, so we laughed out loud. The laughs were well deserved. None of those people should be using the acronym "LOL", because they didn't. Sad for them.

Go see it before it is out of the theaters, or go right now and add it to your Netflix queue.

Yay for a great movie with a great friend!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

PS - "He's some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs." LOL

Elliott/McArthur cousins' visit to Hawaii!

Aloha! After my parents flew back to Texas, I was hit by some sickness that seems to be going around. So for 5 days I was laid up here at the hale, with fever, headaches, coughing, the works. :( It was horrible. But, luckily I recovered in time to have a GREAT time with Lauren, Brittany and Drake!

I picked the cousins up from the airport last Mon., and embarked on a week FULL of fun! We lucked out, and Zac was actually in town the entire week that they were here! We were all so thankful for that.

Mon. afternoon we relaxed on Lanikai beach, then met Zac for dinner; Tuesday we went to Pearl Harbor; Wednesday we went to the swap meet; Thursday we went horseback riding on the North Shore; Friday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center; Saturday we walked around Waikiki and then went horseback riding on the North Shore; Sunday we tried to snorkel, but ended up just going to Bellows Air Force Station beach; Monday we explored the North Shore and yesterday (Tues.) we just went to lunch and then to the airport. What a whirlwind week of so much fun!

Horseback riding and surfing were definitely interesting adventures! These were two things I hadn't yet done in HI. The horse lady was very stern (or you could say rude) with us, but it was still so awesome to ride on the beach and in the water. And she let us run the horses, which got the heart pumping! Our surf lesson was in Hawaii Kai, and the instructors took us in a boat out to the wave break area. It was nice to not have to swim soo far out into the ocean! After some practice of getting on our knees and then standing on the boards, we got to try some real waves. I stood up on my first wave, and all 6 after that! I was really surprised. It was sooo much fun. I hope to surf again before I leave the island. Lauren kicked wana (sea urchin) and Drake cut his toes on the coral, but all in all, we had a successful surfing lesson.

CLICK HERE for all of the pictures that I took throughout the week!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE