Shout out to all of the Mamas out there!

Recently it has come to my attention that I have SO MANY friends that are either pregnant, or have recently had a baby. I wanted to tell everyone that I am so excited for each and every one of you! This is such a precious, special time that you all will remember for the rest of your lives. The memories will be sweet, and maybe sprinkled with a little morning sickness, but never the less, magical.

It is fun to watch them all get excited and plan for the babies. You can see it in their blogs, pictures on Facebook and other sites, e-mails with plans for nurseries and parties... These are all such blessings for the parents and their families. 

It is still a little crazy to me that we are all old enough (and married) and are at that stage in life when having babies is so common. How did that happen? Where did time go? 

I will have to admit that I have been having a lot of fun seeing and playing with Baby Mason and Baby Natalia (who's almost one!) so much here in HI. But it is also really nice to be able to hand them back to their parents when they are upset and I have no earthly idea why. :) Zac and I are looking forward to being parents one day, but definitely not any time soon. In the mean time, we will continue helping with and holding all of your babies. 

Mary H., Jamie O., Amanda H., Michelle C., Lyndsey L., Audra S. and several others will be welcoming the little bundles of joy soon! Yay - which means I have plenty of reasons to find cute fabric to make baby quilts!

And, on an unrelated note, I wanted to share some pictures of quilts with everyone. The quilts in the February 22nd entry of Donna's blog are family heirloom quilts that were my Grandmother's, that my parents now have. They are so delicately beautiful, and I'm glad that we have them in our family. CLICK HERE to see.

"That's it and that's all, man." (haha, remember this video? HILAR. Woo woo!)

-RAWE

Don't breathe out of your nose!

Happy Aloha Saturday! 

This week has flown by. Zac has been studying so much for PNEO, and I have been busy with Homecoming planning and running errands.

This afternoon Zac, Brandy and I ventured out to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling and sun. (NOTE: Military and dependents are free - GO!) After a mandatory short video describing the nature preserve reef and rules, we headed down into the bay area (former crater) to a beautiful horseshoe shaped beach. The reef fills most of the bay area, and is home to hundreds of different species of tropical fish. 

With the snorkel gear that Zac got us for Valentine's Day (picture me swimming over the reef telling myself "don't breathe out of your nose, don't breathe out of your nose"), we were able to swim 

with and watch so many beautiful fish. And today, I saw a humuhumunukunukuapua'a!! This is the state fish of Hawai'i. I was SO excited! (Thank you, Austin Elementary third grade, for teaching me this fact, and MANY more, about my current state of residence.) 

This is a shot of the bay as we walked down the road to the beach. The reef is slowly coming back to life after being over fished and taken advantage of throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The state of Hawaii is really trying hard to keep and develop this natural phenomenon, and it seems to be working and prospering!

We had a relaxing afternoon at Hanauma Bay, and I am excited to visit many more times while living here in HI. I would definitely say that this is a MUST see when visiting Oahu. 

Aloha,

RAWE

Settling in...

I can not believe that 2 weeks have passed since I have written. It has been a busy 14+ days. So, let's re-cap the time that I have left out. 

Our household goods arrived on the 2nd - and a beautiful rainbow was visible just beyond our lanai! Zac was able to be here with me to accept and inspect our 11 crates full of belongings. Our house was completely full of boxes. We worked for the next week to unpack and organize everything. Now our home is in order, and everything has a spot. We made several trips to Goodwill - thankfully there are drive-through drop-off centers downtown (close to our house) and over in Pearl City (next to a friend's house). Now that everything is set up, I will soon post pictures of our new home! 

On February 6th, Mason Glenn Hagenbuch was born. Parents Doug and Melissa welcomed their 8lb 12oz baby boy in to the world at Tripler Army Medical Center. He is PRECIOUS! After a short battle with jaundice, he is now home and doing well. I went over to visit the Hagenbuchs the other day, and got to hold the little one for a while. I know I am one of the many that is extremely excited that baby Mason is 

finally here! I hope to be spending lots of time with him, and watching him grow. It definitely shouldn't take him long to catch up with me and my 5'1". ;)

That night Zac and I went with the Rittermann family to the Punahou School (the private school that Barack Obama attended here in HI) Carnival. It was such a scene. Food booths, carnival rides, thousands of people and beautiful weather made this an exceptional event. Steve and Marisol's daughter, Natalia (who is almost 1 year old) was such a joy to watch as we walked all over. The bright lights, happy people and loud noises caught her attention and you could tell she was amazed by so many things that she saw.  This is a picture of Steve and Natalia on the carousel. Click HERE for more carnival pics.

The submarine world has constant turn over. It is sad to see Zac's co-workers and their families move on to other jobs, especially after you get to know them. Soon one of our friends will be rotating off of the boat, and a new officer will take his place. I just met one of the new families that has recently joined our ward room. They are so much fun! The wife, Audra, and her two children and I went to the Bishop Museum the other day to check out the exhibit on volcanoes. We had a great time, and I am very excited for them to join our boat "family". This is Anya and Noah playing at the museum.

We had our first visitors this weekend! Cameron and Michelle Clark flew in Friday morning from Kauai - they were there on their "babymoon" - Michelle's last big trip before their first baby is born in late May/early June. We had such a great weekend hanging out with them. Friday we had lunch downtown and walked along Ala Moana area. Later that evening we went to dinner at Duke's in Waikiki. Sat. morning, after a home made breakfast, we headed up to the North Shore. We rented a paddle board and surf board and spent the afternoon with sea turtles (literally) near Haliewa. Zac and Cameron tried the paddle and surf boards while Michelle and I watched, laughed and soaked up some sun. It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day. Later I got on the surf board, paddled out to the area where the surfers were all catching waves, and waited for Cameron to tell me to paddle until I could catch a wave. I finally did catch one, and rode it on my stomach a long way. Haha - I am no where NEAR even standing up on a board yet! Zac and Cameron did have fun playing on the boards, and we all had a great afternoon at the beach. Later, in an effort to avoid Valentine's Day crowds, we stayed in and ordered pizza for dinner and watched a movie and SNL. This morning we had breakfast on the lanai, and went to the USS Arizona Memorial. I feel like we all learned a lot about "the day that will live in infamy". Later we had a late lunch in Kailua, grabbed some malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) from Leonard's in Pearl City, and it was already time for us to take Cameron and Michelle to the airport. I was sad to see them go - we had such a fun time while they were here, and it was so nice to see friends from Texas. More pics are HERE!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, and now, Happy Presidents' Day!

More soon,

RAWE

Zac is here!

Wednesday Zac arrived in Honolulu! He starts PNEO (Prospective Nuclear Engineering Officer) on Tues. This is a school-type program where he will study for almost 2 months, then take an exam, and finally fly to DC for an interview. He is ready to get going so that it will be over. I have no doubt that he will do great! 

Since he arrived we have been running around the island trying to have our cars registered, pick up cleaning supplies for the house, find new uniform pants for Z, and he has been checking in with all of the appropriate Navy offices. We have been really busy, but having a blast 

finally being back together! Here is a shot of Zac with his new license plates on the Wrangler.

Friday, after running around trying to gather all of the documents to register the cars, we picked up the Downs family from the airport. We are so glad that they are here. After taking the Downs to their hotel in Waikiki, Zac and I drove up to our house to sign the lease! We got 

the keys and did our walk-through with the realtor. Hooray! 

Following the house visit, we grabbed dinner and went with Steve and Marisol to a wine bar in

 Honolulu - Amuse. This bar was soooo fun. The concept: you purchase a "debit card" that you insert into wine dispensers. They have about 100 wines for you to try - at various prices. Just insert the card in to the machine, press the button for the wine you would like to try, and out comes the wine! It was a neat concept, and a fun Friday night. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Sat. Zac and I spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center! This is sort of like Epcot/Disney - without the rides. All of the Polynesian island nations have their own "village" that you visit to learn more about

 their culture, traditions and lifestyles. We learned a lot, and by the end of the day, I was definitely at the BRAIN OVERLOAD point. 70% of the workers of the PCC are students at BYU Hawaii - they work for the PCC and get scholarships to attend the campus here. What a neat opportunity for students from these countries - they get to share their nations' culture and go to school in the US.  Later that evening we met Doug and Melissa for dinner in Kaneohe at Haleiva Joe's. 

Today we went up to the North Shore with Melissa to find a sea turtle for a "Flat Stanley"

 project for Melissa's cousin (in elementary school). There was

 only one turtle there today, and she was stuck in the rocks (until high tide). Zac and I climbed over a lot of lava rocks to get to

 the turtle and take "Flat Emma's" picture with the turtle. On the way back to Pearl City to watch the Superbowl at Melissa's house, we stopped at the Dole Plantation for some pineapple ice cream. Mmmmmm. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating pizza, 7-layer dip and watching the game. 

Tomorrow is (finally) move-in day!! We will be up early, and working hard, but we are so excited to have our stuff in our own space again!

So long - until our internet is connected at the house, which should be Thurs.!

-RAWE