WOW!!! Have you heard?!

Sam and I will be welcoming our second baby girl!  She is due to be born on September 9 and we are just ECSTATIC!!!  We feel so blessed and full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father!  This time we have 5 weeks to prepare, instead of 3 weeks like we had for Elia!  Now we need to think of a name...

Ala Moana

Elia poses by the water.

Sam and Elia look at the fishies

Ohana shot!

This Saturday we had grand plans to go to the annual Farm Fair, which was held at Bishop Museum this year.  But, after going there and circling around the neighborhood several times, along with 50 other cars, we decided to opt for plan B...which took us to Walmart for the second time this week in our quest to get a breadmaker.  In the Cheney house we can go through one loaf of store bought bread a day, so we though this might be a good investment :)  Unfortunately, our search continues because this store was also out!  I guess we'll have to go the internet route.   Anyways, since we had packed a luch we decided to head for the nearest park, which happened to be Ala Moana Beach Park.  There we almost thought we we're going to have the same parking issues, but picked up a spot right next to the water with some benches perfect for sitting and eating our sandwiches.  It was a beautiful view of the ocean, with a breeze, and helped me reaffirm my desire for a boat someday.

Fun in the SUN!

 Elia and daddy building her sand pool.         See the Iosepa in the background?


This past Saturday the three of us went to Hukilau beach, which I haven't been to since I was in college!  It was a beautiful, picturesque day with tons of people there to enjoy the sun and waves.  Since it was a bit rough, Sam built Elia her own little pool with protective sand wall for her swimming enjoyment :)  Sam also got to do some body surfing.  As an added bonus, we met up with some friends who were there celebrating a birthday with ono food and cake!  We then got to work off some of that by playing volleyball.  What more could you ask for on a Saturday?  

Daddy catches a nice one!

Simple Pleasures

One of my favorite artists once said, "They say that money won't buy you happiness...but it'll pay for the search!"  Well, this has come into fruition in a simple and happy way this week for me in the form of a bench.  Yes, to beat the heat of the indoors we bought a fairly inexpensive bench from Walmart to put on our deck. It's white and pretty much indestructible by our salt air since it is all plastic/vinyl.  But it isn't just a bench... it also conveniently turns into a picnic table by simply pushing the backrest forward.  Okay, so I'm not writing this to brag about my new purchase, instead, I was just reflecting on how simple and little things can bring us happiness.  Since getting this bench, Elia and I have been able to comfortably enjoy the scenery and sounds outside, sponge paint without fear of making a mess, have dinner with a friend with all of us actually sitting around one table (we have only a counter/island inside) and when someone wanted to stop by I could offer them a cool spot to sit and relax at outside without worrying about how clean my house was inside! Ahhhh...the little things, how they DO make a difference!  What are some of your simple pleasures?

Happy 4th of July!

This 4th of July was a fun and exciting one for the Cheney ohana!  We had an onolicious potluck bar-b-que with friends in Kahana Bay, complete with Liz's famous marinated bar-b-que chicken!!  Then we all headed over to the beach to enjoy the cool breeze and work off all that food we ate...  It was a perfect day and the water was warm :)  The kids got all nice and sandy and us big guys got to talk story and body surf.    

Then later that night after Sam finished playing at the luau, we headed over to Schofield Barracks to watch their awesome firework show.  Liz was designated the driver, which was really sweet for Sam and I because we both would rather not!  So, for a change we both got to be passengers in our car... which gave us a perfect photo-op of Sam & I :)  The drive was kinda long (by Hawaii & gas price standards), but definitely worth it.  We got there just in time to get situated, get some grinds and sit down for a few minutes before the show started...and what a show it was!  Sam got some cool photos of some of what we saw.  Elia was both amazed and scared at the sights and sounds and clung tight to mommy and daddy.  It was a beautiful night!  We'd love to hear about your 4th of July too... add a comment ;) 

5 Happy Years!

This past friday, June 27, Sam and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary!  To celebrate the special occasion we attended a temple session, bright and early in the morning, then later went to the movies and had dinner at one of our favorite Italian resturants...Zias's!  It was a great day, although we did have some mishaps with our babysitters :)  

The celebration continued the next day as we spent the day with Elia and watched Wall-e.  She sat through most of it, with the exception of the 2 times she asked to go to the bathroom!  Mommy was very happy to take her though, when she did actually go both times!  Then after the movie Elia had her nap in the stroller as mommy and daddy went to get haircuts and have lunch.  It was a great day!

Being married for these past 5 years has been the happiest time of my life!  Sometimes you feel like it was just yesterday that you were dating...but at the same time it feels like this person has always been with you.  How grateful I am for Sam, who is such a loving husband and daddy!  I look forward to spending the next 5 x infinity years with him!

Mommy & Me!

Being a teacher definitely has it's perks...and summer break is my favorite one!  These past 3 weeks I've fallen in love again with sleeping in, exercising in the morning and spending the whole day with my favorite girl!  Since we could skip paying preschool tuition, I got to splurge a little on buying some fun art supplies for some projects I planned to do with the little one (watercolors, crayons, markers, construction paper, foam sheets, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, etc.).  Elia loves to scribble and go crazy with the glue, but then loves to take her projects apart too :)  We also go on "color hunts" together, as she has become fascinated with the color blue and red too.  But probably the most fun we have together is when we get to be silly together while singing and dancing to her favorite songs "Calypso Jump" and "Slippery Fish".  Yes, it is such a JOY to be a mommy   

We've also kept ourselves busy by going on a field trip every week with the other mother's in our Ward.  So far we've gone to Alligator Pond (Elia had lots of fun jumping over the waves), the Children's Discovery Center (a whole building dedicated to for play and pretend, where everything is touchable) and the Polynesian Cultural Center (she got scared of the loud Tongan drums, but loved running around and watching the canoe show).  My only regret is that I didn't have my camera with me during any of these trips because Sam needed it for work!  So...I'll have to ask my friends to email me some pictures they took.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July everyone!

          

Thanks Luz for sending me these photos!  Elia and her best buddy/neighbor Kayla plant carrots and ride in the Jeepney together at the Children's Discovery Center.