KONA

What an adventure! Sam & I flew out on Friday night....although we missed our original flight! I had checked us in and printed out our boarding passes at home, which didn't have our gate number on it. Once we found our gate number on the screen, I mixed it up and had us at gate 59 instead of 56...by the time we figured this out the plane was ready to depart! Thankfully the nice people at Hawaiian airlines moved us to the next flight, which was only 20 minutes later :D Whew, that was a close one!

Once on the beautiful island of Hawai'i we booked it to get our rental car and find the theaters...Sam wanted to watch "Transformers" first thing! How fitting that we should get a yellow wanna-be "Bumble Bee" chevie cobalt ;) Unfortunately, the movie was sold out by the time we got there...but, since we had driven all the way there we watched "The Proposal" instead. It definitely had it's funny moments!

The beautiful red sunset on Friday night while driving to the theaters!

After the movies, we finally checked into our hotel...and Sam checked his email where we had a very sweet and cute video message from Elia, wishing mommy & daddy "Happy Anniversary!" (Thanks mom!)

One of the best parts of our mini vacation was being able to sleep in (Mika gets up at 5:30-6am everyday)! I actually still woke up at 5:30am, but got myself to go back to sleep :) The only bad part was that the pillows sucked, so we didn't sleep as well as we would have in our own bed...

Saturday morning I discovered I had left a crucial part of my temple attire at home, so we had to reschedule our temple session for a later one, which thankfully once again, wasn't a problem. Since we had extra time before our session we dropped by Denny's for breakfast, but they were too busy so we opted for danishes and chocolate milk from Safeway. We drove to the temple and ate in the parking lot. It was amazing to see and feel the difference in our surroundings once we were there. It truly is a beautiful place filled with the Spirit.

After our session we dropped off the car and boarded the plane (this time without any mishaps:). Once back on Oahu wouldn't you know...Sam was still determined to see that movie, so straight from the airport, we headed to yet another theater (can you tell we like movies?)! AND we got to view another beautiful sunset sky on our drive...

"Better with time"

Our Special Day

June 28, 2003

Sam & I at TVA 2003

In a few hours we are taking off for Kona to take in a session at the temple and celebrate our 6th anniversary. As I sit here and reflect on my marriage, I am sooo grateful to have married Sam! I am grateful for answers to prayers, because it helped me to choose between two good things (mission or marriage). I'm grateful that 6 years later we are better friends, better communicators, better at making each other happy and more as one. Sometimes I wish I could fast forward to 4, 10, 20 years from now and see how much more we will grow. One thing I do know is that if we continue to live the gospel, and keep Him at the center of our lives, our marriage and love will always get better with time... I love you Sam and everyday I love you more! Happy Anniversary My Love!

Where, oh where...

DOES THE TIME GO?!? It's been almost 2 months since my last post and I'm like "what?!" So what was the reason for my absence? Well, first it was the fact that Sam kidnapped our camera to do stuff at his work place (I'm seriously sad that I have no pictures of Mika for the month of May!) and then it was plain laziness on my part...

But I'm back now and hope to be more diligent in keeping our blog updated :D I really have no excuse now, since I'm at home on summer break!! YEE-HAW! So, what's up with the Cheneys? Well, here's some updates:

Sam's has a special project this summer. He is making Titi Torea sticks for PCC to earn us some extra cash. His first order will be delivered on July 1, so every free week night and weekend this month has been dedicated to sewing, painting and braiding for the bags and sticks. It's kinda embarrassing to say but, Sam is the one doing all the sewing, while I am simply the eager student :)

Lethe is home on summer vacation until July 28 and enjoying time with the girls! She has started a preschool group with some of her friends and they meet every Tuesday and Thursday for a couple hours, and all the mommies take turns teaching a lesson/activity. This was our first week and it was a success! I'm also reading this book I highly recommend to all you mommies "A Mother's Book of Secrets" by Linda Eyre & Shawni Eyre Pothier. Thank you Caira & Caryn!

Elia has been enjoying sleeping in, swimming in her pool and playing with her baby sister. I gotta say that 3 year olds are lots of FUN! Less tantrums, more smiles, and she's such a big helper! I also get a kick out of the things she says, like "Mommy, what are you talking about?"and how her sense of humor is really kicking in :D

Mika is just growing by leaps and bounds...which isn't to say that she's getting any bigger (she's still my petite little girl who is now 9 months old and weighs only about 15 pounds or so)! But she sure is keeping us busy! Our little girl is crawling and standing everywhere she can (her favorite spot is the bathroom- we've learned to always try to keep that door closed) and has already started taking over her sister's toys. Just this morning the two girls were wrestling over a toy, and I couldn't believe it! I thought it would take much longer for this stage to start! She's also eating a wide variety of foods...not just the baby stuff and dives or swipes for whatever she can reach. Just today she stuck her fingers in her daddy's ice cream ;) She is also our little dancer, bobbing to the beat of any music she hears! She is such a joy and has a contagious smile that shows 2 of her now 6 teeth...yup, got the tooth brush busy too!

Next weekend, to celebrate our 6th year anniversary Sam and I are going to Kona! We're staying one night and catching a not too early temple session in the morning, then fly home that afternoon. My parents were kind enough to watch the girls for us, so a big MAHALO to GRANDMA & PAPA! I'll be sure to post some pictures from our mini vacation on here. Till then...