Thanksgiving Events

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was just Gil and I but we still had a good time. We used our wedding china for the first time which was fun and Kai was very interested in everything we were cooking. This was Kai's first Thanksgiving but since we don't give her human food she made sure to make us feel bad by moping around giving us those big brown puppy eyes as we ate.

Mom's theme this Thanksgiving was Thanksgivings through Skype. My grandparents happen to call (on skype) while they were eating so they got a picture of Dad and his parents so Mom wanted to get a picture while Gil and I ate. So...here it is, Mom in NH and Gil and I in Hawaii!
We also celebrated Gil's birthday...a little early I know but I got him tickets to see Dane Cook and it happen to be before his birthday. We went to dinner with some friends then cabbed it to see Dane Cook. Dane was amazing! We had such a great time. Here are some pictures from that night.

Gil and I at dinner

Mer and I at Dane Cook

Dane Cook!

Lastly, I wanted to leave you with a picture of Kai. This is how I found her sleeping over the weekend. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

O-H-I-O

We hung our flags (courtesy of Mom) next to the tv to represent.

The party was a blast and better yet Ohio beat Michigan 21-10! We had a full house starting at 7am till 6pm. The day was full of football, food and maybe just a little Wii Raving Rabbids! (I will explain that a little later.)

Our House Divided couple.

Both from Ohio but Sarah is an OSU fan and Carlton is a Michigan fan.

This was taken right after Michigan lost.

It was great to meet and get to know the guys that Gil just spent the last 6 months getting to know and for me it was even better to meet their wives and make some new friends. The McFarlands came over and brought Meka which was a life saver. The dogs were outside all day playing and it was one less thing to worry about. As an added bonus they were exhausted at the end of the day from their 10 hour play date!

Our Arizona fans, Meredith and Pat.

After a rough game to watch yet still a victory for Ohio we flipped

to a few other games but somehow during halftime of one of the games we ended up playing Wii. It was absolutely hilarious!

The beginning of wii halftime.

Don't worry we got plenty of pictures and even a little video.

Since the Ohio game was early in the morning I wasn't able to do the traditional Terry Taco's for the game so we saved those for lunch and the afternoon game. Everybody loved them and even a few wanted the recipe. Don't worry we did feed everyone who showed up for the morning game. We had a pretty nice spread of fruit and yogurt, eggs, potato casserole, scones and G'ma's banana nut bread.

All in all the day was a great success and I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. It was great to meet everyone and thank you for coming!

Fall Events

We have finally picked up the pace a bit and gotten away from ESPN. Now it seems like we are going nonstop.

This past weekend we were very excited to find a patio set on sale. All of our family is coming in for Christmas so we thought it would be nice to have a table and chairs so we can relax outside while grilling. It won't be long until everyone is here (less than a month.)

This Saturday we are hosting a football party. Ohio State vs. Michigan. We have gone so far as to buy jerseys of our favorite teams (me OSU of course and Gil has a Miami Hurricanes jersey.) Unfortunately the game is airing here at 7am but it hasn't deterred anyone from coming which is exciting. Instead of the traditional homemade Terry tacos we will be doing brunch instead and saving the tacos for the afternoon game. We are very excited to have everyone over and watch OSU slaughter Michigan. We do have one Michigan fan coming so it should be interesting!

Lastly, we had an amazing dinner with a college friend of Gil's this past week. Brent who was one of Gil's friends/suit mates freshman year of college lives here and his family invited us out to dinner to celebrate Gil's safe arrival home. We went to Ocean House at the Outrigger Hotel. We had amazing food and great conversation. The restaurant found out we were celebrating and gave us the royal treatment. The manager made sure we were treated well and they were so thankful to Gil for his service. It is nice to know what he does is appreciated. Thank you again to the Kakesako's for a great dinner.

Next up...Football Party!

Happy Birthday Kai!

My little puppy is such a BIG girl now! She use to sleep in our laundry basket and now she is too big to even fit into Gil's trunk (which just got here from Afghanistan and was fun to go through and see all the things I sent him back in Hawaii.)

On Sunday November 16th we celebrated Kai's 1st birthday!

We opened presents from Grandma...

And they were destroyed in all of 10 minutes. We also made home made doggie treats with one of the gifts Grandma sent.

She must take after her mom thinking that the cookies are better as dough than once baked!

We celebrated by going to the vet and getting a one year check up. She is exactly 65 pounds and was very calm and well behaved while there.

Happy Birthday my baby girl!

Gil's Homecoming!

The wait is finally over! Gil arrived home Sunday November 1st at 8pm. I have never been so happy to see a plane land! Here are some pictures from that day/night. Here is the first picture of us in 6 months! Finally somebody other than Kai to take pictures of!
The banner hung up in all its glory.
The lonely stairs waiting for a plane.
Banners hung at the hanger.
Finally debarking!
He's Home!!!

Since Sunday we haven't been up to to much. Gil really just wanted to hang out, eat & watch football. So that is mostly what we have done. We had a big homecoming meal on Monday and have continued to eat great food since then.

Kai was so excited to see Gil. We were both really happy that she remembered him. Here is a picture of Kai and Gil cuddling while watching football.

The first thing we've really done outside the house was dinner with friends. We went to Sushi Sasabune also known as the "Sushi Nazi," only dip when told to, eat in one bite only & eat until you can't eat anymore! It was the best sushi I have ever eaten. All the fish is freshly flown in each day and it literally melts in your mouth. The picture below is us before dinner.
Gil starts back at work on Monday; mostly half-days full of class about how to adjust to life back home. I promise to update as we started to do things again.

Next up family visiting for the holidays. Can't wait for the whole family to arrive!

Homecoming Preparations!

It won't be much longer until Gil is finally home! It is so close that I have finally begun preparing for his homecoming.

This weekend Meredith and I finished our homecoming banners and I have to say they look pretty good! On top of the massive banner I am going to make a smaller one on poster board from Kai. Here is a picture of my banner that I will be hanging up.

During the banner making process I broke my camera so thank you banner for allowing me to get a new camera!

Continuing with preparations the first meal is planned:

~Cheese & Crackers

~Scallops & Filet Mignon

~Asparagus

~Roasted Potatoes

~And a good bottle of red wine

(pretty much I needed to go to culinary school a few years ago to fulfill Gil's homecoming meal. I can figure it out though, right?...wish me luck!)

The dress is picked out, ordered and now hanging in my closet! I will be wearing this...

And last but not least for Gil's homecoming gift I am having framed his favorite photo. I am hoping to be able to pick it up this coming week!

The rest of the preparation is more mundane stuff like cleaning and bathing the puppy (who has doubled in size since Gil left!) I can't wait for him to see her again!

The countdown has officially begun!

Update:

Gil is doing well! This past week another Lt. made pancakes and was nice enough to not only feed my husband but take a picture!

These are the first pictures I have seen of him since he left. I have been begging for weeks for him to send me a photo and he finally did last night.

I was so over joyed that I thought I would share my excitement with those of you who read my blog.

So...finally...here is Gil in Afghanistan eating pancakes!

Doesn't he look good!?

Well I hope you enjoyed the photos...there are two more to come once Gil gets his hands on them. Hopefully by the end of October...

A Day in the Life of Kai

Kai's friend Meka came over yesterday for a little play date. It was pretty hot so we set up the kiddy pool for them to play in. It gave us a laugh and I hope it gives you one too. Enjoy!

Boating to the Sand Bar

Today the girls and I rented a boat on base and went out for the day on the water. It was the first time for many of us and boy have we been missing out. It was an absolute blast. We had the boat for 4 hours so we all brought food and drinks and relaxed at the sand bar for the afternoon. Thanks to Meredith W who reminded me of a wonderful drink they serve in Spain, (tinto de verano) I brought some great wine to make them; they are so refreshing. Amy made delicious tuna salad and Natalie brought lemon bars for dessert. The best part about it was it only cost us $7.50 a person. Such a great deal for an afternoon full of fun. I brought my camera today but forgot to take many pictures but here are a few.

This is us at the end of the day on our way back to the docks.

(from front left: Amy, Meredith M., Jenni, Natalie, Meredith W)

Natalie cooling off in the water

Meredith W.

Amy and Jenni. In the back you can see all the other boats and tarps. It was like spring break but in August.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Bob's Wedding

At the end of July I flew to Washington for my brother's wedding. It was a great wedding on the peaks of Mt. Baker. We were lucky enough this time to have almost the whole Everett clan together for this years wedding. The only one missing was Emily. She joined us a few days after the wedding (she was busy traveling around Europe at the time of the wedding.)

The night before the wedding family and close friends got together for rehearsal dinner at a local pub. We had some amazing fish and chips and chicken. After rehearsal my parents and I took my cousins to a great local ice cream place for desert.

Below is a picture of me with my cousins Jonathan, Katie and

Daniel.

Mom and Dad at rehearsal dinner.

The morning of the wedding was full of excitement. Lee had left a bag of bridal things at home. The wedding was taking place at Mt. Baker about an hour or so away. Everything turned out just fine though; some of Lee's amazing friends met us half way and brought the bag to us. The rest of the day went off without a hitch. While Bobby and Lee were getting married their friends were at Lee's parents house decorating for the reception. The ceremony was short and sweet over looking valley's and mountains. A friend of theirs married them.Their friends did an amazing job decorating the tables and buffet; everything was very natural and woodsy.

Their cake was nontraditional but looked great. It was so realistic.

There were delicious fresh berries to go along with the cake.

Lastly a beautiful picture of the bride and groom at the ceremony site. It was just breathtaking!

P.S. I must apologize for neglecting the blog. My plan is to try and post at least once a week. More posts to come about the trip to Washington.

One Year Anniversary!

Happy One Year Anniversary, Babe!

For Gil being gone I have to say it was a very good anniversary. Better than I would have expected.

Gil was able to call on skype and we got to video chat for the first time since he was gone and that really was the best gift ever! We were able to chat for almost 30 minutes. I couldn't stop smiling. It was so great just to see his face.

As an update: Gil is doing well. He is kept busy with work and exercise. Soon he will find out what his next job will be once he gets back home. We are both waiting anxiously to find out what it will be. Lastly, he loves and appreciates all of the mail he has received from family and friends and we would both like to thank you for all the support you have given both of us.

All in all the weekend was filled with pleasant surprises and I would like to thank all those who thought of us on our one year anniversary. Thanks for helping make it special.

Next up...Bob's wedding! I can't wait to be with all my family. I will see you in two days!

Last Week with Mom

Finally one last post on my parents visit. After Dad left, Mom and I spent most of our days walking Kai and organizing my office. Thanks to her I finally have everything filed and organized.

Here I am on the floor with Kai putting the file cabinet together. I am surround by all the other organizational bins we bought.

I couldn't let my mom come to Hawaii and not take her to the beach so this is us on our way to the beach. This was on the 4th of July and I got a call from Gil on our walk to the beach. I think we might have gotten more sun there talking to Gil than when we were laying on the beach.
Proof that Mom actually owns a bathing suit and went to the beach!
While at the beach we picked up a few more coconuts for Kai because she had just finished off her last one.
Kai with her 4th of July bow and coconut. She sure does love her coconuts. I do too! Saves so much money on toys!
I must say I am not a master of the grill quit yet but I sure did master our Kailua burgers!
Mom and I having our 4th of July meal; burgers, salad and corn on the cob. It was delicious!
Waiting for the fireworks to start. We had a great seat. Now I know for next year to get there early to get a parking spot.
Sadly Mom had to go home. Lucky us though Bob will be getting married on August 1st and the whole family will be back together. I can't wait to head out to Washington and celebrate with the family.

See many of you soon!