January 04, 2017

Year In Review--2016


2016 has concluded! It was a year of change--as they all seem to be with us! It brought to us another move, two houses sold and most of all we made it to 2017 with Lady Hiva still being pregnant!

Our Lucky Dragon continues to liven our lives and makes us laugh with his humor and adult-like logic (hard to argue with a three-year old that has flawless arguments...#gone are the days of saying 'no' and it is followed without a stream of questions). He always looking for someone to talk to and laugh with. He loves to spell and do "number tricks" (addition and subtraction). He tries to read and his first three sight words he recognizes are Costco, Joy and Dip (from the road signs when he and I are running). He is constantly asking what big words mean that he hears us say and will try to use it too. No wonder he sounds like an adult. He is excited for the baby to come and tells everyone that he has a sister in mum's belly. He, for some reason, in the last few weeks has stopped calling us "Momma" and "Dustin" and now calls us "Mum" and "Dust." He considers Mongoose, our vehicle, to be part of our family--even requiring we tell Mongoose we love her and goodbye when we walk away. He likes to name other things as well, the Black rental car is named "Tire," the white rental car is "the-car-with-no-name," the ghost in Pluba's house is name Don Gurr (Pluba did not think that was funny when I looked up Don Gurr and he is buried the the next town 25 miles south of where she lives), and the snow man is named Stoppy Snow-mo. (He then required us to bring gifts of Gold and Myrrh to Stoppy Sno-mo. "Mum, was supposed to bring Frankincense but she stayed inside in the warm so Stoppy Sno-mo only gets two gifts instead of three).

Lady Hiva's life has been busy with a three year old and a high risk pregnancy. We are so thankful for all of the prayers, positive vibes, support and love that people all of the world have given to get this baby here! This pregnancy is the 2nd longest we have had--only after Tau'aho. We have been taking it one day at a time. Lady Hiva--much to her embarrassment--sits in a wheelchair when we go somewhere for long. But hey! It worked. For Lady's health they had the C-Section scheduled for 15 JAN, which would be 4 weeks early. Today we went in and they decided to move it up another week, so we will have our addition next Monday! YAY! Hopefully she will not be required to be in the NICU too long.

I was given a promotion and we moved from Provo to SLC. It is kind of nice to be working downtown--I can almost convince myself that I live in a city for a minute when I am down there. We are living minimalist style in a really SMALL apartment with all of our amazing items stuffed into a storage unit. It makes us miss our beautiful remodeled home in Provo, but none of miss that I had a 3 hour commute a day. The look for another home in the SLC area is ongoing.

We have much to be thankful for. This year had tears and laughter, it had joys and surprises, it had challenges and problems, but throughout it all we had help and people that loved us. Here are some highlights:

JANUARY
  • January was filled with trying to find activities for a busy toddler. Luckily there are plenty of hands on museums in Utah for families to enjoy.
FEBRUARY
  • Flowers and love kept the snow from being depressing in February. It was so great to use valentines as an excuse to have fresh flowers and celebrate each other.
MARCH
  • We went down to watch Kahuku girls rugby play in Las Vegas! It was fun to see our niece Lila really enjoy the sport--it was also good to get out of the cold for a few days. 
  • We visited Hoover Dam and Antelope Island on some out-door trips. Lucky Dragon named the Buffalo at the front gate of Antelope Island "Bob" 
  • We Volunteered for the Provo City Center temple Open House 
  • It was Lady Hiva's Birthday! 
  • We had Easter Egg hunts with cousins
APRIL
  • Nothing celebrates Spring like a tulip festival. Thankfully, Thanksgiving Point in Lehi has one to enjoy.
MAY
  • Dustin switches jobs to SLC
  • We celebrate Mother's Day 
  • We go fishing a few times--one of Lucky Dragon's new favorite activities
JUNE
  • Summer is coming in full force! We fill it with outdoor things to do 
  • We went to the Manti Pageant
  • We hiked through Zion's National Park
  • Lady Hiva joined 30 teenage girls for a week of camping in the mountains
  • Celebrated Father's Day 
JULY
  • Celebrated 4 JULY--US Independence Day
  • Celebrated 24 JULY--Pioneer Day 
  • Took Lucky Dragon to a demolition derby and he was SO excited!
  • Celebrated Lucky Dragon's Birthday--he was so Excited about that!
  • Made a Trip to Disneyland. 
  • The Pregnancy journey begins!
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
  • Visited Midway and Heber again by driving over the Wasatch mountains from Utah county. 
  • Christmas celebrations commence!
  • Had Thanksgiving with Grandma from Hawaii
DECEMBER

Here is to celebrate 2017!

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