Happy Two Years

Two years of love and LOTS of growth. January 30th, 2006...it all began.

Happy Anniversary to us.

Tag you're it

Tagged by Jessica! I am tagging Kim B., Tara A., Julie K., and Christina M.

Two Names You Go By: 1. Heather 2. Sister Bigler
Things You Are Wearing Right Now: 1. A Towel 2. that's it
Twothings you Want (or have) in a Relationship: 1. Romance 2. Devotion
Two of Your Favorite Things to do: 1. Sleep in 2. Read by a pool
Two things you did last night: It was our anniversary, so....better leave it at that- :)
Two people you Last Talked To: 1. Mom 2. Samuel
Two things You're doing tomorrow: 1. Conference Call Job Interview w/Samuel and Potential Employer 2. Cheesecake Factory
Two Longest Car Rides: 1. Omaha to Palmayra 2. And Back
Two Favorite Holidays: 1. Christmas 2. Thanksgiving
Twoo Favorite Drinks: 1. Strawberry Lemonade 2. Sprite
TwoThings About Me you may not have known: 1. My haircolor was real until 10th grade
2. I speak fluent Spanish
Two jobs I have had in my life: 1. MTC Teacher 2. Pizza Factory Waitress
Two Movies I would watch over and over: 1. Remember the Titans 2. Dumb & Dumber
Two Favorite Foods: 1. Pizza 2. Cafe Rio Burritos, Enchilda Style
Two places I'd rather be right now: 1. Getting a Facial 2. Getting a Massage

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

When I say trouble, I mean WE'RE in trouble. Kalia just turned 5 months old. I put Kalia to bed one night, she'll usually cry for a minute or two sometimes, then fall asleep. A few nights ago she was crying for a while, so I went in to make sure she was okay. Needless to say we were a little shocked to find her like standing up in her crib. The child can't even sit up on her own yet, I mean COME ON! We put her back down and she showed us how she did it in this little video. We'll just admit it now. We are so proud of our little girl who is learning to do everything really early.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


So now that she can do this, she's falling and bonking her head a lot. I'm glad we've avoided a concussion so far, but I do worry about the future. Every time I turn around, she's finding something else to help her stand up.
(p.s. if you're wondering about the blanket over the crib, we use it during the day, as if she were a little parakeet. Black-out means SLEEP time! Works pretty good.

Reunited

They must be so happy to be reunited...and never to be separated again.

We are forever grateful for your lifetime of service. We'll miss you, dear President Hinckley.

5 Months Old

Kalia is 5 months old today. MAN TIME FLIES! I left out the picture of 4 months old, since I took it while we were in Utah, and she didn't have her bear for comparison. The pictures go clockwise, 1 mo, 2 mo, 3 mo, 5 mo. She's thinning out eh? She's burning lots of calories these days.
WEIGHT: 16 lbs 2 oz (80%)
HEIGHT: 26.76 inches (95%)
HEAD: 41 cm (25%)

Making the Most of the Time We Have Left

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We went to Sandy Beach, and though the waves were pounding, there were some calm little pools to play in. Kalia liked the ocean water (first time), both on her feet and in her mouth. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun with the Moultons and the Olsons. We will miss them when it's time to go.

Silly boys being boys.

Our little spot.

Becca and Olga have been such great friends.

Crawling and Leaving Hawaii

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So that's what she's been working on. I am proud of her tenacity (she is so DETERMINED) but I am very aware that I will NOT have those precious months of a baby just CHILLIN' and entertaining herself. Kalia doesn't know the meaning of the word "chill". (by the way, she can't even sit up by herself yet. She skipped that step...)

Ok, so I piqued all your curiosity when I mentioned job interviews. We are about ready to leave Hawaii- although we'll always love it and it's really close to a "perfect" place to live, the cost of living is crazy high, (and climbing), and our stash of baby-shower diapers is finally depleted. And Samuel has really hated his job for awhile now, and is ready to get out.

We could be here until the end of February. Or we could be outta here in a few weeks. Samuel has a GREAT opportunity to be a Corporate Trainer at the Univ. of Phoenix (in Phoenix) and we will know within a week or two if he got that job. (While we were in St. George, we also applied for a job as a Resident Manager of an apt. building there. We are Res. Mgrs here in Hawaii, so we thought, why not.)

You can all probably guess that I would want to live in St. George over Phoenix, since that's where I grew up and my family is there, but I do have to say, Phoenix would be really nice because I've already got LOTS of friends there! I can list at least 5 of my blogging friends who live there...plus, Samuel's family is there, and they'd love it too.

Yes, we'll miss Paradise, and especially our incredible ward, but I am excited to find out where we're going... I'm SO excited to get out of a one-bedroom apartment that has no carpet and only a camel-hair rug from Afghanistan.

For those of you who were wondering, we will most likely sell almost everything we own (we bought it all secondhand anyway, thanks to craigslist) and just bring back some clothes and my huge set of silverwear (flat rate box). And the jogger stroller. But then we're starting over from scratch. That could be hard. I'd LOVE to buy a furnished house! Anyone selling one?

Finally, I have a LOT of tuna fish that I need to get rid of. Anyone have a good recipe?

Back!!

Wow! Finally home! We ended up being gone for a month, it was great (Although I have lots of blogging and blog reading/catching up to do!) We hadn't planned on staying that long, but Samuel ended up having some job interviews in Phoenix, and Kalia got an ear infection, so we changed our flight and stayed an extra week. We had WAY too much fun with my family...Christmas, New Years, and all that good stuff. It would take way too long to recap it all, so I'll give you a summary in pictures.
I loved being with my family, especially my three sisters. Here we are on Christmas Eve, tired after staying up late and stuffing stockings.
Here's Kalia watching life go by outside. Everyone loves a little naked time, right?
My youngest sister, Kimberlee, just turned 14. She was a GREAT help with Kalia. They happened to have matching shirts.

Kalia once again survived her sweet and adoring twin cousins. She's pretty tough I guess!
Kalia had lots of firsts:
First time on a horse (here we are with my sister Krystal and her baby Kyla)
First time trying Rice Cereal (Miss Independent wants to hold the spoon). Not bad. But it's not helping her sleep through the night, so maybe we'll give that up for a little while longer.
First time swinging in a real swing!She's loving her toes, and even falls asleep holding on to them.

Kalia kind of surprised us by starting to creep and crawl. She's only 4 months old, so I was hoping she'd wait a little longer. She's pretty hyper and ambitious...it's fun to see her personality coming out. I will post a little video of her crawling later.

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO READING ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN UP TO!!

And We're Off

A Random picture-

First of all, thanks so much to everyone for the birthday wishes, ya'll are the best! Especially my awesome sister Krystal- as you can see, I have wonderful sisters. (Tara's internet is down I think, so that's why she's missing.)

I had such a great birthday. Samuel surprised me with a party at California Pizza Kitchen with all our closest friends. He bought me this huge chocolate cake, but it didn't have writing on it, so he went home and put cream cheese frosting into a ziploc bag and squeezed out "Happy Birthday Heather". I think that was my favorite part of the whole birthday, that sweet, sloppy cream cheese writing.I also got these gorgeous white roses from Olya , THANK YOU SO MUCH!and some American Cream perfume from LUSH. I've been DYING to have it, so thanks Samuel, for making my birthday wishes come true. We went out to PF Changs last night, on my real birthday, just the three of us.
Next, a HUGE thank you to Crystal for her Pay It Forward Package. She sent some wonderful homemade goods to us, and it made our day. She made us a hooded towel, it's soooo soft, and we use it all the time!Then she sent some burp cloths that she made (pink and green, so cute!)
And so that I could enjoy some "homemade" cookies, she mixed up the dry ingredients of a cookie recipe, and sent them along with some chocolate chips. They turned out so yummy, and they were all gobbled up before I even took a picture. THANKS CRYSTAL, YOU ARE AWESOME!

I've been trying to decide what I can do to pay it forward, and I found this: There is a family in Tucson, AZ...they were expecting triplets, and the wife got really sick. The doctors saved the babies, but couldn't save her. The father is now left with these three tiny babies. My heart goes out to him, and I am going to pay it forward to this family, either in a package of stuff, or with some $$. Or both. Thought some of you might like to help as well: Here's the link to the blog, which has a link to the story.

Well, Kalia and I are flying home today, we leave in an hour. Samuel is coming Friday night. I don't like flying alone, but oh well, soon it will all be over. I want to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, in case I don't blog again before then. We hope your holidays are filled with love and the Spirit of our Savior, the Reason for the Season.

Happy Birthday!

Written by guest author, and favorite older sister, Krystal Trapnell

Sweet! Heather gave me her login name and password three months ago when we were waiting for little Kalia to be born. Who would've thought I would remember it now?

Today is Heather's birthday, and since I have known her longer than anyone besides my parents, I feel that I am an expert when it comes to all things Heather. Here are some of my favorite things about my sister:

1. She is irresistable. Boys have always loved her and would do anything to catch her eye. It worked out nicely for me, because those boys always had friends...
2. She loves the finer things of life. Anytime I see something luxurious (a fancy hotel or a gourmet meal) I think Heather would love this.
3. She is very thoughtful--she loves doing nice things for those she loves and is a great friend.
4. She is incredibly talented--by far my favorite person to sing with--and isn't shy about sharing her many abilities.
5. She is so much fun. All of you reading this know that this is true. She lights up a room when she walks into it, and makes everything a little more fun.

Some of my favorite memories of Heather:

1. "Certain volumes for certain songs" in our 1987 Nissan Maxima. Especially "Strawberry Wine" and "Independent Love Song."
2. Sleeping naked on rainy nights (in the same room--in bunkbeds).
3. Getting dressed up for basketball/volleyball games. "When you look good, you play good."
4. One time I was rushing to class at PVHS, late, and I took a corner a little too quickly, smashing into someone rushing the other way. It was Heather. We seemed to have that "sister connection" even when we couldn't see each other.
5. Sitting with her at Tara's championship basketball game (which they won!) and cheering our hearts out for the Panthers. We lived our dream through Tara, and it was so much fun to do together (probably my favorite sister memory of Tara, too).

Heather and I haven't lived in the same house for almost 10 years now, and our lives have changed so much. I never would've thought she'd be in Hawaii and I'd be in Florida and we'd only get to see each other once or twice a year. But as I get older, my love for her grows stronger, and I am anxiously awaiting the day we both move a lot closer to home. I love you Heather. Happy birthday!

Things I'm Lovin' Right Now

1. Billy Blanks Ab Bootcamp I did this the other day and it KICKED MY BUTT! (trying to keep up with Shellie is hard. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Did you guys know that she's Billy's DAUGHTER? I just found that out today.) But I really love anything by Billy Blanks, because he is SO motivating, and it seems like he always knows the exact moment when I start tiring out, and he starts motivating even more. I love him.

2. I have to do Ab Bootcamp because I've been eating Mele Macs! (Mele Kalikimaka = Merry Christmas). They are macadamia nuts, covered in toffee, then chocolate, with a dusting of powdered sugar.

3. M by Mariah perfume. It has marshmallow notes. Yummy.

4. Honey Graham O's-- the only cereal I know of that doesn't get soggy before you finish it.5. Strawberry Lemonade. (I know ya'll are drinking hot chocolate about now, but we're making strawberry lemonade instead. I used fresh lemons and frozen strawberries and sugar. And ice! Yum-o!
6. This video clip:

Rollin' Rollin'

Just a little bit more of my favorite baby: She's 3 1/2 months old, and rolling pretty well!




Since she was having a hard time napping during the day, we squeezed a crib into our tiny bedroom. Here she is testing it out (she can't really stand by herself for very long, but we were just pretending anyway.)

Now that she can roll (and apparently scoot) I find her in the crib like this. She got as far as she could. :) Thank goodness for crib bumpers.


And these are just two other pictures that made me smile.

Sicko

Have any of you seen Sicko, the documentary by Michael Moore? Now, I know there's a lot of controversy about the guy, but WOW this movie is an eye-opener. (In a nutshell, for those of you who haven't seen it, it's about health care and insurance issues here in the United States, compared to other countries like Canada, France, even Cuba.)

Sicko really makes you feel sick. It's so sad to learn about what's going on in the good ol' US of A: the fact that people all over the country are being denied health care (and being sent home, sometimes to die) because the insurance companies find excuses not to pay for the procedures, well, it's just awful!!

It really hit home. Do you guys remember when I was having all those problems right after Kalia was born?? One of my blood tests showed a high possibility of a blood clot (which can kill you) and so my doctor had my get a cat scan.

A few weeks ago we got something from our insurance, saying they weren't going to pay for it, because they considered it EXPERIMENTAL. Guess how much it's going to cost? Just under TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Also, there was a (USA) doctor who testified in court that she worked for an insurance company, and the more claims she "denied", the higher she would get paid. To make it even worse, Michael Moore goes to all these other countries and finds out that they don't even have co-pays and stuff like that. Everything is just included, no questions asked. And, in contrast, a doctor in France told Michael Moore that he gets paid more money as his patients get healthier, i.e. when they quit smoking, their blood pressure or cholesterol goes down, etc. etc. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!

I obviously feel pretty strong about it, as I don't get on my soapbox very often. I was just wondering if any of you have seen Sicko, and what you think about it. All I can say is that I am ALL FOR universal health care. Either that, or moving to France. (Free nannies to come to your laundry when you have a baby!!)

Oh yes, and we are fighting the "experimental" cat scan. Two doctors have written letters to the insurance company for me, telling them how ludicrous it is to consider a cat scan "experimental." I really REALLY hope it's enough to change their minds.

What does your husband do??

I know this is kind of random, but I was thinking about the fact that I don't really know what your husbands do (job wise). So I was just wondering...where does he work? Or what is he going to school for? My hubby currently works for University of Phoenix as a Finance Counselor. That's going to change by next year, but for now that's what he does. So leave me a comment and let everybody know! Go husbands! Thanks for taking care of us!

Ward Christmas Party

This is probably the only time she'll sit on Santa's lap. I didn't get very good pictures. Oh well. She didn't cry, I guess she's too little to be scared, like little kids always are.
She's my little Santa Baby. "If I can't reach it with my hands, I'll just kick it!"

Happenings

Cute picture, huh! Kalia loves learning about Foreclosures.
I am sick...sore throat and sinus problems going on. (There's a good "mental" reason, but don't ask. Last time I wrote about that, I got myself in a little trouble!)

It's hard to be a mom when you're sick. Good thing Baby Einstein can occupy Kalia for 30 minutes while I blog. Then I think we'll go take a nap together.

So, over the weekend we took Kalia to the beach, but didn't put her in the water yet. This is Pipeline Beach. It's famous for having enormous waves in the winter. People just come and sit and watch the waves and take pictures. (it was in between waves when I got this shot though)Samuel and his friends got in an surfed, while the wives and babies chatted and watched from the shore.

In other news, I tried pigtails with Kalia's long hair in the back. I couldn't get a good part though. Haha.
She turned 3 months old, and here's another comparison pic:
Finally, my aunt and uncle from Utah came and stayed with us for a night. Then we dropped them off on a 7-day Hawaiian Island cruise. Lucky! Dropping them off at the ship just made me want to go on a cruise sooooooooo bad!!