Christmas 2009

For our family, Christmas this year was a little crazy. It would have been nice to have had a little rest and calmness, but then again...where's the fun in that??

Since Aho had to work Christmas Eve into Christmas morning, Ola and I spent Christmas Eve at our friend's, the Horita's, house. Every year they have the same Santa come by and have all the kids get a chance to sit with Santa and get a present.

This was the first time Ola actually saw a Santa Clause and he wasn't quite sure about him at first. But once the jolly man gave Ola his present to hold, he was totally content with the guy.

Christmas morning, we got up and headed to Aho's parents house to open presents with them. The rest of us were all busy with our gifting, while Ola only cared about the ukulele.

We thought maybe if we helped him open a toy he'd get excited and help open the rest, but he really just wanted the ukulele.

After Christmas with the Del Toro's, we opened a few presents at our house and then headed to the airport and home to the Badua house. As usual, my mom totally over did herself and we all got way too many presents. Ola, however, didn't complain.

Among lots of other things, he got a play tent, complete with crawl tunnel...

this squishy case with handles and headphones that lets your kids use your ipod...

and the mickey mouse he's been eyeing at Walmart every time we've gone the past few weeks...

But the biggest present was the one we picked up two days after Christmas. The newest addition to our family is our precious little Hiwa. She is an 8 week old, black lab puppy, and she is absolutely adorable. She is such a cruiser and loves attention.

Ola wasn't too thrilled about her at first. I guess he didn't like having someone following him around and licking at him. He would actually start screeching and run away from her, which only encouraged Hiwa to follow him more. But, he is slowly adjusting to her. In fact, by this afternoon, he was already willing to pet her and give her a kiss. Granted, she was sleeping when he did both, but...baby steps.

Thanksgiving in Vegas

Two years ago, my family decided to spend Thanksgiving in Vegas. Mom, Dad, Aho, Me, my brother Kai, and his girlfriend Vicky all went up for the Thanksgiving break. My mom's brother, Uncle Paul, and his wife Susan also met us there. That trip ended up being a bust, since almost everyone (except lucky little me) got sick. Mom was sick in bed all Thanksgiving day, and Aho was sick in bed on his birthday. Two years later, we decided to do it again. Mom, Dad, Aho and I, and of course, our little man, flew up for a five day trip.
After almost a year of not having a functioning temple on Oahu, I was SO happy to get to visit the one in Las Vegas. It was the first time I've ever been into a temple other than Laie, and it was so wonderful. Lucky thing we had the best baby sitters to keep our little man busy while we were there. Thanks mom & dad!!


We also got to take a drive up to Mt. Charleston so that I could see the snow. I really wanted to let Ola play in it, but he knocked out in the car and took the longest nap ever. I just couldn't wake him. So Aho and I just took pictures by ourselves and laughed the whole time cause we were trying to figure out how we should stand if we wanted to photo shop Ola in later. We're such dorks!
Ola wasn't really thrilled by Vegas, until he discovered the escalators. After that, it was up and down and up and down. This was while we were waiting in line for the buffet. Aho and I took turns taking him up and down.


And of course, my Uncle Paul had a blast with our little man. This is him swinging Ola in Mom's insulated tote. SO hilarious! Ola kept asking for more. Uncle P also showed him how to bounce on the bed (still in that bag) and how to turn his stroller into a super charged racer. I'm not sure who had more fun.

All in all, it was nice to get away and enjoy a change of scenery, but we were all happy to be home.