And It Was Supposed To Be a Secret

The day we found out what we were having, Mindy and I used our unborn children to negotiate. She said that if I told her what we were having before Gunnar got home (because we didn't reveal to anyone until we told Gunnar first-he deserved that right), she would tell us the day she found out. But I couldn't tell anyone else outside of Jeff. She had this plan to tell everyone on Christmas Eve which was about 6 days later. I totally agreed to the deal!

The best part of agreeing is that Mindy and I would talk about what she should do to tell everyone. Eventually they decided to tell everyone shortly after instead of waiting and making Christmas Eve all about them. It made it even better. Everyone would least expect it that way. After going from one idea to the next, we came up with the best. I scratch off gender reveal card that would randomly arrive in everyone's mailboxes. It was awesome. I created the cards for her and ended up mailing them all out because it was easier that way to our family members and Rillz's side as well. It was SO much fun!

I made the boy and girl version up the night before she found out and just printed the right one off the day she found out. The scratch off stuff was so easy to make and awesome! I'm excited to do it again on something. It is one part any color paint to two parts liquid dish soap. I used a metallic silver to make it look more authentic. Then you paint clear contact paper with it a couple of times with thin layers and then punch whatever shape that you want. With the cards that were mailed, a penny was included.

Look how awesome those look! I was seriously so proud of them and SO excited for everyone to get them. At first Mindy and I would text or call back and forth and wonder why she wasn't getting any phone calls. We knew that they had to have received them on a certain day. Eventually the calls came in to Mindy. The best part is that so many of us thought that they would be having a boy. I sure thought that they would and really hoped they would but indeed its a GIRL! Mindy I think was in a little bit of shock over it. Jeff drives me bonkers sometimes because he doesn't get hung up on stuff like that and tells me that we shouldn't because then your hopes won't be shattered when the gender is the opposite of what you want. Oh Jeff...you are so a boy and don't understand girls at all...

I had so much fun working with Mindy on these and I really think that she was thrilled with the outcome. This is totally their style.

Hula Babes

This last Saturday marked the one year anniversary of when our hula halau was created. So, we all got together for a photo shoot. These pictures will also be used for marketing information. They are also great to show others what we offer to them and what our costumes look like. My mom took the pictures and I enhanced them digitally. It was raining on and off while we were doing these. Auntie Jewell was kind enough to let us use her backyard for the pictures. She and her neighbors have the prettiest yards. The properties all slope down to a ditch. Every neighbor has landscaped such that it makes it appear as if it was a meandering creek. Jewell and her neighbors across from them are joined by a white bridge. Such a pretty place for pictures. This is probably one of my most favorite pictures because the colors are so vivid and distinct. However this is the least favorite of all of the songs because it is such a cheesy song to us but everyone really likes it. It is called Sophisticated Hula.

This song is called Pua Olena. Pua means flower so that is what we are making with our fingers. The Olena flower is also yellow hence the outfit choice. This costume is actually one of our most attractive and audiences really love this song. It's a love song.

This outfit actually goes to a song called He Aloha. It is fast and upbeat. Really fun to dance. We just finished learning all of I'ilihi, which is a song that uses the pu'ilis (sticks). Our costumes, I think, are going to be purple similar to these. That song is REALLY fast and fun. It is done with partners.

Every single dancer also got individual shots which was fun. So ackward looking. It was so darn cold out there and the rain was coming and going.

Mindy being silly. So typical of her.

This is a really good picture of Heidi.

The keiki's in the group are so darn cute. Their group has actually grown to include about 4 more kids but these gals were the originals and invited to get their pictures taken. They have all been here from the beginning, one year ago. Their skills have improved so much.

This song is a hawaiian cowboy sort of thing. Super cute.

I love the colors of their bright outfits. This one is probably my favorite of theirs. They too have learned a couple of new songs. I can't wait to see all of the new outfits. We've learned about 3 new ones ourselves thus meaning three new costumes. I can't wait.

I just had to throw this picture in of Mindy because she is just so georgous. She is by far the most photogenic of our family.

This is Tasha our hula teacher. We have known her and her family for years and love learning from this. This past year has been such a great journey. Learning about our heritage and getting fit. Boy is hula a huge workout. Here is to more years of hula!

Spa and Sephora

This last Saturday was spent with my sisters and mom. For performing Hula at a Planet Beach Contemp Spa Re-Grand Opening, they gave us certificates to use. Little did we know that they were just for the services and not for all of the stupid prduct that you had to buy to even use most of what they had. We found this out prior by one of our hula instructors (who was livid) but my two sisters were prepared to fight it out and get mad over the entire thing. We go in there and Heidi and Mindy hardly said a word. Then they got a little mad and we still had to pay to even do most of it. Oh well. It was great and some of the services felt nice (like the facial) but we did not feel as relaxed as we had hoped when we walked out.

Prior to going there, we went to Red Robin for lunch. It was a lot of fun and I always love spending time with my sisters and mom. We have such fun times together.

After we were done at the spa, we headed over to Sephora. I had never been but had heard all about it. My mom has become hooked on BareEscentuals and wanted to get us matched and a starter kit. The stuff is awesome! It goes on so light, instantly makes you look great and is fast to use. We all walked out of there with the foundation, and stuff for lips and eyes. Thanks mom! I know that I love it (and yes I am using it). The best part of this place is that you can literally try on EVERYTHING in the place. There is so much to try and it definately helped in narrowing down what did not look good on me. Heidi and my mom had to use the restroom so Mindy and I were stuck being bored. We instanly noticed something wrong with the mannequin and had to take a picture. We then sat ourselves on a bench and took funny pictures. My mom also noticed the arm and started being funny.

We had such a fun time and hope for more of these in the future.