Hoodie and SHOES

It has been raining quite a bit lately in Hawaii and it has been more chilly. Jackson hardly ever wears jackets, pants, or shoes....so I decided to take advantage of this cold day. Here he is in his hoodie.

He didn't know what to think about his shoes. He sure didn't know what they were and why they were on his feet. He STARED.....

and STARED.....

and STARED.....

STARED some more....

and MORE....

and KEPT STARING!

First Timers

Jackson is almost 4 1/2 months old. He is growing so fast and doing new things each day. He is a happy baby and still very mellow and easy going.

Some recent things he has done for the FIRST time are:

1st plane ride, 1st time in another state (California), 1st time dressing up for Halloween, 1st time eating rice cereal, and his 1st time going into the ocean.

Eating rice cereal (video is posted on facebook)

1st time in the ocean...he LOVES the water!

Jason or Jackson?

Jason just recently got this picture (thank you Aunt Kristy) and posted it as his facebook picture. Lots of people thought it was Jackson at first, but this is Jason at 3 months old. Jackson definitely resembles his daddy. Jackson has his daddy's nose, lips (my brother calls them Angelina Jolie lips), and just as much hair as he did too. We are waiting to see what color eyes Jackson will have..sometimes they look blue/green and other times brown.

Jackson is 2 months in these pics. Jason is the one in the middle.

Jackson Kekoa

Alright, we gotta catch up. Here are some photos of Jackson starting from when he was first born to now. Jackson is already 2 months old. He weighs 12 lbs and is 23 3/4 in. He smiles a lot and talks to us by cooing.

Jason and I love him to death!

Jackson is our precious little boy.

Job Opportunity

On December 17th of this year I will be joining millions of recent graduates in this country. As I approach the final chapter in my undergraduate education the fear of entering the job market has started burning in my heart. NPR is doing a series that follows recent graduates in their search for jobs during these tough economic times. This series has been going on for over a year now and there are still many who graduated in 2009 that are now competing with the recent grads for jobs.
Listening to this series has given me a pretty negative attitude towards graduating. I actually thought to myself, "maybe I can extend my graduation date to June 2011 so I have more time to find a job."
What makes my job search difficult is the fact that I will only work for 8 months because I start graduate school in September 2011.
The closer I got to graduation the more nervous I started to get. I know people who have been unemployed in California for over 2 years and California was our planned destination following my graduation.

Plans have changed, earlier this month I was offered a job here at BYU-Hawaii designing and teaching online History courses. We are now staying until June 1st and I will continue designing courses from California during the summer until I enter grad school in the fall.
I feel extremely blessed to have a job opportunity during these tough economic times. It looks like our adventures in Hawaii will continue.

My Pregnancy Pictures

I'm 34 weeks prego and have 40 days to go. Many family members and friends have asked to see pictures but since our camera decides when to work and when not to it has been hard to take consistent pictures of my belly. Here are some starting from the first day I found out and up to 33 weeks. ENJOY!!

Graduation and Camping

Just want to catch up on a few things that have happened recently. I graduated from BYU-Hawaii with a Bachelor's in Social Work. I am so HAPPY to be done...well almost, I'm half way through with my internship at the Counseling Center on campus and then I will be COMPLETELY done for good. I always hoped of graduating from a 4 year college, but never actually thought I would. If it weren't for Jason encouraging me and pursuing college himself I doubt I would have finished. I'm glad we decided to come here and go to school. Now we are just waiting for Jason to finish in December.

Camping at Kualoa Ranch

We've been wanting to go camping since we moved to Hawaii and we had the chance to go to Kualoa ranch with some friends. Usually you have to pay to go on tours and hike on the private property, but our friend Amy works at the ranch. Many movies film scenes at this ranch one of them being Jurassic Park. We were lucky enough to get to go. The hike we went on was about 3 hours and it was so beautiful there. Our camera broke so we didn't get very many pictures, but we enjoyed our time. Our tent ended up not being waterproof so we had puddles of water inside that got everything wet and the ground was not too comfy to sleep on (Jason didn't enjoy the sleeping part), but everything else was great. We had a campfire, foil dinners, smores, and fun hanging out with friends.

18 Weeks

I have FINALLY decided to post something and plan on blogging more frequently. Jason has done a good job so far, but he just can't do pregnancy updates for me. I am 18 weeks now and am definitely showing. I have accepted my baby bump and no longer try to suck it in. My pregnancy has been pretty wonderful thus far, no morning sickness or anything. I feel very blessed for that because I am still able to go to school full-time and not miss any classes. Jason is grateful that I haven't had any cravings and made him get up in the middle of the night to go get me something. We are excited for our ultrasound appointment this Thursday and cannot wait to find out if we are having a little girl or boy. We will be happy with either one. I am grateful for Jason and excited to begin our eternal family with our kids!

And the sex is....

So I am pretty sure the title has misled all of you to think we know the sex of our child.

February 11th will be an exciting day for us. We are going to find out the sex of our little baby. Yesterday Amber had a check up and the doctor said her blood work was done and she was in perfect health for baby making. We are really excited to find out and hope that the month goes by quickly.

Oh yeah, I went surfing again this morning. Life is good.

Baby on the Way.

We are really excited to have a baby on the way. The new addition to our family will be arriving around July 9th. I am pretty sure our blog will have updates a lot more often from now on. Babies seem to be a popular blogging subject.

Our Hawaiian Adventure

So many of you don't know what made us decide to come out here to Hawaii for school. There are those obvious reasons that brings everyone to Hawaii on vacation, surfing, hiking, weather, and the gorgeous landscape. We really do live in a paradise.

Amber did not have a clue that I had ever thought about coming here when we got married and to tell you the truth I didn't really even consider it until after we were married. When we first moved into our apartment in Citrus Heights our brother in-law Phil hooked us up with Direct TV for the summer as a wedding gift. One Sunday I turned on BYU-TV (which I should probably watch more often) and watched a devotional given by the University Archivist and Associate History Professor Matt Kester. I only remember a few of the things he talked about but what I remember most was that I got this strong desire to come here and study History. Brother Kester talked about one of the missions of the school being World Peace and he talked a little bit about his life as a young surfer. It was then that I decided on being a History major, I had played with the idea of teaching already but it was that day that I really decided to go with it (I hadn't taken a single history course in college before that moment).

So I applied, to both Provo and Hawaii, all the time doubting I would even get into school here since there are only a little over 2400 students. I was hoping I would get in but thinking I had a better chance at Provo (all the while never even wanting to go to Provo). I was first accepted to Hawaii and I was so excited. I couldn't believe that I got in, then we waited for a few weeks for Provo to get back to us. Amber would have preferred Provo so she was hoping I got accepted. But come on, that would have been such a horrible dilemma to put me through; Hawaii, where I would be able to surf again and connect better with professors because of the smaller classrooms, Or Provo, where Amber wanted to go and a lot of friends and family live nearby.

Well I wasn't accepted to Provo so that made the decision so much easier on me. Amber was supportive of me even though I knew she was bummed about the move.

We moved here and it has been all blessings all the time. We are so grateful for all the blessings we have received. Amber was able to find a job during the winter semester right when we got here then she applied and was accepted to the Social Work major and started in the spring. She is on track to graduate next summer, before me. We have made many new friends and have learned so much. Right when Amber was accepted to school we got into the on campus housing which saved us around $200 a month, then Amber got a job as a RA which allows us to live here rent free.

I started my full time job a couple weeks ago in the University Archives and it is the perfect job for me as a History major. My new boss is Matt Kester, the surfer from the devotional, and he is a rad boss. The Archives has potential to be a really boring job but I work with some really cool guys and I have a cool boss. Yesterday he took all the Archival Assistants to get ice cream.

Amber and I have grown a lot from the experiences we have had here and I can truly say that she is my best friend. We grow closer everyday and we laugh a lot together. She is hilarious! I love her and am so grateful that she puts up with me. We have had a blast these last 8 months here and we are really looking forward to the next year and a half of life on our Hawaiian adventure.

Amber and I at the PCC for the winter ball.

Weird Dream

So I don't usually remember my dreams but this one is stuck in my head so I thought I would share it. I found it quite comical after waking up but it seemed like a nightmare while I was asleep.

All I remember was all of the sudden coming to the realization that I was in the nude in an extremely crowded building. I think I was at a church or something, which makes it that much worse (or better depending on your point of view). So I realized that I was naked and I start running through the heavily populated hallways trying to escape then all of the sudden I forget that I am naked. I go about my normal business and then I again come to the realization that I am naked. The whole dream just kept repeating itself. Right before I woke up a random friendly person gave me a towel that I wrapped around myself.

Anyone else have any crazy dreams?

If you are wondering about the picture's relativity to the story, there is none.

Little Video

It is nice to go on walks every once and a while around the temple. It is being worked on right now and will not be open for another year but just being on the grounds gives us a little taste of paradise.

Last Saturday we worked on the farm for a little while and it is much harder work than I thought it would be, I came away with a nice little blister on my left hand. Our building is the closest building to the farm and the temple so it doesn't take very long to get to either.

I was Runnin (Forest Gump)

So some of you know that my parents are crazy enough to run a marathon and they just emailed me their training schedule. Running has never been my thing but if my parents who are almost double my age are capable of running a marathon I should probably try to keep up. (It is sad when you have to try to keep up with your parents when you are 25 but come on just look at my parents)

So I started training this week and I have to say things are going well. The humidity here makes running a very cleansing activity.

I probably lost a gallon of sweat on my short run.

She will probably deny it but I am sure Amber was turned on by her extremely sweaty husband walking in totally soaked wearing short shorts that show off his skinny white legs. After walking in the house I walked around in circles and stretched. Then we watched So you think you can Dance, the end.

Just an Update

Amber and I finished spring term today and it is a relief to be done for a while. Amber is going to have to start all over again on monday but I don't have to go back until mid-september. I will be working this next week as a driver for BYU taking kids to the airport and picking more up. It will be good to work and have a break from school. I am sure that I will be excited to start school again come september.

As most of you know Amber got a job as a Resident Advisor for our apartments which means she works 19 hours a week and instead of getting paid we get free rent. It is a very competetive position and we are really blessed that she got hired. We have been really blessed since we got married and especially since we moved here. God blesses us with tender mercies all the time and for that we are grateful. I got a calling a week and a half ago as 2nd counselor in the Elder's quorum presidency. We like our ward a lot, everyone is really nice and there are a ton of Brazilians so I get to practice my portuguese on a weekly basis.

So that is an update on our life here in hawaii we just got back from the gym and we need to get to bed. Night Night.

Easy A vs. Higher Education

I used to pride myself on my ability to BS long papers and fill pages with practically nothing. This has been the result of many years of page requirements and professors that didn't mind BSing. Unfortunately my ability has been called out by one of my professors and it is being reflected in my grades. I have yet to receive an A on a single assignment.

What has happened and what should I do? I have a dilemma. The professor is really smart and I feel like he pushes me and I learn a lot. People have told me that this professor prepares people for Grad-School because he expects a lot out of you. There is no regurgitation of other people's ideas in his class, you are expected to develop your own idea. So he prepares me for grad school. Unfortunately in order to get into grad school I need to earn the grades that will make me competitive. So either I take more of his classes and lower my GPA but learn or I take classes from other professors that grade easier.

I am not saying that all my other professors are easy A's. They are also difficult but this one professor is on another level. I am usually really good at reading the professor and determining what he wants for me to earn an A.

Do I focus on the superficial grades that will help me get into Grad school or do I focus on getting the best education possible and sacrifice my perfect GPA? But then how can I get into grad school without that GPA.

What do you guys think? Does this post even make sense?