They say it's your birthday...

Happy birthday to my wonderful hubby and my beautiful momma. I wouldn't be me without you. I'm so lucky to have you two. ♥

Year Three.

(Photo by Jana Morgan)

In just three years, we've already had some pretty big adventures. I can't wait to see what God has planned for the rest of our lives. I love you, hubs. Happy anniversary!

Slackerdom has officially taken over my blogging.

So here's another recap post!


Has it really been April since I last posted? No posts in May or June...whoa! Life gets in the way so easily. And in the last few months, much has happened at our pod and in the lives of our loved ones.


Here are the highlights:

My littlest brother and my mom came to visit us in May. It was only for 5 short days, but it was amazing to spend time with them and show them why we love it here so much. It made me appreciate my family that much more.


June was pretty quiet. Hubby is still in it to win it with HFD. He's been working his butt off and come November, we'll be celebrating like it's 1999... oh, wait... haha.

July is only halfway through and it's already shaped up to be a great month. It marks a year since the left side of this picture was taken. I called this pic, "Same shorts, more room." The hubs has been keeping me accountable with my health and fitness and I'm so glad he does. I know I hate going to workout, but I do feel better and more accomplished afterwards. I haven't really weighed myself, but I love the fact that my clothes fit better and are getting looser. I just want to be healthier and I'm on my way.

This little guy made his world premier on Monday, July, 9. Meet our adorable nephew! I just want to love up on this little buddy, but he's all the way in Pittsburgh. [sad face] I don't know when we'll be able to meet him in person, but it's going to be a love and happy crying fest when it comes.

July--actually in the next few days!--is going to be filled with important milestones. I've felt God working in my heart for a while now and I know I've already chosen to live my life as He leads me. So tomorrow I'm getting baptized. Not just water sprinkled on my head and blessings, but full on getting dunked and coming out anew. I'm so excited and I'm thankful that He has given the hubs and I a small community of loved ones here in Hawaii to come out and support me. So. Stoked.


Then on Tuesday. Well, Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the greatest day ever. I'm just sayin'. =)

Into the Fire [Academy]

It's finally here! The hubs finished his first week of training. He will be the first to tell you that It's not going to be an easy seven (yes, SEVEN) months. It's a grueling 28 weeks broken up into EMT and then Fire training. The class is large enough that they have to split, one half does EMT first, the other Fire and they switch midway through.

The hubs knew that this would be different from the Central Florida Fire Academy that he attended years ago, but neither one of us was prepared for just how drastically different HFD conducts their training. 

HFD definitely runs a tight ship. There's only one rule: Do what you're told to do. It's like my husband signed up for the Army. He's got to come in every day clean shaven, his head shaved, boots shiny, and address his recruit training officers (RTOs) properly. They have to do physical trainig (PT) three times a week which is on top of the drills they do during the Fire side of the training. PT consists of doing as many sit ups you can in one minute, followed by as many pull ups in one minute, push-ups in one minute, a mile and a half run, and Crossfit. All under the midday sun. Oh. My. God.

HFD doesn't play. But it's definitely a good way of weeding out those that don't really want it.

Here's my hubs, ready for his first day. It's going be an interesting and eventful seven months. November 16, here Wea come!

Mission Accomplished.

It all started with an email. 


The hubs got an email in November from Human Resources at HFD. They asked if he could resubmit his information to them. We thought that the hire list that he got on had expired, so this was a HUGE break. So hubs went off to HFD Headquarters the very next day with his papers. A couple of weeks later, he gets another email with a date to come in for an interview. 


We both ended up taking the day off from our jobs that day, both on pins and needles since this was the furthest he'd ever gotten in the hiring process. We got to headquarters SUPER early. I dropped him off and then went to a nearby Jamba Juice to wait it out.

About 20 minutes after I sat down to read The Hunger Games, he called and said the interview was done. He wasn't sure what to think, but they did tell him that nobody would hear anything until mid January--which was at least another month away.


The holidays came and went, which kept our minds off of the whole waiting game. Mid January came and went and still no word.


Then in early February, while I was at work, I got a text message from the hubs: "Call me when you get this." I ran to the break room and called him. He answered and said he got the official call. 


So after almost 8 years of test taking, traveling back and forth from FL to Hawaii and back again, and waiting and waiting... the hubs has finally been hired by the City and County of Honolulu Fire Department! He officially starts training on April 23. We feel so blessed. The congrats have been pouring in and everyone is so excited!

Especially The Moosh.

Zipping by...

Man. I really am the ultimate slacker. I haven't updated since CHRISTMAS?! And it's MARCH! I guess the island life is really rubbing off on me. I stay on island time!


Here's a what I you've missed in my absence from the blog:

Our first Hawaiian Christmas was spent with family, which really helped since it was our first holiday away from all our loved ones. I got to experience a beautiful Christmas sunrise and we were gifted with a rainbow.

For New Year's Eve, we didn't even go very far--just to the beach that is in our neighborhood. We celebrated with the hubs' cousin and her bf. From our beach, we saw fireworks from Hickam AFB, and downtown Honolulu across from Pearl Harbor.

In January, we went with our friends to go see Sir Elton John at the Blaisdell Center. I don't care who you are... Elton John is THE MAN! He played for 2 hours straight. Amazeballs.


You're all almost caught up. I have one more update, but that requires its own post.