(fěb'yōō-ěr'ē)

iheart February
I can’t believe March is already here. I still haven’t blogged about February. I try to tell myself to do it more often because there is so much I want to share with you guys but there’s always something else we have to do.

For starters Keoki and I celebrated our 7th anniversary with dinner at Nobu’s in Waikiki. We really had a good time. Great food, great cocktails and great atmosphere. Keoki is the best when we go out. He’s a shorts, shirt and slippers kind of a guy so when we have to dress up he gets so nervous. He hates buying clothes, so getting ready he’s changing and trying to fit into jeans and collared shirts he’s had since we’ve first started dating. Ummmm…we’re not the same size anymore, not even close, but Keoki managed to squeeze into premarital attire.

We only have iphone photos of our dinner date

Pineapple martini

scallop sashimi

Finishing up my Shitake salad

As soon as we were coming down from our anniversary high it was time to celebrate Valentines' Day. We bought a rainbow cake from Dee-lite Bakery and celebrated Valentines’ Day with the boys.

Logan’s Chinese School had a Chinese celebration for all the children. We really had a good time walking around and letting Logan and Mason spend their scripts. The lion dance was beautiful. Then during the festivities the principal called each class up and handed each student a red envelope. Lucky Money or Hong Bao in Mandarin or Lai See in Cantonese. Mason wanting to be with his brother stood right along side Logan in the line as each child got their lucky money. I tried to call Mason out of the line in sort of a hushed yell but he didn’t care. Mase just needed to have it. His huge smile got him what he wanted. The principal handed him one too and turned to smile at us letting us know it was ok. I should’ve stood in line too then!

Logan is holding Mase's hand showing him the way around his school.

Everyone gets lucky money:)

The boys and the principal

Logan paid to get the chinese saying
"lucky family"

--Just some random photos from the past few weeks--

Mase showing off his Batman tattoo

Logan got Transformers

The balloon artists were amazing.
Mase can ride his motorcycle

Logan got the web of his Spiderman

Don't let the cute face fool you

Logan loves to makes these newly acquired goofy faces.

Daddy & Mase

Daddy's barber shop

Mase & Daddy again

iheart them

Field Trip - One more photo..

I forgot to add one more photo!!..This is the one that almost got us kicked out...hehe!!

Field Trip

Private schools were off today so BJ, Mickayla, Rayanna & Chloe hung out with the boys. We wanted to go on an adventure. We all walked up to Foodland to put our pennies in the coinstar machine. BJ is the oldest so he was in charge of figuring out what to do.

Everyone is so curious and trying to work as a team to figure it out.

BJ figures out you have to dump the pennies in the tray and lift it up to feed the machine.

Whoa? Gimme my $6.20!!!

While waiting Mason passes time with a game.

I just had to take a picture of these beautiful Valentine cookies. I'm thinking I'll try and make some like these at home.

We got our money and headed over to Price Busters.

Don't mess with us Kalihi kids!

BJ and his finishing move.

Smile?? Where's Bj??

Oh there he is..."Who loves Aunty Ashley"?

What a fun day out with 6 kids. People thought they were all mine. I love lettting them think it too. It makes me laugh!!

The Year of the Ox + bringing you up to date

Kung hee fat choy or Gung Hay Fat Choy!!! Luckily for all the procrastinators Chinese New Year gives us about a month to catch up on the things we wanted to tell our family and friends during Christmas.

Well we all know how the beginning of 2008 was for us so I’m going to tell you how it ended.







In September Keoki & I decided to take the boys to Disneyland! We got to stay for 6 days and we had a blast. Logan was a little scared of the characters walking around but Mason had no fear. He jumped out of the stroller and walked right up to them. Logan couldn’t bear to be the scaredy cat in front of his younger brother so he instantly got over his fear and hugged them. Pretty soon they were the typical crazy children wanting their picture with every character they saw.












Keoki doesn’t like to ride on the rides and the boys were too little to go on the big stuff so I didn’t do most of them. I did go on the Maliboomer, Space Mountain & Indiana Jones though. We absolutely LOOVED the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. I think we did that and the Astro Orbitor everyday atleast twice. Our favorite place to hang out was Tomorrowland and Toontown.



My most memorable moment was when we all went on the Toy Story ride. We must’ve stood in line about 45min. Anyway when we got on we entered the ride with our 3D glasses and we were being spun around. Then we stopped. Some technical failure but our guns still kept shooting at the screen. I looked over to Logan sitting next to me and Keoki & Mason in the other cart and everyone is having the time of their life smiling and laughing. It was priceless. I’m smiling now just thinking about it.



Then right after that I got hired to do a movie called “Tempest” on Lanai and the Big Island. I was gone from the boys from October until right before Christmas. It was the hardest show I’ve worked on. You have to ship everything you need to Lanai. No fast food restaurants, Office Depot or Home Depot on that island. But the hardest thing was being away from the boys for that long. They came to see me once but I was working so long that it was hard to spend time with them.

Keoki is my rock. He took care of the boys and worked during that time. I’m not sure how he pulled it off without strangling any of the boys but he did. He’s awesome!


Logan also enrolled in Chinese school. He goes every week on Sundays for a couple of hours. Everytime I ask him what he did in school his reply is “eat snacks”..lol. He knows how to say “hello”, “goodbye”, and count to 4. He really enjoys it and I like the fact that he’s able to learn another language and culture.


Christmas & New Year came and went so fast. Then January was here and all the birthdays. We had so many birthdays to celebrate like my mom, Ayva, and BJ. We also had a whole bunch of our friends and their kids celebrating too.

Then Mason turned 2 on the 21st and Logan turned 4 on the 25th. We celebrated with a combined party for them at the Box Car Track. It was lots of fun. Logan even did a short lion dance with his costume we bought in Chinatown.


Now I hope it’ll slowdown so I can get on my photography again but some movie or show always comes in and my photography gets put on the back burner. We’ll see how much I get done during this break.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I hope the year of the Ox brings you Happiness, Health & Prosperity!

December 4

On this day one year ago I found out I had cancer. I will never forget that day, that moment, that feeling. Thinking about it I get choked up as I know not only I got cancer that day but my family and friends did too. Many of my treatment’s side effects are gone. I’m rockin’ short hair and bangs nowadays and everyone thinks it’s cool. I feel so blessed that I was diagnosed at stage 3 and my treatment plan was successful in putting me in remission.

The lessons learned while going through this journey is invaluable. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world although my Keoki would say different. I think it was the hardest on him. I was having everyday epiphanies while he was not getting sleep, being my nurse, working and being both mom and dad to the boys. Bald, bloated and sick he still looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the room. I never felt self-conscious. Today we are so strong because of it.

Each day I’m grateful to be living even when I’m having a bad day. I don’t get so worked up about things. I’m so proud of family and friends for stepping in without question to help me heal. I really do feel lucky to have had cancer. It definitely changed my life and I feel blessed to have experienced all of that and now be healthy and living life with wings.

In the photo above we participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fundraiser. We were part of group F.L.U.S.H:

(F)ighting
(L)eukemia & Lymphoma
(U)nderstanding
(S)upporting
(H)elping

It was the first time our group entered and I’m thrilled to announce that our team raised the most money. We raised over $6000…YAHOOOO! I was so proud wearing the blue shirt that had SURVIVOR on the back. It really made me cry when Byron (our other team member who battled leukemia) & I held our team sign and lead our team around the waterpark. I felt triumphant. I loved standing out that night. The color of my shirt showed I fought and won. My balloon was white while everyone’s was red. Everything reminded me that it was ok to be proud of this past year.

I'm a textin' Fool!!!

I love texting especially now that Keoki is sporting around with the iphone 3G. I had to wait days for a reply now he's responding quicker than I. Here's a little conversation we had about December 4th.

Lanai

I've been so busy working that I've never really gotten a chance to see this island. We're staying at the Koele Lodge and I have a huge room. I think all the rooms here are huge. Only last night did I walk around to see part of their property. It's beautiful here. There's a beautiful old fashioned library that I would love to sit in all day and read books. Then you go out toward the pool and you have a great workout room. Each machine has its own T.V. I have to use it before our whole crew gets in. We've pretty much booked the whole hotel. I think we're going to venture towards shipwreck beach. I heard there is still some gold to be found over there. I'm sure if there is its very, very little but going to check it out and see.

Then we're going over to Manele Bay. I would've loved to stay at that hotel but it's a little farther from our production office. I'm just 5 minutes away at the Lodge.

We have a 4WD but if you guys doing hear from me after 5pm..please send help..lol

I'll tell you all about it when I get back...Hope you enjoy your Sunday!!