Craving & Kicking

cravings are funny, sometimes i don't even realize that i am craving something until i have to have it. if i don't have it, well i'm pretty sure the world would come to an end.. 

My cravings seem to have been going through stages, in the beginning of my pregnancy i wanted potatoes, all day every day. anyway i could get them too: mashed, baked, turned into fries. (kahuku grills are my FAVE!) For a while i would wake up, eat breakfast and then prepare a potato to bake in the oven. it would be ready about 45 minutes later and i would magically be hungry again. along with my potato cravings i soon developed a pasta hunger. i think i ate spaghetti for lunch for about two and a half weeks straight. can you say carb overload? once i moved out of my first trimester though the spaghetti craving dwindled along with the potatoes. Yet i still will not turn down a good helping of them any chance i get. I know my body craves things for certain reasons, i have not looked into it to much as to what is good about the cravings i have been having though.

 Lately my cravings for fruit and veggies have kicked in. ANYONE can tell you i have always been a fruit fiend but the veggies have struck me for odd.. like avocados?? really? i never liked avocados, in fact i despised them. i even hated when my mom would make guacamole and not ranch dip. now i cant get enough of them. i scarf them down at work, by themselves sometimes! i have been downing watermelon like it is nobodies business and eating tangerines by the handful. throw in some occasional corn for the heck of it and you would have my snack schedule for the day. 

i am not saying that i am the best eater by far, but it is interesting to track what i do eat. the funny things that if i can not get my hands on i'm pretty sure i'll end up in tears. (those darn pesky pregnancy hormones at work again, we already know how i feel about them.) luckily my pension for sweets has not been to horrible, but cake for lunch isn't bad right? just kidding.. maybe..

kicking on the other hand, lets just say i felt like sigourney weaver in the movie alien the first time my little sea monster moved around. i was positive that next i was going to have a little baby hand or foot protruding from my belly. it is and indescribable feeling. something that is truly amazing but a tad bit unnerving at the same time. i got to experience these first little flutters of movement by myself for a few days. Joey got his turn though, one night as we were relaxing on the couch together little man started moving all over, joey put his hand on my belly and right on cue the baby kicked out pretty hard. The look on Joey's face was not of amazement like i thought i would see, it was more of fear maybe a little unsure about how to react to what just happened. we both started laughing and now joey really enjoys feeling him move all over inside my belly. 

and let me tell you, he is a moving machine! Usually i only feel him in the early hours of the morning or the late hours of night. He does however get excited in the shower and any time i'm in the ocean he goes crazy. just recently i have noticed the little nugget getting more active through out the day. He was up and kicking at 6:30 am yesterday and we felt him all morning till we went on our hike. Once we were done hiking and took a little rest he was right back to wiggling and kicking all evening long. 

i am grateful for this little reminder that he is doing well in there and joey and i are getting prepared for one active little guy! We just can not wait to meet him :)

love,

the williams

Pregnancy Hormones

Woo-hoo! Look at me, two posts in two days. I'm on a roll! Just kidding, don't get to excited it is probably just a fluke.. So, lets talk about pregnancy hormones, shall we?

You know those pesky things that are necessary for your little bun in the oven to grow. They are necessary, right? If they are not I would like to sign up to be excluded from them, ASAP!

Real talk, they have not been that bad for me. Joey may say otherwise, but that is because he is the one who has to deal with the meltdowns and hurt feelings. I know of a few occasions where I tend to get a little heated quicker than usual. Or maybe Joey made a comment and for some reason it really hurt my feelings even though it was just something silly I'd usually laugh at. 

Last night however those pesky little hormones were on overdrive and I was one stressed out, crying, mess of a pregnant lady. I had an activity I needed to set up for and nothing seemed to be going the way I had planned or needed it to go. With only twenty minutes left before said activity was supposed to start I had nothing done and was on the phone with my darling hubby sobbing and telling him I just wanted to come home. Joey deserves a huge reward for his actions last night, he didn't make me feel silly or dumb. He listened and figured out what he could do to help. Then afterwards when all was said and done he bought me ice cream! He sure is a keeper :)

It made me wonder though, I knew normally the little things that happened would not be such a big deal to me. So why is it that this influx of hormones makes women so off balance? I really think it is an unfair part of pregnancy, sure I can handle the morning sickness and all the weird twinges of pain. The constant urge to run to the bathroom, no biggy! But not feeling like yourself and no way to control it, lets just say I'm not a fan. 

So you pesky little pregnancy hormones, I know you are necessary. I am grateful you are aiding in the process of helping my little nugget grow. However I do not like you, I think you suck! 

love,

the williams

Time to play catch up!

I say this often, but I am pretty sure that I am THE worst blogger out there in bloggerland. I do really well at keeping things updated for a few months at a time, and then BAM! I've disappeared off the bloggerverse (you know, the blogger universe). It is a little ridiculous, but do not fear family and friends, I am back :) So here we go lets catch up the last three months...

Biggest news first? Joey and I are expecting our first little nugget. We found out at the beginning of December, but kept it quiet from family till Christmas. <--it was a lot harder than it sounds! We waited to announce it to the rest of the world till we had our first doctors appointment and saw that little nugget. So if you don't already know we're expecting you must live under a rock! 

I think it has been a relatively easy pregnancy thus far. Albeit I do not have anything to compare it to. I did get the whole first trimester morning sickness thing, but all in all it wasn't that bad. I felt nauseas constantly but nothing ever came back up to say hi, thank goodness! I have so far only gained six pound and I am well into my second trimester and enjoying the first little movements of our little man. OH YA! its a BOY! Joey is ecstatic! We will be welcoming this little boy nugget at the end of August, hopefully the rest of the pregnancy goes as smoothly as the beginning!

Joey is finishing up his third to last trimester at BYU-Hawaii. It ends in a couple more weeks and then we only have TWO more left before he graduates! So proud of him and all the hard work he has been putting in to his schooling. It's not always easy on him, but he is amazing and it works out in the end. I know he is looking forward to being done as well, it will be nice to have a mini break from school before he possibly goes back for grad school.. yikes..

Duke is full grown now, and still tiny! He finally has all of his shots and is ready to roam the island like a free dog. We love having him around, he is the happiest cuddliest dog there is. He loves to sleep in our bed with us and he usually takes over our pillows at night. He loves the beach and to dig in the sand but he hates the waves in the ocean and doesn't like being in the water yet. We are trying to change that though! 

My mommy is coming to live in Hawaii with me for two months while Joey is gone over the summer. And Joey and I are finally leaving the island to go home and see family for the first time in over a year! wow! I am beyond excited to see everyone and its all for a good cause too.. DUSTIN IS COMING HOME! Can you believe it has been two years already? Time moves so fast, it's scary! He will be returning in June and it will be nice to have the whole family together again for a few short weeks. 

I can't think of anything else of significance right now, we have been up to a lot of the usual: hanging with friends, surfing, relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean.. it's a tough life we live :)

till next time,

the williams

i love free things

i don't know about you, but i just can't seem to turn down a free photo book from shutterfly! even if i don't currently have anything made i will throw something together in a few short days just to make sure i can save thirty bucks or more! love free stuff from shutterfly!! check it out..

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Meet our puppy, Duke!

Joey and I have known that we wanted a puppy for quite some time now. We both grew up with dogs and we have always loved them. One fine December day as we were wandering around the local mall (which isn't so local since its like 40 minutes away) we were discussing what we wanted to do for each other for Christmas this year. We were going back and forth on a few ideas and trying to decide how to make it all work, then we happened upon the pet store in the mall..

 

we were in trouble!!

 

This pet store always has the cutest puppies and this day was no exception. As we walked around we seriously thought about buying one of the cutest store pups. The price tag on these guys was just a little to much for us to spend though and we just didn't think we could make it work.

 

Then in a moment of pure genius Joey pulled out his phone and hopped on craigslist and started looking up puppies. We found a few we liked, called around to some people and waited for them to call us back. When we finally settled on the breed we met a sweet lady in a walmart parking lot and she showed us her little brood of six week old puppies. They were all males and they were all so cute! They are a dachshund/terrier mix and we picked the one whose face was smooshed the most and was the most timid. Our sweet little guy sat in the corner and had the biggest cutest round eyes, it was love at first sight and we had found our dog.

 

Naming him on the other hand proved to be a bit of trouble.. we went back and forth on names all night. We knew we wanted something Hawaiian but picking a Hawaiian name is rough! We finally settled on Duke, which many of you are probably thinking, oh that is not very Hawaiian, but it is after The Duke, the grandfather of surfing. We love our sweet little guy and all the fun we have had with him so far. he is eight weeks old now and already he looks so much bigger! I can not wait for all the fun adventures we are going to have together as our little family!

 

the night we brought him home, how can you not love that face!

 

love, the williams

The Adventures of Joey & Bri

Few people may know that when Joey and I first began "dating" (i use quotations because the first few months were simply phone calls and text messages everyday back and forth) we began a list. A list of adventures. We would sit up on the phone late at night and think of all the wonderful things we wanted to do with our lives and together. This then turned into us joking about being the couple from the movie UP. Before we knew it our new slogan was, "Adventure is Out There!" We knew the theme song and we even watched the movie together on one of our actual first dates. As you may know in the movie the couple had a savings jar that they kept having to break into for emergencies and Joey and I too have had experiences like that along the way. We find it funny sometimes how this movie mimics our life, but i love the moments we've had.. 

Here is a movie Joey put together of a few adventures we have been able to have so far here in Hawaii. We have had a lot more than what is shown in the clip but up until a few months ago we didn't have this sweet camera to document our adventures so well! Here is to the adventurer in all of us, go out and live your lives to the fullest my friends and maybe jump off a cliff or two :)

love, the Williams

Enrichment Leader.. dun, dun, dun!!

well it has happened, a few months ago when i moved into the La'ie Married Student 5th ward i was given the calling to be on the Relief Society activities committee. To be honest i was thrilled, i got to plan all the fun, make all the fun and have all the fun but not have to worry about the logistics of it all because i wasn't the leader, i was just on the committee..

 

well that changed and it changed fast! One week i was on the committee, the next i was leading a committee of my own. I am grateful for this opportunity to lead these wonderful women on my committee and also to be able to still have ALL the fun, because really, i do have all the fun!

This calling is new to me, I'm not sure if i do everything the right way, and to be honest I'm not even sure if there is a right way. But, alas, here i am fumbling through and making do. i am excited for the new year to start and to be able to incorporate some new activities into our Relief Society. Hopefully my ward will get excited to and that we will see more and more sisters come out to the activities.

 

This month we did a Christmas card activity and it was so much fun! i love Christmas, everything Christmas! So i used my handy dandy cricut machine to make a few different card types and then i set to making enough supplies for my ward members to recreate these simple cards. We had wonderful food, Christmas music of course and a few Christmas decorations including a Christmas themed "photo booth" with the opportunity to use Santa clause or Rudolph props. All in all we had a pretty good turnout and lots of fun getting to know some of the sisters in the ward. Check out a few of my favorite pictures from the night..

 

the cards we made.. number 1

number 2

number 3

the "hohoho" banner i made

a few of the ladies from the ward

lovin' the props!

so cute!

so fun :)

a wonderful activity with the ward!

many more fun activities to come, and i cant wait!

love, the williams