Friday Flashback #28

In the spirit of the holidays I thought I would share a flashback about Christmas. 

*Caution: This flashback is shares the 'truth' about Santa. 

It was the day after Christmas and I was 8 years old. I was sitting on my mom's bed and I asked "Mom, just tell me the truth... is Santa real? Just tell me the truth." 

And my mom said "Okay, he is not real." 

Me: "What! What about the presents?" 

Mom: "I put them there." 

Me: "The cookies? The letter? The carrot for Rudolph?" 

Mom: "Me, Me, and Me" 

Me: At this point I am crying and I wail "You were supposed to lie! You were supposed to tell me he is real!" 

I remember at this age I knew the truth, but I still wanted to believe in the magic of Santa! And my mom just told me the truth. 

Strange Things Around Town

The last week or so I have seen some pretty strange things around the island and I thought I should show you:

Our local football team the Kahuku Red Raiders won the state football championships and this was one of the banners that was hanging up around town. It made me laugh so much I forced Matt to stop the car so I could take the picture. Matt was a little annoyed because he had to turn the car around and he said the sign would be up for awhile, but the next day they took it down. I am so glad I got the picture!  

Last week Matt and I were in Wal-Mart shopping for toys for my school's Toys for Tots charity drive. While shopping, Matt found this little cowboy hat, so of course he had to put it on. 

Again at Wal-Mart- we found this freakish large/ scary doll. I have decided our kids will never play with baby dolls these things are just creepy. 

Hmmmm- obesity here we come 

Wish List: 2012

I don't really like doing these and asking for things, but I wanted Matt's Christmas presents to be a surprise so I came up with this wish list. This way Matt knows what I want but, I don't know what I am going to get. Some of these things are just wishes, but it's nice to put these things out there.

Plus, these are the things I am loving right down, so it's nice documentation. 

There is no order to the list and there are other things I would be completely happy with. In fact, if I didn't get any of these things I would be fine because I get to spend Christmas with my Georgia family!!!!

So what's on your wish list this year? 

Two Months Two Trips

October and November were pretty great months for me. I got to take two really cool and much much needed vacations.

I wanted to share my two trips with you guys and I wanted to document them so I could remember in the future.

In October I made a surprise trip to Georgia. The only people that knew I was coming were my in-laws, Beth, and my Aunt Nickie. Everyone else was completely surprised. It was great to see my family and to be back in my home state.

While in Georgia:

1.  I surprised my Abeula during her Susan G. Komen 60 mile walk for Breast Cancer and surprised my Papa while he was driving his truck down the road... maybe not the smartest move!
2. Took a road trip with my mom and little Asian siblings, which included Jud singing along with ABBA.
3. I saw my cousin Jessie play volleyball during her senior year of high school.
3. Had a great visit with the whole Bates family. I had not seen any of my Bates family in two years!
4. Had a girls day with Nickie and Jessie. Which included pedicures, a trip to urgent care (not part of the original plan), dinner, movie, and a massage!
5. Had quality BFF time with Beth and I got to meet her love.
6. Met my newest cousin and member of the Stewart clan- Ava.
7. Ate a lot of cupcakes... my favorite were Auntie Mammies that were in Marietta Square. They won cupcake wars.
8. Watched a lot of tennis... and I mean a lot! But it was good to see Olivia play!
9. Became reunited with my sock monkey slippers
10. Had quality time with my brother Joe and met his girlfriend Mandi.
11. Spent time with Jud. Which included playing a trick on him and trying to convince him that his new home and school was a storage unit Joe and I were stopping at. And him putting a ballon under his shirt and saying he was pregnant.
12. Watched my cousin Coda play football for this high school team.
13. Ate at chick-fli-a way too much!
14. Had a family dinner at Abuela and Papa's house. It was great to have the family together, including my in-laws, and eat some good Mexican.
15. My mother-in-law attempted to give me a sewing lesson.
16. My mom attempted to give me a tennis lesson.
17. I had the best time ever! The only thing missing was Matt.

For Thanksgiving, Matt and I went to visit my dad in California. It was a short trip, but I am glad we did it. 

While in California: 

1. We made Thanksgiving dinner. We served: *turkey, *sweet potatoes, *taro rolls, *fruit salad, *cranberries, *gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, *chocolate pie, apple pie, and pumpkin pie *Things Matt and I made, except the bread which I brought from Costco! I think for our first time taking on a whole Thanksgiving we did a great job. 
2.  Played National Parks Monopoly- where I was kicking butt until Matt and Dad ganged up on me. I actually had all four 'activities' which is like have all the railroads! It was a pretty big deal. 
3. Went into San Francisco - This is where Dad told me San Francisco was his Pearl Harbor because he always had to take people there just like I always have to take people to Pearl Harbor. 
4. Ate a lot of Sprinkles Cupcakes! 
5. Matt ate in and out for the first time. 
6. I ate Chipotle yum yum
7. Matt got to drive dad's Porsche 
8. Matt tired to learn how to ride a motorcycle 
9.  Visited UC Berkeley
10. Had a great time in three short days! 

Happy Holidays from the Fahey Hos

Christmas has arrived in the Ho house/ studio apartment/ dorm room. 

(Our skinny cheap tree with the wonderful handmade stockings behind them.) 

I can't believe this is our 3rd Christmas together, and our 5th year exchanging presents! (Not including the two years I sent Christmas packages to Matt on his mission.) 

When Matt got home from his mission in October of 2008, we started talking on the phone/ texting like crazy. We had been exchanging letters the last two years, so I guess the phone was the next step. I was still out at school here in Hawaii and Matt was home in Georgia readjusting and waiting for Winter semester to start. 

We decided that we would exchange gifts with each other. (Well maybe I asked Matt what he wanted and then I think he just felt obligated to return the love.) Anyway, that year I got Matt his carved wooden turtle since he requested a magical turtle. And Matt got me a wind pipe (like Peter Pan plays)- which was also an inside joke. 

It was a good Christmas, but we of course just remained friends regardless of how much I wanted Matt to give me a nice Christmas kiss. :) 

Christmas of 2009 I had just returned from London and Matt was home from school. We had been skyping all throughout my stay in London, and I had begun to realize that I really really cared for this goofy guy. That year we had just started kinda dating, but still not really admitting it or labeling it. 

I know I got Matt a Padington Bear keychain from London (inside joke) and a Georgia road map (because he took me out one night and we got really really really lost... like hour out of the way lost). And for the life of me, I can't imagine what he got me that year. But I am sure I liked it.... 

Update: Matt said he knows he gave me his missionary journal and note binder to use for my mission... which of course I never used in the way I was supposed too because as you know by.... 

Christmas of 2010 we were the newlyweds! We had our first little tree in the bedroom my Abuela and Papa were letting us stay in while we waited to move to Hawaii in January. We put our 'First Christmas' ornament and a Vancouver moose ornament that we got from our honeymoon, and we loved our little tree. We started our first ever Christmas Eve P.J. swap and watched The Christmas Story. That year we were pretty broke so we just did stockings, but it was a great year. Christmas morning we went down and opened our stockings with Abuela and Papa. 

Christmas 2011: The first Christmas away from our families! We got a 6 foot fake tree at Target for $20 and decked it out in all the ornaments we could find. Matt even made ornaments out of little one shot liquor bottles. We hung Christmas lights in our windows. We even sent out our first official Christmas card (the year before we sent thank you/ Christmas cards). Matt's mom made us the best stockings ever and since we weren't going home we splurged on each other. While it was really hard not being with family, it was a pretty great Christmas. 

And now Christmas 2012!!! We put that ole skinny 6 foot tree and put all our decorations, plus all the new ones from my Grandma Fahey. We hung our stockings and our lights and busted out the Justin Bieber Christmas album. This year we actually put our tree up before Thanksgiving because of our California trip, but I am happy it's beginning to look like Christmas. I have ordered our second Christmas card and I think it turned out great! (It should be arriving on your doorsteps pretty soon. Unless, you don't and then you can see it on the blog!) 

This year we are lucky enough to be able to be going home for Christmas, and I for one am so excited to see my family at Christmas time! I even bought this Gadanke journal to document this Christmas season. If you haven't guessed, I am obsessed with these journals/ scrapbooks. If you haven't checked out this site you need to do so! 

I hope your holiday season is starting out as great as ours is! Much love from the Fahey Hos! 

The Frame Wall- Yes, We Went There

We have lived in this studio/ dorm room for the last year and a half and we have done nothing about the blank wall in our kitchen. I think it's mostly because I am never in my kitchen or really I never really sit at the table. But over the last year and a half we have collected some art and other things that I thought we should hang because it was cluttering up our limited space.

So here is what we came up with. I must say I had the vision, and Matt was ALL the labor.

This is Matt in the preplanning stage. 

We got most of the frames at Ross and decided to spray paint them to add some color. We chose grey and yellow. I wanted to do a nice blue, but I couldn't find a shade I liked. Plus, I know I like grey and yellow together (they were our wedding colors), so it was a safe bet for our first frame wall. 

(Sorry about the bad quality picture- these are from my i-phone.) 

From the left to right: 

1. Turtles: This is a tapa print Matt and I picked up on the big island last year. The turtles represent good luck.
2. H: We picked up from Anthropology
3. Fish: This is from my dad; he picked it up in Belize
4. Families Are Forever: My mom made this for us last Christmas.
5. Large Frame: We just took out the glass and put up wires behind so we could hang up our cards and pictures. I saw this on a couple of blogs I read and I really wanted to try it.
6. Birds in a Tree: We bought this from an Etsy sight and I love it. They make many many more wonderful things. Click here if you are interested. (The picture below shows it in greater detail.)
7. Love Note: This blue paper is the note put in the bunny when he proposed. It says "See not all hollow bunnies are a rip off."
8. Ocean Scene: This is painting from a local artist that we pick up.

I think we did a pretty good job for our first frame wall. I think we would definitely change some things around the next time, but it was nice to get our first frame wall under our belts.

The Year of Cotton aka Year Two

I can't believe it has been two years! Looking back I found a little pattern that matches this two year anniversary.

2004- I met Matt for the first time. He claims we met at a mutual friends birthday party, but I have no memory of meeting him there. (I know I had seen him around here and there because we were in the same stake, but our first 'meeting' wasn't until 2004) I do remember meeting him at church when my family moved into his ward, and I thought this kid is a little strange, but still cool.

For 2 years, we continued a pretty casual friendship; in fact, I was better friends with his sister.

2006- Matt left for his mission. We wrote each other for 2 whole years! We were just friends, but I consistently wrote him and kept in touch.

2008- Matt comes back from his mission and we continue to talk as friends for another 2 years! It was not until 2010 that we started dating... got engaged... and got married!

2012: And now 2 years later we celebrate our second anniversary.

2 + 2 + 2 + 2= 8 years! 

Matt and I have been a part of each others lives in some way or another for 8 years! People always are surprised when they realize how fast we got engaged and married, but we had been friends for so long!

So November 26, 2012 we celebrated our second anniversary. The night before we had just gotten back from California, and we both had work and school so we wanted to do something small but special.

We decided to have a picnic at Sunset beach. We don't know where we will be next year, so we thought this might be our last chance to have a beach side anniversary. I picked up Stortos sandwiches from Haleiwa, we had Martinells, and ended the night with Sprinkles cupcakes. It was nice to just have a small picnic with just the two of us. 

 

Gift wise we did not go with the traditional cotton gift. I bought Matt these Adidas shoes he really wanted and I got these Gandake journals- yup obsessed I have told you! I am looking forward to documenting our first two years in both journals.

Matt and I had a great time and we continued the celebration by going to Wicked Sunday night. I am extremely happy Matt is in my life and will be for all eternity! If I have to be with anyone for eternity I am glad its this guy.