To Celebrate... Or Not to Celebrate...?

Do any of you know who this man is??

...
........
...

It is Dave Elkins; the lead singer of Mae.

Austin and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary by going and watching them play!

Just before the concert, we went and grabbed a bite to eat:

Then we headed to watch and sing along to this:

They put on a fantastic show!

It is Austin's all-time favorite band and he just loved every single minute of it.

However... all we could talk about, think about, and cry about [me being the crier] was our little guy back at home.

We could not stand being away from our sweet boy!

Major separation anxieties were occurring; making us wish we had just celebrated our anniversary at home.

We will never do that again.

[Even if he was completely out of it the entire time.]

One Year

Exactly one year ago, I married this man...

It was honesty the best decision I have ever made.

HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SWEETHEART!♥

Ryker Okuda

...is head down and ready to come into this world!

When the doctor checked my dilation at my OB appointment this week, 

he said he felt our baby's head!

I could not believe it!

Our little man is completely set in position and ready for his big day!

We are all on his time now.

Also, since these last few weeks have been taking a toll on my back, 

my amazing husband gifted me with an hour of pure delightfulness today at the beloved...

I sure do have the best husband ever!

Shopping

This is how we shop.

I had too much fun taking these pictures of Austin!

I just thought he looked so cute and funny in that little motor scooter!

Last Night...

For the past two days, Austin has been having major shooting pain in his right knee.

This is new and different pain than before.

So we decided it would be best to go to an urgent care so he could get in to see a doctor
as soon as possible.

To make a long story short, the doctor sent my poor husband here right away for a blood clot:

After many, many hours in the ER, the results finally came in.

He had no blood clot.

His pain, swelling, bruising, and scarring were all results of a bad vein surgeon the week before.

We could have told them that!

All we can say is thank goodness that it wasn't a blood clot!

We are so grateful that everything is OK, and hope that his leg gets better soon.

Post Surgery

I don't even know where to begin.

There were some major difficulties immediately following the two procedures.

AND the night after the procedures...

WHICH left Austin in some major pain...

[I will spare you the gory details.]

BUT today he is finally starting to feel better!

Round two with the left leg will definitely be done by a different doctor.

Our Day Today

As some of you may know, I am currently taking an online class to finish my last prerequisite for 

Dental Hygiene.

So, this is the fun that I get to experience at home each week.

Oh yes, it can get messy at times...

And I might break a test tube or two...

But it is always worth it in the end when I get to play with these pretty colors.

In other news...

My husband is having surgery today at 1:30 pm.

It is an Endovenous Laser Ablation and Ambulatory Stab Phlebectomy to be exact.

[Try to figure that one out :)]

Please wish him luck!

On My Mind...

Arizona is so hot right now! 

We are currently breaking records. 

It hasn't been this hot this late in Arizona since the late 1800s. 

Incredible. 

Thank goodness for air conditioning!

I wish I wasn't always exhausted.

You would think that the 10 hours of sleep I get each night would be enough.

I guess it's not.

I am so grateful to have my job!

There is so much pleasure that comes from hard-earned money.

I sure am blessed.

Hmmm, I think I'm starting to swell...

My wedding ring still fits me, but I feel that my hands and feet don't look the same??

This is not good.

I sure do have the best family!

There is nothing like having all my siblings, their spouses, and lovers together.

I love how my parent's house is never empty. 

Who knows what tonight will be like?!

Oh, and Austin...

You never complain about your beyond-busy schedule!

I wish I could be more like you.

I love you.♥

An Exhausted Wife/Almost Mom

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh isn't she so cute?!!!!! Totally wiped out from a hard day of work.......... being a SUNBEAM TEACHER!!! She deserves the nap! Oh by the way, I'm this angel's husband and it's my first post, HA!

Volleyball

This post is most definitely outdated... but that is OK!
I just wanted to let you all know what my sweet husband was up to all for about half of 2009!

Austin coached the 18 year-olds for Club Molten Volleyball. I sure had a blast going to tournaments and practices! It was so fun watching him do what he loves! At times, it was difficult even knowing whether he was a player or the coach!

[Can you tell which one is Austin??]

[This picture is definitely blurry, but it just looks so awesome!]

Austin coached such a great group of kids. It was so fun getting to know all of them. I had a blast cheering them on at every tournament! At times, we traveled to Tuscon, Phoenix, and Queen Creek! Who knows, maybe we will do it all over again this year!

Yes...

WE'RE BACK! Back to blogging, back to taking pictures, and back to a somewhat stress-free life. I cannot even begin to explain how busy Austin and I have been this entire semester [therefore, little blogging entries]. I am not saying that our winter break will be completely full of relaxation, but it will be composed of a bit more than what we have had these last few months.

SEALED!

We should probably begin with the most wonderful experience of our entire lives. We were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. There is no better place on Earth than being in the Temple with the one that you love so dearly. We do not have all of our pictures back quite yet, but once we do, be sure to check for the post!

However, we do have the pictures from our Honeymoon!

Where do we begin...?

• Hawaii Temple
• Pearl Harbor
• A private tour of newly-found jets and helicopters from past wars!
• Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
• Dole Pineapple Plantation (Largest in the world!)
• North Shore
• Surfing competition
• BYU Hawaii
• Waikiki Beach
• International Market Place
• Mustang Convertible
• Relaxing on the beach
• Authentic Asian food
• And best of all... being with each other!!!!!
  

Our absolute favorite part of the trip was just relaxing together. Of course, we came back to loads and loads of homework, but we did not even care one bit. We had a blast!

Are you ready for this?

WELCOME TO HAWAI'I! We had so much fun together on the six-hour plane ride! We were also able to catch up on some sleep, that we had not been able to get, from the past few months!
And look at Oahu through the window [bottom right]! Amazing!

The International Market Place was wonderful! It is full of gifts from all over the world; and you can definitely talk them down on the prices! :]

HANAUMA BAY! It is so beautiful there! We swam right through hundreds of coral reefs and were able to see so many colorful fish! We definitely recommend going snorkeling there.

I have always dreamed of going to Pearl Harbor. It sure was everything that we thought it would be!

Our first stop was the USS Bowfin. We were given headsets; which took us through a tour of the very long submarine. We also had fun on the big toys outside! :]

This is us in the bottom of the Bowfin! It was so small. We kept saying that we could not believe that men actually lived under there for months! Talk about claustrophobia!

Look at the size of that torpedo! That was a one-man suicide bomber!

One site that we could not miss was the USS Arizona Memorial. It was so beautiful.

We were lucky that it was such a gorgeous day.

Can you believe that the USS Arizona is a burial ground for so many men?

The picture on the bottom left is the actual ship's smokestack from the Arizona. You can see right down into it. AND look at all those wires!

Part of the Pearl Harbor attractions is a tour of refurbished planes from WWII. These planes were found in the jungle, the ocean, and in many other places!

So, there were many times that Austin and I were given great opportunities on our honeymoon; and this one was definitely one of them. Just a few days before we got there, a great number of newly-discovered jets, airplanes, cars, etc. were transported into a hanger on Ford Island. We just went to go and see some refurbished planes [like the ones above] and the lady at the front desk asked us if we wanted a private tour in viewing these new imports before refurbishment! Of course we jumped on the opportunity and were able to see amazing vehicles that were used in past wars!

After we saw the planes in the private hanger, we walked back to where the bus was going to pick us up. On our way there, we spotted the place where they filmed the movie, Pearl Harbor!

The last few days in Hawaii we rented a car so we could explore the island! Again, we had such amazing luck... The car rental manager found out that it was our honeymoon, so she up-sized our regular economy car to any convertible in the lot!!! It was so fun driving with the top down!

When we drove to the North Shore, we just had to stop and look at the huge waves. These pictures do not do them justice! There were "no swimming" signs up and down the beach.

We made it a priority to go and see the Hawaii Temple! It sure is beautiful; as well as its surrounding land. We really wanted to do a session, but the temple is closed until next summer for some remodeling.

Austin and I had heard that Hawaii is the home to the world's largest Dole Pineapple Plantation...
So of course we had to check it out!

We took the Pineapple Express and were taken through all of the pineapple fields. It sure did go on forever!

We got some delicious pineapple cheesecake in the gift shop! Boy, did Austin scarf it down!

Austin was in heaven with all of the authentic Asian food that Hawaii has to offer.
Pretty much everywhere we went in Honolulu had Asian food.

I LOVE Austin with all my heart! We have so much fun together!

Our plane got delayed on the way home. We didn't mind. We got to spend more time in Hawaii! :] So Austin and I both got something to read and to munch on!

My goodness, that was long! We hope you all enjoyed our presentation! Anyways, we look forward to being back in the blogging world.

Kaitie ♥ Austin