happy 11 years to us!

Happy Anniversary to us!

11 years, 4 kids, 7 houses later, we are SO very blessed with our lot in life.  

There are many days I can't believe we have been together so long!  And there are other times when I can't even remember what it was like not to be together. 

Here's to many, many more years!

*but hopefully no more kids and no more houses!

 Dinner at Kenzo's in town.

The food was pretty good!  

Loud and not super fancy, but it's always so nice to get a way with just the two of us.

And because I am who I am, we hit up Kissaten for round 2 of dessert!

Love that this man knows how much I love to eat. :)

sakuma family christmas 2013

It has been such a wonderful Christmas season this year!  

The entire Sakuma family came together in Hawaii to celebrate this special season together and we sure made the most of our time together with our Seattle cousins.

It took a lot of effort on so many people's parts to make this happen and we are so very grateful that it all came together and we were able to have a most memorable Christmas with our whole family.

 We took Makoto and his family to the Kapiolani Community College Farmer's Market!

We love coming here and eating yummy food like homemade popsicles, sausages and fresh lemonade.  I think they enjoyed the treats as well!  

 Kahala beach park before church one Sunday.  No swimming...but a beautiful morning for a stroll along the beach!  

 Ah, one of the highlights of the season was a trip to the Christmas Lagoon at the PCC!

It was super crowded and we were a HUGE group...but we loved being together and hearing the stories and songs of Christmas on the canals inside the PCC!  

The kids simply LOVED being with ALL their cousins!!

 Our canoe group!  Amazingly, we all fit in ONE canoe!

 Christmas night...the kids made Christmas hats out of paper and stuck them to their foreheads.

...so weird...but cute at the same time!

 We LOVE Makoto's cooking! (and Makoto, too, of course!)

He made an INCREDIBLE sushi & karaage & tempura dinner for us! I feel bad that he did so much cooking while here...but we really did appreciate it!

My brother Makoto is seriously a fantastic chef!

 We are equally grateful that Airi has such a huge house to accommodate our large family group! 

No small feat with so many of us gathered together everyday!

 Christmas morning with our family.  No Christmas Tree in our tiny new home...but the kids were understanding.  

No need fancy trees and decorations when you have family.  

And presents. 

 Tide pooling at our favorite low-tide spot! 

 And our favorite Shave Ice joint: Waiolas!

Everyone agreed that this place is yummier than Matsumoto's!  

 I'm pretty sure ALL the kids LOVED having Uncle Makoto here!  

He was a hit with the little kids.

 Some more cousinly bonding time in front of the TV...and the iPads. 

The last night before Uncle Makoto and his family flew back home, the girls got to have a slumber party with their girl cousins.  We sure are going to miss having them around!!

There were a few tears shed, but I'm sure we will be seeing them soon when we fly up to Seattle for our annual visit!

 Our big family reunion!!

Wow, that's a lot of people!  

My Mom and Dad with their posterity.

Happiest of Christmases to you all!!

This Christmas will be pretty difficult to top...but hopefully we can find a way to get together like this every so often to remember how blessed we are to have such a big and happy family!

we bought a house!!!

The BEST news!!  

After only a couple of months of searching (and searching) we have found our (hopefully) forever home.  Okay, maybe not a forever home YET...but eventually!  

We are not in love with the house itself...but the LOCATION!  

The location of this house cannot be beat.  

We truly have my absolutely fabulous realtor brother, Atau, to thank for being able to buy this house.

The seller was flaky from the beginning, with an incompetent real estate agent, Atau had to do so much more work...but after several negotiations and some seriously crazy showings (the tenants didn't know were were coming!) we have closed on our second - and hopefully LAST - home!

We are in Honolulu, close to Diamond Head, and all the lovely beaches, jogging paths, and yummy food that we love so much.  

 Ta-da! 

Okay, truth be told, this house is U-G-L-Y.  And OLD!  

But we truly feel like we can spruce it up to make it comfortable for our little family...and hopefully one day, knock it all down and build our true dream home.

 But before all that, making it livable.

Here is Jolee helping to paint our home.

There is TOO MUCH blue in this house! Seriously, who paints their baseboards BLUE?! 

 While the kids are at school, Mitch and I (and Kaden) loaded several carloads of stuff and hauled it to our new home.

It's a miracle nothing toppled over onto him on the drive!

 Seriously-the car was stuffed from top to bottom, back to front.

Kaden was such a trooper and so very patient as we loaded and unloaded carload after carload.

 Just a couple of the before and after shots of 2 rooms.

It's amazing what a little paint and carpet can do to an old house!

And here we are.  Taking a stroll down our street for the very first time.

The kids are sad to leave their friends and cousins in Aiea...but are looking forward to their new lives in town!  Closer to the beach and closer to their other cousins!

Yay for happy new beginnings!