2012 Year End Review!

As we enter this new year and eagerly wait for Leyna's baby sister to make her appearance, this super long post is our effort to catch you up on some highlights and favorite memories from 2012! Here we go...

We'll begin in April when we left Okinawa to begin Danno's next tour in San Diego. We treated ourselves to a restful vacation in Hawaii before settling in to SD. Our good friends, Precious and Mike, (whom up to this point we have gone through life in Quantico and Okinawa together) had just been stationed there and graciously accommodated us despite being mid-move themselves. Lovely beaches...hiking...luau...indulging the local food...We even got an awesome 2-day getaway to Kuaui just the 2 of us. There we conquered an 8 mile round trip hike to 300 ft Hanakapi'ai waterfall that we swam under. Beautiful, thrilling, and agonizing all at the same time! (I can honestly say that's the first and last time I'm doing that! haha) The cherry on top of the entire trip was that on the final day before flying out, I took a test and discovered I was pregnant!

In May, the main event was moving into our SD home and begin the long slow process of settling in. We were offered a 3 bedroom unit the very first day we walked into the housing office, when typically the procedure is to get on a wait list that could last up to 6 months. God is so good! We didn't need to house-hunt and a place was ready for us upon our return from vacation. This is our first time to be living in military housing, but it's not located on a base itself, which is nice that non-military visitors can visit us easily without passing through a gate. It's safe, we're surrounded by many families with kids, playgrounds are scattered everywhere, the military bond makes it easy to connect with neighbors, and we conveniently have a military exchange and gas station just down the street. Our new church home is also just 5 minutes away. I realized I hadn't taken much photos of our place, but here's a peek of what our kitchen, family room and dining room (aka playroom) was starting to look like as we moved in. It's nice to have a backyard now and Leyna always loves to help Daddy with the yard work. We'll try to post the updated home and the rooms at some point next year!

In June we continued to have plenty of distractions away from home reconnecting with family n friends and visiting the local attractions. We went to Disneyland and California Adventures 2 times and the Safari Park with Ila and Danny...historic Old Town and the Zoo with Lolo and Lola... Overall a great jump start to good times in soCal!

July crept up fast and Leyna turned 3 years old! Jeremy Chou Photography did an excellent job capturing our lil firecracker. As much as I would've loved to go all out and get a themed party together, with the house still not completely settled in yet we decided to keep things simple. My brother brought the family down from Nor-Cal to join us at Disneyland to celebrate, and with a few more local friends n fam stopping by, at one point we were a group of 16! The following day we rounded off 4th of July with my brother up at his friend's dock at Lake Arrowhead. It was beautiful up there and we had such a great time!

End of July and into August, Dan and I took a big vacation to Paris and Italy in celebration of our 5 year anniversary. Not to mention it tripled as Dan's birthday and an early "baby moon." It was an awesome 13 day vacation! This was the longest duration we were away from Leyna, but she managed just fine with Lola, kept busy with school and got a treat-a-day (a message and little gift from us coordinating with where we were on our trip.) We did a mix of sightseeing on our own with joining an 8 day group tour which brought us to many different locations and quick access to so many places in a short amount of time. One morning we were riding the world's first double-decker open-air cable car up Mt Stanserhorn to view the Alps, and later that same afternoon we were sipping champagne on a gondola ride in Venice! (well, no champagne for myself of course). We journeyed from Paris to Lucerne, to Venice and Burano, to Florence, and ended in Rome. It was certainly a vacation we will never forget! I must back blog the trip someday to show you more photos!

In September we met 3 day old Emma, Ila and Danny's first born and bound to be future buddies with our little one on the way. We got to attend some family events for Leyna's school where we could meet some of her friends and their parents. We're blessed to have found a Christian Montessori nearby where she could attend to stay stimulated and actively learning. So far she loves it and coming home happy every day!

October was full of fun. Dan was a groomsman for his Best Man's wedding. Peter and Caroline's big day was a great reunion of Danno's gang (some who've been friends since middle school!) and jump started more future hang outs. We visited a local farm to pick some pumpkins for the season. My brother came down to soCal and we were able to celebrate his birthday and his daughter, Selah's 1st birthday -- a nice last minute project for me which I hope to blog soon! And finally, the month was sealed off with Leyna's school Halloween carnival, trick or treating around our neighborhood, and a visit to our church festival. DJ Lance made his appearance with Foofa and Brobee... =) Yooo Gabba Gabba!

In November Knotts Berry Farm was free for military so we went along with Dan's co-worker and his family. Leyna had a great time with new friends and had a blast on the rides she could control herself. Dan and I attended the Marine Corps Ball which was a nice little evening out. Thanksgiving was spent up in Northridge, which was our last lengthy drive out of town before baby comes. And just when I thought I'd take a break from work, I was super busy with projects galore, but very thankful to have all the business and I'm looking forward to blog it all later!

And lastly, December... We celebrated Dan's godson Noah's 5th birthday which was a lot of fun. Dan's holiday work party was held at Sea World allowing us to enjoy both Santa and Shamu, super awesome arrangement! Leyna had her first performance at her school Christmas play as an Angel. No stage-fright there -- she danced and sang her heart out! We had a dinner and gift exchange with the gang in the OC, something we hope to make an annual event. Lastly, since my due date wasn't too far away, my brother's family and Lola traveled down to celebrate Christmas day at our place. It was a special treat to all be together, grub on mom's cookin, have the cousins play together and enjoy some Yo Gabba Gabba dress up! haha

Phew! What a wonderful year it was. So much to be thankful for. Okinawa friends (including those who may have PCS'd out by now) we still miss you guys greatly and hopefully we will do better at keeping up with the blog this year. Looking forward to what God has in store for us, and hoping your year is also a wonderful one filled with many blessings!

Leyna has an Announcement...

This blog has been abandoned for quite a while now as we've been oh so slooowly settling into San Diego amidst constant traveling to reunite with friends and family, vacationing, and just plain being our busy selves! But hopefully we can get it moving again and catch you up on the past several months. What better way to kick it off with some big news...

That's right, Baby GIRL #2 is well on the way, due January 7, 2013. We're thrilled! Leyna is already acknowledging baby with little pats, hugs and kisses. She listens to my tummy, tries to feel her kick, leaves it alone when "baby is sleeping" and she never fails to remind me that "baby is growing, mommy's belly is getting bigger!" We know she'll be a big help and wonderful big sister!

Behind the Scenes

When we first moved to Okinawa, I discovered a modeling agency just down the street from of our home. I figured it wouldn't hurt to put Leyna into their database, so she's been in there since the minimum age of 10 months old. It wasn't until last October Leyna was chosen for a photoshoot for Nissen, an online retailer of Japanese clothing. I was eager to see the resulting photos, but since there's so many children in their catalogs, the agency doesn't track down which one your kid would show up in, so it'd be up to us to order catalogs and hope to find her in one at some point. Well, we never ordered their catalogs but just the other day I was lucky enough to stumble upon her photos on the company's website. The clothing line is for this year's Summer Collection.

Now that these are released I can show you some behind the scenes fun. The day started early and they shuttled all the lil models to a beach resort. All lot of waiting goes on throughout the day between the changes of wardrobe, locations, and models. So basically the main task is to keep the kids occupied, happy, and tear-free in preparation for only the few minutes they will actually be behind camera. Leyna did a great job of lounging around.
This tiny hermit crab kept her entertained for a long time.

Leyna watching them get ready for the first kids .

Leyna and the 2 other models for the day.

It was finally Leyna's turn. Leyna never let me put her hair up before, though I always tried, so I was anxious to see what would happen when they did it!

Amazingly she kept her pigtails in the whole day! phew! I couldn't take photos during the shoot since I was busy directing her - keeping her smiling, getting her to look this way n that, having her chase me around etc. A minute of smiles and done. They said she did great for her first time!

Right back for a wardrobe change.

Keep em happy with sweets!

Round 2 went great. Then back to waiting and enjoying the beautiful weather...

Round 3. This was my favorite outfit for her =)

Final outfit. The hat made me nervous since it has a strap underneath her neck and she's very sensitive to anything touching her throat. Hopefully the other lady could keep her distracted!

...there she goes tugging at it. But they managed to get the shots they needed!

Overall it was a fun experience to have. Leyna enjoyed her Japanese pudding dessert in the end. mm mm good. That's a wrap!

Here's some links to her shots

Link 1 

Link 2 

Link 3

Link 4

Easter 2012: Part 2

Our church family has been such a big part of our love for Okinawa. After 3 years of watching others come and go, it was weird to finally be that family standing at the front with the mic, talking about what we'll miss and what God has taught us during our time in Okinawa. When we first arrived on island, we were approaching our 2nd year of marriage, with our first baby on the way, and it was our first duty station -- life was already extremely different from when we were back home. But God knew the kind of support we needed and didn't fail to provide it! We found our place amidst a small intimate church where we connected with families young and old, where we could be influenced and nurtured by those more experienced than us, and we even became close friends with our pastor and his family. Easter with our church was the perfect time to spend some last moments with everyone.

Here's our Pastor and his lovely family. We've never become so close to our church pastor before (quite hard to when always attending large churches!) so we're definitely thankful our paths crossed and that we could serve together. We'll sure miss you guys and the great times hanging out, chatting late night, playing the game Settlers, and of course our awesome arrangement of swapping babysitting! Leyna will definitely miss her best friend Justin!

After a great celebration service, we had the annual big Easter event at Comprehensive Park, with games, egg hunts, potluck picnic, and just good ole lounging around in the beautiful Okinawan weather(thankfully we were rain free this year!)







The wonderful Fernandez family was in our first small group, so they've watched Leyna grow since before she was one. Leyna was always drawn to their daughter, Danielle, so naturally Danielle became Leyna's first babysitter and a great one she was! They're a solid family of the Word and we've gained so much valuable parenting advice from them. We're definitely thankful for their wisdom and support!

Our friend Joe and his cool kids (his lovely wife Wendy isn't pictured). Joe's a super dad, Pampered Chef rep, great scuba instructor, and has been an awesome spiritual accountability for Danno in our church's men's ministry. Leyna had a blast with their family when Courtney would babysit her. Their family's fun spirit is always uplifting and contagious - never a dull moment!

April and her sweet daughters. Her husband Zach had been deployed at this time, so we missed him, but he safely returned just after we moved off the island (Welcome back Zach!). Their family had been part of our 2nd small group this past year and it's been such a joy to know them, laugh with them, and grow as a family with them. We always loved to see Leyna having such a great time with the girls and we know she'll miss the good times with them too.

Shastity, Jeremy & Jr. were also in our 2nd small group. They're another wonderful family rooted in Christ and have been a huge blessing and spiritual support to us. Shastity grew to become like a sister to me - a rare friendship you don't come across often, and surely one to value for a lifetime!


Leyna's new classmate, Kaia, started coming to our church so Leyna really enjoyed playing with her friend. The two were having endless fun just jumping in place!

Here' pics of Leyna with her best buddy Justin. Leyna lights up hearing his name, and when they're together, they've got amazing energy that could easily outlast the Energizer bunny! Babysitting is so easy when they're together.

What a great lil group. Leyna will miss Justin & his lil brother Noah!


Finally a pic with mommy =)

Woohoo fun times! Another memorable Easter.