Heileson Family

Our Christmas Card...coming soon

2012-01-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

So the holidays here have been a little crazy for me and not everything got done that I wanted to do. The main thing is our Christmas card. I wanted to wait till Isabella came before we took the picture...then once she came, Phil was gone pretty much the entire time until December 24th...he was around for a couple days here and there, but he had a lot of work on Oahu. Anway...we just did not get it done...but it is finally done and now I just need to get it printed and sent...so hopefully I can get that done soon! :) So here is a little sneak peak....we decided to go with a theme this year...REDNECK..:)

I just love this picture of Jessie...she was so over taking pictures!

Isabella Ka'iulani

2011-12-08T01:22:00.001-08:00

This is the day before I had Izzy...40 weeks 3 days...I do not think I was quite this big with Jessie.

After 10 hours of labor, Isabella finally arrived on November 22 at 7:05 am. She was 8 lbs 3 oz. and 20 inches long. She is a great baby and is already starting to coo! We love her so much...Jessie is a great big sister. She loves Izzy and is a little overwhelming to Izzy at times, but her singing and kisses make up for it. This first picture was taked right after she was born. The nurses were still wiping her down. She was really purple becuase she had the cord wrapped around her neck and tangled around her body. Her color came pretty fast though, so it was not too scary. They layed her on my chest and she stayed there for 2.5 hours. They did not weigh her or anything...it was some nice bonding time, but it got a little long to be honest because Phil left to go pick up Jessie and my mom and I still had the stuff in my back from the epidural, so I was getting a little sore....(apparently right after I gave birth a girl came in who was only 30 weeks pregnant, so all the nurses where in helping with her. Luckily she had a healthy (for 10 weeks premature) baby boy, who was wisked to Oahu for better medical care.) Anyway, the whole experience was great, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this hospital here in Waimea...my nurse was awesome!!!

Phil and I were both born with very, very light hair, so I am not sure where the dark hair came from. I was surprised when Jessie was born with red hair, but even more surprised when Izzy was born with such dark hair....I love it though....Jessie said that she looks like mommy and Izzy looks like daddy...(based on hair color of course!) Her skin tone is much darker than mine...I hope she still gets a few freckles though...I just love freckles on little girls! :)

Sewing Projects

2011-10-11T15:33:00.001-07:00

My new favorite website is sew4home.com. They have great tutorials on easy, and some not so easy, projects. I found it when I was looking for cute material for crib bedding. It also had a tutorial on how to make the crib bedding. So, I am making crib bedding. So far I have finished the bed skirt. I still have the crib bumpers and I am going to tie a quilt. I think the bed skirt would be cuter if my crib was white and I am thinking about painting it, Except that I have a lot to do in the next 5 weeks. :) Maybe I will talk Phil into doing that for me!

In my quilting class, we learned how to make pillow cases...yes I know nothing to do with quilting, but the ladies thought it would be a good skill for me to have since I have little kids...the ladies in the classs are so awesome. So I made this cute pillow case in an hour. I could not believe how easy and cute it turned out. Jessie picked out the Hello Kitty material and was really excited to sleep with it last night.

Again I found this cute trick-or-treat bag on sew4home.com. It was surprisingly easy. It cost me $10 for the material and supplies, but I have enough material to make at least 3 more...so i thought it was a pretty good deal. Plus it was really fun to make. I am really surprised at how much I am enjoying sewing.
Isn't Jessie the cutest little model?!?
So next on my list is a cover and pillow for the Chase we bought at the thrift store, crib bumpers, tied quilt, and hooded towels for craft show(we are making 40, but I have help from a friend) And only 5 weeks to get it done....:)

Apartment Finished

2011-10-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

So we have been in our house for 1 year, and we just finished the apartment. I had to bribe Phil to get it done. He got a new shot gun out of the whole thing. :) It has been nice that it was unfinished because we were able to use it for visiting family and friends, but we are glad it is done and rented out. It really helps pay the mortgage! :) So here are the pictures of the finished project. Phil really did a great job on everything!

Here is the front room/kitchen area.

Bathroom
bedroom
Other side of the bedroom
Kitchen

Best Friend Ever!

2011-09-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight as I was putting Jessie to bed we were talking about what we had done today. We talked about shopping in town and watching Dora and playing outside and reading books and taking daddy to the airport so he can go work. This last one is getting pretty common unfortunately, but it is so cute to hear Jessie tell her dad, see ya in a couple of days! Anyway, as we were talking about taking daddy to the airport, Jessie says, "Daddy best friend ever!" It just warmed my heart, and if you see the way he plays with her you can see why she would say that! He is so patient and kind! He teaches her so much that I would never have thought to teach her...like to love little critters (skinks, bugs, worms, gecko's, frogs, etc.) and he talks about what animals we eat and do not eat. He teaches her about the things that he loves. The other day she was off playing by herself and she comes up to Phil and I and says, " my cow, i shoot him with my gun." Phil has been hunting a bit lately and brought home a pig that he shot, and he of course talked to Jessie about hunting. I am so lucky to have such a great man, and Jessie is so lucky to have such a great daddy!

My latest projects

2011-08-26T12:37:00.001-07:00

So call it nesting if you want, but I have been driven by projects lately! I think it is because Phil has been spending a little more time on Oahu again and I am just trying to keep myself busy so I do not get depressed about being alone! :) I have taken up a Hawaiian Quilting class. They have a non profit organization here in Waimea called Tutu's house (grandma's house) where they offer different classes to the community, all of which are absolutely free. They have yoga, guitar, knitting, Hawaiian quilting, tumbling for little kids, ukulele, etc. Anyway, I decided to go to the HAwaiian quilting class, which meets once a week for a few hours. I am the youngest there by about 40 years or so, and I love it. I really enjoy listening to the girls talk and tell stories . Most of them come from different parts of the U.S. and have some really neat experiences. Anyway, I am learning slowly but surely how to quilt HAwaiian style and boy does it take patience! :)

I also decided that I need to knit Izzy(our not yet born baby:) a blanket since I did one for Jessie...so I am working on that. I also thought that becasue we own our own home now, I really should make Jessie and Izzy's room the cutest possible, so i thought I would make some crib bedding for Izzy. I wanted to make it gender neutral since we are hoping to have a boy someday, so I spent days on the computer looking for just the right fabric...I ordered it and am waiting for it to come in the mail. I will post pictures of it when it comes. Along with pictures of the process. I am sure it will be interesting...I am not sure what made me think that I am capable of such a task, but I have a seam ripper, so I can always try again...as long as I cut it out correctly. :) Anyway, Phil says that I need to be careful not to get too many projects goiing at once, but I think it may be a little late for that.

There are quite a few girls in our ward that are pregnant right now and so lots of showers to go to. :) I decided that I wanted to do something a little diferent as gifts, so I decided to make hooded towels. I made a lady bug hooded towel with my sister MaryBeth before Jessie was born...actually she made it while i watched and contributed here and there. Anyway, I still have a few to make but I am pretty pleased how they turned out. I am thinking about making a bunch and selling them at the Holiday craft fair in December...I have a few other ideas for different characters. We will see how it goes. :)

This Hello Kitty towel is one of my favorites. Jessie loved it and was sad that we had to give it away. :)

The last 2 months

2011-08-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

This summer has gone by quickly! Although we did not get to go anywhere for vacation, we got to have family come and visit, and we kept ourselves pretty busy! Here is some of what we did this summer....not necessarily in this order.

Here we are mid July, and you can see my well pronounced baby bump already! It is a bit bigger these days.

Phils brother, Jeff, and his family came to visit us for a week. This was the first of many visit we hope!!! It was really so much fun to have them stay with us and Phil took off work the entire time they were here, so it was a little vacation for us too!!!
Phil and Jessie danced a lot this summer...and Jessie loved it!...Phil did too I am sure!
Josh, our nephew, stayed with us for a whole month. It was a lot of fun to get to know him. Phil enjoyed working Josh to the bone. Jessie still asks about "my Josh".
We did lots of swimming...especially Phil and Jessie...and Jessie is getting more and more brave in the water.
Jessie took lots of bubble baths because she got really dirty each day helping dad "move rocks".

We celebrated Phil's birthday...which Jessie enjoyed because daddy spoils her and got her a couple of gifts too.
She blew out these candles about 5 or 6 times...again Phil really spoils her sometimes.
Jessie had lots of play dates with friends. this is our neighbor Micah.
We hiked a lot which resulted in a lot of water breaks like this one. Jessie absolutely loves hiking and she is really good at it...seriously...the girl has her daddy's stamina when it comes to hiking. And she usually does it barefoot like in this picture. She is awesome!!!

IT'S A........

2011-07-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Girl!?????? Even though we got our ultrasound today, our hospital here is weird and the ultrasound tech will not "diagnose" the gender because technically they are not qualified....so we have to wait until they give word to my doctor, and then I have to call my doctor on Friday to get the official word. However, I talked the lady into printing us a gender shot...not the best, but we think it is good enough to determine that it is a girl! :) What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

To orient yourself with this shot, we are looking at her bottom on the right. the white long thing at the top of the picture is the baby's left femur.

Looks like she is sucking her thumb.

Her feet!
Her face...her eye is a little crazy looking. :)

Already?

2011-07-04T11:26:00.001-07:00

This was my conversation with Jessie last night as we were watching some tv as a family.

Jessie: whats that mommy? (pointing to the tv)

me: those are people walking.

jessie: whats that mommy?

me: they are still walking honey.

Jessie:Whats that mommy?

me: Now they are standing and talking.

Jessie:Whats that mommy?

me: um it is a car driving on the road.

get the idea? I think she just wanted to have a conversation with me because most of what she was asking she really already knew. This went on for awhile and I was running out of answers...finally i told her to go ask daddy! That was the best answer ever! :) i did not know that these questions started so early. it was pretty funny! She is such a sweet little girl!

Projects, Projects, Projects

2011-06-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

We were pretty busy today! Phil and Josh were busy digging a trench for the rock retaining wall they are going to build. It was a hot day, and I was really glad I was busy inside and did not have to help. This is our property line and we are quite a bit higher than the property beside us, so we decided to build a retaining wall and then put up a fence on top of it for privacy. It will maximize our property area, and it will look a lot nicer.

These are some of the rocks for the rock wall. They will be building 117 feet of rock wall. Yikes! I am glad Phil's nephew Josh is here to help out!
This is Josh. He lives in Utah, but for the next month he will be living with us. It is fun to have him here. Jessie really loves him, and Phil really enjoys the company while he is working.
Jessie kept herself busy playing in the sand pile with Josh and daddy worked. She loves to play hard and get good and dirty.

This is what I did while they were outside working...I think they turned out pretty well. I made the Hawaiian print ones...and bought the sheer ones at Ross.

I have to admit, they are a bit Hawaii vacation rental like, but I really liked the print and it matches our paint really well.
This was the big project a couple of weekends ago. I realize it is a little late to be putting in a garden, but that is one of the great things about living in Hawaii...the growing season is year round! This year we went down to the macadamia nut factory and got a couple truck loads of husks to mix in with our dirt. Our soil here is naturally very hydrophobic, so the added husks really helped retain water. I do not think they will help much with nutrients this year, but once they decompose a little, it will be great for the garden. we also spent a lot of time getting rocks out of the garden. Phil rented a jack hammer for a few really large ones. He also renting a rototiller which turned up a ton of rocks. I swear we have more rocks in our garden than a gravel pit. I guess that is what we get for building on a volcano! :)
These little guys found their way into the garden, but could not find their way out. Jessie really likes to run after them and chase them out of the yard or garden. It is pretty cute!

Jessie's Discovery

2011-06-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Jessie that was taken at the beach by my father in law and then painted onto canvas by my mother in law. I LOVE IT! I wish I were as talented as my mother-in-law. I am not an art critic, but I think it captured Jessie perfectly. It even tells of her personality a little. Jessie saw this picture on the computer and pointed and said, Jessie...got it! Thank you so much mom for sending this to us, it is perfect! :)

Busy Day

2011-06-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

First, I weeded our herb garden which was much needed and I planted a couple extra herbs to fill in the gap. While I was doing this,

Phil was making this toddler bed for Jessie. Jessie really enjoyed helping daddy!

Then after lunch , Jessie had a nap and Phil dug some holes so I could plant these pretty hibiscus, that will eventually grow into a hedge.

Then while Phil was working on building cabinets, I started to paint the toddler bed. I am not a very fast painter, but I think that it turned out pretty darn cute!

JEssie really loves it and just wants to play with it. She is pretty excited to sleep in it tonight...we will see how she does, since she can get in and out herself. At least she has not figured out how to open doors yet, but if she does, we put the lock on the outside of her room to keep her in there.

Oh yes and while i was painting, and Phil and Jessie planted some mint.

Memorial day--Fun in the Sun

2011-05-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

It was such a beautiful day on Memorial Day. It was the first day that the wind was not blowing like crazy, and Phil was home, so we got to go to the beach together. It was a lot of fun. After playing in the water for awhile, Phil and I were laying on our towels and Jessie was playing with her sand toys. After a few minutes, Jessie comes up and says daddy, play with you (in her own little words that took us a while to decipher) It was so sweet, and Jessie did not let Phil rest for more than a few minutes. She sure loves her daddy! It is amazing how much happier and all around better mood she is in when he is home. It is hard on both of us when he travels for work, but I guess it makes the times he is home more sweet!

Birthday party at home

2011-05-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

When Phil got home from Oahu, we had an official birthday party with homemade cake, presents, a few friends and everything!

Fingerpaints

YUM!

I was pretty proud of this cake because it is my first attempt at something visually creative in the kitchen...:)

Honolulu Zoo

2011-05-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

While on Oahu, me and Jessie were able to go to the zoo with my friend Matti and her 2 cute kids. It was a long day and as you can see the kids were pretty wasted by the time we were on our way home. We have a zoo here on Big Island, but it is pretty small and only has small animals and a Bengal Tiger, so it was a treat to go to a zoo with some big animals.

We rounded a corner and came in contact with this guy. While I was taking this picture the peacock noticed that all the kids were eating crackers, and he wanted some. It was a little scary because these buggers can get mean. We threw a cracker at him and got the heck out of there! :)

Chuck E Cheese Birthday

2011-05-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Phil was working on Oahu during Jessie's birthday, so me and Jessie took a little trip to Oahu. While there we had a mini celebration at Chuck -E- Cheese's. Jessie had a blast with a few of her friends. Chuck even came to sing Jessie happy birthday, but I was too busy recording it to take any pictures. Jessie was not too sure of Chuck, but she reluctantly gave him a high five. :)

I bought her birthday cake, since we were on Oahu and I did not have a kitchen.

Easters

2011-05-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

Jessie LOVED Easter this year and kept asking for it all week the following week! :) I also thought it was pretty funny that she called it Easters....I was not aware that Easter was plural! :)

Dying Easter Eggs

My youngest sister, Katie, graduated from BYU-Hawaii in April. Biochemistry...smarty pants!

Early April

2011-05-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

So I have been pretty sick my first trimester, but it seems that I am pretty much out of the woods, cause I have been feeling fairly well the last week. YAY!!! Anyway, I have quite a bit of catching up to do. The following pictures are when Uncle Bear and Auntie Amanda came out to visit. Jessie absolutely LOVED uncle Bear!!!

Pololu Valley Hike

Hapuna Beach

Pregnant

2011-05-05T17:31:00.001-07:00

I can finally feel good about announcing that I am pregnant. I am 12 weeks along, and I heard the heartbeat today. I feel much less anxious now. I am due November 18th, the weekend before Thanksgiving. The best part about that, is I should have my appetite back just in time for my mom's yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Yes she will be here and she is doing Thanksgiving! :) Great timing if you ask me! Only 28 more weeks to go! :)

Potty trained!

2011-04-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

23 months old and potty trained. She is awesome!! It only took her a little over a day, which I attribute to a book I read, "Toilet training in Less than a Day". It would have taken her less than a day, but we got started late and i broke a rule by letting her take a much needed nap, which interrupted the program. Seriously though, the program is awesome, Jessie does everything herself except for turning on the light. She is a rock star and I am so lucky to be her mom!

Cousins

2011-01-11T16:07:00.001-08:00

Because Jessie was so sick for a lot of the time we were in Utah and Idaho, I did not take as many pictures as I should have. So here are the pictures that I did get of her with her cousins. She had so much fun playing with them...i just wish we had cousins that lived close.

Bath Time
My sister Jill and 2 of her children. They have Ponies and Jessie was in Heaven!

Watching a movie with Jake.

Temple Square

2011-01-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

While in Utah, we spent family home evening with Phil's sister Kendra and her family. We went to Temple Square to see all the lights. It was cold, but we had a great time.

This is Phil and Jessie with our nieces Missy on the left and Lindsey on the right.

The tree in the Joseph Smith Building.
Jessie absolutely LOVED Nick...he is a baby magnet! :)
Jessie all bundled up with Phil. She kept saying "cold, cold" which sounded more like cowd, cowd. so cute.
Charlie's Angels.
The lights on Temple Square were so pretty. It is amazing just how thoroughly they light up those trees.

What a great Family Evening!

TROUBLE

2011-01-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

While staying with my sister MaryBeth in Tooele, Jessie found the bucket of flour. We were all down watching a movie, including Jessie (we thought). When I realized she was not down there, phil went looking for her. We heard Phil laughing and then call down to us that we need to come up and see this. We could not really scold her too much because it would not have been nearly as bad if we had been keeping a closer eye on her.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-08T21:41:00.001-08:00

Our niece Melissa and her cousin Ryan singing Christmas carols.

Phils brother Zak and his girlfriend Serena.
Our Brother-in-law Allen and his mother Karen Holton.
Phil, his mom, and his brother Jeff.
Our sister-in-law Kim and Whitney our niece.
These are the only pictures that I took cause I was busy most of the day and evening with a sick baby, and Phil does not really take pictures unless I ask him too, and obviously I did not ask. :( I wish I had though.

Pennsylvania

2011-01-08T21:34:00.001-08:00

This is at Christmas Land at Kraynaks. Kraynaks is a garden and home center. Every year they have a huge display for Christmas and for Easter. It was fun to take Jessie. She was watching everything pretty closely.

Phil and Jessie playing in the fall leaves. We were a little late to see all the beautiful colors, but there were still a few trees that were bright and beautiful.

My little Amish baby. She did not really like the bonnet, so this was the best picture i got of her with it on.

Steelers Game

2011-01-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

Being from western Pennsylvania, my family is obviously Steelers fans, so while we were in Pa, my sister got us steelers tickets for Christmas. It was such a blast and a really cool experience to be at the game.

After the game we posed for one last picture.
My sister who lives in Pittsburgh dropped us off and we walked a short distance to Heinz Field.
My sister, Suzy, painted my face and my nephew Bary's face, and I painted Phils. It was the first time I have ever painted my face, and it was a bugger to get off...but it was worth it.
Lil' Bary and our friend Lisa. (Little Bary is not little by any means, but I have called him that since I can remember because his dad, my brother, is also named bary, so we all call him little bary so no one gets confused.:))

Ahhh it was so much fun...too bad we lost....dang patriots.

.

Brandy's Wedding

2011-01-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

My best friend Brandy got married November 13, and she asked me to be in it, so Phil and I got to go back to Pennsylvania. We had a lot of fun!

Me and Brandy before the ceremony.

The Bride and Bridesmaids on the way to the chapel to get ready.

We all went to the salon to get our hair done, the morning of the wedding. They had a nice lite breakfast for us there.

Funny

2011-01-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

I laugh at myself when I think that I tried to post 30 days in a row. What a joke. I have finally downloaded some pictures though, so I will post some of them.

Day 10: Songs you listen to when you're bored, happy, sad, mad, hyped.

2010-12-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

Bored: Country...any country...i turn on Pandora and listen to country...i love it...old and new country!

Happy: 80's music...CHER on Pandora. AWESOME station. it makes me reminisce my childhood and teenage years. I was surprised that I knew pretty much every song that played...i might just turn that station on right now.

Sad: Hope Floats soundtrack. Lets just say it does not make me feel any better, but it is what my mood wants. :)

Mad: not really sure...

Hyped: Bon Jovi...especially "Shot Through the Heart" and "Livin' on a Prayer" It reminds me of my bro Kip and when we were younger...Metalica also has some great hyped songs.

Day 9: Something you are Proud of in the last few days.

2010-12-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went shopping and got some really awesome deals...at least for Hawaii.

canned corn and green beans 50 cents each.

cream of chicken soup 79 cents each

jimmy dean sausage BOGO...$3 each (very good deal here)

I can not remember the other deals, but I was pretty happy...i might even go back today and get some more. :)

Day 8: Short Term Goals for this Month and when you'll accomplish them.

2010-12-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

Short term goals:

1. unpack all boxes

2. Finish my curtains for the kitchen.

I will complete them by the end of the month...well maybe the middle of January...I think that is a little more realistic with the holidays coming up.

Day 7: A picture of someone or something that has the biggest impact on you.

2010-12-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Right now in my life this little 25 lb squirt has the biggest impact on me. She has blessed my life immensely as I have been able to stay home with her everyday. This little person has the ability to make me feel some of the most extreme feelings. For instance when we had a war of stubbornness yesterday during dinner. She sat in her high chair for nearly 2 hours until she finally took a bite of her dinner...then of course she ate almost the whole bowl of chile. It was one of the most frustrating hours of my life. Then about 30 minutes later while I was laying on the couch, she came and snuggled with me for about 15 minutes just laying with me. I could not have felt happier. Then this evening when I turned on some music and she put on her santa hat that covered her eyes and started dancing. I could not stop myself from giggling a little. On a

daily basis, she makes me feel pure joy, pure frustration, sometimes scares me half to death. She makes me so proud and she is not even 2 yet. Yes, she definitely impacts my life the most...at least for now. :)

Day 6: Favorite Super hero

2010-12-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

I do not have a favorite super hero...i really don't... never have and most likely never will...and I am ok with that.

Day 5: Picture of Somewhere You've been

2010-12-15T15:48:00.000-08:00

THAILAND

one of my favorite places. I love the food, the people, and everything about it. Phil and I have gone 2 times, and would love to go again....and again.

These are pictures from the first time we went and we went with some friends of ours. It was a blast. The pictures are from an elephant safari. FUN!

This one is a beach on a little island Koh Tao in Southern Thailand.
Villiage in Northern Thailand jungle. Yes, that is the entire village.

This is a Buddhist Temple in Chang Mai. (sorry for the sideways pictures...i do not know how to edit them once they are on here.

Day 4: A Habit I wish I did not have

2010-12-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

That is easy.

Picking...I know gross right?!? I have actually gotten a lot better, but I have scars on my legs and arms from when I was little.

It is worse when I am concentrating...I will pick without even realizing that I am doing it. The worst part now is that Jessie is a picker. When she is sleepy she will pick at her eyelashes or her lips. I am always telling her to stop. Hopefully she will break the habit before I did!

Day 3: A picture of you and your friends

2010-12-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

oops I forgot yesterday, so I will double up today.

Besides my husband and daughter, my very best friends are my sisters. I HAVE 5 AWESOME SISTERS! Seriously they are the greatest, they are so great that I am going to tell you about each of them.

So starting from the left:

Elizabeth- This sister is just 15 months older than me. She lives in California and has 4 gorgeous kids. Her kids always look awesome! complete with bows in their hair (the girls anyway), which Elizabeth makes. She is really crafty, which is great, cause I can get some fun ideas. She is really competitive at games which makes it really fun to play with her. She has a silly side which I love.

Jill -This sister is younger than me, but much wiser! Seriously she is an old soul I think. She is the most sweet, sincere, loving and pure person I know. I got to spend a week with her and her cute little family last month and I just loved the time I spent with her. I did learn that she has a bit of a sassy side...but only to her awesome husband. :)

Katie- Katie is the baby of the family and probably one of the most fun people to hang out with. She is very fashionable and cute. She is always making up names for everyone. For instance, she gave me a nickname just a few years ago...Ren...I love it. When we were little we used to be best buddies, complete with a secret hand shake thing. Katie is also really really smart and will be graduating college in April with a degree in BioChemistry.

MaryBeth-MaryBeth is the oldest sister. She is the most beautiful of us all....everyone says we look like twins. :) Seriously though we have been asked on several occasions if we were twins...which she loves because she is almost 10 years older than me. I love it too, because she really is beautiful as you can see. I am the most like MaryBeth and weirdly our husbands are freakishly alike. It makes it a lot of fun to spend time with them. MaryBeth is really sweet and really good at including everyone. She does the best manicures and pedicures complete with cute little flowers.

Suzy-Suzy is the athlete of the family. We are all pretty athletic, but Suzy makes us look like a bunch of couch potatoes. She must completed an iron man in May and has a ton of athletic records from high school. She played college basketball and track, and is now a college basketball coach. Suzy is the type of person that would give you the shirt off her back if you were in need. She is amazingly giving. She is also the best Aunt in the world. It is not fair to the rest of us Aunts, because she spoils the nieces and nephews so bad. they all LOVE her!

This is the baby sister, Katie's, wedding.

This is only a little piece of what my sisters are like. I am so blessed to have them in my life. I just wish I could see them all a little more often.

Day 2: Meaning Behind Blog Name.

2010-12-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well I think our blog name is pretty self explanatory. Maybe I should be creative and change it to something fun or interesting or clever. Most likely I will not and it will forever be the Heileson Family Blog. I am ok with that.

Day 1: Recent Picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

2010-12-11T16:08:00.002-08:00

1. I have run 2 marathons and would like to get back into running and run more.

2. I do not really like to spend time by myself. I prefer to be with family or friends. I guess I bore myself. Maybe I should work on this.

3. I am proud of my passport which includes stamps from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Thailand, Nepal, India, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece. I would really like to add more stamps!

4. I have never dyed or highlighted my hair, and I do not plan to until I am more gray that red.

5. I enjoy decorating, but I really am not very good at it, so I either do not even try, or I scrap the project once it is done because I do not like it. I do enjoy the process though.

6. When I was in high school I wanted to be a cardiologist. I still think it would be awesome, but not conducive to raising a family which I want even more.

7. I love vinegar. Vinegar on pretty much anything is great, and sometimes, I will just take a swig of vinegar because I like it!

8. I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan!

9. We really do not have many pictures of me because I am usually the one behind the camera.

10. I LOVE to cook and I am pretty good at it. Unfortunately the way I like to cook is kind of expensive.

11. I have all my future childrens' names picked out and have had them picked out for quite some time. :)

12. I love being pregnant! Everything about it; they way i look, the way I feel (most of the time) the whole labor and delivery. I loved it and my husband often told me to stop rubbing my belly.

13. I hate to clean. When I do clean, I am way too thorough, and it takes me about 2 hours just to clean a bathroom. That is probably why I hate it.

14. I love all food. Really there are only a couple of things that I have tried that I do not care for...olives (although i will eat them) and liver (which i will not eat...i can not even stand the smell of it,)

15. I had a pretty hard time thinking of 15 interesting things...as a matter of fact, I think that the interesting part is debatable.

30 Day Challenge

2010-12-11T16:08:00.001-08:00

30 Day Challenge

Each day of the month, write a blog post according to these guidelines below:

Day 1-Recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 2-The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 3-A picture of you and your friends
Day 4-A habit that you wish you didn't have
Day 5-A picture of somewhere you've been to
Day 6-Favorite super hero and why
Day 7-A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 8-Short term goals for this month and when you'll accomplish them
Day 9-Something you're proud of in the past few days
Day 10-Songs you listen to when you're bored, happy, sad, mad, hyped
Day 11-Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12-How you found out about blogger and why you have one
Day 13-A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14-'A picture of you and your family
Day 15-Put your ipod or shuffle on-first 10 songs that play
Day 16-Another picture of yourself
Day 17-Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18-Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19-Nicknames you have and why you have them
Day 20-Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future
Day 21-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22-What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23-Something you crave for a lot
Day 24-A letter to your parents
Day 25-What I would find in your bag
Day 26-What do you think about your friends
Day 27-Why you are doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28-A picture of you from last year and now-how have you changed?
Day 29-In this past month, what have you learned?
Day 30-Your favorite song

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the pumpkin patch last weekend, and then carving pumpkins with some friends for family home evening. We had a great time, and it was my first time carving pumpkins EVER. Mine is the one with the witch.

I love her so much!

2010-10-28T17:11:00.001-07:00

She loves wearing hats and shoes and carrying around purses. Phil took this picture this morning while i was working out. When I came home, she was in the window waving with this exact same smile. Seriously I am one lucky gal to have such a wonderful little girl.

New House

2010-10-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

We are finally moved into the new house. Here are a few pictures..but of course not the most recent.

Part of the master bath...unfinished

Apartment shower...almost finished in the picture, but finished in real life!

Jessie's bathroom

Phil and his dad (mostly dad) gathered , dried, stripped, sanded(a lot), drilled holes into, fit spindles and rails and posts into each other and worked lots and lots of hours on this ohia wood railing. I must say that the hard work paid off because it is absolutely gorgeous...and everyone that see's it comments about how beautiful it is. Thanks dad! It takes some serious talent to do what you did!

My Kitchen..I LOVE IT! there is so much space that i have a place for everything. I feel like a chef in my kitchen!

Jessie "helping" grandpa sand the ohia..

Granite for the laundry room

Jessie's huckleberry room!

kitchen paint

Phil and I laid almost all the tile in our house, except for the apartment. We had some great friends come and help out with that. Phil's brother Jeff and my nephew Levi helped grout some, but i was the queen of grout and I had the hands to prove it. Grout is really hard on the hands and I had sores on them for over a week until i finally went out and spent $3 on some rubber gloves.

Trip To Utah

2010-09-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

This trip was back in June. We had a great time, but wish that Phil was able to come with us. While in Utah my grandma got really sick and they thought she was going to die, so we (all of my 11 brothers and sisters except 1 whose wife was about to have a baby) decided to go to PA and see her. Fortunately Grandma got better because she is a stubborn old woman who refuses to die :)...not that we want her to die...you know what I am saying. Anyway, the pictures are not in order, and there are a lot of them.

Uncle Jon was sharing his corn with Jessie, but she finally decided to get her own!

Thanks Aunt Beth for the ice cream sandwich!

My first popcycle.

My nieces Lindsey, myself and Missy at the opening night, first showing of Eclipse! We had a great time.

The whole time we were at the Holtons, Jessie loved pushing this bin all around the house. She loved when Jonathon would chase her!

At the park.

Aquarium in Cabela's.

Jessie and Jessie. They were both so confused everytime we would say the name Jessie. My Jessie really loved the dog Jessie, and the dog Jessie was very tolerant of my Jessie. See how confusing it is, now imagine being a 1 year old, or a dog! :)

My grandmas farm in Pennsylvania. Growing up we used to come here and we loved playing around the barns. This is where my mom grew up.

Jessie and Uncle Kip. This is where Jessie gets her dimples!

There were so many people at my moms house that we decided to go swimming on Saturday night and take along the shampoo and soap to wash up all the kids for Sunday. I must say that it worked quite well, and we did not run out of water on Sunday morning.

Jessie got into the redvines on the way to PA.

The drive to PA was long, but all the kids did soooo great!

Jessie was playing with Duggans hair and giggling! His hair was sooo soft! OF course Duggan enjoyed it as long as Jessie did not pull!

Me and MaryBeth, my sister. Jon watched Jessie over night and us girls got "away". :) We had a great time.

The Zoo in Utah

Baby Ollie

Jessie loves trampolines!

Blogger slacker

2010-08-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

I am a huge slacker lately when it comes to blogging, family websites, facebook, e mail, etc. We have been crazy busy working on the house. Jessie and I made a trip to Utah in June, and a surprise trip to Pennsylvania because grandma was sick, and then back to Utah for another week. It was a ton of fun and I have lots of pictures to post, but first, I promised to post updated pictures of our house and all the progress. Unfortunately the pictures are already outdated, but they show progress. I need to take some more pictures of all the awesome painting we have been doing the last few days. Anyway, Phil is on Oahu for work, so I should have a little extra time to do some blogging.

I helped Phil mud and tape the drywall. It was fun to learn, but I am so glad that it is finished. I do not want to do it again for a very long time. During the process, there were buckets of "junk" mud. Jessie found one and had a blast playing with it. She started with just her fingers, then her whole hands, and then...well the pictures speak for themselves.

She was having so much fun, and the mud is harmless to her and her clothes, so we just let her play. She was not happy to be hosed off before getting in the car though. :)

All the drywall is hung, but this is before we started mudding and taping.....ahhhh so much work! I have so much more respect for those who do this for a living.

The outside is completely painted.
WE even have a little bit of a lawn! We enjoy sitting on the lawn while eating lunch. :)

Beach Baby

2010-05-21T18:52:00.001-07:00

I am going to attempt to catch up my blog in the next few days since it has been almost a month since I have posted. We have spent a lot of days at the beach lately, and I actually remembered my camera for most of them. Here are just a few of the pictures I took of my cute little beach bum!

IRON WOMEN!!!

2010-04-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I just have to post about my sister, Suzy and my best friend Angie, who are about to become IRON WOMEN! They are both participating in the St. George Ironman Triathlon this Saturday! I am so proud of them both and wish that I could be there to cheer them on! Good luck girls!!!

My best friend Angie and part of her cute family!

Me and Anj after the Great Aloha Run!

Katie and Suzy starting a hike.

Suzy and Jill cruzin!

Some new posts

2010-04-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

I have been negligent in posting to the blog. I posted 3 new ones (this makes 4) and there are some pretty cute pictures, so make sure you look at them all. I know that I posted too many pictures, but I just can not choose which ones are better. :)

Easter

2010-04-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

My camera died after just 3 pictures. I took more on dad's camera, so I will have to post them later. Jessie was definitely excited to find her Easter basket under the coffee table.

A few firsts

2010-04-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

Jessie's first bruise...she did not fuss hardly at all. :)

First pig tails. It took me forever to get it done, because she does not have much patience...plus this was also a first from me, so it was a little difficult for me.

First time I found her in the cupboards.

She was very proud of herself.

First time at a black sand beach.

Big stick!

Checking the rocks.

Uncle Zak and Mike getting ready to go snorkeling.

The Zoo

2010-04-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

One of our friends had their sons birthday party at the zoo. Our zoo is small, but it is free, so it was a great time!

Jessie missed her morning nap and it was time for her afternoon nap. She loved the zoo, but it was obviously exhausting! :) Phil was not able to come, so it was hard to take pictures. Her favorite was the tiger, which was moving a lot, so she was super excited.

Jessie and her girl friends. All within 2 months of age. When she is not so tired, she loves to watch and play with them.

The petting zoo. She loved looking at the animals, but were pretty hesitant to touch them.

Pretty

2010-03-20T21:57:00.003-07:00

I say pretty a lot! In my previous post, I wrote it 5 times. That is pretty silly! :)

Opihi Picking

2010-03-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

WE went opihi picking for the first time and got quite a turn out. They were a little tough, but pretty tasty!!!

Here is Jessie begging for a drink...even though she had her own. You would think I never feed her the way she acts when she sees someone has food or drink. Even if she does not know them, she goes up and starts begging, or helping herself if she can! :)

She can stand really well, but has not got up the nerve to take that first step.

Oops, my eyes are closed. Still a good pic of me and my bestest!

These next couple were just too cute not to post! :)

We took Jessie to the park for the first time on Saturday. As you can see from the pictures, she absolutely loved it!

I love the face she is making in this picture.

Wild hair. I forgot her hat at the beach today, so we had to put sunscreen on her head, her hair was pretty amazing! And look at all those teeth.

Today at the beach she got sunscreen in her eye and so it was red and watering pretty bad. She is also teething, so she is drooling like a hungry dog and has a runny nose. If she was not smiling and having a great time she would have looked pretty pathetic. It was pretty funny.

Just some pictures

2010-03-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

We went down to south point (the southern most point of the United States), this is a hole in the lava that people jump into, and then there is a tunnel/cave that leads out to the ocean. It made me get butterflies just thinking about jumping in there, but I am definitely going to bring Katie when she comes in April so we can jump in there together. :)

Jessie loves to play with these sound canceling head phones. Phil uses them when he is cutting granite or tile.

It is easier to just let her tear it all apart and then clean up during her nap then to try to keep her away from the shoe rack and dvd's. Plus after she destroys the area in record speed, she usually spends some time playing with it, so that is a good time for me to do other things and only keep one eye on her. :)

I thought I lived in Hawaii!!!

2010-03-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

So last night I turned on the heater in my car for the first time in Hawaii because I was so cold. Then when I got home I took a long HOT shower, and turned on the heater in our bedroom! I am not sure how cold it actually got last night, but right now at 9 am it is 54 degrees outside. Yes I live at 2500 ft. but still, it is Hawaii for crying out loud. I know, I know, those of you on the mainland have had a hard winter, but for my light weight (not literally, unfortunately) self, this is cold, and if you lived in Hawaii, you would agree. I have been in the islands for over 8 years now and I am a total sissy when it comes to cold. Oh and by the way, there is snow on the mountain here!

Beach balls and Letters

2010-02-23T12:12:00.001-08:00

Jessie really likes trying to bite the beach ball...it was pretty funny. Before I took this she was trying to figure out how to pick it up with just one hand. That was hilarious and she was getting a little frustrated because it kept rolling away, but she finally figured it out on her own that she needed two hands for this bad boy. :)

Jessie never sits on her bum. She always sits like this..almost like she is ready to get out of there in a moments notice. It is pretty cute.

Phil dug a little pool for Jessie in the sand. She loved it because it is much more calm than the ocean. She is a bit weary of the waves coming in and getting her. It is cute to watch though.

Phils dad insisted that he was just resting his eyes, but I am not buying it. :) It was about 5 pm and the perfect temperature!

Got these at wal-mart for a dollar....best investment I have EVER made. Jessie will sit and play with them for a half hour at a time, which for a 10 month old is amazing. I had to help her put them back on the fridge the first few times, but she is getting the hang of it.

Whale Watching

2010-02-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

We went out on the boat on Monday. Phil and his dad went out early fishing, and then they picked up Katie, Jessie and me at around noon. We had lunch, did some bottom fishing (we caught 3 which we ate for dinner), and watched for whales. We saw a ton of whales breaching, but the best was when we where sitting still while bottom fishing and they popped up about 200 yards away. There were at least 4 of them, and they got closer and closer and closer. Unfortunately we were drifting towards the shore pretty fast, so we had to start up the engine and get out of there, before we washed up on the rocks. When we started the engine, it spooked them and they went right up to this other boat which was anchored. They had a few people in the water snorkeling, and I was really jealous that I had not thought to bring a mask and snorkel. Anyway, the whales got to about 100 meters away from us and it was so neat. We could here them blowing water, which was really cool. I am definitely going to take a mask and goggles the next time we go out.

By the way, I did not get any pictures because the boat was rockin pretty good and it made me sick to try to focus on one thing through the camera, so sorry, if you want to see the whales, you are going to have to come visit us between January and April. :)

Jessie loves being on the boat, especially when she is feeling sleepy...Katie put her right to sleep there on the front of the boat.

See my teeth?

2010-02-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

Jessie has 3 teeth and three more on their way. Besides slobbering profusely from the mouth, she has been pretty good while teething.

Jessie loves to play with Phil's hats...although sometimes I think they might make her hair fall out because they are so dirty and grimey. :)( it is his work hat)

Ohia and Lehua

2010-02-10T12:53:00.001-08:00

Jessie's middle name is Lehualani meaning Heavenly flower , or flowers of Heaven. Lehua (flower of the Ohi'a tree) and lani (heavenly). We knew this before we named her, and up until a few days before she was born, it was just Lehua...but we added the lani because I thought it was pretty and I liked the meaning. ANYWAY, we knew the meaning behind Lehua, but not the story. Well, I just read about this Hawaiian Legend behind the Lehua Flower, and I liked it, so I thought I would share.

According to legend, Ohi'a was a young, handsome Big Island chief. The volcano goddess Pele knew that Ohi'a was courting a beautiful young girl named Lehua. Pele became enamored with Ohi'a and desired him for a husband. One day Ohi'a went up into the mountains to cut kukui bark to stain his surfboard, Pele appeared to him. She was dressed in her finest clothes and was quite striking. After a time, she announced to Ohi'a who she was and asked him to be her husband. Nervously but very diplomatically, he turned her down, professing his eternal love for Lehua. In her anger, Pele told him he was as gutless as a piece of weed, and changed him into a gnarled tree with grey-green leaves. When the other gods saw what Pele had done, they felt bad and tried to reverse it, but failed. The best they could do to reunite the broken-hearted lehua with her beloved Ohi'a was to turn Lehua into a beautiful blossom on the same tree. To this day, it is said that picking a lehua blossom off an ohi'a tree will produce rain. These are the tears from heaven for separated lovers everywhere.

Lehua Blossom

Ohia Tree with Lehua blossoms

Ohi'a trees are one of the first plants that will grow on volcanic rock....as you can see, there are really no other plants around.

Kilauea Iki Crater Hike

2010-02-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to do this hike ever since I read about it in my "Hawaii, The Big Island, Revealed" book. We have made plans to do this hike about 5 times, but yesterday we finally did it. Phils dad was not feeling well, so we were sad that he did not come with us. It was an easy hike, only 4 miles, with a little bit of ups and downs but nothing too difficult. Phil was the pack animal for Jessie, and she was in Heaven the whole time.

Anyway, this hike is in Volcanoes National Park. It goes half way around a crater then down onto the crater floor, and then back up to where we began. It was a fun little circle, and the weather was great. It was a little crazy to think about what was going on beneath us, but we tried not to think of it too much...especially since less than a mile away, there was another crater that was billowing out noxious gases! Anyway, it was a great time and I've got the pictures to prove it.

This is the crater spewing out noxious gases...volcanoes are so cool!

Walking down onto the crater floor...not far from here it got REALLY smooth, almost like you are walking on old concrete that is black and all cracked. Again, very cool!

The hike also took us through some rain forest. I thought this tree was pretty cool. Phil and Jessie are sitting on the trunk...NEAT-O!

See how happy she is!?!

Fiddlehead...this is how a fern starts its life! There were ferns everywhere! Phil and I had this debate...which came first, the fiddle head or the fiddle? :)

Kilauea Iki crater! WE hiked to the right and then down, and you can kind of see the trail across the middle!

Jessie is a shrimp!

2010-02-05T20:31:00.001-08:00

We went for Jessie's 9 month checkup on Tuesday. She is 27.5 inches (48%) and weighs 15 lbs 8.9 oz (4%). The doctor said that she is falling off the charts...as well as her own growth curve. :( SOOOO, it is formula for Jessie. Apparently, I am no longer giving her everything that she needs. I kind of had my suspicions because any time she would nurse, she would get frustrated. Anyway, she LOVES formula, which I was a little worried about. But seriously, we have not found one thing that the girl does not like...well maybe dirt. (no I am not kidding, we were playing in the grass today and somehow she found a handful of dirt. The dirt made it to her mouth before I made it to her little fist. Man is she quick! Anyway, she made a sour face and quickly spit it out.) But really, she loves food, any kind, hot or cold, it does not matter. My mother in law compared Jessie to her Uncle Zac who was 35 lbs at his 1 year checkup. I am not thinking Jessie is going to gain the 20 lbs to catch up. That is ok though, we love her just the way she is!!!

This picture was taken in the morning. Jessie yells when she is ready to get up in the mornings. This is what we found when we opened the door! She is such a funny little girl.

Tjar Desert

2010-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some e mails that I sent 5 years ago while we were traveling and I came across these photos of us on a camel safari. It was fun to reminisce for a little while.

This was the stubborn camel that I rode.

How cool is this picture...I especially like Phils pants.

I took this picture...I was amazed at how good it came out.

First Tooth

2010-01-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

If you look really close you can see the new tooth barely there. It is a sharp little bugger!

Some new pictures of the Jessie

2010-01-19T12:57:00.001-08:00

She cries every time we put her in her car seat to go somewhere, but if it is just sitting there, she can not resist playing with it.

Jessie loves the water as long as she is very close to mommy or daddy.

We were exercising and it was pretty darn cold out. Jessie loves watching all the dogs on our street that bark the ENTIRE time we are walking.

Heiau near Hawi

2010-01-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

Phil got me the book "Hawaii Revealed" for Christmas along with 10 coupons for adventures of my choice. The book is awesome and has taught us a ton about the island we live on. So far we have gone on a hike, explored some caves (on a road that we have been on several times, but never saw the caves), and visited this Heiau (Hawaiian temple) on the northern most part of the island. It has been lots of fun and I plan on doing as many of the hikes listed as we can. We look like tourists walking around with a guide book, but we are ok with that. :) Anyway we took some pictures of this Heiau which was used for human sacrifices to appease the gods. The view was spectacular, but there was a bit of an erie feeling all around the heiau. The whales were going crazy, but we unfortunately did not get any pictures of that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2010-01-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today is my moms birthday and she is such a great gal! She is always up for trying new things, she acts way younger than she is, which is always so much fun! I love you mom!

New Years Eve

2010-01-01T16:31:00.000-08:00

My first kiss of the year was with my baby Jessie! :) Unfortunately Phil has been on Oahu since the day after Christmas, but I still decided to make a few appetizers, drink a bottle of Martinelli's all by myself and bring in the new year with Jessie...until 9 when she went to bed. :)

Jessie loves waving, and is just learning how to clap her hands.

These are the appetizers that I made, mini mushroom and sausage quiches, and spinach artichoke dip with roasted red bell pepper. I got the recipes on the food network.

This is a sausage and potato soup. It was soooo yummy. It has a tablespoon of paprika, and I just love the smoky taste of paprika, so I was in heaven. It also called for kielbasa, which gave it a great flavor. I really like kielbasa and sauerkraut over mashed potatoes, but I have never used it any other way.

This is the spinach artichoke dip...YUM!!! I LOVE COOKING!!!

Catching up!

2009-12-29T23:36:00.000-08:00

Jessie got to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner too!

She was very happy about it!!

We could only take 2 of our own pictures, and they both turned out pretty good. The packages started at $20, which I though was ridiculous...so we made due with the 2 pictures we were aloud to take...phil was a good boy and only took the 2, but if it were me, I would have taken the flash off and took as many as I could! :) Probably not...but it just peeves me when these things are so darn expensive.

First time she tried eggs. I was proud of her...she at about half...at least I thought. When I got her out of her chair I noticed all that she had dropped. Mostly she just played with the eggs. Then the next day when I gave her an egg, she was gagging on it. It was pretty funny. She has not had any since. I should probably try them again soon.

Jessie just loved all the bows that grandma Heileson used on her presents!

Jessie loves playing in the dvd's. It keeps her quiet and busy for awhile, so I do not mind.

I was sitting on the couch and she came to visit me. What a sweetheart, I just had to take a picture of this happy little girl.

She liked to play with the gifts, but did not really know what they were for and what to do with them.

BUSTED!

Jessie loves hanging out with daddy! If that were me, she would be crawling all over me, grabbing my face, pulling my hair, or looking for a nursey!

This was our Thanksgiving spread! It was really nice to have Phils parents and brother Zach. I just LOVE cooking for company!

Jessie with Grandma and Grandpa Heileson

Back in the day...well not really

2009-12-29T23:14:00.000-08:00

I was looking though some older photos and found some from right after our trip around the world when we visited Pennsylvania. They made me a bit nostalgic, but I thought some might enjoy these pictures!

This is at "the waterfall". There is a creek not too far from our house in PA....actually it is right up against our backyard. When you follow it a ways, you come to this waterfall and later to a tunnel. We came down here frequently when we were younger so it was a must when we went back. In the picture are brother in law Kevin and Phil who are standing up, and sitting are Elizabeth and Katie.

This is me and my handsome little nephew Jadyn...remember this was almost 5 years ago. My hair was a lot lighter back then.

Katie and myself after a run...I am always bright red for hours after I work out.

My mountain man husband and my mom...we picked a ton of strawberries (the best in the world) and made a ton of jam! YUM!! Phil is quite a bit hairier and a little thinner here. The pictures of him on our trip and right after make me laugh....i can see why a boy in india asked him if he was Jesus (yes true story)...the physical resemblance of course...not comparing Phil to the Savior...Phil is a good man, but still...ok, moving on..

I love cuddling with my nieces and nephews, and now I have my very own to cuddle with...and I do smother her with hugs and kisses often. I just cant help myself!

I am sooo happy to have internet again

2009-12-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

I have missed the internet the last couple of weeks. Our internet has been down and because we are renting and the internet is not in our name...it was a bit of an ordeal to get it back up and running. It made me realize just how much I rely on the internet everyday. What did I ever do without it!?! :) Anyway here are a few pictures of Jessie and my wonderful family.

Phil put that hot pad on her head and she forgot that it was there...she was eating carrots...hence the orange on her chin and nose.

Phil was on the floor trimming the tree, but Jessie thought he was there for her. She LOVES her daddy and anytime he is in the room she watches his every move!

updated pictures

2009-11-24T22:11:00.001-08:00

Jessie getting busted for playing with daddy's fishing rods.

Jessie loves playing with Phil in the couple of hours after he gets home from work and before she goes to bed.

Sunset in our back yard.

Jessie is just making sure that Phil and dad fix the boat properly. :)

Jessie is not the biggest fan of her new walker, but we are working on it.

YUM! Fresh berries...

This is where Jessie takes her naps and plays when I help out at the house.

Jessie checking out Grandma Heileson

Jessie is always sooo happy!

Here Sharky Sharky

2009-11-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

Phil and his dad went fishing a little while ago and were trolling live bait. they caught this 7 foot galapagos shark which took them 45 minutes to fight. they say it was pretty fun. Is the water not the most amazing color ever?!?

Work

2009-11-05T17:36:00.001-08:00

So if anyone knows anyone in Hawaii (any island) that is looking to remodel, or build, or anything like that, Phil is an awesome contractor! The economy is pretty slow and so it is really affordable right now, so if you know of anyone, send them our way! :)

Halloween Pumpkin

2009-11-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make Jessie a Halloween costume, but I procrastinated too much and did not have time, so instead I bought the costume and she was the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen! :)

She was not real sure what she was supposed to do in the costume, but it was fun watching her figure it out.

happy baby

2009-10-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

Waipio Valley

2009-10-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

The hike really wore Jessie out! :)

This is where Jessie sleeps when we have visitors in town who take her bedroom. We are lucky to have a walk in closet and she really likes playing with my shirts when she wakes up.

Jessie's first rice cereal experience.

2009-10-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

Jessie was pretty confused on how this whole eating with a spoon thing went, but she did pretty well. This was about a month ago....now she LOVES it, and I have started adding peaches and applesauce to the cereal. So far she likes everything and she fusses if you do not get the next bite fast enough. :)

She's mobile!!

2009-09-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Jessie will be 5 months tomorrow! Holy Smokes how time flies! Since I last blogged, Jessie can not take out and replace her binky. This is nice for us because now we do not have to keep replacing it...too bad she does not have much longer with her little binky friend...it will be time to ween her off of it soon...I am undecided on how soon..any suggestions??? Anyway, she has also started to crawl....it started as more of an army crawl, but the last couple of days she is up on her hands and knees, she is not too steady, and not very fast, which is ok for now. She is such a happy little girl and so much fun! Here are a couple of pictures of her recently.

this was not the picture i wanted to post, but oh well...it shows progress on the house!

She loves her bumbo seat. It is great because she has gained a lot more upper body control.
She is just like her mommy, and LOVES ice cream....i know, i know...we only gave her a little. :)

fish, sunset, and concrete

2009-09-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

The slab is finally poured! We start framing on monday and it will finally start looking like a house!

Sunset

Phil and his dad went fishing this morning and this is what they caught! :) we are having him for dinner! :)

Recent Pictures of Jessie

2009-09-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have realized that my blog is kind of lame because I only post pictures of Jessie. I just can not help it...she is pretty much the center of my life right now, and I think that is ok. I am going to try however to be a little more interesting on my blog....I am not sure why, but I am going to try....well after today I am going to start trying! :)

So this is Jessie lately...if she can somehow get it up to her mouth, she is gnawing on it. It is usually ok. Her room is also where I attempt to sew, so the other day while she was playing in her crib i decided to try and sew a little (i am sewing my own dress for my sisters wedding) anyway, i look over at her and she is viciously licking the sheet of her crib, so I go over there and she had spit up and was licking it back off the sheet. Ewwww...it was funny and she was mad when I pulled her away and cleaned it up...it could have been worse. I had a friend whose baby would play in her diaper in the mornings when she would wake up...yuck! :)

Baby beach bum!

Jessie enjoyed the water at first until a small wave startled her, then she was not liking it at all unless Phil was holding her close...then she was ok.

I have such a handsome hubby!

Daddy's girl!

We went camping. Jessie slept in the truck with the windows cracked (there were no mosquitos) Our 3 man tent is a little small for a baby...we are going to have to get a bigger one...or we can just put up the vestibule next time and Jessie can sleep there. :) J/K

House Progress

2009-09-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

WE actually have part of the slab poured already, but I have not taken pictures of that yet.

Some recent pictures of Jessie

2009-08-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

Jessie was sooo tired, so in between laughing at her daddy she would start to cry and curl that bottom lip. It was sooo sad, but so darn cute!

We went for a run and this is how she looked when we got home...it was an exhausting run! :)

One night she was making funny faces like this one. I was laughing so hard. I think she realized why I was laughing because she just kept making faced and then she would smile. It was a great night.

Petie's foot fetish

2009-08-26T19:23:00.001-07:00

Our bird Petie really like feet. It is really funny, but a little dangerous for the little guy. He will sit there at your feet and start to talk to them. It all started with my moms feet when she was visiting and ever since, he just can not get enough. He also follows me around the house wherever I go. It is great...he just can not stand not to be in the same room as you are. He is really concerned with Jessie too. Anytime I let her cry for awhile, he starts singing as loud as he can, maybe to get my attention or to calm her, I do not know, but it can get quite loud. I am sure my neighbors are amazed at the noise coming from our house. :)

Night Fishing

2009-08-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

We went night fishing and had a ton of fun! Jessie was awesome and the boat literally rocked her to sleep. She slept better on the boat than she has been in her crib lately, so I was pretty happy. The little fish, was the first catch of the night. We would reel up the line and there would be 4 fish on each time we brought it up. We finally had to stop fishing because we were getting too many. The fish were small, but they made very yummy fish tacos. I also included a picture of Mauna Kea at sunset. The picture does not give the mountain justice, but we live right there in that valley, so I just wanted to share it.

Trip to Utah

2009-08-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures that I took on our trip to Utah this summer. Phil was not able to go, but it was fun because it was the first time most of the family has met Jessie!

Siste MaryBeth and her daughter Sammy

Ollie as "caveman"

Me and Jessie with Lindsey and Missy (Kendra's girls)

Nick (Kendra's oldest)

JEssie and cousin Gabriella

My sisters all got together for a fun weekend. We were supposed to go out on the town, but a few of us got sick, so we opted for Wingers instead. It was nice and close. Unfortunately mom was too sick to join us.

Also during the weekend, we had "spa time" where we gave each other pedicures. It was very fun!

Gabriella (Bizzy's baby)

We played some games on the trampoline too! (this is Bizzy)

Suz, she played along even though she was one of the ones sick.

Katie

Uncle Jon and Jessie

Sammy with Jessie

duggan and Ollie with JEssie

While I was staying with the Holtons we went for a walk to the park. We had a good time playing on the new teeter-totter and other stuff.

At the Heileson family reunion. Jessie had a very nice nap in Uncle Allen's arms.

Natalie and Jessie

Jonathon is actually sleeping. I thought it was a good picture!

Lindsay and Jess

Lindsay and Missy were jammin out in the back seat on the way home from the reunion! :)

The last 3 months for Jessie

2009-07-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

April 29--Newborn

Couple days old

One Month Old

2 months old

3 Months old

I can not believe how little she was when she was born. What a sweetie!

We finally starting building!!!

2009-07-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

So we have been here on the Big Island for about a month now and we finally got started on our house yesterday...I can not believe how much goes into building a house before you even start the actual building! :) Our lot was not very flat, so we had to flatten it out a bit...it still is not all that flat, but at least where the house goes it is flat...

Jessie's first fishing trip.

2009-07-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

We actually did not get much fishing done...we went out mostly to test out the boat. We had a good time! Jessie was either like this, or she was sleeping, so I think it is safe to say that she likes the boat! :)

We're here!

2009-07-06T03:39:00.001-07:00

What?!? It is 1:00 in the morning and I am blogging...welcome to the world of motherhood right?!?

Welp, we are here on the Big Island. It is beautiful! The first night we got here it was really cold...it got down into the 50s. I was freezing, but it was nice to cuddle up to my hubby. The days have been perfect temperatures in the high 70s-low 80s, but when you get down to the beach area it is the upper 80s. We are about 3000 ft elevation here where we are living and we will be building at about 2500 feet. There is a noticeable difference in temperature even between the two.

Anyway, the house we are renting is beautiful! It is right up against pasteur and very quiet. There are chameleons everywhere, and those of you who know Phil would know that he has already spent a few hours looking for chameleons. The people here are even nicer than most people in Hawaii! We spent some time at a farmers market yesterday...it was a little pricey! We had the best loco moco the world has ever known...well, I have not actually had Hukilau Cafe's loco moco, so I can not really say, but it was waaaayyyy good.

Anyway, I am all giddy because I like it here so much and it seems that the Lord has blessed Phil and I sooooo much. We have really worked hard for the last 7 years, but the Lord has blessed us with so many amazing opportunities.

Here are a few pictures of the chameleons. He is just a little guy!

4th of July

2009-07-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

We went to see some fireworks for the 4th. Jessie loved them. It was hilarious. She was a little fussy because it was past her bed time, but once the fireworks started she dropped her binky and stared in amazement. Her eyes were so big. The noise did not bother her at all. It was almost as fun to watch her as it was to watch the fireworks! I had Phil take like 10 picture of me and Jess and this is the one that turned out the best. I have yet to get a picture of the two of us when she is not upset. :)

Some Pictures

2009-06-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Jessie loves this position! It is one of the only positions that will calm her down when she is really upset. Usually I just hold her up with my hands, but my arms get quite tired...do not worry, I am very careful! :)

One of the few mornings that Phil slept in (until 7) I brought Jessie in so Phil could see how extremely happy she is in the mornings. Phil enjoyed cuddling with her for a little bit.
She is getting so big! I can not wait for her 2 month check up to see how much she weighs and how long she is.

Phil making Jessie smile! She is starting to laugh already, but it sound more like a cough than anything. It is pretty funny.
Jessie got a life jacket, and is sooo stinkin cute in it...look at those cheeks...it is hard sometime not to squeeze her too much.

I just love her dimples!
Funny face!

Little Lady Bug...my sister MaryBeth and I made this hooded towel for Jessie...it is pretty cute if I say so myself! :)
Auntie BreeAnna is the best babysitter EVER!!!

We are moving!

2009-06-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

We're moving here!...no, not the house, all the land in front of the house.

We are going to build a house here. This is our land...now we just need a house. So this is the official "before picture". This lot is in Waimea on Big Island of Hawaii. WE are moving over there and renting a house on Friday. We will start building next week or the following week. I will post updates periodically. Our goal is to finish the house by Thanksgiving. It is a pretty ambitious goal since we are building it ourselves, but we will work hard doing it. All are welcome to come and help. You can stay with us for free, we will feed you, and take you fishing and all kinds of fun stuff. :)

I just can't get enough!

2009-06-11T19:18:00.001-07:00

It has been so hot lately that Jessie has not been able to wear any of her warm clothes. We had a ward potluck at the beach park the other night and there was a cool breeze, so I was excited to put this cute little hoodie and jeans on Jess. This is also the first time she has worn socks.

Jessie's favorite time of the day is bath time. It is also one of my favorite times of the day. She smells so good. I then feed her and put her to bed and finally get a few minutes with my wonderful hubby.

Finally a SMILE!

2009-06-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jessie is starting to respond a lot more. It is sooo much fun. She thinks that everything I say is so funny. I love to make her smile. She is also starting to coo, and she has the cutest little voice.

To the beach

2009-06-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

Me and Jessie took the bus to Turtle Bay to go to the beach with some friends. We had a good time, but I got fried!!! I was even in the shade most of the time...I guess that is what I get when I do not go to the beach often enough!

Eden and Matti and Texton in the back.
Jessie and Texton...Texton is 6 weeks older than Jessie and about twice the size.
Not the best picture, but oh well.

Jessie's Blessing

2009-06-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

Jessie was blessed this past Sunday June 7th. Phil was a little nervous but did a great job! The pictures were kind of difficult because Jessie was really not cooperating very well. Grandma Bowser made Jessie's dress, and Grandma Heileson made the blanket. They are both so beautiful and Jessie got lots of compliments.

The last few days.

2009-05-30T18:32:00.001-07:00

On Thursday was Kahuku Graduation. I have a lot of students graduating, so me and Jessie went. It was really nice. Kahuku had 14 valedictorians (they all received at least a 4.0 since their 9th grade year) There were over $2 million worth of scholarships awarded, and although a lot were athletic, the academic way out weighed the athletic scholarships which Kahuku is kind of known for.

Me and Jessie and a couple of girls in our Sunday School class (Elizabeth and Ohelo)
Jessie is 1 month old in this picture and the next...what a cutie!

This is how I found my 2 favorite people in the whole wide world a few minutes ago.
Although Jessie is putting on weight and is definately getting bigger...she is still so tiny compared to her daddy...look how little her hand is resting on Phils arm. :)
THIS is my birthday present! Phil asked his mom a few months ago to paint this for me. She did such an awesome job. It is oil on canvas. This is Chinaman's Hat at sunrise. (you may recognize it from 50 First Dates) It is a little island on the East side of Oahu. This is where Phil brought me, at sunrise, to ask me to marry him. We walked through the water and barely made it to the top of the island before the sun rose. So this little island has a lot of significance for Phil and I!!! I absolutely love the painting! Thanks so much mom and phil!!! (this one is without a flash)
This picture is with a flash.

more Jessie

2009-05-22T15:56:00.001-07:00

It stinks living so far from family and friends!!! Her are some more pics of our baby Jessie.

Jessie loves sitting up...she is really strong and has amazing control of her neck.
I thought this was a funny picture. She looks like an old man! :)
I walked past her crib and she was all stretched out...i thought she looked really long!
Jessie's first shower! She loves showering. She just watches the water fall and she really likes when the water hits her face.
This is a nice candid shot of her burping up some of her lunch...she was smiling just before this and i was trying to catch the smile.

Jessie went to church for the first time a couple of weeks ago...she looked so cute. Thanks aunt MaryBeth for the cute dress!

Baby Jessie

2009-05-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to take too many pictures of your first baby???? I think not...but it is possible to post too many pictures, so although there are a lot here, you should know that I showed great restraint! :)

Her nails are like little razor blades, so we had to put sox on her hands.
Phil playing with Jess. Phil can not wait until Jessie gets a little older so he can tease her. He tries now, but it usually just makes her mad.
Grandma and Jessie taking a nap.
Jessie's first beach experience. She was asleep in her car seat most of the time, and I spent most of the time checking and double checking to make sure there was no part of her in the sun!
It's a dark picture, but she is smiling.
I LOVE this little outfit on Jess. It has a pair of shorts with ruffles on the bum, but it has been really hot and humid here, so they got taken off. One of my students got this outfit for her.
Look at the little rolls on her arms. They are growing by the day. She is really filling out!
Jess is such a good baby. She will just sit in her swing and cruz.

When Phil is home, I usually pass Jess off to him for burping.
I could not resist taking this picture today as I walked by her crib. She is just so beautiful! :)
Jessie's first pacifier experience. Phil was quite proud of himself when he got her to take it. I on the other hand felt a little sad, like I was being replaced by a piece of rubber! :) I know, it is ridiculous, but these hormones a little crazy! :)

She's Here!!!

2009-04-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

These are in the opposite order, but oh well! :) Jessie Lehualani Heileson (lehualani means beautiful flower from heaven...the words may be switched around.) 7 lbs. 12.5 oz. 19.5 inches long. She arrived at 10:45 am on April 29th. (my dads birthday...thanks dad!) Everything went really well and she arrived exactly 12 hours after my water broke. We are very blessed. We are not really sure who she looks like yet, but time will tell. I was surprised by how dark her hair is. It does have some red in it! I am obviously partial, but I think that she is the most amazingly beautiful baby ever! :)

We are finally home! She loved the car ride home, so we left her in her car seat for awhile till she woke up.
Our first family picture! We are getting ready to leave the hospital.
After her first bath. Oh she smelled so good!
During her first bath...she did not like it much, and turned an amazing color of red and woke up the rest of the babies on our floor! :)
Jessie, mommy, and grandma. We are sooo happy!
Patiently waiting to be measured. The minute Phil saw the crown of her head she had him wrapped around her little pink finger!
Phil got to cut the umbilical cord.
Just after my water broke. Phil was a little anxious, but I wanted to get one last picture.

We are so happy and so blessed! We are excited and ready to start this new chapter of our life!

OVERDUE

2009-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Welp, Mom is here. I am done with school. I am ready for baby, but Jessie is obviously not ready! Apparently I have made her little home in my belly too comfortable for her...not so much for me though. So I am one day overdue, and really no signs that she will be coming anytime soon! I keep praying though. I so can not wait! I can not sleep anyway, so I may as well have a cute little baby keeping me up instead of a hard big belly! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Me and Mom at the beach on Saturday...one day before my due date...pretty big belly huh!?! I actually got a tan line on my legs from the shadow of my belly.

Travis on his birthday. The family here in Hawaii came over to celebrate.
Phil and Levi...Phil does not like to take many pictures, so I have to post the ones I get even if they are not the best! :)
Me and my baby Jessie belly at 38 weeks!!!
Me and Phil, once again, Phil is not really excited to be photographed! :)