Happy Birthday Mark

Today is Mark's birthday! He turns 25! No longer has to pay extra to drive rental vehicles. Oh we are so happy about that one. I love this Man so much and I'm so grateful that he was born into this world at the exact time that he was. Have a great day filled with laughter and smiles hunny!

2 Year Anniversary

Wow it's only been 2 years, seems like we've been together forever. You know as a little girl I've always dreamed about my wedding day. I thought about the colors, theme, bridesmaids, place etc. When I thought about the Groom I couldn't see his face but I knew exactly how I felt. What I wanted him to be like. As I got older qualities, attributes, values, & goals started to come more clearly as to what my future husband had instilled in him. So clearly that he was so near and I didn't even know it at the time. I love the scripture in D&C 88:40 "For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom recieveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light....." I'm not saying that I'm the intelligent one but I did admire his and our hearts were in the right place. And we did cling together like a magnet. We fit! He is my perfect piece! Things I lack in he's great at. We try to use our gifts and talents to strengthen our companionship. So we can be a better force for good to each other and others. I know that God loves me because he sent me Mark. My hope is that we can strive to do what is right even if we just don't feel like it or it just to hard. I know that as we do we can find peace & joy in this life and the life to come. Happy Anniversary to us and to all!

The Special Christmas Tree

So one of the families that Mark home teaches donated this tree to us. I seriously almost peed my pants watching this. Thank goodness for the benefits of Kegel exercises otherwise I would have had to change my clothes.

Yeah For Accomplishing Goals

Mark and I finally finished the Old testament for the year of 2008. We read about 3 1/2 pages everyday to meet our goal of reading it in a year. Now we can honestly say we read the whole bible. There are many Christians that read the bible through and through it will be very nice to have that common interest, and that is the love of the Bible. We are super excited for our next goal for 2009 and that is reading The Book Of Mormon in Spanish as a family. I'll be honest I have always been shy speaking Spanish by Mark. One of the things that I loved when we were dating is that he could speak Spanish. I knew I really wanted my children to learn Spanish what better way then to have them be taught by someone who speaks it, right? I've taken a few years of Spanish and no where near fluent but have a desire to be. Anyhow my shyness was really rooted by pride, the fact that he's not Hispanic and speaks well and that I am and don't. It seriously has taken me 2 years to warm up and have a degree of humility to be taught and corrected by my husband. The Lord has helped me out magnificently! And not to mention Mark is so gentle and encouraging to my learning in progress. Anyhow we are excited with are scripture goal for this year.

Stockings That Mean So Much To Me

In 2005 I went to Ashland, Oregon for Christmas because I couldn't afford to fly to Hawaii. Tickets were over 2000 dollars and I wasn't about to use a credit card for money I didn't have. It was a lack of planning on my part of not purchasing the ticket earlier. Anyhow the George family kindly took me in and made me feel at home. If anyone knows the Georges (Summer's family) they are amazing. In fact it was being in their home that I felt the spirit whisper to me "You want this." "You want the joy that they have and it's generated from the gospel." So you can see how this family is very influential to me and my conversion. Anyhow Monica, Summer's sister made me a stocking with my name on it. She mention that when I got married someday she would make the exact same stocking for my husband and children. I didn't think she was serious, because the stocking she made required different types of fabric and it took a while. I thought she might lose the fabric, but you know what she has kept to her word. She made a stocking for Mark and later for Eve when she was born. And these are not just any old stockings you can get at the store it has Monica's creativity and uniqueness all over it and I absolutely LOVE it!

This special Christmas Eve dinner seriously took all day! Since we didn't fly to see family this year I wanted to make our time together feel special so I made everything from scratch which took the whole day. I made Cilantro Lime rice, Pinto beans (they were dried so I had to clean, soak and cook them), fresh Salsa, Fresh Guacamole, Banana Chocolate Pie, and last but not least Tamales. These weren't store bought Tamales either. I made them from scratch. By dinner time I was worn out! My feet were so swollen, but the dinner was great! Mark made me feel appreciated with his wonderful response to the Mexican Cuisine, considering I'm Puerto Rican and this is not a typical way we Ricans celebrate Christmas Eve. But you know what I was very pleased to serve my family in this way, and I got like a 2 hour foot massage for it.

Eve was darling. I was totally shocked that she didn't just tear through the paper like she does everything else. She actually needed help. Thank you so much Familia for ALL your gifts! Eve, Mark and I REALLY appreciated it. Much Mahalo's!

Playing In The Snow

One day out of this snowy week I dressed up Eve in her snow suit and took her outside to play in the snow. Unfortunately I took her at a time when she was to tired. So the experience that I envisioned to happen turned out quite differently then I expected. Maybe the second attempt will turn out better. It was funny watching her lay on the snow on her back. She looked so helpless and adorable.

No Doubt About It

Yeah, Congratulations to me for finishing a book! Last night I finally finished No Doubt About It by Sheri Dew. Awesome book! Must read! Her insights and testimony about the gospel are DEEP. That woman is special, valiant & strong. I love her sacred point of view of the various roles of womanhood. I felt empowered after reading each chapter. I can't believe it took me so long to read it. When I first picked it up I jammed through 100 pages in 2 days. Then set it on my book shelf for like a year. Just recently I picked it up again and wondered why in the world did I put this book down. That's a major problem for me. I'm great at starting books but have a hard time finishing them. I still have about 10 more books on my shelf that I started and hadn't finished. I love to read books that I'm inspired to read. I have to feel that they will benefit my life some how. So in short, I don't like reading fiction books. I'm excited to pick up the next book on my shelf because I know I will learn something new and my life will improve in some way. Now I just got to decide which one.

Nevada Trip

We drove down to Ely, Nevada this past weekend to witness Cooper William's blessing. It's amazing how this little angel brought family together. It was so nice to be with family. When we left Nevada we were sad. The visit was way to short.









This is one of Mark's older brothers William & his new addition.






This is Kimberly, William's wife and son.

This is one of Mark's older brothers, Jono & his beautiful family.

This is most of the grandchildren on the west side of the country. Just missing Max & future Denninghoff baby in the womb. It is so fun to see the children laugh, smile and play with each other. It seriously just warmed my heart observing them interact.

This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. We visited the Ely, Nevada ward with our family. It was wonderful! You know the feeling when your whole body is overwhelmed with joy, you just want to share your testimony? I'm positive you felt that before. Well I had that great feeling but I didn't go up for 3 reasons. 1. I was chicken 2. It wasn't our ward 3. My father in law, my husband, & my sister in law shared their solid and heartfelt testimonies. If I would have gone up that would have been 4 Denninghoff's sharing their testimony. I guess the REAL reason was number 1. So I'll just share it now for whoever wants to know.

I love the Lord with my life! and I know that he loves me with his! I so desperately want to see, hug, and kiss him someday. He makes me clean. He makes me beautiful. He gives me HOPE. He gives me strength. He gives me Love. HE GIVES ME LOVE! I know how much he loves me I feel his kindness, gentleness, tenderness through my husband and daughter. I love my family! I LOVE MY FAMILY! Life is good because they are in it. With Christ, they are my JOY! and I want to be with them FOREVER. And I know that God my Heavenly Father, YOUR Heavenly Father has made it possible. I just need to do my part.

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went to my dear friend Jen's family house. It was so fun. I felt comfortable and at home. Not to mention the food was AWESOME. Surprisingly I didn't stuff myself to the point of passing out on the couch this year. Probably because I don't have to much room and I would have a bad case of heartburn. Anyhow it was a delight! There are many things I'm grateful for but to save room I'll just name 5.

1. I'm grateful for the Grace that God extends my family each day
2. I'm grateful for the good health of my family
3. I'm grateful for the knowledge that God has given me
4. I'm grateful for my relationship with God and his son Jesus Christ
5. I'm grateful for my relationship with Mark & Eve.

Don't Leave, Nancy

Nancy took this shot of Eve at the park.



Eve giving auntie Nancy kisses.


Walking in Provo Canyon. It was pretty cold that day. Nancy and I kept thinking a cougar or some hungry animal was going to eat us. Made us walk quicker.

We celebrated auntie Nancy's birthday just a few days early by taking her to Olive Garden. Apparently Hawaii doesn't have one yet, so she was excited.

Out to dinner at Cafe Rio of course. Eve just loved her auntie.

Nancy giving Eve a bath before bed. Both of these girls just loved the water.

It was a piece of Heaven having Nancy here for a week. She was such a GREAT help, friend, & sister. We love and miss you a LOT Nancy. Please come and visit us soon. Love you FoReVeR!


Forgot To Mention: Eve started WALKING! She actually started about a month ago. Been meaning to record that but LIFE is so busy! She crawls more than she walks but she looks darling. We are so proud of you hunny keep developing we LOVE watching you GROW!

Happy Birthday Eve Mahealani

She got so shy, excited and extremely happy when everyone in the room started singing happy birthday to her. It was a sweet moment to witness.


We were afraid that she was going to try to eat the flame so Mark & I ended up blowing out the candle.

She surprised us. I thought she was going to grab a big chunk of the cake and make a mess but instead she delicately grabbed the bananas to eat. I was so proud! I felt that I taught her well to eat the healthy foods of course.

These are the girls she usually plays with and Kainoa is her little man.

At first I was afraid to give her cake because of all the sugar but I decided to make the cake a little bit more healthy so I could feel good about it. Instead of using oil I used plain yogurt and instead of frosting I used pudding. For the pudding I used fat free milk. I didn't realize how much milk pudding calls for, practically more than half of the ingredients is milk. Yeah! Then I topped it off with a bunch of fresh strawberries and bananas. Eve loved her birthday cake!

Eve just loved all of her gifts. Especially the teddy bear that grandma & grandpa Vega got her. Thank you so much family & friends for your generosity.



We ended up switching Eve's birthday dress because she got cake all over it.
As we had this dinner party for Eve my heart was full of gratitude. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father that he has blessed me with Eve Mahealani in my life. My love for her is inmeasurable. Her birthday was a joyous day. We started off the day by taking her swimming at the recreation center. She loves the water! She had a really fun time with her daddy, mommy & aunty Nancy. After swimming we came home to get things prepared for the dinner. Eve took a 3 hour nap because she was so exhausted from the swimming. After dinner Mark played a song on his guitar for Eve. It's so nice to have someone in the family who is musically inclined. All in all it was a fantastic evening. I'm so grateful for my sister who helped a great deal for Eve's dinner. There are hardly any pictures of Nancy with Eve that night because she was to busy serving by being our photographer and everything else. Thanx sis we love you.

Great Things

FiRsT: Last night was a monumental moment and I'm so grateful that I lived to experience the whole thing. I was really TOUCHED with John Mccains speech it was classy, humble and warm. I was telling Mark that his response reminded me of Pahoran. A special man in the Book of Mormon who responds to a contentious accusation with PuRe humility.

When Barack Obama gave his speech I felt a chill go down my spine. In my mind and in my heart I knew that great things that had been prophesied by spiritual leaders have come to pass! The joy that filled my soul was indescribable. Besides the fact that he is Very Well qualified for the position he is a man that represents DiVeRsItY. What kept going through my mind was that little children regardless of what minority can TrUlY now believe that there are NO limitations!They can be what ever they want to be! That America is a special place where dreams can be LiVeD.

SeCoNd: This morning Mark and I drove in the snow to our doctors appointment to find out that
ITS A GIRL!
We are so excited that Eve will be having a sister in a few months. I hope they can be just as close as my sister and I if not closer:)

History In The Making and We Voted

We are proud that we voted especially this election! Love our stickers?



Okay this election has made me so excited to be an American and exercise my right to vote. I'll be honest though, I've been pacing this whole day watching the news that I decided to finally blog instead. You can tell how excited/ nervous I am because I added like 7 new posts. I've been a little behind lately sorry mi familia but I made up for it right? Aaaaah I can't wait to find out. Who ever it will be, will definitely need our prayers. This is to emotional for me especially while I'm pregnant. Aaaaaaaaaaaah I'm gonna continue to watch the news. Love you all! Especially those who exercised their right to vote:)

Halloween

I made Halloween dinner special. Since it was Eve's first Halloween. I bought all this candy and not even one darn tricker treater came by. I was so bummed.



Our little fiesty cat.

Emergency Room

We had a HUGE scare about a week ago. About 12:30 am we heard Eve crying. Mark went in there to discover that Eve had vomited. I quickly got out of bed to see my baby sitting in her vomit crying hysterically. In fact for the next 2 hours after that moment she had vomited 12 times. It is AWFUL to see your child in so much pain. We couldn't figure out what the heck was happening. I strongly feel that it was the vitamin infant drops I gave her right before she went to sleep. It was her first time taking it. I got the approval from her doctor but it just did not sit well in her body. We ended up staying in the hospital the whole night with out an ounce of sleep. Poor Mark had to go to work shortly after that. She is doing much better since then but we are being ever so careful what we give her because her immune system is very sensitive.


P.s. The following night I got really sick and the night after that Mark was horribly sick. We are currently eating very healthy and taking our vitamins. Except for Eve that is. Taking vitamins I mean.

Stuart Falls

One Saturday morning Mark was excited that Utah gave us a sunny beautiful day so he encouraged us to go on a hike. We decided to do Stuart Falls which is about 4 miles altogether. It was beautiful! I was very happy that Mark had this burst of energy to get out of the house. I did pretty well except for the fact that I really needed to use the bathroom the whole way there. I was to scared to find a bush because it was a hike that most people did on a weekend. So I suffered most of the way. It was a little cold leaving Eve with a runny nose but besides that we had a blast spending time with each other in nature.