SLC, here we come.

it's official, we have booked our flights and hotel for salt lake city. up until our move, we weren't sure if we'd be able to afford the horrendous flight fares that are continuously rising. but with our new fortunes and our awesome locale to cheap flights galore, tonight we booked our flight and hotel.  with basically the choice of the entire of the united states, why salt lake city you ask? for the union of our beloved deborah pond to david garaycochea. gara-what you ask? yea, try saying that three times. or even once. and don't even ask me how to say it because from now on, deb will be know as deb g. but nonetheless, we're excited to see our friend after two years. two years!! it's hard to believe where the time has flown to. in the two years we haven't seen each other, myka and i started dating, got married, changed jobs, moved, got pregnant and deb finished school, got an awesome new job, starting dating david, and is now getting married! we are growing up but at least we're still all friends in the process. so 20 more days til salt lake city!!

my current addiction...

it's official, i'm addicted to the show jon and kate plus 8 on tlc. i don't know what it is about the show, but ohmygoodness, this show steals my heart and makes me laugh EVERYTIME! a set of twins and a set of sextuplets...i can't imagine!

i'm not really sure what it is about the show...the bratty older twin girl mady or the obsessive, slightly neurotic kate or the very patient and funny jon, or the ADORABLE kids. i mean c'mon, aaden...a 3-year-old with glasses, how cute is that?! or collin, who by the way looks exactly like my little big brother blakey when he was that age (minus the very stylish mullet that blake would sport, but that's a story for another blog) or alexis, who is the absolute wild child always laughing and screaming or hannah, who my mom swears is exactly like me when i was that age with attitude and chubbiness. i don't know what it is but every day, to no avail, no matter how many errands i have to run or chores i have to do, somehow, the show always seems to find its way onto my tv. i love it and it makes me soooo excited for parenthood. though never in a million years will there be a myka and heather plus eight. mark my words. NEVER!!

california, here we come!!

life, as always, has been on a roll. stressful, joyful and a bundle of other emotions all balled into one. 

the days following our pregnancy surprise became very stressful as myka and i contemplated our fate and wondered how we would be able to support and raise a child the way we wanted to in the ever-so-high cost of living in hawaii. our dream to move to the mainland seemed further away than ever as we thought about juggling our marriage, two jobs and baby. 

well the stars fell in line for us, as two days after our baby surprise, myka received a call from a company in san clemente, california and set up an interview for thursday the 22nd. so we booked flights and got everything together. and in we flew for a long memorial day weekend. and after a very long thursday, myka got a job offer on friday morning for a graphic designer position!!!

we quickly began getting things together as we went out apartment hunting and found 

a very cute 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment in laguna niguel!! and in the next three weeks we resigned from our jobs, packed and mailed all our belongings, shipped our car and truck, and booked flights for ourselves and our two little doggies. 

life is unbelievable and i can't believe the countless good blessings we have had over the past year. it's hard to believe that for the past eight months we've been trying and plotting so hard to move, and now within a few weeks we we have everything set up. god must have a great plan in store for us and must have had some laughs at our persistence in having things now, now, now!

so, tonight, we're "leaving on a jet plane and don't know when we'll be back again!"

orange county, here we come!!!

baby's first pictures.

i can't describe the feeling when we got a chance to see our little one for the first time. i got hooked up and ready to go and as soon as i felt the very cold ultrasound gel on my stomach, we saw the very noticeable "peapod," as we fondly call our baby. tear filled my eyes at the sight of our little peapod and i felt a feeling of serenity that i have never ever felt before in my life. doctor says the baby is about 7, almost 8, weeks and was immediately able to pick up a fetal heartbeat of 140-145. i laugh because, to me, it looks like a little fish or frog...soooo cute and amazing how it will grow into a little baby!

 anyways, the biggest laugh of the day was finding out that our baby is due NEW YEARS DAY 2009!! life is never dull with us, i swear!!! i'm rooting for a january baby girl [myka will roll his eyes when he reads this] but as myka's grandpa put it perfectly, "as long as it's happy and healthy, it doesn't matter when it comes or what it is!" and how true is that!! life will continue to be crazy and will change so much in the upcoming months, but all for the good.

happy mother's day.

i just want to take a moment to send a very big happy mother's day out to my wonderful mama. i feel considerably blessed to have such a strong, beautiful woman as not only my mother but also my great friend. god has blessed me in so many ways and even though i can't be with her today, i just want to say HAPPY, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAMA!!

and to all those other wonderful women in my life, who have taken me under their wings, loved me unconditionally and always been there for me in times of need...thank you for being apart of my life and for being there for me when my mother couldn't be. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU.

and as appropriate as it seems, this mother's day was a little more special for me, as i found out today, that myka and i are expecting our first baby!!

 it all started after a very long, very tiring week. throughout the week i noticed my appetite was ginormous, my bed time was becoming earlier and earlier and that overall, my body was just plain sluggish. i thought nothing of it as i was coming off the high of planning our 2nd wedding. i started to question myself as i became increasingly weepy (crying for almost 2 hours when my parents left the islands) and knew i needed a pregnancy test when i went to dinner last night and almost threw up at the smell of anything that passed under my nose. i insisted to myka that i needed a pregnancy test "just to be safe" 

and sure enough, all three tests that came in the pack proved to be positive. 

three tests you ask? yes. three tests.  when i read the first one, i swear i became dyslexic, as i came out of the bathroom and said, "honey, can you please help me read this? i don't get it." and there he looked at it, looked at me and said, "we're pregnant!"

you can imagine our surprise as we weren't planning on having kids for a few more years. however, i just feel blessed that we are happy, healthy and bringing this baby into a life and marriage full of love. while our lives never prove to be dull, i'm sure that this new challenge will prove to be one of the greatest and that our love for one another and our family will continue to grow. so here begins the story of our growing Hughes family!! ~