AZ here we come...

Jared and I have been waiting about 3 years for this amazing job opportunity to come.. and it FINALLY has! On February 13, Jared got a phone call offering him an agent position in CBP in Casa Grande, Arizona and he would have to report for duty February 28. When he got the call we didn't know what to do.. we had talked so much about what would happen when this moment came... We had 24 hours to give a response... We had said so many times that we were going to say no if it was out of state. We just couldn't take our kids away from cousins and aunties and uncles and especially grandparents. As soon as Jared got off we both said NO! How could we move? Not to mention I just had Hawk 2 days before that.. We realized pretty quickly that chances were we would NEVER get this opportunity again. We had to say yes. Jared called back and said yes. I knew he had to leave for 3 months and I had no idea how I was going to do it.. How could I be away from my husband for 3 months? How could I take care of my 2 sons all by myself? I was absolutely dreading Feb. 28 and hoping my last week with him would go by slowly.. I have to say I was way more tough than I gave myself credit. I definitely didn't do it all by myself though, my family and Jared's family were absolutely amazing. They all helped me so much. Whether it was just being there to talk to, watching Reefy for me, taking us out for some fun activities, or offering to have us over for dinner, they all were a tremendous help. I actually ended up moving into my sister Erika's house for 5 weeks and I am so grateful for that. It gave me the chance to spend more time with her and my nieces. The 3 months actually went by fairly quickly, which was a good and bad thing. Good because I got to see my husband again and bad because that meant we had 11 days to move to AZ. Our moms threw us a big party and we got to say bye to all of our friends and family! We moved on June 10 and have had so much fun decorating our new house. (Thank you Aiono parents and cousins for helping us move, paint, and unpack.) It definitely has not been easy being away from our family, but thankfully we have Aiono family here to keep us sane.. or at least keep me sane.. :) I LOVE being on our own, in our own house, with just the 4 of us. I get excited making dinner every night and take pride in my home being nice and tidy. We love when visitors come also! We have already had my mom, dad, nieces, and brother come for a visit and Jared's mom, dad, brother, and sister have also come. I am happy to say that we are surviving! Quite easily too, which I wasn't sure we would be able to do without our parents and siblings living close. I am just so proud of my husband and his work ethic he works so hard for our lives to be secure. He is such an amazing man and I am truly blessed to be married to him. He is enjoying his job so much and I am grateful for that too. I will post pics of the house as soon as we are done decorating!

Christmas! (I know its late)

Jared, Reefy and I had an amazing Christmas! It was INSANE, but so much fun. We have kind of made it a tradition to spend the night at Jared's parents house on Christmas Eve so that we can wake up and open presents with them. Jared has also made it a tradition to wake everyone up at 6AM by running around singing "Dominic- The Italian Christmas Donkey" at the top of his lungs! ITS WONDERFUL!! Reefy had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Aiono's house! It was really fun to see him excited to open each gift too!

Reef was very excited to get his "Melmo" slippers!

Reef riding his new scooter
Auntie was jammin' to... something..
Reefy as santa clause
Christmas morning picture... Please excuse the no makeup!!

Next up was our house with Nama, Papa, Uncle John, Auntie Sarah, Taije, Auntie Ash, Uncle Brad, and Avery. We had a great time opening presents! We got Zoo passes (which i am sooo excited about, Jared, not so much...) from my parents and Reef got some great toys as well. Jared and I opened our gifts from each other too. Somehow he knew EXACTLY what I got him, but I had no idea what I was getting, I like surprises, unlike him! : )

Reef with his Hot Wheels track

Nama, Papa, and Reef

Elmo Piano from nama and papa (If you couldn't tell Reef was very excited)

Jared got me a Coach diaper bag and a Wallet to match! I love it!

I got Jared a Uke, He has been wanting one for so long!

We headed to Grandpa's (PopPop is what Reef calls him) to open up some more presents! We always enjoy going over there on Christmas, Reefy loves his PopPop so much and its nice just to spend some time with him!

PopPop with his Reef's hat on

Reef with his new Guitar

Auntie Hayley and Reef

Uncle and Auntie with their new beanies

Next up... My Grandparent's house. My Grandparent's have been having Christmas at their house forever... I think it all started with my cousins Juj and Justin. The Liljestrom family always has such a blast when we are together! My grandma gets gifts for every single one of her children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren. It is very thoughtful and sweet. This year she really wanted to focus on the great grandchildren, so Reefy lucked out! He got a very cute church suit that mommy can't wait to put on him and some Elmo toys! Reef walked around with his stuffed elmo... pretty much the whole time... haha. We also did a white elephant gift exchange, which is always comical!

Reef's cute suit

Reef opening his presents

Reefy and Elmo

Reef, Taije, Danny and Finn

After my Grandparent's house, we headed over to the Aiono's for Christmas Dinner. Unfortunately, We didn't take any pictures, but the food was delicious and we had a great time with family. We were pretty tired at that point so we came home and guess what?? We ate dinner at our house too! We spent the rest of the night at our house and Reef had so much fun playing with all of his new toys with Daddy!

Even though our Christmas' are always hectic, we look forward to them every year! It definitely wears Reefy out!! Every time we got in the car Reef would fall asleep! Next year will be even better with 2 kids! We can't wait!