Christmas Card Obsession!

I am obsessed with Christmas Cards! I love them! My mom always loved them so I think that is where I started my obsession- and who I can blame it on. Right before we got married I didn't go home for Christmas because I needed to save my vacation for the wedding and honeymoon. So my mom mailed me all the cards and letters of those people that I knew. I read them and then gave them to my sister to do the same. Now that is an obsession.

Now that I am older and get my own Christmas cards, I have drawn my husband into the sickness. We have fallen into this little routine. He is the one that gets the mail when he comes home from work and I can tell he has a little skip in his step when he has cards mixed in with bills and ridiculous junk mail. I then proceed to open the cards and read every single piece possible. I then show him the picture and give him the play by play while he settles in from work~ which means changing from slacks and an Aloha shirt to board shorts and a t shirt. After all the cards are opened I tape them on the back of our front door so we can gawk at our collection. I love it! I love the pictures, the update letters on every ones lives, the holiday greetings, and just that our friends and family thought of us! Its seriously one of my favorite things about the season!

We took down all of our other Christmas stuff right after New Years but the cards stayed up. But last weekend it was time. Because it is so humid they were all starting to curl and bend. So down came this years collection of cards.

Now I can't wait for next year when the cards begin to come again! Isn't Trav lucky that I look forward to Christmas cards more than presents? But he is not so lucky that I just told the whole world that there is times he has a skip in his step! :) He may just kill me for that one!

He has arrived~ FINALLY!!!

Introducing.....

Tyson Brady (insert Hawaiian name later) Lee Kikuchi

This is our new born nephew that was born yesterday. This is Travis's brother Brandon and his wife Kim's first little one. He was born last night at 10:07 after a VERY quick delivery. Poor Kim has been dilated to a 7 for a week!!! We have been thinking he was coming any day since the week before Christmas but Tyson was just in there hanging out! They checked into Queens hospital yesterday at about 4 pm and they started inducing her. They broke her water at a little before 8 pm right before Trav and I got to the hospital to visit and bring Brandon dinner. We were there for an hour and Kim only started feeling the contractions the last 20 mins. We left at 9 and an hour later our nephew was born!!

He is 8 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long. He has his dads lips, his moms nose, and Kim's dad's eyes. He has barely cried and already has skipped a feeding because he absolutely refused to be woken up to eat- now that sounds JUST like his daddy!! He is adorable and we are so happy everyone is healthy!

Uncle Travis fell in love immediately! He wants to take him surfing or golfing as soon as possible!

Uncle Travis, Baby Tyson, and Daddy Brandon. At 3 am this morning when I came back to bed after making a little bathroom break (sorry if that was TMI) Travis woke up for a second and said "my brother is a dad!" and then went right back to sleep while I chattered on.

We are so happy to welcome Tyson to the family! Congrats Bran & Kim!!!!

Here is the link to the hospital web site for a couple more cute pics:

http://www.our365.com/WebNursery/WebNursery/Baby/BabyPage.aspx?birthid=2&babyid=0

Almost Pathetic!

Okay so I made a pretty sad attempt today and redesigning Kikuchi Korner. It was so sad because it took me almost 2 hours to figure out that it should have taken me 10 mins! See, I told you that I am a technological idiot in my first post! By the way I have also been informed by my very gracious sister that I not only am a terrible speller (I do call her alot when I am scrapbooking to spell words for me), BUT I apparently have a serious problem with run on sentences! And I'm pretty sure that last sentence was TOTALLY grammatically correct- right Lisa?

Okay so I like the new design so-so, but I don't love it. Travis really wants the Hawaiian Islands in the back ground but I couldn't find anything even close to that. I just need something a little more fun then what I've got. So now all of you fabulous bloggers have to help!. What are the sites you like to use for your templates? Miss Leo, Miss Shari, and Miss Meredith I hope you read this soon because your templates are so cute! And of course I love the rest of yours too! And if you are reading this and DON'T have a blog, then get to it! If I can do it~ trust me ~ you can too!!! How was the grammar on that one?

Bring in 2008!

We are so excited for 2008 to finally be here!!!!!

We had an incredibly hard 2007 and we are ready for a new year! This year we both changed jobs, both watched our fathers suffer and then pass away (Trav's Grandpa was his father), continued to struggle with trying to start a family, Travis had a visit to the hospital with the flu, and we had other unfortunate and very hard learning experiences through out the year. But together we are bouncing back and looking forward to the new year!

Through it all we learned SO much including how to really pray, how thankful we are for the family and friends that we have that support us and our decisions, how blessed we are to know the gospel, to have the sealing power of the Temple, and most of all how blessed we are to have each other! I now know that we really can make through anything as long as we have each other. And I am SO thankful for the wonderful friendship and marriage we have and for our constant support, love, and fun that we have in bad years like 2007 and in good years- like 2008 will be!

Happy New Year ~ Times Three!!!!!

This year we celebrated New Years 3 different times!

Our first celebration was in Texas a little early on the 29th. We had dinner and popped fireworks with my sister's family, my mom, and our friend Jenn.

Last night we celebrated twice ~ double the fun! First we went to Grandma's house. We had dinner and popped some fireworks with Grandma, mom, Uncle Jack, Auntie Mona, Jacquie, Maddie, Brandon, and (a very ready to deliver our new nephew) Kim.

When Travis is with Uncle Jack and Brandon he gets a little too much encouragement! :)

At about 9 we went over to Kaneohe for our third and final celebration. We went to bring in the New Year with our good friends the Katsunos, Bagoyos, Kanaheles, Warners, Hibbs, and family. It was so nice of them to invite us and we had such a blast! Travis found 4 other boys just as excited as he was to pop fireworks and they had TONS to pop! This is just a small sample of the fireworks they did~ it was crazy! All the neighbors were doing fireworks too so there was alot of entertainment on the Windward side! We had a blast!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Okay I know it's a little late but we do hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We did have a really great time in Texas again this year but missed our family that couldn't be there with us. We also thought alot about my dad and Travis's grandpa as this was our first Christmas without both of them- but we know they were very close! Here are just a few highlights.....

Somehow my best friend Jenn's dad knew how to get a hold of Santa Clause and asked him to come over to my mom's house on Christmas Eve to visit my nieces! It was very exciting especially when Santa made me, my sister, and my mom sit on his lap and tell him what we truly wanted for Christmas. But, the best part of the visit was my niece Makell thinking she sealed the deal in asking Santa Clause for the second time for a 4 wheeler! She is eight and lives in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. It just so happens that Santa called back later that night to tell Makell's mom that 4 Wheelers might be too dangerous!

My brother-in-law Todd and Travis making what is now referred to as “Pakka Breakfast.” My nieces and nephew called my dad Pakka and he used to make a big breakfast every Christmas morning. Travis also went on to make an AMAZING Christmas dinner of Prime Rib! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Master Chef!

I really didn't ask for anything for Christmas and didn't really need anything but my amazing husband got me this: a blue topaz ring that matches my wedding ring. It is to wear on my right hand and represent my dad- beautiful! Miss Jenn Cook also totally surprised me by giving me a HP Photo printer to feed my scrapbook obsession. Way too nice!

Everybody LOVES Uncle Travis!

Ginn Center

Okay so I am finally home and have time to post our Christmas photos~ so I will have quite a few posts today as we watch the Sugar Bowl!

The first and most amazing post is about the dedication of Ginn Center. Before my dad died in August from cancer, the company he worked at for 34 years announced that they were going to do something that they had never done before and name a building after my dad. The following was the worldwide announcement of this decision the day before my dad died:

"Baker Petrolite Vice President HR Evan Ginn has been battling a serious illness for some time and has recently decided to discontinue further medical treatment so he could return to his home. In honor of Evan's significant contributions to Baker Petrolite and, in particular, the establishment of the Sugar Land headquarters facility, the Baker Petrolite Leadership Team has recently changed the official name of the facility to the “Ginn Center.” The tribute will ensure that Evan's decency, humility, work ethic, commitment and good nature are remembered throughout the working environment.”

The final dedication was done on December 12th and everyone in my family but Travis was there (knowing how much he loved to work, my dad was probably so happy Travis was still at work). Two of his sisters, one of my moms sisters, and countless friends and his co-workers were there to remember my dad. To say the very least it was an incredible honor for our family! It is so amazing to know that not only did my dad mold my own life and that of my family, but touched so many other lives as well!