Welcome Ryo!

We are so happy to announce that our little man, Ryo Melvin Aoki, arrived safe and sound on November 3rd at 3:46 am. He weighed 6lb 8oz and was 19.5 inches. We think he has more "Hardin" in him than "Aoki". Mia was much darker as an infant and had more of Tyson's features. Ryo is more of a whitie- sorry son! So far, he has been a very good boy- He is calm for the most part and is happy eating and sleeping. Mia is thrilled that he is here and cannot get enough of him. She keeps saying "Mom, isn't he adorable?" She wants to be right next to him (and in his face) at all times.

I have to admit, I am a little... ok, really late getting pictures posted. The last month at my house has been anything but restful. If having a new baby isn't enough, we packed and moved an entire house last week. Our little home on Imperial St is no longer ours, and we are currently under contract on a new home. If all goes well, we will be in a new house shortly after Christmas. We have not done all of this alone, however. Both my family and Tyson's family have been a HUGE help through this whole crazy process. I don't know what we would do without such great family.

These are some of my favorite pictures from the hospital

Mia and her new baby brother

First Day of Preschool

Today was Mia's first day of preschool. She was so excited to finally go to "school" like the big kids (and mom!). For some kids in her class, leaving mom at the door was a very traumatic experience. Not so much for Mia! She ran right in and sat with her little class. She is getting so big!

Ready for school



Nigel and Mia with their school bags.



Summer Trips

Summer is now in full swing- finally! We have been enjoying the nice weather and some time off together when we can steal it. We have had some fun family trips which always seem to end too soon.

San Diego
We took a weekend trip to San Diego after graduation to celebrate and spend some much needed time with Mia. Mia got sick on the second day so Tyson spent the day washing barf out of her clothes while I stayed with her in our hotel room so she could sleep. We just had to laugh. I guess this is what a "vacation" is like with kids!

Mia at the ocean. She loved it until she got completely taken out by a huge wave. I had to run in and save her. We were both soaked!

It rained most of the day we went to the zoo, but we were troopers and went anyways!



Mia's 2 favorite animals: peacock and giraffe

  McCall, Idaho

We went to McCall 2 years ago with my family and had so much fun we decided to do it again. The week was filled with boating, golfing, biking, swimming and of course eating! It is definitely more chaotic now that my nephew Cole is 1 year and Mia is 2 1/2. They kind of ran the show, which usually ends up happening.



Hanna and Cole on his first tube ride. Notice how beautiful the lake is?!?



The ladies, just hangin' out in the ice cold lake!



Mia and her Mimi





Grandpa and Cole ready to go boating!



Since I am out for all boating related activities, Mia got a tube ride with Aunt Kate

 Cabin
Tyson's family has a cabin just past Park City. We went up over the Pioneer day weekend. Tommy, Ashley and the kids are in town, so all the cousins got to play. Mia loves hanging with the girls, Ellie and Chanel. They are so good to include her in their play.



Fishing at the pond. Mia's favorite activity by far. She caught 16 fish with Poppy one morning.

 

The girls decorating the fish tank with flowers. I am sure the fish loved that!



one, two, three...jump!



Mia and Nigel with Aunt Alex

Pocatello
Ok... so not an exotic get-away but it is always relaxing for me! I have spent a couple long weekends up there when Tyson has been out of town. I was there for my 30th birthday and for the 4th of July. My parents are so good to let me relax while they take care of crazy (aka Mia).


My mom with Mia and Cole in her garden




Cole is going to be a good golfer! He can hit the ball better than Mia already.




My cute Dad bought Mia this bike with traning wheels. She is still getting use to it but I know she is going to love it.



And 3 becomes 4......

We have had some exciting news in our household that I think we have shared with most people by now... but in November our little family of 3 will become 4!! I am now 18 weeks along and getting bigger everyday. I can feel the little guy moving all around in there. I say little guy, because at 14 weeks I was told it was a BOY but we are not racing out to buy anything blue until after my 20 week ultrasound. Tyson is thrilled, of course, and I think he already has visions of working on cars in the garage with his son. Mia is understanding more than I thought she would. She comes up to me and says " I want to say hi to baby brother". I show her my tummy and she pokes it and says "Hi brother!!".  Here is one of the first pictures of our new baby!

Graduation!

 I am finally done! I graduated with my Masters of Science in Nursing on May 5th. I am officially done with school…. for now. Tyson and I are hoping that our lives will slow down a little bit and we can enjoy the summer. My family came into town for the weekend and it was so much fun to spend time together, especially since the weather was nice.

Tyson, Mia and I after graduation

We spent a majority of the weekend outside with the kids. Mia and Cole had so much fun playing together.

 Mia teaching Cole how to drive her power wheels

 Little Cole trying to drive on his own!

All the ladies before dinner on Saturday night.  

Mia was getting restless in the restaurant. My Dad took her outside to distract her. I looked up about 10 minutes later when I heard knocking at the window next to our table. I am sure the other restaurant patrons thought she was not so cute!

Easter 2011

Easter has already come and gone. This year is flying by so far! School and work has kept me so busy that I have not realized how fast the time has gone. Tyson has upgraded to captain on the Brazillia and is based out of Fresno until June. He has been commuting back and forth, which has gotten really old, really fast! It has been hard to have him gone so much but we are SO excited to have him home in June. We celebrated Easter a little early this year so Tyson could be in town. Mia loved the Easter egg hunt but loves her new stroller most of all. She comes out of her room in the morning pushing her baby in the stroller and it hardly leaves her side until she goes to bed at night!

 The Easter bunny hiding the eggs

 

 Looking for eggs....

  Found the stroller!

 We spent the next hour going up and down the driveway and sidewalk

Christmas 2010

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year. I have always looked forward to going home to Idaho to spend Christmas at my parent's house. Now that we have a little one of our own and our schedules are so demanding, it is harder to coordinate the trip. This year, we had a relaxing Christmas with just the three of us. Tyson and I had a couple days leading up to Christmas off together, which was so nice.

Mia had so much fun decortaing the house and getting ready for Santa. She liked making cookies for Santa on Christmas eve. She must still has Santa on her mind because the other night she was at the counter helping me make dinner and she asked "For Santa?"  

 Picking out and decorating our Christmas tree

We went to "Zoo Lights" at Hogel zoo on Christmas Eve.

Mia LOVED it!

She couldn't get enough of all the lights that

were in the shape of animals. 

This is how she rode through the zoo- on Tyson's poor neck.

I just want to eat her little face in this picture!

 Mia patiently waiting on Christmas morning

Here are a couple pictures of my sister's adorable butter ball!

 He is getting so big and CUTE. I just love these pictures.