The Kauwes

Contact email

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Sorry, contact us at:

kauwefamily at gmail dot com

Blog will be made private soon...

2010-03-19T13:27:00.002-04:00

We are going to make the blog private soon...we might actually post to it every once in a while too! If you want to access it send us an email and we will send an invite. Thanks.

The Kids

2009-09-02T12:12:00.002-04:00

Sai and Mealani sitting on our freshly stained deck.

The Family

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King Family Reunion in Colorado

2009-07-08T20:03:00.002-04:00

Sai loved the horses!

Going Fishing with Dad and Tutu.

Hanging out in the tent.

2009-06-30T00:05:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of our kids. Mealani is now 5 months old.

2009-04-27T17:04:00.004-04:00

Here is Mealani almost 3 months old. My sister Maegan made her cute bow!

Yard Work

2009-04-26T21:10:00.002-04:00

We have been doing yard work and put in a garden, here are a couple of pictures of our back yard.

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Here is a picture of my cousin and I in January...

And here we are with our new babies!

Fishing

2009-04-20T22:12:00.003-04:00

Sai went fishing at Vivian Park with Keoni, Tutu and Kaai. Here is the fish he caught!

More Springtime!

2009-04-19T11:00:00.002-04:00

Keoni and Sai like to clime our tree in the back yard.

Spring in Utah!

2009-04-17T15:35:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I woke up to snow and by 7pm that night it was pretty much gone.

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Mealani 2 1/2 months old

Keoni's birthday cake. Thank's Josh, Page and Shana!

Mortenson family Easter egg hunt. Here are the grandkids.

Mealani's first Easter!

2009-03-30T11:07:00.002-04:00

The Garrett's came to visit. Here is Alyson, Mealani and Sai.

Sai and cousin Aneesa playing.

Mealani's blessing day.

Mealani and Great-Grandma Dutson

Sai and Mealani

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Our Children

2009-02-15T13:00:00.001-05:00

Mealani at two weeks old.

Sai at two weeks old.

Kaulamealani Monica Kauwe "Mealani"

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Mealani was born on January 31st at 10:31pm. She weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. Monica and Mealani are doing very well. Sai is a great older brother and loves to take care of Mealani. His methods for stopping her crying are not effective (he gets up in her face and yells, "Don't cry! Stop crying!") but we are sure he will get better!

Christmas!

2008-12-30T16:08:00.002-05:00

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We have had a great Christmas this year. Sai has enjoyed spending a lot of time with family this season.
Tutu Kauwe with his boys.

The first snow in our new house.
Sai making ginger bread houses with his cousins.

Opae?

2008-12-11T10:08:00.003-05:00

So everyone know that Sai loves to eat. During our trip to Hawaii he solidified his taste for some things that not all of you appreciate. The other day we promised Sai a treat when we got home from some not so exciting errands. Just as we arrived home, Monica said, "Guess what Sai? Dad is going to get you something REALLY GOOD!".

Sai responded excitedly, "What it is mom, opae?"

For those of you that don't know what it is, here is some opae:

What treat could possibly be better than a handful of dried shrimp?

Our trip to Hawaii

2008-12-07T11:11:00.006-05:00

The flight to Hawaii was not too bad. The plane wasn't full so Sai had his own seat. He loves to listen to "Bob" on his ipod. I am sure the other passengers enjoyed his rendition of Natural Mystic.
As you might know, Sai LOVES the water. He spent about 4 hours a day at the beach and was never ready to leave.

We spent one morning hiking through the rainforest to the source of a spring and past several heiau. It was a nice morning. Thanks Justin for being our guide!
Our good friends live in Laie and we were able to visit with them. They have a beautiful home and were wonderful hosts.
This is what Keoni ate for dinner nearly every night. Fresh poi and several different kinds of poke (raw fish with various sauces, etc.)
Our last night with the family. Many thanks to everyone for taking such good care of us. Hope to see you again soon!

Sai's Birthday

2008-12-07T11:01:00.005-05:00

Sai had a very happy birthday. He had one party with his cousin Jacob and the Kauwe family and another one with the Mortenson family.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T10:57:00.003-05:00

Monica's family joined us in our new home for Thanksgiving. It was a blast.

The turkey turned out great and Keoni's carving and presentation was impressive.

Sai got a hair cut!

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Cousin Tyson's Birthday Party

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IT'S A GIRL!
We found out today that we are having a girl.

Leaving St. Louis

2008-09-15T13:28:00.004-04:00

While we were in Utah Keoni and I decided to go look for houses.
Well, we found a house and will close at the end of the month. We are very excited except that means we will also be moving at the end of the month. We will miss our St. Louis home.
Here is a picture of our house in Utah.

Our trip to Utah in August

2008-09-15T13:08:00.002-04:00

Grandpa Kauwe has chicken. Sai and cousin Jacob had fun chasing them around the yard.

Sai helping grandpa with the chicken coup.

Cousin Donovan had a birhtday party. Here is Sai, Donovan and Tyson.

Donovan and Sai sitting together after church.

Madeleine, Melissa, Maegan, Shana and me. Some how we all wore matching shirts.

Grandma and Grandpa

2008-08-04T13:59:00.002-04:00

Grandma and grandpa Mortenson came to visit.

We stayed pretty busy. One of the days we went to Grant's Farm.
Here is Sai feeding the Camel.
Grandma and Grandpa bought Sai a new toy. He loves it.

Chicago

2008-08-04T08:19:00.002-04:00

We went to Chicago last week!

We went to the aquarium with some friends. Here is Sai and Finn posing for a picture.

We went to the Grand Lux Cafe for dinner with the Murphy's.

Here is a picture of Keoni and Sai on Michigan Ave.

Sai enjoyed going to the beach and swimming.

Fitz's

2008-07-22T10:42:00.003-04:00

After a good hard look at the menu Sai went with the chicken fingers and a few sips of Dad's cream soda.

More swimming

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Sai is getting even better! Watch this!

Carnivore...

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This is Sai doing his best impression of the lions and dinosaurs he loves so much.

Sai on the ipod!

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Enjoying the music

Here is the video.

Part fish?

2008-07-12T14:23:00.003-04:00

Sai loves the water and is never scared! He puts his face underwater and even dives in by himself. He holds his breath really well too. Check it out.

Relaxing at the pool

2008-07-12T11:17:00.006-04:00

Cruising after a nice swim.

Mom enjoyed the pool too!

A hat and glasses can really cool you down. Many thanks to Aunt Denise for letting us come swimming!

Camping on the 4th

2008-07-08T17:58:00.007-04:00

Staredown

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Just a cute little picture of Sai and Keoni.
Sai had a run in with a metal post at the ball field...I am sure Uncle Kawika would be proud.

Horses

2008-07-08T17:47:00.004-04:00

We went to visit our good friends the Teftellers. They live outside the city and have horses and cows! Sai had fun and couldn't get enough of the horses.

Ice cream anyone?

2008-07-08T17:43:00.001-04:00

Sai's first ice cream cone. He loved it, can you tell?

18 months!

2008-06-02T21:06:00.005-04:00

Sai is now 18 month old. Where has the time gone?

Here are my cute boys.

Sai can now get into the fridge. I tried duct tape but he just reached up and took it off the fridge. I guess there is no stopping him.

Here he is trying to decide what to eat...

mmm...that looks good...

...or maybe I will have some of that!

Bass Fishin'

2008-06-02T20:55:00.002-04:00

Keoni went fishing this past week at a nice little lake in Illinois. The drive was very long, but it turned out to be worth it. He caught 4 good-sized largemouth bass and tons of huge bluegill.

B...Y...U...Cougars!

2008-05-25T19:52:00.004-04:00

We have spent nearly 5 years in St. Louis. It has been great and our family hasn't known any other home! But after several months of interviews and negotiations we have finally decided to accept a tenure track faculty position in Bioinformatics at Brigham Young University. It came down to a tough choice between a position at the Washington University School of Medicine and BYU, but in the end we felt that BYU was the right place for us. We are very excited! We start at BYU on May 1st, 2009; that gives us one year to get ready for the big move. In the meantime Keoni will continue to work in his postdoctoral position at the Washington University School of Medicine and prepare to be successful at BYU.

Here are a few pictures of the campus for those of you that might not be familiar with it.

Keoni's Graduation!

2008-05-25T18:40:00.004-04:00

Keoni finished his Ph.D. last October. Graduation was May 16th and grandma and grandpa Kauwe came out for the commencement ceremony.
Keoni was selected as a Student Marshall for graduation and they wrote an article about him in the University Magazine.
He was also included in a promotional video for the school!

We spent a lot of time at the Zoo and ate some good food!

If you get to the zoo early the Carousel is free! Sai did not want to get off.
Three generations of John Kauwe!

Sai enjoyed reading books with grandma Kauwe.

The Valentines came to visit!

2008-05-24T22:28:00.005-04:00

The Valentines are our good friends from Colorado. Sai had a great time with their kids. It was a party all week long!

We spent some time at the Zoo, Science Center and some other St. Louis attractions.

We drove up to Nauvoo for a wedding. Here the kids are waiting for us outside the Nauvoo Temple.

Warm days of Spring!

2008-05-02T13:19:00.005-04:00

We had a couple warm days last week so we went to the park. Sai loves playing in the water.

We went to the zoo last Friday morning. No one is there at 8am so Sai was able to just run around while I followed behind him with the stoller. Here he is relaxing on the steps.

Sai likes to take my glasses and put them on.

A New (to us) car

2008-04-19T19:00:00.003-04:00

After 5 years of being a one car family we finally added another vehicle! This way Monica doesn't have to drop Keoni off at church at 7:15am, then go home, get ready, get Sai ready, and then come back to church. It is an old car, (1991) but it runs well and we love it.

2008-04-19T15:07:00.003-04:00

Monica's half marathon went great. We drove out to Springfield the day before the run. The drive was only two hours and Sai did a great job entertaining himself in the back seat.

We met up with the Walkers in Springfield before the marathon. They are great friends and we had a blast with them! Thanks for coming to support Monica!Sai and little Johnny had fun hanging out in the Lincoln Presidential Library.

And the dads were on stroller duty. We have both put on a few pounds since the missionary days in Japan!
We stopped for dinner at a little seafood restaurant...so did most of Springfield's finest senior citizens! We went for an early dinner and ran into the "early bird discount" crowd. You would have had a hard time finding someone who wasn't older than the combined age of our family! Fortunately they were all very friendly and tolerant of Sai's less than stellar table manners.
The run was a great success. Monica and the rest of her running friends were able to get a nice picture with Honest Abe.

Family Pictures

2008-04-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

We finally made time to get down to the Sears portrait studio. It was a stressful morning, but things turned out well.

After a few minutes Sai was getting very hyper and wouldn't sit still. As a last resort we told him we were saying a prayer. He immediately stopped everything, and this was the result.

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Sai is learning all kinds of fun new things, like how to draw on the desk and walls with crayons, destroy a DVD player and entertainment center and throw remote controls into the wall and watch them explode. He has also learned to stick out his tongue. Finally the best thing he has learned recently is to say "cool" whenever he sees something new that he likes. We love this little guy!

The running crew

2008-03-23T07:47:00.002-04:00

Monica and several of her friends are running a half-marathon in a few weeks. Each Saturday morning they gather for their long run. This is the crew before the 12 miles that they ran on Saturday.

A big day for Monica...

2008-03-15T16:00:00.003-05:00

Today Monica went to Scandals Salon and Spa to donate her hair to locks of love. She has been growing her hair out for three years.

It measures at about 16 inches in this picture. After the cut there was about 14 inches for the donation.

And here is the new 'do!

With glasses...
And without...

Some new pictures for cousin Jacob

2008-03-01T06:55:00.004-05:00

Hi!

Sai doesn't wear hats, but he seems to think that headbands are pretty cool. He likes to try this one on and laughs when mom or dad wear it.
The other day Sai was playing alone in his room (which he does from time to time, it is sure nice!) and he suddenly started crying. He was stuck in his box of books!
Another Sai favorite, sitting at the window and watching the dogs/squirrels/rabbits/people go by. Someday it will be warm and we can go play outside.
Nothing is cuter than a mom and her boy!

Just a few pics.

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Sai is starting to get into more and more trouble.

We had a reasonably warm day so we headed to the zoo.

Lifting weights. I guess he sees us excercise every once in a while, so he thought he would try it out.

"Hawaiian!"

Uncle Kalani got him this hat, how else would anyone know he is Hawaiian!

Finally, we all know that Sai loves to eat. Here is a spaghetti dinner, Sai style.

Kawika's MMA

2008-02-05T08:28:00.000-05:00

I thought I would post this for those who are interested in seeing a few of Kawika's fights. These were before he left on his mission to Mozambique, sounds like he is planning to resume his career when he returns.

Piano man!

2008-01-09T21:03:00.000-05:00

Sai loves to play the piano.

But he doesn't like it when Mom interrupts his song.

Christmas...in January

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When we got home, more presents were waiting. Sai got lots of new toys and has really enjoyed them.

He really likes his piano. He loves to start the song and then dance.

Flying Home

2008-01-09T20:23:00.000-05:00

The flight home from Utah was tough. It was long and late. We ended up getting back to St. Louis after 1am. Sai was well-behaved, but miserable the whole time. He is such a sweet boy.

The Mastiffs

2008-01-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Kauwe have two dogs. Pele, the brindle, is a female. Lono is the fawn with a black mask. These two English Mastiffs are huge! You would think Sai would be scared of them, but he LOVED playing with the dogs. Of course we had to be careful since each dog weighs about 5 times what Sai does, but he loved having them around. Here are a few pictures and videos of the dogs.

First Snow and cousins at Christmastime

2008-01-09T19:41:00.000-05:00

Just before Christmas, Sai had his first exprience playing in the snow.

Then, we took an unexpected trip to Utah. We booked our flight at 10am on Christmas Eve, and left St. Louis at 1:30! We were pretty nervous about the whole thing (Keoni and Monica are not the most spontaneous people in the world) but it was a great trip. Sai was able to spend alot of time playing with his cousins.

Sai loved spending time with his cousin Jacob. Jacob and Sai share a birthday and are just 1 year apart. Jacob plays very nicely with Sai and was always excited to see him.

Sai also had fun with his cousins on the Mortenson side. They took good care of him and he stayed busy trying to keep up with the big kids.

Happy Birthday Sai!

2008-01-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

Sai turned one in November. He received many gifts from his friends here in St. Louis and family from all over. In these pictures he is playing with some of his favorites.

The Alba Family gave Sai a great present, a HUGE Tonka truck. Sai showed his gratitude by pushing Aurora around the living room.

Keoni's Research Website

2007-12-03T14:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry to dissappoint those of you that came for your "Sai fix". This post is a link to Keoni's web page from work. It has his Curriculum Vitae as well as links to all of his published papers. Enjoy...

Thanksgiving and a birthday party in Alabama

2007-11-25T20:11:00.000-05:00

We drove to Northport Alabama to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jared, Cassie, Tyson and Capri. It was a great trip. We were even able to have a little birthday party for Sai. Monica made a football cake for Sai and he had a blast eating it!

Sai is growing up!

2007-11-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

Many of you haven't seen the little guy for quite a while. In this video you can see just how much he has grown up. He LOVES to read books and will even bring a book to you if he sees you sitting down. He is good at turning the pages and loves the pictures. He also loves to give Mom and Dad kisses. Watch the video.

A few fun pictures...

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2007-09-29T07:29:00.000-04:00

First a short clip of Sai playing the ukulele with Dad.

Here is Sai taking a short break with Mom at the zoo.

The video of Sai turning an infant bouncer into something a little more fun.

Its been a while...

2007-09-28T21:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the huge string of pictures...its been a while and we just wanted to get a few pictures up for everyone.

First a trip to the zoo...

And Sai having fun around the house. He is learning to drink from a straw and getting better at walking. He also loves when Mom makes fried rice!

Monica was babysitting for someone and they brought over this bouncer, Sai climbed right on and had a great ride!

Sai explores the kitchen

2007-08-12T18:21:00.000-04:00

Sai likes to take all the pots and pans off this little shelf.

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Sai loves to eat...anything...in large amounts...as if it is running away from him.

Enjoy,

2007-08-12T18:03:00.000-04:00

We have been housesitting for our neighbors Holly an Dave. Sai loves to play with their very friendly white lab named Hunter.

Sai loves being outside and doesn't mind the heat. Here he is helping Dad fix a bike.

Sai playing with his Dad

2007-08-12T18:02:00.000-04:00

Sai loves to play with his Dad and tries his best to do what dad does. Watch as he laughs when the blocks get hit and then tries to clap the blocks together just like dad.

More fun with Cheerios

2007-08-03T06:48:00.001-04:00

Sai is definitely a Momma's boy.

2007-07-28T17:46:00.002-04:00

Sai loves his mom so much. This is a picture that we took this morning at the Butterfly House. Sai had good time watching the butterflys and playing in the swing. I will post a few more pictures and a video later.

2007-07-28T10:07:00.000-04:00

Sai went to the fountains at Tower Grove park this week. His friend Aurora came too.

Sai had a great time crawling from fountain to fountian. Watch the video and you can see how careful he is to keep his knees and stomach off the rough concrete. Sai loves to play in the water.

This is a picture of Sai and his Goate Lab fan club. He loves to come visit Dad at work because of all the attention he gets!

Eating Cheerios, Enjoying Life

2007-07-19T10:01:00.000-04:00

Sai is doing great. He is still trying to get up the courage to walk, and getting closer every day. He really enjoys feeding himself so after he eats most of his meal he gets to sit in his chair and eat cheerios by himself. He loves it. Of course, we strip him down to just a daiper so we can throw him straight into the tub when he is done.

Sai standing at his toy box

2007-07-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

July 4th!

2007-07-05T17:34:00.000-04:00

I had to post a picture of the awesome ribs that we had to celebrate the July 4th holiday.

A fun video of Sai playing and some assorted pictures

2007-06-28T20:25:00.001-04:00

We let Sai try to eat by himself, and this was the result. At least he had fun!

A couple other pictures. Sai working on his pushups and showing off his swimming clothes.

And finally, a short video of Sai playing with his Mom before he starts eating.

One of Sai's favorite games

2007-06-15T20:49:00.001-04:00

Sai and Dad love to play catch. Watch how excited he gets as he tries to catch the ball before it falls off of him.

A short visit with the Sakai Family

2007-06-15T20:34:00.000-04:00

We had a fantastic time visiting Auntie Kim, Uncle Keola, and Lillie last week. We had so much fun and we are so gratefull for their hospitality! Sai enjoyed the plane ride and was very well behaved. He LOVED Lillie and watched her intently the entire trip. She was so good with him and they had fun playing together. Enjoy a few pictures of our trip. Check out the Sakai's blog for some videos of our trip thesakais.blogspot.com.

Sai can CRAWL!

2007-06-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

Sai learned how to crawl! He travels about four or five feet in this video, passing up his toys to have a taste of a peach. Our lives will never be the same...

A Sai update...6 months!

2007-05-31T12:49:00.001-04:00

Sai is 6 months old now. He has started eating some solids, and he is learning how to stand up. He loves to eat poi, unfortunately, he already ate both of the bags that Grandpa Kauwe sent. We started him on rice cereal, but he wasn't impressed. Take a look at the video.

Sai can't stand up on his own, but he loves to lean on his blue chair and play with his toys. Here is a picture and a really cute video.

Sai's best buddy

2007-05-14T09:34:00.000-04:00

Lincoln is Sai's best buddy, they manage to have fun cruising at the very back of Relief Society during church. Lincoln and his family are moving in a week, we are going to miss them!

The penguins

2007-05-14T09:33:00.000-04:00

Monica and Sai go to the Zoo at least once a week. The penguins are always fun and their cool enclosure provides respite from the summer temperatures.

Sai eat in his high chair

2007-05-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

Sai has gotten a little too active to sit on dad's lap while he eats, so he gets to sit in his high chair. He loves poi, but doesn't like oatmeal or rice cereal. We have to figure out what to do when the poi supply runs out!

Assorted Pictures

2007-05-14T09:26:00.000-04:00

Just a few pictures of us around the house.

Sai loves his football.
And already has an affinity for the remote control
But his favorite thing to do is sit with his mom.
If she is busy, he will settle for dad.

A visit from Uncle Bruce and Aunt Kathy

2007-05-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

We were excited to get a message from Uncle Bruce on Saturday morning. Nathaniel received his MBA from Webster University and they were in town for graduation. We got together that evening and enjoyed dinner at the cheesecake factory. It was great seeing them and we had a fun time. Thanks Uncle Bruce and Aunt Kathy!

Huli Huli Chicken

2007-04-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

I had to post this picture to thank the Kauwe's, especially Keala and Kamakea (for the turtle) for my grilling apron. The chicken was "onolicious".

Sai loves his POI.

2007-04-24T09:55:00.000-04:00

Grandpa Kauwe gave us two bags of poi and Keoni hasn't touched them. They are being saved for Sai. This morning Sai finally got his chance to eat and loved it.

Enjoy a little video of his first solid meal!

Relaxing at the Missouri Botanical Gardens

2007-04-24T09:43:00.000-04:00

Monica and Sai went to the Botanical Gardens and Sai had his first chance to play in the grass. He loved it

A trip to the Zoo!

2007-04-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

We finally got some nice weather, so this morning Monica went to the Zoo with the Ward "playgroup". This is a picture of Monica and Cynthia and the kids (Sai, Michelle, Lincoln) riding the train at the St. Louis Zoo.

UVSC hat, Easter, and a Haircut

2007-04-12T07:44:00.000-04:00

This picture is for Grandma Mortenson! We had a cold spell out here and Sai has been wearing his UVSC hat. Monica hid some eggs and Sai and Keoni had an Easter egg hunt. It worked out well, Keoni ate the candy and Sai ate the basket.

Yesterday Sai got his first haircut.

Before:

After:

Sai with Lincoln and at the Store

2007-04-06T19:13:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of Sai and his friend Lincoln.
Sai enjoys all the action at Sam's Club, and he can even sit in the cart with a little support from a blanket and a bag of oranges.
Just cruisin'!

First Post

2007-04-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

Sai is just over 4 months old, and its time to make it easier for his Grandparents to see what he is up to, so we are starting this blog.

First a family picture, we just got back from visiting all the family in Utah and took this picture while we were there. Today Sai sat up without help for the first time. This is a short video of him sitting while he plays with a toy. He usually sits better, but he was a bit tired by the time we decided to get out the camera.