The Christmas Spirit

Ready or not Christmas is around that corner. I'm not sure why, but this year it has taken me a little while to get into the spirit of things. Sort of bugs me because it is my one of my favorite times of the year. Perhaps it is just because life tends to be so full these days and I haven't stopped to really ponder what is missing.

I have to say that I am so thankful for this past weekend though, because it really helped put me in the right mood. Saturday we went to the ward Christmas party at church. The program was great, and the food was good too! Santa even stopped by to say hello to the kids. Emery and Kelci are funny, they knew it was Brother Peterson dressed up like Santa. But they went along with everything anyway. I thought it was funny that Santa suggested that Emery get a bb gun for Christmas, and than used the old famous line no you better not, "you'll shoot your eye out." Of course she had no idea what he was talking about (yes we are that old now). Brody believes that Santa lives at the church now, he has been a lot of fun to watch this year with everything going on.

Sunday we had a great lesson in our Young Women's class, about the Saviors Love. Of course I have heard a lot of lessons on this topic, but what made this one so special was when some of the girls in our group stood up and shared with us a moment when they knew that had felt the Saviors love for them. They had wonderful experiences that strengthened my testimony. The kind of experiences I hope my children will have when they get older and are conquering highschool. The teacher shared a story about highschool and how she struggled for a time with self-esteem. She recalls feeling like some many of her friends were better in sports, prettier, smarter, etc. So she decided that she wasn't any of those things and that was ok, she was a daughter of God though. She decided she would strive to be the nicest person, and that is what she became good at. She became the person that would say hello to anyone, fellowship the lonely, and even try her best to not judge others, but just love them. It was an uplifting lesson and just filled my heart with the spirit of Christmas.

Confession

So I have to confess that the only Nutcracker I have ever seen, or at least that I can remember watching, is the Barbie version! I know crazy, but I have actually always wanted to take the girls to see the real Ballet when they were old enough to remember it and enjoy it. I decided to just take Emery and Kelci this time. Cambree was not at all interested in it, mostly because of the mouse king. She really struggles with "villains" in the real world, on T.V. she is fine, but if they are in the same room as her, she is terrified. We went with my good friend Lorie and two of her girls, Cali and Brooklyn.

The girls had a lot of fun, they loved the music and kept telling me which songs were there favorite all night. They also got a good laugh when Mother Ginger did the Macarena. Everything was beautiful and I was really glad we decided to go. The only thing I was upset about was leaving my memory card at home for my camera. At least Lorie had one.

ESPN

Bryan has been pretty busy lately. He is in charge of two restaurants, which keeps him hoppin all the time. He never complains about it, infact he takes pride in it and has been working hard to get these restaurants profitable in a tough economy.

So the other night he came home about 7:30pm looking a little beat up and just had a lot on his mind. So I decided to share this little poster with him, hoping it would just get a good laugh. I think he really does deserve to be on a magazine sometimes, he is such a great Daddy and Husband to our family.

Oh, and yes the poster did make him laugh! I even put one on the frig, which Brody thinks is the coolest. He is always looking for Daddy and telling me he is strong like Daddy. I love you Bry!

Tempted to lie....

I am so tempted to lie sometimes whenever people ask me how old Landry is now. He is almost NINE months old now!! And because he weighs around 18lbs, I'm pretty sure people would not believe me if I said he was 6 or 7 months old right??


This little guy really has the most contagious smile...it always makes me smile back at him. Lately he has been crawling around furniture, trying to wave (this he does almost everytime I go to get him out of the carseat), he even says dada, baba, and is really trying hard to say mama. I caught him the other day pushing a box across the floor while standing up...of course I can't have this little guy trying to walk, so I sat him down (sorry bud). It is so hard to watch your baby grow so fast.

The Big Ten!!

Well I can't believe it, has it really been 10 years since I gave birth to my first child? Apparently it has and it feels like it happened over night sometimes. When Bryan and I decided we wanted to start our family it didn't exactly happen the way we thought it would. It took us about a year and a half to get pregnant, and than we had our first miscarriage. I felt a lot of sadness, frustration, disappoint during those days. But of course it didn't last long, because one month after the miscarriage we were officially pregnant. It was a challenging pregnancy in the beginning, and I believe our prayers were answered because she was born right on time, right before Christmas, it was perfect.

Happy Birthday Emery! I don't know if I can put into words how I feel about this girl. She is a joy to have in our family. Sometimes I feel like she is my sidekick, because I can always count on her. She has the most contagious laugh and the best sense of humor. She can see when help is needed and will offer to help most of the time.

I'm a little sad that she is growing up so fast, like most of us are about our kids. But I look forward to the future with this kid to see everything she can accomplish.

Here are some snaps of what Emery wanted for her birthday, a party with family.

Olivia made this beautiful Hawaiian cake for Emery...so cute..Mahalo!!


I wonder what is in this box? Keianna doesn't look excited or anything. Also I loved how Keianna was festive and wore her Hawaiian beads to the party, so cute.


Look it's one of Santa's goofy reindeers!


Cousin love! So sweet.


It's a tradition that Mema makes a picture board filled with fun memories of the last ten years...she did a great job (spelling errors included).

Early Birthday Surprise

About two weeks ago Angela, Kya and Lucy came out to visit. She was only here for a week, so we made the best of our time together and had a lot of fun. Angela had the idea that it would be fun to have an early birthday party for Kya and Lucy with there cousins. Of course she wanted it to be a surprise! So Mema went ahead and booked a birthday room at John's Incredible Pizza. It was a blast, and one of the easiest birthday parties I have ever attended. The little party girl that was in charge was great and did everything, we almost felt lazy. Happy Birthday Kya and Lucy...we love you!!



The cutest Mema ever, dancing in the Limbo line.

The kids loved the games, this is Hot potato.

Don't tell a lie or else....

So the other day I found out that our pediatrician received the H1N1 vaccine for the kids. So that afternoon I thought I would take all 5 at one time to get the shot. Of course I was a little worried about this, nervous about who was going to break down first, etc. So I had Bryan meet me at the dr's to assist in the consoling. As the 7 of us were waiting in the room for the nurse to come with the shots, something on Kelci's leg caught my attention. It was an upside down peace sign, drawn on her velour pants with a blue pen. Of course I immediately asked her, what that was and why did she write her pants. Her response to me was, I didn't do it! What??? I'm thinking she has got to be kidding right? She knows that there is no way I am going to believe she doesn't know who wrote on her pants. So finally a sort of confession comes, with the help of Daddy glaring at her. I continue to explain in my best mother know it all voice why we don't write on our clothes and why lies, even small ones are bad.

Finally the nurse arrives in the room with a tray full of vaccines. She announces to Bryan and I that there are two nasal sprays and three shots. So we needed to decided who should get each one. Poor Kelci, bad time to be lying to the parents, she ended up with a vote for a shot. Of course she broke into tears, and I did feel bad for her, but I knew she would live. Perhaps she will learn from this experience and just realize that she doens't need to tell lies...no matter how big or small, because really that is what we would like her to understand.

Halloween Fun

Honestly I am a little exhausted after all the Halloween activities. It was starting to feel like Christmas around here. Something to do or go see every night. But it is always fun to celebrate and watch how excited the kids get about everything.
Wednesday we carved our pumpkins. Emery and Kelci are finally old enough to design there own pumpkin faces and were able to carve them out all by themselves.

Thursday was our preschool Halloween party, which was a lot of fun.

Friday our church held the annual chili cook-off. There fun games for the kiddos and of course the trunk or treat afterwards. Brody and Cambree were just amazed at all the treats they collected. I heard Brody say, "trick or treat or lollipop."


Saturday Mema took Cambree to see the Disney Princess on Ice Show. She was so excited about seeing all the princesses. Of course she had to dress-up. She was a little nervous about all the villains at the ice show. I know she thought they were real, she was so funny.

It was fun to have Keianna and Jenae come over and go trick or treating with us that night. The kids had a great time and got A LOT of candy. I stayed back and passed out candy, which I have to say was actually pretty fun as-well.

Cambree was a high school musical cheerleader, Emery was a wizard, Brody was a dinosaur (spikes), Keianna was an angel, Landry the cutest pumpkin ever, Jenae was a geisha girl, and Kelci was a lovely school teacher...too fun. Hope everyone else had a safe Halloween!!

Pumpkin Fun!!

Fall is one of my most absolute favorite seasons. The annual trip to the pumpkin patch is a "most do" for us to help get out and enjoy this beautiful time of year. My mom came up and spent the day with us, helping me throw a fantastic preschool party. When the kids were all home from school we met up with our good friends, the Martins and headed out to the pumpkin farm to play.

Cambree and her best little buddy Brooklyn strolling through the patch.

Ok...can I just say that I am so glad that I am not a pig! How do they survive nursing 10 wild piglets at one time...poor mama pig.

Notice the lovely little jacket Kelci is sporting on our trip. Mema picked this up the day before at the goodwill to help out with her teacher costume. But of course Kelci fell in love with it and has been wearing ever since. Money well spent when you can keep using your halloween costume over and over again.

Brody was in lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve with this train. He was glued to all the tractors along the route, the tunnel, the cows, and even some logs stacked alongside the tracks, he yelled mommy look sticks!!

You know I wasn't going to let this years trip come and go without stopping to take some pictures with these fun oversized pumpkins...everyone say "Trick or Treat."

Yum Yum, I will take one of those....oh and the cool pumpkin to go without. (isn't he sweet looking)




The kids had a lot of fun. They played on an old train, a treehouse, fun rubber tires that leave your hands all black! Usually our trip to this farm includes taking a tractor ride out to the patches to pick a pumpkin, but we decided to skip that part. We also like to pan for marbles and go play on coyote mountain (a giant slide), but since we didn't have a lot of time we decided to try some new things.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Seven months

Look who is already seven months old. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up...makes me sad.

Stats: 18lbs and counting
Length: really long!!
Favorite activities: Crawling, chewing on everything (even homework), and hugging.
What makes him sad: TEETHING, he is working on #4&5 on top poor guy.

Landry is such a great baby, his personality is so pleasant. He hardly fusses and his face just lights up to anyone who talks to him.



Don't worry Landry Mema is working on a bigger beany for your noggin.

P.S. Landry thank you for finally learning how to fall asleep on your own, although I do miss that little cuddle time when there was time for it.

The world according to...

Brody....wow this little guy has been giving me an interesting time these days. But today in the car while driving home from Sam's Club we had this funny little conversation. It is short, but just reminds me that underneath all his fits and mood swings, there is a funny, sweet little boy that makes me smile.

I was reminding Brody that he needed to finish his churro (we have to do this a lot with him).
Mommy ~ Finish your food babe (don't even know why I called him babe, but whatever)
Brody ~ ok
Brody ~ (a few minutes later) wait mommy, I'm not Daddy! (I guess I call daddy babe more than I realize).

Oh and a few other things that you should know, that maybe you weren't aware of. Tires are really called batteries. And any sort of hole is a tunnel whether you can get all the way through it or not.

He is trying to fight for his independence everyday and these are just a few things I feel like he can have for his own.

P.S. This post is dedicated to Olivia (btw Cambree announced to me today that she misses you)...and Keianna. I promise to try a little harder to post more often.

Aloha Continued...

Ok....read the post before this for details starting from the beginning of our adventure.

The Airforce Thunderbirds were practicing all week for the airshow on Hickham AFB that coming weekend. It was fun to step out Ang's back door and get a little show every afternoon. Brody couldn't get enough of the "Big Jets" flying over. At one point he handed me his snack and said, "Mommy I need to look at the Big Jets." Than he put his hands up to his eyes, as if he were trying to look through binoculars...too funny that kid.

One of the days that Ang and Jeremy both had to work and Kya and Lucy went to school,we decided to take our crew over to Pearl Harbor. I didn't know how much Emery and Kelci would really undertand about the impact of that horrific day in history. But they seem to be really trying and listening intently to what people had to say. It is always one of our favorite places to visit, it is just so peaceful abroad the USS Arizona Memorial.


The kids were even sworn in as honorary Park Rangers for the USS Arizona Memorial, I thought this little hawaiian man was sweet.

We even made time to check out a popular surfing beach on the North Shore. Of course not for the surfing, but for sea turtle watching. Apparently this little beach is known for having a lot of turtles hanging around. So we hung out for a little while and saw a few riding the waves not too far off the shore. We also saw a man ignore the warning signs about the slippery rocks, he took one step onto a rock and he landed flat on his back. From the looks of it though, he definately broke his elbow or badly dislocated it...OUCH!


These kids were getting pretty tuckered out...but there was still more to see. (Cambree wasn't the happiest about having her brother's sweaty, hot head on her shoulder, I had to bribe her with Jelly Beans.)

This is Bellows Beach, it is a beach reserved for Military. Perfect spot for bogie boarding and relaxing on the beach. The kids loved this, Kelci overcame her fear of the waves and couldn't quit bogie boarding. I'm still trying to figure out how after only being at the beach for a few minutes, why Cambree had sand all over the top of her head and face?? Anyways....we won't talk about how much sand these kids can pack around, it was everywhere, but that's ok because it was hawaiian sand!!

Even Bry caught some great waves.


Here is where Landry hung out most of the time. This was a no sand zone, so he had the tent to himself. I'm just glad he isn't quite crawling all over yet!


I wish I could say this is me, but it is my cute twin Ang!! She is a great hostess and tour guide!

One of the last things we did was hike to Waimea Falls. It was beautiful! One of Ang's friends was so sweet and was willing to watch three of the kids for us that day. If you asked Cambree what one of her favorite things about the trip was, she will tell you that it was that day at Brianna's house. Thank you Brianna! Kelci was a little unsure about swimming to the Falls, but after seeing Ang and I do it, she decided she would give it a try. Kya and Emery also decided they would do it too.

I feel like before I continue I should explain the reason for the dorky life jackets Ang and I are wearing. We weren't sure if we were going to have to pull kids back and forth across the pond, so we thought it better to be able to support ourselves and them as-well. I will admit we look dorky, but it was nice to just float on our backs in the water!

Who's who??? Hehe
Why does time seem to fly by so quickly when you are on vacation? We were so blessed to be able to take such a trip. We were spoiled having Ang and her family so close for a little while, now it just seems unfair to have them so far away. It was perfect! Now back to real life. Aloha!