Snow Angels

How did we spend our snow days? We played hard!

Nalani LOVED the snow. She especially liked making snow angels:)

Maika getting ready for her first trip down the hill.Building a snowman in the backyard...before the snow REALLY hit.Dad, using Maika as his personal Snow Shield...the front person got covered in snow! Getting to eat icicles almost as tall as your baby sister.Logan, after a successful ride down the hill.And, then there was Bronson, who fell asleep in the truck. I guess he couldn't think of anything else to do when he woke up...

Mele Kalikimaka 2008

Another Christmas has come and gone. I think this was one of the best ever! We had about 17 inches of snow, and that NEVER happens here:) Thanks to the snow, the kids had an extra week of Christmas Break...I wasn't prepared for that. I came close to losing my mind a couple of times! I think we made the best of it though, even Dad had some extra days off and we were able to play in the snow.

For some reason I forgot to take still pictures of Christmas morning. I guess I was too intent on getting it on video. Bronson got some cool GeoTrax sets, and some Indianna Jones gear. Nalani got some Princess toys, a shopping cart and groceries. Maika got new Ugg-like boots, beading stuff, and a Martian Maker. Logan also got some Ugg-like boots and a new volleyball and basketball. As a family, we got some new games to play and new jammies. They also received some gift cards that they've already put to good use. It was like a whole other Christmas, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and our neighbors Trish and Boyd.

We had our traditional Navajo Tacos on Christmas Eve with Jeremy and Rochelle and their kids and our neighbors Trish and Boyd. We watched the Christmas story, circa 1989; put on by Kelly and his family, to send to his brother, Mitch, who was on his mission at the time. It was so much fun to see his family back then; to see what has changed and what has stayed the same about each of them (Jennie and Kahea still tear up at the drop of a hat, Kelly still sits exactly the same and doesn't say much...thankfully Dan got some new frames for those glasses, haha).

After the movie Spencer and Nicole brought over their chimes and we got to play Christmas carols on them. The kids loved it, and the adults had a lot of fun too. Then, we opened jammies and went to bed so Santa could come.

Christmas day, we ate breakfast at Jeremy and Rochelle's house. We got Christmas naps, and the kids played with their stuff. Then, time for more food: ham, potatoes, rolls and salad. Like I said, this was a good Christmas! We hope you all had a great one too!

Happy Birthday to Nalani!

Four years ago our family got the best Christmas present ever...Nalani! She is such a sweet little girl. I love her sparkly eyes and her sweet little personality. It seems like she's always singing a song or humming a little tune. She likes to play with her big sisters and little brother, she also likes to tease and get a rise out of people:) Hmmm, I wonder where she got that from??

Once again, our ward party landed on my kid's birthday, so I feel like we had a built in birthday party too. Hey, she's four, she doesn't care where the party's at, just as long as she gets to see her friends:) Plus, with our snow days this week, I think the roads were too scary for friends to come to a party. Maybe I'll adopt the idea of celebrating half-birthdays in the summer, for my December birthday girl...We love you Nalani!

Here are few pictures from the last four years.

Recycling

One of the many good things about marrying a cute Hawaiian boy is having three cute Hawaiian girls I get to share this little sun dress with.

My parents brought it home for me from a trip to Hawaii. I think I was just over two in this picture and my sister, Melanie was about 6 months. I think I can see a little bit of Bronson in this picture...

Here is a picture of Logan at around two, wearing a similar dress. I don't think my mom had given me the original yet, so we found a similar one at the swap meet on Oahu. Logan obviously wasn't happy at the moment.

Here is Maika at around 7 or 8 months. She was in the weird hair phase:)

And, here is Nalani just last week, 3 weeks before her fourth birthday, wearing the dress. Don't you just love the dress-with-jeans fad?

So, living in Oregon has turned me greener than I realized. I've had the same dress around for 30 years and it's still so darn cute.

Not Feeling Very Grateful...

For the first gray hair I found clinging to my scalp this morning! What the H-E-Double Toothpicks??

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year spent with Jeremy and Rochelle and their family. It's so nice to have "family" when you are away from family!

It was a pretty low-key day for me, as my only assignment for dinner was my stuffing. I read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak (you all should read this book!) for a good part of the morning.

After dinner with all the usual yummy fixings, the afternoon was spent going through the newspaper adds for Black Friday. I'm a Black Friday first timer, you know. After carefully compiling our lists, clipping coupons and determining what stores to hit we went home and hit the sack.

2:45 am comes around fast! That's right, 2:45 in the freaking middle of the night! We were off to Kohl's and the good deals. The thing that really surprises me about this whole craze is the amount of grumps out there! Why in the world do you get up and go and then complain about the crowds, and long lines? Hello? If the line was wrapped around the parking lot just to get into the store, it's surely going to take awhile to get out of the store.

After Kohl's we went to Fred Meyer for their famous sock sale. Kmart for some good deals on toys. IHOP for a breakfast breather. Target for DVDs. Walgreen's for some crayon deals. Then, back where we started, Kohl's. Rochelle decided she needed to take advantage of one more deal she overlooked earlier. So, after a marathon day of shopping and being out for 12 hours...we were home by 2:30 in the afternoon with 98% of our Christmas shopping completed! Yay!

Nap time.

I'll do it again next year. The savings and deals were totally worth the crowds and lack of sleep.

Same old, same old...

Can anyone guess what words came out of my mouth when I discovered this?

Well, if you pictured me with my eyes stuck to the top of my sockets and using my favorite phrase of frustration, err, I guess pretty much anything, "Oh, my Hell!" Or maybe you think I cursed my husband for leaving the raspberry jam out on the counter? If you thought either of those things...You're wrong! (I'll admit to thinking it, but not saying it, I'm mastering self control;))

After assuring myself that he was finger painting with raspberry jam and NOT blood, I ran for the camera. Some day I'll be able to use my collection of "messy" pictures to comfort Bronson's wife as she wonders where their kids got their spunk. And, to remind her to cherish how cute they are, even when they're getting into trouble...

Sport's Fans

Last week was an all you can eat Sport's Buffet at our house. We watched a Jazz game (they won the Blazers!), Bronson and I even sported our Jazz gear. We watched a Blazer's game (they won the Rockets), I'm actually starting to not hate the Blazers, but will still always cheer for the Jazz over them. We watched the University of Utah win TCU, and even spotted our brother-in-law, Jasen, coaching away on the sidelines.

On Saturday we watched the much anticipated game of the week...Maika's first basketball game! Oh, the comedy of watching a bunch of first and second grade girls playing basketball for the first time. It was so much fun to watch. This week we will be working on the concepts of offense and defense:) Maika is a good dribbler, but we had to tell her that it is okay to use more than one hand when you are trying to take the ball away from the other team.

Maika is looking forward to another practice tonight and two more games on Saturday. We will be there cheering her on! Remind me not to sit on the top bleachers with Bronson. Last week he took his shoes off and hit an old lady in the head as he threw them over the edge. That boy and his temper...

We're Off to See the Wizard!

Starring: Logan as The Wicked Witch of the West, Brody as Toto, Nalani as Dorothy, Maika as The Scarecrow, and Bronson as The Tin Man! I guess Kelly and I were the Cowardly Lion, since we're too scared to have more kids to fill up all the roles.

We had a great Halloween this year! Bronson was the hit of the night! One of my favorite comments came from a house-full of big-burly-logger-looking-dudes (not in costume, most likely just home from work!). The guy who answered the door said, "oh! Look at the cute Dorothy! Oh, awesome! Look at the Tin Man! Hey, guys come look at this Tin Man!" At this point two other loggers come to the door and one says, "Awww! That is just adorable! Did you make that (looking at me)?" Um, no. But, did the word "adorable" just come out of a loggers mouth? Too funny! Honestly, people would stop and yell across the road at how awesome his costume was. Although, he wasn't too thrilled by the process of becoming the Tin Man...

My other favorite quote from the night came from Thatcher. We were at our first door of the night, and the people were handing out boxes of Hot Tamales (one of my personal favorites). After Thatcher received his, he ran up to his mom yelling, "Hey mom! They got Hot Molly's over there! I like Hot Molly's!" That just struck me so funny! Hopefully he'll find some Hot Molly in the future:)

Nalani and Bronson were a bit freaked out by the scary costumes some people donned. Nalani loved handing candy out to our "customers". Every time the doorbell rang she'd yell, "Dad, there's another customer!" When she opened the door and someone was dressed scary she'd run away and hide until they were gone. If they were friendly looking, she'd gladly hand them a piece of candy.

I didn't get too many pictures of Maika as the Scarecrow because she kept having "wardrobe malfunctions". That darn straw kept scratching her head and wouldn't stay in place. She looked so cute though! It was a last minute idea that we pulled together out of the dress-up drawer. Logan loved being the Wicked Witch. I finally let her spray paint her hair and we got to do an ugly make-over.

And here's the Table O' Cavities, and Rochelle sampling some of Maika's loot.

Pumpkin Carving

The kids loved carving their pumpkins on Monday night! Kelly found some really cute stencils while the kids were gutting their pumpkins. Nalani loved to put her hands in the goo and pick out all the seeds.

Logan: Frankenstein

Maika: Scary Face

Nalani: Dorothy and Toto

Bronson: polka dots (I was tired of carving so I got the electric drill out and made polka dots all over. I got the idea from Martha. Super fast, easy, and cute. Just right for my lazy bones!)

Afterwards, roast up all the yummy pumpkin seeds! There has been a debate going on around here, so I ask this question: Do you crack the pumpkin seed like a sunflower seed and eat the inside, or do you eat the whole thing? Kelly and I eat them like sunflower seeds and almost every other person we've asked eats the whole thing...

Pumpkin Hunting

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this year. We actually went on Maika's birthday. Bronson wasn't feeling too well, so Kelly quickly volunteered to stay home and take care of him (cough, cough watch college football, cough, cough). The girls and I headed out to the freezing cold pumpkin patch. We got our quarters out and did some pumpkin bowling, fishing pond, bean bag toss, and the hayride. We also got to pick out our pumpkins and warm our hands up with some really watered down hot chocolate:)

I can tell Logan is getting older, because when I made her stand behind the flower thing to get her picture taken, she looked around, rolled her eyes an said, "This is sooo embarrassing!" That's what mom's are for, embarrassing our kids!

Elmer Fudd and the Fuddettes

This past weekend the girls finally got to do something they've been begging to do for months. Duck hunting. Our friend Spencer is an avid hunter and has been talking to the girls about it forever. Every time they saw him the first question out of their mouths was "when can we go duck hunting?"

Saturday was the day. They got up early, around 5:45 am, without any complaint and got warm clothes on, ate breakfast, and waited to be picked up. I tried to tell them they had to be quiet when they hunted, but knew deep down, it would be a struggle for Maika:) They had a great time with Spencer and his boys. Logan is a self-proclaimed Tom Boy. She was carrying the dead duck around by the neck and waving it in our faces. Nalani was not thrilled. Even Kelly and I thought it was gross, but Logan loved it! I figured it would make my dad proud to know that my kids are hunters like him. I remember loving to go out with my dad. The best part about it was stopping at Gopher's to get soda and candy before the big hunts. I like that my kids get to experience a few of the same things I did as a kid, even if it grosses me out now:)

The Secret to my Success

I love Sunday afternoons! Mostly, because I look forward to taking naps. With four kids running around, it's a little hard sometimes. I'll be laying there ready to fall asleep and I'll hear any one or combination of the following: arguing, doors slamming, or TV programs on way too loud!

When I'm trying to fall asleep and can't I start getting really grumpy! I'll have you know that I found a remedy. Now I don't have to hear the kids and they don't have to see me grumpy and hear me yelling at them to be quiet. This remedy only works when Kelly is home, (can you imagine the mayhem if there wasn't another adult in the house?) but it works like a charm. I highly recommend it!

Ear plugs. The soft squishy kind that form to your ear. I slept like a log. Kelly actually came into the room wondering how I could sleep through all the noise, until he saw these little pieces of genius stuffed into my ears.

Happy Birthday To Maika!

Maikalani Sarah turned seven today! I love this girl and how easy going she is...she thinks the ward party tonight is in honor of her birthday...I've never organized such an easy birthday party...Thanks Jodi:) (Our wonderful ward activity chair)

Maika got to have a couple of friends sleep over last night and they pretty much got to do what ever they want. Movies, junk food, Barbies, games.

Today we are planning a trip to the pumpkin patch, possibly a movie, cake and ice cream, presents, and the ward party, which is for Maika, of course!

I can't believe Maika is already seven! We love you so much and love the goofy, spunky, punky, girl you are. Happy birthday! Here are a few pictures of Maika through the years.

We loved all the thick, black hair she came with. Kelly thought it was a tribute to all the time he spent on the reservations growing up. Maika came out looking like a little Navajo baby.

Our little girls before church.

There's nothing like some good, muddy water and the beautiful red rocks of Southern Utah to make a little girl happy.

This shows her goofy side, coming out at a very early age.

Our little Hula Wahines before the big show during the Rose Festival.

At a field trip to the Children's Museum for her preschool field trip.

A cold, windy day at the beach.

Having fun with her cousins this summer. Maika and Asher were born a few weeks apart.

A Quick Get-a-way

*I'm a big loser and forgot my camera at home*

Last Wednesday I left for a quick trip to Utah. My mom got remarried after being widowed eight years ago. She found a really good guy and is on the move to the Arizona heat:)

I left my kids in the care of my great friends and was off (Kelly was on a work trip). My mom and Gary picked me up from the airport, along with my aunt and Gary's brother who also flew in around the same time. Then, we were off to my grandparent's house to visit and eat and get some sleep. Thursday morning we went to the Timpanogas Temple, where my grandpa is a sealer, for the wedding. Afterwards we ate some so-so Mexican food and decorated the car, then the newlyweds were off to Park City for the beginning of their honeymoon.

I spent the rest of my time at my sister Melanie's house. Thursday night we were able to go to a pre-season Jazz game and had great 5th row seats! They played the Suns and lost, but it was still fun. Shaq is a big guy! It was fun to be able to hang out with Jesse, Mel, and Riley.

Friday we went to SLC for some shopping with my aunt Colleen, and my little sister Rachel. The shopping was so-so, but the company was great! That night Jesse came up to stay at Mel's too and we stayed up late talking about old times and funny memories. Jesse has the best memory I've ever witnessed! But, he also remembers the most random, weird events that I guess, I've tried to block out:)

Saturday we went to Park City to say goodbye to my mom, Gary and Jesse before I had to go to the airport. The place they stayed was amazing! It normally goes for $3,000/night so it better be amazing. Good thing Jesse has the hook-ups! I think it would be fun to stay there during the Sun Dance Film Festival and go star-gazing (hint, hint!).

I had a great time. Not too long, just long enough for everybody to start missing each other again:) Thanks Kelly,for arranging it! It's nice to have a traveling husband and only have to pay $5 for a trip because of all the frequent flier miles. Thanks to Rochelle, Candy and Jodi for watching my brood! I know you got more than you bargained for:)

About to freakin' lose it!

I've about lost my mind these last few days and tonight was the straw that broke the camel's and my back! After a nice dinner out with friends this is what Kelly and I came home to...

Bronson has been complaining about how he thought his hair felt dry and brittle. The solution? Dump a BOTTLE of lotion on it. I guess our baby sitter (Logan) was a little on the sleepy side tonight.
Oh, and apparently he was hungry and needed to dump the whole box of granola out instead of eating a few handfuls. The kid is lucky his dad found him and thought it was so funny. I'm not lying when I tell you this is the third box of cereal he's dumped out in two days. Tomorrow is Rearrange the Pantry Day at our house! Not that it will do any good, because he'll just drag the stool over and climb up to whatever he wants anyway. People weren't kidding when they told me boys are different than girls! It's a good thing he's cute, because that's the only thing that saved him tonight:)

Nalani's First Day of Preschool

Nalani started preschool this month. She is so excited. She thinks she should be able to go to school as often as her sisters...twice a week just IS NOT cutting the mustard! She loves her teacher and especially loves all the toys at her school. She comes home singing the cutest songs! Songs about turtles in the tub, songs about washing her hands, even songs of prayer before they eat their snack:) I love to hear her cute little voice! She always tells me how much homework she has to do. She's always coloring and saying, "Mom, I gotta do my homework!" I love to see her little eyes crinkle up with excitement when I tell her it's finally time to go.

Fall weather

After school, my kids love to play outside. Bronson and Nalani can't wait for their big sisters to get home from school so they can hang with them. Here are a few pics I took of them today.

Here is Bronson sporting his new haircut...he HATES getting his hair cut, but looks oh so cute when it's done!
Here are "the girls" playing with "the neighbor girls". They were pretending that the little sisters were sick and the wagon was the ambulance:)

Check Yes or No

Holy Moly! Maika came home with a fist-full of love notes today. They are just starting out in first grade, so they don't actually say anything. Just paper hearts with hearts drawn all over them. When I asked who they were from she said, "Just this boy named Christopher. Ew!" I think she thought they were pretty funny, but insists that she doesn't like any boys yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll feel that way for a loooong time:) P.S. Maika is doing a lot better with going to school. She is happy when she wakes up and happy when she walks back in the door. I think she still struggles with the long days because she is practically begging me to go to bed at nights. I'm like, "um, yeah, please go to bed!"

Homesick...

My little Maika...what can I say? The girl just can't get enough of me. Who knew she thought I was so cool? This past week has been pretty tough for our first grader. Every morning she wakes up and almost immediately, the tears start. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the problem is and have come up with a few ideas.

1. She is not a morning person. She went to afternoon preschool and kindergarten. This is the first year she's had to get up and going so early. The poor kid is tired!
2. She misses the security of having Logan around all the time.
3. She misses being able to come and go as she pleases. I wouldn't see her all day long during the summer. But, at least she knew that if she wanted to she could come home. She feels stuck at school.
4. She is/was afraid of her teacher or some Duty Aides at school.

We tried coming up with a few solutions as well. The first day she cried at school, the teacher called me to talk about it. Maika told her she felt sick and wanted to come home. Mrs. D. thought it was just homesickness and wanted to make sure. When Maika got home that day I asked her about it. She said, "I just got these feelings that I wanted to come home." Aw, that made me feel so bad for her, but I also knew I couldn't lose this fight!

The next morning was BAD. A full hour of tears and tummy aches, and I still made her go to school. I was throwing all sorts of ideas at her. I finally let her wear my ancient ID bracelet that my little sister gave me for one of my long ago birthdays. It has my name engraved on it, so I told Maika she could wear it and when she got sad she could remember that I love her and want her to be happy at school. That got her to at least stop crying and out the door. I also told her that we could make cookies together after school if she was brave. It worked!

Until the next morning. Then we came up with the sticker plan. I also called and talked to her teacher. We had a very good conversation. She told me that even when Maika was crying she was still doing her work and being a good student. It made me feel a lot better after talking to her teacher; now we are both on the same page and being supportive of each other. Now, when Maika has a good day, her teacher sends home a sticker that she can show me. Then, Maika gets to put a sticker on our calendar and at the end of the week, if she has all stickers.....drumroll....a trip to "Dollar Tree"! This might be the best dollar I've ever spent:) Now, we've had three days in a row of very little or no tears before school and NO tears during school. Yay! I hope it goes as well or even better next week! It broke my heart to make her go to school when she was so miserable, even though it secretly made me feel good to know she missed me during the day:)

Now that I'm a mom

I was tagged to list 10 things about me that have changed since I've become a mommy. The list is vast, but here goes.

1. I have a lot more patience than I used to have. Which, still isn't much.
2. I'm good at spelling things out. I remember the first time Logan broke the code:) I was so busted! I wish Kelly and I spoke the same foreign language, now that my older kids can spell too.
3. I've given up my security blanket and just rub the silky edge of my kids' blankets when they let me cuddle with them.
4. My favorite tv channel is Noggin. I love the Backyardigans!
5. I get choked up when my kids make me proud.
6. I've learned to have simultaneous conversations with two or more people at a time while another person is on the phone.
7. I've grown eyes in the back of my head.
8. I'm a human lie detector.
9. I know I can't do this on my own. I'm glad my kids have a good daddy! And, good grandparents, neighbors, teachers, etc.
10. Even when I go shopping for ME, I always end up looking at the kids stores and they end up with the stuff at the end of the day.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

This past weekend our family took part in a really cool fund raising event for the local SARC (Sexual Assault Resource Center). Two years ago, one of my best friends, Rochelle, was raped. During this tragic event and the time following, Rochelle has shown me how strong the human spirit is. Our family wanted to help support such an important cause. Especially now that it has hit so close to home. Rochelle was the top fund-raiser for the event; raising more that $2,000!

Now to the fun part. The point of this fund raiser is to have men walk a mile in women's shoes. Earlier in the week Rochelle and I took a trip in to Nordstrom Rack to find some high heels, big ones. I was surprised at how many size 13 women's shoes they carry:) We found Jeremy some really pretty pink ones and Kelly got some leopard print slings with sparkles on top.

We even went the extra mile and gave our guys a pedicure, flower stickers and all. The morning arrived and the crowd gathered. I was really surprised at how many people were there. They also had a table full of large sized high heels for the men to choose from. They must've gone to Drag-Queens 'R' Us, they had quite the selection. So, since Kelly's heels were hanging off the edge of the shoes we got him, I decided to see if they had some that would fit better. Boy did they! Patent leather, red, and 4 inch heels:)

There was quite the assortment of people. They had lawyers from the DA's office, tv reporters and photographers, police officers, family, friends and victims of crimes. It was pretty entertaining to see tough cops with the standard issue mustaches walking around in platform ruby slippers. They were all such good sports for such a good cause. Thanks for letting us take part!

Kelly and Rochelle even made it on the weekend news casts and did a really good job in their interviews. Here are a few pictures of the fun. I think the boys enjoyed this event a little too much. I hope they don't start borrowing our clothes on a regular basis!

After school

Today "the babies" and I were waiting out on the lawn watching for Maika to come walking around the corner. We were so excited to see how her first day of school went. She walked home with Hayden and so I asked how their first day went. Hayden said, "Awesome!" Maika said, "Not too good. My teacher was acting like a total Psycho!" When I asked why, she told me that she was screaming at a girl to put her chair away and that it made Maika jump.

I have to admit that I was a little worried when I found out who her teacher was. I remember helping in Maika's kindergarten class and hearing this particular teacher screaming at some kids from clear across the hall. I just tried to play it off and tell Maika that she better always listen, so she wasn't the one getting yelled at. I also asked if hearing a screaming mad woman made her homesick for me...She said, "No! You are way nicer than my teacher!" Good answer, Maika:)

So does anyone have advice or know of this teacher? She's a first grade teacher. Her name starts with a "D".

Logan, on the other hand loved her teacher. She came home chomping at the bit to do her homework! She said she had a blast doing the crossing guard. Mostly because she got out 10 minutes early. She got her calculator out and added up all the pages in her chapter books because they have to read 3,000 pages this year. I told her to start reading the Harry Potter books. She wasn't too excited about that because she says "they're boring!" Whatever. She is a good reader, but doesn't love to read. She would much rather run around outside, than sit quietly reading a book. I can't blame her, she's a kid! But, hopefully this year, she'll develop a little more love of reading.

This morning went well again. Hopefully we are all this chipper by the end of May:)