Baby, Baby

My Little boy is three months old! Where does the time go, and for that matter, why has my belly not disappeared with the time?! Usually I am back to normal by now, but alas, I still have a way to go. But this is not about me, this is about my boy. I just love him so much. I was so scared to have boy because I don' t know, the fear was irrational, but it was there nonetheless. But I am completely in love with this sweet little boy. He is calm and sweet and happy and a true blessing to our lives. The girls are great with him and it is so sweet to watch them interact. He still has a hundred different names: Bubba, Dada (don't know why), brother, Kai, Malachi, etc. He'll either answer to everything or nothing.
In other news, we only get to have our little tiny tree this Christmas. Kai seems to think this is funny. Personally, I think he planned it to work out this way, us being treeless I mean. He wasn't really excited about getting a tree so he kept putting it off every time we had plans to go. Well, I finally decided that I might have to take matters into my own hands so, I packed the kids into the car Monday morning and headed on down to the local Walmart. There were no trees left. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. I knew we were late but I thought we would at least be able to find a Charlie Brown tree. You know, ugly, sparse, wilted, something. But the only thing left were holiday wreaths. You guessed it, no other place to go in this small town. I could drive 76 miles to Vegas to look. or 36 to St. George, but quite frankly it was hard enough to pack the kids in the car to go to Walmart. I told Kai when he came home tonight that Cambria was really sad that we didn't have a real tree (me too)and he laughed. This was a confirmation of his designing this plot. No tree (or rather, a small tree) for Christmas. I guess I should embrace the Holiday Spirit and be grateful.

Still in other news, we had a security system installed tonight. It was an LDS couple who had spent some time in Hawaii that sold it to us. Cambria fell in love with the young girl and kept inviting her to dinner and asking her to come play in her room. I kept trying to explain to her that they weren't really friends, just salesmen. The funniest part though was when the couple left and the installation crew came to the door. I let them in and they were carrying power drills and other equipment. As the were entering our house Cambria took note and said to me quite non chalantly, "hmmmm, I hope they don't kill us." Ahhh, to live in her mind just for a short while . . .

Tiny Dancers and Planters

It scares me to think that next year I will be on a schedule. That I will actually have to get somewhere everyday at a time that someone besides myself has scheduled. I am talking about kindergarten. Maybe I can chalk my crazy antics up to sleep deprivation, but how long can I use that excuse. My girl's had a dance recital at 6pm on Friday. Or so I thought. I had them ready by 4:30 and gave myself the rest of the time to nurse my baby and get myself ready. I thought I would have plenty of time and show up early, maybe help the teacher get things in place, Get my girls used to the stage, etc. Well I get a phone call from my friend at 5:07. She says, " Where are you? How come you aren't at the recital." I instantly go into a panic as she tells me that it started at 5pm not 6pm. CRAP! "Get your shoes on, get in the car NOW!" Luckily we live two minutes away from the rec center where the recital was being held. But I had to call all the people we invited to tell them about the change. It really sucked and luckily everyone made it except one of our family members. WE were so sad that Amanda missed it.

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We love watching our little ones dance! I think Cambria also picked her nose while she was up there. I didn't get very many pictures of the actual dance because I was too busy cam cording. Kai was meeting me there and I don't know where he ended up sitting. I am sad to say I didn't get any pictures of Kiera, only video and I had to crawl half way across the floor to get the shot because someone stood in front of me at the last second and cut off the only good angle I had. Cambria had a great time and Kiera did so good for her first dance! after their teacher gave them candy canes being climbed by gummy elves.

After the recital, Maama and Papa took us out to eat at Los Lupes, one of the tasty little Mexican food places by our house. Koko and Kim ( Kai's brother and his wife,who did make it to the recital) are visiting from Kansas. They got to come to the recital last year too. We really miss these guys.
That is our baby, not theirs:) Finally to the planting. This is one thing that I love doing with my kids that hasn't been done for along time. They love to help me in the garden. We always plant a little ornamental cabbage for some color during the winter. I think it makes them feel grown up. Its not exciting, but it creates memories.

Hacker for Christmas

Here's the story. Kai answered an email that said it was from Yahoo titled "warning, verify your account." The message explained that accounts that were not being used would be closed and to verify information on your account if it was active. Kai them "verified" our account giving them a lot of personal information, all the information they would need to access our email. This was a few days prior to the scandalous email that your received. The hacker sent a false mass email to every contact that we had and then erased every single email address we had. No one else should be in jeopardy of identity theft through our mail. We have changed all our passwords on all of our accounts and filed police reports. My cousin Candi is the one who left the previous post on my blog because I couldn't get onto the Internet. Thanks Candi!

So onto more festive holiday events . . .
I went a little crazy on the pictures, but I couldn't resist. I am feeling very in love with my family. This is Kai and Cambria getting ready for an attempt at a family photo for Christmas cards. Has anyone noticed that the same tree is in the background every year?

How happy is Kai to have a son, very! Isn't this a cute little photo? Baby Kai is getting so big. He is three months old now and is mostly referred to as "bubba" or "brother." He is the easiest smiling baby I have ever met. He is such a good baby and thankfully a good sleeper.


Ever since I can remember Christmas caroling has been my favorite holiday tradition. Every year we go with family and friends to sing to elderly people in my grandma's home ward. It is always done on the Monday before Christmas. Our group usually totals around 3o people and my mom plays the guitar for accompaniment and we take bells to jingle. It has been so fun including my own family in this tradition. Since we weren't going to make it to California in time this year, we tried doing a "mesquite" version for FHE. We went with one other family, no music and no bells. We only sang at two houses. We had a great time. Especially the kids, but the first house we sang at (good friends of ours) They actually said "don't quit your day job guys!" when we were done singing! We were pretty off key but we were much better at the next house. After we had hot chocolate and cookies at our house.

Last week I wrote a post that mentioned Cambria was sick. She was throwing up so we got her a bucket to hold "just in case". I don't think she got the idea. Kiera is sick this week and I hope the baby doesn't get it. She fell asleep like this and I thought it wa so cute.


So here are a few conversations that have been had this month:

Kiera: Mom, can we write our letters to Chuck E. Cheese now?

Me: Chuck E. Cheese? Don't you mean Santa Claus?

Kiera: Oh, yes mom, I mean Santa

Cambria: I want a tree as tall as Uncle Caca because I love Uncle Caca. Isn't he a great brudder?!

Kiear's second, much braver meeting with Santa: "I want a pet shop, a microphone and a phone. I'm on the nice list!"

Cambria telling Gigi: I sat on Santa's lap today and I really don't want to do it again." (in a sing song voice)

Kiera reciting Kai's line and someone else's in our ward Christmas play (as she looks at herself in the mirror)

Kiera doing Kai's line: How dare you, my wife just had a baby!

Kiera doing constable's line: I'm sorry, I'm just doing my job.

Its been pretty funny around here.

e-mail From a FRAUD!!!

Just Letting everyone know that the e-mail you may have received about Kai being stuck in AFERICA IS NOT REAL!!! It was not sent by us. Someone has hacked into our account and sent a mass e-mail saying he needs $2500. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND!! The REAL kai is home safe sound! Do NOT send money!

Tis the season!

I am still hoping to get Christmas cards out this year and I need all my long lost friends addresses. You can send them to kaidavis12@yahoo.com if you don't feel comfortable leaving them on this site.

Thank you!

Malachi's Special Day

It is so hard to find a picture that really shows how cute this baby is. He hates camera flashes and he always wants to have his hands by his face. Because of this many pictures don't turn out. So his eyes look a little funny in this, but I just love him anyway.
This boy has sister who really, really, really love him. I have a feeling that they are going to be very protective.

I was both supremely pleased and slightly disappointed with this event. Pleased because it was beautiful, disappointed because I hardly have any pictures of it. The family left so quickly after, I didn't have time.

Kai gave the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard. It sounded like he had written it all down and was reading this wonderful message that he had prepared. He told Malachi that he blessed him to live up to his name because it is a name of strength. Malachi was God's messenger in the bible and that it would be his duty also to proclaim the gospel. He said that his Hawaiian name, Ho'okele, means navigator. He said that in times of trial or obstacles that he wanted Malachi to navigate his life like the ancient Hawaiians navigated their ships, looking towards the heavens for guidance.

I am just paraphrasing here. I wish they recorded baby blessings like they do patriarchal blessings. Of course there was more too it, I wish you all could have been there.

At the end of the blessing, Kiera said. I want to be blessed now. I explained to her that we blessed her the same way when she was a baby. She said, "No! I want to be blessed right now so I can see Heavenly Father!" Then in a sing song voice she said, Its my turn, its my turn!"

These are the people we shared our special day with: My mom and Dad, Sean, Ryan, Kai's mom and Dad, Ben, Amanda, My aunt Lisa, Marina, Teague, Corin, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Carla, Jordan, Amanda, Matt, and our friends the Warren's Kennedy's and Beth and Igor.

Thank you for being there for us. It really meant a lot.

I've been tagged

My friend, Cheryl, tagged me. So it's my turn now, here goes:

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Living in Hale 3 on the BYUH Campus in 209 E
2. Going to Temple or Hukilau beach everyday with my roommate Sonia.
3. Just started dating this hot guy who later became my husband
4. Teaching Relief Society in the BYUH 8th ward
5. Surfing in Waikiki almost every weekend
(seems like another lifetime ago)

5 things on my to-do list today:
(It has changed a bit since Cambria woke up vomiting)
New to-do list includes:
1. Caring for a sick child
2. Keeping the other two healthy kids away from sick kid.
3. Wash all bedding and pillow that sick kid touched
4. Spend some time on the treadmill
5. Fold lots of laundry
( we were supposed to go see Santa and attend a Salt City candle party)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Kroger deluxe Vanilla ice cream with 2.5 grams of fat.
2. Graham crackers and milk
3. Bagel with strawberry cream cheese
4. Quaker Mini delights chocolate drizzle multi grain rice cakes
5. Chocolate milk

5 things I would do If I were a Billionaire:
1. Donate lots of money to finding a vaccination for strep throat. We get it WAY too much.
2. Buy a house in Hawaii, Spain and Italy and travel everywhere in between.
3. Buy a boat, horses and four wheelers. Maybe a ranch to put the horses on:)
4. Put money in a family fund for any of my relatives to draw on for college or missions
5. Buy computers for the surrounding schools or bring in cool programs (like educational assembly programs) for the kids.

5 bad habits:
1. When I clean the lint out of the laundry I set in on top of the machine instead of throwing it into the trash can that is close by. I don't know why.
2. I watch too much TV at night instead of getting work done. or
3. If I am reading a book that I am really into, NOTHING gets done until I finish the book (luckily I am a fast reader.)
4. I don't get ready for the day until I am forced to go somewhere. This is partly because I am still fat from being pregnant and I don't really have any clothes to wear.
5. I have a hard time letting things go if i get upset about something or my feelings get hurt.

5 places that I have lived:
1. Whittier, CA
2. La Habra, CA
3. Laie, HI
4. Halawa Hts, HI.
5. Mesquite, NV

5 Jobs that I have Had:
1. Chiropractic Assistant ( i did the massages)
2. Worked at the Library for Education majors designing educational pamphlets
3. Subway Sand which Artist
4. Career Development Assistant at BYUH (I did everything from writing resumes, to convincing companies to post their jobs at our school.
5. Sped Teacher

5 thing that you may not know about me:
1. I was MVP of my school swim team 4 years in a row and MVP of my high school soccer team senior year.
2. I wish I could dance ballroom on Dancing With the Stars.
3. I play the guitar and compose music (poorly)
4. I have written a few children's books for my kids
5. I sell Mary Kay and just started a vinyl business with two friends

That is it for me! Now I tag have to tag 5 people and contact them on their blog!
So I tag Shauna, Dani, Marjie, Sunnie and Nicole!

Over the Hill

Happy Birthday Kai! Baby Kai is making a face because he can't believe his ol' man is 30! Although the numbers don't lie, he was helping a family move into our ward a few weeks ago and the dad asked him if he went to the local high school . . . you know as a student! Gotta bottle that beauty secret! We celebrated his special day last weekend with a softball game with his brothers and tonight he had to work, so I brought donuts to him and his class! Everyone sang happy birthday to him and it was very cute. The girls however, are wondering why he gets to have two birthdays.
My cousin did something that I thought was cute for her husband's birthday and I thought I would copy her.

Here are 30 facts that you may or may not know about my husband:

1. He was born in Northern Idaho, Couer D' Alene, to be exact on December 4th, 1977.
He lived there all his life until he went to BYUH for college.

2. His full name is Joshua Maikai'i Davis. He didn't start to go by Kai until he had 3 college roommates who were also named Josh.

3. He was a spelling bee champion in elementary school and a natural athlete. He was very competitive in all sports.

4. He loved Basketball in High school and carried a ball around with him night and day. In college he got a scholarship to run cross country, made the basketball team and then was unfortunately cut three days after ordering his uniform and shoes. After he came home from his mission, the basketball coach approached him and told him he was so sorry he ever cut him and wished that he would have kept him on the team. (Thanks a lot coach, that really makes a guy feel better!:()

5. He is 1/4 Hawaiian and is number 4 of 10 boys.

6. Out of his 10 brothers, he and the youngest are the only ones with light eyes and hair that is not black.

7. Until number 10, Michael, was born, they used to tease Kai and tell him that he was adopted. Ever since the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" came out, his brothers refer to him as "FEDEX."

8. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Country of Panama. He learned to speak Spanish fluently; a skill that serves him well to this day.

9. In his first months out on his mission when his Spanish was still poor, he and his companion ordered ice cream. He ordered a cerveza (beer) ice cream instead of a cereza (cherry) ice cream, and felt a little foolish.

10. He almost dropped out of college after his first semester, until he met a really cute girl who made him want to stay (it was me).

11. Our first date was surfing in Waikiki. My mom thinks its funny that an Idaho boy taught her California daughter how to surf.

12. Kai took to surfing like a duck takes to water. Our freshman year I would frequently see him cutting class with a surfboard in hand.

13. His GPA was less than 1.0 freshman year. He was on Academic probation when he came home from his mission, but luckily, I had a job that allowed me to be his probation officer:). He didn't need any help though. His mission had made him very focused, He went on to be a great student.

14. He typed most of my papers when we were freshman and this is what he blames his low GPA on.

15. His college major was Elementary Ed. but he changed it to accounting. Graduated with his BS of Accounting. Worked at Hot Topic Headquarters for a year, then moved us all to Logandale where he pursued his masters in Special education. Bye-bye boring numbers!

16. He was the sweetest boyfriend I had ever had. He would leave me secret messages that I had to decode while listening to certain songs, sneak up to my dorm to leave me flowers, type my papers, call up to my window to tell me to take a break from studying because he brought food, called me "girl", sang me songs and told me stories.

17. He told me he loved me (first) on Mt. Haleakala (not sure how to spell it). A volcano on Maui. We were married December 28th, 1999.

18. In the married ward at BYUH (14th ward) He served as first counselor in the Bishop Rik.

19. All his life he wanted to ride on a garbage truck. He got to do while in college. He was so proud:). His other jobs at BYUH included: Maintenance and TVA Dorm Manager.

20. He worked at Footlocker one day and then Quit.

21. He hates cream cheese. That means no cheese cake or any other yummy things with that ingredient.

22. He hates nuts.

23. Wanted to go to the movies on almost all of our dates because he never got to go as a kid.

24.He is a neat freak. Hates to have a dirty house. Hates to be dirty himself. His favorite days are when he goes to get a haircut, cuts his nails super short and then showers.

25. Can't go to sleep until he showers. Sometimes he will fall asleep with the girls wake up at 2 am and then shower and go to sleep again.

26. He is the baker in our family. He makes THE BEST chocolate chip cookies! His oatmeal cookies are dang good too.

27.He is a super good dad. He is really hands on with the kids. He can often be found wrestling, dancing or singing with the girls.

28. He loves watching, The Office, October Sky, The Practice and Hannah Montana. He loves Billy Ray.

29. He loves ice cream and has been known to eat a dozen cookies in one night. And then again the next night. He is still as skinny as a rail.

30. He is my best buddy. He works hard for our family and deserves to have many more great birthdays.

Hmmmm . . .

You know never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would ever cut a seat belt with sciccors. Never crossed my mind. Not even once. I considered the possibility of braking the car window if my kids got locked in the car (which they did in Hawaii, but that is another story), I considered calling a locksmith if I locked my keys inside. I have even considered alternative options of what I would do if I were ever carjacked; scenarios with and without kids. But not once did anything that had to do with scissors ever cross my mind.
It was early evening. One of the first cold nights of the year and we had jut arrived at the Costco in St. George. We were exiting the car when I told Cambria to hurry up a little. She told me she was stuck. Like I haven't heard that before. But what I didn't realize was that she really was stuck. REALLY stuck. I thought she couldn't get her seat belt to release or something. Well, that was partly true. I climbed into the back of the van to help her out and I noticed that the seat belt was around her waist. I told her to stand up so that I could take it off and that is when things got bad. The seat belt was wrapped around her waist. Twice. And when I told her to stand up the seat belt locked into position and began to put a lot of pressure on her belly. I quickly realized that I was not strong enough to pull the seat belt off of her. The more we struggled the tighter the belt constricted as if it were a boa or anaconda tightening around its prey. I called Kai to see if he could help. I thought that maybe I could loosen it enough for him to pull her out through the trunk but that belt wouldn't budge in the slightest. There was a small crowed gathered behind our car when we parked. It looked like a nice little family catching up on new news. They had observed us struggling for awhile and I am sure they heard Cambria and the baby crying and Kiera saying "I want to get out" (over and over and over again). A young man approached us and asked if we needed help. We told him our daughter was stuck in the seat belt. He said he had a knife, but I had already been toying with the idea of grabbing the scissors I had in the dash to cut her loose. I went to get them and right before I made the cut that would rescue or little girl, i looked at Kai and said, "This is going to be a lot of money." To every one's relief she Cambria was free and when she settled down from the drama she told me, "I was trying to trap myself." I said, "Well, you sure did honey, you sure did."

This is Cambria's portrait of me, her beautiful mother. She was very proud These are five lessons she has learned in her 4 years on this earth:

1. I cannot fly like Peter Pan (because if I fall and hit the wall, I will get a fat lip.)

2. I cannot give myself a haircut. It just doesn't look good and Mommy will eventually find all the curls that I tried to hide from her.

3. You really can trap yourself in a seat belt.

4. If you put a sock filled with rice in the microwave for 2o minutes, it will catch on fire. (wish I had pictures of that one.)

Finally, I have learned that art is sometimes about the process and not the product. Kiera learned that finger paint doesn't really taste all that great. This is my daughter who usually hates to have dirty hands. Kiera had a wonderful time finger painting. She and Cambria were covered by the time they were done with this little project. They went straight to the bath when they were done.