We love family!

We had so much fun while my folks were visiting. I know I already did a post about them, but I had to add one of our chocolate pot party. Most people have a chocolate fountain, we have a chocolate pot. One of my sweet neighbors gave it to us for Christmas. To me it is pure torture since I love chocolate almost as much as I love breathing air. Why is this torture you may ask? It is torture because I have several foods that are taboo to me while I nurse a child. My kids have very sensitive tummy and so I live without chocolate for as long as they nurse. That is why my chocolate pot is torture. My family gets to enjoy its goodness, while I watch. (Big Sigh) But that is not really what I wanted to ramble on about.

We have so much fun when my folks come to visit (take two!). We really don't get to see them all that often and my girls just adore them. We had a chocolate pot party the night before they left and it was quite the event. Lots of mess. Lots of fun. Lots of great memories.
Kiera wanted to make sure that nobody ate the marshmallows that she wanted. So she made a marshmallow tower.

Ryan is quite a funny uncle. He spent a lot of time with the kids on this trip and made some special bonds. He and Bubba had a really good talk as you can see below. They are the reason I want to live in California and also the reason I don't really want to move to my island paradise. As much as I want to go to Hawaii, I want my kids to grow up with their family. Maybe I am going about this all wrong. Maybe I should be trying to convince them to move to Hawaii too.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we hit Del Taco again. Chris and Ryan cleaned out the tattoo vending machine, again and applied them in the bathroom, again. No old men walked in on them this time to question their relationship though so that was a relief. Chris did try to get them all off before he went into the MTC, however, but one just wouldn't budge. I am sure it will fade in a few days.

California Dreamin'

We want to move to So. Cal. Does anyone know of good, less expensive housing areas or high paying school districts?

New Things

Elder Hendrickson. Here he is, not looking to happy. What a funny face. Sometimes its hard to tell what those small pictures look like when you are trying to upload them. This is in the MTC. I am sure some of you are familiar with the building in the picture.

Here he is looking a lot happier. Want a little insider info? Ryan is smiling so big because Elder Hendrickson grabbed his booty at the last minute. It was a symbol of his brotherly love.
At 7 months old my baby boy has his first tooth. What a trooper he has been. He has hardly complained. My Mom and Dad got him this little onesie that says "Someone in La Habra, Ca. loves you.
My Little Cambria gave her first talk in Primary today. It was so cute and she did so good. I'll post her talk below. She read a poem from the children's friend magazine. One of the lines said the word tummy in it and at the last minute up there at the microphone she said she was too nervous to say the word tummy. Ahhh, kids, if only we could always understand what they are thinking.
I will Follow the Prophet

Cambria’s First Talk April 20, 2008

Having a Prophet to lead our church is very important. The scriptures tell us in Amos 3:7

“ Surely the Lord God will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants
the prophets.”

Some of you have you heard the song Follow the Prophet. Part of it says, “Follow the prophet, he knows the way.”

The prophet knows the way because Heavenly Father speaks to him. Heavenly Father tells the prophet what we need to do to be happy. He tells the prophet what we need to do to be safe. He tells the prophet what we need to do to return to live with Him again someday in heaven.

It is really important to do the things that the prophet commands because the prophet is speaking for Heavenly Father.

There is a poem in The Friend called, “I Will Follow the Prophet.” It says:

“When my dad says, “lets go and play,” we run down to the park.
When my mom says, “It’s time for bed,” I lie down in the dark.
When the music says, “you need to dance,” I move my hands and feet.
When my tummy says, “I need a snack,” I get something to eat.
When the prophet says, “we all must pray,” I humbly bow my head.
His voice is one that speaks for God, so I’ll do as he’s said.”

President Monson is our new prophet. I know Heavenly Father chose him to be His new servant. I know that it is important to follow what he says. Our prophet will always help us choose the right.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Big Day

My brother Chris entered the MTC today. He is going to Kennewick, WA. He has been really nervous. He was supposed to be set apart on Sunday but then decided he absolutely had to go surfing in the morning or he would go crazy. So they pulled a few strings to change his appointment to be set apart for Monday night. It actually worked out better because a few family members and friends were able to be there that otherwise wouldn't have been. Chris took the long road to going on his mission and shared a touching conversion process in his farewell speech. He had stopped believing in the church and lives a wild and crazy life style, thinking he was very happy. Until one day he realized that he wasn't really happy and he didn't have any direction in his life. He said he began praying again and his relationship with his Savior grew. He met some good friends, had an RM roommate and started dating an LDS girl. These influences had an affect on his heart and Chris began to change. Through prayer, fasting, repentance and study Chris gained a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and knew he had to serve a mission, not because he particularly wanted to, but because he knew God wanted him too. I love my brother, Chris. I will miss him tremendously, But I am so proud of him and I know that this decision he has made will bless and change the rest of his entire life.

For my other big story of the day, Bubba got his first tooth! He is just barely 7 months old. It seems early but I think Cambria had her first at 6 months old. I had been wondering why he was having a hard time sleeping. I suspected a tooth, but wasn't exactly sure. Me and the girl's were so excited. Especially Kiera she jumped up and down cheering for him. What a good big sister. Isn't it so cute how he is folding his hands.

Over Due

I have meant to say a few words about my new niece for a very long time. Malulani was born by C-section weighing 3 pounds and 14 ounces. She took her first breath 6 and a half minutes after she was delivered and surprised the heck out of her mother and father. Ke'ala and Candy were thrilled. Malu has a rare disease called Trisomy 18, or Edwards syndrome. It affects 1 out of 3000 babies and is considered non compatible with life. It has something to do with having an extra chromosome that pretty much ruins the body's blue prints for a working internal system.
She is a miracle.

Here she is 10 days later, still breathing (with help), still living and still letting her mommy and Daddy love her. I haven't ever lost a child, but I did lose my father and I am so thankful to have the knowledge that families can be together forever and that our relations with each other don't end in death. I am thankful to know of a Heavenly Father who loves us. I am thankful to know that heaven isn't just a fancy place that people talk about in stories but an actual place. I am thankful to know that we can return to heaven to live with our loved ones who have gone before us. Knowing this doesn't completely lessen the grief that comes with the passing of a loved one, but rather it gives hope that the separation is only temporary. I can't imagine coping with grief without this knowledge.

We had a baby shower for Malu on Saturday. Since she wasn't expected to be with us, her parents didn't really have any supplies, plus it gave us a chance to celebrate Malu and the blessing that she is to all of us.

In other news, this is a picture of Bubba and cousin Devin. Devin is a month younger, but he is just as big. Bubba kept trying to take Devin's toys, but Dev was a good sport.
( I removed the picture of the below story for safety reasons)

No, this is not a little Laie boy running around the North Shore, this is my daughter Cambria! It was really hot on Saturday and the pool was irresistable. We didn't come prepared however so Cambria borrowed some boy shorts. We giggled as we put them on in the bathroom and as we walked out of the door Cambria said, "oh, I hope I don't look ridiculous!"

Little Things

Sometimes my days as a mom seem very long. Then other times they slip by too quickly. This was our bath time conversation the other day:

Cambria: Mom, what if we were fish and the fisherman's hook caught us right here (points to tongue)?
Me: Then I guess they would catch us and eat us up for dinner.
Kiera: Guys, that can't ever happen because we are human!

This is another precious moment to me. I have a picture of me feeding my little brother just like this. Well, almost like this. I had clothes on. It was spaghetti night though and I didn't want Kiera to ruin here clothes.

I also updated sayitsweetly.blogspot.com. It has some cute samples with prices on it. Take a look if you'd like. I'm sure I will eventually post it on this blog too.

The Final Fiesta

Finally! We are done! Our last birthday party was on Friday. We were a little poor after our Disneyland trip so the theme for the party was homemade fun. We made two pinatas out of old cereal boxes, decorated two cakes, played a game with buckets and sponges called, "Fill the Cup" and a hide and seek game called "find the three and five" (which were hand drawn numbers on scratch paper.) The kids didn't notice that it wasn't a state-of-the-art birthday party and we all had a great time. There were 14 kids, mostly boys. It was a lot, but all their moms and dads came too so it was kind of like an adult party as well. The kids scored on gifts as usual and have way too much. Most of the pictures are on my friend Toshia's camera which she was kind enough to offer since mine in being difficult.
Those are my pinatas behind the cake. Don't laugh now! The kids had fun making them with me. Cambria wanted to have two because she was afraid the boys would hit too hard and bust one open before she got a chance to hit(it happened once before). It worked out just fine. We decorated one with a "C" and one with a "K" and all the kids got a chance to hit. I was really glad because I wasn't sure how the cereal boxes would hold up.
As for the cakes the girls each picked out the design the wanted from our cake book and then we frosted them together. I don't know if you can tell because my camera is so crappy, but Kiera's, the pink one, has a tiara on it.

Earlier in the wee one of my fun college roommates came to visit me with her kids. She lives in MA, but her family is in Vegas. Sometimes I look at her mild mannered appearance, and find it hard to believe that she was once such a wild and crazy girl. In a fun way of course. We both have two girls and a boy. My girls had so much fun playing with Noelyn and Jaina. Kiera even wanted to go home with them.

Erin brought Arby's with her for lunch and we had a nice picnic outside.
Finally, we come to the story of Squiby. You might find yourself able to relate to a toddler who often says, "what" or "why." I find that I repeat myself over and over giving the same explanation. Do they ask "what" or "why" over and over for fun or simply because they don't understand the concept. I am not sure as to the answer of this question, but I do know that after I answer a question logically (several times in a row) and it does not satisfy, sometimes a nonsensical answer does the trick. For example, Kiera was asking me why a certain rock was in Grammy's front yard. I gave her several answers, that did not satisfy. The rock is part of the garden. The rock looks nice by the flowers. The rock was there when Grammy and Papa moved in. Rocks are found outside. None of these answers would suffice. Finally I said, "that rock is your Uncle Ryan's pet." She replied by saying, "oh, what's it's name?" I said, "Squiby, (of course)." She accepted that answer without further comment and it ended our conversation. She later told her uncle that she really liked his pet Squiby and of course he had no idea what she was talking out. After I quickly clued him in, he was happy playing along. Kiera begged to take Squiby home with us. To tell you the truth, Squiby has become my most favorite pet. He requires no care what so ever and Kiera enjoys him just the same.

Here's to you Squiby. Best Pet Ever!

Easter, B-days and Disneyland!

Warning: You are about to see loads of photos and a lot of journaling from a very fun week that started in Nevada and ended in California. :)

Easter time is usually synonymous with birthday time for us. So along with dying eggs and the more spiritual side of Easter , we also plan party, after party, after party. The Saturday before Easter Kai's mom and Dad planned a big Easter/birthday extravaganza. We colored eggs had an Easter egg hunt, had birthday cake and opened presents. The kids had a great time. We also had a birthday party while we were in Cali and we will be having our last one tomorrow. Crazy, I know. It drives Kai nuts. Oh, below are some pictures that Cambria and Kiera made.


This is Cambria with sparkle glue that they put on their eggs. They turned out so pretty.
This picture is out of order. It is some of the cousins after the Easter Egg hunt. I was so focused on trying to see if the babies were smiling I didn't even notice that Trey had snuck in the picture.He was feeling grumpy that he didn't get enough eggs and didn't want to be in the picture at first. I feel bad that I cut off his head.

They hid an egg up on the fence. Kai was kind enough to lend Cambria his back.
Bubba and Uncle Ian.
This is out of order too. Its the egg dying of course.
We actually did the se eggs at our house for FHE with some of our close friends.
Next stop Disneyland. This was a great adventure. We went for three days and tried to get there as soon as the park opened everyday. We only stayed until 1 or 2 because that was when the crowds got to be too much. We went with Miexia and Netty Ah Loy on one of the days and saw Matt and Kat Fritter on another. We also found out that Erin Burch Campbell was there on another day that we were, but we didn't see them. (My camera started to malfunction towards the end of our stay. It started taking foggy pictures. I guess I'll have to get a new one.) Isn't that the happiest face?!

Notice these cute backpacks the have on. They are actually leashes. I got them at Target. The funny thing is, I dated this guy once who was strongly opposed to putting leashes (like this) On kids because it classified them with animals. I didn't have an opinion on them at the time, but as I looked at these in the store his objection kept running through my mind and I wondered if I was somehow treating my children less than human. In the end though I was much more concerned about losing my little tots. Besides, Cambria thought it was a dream come true to be on a leash as she often pretends to be a dog (complete with a homemade leash- usually a jump rope around here waist.)
The hats that my girls are wearing demonstrate yet another difference between my girls. Cambria wanted the pretty princess ears and Kiera wanted the Goofy hat.

Bubba was such a trooper. He really did so well. He was in the stroller a lot and he hardly complained. Too bad he won't remember this fun trip.

Maybe this is why Kiera wanted the goofy hat- curse my dang foggy camera.

It was much more fun to wait in the long lines with the Ah Loy family. My kids just love their kids and call them their "Hawaii friends." Here we are in line for the jungle cruise. It actually scared these kids to death. It was really funny! You know how the tour guide tries to be all funny and tells really dumb jokes (which Miexia laughed very loudly at) Well at one point the guide told everyone to hit the deck because the natives were mad and shooting. Cambria, Kiera and Natalia Ah Loy hit the floor of the boat so fast and their eyes were filled with terror. Here I thought it would be a nice little friendly ride that the baby could go on with us!

This is a picture of them before they dropped to the floor in terror.
This is a picture of Cambria driving a car at Autopia! It was so funny because she was a horrible driver and we were being thrown in every direction. Great memories!
My girls have never seen Star wars, but the desperately wanted to be chosen to train as a padowan in the live show. Cambria was picked and poor little Kiera was not. I think the leader was going to choose her because he kept looking at her (there weren't that many kids) but every time he looked Kiera would turn to me and say, "I want to go up there" and I think the leader mistook that for disinterest. I think he thought I was just trying to be a pushy parent trying to get her kid up there. But when the show started there were tears. Kiera was devastated. I told he we could keep coming back until she got chosen, but she changed her mind as soon as the Sith (sp?) Lord came out. He was pretty scary. It was such a cool production. There were storm troopers and Darth Vader came out of a stage that rose from the ground. It was awesome. Cambria got to fight Darth Vader and she was so cute! Maybe I'll try to put the video clip on later.

Not surprisingly we spent a lot of time in the princess end of the park. The girls were in heaven. The got to take a picture with Snow White. Cambria was so scared, but Snow White was so nice and took a lot of time to talk to them. She was really sweet. When we left Snow White, Cambria was a smiles as she said, "I didn't have to be scared after all!" I wish I could write Snow White a thank you letter.


Uncle Caca got to come with us on one of the days. It was great for the girls to be with him before he leaves on his mission. We also got to be at his farewell which was on Easter Sunday, and I was able to go with him when he went through the temple for the first time. It was very cool.
We also got to spend some quality time with Gigi. I was always very close with my Grandma growing up, My mom and my brother Sean and I actually lived with her and my Grandpa for awhile. So I am very happy that my girls get to continue on in what I consider to be a very special relationship. This is the second time we have gotten to play with clay at her house. The girls thin kit is a lot of fun.

Cambria made a snake and Kiera made an octopus:)

I know what you are thinking, I should make my family rich using my artistic skills to support us. Gigi made the bunny. Cambria made the blue foot with the yellow toes for my pink girls in the back. I also take credit for the blue man. Don't be jealous of my skills, its a gift.:)
Lastly, while we were at the neighbor hood park visiting with the Fritters, this crazy truck comes zooming down the railroad track then crashes through the fence park. It got high centered and the driver couldn't get it to budge. Kai called the police to come help and when the fuzz showed up the driver and passenger took off running. The cops found evidence of pot and crystal meth in the truck. Is nothing sacred anymore! I am just glad the kids weren't near the fence playing!

Well, if you have read all this I commend you! Thank you for sharing in our journey! We had a great vacation!

PS: A big Happy Birthday to my 5 year old Cambria! She is the sweetest girls. She is my first born and I have always felt like she is my little buddy. She is so creative and tender, smart and funny. She helps me so much and I am going to miss her terribly when she goes to school next year. Happy Birthday Nani!

Happy Birthday Kiera!

My little girl is three! Though, if you ask here she'll say she is 5. Kiera is very disappointed that Cambria gets to go tho school next year without her. She has decided to lie about her age to solve the problem. I can't believe how the time has flown. Today I have a 4 year old a 3 year old and a 6 month old. Does that mean I am old?!
It is so hard to get a good picture of her because she is always on the move. Kiera is a sweet and sassy spirit. She loves girly-girl things and "boy toys" as she calls them, quite equally. One minute she acts like a dainty princess and the next the "evilest girl" bad-guy. She likes to think she is tough and has big muscles. She has an amazing imagination a very sweet heart and a very quick mind. She loves to quote movies and is constantly surprising me in many ways. I can't imagine life with out this girl in it.

So far she has had two birthday celebrations as well as a quite celebration with just us as pictured above. We had a bowl of ice cream with a sparkler put inside of it. You can see Cambria maintaining a safe distance in the background.

Pictured above was our first b-day celebration at Kai's mom and dad's house. We celebrated all the March and April b-days as well as Easter. Below is a pretty bad picture of the celebration at my parents hose. I think Kiera is scolding Cambria for blowing out her candle. We had to relight it three times.
Happy Birthday Kiera! We love you so much!

I have so much more to tell. I have stories about Easter, California, Disneyland, more about birthdays, etc, but alas the hour is late and I am exhausted from our trip, so I think I will continue tomorrow. Stay tuned because there will be more good stuff to come!