Hide the scissors

I can't bring mysef to take a picture for the blog or even to take Cambria's hair out of its small ponytail to even look at her hack job. Cambria has quiet time while Kiera and I take a nap. Kai happened to be home this particular day. When I woke up he said, "I have some really bad news . . ." His face was so grave, I thought, "oh, crap, did someone die?!" He then proceeded to tell me, that he had thought Cambria wanted scissors to cut up some paper. Wrong. She had really wanted scissors to cut the hair that was falling into her eyes and obstructing her view of her coloring book. She left most of the left side alone, but really choped the right side and back. She then tried to hide the evidence of the fallen ringlets in her jewlery box. I don't know at which point Kai found out what she was really doing, but Cambria tried to convince him that they should hide the curls that didn't fit into her jewlery box deep in the trash can. Kai told her that she couldn't hide her hair and that they needed to tell me. "Oh, Daddy, noooooo, please don't tell mommy." Like I wouldn't know when I saw that the hair by her right ear was a bout an inch long. My friend Jodi did a great job at fixing her hair cut and making the best of it, but now that her hair is soooo short and less weighed down by the length, the Afro is really making a good show of itself. So it will stay in a ponytail and clips for now. Scissors should be used with supervision.

K-I-E-R-A

My little two year old (29 mos) can spell her name! We were teaching Cambria how to spell Kiera's name and didn't realize that Kiera was paying attention. Her teacher in nursery told me after church that she had asked Kiera how to spell her name, not really expecting an answer, and low and behold, K-i-e-r-a! The next Sunday we took two extra boys to church with us and she said to them, "Hi boys, I'm K-i-e-r-a!" Our pediatrician has always told us that Kiera is a very smart little girl. We know Dr. Mehta loves her but this story is funny: yesterday Dr. Mehta told us that her parents were visiting from India and had been spending time with their granddaughter (who is also very smart). They kept telling Dr. Mehta stories about her and Dr. Mehta would tell them stories not about her own son, but about Kiera and Cambria. Isn't that funny. We built a ver strong relationship with our Dr. because we saw her about every two weeks. Cambria always had strep (hense the tonsilectomy) and Kiera always had an ear infection (hence the tubes in her ears). The office even joked about putting us on their Christmas list.

Oh, yeah, so Kiera may have an IQ of 160, but, this evening she was asking me if she could drink the pool water that had overflowed to the ground. I said no because it was dirty water and tried to hand her her sippy cup. She then said, in a rather, firm voice I might add, "but this water is for cows!" So I told her she was not a cow, but a Kiera, and before I had time to finish that sentence she said, "mooooooooooooo!" So you know that puts things in perspective.

Boy Stuff

I have some very creative friends that I just wanted to highlight. These are two gifts were the most original I'd seen. A cute little diaper cake with wash cloths and baby bath essentials, and a cute little wreath that says "it's a boy." Sometimes I still don't think that the news has really set in that it's a boy, not a girl coming. For some reason I am so so nervous. I know it doesn't make sense, but its still true. I have three and a half weeks left for the reality of the situation to fully grab hold of my brain. Don't get me wrong, I am excited, but for the last four years dresses, pastel colors and princess movies have ruled our house. This wreath is hanging in Kiera's old room that used to be a purple fairy princess room, so blue is a good start. Kiera now shares a room with her big sister Cambria (and still gets a little confused when I tell her to go to HER room-she often pauses between the two doors and you can tell she's trying to make a decision.) I am, however, very happy not to have to do another girls hair before church in the morning. I don't think we'd make it to church if I had three little afros to tame before a certain deadline.

I appreciate those of you who have wished me well on the last bit of my pregnancy. I will be more than happy to deliver this baby. I can't wait to see what he'll look like and what we will finally name him. Now Cambria is trying to convince us that Tarzan would be a really great name. Oh, I have a question - has anyone of you ever banked cord blood or researched it? I am thinking seriously about it and would like to hear from anyone who has had any experience or some kind of knowledge on the subject. Thanks!

Making Summer Last

Okay, so I know I haven't blogged for awhile. These last few weeks of pregnancy have me very tired. Kai started work again today, and all the students will go back to school on Monday and it makes me realize that this summer went much faster than I ever thought it would. I usually want summer to last much longer, but I knew that the close of this summer would bring me closer to the birth of our son. So these are just a few tribute pictures to our last days of summer. Up above is My youngest brother Ryan and of Course Kai showing off their muscles. Its nice for Kai to have some testosterone in the house every once in awhile.
This is the way my girls prefer their pancakes. They love to help mix the batter and then add red food coloring. Sometimes we make them blue though because Kai has a hard time eating pink pancakes.

We had another visit from the Miexia and Netty Ah Loy as they passed back through on their way home to Wyoming. The girls were very excited because Kai only likes to get the slide out on special occasions. They all had such a good time.
Kiera making a splash and Cambria, loving her ride!

So, even though it is still 108 degrees or more today, our summer is coming to a close. I hope all of you had great vacations and made many memories. Next summer we hope to do a lot of traveling to see more of everyone!

Birthdays, Bowling and Chinese Food

Okay, so, this first picture doesn't have anything to do with the title, but it did happen while we were eating Grammy and Papa's birthday cake. I still laugh when I think about Cambria's little voice saying, "look, I'm a walrus." Where do kids come up with these things!

My parents came to stay with us for two days before completing their trip to Utah to take Ryan to EFY. We were able to celebrate my Dad's birthday just one day late and my Mom's birthday a week and a half early. Although, they will be here again on their way back home to California so my mom has to wait until then to get her gift.

These are the best cakes ever! If you have never had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, I suggest you do so immediately!

While they were here we got to go bowling at the Virgin River Casino. The girls had been once before and really wanted to take Grammy and Papa. Even with bowling bumpers Ryan still lost to everyone, including Cambria and Kiera. Good thing he plays water polo, because there is no future for him as a bowler.

This is how Kai spent most of his night, but he still beat Ryan:) Isn't he cute:)

My parents new favorite place to eat in Mesquite is a little hole in the wall called Canton Chinese Cuisine. We had been telling the girls that we were going to eat Chinese food, so as SO as we sat down Kiera yelled quite loudly, "I want China!" Ryan and Kai couldn't eat enough of these little Chinese donuts. I am not exaggerating when I say they had about 10 each.

We posed for a picture outside the restarant and instead of saying "cheese" Kiera kept saying "china, china, china, china, china." It was really funny. We sure had a great time with my family and can't wait until our next get-to-gether.

Shark Reef

I am so sad I didn't get more pictures! my pregnancy fatigue is interfereing with my normally excessive desire to document everything in photos. Shark Reef is a tiny aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Teachers get to go free during the summer so we took advatage of the opportunity. Cambria's favorite part (which has no photo documentation:() was the sting ray touch pool. She stayed for about a half an hour touch every sting ray that passed by. When we came home and went swimming in out own pool she alternated between pretending to be a sting ray and imitating the guide who sat at the head of the sting ray pool saying, "please only toch the sting ray's with one finger and a closed fist. Do not touch their eyes, nose or tail, thank you very much." She also might be the only one to ever have said "ohhhh, that sting ray is soooooooooooo cute!" Kiera was a little freaked out by the sting rays, but she really liked the white alligator. Oh, she also really liked the elavator.:)

Kiera with baby Tarzan waiting to go on the elevator.

Has this ever happened to you?

So, I was in the kitchen this morning, minding my own business (which is a mistake when you are a mother- you have to mind every one's business) eating my cereal, when Cambria says to me, "Mom, I think Kiera is playing with the toilet. So I got up as quickly as my big ol' belly would let me and waddled down to the bathroom. Kiera tells me with delight in her eyes " Look, Mom, I made it big!" Kiera has since lost what limited bathroom privileges she had.

9 weeks to go

There have been a few requests to see pictures of my preggo belly. I really am not a cute, skinny pregnant girl. As I have said before, my whole body likes to get in on my pregnancies: arms, cheeks, fingers (can't wear my wedding ring after the first trimester). So this is about as brave as I am willing to get as far as posting the big belly where multiple eyes can see. I have 9 weeks to go and why, oh, why does the last 2 months seem to take the longest. You can imagine how uncomfortable it might be to be packing this kind of load when the temps are reaching 115 degrees.

So we have a few more names to add to our list of choices. I hesitate to put them down because I really am having a hard time with names and I don't really want to be swayed (my mom and grandma never seem to like the names I choose, though I suppose they tend to grow on them)

Soooo, these are the names on our list:

Prince Derek:)

Simeon

Isaiah

Malachi

We wonder what he will look like since our girls are really not from the same cookie cutter. Will he be blonde, brunnette, black haired, or could he be a red head? With the gene pool that Kai and I have created the possibilities really are quite limitless.

Here's to girlfriends and cousins!

My girls have never had girlfriends before. It hasn't been a problem. We do have great boy-friends. But it is funny to think that ever since Cambria was born we have been sorrounded by little boys. These are their very first real girfriends. Emma and Avery Ellison (who actually knew my cousin Sunnie and her kids in Texas). They just moved into our ward and we have had such a great time together. Unfortunatley, they are moving (again) to Arizona. We will be sad to see them go because all though my girls love to be rowdy and wild with boys, not too many boys like to dress up like princesses and princes.

I couldn't decide what picture to post so I had to post them both. Aren't they sooooo cute!

This is my cousin Kellie's oldest boy, Boston. We got to see him and his family very briefly as they stopped by on their way home from Utah. Isn't he good lookin'! By the way, Kellie, if you read this he left his BYU cougar stuffed animal here. Help me remember to send it back to you.

This is Logan, Kellie's youngest son. He is so cute and so happy. I am so mad at that delay on digital cameras because I just kept missing his cute little smile. It was fun to have so much kid time packed into one weekend.

The 4th of July!

We had a great July 4th. It has always been one of my Favorite Holidays, If not my numero uno pick. I love America. I love what it stands for. I love that we the people have a voice that is able to be heard if we feel a change needs to be made. I love that our forefathers risked so much to gain our freedom and that they KNEW they were guided by the hand of God to do so. The book that I am reading righ tnow, Prelude to Glory is a series dedicated to that very era when when we were still the "Patriots" verses the "Brittish". In fact the chapter I just read was all about how the Declaration of Independence was written and how it inspired the Patriots, how it moved them to their very core to know and finally have it written that they had certain unalienable rights endowed to them by their Creator and that they deserved the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Many may not believe in God, or think that he has a plan, but reading this book, even though it is a historical fiction, is a good reminder that this country was made by the belief in God and if it weren't so, the Brittish may have succeeded and not the Patriots. They knew they were fighting for something bigger than themselves.

Even Spiderman came to our party!

Cambria was happy to give a double Shaka salute to the 4th of July! Below the girls stand next to Amanda (Brother Ben's girlfriend) and show off the American flag cake that she proudly made.

We spent the morning swimming at the Rec center. They have two amazing pools and they had all sorts of activities set up for the holiday. We came home, took naps and headed for Maama and Papa's house for more swimming and lots of eating. We came home (poor Kiera fell asleep on the ride) put Kiera in bed then headed to our backyard to do sparklers and wait for the firework show. As soon as it started we jumped into our pool (its still hot at night) and watched Mesquite's firework show. We actually have a very great view and are quite close to where they shoot the fireworks. Its is almost as good as the shows I remember growing up. The 4th of July was always a big extended family party for us. I have missed this tradition more than any other. Being with my own family though is pretty darn great. I feel so blessed to have them.

Surf's Up!

For any of you who have seen the new movie Surf's up, you know who Big Z and Lani are. Well this fourth of July morning I overheard my husband playing with my girls in their bedroom. Kai has been missing Hawaii more than usual lately and last night at a McDonald's play date Cambria and Kiera got Big Z and Lani in their Happy meals. Kai was playing "surf" with the girls, you know, going through the motions, catching waves, getting barrelled, hanging ten, etc. Of course he was teaching other vocabulary word such as "wipe out, bruddah!" and "go charge 'em." It started out with laughs and giggles and various immitations by the girls , but before you know it I start hearing: "Dad, can I try it with Lani now? Dad, I wanna turn, Dad, let me try!" I soon realized that Kai had been caught up in his own make believe surfing world and forgot that he needed to take turns with his toys. I think we might have to go back to McDonald's and see if we can buy Cody without the Happy meal. Then they can all play "surf" together and live happilly ever after. Here's to all of you who are missing the Islands!

California : Surf, Shingles and weird thumbs!

Cambria made lots of sand castles!

Kiera went boogie boarding for the first time!

Cambria took time out for a snack after she wiped out boogie boarding.

Kiera loves to swing on Grammie's tree swing! Everyone calls her little Jill.

We miss the beach!

Wow, I don't really know where to start. We have been home from California fro two weeks now, and I am still tired. Well, our trip started out great. Kai went surfing just about eveydayand saw varios forms of sea life, dolphins, manaray, squid and a baby shark. We also went to Chuck E. Cheese's, the La Habra children's museum, lots of parks, and we saw lots of family. It was difficult to fit everything in because I needed a two hour daily nap just as much as the girls did. We got to see Uncle Caca for the first time since he has been to college and we convinced uncle Ryan and Uncle Sean to go swimming with us once or twice. My sweet mama even through a last minute baby shower for me. All of my greatest high school buddies were there, Jenny Barnes Sneddon came too and lots of other dear family memebers. It was so special!

The difficulty came in the end of our trip (sorry Jake, this is why I didn't call). Kai began not feeling well. We just thought he was tired, but by the next day he had a fever of 102.2 degrees. He had developed all these red spots on his torso and they were so painful he could barely lift his arms. After a little nugde from the old mother-in-law, he went to see the urgent care doctor who diagnosed him with shingles. He was given a perscription and was sent to bed.

Then the night of my baby shower, we were convinced that Kiera had somehow broken her thumb. It was bent crooked and I couldn't starighten it out nd it made this gross clicking noise. Kai wanted to wait till we got home to see our own doctor to mend it. We ended up taking her to a hand specialist in St. George who told us that it wasn't broken or dislocated. He said it was in fact a congenital disorder called congenital trigger finger and that she would need surgery to correct it when she is three. Until then it will continue to be bent and crooked and make that gross clicking feeling. Ewwww! Somehow Cambria and I managed to stay well and I am very happy about that.

Now here we are, back in 'ol Mesquite where the temp has been hitting 113 degrees. We are well and hoping that we have a little less adventure for the rest of the summer. We are also hoping that baby brother doesn't decide to make an appearance to soon. He must be anxious though because I have already dropped and his head is in position. I still have 11 weeks to go and while I would love to give birth early, I surely don't want a baby who has to stay in the ICU. Life is never dull with kids!

Welcome Summer!

Now that I say "welcome summer" I am questioning my sanity. I should say, "welcome swimming", or "welcome pool time" because the desert heat is something I definitely do not want to welcome. So far the temps haven't gotten much hotter than 101 degree. Many a day last year our out door thermometer hit 122 degrees. Lets see, my favorite parts of summer, are BBQ's, swimming, playing at the beach, tan lines, family trips, the 4th of July, fire works and the over all feeling of relaxation. Summer still feels like one big, long school holiday.

Dr. Kiera Davis

Cambria was a little Camera shy when she came home from the hospital, but Kiera wanted to try out all her new stuff. Once she put on the blue hair net, she wanted to give us all a check up and called herself Dr. Kiera. Her pediatrician thinks she is very smart and says she must be a surgeon or it will be a waste of her talent:)

Good-Bye Tonsils!

After 18 cases of Strep Throat in the last three years, Cambria finally had her tonsil removed. The last three days have been very hard on her and she can't wait to eat real food and jump on the trampoline again. Kiera thinks that Cambria got to do something fun without her and so she continues to tell us that she wants her tonsils out too.

Oh BOY!

A major change is headed our way! We are used to pink and purple, princesses and barbies, long dresses and pig tails. Baby number three will change all that and Kai is beside himself with joy. So are the girls, in fact. They wanted a new baby brother and they want to call him Prince Derek. Kai would like to call him Simeon. I am hoping to come up with a third alternative, any ideas? This overwhelming joy has not been without its hardships. My body has decided that there will be no more babies in our future. I have been able to avoid bed rest by adhereing to strict rules, but I will have to have a hysterectomy after the baby is born. You never think things like this will happen to you, but we have been able to focus on the positive and find joy in the children that we have been blessed to have. Kai says we can always adopt if we find we still feel a void in our family.

The Aquarium

We took a trip with my mom and dad and brother to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had a great time looking at sharks, fish and Sea Lions. Here we are in the giant bird cage, which Kiera wasn't fond of since a bird tried to make a nest in her hair.

Beautiful Girls!