Uhi Family Happenings

Finally!

2012-01-28T10:57:00.003-07:00

Well, we've finally done it! We have made a decision and a plan and we are going forward with it. Siu has struggled in school and with school since she started kindergarten. Even back then, I wanted to home school her, but didn't have the nerve to. I was afraid she would miss out on something, or I wouldn't do a good enough job, etc. And then each year as I watched her getting further behind, caring less and less, that little spark of excitement for learning getting dimmer and dimmer, it broke my heart. Those little voices kept coming back to consider teaching her myself. But then other voices would whisper in my other ear, that I'm not organized enough, I'm not structured enough, I might not do a good enough job and teach her everything that she needs to learn. But things are getting worse, not better and I can't watch her continue on this way any more. Monday morning I am withdrawing her from public school and we will start our homeschooling experience together.

Why can't I teach her? I'm have taken all the elementary education classes. I did most of my student teaching. I just didn't graduate, but I still have all the training of an elementary teacher. I know how to plan and teach lessons, but most important I love my little girl more than anybody! I want what's best for her and right now I'm what's best for her.

We are both excited for this new experience and we are looking forward to discovering and learning together.

Do You Ever Wonder?

2012-01-11T10:35:00.003-07:00

Sometimes I wish I could be on a "It's a Wonderful Life" type reality show. Wouldn't that be cool? You could see how things would be different if you were never born. I wonder that a lot actually. What would life be like without me? Probably a lot better for some people. Has my life really made any difference to anybody? Most of the time it feels to me like everybody would be better off without me. It's just one of those kind of days.

Pet Peeves and Other Nonsense

2011-11-03T17:47:00.001-06:00

I hate it when I check someone's blog and they haven't updated it for forever. I go to their blog all excited to read some exciting new post, and then the disappointment when it's nothing new. So if you are like me, you have probably been bugged that I haven't updated my blog. I admit it. I'm a great big hypocrite! Sometimes I just can't think of anything exciting to write. Mostly, it's just that I'm lazy.

Today I'm listing my pet peeves after which will follow ten things I am thankful for. (Just so I end on a positive note and you don't think I'm just a crabby person all the time.)

My Pet Peeves (in no particular order)

1. People who do not drive nicely. Included in this are: people who do not merge correctly, people who won't let other people in especially when the lane is ending and there is NO other place to go and what the heck do you want me to do? Go off the road?? (Ok, I'm calming down now.), people who run red lights, people who turn left after their green arrow//green light has already turned red, not yellow, red! and they take up my green arrow that I have waited forever for!, people who make a right turn on a red light when I have a green left arrow, people who don't stop at crosswalks and who get annoyed at people who do and honk their obnoxious horns at them, people who change lanes right in front of me and then 2 seconds later turn right in front of me and I have to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting them, people who take my parking place that I am obviously waiting for and I have my blinker on and everything, and finally, driving my kids and the day care kids to school. The closer it gets to the time that the bell is supposed to ring, the dumber people get. I try to avoid it at all costs, even if that means taking the kids to school 20 minutes early to avoid the crazy drivers!

2.Trash anywhere except in the trash can. Ask my kids. I HATE trash on the floor. To me that is the ultimate laziness, especially at my house where I have a trash can in nearly every room of the house.

3. Frumpled rugs. Bugs the crud out of me!!

4. People who don't say please and thank you.

5. Deciding what to have for dinner every night and when I ask my family for ideas, all I get is, "I don't know." Then when I decide on something they have toast for dinner because they don't like what I made.

6. Solicitors, phone or otherwise.

7. Actually anyone who tries to sell me anything. If I want it, and can afford it, I will buy it. If not, leave me alone!

8. Dogs who poop all over the house!

9. Kids who don't do their responsibilities.

10. Days that I don't get anything done!

Now on to Ten Things I Am Thankful For:

1. My family!

2. The Gospel (especially repentance and the temple)

3. Our home, food, and clothing

4. Lincoln's job and my daycare kids and piano students

5. Freedom

6. Hot water and indoor plumbing

7. A washer and dryer

8. Vehicles to take us where we need to go in comfort

9. Music

10. Computers and the internet so I can keep in touch with loved ones. Especially Anita in Hawaii.

That is all for now.

My Boys of Fall

2011-09-09T11:25:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I have given up on the boys posing for me, so I am using their football pictures. Aren't they cute? I just love my boys! (And my girls, too, of course!!) So happy that Faha should be able to finally play next week! I'm very excited we get to go to the game tonight. There was a possibility that we weren't going to be able to go. I used to hate football, but I really love watching my boys play. They are playing the Jordan Beetdiggers. I hope they win! Go Cougars!! (Picture of Pasi coming later....)

Cody #26 Wide Receiver

Faha #58 Lineman

Back to School

2011-09-08T14:31:00.005-06:00

I love this time of year! I love that part from "You've Got Mail" when Meg Ryan is talking about bouquets of sharpened pencils. I love shopping for school supplies. It's a time full of possibilities. It's the New Years of school season, setting goals, and fresh starts.

Things are a little different around here than they usually are at back to school time. Anita is in Hawaii at BYU-Hawaii. Lincoln and I took her in July. She just finished her 1st Term and Fall Semester starts next week. That will be a whole other post in itself. But right now I'm in the mood to write about back to school and since this is my blog, I get to write whatever I want. hahaha

This is Cody's senior year of high school. He, once again, is trying to cram in as much as he possibly can. There is never enough time for Cody to do all that he wants to do. He is taking 2 AP classes, orchestra, is playing football, is in Madrigals, and is an SBO. (In case you, like me, don't know what an SBO is that's short for Student Body Officer. Cody is the school's Cultural Diversity Rep.) Sometime in there he finds a little time to sleep, but sadly for me, not time to do his chores or clean his room.

Faha started high school this year. He is a sophomore. So far he is liking school and is doing well. Mostly due to per pressure, he is playing football on the sophomore team. Unfortunately, he got a concussion the first week of school and so hasn't been able to play in a game yet. We are hoping he can play in next weeks game. Faha is also in orchestra. He made 1st chair viola!

Pasi started jr. high. He's a 7th grader! I can't believe it! I think he already has a following of girls at his school. He keeps telling them, "I can't date yet. I'm a Mormon!" He ran for 7th grade Senate, but lost. I thought it was really great of him to run, though. And he had the best campaign posters made by Cody, the master of poster making.

Siu is in 5th grade. It's weird to only have one student at the elementary school. It's been about 13 years since I've only had one child in elementary school. Pasi and Siu guilted me into volunteering to be the room mom. Pasi said that I need to be more involved in their schools. Whatever! Siu is still her free-spirit self. I love her to death, but she does make me crazy sometimes. It's a full time job keeping her focused on school.

A major focus of our lives right now is football, especially since all three boys are playing. I really love to watch my boys play football! So much so, that I am willing to pay ridiculous admission prices just for the privilege of watching the varsity play. I want to post pictures of all the boys in their football "stuff", but they are not cooperating. So, I guess I will have to do that later.

One of my new school year resolutions is to cook dinner every night. Due to football practice, we tend to eat late so I'm trying to use the crock pot as much as possible so I can get dinner in the crock pot in the morning and we can eat at a semi-decent time. I did really good last week. I used a new recipe book and tried 5 new crock pot recipies. They were all pretty good. One was especially delicious, Spicy Rice Casserole. Post a comment if you want the recipe. Yummy!

Other new school year resolutions are:
-read scriptures every night as a family and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year
-have family prayer every night
-make sure Siu gets her homework done every night
-sleep early! by 10:00
-no tv on school days

Hopefully everyone has a great school year! :)

The New Addition to the Family

2011-05-17T20:45:00.001-06:00

This is Daisy, our new chihuahua dachshund mix. She's 4 months old and really tiny and sweet. She loves to lay by me and sleep anytime I sit down. At night she sleeps with Siu. We are still working on housetraining. I'm really not a dog person, but she has almost won my heart by her being so sweet and mellow.

All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience.....

2011-05-10T08:52:00.000-06:00

The past couple of weeks have been very difficult for me. We have been trying to finish up on our mortgage refinance. Hopefully that's almost ready for us to close on today or tomorrow. Drama with my daycare. Hopefully that is over as well. Problems with the kids, especially Anita. It's really hard to see your kids struggle and not be able to make it better for them. And health problems with me.

First I hurt my back lifting one of the daycare kids. That had me in pain for almost a week. Then that got better and my shoulder started hurting. My shoulder, back, and right arm were hurting so bad. It got progressively worse until finally I went to the dr last week Monday. I have a rib out of place that is pinching a nerve. I have not been in so much pain since I had my kids. Seriously, the pain was as bad as labor pains. It had me in tears. Finally got some stronger pain medication that made the pain bearable. Lincoln keeps warning me not to get addicted to pain medication. I don't think there is any danger of that because I hate how they make me feel. Anyway, now I'm seeing a chiropractor and he thinks it will take about a month of visits three times a week and it should be better.

Before I went to the dr, we tried everything we could think of to ease the pain. I put some rub on medication that is for muscle aches on it. Apparently I'm allergic to it because I now have a ichy rash with hives and welts everywhere I rubbed that medicine on. It's just lovely. Then yesterday I started throwing up. I feel like my whole body is falling apart. I'm in a pain medication induced haze that I HATE. I just want to feel good and be able to do my daily responsibilities and feel like I'm here, not like I'm in a dream.

I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to learn from this experience. Maybe to be more patient with people who are sick. I hope I hurry up and learn what I need to so I can get back to feeling good and be able to take care of my family, the daycare kids, and the house.

My Beautiful Girl

2011-03-29T12:27:00.001-06:00

I just have to post Anita's senior pictures. I'm so happy with how they turned out! That's my beautiful baby girl all grown up! I'm standing in puddles of mommy tears here.

My favorite is the top right one that she is smiling so big in. That's the one I put up in the living room so I can see her big smile when she's gone away to college in Hawaii.

I love this girl so much and I'm so proud of all she has accomplished throughout her years in school
and I know she will do fantastic in college, as well.
I love you, Nita-girl!

Are You a Time-Starved Family?

2011-03-28T08:50:00.000-06:00

I'm currently reading a very good book called, "The Time-Starved Family: Helping Overloaded Families Focus on What Matters Most", by Deanne Flynn. I highly recommend it if you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed out by your family's schedule, and especially if you have little babies and children so you can avoid getting caught up in the "my child has to do everything before they can even read" syndrome. These are some things to ask yourself to determine if you a time-starved family. Have you ever heard the following statements (complaints, whines, etc.) coming out of your mouth?

Family prayer? I can't get all my kids together at the same time to have family prayer!
Family scripture study?? Who has time for that?
Family dinner? We are lucky to eat, much less eat together as a family!
Family Home Evening? With all our activities, we do our own version of family home evening while driving to our next ___________ (fill in the blank, class, activity, practice, etc.).
Family time?? Does time together in the car count? If so, we have hours of family time each day!
If my child wants to be a superstar ________________(fill in the blank, athlete, musician, dancer, etc.) then they have to start as young as possible, like 3 years old.
Being well rounded means you have: sports practice, music lessons, dance lessons, art lessons, after school academic classes or tutoring, voice lessons, on and on. You get the picture.

I must admit I was on the "do it all" bandwagon. But I'm trying to get off the wagon! I used to take great pride (clue...DANGER word!) in rattling off my list of the many things my kids were involved in and that took up our time. It somehow made me feel like I was being a good mother to be so BUSY (being under Satan's yoke). Now it just makes me sad. My favorite quote from the book so far is, "Eternal life.....don't miss it for the world." I want to do a big cross stitch of that and put it on the wall!

I agree with the author in her suggestion to choose one sports activity (or other activity if your kids aren't into sports) and one music activity per child at a time. That's it! I usually try to stick to that, but sometimes I go over. Like right now Siu has dance (jazz, tap, ballet) class, Tahitian dance class and Up With Kids. She also wanted to play soccer this spring. I bravely have just ignored that request. I talked with her yesterday and we decided she will finish out the commitments she has made to those activities, two finish in May and the other in June. After that I will let her choose what she wants to do. She decided on gymnastics and violin. That's not necessarily what I would have chosen, but that's what she wants to do. So I'm learning to let go and hoping that will be a good thing for our family. I'm hoping we will be able to make time to do the things that really matter and if there's left over time, then we can do the other stuff. Not the other way around! I'm trying to embrace the "simple life" and hope that by doing so our life will be more fulfilling, spiritual, and more family centered and we won't miss eternal life for the world and the worldly things that can take over our lives if we let them.

On Being an Authoritarian Parent

2011-03-24T15:01:00.000-06:00

I have taken parenting classes in college. I am the mother of 5 children. I am a daycare provider. I take yearly training classes in childcare. I feel I have had a little experience in working with children. Even so, I have one child that is testing all the knowledge I thought I have about children. That one is Siu. We had parent teacher conferences last night and it wasn't pretty.

I try to not interfer and do things for my children that I feel they can do on their own. I try to let them experience the natural consequences of their choices. In short, I try to be an authoritarian type parent. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. I've made many mistakes as a mother, and probably will make many more. But I feel that I have failed Siu somehow. It is difficult to balance my daycare, piano lesson schedule, the other childrens activities, my household and church responsibilities. I think that often Siu feels she doesn't get any of my attention. As a result, she will do anything, even misbehave, to get my attention.

She has never really cared about school, but it continues to get worse and worse. She is not progressing and has even regressed in some areas. Last night was a wake up call for me and her as well, I think. I need to stop standing on the side and need to be more active in helping to direct her to do what she needs to do. She is almost finished with the 4th grade and she still hasn't memorized the times tables! She continually tells me she is dumb and can't do this and can't do that. I think she has just given up on school. I don't know how to get her to want to learn, to want to do her best. I guess I better learn because time is going on and I hate to see her struggle the rest of her school years when I know she can do the work and do well. She is very smart, but she doesn't want anyone to know that she is.

After we got home she was doing her reading and I told her that I loved her no matter what and she started crying. It broke my heart! She thought I wouldn't love her because she isn't doing well in school. I told her that there was nothing she could do or not do that would make me stop loving her. I'm praying for wisdom for this one, for sure! I know I can't get through to this girl without some inspiration and help from Heavenly Father. She can do anything, if she wants to do it. I just have to help her learn to channel her energy, focus, talent and desire into positive things!! I'm sure there was a reason why she is our youngest. To make sure we were "broken in" as parents and were patient enough to help her and teach her. I hope I can meet the challenge!!

Ups and Downs

2011-03-16T09:26:00.000-06:00

I know there are ups and downs in life. I know that there are good times and bad times. It just seems like right now every single day is full of ups and downs. It's like my life is on roller coaster mode right now. One minute things are great and I have really good news, the next everything has changed and the good news is now disappointing news. My emotions and feelings cannot handle it!

We are trying to get everything set up for Anita to go to BYU-H in July. We hope to be able to go with her to help her get settled and for Lincoln and I to take a much needed vacation together. Lincoln and I have not been away just the two of us for more than one night since Anita was born. In case you can't do the math, that's 18 1/2 years! Our 20th anniversary will be on December 14 of this year. So while I know that it's no record, by any means, it's still a pretty long time and we need some time to spend together without the kids. What you also need to realize is that from one month after our marriage until after our 6th anniversary I was either pregnant or nursing continuously. Now for those of you who have been pregnant, nursing, or married to someone who has been, you can imagine how that was. And my pregnancies were not a piece of cake! I think there were many times that Lincoln wondered who the heck he had married because it wasn't the same person he had dated! We have been through a lot together and we really need some time to just reconnect and I think going back to where we started our relationship together is just about the perfect place! Please say a little prayer for us that things will work out so we can go!!!!

A Day Almost to Myself

2011-01-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have found myself with a day that is not too structured, not too crammed with things to do and not too busy with daycare children. If you found yourself with such a day, what do you do? I'm still planning out my day, but here are some things I would LOVE to do:
1. Maintain the clean house that we worked so hard to achieve on Saturday.
2. Get some good decluttering done inside the house and in the garage.
3. Finish Rugby's baby quilt.
4. Crochet some girl baby hats for baby Bella.
5. Relax!!!
6. Prepare a really nice dinner for tonight.
7. Get the shopping done so I don't have to go to the store again until Saturday.
8. Enjoy being home with my kids today.

Wishing for a "Do-Over"

2011-01-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wish you could just rewind your life and redo things that you messed up the first time around? Now, no comments about repentence, etc. If you have them, keep them to yourself. I mean really be able to go back and do things differently, make different choices, hopefully with better outcomes. I sure do! Most of the things I would like to have a do-over for involve my role as a mother. I don't know if it's because my kids are getting older and will be leaving home sooner than I like to think about, but I am constantly thinking, wondering, worrying. Have I taught them enough? Have I prepared them to be able to survive on their own? Have I failed them somehow? If they don't do their chores now does that mean they will not be able to keep a job? Does that mean they will never be responsible? Am I hampering their growth because I didn't encourage them to get a job as soon as they were old enough to have one?

I've been told by many people that I do too much for my kids. I guess I do. I think part of that comes from my experiences growing up. I want my kids to have me there for them in a way my parents weren't (and couldn't) be there for me. But am I hurting my kids in the process? I hope not because, of course, that was never my intention. Is it too late to change things when they are 18, 17, and almost 15? I know there is still hope for the younger two, if I don't mess them up too! lol

Here are the things I wish I had done a better job teaching my kids:
1. Cleaning is not horrible. It blesses our home and makes it a pleasant place to be.
2. Less is more and it's ok to get rid of things you no longer want and or need.
3. They are expected to help around the house on a consistent and regular basis.
4. I am not a maid, servant, or the domestic help. I deserve respect and will give it in return.
5. You mess it up, you clean it up. And along with that, put things back where they belong. (Lincoln could use some help with that one too!)
6. When you are responsible to do something, whether that's chores, homework, whatever, DO IT! And do it the best you can.

Things have to change around here and the only way for them to change is for me to change. I'm awesome at making lists. I can make some of the best lists you have ever seen! Unfortunately, most of the time that's all they are is lists. The things on the lists never get done and I carry around the guilt of not doing them. I am overwhelmed and feeling under appreciated by my family. I have to make the changes that I want for me. I want to be a happier person, a better wife and mother and that's only going to happen if I get my guilt lists out of the way. #1 right now is the state of my house and garage. We have so much stuff we neither need nor use. Some I keep in case we need them later. Some I like the idea of having, but never use. Others I just don't get rid of for no good reason. It has to stop! The decluttering must begin. Only when I get rid of the clutter will I feel that my house is really clean. I must start today, now even. I will record my progress. It's super fling boogie time!

Things That Give Me Warm Fuzzys

2010-12-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

This morning before Lincoln left for work he gave me a hug and kiss just like he does every morning. I love that we have been married for almost 19 years (on Dec. 14th) and have 5 kids together (3 of which are teenagers) and his kisses still take my breath away and make me a little light headed.

Thoughts on a Friday

2010-11-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's already November 19th! Thanksgiving is NEXT week! Holy cow, time slow down a little, can you please?? I wanted to post a photo collection of Anita for her birthday last month, but I didn't get the pictures scanned, until today. So here is Anita's 18th Birthday tribute....only one month and ten days late! Love you Anita RaNae SeiLa'A Ku'uleialoha Uhi!

Add caption

Champions!

2010-11-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

I just have to write about Pasi's football team. They are such an amazing group of boys. I just love them! They are so fun to watch and they are such good boys! I can't help but use lots and lots of exclamation points! Most of these boys have played together since they were 8 years old. They have had the same coaches for these past four seasons. Their coaches are AMAZING! They are so good with the boys and they teach them more than just how to play football. They teach them good sportsmanship, teamwork, and to work hard to achieve your dreams. This little team has dreamed of winning a championship since they were 8. They have made it to the playoffs for the past three years, only to lose to the same team (Judge) in the first round of the playoffs every time. But not this year! They had an amazing season. They were 9-0 for the season. They were only scored on twice the whole season! They won most of their games by at least 20 points. Despite really BAD referees, the other teams cheating and taking cheap shots, they won and won and won. Their championship game was Saturday against West. They had beat West in the regular season 28-0 in a really ugly game that the referees tried to cheat the whole game, but these boys didn't let it get to them. They stayed focused and they showed who they were. Their "theme" this year has been, "This is our time." I love it! They are only 11 years old, but they are so amazing! It is so fun to watch their games because they are so dang good and they are so dang cute! In the game on Saturday, every time the refs would make a bad call (and there were many!), our boys would come back and the next play make an amazing play and usually score. West came close to scoring only once, but they fumbled and one of our boys picked up the ball and ran for a touchdown, goal to goal. It was fantastic!! I wish I had a video camera and had taped that game. It was awesome! I'm so proud of all of these boys, they have class. Despite what one of the coaches from a team they beat 34-0 (Cottonwood) said to the boys. She told them, "Your team has NO class!" Well, they have more class than she'll ever have and they also have a championship! Love you Kearns Mity Mites! And I love you, Pasi! I'm so proud of you!

I Was Thinking.....

2010-11-04T09:53:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about how I can be more positive in my outlook on life. I decided to list all the things, big and little, that make me smile. Beware, a lot of them have to do with cleaning. Here they are in random order, as I think of them:

1. Fall leaf colors-I'm sitting here looking out my living room window and looking at the tree across the street. It's gorgeous! Red, yellow, and still some green leaves, LOVE IT! I love driving up to Churchill and Skyline this time of year because the trees on the mountains are so beautiful!

2. Neatly made beds- They just make me smile, especially when I'm not the one that had to make them!

3. Clean mirrors- Always so nice to not see water, etc spots.

4. Looking out the kitchen window and seeing my kids playing and having fun together, and not fighting, in our backyard. It gives me big warm fuzzies.

5. Folding towels. I like folding towels, especially when they are all warm and fluffy.

6. Finding a new piece of music that is beautiful and fun to play. I recently starting playing from a book of Primary song arrangements I've had for several years. I only had tried to play the first song and didn't like it, so I put it away and hadn't looked at it since. Well, I got it out the other day and tried some of the other songs and I LOVE them. They are challenging, but so pretty and fun. There is an arrangement of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" that I love , love, love!

7. Listening to my kids play music So awesome!

8. My kids' smiles. I just love it when I catch them smiling a really happy, natural smile. Warms my heart! I love them so much!

9. A good shopping trip. That's defined as finding everything I need in a timely manner and costing less than I had planned on.

10. Watching my husband dance. I LOVE to watch Lincoln dance Polynesian dancing. He is so good and looks like he is enjoying it so much that it makes me happy, too.

Well, that's a start. I'm going to try to add to this list over the next few days. It made me feel good just thinking of all the things that make me feel good. lol

Blah day

2010-09-23T18:53:00.000-06:00

Today has just been a blah day. We had expected to have company this weekend, but due to circumstances beyond our control, that's not happening. My kids are very disappointed, especially Pasi. It has kind of made us all in a bad mood today. I didn't really want to do anything and everyone is bugging me today. It's the kind of day I should just be by myself so I'm not grouchy to everybody. Unfortunately, I NEVER get a day by myself, so they have just had to deal with me today.

Maybe I'm just coming off the high of parent teacher conferences. We saw all twenty-five of the kids teachers at three schools in two days. We got to listen to twenty five people brag about our kids and tell us how wonderful they are and how we must be doing something right to have kids as awesome as they are. It sure made us feel great. It really made me feel like Lincoln and I are a good team working together, trying our best to raise our kids right. Maybe today was kind of a let down?

A Lazy Day

2010-09-20T10:45:00.000-06:00

Is it ever ok or justified to have a lazy day? I worked very hard pretty much every day last week. I cleaned and cleaned every day last week, except Friday. Of course, after the weekend with my family home you can't tell I ever did anything! I had planned to get everything back in order and looking good today, but I got up and my right hip and back are very painful and I just have no energy. It could be because I have Aunt Flo and Uncle Cramps visiting. I'm ready for them to leave. The last few years whenever they visit I get sooooo tired and painful that I can hardly function for the first few days. Anyway, so today I want to just sit, watch tv, and work on my cross stitch. Is that wrong?
LATER........
Well, I did force myself to sweep and mop my floors and tidy up Pasi's and Siu's room. I just need to do some laundry, wash the dishes, and swish and swipe the bathrooms and I will feel like I've really accomplished a lot! My goal, get it done before lunch (noon). Sometimes when I give myself permission to be lazy I actually get more done than when I have my big "to do" list and feel like I HAVE to do it. I'm doing it because I want to, not because I have to. It's a control thing with me. I have to feel like I'm in control.

Frugal Living

2010-08-17T12:09:00.000-06:00

There is a blog I love to read. I have to check it everyday to see if there is a new posting. I don't even remember how I found it, but it's awesome! It's called Want What You Have. A Christian mom with three kids writes it and I love her practical and down to earth ideas and the way she doesn't try to make out to be perfect. She's just a stay-at-home mom who likes to write. Anyway, she posts things that she does to live frugally and simply. One of her posts was, "Twenty-five things we do to save money." So with that idea, I want to post my own list of things I do to save money. I may not have twenty-five, but we'll see how many I can think of.

"Things We Do to Save Money"

1. I make my own laundry soap. I have tried different recipes and have finally found my own version of a couple of recipes that seems to work well for me and our types of laundry.

2. I now hang my laundry out to dry. It wasn't a deliberate choice. My dryer broke and I don't have money to buy a new one. I am enjoying the feeling of self-sufficiency it gives me and my clothes smell great! So I'm saving money on my electric bill and I'm saving the money of not buying a dryer right now.

3. There are some things we VERY, very seldom buy, soda is a big one. None of us need to drink it and it is not good for us. I think it's a huge waste of money. I almost wrote that we never buy soda, but that's not true. We have bought it, but it's maybe a couple of times a year. I very seldom buy potato chips and other junk food. Now I do have a sweet tooth, so I do buy chocolate once in awhile.

4. I usually buy almond bark and chop it up instead of buying chocolate chips. I can buy a bar of almond bark from which I can make three double batches of cookies for less than the price of one bag of chocolate chips.

5. I make cookies from scratch. I have a very good chocolate chip cookie recipe that my kids LOVE! When we are at the store and they ask me to buy cookies, I just say, "My cookies taste better than those!" and they agree with me.

6. I only buy cold cereal if it is on a really good sale. We can easily go through a box of cereal in one sitting, so I save it for a special treat. We usually have oatmeal or farina (it's the same as cream of wheat and much cheaper! I get it at WalMart.) instead.

7. I set the thermostat to 68 degrees in the winter and 75 or 76 degrees in the summer. This is easier for me in the winter than the summer because I HATE to be hot. I just try to deal with it. Winter is easy because we can just throw on another layer if we are cold. We are used to it now, so it's not a problem.

8. Lincoln and I don't exchange gifts usually. We have never really done this. He didn't grow up getting gifts so he would rather have it that way.

9. Lincoln cuts his own and the three boys hair. We have pretty much always done this. I used to cut the boys hair when they were little, but now their hair is harder to cut so Lincoln does it.

10. I make my own pizza. The kids would rather have Little Caesars, but I try to make it at home from scratch.

11. I do our own taxes.

12. I love reading and I love books, but instead of buying books, we go to the library every week. I LOVE the Salt Lake County Library System! They have had every book I have ever looked for with the exception of maybe one or two. It's awesome!

13. Going out to eat is a treat. We go out together as a family about once every 6-8 weeks. Lincoln and I go out as a couple about the same. That's not to say we NEVER get fast food, but it's a rare occasion.

14. Going to the movies is a treat. When we do go, we go to the matinee, which for the theater we go to by our house that's any movie before 6:00 pm. It's $2 cheaper and with seven of us, that adds up. We maybe go 2-3 times a year and only if it's a movie we are dying to see! The last movie we went to was Toy Story 3 about 3 weeks ago. Loved it!

15. Lincoln takes his lunch to work everyday. He almost never eats out for lunch.

16. I make my kids' birthday cakes and if they have a party, it's a party at our house.

17. When things are on sale, if it's a fantastic sale I buy as much as I can. Like when Target and WalMart have their notebooks for $.15 I buy 100 or more and that lasts us until the next year when they are on sale again. Last year I bought so many boxes of crayons when they were $.25 a box that I don't even need to buy any this year.

18. We buy our bread and bagels at the discount bakery. I love Grandma Sycamore bread and we can get it there for under $1 a loaf. It's usually $2.99 in most stores. Bagels are $1 a bag too. If we can't get it there then I make my own bread.

19. I pay every bill I can online. It saves me the check and a stamp. There are very few things that I can't pay online, almost all without any sort of fee. I pay all my utilities online and pretty much everything else. I don't pay my house payment online because they charge a fee (I think it's $10) and there is a bank branch just up the street that I just make my payment at.

20. I reuse plastic store bags as trash bags for my small trash cans. I only buy trash bags for my kitchen garbage can and my recycling trash can. (They use the same size.)

21. Lincoln has several prescriptions. We order his medication through mail order. That saves us a bunch, especially since our insurance penalizes us if we don't.

22. I have pretty much stopped buying DVDs. I used to think I had to buy the DVD of every Disney movie that came out. But I soon (but not soon enough) realized that the kids didn't really watch most of them and I had to find a place to store all of them! If we really want to see a movie, we rent it. There are very few movies that we want to watch so many times that it's worth it for me to buy.

23. I try not to buy many convienance foods. I buy some, but I try to make as much as I can myself.

Well, that's all I can come up with for now. If I think of more there may be a Part 2. Now it's time to go make lunch.

Our Little Spicy Girl!

2010-07-18T18:22:00.002-06:00

Here's my little sweetheart. I want to wish her a very Happy 9th Birthday! Please indulge me a little while I post some of my favorite pictures of her. If I would have had a digital camera when she was a baby, I would have been posting pictures of her on here everyday! I would have with all my kids. Not to brag, but I do have some pretty adorable kids!

That's my little spicy sweetie! I love you, Siu!

My Young Women Leaders NEVER Said There Would Be Days Like This!

2010-07-17T07:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, to start, I have a big complaint to blogger. WHY??? Why did you have to change the setup and design, just when I finally got it figured out and was able to use it, so now I can't figure out how it works and I wanted to change my picture, but when I tried to post a new picture I could either get it itsy bitsy or gynormous! No in between, normal size. So now I have no picture. Why??

Today I am hosting Siu's 9th birthday party (birthday is tomorrow) with 11 girls attending. She wanted a music theme so here is the invitation Anita and I came up with this: and in case you can't read mini it says:
Mamma Mia, it's Siu's 9th Birthday!! So be a Super Trooper and come help us celebrate! Bring your swimming suit and be ready to Take a Chance and get wet. Music is the Name of the Game, so be ready to sing some karaoke. So, Honey, Honey say you'll be there to wish our Dancing Queen a Happy Birthday!
I thought it was quite clever. Siu hated it. But, being as how it took us all afternoon to make, that's the invitation we handed out. I'm getting ready to make a music scroll cake (don't ask me, I have NO idea how it's going to turn out!). Anyway, it's going to be a busy, busy day and the party starts at 1:30.

Back to my YW leaders. Loved them, thought they were awesome! But they neglected to explain just what would happen AFTER I got married in the temple to the returned missionary of my choice, had some kids, got a house and proceeded to live happily ever after. They did not say, for instance, that no one in the family (except me) will be able to find a trash can. No matter how many I put in each room! And if, by some miracle, they do and that trash can has a lid, they will put the trash ON TOP of the lid! They did not let me know that after spending hours in the kitchen making a delicious meal, my little darlings would then say, "Yuck, is that's what's for dinner? Can I have cereal?" They did not tell me that laundry multiplies exponentially with the each child you add to your family and that the family's ability to get it to the laundry room decreases exponentially. They did not let me in on the little secret that the sure fire way to get my kids to want to go to bed is to say that it's time to read scriptures. Suddenly, active, perfectly lively kids the second before turn into semi comatose slugs who are soooooo tired that, "Can't we read tomorrow?" Insert the whine here. That's just a sampling. Now, granted, these are not major problems, but like a rock can be worn away by water continually dripping on it, I'm being worn down by all the nonsense. They also didn't tell me how to handle having 3 teenagers at the same time. They didn't give me the secret to make sure that everyone gets the love, attention, teaching, discipline, and training that they need so they can be righteous, happy, successful, contributing members of society. But in their defense, I will give them this. They taught me that prayer works. They taught me that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father who loves me. They taught me that one of my greatest tools is the scriptures. They taught me that you can be happy, smile, and even laugh once in awhile while you are living your "happily ever after". Even it sometimes seems like the "Nightmare on Bree St". So I guess I can forgive them for not telling me the whole story. They might have scared me away if they had!

'Tis the Season for Regrets

2010-07-06T08:36:00.000-06:00

The past month has been going pretty well emotionally. Then all of the sudden, last night I fell back down the hole. I was thinking of all the things I would like a "do-over" for. Here are a few:
         #1 HAS to be, I wish I would have graduated from college (big one, huge one!)
         #2 I wish I would have not made all money mistakes I have made over the years (and continue to make, will I EVER learn my lesson?!)
         #3 I wish I would have enjoyed my kids more when they were little. I wish I would have played with them more, hugged them more, read to them more, listened to them more, and scolded them less.
         #4 I wish I would have been a nicer person. Still can fix that one!
         #5 Related to #2, I wish I would not have accumulated all the STUFF that I now have to deal with.
         #6 I wish I would have taken better care of myself, my body, my mental health, everything.
         #7 I wish I wouldn't have had a tubal ligation after I had Siu. I really feel that we were supposed to have more children. Even the our kids have told us that they feel there is "someone missing in our family". Their words.
         #8 I wish I would have learned how, early on in our marriage, to be a good homemaker. I pretty much suck at it! (And you know how I hate that word!)
         #9 I wish I would have taken care of my friendships and kept in touch with people I care about.
         #10 I just wish I was BETTER. I wish I was smarter, healthier, kinder, more spiritual, more organized, happier, a better wife, a better mother, a better person.

Right now I am paralyzed by my feelings of inadequacy. Everywhere I look I see my failures. I see my successes too (my kids), but today it's not enough. I know I probably need some medication to help me get through these times, but the stubborn part of me doesn't want to admit that I need help. I should be able to handle this on my own, right? Today I don't know.  I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the day.

Ward Campout

2010-07-04T09:07:00.000-06:00

We got home from our ward campout yesterday morning. We were all wasted! I slept and couldn't seem to wake up and get moving. We had so much stuff to put away and I didn't start unpacking until about 10:30 last night. I went to bed at about 1:30! But at least we got most of the stuff put away. Now on to the laundry! Holy mountain of laundry Batman!

The kids helped so much! Lincoln and I are getting old and the kids did almost everything. The boys set up all the tents (4 of them!) and took them all down. They were great. They also helped other people at the camp set up and take down their stuff. They helped load up yesterday and unload late last night. Anita was a great help, too, getting packed up and everything. I'm so proud of all of them.

We all had a great time. It was very nice and relaxing. The camp site was very clean and nice. There were hardly any bugs, definitely a plus. It wasn't too hot most of the time. I took naps every day. LOVED IT! We hardly saw Pasi and Siu. They were running around with their friends all the time. They had a lot of fun playing in the creek. I watched a tv show about parasites last week and I was a little nervous with them playing in the water, hopefully they didn't get any parasites!

It was a fun camp and great to get away for a few days! We all needed it. It was so fun to see Cody and Faha spending so much time together and having fun together. Pasi and Siu loved being with their friends pretty much 24/7. Anita had time to read and rest. I even enjoyed cooking on our little camp stove. I hate getting ready to camp, I hate setting it all up and taking it all down and putting it away, but I like the actual camp once we're there. We didn't really want to come home. We have one more day of vacation, then it's back to real life. Hopefully we are recharged and will get back to work Tuesday ready to go!

Family Time!

2010-06-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

Last night was so nice! I was watching something on BYUTV about families and how effective families function. I was watching it by myself and it motivated me to get up and spend some time with MY family. I asked everyone if they wanted to go for a walk, and surprisingly everyone did. We had a nice little walk around the neighborhood in the dusk. The weather was perfect yesterday! Then we went and picked up Anita from the fitness center where she had been exercising. We read scriptures and had family prayer. Then Anita started playing the piano and Cody was playing the violin with her. Faha and Pasi were making cookies. It was just a nice evening together! I was watching Anita and Cody playing and they sounded so good and I just couldn't believe they were my babies!! (Insert some Mom tears here...) I'm so proud of them! It was just a nice evening. We could have spent it like we do too much, each doing our own thing, watching tv, on the computer, etc. But I'm so glad we spent it together!

Blah!

2010-06-14T17:14:00.000-06:00

I'm just feeling blah today! Didn't get much accomplished. I feel like I spent the whole day running kids around to activities. I have stacks and stacks of laundry to fold and put away (not to mention the stacks still to be washed!). Pretty much every room in the house is a disaster area. I did get the dishes done and dinner is on the stove, but that's about it. I have had too many days like this lately. It's discouraging. Getting things completed that I can see what I have accomplished is very important to my mental health. I'm not feeling so healthy right now! Being responsible to take care of, feed, entertain, and chauffeur 10 kids every week day is about to get the better of me. Plus, keep up with the house keeping, cooking, etc. I'm overwhelmed! I thought things would get easier when my kids got older. What a joke! It's gotten ten times harder! Oh well, I guess I better stop whining and GET TO WORK!

Last Day of School Party

2010-06-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

I found this cute idea on secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com (fun blog with great ideas!) to have a last day of school party. I made a basket filled with Target $1 stuff for Pasi and Siu. I didn't think the older kids would fully appreciate my efforts, so they didn't get anything! I had the basket waiting for them by the front door when they got home from school. I wanted to hang some crepe paper for them to run through, but I couldn't find any, so maybe next year. They were so surprised and excited to get all their summer stuff!

A New Me!

2010-06-05T15:40:00.002-06:00

So, after several years of just letting my hair grow and grow, I end up with hair so long it hangs down past my rear. Last month I had a "big" birthday and I decided it was time to get rid of my "horse's tail" and get a new look that made me look and feel a little younger. That long hair wasn't really doing anything for me and it took FOREVER to wash and comb out. So, after building up courage for three weeks, I finally did it! I cut most of it off! 22 inches! I am donating my hair to Locks of Love to be made into not one, but two wigs! It was a big step for me, but I don't think I will be going back. I think my days of having long hair are gone. I can't believe the difference in how I feel, and so far all the comments have been how much younger I look. That makes me feel pretty good! The last time I cut my hair (the same weekend Brooke got engaged), I had a major panic attack after I cut it. I decided then that I would NEVER cut my hair again! And I didn't for many years. But I've been looking at myself in the mirror and realizing that I look OLD! I'm so happy I did this for myself!

It was really fun, too. Last night I met Stacie at her house and she drove us and her mom to her cousin, Tessa's, house in Eagle Mtn after stopping at Subway to buy us some dinner. I got a seafood sub, YUM! I felt so bad for Tessa! She was on her feet for four straight hours doing all our hair. Cutting and coloring. And she's pregnant! She was so nice and made it so easy. I felt good about doing it and wasn't really nervous or anything. I think it was easier because I had had time to get ready for it and I knew I really needed to cut it. Last time I cut it (panic attack, remember) I just did it on a spur of the moment thing. I decided to cut it while I was in the shower washing it and went later that morning at had it cut. Anyways, I got my gray hairys covered and got a new color too! I even got my eyebrows waxed. First time ever! A little painful, I've got to say, but I like the results! I got home about 11:15pm, and wish Stacie and I had just made a night of and watched a movie or something!

Thanks to Stacie for going with me and encouraging me! I think she was more nervous last night than I was! Don't worry Stacie, I LOVE it! Now on to some much needed other changes that I need to make in my life!

One Little Light

2010-06-01T11:20:00.000-06:00

Thanks to all of you who commented on my post from last week. I appreciate your understanding and support! It really helped! It was a little light in the dark tunnel. This, apparently, is my "up" week. So far, I'm feeling pretty good. I have noticed that as the week goes on, I tend to go downhill. Usually Thursday is a very "low" day for me. I'll hope that won't happen this week.

I am so excited that Friday night I finished the two quilt squares that we learned about at quilt class last Tuesday. I finished the block from last month's class about 2 minutes before I went to class Tuesday night! Being productive and getting things done like that really help me stay positive.

We had a pretty quiet holiday weekend. Saturday we went to Orem to my cousin, Alanna's daughter's graduation party. There was a pool there so the kids had fun swimming, even though it was kinda cool. We had to drag Pasi and Siu out of the pool when it was time to leave. It was fun. Yesterday I did some cleaning and paperwork that really needed doing while watching Mad About You first season that I checked out from the library. I love that show!

Today I got some phone calls made that I needed to, paid some bills, and now I'm trying to decide what to do next. Here are some of my choices:
         Clean (Yuck!)
         Start working on Anita's quilt
         Make Siu a pencil skirt out of an old pair of jeans
         Work on knitting project
         Make our summer schedule
         Fold and put away laundry
         Check my fabric to see if I have some to make Pasi and Siu pajama shorts, if so, make some
         Fill out my daycare certificate renewal paperwork

I actually need to do all of these things, I just can't decide which to do first!

In a rut

2010-05-26T16:48:00.000-06:00

I definitely feel like I am in a rut. That nice talk for I feel stuck, I feel trapped! I have a confession to make. It could be my deep dark secret. Only a few people who really know me well, know this about me. What is this mysterious secret about me?? Not that anyone really cares, but that's ok. I'm usually the only one who reads this blog anyway. Here it is......I have mild to moderate depression. It varies depending on the "time of the month", stresses and pressures, and other environmental influences. It began getting considerably worse last year after Lincoln was laid off from his job. Some days it is easier to live with than others. I wanted to start writing a new blog. Mostly just to have some place to write about this struggle I'm going through without people I know reading it, but I just decided to go ahead and use this existing blog.

I have never been an overly positive person, but I used to be able to find something good to be happy about. Now it's become a struggle just to function on a basic level. I know my kids feel it, they know something is wrong, but I don't think they have any idea how bad it has gotten. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Lincoln! I LOVE my kids! I am very blessed. I just can't seem to shake this. This thing, this awful invisible thing is taking my hope, my happiness, my life away from me. It has it's bands wrapped around my brain and my heart. It tells me that I am worthless. It makes me feel invisible. That no one cares about me. That I can't do anything right. It tells me to just give up and let it win. I fight it every day, but it is exhausting. I feel like I have nothing left to fight it with.

I know it's not right to have these feelings. The gospel gives us hope, it teaches us why we are here and that our lives have purpose. It teaches us that we are children of God. Right now, where I am, I just can't feel it.

2010-03-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

My first quilt block ever! I'm so excited to learn to quilt!

My second quilt block ever! Only 7 more to go! It's a small quilt. I'm going to hang it on the wall in my family room.

Changes

2010-03-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

I always think I want change in my life, but usually when it actually happens, I am not really happy about it. Some minor and major changes may be happening in my life soon. Part of me is excited and part of me wants time to stop so I can think about whether it's what I really want or not. I know I am not making any sense, but I know what I'm saying.

The Newlyweds

2010-03-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! That was a long time ago. Brings back a lot of memories. This was the first day I felt really good after throwing up for pretty much six months straight during my pregnancy with Anita. So, we decided to celebrate by going to Waimea Falls. It was a fun day.

January

2010-01-27T13:45:00.001-07:00

January is ugly! I'm sorry, but it just is. The snow is dirty, not clean and white and fresh looking. It's cold and the sun hardly ever really comes out. I'm ready for a new month.

Room Conversion

2010-01-21T12:54:00.002-07:00

We have converted our master bedroom into a tv/family room/daycare playroom. We moved our bedroom downstairs. The room down there is actually bigger than the master. I have been dying to paint this room since we moved into this house fourteen years ago! Finally, I got it finished! I love it! It's such a cozy room, I love being in it. Now onto more painting! Lincoln and I like the beige color so much we are going to use it in every room in the house. I think I will work on the downstairs family room next. It is a mess! I will post my progress as I conquer each wall in the house.

My Big Painting Project

2010-01-21T12:51:00.002-07:00

Here's what I do to TRY to keep out of trouble!

2010-01-21T12:44:00.002-07:00

Here are some recent projects I made for my three great nephews who are due to arrive in the next few weeks. One may be coming this weekend! I love making baby things! Hopefully there will be a couple of more nieces or nephews arriving later this year that I will get to make stuff for!

Some Recent Projects

2010-01-21T12:34:00.004-07:00

Anita Gae Myers Clawson High School Graduation Picture

2010-01-21T11:36:00.002-07:00

Twenty-two years

2010-01-21T10:44:00.003-07:00

Twenty-two years ago today I lost my mom. When I think about it all kinds of feelings and memories come back. My mom had rhematoid arthritis. She was diagnosed when I was three years old. I don't remember a time when she wasn't sick and in pain. Despite that, I have many happy memories of her and the time we spent together. My favorites are from the winter of my junior year in high school. My dad had been transferred to teach at a high school quite a ways from where we lived and so he stayed there during the week and only came home on the weekends. So it was just mom and I at home. That time together was a special gift that I think about with happy thoughts.

Mom was feeling pretty good that winter. We had fun eating whatever we wanted to and watching whatever we wanted to on our newly installed cable. That winter we watched the whole series of Anne of Green Gables on the Disney Channel. To this day I LOVE that series! We had so much fun anticipating the next episode. We laughed and just enjoyed being together. My mom could be so silly and fun when she felt good.

I wonder why this year is really bringing up the memories for me. It could be because my Nita (who is named after my mom) is the same age I was when my mom died. I can't believe that much time has passed. I have been married to Lincoln longer than I lived with my mom. I wonder what my kids will remember about me after I'm gone. I hope there are some good memories and not just the fact that I'm a witch most of the time and I yell too much.

I feel sad that my kids aren't getting to know their grandma. She was so cute with her grandkids and she loved them so much. She always wanted to do special things for them and get them little surprises, even though she couldn't always afford to do it. I know I get that desire to surprise and make fun little things from her. I love her, I miss her, I know I will see her again and she will be able to do all the things she wanted to and couldn't because her sick body wouldn't let her. I'm grateful that she is my mother.

A New Year

2010-01-11T15:24:00.002-07:00

I love starting a new year. It's so full of possibilities. I have big plans to do so many things. I hope that I can get at least some of them accomplished.

Some goals for this year are:
-Get organized! And keep it that way.
-Clean out the garage so two cars can be parked there. Isn't that what garages are for??
-Sew lots of fun things.
-Teach Faha, Pasi, and Siu piano lessons
-Exercise regularly
-Be super spiritual! Read scriptures and have prayers every day! (Thanks Stacie!)
That's the main list, I will think of more I'm sure.

I have started painting. I painted a wall in our "tv room". It used to be our master bedroom, but now it's a playroom/tv room. Hey, I want an upstairs family room and I don't have one, so I made one! I painted one wall red. I'm going to use all my apple decorations. I hope it turns out cute.

Another project is crocheting blankets for my new great nephews, three of them, that are due to arrive soon. I have finished one, two more to go. Also, I'm making rag quilts for my kids' Build a Bears. I have to keep busy with these little projects because they are my stress relieving therapy.

Why do I need stress relieving therapy?? Because my kids are making me nuts! Cody wants to transfer to the high school close to us. Which you think would make my life easier, but it probably will be more complicated because Anita and Faha will still go to school on the east side of the valley. So I will have 5 kids in 4 different schools! So goes the drama of life with 3 teenagers.

Anyway, I am off to give piano lessons.

Christmas!

2009-12-28T07:48:00.002-07:00

We had a very nice Christmas. It was low stress, my favorite. On Wednesday we got to visit with my niece, Brooke, and her family. We got to see her new baby, Benjamin. Adorable! Her 2 year old, Liam, had fun with the kids. He is so cute. We had my brother, Kevin, his daughter, Jenelle, her husband, Damian, and our friends, the Langis, over on Christmas Eve. We played a white elephant game and the kids acted out the Christmas story. It was fun. We stayed up until 12:30am with them and then I still had some presents to wrap so I ended up being awake until 3:30am. Lincoln woke me up at 8:30. The kids were awake, but just waiting for us to get up. They are such good kids. I would have already made my parents get up. The kids were all happy with their gifts and they played with them all day. I had made dinner on Christmas Eve so we just had the leftovers on Christmas Day. It was nice not having to cook.

It's a little bit of a let down after Christmas. I usually want to take the tree down the day after, but this year I'm wanting to leave it up a little longer. I may take it down today, if I get in the mood.

I made my first rag quilt for Benjamin in about 3 hours. I was pretty proud of myself. I should have taken a picture of it, but I had to give it to Brooke right away because I barely finished it right before they got here. But it turned out pretty cute. I'm planning to make little ones for the kids Build a Bears.

We have another week of the kids being out of school, so my days this week will be filled with keeping them occupied and keeping them from killing each other and tearing my house down. I hope to get some cleaning done, too!

First Week on the Job!

2009-10-04T06:50:00.003-06:00

Lincoln is officially employed. It's pretty exciting and it may take us a little while to adjust, but it's a good thing! We are still not sure what his real schedule will be, he's been training the past week, but probably he will work around 7:30am-4:00pm. That's pretty good because then he can still help me run the kids to their activities in the evenings. He's been having a difficult time this week because of his ankle. It's really hard for him to get around on crutches and his leg and ankle are very painful. I'm afraid it's going to take a long time for his tendon to heal. He is not used to being sick or laid up and he has no patience for it. Our hometeacher came over on Tuesday and gave him a blessing and I'm sure that will help.

This week was fall recess from school for the kids so they had Thursday and Friday off and tomorrow, too. Anita helped me can peaches from our peach trees for the first time on Thursday. I'm going to try to post a picture sometime of our canning. It's not too pretty, but hopefully they taste better than they look!

Cody's team won their game on Tuesday against Cyprus. We weren't able to watch the game because normally his games are on Thursdays and I have scheduled my piano lessons around that, but because they didn't have school on Thursday the game was on Tuesday and I couldn't rearrange 7 piano lessons for another day. I was very sad to miss his game, especially since he got to run the ball for the first time this season.

Pasi and Faha's teams won their games on Saturday against Judge. Pasi's team has never beaten Judge and they have lost to them twice in the playoffs, but they won this time. It was a very exciting game. Pasi's team won 13-7. They scored a touchdown in the last minute of the game to win. Faha's game was exciting too and they won 12-6.

I'm looking forward to watching conference today. I only got to watch the last half of the afternoon session yesterday. Last night the boys all went to the priesthood session and out to dinner after, so the girls and I had a girls night. We got Wendy's dollar menu and rented Coraline and The Secret Life of Bees. We had fun watching those together.

I had planned to sleep in today, but our dumb cat, Gizmo, didn't come inside last night and she meowed at our window until I let her in at 5:00am. I'm going to try to go back to bed and get a little more sleep now before everyone else wakes up!

I love Fall!!!

2009-09-27T06:01:00.002-06:00

You know how you want to do stuff and visit places, but you never make the time to do it? I know my nieces and nephews aren't like that because I read their blogs and they are always doing fun things and going all over. I guess I have too much of my dad in me that thinks "we don't have time and we don't have money" so we don't do anything and life is passing us by. I am getting pretty sick of that! It's coming to my realization that my kids are growing up FAST! Anita will be in college in TWO years! Cody will be on his mission in a little over THREE years! I want to take time and make it stop for a little while so I can enjoy my family all being together because I know it will never be this way again. Things have been really hard the last few months and, if nothing else, I've learned that if you wait until the kids are older, you have extra money, you have extra time, you have more energy, etc. to live your life the way you want to....you'll be wasting your whole life!

I love fall colors. I love the crispness of the air (I HATE being hot!). I just love Fall (and Spring too!). Normally, I want to drive up through the mountains and look at all the fall colors, just for the fun of it. Of course, we never do. Well, yesterday we had to drive to South Summit (Oakley, east of Kamas) for Faha and Pasi's football games. I had been dreading the drive ever since I found out at the beginning of the season that the boys had games there. By the way, it's only an hour drive (or maybe a little less). We had to drive farther than that just to go from Ramah to Gallup for heaven's sake! Another reason I was dreading it was because Lincoln couldn't go with us because he had to finish up his Scout leader training with an overnight campout in Lehi. So it was just me and the boys. It turned out to be so much fun! The boys and I talked, listened to music, and enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous fall colors the whole drive up and back. They both won their games, so it wasn't even a wasted trip! I just wish I could have stopped and taken pictures of everything because it was so pretty. What a great day to spend time with my boys and listen to their thoughts and ideas and joke around with them. FUN! We made a memory.

So for all of you parents with young children or soon to be parents, ENJOY the journey! Enjoy when your kids are little, have fun with them. I am so proud of my kids and they way they are, but every once in awhile I wish I could turn back time and have a day with them when they were little again. I wish I could hear Anita say, "Sing happy songs." and watch Cody wear his little white construction hat that he NEVER took off (even for church) with his spatula sword shoved down the front of his pants, strutting around the house. Or see Faha's double dimple smile and him trying so hard to keep up with Anita and Cody. You think you will be forever changing diapers and never get an uninterupted night's sleep, but before you know it they are all grown up. And they have more grown up problems that you can't soothe away and solve for them. So, we are changing how we do things around here. We are going to have some fun and enjoy being together more. Just wish we had been doing it all along!

It's a Good Football Week!

2009-09-19T20:15:00.003-06:00

We're home from the games today and after a little nap to recover from the early morning to afternoon day at football, I'm ready to report. Cody's team had their first win of the year against West 40-0. They finally decided to show up for the game! The JV and Varsity teams both won their games, too, which was nice because it was Homecoming this week. All the teams dressed out for the Varsity game last night. It was so cute because Cody was so excited. Even though he didn't get to play, he was still so happy and excited!

Today the little league teams played in Tooele (about 30 miles west). We left about 6:45 this morning and it was a little cold and windy. By the time Faha's game started at noon, it was hot and no wind. I think I got a sunburn. Anyway, Pasi's team won 40-6 and Faha's team won 33-0. Good games! Faha played most of the game, offense and defense. He is pretty tired. He's not used to playing that much. This is a much better week than last week. Last week all the teams lost. So we have much happier boys at this house this week!

Tomorrow is the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. Siu says she has her part memorized...we'll see. She is supposed to play "I Wonder When He Comes Again" on the piano for prelude, but I don't think she's ready so I may not have her play it. Pasi is singing a solo of the third verse to "Baptism". He's also supposed to play a song for prelude, but he hasn't practiced anything. We've been too busy practicing for the song he's singing.

This next week is the last week Lincoln will be home before he starts his new job on the 28th. I have lots of things I would like him to do before he goes back to work. I don't know if they will all get done, but I can hope, can't I? Last Saturday he tore his achilles tendon so he has been in pain and limping around all week.

Time to go make some dinner and do the Saturday night prep for tomorrow.

Official Job Offer!

2009-09-06T19:32:00.002-06:00

Well, Lincoln's job offer is official! He got the paperwork last week and we are waiting for the background checks and paperwork to go through. If all goes well, he will start on September 28th! We are pretty excited. He will be a Benefit Specialist for ADP (Advanced Data Processing). I'm still not really believing it's real. I probably won't breathe a sigh of relief until he is actually at work!

Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support! We really appreciate it!

2009-08-27T13:13:00.000-06:00

Lincoln has a semi official job offer!!!!

Back to School Time!

2009-08-22T19:05:00.002-06:00

Amazing that it's already time for the kids to go back to school. They start on Monday. They are all excited. It hasn't been such a fun summer around here, so I guess they figure school will be better. I'm missing the back to school shopping, that's always so fun. But we have to forgo that until Lincoln gets a job. The kids have been great about it, very understanding. My kids are awesome!

We are all going to fast tomorrow for Lincoln. He has a job interview Monday morning. Please say a prayer that he will get the job!

Lincoln and I and the three older kids went to the temple this morning. (6am, the kids think that's waaaaaaay to early!) The kids finished doing baptisms about 2 hours before we came out and they were pretty tired. It was good to go with the kids. We wanted to go this Saturday before football games start next week.

Hopefully when I post next I can report that Lincoln has a job!

It's cool today!

2009-08-08T12:23:00.002-06:00

I'm sooooo excited! The weather is so nice and cool today. I love cloudy cool days. What does that say about me??

This morning we went to the Kearns Dayz Parade. It was fun. The kids got a ton of candy. Pasi and Faha were in the parade with their football teams. There were a lot of entries. Way more than last year.

I forgot that Siu is giving a talk in Primary tomorrow so now I must go and help her get her talk ready.

New Look!

2009-08-06T06:55:00.002-06:00

How do you like my new look? I finally decided I needed to jazz up my blog. I will probably change this in a week or so. I'm just trying out different backgrounds. As usual, I had problems getting everything to work so I didn't get all the font colors I wanted and stuff, but it's a little bit cute don't you think??

My next project is trying to post my pictures. I have a lot to download and with my computer it could take awhile. Well, gotta run and get ready for the day. I've spent the last 2 hours playing on thecutestblogontheblock.com. Enough wasting time!

The Summer is Almost Over!

2009-08-05T16:01:00.002-06:00

I can't believe the summer is almost over! Only three more weeks and the kids will be back in school. I know no one but me reads this blog, but I'm just posting for my own benefit!

Football has started. We have been going since last week. Daily practices from 5:30-7:30. It gets a little crazy. Pasi found out Monday that he made the A team! A big accomplishment and we are very proud of him. He also made the A team last year, but this year the competition was a lot more tough. Being on the A team is significant for me because Faha and Pasi's games will all be at the same place and will start at the same time every Saturday. Pasi's will probably start at 9:00am and Faha's at 12:00pm. Having kids on the B team means that games are all over the place and at different times. Games start on August 29th.

Siu finally passed Level 4 swimming!!! She has probably taken that level about 10 times. It's been a tough one for her, but she finally did it! We are so proud of her!

We had a good family vacation to New Mexico to visit my family and have Siu's baptism there. I will post more about that in a separate post (with pictures!).

Monday was free admission to the Utah Museum of Natural History so we took advantage of that opportunity. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the frog exhibit.

I started with two new daycare kids last week and things are going well with that. It is a little hectic keeping up with 7 daycare kids plus my 5 kids, but so far I'm surviving. I am having a hard time finding things to do to keep them all occupied and fed. I tried having more structure today and they didn't like it very much! We had breakfast, went for a walk, came home and the daycare kids colored and did workbooks while I helped Pasi and Siu clean their extremely messy rooms. Then they played outside, we had lunch, storytime, nap and now they are running through the sprinklers. They should all be picked up in about half an hour! Then I fall into a heap of exhaustion! Yesterday was worse because I had 11 piano lessons in the afternoon/evening.

I just wanted to do a quick post (even though I know no one reads this because hardly anyone EVER comments on my posts!!!) so I better go now and get the kids ready to be picked up.

Another Week!

2009-06-28T19:25:00.003-06:00

Well, another week has gone by and still no job. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but sometimes (especially in the middle of the night) I get panic attacks about it. Lincoln did have one interview with a recruiter last week, but he hasn't heard back from him yet. I have been thinking today about what we are supposed to learn from this experience. There's the obvious, that we need to learn to better manage our finances, get out of debt, and save. Could there be something else, as well? I'm trying to figure it out, so I can hurry up and learn it and move on to having a steady income again.

Lincoln and Faha are leaving in the morning for Scout camp at Bear Lake. They will be gone all week. Lincoln was going to take my van, but I was able to convince him that I NEED my van! I wouldn't be able to go anywhere during the day all week without it. So, finally, he told me today that he will be taking the car. Hurray!

Pasi is leaving in the morning for Mill Hollow. It's a school camp that Granite School District does for students that have finished 4th and 5th grades. He will be gone until Wed. He is sooooooooo excited! I hope he will be able to sleep tonight.

So for most of the week it will just be me and the girls and Cody. Where can we send Cody???? No, I want to keep Cody here to entertain the 4 day care boys. They think he is "awesome" as one of them said to me.

Pasi and Siu finished their first set of swimming lessons this year. Pasi passed Level 6 (first try) and now he is finished with swimming lessons. He is officially a swimmer. It's a good thing, because he HATES swimming lessons! Siu is still at Level 4 and will keep working on her swimming skills. Their last lesson was on Wed. and most of the classes had the kids jump off the diving board. Siu was going to do it, but she chickened out. She was very upset about it and had a big temper tantrum fit right there. I took a picture of her when she was walking out on the diving board before she started freaking out. So here it is:

I'm pretty excited because I have just found out I will be having another great niece or nephew. We are now up to three of my nieces and one niece in law that are pregnant. It's so exciting! For two of them this will be their first baby and the other two their second. So, for those of you who might know them: Brooke (Coleen's youngest daughter) is expecting their 2nd boy in October, Alysha (Coleen's 2nd daughter) is expecting their second child late February or early March (she just found out she is pregnant), Jenelle (Kevin's oldest daughter) is expecting their 1st in February, and Kelly (Sheryl's oldest son Brandon's wife) is expecting their first in February. I have to get busy making baby stuff. I love it!

A Bad Week!

2009-06-21T21:34:00.002-06:00

The last week and a half have been really hard for us. On the 10th of June Lincoln was laid off from his job of almost thirteen years. He was given a decent severance package, but it won't last long. Unfortunately, we have not followed the counsel to not get into debt and to have an emergency fund, so we are definitely not prepared for this crisis. I ask all of you for your prayers that Lincoln can find a job soon so we can take care of our family and not lose our house. It's so hard to keep going and act normal when I am so worried, but I try. It took all of my effort to go to church today and play for Primary, teach my lesson, and go to sacrament meeting. I did feel better after though. I try to keep up my spirits for Lincoln's and the kids sake. It's pretty hard for me though!

We went to our ward camp out Thurs-Sat and we had a good time. It was a little cold the first night, so I came home and got us more blankets and warmer clothes and the second night was much more comfortable. We camped in the Spruces campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful! We have had so much rain so everything was really green and pretty. We saw a moose in our camp the morning we left. I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures. I have to be better about taking pictures. I know I will regret not having taken pictures more as the kids get older.

I'm stressing this week because I have my follow-up surprise inspection for my daycare probably sometime this week. I have to have corrected the problems they found on the announced inspection last month. Most of the problems were with my swingset that we bought last summer. I hope we have everything fixed so that it will pass. I had my kitchen inspection almost two weeks ago and almost had a nervous breakdown before it. It turned out to be no big deal and I passed with no problems. I also will be having my food program inspection sometime in the next two weeks. Sometimes I wish we could just be normal in our own house, but it is good to have that income and be able to stay home. Trying to count my blessings!

I hope Lincoln has had a good Father's Day. I made him breakfast in bed. He doesn't want us to spend money on him ever, so I didn't, but I wanted him to have a good day.

Summer is here!

2009-06-10T09:01:00.002-06:00

Well, summer has arrived and I love the weather so far! It's rainy and cloudy with a little sun each day, temperature is mid 70's. I love it!! Can it stay like this all summer??

Yesterday I had my kitchen inspection from the state health department for my daycare. STRESS!!! I was having panic attacks, but it turned out to be no big deal. The inspector lady was only here about 5 minutes and everything was up to her standards and she liked my floors. I only have 2 more (hopefully) unannounced inspections from child care licensing and then my quarterly inspection from my food program. Sometimes I get sick of it all and want to tell them all to kiss my grits, but I do love being home.

So the kids got out of school last Friday we are all still alive, so that's going well. Cody and Faha left Monday night for an orchestra trip to Disneyland. They will be gone until Friday. Monday night Anita spent the night at her friend's house, so we only had 2 kids home. Last night Siu and Pasi both spent the night at their friend's houses and Anita was the only kid at home! It was cool! Very quiet and when I got up this morning, the living room looked exactly like it did when I went to bed. Amazing!

Pasi and Siu have started swim lessons. Pasi only has one more level to pass and Siu has three. Pasi doesn't enjoy swim lessons so he is working hard to pass this time so he doesn't have to take lessons all summer. Faha is taking tennis lessons. He is missing the first week because of his Disney trip, but he will make them up the next lesson set. Cody has weight training for football Mon., Wed, and Fridays at 7:00am. So even though we are out of school, we still will keep busy. I'll post more later.

My Projects

2009-05-21T10:44:00.011-06:00

Well, has it been long enough since I last posted?? I have waited partly because I wanted to post some pictures, but haven't been able to find my cable that connects my camera to the computer. It's so great to have sooooo many helpers to help me keep track of my things (translation, lose everything I own!). Anyway, I had a couple on my phone so I will post those, even though the picture quality is somewhat lacking. These are my projects I have been working on the last couple of months. I painted the playroom and Siu's room. For those of you who have seen my house, you know that the playroom was painted about 1/3 of the way up with chalkboard paint. That is all gone as you can see.

Siu and I had been wanting to paint her room for a long time and I finally got it done! We went with pink (sassy pink) with brown polka dots. I still need to get the vinyl lettering and more polka dots put up. It takes me awhile. Above her bed we will put "Sweet Dreams", above her closet "Butterfly Kisses", and some other place we haven't decided yet, "The Princess Sleeps Here". A friend of mine (Stacie) has a Cricket machine and offered to cut out the vinyl for me. It's great. We just haven't been able to get together to get everything finished. So here it is so far.... The big circle is a chalk board. I made it from a table round top that I was going to throw away. It's coming along, it's a work in progress. I found a cute comforter at Target, I just need to save up for it.

2008-12-01T19:01:00.002-07:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We had a really nice day. It was just our family and it was so relaxing and unstressful. We slept in and I didn't even put the turkey in the oven until about 10:30. We ate about 5. We had a nice little vacation just relaxing and spending time together. It was refreshing. Our dinner turned out wonderful. It was our best one yet. Delicious!

We started our Christmas Box tonight. It has become our tradition. We put a clue in a special decorated box. The clue tells what we will be doing for the evening. It's something special like play a game, watch a movie, make a treat, or go someplace. We start on Dec. 1 and do something every evening until Christmas. I started it to help us remember to spend some time together each day during a time that can be very busy and stressful. Sometimes we just do something simple like have a candy, or it can be a big thing like going ice skating. We started a little late tonight so we didn't get to do everything I had planned, but that's okay. We can do it another night. But we did something, that's the important thing! It's something that we all look forward to doing and it's fun! It's also fun to think of the things to do and to come up with the clue for it.
What are some of your family Christmas traditions?

I'm so proud of myself! I got most of our Christmas cards mailed today! I'm trying to get things done early and not wait until the last minute and have to rush like a crazy person.

Well, it's getting late and time for bed!

New Project

2008-10-22T13:54:00.002-06:00

I think I will have a new project. Well, it's not really a NEW project, but it's one that it's time to face for real. It's called saving as much money as possible. Right now I'm focusing on groceries. I read Brooke's blog and she's not totally convinced about coupons. I'm not sure whether I am or not either. I mostly buy store brand rather than name brand items, so I'm not sure if I would save any money. I'm reading a book called "Live You Life for Half the Price" by Mary Hunt. It's very good. The author says the best way to save on groceries is to use coupons together with store sales and double coupons if the store offers it. She also suggests shopping "in reserve" as she calls it rather than for "needs shopping". I'm still reading the book, but I'll post when I learn more about the program she recommends.

We are getting to the end of football season. (Yippee!) The last game is Saturday. Neither Pasi's, nor Cody's team will be going to the playoffs, so we are done! It's been a rough season. Both teams started off really well, but have had some hard games. About 3 1/2 weeks ago Cody got a grade 2 concussion in a game. He was out of all activities for 3 weeks. It was a little scary. He couldn't (and still can't) remember what happened and was disoriented and dizzy for several days after. The kid from the other team hit him helmet to helmet right in the forehead. He was really doing well before that happened. He had scored several touchdowns (He gets to run the ball this year. It's very exciting! I'm one proud mom.) and was the kicker for the team. He didn't have much opportunity to do either in their game last Saturday because they got smashed! Pasi's team still might go to the playoffs if they win on Saturday, but that's only if a couple of other teams lose their games. Football is fun, but it is so time consuming that it's nice when it's over.

We had an awesome opportunity last Saturday to go to a Stake fireside with Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Womens President. It was so neat. Our stake held the fireside and invited the other two Tongan stakes in the area to come. The chapel wasn't even full!! It was very sad that so many people missed out on that great experience. Anita and I got to meet her afterward and she was so nice. She talked to everyone that wanted to talk to her. It was just a wonderful experience.

My other project is motivating my kids to do their chores. This morning I decided I was sick of running late because Pasi and Siu wouldn't get out of bed. I had bought some charts a few months ago with stickers, but hadn't decided how to use them. I put them to use this morning. The charts have 20 squares for star stickers. My program will be when they fill a paper with stickers they will get a treat. If they want to save it and cash in 5 at a time, they can get a toy. I'm still working on the list of things they can get a sticker for doing. So far I have:
getting up out of bed the first time I call them
getting ready for school by 8:00am
homework done the night before
brushing and flossing their teeth (one sticker for am one for pm)
bonus sticker if they make their bed
if their room is clean when they leave for school
bonus sticker for Siu if she doesn't take her hair out before bed (she always takes out her ponytail, braid, whatever at school and then she looks like an orphan)

These are just the things we've really been struggling with. It worked wonderfully this morning. They were both ready and happy they got their stickers and I got some peace in the morning! Even if it only works for today, I'm happy! Now I just have to think of something for the older kids. Somehow I don't think sticker cards will give them the same motivation.

Well, It's almost time for everyone to get home so I better go! Love to all!

Wishing we were there

2008-08-29T19:36:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here thinking that everyone is at Jenelle's wedding reception. I hope it is beautiful and will be a lovely memory for her always.

I had an interesting day. It was nice and quiet, just John (almost 3) and Wyatt (2 1/2). Lincoln was home, so that was nice, too. Wyatt's mom picked him up and as she was walking out the door just happened to mention that she is taking him to her friend to be babysat until he's potty trained. She's not sure how long that will take, but I won't be watching him until he's potty trained. I told her that after her two weeks of vacation are gone, she will have to pay me whether she brings him or not. She did not seem concerned about that, so I'm guessing that she's not planning to bring him back. That leaves me in a bit of a spot. I was planning on that money. Now it's back almost to square one. At least I still have Davyn, my other new child I started watching this week. It's a little discouraging! I need to have 7 day care kids to be okay. Without Wyatt I have 5. Pray that I'll get some calls this weekend!

Tomorrow is Cody and Pasi's first official football game. It's a home game. I hope they do well and nobody gets hurt! Cody already has some bumps and bruises and the season hasn't even started yet. I'm worried about him now that he's running the ball. When he was on the line, he never got hurt! Those blockers better protect him!

I think I'll sleep early tonight. We have to be at Pasi's game at 7:45am. Love you all!

I'm Feeling Sorry for Myself Today

2008-08-28T13:04:00.003-06:00

Today was the day we were supposed to leave for New Mexico. The trip has been cancelled due to finances. I'm very disappointed, but I know we honestly cannot afford to go. I even looked for a plane ticket online and the lowest I could find was $345! Maybe if I would have started looking into it earlier, I could have found something. I hope everyone has a great time and we will be thinking of you!

Well, school started on Monday. It was quite an event around this house because we had our first high school student (Anita) and Faha started Jr. High. Everyone is still in the "I love school" phase. Hopefully it will last. I only have to wake up Pasi and Siu. Anita, Cody, Faha, Lincoln, and I all have to get up about 5:00am to make it to work (Lincoln) and to the bus stop (everyone else). I am in a carpool. I take my kids and 2 other boys to the bus stop about 6:10 and the other 2 moms bring the kids home. It was going to work out great, except now Anita's bus gets back about 40 minutes before everyone else's. So, I will still have to pick up Anita. Luckily, Lincoln is on vacation until Sept. 8, so he can pick her up.

Football has also started and Pasi and Cody are doing well. Cody scored a touchdown at their pre-game last Saturday. It does take up a lot of time, but it is so fun to watch them play!

I'm also busy getting ready for the Primary Sacrament Meeting program. It is Sept. 14. Siu has her part memorized, but Pasi is still working on his. To be fair, Pasi's is much longer than Siu's. All the children's parts are in Tongan and we are singing one verse in Tongan of most of the songs. It is challenging. I finally got the seating chart finished. Last Sunday we practiced and it was crazy! Hopefully this week will run more smoothly.

I started watching two new day care kids this week. One is an 8 month old boy and the other is a 2 year old boy. That gives me 6 total: the 8 month old, a 19 month old, 2 two year olds, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old. The 5 year old will start kindergarten next week. We haven't found out if he will be in morning or afternoon kindergarten, so depending on that I will either take him to school or pick him up. It definitely has been busy, but so far they have taken good naps. That's the main thing that's saving me.

I'm down to 14 piano students so I give lessons Tues. and Wed. and I hope to be able to stick to those two days. Between my two paying jobs and Primary and family I'm spread pretty thin. It's only through many prayers during the day that I am able to keep it all together. If nothing else, I am gaining an even stronger testimony of prayer in our daily lives for our little "worldly" concerns and problems. I even prayed this week that we would be able to make it to the bus stop on time. And I suppose I would rather be busy than have nothing to do.

I am interested in expanding my economical meal ideas. If anyone has any great and cheap meal ideas, please share. It's time for me to go now and check on the little ones. Have a great day! I love you all!

Thanks for the input.

2008-07-11T10:50:00.002-06:00

Thank you Coleen and Alysha for the input on the colors for my kitchen, especially the cabinets. I like a dark cherry wood look too. How can I get that when I don't have wood cabinets? They are some kind of particle board garbage. I also like the idea for cranberry and maybe a beige.

Well, again I have spent the entire morning not doing what I was supposed to be doing. I did important things (like pay bills), but I need to be doing my shopping for the Primary Quarterly Activity today. We are leaving this afternoon for our ward campout and the activity will be at the camp. We are going to Willard Bay. I hate it there. I wanted to go to Deer Lake, where we went last year, but no, we have to go to yucky Willard Bay. The bugs are horrible, it's ugly, and the freeway is right there. It's like camping on the side of the road. If I'm going camping (and you all know what a camper I am!), I at least want to go somewhere where it is pretty and in the mountains. I offered to just stay home and let Lincoln take the kids, but he didn't like that idea.

Well, enough procrastinating. I have to go do errands and shopping. Wish me luck at yucky camp!

2008-07-10T10:33:00.002-06:00

I'm still getting the hang of this! Anyway, here are some pictures from our day at the museum.

Our big project today is to move Faha and Pasi into the same bedroom. They decided they want to share a room. I'm all for it because whenever we change bedrooms around, they get a thorough cleaning. The boys will share the room at the end of the hall upstairs. I would like to use Faha's old room as my storage room (again!) so I can get the garage set up as another play area. I have spent so much time trying to add my pictures that the morning is almost gone. I need to get busy before Anita leaves to go with her friends to Raging Waters. I need her help!

2008-07-10T10:31:00.000-06:00

2008-07-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

I am getting more and more tech savvy! I'm so excited because I was able to take pictures with my cell phone (my digital camera died) and email them to my email and save them and now I shall post them here! It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Monday we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History. It was fun and educational. I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted because the kids kept taking off to explore on their own and I couldn't find them! We went with my friend Kari and her kids (same ones we watched fireworks on the 4th). I felt like such a good mommy. Cody didn't go with us because he wanted to go to his friend's house. We also took one of Faha's friends with us. I only had one daycare child to take so it was a piece of cake. He was so good in his stroller the whole time.

2008-07-05T14:29:00.000-06:00

We had a nice quiet 4th. The guys got home about 5:00. I made homemade pizza and then we went to Murray Park to watch fireworks with some friends. We had a little problem finding where they were, mainly because my cell phone died, but we eventually found them right as the fireworks were starting. It was fun especially for Pasi and Siu because our friends have kids their ages. We stayed and visited with them until almost midnight! We dragged ourselves home and went to bed!

Today we got up early and went to a baptism and after that the parents of the little girl who was baptized took everyone at the baptism out to eat. It was nice. We came home and did errands and now I HAVE to get busy and type up the children's parts, 70 parts, for the Primary sacrament meeting program. I need to hand them out tomorrow. After that I need to make the Primary bulletin board. I'm also doing sharing time tomorrow, so I have a lot of Primary stuff to get done. (I am the Primary president, by the way. A little stressful!) So I better stop playing and get busy!

Time for an Update

2008-07-04T10:47:00.000-06:00

I've been looking at Coleen's, Alysha's, and Brooke's blogs and it inspired me to update mine. I've been trying to post for over a week, but I've been having problems with our computer. Hopefully it's fixed. Anyway...................

Happy 4th of July! I love Independence Day! We're not really doing anything exciting. Lincoln, Cody and Faha will be coming back later today from Scout camp at Bear Lake. We'll probably get some fireworks to do here at home and then we usually go up on our sundeck to watch the big fireworks shows. We usually have a pretty good view of them. I'm mostly looking forward to a day without day care kids and piano lessons!

Well, in the spirit of Brooke's blog I'll give you a view into a day in my life. I get up between 5:30 and 6:15 depending on which day care kids are coming. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually my early days. I get ready, make our bed, and eat a little something. (If I don't eat when I get up, I get sick. It must be from all those pregnancies.) My friend, Kayla, and I go walking at 7:00. We walk around the neighborhood until 7:30. We come home and wait for two more day care kids to arrive, then we leave and walk until around 8:00. I come home and make breakfast. We usually have omelets, french toast, pancakes, oatmeal or other hot cereal, or scrambled eggs. I try to make a hot breakfast most mornings. We have not been having much cold cereal lately, only once in a while. So we eat, clean up and we do house cleaning from 9:00 until about 10:00. Then the kids have free time and I usually fold clothes, feed babies, or something else that I can do sitting down and rest a little. Then I usually take the kids outside and they play until around 11:30. I start making lunch at 11:30 and we try to sit down to eat by 12:00. Two kids get picked up at 12:30. I eat lunch and clean up. By then it's usually 1:00. I read to the kids and put them down for naps. I rest, work on Primary stuff, and tidy up. The kids usually wake up from their naps around 3:00 and we have a snack. I try to start making dinner then because piano lessons start at 4:00. I usually give piano lessons from 4:00-8:00. All the day care kids are picked up by 5:30. Sometimes the family eats without me, sometimes they wait and we eat together at 8:00. The kids clean up the kitchen. I usually get to bed about 11:00.

Some things I want to improve on as I read this are:
more structure to our day
scheduling time for doing schoolwork, art projects, and music practice
more routine to our evening and bedtime

I usually have a project I'm working on and my current project is the garage. I'm hoping to have the garage all cleaned out and set up to use as another room for my daycare for the summer. I'd like it to use it for messy play and also to give the kids more room to spread out a little because I'm not using my basement anymore for the daycare. During the winter we can use the garage to park the cars in (imagine that!).

After I finish the garage I want to change some things in the kitchen. I have finally had enough of apples. My plan is to paint the cabinets black and get rid of the country look. I am trying to decide on an accent color. I'm taking ideas and input. Let me know what I should use as my accent color. I'd like to paint one wall the accent color and the other walls will be a very light beige.

The family room is next. I want it to be brown and aqua. I need ideas for decorations for the walls. I'm also thinking of painting one wall aqua.

Well, it's time to go make lunch. I hope everyone has a happy 4th! We are so blessed to live in a free country with all the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we have. I feel very blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I hope all of us can get together to celebrate Dad's birthday and Jenelle's wedding in the fall. I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Love you all!

2008-07-04T10:42:00.000-06:00

Here is Cody with his ukulele. He is almost never seen without it.

2008-07-04T10:37:00.000-06:00

2007-07-08T19:26:00.000-06:00

Hello to everyone! Well, in case you haven't heard, our plans for me to go back to school have changed. I'm back to providing daycare and giving piano lessons as my life's work. Things just didn't work out, but it's okay.

We had a nice couple of weeks. The last week of June Anita went to our neighborhood stake's girls camp. She had a good time and certified for her 3rd year. While she was gone, we went to our ward campout at Deer Creek. It was fun. Anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT a camper, but I actually enjoyed it. It was a nice break in the usual routine. Siu was in the water from sunup to sundown. She's a little fish. The boys played cards and swam too.

We had a pretty relaxing 4th. We went to see Spiderman 3 and then we went out to dinner. We came home and took a nap and then did our little fireworks in the front yard. It was fun.

Last week was pretty uneventful. Tomorrow, Anita, is leaving to go with our (Tongan) stake to girls camp. This will be her last camp this summer (thank goodness!). I sure do miss her when she's gone.

We're getting ready to participate in the Pioneer Day Childrens Parade on July 21st. Faha and Pasi will march in the parade.

Well, gotta go and take Anita's camp stuff to be loaded up. Have a nice week everyone!

Love,
Michele

2007-06-27T06:27:00.001-06:00

This is just a quick update. Cody had an awesome time at Disneyland. I'll have him post some of his pictures. Anita and Cody did very well in their theater workshop this month. They both were teacher's assistants and had a great time. The teacher appreciated them so much that we only had to pay one fee for the workshop. Also, Cody didn't try out for the Shakespeare team, but the teacher put him on it because he impressed her so much! He and Anita are natural actors. They are both really excited for the competition which will be in October in Cedar City.

Anita is now at her second camp of the year. She went to Oakcrest two weeks ago. It's an LDS girls' camp for 7th and 8th graders. Now she is with our Palangi (English) ward at their rough camp. In two weeks she will go with our stake to their rough camp. After that I think she'll be home the rest of the summer, thank goodness! She was gone every weekday from 9:00am-3:30pm for 2 weeks this month and Oakcrest was a week long camp. I've missed her!

We are getting ready to go to our ward campout tonight. We're hoping to leave about 6:00pm. Lincoln is working today and I'm babysitting and giving two piano lessons before we go. I'm hoping to get at least one blanket finished with all my free time at the camp! We'll be back Saturday.

Not much else happening with us. I just try to keep up with the kids and the house and that keeps me pretty busy. Well, gotta go get ready for my morning walk.

2007-06-07T07:30:00.000-06:00

Yea! I finally was able to post Siu's picture. I will try to get photos of the other kids posted soon. It seems to take me forever to post, so I usually don't have time. Well, I better go get ready for the day. I've spent an hour trying to get my scanner and computer to work together! The daycare kids will be arriving soon! Wish me luck today!

2007-06-07T07:28:00.000-06:00

2007-06-06T22:28:00.000-06:00

I had hoped to be able to post every day, but with up to 13 kids in the house at times, that is very difficult! I think I may be in a little over my head this summer. And to make things worse, it rained today so we were all stuck inside. Actually, the kids were okay. I relaxed my rules for video games due to the circumstances and things weren't too bad.

Cody calls me a couple of times a day. He's having a great time at Disneyland. He said he has had fun on the rides. He said the scariest ride was the Tower of Terror. They will leave tomorrow night and be home sometime around noon on Friday.

I've been trying to scan some more pictures to post, but my scanner is not cooperating! It's making me mad. I have an adorable picture of Siu from dance. She's wearing an Alice in Wonderland costume because one of her dances was to "A Very Merry UnBirthday". She looks like a doll.

This evening was rather nice. None of my piano students showed up! I haven't had a free Wednesday evening in months. It was strange. Could it be because their monthly payments are due this week????

Well, it's time for bed, you know how I know? Perry Mason is about to come on!

Good Night!

2007-06-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our blog! As you probably know, from top left we are: Cody (13), Anita (14), and Faha (10, almost 11) and bottom row: Pasi (7), Lincoln (definitely over 30), Michele (somewhat over 25), and Siu (5). This was our Christmas photo taken in December 2006.

June 2, 2007 The first day of our blog!

2007-06-02T20:56:00.000-06:00

Hi to everyone! I've been trying to get this set up for awhile, but haven't really taken the time to finish it. We had a busy day. It was Faha's last soccer game today and we got his soccer pictures. I'm going to try to put them in. Cody and Pasi don't have their pictures yet because their last game was two weeks ago and they had a "by" this week. After the soccer game, we came home and I got a cleaning bug and put everyone to work getting this house clean! It looks pretty good, just don't look in the garage!

Siu's last day of school was May 23rd, Cody's was May 31st and Anita, Faha, and Pasi had their last day yesterday. There are some happy children at this house! Cody is busy getting ready for his trip to Disneyland with the school orchestra. They leave Monday night and will get back Friday afternoon. He's pretty excited.

Well, enough writing. I want to try to get some pictures posted. Love to all!