Thoughts on the Eve of My Birthday

So tomorrow is my 45th birthday. I've probably lived at least half of my lifetime. Part of me still feels like a teenager (complete with the acne to show for it! UGH!) and the other part of me feels really old and tired (that part is mostly my hips). Here are some things that I have learned over the first half of my lifetime:

1. Family is everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Not only your own family created by you and your spouse, but also your extended family. Those relationships matter, so treat them like they do.
2. If you have children, enjoy them every day. Cuddle them, read to them, talk to them, listen to them, play with them, do things with them EVERY DAY. Try to not get mad at the messes, the broken things, the fighting, the noise. One day, there will be no more messes, no more broken things, no more fighting, no more noise. You will clean your house and it will stay clean. Your things will stay where you put them. There will be no more diapers to change, no more noses to wipe, no more hands to wash. No more holes in the knees, no more shoes outgrown, no more strollers to push. No more little clothes to wash and fold and put away. There will be quiet and it will make you cry. 
3. Things are not everything. They are basically NOTHING. They are there to make life more comfortable, convenient, and easier, but they can become your master if you allow them to. If you don't believe me, refer back to #1.
4. Little things matter. Smiles, manners, compliments, little thoughtful things matter. Mostly they cost you little to nothing, but to the person receiving them they can mean so much. 
5. True friends are hard to come by, but if you find a few real friends, be grateful. Friends can help you laugh through the hard times and keep you humble through the good times. In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.
6. Don't procrastinate! Do what you need to do when it needs to be done. You save yourself so much headache and stress, and who doesn't want that?
7. Listen more than you talk. Learn to hold your tongue. Don't say everything that pops into your head. When you talk make sure you have something important to say.
8. Give yourself permission to have a bad day once in awhile. It's okay. But don't wallow in it. Pick yourself up and have a great day the next day.
9. Enjoy life. Life is mostly good. Yeah, there's some garbage in it, but it's mostly good. Look for the good, the uplifting, the joyful. 
10. Be grateful. We all have many blessings we overlook each day. Count them once in awhile to remind yourself.
11. LIVE your life. Don't just endure it. Make choices that will help you live your life fully, gratefully, joyfully.

How Time Flies.......

It's been quite awhile since I have visited this blog and even longer since I have posted. Much life has passed by without me recording it. Anita is home from BYU-Hawaii. She returned September 2013. She is living at home and helping out with my daycare. Cody has returned from a very honorably served two year mission to the Philippines. That's 2 years of posts in itself. He will be returning to BYU-Provo for the Fall semester. Faha is on his mission to the Mexico Monterrey West Mission. He left December 2014. He is doing very well. Pasi just turned 16 and is a sophomore at Kearns High School. Siu is 13 and in 8th grade at Bennion Jr. High. All the kids are healthy and more or less happy.

Children are such a blessing, but are also our greatest challenge in life. They teach us so much and help us to grow. I'm so grateful to be a mother to my five fantastic kids! They are awesome and I love them so much! They make my life rich and full of fun and good times and they make my heart smile. 

Summer Sabbath Musings

It's an already warm Sunday morning.  I can't seem to get motivated to get up and get ready for church.  I have a lot of that problem lately.  Something I need to work on, I guess.

Yesterday we went to Provo to look for an apartment for Cody to stay in while he's going to BYU this fall.  We got lucky and found a little dump of a house for cheap and he signed the contract.  It's right next to campus, so that will be good since he won't have a car.  We had fun walking around campus.  It was pretty deserted.  We played around in the sculpture exhibit outside the art museum.  It was really hot and we were tired from walking all over, so we didn't stay too long.  We went out for a late lunch and headed home.

While walking around campus I was sure regretting that I didn't graduate and really wishing there were some way that I could go back to school and finish my degree.  Walking around college campuses does that to me.  We happened to see a sign across the street from Cody's rental house for apartment rentals for families.  The rent was super cheap!  I got all excited thinking, hey we could sell our house and move down there and I could finish school!  I spent the rest of the day dreaming of my big plans.  Then I went on the BYU website and looked at admissions for transfer students and my hopes came back down to reality.  The website said it is highly unlikely that students with more than 90 graded credit hours would be admitted.  I was so disappointed I could cry.  (And I did!)  I have way more than 90 credits.  I probably should just face  that I had my chance to earn a college degree and I blew it and move on with my life.  But boy, is it hard!

Summer is here!

Well, graduation has come and gone.  This boy is a high school graduate.  Doesn't he look good in his Tongan-wear? That is what he wore to seminary graduation where he played the prelude music on the violin with his friend and Faha played the viola and where he gave a wonderful talk about his favorite scripture Proverbs 3:5.  (Yes, I know that was a run on sentence)  I can't believe my boy is an adult now.  He just needs to get a job!  He is so excited about his plans to attend BYU-Provo for Fall semester and then go on his mission.

School is out and I have a house full of kids everyday.  It's hectic and noisy and messy, but it's also fun.  (Most of the time)  The kids are enjoying just playing and relaxing, which is what summer is supposed to be about, right? I always feel the pressure to make sure they are doing something educational and structured and I feel guilty when they are not, but I figure I will give them these first two weeks of summer vacation to just enjoy being kids.

Siu's New Room

So here is Siu's new room.  It turned out pretty cute.  I love the wall color! I had it matched to her new comforter set and with the lighting in her basement room with no natural light it looks great.  She is very happy with it and is doing well keeping it clean.  We found that crazy lamp at Home Depot and the trash can at Ross.  We especially like that the matching trash can has a lid so Dumb Dog can't get into her trash can.  We still need to make her American Girl doll (Ashley) her bed.  As you can see, she still has to sleep in the box she came in, poor thing.  If I can dig out my sewing room, then we can start sewing the bedding for her bed.  It matches Siu's bedding.  We are also going to iron some fabric peace signs on the wall.  I saw that project on pinterest and I loved the idea!  I also want to make a matching fabric cover for her vanity stool.  Ideas on how to do that?? I can't see where to take off the top to do it, so I may just have to put a cover over that one and try to staple it around while it's still attached to the legs.  There's no end to my projects, just completed phases.

So our tetherball literally was played to death.  It was a good investment of  $15.  The kids got a lot of playing time out of it.  Faha is the family champion tetherball player.  Not surprising since he is at least 5 inches taller than any of the rest of us and could probably bench press us all.

I've been doing a lot of moving things around, painting, and generally trying to spruce things up around the house.  I'm in the home stretch of my spring renovations.  Just one more room to paint, then I will be taking a vacation from moving and painting.  I love it though.  I love that I can make my house look totally different with just a little change here and there and spend minimal money doing it.  I like that kind of change.  I will post pictures of the room renovations soon.  Siu's and Pasi's rooms are probably picture ready, but Cody and Faha's room is NOT.  I'll wait until they get back from their music tour to San Francisco tomorrow and give them some time to clean up, then I will take pictures and post them.  I really love how Siu's room has turned out.

Farewell to Winter?

Today is the last official day of winter and I guess Mother Nature wanted us to make sure we remembered it. It's only snowed a little, but it's been cold and the wind was blowing like crazy last week.  I don't really like wind.  Maybe a nice gentle breeze, but anything stronger than that I don't like.  I'm hoping for a nice wet (rainy, NOT snowy) spring to green up my lawn and make it look really good.

Siu's dance class did their dance at the high school on Friday.  Their dance is to "King of New York" from "Newsies".  She likes it because she gets to dress up as a boy.  They did a really good job.  I didn't get any pictures of the dance, but I managed to get this shot before we left.  Isn't she cute?!